Hubby has eclectic television viewing habits.  He can generally be seen watching Mountain Men, Yukon Gold, or Ice Road Truckers.  However, he often learns interesting things that he can’t wait to share with me. At the end of the day, when I am “vegging out” on the recliner, he bombards me with what he has learned.

It seems that common anesthesia was first used as a party game.  Revelers would use nitrous oxide as an excuse to act silly.  One day, someone gashed his leg open, but continued to party without feeling a thing.  A participating dentist noticed he felt no pain, and thus nitrous oxide was used for dental procedures.

A gentleman by the name of Constantin Fahlberg spent the day studying coal tar derivatives at Johns Hopkins, and went out to dinner afterwards.  When eating, he noticed something tasted very sweet, which turned out to be the chemical on his unwashed hands.  Thus Saccharin was invented.

 A favorite story of Hubby’s is how a pill was tested to combat angina.  It did not work for this cardiac complaint, but the men who were in the study refused to give it up because it affected their ability to perform sexually.  This medication was called Viagra.

The parachute was invented long before airplanes.  The purpose of it was to be able to successfully leap from buildings during a fire, although it was never actually used for this reason.

 The tea bag was another invention founded entirely by accident.  The American tea salesman began to put his tea in little bags as samples.  People were supposed to open the little sack and pour it into hot water.  Instead, consumers dunked the bag, starting the trend that is current nowadays.

 In 1808, Captain Charles Barbier created a “night alphabet” for the military to use at night when they didn’t want to use a light to alert the enemy.  This alphabet intrigued Louis Braille, who invented the modern system for people who are blind to use to read.

Men’s t-shirts were invented at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  They were designed for bachelors who had no knowledge of how to sew, and without a wife to sew for them. Thus the button less shirt became a hit.

Silly String, a favorite attack weapon of children, was actually invented to be a spray on cast for a broken arm or leg. 

The Popsicle was inadvertently invented in 1905 when Frank Epperson, at the age of 11, received soda-making equipment.  He was so excited, he started making it right away, and accidentally left the mixture outside overnight. It was freezing cold out, and by the next morning, the stick he had used to stir it had frozen into the concoction, thus producing the first very large Popsicle.

Chocolate chip cookies were also invented by mistake in 1930. A woman who owned a tourist lodge called the Toll House Inn went to make her famous chocolate cookies for her guests, but found out she didn’t have anymore baker’s chocolate. Instead, she broke up Nestlé’s chocolate bars and put it into the batter.  Even though it did not melt in the batter like the baker’s chocolate, the cookie was a huge success.

Hubby thought the invention of the Snuggie was hilarious.  It is basically a blanket with arms, but this covering has become wildly popular among couch potatoes. Still too macho for such an item, he cannot appreciate its snuggly features, and laughs at me as I slink down into mine.

I learn a lot from living with my husband.  He can tell me all about the history of McDonald’s, General Mill’s and Ford.  He knows all about inventions from the time of the Civil War until current times. Who knew that someone who had flunked history in high school could know so much about history today?