Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 180

DIY Kid’s Dumpster-Dive Spaceship

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Television station dumpster not included:

This DIY spaceship will fill any boy’s [or girls!] fantasy and can be made up from salvaged electronics. This particular one was constructed using a control board from a TV station dumpster. With a little creativity and some constructive ingenuity, the universe can be your playground.

They have a bunch of pics as the project progressed over at the link – here’s just one from near the end:

With young kids, you could have them draw or paint their own scenes of outer space – meeting aliens! – to put up in the spaceship’s “window.” They could make stories through the pictures, and add a lot of hours to the fun, huh?

Bonus: Hey, Moms [or Dads!]: This is the kind of thing that could keep Dad [or Mom!] out of trouble for a good long while, too…

Very Friendly and Curious Sea Turtle Visits Oil Rig Diver

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This is some pretty special video.

It was uploaded to LiveLeak on Christmas day. Wish we could tell you where it’s from – but we just don’t know.

Instant Update: AHH! We love when this happens! Even before posting we found the source! It was posted to YouTube in November 2011, by someone going by BlogDaz who writes for a blog out of Thailand, Pattaya Unlimited. He says:

For me, and I would imagine for most people, work is definitely not a pleasure, but here is a rare moment when I can say working really was a pleasure. The hard working diver you see in the video (below) is yours truly, doing my bit for Thailand’s oil and gas industry. It’s not unusual to encounter turtles whilst diving on oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Thailand but to experience a little intimacy with a turtle and get some superb video footage is probably a once in a lifetime experience.

We love that the diver doesn’t even know the turtle is there—as he’s being rather intimately inspected for some time. Then he suddenly notices a large creature right next to him:

BlogDaz goes on to give some information on sea turtles in Thailand. This one is a critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle.

An Odd Holiday: Boxing Day

There’s probably no holiday on the calendar more misunderstood—or more obscure—than Boxing Day, December 26. None of the responses we got by asking around are the least bit accurate; it doesn’t have anything to do with cable TV marathons of Rocky.

Here are a few theories about the holiday’s origins and meaning.

Theory #1: British aristocrats rewarded their servants with boxed holiday leftovers and small gifts on December 26, the day after Christmas.

Theory #2: British estate lords handed out sundries and supplies to their staff on. December 26, which they carried home in boxes.

Theory #3: Boxing Day was the day when Europeans traditionally boxed up their unwanted presents and exchanged them at stores.

Theory #4: It’s called Boxing Day because people spend the day getting rid of their empty Xmas boxes.

Theory #5: Churches in England had “alms boxes,” where parishioners would donate money for the poor. On the 26th, clergy would distribute the contents of the boxes.

Theory #6: Special boxes were kept on ships during long voyages. Sailors placed donations in the boxes to help reimburse a priest who was supposedly praying for their safe return.

Theory #7: (and the one most likely to be true): Dating back to 18th-century England, where it’s also known as Saint Stephen’s Day, the upper classes spent the day doling out cash to the poor. Servants carried ceramic boxes to work on the 26th, and their employers would fill them with money, then smash them later like a piggy bank.

Despite the major British influence in the U.S., Boxing Day never caught on here. But it did in other British colonies.

• In Ireland, it’s called Wren Day. Celebrants go caroling or participate in parades, dressed as birds.

• In Wales, one of the traditions is to beat late-risers with holly branches.

• In Australia, it’s a huge shopping day (comparable to Black Friday in the U.S.). There’s also a big cricket match.

While there are a few really old carols, there aren’t a lot of modern-day Boxing Day songs. Rock band Blink 182 did come up with a tune about the holiday though, which they released just a few days ago.

Merry Christmas!

Uncle John says “Mmmm mmmm grrrg yrlp maw maw muymmmmm…”

Translation: We hope you are all warm and happy and surrounded by good family and good friends and good food – and we hope you have the very merriest Christmas and Christmas season ever!

Now – to the food! (Oh – and the music, too!)

The pic up top shows the first U.S. National Christmas Tree, lit in Washington, D.C., on December 24, 1923.

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 show. Also, don’t miss the premier of their TV show on the Science Channel on January 19.

About six months ago, Josh and Chuck mentioned Uncle John’s on one of their shows and noted that they were fans of the series. We were thrilled! We figured since we were fans of their show and they were fans of our books, we had to meet. Comic-Con was around the corner and we arranged for a face-to-face after their panel, “TIME TRAVEL: SCIENCE FACT OR SCIENCE FICTION?”

One thing led to another and we decided to partner up for one of their awesome podcasts. And, that’s how Gordon “Uncle John” Javna ended up on SYSK discussing the Barbie doll (Listen HERE).

Thanks, Josh and Chuck for being such amazing hosts. We look forward to your future episodes and to seeing the SYSK TV show.

Uncollared Florida Panther – and Kitten – Captured on Remote Camera

Here’s something wonderful to add to your apocalyptic doom:

For the first time ever, an uncollared Florida panther has been captured on camera moving her kittens to a new den in the 26,000-acre Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge near Naples.

