The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader The beeeep! beeeep! of someone’s pager going off used to be everywhere… but when was the last time you heard one? Let’s take one last look before they’re gone forever. THE DOCTOR IS OUT In 1924, a New York City businessman named Sherman Amsden started a company called the Doctors’ […]
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This Day In History: October 15, 1946 Hermann Göring was second only to Hitler in the hierarchy of the Third Reich. Commander of the Luftwaffe, acting Prime Minister of Prussia, President of the Reichstag, and Hitler’s designated successor – Göring’s Nazi resume was almost unparalleled. Born in Bavaria in 1893, Göring was the son of a professional soldier and governor in West […]
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Women’s clothes come in a baffling range of (often inconsistent) sizes which can make finding clothes that fit just right an unreasonably difficult task for many women. To help combat this, the clothing industry has a number of tricks up its immaculately tailored sleeves; in regards to jeans, one of those tricks is Natasha Wagner’s butt. Born in 1981, Natasha Wagner took […]
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Maria D. asks: Why do fluorescent lights buzz? Comprised of a sealed tube coated on the inside with a phosphor powder and filled with (usually) argon and a tiny bit of mercury, the way in which fluorescent bulbs produce light is extremely fascinating. While the underlying physical mechanisms in the fixture and bulb can vary a bit in design, in […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Here’s a story that not many of us learned in school, not even those of us who grew up in Texas: the attempt to create a second Germany in the Republic of Texas. HOI POLLOI In April 1842, a group of German princes and noblemen met in the town of […]
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Blain F. asks: What function does natural aspirin serve in the plants that produce it? Salicylic acid is found in varying degrees in a wide range of plants including potatoes, tobacco, unripe fruits (including blackberries and blueberries, cantaloupe, kiwi, green pepper, tomato and olives), mushrooms, and, of course, willow. A phenolic compound, together with cytokinins, auxins, gibberellins, ethylene and abscisic […]
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The humble pineapple is most often seen today either sitting proudly in the centre of an uncomfortably well stocked fruit bowl or being used as the home of a lovable talking sponge. However, between the 16th and 18th centuries, pineapples were so expensive and rare that they were often displayed like fine works of art. Converting exactly how much a […]
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John T. asks Why do keyboard keypads number 7,8,9 on down and phone keypads number 1,2,3 on down? It’s not clear why numbering pads designed for calculation have 7-8-9 at the top, although the practice of placing the larger numbers above the smaller can be seen as far back as the late 19th century on early mechanical cash registers, often […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader BEAN THERE, DONE THAT What exactly is a legume? Most people would probably answer that a legume is a bean. And they’d be right—but that’s just one part of the legume story. To be precise, a legume is a plant in the botanical family Leguminosae (also known as Fabaceae). That […]
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M. Kirkpatrick asks: Why did men used to stick one of their hands in their jackets in old photographs? Conveying calm assurance, the practice of placing one hand inside of a top garment is ancient, dating back to before people even wore jackets, at least as we think of them. In the 6th century B.C., it was considered rude in […]
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Alex S. asks: Why doesn’t oil and water mix? Made of different elements, and with distinct structures, densities and even dissimilar polarities, it’s no wonder oil and water don’t get along. They can be forced to cooperate, however, and there are several examples of this that are likely currently sitting in your pantry or refrigerator. But why don’t oil and […]
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This Day In History: September 29, 1758 On September 29, 1758, a sickly baby boy was born in Norfolk, England. Short of stature (he was 5’4″) with a slight build, he was frail and frequently ill his entire life. Although he spent a great deal of time at sea, he also suffered from seasickness. This hot mess was legendary English […]
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If you happen to think killing two birds with one stone is a bit inefficient, or you have found your way into a zombie apocalypse, you might be interested in a special type of gun known as a “punt gun,” that used to be somewhat common among commercial waterfowl hunters. What’s so special about this gun? It is capable of […]
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Few items of fictional clothing are more iconic and easily recognisable as the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. Thanks to a combination of human error, poor record keeping and a sticky fingered ne’er-do-well, these simple pieces of footwear are now considered one of the most valuable film props in history. Figuring […]
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Alli G. asks: Why do people today always start sentences with so? The word so has been in English pretty much as long as there has been English (derived from the Old English swæ). It is alternately an adverb (it’s so hot), a conjunction (eat your dinner so you can have dessert), an adjective (Jim is dead, isn’t that so?) […]
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The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Start with a New Jersey businessman who has questionable ethics, add soybean oil, and let it stew in a broth of fraud and greed. Pretty soon you’ve got yourself a nice little scandal. YELLOW GOLD In the late 1940s, a combination of several factors led to an enormous increase in […]
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Amongst the pantheon of notable public television personalities, Bob Ross easily ranks alongside the likes of Mr Rogers and Elmo as a star who is almost universally loved and respected by the public. Despite being famous the world over for his balmy, soothing demeanour, his show The Joy of Painting and his amazing ‘fro, we know surprisingly little about arguably one of the best […]
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Generally speaking, most men these days tend to sport closely cropped haircuts. If you happen to be one of the men that enjoys having a neatly trimmed, easy to maintain ‘do you can thank an unpopular English tax and a bet made by a duke for saving you countless minutes every morning. While the likes of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary […]
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