Fast Facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Things you've always never wanted to know
Bugs hold special places in the hearts of many Japanese, who often keep crickets, beetles and fireflies as pets. Their calls are considered soothing and remind the nature-loving Japanese of a simpler, less hectic age.
Ten cords of wood stacked 4 feet wide by 4 feet high by 80 feet long have the same heating potential as 1,400 gallons of oil.
The Tower of London, for which construction began in 1078 by William the Conqueror, once housed a zoo. It also has served as an observatory, a mint, a prison, a royal palace and (at present) the home of the Crown Jewels.
A recent survey of 1,023 children, ages 10 to 13, showed the number who feel uncomfortable talking with their parents nearly doubles between the fifth and eighth grade, when kids turn 13.
First lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic balls every morning. Her doctor recommended this to improve her memory.
No one truly has double joints. Contortionists are actually able to stretch the fibrous tissues known as ligaments. Ligaments hold organs in place and fasten bones together. Ligaments normally restrict the movements of certain joints, but some folks find that their ligaments are more flexible than others.
Gorillas cannot swim.
Antonio Banderas' father was a policeman and his mother was a teacher. Before breaking his foot when he was 14 years old, Banderas had dreams of becoming a soccer player.
There are more than 500 crematories in the U.S. These modern facilities are considered environmentally friendly. They are engineered so that little, if any, of a corpse's gases escape into the atmosphere; the vapors are circulated through the oven.
At the Pasadena Playhouse, Gene Hackman and classmate Dustin Hoffman were voted the two least likely to succeed.
A young lady named Ellen Church convinced Boeing Air Transport that her nursing skills and love of flying would qualify her to assist with the passengers and emergencies. She became the first known stewardess.
A lion in the wild usually makes no more than 20 kills a year.