Fast facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, June 22, 2005

taken weekly with a grain of salt

  • Snails only mate once in their lives. It may take up to 12 hours to consummate the act.

  • Louis Pasteur, whose work on wine, vinegar and beer led to pasteurization, had an obsessive fear of dirt and infection. He refused to shake hands and carefully wiped plates and glasses before eating.

  • Queen Latifah worked at Burger King before becoming an actress and rap star.

  • Elizabeth I of England owned more than 3,000 dresses.

  • The most statistically dangerous job in the United States is that of a sanitation worker.

  • When a commercial telephone service was introduced between New York and London in 1927, a three-minute call cost $75.

  • There were 6,469,952 spots painted on the dogs in the original "101 Dalmations".

  • John Greenwood invented the dental drill in 1790.

  • Penicillin causes 300 deaths in the United States each year.

  • Napoleon conquered Italy by the time he was 26.

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday is a legal holiday in the Virgin Islands.

  • U.S. coins come from various mints around the country. If your coin has a "D," it comes from Denver, an "S" comes from San Francisco and a coin with no mint stamp is from Philadelphia.

  • More Americans have died in automobile accidents than in all wars ever fought by the United States.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven's last words were, "Applaud, friends. The comedy is over."