Results 1 to 17 of 17

Thread: What did you learn today?

  1. #1
    God/dess MojoJojo's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Monkey Land
    Posts
    4,794
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts

    Default What did you learn today?

    I saw some show about those women who put the brass rings around their necks. Turns out that their necks do NOT get longer....but rather the rings compress their spines and squish their torsos down...so their necks don't grow up...but in a sense grow down, I guess.

    ....and they had one person remove the rings...and her neck (while weak and difficult to hold up) did not simply flop over and kill her. She was fine...but said she felt naked and had them put back on.

    ....have you learned anything lately? (and no, it is NOT true that a duck's quack doesn't echo, so don't use that one!)
    "The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind."
    -Humphrey Bogart

    "Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink."
    -Lady Astor to Winston Churchill
    "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."
    -His reply

    "If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs."
    -David Daye

  2. #2
    God/dess Rhiannon's Avatar
    Joined
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Lil Rhody
    Posts
    10,471
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    Nice topic, Mojo...
    I actually just got finished reading a book that my sister let me borrow. It's got some pretty cool "factoids" in it. It's called "Do Fish Really Drink Water", By Bill McLain. Here's a few from it:

    M&Ms

    ~M&Ms are the nation's top-selling candy and the only sweets offered on Air Force One (probably supplanting former President Reagan's jelly beans.)
    ~In 1995, after an election that drew 10 million votes, the company added blue and dropped the tan color, prompting a backlash. Some people alleged that the blue M&Ms murdered the tan M&Ms.
    ~It was rumored that M&Ms were originally developed so that soldiers could eat them without getting their fingers sticky.
    ~Various colors have created a "mystique" of their own:
    *Green M&Ms are widely considered aphrodisiacs.*
    *Orange M&Ms are thought to augment breast size.*
    *Brown M&Ms were written into Van Halen's standard contract. If the rock group members saw them anywhere in the area, the show was canceled.*
    ~Many Americans still refuse to eat the red M&Ms because of the Red No. 2 scare in 1976 (M&Ms never contained the dye.)

    What Is The Origin And Meaning Of Valentine's Day?

    In A.D. 270, the mad emperor Claudius II decided that married men made poor soldiers because they did not want to leave their families to go to war. Because the Roman Empire needed soldiers, he issued a proclamation forbidding marriage. As a result, lovers secretly went to Valentine, a Christian Bishop, who would marry them. When Claudius heard of this, he brought the bishop before him and attempted to convert him to Roman Paganism. Valentine, in turn, unwisely tried to convert Claudius to Christianity and was sentenced to death for his impudence.
    While in prison, Valentine fell in love with the blind daughter of the jailer. He left her a farewell love note and signed it "Your Valentine." He was executed on February 14. Some years later the Catholic Church proclaimed him a saint. Thus we celebrate Saint Valentine's Day, or Valentine's Day, on February 14 and dedicate the day to lovers.
    In the Ancient Roman Empire, February 14 was a holiday to honor Juno, the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. This was also the eve of the feast of Lupercalia when the names of Roman Maidens were written on slips of paper and dropped into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from a jar and the two would be partners for the festival, and often for an entire year.
    The Christian Church felt this was an obscene custom and later replaced the Feast of Lupercalia with Saint Valentine's Day. Either way, the day is a symbol of love and of lovers choosing one another.

