Fast Facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday, October 4, 2005

  • The Vatican is the world's smallest country at 0.16 square miles.

  • From the Middle Ages until the 18th century, the local barber's duties included dentistry, bloodletting, minor operations and bone-setting. The barber's striped pole originates from when patients gripped the pole during an operation.

  • A church in the Czech Republic has a chandelier made from human bones.

  • The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the U.S. is 1 in 15.

  • The shopping mall in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, has the largest water clock in North America.

  • The world's widest road is the Monumental Axis in Brazil, where 160 cars can drive side by side.

  • The average adult eyeball weighs 1 ounce.

  • The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when you look at something pleasing.

  • It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7 percent of the world's population is drunk.

  • Every year, Alaska has about 5,000 earthquakes, 1,000 of which measure above 3.5 on the Richter scale.

  • Dustin Phillips holds the record for ketchup drinking. He drank a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup through a straw in 33 seconds on Sept. 23, 1999.

  • Antarctica is the only land on Earth that is not owned by any country.

  • On average, 150 couples get married in Las Vegas each day.

  • In the next week, 800 Americans will be injured by their jewelry.

  • Fingernails grow nearly four times faster than toenails.

  • The monarch butterfly can discern tastes 12,000 times more subtle than those perceivable by human taste buds.