potty info.

What did people use before toilet paper was invented?

*Newsprint, paper catalog pages in early US
*Hayballs, Scraper/gompf stick kept in container by the privy in the Middle Ages
*Discarded sheep’s wool in the Viking Age, England
*Frayed end of an old anchor cable was used by sailing crews from Spain and Portugal
*Medieval Europe- Straw, hay, grass, gompf stick
*Corn cobs, Sears Roebuck catalog, mussel shell, newspaper, leaves, sand- United States
*Water and your left hand, India
*Pages from a book, British Lords
*Coconut shells in early Hawaii
*Lace was used by French Royalty
*Public Restrooms in Ancient Rome- A sponge soaked in salt water, on the end of a stick
*The Wealthy in Ancient Rome-Wool and Rosewater
*French Royalty-lace, hemp
*Hemp & wool were used by the elite citizens of the world
*Defecating in the river was very common internationally
*Bidet, France
*Snow and Tundra Moss were used by early Eskimos

When and where was toilet paper first invented?

China…AD 1391 – The Bureau of Imperial Supplies began producing 720,000 sheets of toilet paper a year, each sheet measuring two feet by three feet. For use by the Emperors.

I’m really beginning to dislike ICQ.

Is anyone else having communications problems?

It’s a sad day when AOL IM is more reliable than good ol’ ICQ, even if they are both owned by time warner… that, and my Y!IM is being ornery too.

not terribly evil news.

Will Zeppelins get to make a comeback?
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Hydrogen is abundant and it burns clean.
So why hasn’t it replaced gas as a fuel for our cars? Well, it does have a side-effect.
It has a tendency to explode. Now a New Jersey company thinks they have a solution. Soap.

Legality Bites
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Winona Ryder gets picked up for shoplifting in Beverly Hills.

Newtie!

Haven’t had a nice Newtie-pic in a while,so I figured a lovely shot of him lounging on my laundry pile was worth posting… 🙂

In the background, you can see my planet of the apes boxed set that he knocked aside to get onto the chair, and the laundry hamper I was sorting on, when little orange boy decided he wanted to curl up on my hawaiian shirts, plaids, and tie dyes.

[update 11:41 – he’s going to work with me today…. too sweet not to.]

pumpernickel

Main Entry: pum ·per ·nick ·el
Pronunciation: ‘p&m-p&r-“ni-k&l
Function: noun
Etymology: German, from pumpern to break wind + Nickel goblin; from its
reputed
indigestibility
Date: 1756
: a dark coarse sourdough bread made of unbolted rye flour

The true origin of “pumpernickel” – “Pumpern”
was a
New High German word similar in meaning to the English “fart” (so chosen because, like the
word “achoo,” it imitated the sound it described), and “Nickel” was a form of the name Nicholas,
an appellation commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g., “Old Nick” is a familiar name for
Satan). Hence, pumpernickel is the “devil’s fart,” allegedly a reference to the bread’s indigestible
qualities and hence the effect it produced on those who consumed it. (www.snopes2.com/language/stories/pumper.htm

I dunno… I like it just fine. 🙂