Fast Facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, September 22, 2005

  • When Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857, he had his name printed on each sheet.

  • There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

  • At 90 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, exhaled breath freezes in midair and fall to the ground.

  • Credit Fritz Lang for the familiar countdown, "three, two, one, liftoff." The phrase appeared in his 1929 film, "Die Frau im Mond" (The Woman in the Moon).

  • Most people take an average of seven minutes to fall asleep.

  • A cat's normal body temperature is 101.5 degrees; a dog's, 101.

  • Reykjavik, Iceland, is warmer than Chicago in the winter.

  • Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain, 7 feet 1 inch tall, was the son of 5-foot-8-inch parents.

  • An ostrich's intestinal tract is up to 45 feet long.

  • The dot over the letter "i" is called a "tittle."

  • "MAFIA" is an acronym for Morte alla Francia Italia anela: "Death to the French is Italy's cry."

  • An average pair of feet will sweat about one-half of a pint of perspiration a day.

  • Robert E. Lee's shoe size was only 4 1/2.

  • Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

  • A female African elephant can be pregnant for almost two years.

  • "Jack" is the most recurring name in nursery rhymes.

  • The world's biggest clams weigh almost 500 pounds.

  • Droplets of moisture from a sneeze can travel as far as 12 feet and as fast as 100 miles per hour.

  • The capacity of the average adult's stomach is about two quarts.