{"product_id":"are-you-sh-tting-me-isbn-9780399168192","title":"Are You Sh*tting Me?","description":"\u003cb\u003eBlue Ice, Meteors, and Beaver Ass, Oh My! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFACT: The use of maggots to clean wounds has proven to be effective for patients who don't respond to traditional treatments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFACT: The Icelandic dish hákarl is beheaded basking shark that is buried in the ground for six to 12 weeks to putrefy before it is eaten.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFACT: Used during the Dutch Revolt, rat torture involved trapping rodents under a bowl on a prisoner's stomach then heating the bowl's exterior so the animals would eat through the victim's flesh to try to escape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFACT: The average person picks his nose five times every hour, occasionally eating what he picks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe world is a scary place, and it gets scarier every day. From the creator of the bestselling \u003ci\u003e1,001 Facts That Will Scare The S#*t Out Of You\u003c\/i\u003e comes this new collection of 1,004 (count 'em!) truly horrifying and horrifyingly true facts about the world around us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom ancient medical practices to doomsday scenarios, to disgusting food from around the world and the entire terrifying state of Florida, the facts in\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eAre You Sh*tting Me? \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eare sure to entertain and disturb you at once. Unless of course you are already disturbed, in which case this is the book for you!\u003cb\u003eCary McNeal \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the bestselling \u003ci\u003eScared Sh*tless\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You.\u003c\/i\u003e He is also an Emmy-winning humorist who writes for TV and the web.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWELCOME TO MY BOOK. I hope you enjoy it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat’s to enjoy about being frightened, you ask? That’s a good question. I suppose it’s like watching a horror movie: you know it’s going to freak you out, but you buy the ticket—or, in this case, the book—anyway. Maybe you like the thrill of fear. Maybe you’re a glutton for punishment. Or maybe someone gave the book to you as a gift. They might think you don’t have enough fiber in your diet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat about me? Do I write these books because I’m a sadist? Nah. When it comes to scary business, I believe that forewarned is forearmed. Think of me as someone who’s trying to help you by educating you. Because I’m a nice guy like that.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you want to learn more about any topic herein, check out the source list at the back of the book for links to more information. If you’ve read the other two books in this series, \u003ci\u003e1,000 Facts That Will Scare the Sh*t Out of You\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eScared Sh*tless\u003c\/i\u003e, welcome back and thanks for your support.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the rest of you: Be afraid.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCM\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWHAT’S SCARY ABOUT FLORIDA, you ask? Besides the fact that it looks like a giant wiener? I could cite any number of things: Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman, hanging chads, alligators, Key West, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Instead, I will ask you, which state do you think of whenever you hear a news story about someone eating someone else’s face off or a guy shooting up a Burger King with a bazooka because they didn’t hold the pickles on his Whopper Jr.? Right: Florida. And if you don’t think of Florida first, you’re not paying attention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 1      \u003cb\u003eA mother–daughter duo in Tampa are partners in pornography.\u003c\/b\u003e Jessica and Monica Sexxxton post home movies on their own site and will have sex with the same person at the same time, though they claim they never touch each other on camera. Whew! For a minute there I was creeped out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 2      In 2012, fifty-year-old cougar Jennie Scott of Manatee County was arrested for beating the crap out of her thirty-two-year-old boyfriend after \u003cb\u003ehe climaxed first during a 69 love-session\u003c\/b\u003e and refused to continue pleasuring her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 3      A Jacksonville man, Allen Casey, was arrested in 2012 for hitting his boyfriend in the face with a plate for playing too much Alanis Morissette music. Casey defended himself to police, saying, \u003cb\u003e“That’s all that motherfucker listens to.”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 4      In July 2013, Josue Rodriguez of Lake Worth \u003cb\u003eattacked his roommate with a machete\u003c\/b\u003e after the roommate changed the radio station while Rodriguez was in the shower. Who keeps a machete in the shower?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 5      Three San Mateo men were arrested in 2013 for stealing a nine-foot-tall, six-hundred-pound purple aluminum chicken from a roadside stand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 6      A Lake County man was arrested in June 2013 for leaving \u003cb\u003enude photos of his former roommate\u003c\/b\u003e on the cars of the roommate’s co-workers and grandmother after the roommate moved out. The victim had allowed the photos to be taken in return for room and board.