Fast Facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Monday, October 10, 2005
Things you've always never wanted to know
The television show "Seinfeld" was set in New York City; however, the exterior that was used for Jerry Seinfeld's apartment is actually in Los Angeles.
The oak tree can take as long as 30 years to produce its first crop of acorns.
A dripping hot-water faucet wastes an average of 40 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month. This is the equivalent of running a color television eight hours a day for about 31 days.
On Jan. 22, 1976, a guerrilla force blasted into the vaults of the British Bank of the Middle East in Bab Idriss, cleaning out the contents of the safe deposit. The boxes of cash and other valuables were estimated by former finance minister Lucien Dahdah at $50 million. It was the single most lucrative bank robbery in history.
A loss of 20 percent of the body's water would result in certain and painful death. Ordinarily the body cannot go more than a week and a half without water; the longest recorded time anyone has gone without water is 11 days.
Twenty-four-karat gold is not pure gold; there is a small amount of copper in it. Pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
In Jalisco, Mexico, the harp was significant in the development of mariachi music, which originally featured only string instruments.
"Happy Birthday" was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.
In the famous shower scene in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock chiller "Psycho," chocolate syrup was used to simulate blood.
Whole, unopened coconuts can be stored at room temperature for up to six months, depending on age.
The temperature of Earth's interior increases by 1 degree every 60 feet down.
The first female guest host of "Saturday Night Live" was Candace Bergen.
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It to Beaver."
The largest taxi fleet in the world is in Mexico City. The city boasts a fleet of more than 60,000 taxis.