Recently, my job has required that I do a lot of research on Tom Waits. This is not a problem‹I am a big fan of his work and enjoy reading music publications anyway. One of the things about Mr. Waits that I find charming is his tendency to spout strange and unusual facts‹both because it seems to be a good way to throw people off and distract them from giving an honest answer to a personal question you'd rather not consider and because, like Waits, I love these facts, too, and, like Waits again, have kept notebooks for the purpose of recording them. Below (for your enjoyment) are some of the unusual facts that he's offered in past interviews... 

There are more insects in one square mile of rural earth than there are human beings on planet Earth.

There are 35 million digestive glands in the human stomach.

Most dangerous job in the world? Sanitation worker.

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

Uranus is the only planet that rotates on its side.

A grasshopper can jump over obstacles 500 times its height.

The creature with the largest brain in relation to the size of its body: the ant.

Swans are the only birds with penises.

The side of a hammer is called a "cheek."

Honey is the only food that won't spoil. They found it in King Tut's tomb. Jars of honey. They said it was just as fresh as it was on the first day.

An average beaver can cut down two hundred trees a year.

The number of cars on the planet is increasing three times faster than the population growth.