Fast facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, April 20, 2005

  • Malaysia has a population of 22,662,365 and had a total of 336,000 theater admissions in 2003. This figure translates as 14.83 visits per 1,000 people per year.

  • A record 10 points in an ice hockey game has been scored twice by two professional players: Jim Harrison with three goals and seven assists for the Alberta (later Edmonton) Oilers in a World Hockey Association match in Edmonton, Canada, Jan. 30, 1973. Darryl Sittler with six goals and four assists for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Boston Bruins in an NHL match in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 7, 1976.

  • In 1990, India produced a record 948 films.

  • Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors.

  • President William Taft weighed 352 pounds.

  • The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write about 50,000 English words. More than 2 billion pencils are manufactured each year in the United States. If these were laid end to end, they would circle the world nine times.

  • The "silhouette" is named after Etienne de Silhouette, a French author and statesman who reputedly was highly skilled at the art of cutting profiles out of paper.

  • "Bloomers" were the brainstorm of Amelia Bloomer, who caused a scandal by wearing trousers that exposed two inches of her ankles.

  • There were 2,282 people named Smith in the 1975 Manhattan telephone directory.

  • The first letter of every continent's name is the same as the last.

  • James Smithson, English scientist and founder of the Smithsonian Institution, never once set foot in America. The institution was established in 1846 with funds from his estate, which he left for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

  • The song "Happy Birthday to You," a piece of soaring brilliance, is copyrighted. The most frequently sung song in the Western world, written in 1936 by Mildred and Patty Hill, still collects royalties for their estate.

  • Eskimos use more than 20 words for "snow."