Read Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! Online
Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! (11 page)
Song on
Billboard
’s Top 40 with the longest title: “Jeremiah Peabody’s Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills,” by Ray Stevens.
A googol is the mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros.
The full title of Fiona Apple’s
When the Pawn
album is 90 words long—the longest album title ever.
It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
As of 2008, the largest known prime number is 12,978,189 digits long.
Diameter of Mars: 22,290,026 feet.
Floccinaucinihilipilification is a long word meaning “the action of estimating something as worthless.”
But James Joyce’s “Klikkaklakkaklaskaklopatzklatschabattacreppycrottygraddaghsemmihsammihnouithappluddyappladdypkonpkot” from
Finnegan’s Wake
is even longer. (It means “an act of God.”)
Supposedly, King Arthur’s Round Table seated 150.
An estimate of the diameter of the universe: 620,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000 miles.
Victor Hugo’s
Les Misérables
contains one of the longest sentences in French literature—823 words.
Rodin’s statue
The Thinker
was originally intended to be part of a pair of large doors.
You can fit 600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in a thimble.
In the United States, flooding is most common in the spring.
Daylight Saving Time, which takes place in March, saves the nation about 1 percent a day on electricity costs.
Led Zeppelin, Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday all sang songs about spring.
Spring astrological signs: Aries, Taurus, and Gemini.
Children grow faster in the spring.
In modern times, May Day is celebrated on May 1. But the Celts, who originated the pagan holiday, typically celebrated it on or around May 15.
In Afghanistan and Iran, the first day of spring is also the start of the new year.
* * *
“Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.”
—Dorothy Parker
1980:
Mount Saint Helens erupted in Washington State.
1980:
Quebec tried to secede from Canada…and failed.
1981:
Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice.
1982:
Canada finally became officially independent from Great Britain.
1983:
Top-selling toy: Cabbage Patch Kids.
1984:
Apple launched its first Macintosh computer.
1984:
New York was the first state to require that people wear a seat belt in a moving car.
1984:
The PG-13 movie rating was introduced.
1985:
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organized Live Aid, the largest television broadcast ever.
1985:
Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union, introducing policies that would lead to the fall of communism there and in Eastern Europe.
1986:
Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a national holiday.
1986:
The Hands Across America benefit—in which 7 million people held hands in chains across the United States—raised $20 million for charity.
1987:
The Simpsons
first appeared on television as a short cartoon on
The Tracy Ullman Show
.
1988:
Japan’s Great Seto Bridge, the world’s longest two-tiered bridge, opened to traffic.
1989:
Actress Kim Basinger bought the town of Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million. (She sold it in 1993.)
Chakra
(pronounced SHOCK-ruh)
is Sanskrit word that means “wheel” or “disc.” According to traditional Indian medicine, chakras are centers of energy, and every human body has seven:
1.
The Root chakra
at the base of your spine is all about security. It’s associated with basic survival needs like food (real and spiritual), water, and shelter.
2.
The Sacral chakra
in your lower abdomen controls emotions, pleasure, and finding balance in life.
3.
The Navel chakra
is located in the solar plexus and has to do with self-esteem and personal power. “Gut instincts” are centered here.
4.
The Heart chakra
, in the middle of the chest, is the love center of the human energy system, governing circulation, fluent thought, and a sense of security and peacefulness.
5.
The Throat chakra
at the base of the throat controls metabolism and is all about creativity, expressing yourself, and telling the truth.
6.
The Third Eye chakra
is located between and slightly above your eyebrows, and governs your powers of insight and intuition.
7.
The Crown chakra
at the very top of the head is the pinnacle of the chakras. It has to do with wisdom and being at one with the world.
The first English Parliament was called into session on January 20, 1265.
Australian prime minister Harold Holt vanished while swimming in Port Phillip Bay in 1967.
The so-called Roman salute (an arm held out straight with the palm down) used by Italy’s Benito Mussolini was once common in the United States when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
There has never been a United Nations Secretary-General from the United States.
The longest-serving UK party leader was David “Screaming Lord” Sutch of the Monster Raving Loony Party.
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild of the British House of Commons was the first Jewish member of Parliament (1858).
Women in Switzerland didn’t get the right to vote until 1971.
An American, William Walker, became president of Nicaragua in 1856.
There has never been a left-handed pope.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) was the only British prime minister of Jewish ancestry.
According to legend, Harald Fairhair united Norway in AD 872 to impress a girl.
Mickey Mouse is prohibited from running for office in Comal County, Texas.
Spencer Perceval (1762–1812) is the only British prime minister to have been assassinated.
Longest speech delivered to the United Nations: Fidel Castro, in 1960. It lasted four hours and 29 minutes.
Only one dog appears in Shakespeare’s plays: Crab, in
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
.
King Henry III of France often walked the streets with a basket of puppies around his neck.
When Anne Boleyn was beheaded, so was her wolfhound.
John Steinbeck’s dog ate the first draft of his classic novel
Of Mice and Men
.
At the end of the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life,” there’s an ultrasonic whistle audible only to dogs.
Actor William H. Macy once told a reporter that he believed he was a golden retriever in a past life.
In the 1950s, the dog that played Lassie made $5,000 a week.
Movie theater owners’ pick for 1926 “Actor of the Year”: Rin Tin Tin.
Paul McCartney wrote the Beatles song “Martha My Dear” for his sheepdog, Martha.
