MadSci Network:
General Biology Query: Re: What is the monetary value of the human body?

Date: Wed Jan 26 06:08:17 2000
Posted By: Eric Maass, MadSci Admin
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 945925110.Gb Message:

In 1985, Arthur Porges science fiction story "1.98" was published in the "Best Fantasy Stories from Fantasy and Science Fiction
Magazine" (edited by Edward L. Ferman, Octopus Books Limited); this book included a comment that the monetary value of the
human body was $1.98. If we allow for inflation, that would put the current monetary value at about $4.00

However, the value of minerals and other chemicals does not necessarily increase, and not necessarily at the rate of inflation.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...8889.Gb.r.html

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How much is my body worth? http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/expla...ages/worth.gif You're worth more than you think!
A great number of people have spent a great deal of human and financial resources calculating the composition of, prior to the decomposition of, and the worth, or worthlessness of, the human body.
When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the value of the average person's skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50!
This value is, however, subject to change, due to stock market fluctuations. Since the studies leading to this conclusion were conducted by the U.S. and by Japan respectively, it might be wise to consult the New York Stock Exchange and the Nikkei Index before deciding when to sell!
The U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils invested many a hard-earned tax dollar in calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the human body, which breaks down as follows:

65% Oxygen
18% Carbon
10% Hydrogen
3% Nitrogen
1.5% Calcium
1% Phosphorous
0.35% Potassium
0.25% Sulfur
0.15% Sodium
0.15% Chlorine
0.05% Magnesium
0.0004% Iron
0.00004% Iodine

Additionally, it was discovered that our bodies contain trace quantities of fluorine, silicon, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum, and arsenic. Together, all of the above amounts to less than one dollar!
Our most valuable asset is our skin, which the Japanese invested their time and money in measuring. The method the Imperial State Institute for Nutrition at Tokyo developed for measuring the amount of a person's skin is to take a naked person, and to apply a strong, thin paper to every surface of his body. After the paper dries, they carefully remove it, cut it into small pieces, and painstakingly total the person's measurements. Cut and dried, the average person is the proud owner of fourteen to eighteen square feet of skin, with the variables in this figure being height, weight, and breast size. Basing the skin's value on the selling price of cowhide, which is approximately $.25 per square foot, the value of an average person's skin is about $3.50.
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/worth.asp

That is if you break it down into its component atoms. That's just poor business practice. A single functioning kidney can fetch 5 to 50 thousand; a heart-lung set should be much more (everyone wants matching decor); eyes, blood, pancreas, skin .... and all that delicious fat.

Anything less than $100,000 is a rip off.

Sure and what of the alcohol and caffeine content? :) Oh wait that's just me....

:lol:

Dude who got stuck upside down for 28 hours in a tight squeeze in a
cave and died will be left there, and the cave sealed.

story

Sweden woman's 'murder' committed by elk not husband

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8384143.stm

Is that part of the initiation, or is it the moose I'm thinking of...?

I know my weird news is pretty lame usually but oh well.
It's how my weird operates.

The Sun-Maid Girl

http://www.sun-maid.com/en/about/sunmaid_girl.html

Many people want to know if a real person was the original "Sun-Maid girl." The answer is "Yes," and her name was Lorraine Collett Petersen. In May 1915, she was discovered drying her black hair curls in the sunny backyard of her parents' home in Fresno, California. She was then asked to pose for a painting while holding a basket tray of fresh grapes. This striking image was first applied to packages of Sun-Maid raisins in 1916. Over the years, this image has been seen on millions and millions of packages and has been taken into homes throughout the world.
The treasured original watercolor painting is today kept safely in a concrete vault at Sun-Maid’s headquarters in Kingsburg, California.


Just recently they changed her image which has earned it some weird remarks.


Naturally, the revamped look hasn't gone unnoticed, rankling both ends of the political spectrum. The blog for conservative magazine The Weekly Standard noted that the new Sun-Maid girl looks "as if Julia Roberts decided to don a red bonnet and start picking grapes," while the feminist website Jezebel.com remarked that it looks as if she's had “some implants.”

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fi/26/21/30.jpg

These idiots should just join scientology.

More at the link.

Gods can't sin, they must not be very faithful for thinking their God is a sinner.

looks like she had a reduction first, though:

http://www.sun-maid.com/images/sunma.../1916_logo.jpg
Original 1916 version of the Sun-Maid trademark.

http://www.sun-maid.com/images/sunma.../1923_logo.jpg
The Sun-Maid trademark in 1923

the 1916 version looks like her boobs are bigger.

So the feminists are only looking at her boobs? Don't they pretend to get pissed when men do that?

More Bad news for Tiger

Perhaps he should have used a driver.