Wierd Facts!!

[iilluzioN]

The phenomenal success of the "Harry Potter" series of children's books has had some unintended side-effects, some of them quite comical. For example, Harry Potter knockoffs abound on the Chinese market, with titles like "Harry Potter and Leopard Walk Up to Dragon, "and "Harry Potter and the Big Funnel."

The so-called "War on Drugs" in the USA rings up perhaps $100 billion in direct and indirect societal costs (about half of that being related to the "justice" system's efforts to suppress drug use through enforcement of laws). However, the real costs are human, and minority groups bear the brunt of these. According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on **nonviolent** drug charges (mostly simple posession, such as having a bit of wacky tabacky in one's pocket); 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino. In many women's prisons, over half of the inmates have been convicted of non-violent drug charges, and 70%+ are black or Latino. I don't have time for another article on the topic, but it seems to me that a MUCH more sensible approach to the problem (and nobody is saying that substance abuse is not a huge problem in our society!!) would be to simply accept that many people are going to alter their mental states using drugs of one kind or another (alcohol, tobacco, pain killers, stimulants such as cocaine, pseudo-hallucinogens such as "magic mushrooms" and LSD....), and do whatever works best to reduce the overall harm such consumption does to individuals, families, communities and countries. Prohibition combined with harsh punishment and a strict "law and order" approach is probably the worst possible method to approach a problem of this intractability and magnitude - it was a complete dissaster for alcohol, enabling orgaized criminal groups to amass vast fortunes and cause general mahem in North American society, and it is similarly proving to be a highly disruptive method of dealing with the abuse of other substances by large segments of the general populace

North Americans (ie, citizens of the wealthy countries of the US of A and its northern neighbour Canada, have developed some rather awesomely wasteful habits because of the abundance of resources they have (ok *we* - i plead guilty to not being as "eco-friendly" as many aware folks are these daze!!) at their fingertips. An excellent example is our truly profligate use of toilet paper (mot of the world's more "civilized" inhabitants use water....): though toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s, it was for emperors only, and everyone else around the globe used everything from corncobs to wool to newspaper to lace for the next five centuries. Widespread use of toilet paper didn't catch on until New York's Joseph Gayetty started selling it in 1857, with his name printed on every sheet. Now the U.S. alone uses a staggering 7.4 million tons of tissue per year -- over 20,000 sheets (about 50 lbs!!) of toilet paper per person (that's 55 sheets per day: obviously it is being used regularly for non-scatalogical purposes, along with several other kinds of disposeable paper products found in most houses) -- and North America, which contains less than 7 percent of the world's population, consumes half the world's tissue paper products. It takes about 6lbs. of wood, 1.30g of calcium carbonate, 85g of sulphur, 40g of chlorine and about 1,000 gallons of water to make just 2lbs of conventional toilet paper. The manufacturing of toilet paper uses large amounts of energy, water, and toxic chemicals that in turn generates vast amounts of air and water pollution and solid waste. If every household in North America used just one less roll of 500 sheet toilet paper, we could save almost 330,000 trees out of the over 15 million trees cut down yearly just for that ignoble purpose.

[iilluzioN]

In many species, individuals are occasionally found which seem to break the "law" or principle which states that evolution cannot run backwards - developed by a chap named Rollo in the 1890s, it is apropriately called "Rollo's Law" in case you are ever asked this on an episode of Jeopardy :---). However, it seems that this law is routinely repealed by Mother Nature: in 1919, for example, a humpback whale with well formed rear limbs was caught, recalling a period many moons earlier, when the ancestors of Cetaceans walked on land like normal mammals. Dolphins also sometimes sport rear limbs, as do several species of snakes on an occasional basis. In on particular species, folks are sometimes born with tails and other remnants of times gone by (and yes, we do indeed have genes, normally dormant, which code for tail-growning: if God micro-managed the creation process, as many Biblical literalists assert, this one would be difficult to explain except as a bit of Divine Comedy.....) such as the appendix and to some extent the tonsils: they can be removed with no noticeable effect upon the health of their former owners.

