Jockstrip: The world as we know it

AMERICANS FLUSH TOGETHER

After Thanksgiving dinner, it's estimated that approximately 30 million Americans will watch football.

At halftime, American toilets will flush 30 million times and use 108 million gallons of water -- enough water to fill an entire football stadium, according to the American Water Works Association.

Water efficient toilets would save 62 million gallons of water, the AWWA says.

The AWWA also advises to save water on Thanksgiving Day the turkey should be thawed in the refrigerator instead of running it under tap water.

WTC RELICS SAVED BY THREE MEN

Relics of the World Trade Center attack are being displayed in a new exhibition at the New York Historical Society in New York City.

Dennis Diggins, James Luongo and Richard B. Marx saved the items from the rubble that was trucked from Manhattan to the Fresh Kill landfill on Staten Island, the New York Times reported.

"They are responsible for virtually all of the things that any museum has, in terms of objects from the trade center," says Mark A. Schaming, curator of exhibitions for the New York State Museum in Albany. "Most things were saved at Fresh Kills, not at Ground Zero."

There are more than 50 artifacts on display: a rumpled 5-foot American flag, a fragment of a red door from a fire truck and on a twisted wire ring, a forlorn janitorial key marked "World Trade Center Do Not Duplicate."

ECSTASY TESTED TO TREAT PTSD

The drug Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, may be helpful for those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Researchers the University of South are scheduled to conduct a trial next year that will test the effects of the drug on traumatized crime victims.

The use of MDMA therapeutically is controversial -- studies of the long-term effects of taking the drug suggest there may be health risks -- however some researchers believe the risks can be managed, the BBC reports.

MDMA had been used in conjunction with counseling in the 1970s but it grew out of favor.

TAI CHI RECORD IN TAIWAN

A total of 14,603 Tai Chi enthusiasts in Taipei, Taiwan, helped set a new record for the largest number of people performing the ancient Chinese martial art together.

Tai Chi practitioners performed in unison for 30 minutes as traditional Chinese music was piped into the square of Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

All wore white shirts and the traditional black, free-flowing Kung Fu trousers making for a spectacular sight, Britain's Sky News reported.

The former record was set in Hong Kong on Dec. 2, 2001, when 10,425 Tai Chi practitioners performed.