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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:28:18 GMT -5
Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper every year, which represents at least 15 million trees pulped.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:28:57 GMT -5
The Bible is the most shoplifted book.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:29:27 GMT -5
State corrections dollars (adjusted for inflation) have increased 127 percent in the past twenty years; the amount spent on higher education has increased just 21 percent.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:29:57 GMT -5
Tsunami waves can be as long as sixty miles, occur as far apart as an hour, and be powerful enough to traverse entire oceans without losing significant energy.
The Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 traveled as far as 3,000 miles to Africa and still arrived with enough force to kill people and destroy property.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:30:24 GMT -5
A bolt of lightning discharges up to 100 million volts and 30,000 amperes of electricity, and at 54,000 degrees F (30,000 degrees C), is roughly six times hotter than the sun.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:30:49 GMT -5
If cornered, the opossum can foam at the mouth to convince a predator that it is toxic or sick, or discharge an anal fluid that smells almost as bad as a skunk's spray.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:32:01 GMT -5
Lack of sanitation and access to a toilet isn't just a Third World problem. 1.7 million people in the United States have inadequate or no means of safe disposal of waste.
(This is from a book written in 2008, prior to the many new homeless and the numerous tent cities that the U.S. now has since the book was written. My guess is that the number above is now a low one.)
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:32:32 GMT -5
Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is an extremely rare brain disorder that causes sufferers to speak involuntarily in a foreign accent. The illness is the result of trauma affecting the area of the brain that controls speech.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:32:56 GMT -5
One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:33:19 GMT -5
The types of bacteria in the human mouth vary among the world's population. North Americans, South Americans, and Swedes harbor different bacteria.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:34:00 GMT -5
In 2002, orthopedist David Arndt left the operating room seven hours into surgery so that he could cash his paycheck before the bank closed. Arndt was gone for thirty-five minutes while the hospital paged him repeatedly. His medical license was later suspended in Massachusetts.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:34:37 GMT -5
The Vespa mandarnia japonica, or Japanese giant hornet, is the size of your thumb, has a painful sting, and can spray flesh melting poison into your eyes. It's poison also contains a pheromone that can summon every hornet in the hive to attack.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:35:09 GMT -5
As the world's most venomous insect per sting, the Japanese giant hornet kills forty people every year, all of them excruciatingly painful deaths.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:35:35 GMT -5
The Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad assessed Americans' knowledge of world affairs in 2003, concluding that "America's ignorance of the outside world" is a "national liability" that creates a threat to our security.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:35:57 GMT -5
Noodling is a dangerous type of bare-handed fishing used to catch large and powerful catfish in underwater holes. Noodlers have been drowned, suffered broken bones, and been severely bitten by turtles, beavers, snakes, and muskrats. Noodling is illegal in thirty-seven states.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 1, 2011 6:36:23 GMT -5
The Western Diamondback is among the largest and most aggressive rattlesnake species, biting more people in the United States every year than any other venomous snakes.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:09:39 GMT -5
The place where you rest your hands on your desk is home to 10 million bacteria at any given time.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:10:05 GMT -5
Big cat attacks on humans cause an estimated 800 fatalities a year - and they are increasing, particularly attacks by tigers in Africa and India, and mountain lions in North America. Experts blame the increase on destruction of the animals' natural habitats and a decline in prey species.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:10:32 GMT -5
Poisoning was the second most common cause of deadly injury in 2004, following vehicular crashes.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:10:57 GMT -5
The average human will spend three years on the toilet during his lifetime.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:11:23 GMT -5
A 2007 survey found that among young adults eighteen to twenty five, the non-medical use of prescription pain killers increased sharply (12%) from the previous year.
The same survey found that levels of illicit drug use among the fifty five to fifty nine year set more than doubled over the previous year, confirming concerns that baby boomers have continued to use as they age.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:11:48 GMT -5
The praying mantis is a formidable predator with a large head, numerous eyes, powerful front legs and quick reflexes that re difficult to notice with the naked eye. Their prey includes flies, grasshoppers, moths, and other insects.
The praying mantis will eat it's own kind. The most famous example of this is the female's notorious mating behavior where she sometimes eats the male just after - or even during - mating.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:12:16 GMT -5
The largest predatory fish in the world is the great white shark. They average fifteen feet in length, though great whites as long as twenty feet have been documented.
Over 100 shark attacks occur worldwide each year and 30 - 50% of them are caused by great whites.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:13:04 GMT -5
In sixteenth to nineteenth century England and Scotland, women deemed "troublesome and angry" could be subjected to the "scold's bridle," a metal helmet with a gagging strap that prevented them from speaking.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:13:32 GMT -5
n July 1947, the U.S. Army Air Forces announced that they had recovered a flying saucer that crashed near Roswell Air Army Field in New Mexico. Within houses, however, the Army dismissed the statement, claiming the flying saucer was a misidentified weather balloon.
Since 1947, the U.S. government has changed it's explanation of the Roswell crash at least four times. It remains one of the most controversial, highly publicized UFO incidents in history.
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