Trivial Things....

DID YOU KNOW?

January was named for the Roman god Janus, the god of all doors, gates, and entrances. He was also the god of the new year. Janus had two faces—one that looked forward and one that looked back—symbolizing his ability to reflect on past failures and successes and to take their lessons into the coming year.

TIME MAGAZINE’S “MAN” OF THE YEAR IN 1982: THE PERSONAL COMPUTER.

IT’S A GAS!

BRI FLATULENCE HALL OF FAME

Honoree: Ned Lowenbach, assistant district attorney in Tuolumne County, California

Notable Achievement: Using farts as a legal strategy

True Story: In 1988, a defense attorney appealed his client’s conviction, protesting that Lowenbach had purposely disrupted trial proceedings...by passing gas. “He farted about a hundred times,” the attorney said. “He even lifted his leg a few times.”

STAND-UP ACT: LEWIS CARROLL WROTE ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND STANDING UP.

THE NAKED TRUTH

In September 2000, Selma Troyanoski, 53, a member of a county board of supervisors in Wisconsin, pulled into a rest stop for a nap. When an officer saw her slumped over and tried to investigate, she sped off, leading police on a high-speed chase at speeds of up to 110 mph.

Officers finally cornered Selma in a residential neighborhood. When she refused to exit the car, they smashed her window and opened the door. That was when they noticed she wasn’t wearing pants or underwear. Selma told the cops she had fled out of embarrassment, adding that she prefers to drive “bottomless” on long trips because she “gets very sweaty.” She faces three years in prison.

IT TAKES PLUTO 25 YEARS TO RECEIVE AS MUCH SOLAR ENERGY AS THE EARTH RECEIVES IN 1 MINUTE.

REEL LIFE

TWO MOVIE BLOOPERS

Movie: Remember the Titans (2000)

Scene: Wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt, Hayden (Sheryl Yoast) compliments Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) on his camp.

Blooper: The movie is set in 1971. The Tommy Hilfiger line wasn’t started until 1985.

Movie: Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

Scene: Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) goes into Roger Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover’s) bathroom with a sling on his right arm.

Blooper: At the end of the scene, the sling is on his left arm.

EASY MONEY: THE AVERAGE JEOPARDY! WINNER TAKES HOME $11,500 PER SHOW.

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO...

Jerri Lyons, 55, of Sebastopol, California, conducts seminars on do-it-yourself funerals, which are becoming more popular as alternatives to $5,000 funeral-home services. One recommendation, according to a Lyons client: Personally bathing and dressing a deceased friend makes the loss easier to accept. Another helpful hint: Ice must be applied to the body after about 24 hours (packages of frozen vegetables are okay, too). A funeral-industry analyst told Reuters that Lyons was not a threat; of more concern to the industry these days was, he said, “a soft mortality rate due in part to a weak flu season.”

EGGSHELLS ARE 90% CALCIUM CARBONATE...THE SAME THING YOUR TEETH ARE MADE OF.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

WEIRD WEDDING #1

“An unusual wedding took place in 1936 in Surat, India. Wearing pearls and diamonds worth a fortune, the couple were joined in matrimony in a Hindu temple by a high-caste priest. Thousands witnessed the ceremony, and hundreds attended the wedding banquet for the happy bride and groom—a pair of monkeys.”

—Unbelievable...but True!

ELVIS HAD A PET MONKEY NAMED SCATTER.

DUMB CROOKS

“A 19-year-old convenience store employee in Shawnee, Kansas, put tape over the security camera, robbed the till, then called police to report a robbery. But since he used transparent tape to cover the camera, it was easy to see that he was the robber and he was quickly arrested.”

—FHM magazine

A RECENT CHECK OF 62 POLICE CARS IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FOUND THAT 27 HAD EXPIRED TAGS.