Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 179
January 11, 2013
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.”
The clue for 18 down, the answer of which is “cancer”:
“Sign of growth”
Oof.
Get well soon, Araucaria.
• More on “Araucaria” – or the Reverend John Galbraith Graham – here.
January 10, 2013
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.
That 48.2 is of course Celsius – which is equal to 118.7 Fahrenheit.
It’s supposed to be hotter Sunday.
(Do they make an SPF-5,000?)
• Australia adds new colors to the temperatured forecast map
• Tasmanian man saves grandkids from TORNADOES OF FIRE
• 118.7? Pshaw!
[image]
January 9, 2013
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!”
• The dog is a Labradoodle. His name: Charles the Monarch. He has his own FaceBook page.
• Staff at the Virginia Zoo were actually scrambling to check their lion cages.
• Related UJBR right this way!
January 8, 2013
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.
Ginsu Knives. Marketers Barry Becher and Ed Valenti certainly didn’t invent kitchen knives but they did turn the product into an unlikely cultural phenomenon. In the ‘70s, the duo were struggling to find a way to improve sales of a knife called “Quikut.” To make the super-sharp knives sound more exotic and correlate them with sword-wielding samurai, they renamed Quikut “Ginsu” (a nonsense word that sounds Japanese), and hired a Japanese actor to play a chef in a series of infomercials that ran well into the 1980s. Apparently viewers couldn’t resist the Ginsu’s ability to slice through anything, even tin cans or a box of frozen peas—more than three million sets were sold between 1978 and 1984.
Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer. Electric juicers have been around for decades from dozens of manufacturers, but the one associated with the boundlessly energetic health expert on TV since the ‘50s is the one that’s a late-night TV staple. Tristar Products found a niche in the early 1990s as a purveyor of products via “direct response,” another name for “infomercial.” They’ve had a few big successes, such as the Ab Roller, the Genie Bra, and the Power Juicer. (LaLanne, who died in 2011 at age 97, had little to do with the juicer beyond endorsing it.) According to the juicer’s ads, its innovative “extraction technology” helps turn fruits and veggies into delicious and nutritious juice in seconds, so as to “unlock the power of juice!” There’s also a side tray built-in to catch pulp that you can turn into tasty salsa. While you can drink your way to health with one of these puppies, you’d better watch those fingers. Over 70,000 of LaLanne’s juicers were recalled in 1996 after 14 users injured themselves with them.
HeadOn. If you didn’t suffer from chronic headaches before HeadOn hit the market, there’s a good chance that the product’s surreal (and annoying) commercials gave you one. HeadOn ads debuted in 2006 and, unlike your average late-night infomercial, HeadOn ads were only a few seconds long and featured an announcer loudly repeating the words: “HEAD-ON! APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD!” while a model did exactly that with a HeadOn applicator, which looked like a stick of deodorant. Despite the irritating ads, Miralus Healthcare, the Florida-based company responsible for HeadOn, sold more than 5 million tubes of the stuff in 2006 alone. Check out the looped, 10-hour version of the ad below…if you dare.
January 4, 2013
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:
January 3, 2013
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/or inspiring bathroom-reading for the younger crowd—with pics:
• Creature Feature at our store here.
• At Amazon here.
• Barnes and Noble here.
• And a bunch more UJBR kids’ books right over here.
• And for more on Erik Sprague – slither on over this a’way…
January 1, 2013
Four Ridiculous 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.
Giant fireballs on poles: During the annual celebration of Hogmanay, the Scots practice a custom called “first footing.” The first person to enter your home on New Year’s Day should bring a gift with them (traditionally whiskey or shortbread). Folks also love to attend bonfire ceremonies on the 31st where participants swing around giant fireballs on poles.
Wearing yellow underwear. It’s considered incredibly lucky in South America. Market vendors start selling brightly-colored undies right after Christmas. While yellow continues to be the most popular pick (it supposedly brings wealth in the new year) red skivvies are also a favorite (they promise love). At the stroke of midnight on the 1st, some celebrants quickly change into their lucky undies while others prefer to put them on before they head out for the evening.
