Uncle John's Facts to Go Where'd That Come From?
Bathroom Readers' Institute
Language: English
Pages: 46
ISBN: 2:00210937
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Uncle John's Where'd That Come From? delivers the true stories behind all sorts of things, even things you never thought of as having origins. Covering a wide range of topics—pop culture, science, sports, politics, customs, superstitions, language, and more—you'll discover the most engrossing origin stories from the BRI's deep archives, as well as some all-new “origin"al material! Find out about . . .- Why the number seven is considered lucky- An airplane in ancient Egypt, and other “OOPAs" (Out Of Place Artifacts)- Who put the hole in a doughnut, the K in K-mart, and the e in e-book- Automotive firsts—including the gas pump, the solar-powered car, and the drag race- The ancient games that led to golf, and the story of the boomerang- Louis Perrier, Earl Grey, Mrs. Paul, and other tasty namesakes- The origins of toothpaste, the color purple, the Ming Dynasty, Valentine's Day, the recycle symbol, Captain Kirk,...
Philadelphia, where the Founding Fathers were meeting to prepare for their break from England. And where else to find seamen than in Philadelphia, one of the busiest ports in the American colonies? It was left to Samuel Nicholas, the first commandant of the Marine Corps, to find a few (actually more than a few) good men. Nicholas had a choice: He could march up and down the wharves of the Delaware River with a placard reading “Seamen Wanted,” or he could set up shop in one of the many taverns
they got there. Some people think OOPAs are indications that Earth has been home to some very advanced civilizations—more advanced than we are. What do you think? ELECTRON TUBES IN EGYPT In chamber 17 of the Temple of Hathor in Egypt there is a wall of engravings that resemble bundles of electrical wires. According to Alfred D. Bielek, an engineer, these ancient engravings look similar to modern engineering illustrations. In other crypts, the engravings show the electron tubes with people
trust issues. To cast the lead, Shore and his partner (and film director) Bryan Singer looked at Denis Leary, Rob Morrow, David Cross, and Patrick Dempsey. None of them worked. “If we don’t do this right,” said Singer. “House will just come off as hateful.” Plus, all of the Brits who’d read for the part had terrible American accents. Then Singer received an audition tape sent from Namibia by Hugh Laurie (he was in Africa filming a movie called Flight of the Phoenix). Laurie was dirty, unshaven,
Enter’ sign, the use of a heavy-stroked, attention-commanding font such as Impact is appropriate. Typesetting such a message in Comic Sans would be ludicrous.” So far, they’ve gathered about 5,000 signatures for a petition to “eradicate” the font. They even have a favorite joke: “Comic Sans walks into a bar, the bartender says, ‘We don’t serve your type!’” (Our apologies if you’re reading this book in Comic Sans.) HEH-HEH, YOU SAID “BUTT” When Mike Judge was in college, he lived next to a
this period, and they were also able to predict eclipses. They marked these occasions with human sacrifices and chose days to go to war by consulting their astronomical calendars. STONEHENGE, U.S.A. In the hills of Wyoming, there’s an ancient stone construction called the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, which some have called the American Stonehenge. A similar construction is the Moose Mountain Wheel in Saskatchewan, Canada. Both were sacred sites for Native Americans, but archaeologists date