Totally useless information

[smurfe]

It has been mentioned that I am a fountain of totally useless information, So I have decided to bombard you all with much of my talent. Here is the first one:



Antarctica's Red-light District.

How would you feel if your mate came home after spending the night with a member of the world's oldest profession? I think it's safe to say that you probably wouldn't be very happy.

Well, for the first time it has been observed that the male specimen of Homo sapiens is not the only species to pay for someone else's services. Yes, it has been scientifically determined that the male Adelie penguin, which lives on Ross Island down in the Antarctic, also pays for the special favors of a female.

I can just picture it now:

The female gets all dolled up and puts on her sexiest skin-tight tuxedo (what else would a penguin wear?). She then heads out for a night on the town. A potential male customer is spotted out in the distance. She sways her hips back and forth and approaches the gentlemen.

“Hey, honey.” she says in her sexiest Mae West-like voice. “How would you like me to warm your chilled bones?”

The lonely male penguin is attracted to her like steel to a magnet. They agree to terms and do their thing.

Now, I know what you are thinking. (Well, maybe not.) Penguins don't carry cash and they have never been known to carry an American Express card, so just how do they pay?

With stones.

Yes, you read that correctly - stones. Also known as pebbles, cobbles, and rocks. It makes no difference if the payment is sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic. All types of Flinstonian currency are accepted.

Let's get back to reality...

Actually, the Adelie penguins are known to mate for life. At least that is what the male is led to believe.

Every so often, the female wanders off in search of stones to build her nest with. Since there are no trees or grasses to be found in this frozen wasteland, stones make the best nesting material by default. But even stones are difficult to find in this cold climate. Those that do exist are most likely frozen solid in the mud or ice. The stones are of such great value to the penguins that they will steal them from each other, even though they face a high risk of being attacked by the owner of this hard currency (and this currency certainly is hard).

But wait!

The female Adelie penguin has figured out a better way. She exchanges copulations for the stones. The female slips away from her mate and just happens to wander over to the nest of an unpaired male.

Hmmm… What could she be thinking?

She goes through the standard courtship procedure. You know, the usual dip of the head and the coy look from the corner of the eye. If the male shows some interest, she will just lie prone as an invitation to mate. Once the mating is over, she picks up her payment (the stone) and heads back home to her unsuspecting mate.

Believe it or not, this is truly serious science. A researcher named Fiona M. Hunter of the University of Cambridge has been studying these cheating penguins for years. (Why anyone would ever want to study in such a cold place is beyond me. I was once offered a complete scholarship to do my graduate work in Antarctica. All the money in the world couldn't get me there. Instead, I decided to stay warm and chose a different college.)

Hunter also observed ten different females who played an even smarter game. Each of these penguins went through the whole mutual courtship routine, picked up their payment, and just left before any hanky panky ever took place. Oddly, the males showed no aggressive behavior for being denied their pleasure. In fact, these same females actually had the nerve to return for more pebbles. One female managed to get 62 stones from one male in just one hour. (Obviously, she was the Pam Anderson of the bird world.)

And her husband was the last to know…

Useless? Useful? I’ll leave that for you to decide.


[/b]

[smurfe]

President of the United States for just one short day.


Quick: Who were the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Presidents of the United States (under our current Constitution)? If you're like the typical American, you probably have no clue.

So here's a refresher for you:

#11 was James K. Polk

#12 was David Rice Atchison

#13 was Zachary Taylor

Hold it! I can hear you screaming all the way over here - David Rice who?

They never taught you about this guy in history class. In fact, they said that Taylor was Prez #12, not #13.

What's going on here?

First, a bit of background:

David Rice Atchison was born on August 11, 1807 in a place named Frogtown, Kentucky. Today it is called Kirklevington (They should have stuck with Frogtown).

At the young age of 36, Atchison was appointed to the United States Senate to replace a Missouri Senator that had just died. He held this office for 12 years, from 1843 to 1855.

