Fast facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Things you always never wanted to know
Hot water weighs more than cold.
Granite conducts sound ten times faster than air.
Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States, was the first to be born a citizen of the United States. He was born in 1782, six years after the signing of the Constitution.
James Madison, at 5 feet 4 inches, was the shortest president of the United States.
A person who smokes one pack of cigarettes a day inhales a half-cup of tar every year.
Stage bows were originally devised as a way for actors to thank the audience. The audience would or would not acknowledge each of the actors in turn, depending on how much they enjoyed the performances.
Light takes six hours to travel from Pluto to Earth.
Only eight men were killed in the Battle of Lexington.
In the Declaration of Independence as first written by Thomas Jefferson, there was a clause abolishing slavery. Because of popular pressures, however, Jefferson deleted the clause.
During a severe windstorm or rainstorm, the Empire State Building may sway several feet to either side.
Clouds fly higher during the day than during the night.
In his lifetime, Samuel Morse (1791-1872), inventor of the telegraph, was better known as a painter than as a scientist.
The high roofs of some London taxicabs were originally designed to keep gentlemen from knocking off their top hats as they entered and left the vehicles.
In 1905 the Bosco Company in Akron, Ohio, marketed a "collapsible Rubber Automobile Driver." The figure, deflated and kept under the seat when not in use, was a kind of dummy intended to scare thieves away when the car was parked.