President George W. Bush, when asked what was his best moment in the first five years in office told reporters that "You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best. I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake." - Reuters, 5/7/06
* The New York City metropolitan area is home to 7% of the population of the entire United States, and 23% of all the psychiatrists in the country. - The Week Magazine, 5/19/06
* A study at the University of California at San Diego shows that large tattoos on the lower back and buttocks can lead to problems for women during childbirth. Injecting an epidural anesthetic through tattooed skin carries the risk of transmitting allergens or poisonous pigments into deep tissues, leading to irritation. - Yahoo News, 5/8/06
* Bottlenose dolphins can call each other by name when they whistle, making them the only animals besides humans known to recognize such identity information, scientists said. Two dolphins will sometimes even refer to a third dolphin by name even when he or she isn't present. - USA Today, 5/8/06
* A playground in Springfield, Illinois will be altered after a single local resident complained that a pattern in a concrete floor resembled an occult symbol. - Detroit News, 5/6/06
* The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has linked exposure to artificial butter flavoring in microwave popcorn to lung disease that sickened nearly 200 workers at popcorn plants and killed at least three. - ABC News, 4/24/06
* Terrorists last year killed more than 14,500 people around the world. Only 56 were Americans. - The Week Magazine, 5/12/06
* Rosie O’Donnell’s new contract with ABC (for the television show "The View") has one absolute proviso: the former talk show queen cannot cut her hair. - Fox News, 4/29/06
* Nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map. - CNN.com, 5/4/06
* 60% of Japanese people will not make eye contact with another Japanese person during a conversation. 60% of Japanese people will make eye contact during conversation with a robot, however. - San Diego Union, 5/3/06
* 80% of all car accidents involve drivers who are either drowsy or distracted by such activities as chatting on cell phones, eating, or putting on makeup. - Washington Post, 4/20/06
* 20% of all road accidents in Sweden involve an elk. - San Diego Union, 5/3/06
* Among the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, 18 had more people move out than move in from 2000 to 2004. - Associated Press, 4/20/06
* You are three times more likely to be killed by a flying champagne cork than you are to be killed by the bite of a venomous spider. A champagne cork, when popped, can travel up to 100 miles per hour. - Science News, 4/2/06
* 54% of American men have been caught picking their noses while driving. - Stuff Magazine, 5/06
* The mosquito is the most dangerous animal on the planet. Female mosquitoes carry malaria, which kills over one million people each year. - Yale Alumni Magazine, 3/06
* Camels have three eyelids. - San Diego Union, 4/26/06
* The most dangerous animals in the United States are deer. They are responsible for vehicular collisions which accounted for 204 U.S. deaths in 2004. - University of Wisconsin (Madison) Study, 2/06
* Alexander Graham Bell, after inventing the telephone, insisted that it be answered, "Hoy Hoy!" Reportedly, it was Thomas Edison who popularized the response we are familiar with now, "Hello." - San Diego Union, 4/26/06
* Lewis Alsamari, an Iraqi actor who stars in "United 93" (Paul Greengrass's new film about one of the planes hijacked on 9-11) has been refused entry into the US for the movie's premiere. - The Guardian, 4/24/06
* 4.5 pounds of sunlight strike the earth every day. - San Diego Union, 5/3/06
* Meg McCormick said she looked into her bathroom and saw sewage spraying from her toilet bowl. “It was like we’d struck a small oil well,” she said. The 55-minute long sewage eruption flooded the first floor and the crawl space, which got covered with four inches of sludge. - Kokomo Tribune, 4/22/06
* In an average lifetime, a woman will consume six pounds of lipstick. - San Diego Union, 4/25/06
(edited for more gret facts)
Edited by DICK (05/16/06 12:43 PM)
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