There are over 200 conditions which can cause dwarfism, which refers to people who are short in stature yet some of whose body parts such as heads, are more normal in size than the other parts (as opposed to midgets, who are also vertically challenged, but who have normally proportioned bodies). Each of these causes have a different set of health problems associated with them: few true dwarfs are robustly healthy overall.

The relationship between emotions and health has long been debated, and indeed, many articles and books have been written on the topic. The results of a wide variety of experiments and studies has been decidedly "mixed" - for example, it has been demonstrated that there is no such thing as a "cancerous personality" - people who are "type A", highly agressive and often angry, while they may have other health problems more frequently than more sanguine, happy folks, are NOT more cancer-prone than average. That said, a number of well-run studies are increasingly finding that there is indeed a correlation (although it is often unknown whether these are of a causitive nature or not...... trying hard to become a happier, more relaxed person may or may not produce health benefits (but that shouldn't stand in your way!!)) between emotions and certain categories of disease or disorder. For example, two recent articles in credible journals (sorry - lost the references!!) have reported that people with more frequent positive emotions and a generally positive outlook on life, do not develop as many or as intense cold or influenza symptoms - they are just as likely to become infected, but the symtoms, such as upset stomach, runny nose or headaches, are considerably reduced in all aspects. Also, people with severe depressions, who very seldom experience positive emotions, are more likely to have strokes than those who may seem equally depressed but who nevertheless have "up-beat" or positive periods. In any case, no matter how you look at it, a positive outlook on life will help you cope with almost any ill wind, illness-related or not, which comes your way in life :-+).

85 to 90% of sexual assaults on children are committed by people the child already knows and trusts - a relative (almost always male), family friend, baby sitter....... yet in the news and in many programs supposedly designed to help prevent sexual abuse, the emphasis is overwhelmingly upon avoiding, escaping from, and being wary of and around "strangers" - people whom the child DOESN'T know, and whom are responsible for a maximum of 15% of all child molestation - probably considerably less, since many cases where a child is harmed by a close relative (father, uncle, cousin) are never reported, but instead "dealt with" (or not, as the case may be) within the framework of the family itself, to avoid shame and other reality-distorting emotions which simply don't apply to "strangers". This sad and often tragic situation continues to perpetuate itself, via catchy slogans like "Stranger Danger" and miguided use of community resources to make children ultra-cautious about the one category of people responsible for the **least** amount of harm, while virtually ignoring the vast majority of dangerous people and situations which the child may encounter. The reasons for this sorry state of affairs are pretty obvious: 1) "Stranger" molestations are uncommon, unexpected, often random and unpredictable, and usually very public and dramatic in nature: they cause a lot of fear and uncertaincy in the general population, who do not usually use cold-blooded statistical analysis when deciding who or what to be afraid of, or how to prevent or minimize harm in general. 2) Molestation and indeed, all manner of harm by people close to the victim and trusted, is a much more common occurance than people are often willing to admit - and being common and often predictable (as in "Always thought uncle Jim was a bit *too* friendly with little Jennie...."), they don't make the news or cause alarm as often as the far less common, more "sensational" cases where "strangers" are involved., and 3) As mentioned above, most people are ashamed to admit that someone they know and trusted, took advantage of that trust to cause harm such as child molestation or "domestic" violence. Also, in many cases, especially where the father is the perpetrator, the victim often continues to feel affection for them and doesn't tell anyone that the abuse is happening - and even when they do, it is often a case of the child's word against their parent or relative, and for various reasons (fear, dependancy, misplaced affection...) the adult is often the one who is believed. That said, lawmakers and those entrusted with wise use of community resources, should put emotions and misconceptions aside and take a good hard look at the facts and figures - and act accordingly. Yes, they are "representatives" of their constituants, but they have also been entrusted with great responsibility, which they should exercise in accordance with reality, instead of personal or societal perception or prejudice

[iilluzioN]

Wireless phones (which include "cell" phones) which use radio waves for transmitting information were invented have been around for 30 years or so now - longer if you count "walkie talkies"!! From the very beginning, there has been a furious debate as to whether the radio wave strenghts involved can cause cancers of the brain or blood: one study would raise questions, while the next one would find nothing at all. Now, it looks like the "nay" side is finally coming out in the lead.

