Attack of the Killer Facts!

1,001 Terrifying Truths about the Little Green Men, Government Mind-Control, Flesh-Eating Bacteria, and Goat-Sucking Vampires

Eric Gryzymkowski

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781440511967
• eBook ISBN: 9781440525391

Factoid Attack: Inherent sadistic streak in dentists confirmed!
The electric chair was invented by a dentist, Dr. Alfred Southwick. Not surprising, dentists have been perfecting torture devices for centuries.

Factoid Attack: Galaxy at risk! Intelligent life in short supply!
In 1961, Astronomer Frank Drake estimated the number of probable intelligent civilizations inhabiting our galaxy. Using conservative numbers, that estimate came to 10,000. Unfortunately, we are not included in that total.
Factoid Attack: Colorblind bulls hate all matadors equally!
The color of a matador's cape, or muleta, is traditionally red, which is widely believed to irritate the bull. In reality, bulls are colorblind, so it is irrelevant what color cape a matador uses to antagonize them. Shot in the dark, but maybe it's the being stabbed with swords bit that pisses them off.
Forget Fringe, Warehouse 13, and The X-Files. In this book, you'll find more weird and wacko truths than in all those combined. From golden poison dart frogs with enough venom to kill ten grown humans to cockroaches that can survive radiation 15 times stronger than what kills people, scary and strange just got scarier—and stranger!

MICROSCOPIC MAYHEM

GERMS, BACTERIA,
AND MICROSCOPIC
ORGANISMS SURE TO
RUIN YOUR DAY

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FACT ATTACK: Nuclear attack wipes out humanity, bacteria inherit earth! The Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium can survive a 15,000, gray dose of radiation. Ten grays is enough to kill a human, and 1,000 enough to kill a cockroach. The Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the world’s toughest bacterium. But think, if you swallowed a million of them you’d be invincible!

“Extremophiles: World’s Weirdest Life,” Live Science, www.livescience.com.

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FACT ATTACK: Scientists discover world’s laziest bacteria! The Thermococcus bacteria can survive on less energy than scientists once assumed necessary to sustain life. They also thought a man could not live on Hot Pockets and Red Bull alone. They were wrong.

“Extremophiles: World’s Weirdest Life,” Live Science, www.livescience.com.

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FACT ATTACK: Millions taken down by malaria! Approximately 300 million people around the world are affected by malaria. Every year between 1 and 1.5 million individuals die from the disease. But they are mostly the weak ones.

“Malaria,” microbiologybytes.com, www.microbiologybytes.com.

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FACT ATTACK: Beware female skeeters that suck blood! Only female mosquitoes can transmit malaria to humans, as the males feed on plant liquid instead of human blood. Best to swat indiscriminately, just to be safe.

“Malaria,” microbiologybytes.com, www.microbiologybytes.com.

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FACT ATTACK: Little germ factories out to make you sick! The flu begins to be contagious about one day before the patient exhibits symptoms and continues to be contagious for five to seven days in adults. For children the contagious period can last up to two weeks. Which is why you should never hug a child.

Julia Layton, “Are Colds and the Flu Most Contagious Before or After You Start Showing Symptoms?” Howstuffworks.com, http://health.howstuffworks.com.

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FACT ATTACK: Cannibalism causes world’s rarest disease! The rarest disease in the world only affects a tribe of cannibals in New Guinea. It is called Kuru, or laughing sickness, and scientists believe they contract it by eating contaminated human brains. But that’s the best part!

Sanjeev Garg, 501 Astonishing Facts (Pustak Mahal, 2010).

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FACT ATTACK: Deadly virus kills millions! Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a disease that attacks the immune system, has killed more than 26 million people since 1981. We can joke about it now though. South Park said so.

“Factsheets: CDC HIV/AIDS,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov.

“Global HIV/AIDS Estimates, End of 2008,” Avert, www.avert.org.

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FACT ATTACK: AIDS: the silent killer! One in five individuals living with HIV are unaware they are infected. At least the other deadly diseases have the courtesy to let you know they intend to end your life.

“Factsheets: CDC HIV/AIDS,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov.

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FACT ATTACK: It’s raining bacteria! Scientists believe that some species of bacteria that reside in clouds evolved the ability to induce rain showers to spread themselves over the earth. The bacterial invasion has already begun.

Christine Dell’Amore, “Rainmaking Bacteria Ride Clouds to ‘Colonize’ Earth?” National Geographic News, January 12, 2009, http://news.nationalgeographic.com.

FACT ATTACK: Parasites cheaper than salon dye job! An infestation of hookworms can cause the hair of the host to change color. The host’s fingernails may also change shape or even cave in. At least you know what to look out for now.

Eric Elfman, Almanac of the Gross, Disgusting, & Totally Repulsive: A Compendium of Fulsome Facts (RGA Publishing Group, Inc., 1994), 22.

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FACT ATTACK: Poop holds hundreds of eggs! During a hookworm infestation, a single gram of human feces can contain as many as 400 eggs. My condolences to the guy who had to measure.

Eric Elfman, Almanac of the Gross, Disgusting, & Totally Repulsive: A Compendium of Fulsome Facts (RGA Publishing Group, Inc., 1994), 22.

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FACT ATTACK: Warts are tough to avoid! More than 100 different viruses cause warts. You keep those suckers forever too. Like luggage.

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FACT ATTACK: Ladies’ rooms more vile than men’s rooms! Germs that can make you ill are twice as common in the women’s room as the men’s. Your dirty little secret is out, ladies.

The Sanders Family, Gross News: Gross (but Clean) Stories from Around the World (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2006).

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FACT ATTACK: Beware projectile vomit! If an individual suffering from food poisoning vomits in your immediate vicinity, it is possible to inhale the now airborne bacteria and get sick yourself. So no, I won’t hold your hair back.

The Sanders Family, Gross News: Gross (but Clean) Stories from Around the World (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2006).

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FACT ATTACK: Yellowstone hot springs a virtual petri dish! Scientists have found members of the Aquifex genus of bacteria living in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park which reach temperatures up to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. Not so much “living” as “not dying.”

“Extremophiles: World’s Weirdest...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Microscopic Mayhem: Germs, Bacteria, and Microscopic Organisms Sure to Ruin Your Day
• Extreme Insects: Creepy Crawly Creatures That Sting, Bite, Maimbite, Kill, and Maim
• Freaky Food: Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Food
• Circus Freaks: The Truth about the Wolf Boy and Other Freaks of Nature
• Insane Asylums and Crazy People: It’s Not a Crime If Your Dog Made You Do It
• Human Abnormalities: We Are Nothing If Not Weird
• What’S This Thing Do?: Dumb Discoveries and Terrifying Contraptions We Wish We Could Uninventuninvent
• Myths, Urban Urban Legends, and And Hearsay: If Enough People Saw It, It Trueit Must Be
• Animal Oddities: In Nature, Fact Is Always Stranger Than Fiction
• Paranormal Phenomena: The Unexplainable World of the Weird
• Aliens and Ufos: Where They Are Hiding and Why We Should Probably Stop Looking for Them
• Death by Lava Lamp: And Other Darwin Award Candidates and Other Darwin Award Candidates
• Let’s See What Happens: Strange Failed Experiments and the Even Weirder Ones That Actually Succeeded
• Weird Worldwide Customs: When In Rome …
• Even Crazier Phenomena: The Weirdest Facts The Universe Has to Offer the Weirdest Facts The Universe Has to Offer