Walt Disney owned a poodle named Lady.
Name of Batman’s dog: Ace the Bat-Hound.
Although foxes are members of the dog (canid) family, they cannot mate and reproduce with any other canid.
Zeppo Marx helped to establish the Afghan hound as a breed in the United States.
Mamie Stuyvesant Fish (wife of a railroad millionaire) once threw a dinner party for her dog…who arrived wearing a $15,000 diamond collar.
J. Edgar Hoover’s dog was named Spee-De-Bozo.
There really was a King Macbeth. He ruled Scotland from 1040 to 1057.
Alfred, king of England from 871 to 899, is the only English king called “the Great.”
Edward IV—at 6' 3"—was the tallest English monarch.
From 1918 to 1944, Denmark’s Christian X was also king of Iceland.
Lady Jane Grey ruled England for only nine days, from July 10 to July 19, 1553.
Before Louis-Philippe I became king of France in 1830, he lived above a Philadelphia bar.
Good King Wenceslas was a real king—of Bohemia.
Between 1978 and 1999, American-born Lisa Halaby was queen of Jordan. She’s better known as Queen Noor.
Marie Antoinette liked to entertain herself by dressing up as a shepherdess and milkmaid.
So far, the longest reign of any British monarch was Queen Victoria’s—63 years, 7 months.
Dieu et Mon Droit
(“God and My Right”) is Queen Elizabeth II’s motto.
England’s Queen Anne became so heavy that she needed to be moved with pulleys.
Queen Lili’uokalani was the last Hawaiian monarch. She abdicated in 1893 in the face of an American-backed coup d’état.
England’s King Henry VIII did have a male heir (Edward VI) who was crowned king of England at the age of nine. But the boy died at 15, probably of tuberculosis.
Miguel de Cervantes wrote
Don Quixote
while in prison.
One of London’s best-known jails was located on Clink Street. That’s why jails are referred to as “clinks.”
Marco Polo dictated his
Travels of Marco Polo
to a fellow inmate in a Genoa prison.
When English author Geoffrey Chaucer was taken prisoner by the French in the Hundred Years’ War, his ransom was 16 pounds. The English refused to pay.
For four days in 1941, Nazi Rudolf Hess was the last state prisoner to be held in the Tower of London.
Later, Hess was the only occupant of Spandau Prison in Berlin.
Merle Haggard was in San Quentin State Prison in 1958 when Johnny Cash performed there.
Author Hunter S. Thompson (
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
) missed his high school graduation ceremony because he was in jail.
Mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano was arrested 25 times but convicted only once.
Marie Antoinette took her bidet to prison with her.
Jazz legend Louis Armstrong was sent to reform school for firing a shot into a New Year’s Day parade.
The first sponsored fund-raising “walk” inside a prison occurred in an Oregon prison in 1988. The prisoners were raising money for organ transplants and walked a combined 3,400 miles.
The first indicted bank robber in the United States: Edward Smith, in 1831. He was sentenced to five years’ hard labor on the rock pile at Sing Sing Prison in New York.
Kyoto was the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868. Today, the capital is Tokyo.
Sweden was a major European military power until 1709, when it lost the Battle of Poltava to Russia’s Peter the Great.
In Asia, a black cat is considered lucky.
Most sparsely populated country in the world: Mongolia, with 4.5 people per square mile. Most crowded country: Monaco, with an average of 42,649 people per square mile.
Sixteen percent of all Africans live in Nigeria.
Switzerland hasn’t gone to war with another country since 1515.
The University of Bologna in Italy, founded in 1088, is the oldest still-operating university in the world.
Coal miners in Wales once believed that washing coal dust from their backs weakened their spines.
Before joining Canada, Newfoundland was technically an independent country.
The border between Italy and Vatican City is marked by a painted white line.
The crew of the
Enterprise
under Captain Kirk’s command: 430. Under Captain Jean-Luc Picard: 1,012.
The word “Jedi” in
Star Wars
is derived from the Japanese words
jidai geki
, which means “period drama.”
In the original draft of
Star Trek
, the
Enterprise
was called the USS
Yorktown
.
Nick Nolte was originally considered for the role of Han Solo in
Star Wars
.
Before he played Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy owned a pet store.
David Lynch turned down the chance to direct
Return of the Jedi
.
After the death of James “Scotty” Doohan at age 84 in July 2005, William Shatner, 74, became the oldest surviving cast member of the original
Star Trek
.
Only one shot in
The Phantom Menace
included no digital effects: the moment where gas blows out of a vent into one of the meeting rooms.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s fish was named Livingston.
Before the original
Star Trek
series aired, publicity for the new show included photos in which Mr. Spock’s eyebrows and ears were airbrushed to be more rounded. NBC, the network that was producing the series, was afraid his pointed ears and eyebrows would offend viewers because they made Spock look like the devil.
The character of Luke Skywalker in
Star Wars
(1977) was originally written as a girl.
Only person to appear as himself in the
Star Trek
franchise: Stephen Hawking on
Star Trek: The Next Generation
in 1993. (He beat Data at poker.)
Minnesota’s Mall of America has more visitors every year than Disney World, Graceland, and the Grand Canyon combined.
Sixty-seven percent of consumers say they would switch to a different brand if it supported a cause they believed in.
First major coupon campaign: Coca-Cola in 1887.
The average supermarket shopper makes 14 impulse decisions on each visit.