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Illustration by Arnie Bermudez
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
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Things you always never wanted to know
William Henry Harrison was president of the United States for only 31 days. He caught cold the day of his inauguration and died of pneumonia in the White House on April 4, 1841, a month after he had been sworn in.
In 1966 the mean annual temperature in Plateau Station, Antarctica, was -70 degrees Fahrenheit. If a lightly clothed person were to stand outside in this temperature, he or she would freeze to death in approximately 60 seconds.
Ducks will only lay eggs in the early morning.
Human eyes are sensitive enough that on a clear, moonless night, a person sitting of a mountain peak can see a match struck 50 miles away.
The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.
In 1880 there were approximately 2 billion passenger pigeons in the United States. By 1914 the species was extinct.
The Pekingese dog was considered sacred among Chinese royalty. At the court of Li Hsui, one of the last Manchu queens, all court Pekingese had human wet nurses. Each dog had its own eunuch to protect it from other dogs, and some even had private palaces complete with servants.
When a tidal wave is about to hit a coastline, the water first recedes all the way to the horizon. If a person were foolish enough to do so, he could walk out several miles before the wave came smashing ashore.
The brain of Neanderthal man was larger than that of a modern man.
In New York City, official government automobiles are not subject to traffic summonses. In 1975, 6,000 tickets a month were issued to cars belonging to federal agencies, and not one was paid. The unpaid fines that year added up to $2.7 million.
In a churchyard near Cardiff, Wales, one can read the following inscription: "Here lieth the body of William Edwards of Cacreg, who departed this life 24 February, Anno Domini 1668, age one hundred and sixty-eight."
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