Fascinating Facts ~Page 13~

Animals: The polar bear is one of the only large land mammals that has absolutely no fear of man. It will stalk people at every chance and has been known to charge large group of hunters, sometimes into heavy gunfire, not slowing down even after its vital organs have been hit repeatedly.

Weather: The town of Tidikelt in the Sahara Desert once went ten years without a rainfall.

Survival: The average person can live for eleven days without water, assuming a mean temperature of 60 degrees Ferenheit.

Sports: Volleyball was invented in a Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S.A., YMCA in 1895. Its inventor was William George Morgan. The game was first called "mintonette" and was played by hitting a basketball over a rope.

Miscellaneous: Galileo was the first man to suggest using a pendulum to run a clock.

Laws: During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore beard was required to pay a special tax.

Music & Musician: No one knows where Mozart is buried.

U.S. History: The area sold by France to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase was first offered to England, who refused it. The price paid by the U.S. for the land, some 100 million acres, averaged out to 4 cents an acre.

Planets: Saturn's rings are 500,000 miles in circumference but only about a foot thick.

Money: Until the twentieth century, dogs' teeth were used as money by Solomon Islands natives.

Royalty: Berengaria, Queen of England and wife of Richard the Lionhearted, never set foot in England. She lived in Italy most of her life while her husband was off on adventures and crusades.

The Sea: If the ice floes of Antarctica were to melt, they would raise the ocean level by 240 feet, submerging a quarter of the world.

Smoking: Tobacco is a food. Though hazardous if smoked, its leaves contain a number of nutrional substances that can sustain life for a time if no other food is available.

Religion: The toe of the metal statue of St. Peter in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, is worn down almost to a nub by the great number of pilgrims who have kissed it through the centuries.

Medicine: Pirates believed that piercing the ears and wearing an earring improved eyesight. This idea, scoffed at for centuries, has been reevaluated in light of acupuncture theory. The point on the lobe where the ear was pierced corresponds to the auricular acupuncture point controlling the eyes.

War & Weapons: Yo-Yo originated as a weapon in the Philippine Islands in the sixteen century. It weighed 4 pounds and had a 20-foot cord. Louis Marx, the toymaker, introduced it to America in 1929.

Games & Hobbies: The game of billiards was popularized in France by Louis XIV. The King started playing the game at the recommendation of his physicians. The constant stretching exercise Louis received in playing billiards, his physicians believed, would relieve him of his digestive problems.

Drugs: Both former U.S. President George Washington and President Thomas Jefferson grew "Cannabis sativa" (marijuana) on their plantations.

The Body: As men and women get older their ability to hear high-pitched sounds diminishes. The ability to taste sweet foods also decreases with age.

Geography: The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggest mountain range in the world. Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii and part of this range, is the largest mountain on earth---though partially submerged, its full height from base to crown is approx. 33,476 feet, some 4,000 feet taller than Mount Everest.

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