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Uncommon Knowledge

The Uncommon Life

The Best of Uncommon Knowledge: 10 Tidbits to Tighten Your Trivia Game

September 10, 2015

The Best of Uncommon Knowledge | UncommonGoods

Have you ever wondered why so many things are referred to as things or why we wish upon stars? We do, and we’re not about to just sit around wondering! Each week we go out and find a bit of Uncommon Knowledge that answers one of those less-than-pressing, but certainly entertaining, questions. We’ve compiled quite the collection of trivial tidbits over the years, and we figured it was about time to find out which fun facts our readers find the most interesting. The 10 questions below received the most clicks from customers when featured in our weekly emails. (We threw in the answers, too.)

Why are moonshine jugs marked XXX?

Personalized Whiskey Barrel | UncommonGoods

 Personalized Whiskey Barrel

Most of us have only seen them in cartoons or caricatures, but we all know what it means: an old-fashioned jug marked with XXX is full of moonshine. It turns out that the marks refer specifically to moonshine’s distilling process. The moonshiners would start by distilling a mash of fermented sugar cane pulp. The resulting liquid, known as the “singlings,” is foul-tasting and a mere 30-40% alcohol by volume. To get the kick that moonshine is known for, it has to go through two more distillations—rendering it almost 100% pure alcohol. The three X’s on the jug were meant to signify that its contents had completed that triple-step process, and also that it might just be strong enough to knock your shoes off, curl your hair, and take your breath away for the next thirty-six hours.

Why do refined people have blue blood?

Anatomical Heart Pendant | UncommonGoodsAnatomical Heart Pendant 

They don’t. No one does. Blood does vary in color—but only from bright red to dark red. The fact that some blood vessels appear blue beneath the skin is actually trick of the light. Much in the same way that the ocean looks blue even though water itself has no color, when light passes through the outer layers of our skin and bounces off a blood vessel, the frequency most likely to bounce back out to our eyes is blue. That does not have any effect on the color of the blood itself. However, this misconception has long been a tool for supporting class distinction. Starting as far back as medieval Spain, being able to see veins of “sangre azul” beneath pale skin was a mark of a privileged, sheltered life that was unavailable to the sun-tanned working class. And though now we live in an age where sun-starved office workers dream of luxuriating out on the beach somewhere, our blue-blooded illusion of the upper class remains.

Are you a citizen of Pelisipia?

Scratch Map | UncommonGoods

Scratch Map

If Thomas Jefferson had had his way, you might be. In 1787, the newly-formed government of the United States passed an ordinance claiming the land south of the Great Lakes as American soil. Called the Northwest Territory, this act established the pattern by which the government would expand its borders westward: by creating new states rather than by expanding existing ones. Thomas Jefferson was one of the early proponents of this plan. The author of the Declaration of Independence turned his pen to the map of this new frontier, drew straight lines dividing the area into seventeen proposed states, and invented names for them all using a combination of Latin and Native American words. Some of those names, like Illinoia and Michigania, were adapted into official usage. Others, however, would have given an entirely different flavor to the American landscape. Can you imagine hailing from the great states of Metropotamia, Equitasia, Chersonesus, Assenisipia?

Can math save your toast?

Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags | UncommonGoods

Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags

We’ve all experienced the devastating loss of freshly buttered toast. One careless knock off the plate, a case of…butterfingers…en route to your mouth, and the whole slice goes plummeting to its certain doom—almost always to land butter-side down. Conventional wisdom would suggest that you only stand a 50-50 chance of completely ruining breakfast. However, conventional wisdom does not take into account the nature of bread. Bread is made up of delicious pockets of air, which affect its drag as it falls. Cover up those pockets with butter, and you have a rotation situation, meaning (according to science) the bread is only able to rotate one and a half times on its way to your kitchen tile. If your table is standard height, this means you’ll probably be cleaning butter off the floor in the near future. So what’s a bruncher to do? After dropping 100 perfectly good pieces of toast, food science specialists determined that an eight-foot tall table would allow for a full 360-degree rotation, and the salvation of your morning carbohydrate. Incredibly tall toast fans rejoice!

Does short hair make women wild?

