Learning | Burma-Shave, Part 2

My introductory Burma-Shave post last week barely touched on the discussions we have had on the subject at Troke.  

My co-worker, Ginny, asked the same question that occurred to me, when I received The Verse By the Side of the Road: the Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles through the Link+ program.  We both wondered how the shaving cream got the name Burma-Shave. In short, "Why Burma?"

My father (the co-pilot, back row, furthest left) and
his fellow crew members from the 40th Bombardment Group.
The aircraft behind them is "The Song of India,"
the B-29 they flew on missions from Tinian over "The Hump."

Burma (or Myanmar, as is it currently known) is a mountainous country located on the eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal.  Its northern border touches Bangladesh, India and China; its southern region reaches Thailand and the Malay Peninsula.

Trivia question

Name the television series that is the source of the following dialogue:

"BURMA!"
"Why'd you say 'Burma?'"
"I panicked."

See the answer at the bottom of this post.

Ginny and both have fathers who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during the Second World War, in the China/India/Burma theater. They were both stationed on the island of Tinian. (Small world, isn't it?) Perhaps we're more inclined to ask,"Why Burma?" than the average person.

Clinton Odell, the founder of the Burma-Vita company in Minnesota first invented a liniment which was supposed to have a number of health benefits. It was mostly comprised of ingredients from Burma and the Malay Peninsula, so he called it Burma-Vita. It is reported to have smelled terrible, which may have been one reason why it never became a commercial success.  

Mr. Odell was inspired by a brushless shaving product he saw in England, called Lloyd's Euxesis; he hired a chemist to develop a similar product, which he named Burma-Shave. (I couldn't help but to look up the origin of the name Euxesis; it comes from the Greek root eu- [good] and -xesis [to scrape]...so it's all about shaving well.)

Burma-Shave did not sell very well until Mr. Odell's sons started advertising the product on roadside signs. The first signs were placed 100 paces apart, but those distances grew as people began driving cars faster.  The publicity generated by those roadside signs can still be felt today--most people familiar with the name Burma-Shave immediately think of those signs; and conversely, when people see a sequence of rhyming signs by the road, they think of Burma-Shave.

Answer to the trivia question:

Monty Python's Flying Circus, Series 2.  It was part of the Exploding Penguin on the TV Set sketch from Episode 22, "How To Recognize Different Parts of the Body.". Graham Chapman exclaimed "BURMA!" after John Cleese speculated about where the penguin came from, "Penguins don't come from next door; they come from the Antarctic."

The Wanderlust Librarian | I'm on a Boat!!

It's been a pretty calm month for the bloggess... save for the adventure I had on the USS Hornet in Alameda. If you've read my blog regularly (or even if you haven't... WELCOME!), I like to visit places nearby and report back on some of the great things you can do within a 1-2 hour drive.

My friend Lizzie, found a deal on Groupon for an overnight on the USS Hornet (regularly $100/per person but reduced to $50 per person with the deal!). Like Costco, you have to snatch up the deal right away before it's sold out. I'll be honest, when she sent it to me, I only saw "overnight in Alameda" and agreed. When I found out it was on a military ship, I was a reluctant.  When I saw that I had a list of things to bring, I was hesitant.

The USS Hornet from the outside! 

Here's what I had to bring:

• sleeping bag
• pillow 
• blanket (for cold nights)
• small toiletry bag (no showers on board)
• flashlight
• a padlock for the locker

It was like camping but on a warcraft! My poor sleeping bag hadn't seen the light of day since an adventurous camping trip in May 2012. Luckily, I had all of the things needed AND was able to pack everything I needed in a small bag. I'm horrible at packing so this was a gigantic feat, indeed!

I had to remind myself that I had to be adventurous and try new things. So what, that I hadn't been on a naval ship before? The fun was in the new adventure and not in the fear of the unknown. 

(L) The bunks are 3 high
(R) My friend and I slept head to head on the bottom bunks
(so we could talk summer camp style!)

We were on the ship with about 120 additional overnight guests. There were Cub Scout groups, veterans, teens and adults. It was great to see such a mix of people together. 

We were sent to our berthing areas (sleeping quarters) where Lizzie and I discovered...COTS. We shared our area with about 50 other people! To respect the men who served on the ship and to keep our cots clean, we had to take off our shoes to get on them. There are covers on the cot mattresses called.... fart sacks. (I'll let you get your giggles out now, because I giggle just reading it!). 

Step over those doors! 

They fed us, military style (with no metal trays (much to Lizzie's dismay). After a dinner of chicken teriyaki skewers, rice and veggies, the groups were together again to meet their tour guides for a night walk around the Hornet. We were warned to keep with the group and to be mindful of the doors. Since the doors in a water-bound vessel were meant to keep water out, the steel doors were higher on the bottoms to help seal them when they closed. For me, they were a tripping hazard. I was careful because in a ship made of steel versus a person, the guides said "the ship wins every time". 

The tour took us to many places on the ship.
The war room was, by far, my favorite! 

*sidenote* I hit my arm on a door and it hurt like the dickens for about a week. No bruise, but dang... I was in pain!  *end of sidenote* 

The tour of the ship was a ton of walking along with going up and down stairs. It was amazing to see the different parts of the ship and how they fared without modern technology. In the war room, the shipmen had to learn to write backwards behind the boards so the officers could read the boards from their vantage points. It was cool when our guide was telling us about it... but jaw dropping when he turned the lights off and the entire room glowed (check out my pictures above!

Walk in an astronaut's footsteps! 

Did you know that the USS Hornet captured the Apollo 11 capsule when it landed in the ocean? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps out of the capsule IN the Hornet! There was an Airstream trailer that doubled as a  Mobile Quarantine Facility that the astronauts were to go in when they left the capsule. The Hornet has a replica of the capsule and the Quarantine Trailer on site. 

For the military buff in your life or for a trip back in time, go and visit the USS Hornet. If you have a library card, your admission to the USS Hornet museum is free. Just visit the Discover and Go website through our library page, choose a day to visit and print out your ticket! Keep in mind, the Live Aboard / overnight program on the Hornet is an additional cost and needs to be booked ahead of time. 

Military adventures are out there!