Stuff I Just Learned

Twelve Days Of Christmas

2011-12-23T13:48:00.006-05:00

A few years ago, I came across a religious interpretation of the popular Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Here are the lyrics:

On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Two turtle doves and
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Three french hens
Two turtle doves and
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the forth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Four calling birds
Three french hens...

On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Five golden rings
Four calling birds...

On the sixth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings...

On the seventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying...

On the eight day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming...

On the ninth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking...

On the tenth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing...

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping...

On the Twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love gave to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping...

And here is a religious interpretation:

1 True Love refers to God

2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.

6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

I am too busy wrapping and shopping to look up what the writer's intention was but I found this interesting. :)

Merry Christmas Eve eve!

[image courtesy of this book]

Bad Rap vs. Bad Rep

2011-11-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Is there a difference? Apparently slightly so!

According to Merriam-Webster, in this context:

A rap is "a negative and often undeserved reputation or charge —often used with bum or bad"

A rep is slang for "reputation; especially : status in a group (as a gang)"

So, from these definitions and other things I've read:

- If someone has a "bad rap", it's typically because that person is getting blamed for or associated with negativity for something that person may not have done.

- If someone has a "bad rep", others also think poorly of that person, but likely for something that person did, or for a track record of sketchy behavior.

Of course, in this day and age, the meaning of phrases can change with how the populous uses them - so don't be surprised if some find these interchangeable!

Lifeguard Dog

2011-11-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some fun facts that I learned about the Newfoundland dog, from the Animal Planet show "Dogs 101":

- Newfoundlands are excellent swimmers, with large bones to keep them afloat, strong legs to battle ocean currents, a waterproof double coat to protect them from the cold, webbed paws, and extremely large lung capacities. Their droopy jowls allow them to breathe while swimming, even when carrying something in their mouths.

- Newfoundlands love retrieving things from the water, so much so, in fact, that they are often trained to be lifeguards. Also, a Newfoundland saved Napoleon Bonaparte when he fell overboard from his ship on the way back to France from exile in Elba.

- Newfoundlands love being with children, and are extremely gentle and patient with them. They are very smart, loyal, and aim to please. "Nana" from Peter Pan was a Newfoundland.

- The largest Newfoundland was 6'-long and weighed 260 pounds (the size of a baby elephant)! They typically weigh in at about 150 pounds.

It's like having your very own huge cuddly teddy bear - that can save your life!

If I thought I could handle that much dog, I would be very tempted to get one!

How To De-Pill Your Clothes

2011-11-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

Oftentimes, after you wear a shirt or sweater a couple of times, it begins to "pill" or get annoying fuzzies on it.

Lifehacker offers this trick that just uses a disposable razor:

To clean pilling off your clothes just spread the fabric across a flat surface (something firm like a table is best) pull the fabric taut and carefully shave the pilling away from the fabric. Be careful with the razor, especially around seams, buttons and stitching because you can easily cut the fabric.

This simple solution works - I tried it out personally! It made some of my t-shirts look like new, in seconds.

How A Candle Burns

2011-10-10T19:48:00.000-04:00

People have been burning candles for thousands of years... and I know I, at least, have been taking the science for granted. It wasn't until I listened to last week's "Science Friday" on NPR that I finally "got" why the candle works.

Host Ira Flatow and staffer Flora Lichtman talked about how Brigham Young engineers have been taking high-speed videos of flames in order to figure out how to reproduce one in digital 3-D. Lichtman spent some time with these engineers as they accomplished this task, and shared what she had learned with Flatow:

LICHTMAN: But - here's one that I thought was pretty amazing. A flame, a candle flame, for example, is just an envelope of fire around this sort of center area. So the wax, which is the fuel, goes up through the wick. It melts, goes up through the wick, and then evaporates into a gas. And that is - the part around the wick is actually not on fire. So the wick is actually not on fire.

FLATOW: That's why it doesn't burn away, I guess.

LICHTMAN: That's why.

FLATOW: Yeah. Hey, you're right. You know, the wick is not on fire - so there's an envelope of gas around the wick, and it's the gas that's burning.

LICHTMAN: And it's the gas that's burning, and it only burns when it hits oxygen. So the gas on the inside that doesn't have access to oxygen isn't burning, and it's actually cool inside the flame.

And then they posted the following video of the candle wick "sucking up" the wax (among with other interesting fire facts). It's very cool!

You can listen to the whole interview here. It's full of good stuff!

Why Are Diamonds Valuable?

2011-09-28T12:12:00.000-04:00

I just read some disturbing information about the diamond industry and thought I'd share. I have not seen the movie Blood Diamond, nor know its plot, so forgive me if this is all old news...

Diamond jewelry has come to symbolize love. We also think of diamonds as valuable investments, valuable because they are so rare. But we think both of those things -- because we've been conned.

Diamonds only mean love, and cost more than gold, because one brilliant company convinced people that diamonds were special.

The marketing strategy was born 100 years ago in the mines of South Africa, when huge deposits of diamonds were found... Before that the discovery of a diamond was so rare that diamonds had become status symbols among royalty. But with the South African discovery, diamonds were suddenly ordinary. Prices plunged.

Then a smart Englishman, Cecil Rhodes, bought lots of the suddenly cheap diamond minds, and established a monopoly [through the company De Beers] on the diamond supply... [His dealings with diamond-producing countries] brought De Beers an astonishing... 80% of the market...

To keep prices high, De Beers hoards diamonds. That makes diamonds seem more rare than they actually are.

But that's only half of their strategy... De Beers played the market brilliantly. It launched an advertising and public relations campaign to manipulate the world into believing that diamonds were the proper way to express love.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, there was not a clear American marriage "tradition" since the country was made of so many different cultures. De Beers jumped on that opportunity and offered their solution: if you want to marry a woman, you put a diamond ring on her finger. Movie studios jumped on the diamond bandwagon, and sales exploded.

De Beers seems to be able to set the diamond standards based on what's in their warehouses. When they had an overflow of large diamonds, they advertised "The bigger the diamond, the more you love her." When they acquired many small diamonds from Russia, De Beers encouraged men to buy their wives "Eternity Rings" for their anniversaries, which happened to contain lots of smaller stones.

So now we're left with a conundrum -- De Beers may have started the diamond trend based purely on economic strategy that leaves diamonds chronically overpriced, but it now IS culturally "American" for diamonds (instead of other precious stones) to symbolize eternal love. How can we resolve this?

You are so pretty and so sparkly... but are you worth it?

[source: Myths, Lies, & Downright Stupidity by John Stossel]

Prevent Hearing Loss

2011-09-27T09:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a handy guide from Reader's Digest to help you know when you're listening to music too loudly:

One in five adolescents now suffers from hearing loss -- a 30% jump from just two decades ago. The loss is mild, but it means more teens are hearing only about as well as a typical 40- to 60-year-old.

Playing music too loudly is partly to blame, experts believe. To avoid damage to your hearing, keep these numbers in mind:
60 : You can listen all day if you keep the volume at 60% of the max
80 for 90 : You can boost the volume to 80% for 90 minutes a day
100 for 5 : If you want to crank up the volume as high as it'll go, keep it short -- just 5 minutes a day

Here's to good hearing health!

Walking On Hot Coals

2011-09-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

How can people walk barefoot on hot coals without getting burned? Is it some mind trick?

Actually it's just science... and you can do it, too!

Physicist David Willey from the University of Pittsburgh physics department and 20/20 anchor John Stossel show how it's done:

Willey laid out 165 feet of lumber and set it aflame. As [they] waited for the lumber to turn into hot coals, he said that anyone can "fire-walk" in their bare feet, provided they keep moving, because when you touch burning wood or charcoal, the heat doesn't go instantly to your feet. You'd be burned if you walk on hot metal, but wood and charcoal don't conduct heat very well.

Hot coals can (slowly) roast a marshmallow and burn at a temperature of approximately 1000 degrees F. But it's a poor thermal conductor, so it takes a while to "conduct" (move) the heat from itself to whatever it's touching. If you keep walking at an even pace on the coals your feet won't keep in contact with any coal long enough to burn them! Plus, and this is pure speculation, the fact that the skin on your feet is so thick probably delays the heat transfer as well.

You're not so scary anymore, are ya?

Do Cats Only Meow At Humans?

2011-09-23T12:03:00.000-04:00

My brother once told me that adult cats only meow to talk to humans, so I decided to see if he was right. And he seems to be!

What are you saying, kitty?

Here are the ways that cats communicate:

1. Meowing
They naturally meow just as kittens to get their mother's attention. But as a result of domestication, it appears that they have learned to meow at humans for the same reason!

2. Purring
Most of the time, cats purr because they are happy. They sometimes purr when they are feeling sick or during stressful moments.

3. Hissing/Growling
Cats hiss or growl when they are angry or want to threaten other animals or humans. They typically will attack with their claws and paws if whoever they are hissing at doesn't back off.

4. Chirping/Chattering
This is a "bird-like" noise that cats can make while watching potential prey. Some have thought that the cats are imitating birds or mice, but the accepted theory is actually that they are simulating the biting motions they'd do if they actually caught the prey.

5. Caterwaul
Cats make this "crying baby" or howling noise to signal to other cats that they are in heat. In rarer occasions, cats will caterwaul to get their owner's attention, like if they are behind a door and need to be loud.

6. Body Language
There are so many ways cats use their body to communicate, I feel as though it may be their primary source of communicating, especially with other cats, who instinctively know what their bodies are saying. Here are a few examples, some of which could be confusing to humans:

Lying on their back: this could mean submission and trust, or that they want to attack with all four claws, or just that's how they feel comfortable
Puffed tail: the cat is surprised or scared; they can also arch their backs and puff out their back hair to look bigger to whatever they feel threatened by
Tail-twitching: this could mean they are hunting, or they are irritated, or they are excited, or they are playing
Flattened ears: the cat is feeling threatened
Nose-touching: this could just be a friendly greeting, or they are marking their territory
Licking: the cat is trying to bond with another cat or sometimes with their human owner
Pawing: this could mean they are showing affection or contentment or curiosity, or that they are comforting themselves, or that they are marking their territory

There are tons of other ways cats communicate to each other by whisker position, tail height, and other body movements.

7. Scent
Cats claim territory by territorial marking or by rubbing their scent on people or objects.

All that to say (since it seems I have strayed from the original question): it appears that past kitten-hood, cats mainly meow to humans, and use a variety of other methods of communication to deal with other cats and other animals.

It's pretty smart of them, actually. Cats must have figured out at some point that humans communicate well with noise... and don't always read their body movements correctly!

[source: wikipedia]

ps. Check out this cat who somehow learned to bark... yet didn't want their human owner know! I guess cats have a great ability to learn how to communicate the most effectively.

Is Bottled Water Better Than Tap?

2011-09-22T13:08:00.000-04:00

Bottled water ranges from $4-$8 per gallon, whereas tap water costs less than a penny per gallon*. Is it worth it?

Here are some answers from John Stossel's book:

Does bottled water taste better than tap water?