    *More cards are sent on Valentine's Day than on any other holiday except Christmas.
    *Young men and women during the Middle Ages drew a name from a bowl to see who their valentine would be and wore the name on their sleeve for a week. This gave rise to the expression to "wear your heart on your sleeve," meaning to openly show other people your feelings.
    *Teachers receive the most valentines, followed by children, mothers, wives, and sweethearts.
    *The oldest known Valentine's Day card dates from 1415 when Charles, the Duke of Orleans, smuggled a love note to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It can be seen today in the British Museum.
    *During Prohibition, members of mobster Al Capone's gang disguised themselves as policemen, entered a garage run by the Bugs Moran gang, lined up their enemies against a wall, and machine-gunned them in cold blood. Because the shootout occured on February 14, it became known as "the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre."
    *Symbols of Valentine's Day include the heart, rose, lace, rings, doves, and Cupid.
    *In ancient times, people believed that all emotions such as love, happiness, anger, fear, jealousy, and hatred were found in the heart. In more recent times, only the emotion of love was thought to reside in the heart. Today, the heart is still a symbol of love.
    *Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love, favored the rose above all other flowers. Because the color red represents strong feelings, the red rose is now a flower of love.
    *Fine threads are woven together to make beautiful lace. Hundreds of years ago, women were required to be coy. If a woman saw a man that interested her, she would drop her lace handkerchief in the hopes he would pick it up, return it to her, and engage in conversation. People soon began to associate lace with romance. Even today, paper lace decorates candy boxes and valentines.
    *Venus' favorite birds were doves because they remain with the same mates for their entire lives. Doves have become Valentine's Day symbols of loyalty and love.

    What Does "Mind Your Ps and Qs Mean?

    One of the more popular theories is that hundreds of years ago, patrons of English pubs would often run a bar tab. To keep track of how much a person owed, the bartender would keep a tally of the pints (Qs) and Quarts (Qs) of beer the patron had consumed. If the bill got too high, the bartender would tell the patron "Mind your Ps and Qs. In other words, "Pay Up!"

    What Are The Fourteen Oz Books Written By L. Frank Baum?

    Frank Baum wrote fourteen books about Oz. After writing the first two books, he turned out one a year for the next twelve years:

    *1900: The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
    *1904: The Marvelous Land Of Oz
    *1907: Ozma Of Oz
    *1908: Dorothy And The Wizard in Oz
    *1909: The Road To Oz
    *1910: The Emerald City Of Oz
    *1913: The Patchwork Girl Of Oz
    *1914: Tik-Tok Of Oz
    *1915: The Scarecrow Of Oz
    *1916: Rinkitink In Oz
    *1917: The Lost Princess Of Oz
    *1918: The Tin Woodsman Of Oz
    *1919: The Magic Of Oz
    *1920: Glinda Of Oz

    After the death of L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson continued to write the Oz books, producing one a year from 1921-1939.

    *According to the Baum family legend, L. Frank Baum was telling neigborhood children a fairytale of wonderful characters he had created. One little girl said, "Oh, please, Mr. Baum, where did they live?" While thinking, Baum glanced around the room and saw a filing cabinet. The top drawer was labeled A-N, the bottom drawer was labeled O-Z. He turned to the little girl and said, "They all lived in the land of Oz."
    *"The Wizard Of Oz" was a broadway musical 37 years before the MGM film version was made. It had 293 performances and then went on a tour that lasted 9 years.
    *L. Frank Baum's most famous book had four different titles (The Emerald City, From Kansas To Fairyland, The Fairyland Of Oz, and The Land Of Oz) before it became "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz".
    *Australians refer to their country as Oz. They abbreviate Australia as "Aus", which is pronounced "Ahs" or "Oz". Hence the nickname.
    *Five pairs of Dorothy's ruby slippers were made for the film. Over 5 million people a year view a pair on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Another pair sold for $165,000 at an auction in 1988.
    *Although written over a century ago, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz is still being published and can be purchased today in most bookstores.
    *Traveling the Yellow Brick Road was hardly smooth going.
    *Buddy Ebsen of television's Beverly Hillbillies fame was the original Tin Man. Unfortunately, his lungs became coated with the aluminum powder used in his makeup and he almost died. The studio replaced him with Jack Haley, saying that Buddy Ebsen had pneumonia. The new Tin Man, Jack Haley, didn't fare much better. He suffered a severe eye infection from the makeup and had to stay at home in a dark room until it cleared up. When he returned to the set, his 40-pound costume prevented him from sitting down and he had to rest on a slant board between takes. After three days of filming, the director realized that the shiny Tin Man was supposed to be rusting, so they had to scrap the footage and reshoot the scenes with a Tin Man speckled with dust. The mistake cost the studio over $60,000.
    *The film wasn't even safe for Witches. Betty Danko, the stand-in for the Wicked Witch of the East, was hospitalized after the Witch's broom exploded during a flying stunt and injured her leg. Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the East, suffered third-degree burns when another stunt failed. But Hamilton got her revenge. Her shrill cackle blew out sound tubes when she recorded her dialogue.
    *A sarus crane, rented from the Los Angeles Zoo, attacked the straw stuffing in Ray Bolger's Scarecrow costume and the actor had to hide in his dressing room until the bird was caught. The poor actor also started getting tiny lines in his face because his mask was glued on and peeled off every day for four months.
    *Weeks after completing her role as the Wicked Witch, Margaret Hamilton complained that her face still had a faint green tint.
    *The Cowardly Lion costume worn by Bert Lahr was so hot that after each take both Lahr and his costume had to be blow-dried with compressed air.
    *To add insult to injury, the actors were not allowed to eat in the commissary because it was thought their bizarre costumes might make other studio employees lose their appetites.