A huge long-term study from Denmark offers the latest reassurance that cell phones don't trigger cancer. Scientists tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including 52,000 who had gabbed on the gadgets for 10 years or more, and some who started using them 21 years ago. Among 420,000 callers tracked through 2002, there were 14,249 cancers diagnosed _ fewer than the 15,001 predicted from national cancer rates. Nor did the study find increased risks for any specific tumor type. Of course this won't silence ALL the nervous nellies who are still worried about getting lukemia from their cell phones and/or microwave ovens, but i for one will feel safer!!
As if one supra-human sense - echolocation - was not enough, it turns out that bats have another. Like birds, they can navigate by sensing Earth's magnetic field. The only other mammals known to do this are naked mole rats and Siberian hamsters.
Ten big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) were exposed to artificial magnetic fields that twisted their perception of magnetic north by 90 degrees, either to the east or the west. The bats were then released 20 kilometres north of their usual roost, along with five control bats that had not been exposed to magnetic fields. The control bats soon found their way home, but the 10 magnetised bats remained lost for days because their internal magnetic compass had been reset. They all flew towards what they thought was south, but of course it wasn't (Nature, vol 444, p 702).
[Directly nabbed from a Newscientist.com article, like the one above.] A rare South American bat turns out to have a spectacularly long tongue. At up to 150% the length of its body, it is proportionally the longest of any mammal.
The bat appears to have evolved its incredible tongue in order to feed exclusively from a tubular flower found in the "cloud forests" of Ecuador.
Nectar bats tongues have tiny hairs on the end, which they use to mop up nectar and pollen from within flowers. The plants gain from this relationship by depositing pollen on the bat s head, which it spreads from flower to flower.
Anoura fistulata is only the size of a mouse, but its tongue is around 8.5 centimetres long more than double the tongue-length of similar nectar bats. Compared with its body, a tongue of this size is second only to the chameleon in terms of vertebrates, and it is the longest of all the mammals.

It s like a cat being able to lap milk from two feet away, says Nathan Muchhala of University of Miami, Florida, US, who first discovered the species in 2003.

[iilluzioN]

