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Illustration by Arnie Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, March 22, 2004
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Things you always never wanted to know
Thirty thousand monkeys were used in a massive three-year effort to classify types of polio.
On June 12, 1775, the British offered to pardon all colonists who would lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
Demosthenes, one of the greatest orators of all time, stuttered but stubbornly trained himself out of it by putting pebbles in his mouth while speaking.
Though Columbus is generally thought to be from Genoa, he never wrote in any form of Italian, not even Genoese; he wrote only in Spanish.
In early America, death was often the most public and most dignified event in an individual's life. It was considered important to "die well," surrounded by friends, neighbors and relatives.
So dense is the spruce tree forest canopy of the vast Canadian Lakes District that winter snow stays on top of the trees, like a blanket, and the forest floor stays bare.
Duckweed, or marimo, is a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't weed found in Lake Akan at Daisetsuzan National Park in Japan. The weed forms in a ball at the bottom of the lake, rises to rid itself of oxygen, then sinks and rises again in a perpetual cycle. "Marimo spotting" is a sport there.
From 1836 to 1896, the Red Flag Act in England required that any self-propelled vehicle be preceded by a man carrying a red flag by day and a red lantern by night. In effect, that limited speed to 4 mph and slowed development of all self-propelled vehicles, including automobiles.
When Columbus returned to Europe, he brought with him not only news of a new world, but a new plague as well. His sailors carried a virulent, deadly variety of syphilis that caused the Barcelona Epidemic of 1493, and proceeded to ravage Europe.
The chief drafter of the U.S. Constitution and twice president of the United States was a lightweight on the scales. James Madison weighed in at only 100 pounds. He was also the shortest president, at 5 feet 4 inches.
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