Then it happened:

President James Knox Polk was scheduled to step down from office at noon on Sunday, March 4, 1849.

Uh, oh! BIG problem!

It seems that President-elect Zachary Taylor was a religious man and refused to be sworn in on a Sunday. It was the Sabbath. Taylor insisted on waited until the following day.

The big question arose: Who was going to serve as the President during this twenty-four hour period?

Normally, the Vice-President (George M. Dallas at the time) would fill the position, but his term expired along with Polk's. Dallas had actually resigned as President of the Senate on Friday, March 2nd.

Under the law, the Presidency then fell to the President Pro Tem of the Senate. You can guess who that was - David Rice Atchison! Atchison had just been elected for an additional term to this office during the closing hours of the Thirtieth Congress.

As a result, Atchison legally became the President for a twenty-four hour period, even though he was never elected to this office or sworn in. That's a daguerreotype of Atchison on the right.

Now if you were President for a day, what would you do? Declare war on some dinky little nation? Bomb your enemies? Appoint your friends to office? Make some weird executive decision?

Atchison did none of these things. When asked what he did on this day, he commented "I went to bed. There had been two or three busy nights finishing up the work of the Senate, and I slept most of that Sunday."

In other words, this particular day was uneventful in American history. No major executive decisions needed to be made.

Many, including Atchison, have questioned whether or not he was actually President. Technically, Atchison was appointed as President Pro Tem for each session of the Senate. Since the previous session of the Senate had been dismissed, one could claim that Atchison's term had expired (even though he was to continue in this role when the Senate reconvened for the next session).

This leads to a very interesting question: If there was no President, Vice-President, President Pro Tem, a dismissed Senate, and a dismissed House of Representatives - Who in the world was running this country?

Even if one could prove that Atchison wasn't President for the twenty-four hour period between the two Presidents, he definitely had the job for several minutes.

Here's why:

On Inauguration Day the first person to be sworn in was David Rice Atchison as President Pro Tem. So now he was definitely President (congratulations!). Atchison then ended this short stint as President with the swearing-in of the new Vice-President, Millard Fillmore (he would become President in just sixteen months following the natural death of Zachary Taylor). The entire Senate then proceeded to the east portico for the inauguration of the new President.

So ends the reign of one David Rice Atchison as the leader of the United States. We may never truly know for sure if he actually was President for that short period of time, but, let's face it, it makes for a better story to think that he was.

Useless? Useful? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

[smurfe]

The most played song on American radio during the twentieth century was You've Lost That Loving Feeling which was written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector, and Cynthia Weil. Although recorded by different artists, the song is the only one in history to be played over 8 million times on the radio. That amounts to about 45 years if the song was played back to back! Three songs were played 7 million times: Never My Love, Yesterday, and Stand By Me (in that order).
Source: The BMI Top 100 Songs (BMI)

"Weird" Al Yankovic received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1981. He also served as valedictorian of his high school at age 16.
Source: VH1's Behind the Music

The oldest business in the United States of America is the cymbal company Zildjian which was founded in Constantinople in 1623.
Source: American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Winter 2000

Every act that has had a Billboard Top 40 hit whose title included the name of a different recording act, that other act had at least one Top 40 hit at the same exact time. Some examples (not a complete list):

1964: The song We Love You Beatles by the Carefrees was on the charts while The Beatles had seven songs of their own in the Top 40.

1984-85: Rick Springfield had the minor hit Bruce while Bruce Springsteen was charting himself with Born in the U.S.A.

1987: Both the ABC song When Smokey Sings and Smokey Robinson's song One Heartbeat were in the Top 10 at the same time.

