Arizona Daily Wildcat Online
sections
Front Page
News
Opinions
· Columnists
Sports
· Men's Hoops
Go Wild
Live Culture
Police Beat
Datebook
Comics
Crossword
Special Sections
Photo Spreads
Classifieds
The Wildcat
Letter to the Editor
Wildcat Staff
Search
Archives
Job Openings
Advertising Info
Student Media
Arizona Student Media Info
UATV -
Student TV
 
KAMP -
Student Radio
The Desert Yearbook
Daily Wildcat Staff Alumni

Fast facts


Photo
Illustration by Holly Randall
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Print this

Things you always never wanted to know

  • When the Portuguese historian Joao de Barros (1496-1570) wrote Decadas da Asia, his monumental history of the Portuguese Empire, King John III was so pleased that he gave him the whole state of Maranao in Brazil - an area of about 130,000 square miles.

  • The nickel-titanium alloy 55-nitinol can be fashioned at a high temperature into a complex shape, then cooled and crushed beyond recognition. It regains its original shape when it is reheated, "remembering" every curve and angle.

  • In terms of the resources he or she will use in his lifetime and the pollution he or she will cause, one U.S. citizen spends the equivalent of about 80 citizens of India.

  • Sally Hemings, the black slave who is thought to have been Thomas Jefferson's mistress for 25 years, was a blood relative of Jefferson's wife - she was Martha Jefferson's half sister.

  • For some languages, translations of the Bible are the first works, or even the only works, in their literature. The only notable work in Gothic, for instance, is the translation of the Bible by Ulfilas, who was converted to Christianity at Constantinople. It is said that Ulfilas even had to invent the alphabet he used.

  • Prior to World War I, fewer than 20 books per year published in England dealt with military science. In Germany, almost 700 books per year were being published on the subject.

  • Celebrated geneticist J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964) predicted the U.S. population would level off at 145 million.

  • The skin of the human adult body has an average weight of six pounds.

  • In 1695, two scientists obtained a diamond from a rich patron and heated it by using a lens to focus light on it. The diamond disappeared. Diamond is made of carbon, and it burns just as coal will when it is heated strongly enough.


    Write a Letter to the Editor
  • articles
    Likins to sign IMOA
    divider
    Education bill gets another chance
    divider
    FDA considers approval of Plan B contraceptive
    divider
    SAE fire results in little damage
    divider
    Students play in mud, study ocean on trip
    divider
    New site targets student interest in courses
    divider
    Volunteers wanted for Psych. study
    divider
    Bear Down Camp preps future Wildcats
    divider
    On the spot!
    divider
    Fast facts
    divider
    Police Beat
    divider
    Datebook
    divider
    Restaurant and Bar Guide
    Housing Guide
    Search for:
    advanced search Archives

    NEWS | SPORTS | OPINIONS | GO WILD
    CLASSIFIEDS | ARCHIVES | CONTACT US | SEARCH



    Webmaster - webmaster@wildcat.arizona.edu
    © Copyright 2005 - The Arizona Daily Wildcat - Arizona Student Media