6. Perhaps the reason there isn’t more evidence of alien visitation is that we are actually the offspring of the aliens. A current theory states that alien life moves through the galaxy like pieces of fluff off a dandelion. That makes me a little more thoughtful as I mow my lawn full of dandelions.
7. From the moment of conception to the delivery, human incubation takes about 38 weeks. That’s 266 days or 6384 hours. Despite nailing it down so precisely, only about 5% of births occur on the “due date”. Despite all the science, it’s the baby that decides when it’s ready, not the doctor or the mother.
8. The optimum balanced diet ratio for a human is 80% alkaline and 20% acid. Alkaline foods include fruits, vegetables, and beans. Acid foods include proteins like meat and fish as well as whole grains. It varies a little for each individual but the Atkins and vegetarian extremes should meet somewhere in the middle.
9. You really can die laughing. Greek philosopher Chrysippus (3rd century BC) died while he was laughing at a donkey eating figs. More recently, in 1989, Danish doctor Ole Bentzen suffered a cardiac arrest while watching the movie A Fish Called Wanda.
10. Despite what you see in the movies and television, in New York City there are more suicides than there are murders. Worldwide, there are between 850,000 and 1 million suicides each year. Women attempt more but men are more successful since men tend to use guns and women tend to try overdosing on drugs.
11. Nearly $100 million is spent annually on duct tape. That was before The Red Green Show went off the air. The number is sure to go down now. I saw a t-shirt that said, “When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.” To prove that point, a hunter in Alaska in September 2003 was attacked by a bear. He used his duct tape to close up the bite wounds before riding his ATV back to his truck and then to the hospital. No word on how many hairs came out when they pulled the tape off.
12. In 1675, Antony van Leeuwenhoek “discovered” bacteria but it took until Ignaz Fulop Semmelweis made the connection in 1848 between the little wiggly things and disease and realized that simply washing your hands could help prevent the spread of infections.
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