Read Online Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers’ Institute - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
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tallest man-made structure?
A: “It is not the Sears Tower, which is 110 stories and 1,454 feet high. A Shell Oil company offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is more than twice as tall as Chicago’s Sears Tower. Altogether, it rises 3,280 feet from seabed to flare top. Thirty-five ‘stories’ are above water level. Installed in 1994, it is the world’s deepest oil platform. The $1.2 billion rig is called the Auger Tension Leg Platform, or Auger TLP for short. It’s the first tension leg platform that combines both oil and gas drilling and production in U.S. waters. Designed to withstand 72-foot-high waves in 100-year hurricanes, it can sway up to 235 feet off center without damage. It was built to survive a 1,000-year storm.” (From Blue Genes and Polyester Plants , by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne)
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Total number of concerts played by the Grateful Dead: 2,317
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THE TOP 10 HITS OF THE YEAR, 1956–1959
In our last Bathroom Reader, we included lists of the annual Top 10 TV shows. That prompted requests for a similar list of the Top 10 songs of each year. So here’s the first of our series of lists, compiled from a number of sources with help from New York’s #1 oldies deejay, Bob Shannon of WCBS-FM.
1956
(1) Heartbreak Hotel — Elvis Presley
(2) Don’t Be Cruel — Elvis Presley
(3) My Prayer — The Platters
(4) Lisbon Antigua — Nelson Riddle
(5) Hound Dog — Elvis Presley
(6) The Wayward Wind — Gogi Grant
(7) Poor People of Paris — Lee Baxter
(8) Que Sera, Sera — Doris Day
(9) Memories Are Made Of This — Dean Martin
(10) Rock And Roll Waltz — Kay Starr
1957
(1) All Shook Up — Elvis Presley
(2) Little Darlin’ — The Diamonds
(3) Young Love — Tab Hunter
(4) Love Letters In The Sand — Pat Boone
(5) So Rare — Jimmy Dorsey
(6) Don’t Forbid Me — Pat Boone
(7) Singin’ The Blues — Guy Mitchell
(8) Young Love — Sonny James
(9) Too Much— Elvis Presley
(10) Round And Round — Perry Como
1958
(1) Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) — Domenico Modugno
(2) All I Have To Do Is Dream — The Everly Brothers
(3) Don’t — Elvis Presley
(4) Witch Doctor — David Seville
(5) Patricia — Perez Prado
(6) Tequila — The Champs
(7) Catch A Falling Star — Perry Como
(8) Sail Along Silvery Moon — Billy Vaughn
(9) It’s All In The Game — Tommy Edwards
(10) Return To Me — Dean Martin
1959
(1) Mack The Knife — Bobby Darin
(2) The Battle Of New Orleans — Johnny Horton
(3) Personality— Lloyd Price
(4) Venus — Frankie Avalon
(5) Lonely Boy — Paul Anka
(6) Dream Lover — Bobby Darin
(7) The Three Bells — The Browns
(8) Come Softly To Me — The Fleetwoods
(9) Kansas City — Wilbert Harrison
(10) Mr. Blue — The Fleetwoods
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A cow spends eighteen hours of every day chewing.
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THE HISTORY OF ASPIRIN
Today we take aspirin so much for granted that it’s hard to believe that when it was first discovered, it was considered one of the most miraculous drugs ever invented. It turns out that the history of aspirin also makes a good story.
P AIN KILLER
In the late 1890s, Felix Hoffman, a chemist with Germany’s Friedrich Bayer (pronounced “By-er”) & Company, started looking for a new treatment to help relieve his father’s painful rheumatism.
Drugs to treat the pain and inflammation of rheumatism had been around for 2,000 years. In 200 B.C., Hippocrates, the father of medicine, observed that chewing on the bark of the white willow tree soothed aches and pains. In 1823, chemists had finally succeeded in isolating the bark’s active ingredient. It was salicylic acid.
