In 1995, an Egyptian farmer descended a 60-foot well to rescue a chicken. He drowned in the attempt. The farmers' sister and two brothers went in one-by-one to retrieve their brother, but they also drowned. Two elder farmers also came to help, but they suffered the same fate. All six bodies were eventually pulled out, along with the chicken. The chicken survived. - San Diego Union, 4/29/08
A German man lived after he fell down an elevator shaft because he landed on a woman who had fallen down the shaft a day earlier. Both survived their ordeals. - The Week Magazine, 5/2/08
A Japanese high school baseball team walked off the field in the second inning after falling behind 66-0. - The Week Magazine, 5/2/08
Used condoms are being recycled into hair ties and rubber bands in South China. - USAToday, 11/15/07
An Indian man lost his life savings when termites invaded his bank's safe deposit box, turning his 682,000 rupees into dust. - Banking Times, 4/7/08
An average tree produces 8,333 sheets of paper. - San Diego Union, 4/20/08
The minority population of Los Angeles County, California (7,000,000 people) is larger than the total population of 38 states. - San Diego Union, 4/7/08
A London man hid a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon to present to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, he let go of the balloon. His girlfriend now refuses to speak to him. - Reuters, 3/14/08
Ground temperatures in Death Valley can be about 40% higher than the surrounding air temperature. The highest ground temperature in Death Valley was 201 on July 15, 1972. - San Diego Union, 3/23/08
There is no question that cars are getting safer and safer. However, experts around the country say that the new technology is also hindering extraction of injured people, forcing rescue crews to work deeper into the "golden hour" between accident and treatment by emergency room doctors. - San Diego Union, 3/20/08
A Sicilian court has ruled that an accused Mafioso can go home because he was too big (462 lbs.) to fit through prison doors and in an prison bed. - MSNBC, 3/12/08
The Major League Baseball Florida Marlins are creating an all-male, plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. They hope to recruit seven to ten tubby men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season. - New York Daily News, 2/23/08
By the end of 2008, more than 50% of the world's population will own a mobile phone. - The Week Magazine, 2/22/08
The World Health Organization states that by the end of the century, usage of tobacco could claim 1,000,000,000 lives. - North County Times, 2/8/08
Christopher McCuin was charged with killing, dismembering, cooking and partially eating his girlfriend. While in jail, PETA has asked prison officials to put McCuin on a vegetarian diet. - The Week Magazine, 1/25/08
In 1998, a grass fire ignited 7 million discarded tires near Tracy, California - and the fire endured for two and a half years. - Discover Magazine, 2/08
The Canadian post office revealed that one of the volunteers who respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus had written obscene replies to at least ten children. A spokeswoman said, "We firmly believe there is just one rogue elf out there." - Reuters, 12/14/07
Police shot and killed two Angolan actors who were filming a heist scene, mistaking them for real robbers. - BBC News, 12/18/07
Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno gave a speech denouncing capitalism while wearing Gucci shoes and a Louis Vuitton tie. - Reuters, 12/14/07
Worldwide, if all incandescent light bulbs were replaced with energy-saving compact flourescent bulbs, 70% of the dramatic carbon reductions proposed in the Kyoto Protocol would be met. - Discover Magazine, 1/08
South Korean scientists have cloned cats that glow red when exposed to ultraviolet light. - San Diego Union Tribune , 12/14/07
The story / movie "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind" is closer to a reality, now that New York University neuroscientists have successfully removed a single traumatic memory from lab rats. - Discover Magazine, 1/08
Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, says Chris Goodall, author of "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life". He asserts that driving 3 miles would add less CO2 to the atmosphere than the CO2 generated in the process of processing the 100 grams of beef which you would need to replace the energy used to walk those same 3 miles. - The Times Online, 8/4/07
Louisiana is now the third largest movie production center in the United States, after California and New York. - The Week Magazine, 12/7/07
Palm Beach (Florida) Community College employees can get insurance for their pets, but not their domestic partners. - South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 11/24/07
New York City is on track (in 2007) to have the lowest number of homicides since they started keeping reliable statistics. What's even more striking is that only 35 of the murders have been determined to be committed by strangers - an amazing statistic. - New York Times, 11/23/07