    More To Come!

  3. #3
    God/dess Rhiannon's Avatar
    Joined
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Lil Rhody
    Posts
    10,471
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    What Was The Last Song The Musicians on the Titanic Played?

    The eyewitness accounts of Titanic survivors disagree as to what the band was playing as the ship went under. Many said it was "Nearer My God To Thee", while others said it was "Autumn", a tune popular during that time but virtually unknown today. The producers of the most recent film probably chose "Nearer My God To Thee" because it is still a familiar melody.
    As the ill-fated ship began to sink, the band moved to the deck and began playing in an effort to calm the passengers who were waiting to be rescued.
    Although behavioral psychologists talk about how people panic during disaster, they find it difficult to explain the reaction of the Titanic's passengers in comparison to those of other maritime disasters. In typical panic situations, the individual completely disregards the lives of fellow passengers.
    Yet the Titanic passengers reacted in the opposite way. Although everyone knew that the ship was sinking and that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone, there was little panic. In fact, many men refused to board the lifeboats until all women and children had been rescued first. The crew performed heroically before and after the ship sank. One man exchanged his life jacket for a sweater; he said that if he were about to die, he wanted to die like a gentleman.
    But perhaps the most heroic action was that of a small band of musicians still playing melodious music as the ship sank beneath the waves.

    *If the Titanic were built today, it would cost at least $400 million.
    *The ship was known as the R.M.S. Titanic; "R.M.S." stands for Royal Mail Steamer.
    *At 882 feet, the ship was longer than the tallest skyscraper in New York at that time.
    *It took over 22 tons of soap, grease, and train oil to launch the giant ship.
    *Christopher Columbus' ship the Santa Maria weighed less than the Titanic's rudder.
    *Although there were four funnels on the Titanic, only the first three were used. The fourth was an air ventilator.
    *The Titanic was the first ocean liner to have a swimming pool and gym. It also had an infirmary and associated operating room.
    *The Titanic's double-bottomed hull was divided into 16 watertight compartments, four of which could be flooded without affecting buoyancy. The Titanic was thought to be unsinkable.
    *That fateful night, seven iceberg warnings were sent to the Titanic. The last and most important was ignored because the radio room was so busy sending passengers' messages to friends, relatives, and business associates.
    *Shortly after midnight on April 14, a lookout in the crow's nest spotted an iceberg, but the warning came too late for the Titanic to avoid a collision. The iceberg sliced a 200-foot gash in the ship's side and six of the watertight compartments began flooding.
    *Knowing the ship was doomed, the captain ordered an evacuation. The problem was that there were only enough lifeboats for about half of the 2,200 passengers. The radio operators sent out frantic international distress signals.
    *Many lifeboats were lowered when only partially full because officers thought the davits would not hold the weight of a fully-loaded lifeboat. Of those lowered, only one returned to pick up passengers even though most could easily have carried more people.
    *More lives would have been lost except for the construction of the double hull and watertight compartments that prevented the ship from sinking immediately. The Titanic sank two hours and twenty minutes after the collision.
    *Many survivors saw a nearby ship that must have seen the Titanic's signal flares but never responded to help. It was thought to have been the steamer Californian but a later investigation proved nothing.
    *In answer to the radio distress call, the steamer Carpathia arrived nearly two hours after the sinking and picked up the survivors.
    *Of the over 2,200 people on board, only slightly more than 700 survived. The brave musicians were not among them.

