Interesting Facts

This is a collection of facts I have run across that I have found interesting and often surprising. I usually am motivated to find out a bit more about them and hopefully can collect the findings here. I have divided these up into several categories.

• A CIA operation in 1982 fed technical misinformation to the KGB leading to a monumental explosion and fire on an oil pipeline (Line X).

• World War 3 was narrowly averted in September, 1983 when Stanislav Petrov, a Russian colonel, disregarded standing orders by labeling an attack warning as a false alarm, avoiding an accidental retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States.

• The most comprehensive study to date indicates that smoking marijuana does not cause cancer.

• At least one medical study shows that acupuncture beats conventional therapy in reducing back pain, but the exact location of the needles does not seem to matter.

• Female hysteria used to be treated as a commonly occurring disease (up to 25% of all females) caused by sexual deprivation or dissatisfaction.

• For several hundred years (~ 800AD - 1500AD) the Islamic world was at the forefront of medical knowledge and technology (Islamic technology).

• 45% of Americans believe that creationism and not evolution is responsible for the development of life on earth.

• 45% of Americans believe that Jesus will probably return during their lifetime and 40% of Americans believe the world will end with a Biblical Armageddon.