6% of British homeowners use their credit cards to pay their mortgages, even though the average credit card interest rate is more than double mortgage rates. - Yahoo! News, 11/1/07
Boy Scouts in Los Angeles can earn a merit badge for learning about the evils of downloading pirated movies and music. - MSNBC.com, 10/20/06
The average monthly revenue per mobile services user in Kuwait is $71. The average monthly revenue per mobile services user in Sri Lanka is $2.83. - Network World, 12/3/07
Dutch police have charged a teenager with stealing $5,000 worth of virtual furniture in an online video game. - BBC News, 11/14/07
San Francisco, California is now omitting gender from its ID cards to city residents. It'll still include the birthdate, name and a photo, but not the usual "male" or "female" designations. - USAToday, 11/21/07
Canada's Royal Ontario Museum went hunting for a Barosaurus skeleton to add to its collection. They found it in an unlikely location - the museum itself, hidden in separate boxes for 45 years. The museum's personnel had just forgotten about it and put it into storage in 1962. Assembled, the skeleton will reach 80 feet in length. - Yahoo! News, 11/13/07
A sack of money - approximately $15,000 - fell out of an armored car in Stony Brook, New York. The bag burst open, money fluttering everywhere. Bystanders chased down the bills, returning all but $128 of the total. - The Week Magazine, 11/16/07
City officials in Hanover, Germany, are defending their decision to include an image of an ax-wielding psychopath in this year's advent calendar for children. Fritz "Butcher of Hanover" Haarmann can be seen peeking from behind a tree, brandishing an ax. - The Week Magazine, 11/16/07
Costa Rica has no street signs, and many of their streets aren't named. Because of this, 20% of all mail isn't delivered, and the mail that is delivered takes an average of nine days to get to its destination. - Los Angeles Times, 11/5/07
In 2002, there were no billionaires in China. In 2007, there are 106 billionaires. - The Week Magazine, 11/16/07
Passengers aboard a Sri Lankan Airlines flight revolted and refused to let the plane take off when they discovered part of the wing had been sheared off in an accident the prior day. The airline insisted the plane was safe without the wingtip. - Boston Herald, 11/4/07
Mohamed Al-Owhali, serving a life sentence for his part in bombings that killed 224 people, filed a lawsuit complaining that jailers have taken away his Walkman and have given him nothing to read except months-old copies of USA Today with pages missing. - The Week Magazine, 11/16/07
Japan's Kaneko Sangyo Company is marketing a portable toilet for your car. It supposedly will "come in handy during major disasters, such as earthquakes, or when you are caught in a traffic jam". - Yahoo! News, 10/23/07
For every 1,000 people age 65 and older who "retire" to Florida, there are about 481 that leave Florida, usually to go back to their original location. - Marketwatch.com, 10/17/07
A small boy got his head stuck in a traffic cone - pretending to be Harry Potter. Six fireman worked on the 3 year old for 30 minutes to free him. - FOX News, 10/23/07
Australian authorities claim their latest campaign against speeders is very successful. The campaign suggests that men who speed are compensating for having small penises. - MSNBC, 7/17/07
A four year old schoolgirl in England attached a letter to a balloon, and launched it in July 2007 during a school science fair. She received an answer from a man who found it on August 25, 2007 - in China (6,000 miles away). - The Week Magazine, 10/19/07
A German politician, Gabriele Pauli, has proposed that all marriage vows last only seven years. Ms. Pauli has been married twice, and her last marriage lasted (you guessed it) seven years. - London Times Online, 9/21/07
Alex Pepperberg's last words before he died were, "You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you." Alex was a 31 year old gray parrot. - New York Times, 9/11/07
The Venezuela National Electoral Council has introduced a bill to ban parents from giving their children names that are "extravagant or difficult to pronounce". This bill is intended to limit exposure of the child to ridicule. - New York Times, 9/5/07
For every 100 citizens of the United States, there are 90 guns, making America the most heavily armed country on Earth. India has the second largest civilian gun arsenal tally, with just 4 guns per 100 people. - Time Magazine, 9/10/07
Consecotaleophobia is the fear of chopsticks. - San Diego Union, 9/18/07
A 50 year old woman walked up to a sheriff's deputy and complained that a drug dealer had just sold her some "bad crack". She wanted the deputy to make the dealer give her the money back. The woman was arrested and charged with drug possession. - USAToday, 12/19/06
Dachshunds are disappearing from their native Germany, as birthrates for them have dropped 35% in the last decade. - The Week Magazine, 8/24/07
Venezuela has announced that the country's clocks are moving ahead a half hour. President Hugo Chavez noted, "It's about the metabolic effect". - New York Times, 8/26/07
