Facts (strange but true)

• If a domesticated turkey (not a wild turkey) is left outside in the rain, it will look up, open its mouth, and drown.

• (This is my favorite) The belching of cows depletes the ozone layer. :) If you don't believe me, just think about it. Belching releases methane, and methane is bad for the ozone layer. And you thought those cute little cows were harmless...

• There are tiny mites at the base of your eyelashes. They feed off of the oils and eye fluids there.

• Iranian weight lifters work out in a special athletic club called a zurkhaneh, which means "house of strength."

• Ixtacihuati is an inactive volcano about 35 miles southeast of Mexico City.

• Coffee "beans" are not actually beans. They're nuts.

• The scientific name for foot odor is bromidrosis.

• There is a village in Wales named Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, which, in Welsh, means "church of St. Mary in a hollow of white hazel." In the early 1800's, the village's name was lengthened to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which means "church of St.Mary in a hollow of white hazel, near a rapid whirlpool, and St. Tysilio's Church of the red cave." The village's name was changed back to the shorter form in 1988.

• some wild yams produce compounds called saponins which can be used to make cortisone and some other drugs.

• Wombats can grow up to four feet long. (This fact is dedicated to my favorite wombat, Penelopita)

• There is a sweet drink made from the sap of the coconut palm's blossoms which is called toddy or tuba.

• Sweetbread is not really bread; it is made from the internal organs of different animals. It can be made from the thymus of young calves or lambs, or from the pancreas of hogs.

• The word "masticate" means "to chew."

• Vincent Van Gogh wanted to become a preacher but he failed his theology tests. He did, however, become a preacher in what is now southwestern Belgium two years later even though he wasn't ordained.

• The cuscus is a type of possum which lives in Australia, New Guinea, and some nearby islands.

• The cuttlefish's internal shell, called cuttlebone although it isn't really bone, is fed to parrots and canaries...it's that eye-shaped styrofoamy-looking thing people put on the side of bird cages. The cuttlebone is also used in toothpaste.

• Myiasis is an infestation of fly maggots in a living animal's body.

• A group of structures in the brain called the limbic system plays a big part in producing the emotions people have.

• States in America which contain a Springfield:
  -arkansas
  -colorado
  -georgia
  -idaho
  -illinois
  -kentucky
  -louisiana
  -massachusetts
  -maine
  -minnesota
  -missouri
  -nebraska
  -new hampshire
  -new jersey
  -ohio
  -oregon
  -pennsylvania
  -south carolina
  -south dakota
  -tennessee
  -virginia
  -vermont
  -wisconsin
  -west virginia
  Email: sneakyfish@aol.com