Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information (18 page)

Charles Dickens wrote
A Christmas Carol
in six weeks.

The Tin Woodsman’s real name in the Oz books was Nick Chopper.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
A cigarette

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A .22-caliber gun

DESCRIPTION:
This brand of cigarette packs a powerful puff. Intended as an escape tool, the weapon only carries a single round, but with good aim it can inflict a lethal wound from close range. To fire the cigarette, the operator must twist the filtered end counterclockwise, then squeeze the same end between the thumb and forefinger. Warning: don’t shoot the weapon in front of your face or body—it has a nasty recoil.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
A pencil

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A .22-caliber pistol

DESCRIPTION:
Like the cigarette gun, this camouflaged .22 comes preloaded with a single shot. The weapon is fired in the same manner as the cigarette: Simply turn the pencil’s eraser counterclockwise and squeeze. The only difference between the weapons is that the pencil has a greater firing distance—up to 30 feet.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
Dentures

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A concealment device (and much more)

DESCRIPTION:
What could possibly fit inside a dental plate? A lot more than you’d think. Items such as a cutting wire or a compass can be placed in a small concealment tube and hidden under a false tooth. A rubber-coated poison pill can be carried in the same manner. The poison can either be ingested to avoid capture or poured into an enemy’s food and utilized as a weapon. Radio transceivers can be placed in dental plates, with audio being transmitted through bone conduction. The CIA has even created a dental plate that alters the sound of one’s voice. If all of these gadgets prove ineffective, then the dental plate itself can be removed and its sharp scalloped edge used for digging, cutting, or engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
A belt buckle

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A hacksaw

DESCRIPTION:
Fitted inside a hollow belt buckle is a miniature hacksaw. When the buckle is opened, a small amount of pressure is released from the saw’s frame, exerting tension on the blade. This makes the saw a more efficient cutting machine, keeping the blade taut when sawing through, for example, handcuffs. The belt buckle saw will cut through anything from steel to concrete in about 15 minutes and will tear through rope and nylon. Don’t wear belts? Buckles can be put on coats and luggage, too.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
Eyeglasses

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A dagger

DESCRIPTION:
Concealed in the temple arms of these CIA glasses are two sharp blades. Disguised as the reinforcing wire found in most eyeglass frames, the daggers are designed to be used once and broken off at the hilt, inside the victim. The lenses are cutting tools, too. The lower edges are ground to razor sharpness and can be removed by heating or breaking the frames.

IT LOOKS LIKE:
A felt-tip marker

BUT IT’S REALLY:
A blister-causing weapon

DESCRIPTION:
Don’t mistake this pen for your Sharpie, and be careful: You wouldn’t want it leaking in your pocket. A little over three inches long, the marker distributes an ointment that creates blisters on the skin. In order to activate the applicator, press the tip down on a surface for one minute—then simply apply a thin coating of the colorless oil over any area, such as a keyboard or door handle. The ointment will penetrate clothing and even shoes, and will cause temporary blindness if it comes in contact with the eyes. Blisters will cover the skin wherever contact is made within 24 hours and will last for about a week.

CABBAGE

Originated in Asia and introduced to Europe by Alexander the Great about 325 B.C. The name comes from the Latin
caput
, meaning “head.” It’s high in vitamin C, but contains sulfurous compounds that, when cooked, give off odors similar to rotten eggs or ammonia.

SCALLIONS

These tiny green onions owe their name to the biblical city of Ashkelon. When the Romans conquered the city, they called the tiny onions
caepa Ascolonia
or “onions of Ashkelon.” This became “scallions.”

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES

These sweet, starchy roots did not grow in Jerusalem and they are not artichokes. Native Americans used them as bread. The mix-up came when a Spanish explorer thought they were some kind of sunflower.
Girasol
(“turn to the sun”) is the Spanish word for sunflower. An American heard it as “Jerusalem.” No one knows why he also added “artichoke.”

BROCCOLI

The word comes from the Latin
bracchium
, or “branch.” It was developed about 2,500 years ago on the island of Cyprus and was a popular dish at ancient Roman banquets. (The Roman emperor Tiberius, who ruled from A.D. 14 to 37, once publicly scolded his son for eating all the broiled broccoli at a state banquet.) It was popularized in the United States by Italian immigrants.

