Current Facts 4

World’s Biggest Book
A Chicago public library acquired the world’s largest book. Bhutan: A Visual odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom is 5 feet tall, 7 feet wide when opened, and weighs 133 pounds.
Taken from “The Week,” November 12, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 182, pp. 8

Tips Record
A Zagat survey found that Philadelphia has the best tippers in the country, leaving an average of 19.2 percent of the bill.
Taken from “The Week,” November 12, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 182, pp. 8

Top 10 Words of 2004
The top 10 words of the year based on searches of Merriam-Webster Web sites. 1. blog, 2. incumbent, 3. electoral, 4. insurgent, 5. hurricane, 6. cicada, 7. peloton, 8. partisan, 9. sovereignty, 10. defenestration

Australians are Fatter
Australians are significantly heavier than Americans, according to a University of Adelaide study released this week. The average Australian man is 7 pounds heavier than the average American man, while the typical Aussie woman is a full 16 pounds heavier than her American counterpart. “I think the reason is there is a socioeconomic difference,” said Maciej Henneberg, an anatomy professor at Adelaide. “On average, Australians are more affluent than Americans.” Australian medical authorities were alarmed. “We are eating ourselves to death,” warned the Australian Medical Association.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 9

Bullet Proof Dinosaur
Some slow-moving dinosaurs developed superstrong bullet proof body armor to protect them from predators’ teeth. Ankylosaurs, massive, 33-foot herbivores that lived during the late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, were plastered with coin-sized plates shielding their back, head, neck, and even their eyes. The plates, made of bone collagen fibers, were woven in a complex pattern resembling that found in the bulletproof fabric Kevlar.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 24

Vitamin E Killer
A quarter of the US population regularly pops vitamin E capsules, hoping the pills will protect them from heart disease, cancer, and other ills. But new research suggests that the supplements actually increase the risk of dying. An analysis of 19 previous studies, involving 136,000 people, found that those who took 400 units of vitamin E a day, the amount in most supplements, had a 5 percent greater risk of dying in any given year; no risks were associated with doses below 200 units. Some scientists suspect that vitamin E may increase the risk of internal bleeding, because it works as an anti-coagulant. It may also suppress natural enzymes in the liver, and displace other antioxidants in the blood.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 24

Sleep off Weight
People who eat too much should try sleeping more. A new Columbia University study of 18,000 people found a surprisingly strong link between how much people slept and their risk of obesity. Those who slept six hours a night had a 23 percent higher risk of obesity than those who got the recommended seven to nine hours of rest. People who averaged five hours of sleep a night had a 50 percent greater obesity risk, while those who slept less than four hours were 73 percent more likely to be obese. Sleep deprivation may make people gain weight by lowering the blood levels of leptin, a protein that suppresses appetite and helps the brain know when the body is nourished. Lack of sleep also raises the level of grehlin, a hormone that makes people feel hungry. In addition, people who sleep less simply have more waking hours during which to eat. If your not sleeping, Dr. David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum tells BBCnews.com, you’re quite likely to be snacking in front of the computer or the TV.
Taken from “The Week,” December 10, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 186, pp. 22.

Chocolate Calms Coughing
Chocolate may be a more effective cough remedy than actual medicine, says a new study. Researchers at Imperial College London found in a small study that theobromine, an ingredient in chocolate, could stop persistent coughs. In fact, the substance proved to be nearly a third more effective than codeine, the leading cough medicine, and it produced none of the side effects, which include drowsiness and constipation. Theobromine apparently works by suppressing activity in the nerves that connect the lungs to the brain.
Taken from “The Week,” December 10, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 186, pp. 22.

Checks vs Plastic
For the first time, Americans' use of credit cards, debit cards and other electronic bill paying has eclipsed paper checks. The number of electronic payment transactions last year totaled 44.5 billion, exceeding the number of checks paid, 36.7 billion, according to Federal Reserve.

Women Went to War in Ancient Iran
DNA tests on the 2,000-year-old bones of a sword-wielding Iranian warrior have revealed the broad-framed skeleton belonged to woman, an archaeologist working in the northwestern city of Tabriz said on Saturday." Despite earlier comments that the warrior was a man because of the metal sword, DNA tests showed the skeleton inside the tomb belonged to a female warrior," Alireza Hojabri-Nobari told the Hambastegi newspaper. He added that the tomb, which had all the trappings of a warrior's final resting place, was one of 109 and that DNA tests were being carried out on the other skeletons.Hambastegi said other ancient tombs believed to belong to women warriors have been unearthed close to the Caspian Sea.

Atlantis
An American researcher claims to have discovered the lost city of Atlantis at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, between Cyprus and Syria. Robert Sarmast made sonar scans of the seabed that he says reveal man-made walls that exactly match Plato’s description of the pre-Hellenic acropolis of Atlantis. “If this is not indeed the Atlantis acropolis,” says Sarmast, “then this is the world’s greatest coincidence.” It will be some time before his discovery can be verified: The walls he detected—one of them nearly 2 miles long—are buried under more than 4,000 feet of sediment. The existence of Atlantis has never been proved, but Greek legend—as recorded by Plato—held that it was an island where the perfect civilization flourished, until it was destroyed by an earthquake.
“The Week,” November 26, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 184, pp. 8.