• If you think that manned space travel is becoming routine, and that the main obstacle to humans roaming around on Mars is lack of funding, think again. The obstacles to our species' exploration endeavors anywhere except our own little planet/moon system are formidable and still largely unsolved. They include radiation (on the earth's surface, we are protected by the earth's magnetic field and its atmosphere, from most radiation - in deep space, it is another matter entirely!!), bone and muscle loss (without artificial gravity, which is still unachievable on any long flights, most astronauts will lose over half of the bone density of their core body parts, such as their hips, and re-gaining this bone mass is devilishly difficult!! The body operates on a "use it or lose it" principle for the sake of efficiency: if you do not use your muscles much - as would be the case in space, even with exercise facilities - the body figures you don't need them, and they melt away.), space sickness, sleep disturbances which result from weightlessness, dangers from micro-meteorites which can punch holes in space craft (and people!!)..... the list is long, and there are undoubtedly some nasty things we don't even know about yet, which can or will result from long-lasting space voyages. Aside from the occasional trip to the moon, our exploration of "space" will likely be carried out mostly via machine-based reconaissance for the forseeable future.
• Some 24 billion gallons of untreated effluent enter the Great Lakes every year through combined sewage overflows, a recent study by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund found. Canada's worst offender was Windsor, Ontario, which -- along with U.S. cities Detroit and Cleveland -- performed "abysmally." Cities such as Toronto and Hamilton also earned below-average grades. The main culprits are aging storm runoff and sewer systems, many of which are combined, so that during a storm it is impossible to treat the resulting excess of effluent.
• Contrary to the usual image of overweight people sleeping and napping a lot, it is now looking like a LACK of sleep is related to people gaining too many extra pounds or kilos. Obese folks tend to sleep poorly, and they often end up with fewer hours of sleep than the average: this has been demonstrated in a number of studies, so the correlation is very strong, hence highy likely to represent reality. The cause and effect relationship between these insufficient sleep and excess "flesh baggage" is not completely known yet, however: does being overweight lead to poor sleep patterns, does a lack of sleep contribute to weight gain, or is it a revolving door sort of thing: one leads to the other, which in turn feeds back into the first condition: a "positive feedback loop", in scientific parlance? A majority of researchers in the excess fat field are now leaning towards the positive feedback hypothesis, and a recent study which i have misplaced has lent fuel to this particular fire: it seems that when people get sufficient sleep, a hormone which tells the mind how full or hungry the body is, achieves a significantly higher (about 20%) level than when that same person gets too little sleep - so when you get enough sleep you are just not as hungry!! Further, on the common sense level, it seems likely that a) The longer you are awake, the more you tend to eat, and b) the more sleep you get, the more energy you have, so the more likely you are to get out and do things which burn up some real calories - exercise, yard and house work, etc.
• Since their domestication about 5,000 years ago, cats have held a fascination for their human servants (one owns a dog - the same cannot be said of cats!!), and many legends, myths and false beliefs have swirled around them for millenia. One old joke imortalizes a certain facet of cat lore and legend: "Cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt. They have never forgotten this." In fact, the Egyptian goddess Bast was portrayed as being part woman, part cat. She represented the sacred eye of Horus, the God of Light. Regular feasts and holidays were celebrated in her honor, and for a long period in Egyptian history, cat-killers were executed!! // On the other end of the good-evil spectrum, cats have long been accused of nasty things such as embodying evil spirits, as in the belief that the "familiar spirits" (demons) of witches often took the form of cats, and the myth that cats could somehow steal a sleeping baby's breath, hence killing them. Similarly, most folks are familiar with the superstition that black cats crossing one's path portend bad luck, but few know that throwing a cat overboard at sea was regarded, along with whistling, as a good way to start a storm. (They were an indispensable means of rodent control on most ocean-going vessals, but were also feared and respected because of the myths associated with them - hence the rich body of feline-related nautical superstions. On the other side of the domestic animal fence, fishermen traditionally regard dogs as unlucky and will not take one out in a boat, or mention the word 'dog' whilst at sea.) The cat's aloof and mysterious character probably led to the many myths and superstitions surrounding it. Cat's eyes were believed to tell many things from the time of day to the state of the tides. Cats were also believed to be clairvoyant, and were used in charms and potions to bestow that talent on people. Many body parts and substances from the cat were used for healing. The tail was particularly favored. In parts of England they are still used to cure sties. // On the more practical side, it should be noted that milk is not all that good for cats: too much can quickly lead to diarrhea. Also, despite the indisputable fact that they are remarkably agile, they don't always land on their feet. The tale that they have 9 lives probably derives from their incredible ability to survive situations such as being trapped in walls for weeks, and the idea that witches could only take the form of a cat 9 times.

[iilluzioN]

I GOT MORE, TELL ME IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED :d

[mookie2001]

I think an interesting fact about milwalkee is thats its the only major american city to have ever elected two socialists mayors

[Viva Las Espuelas]

I GOT MORE, TELL ME IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED :d
you should've made a thread with that question before you made this thread.

[Slydragon]

Ahh wall of text

[Frenzy]

Ahh wall of text
back in the day when armies were force to overcome walls....real walls they would die trying. I think this is what they needed... text or word walls.... the soldiers would take one look at that and be like "fuck that lets go fight some one else"

[Strike]

I think an interesting fact about milwalkee is thats its the only major american city to have ever elected two socialists mayors
Does this guy know how to party or what?
http://redmarketer.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/waynes-world_l.jpg

[jack sommerset]

I GOT MORE, TELL ME IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED :d

Please do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Those are weird.

[Dr. Gonzo]

I have a weird fact, my nipples don't get hard when I'm cold.

[TDMVPDPOY]

wall of text FTL

[Extra Stout]

Have you ever noticed that you park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway? What is up with that?

[marini martini]

This is weird...... There are 3 people living in Martini-ville right now, that are split up from their spouses, and I'm not one of them!!!:toast




7:09 P.M.......................update, one of them went home to his wife!:toast