Hidden "Gems" - Can you find these invisible treasures?
Ha! Ha! At some point in the editing process, the Jester seemingly traveled in a time machine and inserted a bunch of items into the book's pages that don't fit the time period! Think you can find them? Put your eyeballs and mind to the test (and if you need a little help, we've included a hint).
Ceiling fan
The electrically powered ceiling fan was invested in 1882 by Philip Diehl - an inventor that engineered the electric motor used in the first electrically powered Singer sewing machines, and later adapted that motor for us in a ceiling-mounted fan.
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Tape Dispenser
3M's standard clear scotch tape was originally sold as a roll, and had to be carefully peeled from the end and cut with scissors. To make the product more useful, the scotch tape sales manager at 3M, John Borden, designed the first tape dispenser in 1932, which had a built-in cutting mechanism and would hold the cut end of the tape until its next use.
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Croquet Set
First introduced to Britain from France during the 1630–1685 reign of Charles II of England, and was played under the name of paille-maille (among other spellings, today usually pall-mall), derived ultimately from Latin words for 'ball and mallet'.
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Butterfly Suncatcher
A suncatcher is a small, reflective glass that is hung indoors on windows to "catch the light" from a nearby source. It is believed that suncatchers were first made by the Southwestern Native-Americans.
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Snorkel
Some evidence suggests that snorkeling may have originated in Crete some 5,000 years ago
as sea sponge farmers used hollowed out reeds to go underwater and retrieve natural sponge for trade.
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Bicycle
First made publc in 1817, the "Dandy horse", also called Draisienne or Laufmaschine, was the first human means of transport to use only two wheels in tandem and was invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais
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Electrical outlet
Long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the "Thunderer of the Nile". However, two-pin electrical outlet designs came on to the scene in 1885. One of which appears in the (British) General Electric Company Ltd. catalogue of 1889
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Barney the Dinosaur
Barney is a dinosaur from the children's show "Barney & Friends" (1992-2009). The main character is a purple and green Tyrannosaurus in stuffed animal likeness, who comes to life through a child's imagination. He often quotes things as being "Super dee-duper" and the episodes end with the song "I Love You", sung to the tune of "This Old Man".
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Nail
At the time of the American Revolution (1765-1783), nails were so expensive and difficult
to obtain in the American colonies, that abandoned houses were burned down to recover used nails from the ashes. This became such a problem in Virginia that a law was
created to stop people from burning their houses when they moved.
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Lifesavers Candy
Candy manufacturer Clarence Crane of Garrettsville, Ohio, invented the brand in 1912 as a "summer candy" that could withstand heat better than chocolate. The candy's name is
derived from its similarity to the shape of circular life preservers.
Security Camera
In 2018, China was reported to have a huge surveillance network of over 170 million CCTV cameras with 400 million new cameras expected be installed in the next three years!
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Magazines
"The Gentleman's Magazine" was founded in London, England, in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years and it was the first to use the term magazine.
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Satellite Dish
In 2016, China has put the finishing touches on the world's biggest "satellite dish",
whose 1,650-foot-wide dish will scan the heavens for signs of aliens.
Lincoln Logs
These mini logs were originally made of redwood (they tried plastic in the 1970's and
it wasn't a success) and were invented by John Lloyd Wright, second son of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
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Alarm Clock
One of the loudest alarm clocks is the Sonic Alert SBB500SS clock. It combines pulsating lights, a 12-volt bed shaker, and a siren that can reach 113 decibels (about the same
level as a jet plane before it takes off) to shake you out of bed.
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Earbuds
From their inception in 2001 to today, over 300 million iPods have been sold all with the accompanying pair of white earbuds (earphones).
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Rubik's cube
The world record time for solving a 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube is 4.22 seconds, held by
Feliks Zemdegs of Australia set on 6th May 2018.
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Bedazzler Rhinestones
The Bedazzler is a fashion appliance which is used to fasten rhinestones, studs and
patches to clothes and other material. It was voted #100 in the Top 100 Gadgets of all time.
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Eyeglasses
The first eyeglasses were made in Northern Italy, most likely in Pisa, by about 1290.
According to studies, approx. 25% of the people in the world require eyeglasses.
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Gucci brand
is an Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods. In 1998, a pair of jeans sold
for $3,134 in Milan, Italy.
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Sharpie Permanent marker
The Sharpie was the first pen-style permanent marker and they are the writing
utensil of choice by astronauts aboard the International Space Station because of their
usability in zero-gravity.
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iPhone
The first generation iphone was released in 2007. If you pay close attention, you'll
notice that all iPhone advertisements show the device at a time set to 9:41.
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Christmas lights
The first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree was the creation of Edward H.
Johnson in 1882. While he was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, he had Christmas tree light bulbs especially made for him - which were 80 hand wired red, white
and blue electric incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts.
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Payphone
A payphone is a coin-operated public telephone. In 1999, you could still plunk a coin
into one at 2 million phone booths in the United States. Only 5% of those are left today.
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UnderArmour hat
Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a then 23-year-old former special
teams captain of the University of Maryland football team. Plank got tired of having to
change out of the sweat-soaked T-shirts worn under his jersey; however, he noticed that
his compression shorts worn during practice stayed dry. This inspired him to make a
T-shirt using moisture-wicking synthetic fabric.
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HotWheels Car
Hot Wheels were invented by Elliot Handler, whose wife created Barbie. Today, there are more Hot Wheels models than real cars in the world. Over 4,000,000,000 (yep, four billion) have been produced since the first was cast in 1968.
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W.W.J.D. bracelet
The phrase "What would Jesus do?" (often abbreviated to WWJD) became popular in the 1990s, and became a type of bracelet or wristband that used the phrase as a reminder
to act in a manner that would demonstrate the love of Jesus.
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Hot Air Balloon
The hot air balloon is the first successful human-carrying flight technology. The first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de
Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783, in Paris, France,[
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Rubber Ducky
The history of the rubber duck is linked to the emergence of rubber manufacturing in the late 19th century. The earliest rubber ducks were made from harder rubber, were not capable of floating, and were instead intended as chew toys.
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Mr. Potato Head
The toy was invented and developed by George Lerner in 1949, and was the first toy advertised on television. It was originally produced as separate plastic parts with
pushpins that could be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable. However, due to complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations,
Hasbro began including a plastic potato body within the toy set in 1964.
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Airplane
The Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, Today, the average
Boeing 747 has around 150-175 miles of wiring inside it... and over 6 million parts.
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