1992: Weird Al had the hit Smells Like Nirvana at the same time that Nirvana had the hit Come As You Are.
Source: Chart Beat Chat, Billboard Online, April 28, 2000

There are approximately ten million bricks in the Empire State Building.
Source: A&E Top 10 Architectural Wonders

The lightning that we see actually goes from the ground to the sky in what is known as the "return stroke" at 1/3 the speed of light. We can't see the initial "stepped leader" that passes from the sky to the ground.
Source: USA Today Weather Book by Jack Williams (1992, page 127)

From space, the brightest man-made place is Las Vegas, Nevada.
Source: Understanding Electricity, The Learning Channel, March 27, 2000

Janis Joplin's will called for a party for 200 people at her favorite pub in San Alselmo, California at a cost of $2,500.00.
Source: The People's Almanac #2 by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace (1978, page 1200)

Contrary to common belief, elephants are not afraid of mice. Go to any zoo and chances are that the mice are living in the same quarters as the elephants. The mice eat the grain and nest in the hay that is so common to elephant habitats.
Source: National Geographic web site

The Carpenters signature song, We've Only Just Begun, was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank. The music played in the background of a scene in which a newlywed couple had, of course, just begun their lives together. Richard Carpenter saw the commercial and sculpted it into the classic song that we know today.
Source: The liner notes of the Carpenters' album The Singles 1969-1973

Actress Cheryl Ladd started her career as the singing voice of the character Melody on the 1970's cartoon Josie and the Pussycats.
Source: Cheryl Ladd in an interview on Live with Regis & Kathy Lee (8/24/99)

The most common invention of the 19th century was the washing machine. Between 1804 and 1873, at least 1676 patents were issued by the United States Patent Office for various forms of this device.
Source: Household Wonders (The History Channel)

The five most stolen items in a drugstore are batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, and, get this, Preparation H. Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. And, just in case you are curious, one of Preparation H's main ingredient is shark liver oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles!
Source: Do Pharmacists Sell Farms? by Vince Staten (1998, Simon & Schuster)

It's widely known that Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha Gray to the patent office by a mere two hours with his application to patent the telephone. However, ten years after Bell's patent was issued, patent examiner Zenas Wilber admitted in a sworn affadavit that he had taken a $100 bribe from Bell, had taken a loan from Bell's patent attorney, and had given Bell the complete details of Gray's caveat. Hmmmm....
Source: Inventor's Digest, July/August 1998, pages 26-28.

Why do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? They actually don't. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of eighty years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand (or attempted to do so).
Source: Reader's Digest Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976, p. 324

Charles Lindbergh achieved great fame for being the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. What most people don't know, however, is that two men had achieved the same goal eight years earlier! Flying for sixteen and a half hours from June 14 to June 15, 1919, Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown had copiloted a Vichers-Vimy twin-engine plane nonstop from Newfoundland across the Atlantic to Ireland. Lindbergh was just the first person to do it alone.
Source: Fabulous Fallacies by Tad Tuleja (1982, The Stonesong Press, pages 4-5)

Contrary to popular belief, only one alligator has ever been found in the New York City sewer system. The 125 pound (57 kilogram) alligator was pulled out by four boys way back in 1935.
Source: National Geographic's New York Underground

A South Korean movie theater owner decided that the movie The Sound of Music was too long. His solution? He shortened the movie by cutting out all of the musical scenes!
Source: Uncle John's Fourth Bathroom Reader, 1989, page 63
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In four separate instances between October 1987 and February 1988, small pink frogs rained down from the sky on to various parts of Great Britain. Scientists are still uncertain as to where these frogs originated, although some have traced them back to the Sahara desert.
Source: The World's Most Incredible Stories, 1998, page 66.

