Well, Whadya Know

Why do they play "Taps" at military funerals?

Taps was originally used in the military only to end the day. It took on its additional, more solemn function during the American Civil War. Traditionally, a soldier's funeral included the firing of a three-shot salute. The Civil War produced fatalities wholesale, and the military usually lacked the means to ship the bodies home. This led to funerals on or near the battlefield after the shooting stopped. Firing a salute might have been misinterpreted by the foe as a resumption of hostilities, so Taps, with its evocation of day's end, was substituted. The custom has survived along with the rifle salute.

[source: Just Curious Jeeves by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett]

Who built the first bathrooms, and where?

Bathrooms actually come from a place famous for its pipes, but of another kind: Scotland, known more for bagpipes than plumbing. The place was the Orkney Islands, off the Scottish coast, ten millennia ago, where some nameless individuals finally took a stand for comfort. They left their mark in the annals of latrinery by throwing together a primitive drain system that carried wastes directly from their huts to the local stream – the first in- house outhouse. It would take another 10,000 years for folks to notice that this created as many problems as it solved, waste-wise.

[source: Extraordinary Origins Of Everyday Things by Charles Panati]