The Extraordinary Book of Useless Information

by Don Voorhees

  A PERIGEE BOOK

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA)

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  Copyright © 2013 by Don Voorhees

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  PERIGEE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA).

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  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-62139-4

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Voorhees, Don.

  The extraordinary book of useless information : the most fascinating facts that don’t really matter / Don Voorhees. — First edition.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-0-399-16517-7

  1. Questions and answers. I. Title.

  AG195.V645 2013

  031.02—dc23 2013017463

  First edition: September 2013

  While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Most Perigee books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write: Special.Markets@us.penguingroup.com.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Mascot Musings

  Body Shop

  It’s Not Rocket Science

  Sports Page

  Wild Things

  Star Power

  USA Today

  The West Wing

  What in the World?

  Way Back When

  Not Necessarily the News

  Wordsmith

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  To all my loyal readers who enjoy useless information as much as I do. Enjoy!

  Mascot Musings

  There are 1.8 million squirrel hunters in the United States.

  Squirrels will dig up crack cocaine buried by drug dealers/addicts, eat it, and become quite aggressive.

  Sugar Bush Squirrel is an eastern gray squirrel that was rescued by one Kelly Foxton and now is featured on its own website (sugarbushsquirrel.com) appearing in photos wearing one of three thousand custom-made little outfits and posed with various props.

  Female red squirrels will mate with up to fourteen different males a day when in heat.

  In 2012, a bright purple squirrel was captured in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. Scientists were unable to explain its bizarre coloring.

  Marmots, which are really large ground-dwelling squirrels, now leave hibernation earlier in the Rocky Mountains and are getting fatter, due to global warming.

  Twice in one week, a flying squirrel invaded the emergency room at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

  Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a 100-million-year-old saber-toothed squirrel in Argentina.

  Squirrels in California have been found that carry the plague.

  Just in time for Christmas, one enterprising company is now selling freeze-dried squirrel’s feet earrings.

  Body Shop

  OH BABY!

  Babies can’t taste salt until they are between two and six months old.

  Infants have taste buds all over the insides of their mouths, not just on the tongue.

  A protein called, appropriately enough, noggin delays the plates in a baby’s skull from fusing together until the baby reaches the age of six months.

  A baby born in 2011 has a 50 percent chance of living to be one hundred, according to current estimates.

  Babies born in the autumn have a better statistical chance of living a long life.

  The most popular day for a baby to be born is Tuesday, followed by Monday. Sunday is the slowest day in that regard.

  The most babies are born in September, followed by August, June, and July.

  An infant loses much more heat through its head than an adult, which accounts for those caps put on babies in hospital maternity wards. An adult loses about 10 percent of body heat through the head.

  New studies have found that “third-hand” smoke, found in clothing, is a danger for young children’s brain development.

  One in ten women report having smoked during pregnancy.

  Scientists suspect that about one in eight pregnancies are multiples at the very beginning, but one fetus dies early and is never detected. This is known as a “vanishing twin.”

  Fetuses can regrow almost any body part damaged in the womb and children under two have been known to regrow fingertips.

  THE EYES OF BABES

  At the age of six months, babies stop fixating on other people’s eyes and begin watching their mouths to figure out, by lip reading, how to make the sounds of speech. By age one year, most babies have figured this out and go back to paying more attention to the eyes of others.

  THAT SUCKS

  Newborn boys have been known to die from disseminated herpes simplex virus Type I after undergoing the ultra-Orthodox Jewish circumcision ritual called metzitzah b’peh, where the rabbi (mohel) removes the blood from the penis using his mouth.

  LADIES’ ROOM

  The longer a woman’s labor is, the greater the likelihood that she will have a boy.

  The more pregnancies that a woman has, the greater the chance that she will develop gum disease.

  Cells from a human fetus can migrate into the mother’s brain and stay there for years.

  A 2012 study found that men whose mothers had high blood pressure during their pregnancy tend to score lower on IQ tests than those whose mothers had normal blood pressure levels.

  In the last three decades, the average woman’s foot has gone from a size seven and a half to a size eight and a half or nine.

  At the turn of the twentieth century, the average woman wore a size four shoe. From the forties to the sixties, five and a half was the average.

  Roughly 87 percent of American women have had foot problems from wearing ill-fitting or uncomfortable shoes, such as high heels.

  An increasingly popular surgical procedure for women is having their toes shortened, or even having their pinky toes removed, to make wearing stilettos and sandals easier.

