Oh Monkey - Fun, Facts and Games!

In George Washington's days there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how mahy people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs", therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it will cost you an arm and a leg".

As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year! (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could affort good wigs made from wool. The wigs couldn't be washed so to clean them they could carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig". Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

Hygiene left much room for improvement in the previous centuries. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told to "mind your own beeswax". Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "to crack a smile". Also, when they were too close to the fire, the wax would melt and therefore the expression of "losing face".

Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. "You go sip here," and "you go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referrring to the local opinion and thus we have "gossip."

Three farm workers got in over their heads when they climbed into 18,000-liter liquid manure tank and were overcome by the fumes. Henry Redekop, 23, Gary Ferrier, 32,and Eric Schulz, 33, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The bodies were removed from the tank by firefighters wearing air tanks. The precise cause of the deaths has yet to be determined, however, police believe the men were killed by inhaling deadly methane gas when they climbed into the partially full tank to repair a faulty part.

Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. Crapper was a successful plumbing businessman who held nine patents, but none were for the flushing system. That honor goes
to Albert Giblin who first held the patent on the "silent valveless water waste preventer." Giblin, who worked for Crapper, either sold him the rights or just allowed him to use them under a work-for-hire agreement. Either way, U.S. soldiers who spent time in England before going to battle noticed that most of the toilets had "T. Crapper-Chelsea" printed on them. There's your nickname.

In medieval France, King Philip Augustus decreed that shoes must have a point on the front. Furthermore, the points must be between six and 12 inches past the toe. Furthermore, furthermore, the point's length would determine the owner's stature within society, the longer the point the higher the rank.

Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. They placed the message "HE'S LYING" in the copier, and pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed to the police.

Every sailing ship had to have cannon for protection. Cannon of the times required round iron cannonballs. The problem was to store the cannonballs such that they could be of instant use when needed, yet not roll around the gun deck. The solution was to stack them up in a square-based pyramid next to the cannon. The top level of the stack had one ball, the next level down had four, the next had nine, the next had sixteen, and so on. Four levels would provide a stack of 30 cannonballs.

The only real problem was how to keep the bottom level from sliding out from under the weight of the higher levels. To do this, they devised a small brass plate (called a "brass monkey") with one rounded indentation
for each cannonball in the bottom layer. Brass was used because the cannonballs wouldn't rust to the "brass monkey", but would rust to an iron one. When temperature falls, brass contracts in size faster than iron. As it got cold on the gun decks, the indentations in the brass monkey would get smaller than the iron cannonballs they were holding.

If the temperature got cold enough, the bottom layer would pop out of the indentations, spilling the entire pyramid over the deck. Thus it was, quite literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."

Life at work is like a tree full of monkeys, all on different limbs at different levels.
Some monkeys are climbing up, some down.
The monkeys on top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. The monkeys on the bottom look up and see nothing but ... monkey-holes!

Magic 8 Ball | Find the Monkey
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Idiot Stories and Stuff

Are they true? Found stories around the internet.

Magic 8 Ball | Find the Monkey Count 100

Idiot Stories and Stuff

Are they true? Found stories around the internet.

Magic 8 Ball | Find the Monkey
Count 100