I had some spare time...

Once or twice a week each volunteer does a night shift at the orphanage. This means spending 4-5 quiet hours in the infant nursery in the middle of the night, drinking an unhealthy amount of Coke and hoping that the radio station plays a lot of American songs. No computers. No ipods. No movies.

At first this wasn't my favorite, as I'm sure you can imagine. Fortunately I'm used to it now, and I actually really enjoy night shifts since I've discovered really great activities that keep me awake. One of these, of course, is reading a good book. Mockingjay kept me wide awake for an entire night shift, as did my 7th time reading Ender's Game. There's my nerdy side...I love that book. Gimme a good science fiction and I am SET. Recently I've entertained myself with Sudoku puzzles for the whole night shift. Time flies surprisingly fast when I've there's a Sudoku to be solved.

Last night I brought a particularly interesting book to night shift, but didn't really have that much faith that it would capture my attention enough to keep me alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic. I was very wrong. Title: Extraordinary Book of Facts and Bizarre Information.  Literally hundreds and hundreds of random, and admittedly mostly useless facts. I hope this isn't any sort of copyright infringement...I want to share some of the facts that a.) interested me a whole lot, b.) stunned me to a point of sheer disbelief, and c.) almost made me wet my pants laughing.

• You can think 625 thoughts on the caloric energy of one Cheerio. Cool...more energy for thinking AND lower cholesterol all in one delightful bowl of cereal. Who woulda thunk?
• In her films, Shirley Temple always had 56 curls in her hair. 
• The first canned foods appeared in 1810, but the can opener wasn't invented until 1858. Another reason I am so glad that I live nowadays. I spent a good 5 minutes contemplating ways to open a can without a can opener. I got nothing.
• A child laughs about 400 times a day. Adults laugh about 15 times. Olivia Zippi laughs a lot more than both of them combined.
• When glass breaks, the cracks travel faster than 3,000 mph.
• More people die playing golf than any other sport. Leading causes: heart attacks and strokes. Anyone seen The Legend of Bagger Vance? I feel like I recall someone dying from a heart attack on the golf course in that movie.
• The seven Gummi Bears are named Gruffi, Cubbi, Tummi, Zummi, Sunni, Gusto, and Grammi. First of all, Gummi is spelled with an "i." Never knew. Secondly...I wonder which color goes with which name.
• Earth travels through space at 66,600 miles per hour - eight times faster than the speed of a bullet. My lack of sleep as I read this fact led me to envision an astronaut floating in space, just minding his own business. All of a sudden, the earth comes flying out of nowhere and hits him. I felt bad...then realized that there are about 20 things wrong with that picture.
• Arachibutyrophobia: the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. I'm worried that we need a word for this. 
• Every year Harvard University denies admission to an estimated 80% of high school valedictorians who apply. Whatever. You accepted Elle Woods.