The Malaysian government decided to solve their disease-carrying mosquito problem by spraying the infested areas with DDT. This worked, but the cockroaches then devoured the dead mosquitos. This was followed by the region's gecko lizards consuming the roaches. The geckos did not die from the residual poison (surprisingly), but their central nervous systems were greatly affected, causing the lizards to slow down. Moving up the food chain, the cats ate the slow-moving lizards and started to die off in large quantities. Of course, fewer cats means more rats, and the country's rat population soared. As a result, the World Health Organization was forced to step in and ban the DDT. In an effort to restore the ecological balance, they flew in planeloads of cats to kill the rats.
Source: The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual by Bruce Felton and Mark Fowler, 1994, p. 180, Galahad Books

Two hundred and twenty six soldiers lost their lives way back in 1850 when they crossed a suspension bridge that spanned the Maine at Angers, France. It turns out that they were all marching in step and had caused an increased resonance (vibration) to the bridge. Ever since, troops are ordered to rout step (march out of step) when crossing a bridge.
Source: Why Some Shoes Squeak by George W. Stimpson, 1984, p. 115

The phrase "Often a bridesmaid but never a bride" actually comes from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash. The text was written by Milton Feasley and first appeared in 1925. The advertisement was so successful that it ran for more than ten years.
Source: Our Times: The Illustrated History of the 20th Century, Turner Books, 1995, p. 187

A man named Angus McDonald was a lookout man for an explosives company in Johannesburg, South Africa. One April Fool's Day, he decided to pull the ultimate prank. He put on an oversized uniform and hid his head inside. To the casual passerby, it appeared that his head had been blown off. McDonald's joke blew up in his face, however. The story (and photo) was picked up by the newswires and McDonald was fired from his job.
Source: Weird Wonders and Bizarre Blunders by Brad Schreiber, 1989, Simon & Schuster, p. 43-44.

Did you ever wonder what the WD in WD-40 stands for? The name was lifted right out chemist Norm Larsen's laboratory notebook. Way back in 1953, he was trying to concoct an anti-corrosion formula, which worked on the basic principle of displacing water. On his 40th try, Larsen finally got it right. Hence the name WD-40. It literally means Water Displacer, 40th try.
Source: WD-40 website

Back in 1956 recording artist Johnny Mathis was forced to make the decision between trying out for the United States Olympic team (his specialty was track) or recording his first album for Columbia Records. He chose the latter and went on to become the eighth biggest selling album artist of all time. His 1958 album, Johnny’s Greatest Hits, was the first Greatest Hits album ever marketed, spending three weeks at #1 and 490 consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Pop Album chart (that’s almost 9 ½ years!).
Source: The Music Of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection

The Bank of Vernal, in Vernal, Utah (where else?) is the only bank in the world that was built from bricks sent through the mail. Way back in 1919 the builders realized that it was cheaper to send the bricks through the United States Postal System (seven bricks to a package) than to have them shipped commercially from Salt Lake City.
Source: The Best, Worst, & Most Unusual by Bruce Felton and Mark Fowler, 1994, Galahad Books

Before the invention of anesthesia, speed was a highly regarded trait in a surgeon. Dr. Robert Liston of London was among the fastest. But, speed comes with some cost. In one particular operation, Liston killed three people. The patient actually survived, but later died of gangrene. During the operation, Liston accidentally cut of the fingers of his surgical assistant, who soon died from an infection. Liston even managed to slash through the coattails of a colleague who was observing the operation - he was so sure that his vital organs had been punctured that he died of fright!
Source: Oops! by Paul Kirchner, 1996, Rhino Records

Way back on August 13, 1903, police entered the Liverpool, England home of William and Emily Shortis. Worried friends had contacted the authorities because the couple had not been seen for several days prior. There they found William near death. Oddly, he was pinned under the dead body of his 224 pound wife. Did she die during a moment of passion? Not at all. The coroner concluded that William was following Emily up the stairs of their home when she lost her balance and tumbled down the steps, pulling him down with her. Emily immediately died from a blow to the head, trapping William under her body for over three days. Sadly, William did not survive his injuries, either.
Source: The 20th Century by David Wallechinsky, 1995, Little, Brown, & Co.

