Do We Really Use Only 10 Percent Of Our Brains?

   Psychologists in the early twentieth century commented that humans use only 10 percent of their brains, Albert Einstein also indicated that humans use only a small portion of the brain. It's a theory that has been propounded in television documentaries, magazines, advertisements and books over the past century. Psychics have also latched on to it as a possible explanation for paranormal behavior, attributing unusual incidents to the workings of the unused portion of the brain. They profess that 90 percent of the brain consists of untapped potential that is capable of remarkable feats.
   Nearly all scientists now agree that the theory that we use only 10 percent of our total brain function is completely unfounded. In fact, they question how this figure was arrived at in the first place and what areas of the brain are supposed to be redundant. The theory supposes that if 90 percent of the brain were removed, a person would still be able to function normally, whereas in reality it is known that damage to even a small area of the brain can result in physical devastation.
   In addition, most significant disorders of the brain involve only a small and very specific area of the brain. If the 10 percent argument was true, it's unlikely that so many problems would persistently occur in that area. And if we use only 10 percent of our nerves and neurons in the brain, how would this be measured? Indeed, imaging of the brain in scans shows that all parts of the brain are used for different activities and that many areas of the brain are used for some complex activities or thought processes. Throughout the course of one day, most areas of the brain are active at some time, even during sleep. The 10 percent theory suggests that a discrete area of the brain is not used, whereas scans reveal activity throughout the entire brain and not in any isolated segment. The final nail in the 10 percent theory is the fact that neurosurgeons carefully map the brain before removing tumors so that they don't compromise other essential areas. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence to support the 10 percent theory.

Is Suicide Illegal?

   The word "suicide" is a Latin-derived word meaning "to kill oneself" and refers to the act of intentionally ending one's life. In order to be considered suicide, the death must be the main reason for the act and not simply a consequence. For this reason, so-called suicide bombers and kamikaze pilots are not technically committing suicide.
   Attitudes toward suicide vary from culture to culture and religion to religion. Many philosophers in ancient Greece and ancient Rome considered it honorable to kill oneself in certain circumstances, while Islamic law is a sin.
   Western civilization has traditionally looked unfavorably upon suicide, and for many years it was a crime in many jurisdictions. In England, by the tenth century it was considered a crime, and by the seventeenth century anyone who committed suicide forfeited his or her personal property. It wasn't until 1961 that suicide and attempted suicide were decriminalized in England, while in Ireland suicide was decriminalized as late as 1993. Strangely, when suicide was still considered a crime, it was considered punishable by death.
   As of 1963, six states in the U.S. still considered attempted suicide a crime, but by the 1990s this number was reduced to two states and today suicide is legal everywhere in the U.S. For this reason, the word "commit" is often avoided in connection with suicide, as it implies that the act is a crime.
   While the act of suicide isn't a crime, it can have negative consequences. Most insurance companies, for instance, won't pay out to the beneficiary of a person holding a life-insurance policy who has committed suicide. In addition, many jurisdictions still consider assisting someone in the act-such as a medical professional performing euthanasia-as a criminal offense. Euthanasia consequently remains a hotly debated topic.

Strange Species & Hump Day

   A Geep is a cross between a goat and a sheep.
   The only purple animal is the South African Blesbok.
   The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.
   There have been more than fifteen hundred documented sightings of Bigfoot since 1958.
   Thr largest known egg ever laid by a creature was that of the extinct Aepyornis of Madagascar. The egg was nine and a half inches long.
   The pichiciego is a little-known burrowing South American animal that is related to the armadillo but is smaller in size. The ending of the animal's name is derived from the Spanish word ciego, meaning "blind."
   Unrelated to the chicken, the male cock-of-the-rock bird earned the name "cock" because of its roosterlike appearance and combative behavior . The female of the species influenced the word rock being added to the name because of her habit of nesting and rearing the young in sheltered rock niches.

   The world camel population is approximately twenty million.
   The longest recorded life span of a camel was thirty-five years, five months.
   A camel's backbone is just as straight as a horse's.
   Camel's milk does not curdle.
   Camels have three eyelids to protect their eyes from blowing sand.
   Traveling at a rate of two to three miles per hour, camels can carry five hundred to one thousand pounds on their backs. They are able to keep up this pace for six or seven hours a day. Camels will refuse to carry loads that are not properly balanced.
   There are fewer than one thousand Bactrian camels left in the wild. They have survived in a land with no water in an area used for nuclear testing. Their numbers, however, are falling dramatically as humans encroach farther and farther into China's Gobi Desert.
   The fur of the vicuna, a small member of the camel family that lives in the Andes Mountains of Peru, is so fine that each hair is less than two-thousandths of an inch thick. The animal was considered sacred by the Incas, and only royalty could wear its fleece.

