Us vs. Them
Percentage of Americans and Chinese, respectively, who believe their government is “on the side of average citizens”: 12, 80 Who believe their government is “on the side of corporations”: 73, 17
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U.S. Shark Attacks
52: Number of unprovoked shark attacks in the U.S. last year (compared with 20 elsewhere in the world). None were fatal. 28: Number of attacks in Florida, the most of any state. Runners-up were Hawaii (seven), South Carolina (five), California (four) and North Carolina (four). 65%: Percentage of attacks involving surfers (or people doing other board sports); 32% involved swimmers. The rest involved […]
Read moreBad News Bears
A family of Norwegian bears broke into a holiday cabin and threw an epic, alcohol-fueled party. The cabin’s owner, Even Nilsen, returned to the cabin to find that the bears had eaten all the food and bitten into more than a hundred cans of beer, sucking down the contents. One bear evidently became so intoxicated that it passed out on […]
Read moreOscar Romero on path to sainthood
Pope Francis has declared Oscar Romero a martyr of the faith, paving the way for the murdered Salvadoran archbishop to be beatified, a step toward sainthood. A right-wing death squad executed Romero in a hospital chapel in 1980 while he was celebrating Mass just a day after he preached a sermon asking government soldiers to stop their repression. No one […]
Read moreTwo Horns Were A Problem
The world’s most pierced man has been refused entry to Dubai over fears that he might be an evil sorcerer. Rolf Buchholz, who has 453 piercings on his face and body as well as fake horns implanted in his forehead, had just arrived in the conservative Islamic country to perform in a show when airport authorities detained him, saying they […]
Read moreTHE GLOBAL SPACE RACE
The European Space Agency’s incoming director general, Jan Worner, wants to build a village on the moon. Other nations have similarly out-of-this-world ambitions: Japan Launched a probe to mine an asteroid in 2018 China Plans to build a huge solar-power station in space Russia Hopes to send probes to Jupiter, Mars and Venus India Is exploring sending a rocket to […]
Read moreCarbon Emissions In China
Portion of China’s carbon emissions that is produced by manufacturing goods for export: 1/4
Read moreMan Bitten By Shark Goes To Pub
A New Zealand man who was bitten by a shark calmly stitched up his own wounds, then joined his friends at the pub while still bleeding and drank a beer before heading to the hospital. James Grant was spearfishing when the shark clamped down on his leg. “[| thought], ‘Bugger, now I have to try and get this thing off,’ “he said. […]
Read moreCovered In Bees
Wearing only his underpants, a Chinese beekeeper set a new Guinness World Record this week after he covered himself in 240 pounds of bees. Organizers placed several queen bees on Gao Bingguo, 55, to attract the workers, and then dumped boxes of bees on Gao until he was wearing a buzzing coat of 1.1 million insects. He smoked a cigarette […]
Read moreNot Becoming A Statistic
Trameka Pope has a lot to be proud of. The 19-year-old was homeless as a child and had a daughter right before she entered ninth grade, but next week she’ll graduate as valedictorian of Chicago’s Wendell Phillips Academy High School. The teen mom is a cheerleader and member of the National Honor Society, and in the fall she’ll attend Western […]
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