Current Facts 6

American Statistics on Deaths
An average Americans chances of dying in an earthquake are 1 in 131,890, says the National Safety Council. The odds of dying in a flood are 1 in 105,512, and from a lightning strike, 1 in 83,930. It's far more likely you'll die in a car accident, where the odds are 1 in 247. Your chances of committing suicide are 1 in 121.-The Washington Post
The Week, January 28, 2005, Vol. 5, Iss. 192, pp. 16

Total Votes
Final totals show that more than 122 million people voted in the presidential election, for a turnout of 60. 7 percent-the highest percentage since 1968. But more than 78 million eligible voters stayed home, meaning that President Bush received votes from just 30.8 percent of eligible Americans.-Associated Press
The Week, January 28, 2005, Vol. 5, Iss. 192, pp. 16

Time on Earth Sped Up
The earthquake that caused the tsunami in South and Southeast Asia was so powerful that it sped up earth's rotation by three microseconds, geophysicists tell Nature. When the Indian Ocean's tectonic plate plunged underneath Indonesia's plate, it shifted Earth's mass towards it's center say researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. This accelerated the planet's spin in the same way a figure skater speeds up by tucking in her arms, bringing her weight closer to her center. The quake also rocked the planet on its axis, causing it to tilt an extra 2.5 centimeters. We're not likely to even notice these changes-but they're of interest to the keepers of the world's official time, which is based on Earth' rotation. Because Earth's rotation is slowed by the moon's pull, physicists have added 22 extra "leap seconds" since 1972. Geophysicists will now be trying to determine if the changes prompted by the recent earthquake require the subtraction of a leap second.
The Week, January 21, 2005, Vol. 5, Iss. 191, pp. 21

Weight Lifting
Lifting less than 60 percent will cause little tissue adaptation. If you work with only 60 percent of your one-rep max (the heaviest you can lift in one repetition) using proper form, you'll probably be able to do 15 to 20 repetitions. To build muscle, you should use weights that won't allow you to do that many.
Men’s Health, Jan/Feb 2005, pp 42

Opium in Iceberg Lettuce?
When cut, the stems of lettuce plants ooze a milky juice whose appearance, taste, and smell are said to be similar to opium. Once dried, the substance is called lactucarium, or lettuce opium. Used by the ancient Egyptians, the stuff was listed in the Pharmacopeia of the United States of America as late as 1916. It can still be found in herbals and such, which describe it as a sedative and cough suppressant. Lettuce opium can be found in all lettuce species but is most commonly extracted from wild lettuce, Lactuca virosa.
While the stuff from the supermarket isn't likely to do much, lettuce generally speaking does contain psychoactive compounds. Enough to get you high? Hard to say. Judging from available evidence, the stuff might do nothing, give you a buzz, or kill you. Most of what little research has been done on the pharmaceutical effects of lettuce is old--one article in my stack was published in 1904. A 1940 study found that fresh lettuce juice indeed contains two sedatives, lactucin and lactucopicrin. The last detailed research I know of appeared in 1976.