Scientists have tracked hurricanes for 150 years. During that period, there has only been one hurricane to make landfall in South America; Hurricane Catarina in March 2004. - Discover Magazine, 9/07
Iraq's soccer team won the prestigious Asian Cup. Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds put aside their differences and poured into the streets to cheer the victory. Celebratory gunfire in the streets killed four. - The Week Magazine, 8/10/07
Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain is visited by approximately 30,000 climbers each year - so many that the French authorities plan to install public toilets at the top. - Times Online (London), 7/26/07
Only 7% of homes in Afghanistan have a flush toilet, but 19% have a television. - The Week Magazine, 8/17/07
Canadian researchers have developed a computer program that can never be beaten at the game checkers. - CNN, 7/20/07
Once your cell phone is charged, unplug the charger. If 10% of the world's cell phone users did this, it would reduce energy consumption by the amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 homes per year. - CNET News, 9/21/06
The Chinese city of Luoyang is attempting to be named a "state-level hygenic city". They have offered a bounty of 1,000 yuan (about $130) for every 2,000 dead flies turned in. - The Week Magazine, 7/20/07
A teenager, recovering from an auto accident in a German hospital, couldn't sleep because of the incessant beeping from the machine for the man in the next bed. So he unplugged the life-support unit of his neighbor. Luckily, nurses reconnected the machine to save the neighbor's life. - The Week Magazine, 6/29/07
A Chicago man had his house set afire by squirrels twice in eight days. Fire officials think that the squirrels dislodged high-voltage power lines which fell on the house. The second fire apparently killed the offending squirrels. - Chicago Sun-Times, 6/21/07
Kilmer Middle School in Virginia has banned all physical contact between students. This means no high-fives, according to the zero-tolerance rules. - MSNBC, 6/18/07
For Chicago Cubs fans, it was "Michael Barrett Bobblehead Day" at Wrigley Field recently. Trouble is, Michael Barrett was traded from the Cubs to the San Diego Padres two weeks earlier. Cubs management went ahead with the promotion anyway. - San Diego Union, 7/3/07
An estimated 2,000 pounds of marijuana went up in smoke during a warehouse fire in Texas. The 35 firefighters tackling the blaze reported disorientation and extreme lethargy. Fire chief Shawn Snider said that they would probably fail a drug test. - FOX News, 6/22/07
A manager of a Wendy's restaurant in Miami refused to give a customer more than 10 packets of chili sauce, so the customer shot him several times in the arm. - MSNBC, 5/31/07
A single gun shop in New Orleans (Elliot's) has sold 2,300 firearms that police have linked to crimes, including at least 125 murders, over the past five years. - USA Today, 6/13/07
Only 20 miles of Maine's 5,300 mile craggy coastline is open to commercial lobstermen and fishermen. Most fishermen now depend on privately owned docks. - Boston Globe, 6/17/07
Greenland is feeling the effects of global warming more quickly than anywhere else on the planet. Average winter temperatures have gone up nine degrees from 1991 to 2003. - CNN, 6/6/07
The Internet is running out of IP addresses. There are 4 billion combinations that make up an IP address. 3 billion are already taken, and the remainder will likely be gone by 2010. - The Week Magazine, 6/22/07
The United States divorce rate has fallen to the lowest level since 1970 (3.6 divorces out of 1,000 people). - MSNBC, 5/10/07
A Dutch hospital is begging public-minded citizens to stop donating their bodies for science. The University Medical Center in Leiden has 60% more bodies than it can store. - The Week Magazine, 5/25/07
Hundreds of Indian rail passengers were told to get out of their stalled train and push. After pushing the train about sixty yards to the next electricity pole, the train was able to restart and continue its journey. - Chicago Sun-Times, 5/17/07
One out of eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005. - North County Times, 5/8/07
There were 14,000 terrorist attacks globally in 2006. 47% of those took place in Iraq. Two-thirds of fatalities from these attacks worldwide occurred in Iraq. - Time Magazine, 5/14/07
40% of Amsterdam commuters get to work by bicycle. - The Week Magazine, 5/18/07
A woman faces a DUI charge after going through Sylvania, Alabama at midnight, allegedly ramming a police car. She was on horseback at the time. - Associated Press, 4/3/07
A dentist urinated in a surgical sink and used sterilized tools to clean his ears and fingernails, a General Dental Council (GDC) tribunal has heard. Alan Hutchinson, 51, is accused of unhygienic practices at his Branch Road Dental Practice, in Batley, West Yorkshire. - BBC News, 4/2/07
Most pencils in America are sold with eraser tips. Most pencils in Europe are sold without erasers. - Discover Magazine, 5/07
Hunters in Texas are now banned from using laser-sights on their high-powered rifles. This ban will soon be lifted, which will be a blessing to blind hunters in that state. - BBC News, 12/12/06
