Uncle John’s Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader Read online

  Origin: The first president to die in office was William Henry Harrison, elected in 1840. In 1960, when John Kennedy was shot, people began to realize the eerie “coincidence” involved.

  Galileo’s best telescope was about as powerful as a good pair of binoculars are today.

  Victims:

  • William Henry Harrison, dead in 1841 after one month in office

  • Abraham Lincoln (elected in 1860), fatally shot in 1865

  • James Garfield (1880), assassinated in 1881

  • William McKinley (re-elected in 1900), fatally shot in 1901

  • Warren G. Harding (1920), died in 1923

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt (elected for the third time in 1940), died in 1945

  • JFK (1960), assassinated in 1963

  • Ronald Reagan (1980) was nearly the eighth victim. He was shot and badly wounded by John Hinckley in 1983

  Status: Astrologers insist that 1980 was an aberration because “Jupiter and Saturn met in an air sign, Libra.” That gave Reagan some kind of exemption. They say we still have to wait to find out if the curse is over.

  THE CURSE OF THE INCAN MUMMY

  Curse: By disturbing a frozen mummy’s remains, authorities brought bad luck to the region where it had been buried.

  Origin: Three Andean mummies were discovered by an archaeologist/mountaineer in October 1995. They had been undisturbed in snow at the top of 20,000-foot Mount Ampato, in Southern Peru, for at least 500 years. Then an earthquake exposed them. One of the mummies was the remains of a young woman, referred to by local shamans as “Juanita.” She had apparently been sacrificed to Incan gods.

  Among Its Victims:

  • Within a year of the discovery, a Peruvian commercial jet crashed and killed 123 people near the discovery site.

  • Thirty-five people were electrocuted when a high-tension cable fell on a crowd celebrating the founding of the city of Arequipa (which is near the discovery site).

  Status: Local shamans said these were the acts of the angered “Ice Princess.” To break the curse, they gathered in the city of Arequipa in August 1996 and chanted: “Juanita, calm your ire. Do not continue to damn innocent people who have done nothing to you.” Apparently it worked—we’ve heard nothing of it since 1996.

  Can you flare your nostrils? Only 30% of humans can.

  THE BIRTH OF THE MICROWAVE

  To a lot of us, microwave ovens are “magical mystery boxes.” We’re not sure how they work…but after a while we can’t live without them. Uncle John swore he’d never use one—until he had children. Now he blesses it every time he hauls out an emergency frozen pizza and manages to feed the kids before they kill each other. If you use a microwave, you might be interested to know more about it.

  Chances are, you’ll use a microwave oven at least once this week—probably (according to research) for heating up left-overs or defrosting something.

  Microwave ovens are so common today that it’s easy to forget how rare they once were. As late as 1977, only 10% of U.S. homes had one. By 1995, 85% of households had at least one. Today, more people own microwaves than own dishwashers.

  MICROWAVE HISTORY

  Magnetrons, the tubes that produce microwaves, were invented by British scientists in 1940. They were used in radar systems during World War II…and were instrumental in detecting German planes during the Battle of Britain.

  These tubes—which are sort of like TV picture tubes—might still be strictly military hardware if Percy Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon (a U.S. defense contractor), hadn’t stepped in front of one in 1946. He had a chocolate bar in his pocket; when he went to eat it a few minutes later, he found that the chocolate had almost completely melted.

  That didn’t make sense. Spencer himself wasn’t hot—how could the chocolate bar be? He suspected the magnetron was responsible. So he tried an experiment: He held a bag of popcorn kernels up to the tube. Seconds later they popped.

  The next day Spencer brought eggs and an old tea kettle to work. He cut a hole in the side of the kettle, stuck an egg in it, and placed it next to the magnetron. Just as a colleague looked into the kettle to see what was happening, the egg exploded.

  Longest word in Japanese: Chi-n-chi-ku-ri-n. It means “very short person.”

