1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (108 page)

812

FACT :
An Australian writer was sentenced to three years in a Thai prison and experienced “unspeakable suffering” because of
a few lines in his self-published novel
that were deemed insulting to the monarchy. The book sold only seven copies.
The “unspeakable suffering” occurred when they read his book aloud to him.

Grant Peck, “Australian Convicted of Insulting Thai Monarchy,” ABC News, January 19, 2009,
www.abcnews.go.com
.

813

FACT :
In Lebanon, men are permitted
to have sexual intercourse with an animal
, but only if it is female. Sex with a male animal is punishable by death.
If you survive the attempt, that is.

Eve Marx, What’s Your Sexual IQ? (Citadel Press, 2004), 175.

814

FACT :
It is against the law in France to sell a doll with
a face that is not human
.
Which is why no one makes a Sarah Jessica Parker Barbie in France.

Noel Botham, The Best Book of Useless Information Ever: A Few Thousand Other Things You Probably Don’t Need to Know (but Might as Well Find Out) (Perigee, 2007).

815

FACT :
Donald Duck was once banned in Finland because
he doesn’t wear any pants
.
Finns, you didn’t miss anything.

Noel Botham, The Best Book of Useless Information Ever: A Few Thousand Other Things You Probably Don’t Need to Know (but Might as Well Find Out) (Perigee, 2007), 46.

816

FACT :
One of Taiwan’s most successful theme restaurant chains is Modern Toilet, where
customers sit on commodes
and enjoy chocolate ice cream and curry chicken served in dishes shaped like small toilets to resemble feces.
The closest thing we have is to that is Chili’s, but their food only tastes like it came from the toilet.

Jonathan Adams, “Waiter, There’s a Toilet in My Soup,”
Globalpost.com
,
www.globalpost.com
.

817

FACT :
Hindus believe
cow urine is medicinal
; it is often drunk in religious festivals.
They’ll never run out, that’s for sure.

Matthias Williams, “They Call it Mellow Yellow?” Reuters, February 12, 2009,
www.reuters.com
.

818

FACT :
A fifth of Ireland’s towns are at
high risk for cryptosporidium infection
, a disease spread through drinking water contaminated by human feces.
But no one ever gets it because it’s not found in booze.

Rose George, The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters (St. Martin’s Press, 2008).

819

FACT :
The drive-through line on opening day of a new McDonald’s in Kuwait City, Kuwait reached
seven miles long at times
.
That’s a lot of disappointed people.

“The McDonald’s History— 1994 to Today,” McDonald’s Corporation,
www.mcdonalds.com
.

820

FACT :
In South Korea in 2005, a twenty-eight-year-old man was killed by a heart attack brought on by exhaustion from
playing a video game online for fifty straight hours
.
PWN3D!!!

“S Korean dies after games session,” BBC News, August 10, 2005,
www.news.bbc.co.uk
.

821

FACT :
On average, a Chinese person takes his or her own life
every two minutes
, adding up to 250,000 to 300,000 suicides a year.
Some Chinese like to save the government the trouble.

Pascale Trouillaud, “Chinese Committing Suicide Every Two Minutes,”
news.com.au
, December 9, 2008,
www.news.com.au
.