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 7      Kingsley Lake, or “Silver Dollar Lake,” is \u003cb\u003ealmost a perfect circle\u003c\/b\u003e, spanning nearly two thousand acres with a surprising depth of ninety feet. The reason for the popular lake’s unique shape and depth? It is one of Florida’s many sinkholes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 8      In August 2013, 150 law enforcement officers in full riot gear were called to Avon Park Youth Academy, an all-male juvenile correctional facility, when rioting inmates \u003cb\u003eset fire to parts of the building \u003c\/b\u003eand caused hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. The riot broke out after the losers of a basketball game refused to make good on their original wager: three containers of Cup Noodles.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 9      According to the \u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e, most of the seven hundred rhesus monkeys captured in recent years around Silver Springs, Florida, \u003cb\u003etested positive for the herpes B virus\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 10      Miami suffers from an \u003cb\u003einfestation of giant African land snails\u003c\/b\u003e, which can grow to the size of rats. The snails consume plants, stucco, and plaster, and can cause significant structural damage to homes and businesses.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 11      Giant African land snails were likely introduced to Florida by a practitioner of Santería, a religion that uses the creatures in rituals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 12      Some giant African land snails carry a parasitic lungworm that, if transmitted to humans, can cause illnesses including meningitis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 13      Florida is infested with an estimated \u003cb\u003e150,000 nonnative Burmese pythons\u003c\/b\u003e. Often pets that have been released into the wild, the twelve- to thirteen-foot creatures have disrupted the food chain in the Everglades.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 14      The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has created a \u003cb\u003etournament to kill invasive Burmese pythons\u003c\/b\u003e in the Everglades, offering cash prizes to hunters who destroy the most and the largest snakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 15      The rock or North African python is also establishing a population east of the Everglades. More aggressive than Burmese pythons, \u003cb\u003erock pythons are responsible for the deaths of two Canadian children\u003c\/b\u003e and a sixty-pound family dog in West Kendall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 16      Florida game officials fear that the growing populations of rock and Burmese pythons will mate and \u003cb\u003ecreate a “super snake.” \u003c\/b\u003eBoth animals are in the top five largest species of snakes in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 17      In November 2013, a sixth grader at a Collier County middle school was suspended for \u003cb\u003esetting off the fire alarm by twerking into it\u003c\/b\u003e. The student was suspended because the school had been declared a “Twerk-Free Zone.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 18      An Ocala man was arrested in November 2013 for reportedly \u003cb\u003eterrorizing and chasing an eight-year-old\u003c\/b\u003e after the child refused to share his potato chips.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 19      An Allapattah man was busted in December 2013 after he caught \u003cb\u003ea four-foot-long alligator\u003c\/b\u003e and tried to barter it for a twelve-pack of beer at a convenience store.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 20      In a March 2013 attempt to keep her local beach clean, a Stock Island woman confronted and \u003cb\u003ebrawled with a littering spring breaker, biting her in the cheek\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 21      Residents of a Tampa apartment complex captured a twelve-foot alligator from a river in October 2013 and\u003cb\u003e leashed it to a tree to keep as a pet\u003c\/b\u003e. Other residents told law enforcement that people “had caught [the alligator] and was feeding it cats.” The animal was ultimately removed by authorities and destroyed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 22      A Duval County high school is being asked via a petition on Change.org to change its name. The school, the student body of which is predominantly black, is named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the \u003cb\u003efirst grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 23      Convicted murderers Robert Mackey and Paul Trucchio of Volusia County were said to have \u003cb\u003eprayed to “the alligator god”\u003c\/b\u003e— in this case a concrete statue—in hopes that the wild animals would eat the body of their victim, Lorraine Hatzakorzian.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 24      Hatzakorzian’s severed head was found in the Everglades, but the rest of her body remains missing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 25      A Bradenton man was arrested on misdemeanor battery charges in January 2013 for giving unsuspecting strangers wedgies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 26      In October 2013, an Escambia County man was arrested on felony child abuse charges for reportedly \u003cb\u003ebeating his daughter to the tune of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”\u003c\/b\u003e Someone should beat Robin Thicke to the tune of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 27      When a Palm Bay man got into an argument with his girlfriend in January 2013 while dropping her off at work at Taco Bell,\u003cb\u003e he bit off her thumb\u003c\/b\u003e. Doctors were unable to save the severed digit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 28      An Orlando man was arrested in November 2013 for attacking his pregnant sister by \u003cb\u003egrabbing her neck and throwing her into a nightstand\u003c\/b\u003e after she ate his chicken nuggets.