  BRINGING MICROWAVES TO MARKET

  Spencer shared his discovery with his employers at Raytheon and suggested manufacturing magnetron-powered ovens to sell to the public. Raytheon was interested. They had the capacity to produce 10,000 magnetron tubes a week…but with World War II over, military purchases had been cut back to almost nothing. “What better way to recover lost sales,” Ira Flatow writes in They All Laughed, “than to put a radar set disguised as a microwave oven in every American home?”

  Raytheon agreed to back the project. (According to legend, Spencer had to repeat the egg experiment in front of the board of directors, splattering them with egg, before they okayed it.) The company patented the first “high-frequency dielectric heating apparatus” in 1953. Then they held a contest to find a name for their product. Someone came up with “Radar Range,” which was later combined into the single word—Radarange.

  DEVELOPING THE PRODUCT

  Raytheon had a great product idea and a great name, but they didn’t have an oven anyone could afford. The 1953 model was 5 1/2 feet tall, weighed more than 750 pounds, and cost $3,000. Over the next 20 years, railroads, ocean liners, and high-end restaurants were virtually the only Radarange customers.

  • In 1955, a company called Tappan introduced the first microwave oven targeted to average consumers; it was smaller than the Radarange, but still cost $1,295—more than some small homes.

  • Then in 1964, a Japanese company perfected a miniaturized magnetron. For the first time, Raytheon could build a microwave oven that fit on a kitchen countertop. In 1967, they introduced a Radarange that used the new magnetron. It sold for $495. But that was still too expensive for the average American family.

  • Finally, in the 1980s, technical improvements made it possible to lower the price and improve the quality enough to make microwave ovens both affordable and practical. By 1988, 10% of all new food products in the United States were microwaveable. Surveys showed that the microwave oven was America’s favorite new appliance—and it still is today.

  How does a microwave oven work? See p. 235 to find out.

  The Earth is 100 million years older than the moon.

  Q&A: ASK THE EXPERTS

  Everyone’s got a question or two they’d like answered. Here are a few of those questions, with answers from some of the nation’s top trivia experts.

  HOLY COW!

  Q: Why are there holes in Swiss cheese?

  A: Because of air bubbles. “During one of the stages of preparation, while it is still ‘plastic,’ the cheese is kneaded and stirred. Inevitably, air bubbles are formed in the cheese as it is twisted and moved about, but the viscous nature of the cheese prevents the air bubbles from rising to the surface and getting out. As the cheese hardens, these air pockets remain, and we see them as the familiar ‘holes’ when we slice the wheel of cheese.” (From A Book of Curiosities, compiled by Roberta Kramer)

  PHOTO FINISH

  Q: Why do eyes come out red in photographs?

  A: “The flash from the camera is being reflected on the rear of the eyeball, which is red from all the blood vessels.” The solution: “Use a flash at a distance from the camera, or get your subjects to look somewhere else. Another trick is to turn up the lights in the room, making them as bright as possible, which causes the subject’s pupil to contract and admit less of the light from the subsequent flash.” (From Why Things Are, by Joel Aschenbach)

  READ OIL ABOUT IT

  Q: What do the numbers (like 10W-30) mean for motor oil?

  A: “Oil is measured in terms of viscosity, which is a measure of a liquid’s ability to flow. There are 10 grades, from 0W to 25W for oils…meant for winter weather use (the W stands for winter), and from 20 to 60 for oils ra
ted to work at 212°F. The lower the number, the thinner the oil. Multigrade oils, like 10W-30, were developed to stay thin at low temperatures and still work well at high temperatures. Most experts recommend 5W-30 for very cold weather, 10W-30 for warmer weather.” (From Numbers, by Andrea Sutcliffe)

  Good idea: Turn-of-the-century department stores had “silence rooms” for “nerve-tired shoppers.”

  HOT STUFF

  Q: How can you cool off your mouth after eating hot peppers?

  A: “Drink milk, says Dr. Robert Henkin, director of the Taste and Smell Clinic in Washington, D.C. Casein, the main protein in milk, acts like a detergent, washing away capsaicin, the substance in hot peppers responsible for their ‘fire.’” (From Parade magazine, November 14, 1993)

  SOMETHING FISHY

  Q: Do fish sleep?

