Fast Facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 12, 2005

Things you've always never wanted to know

  • The Statue of Liberty's tablet is two feet thick.

  • There are on average two credit cards for every person in the U.S.

  • The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is "Live Free or Die," which are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.

  • Egyptian brewers, who wanted to taste in-process beer without removing the fermenting ingredients that floated on top of the container, probably invented the straw.

  • In Chinese the words for "crisis" and "opportunity" are the same.

  • When angered, a Tasmanian devil's ears turn a pinkish-red color.

  • The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

  • The naval rank of "Admiral" is derived from the Arabic phrase "amir al bahr" , which means "lord of the sea."

  • A standard coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

  • Mt. Vernon Washington grows more tulips than the entire country of Holland.

  • Jamie Farr (who played Klinger on "M*A*S*H") was the only member of the cast who actually served as a soldier in the Korean War.

  • The southern most city in the U.S. is Na'alehu, Hawaii.

  • Alaska was the only part of the U.S. that was invaded by the Japanese during World War II. The territory was the island of Adak in the Aleutian Chain.

  • Zaire is the world's leader in cobalt mining, producing two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply.

  • Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in the groin. Hamilton died from the wound.

  • Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every category of the Dewey Decimal System.

  • Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.

  • Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide while painting "Wheat Field with Crows".

  • An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

  • The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.