Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up! by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Page A

shopping mall opens somewhere in the United States every 7 hours.
    What does “100% Natural” signify on food labels? Absolutely nothing official.

Everyday Origins
    The first commercial typewriter was produced by gun manufacturer E. Remington and Sons in 1874.
    The @ symbol is about 500 years old.
    When and where was the wheel invented? Around 4000 BC, in Mesopotamia (now Iraq).
    Stilts were invented by French shepherds who needed a way to get around in wet marshes.
    The first ballpoint pen cost $12.50 in 1945…and sold out on its first day.
    The degree sign (°) is an ancient symbol representing the sun.
    The tape measure was patented in 1868.
    The people of India and the Mayans were the only ancient people who used the number zero in their mathematics.
    The first telephone book ever issued (in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878) contained only 50 names.
    Eyeglasses were invented in Europe in 1286.
    What is businessman Oliver Pollock’s claim to fame? He invented the dollar sign in 1778.

Espresso Yourself
    Dark-roasted coffee is “weaker” than medium roast. Roasting burns off caffeine.
    Prussia’s Frederick the Great liked his coffee made with champagne and mustard.
    Until 2004, caffeine was on the International Olympic Committee’s list of prohibited substances.
    King Louis XIV is credited with being the first person to add sugar to coffee, in 1715.
    Beethoven counted out 60 beans for each cup of coffee.
    Nationwide, 7-Eleven sells 10,000 pots of coffee per hour, every day of the year.
    You can absorb only 300 mg of caffeine (the amount in four cups of coffee) at a time—any more goes right through you.
    Technically speaking, coffee is a fruit juice.
    In the 1700s, people added butter to their coffee.
    A single serving of espresso has less caffeine than a cup of coffee.
    Voltaire drank between 50 and 70 cups of coffee every day.
    Coffee is the second most traded product in the world. The first: petroleum.
    The average American consumes enough caffeine in one year to kill a horse.
    Historians believe author Honoré de Balzac died of caffeine poisoning.
    One pound of coffee makes about 50 cups of coffee. But one pound of tea leaves makes about 300 cups of tea.
    The first coffee pot with a sieve to strain the grounds was invented in 1806.

BIG Debuts
    James Earl Jones’s film debut: Lieutenant Lothar Zogg in Dr. Strangelove (1964).
    Richard Gere’s first three big films: Days of Heaven , American Gigolo , and An Officer and a Gentleman . All had been turned down by John Travolta.
    Comedian Bill Maher costarred with Mr. T in D.C. Cab (1983).
    Quentin Tarantino’s first screenplay: Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit .
    On his first night hosting The Tonight Show in 1962, Johnny Carson was introduced by Groucho Marx.
    Jack Nicholson’s first role: Jimmy Walker in The Cry Baby Killer (1958).
    Leonardo DiCaprio’s first TV appearance was on Romper Room.
    James Dean made his first television appearance in a 1950 Pepsi commercial.
    What presidential daughter appeared in the 1964 Elvis Presley film Kissin’ Cousins? Maureen Reagan.

About Pitchers
    “Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.”
    —Robert Frost
    “You don’t save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.”
    —Leo Durocher
    “My pitching philosophy is simple—keep the ball away from the bat.”
    —Satchel Paige
    “Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.”
    —Warren Spahn
    “The dumber a pitcher is, the better. When he gets smart and begins to experiment with a lot of different pitches, he’s in trouble. All I ever had was a fastball, a curve, and a change-up, and I did pretty good.”
    —Dizzy Dean
    “Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice versa.”
    —Casey Stengel
    “The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, [the pitcher] has to remind the hitter he’s timid.”
    —Don Drysdale
    “I hated to bat against