Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 177
February 4, 2013
RIP Andre Cassagnes, Inventor of the Etch A Sketch [updated]
NBC:
The inventor of the beloved Etch A Sketch toy, Andre Cassagnes, has died at age 86, the toy’s manufacturer confirms to NBC News. Cassagnes died Jan. 16 in France.
“Etch A Sketch has brought much success to the Ohio Art Company, and we will be eternally grateful to Andre for that,” said Larry Killgallon, president of The Ohio Art Company. “His invention brought joy to so many over such a long period of time.”
Cassagnes, a French electrician, created the product in the late 1950s when he “stumbled upon the idea of creating a drawing toy with a joystick, glass and aluminum powder,” the Ohio Art Company says on its website. Cassagnes originally called the item the Telecran, and it went into production in Bryan, Ohio in 1950. Owners create art by turning dials that scrape off the alumninum powder that coats the screen, leaving dark lines to outline the picture desired.
Many histories of the Etch A Sketch (including one we wrote many years ago!) give the name Arthur Granjean as the inventor. But…as this article notes…that was due to a mixup:
Since he couldn’t afford to pay for a patent, he borrowed money from an investor who sent his treasurer, Arthur Granjean, to complete the paperwork.
But Mr. Granjean’s name ended up on the patent, helping to obscure Mr. Cassagnes’ role.
When the New York-based National Toy Hall of Fame inducted Etch A Sketch in 1998, it wrongly listed Mr. Granjean as the toy’s creator.
An official history on Ohio Art’s website gives Mr. Cassagnes credit for the invention.
Image of the Etch a Sketch Animator from here.
Etch A Sketch artist Tim George
Etch A Sketch artist Jeff Gagliardi
Etch A Sketch artist George Vlosich III (You may have seen him on Oprah, or Jimmy Kimmel.)
Thank you Andre Cassagnes, for inventing one of the coolest toys eve dreamed of.
Update: Comedian Tom Shillue has made a tribute Etch A Sketch pic of Andre Cassagnes – he gave us permission to post it here (thank you sir!). (Here’s a photo of Mr. Cassagnas for comparison.)
February 2, 2013
Terrifying Video of March 2011 Japan 9.0 Earthquake
Not kidding – terrifying:
More at Wikipedia. (This is where the image at top comes from.)
The USGS page on the earthquake. Ugh – first setnece of summary:
At least 15,703 people killed, 4,647 missing, 5,314 injured, 130,927 displaced and at least 332,395 buildings, 2,126 roads, 56 bridges and 26 railways destroyed or damaged by the earthquake and tsunami along the entire east coast of Honshu from Chiba to Aomori.
February 1, 2013
Puzzle of the week: Musical Word Search
As a new addition to our blog, we will be offering a puzzle of the week. Each puzzle will be selected from one of our unique puzzle books. Today’s puzzle is an oddly shaped word search from Uncle John’s Bathroom Puzzler: Word Search. So grab a pencil–erasers are encouraged–and get searching! Start by printing a PDF of the puzzle. And when you are done, check out the answers.
For your reading pleasure, here is the history of Word Search from Wikipedia.
A word search, word find, word seek, word sleuth or mystery word puzzle is a word game that is letters of a word in a grid, that usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may let the player figure them out. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related. The puzzles have, like crosswords and arrowords, have been very popular in the United Kingdom, and – also in common with these latter puzzles – have had complete magazines devoted to them.
Word searches are commonly found in daily newspapers and puzzle books. Some teachers use them as educational tools for children, the benefit being that young minds can learn new words and their spellings by intensively searching for them, letter by letter, in the puzzle.
January 31, 2013
Vacuuming the Corgi
.
No, that’s not a euphemism:
Now we know how Prince Phillip spends his evenings…
Corgi Bonus Round:
• And finally, an 8-second-long Japanese avant-garde film exploring the deep existential sadness of being. As told through a Corgi puppy. For eight seconds. Please watch it several times. (The scene between the 6- and 7-second mark will really tear your guts out.)
January 30, 2013
Starling Murmuration in Israel
Murmurations never get old:
Honestly – just too beautiful.
• From November 2011: The Startling Science of a Starling Murmuration
• The etymology of murmuration
• How to say “murmuration” in Hebrew (according to these guys):
ש”ע) מלמול, המהום; להקת זרזירים)
P.S. If you watch the video closely, you’ll notice that Professor Yossi Letham’s hands were doing a murmuration of sorts while he was talking…
Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the Bravest Man in the World
So you’ve probably never heard of Ranulph Fiennes. No, he’s not the father of actor Ralph Fiennes (they’re actually third cousins). All you need to know about him is that he’s one of the most fearless—and curious—people on Earth. It’s even official. In the 1980s, Guinness World Records named the British writer/adventurer/knight/politician “The World’s Greatest Living Explorer” by the Guinness Book of World Records. Now nearly 70, Fiennes continues to embark on incredibly dangerous expeditions. His many adventures could easily fill a dozen biographies, but here are a choice few:
Fire man. While serving in the British Army in 1967, Ranulph Fiennes and a colleague plotted to blow up a dam outside the English town of Castle Combe. Why would Fiennes turn on his own nation? The dam was artificial, and it had been built by 20th Century Fox for the movie adaptation of Dr. Doolittle. Fiennes thought it was an eyesore, so he used his military training to set up a series of timed explosions. Fiennes and his compatriot successfully destroyed the dam and evaded capture…for a while. Unfortunately, they were ratted out, had to pay a fine, and were discharged. Amazingly, Fiennes was later asked back into his regiment.