The images, snapped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ motion-triggered trail cameras, are a thrilling development for those working to save the endangered cats. A single population of 100-160 Florida panthers is all that’s left of the subspecies, which once ranged throughout most of the southeastern United States but has been whittled to near-extinction by loss of habitat and human persecution.

Kevin Godsea, FWS’s project leader of the SW Florida Gulf Coast Refuges, told HuffPost that the camera photographed the panther moving three different kittens over the course of 12 hours. Then, two months later, another camera in the area caught the group again, with all three youngsters following closely behind their mother.

Wait: Maybe that panther is moving her babies BECAUSE OF THE APOCALYPSE! That would be a cat-astrophe!

Puns like that almost make you want the world to end, huh?

• More great pics from the good folks at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Related UJBR publication – “Nature Calls!” – right over here. (30% of until Jan. 1)

Music: Amazing Cover of Swedish Singer Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend”

This is a nice song – and some truly outstanding harmony:

Robyn is a Swedish singer – info here.

Erato is apparently another Swedish act.

• Related UJBR publication right over here! (And if you haven’t heard yet – it’s on mega sale until January 1…)

WO! Huge Eagle Tries to Snatch Kid UPDATE: Hoax!

Goosebumbs!

UPDATE: It’s a hoax! We called it – well, we actually got taken in, but said it might be haox, too, so they half got us.

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This was just posted on YouTube today. Apparently happened in Montreal. (Warning: The guy says. “oh sh*t!” when he sees the bird hit the kid. So – you’ve been warned.)

And it wasn’t faked in the way we thought it was:

But on Wednesday, the Montreal-based Centre NAD posted a blog owning up to the fact that the video was the work of several students in the school’s 3D Animation and Digital Design program.

“Both the eagle and the kid were created in 3D animation and integrated into the film afterwards,” the school wrote, citing Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault and Felix Marquis-Poulin as the student masterminds behind the clip.

Wow. Good work.

Could be fake. Having the camera go to the ground while he’s running is a perfect time to make a switcheroo – like maybe the thing the bird hit wasn’t a kid. The replay sure makes it look like it was, though.

Whattaya think?

WO! Huge Eagle Tries to Snatch Kid

Goosebumbs!

This was just posted on YouTube today. Apparently happened in Montreal. (Warning: The guy says. “oh sh*t!” when he sees the bird hit the kid. So – you’ve been warned.)

Could be fake. Having the camera go to the ground while he’s running is a perfect time to make a switcheroo – like maybe the thing the bird hit wasn’t a kid. The replay sure makes it look like it was, though.

Whattaya think?

“A cow in heat with such a limp would admittedly keep silent about drugs in sheep on a farm.”

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Well, I should think so!

Where were we?

Oh yeah: A pangram is a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet at least one time. A commonly heard example: “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”

That’s an example in English, of course – but what about other languages? Do they have pangrams, too? Of course! But since we don’t know other languages (Uncle John is fluent in Pig-Latin and Donutian, he would like you to know), we give you “Foreign Pangrams Helpfully Translated Into English For Your Reading Pleasure!” Enjoy!

Italian: “But the fox with her leap has reached the quiet Fido.”
Portuguese: “A curious little tortoise saw ten happy storks.”
Danish: “The quiz contestants ate strawberry with cream while Walter the circus clown played the xylophone.”
Latvian: “Glass shack gnomes steal Bach piano covers while inebriated.”
Croatian: “The overweight little schoolboy with a bike is holding hops and fine cotton in the pocket of his attire.”
French: “Mister Jack, you type much better than your friend Wolf.”
Swedish: “God help Zorn’s maiden get trousers quickly.”
Hebrew: “A curious fish sailed the sea disappointedly, and suddenly found company.”
Turkish: “The patient in pajamas quickly trusted the swarthy driver.”
Slovak: “A flock of woodpeckers teach a horse to feed on bark.”
Icelandic: “A cow in heat with such a limp would admittedly keep silent about drugs in sheep on a farm.”
Russian: “So eat more of these soft French loaves, and have some tea!”
Polish:“Come on, drop your sadness into the depth of a bottle!”
Korean: “The essential condition for a kiss is that lips meet and there is no special technique required.”
Romanian: “Drinking whisky, the drunken jazzman threw up right in the tequila.”
Bulgarian: “For a moment I was in someone else’s plush squeaking armchair.”
Klingon: “Because of your apparent audacity the depressed conqueror is willing to fight you.”

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Special Uncle John Editor’s Note: You can find that very list on page 377 – and almost 600 other pages of wit, wisdom, weirdness, and wildebeests (sorry, that’s not true, there are no wildebeests in this book) – in our very latest, Uncle John’s FULLY LOADED 25TH ANNIVERSARY Bathroom Reader. (And it’s 30% OFF UNTIL JANUARY 1! And don’t forget the EBook version.)