1. 'Interview' with Tom Waits (from which I first heard of bikini as per below). Most of it is lists but there are the occasional interesting parts. Excerpt:

Q: What’s hard for you?
A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. Math is hard. Reading a map. Following orders. Carpentry. Electronics. Plumbing. Remembering things correctly. Straight lines. Sheet rock. Finding a safety pin. Patience with others. Ordering in Chinese. Stereo instructions in German.

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2. Tom, at one point in the interview (see above), mentions the use of ping pong balls to raise a ship. See here for an analysis of this claim. It seems that it did originate with a Donald Duck cartoon.



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3. Two-piece swimsuits without the usual skirt panel and other superfluous material started appearing in the US when the government ordered a 10% reduction in fabric used in woman's swimwear in 1943 as wartime rationing.

In April 2004, a bikini line with images of Buddha printed on it was withdrawn by Victoria's Secret, the manufacturer, in the face of protest by followers of Buddhism.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_bikini

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