In 2007, China became the world’s largest salt producer, surpassing the U.S.
Source: Salt Institute
Month: January 2010
January 10, 2010
About 240 million tons of salt are used each year in the world. U.S. salt reserves contain an estimated 55 trillion metric tons of salt.
Source: Salt Institute
January 9, 2010
An estimated 1.8 percent of U.S. adults are underweight, due to poor nutrition or health conditions.
Source: 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
A ‘Trifecta’ of Nonsense
The latest anti-Obama rant to show up in e-mail inboxes accuses President Obama of an “unholy” and “anti-American” series of omissions, which it claims no other president has committed. But the fact is, Obama was just doing the same thing that Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had done in similar circumstances.
It’s a brief e-mail that first showed up in our inbox Jan. 5:
Subject: Obama Trifecta
President Obama just completed the UNHOLY and ANTI-AMERICAN TRIFECTA:
1st president in 110 years to miss the annual Army-Navy Football Game.
Retribution Fabrication
Q: Did Congress raise its own pay for 2010 while voting to deny an increase for Social Security recipients?
A: No. A chain e-mail calling for "retribution" in the fall elections makes false claims and uses fabricated figures.
January 8, 2010
According to the 2008 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 41.5 percent of physicians reported at least partially using electronic medical records in their office-based practices. In 2007, the figure was 34 percent.
Source: CDC
U.S. Chamber: More Lawsuit Malarkey
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running a false ad claiming that "52 percent of all lawsuits" target small businesses. The claim is contradicted by the very study the Chamber cites as its source, and it’s not even close to the truth. The study shows the true figure is somewhere between 5 percent and 8 percent.
A spokesman for the Chamber, Mark Szymanski, told us the ad began airing "nationally" in late December and will continue to air until the end of January.
January 7, 2010
The macaroni penguin is the most numerous of the 17 species of penguins in the world.
Source: International Penguin Conservation Work Group
January 6, 2010
Jazz musician and composer Dizzy Gillespie died on this day in 1993 in Englewood, N.J.
Source: Library of Congress
The United States of Interpol?
Q: Did Obama sign an order giving Interpol the right to police the U.S.?
A: No. The executive order Obama signed in December simply gives Interpol the same privileges that other international organizations operating in the U.S. already have.