Honey Bears Shampoo and Conditioner Set | UncommonGoodsHoney Bears Shampoo and Conditioner Set

It sure must have seemed that way in the early 20th century. Women had worn their hair long in Western culture for centuries, and the latest look at the turn of the century—the Gibson girl—required long tresses piled luxuriantly on top of the head. So during WWI, when women began cutting their hair at ear-level, it was considered rather scandalous. But 1915 was a tipping point, when famed ballroom dancer Irene Castle introduced the “Castle Bob” haircut. Suddenly short hair for women entered the mainstream, along with other shocking fashions, such as high hemlines and cloche hats—which could only be worn by those with short hair. Hairdressers were initially so resistant to the new trend that women would line up outside of men’s barbershops just to get their locks sheered. So did the bob make women wild? Not exactly. The fact is that, in the beginning, short hair was a practical choice for women during the war who were joining the workforce. Long hair is lovely for a magazine spread, but impractical when working with heavy machinery. And even Irene Castle picked her signature look for its ease when dancing. It was only later, in the 1920s, when women—now with a literal weight off their minds—began wondering what additional kinds of liberation they might enjoy.

Did you inherit DNA from both parents?

Genetic Code Glasses | UncommonGoods

Genetic Code Glasses

Yes and no. The kind of DNA that we typically think of in our cells, which is responsible for giving you your father’s nose or your mother’s dimples, definitely comes from both parents. However, that’s not the only kind of DNA you have. Inside your cells are a variety of “organelles” that perform specific functions. One of those, the mitochondrion, is known as the cell’s power plant. It also happens to contain its own independent set of DNA. Research suggests that this genetic material actually has a separate evolutionary origin than our regular DNA, and that mitochondria may have once been bacteria that established a symbiotic relationship within our cells. The other surprising fact about mitochondrial DNA? Children only inherit it from their mothers.

Are beards good for you?

Razor Pit Sharpener | UncommonGoodsRazor Pit Sharpener

It has been scientifically proven that beards are awesome. For one thing, a beard can literally save you from cancer, by blocking 90% of the UV rays that would ordinarily be hitting your face. Since UV radiation also causes signs of aging in skin, a beard can keep you looking younger longer. Facial hair can also reduce your trouble with allergies, by trapping dust and pollen. On the other hand, shaving can cause skin irritation, ingrown hair and bacterial infections. So don’t just grow that beard to enhance your rugged manliness. Grow it for your health.

Why do you want to eat a baby?

Egg Roll Baby | UncommonGoods

Egg Roll Baby

You know all those times when seeing a newborn makes you say, “Oh, what a sweet baby! I could just eat you right up!” Or that inclination to pop those cute little toes into your mouth, or to blow a raspberry on that roly-poly tummy? Research suggests that you do those things because babies make you subconsciously think about food. It’s the smell that does it. The scent of a newborn baby activates the area of the brain that controls food cravings, and prompts a release of the feel-good chemical dopamine. Fortunately, this hunger doesn’t drive us to literally eat our young. Instead, it gives us a craving to nurture, feed and protect those precious little dumplings.

How powerful is a name?Personalized Subway House Sign | UncommonGoodsPersonalized House Sign – Times Square Subway

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but an embarrassing nickname can haunt you for centuries. King Alfonso IX of Leon, for example, is still recorded in the history books as “The Slobberer” because of his tendency to foam at the mouth when angry. Sometimes, however, the nicknames stick so well that we don’t even realize they are nicknames. Ernesto “Che” Guevara was given his nickname because he used the word “che” so often—it’s the Argentine equivalent of saying “dude” or “bro.” The ancient Greek philosopher Plato was actually named Aristocles. The name Plato was supposedly given to him by his wrestling coach, and means “broad”—perhaps the ancient Greek version of “tubby.” But when a nickname sticks, sometimes the best defense is to run with it. When James Hickock couldn’t shake the nickname “Duck Bill”—a reference to his large nose and protruding upper lip—he instead altered it just a bit, and became known as Wild Bill Hickok, one of the most famous gunslingers of the American West.

Why are wedding cakes so tall?

Gold Rimmed Serving Pedestal | UncommonGoods

Gold Rimmed Serving Pedestal 

Those hilarious videos you’ve seen online, where hapless newlyweds accidentally topple their towering wedding cakes, are actually right in line with a centuries-old tradition. Before wedding cakes as we know them were developed, a tradition in medieval England was to celebrate a marriage with a towering pile of sweetened buns. The bread was heaped high on the table, and if the couple could reach across for a kiss without knocking any over, they were said to be guaranteed a life of happiness together. It seems likely that the guests would leave the stack just short enough for the bride and groom to succeed—and yet, the entertainment value of seeing it fall must have been a sore temptation. So, perhaps all of these collapsing confections in the videos are not accidents, but exactly what the wedding cake was originally designed to do.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s a Thing?

