Fast facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Things you always never wanted to know
When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, it was not a federal felony to kill a president of the United States.
Jean Marie Collot d'Herbois (1750-96), who was not much of an actor, was booed when performing in Lyons, France. He had his revenge. He returned to Lyons as a powerful judge ÷ appointed by his co-revolutionist Robespierre ÷ and ordered the deaths of 6,000 citizens.
The liquid inside of young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma in an emergency. This property was discovered during World War II. Doctors in Fiji also discovered that surgical incisions heal faster when sewn with sterilized coconut fiber rather than catgut.
Joseph Stalin's son Jacob was captured during World War II, but Stalin rejected a German offer of prisoner exchange and Jacob died in a prison camp.
Amoebas can be taken apart and new ones created from the pieces. Cytoplasm from one amoeba, the nucleus of another and the membranes of a third can be combined, and the new creature will swim away.
When John Lennon divorced Julian's mother Cynthia, Paul McCartney composed a little song to cheer the boy up. Eventually "Hey Jules" evolved into "Hey Jude."
About one-third of recorded CDs are pirated.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. The U.S. Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
The sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," uses every letter of the English alphabet.
The U.S. nickname "Uncle Sam" was derived from Uncle Sam Wilson, a meat inspector in Troy, N.Y., during the War of 1812.