Eric – The Goods

Uncommon Knowledge: Are There Really Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?

January 4, 2016

This post is about how Bacon brings everyone together. As a vegetarian company, we generally don’t talk about bacon…but in this case, it’s Kevin Bacon, center of the Hollywood universe—at least according to the popular theory / party game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” And now, rather than spending countless hours researching obscure movie cast lists, Google will give you the Bacon separation number in a millisecond. Simply type “Bacon number [name of other actor]” into the Google search field and boom! There it is.

But this got me curious: how well does this work with other people with the surname Bacon? How about British Painter Francis Bacon? Yep—just three degrees. Francis Bacon and William S. Burroughs appeared in Burroughs: The Movie. William S. Burroughs and Don Creech appeared in The Book of Life. Don Creech and Kevin Bacon appeared in X-Men: First Class. How about English philosopher and statesman Sir Francis Bacon? That one’s more of a challenge, but it does work if you combine Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with Six Degrees of Francis Bacon. In the overlap of those two networks (plus some creative license), there are only four incredible degrees of separation between the two Bacons. Behold: Sir Francis Bacon knew William Shakespeare (in fact, some would say he was William Shakespeare), Joseph Fiennes played the Bard in Shakespeare in Love, Fiennes and Elisabeth Shue appeared together in Leo, and Shue and Kevin Bacon both appeared in Hollow Man.

And in case you’re wondering, there are only three degrees between this author and Kevin Bacon: I met and pitched a TV script to Gary Coleman, who appeared in The Great Buck Howard with Tom Hanks, and Hanks was part of the Apollo 13 crew with…Kevin Bacon.

Film Reel Table | $850

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: When Should You Undecorate?

December 28, 2015

Twelfth Night, the end of the traditional twelve days of Christmas, was marked by the unpopular task of taking down Christmas decor—packing away permanent ornaments, and disposing of natural ones like evergreen boughs and holly. It was once considered bad luck not to do so by Twelfth Night (we’re looking at you, guy who keeps all his lights up until Valentine’s Day). Seventeenth-century poet Robert Herrick asserted that failure to make a clean sweep on Twelfth Night could turn every spine on the holly into a malevolent goblin. But Twelfth Night was not just a warm up to spring cleaning, it came with its own festive traditions like a special Twelfth Night cake. A bean was baked into the cake, and whoever found it in his or her slice was crowned king or queen of Twelfth Night, leading the gathering in songs and games. Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s cross-dressing comedies, was written as an elaborate court entertainment for the season’s-end festivities.

Discover more holiday lore in our Twelve Uncommon Facts About the Holidays post.

Gold Rimmed Serving Pedestal | $368

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What the Heck is Hogmanay?

December 26, 2015

When you think New Year’s Eve celebrations, you might think of mobs in Times Square. But December 31st is a big night in Scotland too. There, it’s traditionally known as Hogmanay, a possible corruption of the French au guis menez (“to the mistletoe,” suggesting a Druidic origin). But whatever its name or origins, the celebration is essentially the same to this day—drinking toasts to the old year, counting down to the new, and tying on a few more after midnight. But a wonderful part of Scottish Hogmanay called “First Footing” is less common. In this ritual, the first person to put their foot across a threshold has the honor of bringing good fortune to the whole household. Sometimes, this metaphor for stepping through the door of a new year was accompanied by a handsel, a gift of a lump of coal or a bottle of whisky to symbolize the many gifts of the coming year. Warmth…whisky…who needs a Christmas sweater?

Discover more holiday lore in our Twelve Uncommon Facts About the Holidays post.

Single Malts of Scotland Tasting Map | $30

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Do Reindeer Really Fly?

December 16, 2015

Santa’s sleigh-pulling deer have long been the topic of scientific speculation. The advantages of being airborne when trying to cover the globe with holiday cheer in just one night are self evident, but the question remains: how does this terrestrial team take flight? Over the years, many theories have been put forth, from the hoof-lifting benefits of fruitcake, to the propulsive properties of magic corn. But Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio offers two words that get to the heart of the matter: extended leaping.* He admits the extreme difficulty inherent to flying reindeer research, and adds that reindeer relatives like elk can only hope to leap about eight feet in the air (never mind having a sleigh filled with billions of toys attached). Contacted for comment, S. Claus was reticent, but a wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave us to know we had nothing to dread.

