Francis Bacon:

One of the most influential minds of the late 16th century. A statesman, a
philosopher, a writer, and a scientist, he was even rumored to have 
written some of Shakespeare's plays.

How he died: Stuffing snow into a chicken

One afternoon in 1625, Bacon was watching a snowstorm and was struck by 
the wondrous notion that maybe snow could be used to preserve meat in the 
same way that salt was used. Determined to find out, he purchased a 
chicken from a nearby village, killed it, and then, standing outside in 
the snow, attempted to stuff the chicken full of snow to freeze it. The 
chicken never froze, but Bacon did.

There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside 
and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex 
for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for 
virgins to marry.

My husband was telling me a joke while my 7 year old son 
listened.  In the joke is a line about a barber being told *not* to
put hair tonic on the customer because the customer's wife 
would think he'd been to a whorehouse.  Another customer 
tells a second barber to go ahead and splash it on -- his wife
doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like.  
My son turns to me and says, "Do *you* know what it smells
like, Mommy?"