Read Online Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wonderful World of Odd by Bathroom Readers’ Institute - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
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differentiate between white and black she also claimed she could read newspapers and sheet music while blindfolded.
• Working as a beacon keeper on the island of Mauritius in the 18th century, Etienne Bottineau claimed he could feel subtle changes in the air and atmosphere, and “sense” ships before they appeared on the horizon. Once tested in the 1760s, Bottineau accurately predicted 109 out of 111 ships before they arrived. The two he missed had changed course after he’d sensed them.
• Jacques Aymar, who lived in France in the 1600s, had a gift for divining. One time he was dowsing for water and found a human head. He took his divining rod to the home of the dead woman and it pointed at her husband, the killer. Aymar went on to find dozens of criminals. His rod would guide him to a criminal and Aymar’s symptoms—sweating and passing out—told him that he had found the culprit.
• A rabbi in Lithuania in the early 20th century known only as “Rabbi Elijah” could retain and recite every word of every book that he had ever read. Elijah considered his ability to be a curse, with the complete texts of the 2,000 books he’d read in his lifetime flooding his brain and making it hard for him to concentrate.
• Benedetto Supino was 10 years old when he discovered he could set things ablaze by staring at them. In a dentist’s office in Formia, Italy, in 1982, the comic book he was reading suddenly ignited. Another day, he awoke when his bed was on fire because his pajamas were burning. Soon after, an uncle tested Supino’s abilities. He held a plastic toy in his hands. Supino stared at it and it ignited.
Hey, Bugs! The back end of a bunny is called its fud .
WEIRD HOTELS
Part of the fun of travel is enjoying the local flavor. So on your next trip, eat the local food, see the local sights…and stay in a tiny underwater motel.
H OTEL: Hotell Hackspett
LOCATION: Vasteras, Sweden
DESCRIPTION: One of the tiniest hotels in the world, the Hackspett (Swedish for “woodpecker”) accommodates just one person, or a couple if they don’t mind sharing a twin bed. But what really makes the Woodpecker different is that it’s a tree house situated 30 feet above a city park. It’s accessible only by rope ladder. Meals are delivered with a basket and pulley. Despite its size, the hotel room includes a kitchen, a veranda, and a toilet.
HOTEL: Hotel Filosoof
LOCATION: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
DESCRIPTION: Each of this 19th-century hotel’s 38 rooms is dedicated to a different philosopher or philosophy. So, depending on your mood or your level of enlightenment, you can choose a Nietzsche, Marx, Aristotle, Wittgenstein, or Zen room. Each is decorated with appropriate sculptures, murals, and quotations. Breakfast is served in the morning on a place mat covered in quotations by the philosopher of your choice. Bad joke: If the hotel is full, you’re out of luck—you Kant stay there.
HOTEL: The Old Jail
LOCATION: Mount Gambier, Australia
DESCRIPTION: The Old Jail offers the accommodations—and decidedly spooky atmosphere—of a huge, 19th-century rural prison. The hotel was once the South Australian State Prison, which operated from 1866 to 1995. Not much changed when it was converted into a hotel. Showers are still communal and beds are still cots, but the cell doors can now be opened from the inside. “Inmates” sleep four to a cell (either with strangers or family) or can pay double for a private, two-person suite.
If you set fire to your house in Jackson, Mississippi, by law you must first remove the roof.
HOTEL: Dog Bark Park Inn
LOCATION: Cottonwood, Idaho
DESCRIPTION: It would be odd to sleep on your back on top of a doghouse, like Snoopy, but it’s odder still to sleep inside the dog. The Dog Bark is a two-story wooden dog. It was built and is managed by a husband and wife team of chainsaw artists who invested the money they made selling dog-shaped wood carvings on QVC into building a dog-themed
• Working as a beacon keeper on the island of Mauritius in the 18th century, Etienne Bottineau claimed he could feel subtle changes in the air and atmosphere, and “sense” ships before they appeared on the horizon. Once tested in the 1760s, Bottineau accurately predicted 109 out of 111 ships before they arrived. The two he missed had changed course after he’d sensed them.
• Jacques Aymar, who lived in France in the 1600s, had a gift for divining. One time he was dowsing for water and found a human head. He took his divining rod to the home of the dead woman and it pointed at her husband, the killer. Aymar went on to find dozens of criminals. His rod would guide him to a criminal and Aymar’s symptoms—sweating and passing out—told him that he had found the culprit.
• A rabbi in Lithuania in the early 20th century known only as “Rabbi Elijah” could retain and recite every word of every book that he had ever read. Elijah considered his ability to be a curse, with the complete texts of the 2,000 books he’d read in his lifetime flooding his brain and making it hard for him to concentrate.
• Benedetto Supino was 10 years old when he discovered he could set things ablaze by staring at them. In a dentist’s office in Formia, Italy, in 1982, the comic book he was reading suddenly ignited. Another day, he awoke when his bed was on fire because his pajamas were burning. Soon after, an uncle tested Supino’s abilities. He held a plastic toy in his hands. Supino stared at it and it ignited.
Hey, Bugs! The back end of a bunny is called its fud .
WEIRD HOTELS
Part of the fun of travel is enjoying the local flavor. So on your next trip, eat the local food, see the local sights…and stay in a tiny underwater motel.
H OTEL: Hotell Hackspett
LOCATION: Vasteras, Sweden
DESCRIPTION: One of the tiniest hotels in the world, the Hackspett (Swedish for “woodpecker”) accommodates just one person, or a couple if they don’t mind sharing a twin bed. But what really makes the Woodpecker different is that it’s a tree house situated 30 feet above a city park. It’s accessible only by rope ladder. Meals are delivered with a basket and pulley. Despite its size, the hotel room includes a kitchen, a veranda, and a toilet.
HOTEL: Hotel Filosoof
LOCATION: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
DESCRIPTION: Each of this 19th-century hotel’s 38 rooms is dedicated to a different philosopher or philosophy. So, depending on your mood or your level of enlightenment, you can choose a Nietzsche, Marx, Aristotle, Wittgenstein, or Zen room. Each is decorated with appropriate sculptures, murals, and quotations. Breakfast is served in the morning on a place mat covered in quotations by the philosopher of your choice. Bad joke: If the hotel is full, you’re out of luck—you Kant stay there.
HOTEL: The Old Jail
LOCATION: Mount Gambier, Australia
DESCRIPTION: The Old Jail offers the accommodations—and decidedly spooky atmosphere—of a huge, 19th-century rural prison. The hotel was once the South Australian State Prison, which operated from 1866 to 1995. Not much changed when it was converted into a hotel. Showers are still communal and beds are still cots, but the cell doors can now be opened from the inside. “Inmates” sleep four to a cell (either with strangers or family) or can pay double for a private, two-person suite.
If you set fire to your house in Jackson, Mississippi, by law you must first remove the roof.
HOTEL: Dog Bark Park Inn
LOCATION: Cottonwood, Idaho
DESCRIPTION: It would be odd to sleep on your back on top of a doghouse, like Snoopy, but it’s odder still to sleep inside the dog. The Dog Bark is a two-story wooden dog. It was built and is managed by a husband and wife team of chainsaw artists who invested the money they made selling dog-shaped wood carvings on QVC into building a dog-themed
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