ABC News ran a taste test. We put two imported waters, Evian and Iceland Spring, up against Aquafina (America's best seller), American Fare (Kmart's discount brand), Poland Spring (which is bottled in America, not Poland), and some water from a public drinking fountain in the middle of New York City.

We asked people to rate the waters. Only one water got "bad" ratings [the most expensive one, Evian]. The water our testers liked most came from Kmart, which costs a third of what Evian costs. Aquafina ranked second...

Tied for third were [Iceland Spring] and... drum roll... New York City tap water. In other words, reservoir water -- squeezed through the antique pipes of NYC before emerging from a water fountain in Harlem -- tastes as good as expensive imports. Even people who told us that they didn't like tap water did like it, when they didn't know it was tap water.

Is bottled water more "pure" than tap water?

Many people believe that bottled water is cleaner. So we sent bottled and tap water samples to microbiologist Aaron Margolin, of the University of New Hamsphire, to test for bacteria, like E. Coli, that can make you sick. "No difference", he said.

Some people worry more about traces of chemicals in water, like chlorine, lead, chromium, copper, and iron. It's possible that you will ingest more of these from some tap waters than bottled, but trace amounts of chemicals are not only harmless, they may even be helpful; that's why iron, copper, and chromium are in vitamin pills.

There are some counties where the tap water is not as safe or tasty as bottled water, but it appears that in the majority of America, you can save money (and trash) by just drinking out of the tap.

To further this point, I recently went to a wedding in Indiana where they served Absopure bottled water. As it turned out, it had been bottled (and "purified"?) from the municipal water in Plymouth, Michigan. Municipal water is city water! I suppose Plymouth's tap water is tasty enough for these customers!

*Tap water rate for Ann Arbor, MI.

What's Broasting?

2011-09-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

Maybe you've seen prepared "broasted chicken" at the grocery store and wondered (as I have) what it is, and how it's different than roasted or fried chicken.

Broasting is actually a very special (and trademarked) method of preparing chicken, meats, and fish with a specific marinate, breading, and spices, and then pressure frying it. It's (basically) a quicker and less greasy way of frying that makes the food crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

How come we don't hear of more people broasting? Well, it's only available for commercial use. So you can grab a broasted whole chicken from your local grocer, or a leg from a fast food restaurant, but unfortunately you can't do this method at home.

Read more about this interesting cooking method at the Broaster Company website: broaster.com.

Side fact: L.A.M. Phelan, the inventor of the Broaster pressure fryer, also invented the the first automatic gasoline pump, the first automatic toilet, and the first automatic commercial refrigerator. We owe him a lot! :)

Weird State Laws

2011-09-20T09:39:00.000-04:00

Aw, everyone loves strange laws, right? Here are a few for you today from John Stossel's book:

In Belton, Missouri, it's illegal to throw a snowball.

In New Jersey & Oregon, it is illegal to pump your own gas.

In Kern County, California, it is illegal to play bingo while drunk.

In Illinois, it is against the law to hunt bullfrogs with a firearm.

In Massachusetts, it's illegal to deface a milk carton.

In Fairfax, Virginia, the use of pogo sticks is outlawed on city buses.

In Palm Harbor, Florida, it is illegal to have an artificial lawn.

Also, in Spring Hill, Tennessee, you can't do any outdoor home-improvement projects in any residential neighborhood on Sundays.

And inn Friendship Heights, Maryland, it's illegal to smoke indoors or outdoors.

Remember, ignorance of the law is no excuse. :)

Where Robots Come From

2011-09-19T10:43:00.000-04:00

... or where the word "robot" comes from at least!

From Reader's Digest:

Some robots (Robbie, Wall-E) we adore. But many others (the terminators, Alien's Ash, those cylons from Battlestar Galactica) are downright evil -- with good reason: The term robot comes from the Czech robota for "compulsory labor" and the Latin orbus for "orphan". Now, if you were a motherless machine forced to work against your will, wouldn't you be belligerent too?

:) I knew there was a good reason to not like robots!

You may look cute, but you still scare me!

Are Women Bad Drivers?

2011-09-16T10:23:00.000-04:00

According to scientific research conducted in 2002, men are worse! Here's a quick analysis of that research from John Stossel:

Women have a bad reputation when it comes to driving... But researchers with the Social Issues Resource Center beg to differ. Their 2002 report analyzed a stack of studies on male and female driving differences and came to a bold conclusion: "In all studies and analyses, without exception, men have been shown to have a higher rate of crashes than women."

Men, the report claims, drive faster than women and have less regard for traffic laws: They speed, they drive drunk, run stop signs, and therefore crash twice as often as women do. In the US, men cause 71% of all road fatalities, a figure that's remained constant since 1975.

But don't men drive many more miles than women do? Wouldn't that account for some of the difference? It's true that males account for 62% of all miles driven, vs. 38% for females, but even after miles are clocked and driving hours are factored in, men still get in way more fatal accidents [about 40% more].

So maybe it's time to give the ladies a break. :)

What's A Hysterical Pregnancy?

2011-09-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

Late in last season's hit sitcom 30 Rock, the character Jenna experienced a "hysterical pregnancy" during a gas leak, where she had all the signs of being pregnant without actually being pregnant. I couldn't help but wonder... is that really a thing?

Not only is it a thing, but women and men can experience it!

According to WebMD:

False pregnancy, or pseudocyesis, is the belief that you are expecting a baby when you are not really carrying a child. People with pseudocyesis have many or all of the common symptoms of pregnancy [swollen belly, stopped menstruation, feelings of fetal movement, nausea/vomiting, milk production, etc] with the exception of an actual fetus.

This condition is very rare, occurring in only 1 to 6 out of every 22,000 births. It is most common in women aged 20 to 44, although it can affect women of all ages.

In rare cases, even men can have a false pregnancy. Some men experience a related phenomenon known as couvade, or sympathetic pregnancy. They will develop many of the same symptoms as their pregnant partners -- including weight gain, nausea, and backache.

People suffering from a false pregnancy can sometimes even test positive on pregnancy tests!

What can cause hysterical (false) pregnancy?

According to an article in the NY Times:

Though scientists are still largely baffled about what causes it in humans, recent case studies and studies of similar conditions in animals are beginning to provide insight, exploring the role of hormones and psychology.

Psychiatrists have suggested that pseudocyesis occurs in patients who desperately want to become pregnant — or who have a strong desire to be involved in a family member’s pregnancy experience.

In a recent issue of the journal Psychosomatics, Dr. Biju Basil, a psychiatrist at Drexel University, reported a case of a woman who went through false delivery at the same time her son’s girlfriend was giving birth. "She started having labor pains..." Dr. Basil speculated that “she wanted to [subconsciously] play a more active part in this new life that was coming into the world.”

Still, for all the theories about false pregnancy’s origins in the subconscious, biological studies suggest it may be in part hormonally mediated as well... Case studies at the University of Michigan and elsewhere indicate that many patients have elevated levels of hormones like estrogen and prolactin — compounds that can cause physical symptoms like abdominal swelling and milk excretion...

This raises the possibility that pseudocyesis is the result of a delicate mind-body feedback loop: an initial emotional state induces abnormal hormone secretion, which in turn has its own physical and psychological effects... anxiety may be one emotional state that helps set this feedback loop in motion.

Wow. That's incredible. False pregnancy has written about since at least 300 BC! The human body is a crazy thing.

And what's stranger -- dogs have much higher instances of false pregnancy than humans!

Keep Colored Clothing From Fading

2011-09-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Yet again, Reader's Digest has come up with an easy solution to our random everyday problems:

That new cherry-red shirt you just purchased is fantastic, but just think how faded the color will look after the shirt has been washed a few times. Add a teaspoon of pepper to the wash load. Pepper keeps bright colors bright and prevents them from running too.

It's worth a try, I'd say. Click on the link above for other pepper tips!

The Difference Between http:// And https://

2011-09-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

This may seem obvious, but I was completely unaware of the subtle difference until recently!

If you go to a website, you'll notice the address usually contains a http:// at the beginning. It stands for "HyperText Transfer Protocol" and is the standard way of transferring text to the internet.

If there is an "s" at the end of the abbreviation - https:// - that means that the site is "secure". A site becomes "secure" when the information on it will get encrypted (changed so that only the person with a key or password can see it) so that third parties can't view that information.

If you are entering personal or account information onto a website, make sure that little "s" is in the address!

Is DDT Dangerous?

2011-09-12T20:24:00.000-04:00

DDT, the chemical used as a bug and mosquito repellent in farming, has been pretty controversial since started being more widely used in the 1950s & 60s. People believe that it's been a cause of cancer and possibly worse. Recently I read some research to the contrary:

Despite [DDT's] overuse, there was no surge in cancer or any other human injury. Scientists found no evidence that spraying DDT seriously hurt people.

It did cause some harm: It threatened bird populations by thinning the shells of their eggs.

In 1962, the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson make the damage famous and helped instill our fear of chemicals. The book raised some serious questions about the use of DDT, but the legitimate nature of those questions was lost in the media feeding frenzy that followed. DDT was a "Killer Chemical!" and the press was off on another fear campaign.

It turns out DDT itself wasn't the problem -- the problem was that much too much was sprayed...

In the late 1950s we sprayed DDT indiscriminately, but it only takes a tiny amount to prevent the spread of malaria. If sprayed on the walls of an African hut, a small amount will keep mosquitoes at bay for a year. That makes it a wonderful malaria fighter. But today DDT is rarely used to fight malaria because environmentalists' demonization of it causes others to shun it.

It's interesting how media coverage of a chemical can influence people's views on it more than science can. If the above paragraphs are true, it's tragic, considering how many people die of malaria each year...

[source: Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel]

What Are Baby Corn And Baby Carrots?

2011-08-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

While making stir-fry the other day, I got a little curious about what I was eating. As it turns out, both baby corn and baby carrots have very appropriate names! They are baby-versions of the full-grown vegetables of the same names. Read on for more information:

Baby Corn:

Baby corn is cereal grain taken from corn (maize) harvested early while the ears are very small and immature. Baby corn ears are hand-picked from the branches as soon as the corn silks emerge from the ear tips, or a few days after. Baby corn typically is eaten whole, cob included, in contrast to mature corn, whose cob is considered too tough for human consumption.

Baby Carrots:

A "true" baby carrot is a carrot grown to the "baby stage", which is to say long before the root reaches its mature size. The test is that you can see a proper "shoulder" on each carrot. They are also sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop thinning, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop.

"Manufactured" baby carrots, or cut and peel (what you see most often in the shops) are carrot-shaped slices of peeled carrots invented in the late 1980s by Mike Yurosek, a California farmer, as a way of making use of carrots which are too twisted or knobbly for sale as full-size carrots.

[sources: wikipedia & the carrot museum]

What Is Couture?

2011-08-25T10:25:00.002-04:00

Anyone who has watched "Project Runway" has heard the word "couture" thrown around a lot. But what does it mean?