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 29      In November 2013, a Gibsonton woman renewed her wedding vows with her “husband”— a Ferris wheel she named Bruce. \u003cb\u003eShe wanted a mate who would stay around. \u003c\/b\u003e*rim shot*\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 30      A Pensacola woman stopped traffic in August 2013 when she stood on the roadside asking for breast implant donations by carrying a sign that read, “Not Homeless, Need Boobs.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 31      In October 2013, a grieving Sarasota man was questioned after \u003cb\u003esprinkling the ashes of his deceased fiancée in LensCrafters\u003c\/b\u003e of the Westfield Southgate Mall. The man said that\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ehe was spreading the ashes in places that had been special to the dead woman. She must have really loved their one-hour lens guarantee.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYOU KNOW WHAT WAS great about going to the doctor in centuries past? Nothing, that’s what. Not a damn thing. That is, unless you like the idea of having a hole drilled in your head or leeches clamped on your nipples or gallons of blood drained from your body every time you dared complain of a headache.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo, wait, there was one good thing back then: you didn’t have to wait an hour to see the doctor. Why? Because you were the only idiot there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 32      The use of maggots to clean wounds has proven to be effective for patients who don’t respond to traditional treatments. Or who have difficulty vomiting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 33      The arrival of antibiotics in the twentieth century made the use of maggots fall out of favor, but the method is now making a comeback and is used today in some hospitals to treat conditions like \u003cb\u003eleg ulcers, pressure sores, and infected surgical wounds\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 34      \u003cb\u003eHairballs save lives\u003c\/b\u003e—or at least they saved some lives in the 1600s, when aristocrats were often the targets of assassination attempts by arsenic poisoning. Bezoars, or hairballs from goats and sheep, were placed in drinks to absorb any arsenic that might have been put there. The drinks were horrible, but at least drinkers didn’t die.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 35      Modern research has proven how the ancient method was effective: \u003cb\u003esulfur compounds\u003c\/b\u003e in the hair proteins of a bezoar bind to the toxic agents in arsenic, rendering them harmless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 36      \u003cb\u003eTrepanation\u003c\/b\u003e, the medical practice of cutting into the skull, dates back to the Stone Age. Ancient Egyptians believed that trepanation could help alleviate pressure on the brain, while physicians in the Middle Ages thought the practice would release evil spirits from the possessed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 37      Trepanation is \u003cb\u003estill used in some countries today\u003c\/b\u003e to treat ailments ranging from fatigue to epilepsy to depression. You’re still depressed after the procedure, but at least you know why: you have a gaping hole in your head.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 38      Sixteenth-century women would \u003cb\u003eapply\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003epuppy urine to their faces\u003c\/b\u003e, believing it was beneficial to the skin’s health and complexion. I’m wondering if they collected the urine first or just held puppies over their heads.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 39      The ancient medical practice of bloodletting involves draining blood from the body\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eto help cure disease. Believed to have originated in ancient Egypt, the practice was the main therapy used by doctors for thousands of years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 40      In the Middle Ages, bloodletting was\u003cb\u003e often performed by barbers\u003c\/b\u003e, which is why the traditional barber’s pole—like the bloody towels that once hung outside barber shops—is colored red and white.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 41       After a twelfth-century church edict prohibited monks and priests from performing bloodletting, barbers added the procedure to their list of offered services, along with \u003cb\u003ecupping, tooth extractions, lancing, and even amputations\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 42      To determine a patient’s health, a barber surgeon would study the color of the patient’s urine, and sometimes \u003cb\u003esmell and even taste it\u003c\/b\u003e—yes, taste it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 43      Patients frequently died during treatment by bloodletting. \u003cb\u003eGeorge Washington died after giving five to seven pints of blood \u003c\/b\u003ein twenty-four hours to cure a throat infection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 44      Ancient Egyptian physicians believed that\u003cb\u003e leech therapy could cure symptoms\u003c\/b\u003e for a variety of illnesses, from fevers to flatulence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 45      In the 1800s, \u003cb\u003ewomen had leeches placed in their vaginas\u003c\/b\u003e to treat conditions like vaginal discharge and cervical cancer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 46      Leeches were applied to the clitoris to treat nymphomania and other female complaints.