Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information by Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Society Page A
Authors: Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Society
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Earth at the rate of about one-eighth inch a year.
For the Birds
In the three weeks that baby sparrows are in the nest, their parents make 5,000 trips for food.
The Arctic tern flies as far as 10,500 miles when it migrates.
Some breeds of vultures can fly at altitudes of 36,900 feet.
Male cardinals take three times as long as females to learn a new song.
A hummingbird consumes the caloric equivalent of 228 milkshakes per day.
Most hummingbirds weigh less than a penny.
The average American bald eagle weighs nine pounds—“about the size of a well fed housecat.”
When a roadrunner is content, it purrs.
Most parrots are left-handed.
When mating, a hummingbird’s wings beat 200 times per second.
The fastest way to wake up a penguin is to touch its feet.
Lonely parrots can go insane.
Flamingos can only eat with their heads upside down.
When a turkey is panicking, it whistles.
In some parts of Africa, ostriches are used to herd sheep.
If birds could sweat, they wouldn’t be able to fly.
Old-Time Treatments
Leprosy is the oldest documented infection—first described in Egypt in 1350 B.C.
Among the “treasures” found in King Tut’s tomb: several vials of pimple cream.
Doctors in ancient India closed wounds with the pincers of giant ants.
The world’s first recorded tonsillectomy was performed in the year 1000 B.C.
Acne treatment, circa A.D. 350: “wipe pimples with a cloth while watching a falling star.”
In medieval Japan, dentists extracted teeth with their hands.
The Hunza people of Kashmir (India and Pakistan) have a 0 percent cancer rate. Scientists link it to the apricot seeds they eat.
Oldest form of surgery in the world: trepanning (drilling holes into the skull).
In the Middle Ages, Europeans “cured” muscle pains by drinking powdered gold.
Sixteenth-century French doctors prescribed chocolate as a treatment for venereal disease.
Doctors in the 1700s prescribed ladybugs, taken internally, to cure measles.
England’s Queen Victoria smoked marijuana to cure her cramps.
Between 1873 and 1880, some U.S. doctors gave patients transfusions of milk instead of blood.
During World War I, raw garlic juice was applied to wounds to prevent infection.
The ancient Chinese would swing their arms to cure a headache.
Big-Screen Actors
Tom Hanks is related to Abraham Lincoln. He is Lincoln’s third cousin four times removed.
Bela Lugosi was buried in the cape he wore as Dracula.
Michael J. Fox’s middle name is Andrew.
John Wayne was related to Johnny Appleseed.
After starring in two movies with Elvis, actress Dolores Hart became a nun.
The Three Stooges appeared in more movies than any other comedy team in U.S. film history.
Marlene Dietrich’s beauty secret: to emphasize her high cheekbones, she had her upper molars removed.
The odds that a stage or screen actor has changed his or her name is about three out of four.
In 1947 Marilyn Monroe was crowned the first Queen of Artichokes.
Actor with the most leading roles in Hollywood films: John Wayne, at 141.
Cowboy star Tom Mix had tires made with his initials imprinted on them so that when he drove down dirt roads he would leave a trail of TM s.
Shirley Temple made $300,000 in 1938, but her allowance was only $4.25 a week.
Sylvester Stallone’s payment for his first major film role, in The Lords of Flatbush , was 25 T-shirts.
Read All About It!
Twenty-five percent of Americans think Sherlock Holmes was a real person.
Gadsby , a 50,000-word novel by Ernest Wright, contains no words with the letter e .
Earliest use of the flashback in Western literature: Homer’s Odyssey .
In how many Agatha Christie mysteries did “the butler do it”? None.
Charles Dickens’s original phrase for Scrooge was “Bah! Christmas!” not “Bah! Humbug!”
One self-help book in Japan claims clenching your butt 100 times a day fights depression. Try it.
There’s a Cinderella story in Finnish folklore. But the girl’s name
For the Birds
In the three weeks that baby sparrows are in the nest, their parents make 5,000 trips for food.
The Arctic tern flies as far as 10,500 miles when it migrates.
Some breeds of vultures can fly at altitudes of 36,900 feet.
Male cardinals take three times as long as females to learn a new song.
A hummingbird consumes the caloric equivalent of 228 milkshakes per day.
Most hummingbirds weigh less than a penny.
The average American bald eagle weighs nine pounds—“about the size of a well fed housecat.”
When a roadrunner is content, it purrs.
Most parrots are left-handed.
When mating, a hummingbird’s wings beat 200 times per second.
The fastest way to wake up a penguin is to touch its feet.
Lonely parrots can go insane.
Flamingos can only eat with their heads upside down.
When a turkey is panicking, it whistles.
In some parts of Africa, ostriches are used to herd sheep.
If birds could sweat, they wouldn’t be able to fly.
Old-Time Treatments
Leprosy is the oldest documented infection—first described in Egypt in 1350 B.C.
Among the “treasures” found in King Tut’s tomb: several vials of pimple cream.
Doctors in ancient India closed wounds with the pincers of giant ants.
The world’s first recorded tonsillectomy was performed in the year 1000 B.C.
Acne treatment, circa A.D. 350: “wipe pimples with a cloth while watching a falling star.”
In medieval Japan, dentists extracted teeth with their hands.
The Hunza people of Kashmir (India and Pakistan) have a 0 percent cancer rate. Scientists link it to the apricot seeds they eat.
Oldest form of surgery in the world: trepanning (drilling holes into the skull).
In the Middle Ages, Europeans “cured” muscle pains by drinking powdered gold.
Sixteenth-century French doctors prescribed chocolate as a treatment for venereal disease.
Doctors in the 1700s prescribed ladybugs, taken internally, to cure measles.
England’s Queen Victoria smoked marijuana to cure her cramps.
Between 1873 and 1880, some U.S. doctors gave patients transfusions of milk instead of blood.
During World War I, raw garlic juice was applied to wounds to prevent infection.
The ancient Chinese would swing their arms to cure a headache.
Big-Screen Actors
Tom Hanks is related to Abraham Lincoln. He is Lincoln’s third cousin four times removed.
Bela Lugosi was buried in the cape he wore as Dracula.
Michael J. Fox’s middle name is Andrew.
John Wayne was related to Johnny Appleseed.
After starring in two movies with Elvis, actress Dolores Hart became a nun.
The Three Stooges appeared in more movies than any other comedy team in U.S. film history.
Marlene Dietrich’s beauty secret: to emphasize her high cheekbones, she had her upper molars removed.
The odds that a stage or screen actor has changed his or her name is about three out of four.
In 1947 Marilyn Monroe was crowned the first Queen of Artichokes.
Actor with the most leading roles in Hollywood films: John Wayne, at 141.
Cowboy star Tom Mix had tires made with his initials imprinted on them so that when he drove down dirt roads he would leave a trail of TM s.
Shirley Temple made $300,000 in 1938, but her allowance was only $4.25 a week.
Sylvester Stallone’s payment for his first major film role, in The Lords of Flatbush , was 25 T-shirts.
Read All About It!
Twenty-five percent of Americans think Sherlock Holmes was a real person.
Gadsby , a 50,000-word novel by Ernest Wright, contains no words with the letter e .
Earliest use of the flashback in Western literature: Homer’s Odyssey .
In how many Agatha Christie mysteries did “the butler do it”? None.
Charles Dickens’s original phrase for Scrooge was “Bah! Christmas!” not “Bah! Humbug!”
One self-help book in Japan claims clenching your butt 100 times a day fights depression. Try it.
There’s a Cinderella story in Finnish folklore. But the girl’s name
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