Here’s a look at the science and naming stories behind some everyday stuff you can find right on your person. Funny Bone Knocking your funny bone on something certainly isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. The name references another kind of funny: You feel funny when it happens—a specific kind of jolting nerve pain that spreads throughout the […]
From the birth of cinema in the 1890s until the late 1940s, the standard film stock was made of a nitrate base, which is highly combustible. Plus, it disintegrates quickly if it’s not stored in a special low-oxygen, low-humidity, climate-controlled vault. Result: Hundreds of films are gone forever, including these. The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908) […]
Fads come and go. But it is hard to believe that these strange fads ever existed! First published in Strange History. Goldfish Swallowing On March 3, 1939, Harvard University student Lothrop Withington Jr. swallowed a live goldfish to win a $10 bet. Days later, not to be outdone, a college student in Pennsylvania downed three […]
Uncle John knows pretty much everything—and if he doesn’t, he heads his massive research library, or puts one of his many associates on the case. So go ahead: In the comments below, ask Uncle John anything. (And if we answer your question sometime, we’ll send you a free book!) How does a painkiller like aspirin […]
Baseball great Satchel Paige once said, “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” These sportsmen and women would agree with that. NEVER TOO YOUNG Kirsten Wilhelm biked across the U.S. in 66 days…at age 9. Thomas Gregory swam across the English Channel…at 11. Marjorie Gestring, a diver […]
We at the Bathroom Readers’ Institute already think the toilet is a work of art unto itself. At long last, the prestigious Guggenheim Museum agrees with us. Presenting the solid gold toilet. Last week, the prestigious Guggenheim in New York City, one of the most famous museums in the world, cleared all the exhibits from […]
If pirating separated the men from the boys, how come one of the best pirates was a woman? Here’s the story of Anne Bonny. Story first published in Uncle John’s Plunges into History. Pirate Benjamin If ever there was an old boys’ club it was under the Jolly Roger. Pirating was a man’s world, and most […]
Do you think an animal cares that its owner is a celebrity? Probably not…but we do. MADONNA has a Chihuahua named Chiquita. ERNEST HEMINGWAY had Springer Spaniels named Black Dog and Negrita (and 30 cats). LEONARDO DICAPRIO has a Poodle named Rufus and a lizard named Blizzard. MARTHA STEWART has cats named Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, […]
Norway is the ancestral home of some of the darkest, loudest, and most frightening music in the world: black metal. (It’s way heavier than regular heavy metal.) That contingent of the Norwegian population is finally being represented in the political sphere…even if it doesn’t want to be. The musician known only as “Fenriz” is a […]
Birds do it, bees do it. By which we mean eats food and turns it into, uh, solid waste material. But we humans are the only species that can gain amusement from the droppings of other animals, and since we are the people who bring you Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, here are the latest scoops […]
Playmobil is a popular line of German-produced figurines and playsets. Literally hundreds of different toys are available to account for the interests of any child. Stores, fire stations, airports, horse shows—you name it, there’s a Playmobil playset version of it. They’ve even come out with some that you’d never think of, but hey, there’s some […]
Fifty years ago this week, The Monkees debuted on NBC. What started as a way to replicate the music and madcap movies of the Beatles quickly became special in its own right. The Monkees TV show creators Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider took out an ad in Variety in 1965 to recruit “folk & roll […]
There are a lot of rich and famous writers of course, but not every writer that became famous became rich. Here are some well-known writers who kept at the daily grind, either because they wanted to or to make ends meet. Herman Melville Melville gained popularity through the 1840s for a series of sea-based adventure […]
There sure were strange toys out there! Do you remember the strangest toy you ever had? Witch Doctor Head Shrinker’s Kit The Product: As it says—a (plastic) head-shrinking kit The Pitch: “Into the deepest jungle went Pressman Toymakers, looking for something new. The secret they brought back for you is incredible! The Pressman Witch Doctor […]
It’s just about to be fall, which means that store shelves, restaurants, and every place else that sells things is about to be full of “pumpkin spice”-flavored options. What started with Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte more than a decade ago has now reached epic—and ridiculous proportions. BK Pumpkin A seasonal offering from Burger King Japan: […]
Loony laws even make it into the world of golf. Here are some official—but odd—rules of the game. Other than glasses or contact lenses, you’re not allowed to enhance your vision or estimate distance from the hole through the use of binoculars, a range finder, sextant, or global positioning system. The dress code of the […]
Night of the Living Eds In a baseball game in the early 1950s, Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bill Nicholson hit a high pop-up that was destined to come down somewhere near the mound. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bill Werle didn’t want to catch it, so he called for one of his fielders to step in. “Eddie’s […]
When it first hit the air in the ‘60s, Star Trek was only around for three little-watched seasons. But thanks to endless reruns, it became one of the most beloved—and important—TV shows of all time. Here are some facts about Star Trek on the 50th anniversary of the airing of its first episode. It was […]