Hot lead fortune telling: Here’s what they do in Germany and Finland: They get some lead and melt it. Then they pour the hot (and pretty dangerous) lead into a bowl of water. The shape that’s formed will supposedly determine key events in the coming year. A heart or a ring shape means there will be a wedding. A ship signifies that you’ll take a trip and a pig means you’ll have plenty of food to eat. But beware a puddle of lead that turns into a cross—that spells doom.
December 31, 2012
World’s Coolest Weirdest Clocks [updated]
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Update at “Departed Vervet V” below
*****
Happy New Year everybody! Seemed like a good day for a post full of cool clocks! And things that aren’t actually clocks! But sort of!
Enjoy!
THE WORD CLOCK
Link.
_____
DAVID DEAR’S HOURGLASS CLOCK
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THE PRINCESS STREET FLOWER CLOCK (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Link.
More:
Edinburgh’s first floral clock was created on this site in 1903. It was the brainchild of the Edinburgh Parks Superintendent, John McHattie. He had been inspired by a carpet bedding display in Princes Street Gardens created the previous year to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward VII on August 9, 1902.
The Edinburgh firm, Ritchie & Son, clock manufacturers and repairers since 1809, installed the mechanism for Edinburgh’s first floral clock, and is still responsible for maintaining the clock and many other public clocks in Edinburgh.
_____
TIM HUNKIN’S NEAL’S YARD WATER CLOCK (Covent Gardens, London, England)
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COHEN VAN BALEN’S “ARTIFICIAL BIOLOGICAL CLOCK”
Link only, no pic: Artificial Biological Clock.
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RGB PROPELLER CLOCK
More here.
_____
焼とうもろこし時計
Link.
More link.
P.S. We don’t know. We just. Don’t. Know.
_____
LISA BLACK’S “DEPARTED VERVET V” (made from “vervet skull, antique clock/watch parts, mixed metal components”)
Lisa Black is a Sculptor, Jeweller and Artist based in Auckland, New Zealand, born in Australia in 1982.
Her love of animals and their form, combined with a preoccupation with an imminent future where technology and biology are intimately combined, led her to create her ongoing series of modified animals. Her works have been featured in Wired.com, BoingBoing.net, Notcot.org, Treehugger.com, Pilot Magazine, Marie Claire as well as a myriad of other prominent blogs and publications.
UPDATE: Ms. Black just returned our email – busy on the holidays! – and gave us permission to post the pic! Here it is:
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CEVAHIR SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT CENTER (Istanbul, Turkey)
Link:
The building’s 2,500 m2 (26,910 sq ft) glass roof carries the second biggest clock in the world, with three-metre (10 ft) high digits.
_____
THE QUANTUM LOGIC CLOCK
Link:
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have built an enhanced version of an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s most precise clock, more than twice as precise as the previous pacesetter based on a mercury atom.
The new aluminum clock would neither gain nor lose one second in about 3.7 billion years, according to measurements to be reported in Physical Review Letters.
Hey look – this clock really likes change!
And it’s always a quarter after! (Sorry.)
_____
OSAKA STATION WATER CLOCK
The images you see – they’re actually made of water droplets. Check this out:
Link.
Inventor of “graphical waterfall” here.
_____
And finally, it’s time to go…
____
Happy New Year!
World’s Coolest Weirdest Clocks
.
Happy New Year everybody! Seemed like a good day for a post full of cool clocks! And things that aren’t actually clocks! But sort of!
Enjoy!
THE WORD CLOCK
Link.
_____
DAVID DEAR’S HOURGLASS CLOCK
_____
THE PRINCESS STREET FLOWER CLOCK (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Link.
More:
Edinburgh’s first floral clock was created on this site in 1903. It was the brainchild of the Edinburgh Parks Superintendent, John McHattie. He had been inspired by a carpet bedding display in Princes Street Gardens created the previous year to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward VII on August 9, 1902.
The Edinburgh firm, Ritchie & Son, clock manufacturers and repairers since 1809, installed the mechanism for Edinburgh’s first floral clock, and is still responsible for maintaining the clock and many other public clocks in Edinburgh.
