Fast facts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday, February 11, 2005
Two British prime ministers, Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill had the same governess when they were children.
Mount Everest is a foot higher today than it was a century ago, and it may be growing at an accelerating rate.
The Soviet Union was so wide it encompassed 11 time zones.
The Great Wall of China - 2,500 miles long, stretching over more than 1/20th of the Earth's circumference - was the longest continuous construction project in history. It was built over a period of 1,700 years, and enough stone was used to build an 8-foot wall that could wrap around the equator.
When he wasn't waging wars of revolution, Giuseppe Garibaldi took on a variety of jobs. They included selling spaghetti in Uruguay and making candles in Staten Island, N.Y.
Your inability to recall what Giuseppe Garibaldi did or who he was is a testament to the fallen state of our society.
A woodsman's axe was the only implement used to shape the 22 silvery-scaled onion domes of the wooden Church of the Transfiguration at Kizhi, Russia. It is located on an island in Lake Onega near Leningrad.
Don't know your geography either, do you? Tsk, tsk.
Veteran Roman soldiers, called triarii, carried a normal marching load weighing 88 pounds. It included a bronze helmet and breastplate, a deep rectangular shield made from leather-coated wood trimmed with iron, a long thrusting spear and a 2-foot stabbing sword. The triarii were spared the first onslaught of battle - they were held in reserve to strike the decisive blow.
A temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, was discovered - appropriately - by the American archaeologist Iris C. Love.
Because "It would be superfluous, as I have already conferred this order on myself," George Bernard Shaw rejected the offer of England's prestigious Order of Merit.