Where is the Edge of Your Darkest Emotion?: Educate Yourself

The average lifespan of our taste buds is 7 to 10 days.
Undertakers report that human bodies do not deteriorate as quickly as they used to. The reason, they believe, is that the modern diet contains so many preservatives that these chemicals tend to prevent the body from decomposing too rapidly after death.
Hair grows slowest at night. It’s growth speeds up in the morning, slows down in the afternoon, and accelerates again in the evening. Hair grows faster in summer than in winter.
Only one letter separates "Love" from "Evil"
The Supreme Court once ruled the Federal income tax unconstitutional. Income tax was first imposed during the Civil War as a temporary revenue-raising measure. Try telling that to the IRS!
The first ballpoint pens, sold in 1945, were priced at $12.00 apiece.
Does marriage stink? A Swiss study found that a majority of women unconsciously choose mates with a body odor that differs from their own natural scents, which, as a result, ensures better immune protection for their children. Longevity magazine reported that the genes that battle disease-provoking substances also influence body odor.
A dolphin’s flipper has 5 digits and nearly the same bone structure as a human arm and hand.
In 1500 B.C. in Egypt, a shaved head was considered the ultimate in feminine beauty. Egyptian women removed every hair from their heads with special gold tweezers and polished their scalps to a high sheen with buffing cloths. In ancient Egypt, when merchants left the country on business trips, they carried small stone models of themselves. If they died while abroad, these figures were sent back to Egypt for proxy burial. Considering the cost of present-day funerals, this seems like a pretty good idea!
The British royal family changed their last name to Windsor from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha during World War I so as not to appear pro-German. They have never changed it back.
A buccula is a little-used term for a person’s double chin.
Singer Aretha Franklin has an extreme fear of flying. She won’t travel on airplanes, even for concerts clear across the country.
The average person spends 336 hours of his or her life kissing.
Talk about a rush! Kissing releases the same neurotransmitters in our brains as parachuting, bungee jumping, and running.
The average woman kisses 29 men before she gets married.
Men who kiss their partners before leaving for work average higher incomes than those who don’t.
When cats scratch furniture, it isn’t an act of malice. They are actually tearing off the ragged edges of the sheaths of their claws to expose the new sharp ones beneath.
Before becoming a worldwide icon, Madonna sold doughnuts at Dunkin’ Donuts.
A baby bat is called a pup.
Pee-Wee Herman was a Fuller Brush salesman.
A bird’s eye takes up about 50 percent of its head; our eyes take up about 5 percent of our head. To be comparable to a bird’s eyes, the eyes of a human being would have to be the size of baseballs.
Queen Victoria’s physicians prescribed marijuana to relieve her menstrual cramps.
During the War of Independence, more inhabitants of the American colonies fought for the British than for the Continental Army.
When the Civil War ended, the United States sued England for damages resulting from its construction of ships for the Confederacy. America initially demanded $1 billion in payment, but eventually settled for just $25 million. History doesn’t record whether the British check was certified or not.
Renaissance artist Michelangelo’s last name was Buonarroti, which he obviously never used
Tongue prints are as unique as fingerprints. So watch out where you leave them!
The dread Black Plague in Europe was partially due to the belief that people thought cats were witches. Therefore, all the felines were hauled away and incinerated, which left the rats (who hosted the true culprits: plague-breeding fleas) to run around towns and villages and multiply. Ironically, cat lovers giving felines safe haven were a large part of those who survived.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the Elizabethan champion of the scientific method, died in pursuit of a better way of preserving food. He caught a severe cold while attempting to preserve a chicken by filling it with snow.
In 1971, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies tried to steal a french fry from one of his brothers, singer Ray Davies. In retaliation, Ray stabbed Dave in the chest with a fork.
In spring of 2008, only 15 percent of freshmen had a zero balance, down dramatically from 69 percent in the fall of 2004. The median debt freshmen carried was $939, nearly triple the $373 in 2004.
