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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:26:15 GMT -5
Among the nation’s 32,000 suicides each year, about 80 percent are carried out by men, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:26:39 GMT -5
In 2007, forty-five people were struck and killed by lightning in the U.S., a quarter of them were in or near water.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:27:08 GMT -5
Diagnoses of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder have risen by 9 million new cases in the last ten years (from 1994 to 2004), and the condition now affects 4 - 12 percent of American children.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:27:33 GMT -5
Take shelter when your hair stands on end in a storm. It often means that positive charges are rising through you, reaching up toward the negatively charged part of the storm and making you a target for lightning.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:28:13 GMT -5
A zorilla, or a striped polecat, is a type of weasel that resembles a skunk, and is arguably the world's smelliest animal. If threatened, the zorilla ejects a powerful, foul-smelling fluid from it's anus into the face of it's assailant with impressive accuracy.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 2, 2011 6:28:37 GMT -5
In some species of sharks, embryos are cannibalistic, feeding on each other in the womb until only the strongest shark remains.
Sharks can be dangerous even before they are born: while dissecting a sand tiger shark, one scientist was bitten by a pup in his mother's womb.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:48:27 GMT -5
In May 1902, volcanic activity on the Caribbean island of Martinique drove more than a hundred fer-de-lance snakes into the town of St. Pierre, where the large, venomous reptiles killed fifty people and hundreds of animals.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:48:57 GMT -5
The Sydney funnel web spider is Australia's most dangerous arachnid, with a bit capable of causing death in as little as fifteen minutes.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:49:23 GMT -5
Since 1947, the US government has changed it's explanation of the Roswell crash four times. It remains one of the most controversial, highly publicized UFO incidents in history.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:49:49 GMT -5
Every year approximately 500 meteorites strike the earth.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:50:33 GMT -5
Electric eels can generate and release pulses of more than 500 volts.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:50:58 GMT -5
Two of the most damaging human parasites are the malaria causing Plasmodium and the flatworm Schistosoma, which causes schistomiasis, an illness that damages internal organs and can negatively impact cognitive development and growth in children.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:51:28 GMT -5
Humans develop schistosomiasis after contact with water containing snails infected by human waste. Snail larvae infiltrate the body and grow into adult worms up to half and inch long. They live in the bloodstream and can cause inflammation, organ enlargement, intestinal bleeding, bladder cancer, and death.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:51:54 GMT -5
Approximately half the world's population is infected with large roundworms, hookworms, or whipworms. A Columbia University parasitologist calls them the "unholy trinity."
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:52:17 GMT -5
In 1953 CIA director Allen Dulles ordered secret experiments to test the effects of biological and chemical agents on humans without their consent. The uninformed subjects were given drugs like LSD and heroin, and at least two subjects died as a result, while many others suffered health consequences.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:52:40 GMT -5
If you swim in ocean areas known to contain sharks, avoid wearing yellow or orange: sharks have very good eyesight and find these colors particularly irritating.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:53:16 GMT -5
One in four mammals is now threatened with extinction from deforestation, hunting, and climate change.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:54:00 GMT -5
Adolf Hitler suffered from chronic flatulence for which he took anti-gas pills containing a mixture of belladonna and strychnine, both known poisons.
One theory blames these and other "pernicious medications" prescribed for Hitler by a "diabolical quack" for changes in his personality and temperament in the early 1940s.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:54:27 GMT -5
It is illegal in Alabama to operate a vehicle while you are blindfolded.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:54:51 GMT -5
It is illegal to get a fish intoxicated in the state of Ohio.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:55:16 GMT -5
It is illegal for unmarried women to parachute in Florida on Sundays. Violators can be arrested.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:55:42 GMT -5
It is illegal to carry a concealed weapon longer than six feet in the state of Kentucky. The offense is punishable by law.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:56:09 GMT -5
It is not legal to own pets in Boulder, Colorado - locals are considered "pet minders" only. It is also illegal to kill a bird.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:56:33 GMT -5
Vermont women must get written permission from their husbands before they get false teeth.
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Post by dreamer on Dec 3, 2011 5:57:00 GMT -5
Famed American comedian Groucho Marx took LSD and smoked pot in the late 60s.
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