August 31, 2015

From Big Things | Uncommon Knowledge

What’s a thing? As anyone knows, it’s anything. Literally. It’s an all-purpose word that can mean an object, an affair, a situation, a mild obsession or phobia (she’s really got a thing about spiders), or, with a capital T, a certain large, lumpy, orange member of the Fantastic Four. But here’s the thing: before it was a catch-all term, a thing—from the Old Norse þing, was a sort of democratic assembly held throughout the Viking lands of Northern Europe. Viking things were an early experiment with a representative system, allowing disputes to be settled through nonviolent mediation rather than by the bloody conflict that we tend to associate with the Vikings. The egalitarian, socialist principles of modern Sweden may be traced to the concept of the Viking thing. And while the modern concept of representative democracy has its roots in ancient Greece and the Iroquois confederacy, it also owes something to medieval Scandinavia.

So, the next time you’re going to “a thing,” think of the Vikings who first made a thing an official thing. Just don’t picture the assembled Norsemen with horned helmets… that’s an invention of the nineteenth century imagination. For the real Vikings, sporting horns just wasn’t a thing.

From Little Things Planters – Set of 3 | $45

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Did Coney Island save lives?

August 24, 2015

On the Boardwalk | Uncommongoods

The Brooklyn amusement park certainly saved the lives of roughly 6,500 babies, that’s for sure. Back in 1903, Dr. Martin A. Couney had developed an incubator to treat premature babies. At the time, hospitals had devoted little attention to these early births and therefore had no special equipment developed for them. Before Dr. Couney could convince hospitals to use his invention, he needed proof that it would work—and funding a study was expensive. Enter Coney Island. They set up an attraction that acted as a hospital ward with real doctors and nurses. One wall was made of glass so visitors could pay a dime and see the tiny infants. It may not have been the most dignified facility—outside, carnival barkers would pull people in with loads of sideshow-worthy hyperbole—but his research was essentially paid for and as many as 6,500 babies of the 8,000 treated survived as a result of his set up. He never charged the parents for treatment and eventually, any child who was prematurely born in New York City would be rushed to Coney Island to be placed on exhibit—Couney even treated his own daughter, who weighed less than three pounds at birth. In 1943, the exhibit closed down as more hospitals began to open their own preemie wards. Okay, Wonder Wheel, what have YOU done for the advancement of the medical community recently?

On the Boardwalk by Renee Leone | $145-$230

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What Makes a Planet ‘Just Right?

August 17, 2015

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Back in the 1970s, when the search for planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) was little more than a fairy tale, astronomers surmised that Earth was the only spot in our stellar neighborhood where conditions were conducive to life—not so close to the sun that life was too hot to handle, nor so far away that life was given the permanent cold shoulder. Earth’s orbit allowed for abundant liquid water, a key ingredient for the development of life as we know it. Showing their whimsical side, those 70s scientists named this habitable zone the “Goldilocks Zone,” after the little girl who sampled the three bears’ porridge and settled on the bowl that was just right. Officially, this sweet spot of planetary hospitality is called the Circumstellar Habitable Zone, or CHZ, but Goldilocks provided a cuter and more memorable nickname.

Now that the discovery of exoplanets is in full swing, worlds in the Goldilocks Zone of other stars tend to get the most publicity, as they’re most likely to support extraterrestrial life, whether its alien bacteria or little green men. Meanwhile, discoveries here on Earth have us re-thinking the boundaries of the Goldilocks Zone itself. From microbes that flourish under Arctic ice to organisms that hang out in the scalding hot, total darkness around ocean floor volcanic vents, life can exist in places that finicky Goldilocks would have avoided altogether. For that matter, a tiny “bear” has got them all beat: the tardigrade, or “water bear.” Along with surviving in solid ice or boiling water, tardigrades can tolerate cosmic rays and the vacuum of space—conditions way outside of Goldilocks’ comfort zone. These tough little troopers prove that life is far more tolerant than the three bears’ high-maintenance home invader.

A New Day | $40.00

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Does a Paper Fan Make You Hotter?