Frenchman Michel Lotito has a very unusual diet. Born on June 15, 1950, he has been consuming large quantities of metal and glass since he was nine years old. To date, he has eaten supermarket carts, television sets, bicycles, chandeliers, razor blades, bullets, nuts and bolts, lengths of chain, phonograph records, computers, and an entire Cessna 150 light aircraft (which took him nearly two years to consume). It seems that his body has adjusted to this unusual diet, as he eats nearly two pounds of metal every day. His technique includes lubricating his digestive tract with mineral oil, cutting the parts into bite-size pieces, and then consuming a large quantity of water while eating this junk. Most people would prefer a nice glass of wine with their dinner.
Source: Reader's Digest Facts & Fallacies, 1988, Reader's Digest

Madame Marie Curie was the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes. Her first was in Physics (1903) and the second in Chemistry (1911). So what did she do with the money? She used part of the prize to both change the wallpaper and to put a modern bathroom into her Paris home.
Source: The People's Almanac by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace, 1975, Doubleday and Co.

Marijuana was not illegal in the United States until October 1, 1937, when Congress passed the "Marijuana Tax Act". Total debate time on the House of Representatives floor concerning this issue: 90 seconds. This act did not actually ban the substance - it simply said that one could not sell marijuana without a license. Of course, Congress refused to issue any licenses. Congress finally banned marijuana outright in 1970.
Source: The Unbelievable Truth! by Jeff Rovin, 1994, Signet Books

Everyone knows that spinach is loaded in iron and makes you stronger - Just look what it has done for Popeye's career. Well, Popeye was wrong. So were all of those parents that stuffed it down their kids' throats. In reality, spinach has no more iron in it than any other vegetable. This spinach misconception dates back to the 1950's when a food analyst made an error while calculating the iron in spinach. His decimal place was off by one place, suggesting that spinach had ten times as much iron content than it really did.

[smurfe]

They wouldn't exist if it weren't for Listerine.


Band-Aids® actually came from Listerine! Here's the Scope... oops...scoop:

In the 1860's, a British surgeon named Sir Joseph Lister pioneered sanitary operating room procedures. In many hospitals, the post-operative mortality rate was in excess of 90%. I think it's clear to us today that his ideas were well needed.

Why, you may ask?

It seems that the doctors operated with their bare hands in street clothes. Spectators were allowed to observe the operations first hand. For surgical dressings, they used pressed sawdust which was lifted off the floors of the saw mills. Instruments were not sterilized - only washed with soap and water.

Lister gave a speech in Philadelphia in 1876, expressing his views on germs. No one was interested.

No one except a Missouri physician named Joseph Lawrence.

Lawrence went back to his lab and developed an antibacterial liquid, which was manufactured locally by the Lambert Pharmacal Company (any idea which Fortune 500 Corp. this became?).

They needed a name. We can be sure that they must have tossed around some great ones in that board room. Maybe 'horrible tasting liquid' or 'Stuff to make your bad breath smell like something else that still smells bad, but not THAT bad'. I guess they weren't interested in these great suggestions.

Instead, they gave it the name Listerine, in honor of Sir Joseph L----r (you can figure out the rest). This gave it an antiseptic image. The right name at the right time.

So how does this lead to the Band-Aid?

It turns out that one other person was impressed by Lister's talk- Robert Johnson, a pharmacist from Brooklyn.

He and his two brothers decided to start a company to produce large dry cotton and gauze dressing. The company had a great name - Johnson and Johnson (why was the third brother excluded?). They were shipped in germ-resistant packages, guaranteeing sterility until opened.

Their next product was baby powder, also still on the market.

I can hear you yelling all the way over here in New York. SO WHERE DID THE BAND-AIDS® COME FROM?

Calm down and let me get a word in edgewise.

In 1920, another brother, James Johnson, heard that his employee had invented a neat product. The guy's name was Earle Dickson (note how his name is lost in history and the company took all the credit and profits).

Way back on December 6, 1917, Earle married Mrs. Earle (the former Miss Josephine Frances Knight). Josephine was extremely accident prone and constantly seemed to be cutting her fingers with those darn sharp kitchen knives. Problem! His company's bandages were too big for her delicate little bruises.

