Sen. George Allen (R-VA) uses a John Deere 155 lawn tractor to cut his grass while listening to NASCAR with earphones.

The macabre bookbinding practice known as “anthropodermic bibliopegy” was sometimes used in the 18th and 19th centuries. It involved binding accounts of murder trials in the killer’s skin.

The vast majority of the U.S.’s lead, and most of the world’s, is mined in Southeast Missouri. French explorers mined there in the 1700s.

Because the U.S. government spends at least six-tenths of a cent over the cost of the metal to mint each penny, it loses almost half a cent on each new one it mints. The mint produced 14,277,420,000 pennies last year.

According to Discover Magazine, a modern car uses less than 1% of its fuel to move the driver.

This article appears in June 16 • 2006.

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