Comments on: 20 things you didn’t know about death.

By: cara

cara — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:29:11 +0000

That last one can’t be true, because there are more people alive today-around 6.6 billion, than number of people who have ever lived. That pretty much rules out reincarnation though doesn’t it? hehe

By: Dee

Dee — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:39:57 +0000

There is some truth to the statement at least. The Arabs of old both used the mummies for fuel (cooking etc) and it was used as curative for ailments and virility. Mumia or something of the like it was called. (yes that would still be cannibalism huh?

By: stefan

stefan — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:09:08 +0000

..Wow, a 100 billion people in just 6000 years? That sounds pretty extreme

By: david

david — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:23:49 +0000

re: 13 During a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies unearthed so many mummies that they used them as fuel for locomotives.

Actually, this is incorrect. This is in reference to Mark Twain, who in The Innocents Abroad (1869) writes, “The fuel [Egyptian railroaders] use for the locomotive is composed of mummies three thousand years old, purchased by the ton or by the graveyard for that purpose, and . . . sometimes one hears the profane engineer call out pettishly, ‘D–n these plebeians, they don’t burn worth a cent–pass out a King!’” Lest anyone fail to realize it’s a joke, Twain then adds, “Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am willing to believe it. I can believe anything.”

By: ketemphor

ketemphor — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 23:20:51 +0000

The suicide rate for the entire US is higher than the murder rate. (~5 per 100,000 for murder, ~11 per 100,000 for suicide)

The burning mummies thing is a myth: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020222.html