Fast Facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Things you always never wanted to know
"There's only one Hollywood," the saying goes, but this is not entirely true - there are actually, at least, 11. In addition to the movie capital in California, there are Hollywoods in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and West Virginia.
For two years in the 1970s, there was a serial flasher nicknamed "Tinkle-Bell" who prowled the aisles of the UA Main Library late at night. His MO was always the same. A co-ed would be looking for a book when she would hear a little bell ring from the other side of the bookshelf. When the she looked up, she'd see a man exposing himself through a gap in the bookshelf. "Tinkle-Bell" was never caught.
Avast ye! The number of pirate attacks worldwide in 2004 was 325, down from 445 pirate attacks in 2003. Ninety-three of those pirate attacks occurred in Indonesian waters, the world's most pirate-populated waters.
Canada sanctions the killing of baby seals. As part of Canada's government-sanctioned seal hunts, seal pups as young as 12 days old are fair game for clubbing to death.
Three million people in the United States have an impairment of the back or limbs as a direct result of an accidental fall.
It took Henry Ford's Motor Company seven years to manufacture one million automobiles. The company made nine million more cars 132 working days after this figure was reached.
Flamingo tongues were a common delicacy at Roman feasts.
One out of every three English males between the ages of 17 and 35 was killed in World War I.
The great English poet John Keats died at the age of 26.
The three balls traditionally displayed above pawnshops were inspired by Santa Claus. St. Nicholas, on whom the legend of Santa Claus is based, is said to have turned three brass balls into three bags of gold in order to save the daughters of a poor but honest man from earning their living in dubious ways. Since that time St. Nicholas has been patron saint to pawnbrokers as well as to helpless girls.