fill my brain

according to a judge in mississippi, the constitution does not give any u.s. citizen the right to clean drinking water or accurate information during a pandemic.

so why do we pay them?

in the united states, being convicted for hiring a prostitute, stealing from an employer, and/or engaging in bestiality is no longer a barrier to being hired by the fbi.

birds sometimes hatch and grow up with both male and female characteristics. this is called bilateral gynandromorphism.

at the time of this writing, 95% of the sheriffs in the u.s. are white, and 95% are men.

the last time whale oil was used in u.s. automobile transmissions was 1972.

whales are still hunted by japan, norway, iceland, and indiginous communities in the arctic. the rest of the world has banned whale hunting.

the average ceo in the u.s. currently makes 614 times as much money as they lowest-paid employee.

so if the lowest-paid worker makes the current u.s. minimum wage ($7.25), their boss makes $9,259,120 which works out to $4,451.50 per hour.

do you think that anyone's time is worth that much?

now guess which one pays more in taxes.

the first part of you that formed in your mother's womb before your heart, lungs, or brain was your anus.

then your mouth.

because of the doppler effect, the sound of bombs falling in movies (and cartoons) is the opposite of how they actually sound.

wild oats sow themselves, using parts of their anatomy to move into crevices where they take root.

flatworms sometimes accidentally grow heads at both ends.

there is a species of fish called the amazon molly that lives in rivers in southern texas and mexico that uses no male dna to produce offspring. all of the new fish that hatch are female.

by 2035, half of all americans will be obese.

because opossums have a lower body temperature than other mammals, they almost never get rabies.

continental plates drift about as quickly as your fingernails grow.

george washington had only one of his own teeth when he was sworn in as president.

large cats such as lions, tigers, and leopards, are attracted to calvin klein's obsession cologne.

charles richter, who invented the richter scale to rate the severity of earthquakes, was an avid nudist.

the wood frog can hold its pee for as long as 8 months.

according to freedom house, a u.s.-based nonprofit, every western european country scores higher on the global ranking of freedom and democracy than the u.s. based on measures such as election process, rule of law, and individual rights.

the rarest human blood type is called 'rh null'. although it can be used as a universal transfusion for all other blood types, the folks who have it cannot use any other blood. there are less than 100 known rh null folks in the world.

a new spider species has a trait known as bilateral gynandromorphism. this means that each shares male and female characteristics. the species is called Damarchus inazuma.

stephen king is the most banned author in u.s. schools. just 3 states have by far the most attempts to ban books: florida, tennessee, and texas.

we inhale or ingest roughly 68,000 microplastic particles every 24 hours... even on Christmas.

87% of escapees from prison or other confinement head west when they escape.

in the u.s., nearly half of all murderers get away with it.

1 out of 5 workers in the united states get no paid time off, and there is no federal requirement that workers get any paid time off at all.

this is true in only 5 other countries: palau, kiribati, marshall islands, micronesia, and nauru.

in the united states, about 68,000 people die every year because they don't have health insurance.

this is more than the number of americans who are murdered each year.

the folks who do have health insurance are denied coverage by their insurance company for 1 out of every 3 claims, on average.

students in nigeria must learn to convert numbers from decimal to binary, octal, and hexadecimal... in the 7th grade.

60% of all of the wealth in the united states is inherited, not earned. that means that folks who are wealthy pass on their wealth to their offspring, over and over again, and the succeeding generations do literally nothing to earn it. they simply live off of the revenue that having money generates.

since 1971, the cost of purchasing an average car in the united states has risen 1,200%, which may seem astonishingly high when household income has only risen 500%.

meanwhile, average ceo income has risen 1,460%.

since 1971, the median cost of a house in the united states has risen from us$25,000 to us$357,000 - 1,400%. meanwhile, median household income has only risen 500% in that same time period.

since 1971, the cost of a 4-year college education in the united states has risen 2,900%.

yes, really.

since 1971, the cost of healthcare in the united states has risen 3,700%.

that's not a typo.

in the united states, rights that specifically apply to women vary state by state, but this is not the case with rights that apply specifically to men.

more than half of the college students in the united states majoring in science or engineering were born in another country.

38% of american citizens with doctorates in science or engineering were born in another country.

the united states currently ranks 17th among countries in the proportion of college students majoring in science and engineering.

in 1975, it was 3rd.

how on earth can religious people believe in so much arbitrary, clearly invented balderdash?....the acceptance of a creed, any creed, entitles the acceptor to membership in the sort of artificial extended family we call a congregation. it is a way to fight loneliness. any time i see a person fleeing from reason and into religion, i think to myself, 'there goes a person who simply cannot stand being so goddamned lonely anymore'. (kurt vonnegut)

the average number of citizens who declare bankruptcy each year due to medical debts that they cannot pay, by country:

australia - 0
canada - 0
denmark - 0
germany - 0
great britain - 0
finland - 0
france - 0
iceland - 0
ireland - 0
italy - 0
japan - 0
netherlands - 0
norway - 0
scotland - 0
spain - 0
sweden - 0
united states - 326,000
wales - 0

in the united states, 73% of all nonfatal workplace injuries due to violence happen to healthcare workers.

the united states has the largest prison population in the world. the despite the fact the the united states supreme court has ruled that jailing people for not having the means to pay fines is unconstitutional, thousands of folks in these states are still sent to jail for it:

alabama
arizona
arkansas
california
colorado
florida
georgia
indiana
maryland
michigan
minnesota
missouri
oklahoma
pennsylvania
south carolina
tennessee
texas
washington
wisconsin
wyoming

american employers steal 3 times the amount of money from their employees that is lost due to shoplifting, bank robberies, computer hacks, etc., put together.

this theft is often in the form of hours worked without pay, unpaid overtime, unpaid benefits, additional job duties added without additional pay during layoffs, etc.

most employees never recover these stolen wages. even for those that eventually do, it can take years.

percentage of americans that americans think...
... have graduated from high school: 89%

actual percentage of americans who...
...have graduated from high school: 65%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... own a car: 86%

actual percentage of americans who...
...own a car: 66% (and falling)

percentage of americans that americans think...
... own a house: 65%

actual percentage of americans who...
...own a house: 49% (and falling)

percentage of americans that americans think...
... have a drivers license 83%

actual percentage of americans who...
...have a drivers license 68%^

*this is part of why requiring one to vote is considered discriminatory.

percentage of americans that americans think...
... have read a book in the past year: 77%

actual percentage of americans who...
...have read a book in the past year: 50% (and falling)

percentage of americans that americans think...
... are christian: 70%

actual percentage of americans who...
...are christian: 58% (and falling)

percentage of americans that americans think...
... have a household income over us$25,000/year: 82%

actual percentage of americans who...
...have a household income over us$25,000/year: 62%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... are vegetarian: 30%

actual percentage of americans who...
...are vegetarian: 5%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... served or currently serve in the military: 40%

actual percentage of americans who...
...served or currently serve in the military: 6%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... own guns: 54%

actual percentage of americans who...
...own guns 32%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... make us$1 million or more per year: 20%

actual percentage of americans who...
...make us$1 million or more per year: <1%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... live in california: 32%

actual percentage of americans who...
... live in california: 12%

percentage of americans that americans think...
... live in texas: 30%

actual percentage of americans who...
... live in texas: 9%