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Alternative uses for everyday items
Is it possible to break out of prison using dental floss? Believe it or not, several prisoners have escaped, or attempted to escape, using the teeth-cleaning strands. An inmate in West Virginia escaped in 1994 by weaving a rope out of floss and using it to scale the prison's 18-foot wall, though he was captured shortly after his feat. In November 1988, three prisoners in a New York City correctional facility climbed out a window and slid down several stories on a dental floss rope. They too were captured and suffered not only reimprisonment, but deep cuts on their hands, as well as some severed tendons. Finally, a detainee in a Washington State county jail used a combination of dental floss and toothpaste to cut through the steel of a chain-link fence, and his method of escape inspired area newspapers to pepper their reports of the incident with the phrase "clean break."
But dental floss has many uses beyond oral hygiene and prison breaks—it has even been described by some as the "new duct tape." For example, dental floss can be used to cut pizza, cheese and birthday cake, repair a tent or backpack, clean the crevices in wooden furniture, string beaded necklaces, sew buttons, hang pictures, lift cookies from a cookie sheet, and create a makeshift clothesline when camping. For a concise history of dental floss and some of its uses, read "Our Daily Thread," an article that appears in a recent issue of American Heritage of Invention & Technology (http://inventionandtechnology.com/xml/2006/3/it_2006_3_feat_2.xml).
As you can imagine, the Internet is loaded with sites listing unconventional uses for everyday items. Here is a small sampling:
The Duck Tape Club (http://www.ducktapeclub.com/). For anyone even slightly interested in duct tape history or facts.
Duct Tape Fashion.com (http://www.ducttapefashion.com/). The site's name says it all.
Wacky Uses (http://www.wackyuses.com/). Want to know how to polish jewelry using Alka-Seltzer tablets, clean windows with coffee filters, make a lava lamp with club soda, repel ants with baby powder, remove paint with Easy-Off oven cleaner, or style your hair with Jell-O? This site is for you.
Hints and Things (http://www.hintsandthings.com/bathroom/unusual.htm). Lists various uses for petroleum jelly, shampoo, shaving cream and toothbrushes.
Unusual Uses (www.unusualuses.com). Find alternative uses for bottle openers, carpet scraps, chewing gum, margarine tubs, mirrors, tea bags, etc.
Want more? Then click on Amazon.com to check out some of these titles. Many of these books have been scanned so you can see the table-of-contents and even read a few pages online for free:
"Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things" by Cy Tymony. The book claims that it is a "valuable resource for transforming ordinary objects into the extraordinary."
"Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of" by Vicki Lansky.
"Don't Forget the Duct Tape: Tips and Tricks for Repairing Outdoor Gear" by Kristin Hostetter.
"Ductigami: The Art of the Tape" by Joe Wilson.
"Got Tape?: Roll Out the Fun With Duct Tape!" by Ellie Schiedermayer.
Easy Does It: Cheap & Simple Ways to Solve Common Household Problems; Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Products" by Gayle K. Wood.
"Clean Your Clothes with Cheez Whiz" by Joey Green.
"Wash Your Hair With Whipped Cream and Hundreds More Offbeat Uses for Even More Brand-Name Products" by Joey Green.
"Transparent Tape: Over 350 Super, Simple and Surprising Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of" by Vicki Lansky.
"Creative Recycling" by Jude Andreasen.
"WD-40 Book" by Jim Berg. Lists multiple uses for this popular spray lubricant; visit http://www.twbc.org/wd40.htm for several hundred suggested uses of this product.
—Don Hartman, University Libraries