Uncle John’s Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader@ by Bathroom Readers’ Institute Read Free Book Online Page B

the only miscalculation Pedott made in his marketing strategy was that he assumed sales would drop off after a few years. They never did—nearly 30 years after the re-branded, re-marketed Chia Pets hit store shelves in 1982, his company, Joseph Enterprises, still sells about half a million of them a year, including licensed cartoon characters (beginning in 2000) and selected American presidents, including two different versions of President Barack Obama (“Determined,” with a serious look on his face, and “Happy,” with a smiling “Commander in Chia” look). The Obama Chia Pets are the first to depict a living person, and they’re also the most controversial Chia Pets ever: In 2009 both the Walgreens and CVS chains pulled them from store shelves after customers complained. (No word on whether the complaints were from Democrats or Republicans.)
Bestselling fiction author of all time: William Shakespeare. #2: Agatha Christie. (Dr. Seuss is #9.)
    H–H–H–HEALTHY
    If you were ever tempted to taste a chia seed or sprout but didn’t for fear of being p–p–p–poisoned, you needn’t have worried: The seeds and sprouts are actually good for you. They were an important food crop to the Aztecs and are still grown for food in Central and South America, and now even in Australia.
    • The chia seeds are from the Salvia hispanica plant, a member of the mint family. They’re rich in omega-3 fatty acids and are also high in protein, fiber, and antioxidants.
    • The seeds can be eaten raw or added to corn or wheat flour to make baked goods. The sprouts can be added to sandwiches or sprinkled on salads, just like alfalfa sprouts. In Mexico they’re mixed into water or juice to make a health drink called chia fresca . Chia Goodness is a brand of chia/hemp-seed breakfast cereals sold in the United States and Canada.
    • If you’ve ever owned a Chia Pet, you know that when the seeds are soaked in water, they form an oily, gelatinous paste. That’s not some chemical that’s added to the seeds to make them stick to the Chia Pet; that’s a natural property of the seeds themselves, one that makes them useful in thickening porridge or oatmeal. That oil is also how the seeds got their name: Chia comes from chian, the Aztec (or Nahuatl) word for “oily.” The southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas takes its name from the Nahuatl words chia and apan —”chia river.”
    • You may be eating chia seeds already, without even knowing it: They are sold in health food stores under the brand names Salba, Mila, and Sachia. Golf legend Arnold Palmer even has his own line of chia seeds, sold under the brand name Anutra.
    POT-ABLE
    Chia seeds can’t reach their full potential when planted on a Chia Pet. (How well would you do on a diet of water and no food?) So if you want to see what a full-grown chia plant looks like, plant some seeds in potting soil. They’ll grow more than three feet tall and produce clusters of purple or white flowers on long stems.

    “Even a little dog can pee on a big building.” —Jim Hightower
Average person’s cholesterol level in China: 127. In America: 227.

RETRONYMS
It’s a new way to describe an old term after a new development requires differentiation. Confused? You won’t be after reading these examples .
    S nail mail: It was called “mail” until e-mail. (A shorter version is beginning to catch on—”smail.”)
    Land line: It was just a regular telephone line until cell phones became popular.
    Coca-Cola Classic: The word “classic” was added in 1985 after the release of New Coke, which flopped.
    World War I: Originally called “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars”…until World War II.
    Corn on the cob: Referred to as “corn” until canned and frozen corn became popular in the 1920s.
    Cloth diaper: The invention of the disposable diaper in 1949 created the need for this term.
    Hardcover book: All books were hardcover until the 1930s, when paperbacks were