KIWIFRUIT

Originally from China, it was imported to New Zealand in the early 1900s and renamed Chinese Gooseberry. After it arrived in the United States in 1962, a Los Angeles distributor named Frieda Caplan named it after the New Zealand national bird, the kiwi. It took 18 years before the American public started buying it.

CANTALOUPE

A type of muskmelon brought to Italy from Armenia in the 1st century A.D., and grown in the town of Cantalupo, which is where it gets its name.

George Washington was named after King George of England.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were both descended from England’s King Edward I.

George Washington’s name has been given to one state, seven mountains, eight streams, nine colleges, 10 lakes, 33 counties, and 121 towns across the world.

The autographs of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are more valuable than any other presidents’.

George Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest, at just 135 words.

When he didn’t wear a pocket watch, George Washington used a small sundial to tell the time.

George Washington’s favorite tooth whitener: household chalk.

George Washington’s feet were size 13.

When George Washington was president, there were about 350 federal employees. Today there are about 2.5 million.

Ronald Reagan elected 40th U.S. president

John Lennon assassinated

Mount St. Helens erupted

#1 movie:
The Empire Strikes Back

U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union at the Olympics

One percent of American homes had a PC

Most expensive movie poster in history:
Metropolis
(1927), auctioned for $690,000 in 2005, edging out the previous record holder.
The Mummy
(1932), auctioned for $453,000 in 1977.

American author with the most feature films made of his work: Edgar Allan Poe.

Thirty-one percent of American adults say they won’t watch a film with subtitles “no matter how good it is.”

Toto the dog was paid $125 a week for his work in
The Wizard of Oz
.

James Bond, the spy, is named after James Bond, the real-life ornithologist.

Five names considered for the Seven Dwarfs: Snoopy, Dippy, Blabby, Woeful, and Flabby.

Thirty-two percent of Americans say they never go to the movies.

“What’s up, Doc?” was first uttered by Bugs Bunny in the 1940 cartoon
A Wild Hare
.

Average cost of a movie ticket in 1940: 24¢.

Gone With the Wind
is the only Civil War epic ever filmed without a battle scene.

In
Gone With the Wind
, Clark Gable worked 71 days and made $120,000. Vivien Leigh worked 125 days and made $25,000.

Terminator II
cost $647,000 per minute of film to make.

Story most often made into a movie: Cinderella (59 times).

In 1915 someone made a silent movie version of the opera
Carmen
.

The movie
Grease
was released in Venezuela under the name
Vaselina
.

It takes the average American 2.6 days to feel relaxed on a vacation.

Per capita, more Americans volunteer their time than people of any other country.

Eighty-nine percent of Americans don’t have a valid passport.

The average American will use two thirds of an acre’s worth of trees in wood products this year.

Twenty-four percent of Americans say the world “was in better shape a thousand years ago.”

Nearly 6 percent of all marriage proposals are made over the telephone.

There are 33 vampire fan clubs in the United States.

Eight percent of Americans twiddle their thumbs. Fifteen percent bite their fingernails.

Ten percent of Americans have at least one college degree.

Twelve percent of Americans think they’ve seen UFOs.

According to florists, America’s favorite flower is the rose. Next: the daisy.

His skin must look like dough: “off-white, smooth, but not glossy”

Slightly luminous, but no sheen

No knees, elbows, wrists, fingers, ears, or ankles

Rear views do not include “buns”

Walks with a “swagger”

Stomach is proportional to the rest of his body

The first vertebra of your neck is called the atlas because it holds up your head.

Every seven years your body grows the equivalent of an entirely new skeleton.

The thyroid cartilage is more commonly known as the Adam’s apple.

Pygmy
refers to “any human group whose males are less than 4'11" in average height.”

Nearly all boys grow at least as tall as their mothers.

More than half of the 206 bones in your body are in your hands and feet.

If you’re a healthy, full-grown adult, your thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

Physicians in the United States treat an estimated 4 million broken bones every year.

Your big toes have only two bones. The rest of your toes have three.

Short people have fewer back problems than tall people do.

Take your weight and divide by three. That’s how much your legs weigh.

The average person’s skeleton accounts for about 20 percent of his or her body weight.

After spending 84 days in
Skylab
, astronauts were two inches taller.

Most Americans say that if they had to resort to cannibalism, “they’d eat the legs first.”