  In general, women tend to increase their alcohol consumption after getting married. Men tend to drink less.

  Men are 1.5 times more likely to get Parkinson’s disease than women. Ladies seem to be protected somewhat by the female hormone estrogen.

  Men are also three times more likely than women to get hepatocellular carcinoma, the most prevalent type of liver cancer.

  WIVES WITH HIVES

  Som
e women are allergic to their partner’s semen. These unfortunate ladies suffer from seminal plasma hypersensitivity, which causes hives, tissue inflammation, and in the worst cases, death. Some twenty to forty thousand American women are affected.

  Even stranger, some men are allergic to their own semen. These men will show allergic symptoms around their eyes and nose and flu-like symptoms shortly after climaxing. Sufferers can be cured through hyposensitization therapy, where they are injected over time with ever-increasing doses of the allergen—namely their own semen.

  Some women suffer from autoimmune progesterone dermatitis. They break out in hives after ovulation each month due to a hypersensitivity to progesterone.

  Cold urticaria sufferers develop redness, itching, and hives after exposure to cold. Cold air, cold water, and cold drinks can trigger a reaction. Swimming in cold water can cause a full body reaction that may cause lowered blood pressure, fainting, shock, and even death.

  In 2001, a nineteen-year-old man died from cardiopulmonary arrest after eating pancakes made from a box of mix that had been opened two years earlier. Apparently the man was highly allergic to a mold that had grown in the mix.

  9,400,000 American children suffer from skin allergies, and 3,443,000 suffer from food allergies.

  Kids from wealthy families are more likely to suffer from peanut allergies than less affluent children.

  PARASITE POWER

  Before the twentieth century, autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes, were virtually nonexistent. This is because people bathed and washed very infrequently years ago, and all that filth activated an immune response. Today’s hygienic practices remove parasites that the immune system was designed to attack, and it attacks itself instead. This is why these diseases are much less prevalent in less-developed countries today.

  Scientists are now using therapies where microscopic worms and their eggs are ingested by those suffering from Crohn’s, celiac disease, and ulcerative colitis to reset the immune system, preventing it from attacking itself.

  THAT MAKES SENSE

  The front, back, and sides of the tongue have most of the taste buds. The middle has virtually no taste sensation.

  Humans have more pain nerve endings than any other type of nerve ending.

  The least sensitive spot on the body is the middle of the back.

  According to some researchers, humans recognize seven primary smells—camphoraceous (mothballs), ethereal (dry-cleaning fluid), musky (perfume), pepperminty, pungent (vinegar), putrid (rotten eggs), and roses (floral).

  Some blind people can use echolocation, in much the same manner as some animals, to orientate themselves and determine the shapes and sizes of objects by using clicking sounds made with the tongue or tapping a cane on the ground.

  One notable practitioner of echolocation was Ben Underwood, who had both his eyes removed at age three, but was able to skateboard, ride a bike, and play basketball.

  Scientists have recently found that humans can actually smell fear and disgust in others, and that these emotions are contagious. Researchers collected the sweat of men viewing scary or disgusting movies and had women then smell said perspiration. The ladies sniffing the “scary” sweat opened their eyes wide in a frightened reaction and those getting a whiff of the “disgusting” sweat scrunched up their faces in revulsion.

  Women generally are more sensitive to smells than are men.

  GOLDILOCKS

  The Melanesians, who inhabit the islands north and east of Australia, are the only dark-skinned people to have blond hair.

  The single genetic mutation that causes blond hair in European populations occurred about eleven thousand years ago. Before this there were no blond Europeans.

  It is estimated that approximately one-third of adult white American and European females dye their hair some shade of blond.

  WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?

  Doctors now can transfer the feces of a healthy person into the colon of a person suffering from colitis. The procedure, known as fecal microbiota transplantation, involves processing the healthy poop into a smooth puree that is infused into the patient via an enema or colonoscopy tube. The healthy fecal microbes displace the bad microbes, alleviating the problem.

  WHAT AILS YOU

  The average healthy person has about ten thousand different germ species living in and on his or her body.

  All the microbes in a human body, taken together, weigh about three pounds.

  More than twelve thousand different diseases are known to affect humans.

  The plague originated in Mongolia when soil-dwelling bacteria mutated into killing machines.

  Plague still kills about three thousand people a year worldwide.

  The seasonal flu shot is only 62 percent effective at preventing influenza—not enough to prevent a global outbreak.

