And some
more origami facts (which of course, is exactly what your
lives were
lacking):
Spain developed its own distinct style of origami separately from those originating in Japan. After the introduction of paper by the Arabs, the Spaniards perfected their own style following the dictates of pure folding, no cutting or gluing. The oldest model attributed to Spain is the pajarita ("little bird,") which dates back to about the 16th centruy.
Origami sensei Yoshizawa spent nearly 30 years (!) perfecting his model of the cicada. The incredibly lifelike and life-sized model has all the natural features of the real thing, such as 6 legs, wings, head, antennae, thorax, and abdomen.
A banger is an origami model that makes a loud crack when snapped properly. The biggest banger ever made came from Paul Jackson, a college student doing a Performance Art project at the University of London in 1980.
In 1945, Al O'Hagan published a book called Bill Folds, which contained a hundred or so different origami models that can be folded with dollar bills.
In 1986, a contest was organized in Japan to test surgeon's handiwork by asking them to create the smallest origami models in the world. The winning entry in the "moveable model" section was A. Naito, who folded a 1/10th-inch flapping bird. But the tiniest entry of all came from Assistant Professor Y. Wantanabe. He made the world's smallest paper crane (the bird-crane, not the construction equipment-crane) by using a needle under a microscope. His model was 1/25 of an inch.
Well, that's really more than enough, isn't it?