Some definitions of "couture" (noun) are:

1. The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women.

2. The high-fashion clothing created by designers.

Generally, it seems like if a garment is high-fashion (and maybe somewhat over-the-top), then it's couture. But being "high fashion" isn't the only main point of "couture", it's also the fact that it's "designed" and "made".

Actually, the origin of the word comes from Old French/Latin words meaning "sewn together" or "to sew". When people say "couture", they probably mean "Haute Couture" which means "elegant sewing". In the fashion industry, Haute Couture is a big deal - you can't call yourself a couture designer without being approved by the French Department of Industry.

So it seems that the true definition of couture is more equal parts:

1. Highly fashionable

2. Hand sewn and well made

3. Custom-designed for a specific customer (thus likely one-of-a-kind)

And it typically is:

4. Made of expensive material

5. Involves many hours of detailed hand-sewing (instead of machine-sewing)

Examples:

Couture:
1. High fashion - check!
2. Hand sewn - check!
3. Custom-made for a customer - check!

Not Couture:
1. High fashion - check!
2. Hand sewn - maybe check?
3. Custom-made for a customer - NOPE!

Red Panda Name Origin

2011-08-24T15:52:00.008-04:00

I actually learned this facts from The Detroit Zoo!

My family went recently and became obsessed with the Red Panda. Let me show you why:

So cute. Since they are small and more raccoon-like than bear-like, I wondered how they was related to a Panda Bear. Turns out, they aren't!

"Panda" in Japanese means "bamboo eater". Since that's the main source of food for the Red Panda, that's how it got it's name, in the same way the Panda Bear got it's name.

Maybe since they aren't "bears", we can get one as a pet? These people did (click here)!

Man, I want one so badly. :)

Bribery vs. Extortion vs. Blackmail

2011-08-23T13:32:00.005-04:00

While we're on the crime topic, I wondered what are the specific differences between bribery, extortion, and blackmail. Here are the definitions:

Bribery: "The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties."

If you want a public or legal official to do something illegal or lie for you, you can offer them money or pay them to do it.

Extortion: "The obtaining of property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right."

Extortion then is taking property (usually money) from someone by threatening them or pretending it's your legal right (as a government official, police officer, etc).

Blackmail: "The crime involving a threat for purposes of compelling a person to do an act against his or her will, or for purposes of taking the person's money or property."

And blackmail is when you threaten someone enough for them to feel they have to pay you or do something in order for you not to carry out the threat.

So, they all involve some sort of deception or threat in order for a criminal to get what s/he wants from another person, they just all accomplish that in their own ways.

[source: legal-dictionary.com]

What Is Racketeering?

2011-08-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

After the 10th time I heard someone on a TV crime show get arrested for "racketeering" I finally looked up what it meant. Thought you might want to know, too!

One of the reasons it's hard to tell by context clues what racketeering is is because it actually is a pretty vague term involving all sorts of organized crime. The root of the word is "racket", which is an illegal business. Taking part in an illegal business is called "racketeering".

But what makes a business illegal? All sorts of things! Bribery, counterfeiting, embezzlement, extortion, obstruction of justice, money laundering, trafficking of stolen goods, etc etc etc.

So I think what makes a crime "racketeering" is that it's attached to a business, and it's typically part of an organized crime ring. The term was first used in 1927 to refer to the criminal acts of the Chicago Teamsters union.

[source: legal-dictionary.com]

Coffee Explained!

2011-07-05T15:08:00.001-04:00

Nice quick info on my new favorite drink!

White Noise Ringtones Help You Hear Your Phone

2011-06-17T10:05:00.010-04:00

Lifehacker Lessons, #5

Topic:

"Use a White Noise Ringtone to Find Your Lost Cellphone Faster"

(from 6/13/11)

Summary:

It's easier for our ears to find the location of the source of white noise over bells or limited-frequency tones. Having your ringtone be white noise can not only help you find your cellphone is lost, but can also help you identify its location quicker in your house or bag.

From Lifehacker:

After the author experienced a fire drill in England that used white noise generators over exit doors, he learned:

...it is easier to locate the fire door in a smoke filled room if this white noise generator is squawking at you rather than ringing a bell.
Okay, several days later and this information is still rolling around my head (there's not much to impede it) when my cellphone rang. I couldn't quite locate it—you know how that is sometimes, you put it down somewhere and then forget where, it sounds like it's everywhere. Guess what, I thought about that fire alarm back in England. So, I got one of the interns at work to make me a ring tone which was just pulses of white noise. We put it on my phone then got someone to hide it. We called the number and were able to pinpoint the phone's location exactly.
So, the tip is: make a white noise ring tone for calls you don't want to miss (boss, mom or dad). Something like this works pretty well. Not only is the phone more easily locatable but the sound carries farther and is instantly recognizable as your phone. It's a little antisocial I guess but so am I.

Other Lifehacker Tips for finding your phone:

- Google Voice

- PhoneMyPhone

- Google Maps Click-to-Call

Soap Bubbles Repel Mosquitoes

2011-06-16T11:18:00.000-04:00

Lifehacker Lessons, #4

Topic:

"Repel Mosquitoes with a Bubble Machine"

(from 5/31/11)

Summary:

Mosquitoes don't like soap, so bubbles are a perfect way to keep them away. This is a much more fun and interactive method of mosquito-prevention than Citronella or Deet.

From Lifehacker:

According to [the weblog] DIY Life, mosquitoes are repelled by soap solutions (hence their disdain for dryer sheets), and a bit of soap suds will do a good job of shooing them away... Some blogs recommend adding a bit of lemongrass oil to your bubble mixture for more powerful repelling.

For other anti-mosquito tips (and myths), check out DIY's list of prevention methods here.

(note #8: an iPhone app that emits a mosquito-repelling noise??)

Tips For Staying Awake

2011-06-15T13:39:00.000-04:00

Lifehacker Lessons, #3

Topic:

"How to Manipulate Your Body to Wake the Hell Up"

(from 5/20/11)

Summary:

There are ways to wake yourself up naturally and cheaply, even when the caffeine doesn't seem to be kicking in during your long workday afternoons.

From Lifehacker:

Tip #1: Put less sugar & milk in your coffee. The bitterness can help jolt you awake.

Tip #2: Grab a few minutes of direct sunlight, outdoors. Light through windows isn't the same.

Tip #3: Gently tug at your hair to get the blood flowing to your head.

Tip #4: Splash cold water on your face. For best results, head outside to feel the breeze.

Tip #5: Place your alarm clock far away from your bed so you have to stand up to turn it off.

Tip #6: Take a laughter break with a YouTube video, funny blog, etc.

Tip #7: Eat a mint; the stronger the better!

Tip #8: Massage your hands, especially between your palms and wrists.

Tip #9: Talk to a stranger. Your body will tend to wake up to avoid awkwardness.

Tip #10: Play upbeat music that you love.

Tip #11: Stretch your limbs and back like you're about to exercise to get your blood flowing.

Tip #12: Shed some clothing layers (if appropriate!). It's easier to feel sleepy when we're warm.

Tip #13: Stand up, feet shoulder-width apart, and flip your head upside-down to help with circulation (but come back up slowly!).

Tip #14: Suck on a lemon to shock your system!

Good luck!

Split An Apple With Your Bare Hands!

2011-06-14T23:10:00.004-04:00

Lifehacker Lessons, #2

Topic:

"How to Split an Apple Without a Knife"

(from 5/23/11)

Summary:

The title says it all! You not only can do this to share an apple in a pinch, but also to impress your friends. :)

From Lifehacker:

New Experiences Help Time Pass More Slowly

2011-06-13T22:21:00.001-04:00

I learn a lot of stuff from a great website called Lifehacker. It contains all sorts of ways to make your life easier and cheaper, from learning about what new gadget google has to turning cinder-blocks into planters. In my appreciation, I've decided to devote this week's Stuff I've Just Learned posts from recent Lifehacker entries.

Topic:

"Why New Experiences Are Important, and How They Positively Affect Your Perception of Time"

(from 5/17/11)

Summary:

Time may tick by at a consistent beat, but that's not how our brains perceive time. Instead, if something is unfamiliar and thus harder for our brain to process, time appears to slow down as our minds organize the new information. Conversely if something is familiar/easier to process, time appears to speed up.

From Lifehacker:

Neuroscientist David Eagleman, who has extensively studied the effects of our brain's perception of time, believes that this effect makes time fly by faster as we age. His profile in the New Yorker, written by Burkhard Bilger, explains further:

"This explains why we think that time speeds up when we grow older," Eagleman said-why childhood summers seem to go on forever, while old age slips by while we're dozing. The more familiar the world becomes, the less information your brain writes down, and the more quickly time seems to pass. "Time is this rubbery thing...it stretches out when you really turn your brain resources on, and when you say, ‘Oh, I got this, everything is as expected,' it shrinks up."

...If we perceive time more slowly when we're processing the unfamiliar, than the frequent introduction of the unfamiliar could help our perception of time from rapidly shrinking.

Click here to read more about fascinating perception-of-time Eagleman's research.

How Did Marvel Comic's Spider-Man Make Webs?

2011-04-15T10:45:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not, movies that are based on comic books are not always true to the original story!

Recently, one of my 10-grade students told me that despite what the 2002 Tobey Maguire film showed, comic-book Spider-Man did not receive the ability to shoot webs out of his wrists after he got bitten by the radioactive spider.

He actually used web-shooters which attached to cuffs on his wrists. Here's an explanation of them via Wikipedia:

Peter had reasoned that a spider (even a human one) needed a web. Since the radioactive spider-bite did not initially grant him the power to spin webs, he had instead found a way to produce them artificially. The wrist-mounted devices fire an adhesive "webbing" through a threaded adjustable nozzle...
Spider-Man must steadily replenish his webbing supply, reloading his web-shooters with small cartridges of web fluid... His web-shooters require constant maintenance and on more than one occasion suffer jams or malfunctions...
Occasionally, the web-shooters are modified to expel other liquids.

So, my first question upon hearing this was "What good did come from him being bitten by the spider then?" My student answered with pretty much the same answer as Wikipedia does:

Immediately after the bite, he was granted his original powers: primarily superhuman strength, reflexes, and equilibrium; the ability to cling tenaciously to most surfaces; and a subconscious precognitive sense of danger, which he called a "spider-sense."

I suppose that's enough. :) But I guess that Spider-Man just had to use more ingenuity and engineering in the comic books than in the movie. After all:

Before the radioactive spider bite, Peter Parker was already a gifted academic student with considerable expertise in many fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, and advanced technology. Through these skills he was able to create his artificial web fluid, his web-shooters and other Spider-man equipment. His scientific knowledge has often been used to defeat his adversaries when his powers are not sufficient enough.

Impressive!

Easier said than done, movie Spidey.

More Words That Should Exist In English

2011-04-14T09:12:00.000-04:00

Last year, I posted a couple of words that exist in other languages that could help make American English more concise. Reader's Digest did something similar last month!

Here are some of my favorites from their article:

Iktsuarpok, Inuit: To go outside to check if anyone is coming.

Jayus, Indonesian: A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.

