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Fast Facts

November 6, 2007

The giraffe was originally known as the cameleopard, due to its resemblance to both a camel (in shape) and a leopard (from the spots on its fur).

Don’t remove the thorns from roses; doing so makes the flowers susceptible to bacterial infections.

Vanilla comes from orchids.

Elephants can suck gallons of water into their trunks, but they have to squirt it into their mouths to swallow the liquid.

MasterCard’s corporate headquarters are located in Purchase, N.Y.

Jimmy Carter claims to have seen a UFO in 1969.

Adm. David Farragut’s famous line “”Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”” didn’t refer to the motorized projectiles of today but rather explosive mines in the water.

The Beatles held every spot in Billboard’s top-five list for the week of April 4, 1964.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Some bamboo plants grow at a rate of three feet a day.

Winston Churchill originated the phrase “”blood, sweat and tears,”” though his original phrase was “”bloody, toil, tears and sweat.””

Battleship was played as a paper-and-pencil game for decades before a fabricated plastic version was sold in toy stores.

Hot water is heavier than cold water.

The name of fungal remains found in coal is sclerotinite.

When he died in 1982, “”Dragnet”” star Jack Webb became the first civilian in Los Angeles to be buried with full police honors. His badge number, 714, was also retired.

Human birth-control pills work on gorillas.

The oldest town in Belgium is Tongeren.

Facts courtesy of “”The Book of Useless Information”” and “”The Pocket Idiot’s Guide: Not So Useless Information””

The Daily Wildcat

Fast Facts

The Daily Wildcat