  
  

International Palettes

   Dinner guests during the medieval times in England were expected to bring their own knives to the table.
   In eighteenth-century France, visitors to the royal palace in Versailles were allowed to stand in a roped-off section of the main dining room and watch the king and queen eat.
   In certain parts of India and ancient China, mouse meat was considered a delicacy.
   Each year, Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.
   It is estimated that Americans consume ten million tons of turkey on thanksgiving Day. Due to turkey's high sulfur content, Americans also produce enough gas to fly a fleet of seventy-five Hindenburgs from Los Angeles to new York in twenty-four hours.
   The Southern dish 'chitlins" is made up of pigs' small intestines.
   Yogurt intake among North Americans has quadrupled in the past twenty-five years.
   In Australia, the number-one topping for pizza is eggs. In Chile, the favorite topping is mussels and clams. In the United States, it's pepperoni.
   The world's number-one producer and consumer of fresh pork is China.
   China produces 278,564,356,980 eggs per year.
   China's Beijing Duck Restaurant can seat nine thousand people at one time.
   If China imported just 10 percent of its rice needs, the price on the world market would increase by 80 percent.
   France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese. More than half of the different types of cheese in the world come from France.
   The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
   Japan is the largest exporter of frogs' legs.
   A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
   Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.
   Since 1978, at least thirty-seven people have died as a result of shaking vending machines in an attempt to get free merchandise. More than one hundred have been injured.
   Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune systems.
   The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma in an emergency.
   You should not eat a crayfish with a straight tail. It was dead before it was cooked.
   Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
   Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
   There are more than fifteen thousand different kinds of rice. Rice is grown on more than 10 percent of the earth's farmable surface and is the main food for half of the people of the world.
   Rice is thrown at weddings as a symbol of fertility.
   Shredded Wheat was the first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal.
   The wheat that produces a one-pound loaf of bread requires two tons of water to grow.
   No two cornflakes look the same.
   My Favorite
   the U.S. government spent $277,000 on "pickle research" in 1993.
  
  

Public Opinion & Statistics

   One out of four people do not know what their astrological sign is.
   Fifty percent of teenage boys say they would rather be rich than smart.
   Fifty-seven percent of British schoolkids think Germany is the most boring country in Europe.
   Sixty-nine percent of men say they would rather break up with a girl in private.
   Seven percent of Americans think Elvis is still alive.
   Nine percent of Americans report having been in the presence of a ghost.
   Only 55 percent of Americans know that the sun is a star.
   More than 50 percent of Americans believe in the devil.
   About 5 percent of Americans claim to have talked to the devil personally.
   Fifty-eight percent of men say they are happier after their divorce or separation.
   Eighty-five percent of women say they are happier after their divorce or separation.
   Eighty-two percent of the world's population believes in an afterlife.
   Fifty-five percent of men wash their hands after using a toilet.
   Eighty percent of women wash their hands after using the toilet. 
   Statistically, the safest age of life is ten years old.
   Summer is statistically the most hazardous season.
   You are more likely to get attacked by a cow than a shark.
   In the next seven days, eight hundred Americans will be injured by their jewelry.
   Men are 1.6 times more likely to undergo bypass surgery than women.
   Twenty-two thousand checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour.
   An estimated 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.
   About 811,000 faulty rolls of thirty-five millimeters film will be purchased this year.
   One in ten people are arrested every year in the United States.
   Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are four to one.
   Fifty percent of bank robberies take place on Fridays.
   Chances that a burglary in the United States will be solved: one in seven.
   About 43 percent of convicted criminals in the United States are rearrested within a year of being released from prison.
   Sweden has the least number of murders annually.
   The murder rate in the United States is two hundred times greater than in Japan. In Japan, no private citizen can buy a handgun legally.
  

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

   The Beatles featured two left-handed members: Paul, whom everyone saw holding his Hoffner bass left-handed, and Ringo, whose left handedness is at least partially to blame for his "original" drumming style.
   The Beatles performed their first U.S. concert in Carnegie Hall.
   The Beatles song "A Day in the Life" ends with a note sustained for forty seconds.
   The Beatles song 'Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and The Beatles at a religious retreat in India.

A Weather Eye

   A normal raindrop falls at about seven miles per hour.
   A downburst is a downward-blowing wind that sometimes comes blasting out of a thunderstorm. The damage looks like tornado damage, because the wind can be as strong as an F2 tornado, but debris is blown straight away from a point on the ground, not lifted into the air and transported downwind.
   A wind with a speed of seventy-four miles per hour or more is designated a hurricane.
   An inch of snow falling evenly on 1 acre of ground is equivalent to about 2,715 gallons of water.
   At any given time, there are eighteen hundred thunderstorms in progress over the earth's atmosphere.
   A cubic mile of fog is made up of less than a gallon of water.
   The two hottest months at the equator are March and September.
   A rainbow can only occur when the sun is forty degrees or less above the horizon.
   Meteorologists claim they're right 85 percent of the time.