Tartle, Scottish: The act of hesitating while introducing someone because you've forgotten his name.

Cafune, Brazillian Portuguese: The act of tenderly running one's fingers through someone's hair.

Tingo, Pascuense, Easter Island: The act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.

Love it. These will come in handy on Twitter! Must save characters whenever possible!

Rap Lyrics Explained 3

2011-04-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

Here's more from the book Understand Rap, Explanations of Confusing Rap Lyrics You & Your Grandma Can Understand.

This last explanation comes from the Puff Daddy & The Family song, "It's All About The Benjamins (Remix)":

My west coast shorty push the chrome 740

Meaning: "The female I associate with while I am spending time in California is driving a high-end BMW brand automobile, which I may have purchased for or loaned to her, and that has had a special coating applied to give it an extremely bright, silver, mirrorlike finish."

Want more? Click on the title to buy the book!

Rap Lyrics Explained 2

2011-04-12T10:50:00.003-04:00

Here's more from the book Understand Rap, Explanations of Confusing Rap Lyrics You & Your Grandma Can Understand.

This explanation comes from the Dr. Dre song, "Forgot About Dre":

I was strapped wit' gats when you were cuddling a Cabbage Patch

Meaning: "When you were still a child and had no concerns other than playing with dolls in the comfort and safety of your home, I was carrying guns around to defend myself in my dangerous urban neighborhood."

Want more? Click on the title to buy the book!

Rap Lyrics Explained 1

2011-04-11T20:40:00.006-04:00

My cousin always used to translate rap songs for me into layman's terms, so I was delighted when she got me the book Understand Rap, Explanations of Confusing Rap Lyrics You & Your Grandma Can Understand. I thought I would take the next couple of days to enlighten you with the info I got from this great book!

Today's explanation comes from the Fabolous song, "Throw It In The Bag":

Bag full of chips -- we ain't talkin' Ruffles

Meaning: "I have a bag that contains a large amount of paper money that I am describing by using a term that stems from the circular disks casinos use as in-house currency, clarifying that it is not a particular brand of thin crinkle-cut potato slices that you may have thought I was referring to."

Consider yourself that much more informed. :)

The Kings Of Leon Brothers

2011-04-08T10:26:00.000-04:00

I had to look up the writers/performers of the Kings of Leon song "Use Somebody" for work, and was surprised to see that they all had the same last name. Sure enough, the 4 members of the band contain 3 brothers and their cousin; all members of the talented Followill family.

(Side note: they all go by their middle names and not their first!)

They don't give off the typical pop family-band image, but they could have been one marketing decision away from being one!

So close, yet so far away.

Why Doesn't Hello Kitty Have A Mouth?

2011-04-07T09:06:00.000-04:00

According to sanrio.com (the company who makes Hello Kitty products):

Why doesn't Hello Kitty have a mouth?
Hello Kitty speaks from her heart. She’s Sanrio's ambassador to the world and isn't bound to any particular language.

But according to the host of the late-night QVC show I watched recently, there's an additional reason as well! The host said that Hello Kitty is more relatable to people when she isn't showing a set emotion. Without a mouth, she can appear to be feeling however the person playing with her is feeling.

I can see that. Imagine an emotion and look at Hello Kitty - she could be feeling that way, too.

Clever. :)

What Does "Bimonthly" Mean?

2011-04-06T13:46:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, it sounds like a simple question... but I've heard it used to describe "twice per month" and "every other month". That can be a big difference!

Well, according to Merriam-Webster.com:

Bimonthly, adj:
1. occurring every two months
2. occurring twice a month

No wonder I'm confused when I hear something happens "bimonthly"! I guess you're supposed to tell the meaning by the context? The same goes for biweekly, biannually, etc.

As far as I can see, the word originally (1846) was supposed to mean "occurring every two months", hence the prefix "bi" (meaning "two, twice, double," etc.). I imagine that at some point people got confused when they heard "twice monthly" and started using it to mean twice per month, too. And you know how the English language works - enough people use a word (even if it's wrong) and that defines it.

In case you want to be "more" correct, you can try these alternatives for twice per month:

Semimonthly

Fortnightly (since a "fortnight" is 14 days)

French Military Victories

2011-04-05T21:17:00.001-04:00

This isn't so much "information" I learned; it's more something kind of funny I learned.

If you google search the phrase "French Military Victories" and click "I Feel Lucky", this is what you'll get:

That's a bit of a low-blow, but I guess history speaks for itself... :)

Good Thing Times Have Changed...!

2011-04-04T22:54:00.000-04:00

Via Reader's Digest:

"In 19th-century Japan and China, 'talks too much' was one of seven reasons for which a man could divorce his wife"

From The Art of Marriage: A Guide to Living Life as Two by Catherine Blyth

Eeeek. What were the other 6 reasons, I wonder?

Television Ads Will Have To Keep Quiet!

2011-03-15T13:05:00.002-04:00

News from last month's Reader's Digest:

Muffle those TV ads: it's the law
The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act was passed by the House and Senate, but the FCC will have a year to mull over regulations another year to enforce them.

What's it mean? It appears that within the next two years, television commercials won't be allowed to blast at a higher volume than the television show itself.

My ears are pretty stoked!

Why Do Things Cost "An Arm And A Leg"?

2011-02-18T11:39:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately the origins of this idiom aren't super clear. What we do know is that people say an object will "cost an arm and a leg" to imply it's very expensive, and that the phrase likely originated in America around the 1930's, and started being used in print in the 1950s.

Other than that, here are some guesses as to its origin:

1. Painters would base their portrait-prices on how many limbs needed to be painted, and would charge extra for arms and legs.

2. Many soldiers who fought in World War I lost limbs, making life extremely difficult (and therefore costly).

3. Early 20th-century factories were very dangerous, but the jobs were worth it, even if a worker lost a leg or an arm in the process, because the work would make money.

4. Some gruesome forms of capital punishment were used for a period of history, where someone by law could get their arm cut off for stealing, have their legs crushed, etc. So the criminal act could literally cost a person a limb.

5. It's an extension of the phrase "to give one's right arm for". Since that's usually the dominant stronger arm, if the speaker is willing to sacrifice it, the object in question must be very valuable.

6. It came from the phrase "if it costs a leg!" used by desperadoes seeking revenge or criminals involved in illegal activity. It would be worth it for them to do these acts even if it "cost them a leg" along the way.

7. It came from the army phrase "to chance one's arm", used to describe a risky situation that could come with great reward. In this scenario, the "arm" the soldier would lose upon failing would be a rank, and thus a stripe from his arm's sleeve.

Anything I missed?

[source 1, source 2, source 3, picture]

Founder vs. Flounder

2011-02-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

Did you know that some people who say the verb "flounder" actually mean "founder"?

This kind of thing always blows my mind. After I used flounder incorrectly at work, one of my bosses showed me the following entry in a book, 100 Words Almost Everyone Mixes Up or Mangles, that she purchased for me a few months ago. :)

Flounder, verb:
1. To move clumsily or with little progress, as through water or mud.
2. To act or function in a confused or directionless manner; struggle.

Founder, verb:
1. To sink below the surface of the water.
2. To cave in, sink.
3. To fail utterly, collapse.

Example:
"If a student is foundering in Chemistry 101, he had better drop the course; if he is floundering, he may yet pull through."

Since I didn't know that founder the verb existed until now, I definitely have been using flounder for all of those meanings!

Think about this: if a person flounders in the water, that person will likely founder at times.

Crazy.

Trademarks, Copyrights, & Patents

2011-02-16T11:47:00.001-05:00

Do you know what the difference is between these things?

As my former student Andrew pointed out, I have no real idea. :) So let's learn!

According to him:

Copyrights are for protecting an artists' creative works.
ie. J.K. Rowling has the copyright to the Harry Potter series.

Trademarks are for protecting the names and identifying marks used in commercial activity.
ie. The Target Corporation owns the trademark for its bulls-eye-target icon.

Patents are for scientific inventions, including machines, drugs, and the like.
ie. Apple has the patent for the iPod (and lucky them!).

Trademarks and copyrights don't need to be registered, though you get extra enforcement rights if you do register them. Patents have to go through the United States Patent & Trademark Office, and they have reviewers who look at applications and check to see whether the invention is actually new enough for a patent.

I could look all of this stuff up for you to name a source, but I believe Andrew! Thanks!

Sleepy Words

2011-02-15T10:45:00.000-05:00

I can always count on Reader's Digest to teach me things!

Here are some sleep-related words and their meanings that you can throw around during this hibernation season:

Somniloquist, noun: sleep talker

Hypnopompic, adj: prewaking

Torpor, noun: state of sluggishness

Quiescent, adj: at rest

Bruxism, noun: teeth grinding

Soporific, adj: sleep-inducing

Did you know there were words for all these things? Feel free to use them to impress your friends. For example:

"Danny's wife's bruxism often woke him throughout the night, so he found himself in a torpor most days. If that wasn't enough, she was also a somniloquist in her hypnopompic state! Danny loved his wife, but he cherished Sunday afternoons when he could read a boring soporific book and finally be quiescent napping on the couch."

See? You probably wouldn't have understood that story at all 24 hours ago. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

Some people say that Valentine's Day was created by the greeting-card companies just to make a profit. Is it true? Where did Valentine's Day come from?

It actually has Catholic religious origins, dating back to 496 AD, when Pope Gelasius I established the day to commemorate the martyr Valentine (although the Feast of Saint Valentine was removed from the General Roman Calendar by Pope Paul VI in 1969). Based on the earliest historic records, Valentine was martyred for trying to convert Roman Emperor Claudius II to Christianity.

Okay. Not very romantic yet.

Folklore has claimed that instead Valentine spent his life in jail for protesting Claudius's law prohibiting military men to marry. Further, legend states that Valentine wrote the first "Valentine's Day card" to the jailer's daughter, whom he loved. However, there is no historical proof of these stories.

So, minus the folklore, how could the jump from martyr to romance happen?

Some people say that it has to do with associating St. Valentine with "sacrificial" love (for God), which just became love in general, then "romantic" love.

Others say that the original February holiday of St. Valentine got mixed together with the Ancient Roman Lupercalia Festival of fertility.

Others associate the origins with George Chaucer's 1382's Parlement of Foules, which contains the line, "For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate".

... and on and on...

Regardless, Valentine's Day poetry and letters appear to have long-standing tradition in Europe and the United States. As early as 1797, British publishers were banking on helping people express their Valentine's Day love on paper.

To get back to the original question, though, I doubt that there were greeting-card companies in the 14th century (or earlier) when this all began, but someone decided to make this holiday what it is now! And the reasons seem to have nothing to do with St. Valentine himself. So I don't believe that a company began this holiday, although the greeting-card companies are certainly taking advantage of it (rightly so! good economics!).

Either way, hope you all have a love-filled day!

[source]

How Much Does Money Cost To Make?

