Thursday, June 12, 2008

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON AROUND AN ATHEIST

Around 2,800 BC in Egypt, money was molded as a ring -- ancient Egyptian marriage ceremonies involved placing the money on the bride's finger to show that she now possessed wealth from the groom's family

All diamonds are more than 100 million years old, and can be as old as 3 billion years

The U.S. Constitution provides that the House of Representatives have no more than one representative for every 30,000 persons with a minimum of one rep per state -- the number of representatives continued to grow in accordance with census figures until 1910, by which time there were 435 members -- after the 1920 census, Congress voted in 1929 to limit the number of representatives to 435 (if the number of representatives continued to grow based on population, as of 2000 there would have been 9,000 members of the House of Representatives)

Pawn shops emerged in China around 3,000 BC

In a recent Gallup Poll, 5 out of 6 people identified nurses as "the most honest and ethical workers" in the United States

In 1923, the U.S. Attorney General declared that it was legal for women to wear trousers in public

After his victory over Roman general Pompey, Julius Caesar gave all poor families in the Empire a rent-free year

40% of the world's newspapers are printed on paper that comes from Canadian forests

Non-smokers dream more at night than smokers

First year Americans used credit cards more than cash: 1995

In a 2002 survey, 43% of single adult men in the U.S. stated they had not gone on a date in the previous year

Most destructive disease in human history: Malaria (currently, half a billion people will be infected each year and about one million will die as a result)

Every hour, 1 billion cells in the human body must be replaced

Hydrogen is the most common atom in the universe

43% of Evangelical Christians are "born-again" before age 13

It is illegal to swim on dry land in Santa Ana, California

BUSHISMS (Actual quotes from our Commander in Chief):
"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country"

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls"

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children"

"Listen, I want to thank the leaders in faith, the faith-based and community-based community for being here"

"For NASA, space is still a high priority"

"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system"

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law"

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful- and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country, and neither do we"

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God"

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME

Witchcraft remained a prosecutable offense in England until 1951

The first law on record, in 2100 B.C.E., banned witchcraft

Odds that a call to the 911 emergency phone service is an actual emergency: 1 in 20

The 999 emergency phone service was established in London in 1937

The average American makes 4 car trips per day, spends a total of 55 minutes in the car, and travels a total of 41 miles

Percent of Americans who agree with the statement "The Theory of Evolution is probably not true": 40%

First horror movie" "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1908)

The bottom of the Grand Canyon is above sea level

India's one-billionth citizen was born on May 18, 2000

World's longest movie: "Cure for Insomnia" (85 hours)

Alabama's state quarter spells out the name Helen Keller in braille

90% of all airplane collisions occur on the ground

Women over 100 years of age are four times more likely than the average woman to have had their first child after age 40 -- in general, women who have their first child after age 35 live longer than other women

40% of all heart attacks are fatal

Members of the United States Congress do not need postage stamps for official mail -- their signature counts as a stamp

It is physically impossible to tickle yourself

As you read this sentence, your eyes are moving back and forth 100 times per second

Slang term among U.S. emergency room doctors for a patient that is not sick enough to justify being there: Gomer (Get Out of My Emergency Room)

Percent of Americans who describe themselves as shy: 90%

Ratio of American WWII pilots killed in training to those killed in combat: 2:1

22% of American teens cannot name the country from which the U.S. declared its independence

The 3 states with the highest per capita credit card debt: Alaska, Vermont, South Dakota

Americans stand about 14 inches apart when they converse regardless of their social or familial relationship

58% of Americans state that when their finances improve, their sex life does too

Odds that an American worker will not tell their spouse about a raise in pay they receive at work: 36%

Harry Potter's birthday: July 31

Gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. was the first U.S. employer to give workers a two-day weekend

Number of words in the Bible (including Old and New Testaments): 1.38 million

Number of words in the U.S. tax code: 2.8 million

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

DON'T LOOK, FIDO!

A "hamlet" is defined as a village without a church

For every 10 successful attempts to climb Mt. Everest, there is one fatality

Japanese and Chinese people die on the fourth day of the month more often than any other day

Percent of all mammals that are monogamous: 3%

Over 55% of all persons in jail or prison in the U.S. are incarcerated for drug offenses

90% of bird species are monogamous

98% of the weight of water is made up from oxygen

According to the Food and Drug Administration, 2 out of 5 women in the U.S. dye their hair

According to the Old English system of time units, a "moment" is 1.5 minutes

Americans consume 16 tons of aspirin per year

In the United States, a murder occurs every 23 minutes

A study of pet owners in the U.S. revealed that 66% allow their pets to remain in the room during sexual activity with their partner