Until rubber erasers were invented, writers used bread crumbs to erase pencil marks. - Discover Magazine, 5/07
A black swan has fallen in love with a swan-shaped pedal boat in Muenster, Germany. This "love affair" has now gone on for two years. - News24 (Cape Town, South Africa), 3/30/07
A Chinese woman survived a plunge from a sixth-floor balcony because she fell into a pile of excrement (being pumped out of the building's septic tank). - Yahoo! News, 4/4/07
A Cincinnati, Ohio area Little League has banned negative baseball "chatter". - Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/30/07
Worldwide, there are 125,000 advertising video screens in Wal-Marts. - San Diego Union, 3/31/07
Fully one-third of all Washington DC's residents are functionally illeritate. - The Week Magazine, 3/30/07
The estimated mass of a 1 square kilometer in Germany is 78,400,000,000 tons, based on a geological evaluation of the thickness of the Earth's crust beneath Europe. The estimated mass of 1 square kilometer of Austria is 112,000,000,000 tons. - San Diego Union, 3/8/07
An very patient elderly Florida resident had the power restored to her home recently. Hurricane Andrew knocked the power out fifteen years ago. - KPIX-TV, 2/17/07
Computer servers now use an estimated 1.2% of all electricity in the United States. This is more electricity than the entire electrical consumption of Mississippi. - News.com, 2/15/07
Las Vegas is not the world's largest gambling market. The Chinese island of Macau has $7,000,000,000 in annual revenue. - MSNBC, 1/24/07
57% of British women wear a D-cup bra. Only 10% of Italian women wear a D-cup. - United Press International, 2/13/07
The Vatican has the highest per-capita crime rate in the world. It had a crime rate of 1.5 crimes per resident in 2006. - The Week Magazine, 2/2/07
An Argentine soccer fan was furious when he discovered that instead of his favorite team's logo, a tattoo artist had etched a penis on his back. The tattoo artist was a fan of rival club. The underage victim said he did not realize the artist's chicanery until he went home and show the tattoo to his parents. - UPI, 1/22/07
Students are not allowed to talk during lunch at St. Rose of Lima school in Rhode Island - a silent lunch will ensure that teachers can identify a choking child in time to administer the Heimlich maneuver. - The Week Magazine, 2/9/07
The town of Xiqiao, China (population 35,000) is home to 40 violin companies. - Sarasota Herald Tribune, 1/17/07
Tucson, Arizona residents have seen small white rats swimming through sewer pipes and into their toilets. - ABC News, 1/8/07
Scientists in Dublin have found traces of cocaine on 100% of the currency they tested. - BBC News, 1/10/07
December 2006 was the first December in 130 years that had no recorded snowfall in New York City. - New York Times, 1/1/07
Only 25 of the 535 members of Congress have come under fire in combat. - The Week Magazine, 1/19/07
For every 100 girls born in China, there are 118 boys born (2005). - BBC News, 1/12/07
Further proof of global warming: Bears started to hibernate two months late as warm weather extended into November. - MSNBC, 11/15/06
The penalty flags that are thrown by referees in the NFL are actually weighted down with unpopped popcorn kernels. - North County Times, 1/23/07
In Tokyo, you can buy ice cream of many unusual flavors, including octopus, shrimp, horseflesh and cow tongue. - BBC News, 4/28/05
383 bills were signed into law during the 106th session of Congress. More than 90 of them dealt with naming or renaming federal buildings. - The Week Magazine, 1/12/07
The long arms of the world's tallest man reached in and saved two dolphins by pulling out plastic from their stomachs. - Fox News, 12/16/06
Scottish soldiers are being forced to share kilts. Because of a dispute with manufacturers, one kilt must be shared by 15 soldiers. - USA Today, 12/18/06
A man was arrested in Los Angeles for attempting to smuggle through Customs two pygmy monkeys in his underwear. - San Diego Union, 9/18/06
Sweden plans to have an oil-free economy within 15 years. - Discover Magazine, 1/07
Fuenlabrada, Spain has clothed half of the stick figures (used on its signs) in skirts, in a gesture to assure gender balance. - The Week Magazine, 12/15/06
China adds a new coal-fired power plant every seven to ten days. - New York Times, 11/25/06
The odds are 1 out of 26,239 (.003811%) that you will be killed this year by an AK-47 automatic weapon. - The Week Magazine, 12/8/06
The World Chess Federation announced that, at this week's Asian Games, players must submit to random drug testing. - The Week Magazine, 12/8/06
More than 155,000 American women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. 16,000 of those are single mothers. - Washington Post, 11/24/06
A man lost in the woods near Corvallis, Oregon, was rescued thanks to the glowing screen of his iPod. - The Week Magazine, 12/1/06
A fireball created at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Upton, NY (a particle accelerator) had the characteristics of a black hole. Physicists are reasonably sure that no such black holes could escape and consume Earth. - Discover Magazine, 11/06