2011-01-27T11:04:00.001-05:00

The raw materials and production of bills and coins aren't free, of course. Here's what the US Mint and Bureau of Engraving & Printing spend to make our money:

$0.30: Sacagawea dollar coin

$0.11: $100 bill, quarter

$0.09: $50 bill, $20 bill

$0.08: $10 bill, $5 bill

$0.06: dime, nickel*

$0.05: $1 bill

1.5 cents: penny*

*these prices fluctuate slightly based on copper prices

So it seems like the government could save money by buying pennies instead of making them! I'll sell mine for the cheap price of 1.25 cents each. :)

Along those lines, did you know that all pennies made after 1983 are not primarily copper? They are actually 97.5% zinc with a copper coating. This is due to the rising cost of copper throughout the years.

You might be more trouble than you're worth, pennies!

[sources: Newsweek & about.com]

What Are The "Dog Days"?

2011-01-26T23:40:00.004-05:00

Straight from Reader's Digest:

A time of celebration for sure, the winter solstice may also leave you longing for those "dog days" of summer -- the period between early July and early September when Sirius, aka the Dog Star, rises and falls with the sun (and temperatures follow suit). The term dies caniculares ("dog days") was coined in the 1500s.

Now when I look outside on a morning snowstorm and yearn for the dog days of summer, I'll actually know what I'm wishing for!

(And, as a bonus, I'll know what "Sirius" is; not only the Dog Star, but also the brightest in the night sky!)

Shine on, you old dog.

[photo via wikipedia]

What Historic Place On The National Register Moves?

2011-01-25T22:25:00.000-05:00

What is the United States National Register of Historic Places anyway?

In 1966, the National Historic Preservation Act established the National Register as "the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation... These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, and some National Monuments."

So you wouldn't think that things in the National Register of Historic Places would move, but some objects do. "Objects" can include things such as monuments, sculptures, and fountains. But, aside from objects that move in place (like docked historic ships) or can be moved (like highway markers) there is one thing on the Register that moves independently throughout a town on a daily basis.

Any guesses on what it could be?

Answer: The San Francisco Cable Car System

Oddly enough, it is officially considered a "Structure". It's the only transportation system on the Register, added in 1966. That's pretty impressive, considering that there are over 85,000 places registered!

Congratulations on 134 years of making history!

[source 1, source 2]

Types Of Government Explained...

2011-01-18T22:33:00.003-05:00

... simply and with a lot of cheesy graphics. This defines American government looking through the eyes of the founding fathers.

I imagine this - as most political things are - is probably biased, but it still contains some good information!

Christmas Factoid 3: Santa's Reindeer

2010-12-24T18:13:00.001-05:00

Male reindeer shed their antlers at the beginning of winter. Therefore, it appears that all of Santa's reindeer (as traditionally depicted) are female!

I guess with names like Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, etc., that shouldn't be too surprising. :)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

[source]

Christmas Factoid 2: Ornaments

2010-12-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

This comes to you from The Detroit Free Press:

The earliest Christmas tree ornaments were fruit and nuts, in the early 1800s. These ornaments, and the evergreen trees that they adorned, represented "the certainty that life would return again in the spring".

My goodness I hope spring is returning. :)

Christmas Factoid 1: Santa's Looks

2010-12-22T13:45:00.002-05:00

Q. Who was the first to clothe Santa in (what we now consider) the traditional red coat with a white fur collar?

A. The Coca-Cola Company first displayed the jolly bearded red-and-white Santa in 1931.

To get more on the story (including how Santa was depicted before!), click here!

Never underestimate the power of advertising!

Cooties!

2010-12-17T10:00:00.002-05:00

I don't know about all of you, but I always assumed that a "cootie" was just a vague imaginary disease that kids use to alienate each other. Not so!

Cooties are actual things, defined as "body louses", which are small insects that are usually parasitic.

It was a general term that began in World War I (circa 1917) to describe any number of vermin (lice, fleas, etc) that a soldier could pick up living in the trenches. The word is thought to have come from the Austronesian word "kutu", which means "lice". Soldiers who traveled to Polynesia, the Philippines, or Malaya could have brought the word back west.

Kids picked up the term later for fun.

That information certainly makes this game from my childhood more logical. :)

Aw, they look so happy!

Bonus fun fact: One early 20th Century treatment for cooties was a pickle-juice-solution bath! Maybe it would also work for this bedbug outbreak? Anyone want to try it?

[source]

Pirates & Theater

2010-12-16T19:36:00.003-05:00

... apparently don't mix well!

I recently visited the "Real Pirates" exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural History. It follows the early-1700s shipwrecked Whydah and its crew. It's very impressive - I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

One of the Whydah stories I read was particularly ridiculous, so I decided to share it with you. It was listed as a side note on a "Life on Board a Pirate Ship" banner.

One-Act Plays -- Pirate Style

Pirates even performed plays on ships. The Whydah crew staged a play about a mock pirate trial called The Royal Pirate. A group of crewmembers, the worse for drink, missed the first act. They stumbled in -- clueless that a play was being performed -- just as one of the actors was being sentenced to death for piracy.

Outraged, they leapt to his defense, throwing hand grenades and drawing their cutlasses, breaking the actor's leg, taking the arm off the playwright, and killing a member of the audience.

!!! It really made me appreciate all of the performances that I've been to that haven't involved any unplanned violence!

But I guess what else should we expect from drunken pirates?

What Does STAT Stand For?

2010-12-15T16:51:00.002-05:00

Actually, it doesn't "stand for" anything. Believe it or not, it's not an acronym!

According to Merriam-Webster.com:

Stat, adverb: without delay : IMMEDIATELY

from stat, an abbreviation for the Latin statim, meaning "at once"

Despite most people capitalizing "stat", which makes it look like an acronym (maybe someone started capitalizing it for emphasis?), it's just a regular old lower-case word.

Tell all your friends STAT! ;)

What Does "Karaoke" Mean?

2010-12-14T10:15:00.002-05:00

I love going to random dive-bars and singing to pre-recorded music in front of a bunch of strangers in the middle of the night. Even though I spend a lot of time at karaoke, I have never really thought of what the word itself means.

But it has for-real origins: it's a blending of Japanese kara "empty" and ōkesutora "orchestra".

Here is also a brief history of karaoke, while we're on the subject:

It's said that karaoke was invented by a musician named Daisuke Inoue in 1971. At parties in Japan around that time, the hosts usually provided some sort of live entertainment for their guests. After he was asked to play music at a bunch of parties so the guests could sing along, he realized there was a market for a machine that could do what he was doing. He loaned his machine ("karaoke box") to people, and they would pay 100-yen per song (the equivalent of a nice dinner). It caught on in Asia.

Since Inoue never patented his invention, a Filipino man named Roberto del Rosario got the patent to the karaoke machine in 1983. He called his machine the "Minus-One" and it used cassette tapes. Filipinos had been immigrating to Japan to become entertainers since the 1960s, and the karaoke machine helped them save a ton of money when they traveled to perform. Plus it was fun for non-entertainers alike.

When the karaoke machines didn't catch on in the United States and Canada in the 1980s, developers turned them into home entertainment stereo systems, with karaoke as a small side feature.

In the 1990s, karaoke became something that American bars offered its patrons. With that, the affordability of small karaoke machines, and the explosion of karaoke home video games (Karaoke Revolution, Rock Band, etc), karaoke has continued to grow in popularity.

Karaoke's come a long way!

Karaoke Studio for Nintendo, 1987

1990's Karaoke Machine

Karaoke Revolution for PlayStation 2, 2003

Thank goodness for karaoke. Seriously.

[source]

Food Facts

2010-12-13T12:41:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you learn things just from reading the kiddie menu at a restaurant. These "fun facts" come to you via Monical's Pizza Restaurant:

1. In 1990, Bill Carson of Arrington, TN, grew the largest watermelon at 262 pounds.

2. In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs 200 times more than a pound of potatoes.

3. Honey is the only edible food for humans that will never go bad.

4. An apple is made of 25% air, which is why it floats.

5. Chewing gum while cutting onions can help a person not produce tears.

6. Strawberries have more vitamin C than oranges.

7. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley chewing gum!

Thanks, Monical's!

Happy Birthday Dr Pepper!

2010-12-01T20:12:00.005-05:00

Today marks the 125th birthday of my favorite soda-pop, Dr Pepper!

Here are some fun facts:

Charles Alderton, the inventor, first served the drink to the owner of Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas. Customers soon caught wind of the tasty drink and started ordering "Waco"s.
Early on, Dr Pepper was marketed as an energy booster and brain tonic (I know it works like that for me!).
Dr Pepper is the oldest major soft drink brand still in existence (a year older than Coca-Cola).
Some interesting Dr Pepper US slogans have been: "King of Beverages" (1889-1914), "America's Most Misunderstood Soft Drink" (1960s), "The Most Original Soft Drink Ever" (1970s), "Dr Pepper, It Makes The World Taste Better" (2000).
Since 2002, Dr Pepper has been advertised in Europe with the tagline, "Solves All Your Problems!" (I can't argue that!).
It has been long rumored that one of the ingredients in Dr Pepper is prune juice, but the Dr Pepper Snapple Group claims that's just an urban legend.
There is a Dr Pepper museum in Waco, Texas, complete with 3 floors of exhibits!
Apparently, there is a huge group of people who love to drink their Dr Pepper hot.

I wish I could list out the unique blend of 23 flavors that Dr Pepper consists of, but I suppose that's proprietary (and don't read the label, it only says vaguely "natural and artificial flavors"). When I drink it next time, I'll try to figure out each one by taste. :) In the meantime, if you want to read about one writer's experience guessing, click here.

Yay for Dr Pepper!

[Sources: Wikipedia & DrPepper.com]

America's Thanksgiving Parade

2010-11-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Everyone knows about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan, but did you know about another fantastic parade that happens in Detroit, too? I've spent many Thanksgiving mornings experiencing it live, but this year I decided to learn some things about it instead, while watching the coverage on TV (it's really cold!).

Here's a brief highlight of its history via the Walter P. Reuther Library blog:

This Thanksgiving marks the 84th anniversary of a Detroit favorite now known as America’s Thanksgiving Parade. The parade was started in 1924 by Charles Wendel, the display manager of the J.L. Hudson Company department store on Woodward Avenue. Along with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, which was founded the same year, Hudson’s Thanksgiving parade was one of the first of its kind in the United States.
Inspired in part by European carnivals, the parade featured large papier-mâché heads imported from Italy, floats depicting nursery rhymes, and bands marching down Woodward Avenue. Since his first appearance in 1925, Santa Claus has remained a staple of the parade.
...The Michigan Thanksgiving Parade Foundation was established in 1982 to support the parade, which is now managed by The Parade Company.

The Parade Company creates all of the floats and balloons from scratch! It's a year-long process for the staff and 1500 volunteers (plus another 3000 volunteers the week of), culminating in a spectacular 2-hour 1.5-mile walk down Woodward Avenue.

Thanks, Detroit, for brightening our Thanksgiving mornings for 84 years!

[images via Virtual Motor City & The Parade Company]

Pumpkin Pie!