Name for a pregnant goldfish: Twit

Barbie has more than 80 careers -- the doll was invented by Ruth Handler after watching her daughter play with dolls imagining them in adult roles

A recent study found that less than 30% of Americans wash their hands after using a public restroom (of the people observed for the study, nearly 90% claimed to have washed their hands in the restroom)

One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as four acres of trees, and can be replaced next season

25% of all creatures on earth are beetles

The population of the United States increases by 1 person every 12 seconds, and is decreased by one person every 13 seconds

If you are American or Canadian, you have a 96% chance of dying a natural death

Play-Doh was originally marketed to households as a wallpaper remover

Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley are distant cousins, as are Barack Obama and Dick Cheney

Our eyes are always the same size from birth but our ears and nose never stop growing

Alcoholism is the 4th leading cause of insanity in the United States

The average American sees 3-4 emergency vehicles in a day

Country which is the world's largest producer of rubber: Malaysia

Country which is the world's largest producer of tin: China

The light from your computer screen streams out at you at nearly 186,000 miles per second

You use over 70 muscles to say one word

You are more likely to be attacked by a cow than a shark

90% of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border

A Texas state law prohibits a woman from owning more than 6 sex toys

90% of men report being "happy" with their first sexual encounter, but only 66% of women claim the same

Coca-Cola can be used for:
removing oil stains from concrete driveways or garage floors
tanning lotion
to remove gum from hair
to clean ancient bronze coins
grout cleaner for tile floors
stain remover for carpets
the U.S. Navy uses it to preserve submarines

SMELLS LIKE MENTAL HEALTH

On any given day, about 1 in 2 American adults are on a diet

25% of the human brain is used to control the eyes

Your hair grows faster in the morning than at any other time of day

A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber

Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill

29% of Americans admit to intentionally stealing an item from a store at least once in their adulthood

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th -- each year will have at least one Friday the 13th but not more than three

10% of American adults claim they intentionally switch tags in a store to pay less for an item

Sterling silver is 7.5% copper

Cars were first manufactured with ignition keys in 1949

The average day is 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09 seconds -- Leap Day is added to our calendar every four years to make up for this shortfall

The first subway system in the world was the London Underground, opened in 1863 -- the first subway opened in the U.S. was Boston's in 1897

Each nostril of a human registers smell in a different way -- smells detected by the right nostril are more unpleasant than those picked up by the left, but the left is more accurate for identifying smell

In 1984, New York became the last state to put photographs on driver's licenses

Beethoven's last symphony was his Ninth, which he never heard because he was completely deaf when he composed it

Every square inch of your body has about 32 million bacteria on it- after you shower

Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour, or about 1.5 pounds per year -- by age 70, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin

In 1900, the average age of death in the U.S. was 47 years

Right-handed people live, on average, 9 years longer than left-handed people

Christmas became a national holiday in the United States in 1890

The German Shepard bites humans more than any other breed of dog

Of the roughly 162 million land-based telephones in the U.S., about 25 million have unlisted numbers

Inventor of the paper bag: Luther Cromwell, 1867

About 22% of Americans over age 18 are diagnosed with a mental health disorder each year

Of the top 10 reasons for disability claims in the United States, four are psychiatric disorders (major depression, bipolarity, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder)

World War II veterans are dying at a rate of 1,100 per day

The average human head weighs about 8 pounds

Swedish fish are neither

Coca-Cola was originally sold as a "brain tonic"

The hyena gives birth through her clitoris

Same-sex marriage is legal in Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, and Norway

The last Olympic gold medals made entirely of gold were awarded in 1912

The average human body contains enough fat to make 7 bars of soap

On May 3, 2008, Dale Davis, a legally blind 78-year old nicknamed "The Hammer," bowled a perfect game in Alta, Iowa -- he bowled 12 consecutive strikes with his 16 pound ball

KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

In the United States, 40% of all births are to first-time mothers -- 32% of U.S. births are second-born children, 17% are third-born, and 11% are fourth or more

According to a 2005 survey, nearly half of adult Brits claim to have had sex in public

On average, the lifespan of a U.S. dollar bill is 18 months

The average car produces a pound of pollution per 25 miles

A human eyelash lives about 5 months before falling out and being replaced

Each human eyebrow, on average, is comprised of 550 individual hairs

The six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, English, French, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish

It is illegal to burp or sneeze in a church in the state of Nebraska

The wingspan of the Boeing 747 is longer than the Wright brothers' first flight

As of 2006, 1 in 8 Americans demonstrated signs of addiction to the Internet

Cranberry Jell-O is the only flavor that contains real fruit

You inhale about 700,000 dead skin flakes each day

In the United States, 6 people turn 17 years of age every minute, which is 1,440 each day and 525,600 every year

