the human body has 45 miles of nerves

the mouth produces a quart of saliva a day

in ancient china people committed suicide by eating a pound of salt

chang hsien-chung, a chinese bandit, is credited with having killed 40 million people between 1643 and 1648.  he completely wiped out the population of szechwan province

in ancient rome it was consideredd a sign of leadership to be born with a hooked nose

when a person dies, hearing is generally the last sense to go.  the first sense lost is usually sight.  then follows taste, smell and touch'

it is possible to drown and not die. technincally the term "drowning" refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death by that process

the population of colombia doubles every twenty two years

the drug thiopentone can kill a human being in one second if injected directly into the blood

one 75 watt bulb gives more light than three 25 watt bulbs

those condemned to die by the axe in medieval and renaissance england were obliged to tip their executioner to ensure that he would complete the job in one blow.  in some executions, notably that of mary queen of scots, it took fifteen whacks of the blade before the head was severed

the nazis used the guillotine to execute prisoners during world war II.  their version of the punishment had the condemned person lying on his back with his eyes forced open so that he had to watch the blade as it descended

flies prefer to breed in the center of a room.  this is why experts advice placing flypaper away from corners

george washington was NOT the first president of the unnited states.  the first president was john hanson, marylands representative at the continental congress.  on november 5, 1781, hanson was elected by the constitutional congress to the office of "president of the united states in congress assembled."  he served for one year

a list of odd phobias:

ailurophobia-fear of cats
androphobia-fear of men
apiphobia-fear of bees
astraphobia-fear of storms
aviophobia-fear of flying
ballistophbia-fear of bullets
clinophobia-fear of beds
latrophobia-fear of doctors
ombrophobia-fear of rain
otophobia-fear of opening ones eyes
sitophobia-fear of food
trichophobia-fear of hair
vestiphobia-fear of clothing

there have been 262 popes since saint peter

in the us, there are 4 pipe smokers, 3 cigar smokers, 3 tobacco chewers and 1 snuff taker for every 17 cigarette smokers

at the outbreak of world war I the american air force consisted of only fifty men

only eight men were killed in the battle of lexington

the smell of a skunk can be detected by a human a mile away

it is possible for a fetus in the womb to get hiccups

WHOA COOL

an average of 400 million sperms are contained in a single human ejaculation

one out of every ten men in the united states is impotent (phil)

this is messed up

in past centuries infants in china were sometimes kidnapped and turned into "animal children"  every day, starting with the back, the captors would remove a bit of the unfortunate child's skin and transplant pieces of the hide of a bear or dog in its place.  this process was tedious, for the hide adhering only in spots, and the children had a habit of dying in the midst of treatment.  The captors also destroyed their victims' vocal cords, forced them by means of ingenious mechanical contraptions to walk on all fours, and tortured them to such an extent that the innocents were soon bereft of all reason.  one result of atrocities was the "wild boy of kiagnse", exhibited in the nineteenth century before a group of westerneres in china.  the child walked on all fours, made a peculiar barking sound, and was covered with a fuzzy, leathery kind of hide.  an american doctor named macgowan who witnessed this spectacle recorded that another method of creating child monsters in china was to deprivethe children of light for several years so that their bones would become deformed.  at the same time they were fed certain foods and drugs that utterly debilitated them.  bcgowan mentioned an oriental priest who subjected a kidnapped boy to this treatment and then displayed him to incredulous observers, claiming he was a religious deity.  the child looked like wax, having been fed a diet consisting mostly of lard.  he squatted with his palms together and was a driving idiot.  the monk, macgowan aded, was arrested but managed to escape.  his temple was burned to the ground.  (phew, that was tiring to type that all out)

every man woman and child who has died has died of the same cause, hypoxemia.  hypoxemia is a general term for inadequate oxygenation of the blood and cellular tissue.  after the heart has stopped beating, for whatever reason, the bodys tissues are no longer supplied with life giving oxygen.

executions

at the moment of being hanged, many observers have noted, the victim, if male, often has an erection and may even ejaculate

robert damiens, an assassin and member of the paris underworld in the eighteenth century, was hired by unknown conspirators to take the life of king louisXV.  the attempt failed, damiens was apprehended, and the greatest tortureres of the time were brought to paris to try to get him to divulge the names of his associates.  damiens skin was torn from his body , his hair, eyelids and elbows were singed to shreds, his teeth and finger joints were wretched out.  he was dragged about at the end of a rope tied to a team of horses.  he was sprinkled from head to foot with acid and seething oil, throughout all this horror, damiens who finally died from his wounds, never revealed the names of his employers.  historians still argue both questions, who was it that hired damiens? and more mysterious, why did he steadfastly refuse to divulge their names?

playing cards in india are round

a queen bee uses her stinger ONLY to sting another queen bee

spiders have transparetn blood

palindromes: (things that are spelled the same backwards)
red rum, sir, is murder
ma is as selfless as i am
mirth, sir, a gay asset? no, dont essay a garish trim.

laws:

it is illegal to own a dog in reykjavik, iceland

in idaho, a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.

in new york state, it is illegal to shoot at a rabbit from a moving trolly

in alaska it is illegal to look at a moose from the window of an airplane or any other flying vehicle

every citizen of kentucky is required by law to take a bath once a year (damn it phil, i keep on tellin u to take a bath, fuckin dirty ass)

in san salvador, drunk drivers are punished by death before a firing squad