uncle john

There are some wonderfully useless books out there and the Bathroom Readers' Institute has been publishing a series of books called Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. Each book is filled with short stories that range from 2-5 pages in length that cover an amazing array of topics. From the history of the hamburger to the origin of the White House and everything odd. Needless to say, I really enjoy reading these books.

At the bottom of every page in these Bathroom Readers, there are 'running feet'. This is basically a sentence of trivial information (even more trivial than the articles, if that is possible) that makes you say, "Hmmm, I didn't know that." Here are some of the running feet that I have found.

- Poll results: 12% of Americans think Joan of Arc is Noah's wife.
- To take an oath, ancient Romans put a hand on their testicles - that's where testimony comes from.
- If you're over 100 years old, there's an 80% chance you're a woman.
- A study by the U.S. gov't has determined that pigs can be alcoholics.
- What do 11, 69, and 88 have in common? They all read the same upside down.
- What city has the most taxicabs in the world? Mexico City with over 60,000.
- Sweden has more telephones per capita than any other country in the world.
- Crocodile babies don't have sex chromosomes; the temperature at which the egg develops determines the gender.
- According to experts, there was no punctuation until the 15th century.
- Mammal rule of thumb; if you eat meat, you have at least 4 toes on each foot.

Of course there are lots more where that came from. Grab a copy of it the next time you want some light and entertaining reading from the local bookstore.