Some origins

Vaseline: 

What is it: 

Vaseline is a brand of petroleum jelly-based products owned by Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Products include plain petroleum jelly and a selection of skin creams, soaps, lotions, cleansers, and deodorants. 

Origin: 

In 1859, Robert Chesebrough went to the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and learned of a residue called "rod wax" that had to be periodically removed from oil rig pumps. The oil workers had been using the substance to heal cuts and burns. Chesebrough took samples of the rod wax back to Brooklyn, extracted the usable petroleum jelly, and began manufacturing the medicinal product he called Vaseline. 

More: 

Vaseline was made by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company until the company was purchased by Unilever in 1987. 

The name "vaseline" is said by the manufacturer to be derived from German wasser "water" + Greek elaion "olive oil". 

Cheeseborough believed so strongly in the health benefits of Vaseline that he swallowed a spoonful each day until his death at age 96. 

Gallery: 

Robert Cheseborough 

Some ads . . . 

(Is this guy off the Starship Enterprise?)

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WD-40 

What is it: 

WD-40 is the trademark name of a penetrating oil and water-displacing spray. The spray is manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California. 

Origin: 

The invention of WD-40 has been credited to either Iver Norman Lawson or Norman Larsen. The spray, composed of various hydrocarbons, was originally designed to be used to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from rust and corrosion. In other words, don’t let your nukes get rusty. The name "WD-40" is abbreviated from the term "Water Displacement, 40th formula", being the result of the 40th attempt to create the product. 

Iver Norman Lawson came up with the water-displacing mixture after working at home, and turned it over to the Rocket Chemical Company for the sum of $500, which today (2018) is about $4,600. It was Norman Larsen, president of the company, who had the idea of packaging it in aerosol cans and marketed it in this way. 

More: 

WD-40 was later found to have many household uses and was made available to consumers in San Diego in 1958. The idea for this came after the company owners realised employees were sneaking cans of the product out of the building to use around the home. 

Gallery: 

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Kangaroo Court 

The expression came up this week, which set me to wondering . . . 

What is it: 

Kangaroo courts are sham legal proceedings which are set-up in order to give the impression of a fair legal process. In fact, they offer no impartial justice as the verdict, invariably to the detriment of the accused, is decided in advance. 

Origin: 

Although kangaroos are native to Australia, the expression likely does not come from there, nor did it refer to courts dealing with convicts in the days of convict transporation. The origin is not certain, it having been suggested that it developed in relation to claim jumping during the Californian gold rush. Kangaroo courts were also known as mustang courts. 

The earliest recorded use of the term is in an 1853 American magazine article by Philip Paxton (the pen name of Samuel Adams Hammett)under the title of A stray Yankee in Texas: 

"By a unanimous vote, Judge G-- was elected to the bench and the 'Mestang' or 'Kangaroo Court' regularly organized." 

There are other explanations. 

According to Wikipedia: 

Ostensibly, the term comes from the notion of justice proceeding "by leaps", like a kangaroo – in other words, "jumping over" (intentionally ignoring) evidence that would be in favour of the defendant. An alternative theory is that as these courts are often convened quickly to deal with an immediate issue, they are called kangaroo courts as they have "jumped up" out of nowhere like a kangaroo. Another possibility is that the phrase could refer to the pouch of a kangaroo, meaning the court is in someone's pocket. The phrase is popular in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand and is still in common use. 

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Quarantine 

What is it: 

A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been exposed to a communicable disease, but do not have a confirmed medical diagnosis. It is distinct from medical isolation, in which those confirmed to be infected with a communicable disease are isolated from the healthy population. 

Origin: 

The word quarantine comes from quarantena, meaning "forty days", used in the 14th-15th-century Venetian language and designating the period that all ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic; it followed the trentino, or thirty-day isolation period, first imposed in 1377 in the Republic of Ragusa, Dalmatia (modern Dubrovnik in Croatia). 

An early mention of isolation occurs in the Biblical book of Leviticus, Ch 13, written in the seventh century BC or perhaps earlier, which describes the procedure for separating out infected people to prevent spread of disease under the Mosaic Law: 

45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

Gallery:

Thanks to son Thomas for sending me the above Waldo item.