Back on Earth Day

In honor of our home planet (new motto — “Third from the Sun, first in our hearts”) here are some little-known facts about the Earth on Earth Day:

Exactly 38,629 trees have been felled to print the hardback and softcover versions of Al Gore’s book, “Earth in the Balance.”

A boring person can suck the air out of a room.

Researchers are working on plan to burn off the methane gas expelled by cattle in a program called “Operation Instant Barbecue.”

The coldest temperature ever personally experienced in the U.S. was on a toilet seat in a bathroom of a drafty home in Duluth, Minn., at 6:47 a.m. on Dec. 30, 1984.

Hottest temperature ever personally experienced was on the black vinyl seat of a convertible parked with the top down in Tucson, Ariz., on July 28, 1997.

Dozens of people in the perpetually gloomy Pacific Northwest are secretly rooting for global warming.

Any snow that falls on the street of an alderman in Chicago will mysteriously disappear faster than snow that falls on a main drag.

You never know if a recycled item has been completely sterilized.