    How Many Licks Does It Take To Reach The Center Of A Tootsie Pop?

    In the commercial, wise Mr. Owl decides to find out and counts: "Ah-one (lick), ah-two (lick), ah-three (CRUNCH!)" He just didn't have the willpower to keep licking. If he had, he would have found out that it takes approximately 142 licks to reach the center.
    A group of curious college students were not satisfied with Mr. Owl's answer and decided to conduct a study to find out how many licks it takes. To do this, they set up some simple ground rules:

    1: No one could put the entire Tootsie Pop in their mouth. That would be "sucking" and only "licking" was allowed.
    2: Everyone had the same flavor as a "control".
    3: Each person could choose whether to lick on only one side or all around the pop.
    4: The goal was reached when the licker "tasted Tootsie."

    The lickers ended up in one of three groups:

    *75 to 100 licks group. These people tend to be too excited about the experiment or not excited enough. The excited ones were candy fanatics who couldn't resist biting. The apathetic ones just wanted to get the experiment over and didn't want to taste the center anyway.
    *125 to 150 licks group: These were the most serious experimenters, keeping meticulous notes and striving to use true scientific principles for the experiment. To them, even a Tootsie Pop was fair game for scientific investigation.
    *175 to 200 licks group: These people tend to savor candy, let a Life Saver completely melt in the mouth without ever biting it, etc. You know the type. The ones who always have candy long after yours is gone.

    Although it took experimenters from 75 to 200 licks to reach the center, standard statistical methods were used to determine the 142-lick average.

    *If you find a Tootsie Pop wrapper with an Indian shooting a star, you can turn it in for a free Tootsie Pop.
    *About 100 years ago, candy maker Leo Hirshfield came up with the treat and named it for his 5-year-old daughter Clara, his "Little Tootsie." At the same time electric lights were just starting to flicker on across America and Utah became the forty-fifth state.
    *Each year Tootsie Roll industries produces enough candy to stretch from the Earth to the Moon and back.
    *The company experimented with brightly packaged "Mutant Fruitants" suckers that changed colors and flavors on the way to a Tootsie Roll center.
    *Oddly enough, Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops aren't classified as chocolate under the definitions federal officials use when collecting data on the candy industry.
    *In today's often male-dominated corporate world, Tootsie Roll industries is owned and operated by a woman, Ellen Gordon.
    *The company strives to maintain a familylike atmosphere. At the Chicago plant, all employees are greeted by name and the 1,700 workers at the various plants are allowed to eat sweets while on the job.
    *In addition to its main product, Tootsie Roll industries produces other candy, including: Mason Dots, Cella's, Charleston Chews, Sugar Daddys, Sugar Babies, Blue Razzberry, Junior Mints, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da Pops, Tootsie Pops, Blow Pops, and Caramel Apple Pops.
    *The company had done well even when the candy industry has been in a slump. It has paid dividends for 53 years, increased sales each year for the past 19+ years, and boosted annual earnings for the past 14+ years.
    *Glamour and other magazines have recommended Tootsie Rolls because they are small and low in fat.
    *Perhaps the candy's enduring success is due to durability. As Ellen Gordon once said, "We have some that were made in 1938 that we still eat. and if you can't bit it when it's that old, you certainly can lick it."

  4. #4
    God/dess Rhiannon's Avatar
    Joined
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Lil Rhody
    Posts
    10,471
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    What Are The Seven Natural Wonders Of The World?

