Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Blog Posts
Cheeky Wikipedia Writer Already Has Ravens Losers of Super Bowl XLVII
It’ll be changed soon, for sure – so here’s a screen grab of the Wikipedia list of Super Bowl winners – up to 2015:
Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum
No, silly, this story’s not from the Wall Street Urinal – it’s from the Wall Street Journal!
Pelican Looks Like Urinal
Oh man, this is funny:
Introducing BLOX: A Word Puzzle Game
The innovative wordsmiths at the BRI have once again taken a popular puzzle form to a whole new level. The results: a word puzzle game, called BLOX. The concept of Uncle John’s Bathroom Puzzler: BLOX is easy. We’ll provide you with a configuration of letters and tell you hoe many words we found. Your job is to find those words and scribble them down in the blanks.
Click through for an example of the game and a puzzle to do at home.
Crossword Maker Reveals He Has Cancer in Today’s Crossword
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Wo – he must love what he does:
Above cryptic crossword No 25,842 sat a set of special instructions: “Araucaria,” it said, “has 18 down of the 19, which is being treated with 13 15”.
Those who solved the puzzle found the answer to 18 was cancer, to 19 oesophagus, and to 13 15 palliative care. The solutions to some of the other clues were: Macmillan, nurse, stent, endoscopy, and sunset.
Speaking from his home in Cambridgeshire, Araucaria said this particular puzzle had not taken him very long, adding that a crossword had seemed the most fitting way to make the announcement.
“It seemed the natural thing to do somehow,” he said. “It just seemed right.”
Australian Town Too Hot to Pump Gas
IT was so hot in the South Australian outback town of Oodnadatta yesterday that the local servo stopped selling petrol.
The Outback town has been sweltering through one of its great heatwaves with the temperature soaring above 40 degrees every day this year, reaching a peak of 48.2 degrees yesterday.
“The ground, the building, everything is so hot, you walk outside and you feel it’s going to burn you,” Pink Roadhouse owner Lynnie Plate said.
Mrs Plate said the Roadhouse couldn’t serve unleaded fuel after midday because it was vapourising and wouldn’t pump in the extreme heat.
Dog Shaved Like Lion Sparks 911 Calls
A dog shaved like a lion made for an eventful night for Norfolk, Va., dispatchers, when several people who saw the dog on Tuesday called 9-1-1 to report a lion on the loose, the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports.
The newspaper obtained 9-1-1 call audio, in which one woman says, “There was a lion that ran across the street – a baby lion. It was about the size of a Labrador retriever.”
The dog’s owner, Daniel Painter, told the Virginian-Pilot that he shaved his pet to look like the mascot for Old Dominion University.
Too much. “It was about the size – and genus – of a Labrador retriever!”
But Wait, There’s More! (Infomercials)
They’re loud. They’re obnoxious. They’re mesmerizing. “Infomercials”— ads for silly household products have been a part of TV since the early 1970s, usually airing in the wee hours when ad time is cheapest. Here’s the story behind three memorable “as seen on TV” products.
5-Story-High Rubber Ducky in Sydney Harbor
“A rubber duck obviously doesn’t belong to anyone but to all of us. It’s a mutual friend. And I think in the time of globalisation that we live in, we have a mutual bath tub.”
Hear hear! Mutual bathtubs for everyone! Oh. Wait…
Anyhoo – here’s giant rubber ducky video video:
One For the Younguns: Erik Sprague—The Lizard Man
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A quick excerpt from Uncle John’s Creature Feature Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! – 408 pages of fascinating, fun, educational, and inspiring bathroom-reading for the younger crowd—with pics!
Four Interesting New Year’s Traditions
So the Mayan Day of Apocalypse was a big bust. The planet didn’t explode and, to make matters worse, you didn’t have any plans for new years. Here are four bizarre New Year’s traditions from around the world you could have sampled instead of sitting home (except…trust us, you should be glad that you didn’t.)
Burning effigies. In Ecuador, the custom is to build a scarecrow out of newspapers or wood to help scare away bad luck. Around midnight, celebrants gather outside of their homes, set their scarecrows on fire, and watch them burn to cinders as the clock strikes 12. In Panama, they prefer to burn effigies of public figures. Called muñecos, they can be anything from Olympic athletes to TV characters to politicians. Supposedly, these effigies represent the old year and burning them somehow chases away evil spirits that might cause trouble in the new year.
Stuff You Should Know
Last week, our very own Gordon “Uncle John” Javna was a special guest on the very popular podcast Stuff You Should Know discussing the Barbie doll (Listen HERE). If you haven’t heard Josh Clark and Charles W. “Chuck” Bryant’s highly informative and hilarious podcast yet, go to the SYSK website right now and subscribe to their podcast. Also, don’t miss the premier of their TV show on the Science Channel on January 19.
Meet the BRI: Jay
In honor of our 25th anniversary, we think it might finally be time to introduce you to the people behind this amazing series. We will be posting brief interviews with each of the staff members throughout the month of November.
Today we introduce Jay:
Q: How long have you been with the BRI, and what do you do?
A: I’ve been helping Uncle John make books since 1998. I’ve written hundreds of articles, edited thousands of pages, ran point on half a dozen books, and shepherded more than 30 covers to press.
Meet the BRI: Melinda
In honor of our 25th anniversary, we think it might finally be time to introduce you to the people behind this amazing series. We will be posting brief interviews with each of the staff members throughout the month of November.
Today we introduce Melinda:
Q. How long have you been with the BRI, and what do you do?
A. Six-and-a-half years. I’m a developmental editor, which means I work with writers, designers, and a ton of other freelancers to put together some great books. I do a fair amount of writing too. My favorite book so far is probably “Plunges into Canada, Eh.” Long live the Great White North!
Meet the BRI: Thom
In honor of our 25th anniversary, we think it might finally be time to introduce you to the people behind this amazing series. We will be posting brief interviews with each of the staff members throughout the month of November.
Today we introduce Thom, better known as BRI T. on our FB page:
Q. How long have you been with the BRI, and what do you do?
A. I joined the BRI in 2002 as a part time newspaper reader and story cutter-outer, the idea being to use news stories to generate ideas for articles. I had a long songwriting history by then, but none as a non-fiction writer. But I liked what I saw at the UJBR and within a few months I was surreptitiously handing in articles to Gordon – just awful articles. After I did this enough times he finally got annoyed and started training me to write proper UJBR articles. Been a writer and editor ever since. And since 2010 I’ve also been the main UJBR blogger.
Q. What is your favorite part about working on Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers?
Meet the BRI: Ginger
In honor of our 25th anniversary, we think it might finally be time to introduce you to the people behind this amazing series. We will be posting brief interviews with each of the staff members throughout the month of November.
Today we introduce Ginger:
Q. How long have you been with the BRI, and what do you do?
A. 5 whole years, but it feels like it’s only been the blink of an eye. I’m responsible for the marketing here, which means I’m in charge of thinking about all the stuff that helps to put the books in front of your faces: the website, advertising, radio tours, social media, etc. I also do a bunch of stuff behind the scenes that helps to get the books into bookstores and online stores to get them in your hands or on your ereader.
Meet the BRI: Monica
In honor of our 25th anniversary, we think it might finally be time to introduce you to the people behind this amazing series. We will be posting brief interviews with each of the staff members throughout the month of November.
Today we introduce Monica:
Q. How long have you been with the BRI, and what do you do?
A. I’ve been working with the BRI team since early 2007, but begged to be listed on the thank you page since 2002. When I first started working in the publishing group I sat outside Joann’s office and used to give her random facts all the time hoping she would use them in a story and that I would get credit!