*Note that Mr. Vecchio’s findings are from 2006, and may not represent the latest in soaring Cervidae research.

In Full Bloom Trophy Head | $55

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Was the Night Before Christmas a Shuttered Affair?

December 15, 2015

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…Clements Moore’s classic poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” paints a picture of a holiday house as quaint as a Currier and Ives scene. But have you ever wondered what house might have inspired the setting? The poem actually offers a clue in its description of the window treatment, of all things:

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

Hold on, Santa—shutters and then sash? That means the shutters in this house are on the inside. Shutters, both exterior and interior, were common in early nineteenth century houses when the poem debuted, but the interior shutters suggest one mansion in particular: Constable Hall in Northern New York. Turns out that Moore was a cousin of the lady of the house, Mary Eliza Constable, and he visited her there. So Constable Hall is a likely candidate for the house St. Nicholas visited that snowy Christmas Eve. But to be fair, in the days before Santa Tracker, his route was anybody’s guess.

North Pole Dish Towel | $20

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What Kind of Water Freezes Fastest?

December 13, 2015

If you said “cold,” you’re actually getting colder. Unlike any other compound known to science, water has an irregular depression curve, which means that it becomes a solid—ice—more readily at a warmer temperature than at a few degrees colder. First noticed by Aristotle in the 4^th century BCE, and also pointed out later by Francis Bacon and René Descartes, this quirky property is now known as the Mpemba Effect, named for the Tanzanian student who studied its influence on ice cream freezing in 1963. Since then, researchers have found that the phenomenon is due to a complex interplay between the covalent bonds that hold one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms together (forming water), and the weaker hydrogen bonds that hold water molecules together. This counterintuitive “sweet spot” for freezing water means that you should use warm water (not hot) in your ice cube trays if you’re in a hurry. It’s also part of the reason why hockey rink Zambonis use warm water to resurface the ice in between periods. So if you’re still waiting for that cold water to solidify, water you waiting for?

Cocktail Ice Mold Set | $20

Maker Stories

Uncommon Impact: Cork Makes a “Comeback”

December 11, 2015

As a certified B Corporation, UncommonGoods is excited about sustainability. That means more to us than just being “green”—we strive to offer products that reflect the environmental and social best interests of everyone. So, when our makers are as concerned with sustainability as we are, we’re always eager to learn more about their process and the positive impact they’re having on the world.

A cork oak (Quercus suber)

When you think of cork, you probably think of wine stoppers and bulletin boards. But this amazing, natural material can be used for much more—from watches to umbrellas. Cork has been used for bottle stoppers for thousands of years, dating back to Ancient Egypt. Frank Lloyd Wright gave cork his seal of approval by using it in the bathrooms of his famous Fallingwater. On the more personal (and affordable) side, artelusa (USA) cork company produces a growing line of cork designs crafted by Portuguese artisans from local cork. We spoke with Josh Drucker of artelusa about this fascinating, flexible material, the methods used to work with it, and the sustainable story behind it all.

How do issues of sustainability manifest in your company’s products?

Product sustainability plays a major role in our company’s vision and philosophy. Our entire collection features natural cork fashion products. Cork is the outer bark of the cork tree, a type of oak, which grows primarily in southern Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. The bark of the cork tree is peeled off to prolong the life of the tree. The bark regenerates itself every 7-9 years. We also use other natural resources in our products, such as cotton for the inner lining and vegetable dye for coloring.

Fragments of harvested cork

Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Has a Snowflake Ever Met its Match?

December 11, 2015

You may have heard the conventional wisdom that no two snowflakes are alike—the mind-boggling notion that every single one of the billions of snowflakes that fall on the earth each year is, well, special. While this observation is essentially true, the devil’s in the tiny, crystalline details. Basically, there’s nothing in the natural laws that govern the formation of these little beauties that says they have to be one-of-a-kind. They’re all made of water molecules that crystallize in the atmosphere with a characteristic hexagonal geometry. In 1988, Nancy Knight, a researcher for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, reported finding two flakes of the hollow column type captured from a Wisconsin snowstorm that were a visual match. The thing is, even that extremely rare pair was different on the atomic level. In other words, while it’s possible for two flakes to have an identical arrangement of water molecules, it’s not exactly probable, and ultimately impossible to verify. So if the notion of special snowflakes is frozen in your mind, you should just let it go…

Snow Gauge | $80

Older Posts

Newer Posts

Archives