TOUGH STUFF
The problem was, salicylic acid wasn’t safe. In its pure form, it was so powerful that it did damage at the same time it was doing good. Unless you mixed it with water, it would burn your mouth and throat. And even with water, it was so hard on the stomach lining that people who took it became violently ill, complaining that their
A: “It is not the Sears Tower, which is 110 stories and 1,454 feet high. A Shell Oil company offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is more than twice as tall as Chicago’s Sears Tower. Altogether, it rises 3,280 feet from seabed to flare top. Thirty-five ‘stories’ are above water level. Installed in 1994, it is the world’s deepest oil platform. The $1.2 billion rig is called the Auger Tension Leg Platform, or Auger TLP for short. It’s the first tension leg platform that combines both oil and gas drilling and production in U.S. waters. Designed to withstand 72-foot-high waves in 100-year hurricanes, it can sway up to 235 feet off center without damage. It was built to survive a 1,000-year storm.” (From Blue Genes and Polyester Plants , by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne)
----
Total number of concerts played by the Grateful Dead: 2,317
----
THE TOP 10 HITS OF THE YEAR, 1956–1959
In our last Bathroom Reader, we included lists of the annual Top 10 TV shows. That prompted requests for a similar list of the Top 10 songs of each year. So here’s the first of our series of lists, compiled from a number of sources with help from New York’s #1 oldies deejay, Bob Shannon of WCBS-FM.
1956
(1) Heartbreak Hotel — Elvis Presley
(2) Don’t Be Cruel — Elvis Presley
(3) My Prayer — The Platters
(4) Lisbon Antigua — Nelson Riddle
(5) Hound Dog — Elvis Presley
(6) The Wayward Wind — Gogi Grant
(7) Poor People of Paris — Lee Baxter
(8) Que Sera, Sera — Doris Day
(9) Memories Are Made Of This — Dean Martin
(10) Rock And Roll Waltz — Kay Starr
1957
(1) All Shook Up — Elvis Presley
(2) Little Darlin’ — The Diamonds
(3) Young Love — Tab Hunter
(4) Love Letters In The Sand — Pat Boone
(5) So Rare — Jimmy Dorsey
(6) Don’t Forbid Me — Pat Boone
(7) Singin’ The Blues — Guy Mitchell
(8) Young Love — Sonny James
(9) Too Much— Elvis Presley
(10) Round And Round — Perry Como
1958
(1) Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) — Domenico Modugno
(2) All I Have To Do Is Dream — The Everly Brothers
(3) Don’t — Elvis Presley
(4) Witch Doctor — David Seville
(5) Patricia — Perez Prado
(6) Tequila — The Champs
(7) Catch A Falling Star — Perry Como
(8) Sail Along Silvery Moon — Billy Vaughn
(9) It’s All In The Game — Tommy Edwards
(10) Return To Me — Dean Martin
1959
(1) Mack The Knife — Bobby Darin
(2) The Battle Of New Orleans — Johnny Horton
(3) Personality— Lloyd Price
(4) Venus — Frankie Avalon
(5) Lonely Boy — Paul Anka
(6) Dream Lover — Bobby Darin
(7) The Three Bells — The Browns
(8) Come Softly To Me — The Fleetwoods
(9) Kansas City — Wilbert Harrison
(10) Mr. Blue — The Fleetwoods
----
A cow spends eighteen hours of every day chewing.
----
THE HISTORY OF ASPIRIN
Today we take aspirin so much for granted that it’s hard to believe that when it was first discovered, it was considered one of the most miraculous drugs ever invented. It turns out that the history of aspirin also makes a good story.
P AIN KILLER
In the late 1890s, Felix Hoffman, a chemist with Germany’s Friedrich Bayer (pronounced “By-er”) & Company, started looking for a new treatment to help relieve his father’s painful rheumatism.
Drugs to treat the pain and inflammation of rheumatism had been around for 2,000 years. In 200 B.C., Hippocrates, the father of medicine, observed that chewing on the bark of the white willow tree soothed aches and pains. In 1823, chemists had finally succeeded in isolating the bark’s active ingredient. It was salicylic acid.
TOUGH STUFF
The problem was, salicylic acid wasn’t safe. In its pure form, it was so powerful that it did damage at the same time it was doing good. Unless you mixed it with water, it would burn your mouth and throat. And even with water, it was so hard on the stomach lining that people who took it became violently ill, complaining that their
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