A Colorado judge has banned a couple from smoking in their own home. - The Week Magazine, 12/1/06
The average American home now has more television sets than people. - CNN.com, 9/22/06
A California woman tried to shoot her husband in the head through the back of his La-Z-Boy recliner. The chair absorbed most of the bullet's force. The man followed his wife into the kitchen and complained, "You shot me!" - The Week Magazine, 12/1/06
The globe may be warming, but the oceans have lost .03 degrees Celsius from 2003 to 2005. - Discover Magazine, 12/06
President George Bush's daughter Barbara had her purse and cell phone stolen in Argentina. Secret Service agents were only yards away at the time of the theft. - The Week Magazine, 12/1/06
There are more overweight people in the world than undernourished people, according to the World Health Organization. - BBC News, 8/15/06
Although it was played up as fun in the movie "Borat", the kidnapping of your bride in Kazakhstan is actually an old custom (this custom is now outlawed). - The Week Magazine, 12/1/06
Cleveland, spelled backwards, is DNA Level C. - San Diego Union, 9/21/06
Scientists at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics announced the invention of the first pill to combat stupidity. - The Week Magazine, 8/18/06
More people commit suicide in New York than are murdered. - Discover Magazine, 9/06
Since the U.S. Army increased the age limit for enlistees from 40 to 42, only five people aged 40-42 have signed up. - The Week Magazine, 8/25/06
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has sent a get well note to Cuba's Fidel Castro, who has undergone stomach surgery. - Reuters, 8/3/06
Homeland Security's database of "critical infrastructure and key resources" include a popcorn factory in Indiana, a petting zoo in Alabama, and a kangaroo conservation center in Georgia. - The Week Magazine, 8/11/06
Homeland Security issued $420 million of credit cards for use in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. According to a government audit, some of the charges on these cards included $7,000 worth of iPods for Secret Service officers (supposedly used for "data storage") and $68,000 worth of dog booties. - Time Magazine, 7/31/06
An entire island composed of trash has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean. It is twice as large as Texas. Plastic objects prevail among the trash. The "island" weighs approximately three million tons. - The Week Magazine, 8/18/06
Operators of four-wheel-drive vehicles are four times more likely to forgo wearing seat belts. The drivers think they are safer in such vehicles and so feel freer to engage in this risky behavior. - San Diego Union, 7/4/06
A "grande" latte costs $3.50 in Shanghai, China. The average annual wage in Shanghai is $3,800. If you extrapolate that percentage to an average wage of $50,000 in America, the cost of that latte is over $54.00. - The Week Magazine, 12/15/06
Iran imports most of their gasoline as their country has few refineries. On a net basis, Iran's gasoline imports rank second in the world. - US Government Joint Economic Committee - 3/06
Nearly all American homeless people have an e-mail address. - Wired Magazine, 6/22/06
40% of Americans feel that "the End Times are nigh". - The Week Magazine, 7/14/06
Approximately 1,000 new residents move to Florida each day. - Wall Street Journal, 5/23/06
The trails to the top of Mt. Everest are littered with garbage and more than 120 corpses of climbers that didn't make it. - The Week Magazine, 6/30/06
Baggy pants have helped out law enforcement: young male suspects have become much easier to catch because they trip over their own trousers. - ABC News, 6/20/06
One in six Britons have been drunk at work. The most common reason for people under 30 to call in sick is a hangover. - The Week Magazine, 6/16/06
There is currently only one active sperm donor in the entire country of Scotland due to recent changes in the law removing the right to anonymity. - Sunday Times, 5/7/06
The DMZ between North and South Korea is the most fortified border in the world. Because so few people venture into the area, it is also one of the most prolific wildlife areas because of the lack of human interaction. - National Geographic, 6/00
There are 67 elevators in Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. They travel at over 37 miles per hour. They are pressurized to help prevent passengers' ears from popping. - Popular Mechanics, 3/16/04
A pet catfish is suspected to have caused a house fire in the UK. The fish's splashing caused water to spill on an electrical plug, starting a fire that spread to the couch and eventually the entire house. The fish died in the fire. - TimesOnline, 5/9/06
It's not uncommon now for dog owners to claim their pets as "service animals" to allow them entry into restaurants, hotels and airplanes. Owners claim the dog is needed for their "mental health". Airlines say passengers have made similar claims for cats, monkeys and a duck. - The Week Magazine, 5/26/06
Terrorists last year killed more than 14,500 people around the world. Only 56 were Americans. - The Week Magazine, 5/12/06
