1) Looks like a lot of people out in the Wild West still think they're Billy the Kid: the West is the region of the U.S. with the highest rate of crimes against person and property. The future doesn't look good either: global warming will stress migrating fish in the region, damage desert ecosystems and reduce peak runoff from mountain areas complicating water management for flood control, cities, and irrigation.

2) Don't get all carried away with spring fever and start making babies: being born in late winter has been linked to schizophrenia and affective psychosis later in life. And that New Year's Eve clinch isn't a good idea either: children conceived in the winter are more likely to develop a common childhood brain cancer called medulloblastoma.

3) We were all pretty sure that being a woman in this society couldn't be good for you and here's the evidence. Women have twice as many mood disorders during their lifetimes as men (and if we all think hard and compare our paychecks, our rape risks, our promotion statistics, and the comments we get as we pass building sites, we can probably figure out a few of the reasons). Women are also more likely to suffer from some diseases (notably autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and myasthenia gravis) and to react adversely to others: compared with men, for example, women with coronary artery disease have significantly lower levels of mental well-being three years after being diagnosed. Women who have heart attacks arrive later at the hospital and are less likely than men to receive appropriate treatment, leading to worse long-term outcomes. And women are less able than men to find their way in unfamiliar places. (They get there faster any-way, though, because they ask directions.)

4) Bottled water may be no healthier than tap water, costs up to a thousand times as much, is subject to less strict safety standards, and contributes to climate change through the toxic chemicals released during the manufacture and disposal of bottles. Plus, carrying those little bottles around announces to the world that you have way too much disposable income for your own good.

5) No matter what else is full of hidden dangers, at least drinking eight glasses of water a day is good for you, right? Hahahahaha. At least one study suggests that the more tap water women drink while pregnant, the more likely they are to have spontaneous abortions. Even water that meets the minimum standards of the Environmental Protection Agency may contain disinfection by-products that are associated with bladder cancers, disease causing micro-organisms that cause gastrointestinal illnesses in children and the elderly, lead and arsenic, and Cryptosporidium parasites that can kill people with weakened immune systems (which makes you wonder what, exactly, would not meet the standards of the EPA). Antibiotics and other drugs have also been found in drinking water.

6) If you've got a history of mental illness, start giving your money away (our address is available in the table of contents): rich people with this kind of history are more likely to commit suicide than poor ones.

7) Weight-loss products may contain ephedra, an herb that can raise blood pressure and cause reactions such as vomiting, heart palpitations, dizziness, nervousness, and even heart attacks, seizures, and strokes. On the other hand, being even a few pounds overweight means you come in for the kind of treatment that can cause most of the same symptoms. Your call.

8) From the Official Los Angeles Police Dictionary: "non-lethal, adj. Might not kill you if you duck fast enough." Between 1996 and 2000, sixtynine people were hit by so-called "non-lethal" "beanbag" rounds fired from shotguns by police in Los Angeles. Fortyfour of those hit suffered serious injuries, and one man died.

9) From the Hollywood Book of Really Tough Logic Puzzles: if too much exposure to the sun gives you skin cancer, what might you get from too much time on sunbeds whose tanning lamps mimic the effects of sunshine? If you answered, "Double the risk of developing squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas," give yourself five points. If you answered, "A totally cool tan," give yourself health insurance.

10) If you and your spouse both want to watch the Super Bowl, that's great just do it in different places. Super Bowl Sunday is the worst day of the year for domestic violence in the U.S.