Uncle John’s Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader@ by Bathroom Readers’ Institute
Authors: Bathroom Readers’ Institute
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introduced.
Silent film: Called “films” until the talkies took over in the late 1920s.
Organic farming: How farming was done for millennia before chemical fertilizers and pesticides were introduced.
Vinyl records, or vinyl: Until CDs, records were just records.
Broadcast television: Needed since the introduction of cable and satellite TV.
Acoustic guitar: From the 1600s until the 1930s, they were just “guitars.” Then the electric guitar was invented.
George H.W. Bush: He rarely used his middle initials until his son became president.
Hard copy: To distinguish a printed, paper document from an e-mailed one.
Contiguous United States: Coined after Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959.
Field hockey: The original “hockey,” it’s still called that in countries where ice hockey, created later, isn’t as popular.
Offline: What computer users refer to as anything not computer related, such as “outside.”
Moe money: Hank Azaria has voiced more than 160 characters on The Simpsons .
Q & A:
ASK THE EXPERTS
Everyone’s got a question or two they’d like answered—basic stuff, like “Why is the sky blue?” Here are a few of those questions, with answers from some of the world’s top trivia experts .
P REPARE FOR TAKEOFF
Q: On commercial airlines, why do you have to put your seat in the upright position before takeoff and landing?
A: “Should an emergency occur during either of these times, passengers have a better chance of survival if they evacuate the plane immediately. Milliseconds count in these situations, so everyone would be in a mad rush to find an emergency exit. Coach passengers know how difficult squeezing out of a seat mid-flight just to get to the lavatory can be; now imagine that the cabin is filled with smoke and visibility is near zero. Reclined seats, extended table trays, and briefcases in the aisle would cause already panicked folks to stumble and fall, and hamper the evacuation process.” (From Mental Floss magazine’s “7 Burning Questions About Air Travel,” by Kara Kovalchik)
EAT ME…NOT!
Q: What would happen if you ate one of those “Do not eat!” silica gel packets found in the packaging of dry goods such as clothing and medicine?
A: “Silica gel absorbs and holds water vapor. While the contents of a silica gel packet are basically harmless, consuming them would be an unpleasant experience. The moisture would be whisked away from the sides and roof of your mouth, your gums, and tongue, giving an all-too-accurate meaning of the phrase ‘dry mouth.’ If it did happen to get past your mouth—unlikely because you’d probably be making every effort to spit it out—you might suffer a few irritating side effects such as dry eyes, an irritated, dry feeling in your throat, aggravated, dry mucous membranes and nasal cavity, and an upset stomach.” (From “Discovery Health,” by Katherine Neer)
Color-coded? In one cat taste test, black-and-white birds were the cats’ least favorite.
FLUID ENTERTAINMENT
Q: Do liquid crystal displays (LCDs) actually contain liquid?
A: “In this case, the term ‘liquid’ refers to a peculiar quality of a certain type of crystal, not its physical appearance. The twisted nematic liquid crystal is the most common type used in LCD televisions and monitors today. It has a naturally twisted crystalline structure. A particular feature of this crystal is that it reacts to electric currents in predictable ways—i.e., by untwisting to varying degrees depending on the current to which it is exposed. Hence the ‘liquid’ part of the crystal’s moniker: Rather than being an oxymoron (How can a solid also be a liquid?), the term refers to the relative pliability of the crystals themselves, which is to say, their twistability.” (From “LCD TV Buying Guide,” by Jack Burden)
CHEER UP, OFFICER!
Q: Why do police officers wear blue uniforms?
A: “In 1829 the London Metropolitan Police, the first modern police force, developed standard
Silent film: Called “films” until the talkies took over in the late 1920s.
Organic farming: How farming was done for millennia before chemical fertilizers and pesticides were introduced.
Vinyl records, or vinyl: Until CDs, records were just records.
Broadcast television: Needed since the introduction of cable and satellite TV.
Acoustic guitar: From the 1600s until the 1930s, they were just “guitars.” Then the electric guitar was invented.
George H.W. Bush: He rarely used his middle initials until his son became president.
Hard copy: To distinguish a printed, paper document from an e-mailed one.
Contiguous United States: Coined after Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959.
Field hockey: The original “hockey,” it’s still called that in countries where ice hockey, created later, isn’t as popular.
Offline: What computer users refer to as anything not computer related, such as “outside.”
Moe money: Hank Azaria has voiced more than 160 characters on The Simpsons .
Q & A:
ASK THE EXPERTS
Everyone’s got a question or two they’d like answered—basic stuff, like “Why is the sky blue?” Here are a few of those questions, with answers from some of the world’s top trivia experts .
P REPARE FOR TAKEOFF
Q: On commercial airlines, why do you have to put your seat in the upright position before takeoff and landing?
A: “Should an emergency occur during either of these times, passengers have a better chance of survival if they evacuate the plane immediately. Milliseconds count in these situations, so everyone would be in a mad rush to find an emergency exit. Coach passengers know how difficult squeezing out of a seat mid-flight just to get to the lavatory can be; now imagine that the cabin is filled with smoke and visibility is near zero. Reclined seats, extended table trays, and briefcases in the aisle would cause already panicked folks to stumble and fall, and hamper the evacuation process.” (From Mental Floss magazine’s “7 Burning Questions About Air Travel,” by Kara Kovalchik)
EAT ME…NOT!
Q: What would happen if you ate one of those “Do not eat!” silica gel packets found in the packaging of dry goods such as clothing and medicine?
A: “Silica gel absorbs and holds water vapor. While the contents of a silica gel packet are basically harmless, consuming them would be an unpleasant experience. The moisture would be whisked away from the sides and roof of your mouth, your gums, and tongue, giving an all-too-accurate meaning of the phrase ‘dry mouth.’ If it did happen to get past your mouth—unlikely because you’d probably be making every effort to spit it out—you might suffer a few irritating side effects such as dry eyes, an irritated, dry feeling in your throat, aggravated, dry mucous membranes and nasal cavity, and an upset stomach.” (From “Discovery Health,” by Katherine Neer)
Color-coded? In one cat taste test, black-and-white birds were the cats’ least favorite.
FLUID ENTERTAINMENT
Q: Do liquid crystal displays (LCDs) actually contain liquid?
A: “In this case, the term ‘liquid’ refers to a peculiar quality of a certain type of crystal, not its physical appearance. The twisted nematic liquid crystal is the most common type used in LCD televisions and monitors today. It has a naturally twisted crystalline structure. A particular feature of this crystal is that it reacts to electric currents in predictable ways—i.e., by untwisting to varying degrees depending on the current to which it is exposed. Hence the ‘liquid’ part of the crystal’s moniker: Rather than being an oxymoron (How can a solid also be a liquid?), the term refers to the relative pliability of the crystals themselves, which is to say, their twistability.” (From “LCD TV Buying Guide,” by Jack Burden)
CHEER UP, OFFICER!
Q: Why do police officers wear blue uniforms?
A: “In 1829 the London Metropolitan Police, the first modern police force, developed standard
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