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Illustration by Arnie Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, February 16, 2004
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Things you always never wanted to know
Alexander (356-323 B.C.), the greatest soldier of ancient times, was tutored by the greatest thinker, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.).
When Elizabeth I of Russia died in 1762, 15,000 dresses were found in her closets. She changed what she wore three times per evening.
Forty-seven czars are buried in Russia's Kremlin.
Napoleon favored mathematicians and physical scientists, but excluded humanists from his circle, believing them troublemakers.
The chuckwalla, a type of lizard, escapes pursuers by crawling into a crack in a rock and inflating its body with air to wedge itself tightly into the crack so it can't be pulled out.
In grassy fields above the cliffs at Etretat, France, Claude Monet worked on five or six paintings at the same time. As the weather changed, he switched from one canvas to another.
A fine quality Persian rug, containing as many as 1 million knots in every 3 square feet, may last as long as 500 years before it wears out.
A fully loaded supertanker traveling at its normal speed of 16 knots needs at least 20 minutes in order to stop. In the absence of lateral leeway, a collision would be inevitable if an immobile object appeared as much as 3 miles away.
About 24 percent of the total ground area of Los Angeles is used for automobiles.
The female pigeon cannot lay eggs if she is alone. In order for her ovaries to function, she must be able to see another pigeon. If no other pigeon is available, her own reflection in a mirror will suffice.
A Frenchman, Ambroise ParŽ, designed an artificial hand with fingers moved by cogwheels and levers in 1551. It enabled a handless cavalryman to grasp the reins of his horse.
Plague is still prevalent in many parts of Asia. In untreated cases, the mortality rate is as high as 90 percent. Modern drugs have reduced it to 5 percent.
After his love affair of two years with Catherine the Great, Gregory Aleksandrovich Potemkin continued to be an important adviser to Catherine. He even helped her choose subsequent lovers.
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