Hi, I'm Josh Sundquist, from this channel hopping in for John this week to host Mental Floss on YouTube.

1. Did you know that actor Robert David Hall, famous as CSI lead doctor Albert Robbins, is missing both of his legs due to a car accident? Interestingly, he's only 5-feet 8-inches tall, and you have to respect his restraint, because, if I had two fake legs, which means you can basically choose to be any height you want, I would make myself at least a foot taller.

And that's the first of many famous people who are missing body parts that I'm going to tell you about today in honor of April being Amputee Awareness month.

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2. I'm going to broadly define "amputee" in this video to include not only limbs, but also appendages, like fingers and ears, mostly because I want to mention that painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear. He then wrapped it up and gave it to a prostitute. If only the Doctor could have changed his timeline.

3. Adventurer Aron Ralston cut his own arm off with a dull pocket knife after being trapped for 127 hours under a rock. Fortunately for Hollywood, he looks exactly like James Franco and he happened to have a video camera with him.

4. Speaking of traumatic amputation stories that have been made into inspirational movies, soul surfer Bethany Hamilton returned to competitive surfing after losing her arm in a shark attack. Dunnanunnanunnanunna. That's probably copyrighted music...

5. Due to an unfortunate accident involving a roast beef slicer at Arby's, former White House Chief of Staff and current Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel is missing his right middle finger.

6. Speaking of people who are unable to give the bird, legendary outlaw Jesse James lost his middle finger while cleaning his gun. After his death, his body was positively identified by that missing finger.

7. Also missing part of his finger, in this case due to an unfortunate door-slamming incident: actor Matthew Perry. Now you have an excuse to watch that rerun of Friends for the 10th time. You're welcome.

8. Ted Kennedy Jr., son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, had his leg amputated due to childhood cancer.

9. Actor Eric Stolhanske, best known for playing Rabbit in the movie Super Troopers, was born without his right leg from the knee down. He also played Todd in Beerfest, which kinda makes you wonder if Das Boot was actually just his prosthesis filled up with beer.

10. Turns out there's lots of amputee musicians, including jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, who lost both legs below the knee to diabetes.

11. And Rick Allen, the drummer for Def Leppard, who lost an arm in a car accident.

12. The lead guitarists of both Black Sabbath and The Grateful Dead were missing fingers. Respectively, they were Tony Iommi, who lost two fingers in an industrial accident, and...

13. ...Jerry Garcia, whose brother chopped off his finger with an ax, but that didn't stop him from inventing a delicious Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor.

14. Although she wasn't a musician, she married one. I'm talking about super model Heather Mills, who lost her leg in a collision with a London police officer on a motorcycle.

15. Confederate General Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson got his nickname for standing stoically like a stone wall in the face of battle. But, he ended up losing a part of that wall, specifically an arm, after he was shot by friendly fire.

16. Actor James Doohan lost a finger at D-Day before portraying Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on Star Trek. Hey look, these guys were on Star Trek, too!

17. And finally, we return to the salon--and not a moment too soon, my hands are getting very cold. Ah, so much better--to tell you about Galileo. He lost three of his fingers after his death, after which time they changed hands--no pun intended--for several centuries before two of them disappeared for over 100 years. But in 2009, they were discovered in a jar and they now orbit the sun together from a museum in Italy.

Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these very nice people. Also, I'm Josh Sundquist, please check out my channel for more amputee-related humor.

Every week we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. This week's question comes from Conglore who asks, "Why do fingernails grow so much faster than toenails, or so it seems?"

Well, Conglore, you're right. Fingernails actually grow three times faster than toenails, but nobody knows why. Here's what we do know: your fingernails will grow fastest in your teens and 20's, and they also grow faster in the summer. Thanks for asking that mind-blowing question and leave more mind-blowing questions in the comments below.

Once again, I'm Josh Sundquist, and as they say in John's home town, don't forget to be awesome.