  Smallpox in the United States was eradicated in 1949, polio in 1979, measles in 2000, and rubella in 2004.

  Polio has been eradicated in every country in the world except Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan, where it is endemic.

  2011 saw the most deadly known outbreak of food-borne illness in history. An unusually virulent strain of E. coli bacteria found in fenugreek seeds, used to make sprouts, sickened more than four thousand people and killed at least fifty.

  Going out in the cold with wet hair or feet does not increase one’s chances of catching a cold or flu.

  The first diagnosed cause of cancer occurred in 1775, when a British doctor noticed a high rate of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps.

  One-half of all men and one-third of all women develop some type of cancer during their lifetime.

  A study has found that tanning bed use is responsible for 170,000 skin cancer cases a year. The International Agency for Research on Cancer lists ultraviolet radiation from tanning beds as a Class 1 carcinogen, the same category as tobacco smoke and asbestos.

  THE BIG FREEZE

  People who suffer from migraine headaches are more likely to get brain freeze.

  HO-HUM

  Contagious yawning occurs at a faster rate among friends and family than among strangers.

  NOW EAR THIS

  Scientists can now grow a replacement ear on someone’s arm and transplant it to their head.

  Australian artist Stelarc has implanted a third ear beneath the skin of his arm. He plans to attach a microphone to the ear once it has fully grown in and wirelessly link the device to the Internet so others can listen in.

  CURIOUS CONDITIONS

  Epidermolysis bullosa (junctional EB) is a rare disease that causes the skin to blister at the slightest movement. Babies born with the disease lack the protein needed to hold the inner and outer skin layers together, resulting in friction between the layers and blistering. The blisters are usually worst around the eyes and in the mouth. Life expectancy for such children is about one year.

  A Memphis, Tennessee, woman suffers from a mystery illness that causes human nails to grow from her hair follicles. She contracted the condition after an allergic reaction to steroids.

  A Las Vegas man who suffers from scrotal elephantiasis has a scrotum that weighs one hundred pounds. He carries around a plastic milk crate to support his massive testicles. Doctors have no idea what caused this condition and castration may be the only solution.

  Professional commercial voice-over man Tom Rohe lost his voice after having a wisdom tooth removed. Rohe, whose career was ruined, found that his speech returned whenever he took the sleep aid Ambien. He now takes low doses to be able to speak, but his voice is not back to its former professional quality.

  A condition known as rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder causes sufferers to act out their dreams while asleep. Kicking, punching, jumping, and screaming are common causes of injury that may result.

  Sultan Kösen of Turkey is the tallest man the
world. He suffered from acromegaly, a tumor on the pituitary gland that caused him to grow to a height of eight feet, three inches before surgery curtailed his continued growth in 2010.

  Adam Rainer is the only documented person who was both a dwarf and a giant. Born in Austria-Hungary, Rainer was just four feet tall at age eighteen. Due to what is believed to have been a pituitary tumor, he had shot up to seven feet, eight inches by the time of his death at age fifty-one.

  Congenital insensitivity to pain afflicts about one hundred Americans. Sufferers have a normal sense of touch and can feel hot, cold, and tickling, but feel no pain.

  The artificial butter flavoring used in microwave popcorn can be hazardous to one’s health. Diacetyl, used as a flavoring in the late 2000s, caused the respiratory disease bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn lung, in workers with long-term exposure to the chemical. A Colorado man who had eaten microwave popcorn twice a day for ten years won a $7.2 million lawsuit when he was diagnosed with popcorn lung.

  Porphyria is a condition that may cause the skin to blister and the feces and urine to turn purple when exposed to light, as well as other symptoms. Porphyra means “purple pigment” in Greek.

  Large joint arthropathy can cause the joints to turn black, as well as the whites of the eyes and the earlobes.

  Brainerd diarrhea is a sudden onset of explosive, watery diarrhea that lasts for months or years. Only time will cure this condition. It was first documented in Brainerd, Minnesota, in 1983.

  In rare cases, tumors called limbal dermoids, which produce hair, have been known to grow on the eyeball.

  People who have haemolacria cry tears of blood. This condition can have many causes, but is most prevalent in menstruating women and may be induced by the hormone estrogen.

  Nodding disease affects children in East Africa, causing permanently stunted growth and seizures that cause the head to nod. These seizures are brought on by eating or by feeling cold. Even the sight of food can bring on nodding. Once the child stops eating or is warmed up, they cease. Curiously, the eating of unfamiliar foods does not bring on seizures.