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 47      Leeches still have medical applications today, as their saliva has been found to \u003cb\u003epromote circulation and speed the\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ehealing of damaged tissue\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 48      The leech is invaluable to surgeons who are faced with the difficulties of \u003cb\u003ereattaching minute veins\u003c\/b\u003e, which clot easily, in procedures such as limb and scalp reattachments, limb transplants, skin flap surgery, and breast reconstruction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 49      The ancient Greek doctor Galen recommended the use of electric eels for treating headaches and facial pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 50      Eels were also used by the ancient Greeks and Romans \u003cb\u003eto treat gout\u003c\/b\u003e; the patient would stand on an eel until his foot became numb. This paved the way for today’s popular Dr. Scholl’s Eel Inserts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 51      One American doctor in the early 1900s \u003cb\u003etreated mental illness by removing his patients’ body parts\u003c\/b\u003e. Dr. Henry Cotton would begin with extraction of teeth. If that failed to cure a patient’s mental illness, he would remove organs such as the tonsils, stomach, and large intestine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 52      \u003cb\u003eMore than\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ea third of Dr. Cotton’s patients died. \u003c\/b\u003eShocking, right?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 53      By the end of his career, Dr. Cotton had removed \u003cb\u003ethousands of tonsils and teeth\u003c\/b\u003e from patients at his hospital—a hospital that served a lot of soup.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 54      During the \u003cb\u003eGreat Plague\u003c\/b\u003e in 1665, one recommended way to stop the disease was to smoke tobacco. At Eton College in England, boys were paddled for \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e smoking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 55      Victorian-era women who showed interest in sex were often labeled \u003cb\u003ementally ill nymphomaniacs\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 56      Victorian treatments for nymphomania included enemas, leech treatments to genitalia, and even a clitoridectomy, the surgical removal of the clitoris.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 57      The concept of nymphomania was first laid out by the French physician M. D. T. Bienville in his 1771 treatise \u003ci\u003eNymphomania, Or a Dissertation Concerning the Furor Uterinus\u003c\/i\u003e. Among the behaviors Bienville cited as symptomatic of nymphomania: \u003cb\u003edwelling on impure thoughts, reading novels, and eating too much chocolate.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 58      Victorians believed that\u003cb\u003e masturbation could lead to insanity, blindness, and death\u003c\/b\u003e, which is why at least one British gynecologist at that time, Dr. Isaac Baker Brown, recommended that any woman who masturbated should have her clitoris removed. I say that if God didn’t want us to masturbate, He would have made our arms shorter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 59      Boys who masturbated during the Victorian era risked \u003cb\u003ehaving their foreskins sewn up\u003c\/b\u003e, with only a small hole left for urination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 60      Other Victorian boys had their hands tied to their bedposts during the night or wore straitjacket pajamas to prevent masturbation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 61      Patented in 1876, the Stephenson Spermatic Truss is an antimasturbatory device that \u003cb\u003esqueezed the penis into a small pouch\u003c\/b\u003e that was stretched and strapped down between the legs to prevent erections.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 62       Another device, the four-pointed penile ring, is a metal collar lined with spikes that was worn around the penis, effectively thwarting erections.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 63      Wearers of the Bowen Device would have their \u003cb\u003epubic hair ripped from the body\u003c\/b\u003e should erection occur. Nowadays people pay good money to have their pubes ripped out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 64      The \u003cb\u003epenis-cooling device\u003c\/b\u003e uses cold water or air to prevent erections.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 65      In an early American pediatric guide, the \u003ci\u003eTreatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of Children\u003c\/i\u003e (1825), Dr. William Dewees advised expectant mothers in late pregnancy to allow “a young but sufficiently strong puppy” to suckle at their breasts to toughen the nipples and improve milk flow in preparation for breast-feeding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE FIRST THING I did after researching this chapter was to go online and order one of those umbrella hats. It’s not particularly fashionable, I know, and my family now refuses to go anywhere in public with me, but I don’t care. I’ll be damned if I let falling birds or frozen dung from an airplane toilet take me out and make me the laughingstock of the next life, if there is one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 66      Blue ice occurs when an airplane’s sewage tank or drain tube develops a leak, exposing the \u003cb\u003eblue waste treatment\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eliquid\u003c\/b\u003e from a plane’s toilet to freezing temperatures at high altitudes. In most cases, blue ice forms and remains attached to the aircraft’s exterior, but it can sometimes break off and plummet to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 67      In 2007, a Leicester, England, couple was “enjoying a spot of good weather” outside when \u003cb\u003ea chunk of blue ice hit their home, then struck their heads\u003c\/b\u003e. The husband reported that the ice had “a particularly pungent whiff of urine.