Access to Taxes
The House of Representatives passed a 1,000-page spending bill that included a provision allowing two committee chairmen to examine the tax return of any American. “I have no earthly idea how it got in there,” said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, after the snooping provision was spotted. Red-faced Republicans had the provision removed.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 6

Dolphin Rescue
Dolphins surrounded four swimmers to save them from a great white shark, New Zealand newspapers reported this week. Lifeguard Rob Howes was leading three young lifeguards, including his teenage daughter, on a training swim 300 feet from shore when they were suddenly surrounded by an agitated pod of dolphins. “They started to herd us up. They pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us,” Howes said. Howes was trying to break away from the pod, he said, when he saw a 9-foot great white approaching. “They had corralled us up to protect us,” he said. It was the second rescue by dolphin in the region in two years.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 9

The German Pirate
For more than a century, we’ve had only his skull to look at, said Matthias Schulz in Hamburg’s Der Spiegel. Klaus Stortebeker, the most famous pirate of the middle ages, was beheaded sometime around 1400, his skull nailed to a post at the entrance to Hamburg’s busy port, as a warning to other pirates. That skull was found in 1878, the hole in the top and other hints serving to identify it as Stortebeker’s. But the bones were so badly eroded by seawater that nobody could reconstruct a face, until now. Computer artist Elisabeth Daynes was fascinated by the story of the pirate who attacked so many Danish ships. First Stortebeker pillaged for the bishop of Mecklenburg, later to line his own pockets, and still later, so the legend goes, to give booty to the poor. Even if he wasn’t really a German Robin Hood, this fierce man from our past captures the German imagination. So Daynes has blended the latest technologies in forensics and in art to show us his face. Though the pirate died in his late 20’s, the portraits Daynes has created seem to be of an older man. Must have been that wild, tough life at sea.
Taken from “The Week,” December 10, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 186, pp. 16.

Twins Score 1600 on SAT
Dillon and Jesse Smith, twin brothers from Long Island, NY, have both achieved a perfect 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Although no one knows the odds against such an occurrence, only 939 of the 1.4 million high school seniors who took the SAT this year managed to get the highest score. Neither of the brothers took any review courses, preferring to study together and quiz each other on vocabulary words. “I don’t see the SAT as that big of a deal,” said Jesse. “The important part is not getting yourself worked up over the whole idea of it.”
Taken from “The Week,” November 12, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 182, pp. 6

Dog Rescue in Washington
When Leana Beasley of Richland, Wa, suffered an epileptic seizure and fell to the ground unconscious, her dog knew what to do. Faith, a specially trained Rottweiler, nudged the phone off the hook and used her nose to speed dial 911. She barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help, then unlocked the door for the police. Doctors found that Beasley’s liver was not processing her seizure medication. On the day of the fall, Beasley said, Faith sensed something was amiss. “She wouldn’t let me out of her sight. She wanted to be touchy-feely.”
Taken from “The Week,” November 12, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 182, pp. 6

Oldest Man Dies
The oldest man in the world, Fred Hale Sr., died this week near Syracuse, N.Y., 12 days shy of his 114th birthday. Hale went boogie-boarding in Hawaii at age 95, and was shoveling snow off his own roof at 103. At age 108, he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest driver. Hale was also the oldest fan of the Boston Red Sox, and one of the few, before this year, who had seen them win a World Series. One of his best days was spent sitting in front of the TV with Fred Jr., 82, watching the Sox claim the championship for the first time in 86 years. “He didn’t need a lot to be happy,” said his grandson Fred III. Hale, who had pneumonia, died in his sleep.
Taken from “The Week,” December 3, 2004, Vol 4, Iss 185, pp. 7

(Michelangelo) David’s Back Problem
David is almost anatomically perfect. Yet researchers found one flaw...David has a hole in his back. Their computer measurements of David's body revealed a hollow where a muscle should be, between the spine and the shoulder blade on the right side of his back. The artist achieved absolute perfection except for that muscle in the back. But Michelangelo himself was apparently aware of the oversight. In one of the artist’s letters he mentions that a defect in the marble block made it impossible to reproduce every muscle. David, was carved from a single block of marble that two other artists had discarded for its imperfections.
The Week, Nov. 5, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 181, pp. 24

Kraft to Wrigley
Life Savers candy and Altoids will soon have a new corporate parent, Wrigley Jr. Co. bought the brands from Kraft Foods for nearly $1.5 billion.
“The Week,” November 26, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 184, pp. 38.

Cuban Dollar
Cubans jammed banks this week to sell off U.S. dollars after Fidel Castro announced he was yanking the American currency out of circulation. Exiles wire Cuban relatives $800 million a year, more than the communist government raises from its main export, sugar. The dollar had been accepted for a decade in special stores offering scarce imports and in many other businesses, but Castro said that would end Nov. 8. Castro said he imposed the ban to protest the tightening of the “mafialike” U.S. embargo against Cuba. The Bush administration said the sanctions were meant to pressure Cuba to dump communism and respect human rights. Castro said Bush wanted to “asphyxiate the country.”
Taken from “The Week,” November 12, 2004, Vol. 4, Iss. 182, pp. 11