  A: Hard to tell if they sleep in the same sense we do. They never look like they’re sleeping, because they don’t have eyelids. “But they do seem to have regular rest periods….Some fish just stay more or less motionless in the water, while others rest directly on the bottom, even turning over on their side. Some species…dig or burrow into bottom sediment to make a sort of ‘bed.’ Some fish even…prefer privacy when they rest; their schools disperse at night to rest and then reassemble in the morning.” (From Science Trivia, by Charles Cazeau)

  PICK A BALL OF COTTON

  Q: Should you toss out the cotton after opening a bottle of pills?

  A: Yep. “The cotton keeps the pills from breaking in transit, but once you open the bottle, it can attract moisture and thus damage the pills or become contaminated.” (From Davies Gazette, a newsletter from Davies Medical Center in San Francisco)

  SLIPPERY QUESTION

  Q: A few years ago, we started seeing foods containing “canola oil.” What is it?

  A: A variety of rapeseed—which, until recently, was only grown for industrial oils. “Scientists in Canada were able to breed new varieties of rapeseed that were suitable for cooking. They named their creation canola to honor Canada. Canola seed contains 40% to 45% oil, of which 6% is saturated fatty acids. Canola oil contains less fat than any other oil: 50% less than corn oil and olive oil, 60% less than soybean oil.” (From Why Does Popcorn Pop, by Don Voorhees)

  Corporate double-talk for “layoff”: “career-change opportunity” and “schedule readjustment.”

  TOP-RATED TV SHOWS, 1949–1954

  These were the most popular programs of TV’s early years. Most weren’t filmed, so unless you remember them, they’re gone forever.

  1949–1950

  (1) Texaco Star Theater

  (2) Toast of the Town (Ed Sullivan)

  (3) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts

  (4) Fireball Fun for All

  (5) Philco Television Playhouse

  (6) Fireside Theatre

  (7) The Goldbergs

  (8) Suspense

  (9) Ford Theater

  (10) Cavalcade of Stars

  1950–1951

  (1) Texaco Star Theater

  (2) Fireside Theatre

  (3) Your Show of Shows

  (4) Philco Television Playhouse

  (5) The Colgate Comedy Hour

  (6) Gillette Cavalcade of Sports

  (7) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts

  (8) Mama

  (9) Robert Montgomery Presents

  (10) Martin Kane, Private Eye

  1951–1952

  (1) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts

  (2) Texaco Star Theater

  (3) I Love Lucy

  (4) The Red Skelton Show

  (5) The Colgate Comedy Hour

  (6) Fireside Theatre

  (7) The Jack Benny Program

  (8) Your Show of Shows

  (9) You Bet Your Life

  (10) Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

  1952–1953

  (1) I Love Lucy

  (2) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts

  (3) Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

  (4) Dragnet

  (5) Texaco Star Theater

  (6) The Buick Circus Hour

  (7) The Colgate Comedy Hour

  (8) Gangbusters

  (9) You Bet Your Life

  (10) Fireside Theatre

  1953–1954

  (1) I Love Lucy

  (2) Dragnet

  (3) Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts

  (4) You Bet Your Life

  (5) The Bob Hope Show

  (6) The Buick-Berle Show

  (7) Arthur Godfrey and His Friends

  (8) Ford Theater

  (9) The Jackie Gleason Show

  (10) Fireside Theatre

  1954–1955

  (1) I Love Lucy

  (2) The Jackie Gleason Show

  (3) Dragnet

  (4) You Bet Your Life

  (5) Toast of the Town (Ed Sullivan)

  (6) Disneyland

  (7) The Bob Hope Show

  (8) The Jack Benny Program

  (9) The Martha Raye Show

  (10) The George Gobel Show

  What’s the difference between jam and preserves? Jam has minced fruit; preserves have whole.

  FREEZE-DRIED CATS AND COTTAGE CHEESE

  Uncle John was drinking some freeze-dried coffee when he suddenly got up and started asking everyone in the office what “freeze-drying” is. No one could tell him. So we did some research and wrote this article. We figured if we didn’t know, you might not either.