2010-11-24T16:22:00.001-05:00

I found out a random series of facts via my friend Mike, which he heard via the "Pumpkin Pie" episode of Good Eats:

Here's Mike's direct quote:

Pumpkins are a great source of Beta Carotene. Beta Carotene is what your body turns to Vitamin A. Speaking of Vitamin A, a polar bear's liver has enough Vitamin A to kill youuuu.

So there you go. :) Thanks Mike!

Shiv vs. Shank

2010-11-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

As my friend Seth proposed via twitter, what's the difference between a shiv and a shank?

And I am here with answers for you all! There is a subtle difference:

Shiv, n: a slang term for something that can be used as knife.

Shank, n: a slang term for a knife that's typically made from something else. A shank can be considered a type of shiv.

So bottom line is that they are both types of homemade knives. A shiv, though, is usually made from something already sharp, like it can be a razor blade attached to the handle of a toothbrush. A shank, however, would be the end of a toothbrush handle meticulously filed down to a sharp point. Make sense?

Hope that helps. :)

Have Lots of Errands?

2010-11-22T11:51:00.001-05:00

Reader's Digest suggested this website to help save time and gasoline when running around town:

Route4me.com lets you type in up to ten errands and their associated addresses. The website will calculate the optimal route, with driving directions.

Worth a try, I'd say! It could also be helpful for party-hopping. :)

Highest-Rated Televised Sporting Events

2010-11-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

I learned something new at a trivia night yesterday!

In a listing of the Top 20 Most-Watched Sporting Events on Television in the United States, 19 are Super Bowls. But coming in at #4 is the 1994 Olympic Women's Figure Skating Competition. Do you remember why? Maybe these two will jog your memory:

Ah, yes.

Pearl Jam's "Ten"

2010-11-18T12:19:00.005-05:00

Why does the band Pearl Jam have a 1991 album named Ten when there are 11 tracks on it?

Well, the members were big fans of the basketball player Mookie Blaylock, so much so in fact that they wanted to name the album after him. They had some intellectual property rights issues in doing that, so they decided just to name the album after his jersey number, 10.

Thanks to my friend Eli for the random trivia!

How Old Was The Cast Of "Grease"?

2010-11-12T09:21:00.001-05:00

I caught a little bit of the 1978 musical-movie Grease on television the other day. It's about a bunch of seniors in high school in 1950s California. Since I work with teenagers in my real life, I was surprised at how mature everyone in the cast looked! If you, like I, have ever wondered how old they all were when the movie came out, wonder no more!

In 1978...

T-Birds
Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) was 28
Barry Pearl (Doody) was 28
Michael Tucci (Sonny) was 32
Kelly Ward (Putzie) was 22

Pink Ladies
Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 34
Didi Conn (Frenchie) was 27
Jaime Donnelly (Jan) was 31
Dinah Manoff (Marty) was 20

Scorpions
Dennis Steward (Leo) was 31
Annette Charles (Cha Cha) was 30

John Travolta (Danny) was 24
Olivia Newton-John (Sandy) was 30

A little far from typical 17-18 year-old seniors in high school. Although, it's not unusual for Hollywood to cast young adults as teenagers (I would imagine it'd be hard to find the talent that young?), but it seems like 1978 standards were a little looser than 2010!

Take, for example, a sampling of the cast of the 2008's High School Musical 3: Senior Year:

In 2008...

Zac Efron (Troy) was 21
Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella) was 20

Lucas Gabreel (Ryan) was 24
Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay) was 23

Corbin Bleu (Chad) was 19
Monique Coleman (Taylor) was 28

I guess the talent's getting younger? Or it could have just been a directorial choice to have such "adult" looking high schoolers for Grease, I suppose!

The Definition of "Peruse"

2010-11-11T18:28:00.007-05:00

I read this today on comedian Steve Martin's twitter feed (@SteveMartinToGo). Thursday is his "Get It Right Friday" day. :)

Hey, it’s get it right Friday! Did you know the first definition of the word “peruse” is “to look through carefully” and not “to browse”?

I thought that was pretty crazy, since I (believe I) have only heard people use the word "peruse" when they meant "skim". So I looked it up in the dictionary (not that I don't trust Steve Martin, but...), and it gave several definitions (note Steve was right about the first one):

Peruse (verb):
1
a : to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study
b : to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner
2

: read; especially to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner

It means either reading over "attentively" OR "leisurely". It's interesting when a word can mean its own opposite!

At some point someone must have decided that "peruse" was more about "reading" and not-so-much about how you do it!

Why Americans' Steering Wheels Are On The Left

2010-11-09T11:16:00.000-05:00

I just read in an old copy of "Invention & Technology" magazine (Winter 2009) about Henry Ford's Model T car turning 100 years old.

The article produced the following claim:

"Ford relocated the steering wheel from the right to the left side on the Model T, a custom followed by other car makers, in part, so that women might more easily access the curb from the car..."

Of course, this is under the assumption that the women would be passengers, and would therefore keep them safer (out of traffic) and cleaner (out of the muddy street) by allowing them to get into and out of the car on the curb.

Who could have ever thought women would be ever be driving cars? :)

Also, though, a 1909 Ford brochure explained that putting the driver on the left would help see oncoming traffic clearer (since they would be closer), and help them judge distances when passing or making left-turns. So it wasn't all about the ladies.

Why we drive on the right in the first place is another question I'll get to when I learn it! But I thought you might like to know some of the justification for why you hop in the left side of your car everyday to drive.

Sound Facts

2010-11-08T10:48:00.000-05:00

I've been reading this book called "In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise" by George Prochnik. It's packed with information about how sound's purposes have changed throughout the centuries and such. It's pretty fascinating, actually.

I thought I'd give you a little sample of some of the many things I've learned so far.

- "Noise" originates from the word "nausea", probably from the "seasickness" feeling that one gets when overwhelmed with and disoriented by clamor. (pg. 88)

- We are biologically programmed to associate danger with a lower, rougher sounds. Coincidentally, when people smile, the shape of their mouths changes in such a way that naturally makes their voices a bit higher. Therefore, both the look of the smile and the sound of the smiling person's voice can help you feel at ease. (pg. 74)

- Typically, male species of animals call out to their females in as low of a tone as they can, in order to prove their masculinity. However, certain types of frogs in urban areas have had to change their calls to be much higher just so the female frogs can hear them over the sounds of traffic! (pg. 73)

Like I said, there is a ton of information in this book, so I can only give so much here. But if you've ever wondered about meditation, noise-cancelling devices, why people love listening to loud music, how to achieve perfect silence, or any number of other things, I'd recommend checking this book out!

What Is Food Coloring Made Of?

2010-09-24T09:42:00.004-04:00

Colorful Foods Day 5

Q. What is natural food coloring made of?

A. Well...

Red: Cochineal beetles, Beets, Paprika

Orange: Achiote blossom seeds

Yellow: Saffron stems & flowers

Green: Chlorophyll from algae, Pandan plant

Blue: Elderberry juice, Butterfly pea flowers

Brown: Caramelized sugar

Yum. :) Although most of the common things we eat are made from artificial food coloring... which is a subject for some other day!

[source]

Red Wine From Purple Grapes?

2010-09-23T18:27:00.001-04:00

Colorful Foods Day 4

Q. Why do the same color grapes produce red wine but purple grape juice?

A. Yes, both are made with a combination of red, purple, and black grapes, but...

As I understand it, for red wine, the grape skins, stems, and seeds are all used. In the skins and seeds of red grapes are compounds called Tannins, which release a red color during the fermenting process. Tannins can also be released from the barrels used to store the aging wine, which can add a bit more redness, too.

Grape juice, however, is mashed and strained, and therefore contains mostly just the juice. Without the extra tannins from the skins, etc, and the barrels, the color ends up more as a blending of the natural grape-color. Plus, most commercial grape juice is made from Concord grapes, which tend to be more bluish-purple in color anyway.

That's my best guess at least. :) I have a very limited wine knowledge, so if you know other reasons, please comment!

[source]

What Makes Dirty Rice Brown?

2010-09-22T08:15:00.000-04:00

Colorful Foods Day 3

Q. What makes the traditional Cajun side "Dirty Rice" brown?

A. Chicken liver and giblets.

Think I was going to say some sort of spice? :) That's what I thought! The rice starts as white rice, but after it's cooked with some small pieces of chicken liver and giblets, it becomes its more distinctive "dirty" color.

[source]

Why Is Red Velvet Cake Red?

2010-09-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

Colorful Foods Day 2

A. What makes Red Velvet Cake red?

B. Food coloring and sometimes beetroot.

Originally, some of the reddish color may have occurred naturally. One of the ingredients in the cake is cocoa. Cocoa possesses a natural pigment called Anthocyanin, which can appear red or purplish. In early red velvet cake recipes, before the cocoa was more thoroughly pre-processed, bakers may have seen the red pigment come out when mixed with vinegar, baking soda, or buttermilk (again because of chemical reactions). Regardless, most ended up adding some sort of food coloring anyway!

[source]

What Makes Pumpernickel Bread Brown?

2010-09-20T09:13:00.002-04:00

This week is dedicated to the unusual colors of common foods. For some reason, it's been coming up randomly a lot recently in my life!

Colorful Foods Day 1

Q. What makes American pumpernickel bread dark brown?

A. Molasses, cocoa powder, coffee, and possibly food coloring

The original German pumpernickel bread got its rich chocolaty-coffee flavor and color from a chemical reaction between the amino acids and sugars in the dough while the bread baked for an exceedingly long time (16-24 hours).

Americans changed the recipe for economic reasons, in case you were wondering. :)

[source]

How Well Can People Pay Attention?

2010-09-17T18:55:00.001-04:00

There was a really cool bit on NPR's Science Friday this afternoon evaluating how aware humans are while focusing on a specific task. The conclusions are pretty fascinating!

The following videos were part of a study from Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, testing how well people can pay attention. Try it out!

How did you do? Were you surprised by the result?

Now try this test:

Tricky, huh? It kind of made me wonder if things like talking on the cellphone while driving should be illegal!

To listen to the entire segment from Science Friday, you can find the podcast here.

Pepsi Slogans

2010-07-28T19:34:00.002-04:00

I randomly had to look up old Pepsi slogans for a project the other day. Even though I am a Coca-Cola person myself, I thought they were kind of fun!

1939–1950: "Twice as Much for a Nickel"

1950: "More Bounce to the Ounce"

1950–1957: "Any Weather is Pepsi Weather"

1957–1958: "Say Pepsi, Please"

1958–1961: "Be Sociable, Have a Pepsi"

1961-1963: "Now It's Pepsi for Those Who Think Young"

1963–1967: "Come Alive, You're in the Pepsi Generation"

1967–1969: "(Taste that beats the others cold) Pepsi Pours It On"

1969–1975: "You've Got a Lot to Live, and Pepsi's Got a Lot to Give"

1975–1977: "Have a Pepsi Day"

1977–1980: "Join the Pepsi People (Feeling Free)"

1980–1981: "Catch That Pepsi Spirit"

1981–1983: "Pepsi's Got Your Taste For Life"

1983: "It's Cheaper Than Coke!"

