9 Facts About Buttons that Aren't Nuclear

Will, Gabe and Mango take the focus off the nuclear button, and put it squarely on all the other buttons out there that are feeling a little neglected.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what will? What's that mango? So I'm not sure
if you're on Twitter, but everyone's been talking about buttons
this week, like Kim Jong un was bragging about his
which caused our Chief of State to brag about the
size of his nuclear button. Yeah, I'm not sure if
you have to be on Twitter to have heard this news.
It feels like it has been everywhere this week. Yeah,
and this is obviously a really fun game for world

(00:22):
leaders to play, but it's been driving up my anxiety.
And then I started focusing my attention on all the
other buttons in this world, Like did you know that
the Victoria's Secret model Carolina Kurkova was born with a
medical complications, so she has no belly button, Like every
time she's in the magazine, they actually have to photoshop
a button in. Actually, I didn't realize humans could be

(00:43):
born without belly buttons. I thought that was just animals
that hatched from eggs. Yeah, well, I don't think she's
a reptile, if that's what you're implying. Like she had
an operation when she was a child, so she has
this strange, smooth belly. But apparently she's not alone. There
are lots of people in the world without belly buttons
as well. And it isn't just an Adam and evening.

(01:03):
But that's just the first of our button facts on
today's Nine Things. Let's dive in. Y Hey, their podcast listeners,

(01:26):
welcome to part time Genius and I'm Will Pearson and
as always I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh
Ticketer and the man on the other side of the
soundproof glass wearing a very fancy cardigan. And those buttons
are so big. I actually think for those buttons on
top of buttons, Manko, I think so wow. That's our
friend and producer Tristan McNeil, and it's it's a real
shame that our regular superstar Nine Things guests, Gabe Bluesier

(01:49):
is not here in studio to appreciate this cardigan, but
he is joining us by sky pay their Gabe. Hey, guys,
thanks for having me. Well, let's talk buttons. You want
to uh, you want to go first? Do you have
a good fact? Yeah, definitely. So. Since Mango kicked this
off by talking about the President, I thought i'd tell
you about the time that President Carter hit a secret
panic button in the bathroom. Apparently He thought it was

(02:11):
the button for a flush, but was shocked when a
Secret Service agent basically kicked the door down, gun in hand,
only to find the President zipping up his trousers. According
to the agent Marty Venker, Carter was quote pretty chilly
to him after that. Oh way, I really want to
know like where this panic button was and how it
could be placed somewhere that could be confused for like

(02:33):
a flush button that's just on top of the toilet. Ah,
that is so weird. All right, well I've got a
slightly different button. Fact, I'll go next here. So I
actually didn't realize this used to be a thing in cars,
but this was the floor mounted dimmer switch. And it
actually comes from our old friend Karakvalchick over at Mental
Floss and she told us about this. But apparently the

(02:53):
switch for high beams used to be this little button
that was next to the brakes and so if you
tapped your left foot on it, your brights would then
turn on. So this this is another one for me,
was like, why was it ever thought to put it
right there? It just seems like a kind of a
strange place to have it. Alright, Mango, you got one? Yeah, definitely. So. Uh. So,
you know, everyone knows about the Staples easy button, right

(03:17):
like it was featured in their ad campaign forever ago.
And you might have known that the company sold easy
buttons in their store and they made a fortune off
of them. But did you know that they actually came
in different varieties. So in addition to the one that
said that was easy like the traditional button that they had,
they also had an easy for parentence button that said
things like of course you're right, and your house your rules,

(03:39):
as well as an easy for kids button that said
go ahead and stay up late and good news, no homework.
It's always so strange to me when things like that
take off. I wonder how many of those they actually sold.
That such a bizarre thing. Yeah, definitely, all right, gay,
what's your next fact? Here's something I've never thought about
until I came across an article in Slate, But apparently

(04:01):
in early colonial America, people used to make their own
buttons at home, and according to the article quote, working
class families counted themselves lucky if they owned a handheld
button mold. So basically, you you'd heat up this mold
on some coals, fill it with lead, and then let
it cool into a button shape, and then you'd you know,
decorate the heavy button or wrap it in fabric something

(04:23):
like that. That's amazing. We're gonna do a little button
history here too, because I've I've actually got a button fact,
an old button fact as well. So at one point,
buttons were so popular and often fashion so tiny that
your fingers weren't actually helpful in getting the button through
the loop, and so people kept these button hooks around

(04:44):
and so basically there were these scary looking kind of
crochet type instruments that you'd use to pull a tiny
button through a narrow eyehole. And often you'd have to
have different button hooks for different size. But it just
seems like such a hassle I have to do all this.
It is. It is exactly the opposite of what Tristan's
got going on, where I think for those huge buttons,
you actually need two hands to be able to get

(05:06):
it through the hoop there. Alright, Mango, what's your next fact?
That's that's a funny bit of history. So um that
actually reminds me of something I read about why women's
buttons are on the left side of the shirt and
men's are on the right. And there are a whole
bunch of theories about this, Like some people claim men
needed their dominant hand for holding weapons in the Middle Ages,

(05:26):
so the button on the right made it easier for
their non dominant hand to button the shirt one handed
or mental Floss says this theory about how women tend
to hold babies with their left hand so that their
right hand is free to do things, and that's why
the buttons are on the left side of their blouses.
But the theory with the biggest support is that more
fancy women were dressed by others, and when you're buttoning

(05:48):
a lot of buttons for an impatient royal or duchess
or whatever, having the buttons played your dominant hand is useful.
So they're on the handmaids right or the noblewoman's left
to speed up the process. Oh, actually makes a lot
of sense, All right, Gabe, what's your what's your last
factor the day? Here's a really cool and So the
first remotes for TVs were called lazy bones, and they

(06:09):
had a wire that connected directly to the TV set.
But Zenith improved on this design in n S with
their wireless Space command remote, and it worked in a
totally different manner than you might expect. So when you
press the button, it would cause a tiny hammer inside
to hit an aluminum bar that would then cause an
ultrasonic tone, and the TV would interpret those notes as

(06:31):
commands to change the channel or turn the set on
and off. According to Time magazine, the hammer made enough
noise when it clicked down that people started calling the
space command a clicker. Alright, well, I've got one last
fact that I was saving this one because it's pretty gross,
but also because it relates to mangoes belly button fact
at the beginning of the show, and that is that

(06:51):
scientists have figured out how to use bacteria from belly
buttons and adding milk to make cheese, which I know
that sounds disgusting, right it. The whole point of the exhibit,
which took place in Trinity College, Dublin, was to expose
people to the range of microbial communities in the human body.
But according to NPR, while people started by quote making

(07:12):
these grossed out faces, they then smell the cheese and
realize it just smells like a normal cheese. I'm not
sure that makes it any less gross. That just makes
me think that belly buttons smell like cheese. All right, Gabe.
Since your long distance today, I feel like you get
to choose who wins today's nine Things. Ah, I gotta

(07:36):
give it to you then. I mean you brought it
full circle with that belly button fact, so I think
you take the trophy. I knew it, I was, I
was going to be disappointed if I didn't well listeners.
If we forgot any facts about belly buttons or buttons
in general that you know, feel free to share those
with us. You can always reach us part time Genius
and how Stuff Works dot com. You can also call
us on our seven Fact hotline one eight four four

(07:59):
pt Genius, or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter.
It's been really fun hearing from you guys, with lots
of ideas for some of our future nine Facts episodes,
so keep those coming and we'll be back tomorrow with
a full length episode. Thanks for listening.