Toothbrush Holder



This is a photo that I took while experimenting with aperture settings -- four otherwise identical photos (using a tripod) with four different settings. The shot turned out not to show off the effect very well, probably because a lot of the stuff in the shot is about the same distance from the camera as the main subject. I'll select a scene where that's not the case next time. So I cropped away the rest of the shot, and here's the toothbrush holder.

I suppose my sense of humor is a bit odd, but this toothbrush holder (which belongs to my sister, who got it because she likes turtles) has always tickled me. Clearly the design of this holder was based on the kind of toothbrushes that used to exist when I was a kid, the kind with the thin straight flat handles. But by the time this particular toothbrush holder was actually made and sold, those were a thing of the past; all the toothbrushes I've seen in the last fifteen years have contour-molded handles like the ones shown, so they don't fit. To me, this is a perfect example of product design not being revisited as it should be when the passage of time changes the circumstances in which it is to be used.

No matter; Sarah uses the toothbrush holder anyway, because she likes turtles. (And no, I didn't pose the one that's leaning against the wall. It's always like that.)

Esoteric Knowledge Quiz #4

Do your friends, family, and coworkers accuse you of being a repository of useless information? (Mine do.) Here's your chance to test your knowledge of obscure but interesting tidbits...


  1. Mt. St. Helens, the Alaskan stratovolcano that famously erupted in 1980,
    was named for which person?

    1. Helena of Constantinople

    2. Helena of Skövde

    3. Alleyne FitzHerbert

    4. Helen of Troy



  2. Which of the following is not the title of a book by Lillian Jackson Braun?

    1. The Cat Who Wasn't There

    2. The Cat Who Ran Amuck

    3. The Cat Who Sniffed Glue

    4. The Cat Who Turned On and Off


  3. It seems all the cool kids these days are using SATA hard drives instead of the old IDE kind.
    SATA stands for Serial ATA, and the old kind are sometimes now called PATA for Parallel ATA,
    but what does the ATA part stand for?

    1. Asyncronous Tandem Attachment

    2. Asynchronous Throughput Attachment

    3. Advanced Technology Attachment

    4. Adaptive Terminal Attachment


  4. In the standard model of sub-atomic physics, which of the following is not considered to be a lepton?

    1. photon

    2. electron

    3. muon

    4. tau neutrino


  5. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 gives a list of character traits people will have in the last days. Which of the following is not on the list?

    1. disobedient to their parents

    2. stingy

    3. ungrateful

    4. lovers of pleasure

    (Wording taken from the NIV translation.)



I'll post the answers in the comments at some point.


If you have questions to contribute to future quizzes, send them in to jonadab@NO SPAM THANKS ANYWAYbright.net with the phrase Esoteric Knowledge Quiz in the subject line (or. if you are on the Wheeitology list, you can just post them there). Thanks!


Past quizzes: 1, 2, 3