Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader by Bathroom Readers’ Institute

one afternoon he happened to read in the local Hungarian language newspaper about a deadlock in Hungary’s parliament. The Hungarian words for “parliamentary deadlock” are sometimes shortened to “ex-lax” in print. Kiss thought it sounded like “excellent laxative.”
    PAY TOILETS
    So few people owned indoor toilets in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1910, that when the Pennsylvania Railroad installed some at the train station, they became one of the town’s major attractions. Some locals came to use the facilities, others, merely to marvel. But the restrooms were so jammed with admirers that when the trains pulled into the station, passengers literally had no place to go. So the railroad installed coin-operated locks, and gave the stationmaster a key to let ticket holders in for free.
    WASH ‘N DRY MOIST TOWELETTES
    Ross Williams served in the Navy during World War II, and one of the things he hated most about life onboard a ship was that during water shortages he could not wash up before going to bed at night. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t until 1953 that he finally figured out a solution to the problem: paper towels soaked in liquid soap and sealed in tinfoil. According to Colgate-Palmolive, makers of Wash ‘n Dry, one towelette provides as much cleaning power as a quart of water.
     
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    Houdini was only 5’ 1” tall.
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THE JIG IS UP
    Everything has a history—even jigsaw puzzles. They started as a toy for rich kids...became a hobby for wealthy adults...and then, when mass production made it possible, became a pastime for the rest of us.
    T HE FIRST JIGSAW PUZZLE
    Jigsaw puzzles were one of Western Europe’s first educational toys. In 1762, a London mapmaker/printer named John Spilsbury glued a few of his maps onto thin wood panels. Then, using a small hand-saw, he cut them up along the borders of each country. He called them “dissected maps,” and sold them to well-to-do parents “for the edification of the young.” It was the beginning of an industry.
    Spilsbury’s timing was excellent—the first children’s books had been published only a year earlier, and there was a blossoming interest in new ways to educate the young. By 1800 twenty different London publishers were cranking puzzles out. Most featured historical subjects and moral lessons—and Bible stories. Religious puzzles were an especially popular diversion on Sundays, when ordinary “secular” play was not permitted.
    REAL JIGSAW PUZZLES
    Until the late 19th century, jigsaw puzzles were made one at a time, gluing expensive prints to fine mahogany or cedar. Each piece was cut out with a hand saw, and each puzzle had no more than 50 pieces. Only the border pieces interlocked; anything more complicated would have cost too much money—and there was a limit to what even wealthy parents were willing to pay. Early jigsaw puzzles cost the equivalent of a week’s wages for a common laborer.
    Then, in 1876, the power scroll saw, also known as the jigsaw , was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It was inexpensive (some foot-powered treadle saws sold for as little as $3), and was capable of making incredibly intricate cuts. It immediately revolutionized furniture design. By the 1890s it had an impact on puzzles, too: craftsmen began making completely interlocking puzzles with smaller pieces...which could challenge adults as well as children.
     
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    Mosquito eggs can survive in a dried-up state for 5 years.
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    PUZZLE-MANIA
    The new puzzles were a hit in high-society circles. Their popularity grew until, in 1908, a jigsaw puzzle craze swept America. No one was left out; if you couldn’t afford to buy puzzles, there were puzzle lending libraries, and even puzzle rental companies. Sales were so strong that Parker Brothers gave up manufacturing games for a year to focus exclusively on puzzles (It was during the 1908 craze that the company pioneered the idea of cutting the pieces into shapes that people could