    There are many sources that list the seven natural wonders of the world and each list is different. However, the wonders that occur most on these lists are:

    1: The Grand Canyon (Arizona)
    2: Yosemite Valley (California)
    3: Mount Everest (Nepal)
    4: Nile River (North Africa)
    5: Niagra Falls (United States/Canada)
    6: Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe, Africa)
    7: Harbor Of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

    Four other likely candidates are:

    1: Great Barrier Reef (Australia)
    2: Caves in France and Spain
    3: Paricutin (Volcano in Mexico)
    4: Rainbow Bridge National Monument (Utah)

    When the Empire State Building was completed in 1931, a new list called the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" included:

    1: Pyramids (Egypt)
    2: Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italy)
    3: Church of Hagia Sophia (Turkey)
    4: Taj Mahal (India)
    5: Washington Monument (Washington, D.C.)
    6: Eiffel Tower (France)
    7: Empire State Building (New York)

    Among the many "wonders of the world" lists is a compilation of the world's wonders that the United Nations plans to protect and preserve. Qualifying sites must have outstanding global value and be either a "natural" wonder, such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef, or a "cultural" wonder, such as the Chartres Cathedral in France. The Statue of Liberty is one of the hundred sites listed.

    *The Tibetan and Nepali names for Mount Everest both mean "Goddess Mother Of The World"
    *From 1921-1952 there were 10 attempts to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They all failed. In 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reached the summit.
    *The tightrope walker Blondin crossed the 1,100-foot span across Niagra Falls on a tightrope 160 feet above the water. He did this a number of times: blindfolded, in a sack, pushing a wheelbarrow, on stilts, and carrying a man on his back (we don't know the name of his fearless passenger).
    *Before the arrival of the Spaniards in our country, the Paiute Indians called the Grand Canyon "Mountain Lying Down." The Spaniards who first saw the canyon named it "Gran Canon," which is how it is still known today.
    *A courageous one-armed army veteran, Major John Wesley Powell, and nine companions were the first men to navigate the Colorado River 1,000 miles through the Grand Canyon. They had flimsy boats, few rations, and endured many hardships. Three men died on the journey.
    *Each of the seven wonders of the natural world has its own legends. Stories of courage, tragedy, deprivation, and even humor. But perhaps one of the most interesting stories is that of the Niagra Falls daredevils who were willing to risk their lives for a moment of fame. They went over the falls in a barrel.
    The first person to go over the Falls in a barrel and survive was Annie Taylor, who performed the amazing feat in 1901. She wore a special harness inside a wooden barrel that was towed into the mainstream of the river and cut loose. After going down the Falls and slamming into numerous rocks, she was pulled from the barrel 17 minutes later. Upon emerging, the slightly dazed Annie said, "No one ought ever do that again!" The day she went over the Falls Annie claimed she was just 43 years old. However, historical records proved that she was actually 63 years old at the time.
    An Englishman, Bobby Leach, was another survivor of the Falls. Although he had used a steel barrel, he still spent six months in the hospital recovering from numerous fractures and injuries. At age 67 he went on a tour of Australia. While walking on a New Zealand street he slipped on an orange peel and fell. Complications led to the amputation of his leg. Unfortunately, he got gangrene poisoning and died. A plunge from Niagra Falls could not kill him but a simple orange peel did.

    What Can I Do With The Small Slivers Of Soap Left Over In The Shower?

    There are at least four methods for saving those slivers of leftover soap.
    The first is to simply moisten the sliver, then moisten a new bar of soap. Place the sliver on the new bar and press firmly around its edges to attach it. After a few uses it will become part of the new bar.
    A second method is to drop the slivers into a jar with some water and let them sit for a period of time. Eventually the water will melt the soap and you can use the mixture as a liquid soap or shampoo. (For faster results, mix the water and soap slivers in a blender.)
    Another method is to put all of the leftover soap slivers into a mesh bag. When you think you've collected enough, tie the ends of the bag and slip the top of the bag over an outdoor water faucet handle. It can help at cleanup time after you've been gardening or doing some other outdoor chore. It's also handy for taking on camping trips.
    Soap has a long and interesting history. Although soap making was recorded as long ago as 2800 B.C., soap was not commonly used for cleaning until thousands of years later. Ancient Greeks and Romans rubbed their bodies with olive oil and sand and scraped off the mixture with a wooden scraper called a "strigil." Although Romans bathed, they added oils and other ingredients to the water, not soap.