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
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
A television charity event turned deadly when participants in a "test of strength" pulled a train and two carriages on the tracks - and the vehicle gained speed and ran them over. Seven people were killed and there were numerous limbs severed, all while 3,000 children who attended the event watched in horror. - BBC News, 3/18/06
In the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, all seven astronauts died, but hundreds of nematode worms (carried in canisters to study the biology of weightlessness) survived. - Discover Magazine, 4/06
The town of Ismay, Montana briefly changed its name to become Joe, Montana, in 1993 for one football season, then extended the gag for another year. The name change worked out well for what was then the smallest incorporated town in the state. Ismay raised more than $70,000 selling Joe, Montana souvenirs. The Ismayans, or Joeys (whatever you want to call them) used the money to build a combination community hall-firehouse. - Billings Gazette, 11/20/05
Dean Pomerlau has a pet goldfish that can do tricks (such as pushing a little soccer ball into a little net in its tank). - Discover Magazine, 4/06
The fire on Apollo 1 (1-27-1967), the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (1-28-1986) and the disintegration of Space Shuttle Columbia (2-1-2003) all happened within the same calendar week. - Discover Magazine, 4/06
Loving County, Texas is the emptiest county in the United States. The population in 2004 was 52 people. Yet it still received $30,000 in anti-terrorism funds from Homeland Security. - New York Times, 2/25/06
Americans spent $14,300,000,000 on dog food in 2004. That's $10,000,000,000 more than on baby food the same year. - The Week Magazine, 3/10/06
In the past six years, more drugs have been withdrawn from the market (or required by the FDA to carry warning labels) than have been approved for sale. - The Week Magazine, 3/3/06
India is racing to complete a spacecraft for moon orbit next year. Its space agency employs more people than NASA. - KTLA Los Angeles, 2/12/06
A University of Chicago study shows that consumers tend to choose products that begin with the first letter of their own first name. This phenomenon is most pronounced when the item is needed urgently. - The Week Magazine, 2/17/06
Because of a glut of whale meat in Japan, the Japanese government has started serving whale meat burgers to school kids. - San Diego Union, 2/14/06
A potato chip factory in Wales laid off 250 workers and gave each of them a bag of chips worth 50 cents as a good will gesture. - The Week Magazine, 2/24/06
The US Government levied a larger fine for the "wardrobe malfunction" in the 2004 Super Bowl than it did in 2001 when 13 Alabama miners were killed in an explosion. - USA Today, 2/9/06
The Spanish Winter Olympics team had every piece of its luggage lost by an airline en route to Turin, Italy, including all their skis and snowboards. - Yahoo.com, 2/9/06
When the lunar module of Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, it had just 20 seconds of fuel left. - NASA, 1/21/06
Cheap red wine was used to power environmentally-friendly buses in Sweden because of an ethanol shortage. - New York Times, 9/20/95
Taipei 101 is the world's tallest building - 508 metres (1,667 feet) high. At 700,000 tons, it is among the heaviest. But the sheer size of the Taiwan skyscraper is thought to have triggered two recent earthquakes because of the stress that it exerts on the ground beneath it. - The Guardian, 12/2/05
Americans spend more money on the purchase of garbage bags each year than the combined gross domestic product of 90 of the world's developing countries. - San Diego Union, 12/28/05
On average, every man, woman and child uses three gallons of oil daily. Transportation accounts for two of those gallons. - San Diego Union, 12/28/05
Wikipedia, the open-source on-line encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is nearly as error-free as Encyclopedia Brittanica, according to a team of expert reviewers. - The Guardian, 10/26/04
The average American home today contains more synthetic chemicals than the average chemical plant a century ago. - San Diego Union, 12/28/05
An official in Colombia has proposed a law that would require all males over 14 years old to carry a condom at all times. - CNN.com, 1/11/06
There are 1,385 Russian satellites currently in orbit. Only 96 of them are operational. - Popular Science, 2/06
A Chicago man used a frozen turkey to save two people trapped in a burning car. - The Week Magazine, 12/2/05
Sarasota, Florida is proposing to erect 70 fiberglass clowns throughout the city. - Sarasota Herald Tribune, 11/10/05
In Patras, Greece, four patrol cars took more than an hour to catch a gang of teenage thieves who had escaped on a cart pulled by a donkey. - The Globe And Mail, 11/28/05
Over 130 light poles have been stolen from the streets of Baltimore in recent weeks. They have all been sawed off and taken. - New York Times, 11/25/05
