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The Daily Wildcat

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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

    Fast Facts

  • A trilemma is a dilemma with a third alternative.
  • Sir Walter Raleigh had a black greyhound named Hamlet.
  • The bullet-proof vest was invented by a woman.
  • Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
  • A group of larks is called an “”exaltation.””
  • Buddy Holly took the title of his hit “”That’ll Be the Day”” from a line of John Wayne’s in the classic Western “”The Searchers.””
  • Confusion was so rampant on the set of “”Lawrence of Arabia”” that entire sets were built and then dismantled before shooting even began.
  • The site where the Parthenon was built had to be cleared of hundreds of dinosaur bones (then called “”giants’ bones””) before construction could begin.
  • The record for the most snowfall in one day was set in Alaska on Feb. 7, 1916, when 78 inches fell.
  • The striped mittenfish can change its sex at will by turning its entire body inside out.
  • Giraffe tails, woodpecker scalps and porpoise teeth have all been used as money.
  • What was once referred to as the “”dark side”” of the moon is more accurately called the “”far side.”” Although we cannot see the other side of the moon, it receives as much sunlight as any other part of the lunar surface.
  • Pink became a color thanks to light red carnations, whose flowered edges are serrated, or “”pinked.””
  • In Muslim nations, the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent.
  • Table tennis, or ping-pong, balls are not hollow–they’re filled with a small amount of pressurized gas, which prevents them from breaking too easily.
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