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A New Jersey man, Bryan Rocco, started choking on an onion ring while driving, blacked out and crashed into a tree. His life was saved by the air bag that dislodged the onion ring stuck in his windpipe. - 9 News (Fort Collins, Colorado), 9/20/07

A team of scientists melted Antarctic ice and revived bacteria frozen for 8,000,000 years. - Discover Magazine, 11/07

It seems like you see surveillance cameras everywhere these days. The town of Liberty, Kansas is installing a camera in the town park. Liberty has a population of 95 people. - The Week Magazine, 9/28/07

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that Arctic ice shrank by 131,000 square miles (larger than the state of New Mexico) in just five days (August 17 through August 21, 2007). - Discover Magazine, 11/07

The odds are 1 out of 8 ( 12.5% ) that you leave home for your commute to work before 6 a.m. to beat traffic. - The Week Magazine, 9/28/07

Illegal traders had been feeding an elephant named "Big Brother" bananas laced with heroin in an effort to better control him. Now Chinese authorities are tasked with breaking the elephant's heroin addiction using methadone. - San Diego Union, 9/27/07

Yum brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell is now opening about one restaurant a day in China. - The Week Magazine, 9/28/07

A German politician, Gabriele Pauli, has proposed that all marriage vows last only seven years. Ms. Pauli has been married twice, and her last marriage lasted (you guessed it) seven years. - London Times Online, 9/21/07

The Oregon DMV has asked a family to return their vanity license plates as they might be offensive. The plates UDINK1, UDINK2, and UDINK3 must be surrendered, much to the displeasure of Mike Udink and his family. - The Week Magazine, 10/5/07

Alex Pepperberg's last words before he died were, "You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you." Alex was a 31 year old gray parrot. - New York Times, 9/11/07

70% of all visits to Internet porn sites happen during normal work hours. The average worker admits to wasting two hours a day at work on the Internet. - The Week Magazine, 9/21/07

Consecotaleophobia is the fear of chopsticks. - San Diego Union, 9/18/07

KFC will soon promote its new $2.99 lunches by pumping the smell of its fried chicken into workplaces. The chicken odors will come from the carts used to deliver mail throughout office buildings. - The Week Magazine, 9/14/07

Antonia Novello was the Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. She was instrumental in bringing sanctions against tobacco companies. Her brother-in-law, Don Novello, was better known as the chain smoking Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live. - Discover Magazine, 10/07

Chicago police officer Thaddeus Martyka chased down a fleeing suspect. Martyka was riding a Segway, and had to push the Segway's speed up to the maximum 12.5 mph to apprehend the suspect. - Chicago Tribune, 9/3/07

Although calcium is important to bone strength, 99% of the calcium in the human body is in the teeth. - San Diego Union, 9/18/07

The Venezuela National Electoral Council has introduced a bill to ban parents from giving their names that are "extravagant or difficult to pronounce". This bill is intended to limit exposure of the to ridicule. - New York Times, 9/5/07

For every 100 citizens of the United States, there are 90 guns, making America the most heavily armed country on Earth. India has the second largest civilian gun arsenal tally, with just 4 guns per 100 people. - Time Magazine, 9/10/07

United States Soldiers are now firing 1 billion bullets per year. This is causing a bullet shortage which affects police departments across the nation. - The Week Magazine, 9/7/07

The odds are 1 out of 2 ( 45.9% ) that you do some volunteer work each year if you live in Utah. - Time Magazine, 9/10/07

The odds are 1 out of 4 ( 24% ) that you live in a home without access to a fire hydrant. - The Week Magazine, 9/7/07

The odds are 1 out of 7 ( 15.3% ) that you do not have health insurance. - Time Magazine, 9/10/07

Starbucks is now the most frequented retailer in the world. It serves 50,000,000 customers worldwide, and opens an average of seven new stores each day. - North County Times, 9/6/07

McDonald's sells about 17 Big Macs each second in the United States. - The Week Magazine, 9/7/07

Venezuela has announced that the country's clocks are moving ahead a half hour. President Hugo Chavez noted, "It's about the metabolic effect". - New York Times, 8/26/07

The EZ Pass electronic toll-collection system is being used by divorce lawyers to prove that cheating spouses lied about their whereabouts. - USAToday, 8/10/07

Dachshunds are disappearing from their native Germany, as birthrates for them have dropped 35% in the last decade. - The Week Magazine, 8/24/07

A 50 year old woman walked up to a sheriff's deputy and complained that a drug dealer had just sold her some "bad crack". She wanted the deputy to make the dealer give her the money back. The woman was arrested and charged with drug possession. - USAToday, 12/19/06

An investor who entrusted $1,000 to Warren Buffett 50 years ago would have over $27,600,000 at the end of 2006. - The Week Magazine, 8/17/07

Scientists have tracked hurricanes for 150 years. During that period, there has only been one hurricane to make landfall in South America; Hurricane Catarina in March 2004. - Discover Magazine, 9/07

Only 7% of homes in Afghanistan have a flush toilet, but 19% have a television. - The Week Magazine, 8/17/07

There are more germs on your body than people in the United States. - Discover Magazine, 9/07

Retired Formula One race car champion Nelson Piquet has had his driver's license revoked for repeated speeding offenses. - The Week Magazine, 8/10/07

The odds are 1 out of 25 ( 4% ) that you (as an American adult) have never had sex. - Time Magazine, 8/13/07

Iraq's soccer team won the prestigious Asian Cup. Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds put aside their differences and poured into the streets to cheer the victory. Celebratory gunfire in the streets killed four. - The Week Magazine, 8/10/07

