DID YOU KNOW...?

I want to go on a fact-finding mission every month. I'll be sharing the results with you to increase your knowledge and broaden the scope of the world around you. Some of these statistics make me embarrassed to be part of the human race. Others are almost unbelievable.

So where do we spend our time? energy? money? And how we in North America fare compared to other people in the world. After this, you will know...

• America is the unhappiest nation on earth, with more mental disorders per capita than any other country. Nigeria is considered the happiest.

• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
• The fee charged by a psychologist for the on-line treatment of Internet addiction - $1.50 per minute.

• The number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since 2002 is over 105,000.
• The estimated number of deaths in Haiti's earthquake: 250,000. The number of children who die each month from malnutrition and disease: 200,000.
• In an average day, a four-year-old will ask 437 questions.
• one child dies from AIDS every minute.

• Each year more humans are killed by cows than sharks.

• In 2006 the Alaska zoo built the world's first 'elephant' treadmill to help their lone elephant, Maggie (9,120 pounds), lose some weight. She refused to use the contraption. An Iditarod racer is now using it to train his dogs.
• Close to 300,000 books are published each year in North America.
• 75 million children worldwide do not attend school.
• Most spiders are very near-sighted.

• The sloth is the world's slowest mammal, so sednetary that algae grows on its furry coat.

• Penguins don't have knees, drink salt water and can swim about 15 miles per hour. The name, penguin, is derived from the Welsh terms 'pen' which means head and 'gwyn' - white. There are approximately 100 million penguins in the world.
• A snail can sleep for three years.

So, any interesting facts you want to share with me?