More than half of all residents of Kenya are under 15 years of age

80% of sudden heart attacks occur in the home

Globally, more than 340 million people a year contract a sexually transmitted disease

Women smokers average twice as many sex partners in their lifetime than women who do not smoke

According to a 1996 study, homophobic men show a higher arousal rate when shown gay porn than do men with ambivalent feelings regarding male homosexuality

Of the five senses, smell is most linked to memory

Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego, California

The "L.L." in L.L. Bean stands for Leon Leonwood

When a flea jumps, the rate of acceleration is 20 times that of the space shuttle during launch

Today, 81% of women aged 40-44 are mothers -- in 1976, 90% of women in that age group were moms

About 4 million women in the U.S. will give birth this year -- about 415,000 will be teens between 15 and 19 years of age, and more than 100,00 will be over 40 years of age

The average office desk has 400 times more bacteria on its surface than a toilet seat

All humans are 99% genetically identical

Mushrooms are more closely related to humans than to plants

Less than 10% of criminals commit 67% of crimes in the United States

Harry S. Truman was the last U.S. President with no college degree

A men's facial hair grows fastest when he anticipates sex

Monday, June 9, 2008

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Somewhere in the world McDonald's opens a new restaurant every 3 hours

From 1999 to 2000, the cost of soft drinks rose 20%; the cost of candy rose 46%; the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables rose 117%

Largest consumer of cheese in the world: Pizza Hut

Wal-Mart sells more retail food products than any other company in the world, and more than the next three largest companies combined

Since 2000, Americans spend more per year on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos and recorded music combined

The first McDonald's in Brazil opened in 1979 -- today, McDonald's is Brazil's largest private employer

First fast food chain to open in China: Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) in 1987 (McDonald's opened in 1992) -- KFC now has more than 1,000 restaurants throughout China

Brits eat more fast food than any other Europeans... in England, McDonald's opened it's first restaurant in 1974 and Burger King arrived in 1977 -- currently, England is home to more than 1,000 McDonald's, 700 Burger King, and 200 Domino's Pizza restaurants

McDonald's is the largest restaurant company in Germany

In 1986, the Tahiti Tourism Board ran a promotion that showed a picture of a breathtaking scenic view with the words "Sorry, No McDonald's" -- about 10 years later, the first McDonald's opened in the capital, Papeete

Inventor of charcoal: Automaker Henry Ford (In 1950, Ford Charcoal was renamed Kingsford Product Company and remains the leading manufacturer of charcoal in the U.S.)

Less than 15% of the world's corn production is intended for human stomachs -- 85% of the annual corn crop globally is used for animal feed, starch, sugar, oil, alcohol and more than 3,500 other products

More than 77% of U.S. households own a barbecue grill, and nearly half of these grill-owners barbecue year-round and use their grills 5 times a month (Most popular food for barbecue in the U.S.: hamburgers, steak, hot dogs, and chicken breasts)

Most popular Kellogg's product worldwide: Pop-Tarts

Romans did not eat sitting up because it was considered extremely bad manners -- they ate in a reclined position on sofas around the table

Only oceanic fish are used raw in sushi -- freshwater fish, which may harbor parasites, are cooked

For each box of Wheaties sold in 2002 with Tiger Woods on the front, Woods received ten cents and the farmer who grew the wheat for the cereal manufacturer got a nickel

When asked to name the smell that best defines America, 39% of Americans surveyed stated "barbecue"

Sugar was first added to chewing gum in 1869... by a dentist

Most popular fruit worldwide: Mango

A Twinkie explodes in a standard home microwave in 45 seconds

The chemical reaction that turns bread into toast is called the Maillard Reaction

Odds that a grain of rice grown in the United States will end up being brewed into beer: 1 in 10

A Big Mac contains enough calories to run a household vacuum cleaner for 98 minutes

Largest private-sector employer in Africa: Coca-Cola

The average American home has 15 cookbooks

Nancy Green was the first living person whose image was trademarked (as Aunt Jemima)

Favorite pizza topping in Australia: Eggs

Each can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup contains exactly 216 noodles

Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio

Dairy products account for 30% (by weight) of all food consumed in North America

Almonds are members of the peach family

In the weightlessness of space, a frozen pea explodes if it comes into contact with soft drink such as Pepsi or Coke

Nearly 1 out of 4 people worldwide are vegetarians

McDonald's salads contain up to 60% more fat than their burgers

99% of pumpkins grown in the U.S. are used only for decoration

The cardboard box contains more nutrients than the cornflakes inside, regardless of brand

People who are modestly overweight have a lower death rate than people with a normal body weight

About 11% of the earth's surface is used to grow food

Only food that does not spoil: Honey

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