_____
TIM HUNKIN’S NEAL’S YARD WATER CLOCK (Covent Gardens, London, England)
_____
COHEN VAN BALEN’S “ARTIFICIAL BIOLOGICAL CLOCK”
Link only, no pic: Artificial Biological Clock.
_____
RGB PROPELLER CLOCK
More here.
_____
焼とうもろこし時計
Link.
More link.
P.S. We don’t know. We just. Don’t. Know.
_____
LISA BLACK’S “DEPARTED VERVET V” (made from “vervet skull, antique clock/watch parts, mixed metal components”)
Lisa Black is a Sculptor, Jeweller and Artist based in Auckland, New Zealand, born in Australia in 1982.
Her love of animals and their form, combined with a preoccupation with an imminent future where technology and biology are intimately combined, led her to create her ongoing series of modified animals. Her works have been featured in Wired.com, BoingBoing.net, Notcot.org, Treehugger.com, Pilot Magazine, Marie Claire as well as a myriad of other prominent blogs and publications.
_____
CEVAHIR SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT CENTER (Istanbul, Turkey)
Link:
The building’s 2,500 m2 (26,910 sq ft) glass roof carries the second biggest clock in the world, with three-metre (10 ft) high digits.
_____
THE QUANTUM LOGIC CLOCK
Link:
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have built an enhanced version of an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s most precise clock, more than twice as precise as the previous pacesetter based on a mercury atom.
The new aluminum clock would neither gain nor lose one second in about 3.7 billion years, according to measurements to be reported in Physical Review Letters.
Hey look – this clock really likes change!
And it’s always a quarter after! (Sorry.)
_____
OSAKA STATION WATER CLOCK
The images you see – they’re actually made of water droplets. Check this out:
Link.
Inventor of “graphical waterfall” here.
_____
And finally, it’s time to go…
____
Happy New Year!
December 29, 2012
Could Ancient Chinese Tomb Have Working Booby Traps?
It’s wrong to say, “We sure hope so!” isn’t it? Yeah, okay, never mind.
We’re working right now on an article on scary, weird, awesome – and dumb – booby traps, both from history and modern times, for a future UJBR – and just came across this story from Gizmodo:
After discovering a secret palace hidden in China’s first emperor massive burial complex, Chinese technicians are nervous. Not because Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is the most important archeological discovery since Tutankhamun, but because they believe his burial place is full of deadly traps that will kill any trespassers. Not to talk about deadly quantities of mercury.
[...]Talking to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the archeologists working at the excavation said that “it’s like having a present all wrapped at home, knowing that inside is what you always wanted, and not being able to open it.” But, at the same time, nobody wants to be the first to get inside because of the mausoleum’s dangerous traps—they’re detailed in the same texts that recount its abundant riches.
Some of those traps supposedly include crossbows – perhaps like the one pictured above – which most scientists believe would not stay functional after so many centuries. But:
Even if the traps don’t work, there is still the matter of the high, deadly concentration of mercury inside the tomb. On-site measurements indicate dangerous levels, which may come from another feature described in the srolls: Imperial engineers created large rivers of quicksilver inside the tomb. So much that the level of mercury inside could be deadly for any unprotected adventurers.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens as the excavations continue, because if someone gets hurt, or worse…well, people and their imaginations, y’know? We will definitely keep you posted as more news comes in.
Extras:
• Wikipedia on Qin Shi Huang here.
• LiveScience on Qin Shi Huang’s tomb here.
• The Daily Mail on the story here.
• The Straight Dope: “Were ancient tombs really booby-trapped?”
• Photo of ancient Chinese crossbow from here.
• And, finally, from Uncle John’s Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader (page 54), this:
In 2002 a Dutch guy set up a booby trap to protect his garden shed: If you opened the door to the shed—a shotgun would blast you in the stomach. The guy was so proud of his garden shed booby trap that he showed it off to some friends…by opening the door to the shed…upon which he was immediately shot in the stomach by his own booby trap. When police arrived they discovered why the guy had set up a booby trap to guard his garden shed: he had 15 marijuana plants in there. When he recovered from the shotgun blast…he went to jail.
