Of No Significance 4 — TBQ’s Newsletter #OfNoSi

Welcome to TBQ’s #OfNoSi newsletter 4.
Check the image below. Any guesses? Yes, that’s from the famed Abbey Road photo shoot of the Beatles.

Prior to the shoot, Paul McCartney had sketched his ideas for the cover, to which Macmillan added a more detailed illustration.

Read more from that day.

Post 911, Swiss knife maker Victorinox started focussing on kitchen knifes along with the Swiss Army watches and luggage that Victorinox started producing in 1989 and 1999. Why?

“Our company has never been as hard-hit as it was by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington,” the 55-year-old Elsener says. Almost overnight, after sharp objects were prohibited on airplanes, sales of the fireman-red knives — which had been a duty-free staple in airport stores and on flights — collapsed.

Read more here.

Who invented the deo as we know it?

An unknown inventor from Philadelphia, USA developed a wax-like cream with slightly antibacterial zinc oxide in 1888. This was the birth of the first deodorant worldwide. The brand MUM owes its name to the nurse of the inventor, who had the nickname MUM. The first deodorant was used not only to prevent armpit odour but also foot odour. It was hoped that the very expensive silk stockings worn back then would last longer by using the antibacterial cream. Morever, women used the cream during menstruation.

Read more.

Apple employs spies?

They call themselves the Worldwide Loyalty Team. Among some employees, they are known as the Apple Gestapo, a group of moles always spying in headquarters and stores, reporting directly to Jobs and Oppenheimer.

Read more here.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of OfNoSi.

OfNoSi Newsletter: Of No Significance #3

Welcome to another edition of OfNoSi, TBQ’s official newsletter. 

First, a story from the world of internet.

Ben Silbermann, the founder of Pinterest walked around Palo Alto and said “Will you please use my product?” He also used to run around the Apple store in Palo Alto, and he would like set all the browsers to the Pinterest homepage real quick, before they caught him and kicked him out, (laughter) and so that when people walked in they were like “Oh, what’s this?”

Read more here.

Since it’s the season of bans, here’s one on those lines.

In 1931 it was banned by the Governor of Hunan Province in China on the grounds that “Animals should not use human language, and that it was disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level.”

Guess the book? Answer here.

The Russians are crazy!

Before they climb the launch tower to board the Soyuz capsule that will take them into space, cosmonauts take a moment to stop at the right rear tire of the bus set to drive them to the launch site and … relieve themselves. No, really. Here’s a safe-for-work (though a bit crude) photo of the deed being done.

More on the superstitious Russian cosmonauts here.

See what this DIY dad did.

Choon Ng, a Malaysian immigrant, wasn’t even thinking about entering the toy market. He simply wanted to share the experience of making bracelets out of rubber bands with his daughters. But his fingers were too big.

Meet the man behind Rainbow Loom.

These guys sold air? That’s so not believable!

Company legend holds that a few years after Sealed Air was founded in 1960, an innovative marketer named Frederick W. Bowers finally found the true value in the cellular bubbles. IBM had just launched the 1401, one of the world’s first mass-produced business computers. Bowers showed IBM how Bubble Wrap could protect the 1401′s fragile innards in transit. “Serendipitously, Bubble Wrap and vacuum tubes met,” says Hickey.

More here

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