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 68      Along with being a hazard to those on the ground, waste leakage is a safety issue for air travel. In some cases, blue ice has damaged planes, in one instance knocking an engine off a wing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 69      In 2012, a Long Island couple complained that they were struck with blackish-green fluid that fell from an airplane overhead. The liquid was first thought to be oil but was later \u003cb\u003eidentified as excrement\u003c\/b\u003e, presumably from the plane’s lavatory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 70      In 2002, the home of a woman in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, was \u003cb\u003epelted with blue ice\u003c\/b\u003e, which landed on her car and her child’s swing set, and in the swimming pool. Some melted ice also seeped into her air-conditioning unit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 71      In 2006, a large chunk of blue ice ripped a two-foot hole in an elderly couple’s roof in Chino, California, and crashed into their bed, which, luckily, was unoccupied at the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 72      Blue ice can fall from the sky with enough force to \u003cb\u003ecrash through roofs\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eand crush cars\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 73      In February 2013, \u003cb\u003ea meteor exploded\u003c\/b\u003e over the Ural Mountains in Russia. The blast shattered windows and injured nearly eleven hundred people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 74      Entering Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least \u003cb\u003ethirty-three thousand miles per hour\u003c\/b\u003e, the ten-ton meteor broke into numerous pieces about twenty miles above the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 75      Small asteroids can also explode with tremendous power, explains Andrew Cheng of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. “It doesn’t take a very large object. A ten-meter-size object \u003cb\u003epacks the same energy as a nuclear bomb\u003c\/b\u003e,” Cheng said.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 76      In 1976, a meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded in the skies near the city of Jilin in northeast China. Witnesses confirmed seeing the red fireball split into several pieces before falling to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 77      At the meteor’s impact site, investigators found eleven large masses weighing a total of four metric tons. Now on display in Jilin City, “Meteorite 1” has the honor of being the largest stone meteorite discovered in recent years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 78      In 1954, a Talladega County, Alabama, woman was \u003cb\u003ethe first recorded human to be hit by a meteorite\u003c\/b\u003e when an eight-pound chunk tore through her roof and struck her\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ewhile she was napping. The woman was not seriously injured.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 79      \u003cb\u003eHistoplasmosis\u003c\/b\u003e, a disease that can affect humans and animals, is caused by a fungus in bird droppings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 80      When histoplasmosis spores are inhaled, \u003cb\u003einfection can occur\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 81      While most infections produce only a \u003cb\u003eflu-like illness \u003c\/b\u003eor no symptoms at all, severe cases of histoplasmosis can cause high fever, blood abnormalities, pneumonia, and even death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 82      Some areas near the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers show evidence of previous histoplasmosis infection in \u003cb\u003eup to 80 percent of the population\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 83      \u003cb\u003ePigeon droppings\u003c\/b\u003e can contain \u003ci\u003eE. coli\u003c\/i\u003e bacteria and the fungus \u003ci\u003eCryptococcus neoformans. \u003c\/i\u003ePigeons can also be carriers of viruses commonly borne by mosquitoes, such as West Nile encephalitis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 84      Every year in Britain, an estimated two thousand people \u003cb\u003ecatch infections from wild pigeons\u003c\/b\u003e. Worse yet, the number of pigeons in Britain is estimated to have doubled in the past five years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 85      An estimated thirty to forty thousand wild pigeons roost in London’s Trafalgar Square alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 86      The dead body of a Dutch skydiver went undiscovered for more than a week in 2012 before it was found by chance in a field. No one in the man’s jump group noticed that his \u003cb\u003eparachute failed to open\u003c\/b\u003e or that he did not check in after the jump.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 87      An experienced fifty-one-year-old skydiver was attempting a complex stunt in March 2013 when both his parachutes failed, sending him into a three-minute spin. Despite hitting the ground at thirty miles per hour, the man survived with minor injuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 88      When both of her chutes failed to open during a 2004 jump, veteran South African skydiver Christine McKenzie fell into \u003cb\u003ea hundred-mile-per-hour\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003efree fall from eleven thousand feet\u003c\/b\u003e. Luckily, McKenzie’s plummet was broken by power lines, and she suffered only a broken pelvis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 89      For several days in November 1976, \u003cb\u003ehundreds of dead blackbirds\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eand pigeons\u003c\/b\u003e fell intermittently on the streets of San Luis Obispo, California. The California Department of Fish and Game theorized the birds had been poisoned and were soon proven right: California Polytechnic University admitted to seeding a field near the town with poison grains in the hopes of better controlling the bird population.