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Illustration by Arnie Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, March 4, 2004
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Things You Always Never Wanted To Know
Astronomical numbers of airborn fungi have been detected at elevations up to 35,000 feet.
Before Sigmund Freud became a psychoanalyst, he did important work in neurology and was the first to investigate the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic. His use of cocaine for minor pains and his "high" praise for its efficacy led to a wave of cocaine addiction in Europe.
During the Franco-Prussian War, compulsory smallpox vaccination in the Prussian army resulted in only 297 smallpox deaths. In the French army, where vaccination was not compulsory, 23,400 died of smallpox.
A boomerang cannot return to the thrower after hitting anything, unless it's another thrower with better aim.
The speed of sound, known as Mach 1, is named after the Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. But the speed of sound varies at different heights. At sea level, for example, it is 760 mph. Above 36,000 feet, Mach 1 is reached at about 660 mph.
In 1555, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of St. Basil's Church in Moscow. He was so pleased with the work by the two architects, Postnik and Barma, that he had them blinded so they wouldn't be able to design anything more beautiful.
Pope Innocent VIII received a gift of 100 Moorish slaves, who he distributed as a gratuity to cardinals and friends.
The term "influenza" comes from the belief that disease is an evil "influence" of the stars. This "influence" was believed also to be the cause of plagues and pestilences.
Though Theodore Roosevelt's famous attack in Cuba in the Spanish-American War is referred to as the charge of the "Rough Riders," the troops were not mounted.
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