August 11, 2015

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Flashback: It’s the last few days of school, there’s no air conditioning, you’re sticking to your desk chair. Suddenly, you remember the stacks of loose-leaf paper tucked in your Trapper Keeper. You draw a quick smiley face with your cherry-scented marker and you quickly fold the paper back and forth, back and forth. You take a moment to admire your handiwork before enjoying the blessed cool air created by your lined paper lifesaver. Life makes sense again. Then, out of nowhere, your teacher utters what should be the official motto of professional educators in the summer: “You know, you’re actually making yourself hotter by using up energy to fan yourself.” According to our research? LIES. Your body loses heat through radiation, thermal conduction, and evaporation through sweat. The latter two occur when the air is cooler and drier than your skin—enter the humble fan. Now here comes the teacher’s argument. Sure, you may feel cooler, but what about the energy you’re expending to move that little fan? Well. When you’re at rest, your body is producing about 100 watts of energy. Waving a fan? Add just one watt. However, with the increased air velocity that the fan produces, you can double your heat loss—that means that for just 1% of the effort, you can be twice as cool. Fan away.

Paper Plane Embroidery Hoop Art | $26.00

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: How Can Your Cat Help With a Broken Leg?

August 3, 2015

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There are as many theories about why cats purr as there are types of cats (we’re lookin’ at you, T. S. Eliot). It’s common knowledge that cats purr when they’re content, like when they’re being fed or stroked, but their unique, vibrating sound may also have a specific connection to their human masters. A University of Sussex study suggests that cats may have developed a ‘soliciting’ purr to obtain food and attention from humans, similar to the co-evolutionary benefits shared between humans and dogs. But there’s another reason that early humans may have made some feline friends: domestic cats purr at a frequency of 25 – 100 vibrations per second, an ideal range for reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, relieving pain, and promoting healing in both bones and soft tissues. So, essentially, a purring kitty in the vicinity may have served as a form of furry first aid. Elephants, by the way, also make a low-pitched, purr-like sound to communicate, though you probably wouldn’t want one to sit on your lap.

Cat Tao Glasses – Set of Four | $35.00

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What’s With Yankee Doodle & Macaroni?

July 27, 2015

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We’ve all heard the patriotic ditty about Yankee Doodle heading to town on his pony, sticking a feather in his hat, and calling it Macaroni. The first few things on his to do list sound pretty reasonable: Heading into town on a pony, sure. Sticking a feather in one’s hat, of course, how jaunty! It’s when Mr. Doodle opts to “call it Macaroni” that things get a little off base. Turns out this Macaroni business started as the original lyrical insult. Like a rap battle but with more waistcoats and tricorne hats.

The British soldiers came up with this verse to mock the rough, unsophisticated American colonials they had to fight alongside during the French and Indian War. The whole burn about calling a feather in your hat Macaroni (the very idea!) stemmed from a cultural trend back in England at the time. Young British men of means had begun spending time in Europe in order to become more sophisticated. They returned with outlandish, high fashion clothing and mannerisms, along with a taste for exotic Italian dishes—like macaroni. Now, back to Mr. Doodle. In their song, the soldiers were suggesting that the Yankee was such a bumbling bumpkin that he was trying to imitate the latest style, but failing miserably. That was something a doodle (a fool or simpleton) would do while trying to be a dandy—get it?!?! Being that this is a pretty lame and convoluted insult, the Americans weren’t bothered by it at all and started singing the song themselves. Now stick that in your pipe and call it macaroni.

Ravioli Rolling Pin | $34.99

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Could You Turn Into A Slice Of Pizza?

July 20, 2015

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Your parents warned you that if you ate too many pizza slices, you’d turn into one. Turns out, if you ate enough and you were anything like a flamingo, you could have come pretty close. You might have noticed that flamingos can be the iconic pink, orange, or even white. They begin their lives with grey plumage—the color distinction later in life depends on their diet. Flamingos eat algae and crustaceans that contain pigments called carotenoids, mostly brine shrimp and blue-green algae. Enzymes in the liver break down the carotenoids into pink and orange pigment molecules that end up getting deposited in the feathers, bill, and legs of the birds. Captive flamingos tend to be a more vibrant pink since they’re fed more pigmented crustaceans like prawns. We eat foods with carotenoids, like carrots or even watermelon; we just don’t eat enough to affect our skin color.

Pizza Cutter and Server | $20.00