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 90      On New Year’s Eve in 2011, thousands of dead birds fell on the town of Beebe, Arkansas. Preliminary tests showed the birds had died from \u003cb\u003eblunt-force trauma\u003c\/b\u003e before they hit the ground. Investigators believe that the five thousand dead blackbirds, European starlings, and others were flushed from their roosts by local fireworks and were driven to fly lower than usual, where their poor night vision sent them crashing into buildings, trees, and other stationary objects.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 91      After \u003cb\u003emeat chunks fell from the sky\u003c\/b\u003e and struck a Kentucky woman in 1876, analysis revealed the meat to be venison. One professor wrote in the \u003ci\u003eLouisville Medical News\u003c\/i\u003e that the “only plausible theory” for the meaty rain was “the disgorgement of some vultures that were sailing over the spot.” In other words, buzzard vomit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 92      In 1902, clouds from a giant Illinois dust storm blew across the eastern United States, mixed with rain clouds, and later fell as \u003cb\u003emud showers\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 93      During storms, \u003cb\u003ewaterspouts can suck up fish, frogs, and snakes from oceans or lakes\u003c\/b\u003e. Strong winds can carry the animals miles inland before dropping them to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 94      Witnesses from England to India to the United States have reported instances of fish falling from the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 95      The United Kingdom’s Great Yarmouth has the dubious honor of being named \u003cb\u003ethe country’s most likely place for strange objects to fall from the sky\u003c\/b\u003e. The British Weather Services cites the instability of the atmosphere and the town’s proximity to the North Sea as contributing factors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 96      In 2002, \u003cb\u003ehundreds of tiny silver fish\u003c\/b\u003e rained upon Great Yarmouth. The fish were fresh but dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 97      For two days in 2010, hundreds of small white fish poured onto the town of Lajamanu in Australia’s Northern Territory. Though Lajamanu is hundreds of miles from the nearest body of water, this was the \u003cb\u003ethird incident of falling fish\u003c\/b\u003e in the town in thirty-six years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 98      In October 2012, \u003cb\u003ea two-foot-long leopard\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eshark fell on a golf course \u003c\/b\u003ein San Juan Capistrano, California. Experts believe a bird grabbed the shark from the ocean and then dropped it onto the course.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 99      If you think spiders are scary, imagine them falling from the sky. That’s what seemed to be happening in February 2013 when \u003cb\u003ethousands of large spiders descended\u003c\/b\u003e upon Santo Antonio da Platina, Brazil. Turns out the spiders weren’t falling but dangling from power lines and poles while mating. Which isn’t any less frightening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 100      In 1969, the town of Punta Gorda, Florida, was pelted with “dozens and dozens” of \u003cb\u003egolf balls falling from the sky\u003c\/b\u003e during a rainstorm. Officials theorized that the passing storm had sucked up a golf-ball-filled pond.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 101      In March 2013, an eight-year-old schoolgirl on a field trip in Berkeley, California, was surprised to discover that her leg had been \u003cb\u003epierced with a two-foot-long crossbow\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ebolt\u003c\/b\u003e that had fallen from the sky. The girl’s injury wasn’t life-threatening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 102      A seven-year-old Wisconsin girl \u003cb\u003etook a hunting arrow to the back\u003c\/b\u003e in 2012 while outside playing. She suffered lung and spleen injuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 103      A Manson, Washington, couple narrowly escaped injury in 2007 when \u003cb\u003ea six-hundred-pound cow fell off a two-hundred-foot cliff \u003c\/b\u003eand onto their minivan, causing significant damage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 104      In 1942, a British forest guard in the Indian Himalayas discovered a frozen lake filled with hundreds of skeletons. The cause of these deaths remained unsolved until 2004, when a National Geographic team examined the bones and determined that the victims had \u003cb\u003esuffered blows to the head and shoulders \u003c\/b\u003ecaused by “blunt, round objects about the size of cricket balls.” The conclusion: two hundred travelers were crossing the valley in 850 C.E. when they were caught in a deadly hailstorm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 105      Ninety-two people were killed in Gopalganj, Bangladesh, in 1986 when grapefruit-size hail fell during a storm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 106      The Guinness World Records has designated hail from the Gopalganj storm as being the heaviest ever recorded, at \u003cb\u003etwo pounds\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFACT 107      The \u003cb\u003edeadliest hailstorm on record\u003c\/b\u003e occurred in 1888 in Moradabad, India, and killed 246 people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tarcher","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304695484645,"sku":"NP9780399168192","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780399168192.jpg?v=1767721754","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/are-you-sh-tting-me-isbn-9780399168192","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}