1983–1984: "Pepsi Now! Take the Challenge!"

1984–1991: "Pepsi. The Choice of a New Generation"

1986–1987: "We've Got The Taste"

1987–1990: "Pepsi's Cool"

1990–1991: "You got the right one Baby UH HUH"

1991–1992: "Gotta Have It"/"Chill Out"

1992–1993: "Be Young, Have Fun, Drink Pepsi"

1994–1995: "Double Dutch Bus"

1995: "Nothing Else is a Pepsi"

1995–1996: "Drink Pepsi. Get Stuff"

1997–1998: "Generation Next"

1998–1999: "It's The Cola"

1999–2000: "For Those Who Think Young"/"The Joy of Pepsi-Cola"

2003: "It's the Cola"/"Dare for More"

2006–2007: "Taste the One That's Forever Young"

2008: "Рepsi is #1"

2008–present: "Something for Everyone."

2009–present: "Refresh Everything"

2010–present: "Every Pepsi Refreshes the World."

(I think 1983 was a bit of a stretch!)

[source: Wikipedia]

Cheerleading Ruled "Not A Sport"

2010-07-27T19:16:00.005-04:00

... by Federal Judge Stefan Underhill.

This all began when Quinnipiac University in Hamden Connecticut decided to cut their women's volleyball team due to budget issues. Under the 1972 federal law, Title IX, male and female college athletes have to be given equal opportunities. So Quinnipiac, in order to comply with Title IX, told the female volleyball players that competitive cheerleading would be an acceptable alternative. A lawsuit followed, and Judge Underhill found several places where the University wasn't adhering to Title IX, but what got the most headlines was his ruling on cheerleading as a Title IX sport.

From the New York Daily News:

Underhill wrote that "the University's competitive cheerleading team does not qualify as a varsity sport for the purposes of Title IX and, therefore, its members may not be counted as athletic participants under the statute."
Under Title IX, an activity can be considered a sport if it meets certain criteria, namely that it has coaches, practices, competitions during a defined season, a governing organization, and competition as its primary goal — not just the support of other athletic teams, reports The Associated Press.

Of course, hard-working competitive cheerleaders from all walks of life are disgusted with the ruling. But based on Title IX's criteria, even though cheerleaders do compete, it's not typically their primary purpose. So at the end of the day, the judge was correct in saying it's not a Title IX sport.

Maybe due to this ruling, more college squads will choose to just compete and not cheer on the sidelines? Guess we'll wait and see!

Having A Bad Day?

2010-07-26T20:21:00.001-04:00

Your mom may have told you once that "bad days" only happen because of your "bad attitude". As Steve Schwartz (via Lifehacker) discovered, psychology backs her up!

After he and his girlfriend had two bad days in a row, he did a little research and found:

1. Our brains process the gobs of information we receive by categorizing and drawing conclusions from them. As a result, we can draw the wrong conclusion from certain events. For example, I could drop a bowl of cereal in my lap first thing in the morning, and I can (falsely) conclude, "Oh, geez, this is a sign that I am going to have a bad day".

People tend to like to believe in "bad luck" so they don't have to feel like negative consequences are the result of their actions. The person becomes a "victim" of random cosmic events instead. In the cereal example, believing in bad luck takes away my responsibility in the mess (ie. maybe if I ate at the table instead of at the couch, it wouldn't have spilled so easily)!

Once a person "decides" that the day is "ruined" and it's out of his or her control, the day is much more likely to go badly, according to Schwartz.

2. People's expectations directly affect their reality. This is commonly known as the "placebo effect". In studies where patients were given a fake pain killer, for example, researchers found that "the brain regions that interpret pain actually show far less activity when subjects have lowered expectations for the pain they will experience."

This is a double whammy now - first you've given up control of your day to "bad fate" and then, since your expectations are so low, you're more likely to see and feel bad things happening, when otherwise the day might look quite average from any other point of view.

3. Knowing this, bad days can be nipped in the bud! Schwartz offers the following tips:

-- Reflect on the negative feeling you have right now. Is it stress? Anxiety? What caused it? Once you've labeled it, do not think about the feeling or events anymore. Move on and only refer back to the label if necessary. Matthew Lieberman, an associate professor at UCLA, has shown that the simple act of putting our feelings into a word or two can dramatically reduce the effect of those feelings.

-- Re-evaluate the situation or events that lead to this stress. Find some conceivable positive outcome. Figure out why [it happened], and you're left with a powerful experience from the school of hard knocks, which you can use to your advantage in the future.

-- Remember that the outcome of the previous minute is not indicative of the outcome of the next minute. Likewise, the last hour has no bearing on the next hour, and this morning is no indication of what this afternoon will bring.

For more details on the science behind these findings and how to reset your brain, read Steve's blog entry here.

Fresh Fruit & Flowers Don't Mix Well

2010-07-23T10:36:00.004-04:00

Cut flowers look so pretty in the summer next to a large bowl of fresh fruit on a patio table with brightly colored placemats!

Don't do it! I learned on the radio that putting flowers too close to fruit can cause them to wilt:

You should keep your flowers away from the fruit bowl. You can’t see it, but that fruit gives off ethylene gas, which will make the flowers deteriorate more quickly.

Also, you want to keep them out of the heat, so don't place them on a windowsill or next to the ol' television.

For more tips on keeping flowers fresher longer, click here.

The Benefits of Blemishes

2010-07-22T12:45:00.001-04:00

Prevention Magazine claims that acne might not be all bad:

Researchers from the UK's University of Bristol tracked about 10,000 male college students for 30 years or more and found that those who suffered from severe breakouts as young adults were a third less likely to die from coronary heart disease.

Androgens -- hormones involved in acne -- may help prevent the narrowing of arteries, says study author Bruna Galobardes, MD. The findings may lead to androgen-related therapies to prevent heart disease.

Oh, man, I hope this is true! :)

(side note: if they give people androgens to prevent heart disease, will the patients get pimples? maybe it'd be worth it?)

Brilliant Birds?

2010-07-21T13:00:00.000-04:00

Not just a pretty face!

My mom passed on some interesting information about parrots from USA Today. Apparently, not only are they good-looking, but they also have brains!

Excerpts from the article:

We all know that some birds can talk, but can they understand, too? Are they doing more than just "parroting" sounds? Harvard University research associate Irene Pepperberg has been studying those questions for nearly 30 years. The short answer: Yes.

Her African Grey parrot, Alex, can identify 100 different objects, seven colors, five shapes and quantities up to six and can understand concepts like bigger/smaller and absence.

The article put parrot-intelligence on par with that of great apes, whales, dolphins, and young children! The parrots researchers followed even had certain types of movies or television shows they preferred.

Not only that, but Pepperberg is convinced that parrots can consciously amuse themselves by tricking humans with their noises (such as imitating the phone and watching someone answer it)!

Nuts, huh?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2010-07-20T11:50:00.001-04:00

Ever wonder where that common casino phrase came from?

According to the Detroit Free Press:

"Winner winner chicken dinner" is occasionally yelled out on the casino floor to suggest a positive gambling result. Years ago, every casino in Las Vegas had a three-piece chicken dinner for $1.79. Your typical wager back then was $2, so if you won your bet, you had enough for a chicken dinner.

Prevent Jellyfish Stings

2010-07-19T21:40:00.002-04:00

For those of you lucky ones who get to live on or visit the ocean this summer, Lifehacker shared a really easy way to prevent jellyfish stings: pantyhose!

Apparently, some short stingers can't penetrate the tight weave of pantyhose. And other stingers are triggered by contact with skin, which can't happen with the pantyhose in the way.

Although I can't imagine most people adding nylon sleeves and such to their bathing suits, I bet this is particularly helpful to those who like to scuba dive or spend a lot of time observing ocean life. I mean, they are likely to wear a wet-suit anyway, right?

Lifehacker also included a helpful tip for if you do get stung: use a blowdryer on the hottest setting you can stand (without burning your skin) to dry out the stingers. After the heat is applied, you can scrap the stingers off with a razor.

In case you don't have a blowdryer handy at the beach or on your boat, I learned a quick way to ease the sting after I got stung myself: a spritz of vinegar. The local lifeguard had some on hand just for that purpose, and it worked beautifully. Whatever you do, the lifeguard said, don't rinse it with freshwater or it'll just irritate it more; you can rinse with salt water if you need to.

(Of course, seek a professional opinion about the kind of jellyfish you'll be swimming with - you want to seek immediate medical attention if the jellyfish sting could potentially be life-threatening!)

Safe swimming!

What An American Hopeful Should Know

2010-07-09T12:34:00.004-04:00

In the 4th and last of the Detroit Free Press's United States trivia entries, here are some facts about American government, history, and geography that may come up on the US Citizenship test.

Would you pass the test? :)

1. The Constitution sets up the government, defines the government, and protects the basic rights of Americans.

2. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution: "We the people".

3. The First Amendment outlines the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press, and petition of the government.

4. The Constitution has 27 amendments.

5. America uses a capitalist economy (market economy).

6. The "rule of law" is that everyone must follow the law; leaders must obey the law; government must obey the law; no one is above the law.

7. Some of the reasons that the colonists came to America were freedom, political liberty, religious freedom, economic opportunity, and to escape persecution.

8. The Constitution was written in 1787.

9. The US bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.

10. The US fought four wars in the 1800s: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.

11. There were several problems that led to the US Civil War, including slavery, economic reasons, and states' rights.

12. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the Confederacy.

13. Woodrow Wilson was president during World War I.

14. The two longest rivers in the US are the Mississippi River and the Missouri River.

15. The US flag has 13 stripes to represent the 13 original colonies.

Know all that? I don't know if I would pass a citizenship test, to be honest! Lucky for me I was born here!

Thanks Detroit Free Press for all your fun facts!

What An American College Student Should Know

2010-07-08T12:01:00.002-04:00

For part 3 of the Detroit Free Press's US History trivia entries, here is what the University of Michigan expects its "Introduction to American Government" students to know.

1. At the Constitutional Convention, the institution of slavery was opposed by some delegates but was preserved in order to maintain unity among the states.

2. Proposed amendments to the Constitution must be supported by a 2/3rds vote in both houses of Congress. Amendments are ratified by either 3/4ths of the state legislature or 3/4ths of state conventions.

3. The Constitution does not establish any political parties.

4. Some of the public goods provided by the government are national defense, development of a uniform standard of weights and measures, and building interstate highways.

5. Legislation can be killed at several points in the legislative process, including on the House or Senate floor, during the conference report, or during the hearings and committee markup stage.

6. The US has a lower voter turnout than Italy, Mexico, and Canada.

7. In November, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the US's first written constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.

8. Under the original version of the current US Constitution, the part of elected government designed to be directly responsible to the people is the House of Representatives.

9. Under the US Constitution, the sole power to originate revenue bills is vested in the House of Representatives.

10. Limiting government by dividing it into two levels -- national and state -- each with sufficient independence to compete with the other is called Federalism.

