15 Surprising Secrets about Everyday Household Items. You might think you know your household items inside and out, but think again! Everyday objects, from the humble toothbrush to the ubiquitous coffee mug, hold secrets and stories that are just waiting for us to uncover them. In this fascinating collection of facts, we’ll delve into the surprising histories, unexpected uses, and intriguing anecdotes behind 15 common household items you use every day. Get ready to see your daily routine in a whole new light!
Secrets about household items
1. Rice is the oldest food that we still eat today. The only food that might be as old is corn.
While rice was first domesticated in China over 13,000 years ago and later in India, the people of ancient Persia started cultivating it as a crop between 1,000 and 500 BC.
2. Cambridge University researchers created the first webcam to monitor a coffee pot’s status remotely. Initially, in 1993, researchers at the University of Cambridge took action to avoid wasted trips to the coffee pot, tired of getting up only to find it empty. So, they wired up a system that would stream images.
The Trojan Room coffee pot was a coffee machine located in the Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, England. During the early 90’s, while scientists were working on various projects, one thing they agreed on was to always have a full pot of coffee at all times. When the scientists went to refill their coffee cups and found that the coffee pot was empty, they considered their time to be wasted. So, they invented the world’s first webcam that streamed images of the coffee pot through their internal computer network.
3. U.S. dollar bills last an average of a year and a half before they need to be taken out of circulation and replaced.
4. The chopstick predates the fork by about 4,500 years.
5. A Swedish mathematician recently calculated the number of different ways to tie a tie at over 175,000.
6. Those plastic or mental tips on both ends of your shoelaces are called “aglets”.
More facts about household items
7. High heels were originally men’s shoes when soldiers wore them to help secure their feet in stirrups.
The origin of high heels can be traced back to 15th century Persia when soldiers wore them to help secure their feet in stirrups.
8. More people have cell phones than toilets.
According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, some 2.5 billion of the world’s 7 billion people are without access to improved sanitation, which means more people have access to mobile phones – 6 billion – than toilets.
9. The blob of toothpaste on a toothbrush is called a “nurdle”.
Dentists and oral care experts refer to the small amount of toothpaste that you squeeze onto your toothbrush every day as a ‘nurdle’. While the origin of the word is unknown, the American Dental Association started using the word during the 1990s to educate the public about proper brushing techniques.
10. Bubble wrap was first invented as a wallpaper. Despite being marketed as textured wallpaper, it failed to gain traction. Later, when Fielding and Chavannes repurposed it as greenhouse insulation, it still didn’t succeed. Finally, in 1960, it was discovered that bubble wrap was perfect for protecting breakable items.
In 1957, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes invented bubble wrap as a 3D wallpaper. Although bubble wrap is extremely popular today, the idea for a new form of household décor didn’t work out until 1960 when it was discovered that it could protect items during transportation.
Explore the Cooper Underwear Company
11. In 1904, the Cooper Underwear Company invented the T-shirt and targeted bachelors who couldn’t sew or replace buttons with their marketing efforts.
In 1904, the inventors of the t-shirt marketed it towards bachelors with the slogan “No safety pins – no buttons – no needle – no thread”. The U.S. Navy similarly saw the logic in this, and it was specified that sailors were to wear undershirts with no buttons under their uniforms.
12. Designers originally intended the tiny pockets on your jeans to hold pocket watches.
They were first used with the original Levi’s “waist overalls” jeans in 1890. Though people don’t use pocket watches anymore, the design stuck around and today, serves as a place to keep change.
13. Ruth Graves Wakefield, the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie sold the recipe for $1. In return, Nestle provided her with an unlimited lifetime supply of chocolate.
After inventing the popular chocolate chip cookies, Ruth Wakefield made a business arrangement with Andrew Nestle, which gave Nestle the right to use her cookie recipe for life. Nestle rewarded her with a lifetime supply of chocolate.
History of salt
14. Salt was once used as currency.
Centuries ago, salt was used as currency. Some records indicate that salt was used as currency as early as 6,000 BC when salt crystals were harvested from the surface of Lake Yuncheng in China. Since then, various cultures the world over have used the mineral as a resource for trade. In fact, the term “salary” is actually derived from the Latin term “solarium”, which means “salt money”.
15. Your smartphone could send astronauts to the moon. Your smartphone is millions of times more powerful than the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) that NASA used to send astronauts to the moon in 1969.
To put things simply, the iPhone 6’s clock is 32,600 times faster than the best Apollo-era computers and could perform instructions 120,000,000 times faster.
