Making a meal of it
Ever wondered what the nutritional value of human flesh is?
The human body is edible and there have been documented instances of human cannibalism for thousands of years and across many cultures. Human flesh has been used as one form of nutrition from Paleolithic times
to those desperate for food in 20th century concentration camps and among survivors of disasters in remote areas. However, according to one recent study of "nutritional human cannibalism" during the Paleolithic (when there was no evidence cannibalism was practised for a spiritual or ritual purpose) the human body is not an optimal resource in terms of the sheer number of calories that it provides when compared with other sources of meat. The study estimates that, if consumed, a human body would provide an average of 125,000 to 144,000 calories. This means the meat on one human's body could have provided a group of 25 modern adult males with enough calories to survive for only about half a day. In contrast, that same tribe during Paleolithic times could have feasted on a mammoth that, with 3.6 million calories, would have provided enough sustenance for 60 days. The study suggests that because humans offered such a comparatively low amount of calories that some examples of Paleolithic cannibalism that had been interpreted as "nutritional" may have occurred for social or cultural reasons. (Source: Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of The New York Public Library)
IRD number scam
Julie narrowly avoided losing $69 when applying for an IRD number for her teenage daughter.
