WEBVTT - 9 Facts About Buttons That Aren't Nuclear 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:00.800 Guess what will? 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:01.640 What's that mango? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:05.040 So I'm not sure if you're on Twitter, but everyone's 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.000 been talking about buttons this week, Like Kim Jong un 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:11.280 was bragging about his which caused our Chief of State 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.440 to brag about the size of his nuclear button. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:15.400 Yeah, I'm not sure if you have to be on 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:17.400 Twitter to have heard this news. It feels like it 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.000 has been everywhere this week. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.840 Yeah, and this is obviously a really fun game for 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.320 world leaders to play, but it's been driving up my anxiety. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.240 And then I started focusing my attention on all the 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.720 other buttons in this world, Like did you know that 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.880 the Victoria's Secret model Carolina Kurkova was born with a 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.400 medical complication, so she has no belly button. Like every 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.680 time she's in a magazine, they actually have to photoshop 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:41.199 a button in. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:41.559 Yeah. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.479 Actually, I didn't realize humans could be born without belly buttons. 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:46.760 I thought that was just animals that hashed from eggs. 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.639 Yeah, well, I don't think she's a reptile, if that's 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.159 what you're implying. Like, she had an operation when she 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:56.160 was a child, so she has this strange, smooth belly. 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:57.600 But apparently she's not alone. 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.000 There are lots of people in the world without belly 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.280 buttons as well, And it isn't just an Adam and 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.000 Eve thing. But that's just the first of our button 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.240 facts on today's Nine Things. Let's dive in. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.040 Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to part time genius sim 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:29.840 Will Pearson And as always, I'm joined by my good 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.080 friend mangesh Hot Ticketter and the man on the other 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.840 side of the soundproof glass wearing a very fancy cardigan. 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:38.440 And those buttons are so big. I actually think are 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.520 those buttons on top of buttons? 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:41.800 Mango? I think? 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:42.840 So wow. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.720 That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And it's a 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.800 real shame that our regular superstar Nine Things, guess Gabe 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.520 Luesier is not here in studio to appreciate this cardigan, 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:54.200 but he is joining us by sky. 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.360 Hey there, Gabe, Hey guys, thanks for having me on. 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.440 Well, let's talk buttons. You want to uh, you want 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.840 to go first? Do you have a good fact? Yeah? 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:02.320 Definitely. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.360 So since Mango kicked this off by talking about the President, 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.520 I thought i'd tell you about the time that President 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.840 Carter hit a secret panic button in the bathroom. Apparently 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:12.720 he thought it was the button for a flush, but 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.440 was shocked when a Secret Service agent basically kicked the 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.120 door down, gun in hand, only to find the President 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.800 zipping up his trousers. According to the agent Marty Venker, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.720 Carter was quote pretty chilly to him after that. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.160 No way, I really want to know, like where this 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.799 panic button was and how it could be placed somewhere 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.520 that could be confused for like a flush button. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.520 That's just on top of the toilet. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.840 Ah, that is so weird. All right, well, I've got 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:40.200 a slightly different button. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:41.560 Fact, I'll go next here. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.600 So I actually didn't realize this used to be a 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.200 thing in cars, but this was the floor mounted dimmer switch. 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.960 And this actually comes from our old friend Kara kovalcik 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.640 over at Mental Floss, and she told us about this. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.480 But apparently the switch for high beams used to be 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.400 this little button that was next to the brakes and 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.919 so if you tapped your left foot on it, your 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.480 brightes would then turn on. So this is another one 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.840 for me. Was like, why was it ever thought to 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:08.000 put it right there? It just seems like a kind 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.160 of a strange place to have it. All right, Mango, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:10.679 you got one? 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:15.520 Yeah, definitely, so so you know, everyone knows about the 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.120 Staples easy button, right like it was featured in their 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.560 ad campaign forever ago. And you might have known that 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.120 the company sold easy buttons in their store and they 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.800 made a fortune off of them. But did you know 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.880 that they actually came in different varieties. So in addition 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:30.960 to the one that said that was easy like the 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.639 traditional button that they had, they also had an easy 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.040 for parents button that said things like of course, you're right, 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.680 and your house your rules, as well as an easy 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.360 for kids button that said go ahead and stay up 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:45.720 late and good news, no homework. 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.800 It's always so strange to me when things like that 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.440 take off. I wonder how many of those they actually sold. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.120 That's such a bizarre thing. Yeah, definitely, all right, Gabe, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:57.000 what's your next fact? 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.480 Here's something I'd never thought about until I came across 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.120 an article and slate, But apparently in early colonial America, 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.280 people used to make their own buttons at home, and 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.000 according to the article quote, working class families counted themselves 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.440 lucky if they owned a handheld button mold. So basically, 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.159 you'd heat up this mold on some coals, fill it 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.560 with lead, and then let it cool into a button. 