A $400,000 US Department of Agriculture subsidy was paid to a single Illinois soybean and corn farm from 1999 to 2005. The farm owner had died in 1995. The total amount of federal farm subsidies paid to the estates of dead farmers in that same time period was over $1.1 billion. - Time Magazine, 8/6/07

Richard Yates, a British postman, defied historic floods to deliver copies of the latest Harry Potter book to stranded fans in the village of Evesham. He is now being hailed as a national hero. - The Week Magazine, 8/3/07

Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain is visited by approximately 30,000 climbers each year - so many that the French authorities plan to install public toilets at the top. - Times Online (London), 7/26/07

47% of dogs in the United States sleep in a family member's bed. - The Week Magazine, 8/10/07

Canadian researchers have developed a computer program that can never be beaten at the game checkers. - CNN, 7/20/07

90% of Internet traffic today is SPAM related. It's estimated that 100,000,000,000 unsolicited commercial messages travel the Internet each day. - The Week Magazine, 8/10/07

An Englishman was admitted for leg surgery but surgeons found green blood. The man was taking too much sumatriptan (a migraine drug); the drug caused sulfur to be combined with the hemoglobin in his red blood cells. When the dosage was reduced, the man's blood returned to its normal red color. - San Diego Union, 7/31/07

For the first time ever, imported car brands have a bigger share of the United States market than Ford, GM and Chrysler. The Big Three U.S. carmakers accounted for 48.2% of all U.S. car sales in July 2007. - The Week Magazine, 8/17/07

Once your cell phone is charged, unplug the charger. If 10% of the world's cell phone users did this, it would reduce energy consumption by the amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 homes per year. - Cnet News, 9/21/06

62,860 trees must be cut to provide paper pulp for just one Sunday edition of the New York Times. - Vanity Fair Magazine, 3/07

British researchers have announced they have turned human bone marrow cells into primitive sperm cells. This paves the way for women to have babies without the assistance of any man. - NewScientist.com, 4/13/07

Felicha Marin was caught trying to shoplift shoes by London police. She went on to "resist arrest", assaulting the police officers by squirting milk from her right breast at one of the officers. - Associated Content, 4/15/07

The guitarist for the rock group Queen, Brian May, is completing his doctorate in astrophysics. His thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud" will be submitted in late 2007. - San Diego Union, 7/29/07

An Austrailian rugby player, Ben Czislowski, finally sought medical attention for a throbbing headache that had lasted four months. Doctors told him he has been living with an opponent's tooth buried in his forehead. - The Week Magazine, 7/27/07

The British Medical Journal has estimated that smoking one cigarette takes 11 minutes off the average person's life - San Diego Union, 7/24/07

A Nevada couple have been charged with neglect after their two babies suffered health problems. It appears that the parents ignored the as they were addicted to the Internet and video games. The younger had to have her head shaved because her hair was matted with cat urine. At 11 months of age, she weighed just 10 pounds. - Wired Magazine, 7/14/07

The amount of water that it takes to make the plastic containers for bottled water is twice the amount of water that actually goes into the bottles. - San Diego Union, 7/26/07

The Chinese city of Luoyang is attempting to be named a "state-level hygenic city". They have offered a bounty of 1,000 yuan (about $130) for every 2,000 dead flies turned in. - The Week Magazine, 7/20/07

The odds are 1 out of 13 ( 7.7% ) that you are dependent on alcohol to get you through the day. - Time Magazine, 7/16/07

The odds are 1 out of 428 ( .233% ) that you were arrested for marijuana-related offenses in 2006. - The Week Magazine, 7/20/07

Canadian researchers in the Arctic recently bared their arms, legs and torsos and reported as many as 9,000 bites from swarming, newly hatched mosquitoes. At this rate, a human could be drained of blood in two hours. - Discover Magazine, 8/07

The United States imported $5,300,000 worth of American flags manufactured in other countries in 2006. - The Week Magazine, 7/20/07

The odds are 1 out of 83 ( 1.2% ) that you are dependent on drugs to get you through the day. - Time Magazine, 7/16/07

The odds are 1 out of 5 ( 20% ) that you have tried cocaine at some point in your life (if you are between 20 and 49 years old). - San Diego Union, 7/10/07

The odds are 8 out of 10 ( 80% ) that you are dependent on coffee or soda for that caffeine every day. - Time Magazine, 7/16/07

Only 20 miles of Maine's 5,300 mile craggy coastline is open to commercial lobstermen and fishermen. Most fishermen now depend on privately owned docks. - Boston Globe, 6/17/07

A manager of a Wendy's restaurant in Miami refused to give a customer more than 10 packets of chili sauce, so the customer shot him several times in the arm. - MSNBC, 5/31/07

Fat people are twice as likely to still be alive three years after a heart attack. Then again, they are far more likely to suffer a heart attack in the first place. - The Week Magazine, 6/29/07

A single gun shop in New Orleans (Elliot's) has sold 2,300 firearms that police have linked to crimes, including at least 125 murders, over the past five years. - USA Today, 6/13/07

A , recovering from an auto accident in a German hospital, couldn't sleep because of the incessant beeping from the machine for the man in the next bed. So he unplugged the life-support unit of his neighbor. Luckily, nurses reconnected the machine to save the neighbor's life. - The Week Magazine, 6/29/07

An estimated 2,000 pounds of marijuana went up in smoke during a warehouse fire in Texas. The 35 firefighters tackling the blaze reported disorientation and extreme lethargy. Fire chief Shawn Snider said that they would probably fail a drug test. - FOX News, 6/22/07

100% of all toys recalled this year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission were manufactured in China. - Time Magazine, 7/9/07