By 1920, he grew weary of having to bandage up his wife's dainty little fingers. He decided to affix small pieces of the sterile gauze to the center of strips of surgical tape. (I can hear the crowds of people now - "DUH! That's pretty obvious!" These are the same people who are unable to figure out how Newton discovered gravity because it's so obvious.)

He mentioned what he had created to a fellow employee at Johnson and Johnson and was encouraged to approach management with the idea.

The Johnsons weren't overly impressed initially. At least not until good old Earle showed that he could easily apply it to himself. No help needed! Wow! Shazaaaaaam! What a great idea!

Unfortunately, the original handmade bandages did not sell - only $3000 worth of the product was sold during the first year. (The New York Times reports that "they came in sections 2 1/2 inches wide and 18 inches long" - does this seem a bit large to you?)

By 1924 the Band-Aids® were produced by machine and sales took off. History was then made. Over one hundred billion have been made to date.

By the way, poor old Earle was not that poor in the end. The company actually made him a vice president (until he retired in 1957) and then a member of the board of directors. Unfortunately, Earle didn't enjoy a long retirement - he passed away on September 22, 1961 at age 68. At the time of his death, Johnson and Johnson was selling over $30,000,000 worth of Band-Aids® each year.

Useless? Useful? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

[smurfe]

Let's Hear It for Pickle Power!


Several years ago I had a student named Daegan who kept bugging me with the same comment every time that I did a demonstration for the class. Basically, he said that he would not be happy until I set my tie on fire. After months of hearing this comment repeated, I finally decided to make his wish come true. I designed a new demonstration where I took my ugliest tie, soaked it in rubbing alcohol, and then set it ablaze. Daegen was not impressed, however, because the tie was still intact after the fire went out. He wanted the tie to be burned to a crisp. I, on the other hand, wanted to teach some science. (As I tell all of my students, please do not try this at home!)

Obviously, there is some sort of deception going on with my tie experiment. Without revealing my secret, let's just say that the alcohol was not what it appeared to be. This tie trick does, however, lead me to the one demonstration that my students seem to remember for life. This one also has a bit of magic to it. And, because it involves something known as a suicide plug, I am not going to tell you exactly how to do it. In other words, don't try this one at home, either.

Every school year, my last demo is always what my students refer to as the “electrocution of a pickle”. Basically, this works on a principle very similar to that of frying someone in an electric chair. Just put a current through something juicy that conducts electricity and watch it sizzle.

What is very unusual about the pickle is that is doesn't just cook. Within a short period of time, steam starts to escape out the sides and, amazingly, it starts to light up like a light bulb. Yes, you read that correctly. It emits light. Yellow light, to be specific. And the smell… Let's just say that the word bad does not describe the scent well enough!

Now, I would be lying if I told you that I came up with this trick on my own. I didn't. In fact, I first saw it demonstrated at a Physics Teacher training course that I was taking back in 1991. I was captivated by what I was watching and knew that my students would find equal fascination with it. That night I went home and built my own apparatus to perform the demo.

Unfortunately, my building principal did not approve of the idea (can anybody say lawsuit???) and forbid me from doing the demo for a couple of years. When a newly hired teacher down the hall from me started doing it, followed by Mr. Wizard performing the electrocution on the Nickelodeon channel, I convinced the administration to let me do it.

What amazes me most about this demo is that no one ever explained to me what it was supposed to prove. It just looked cool. Who cares if it the glowing pickle really ever taught any concept? Again, it just looked cool! Well, I quickly found out that my students really did care.

They thought that they had finally stumped me, but they hadn't. Every good teacher learns that they must be ready for anything, and I was. I gave them some cockamamie story about how it all tied into Niel Bohr’s model of the atom. It seemed to me that the electricity flowing into the pickle excited the electrons in the sodium ions that made up the pickle's salt content. When the electrons fell back down to a stable orbital, the yellow light was emitted. It all made perfect sense to me because I remembered doing flame tests in college chemistry where sodium emitted a similar yellow light.

