We're also treated to a detailed explanation of why the woman who might have just introduced a bedbug infestation into her home does not want her identity revealed, because nothing is too obvious to warrant an explanation anymore.

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"Alan, we're being told that a bedbug is a type of bug that infests people's beds."

If you're assuming that bedbugs find their way into libraries on the backs of America's hard-working homeless population, you're probably half right at least, but don't discount the layman's role in the impending disaster. A lot of reading happens in bed. That means a lot of books end up lying in beds when the person reading them passes the hell out. Bedbugs, being a resourceful lot, will shack up in pretty much anything that promises a warm place to hide until the bloodfeast (meaning your bloated mess of a body) returns each night. The spine of an old-timey book is as cozy a place as any. And then some do-gooder returns that book, and before you know it, your local library is crawling with parasites.

Just another benefit of books that you're never going to get with your newfangled Kindles and such.

It recently happened to a 10-year-old girl in North Carolina. The story points out that the attack was a "copycat" of an attack that happened a year earlier, because ABC News apparently has evidence that sharks have gained sentience and are now mimicking each other's crimes.

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"Seriously, it's the best thing ever. All you have to do is ring the bell and say 'Candygram'."

Bull sharks are particularly fond of shallow water, almost as fond as they are of snapping chunks of flesh off of the calves of unsuspecting beachgoers. In Texas, a 12-year-old boy was attacked by a bull shark while playing in just 3 feet of water. The problem with bull sharks as opposed to, say, tiger sharks, or those delicious Shark Bites fruit snacks that were all the rage in the '90s, is that they're aggressive and territorial. So it's not enough that they like to play in the people water; they also like to chase the people out of that water, and they aren't afraid to use their razor-sharp teeth to clear a path for themselves.

In fact, the shark attacks that the novel version of Jaws were based on happened along the coast of New Jersey, just like so many other horrible things before and since.

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They had to change the location for fear of readers siding with the shark.

Here's something nobody should need to tell you: Getting away with a crime is made exponentially easier if you're able to get far away from the scene as quickly as possible. Naturally, being close to a highway or an interstate makes getting away from pretty much anything a breeze. That's probably why our nation's highways are littered with serial killers.

Lest you think that's an overstatement, there are some terrifying numbers you may want to keep in mind. As of 2010, FBI statistics show that as many as 459 people may have been killed at the hands of highway serial killers over the past 40 years. There are approximately 200 suspects in those crimes. Almost all of them are truck drivers. Maybe that 44-point safety inspection upgrade you scoff at every time you get an oil change isn't such a crazy idea after all, huh?

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"Here's your problem: You're a quart low on your anti-murder. You need to make sure you check that every 3,000 miles."

It's certainly a more appealing option than finding yourself staring uselessly at your blown engine when someone like Bobby Jack Fowler strolls up to "help," which is actually code for "bind your hands and feet with duct tape, toss you in the trunk and murder you a short time later." That's basically what happened to 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen in 1974, and it took until this year before police finally pinned the crime on Fowler. In the long years between the crime and the conviction, another 17 bodies were found along the same stretch of highway where MacMillen was last seen hitchhiking, Highway 16 in British Columbia, which has taken on the chillingly appropriate nickname "The Highway of Tears."

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It narrowly beat out "Dieway 16."

But that should all be over and done with, right? The killer is caught, the crime spree ends. As it is in movies, so it is in life, right? Unfortunately, no. Not in this case, anyway. See, Fowler has been charged with that one crime, and currently he's suspected in one or two more. Obviously, that leaves a lot of dead bodies unaccounted for, and it's the same story on highways all across the land.

In the United States, the most dangerous states for highway murder are Texas and California, with 38 and 37 known cases to their credit, respectively. Hawaii (because you can't drive there) and North Dakota (because you don't want to drive there) can both proudly claim to be the only states in the union with no reported cases of highway serial killer activity.

I'm no tourism expert, but I'd recommend adding that shit to the travel brochures as soon as possible.

Brain-infesting tapeworms are a terrifyingly common thing in Latin America, though. They're transmitted when someone comes into contact with the creature's eggs (conveniently located wherever human poop is dropped) and doesn't wash their hands properly before handling that delicious food cart taco that Anthony Bourdain swore you had to try next time you were in Mexico.

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"But that's where all the flavor comes from!"

Upon ingesting the parasite, it attaches to your intestinal wall, where it forms into a worm, moves into your bloodstream and, from there, goes into your brain. Through that entirely undesirable process, you suffer no noticeable effects, other than having to double up on your daily calorie intake since you're now eating for two. The problems start when the worm dies inside your head, swelling the tissue around it and giving you a series of seizures that can only be stopped by digging into your brain and extracting the dead worm.

In the case of Becerra, the surgery had to be performed while she was awake. She received only mild anesthesia and acupuncture for the pain. Keep that in mind next time you're contemplating some kind of bizarre-foods tour through Latin America.