Would you have passed? One more set of US trivia tomorrow!

What An American High Schooler Should Know

2010-07-07T11:50:00.002-04:00

Today's entry is part two of the Detroit Free Press's US History trivia from Sunday. Here are the facts that the Detroit Public Schools expects its high schoolers to know about US Civics.

1. The best way for Americans to participate in government is to vote.

2. The main purposes of government are to maintain order, provide public services, and to provide national security.

3. The US government derives its power from the consent of the governed.

4. We use a system of checks and balances to prevent any branch of the government from having too much power.

5. The most important reason for having a limited form of government is to ensure government by public consent.

6. "Democracy" means a rule by the people.

7. The primary role of Congress is to write and enact laws.

8. Representative government is necessary in a democracy because we can't all get together in one place to discuss our problems.

9. Part of the reason the colonists declared independence from Britain on July 4th, 1776, was because they were seeking representation in government.

10. The three branches of the federal government are the executive, the judicial, and the legislative.

How are we doing so far? Pretty basic, right?

What An American 6th Grader Should Know

2010-07-06T13:33:00.005-04:00

The Detroit Free Press posted a lengthy quiz about US History in last Sunday's newspaper. In keeping with the Independence Day theme, I decided to share some of their facts with you this week.

Today's facts come from what the Detroit Public Schools expect their 6th graders to know. How many facts did YOU know?

1. Thomas Jefferson helped lead the colonists to revolution by writing the Declaration of Independence (we learned that yesterday!).

2. The role of a constitution in democracy is to guide the government and list guaranteed rights of citizens.

3. In settling conflict, the principal listens to all students' point of view. The principal is protecting the students' constitutional right of Freedom of Speech.

4. People may help make or change laws by expressing their opinions to elected officials, voting, and circulating petitions (among other things).

5. One of the ways that a person may become a US citizen is to be born in the US or its territories.

6. US citizens have the right to vote, to hold elected office, to practice one's own religion, and to have a fair trial (among other things).

7. US citizens have the duty to obey laws, defend the nation, and pay taxes (among other things).

8. The colonists wanted to separate from Britain because they believed that all men are created equal, all men have some rights given to them by God, and all men have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

9. The framers of the Constitution wanted a representative government to limit its control.

10. The judicial branch of the US government protects the rights of citizens by creating laws.

Are you smarter than a 6th grader? :)

Fourth of July Trivia

2010-07-05T22:40:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday, America!

I went to Trivia Night at a local Bar & Grill tonight and discovered that I don't know much about American history. :) Here are some of the fun facts about July 4th that I just learned:

- One US President was born on July 4th:

Calvin Coolidge, 1872

- Three US Presidents passed away on July 4th:

John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, 1826

James Monroe, 1831

- The Declaration of Independence was...

... written primarily by Thomas Jefferson.

... the formal explanation of what the Continental Congress voted on on July 2, 1776 (to declare the colonies' independence from Great Britain).

... adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

... first read to the colonists on July 8, 1776, in Philadelphia's Independence Square.

... eventually signed by 56 delegates, 2 of which would later become US Presidents.

- Fireworks were used to celebrate the 4th of July during the first observance in 1777.

- Independence Day wasn't a federal holiday until 1938.

Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

Naps Help Improve Your Memory

2010-06-18T09:33:00.002-04:00

EurekAlert has posted a study that states that naps can dramatically improve your memory retention, particularly when trying to recall something you learned earlier that day.

Here's the Lifehacker summary:

"At noon, all the participants [39 healthy, young adults] were subjected to a rigorous learning task intended to tax the hippocampus, a region of the brain that helps store fact-based memories. Both groups performed at comparable levels.
At 2 p.m., the nap group took a 90-minute siesta while the no-nap group stayed awake. Later that day, at 6 p.m., participants performed a new round of learning exercises. Those who remained awake throughout the day became worse at learning. In contrast, those who napped did markedly better and actually improved in their capacity to learn."
This study suggests that if you're trying to cram in facts you need to recall later, a same-day nap before your last-minute cram might be more helpful than powering through your day with nervous energy.

Here's yet another reason why you should consider incorporating a "siesta" into your day!

Laverne & Shirley Theme Song Meaning

2010-06-17T22:01:00.003-04:00

Classic!

Those of us who watched television or reruns in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s probably are all familiar with the "Laverne & Shirley" show's theme song:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

Schlemiel! Schlemazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

We're gonna do it!

But what on earth does it mean?

Maybe the definitions will help:

Schlemiel: n, an unlucky burglar; chump; clumsy person (Yiddish)

Schlemazel: n, a very unlucky or inept person who fails at everything (Yiddish)

Hasenpfefffer: n, a highly seasoned stew made out of marinated rabbit meat (German)

Maybe the only ones who would try to start a rabbit stew company would be a couple of inept people?

Actually, the first two lines of the theme song are said to be from a Yiddish-American children's hopscotch chant. As we know from our childhood playground chants (One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, et al.), sometimes they are just nonsense. This one in particular, though, is reported to be one that Penny Marshall (who played Laverne) used to chant on her walk to school as a kid.

That's my best answer. :) At the very least we learned what the meaning of the words are!

(via m-w.com, thefreedictionary.com, and reference.com)

Why Do We Celebrate Flag Day?

2010-06-14T22:14:00.007-04:00

Happy Flag Day everyone!

Why do we set aside an entire day just for the American flag?

On June 14th of 1777, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress passed a resolution specifying that the flag carry 13 stripes and 13 stars. The colors would represent hardiness and valor (red), purity and innocence (white), and vigilance, perseverance and justice (blue).

The concept of a specific day to annually recognize the American Flag came 108 years later. In 1885, a Fredonia, Wisconsin schoolteacher, B.J. Cigrand, arranged for the students in his school district to observe the resolution on June 14th as ‘Flag Birthday’. In 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned similar festivities for his school’s students. In 1893, Philadelphia became the first city to celebrate Flag Day, and in the following year, New York was the first state to observe it. After decades of expanding community observances, President Woodrow Wilson established Flag Day on May 30, 1916.

Still many communities did not celebrate Flag Day. It wasn’t until 1949, when President Harry Truman signed into an Act of Congress that National Flag Day be observed every June 14th. The Unites States Flag Code, as adopted by Congress, states “The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.” This is why we should give the flag our full respect.

Wow. That's intense! Plus, look at the power of a schoolteacher! It's a good thing to keep in mind; maybe one of your classroom traditions will birth a new American holiday someday?

Happy Birthday? :)

(via fireworks.com)

Michigan Week Trivia Day 5

2010-05-21T10:40:00.000-04:00

Michigan has had a multitude of nicknames since it became a state in 1837:

The Wolverine State

The Great Lakes State

Water Wonderland

Lady of the Lake

The Auto State

Also, the state motto is: "Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice"

"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you"

This concludes Michigan trivia week. I know there are millions of more fun facts about this state, but that's all I really learned this week. :)

(source: netstate)

Michigan Week Trivia Day 4

2010-05-20T11:33:00.001-04:00

When the University of Michigan was founded in 1817, it was called "Catholepistemiad", which was the word that Judge Augustus Woodward (a major figure in the Michigan's early history) called his idea of an academy of universal knowledge.

(source: freep & eb.com)

Michigan Week Trivia Day 3

2010-05-19T12:31:00.002-04:00

Michigan is the United States' No. 1 producer of blueberries, cherries, some varieties of dry beans, and squash.

(source: freep)

Michigan Week Trivia Day 2

2010-05-18T12:28:00.003-04:00

Michigan has 5,989 farms that have been in the same families for more than 100 years.

(source: freep)

Happy Michigan Week!

2010-05-17T22:18:00.003-04:00

In celebration of Michigan Week (which has been a "thing" since 1954), I thought I'd give you five days of quickie Michigan trivia from our good friends at the Detroit Free Press. Hope you enjoy!

Michigan Week Trivia Day 1:

Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline on the Earth, plus over 64,000 inland lakes and ponds.

How To Clean Burnt Pans

2010-05-12T18:08:00.004-04:00

This is literally something I just learned: Even if I follow the recipe, I cannot make spaghetti sauce that tastes as delicious as my mother's (and she's not even Italian!).

On a related note, I also learned that if you accidentally burnt said spaghetti sauce (or anything) onto the bottom of a stainless steel pan, there is a scour-less way to remove it:

1. Put about a half-inch of water mixed with vinegar into the pan.

2. Bring it to a boil for a couple of minutes.

3. Simply rub off the charred food (no major scrubbing required!).

I don't remember where I heard about this tip, but it certainly did the job. :)

What's the Most Common English Word in That Uses All 5 Vowels In A Row?

2010-04-12T00:50:00.006-04:00

Sorry for the long delay in posts, friends. Trust me, I have been learning plenty, but learning takes up a lot of my blogging time! Plus, I have been playing a lot of Scrabble (with the old rules - more on that controversy later maybe!) and that takes up time, too. :)

So what do you do with a tray full of vowels when playing Scrabble? That led me to ask the question that is the title of this entry. And the answer is facetious.

More importantly, however, searching for that word led me to the awesome AskOxford: Words webpage. It contains all sorts of frequently asked questions about the English language. I may have read the answers to them all. :)

So, if you've found yourself wondering if "bimonthly" means twice per month or every two months (it unfortunately can mean both) or what's the term for a group of cats (most commonly, it's a "cluster"), then please visit that site!

Hopefully I'll be back with more randomness for you soon!

Chaise Longue

2010-03-12T18:25:00.001-05:00

Not going to lie: this kind of rocked my world!

Here's a common misconception cleared up by Reader's Digest:

You never mean: Chaise lounge
You always mean: Chaise longue
Why: People have been getting this wrong for at least a century. The proper phrase is French and translates as "long chair".

- From "How to Sound Smarter", 2/2010

For anyone who has ever used a chaise longue, you know it's almost impossible to resist the urge to lounge in it. So I can see how the confusion started!

Oh, comfy half chair/half couch, I am not even sure how to pronounce your name anymore!

Happy World Kidney Day!

2010-03-11T08:51:00.002-05:00

Here are some facts about kidneys from Grizz and Dotcom, two of our favorite entourage members on NBC's "30 Rock":

Please help them raise awareness of kidney disease! The more you know.

Words That Should Exist In English

2010-03-10T13:05:00.003-05:00

Every so often, I'll learn about a word in another language that means something very specific and think, "That would be convenient if we had a word for that in English, too!"

Here is a small sampling:

1. Chon shu (Chinese): to be nauseous from the heat

2. Fedderchei (Dutch): feeling hesitant to write people letters

3a. Tios (Spanish): aunts & uncles

3b. Sobrinos (Spanish): nieces & nephews

That last one really irks me, actually. Most languages have a way to abbreviate "aunts and uncles" and "nieces and nephews" (I just picked Spanish for the example), but English-speakers always have to write it out the long way. We have "siblings", "parents", "children", etc, but that part of the family can't be easily summarized. Why?

In these days of twitter and texting, being concise is important! Maybe I'll start using these words and eventually they'll become English, too. :)