In plain English, this means that you add energy to throw something up and then you get the energy back when it comes back down. To prove this, just take a rock and throw it straight up in the air. You have to add energy to throw the rock upwards. When it comes down and hits you in the head, you will quickly realize that it just transferred that energy back to you.

Honestly, this did not take much thought on my part to figure out. It just seemed fairly obvious to me. Well, it turns out that scientists have been working feverishly to solve the mystery of the glowing pickle.

I recently learned that two important (yeah, right!) papers have been published on the topic.

Seven researchers at Digital Computers did the first study in April of 1989. Their findings were just amazing. They concluded that Kosher dill pickles were the best because they had the highest salt content. Also, they determined that pickles would not make good light bulbs because they only gave off yellow light and that they smelled really, really bad. Duh! They published their results in a paper titled “Characterization of Organic Illumination Systems”. There is nothing as effective as using big words in a publication title so that no one can understand it. (Do you think that they were trying to fool their bosses into thinking that they were performing serious science?)

The second set of findings was released by a team of four scientists in 1993 and appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education. Their findings? Very simple: The light emitted by the pickle was nearly identical to that released by the sodium atom. Just as I had suspected.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to diminish the need for serious scientific studies. Yet, I can't help but get a small chuckle when I see how much time and energy went into these projects. I have a hunch that they were also laughing while writing these studies up. Sometimes there is a need for making science fun and interesting.

Useless? Useful? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

[smurfe]

The name has nothing to do with distress signals

In 1917, there was this salesman named Edwin Cox who sold something that every housewife dreamed of - the newly invented aluminum cookware (that's another story). Apparently everyone loved this stuff, as no one even admits to cooking with it today.

He was so unsuccessful at selling this junk, that he decided that he needed a gimmick.

Hmmm.... What to do? What to do?

From his years as a pot salesman, he knew that a major complaint was the way that the food stuck to the pans. He concluded that what was needed was something that combined the abrasive nature of steel wool with the cleansing ability of soap. (I have a better idea - throw out the pots and buy new ones!)

In his kitchen, he hand dipped steel wool into soapy water and let it dry. He then repeated this until the steel wool could hold no more. Even though he was dealing with soap, we can assume that he still left a mess for his wife to clean up. After all, he was male...

The idea worked. More housewives let him through the door and more pots were sold. Each woman received one free sample.

He then ran into a problem. The women wanted to purchase more pads, not pots. So he dipped and dipped and dipped and dipped...

Soon he could dip no more. His (?) kitchen was beyond that much dipping. His sales for these pads exceeded that of his pots.

What did he do? He gave up selling pots and set up a real factory. (He should have called it the Dippity-Doo factory, considering that's all that they did all day)

This product still did not have a name. Somehow, the name 'Steel Wool Dipped in Soap Cleaning Pads' was not chosen, though most obvious.

Enter Mrs.Edwin Cox with a solution. She had called them S.O.S pads in her kitchen, meaning "Save Our Saucepans", and the rest is cleaning history.

Many people think that an error was made in the name's punctuation (note the missing period at the end of S.O.S). This was actually done on purpose. It seems that S.O.S. (with the period) is the famous distress signal (and the name of an old ABBA song barely worth mentioning) and cannot be trademarked. By removing the last period, the name was unique and could then be registered with the Patent Office.

As a sidenote, most people think SOS, the universal distress call, means "Save Our Ships" or "Save Our Souls", but neither is correct.

In reality, the three letters do not stand for anything. When Samuel Morse developed the Morse Code, he needed a simple distress call, one that those with little knowledge of the code could do. Only O and S consist of three identical signals. The O is three dashes and the S is three dots. Since a dot is shorter than a dash, he decided on SOS to minimize the time to transmit.

The moral of this story? Behind every good man is one great woman. At least it was true in this case (and many others).

Useless? Useful? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

[smurfe]

Want more? Just ask! :wink:

Smurfe :D