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.679 Shape and then you'd you know, decorate the heavy button 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.440 or wrap it in fabric something like that. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:25.240 That's amazing. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.000 We're gonna do a little button history here too, because 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.600 I've actually got a button in fact, an old button 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.400 fact as well. So at one point, buttons were so 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.520 popular and often fashions so tiny that your fingers weren't 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.839 actually helpful in getting the button through the loop, and 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.480 so people kept these button hooks around and so basically 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.279 there were these scary looking kind of crochet type instruments 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.919 that you'd used to pull a tiny button through a 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.360 narrow eyehole. And often you'd have to have different button 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.560 hooks for different size. But it just seems like such 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:58.480 a hassle I have. 0:04:58.520 --> 0:04:59.080 To do all this. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.840 It is exactly the opposite of what Tristan's got going on, 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.880 where I think, for those huge buttons, you actually need 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:06.680 two hands to be able to get it through the 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:07.200 hoop there. 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:10.640 All right, Mango, what's your next fact? 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.320 That's a funny bit of history. So that actually reminds 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.240 me of something I read about why women's buttons are 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:18.800 on the left side of the shirt and men's are 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.120 on the right, And there are a whole bunch of 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.760 theories about this, like some people claim men needed their 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.599 dominant hand for holding weapons in the Middle Ages, so 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.000 the button on the right made it easier for their 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.240 non dominant hand to button the shirt. One handed or 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.159 mental flaw says this theory about how women tend to 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.880 hold babies with their left hand so that their right 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.760 hand is free to do things, and that's why the 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.160 buttons are on the left side of their blouses. But 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.200 the theory with the biggest support is that more fancy 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.400 women were dressed by others, and when you're buttoning a 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.080 lot of buttons for an impatient royal or a duchess 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.800 or whatever, having the buttons played to your dominant hand 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.800 is useful. So they're on the handmaid's right or the 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:58.400 noble woman's left to speed. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:58.880 Up the process. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.640 Oh, actually makes a lot of sense. All right, Gabe, 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:04.680 what's your last fact of the day. 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.400 Here's a really cool one. So the first remotes for 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.240 TVs were called lazy bones, and they had a wire 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.839 that connected directly to the TV set. But Zenith improved 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.680 on this design in nineteen fifty six with their wireless 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.240 Space command remote, and it worked in a totally different 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.360 manner than you might expect. So when you press the button, 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.880 it would cause a tiny hammer inside to hit an 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.560 aluminum bar that would then cause an ultrasonic tone, and 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.040 the TV would interpret those notes as commands to change 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.200 the channel or turn the set on and off. According 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:38.880 to Time magazine, the hammer made enough noise when it 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.440 clicked down that people started calling the space command a clicker. 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.839 All right, well, I've got one last fact that I 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.719 was saving this one because it's pretty gross, but also 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.919 because it relates to the Mango's belly button fact at 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.520 the beginning of the show, and that is that scientists 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.440 have figured out how to use bacteria from belly buttons 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:57.640 and adding milk to make cheese. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:06:58.880 Which I know that. 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.160 Sounds disgusting, right, But the whole point of the exhibit, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.400 which took place in Trinity College, Dublin, was to expose 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.000 people to the range of microbial communities in the human body. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.320 But according to NPR, while people started by quote making 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.160 these grossed out faces, they then smell the cheese and 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.680 realize it just smells like a normal cheese. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.280 I'm not sure that makes it any less gross. 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.240 That just makes me think that belly buttons smell like cheese. 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:28.080 All right, Gabe. 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.080 Since your long distance today, I feel like you get 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.640 to choose who wins today's nine Things. 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:37.360 I got to give it to you then, I mean 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.720 you brought it full circle with that belly button fact, 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:41.920 so I think you take the trophy. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.320 I knew it. I was going to be disappointed if 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:45.440 I didn't well listeners. 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.800 If we forgot any facts about belly buttons or buttons 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:49.680 in general that. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:51.960 You know, feel free to share those with us. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.480 You can always reach us part time genius at HowStuffWorks 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:56.720 dot com. You can also call us on our twenty 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.480 four to seven Fact hotline one eight four four pt Genius, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.000 or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. It's been 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.360 really fun hearing from you guys, with lots of ideas 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.120 for some of our future nine Facts episodes, so keep 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.560 those coming and we'll be back tomorrow with a full 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:11.320 length episode. 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:16.200 Thanks for listening.