And we here at the Bathroom Readers Institute know that you, dear readers, could not live without mind-blowing bits of information like this fed to you on a nearly constant basis. You would literally shrivel into dessicated, knowledgeless scraps of uninteresting and possibly foul-smelling human detrius…
When you’re done—you can use it to wipe! (Ew. Sorry.)
BRI fan Geoff Moulton sends us this story from the “Dumb Crook With Really Bad Luck” file:
The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned.
But when she died recently aged 91, experts were tasked with drawing up an inventory of her possessions […]
Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris’ 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.
A couple weeks ago we did a post titled “Community Colleges Rule!”
Today, President Obama held a White House Summit on Community Colleges:
How many of these bad listening habits do YOU have? (We asked Uncle John and, in between moments of plucking his nose hairs, he said, “I knew you were going to say that, and I knew the worst listener of all time when I lived in New York. I had a house in New York once, it was really something. Had doors and windows and everything.” Then he walked into the bathroom and locked the door.)
Please list your own bad listening habits in the comments.
Most people know that one of the keys to success in relationships is good listening.
Experts tell us to use “active” listening, “I messages,” and open-ended questions. Articles urge us to stop talking when someone speaks, to use our body language effectively to encourage the other guy, and to work to understand what is meant as well as what is said. We’ve been told that men are from Mars and women are from Venus and we’ve been taught how to translate the gender languages. Yet despite all that, developing good listening skills continues to be a challenge for some people.
1. Lousy listeners are attending to other things when you are speaking. Proud of their ability to multitask, they continue to scan the newspaper, pick up the living room, text, or clean their desk while being addressed. An occasional ‘uh-huh’ is supposed to cue you that, really, they are with you. They’re not — or at least not totally. Their mind is distracted. Chances are they miss important pieces of your message — even if they protest that they don’t.
The Americans made a heck of a comeback today, and it came down to the final holes of the finals singles match—but the European team held on for the win – 14-1/2 to 13-1/2. Congrats, Europe, and well played, Americans. What a tournament.
If you’re wondering who Ryder is and why everyone seems to want his cup—we did the history in Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Tee’s Off on Golf (page 223).
Here’s an excerpt:
Brits and Yanks
The Ryder Cup is the biennial competition between the best professional American and European golfers. They play for no prize money, but simply for the chance to win the cup, which they then get to keep for two years. Its popularity has gone up and down through the decades, but reached a new high in the 1990s, thanks to some excellent play—and a growing rivalry between the two teams.
Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of very first appearance of Charles M. Schulz’s iconic comic strip, Peanuts. Good Ol’ Jay, of BRI “Brainteaser” fame, wrote the definitive BRI history of the strip in Uncle John’s Triumphant 20th Bathroom Reader just a few years ago. In honor of good Charles’ comic strip birthday, here’s a good, lengthy excerpt, telling the story behind the strip’s characters:
Is there a word for how a song can, once rattling along in your head, suddenly become another song? It keeps happening to me—maybe it’s an age thing? This morning I woke up with this in my head:
Shoo fly, don’t bother me / Shoo fly, don’t bother me / Shoo fly, don’t bother me — and dance by the light of the moon.
For those of you not familiar with ancient Americana songs, that’s a nonsensical combination of lyrics from “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me,” and “Buffalo Gals.” It’s happened in a hundred different ways. Once it was this:
Holy cow, this 40-minute film, featuring songs from Neil’s new album, Le Noise, just went up yesterday, premiering for free on YouTube. Neil Young—nobody like him. We’ve watched several minutes so far, and, wow. Really, wow.
We’re hard at work here on Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Tunes Into TV – and we just came across this blast from the past. Anyone out there remember Winky Dink and You?
Yippee! We just received advance copies of the newest, greatest Big John. Can you spot the newest title in this shelf of books? Post your answer (title of book) on the blog/Facebook/Twitter. All correct answers will be entered in a random drawing to win your own advance copy of the book. You have till midnight tonight (9/28) to post your answer. We will reveal the cover design tomorrow.
And remember, the book will hit stores in November and it is never too early to pre-order.
Oddee has a collection of links to some particularly oddee things that you could actually buy once upon a time.
A few favorites include the scalp massager:
Here’s another edition of “Ledes We Love,” accounts of openings to news stories that are so good you hardly have to read any further—but you’re going to. Because you must. Today’s entry:
Manitoban Janis Ollson and family are in magazine ads for the esteemed Mayo Clinic for a very good reason: she’s the first person surgeons cut in half, removed much of a cancerous midsection, then put back together with a happy ending.
We told you the story about the English woman who thought it was “funny” to dump a neighbor’s cat in a garbage can – where it was stuck for fifteen hours.
Waiter: We’ll have the just desserts, please. Thanks.
Extra: Some cat dumped a woman in a garbage bin in revenge! Watch!
Uncle John’s Astronomer: There are rings around Uranus!
Football season is in full swing and we are celebrating by re-reading Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Sports Spectacular.
Want a copy of your own? Comment below/on Facebook/on Twitter with the name of your favorite football team (yes, college football counts…and since in the rest of the world, football = soccer, we will accept those as well) and be entered in a random drawing.
You have till Sunday, Midnight PST to enter.
Howdy, BRI fans, we’re busy working on our next book, Uncle John’s Tunes Into TV, and I’ve got a request: I’m working on an article about the history of closed captioning—the subtitle-like text that allow’s you to read, rather than listen to, a show’s dialogue. It’s a surprisingly fascinating subject. Just imagine, for example, that millions of deaf or hard-of-hearing people were not able to fully enjoy that most ubiquitous of modern life experiences—watching the television—until the 1970s, and that it didn’t become truly widely available until the 1980s.