A farmer in Pennsylvania has painted his cows, horses and dog with bright orange fluorescent paint to prevent them from being mistaken as deer during hunting season. - Miami Herald, 11/29/05
A group of Minnesota pacifists has been picketing a local factory each Wednesday for ten years, even though the factory does not make land mine parts or cluster bombs anymore. - The Week, 11/18/05
A small fire at a grocery store turned frustrating for firefighters when some shoppers refused to budge from the checkout lines even as smoke filled the aisles. Afterward, a cashier said, "The store is on fire. Hello?" - WBAL TV, 11/3/05
The Hanna, Oklahoma High School basketball team lost 112-2 on Friday night to the Earlsboro, Oklahoma team. "It was embarrassing to watch," Earlsboro coach Jim Walling said. "But you can't just tell your kids not to score." - USA Today, 11/5/05
Employees of a television company have worked for weeks setting up more than 4,000,000 dominoes for an attempt at the Guinness World Record for falling dominoes. A sparrow flew through an open window and knocked down 23,000 of the dominoes after flying into the Leeuwarden exposition center before it was shot to death. - San Diego Union, 11/15/05
The Dutch Animal Protection Agency demanded prosecution for the shooting of the sparrow which knocked over 23,000 dominoes. - San Diego Union, 11/16/05
There are 200 Starbucks in London. 8 of them are within three blocks of St. Paul's Cathedral. - Miami Herald, 10/31/05
Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel. - Daily Telegraph, 10/26/05
A ski resort is opening in December 2005 in the desert of Dubai. - Yahoo News, 10/25/05
Al-Qaida has put job advertisements on the Internet asking for supporters to help put together its Web statements and video montages. The London-based Asharq al-Awsat said on its Web site this week that al-Qaida had "vacant positions" for video production and editing statements, footage and international media coverage about militants in Iraq. - MSNBC.com, 10/6/05
At least 50 American Colleges offer courses or majors in video game study. - USAToday, 9/25/05
A Viennese artists’ group this week installed a giant pink rabbit on the side of an Italian mountain, where it will stay for 20 years. “Rabbit,” a 200-foot-long woolen sculpture, looks like a cute child’s toy, until you climb over it to find its pink woolen entrails spilling out of a gash in its side. - The Week Magazine, 9/23/05
The rising number of men arrested for sexual relations with girls under 16 has resulted in the the Sri Lankan Cabinet to lower the age of consent to 13. - BBC.com, 9/16/05
A Chicago commuter train was traveling at 69 mph but should not have been going faster than 10 mph just before it derailed, killing two people and injuring dozens, said the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. - CNN.com, 9/18/05
The two states that a person is least likely to die from a natural disaster are Rhode Island and Connecticut. - Slate.com, 9/15/05
A town in Austria, whose name rhymes with "plucking", keeps losing their city limits signs. Officials are debating whether they should return to the town's ancient name, Vucckingen. - The Week Magazine, 9/16/05
Stirring up fears about global warming, the Russian supply ship Akademik Fyodorov sailed straight to the North Pole unassisted by an icebreaker in August 2005. This is the first time in recorded history that an ordinary ship has made it to the North Pole. - Novosti (Russian News and Information Agency), 8/30/05
The University of Iowa has painted the visitor's locker room a highly feminine shade of pink, including the urinals. - Des Moines Register, 8/21/05
Uninsured Americans spend an average of $934 annually on medical expenses. Insured Americans spend an average of $2,347 annually on health care. - The New Yorker, 8/22/05
California's San Joaquin Valley is the third smoggiest place in America, thanks to cows. The cows' flatulence and burping produce 50,000,000 pounds of organic compounds each year. This is far more than the area's cars produce. - Washington Post, 8/7/05
Over 500 swimmers attempted the Alcatraz to San Francisco swim in late July 2005. Coming in 72nd was Jake, the Golden Retriever. - USA Today, 8/1/05
The highway funding bill President George Bush signed in August 2005 is chock full of pet projects, like a 223 million dollar bridge in Alaska connecting a city to an island with only 50 inhabitants. - Yahoo News, 8/10/05
Being stuck in traffic has an advantage: Under 37 mph, most bugs bounce harmlessly off the hood and windshield. Above that speed, they splatter. - Discover Magazine, 9/05
In 2030, almost half of the United States' population growth will be in three states: California, Florida and Texas. - Discover Magazine, 9/05
A Santiago, Chile restaurant named "Car Crash" had to close temporarily because a car crashed into it. - Seattle Times, 7/28/05
Members of the Professional Association of Teachers in the UK have recommended that the word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms, to be replaced by "deferred success". - Yahoo News, 7/20/05
In Gevas, Turkey, over 1,500 sheep jumped off a cliff. Only 450 died, however, as the last thousand or so fell on a soft billowy white pile of other sheep. - Washington Post, 7/8/05
