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Peacock Humor Pen
FACTS FOR A RAINY DAY, PART I
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The five most stolen items in a drugstore are batteries,
cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H. Apparently
people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. And, just in
case you are curious, one of Preparation H's main ingredient is shark liver
oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue.
As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the
appearance of wrinkles!
Source: Do Pharmacists Sell Farms by Vince Staten
(1998, Simon &
Schuster)
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It's widely known that Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha
Gray to the patent office by a mere two hours with his application to patent
the telephone. However, ten years after Bell's patent was issued, patent
examiner Zenas Wilber admitted in a sworn affadavit that he had taken a
$100 bribe from Bell, had taken a loan from Bell's patent attorney, and
had given Bell the complete details of Gray's caveat.
Source: Inventor's Digest, /August 1998, pages
26-28.
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Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They actually
don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of eighty years,
no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand
(or attempted to do so).
Source: Reader's Digest Strange Stories, Amazing Facts,
1976, p. 324
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Isaac Asimov wrote over 500 books during his lifetime (1920-1992).
He has the honor of being the only person who has authored a book in each
of the Dewey Decimal System classifications.
Source: Big List.
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Contrary to popular belief, only one alligator has ever been
found in the New York City sewer system. The 125 pound (57 kilogram) alligator
was pulled out by four boys way back in 1935.
Source: National Geographic's New York Underground
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A South Korean movie theater owner decided that the movie
The Sound of Music was too long. His solution? He shortened the movie
by cutting out all of the musical scenes!
Source: Uncle John's Fourth Bathroom Reader, 1989,
page 63
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In four separate instances between October 1987 and February
1988, small pink frogs rained down from the sky on to various parts of
Great Britain. Scientists are still uncertain as to where these frogs
originated, although some have traced them back to the Sahara desert.
Source: The World's Most Incredible Stories, 1998,
page 66.
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The Malaysian government decided to solve their disease-carrying
mosquito problem by spraying the infested areas with DDT. This worked,
but the cockroaches then devoured the dead mosquitos. This was followed
by the region's gecko lizards consuming the roaches. The geckos did not
die from the residual poison (surprisingly), but their central nervous
systems were greatly affected, causing the lizards to slow down. Moving
up the food chain, the cats ate the slow-moving lizards and started to
die off in large quantities. Of course, fewer cats means more rats, and
the country's rat population soared. As a result, the World Health Organization
was forced to step in and ban the DDT. In an effort to restore the ecological
balance, they flew in planeloads of cats to kill the rats.
Source: The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual by Bruce
Felton and Mark Fowler, 1994, p. 180, Galahad Books
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Two hundred and twenty six soldiers lost their lives way
back in 1850 when they crossed a suspension bridge that spanned the Maine
at Angers, France. It turns out that they were all marching in step and
had caused an increased resonance (vibration) to the bridge. Ever since,
troops are ordered to rout step (march out of step) when crossing a bridge.
Source: Why Some Shoes Squeak by George W. Stimpson,
1984, p. 115
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The phrase "Often a bridesmaid but never a bride" actually
comes from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash. The text was written
by Milton Feasley and first appeared in 1925. The advertisement was so
successful that it ran for more than ten years.
Source: Our Times: The Illustrated History of the 20th
Century, Turner Books, 1995, p. 187
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