The ears shall---for now---remain the only body part that can get hurt when somebody is playing the cello. The painful-sounding medical condition "cello scrotum" turned out to be a 30-year-old hoax:

A top doctor has admitted her part in hoodwinking a leading medical journal after inventing a medical condition called "cello scrotum".

The spoof was inspired by a similar report of a phenomenon called "guitar nipple", which happened when the edge of the guitar was pressed against the breast, causing irritation.

"Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim. Somewhat to our astonishment, the letter was published."

I am sure cellists across the globe will be glad to hear their manhood is not at risk. I, for my part, will keep on playing the trumpet instead, just to be on the safe side ;)

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Mr. McCain is correct that there appears to be a growing gap in height between North and South Koreans, likely due to poor nutrition and impoverished living conditions. (...) While the conditions for North Koreans are troubling, Americans have a similar height gap to worry about, and it also appears to be due to a lower standard of living, poor health care and inadequate nutrition. Last summer, the journal Social Science Quarterly reported that Americans are, quite literally, falling short of Europeans.

New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope on the irony that in the first presidential debate, John McCain pointed out the height of the North Korean people (in comparison with South Koreans) as a sign of how bad life there is--while his own American citizens quite literally "fall short" of their European counterparts, for different political, but similar biological reasons.

(link)

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