  FREEZER BURN

  If you’ve ever had a freezer, you’ve probably seen “freezer burn”—the discolored, dried-out crust that forms on food when it’s been in the freezer too long or isn’t wrapped correctly.

  What causes it?

  Evaporation. Even when something is frozen solid, the water molecules are still moving. And some of them move fast enough to fly right off the surface of the food. Then one of three things happens:

  1. They get pulled back by the food’s gravitational field.

  2. They slam into air molecules and bounce back onto the food.

  3. They fly off into space.

  Over time, so many water molecules will fly off into space that the surface of the food actually becomes dehydrated. That’s freezer burn. It’s also known as sublimation, the process by which ice evaporates without first turning into water.

  That’s what freeze-drying is—drying something out while it’s still frozen.

  FREEZER SCIENCE

  In the 19th century, scientists studying sublimation discovered that the process happened faster in a jar when the air was pumped out. (The jars are called vacuum chambers.) This is because when you remove air, you’re removing the air molecules. The fewer air molecules there are to bump into, the greater the chance that the water molecules will escape into space—which speeds the drying.

  But the freeze-drying process still took too long. So over the next half-century, scientists tried to find ways to speed it up. They succeeded…and then began freeze-drying anything and everything to see what would happen. The first practical applications they found were in the medical field: many microscopic organisms—including bacteria, viruses, vaccines, yeasts, and algae—could actually survive the process; so could blood plasma.

  The most popular Easter egg color is blue. Next are purple and pink.

  By World War II, freeze-dried blood plasma and penicillin (which could be reconstituted with sterile water) accompanied soldiers onto the battlefield. And by the end of the war, freeze-dried instant coffee tablets were included in U.S. troops’ K rations.

  FREEZE-DRIED FOODS

  After the war, food companies poured money into making freeze-dried food palatable. It took 10 years, but they finally figured out that when food is “flash frozen” (i.e., frozen as quickly as possible), followed by freeze-drying, much of the flavor is preserved.

  The prospects for freeze-dried food seemed limitless: In 1962 The Reader’s Digest hailed it as “the greatest breakthrough in food preservation since the tin can,” and food technologi
sts predicted that sales of freeze-dried food products would rival sales of frozen foods by 1970. Hundreds of food companies rushed new products to the markets. A few, like freeze-dried coffee, were successes. But most wound up in the “fabulous flop” category. For example:

  • Corn flakes with freeze-dried fruit. As we told you in the first Bathroom Reader, in 1964 Post introduced Cornflakes with Strawberries and Kellogg’s introduced Cornflakes with Instant Bananas. Both predicted that sales would hit $600 million in a few years. Both were wrong. It turned out that freeze-dried fruit gets soft on the outside when soaked in milk, but stays crunchy on the inside. And by the time the fruit is soft enough to eat, the cereal is soggy. Millions of families bought the cereals once, but never came back for a second helping.

  • Kellogg’s Kream Krunch. Cereal with chunks of freeze-dried ice cream. Different product, same problem: the cereal turned soggy before the ice cream reconstituted.

  • Freeze-dried steak. “It looks like a brownish sponge,” Business Week wrote in 1963, “but plop it into hot water and in a few minutes the ‘sponge’ blossoms into a sirloin steak that tastes almost as good as one from the butcher’s.” Wishful thinking. It cost as much as a good T-bone, but tasted like a beef sponge.

  More than 70% of all U.S. currency in circulation is held in foreign countries.

  • Freeze-dried scrambled eggs. “Can be prepared by simply cooking with water,” Consumer Reports wrote in 1962. But that was the only good news. Their tasting panel “came up with a luke warm ‘neither like nor dislike’…and at current egg prices, two dozen fresh eggs cost the same as two freeze-dried servings.”

  Other Freeze-Dried Flops

  • Freeze-dried mushrooms in a box, from Armour foods

  • Freeze-dried cottage cheese (“with cultured sour cream dressing”), from Holland Dairies

  • Freeze-dried milkshake mix, from Borden

  PET PROJECTS