Rio de Janeiro lawmakers voted to eliminate the speed limit in many parts of the city so motorists can go fast enough to avoid robbers and carjackers. - Reuters, 6/27/05
Seattle Mariners pitcher Matt Thornton had to climb a fence and stand in line for a public restroom during a game, because the San Diego Padres’ new stadium has no toilet in the visitors’ bullpen. - The Week Magazine, 7/3/05
Pac-Man celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005. Only one person (Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida) has scored a perfect game - 3,333,360 points. - Associated Press, 6/14/05
The US government spends $12.68 each day to feed each prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. The US government spends $8.65 each day to feed each member of the US Armed Forces. - Newsday, 6/26/05
Three men who robbed a Virginia McDonald's restaurant were arrested after being identified by the DNA they left on their half-eaten hamburgers. - Associated Press, 6/21/05
Leaders of the Chinese town of Angfen have found a way to fill a vacancy on its foreign-investment committee. The town is going to hold a beauty contest for women between the the ages of 18 and 35. - The Week Magazine, 6/23/05
A police officer responding to an emergency call of a man struck by a car accidentally ran over the victim with his cruiser, authorities said. Investigators were uncertain whether the victim was already dead when he was struck a second time by the police car. - CNN.com, 6/10/05
The cost to the U.S. Roman Catholic Church of sexual predators in the priesthood has climbed past $1 billion. And the figure is guaranteed to rise, probably by tens of millions of dollars, because hundreds more claims are pending. - Boston.com, 6/9/05
The number of Americans that are killed by sharks averages about one per year. An average of 168 Americans die per year when their cars collide with deer. - Outside Magazine, 6/05
A woman is killed every six hours in South Africa by her domestic partner, and less than 40 percent of these homicides lead to a conviction. - CNN.com, 5/24/05
New research that examined data from the 2004 Olympics in Athens concludes that athletes who wear red seem to win close competitions more often. - Washington Post, 5/27/05
Total annual spending on weddings has risen to $125 billion, according to a recent survey by the Fairchild Bridal Group. This is as much as Ireland's yearly gross domestic product. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/10/05
All 529 runners who finished Chicago's recent Lakeshore Marathon actually ran 27.2 miles - a full mile longer than a traditional marathon. But participants didn't know about the mistake until the event was over. - Chicago Tribune 6/3/05
A recording of Pope John Paul II’s poetry set to a disco beat reached Number 3 on the Polish pop charts. - The Week Magazine, 4/8/05
Russia has 160 deaths for every 100 live births. The population of Russia has fallen by 5,000,000 in the last ten years. - Public Interest, 1/05
Today there are at least 230 million registered motor vehicles in the United States but only an estimated 105 million parking spaces. - New Republic, 5/6/05
The town of Timnath, Colorado, has banned smoking in bars and restaurants. Timnath, Colorado (population 223) has no bars or restaurants. - KCBS Los Angeles, 5/2/05
Right now, there are about 800 million cars in active use. By 2050, as cars become ubiquitous in China and India, that total will rise to be 3.25 billion. - Deseret News, 3/29/05
University of Illinois scientists have developed biodegradable chewing gum made from corn. This gum will decompose in two weeks on a sidewalk. - Discover Magazine, 5/05
On January 15, 1919, a 2,500,000 gallon tank filled with molasses burst in Boston. The 15 foot wall of molasses traveled through Boston at 35 mph, smothering 21 people and injuring 150. - CNN.com, 1/23/04
Valentine's Day, the day of love, is also the day that more divorces are initiated due to unmet expectations. - Reuters, 2/10/05
Paris Hilton's pet Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, was the culprit who got her T-Mobile account hacked into. Despite numerous attacks on her T-Mobile email and telephone records in past months, the socialite persisted on using her Chihuahua's name to secure her password. Like many online services, T-Mobile requires users to answer a "secret question" if they've forgot their password. For Paris' account, the secret question was "What is your favorite pet's name?" For most customers, this question would be secure. However Paris makes no secret of her affection for her pet. - St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/25/05
Police in London tell Reuters that thieves successfully used an acetylene torch to gain access to an ATM, but they burned up all the money in the process. - Reuters, 3/9/05
Canada is seriously considering annexing the Turks and Caicos Islands - small islands in the Caribbean. - Calgary Herald, 2/7/04
A pet insurer in Britain has estimated that the average dog costs about $48,000 to look after over the course of its lifetime. - NBC News Online, 3/6/05