The first drive-in service station in the United States was opened by Gulf Oil Company on December 1, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
If one were to unravel the entire human alimentary canal (esophagus, stomach, large and small intestines), it would reach the height of a 3-story building.
Silly Putty started as a mistake in a New Haven laboratory, and was turned into a consumer hit in the 1960s. According to engineers, Silly Putty is a self-contradiction. Chemically, it is a liquid, but it resembles a solid. The molecular structure will stretch if the structure is slowly pulled. But if tugged, it snaps apart. The toy has a rebound capacity of 75 to 80 percent, whereas a rubber ball has only about 50-percent capacity. A silicon derivative, Silly Putty won’t rot; it can withstand temperatures from minus 700 Fahrenheit to hundreds of degrees above zero. On top of all that, it picks up newsprint, which often appears sharper than the original.
Of the 6 million pregnancies each year 600,000 result in miscarriage.
In ancient Greece, prostitutes wore sandals with nails studded into the soles so that their footprints would leave the message "Follow me."
In October 1994, Jeff Bezos wanted to name his new Web venture "Cadabra," as in "abracadabra." But his attorney convinced him that this magical moniker sounded a bit too much like "cadaver." Reluctantly, Bezos went with his second choice: Amazon.com.
The average person gets 200 colds in his or her lifetime
In some places, flirting is illegal. In Little Rock, AR, an antiquated law is still on the books warning that engaging in playful banter may result in a 30-day jail term. In New York City, another outdated law mandates that men may be fined $25 for gazing lasciviously at a female; a second conviction stipulates the offender wear a pair of blinders whenever he goes out for a walk.
The hump of a starving camel may flop over and hang down the side of its body as the fat is used up.
When the female embryo is only 6 weeks old, it makes preparations for motherhood by developing egg cells. When the baby girl is born, each of her ovaries carries about 1 million egg cellsall that she will ever have.
A study of American coins and currency revealed the presence of bacteria, including staphylococcus and E. coli on 18 percent of the coins and 7 percent of the bills.
In 1982, young Sarah Michelle Gellar acted in the first commercial ever to mention a competitor by name. For Burger King, she claimed that the burgers of Burger King’s competitor were "smaller." McDonald’s sued her as well as Burger King. In the same commercial she claimed, "I only eat at Burger King." After that, Gellar couldn’t eat at a McDonald’s unless she was in disguise.
Though human noses have an impressive 5 million olfactory cells with which to smell, sheepdogs have 220 million, enabling them to smell 44 times better than men.
The belly scales on a snake are called scutes.
According to NHL rules, the home team is responsible for providing an adequate supply of official pucks which must be kept in a frozen condition. This supply of pucks must be kept at the penalty bench under the control of one of the regular off-ice officials.
The average four year-old asks over four hundred questions a day.
The largest toy distributor in the world is McDonald's.
The animal responsible for the most human deaths worldwide is the mosquito
Because steel expands when it gets hot, the Eiffel Tower is six inches taller in the summer than in the winter.
The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B.
Cinnamon is the only spice that "lasts for ever"; other spices do go bad.
From the smallest microprocessor to the biggest mainframe, the average American depends on more than 264 computers per day.
On the TV sitcom The Addams Family, it took actress Carolyn Jones 2 hours every day to put on Morticia’s vampirish makeup. She also wore a full-length wig made of black human hair.
After his death in 896, the body of Pope Formosus was dug up and tried for various crimes.
In 1 hour, your heart produces enough energy to raise almost 1 ton of weight a yard off the ground, and it beats 40 million times in a year.
In the court of French King Louis XI, the fine ladies lived mainly on soup because they believed that excessive chewing would cause them to develop premature facial wrinkles.
So much for hot sex. A recent study purports there are fewer births nine months after a heat wave. It found that an increase of about 21.600 Fahrenheit in summer temperatures reduces births the following spring by up to 6 percent. Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research concluded that high temperatures could reduce people’s sense of well-being, which could result in a reduction in sexual interest. Another study found lower sperm counts and higher rates of miscarriage during hot weather.
Did you know a 100 watt light bulb 5 cm away from your face is more intense than the sun?