Ice man. For the past few decades, Ranulph Fiennes has gone looking for lost cities. In 1992, he became the first person in history to cross Antarctica alone. In 2000, he attempted to reach the North Pole on his own. The expedition failed when one of his sleds encountered weak ice. He gave up and returned to England with severe frostbite on his left hand. Facing amputation, but disliking how his surgeon was handling the matter, Fiennes went ahead and chopped off several of his own fingertips with a common saw.
Running man. Four months after undergoing heart surgery in 2003, Ranulph Fiennes ran seven marathons, one on each continent.
Mountain man. Even Ranulph Fiennes has his fears—he’s afraid of heights. But in 2009, he seemingly overcame it in a big way by climbing Mt. Everest. At age 65, he was the oldest British person to ever reach the summit.
To celebrate his 69th birthday, Fiennes plans to conquer Antarctica. In the middle of winter. Why? To complete the trilogy of cold expedition feats: climb Everest, reach the North Pole, and finally, reach the South Pole.
January 29, 2013
“George Clooney Paid Your Bill”
From the Huffington Post:
As the customer finished his meal at Grill Royal restaurant and went to pay, he learned the $134.66 bill had been covered, UPI reported.
The waiter told him George Clooney was behind the gesture. The actor thought he and his friends, who were seated at the next table, had disturbed the man.
“That’s not true at all,” the man told Bild newspaper. “They had behaved in a very cultivated manner. I was stunned.”
Uncle John Says: George Clooney can be noisy with his rich friends in restaurants Uncle John’s eating in any time he likes! Twice a week even!
On a related note: Rearrange the letters in “George Clooney” and you get, “Encore, geology!” Encore geology, indeed! Set that in stone! Rock on! Slate! (We don’t know what that last one means. We’re sorry.)
• Image from here.
• Bonus.
January 28, 2013
See You Next Apocalypse!
Like every other Doomsday prediction before it, the world failed to end on December 21, 2012, due to the “Mayan Apocalypse.” Those who believed that the ancient race’s prediction of the end of a calendar cycle somehow equated the end of humanity were left embarrassed, especially those who did things like invest in underground bunkers or expensive survival gear. So, when is the next apocalypse? The good news, doomsayers (and bad news, everyone else): according to Dr. F. Kenton Beshore, founder of the World Bible Society, the world is scheduled to end in 2018. Pop psychic Jeanne Dixon, before her death, claimed 2020. And, of course, there’s the ever present threat of a looming zombie apocalypse. However and whenever it comes, get ready with some of these not-at-all ridiculous products.
Apocalypse Survival Pods. Liu Qiyuan, a farmer in Qiantun, China, was so worried about the Mayan Apocalypse in 2012 that he started crafting these strange vehicles. Liu constructed seven of them; each can hold fourteen people. The mini-Noah’s Ark-like pods are built out of fiberglass, float upright on water and can easily handle the 3,000-foot as foretold by the disaster movie 2012. It’s even got seat belts for when things get bumpy. Each pod cost Liu around $48,000 each to assemble, but, since the apocalypse was a bust, they’re probably priced to move.
The only book you’ll ever need. James Wesley Rawles’ book How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It instructs, with all seriousness, how to live through every kind of disaster, from a global financial collapse to a Biblical-grade plague. For example, you’ll learn how to build a private, backyard dirt toilet (when sanitation services inevitably crumble) when the next apocalypse hits and where to move when the bottom drops out (hint: the sparesley populated, and thus less competitive, countryside). As the last apocalyptic scare came and went, Amazon had more than 50 used copies of How to Survive available on the cheap.
The Gerber 30-000601 Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit (see picture above). A zombie apocalypse could get a bit messy and you can’t count on World War Z’s Brad Pitt or The Walking Dead’s Sheriff Grimes to save your butt. If—or rather when—the walking dead take over the planet, you’ll probably need one of these bad boys. Each kit contains three stainless-steel machetes (for cutting off zombies’ heads), three knives (for stabbing zombies in the brains), an “all purpose” axe, and a handy carrying case. They’re all backed by a lifetime warranty but, if one of blades proves faulty, you’ll probably be too worried about eating delicious braaaaaaaaaains to bother returning the kit for a replacement.
January 27, 2013
Crawling Into Caves With Hibernating (and Awake) Bears
This is amazing. (Wait until you see the little baby bears.) Another entry for your (pretend) bucket list!
Best moment: at the 1:56 mark when bear dude says, “No, we don’t carry firearms.” Why would they? They’re only crawling into caves with live bears! It’s not like that’s dangerous or scary or anything!
Yowza.
Extras:
• That’s Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. The clip is from a 2009 episode of his show “The Rick Mercer Report.”
• Here’s the website of the bear dude, Martyn Obbard.
• Algonquin Provincial Park can be home to about 2,000 black bears because it’s big. Really, really big. Like in about 3,000 square miles big. (The entire state of Rhode Island, by comparison, covers about 1,200 sqaure miles.)
