Things you've always never wanted to know
Commonwealth Bay is not the world's windiest place. The Mt. Washington Observatory in New Hampshire has recorded wind speeds of 231 mph, usurping the previous record-holder for windiest winds. The favorite horses of both Alexander the Great (Bucephalus) and Julius Caesar both had atavistic mutations - extra toes. Horses normally have only one toe per foot but are descended from horses with three or four toes on each limb. Cats have amazing hearing ability. A cat's ear has 30 muscles that control the outer ear (by comparison, human ears only have six muscles). These muscles rotate the ear 180 degrees, so the cat can hear in all directions without moving its head. For Hollywood, Edda van Heemstra, born in Belgium, changed her name to Audrey Hepburn. The average parent spends only nine minutes playing with his or her children on Christmas morning. In silent Aboriginal hunting language, a closed hand slowly opening is meant to show that a kangaroo is near. On Dec. 15, 1998, the Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center in Skokie, Ill., attempted to set the inaugural world's record for largest number of dreidels to be spun at one time. At least 200 people were needed to set the record. The little metal ring or cap attached to or near the end of a cane or wooden handle (such as on a paint brush) to prevent splitting is called a ferrule. Its name was derived from the Latin viriola, meaning "little bracelet." The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans ages the equivalent of 5 human years for every day it lives, usually expiring after 14 days. However, when stressed, the worm goes into a state of suspended animation that can last for 2 months or more. The human equivalent would be to sleep for about 200 years. The color combination with the strongest visual impact is black on yellow. Following next are black on white, yellow on black, white on black, dark blue on white and white on dark blue. According to a survey, women prefer blue bedrooms more than other colors; men are happier with white bedrooms. In 1943, Percy Clark of UCLA made the mistake during the Rose Bowl game of getting tackled behind the goal line while attempting to return a punt against Georgia. UCLA lost the game 2-0. One newspaper carried the headline "CLARK 2, UCLA 0." Clark was openly shunned by classmates and, in despair, he quit college a week later. He moved to the woods in Oregon, where he spent many years as a recluse.