    *Around 2000 B.C. soap was used as a medication for wounds, but not for cleansing.
    *Prior to the eighteenth century soap was used primarily to do laundry because personal cleanliness was not a social custom up until then. In the eighteenth century water was thought to be a "magical" fluid and bathing became popular as a medical treatment. As bathing became more acceptable, so did soap.
    *The B.J. Johnson Company made a soap consisting of only palm oil and olive oil. The soap, called "Palmolive", was so popular that the company was renamed after it.
    *William Procter and James Gamble made candles and soap and sold their products house to house out of a wheelbarrow. Their company, Procter & Gamble, introduced Ivory soap to the public in 1879.
    *Children are often much more interested in soap bubbles than in soap itself. Although bubbles are a part of nature, soap bubble blowing didn't become popular until the nineteenth century and was limited to bubble pipes until the early 1940s. It was then that a chemical company, Chemtoy, started bottling bubble solution. Today, bubble solution is one of the best-selling toys in the world.
    *In recent years bubble blowing has become quite exotic. David Stein of New York created the biggest bubble ever blown, 50 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. An entertainer, Professor Bubbles, has actually encased five people at one time in a gigantic bubble. People have blown bubbles of various shapes, including square bubbles, and bubble-making displays are now in many science museums.

  5. #5
    God/dess Casual Observer's Avatar
    Joined
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Boston MA
    Posts
    5,670
    Thanks
    35
    Thanked 144 Times in 74 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    What CO learned today:

    When you're administering gateways and you don't change your fixed IP address on your laptop to the IP range of your router, you look like a dumbass and the public/private gateway will not work. This incident prevented me from hitting on a delectable assistant manager at the business in question this morning, because I was so damn frustrated that I couldn't pay adequate attention to her.

    I also believe it was directly related to the whopping eight hours of sleep I've had in the last three days, given the incredibly basic nature of the problem.

    I'm going to take a nap now.

    CO, pissed off, CO
    Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

    William F. Buckley, Jr.

  6. #6
    Veteran Member Yea's Avatar
    Joined
    Jan 2005
    Location
    To be discovered
    Posts
    678
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    Thanks for the interesting read ! My friend and I always argue about the 7 wonders.


  7. #7
    God/dess onlythebest's Avatar
    Joined
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Hurricane Wasteland,Louisiana
    Posts
    8,088
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 23 Times in 19 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    I learned that having a filthy rich boyfriend is not all that it's cracked up to be.
    One of woman's cardinal rule: Body parts can be fake,everything else has to be real.

    一个女人的枢机规则:肢体可以伪造,一切必须真实.

    中国大CHINESE BIG BOOBS!!!中国大




  8. #8
    God/dess gypsy_girlchild's Avatar
    Joined
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Va mostly
    Posts
    2,750
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked 52 Times in 41 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    I learned that a glass will break if you knock it off the counter..... Damn, breakable glass!
    Please don't lick me, it tickles..



  9. #9
    God/dess
    Joined
    Oct 2003
    Location
    illinois
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    I learned that there is a web site to help with algebra!!!!!!!!!!!

    http://www.algebrahelp.com/
    "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

  10. #10
    God/dess VADEN's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2004
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    3,530
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    In 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst discovered something unusual in an old picture he'd bought for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown, PA. He'd purchased the painting (an old, torn depiction of a country scene) because he liked the frame. He liked it even more once he discovered that a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence lurked within it.
    When he had attempted to detach the frame from the painting, the frame fell apart in his hands. He then found a folded document between the canvas and wood backing which appeared to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence. A friend who collected Civil War memorabilia advised him to have it appraised.



    It was real -- one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (Only twenty-four similar copies were known to exist before this find, of which a mere three were privately owned.) This rare document was offered for sale by Sotheby's on 4 June 1991, and the lucky find fetched even more than had been anticipated: the $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate turned into $2.42 million by the sound of the gavel. What did Donald Scheer of Atlanta, head of Visual Equities Inc., get for his $2.42 million? Months prior to the auction, Sotheby's had confirmed the printed broadsheet not only as authentic but also as one of the three finest known, as crisp as it was on the evening it was printed by John Dunlap to carry the news of America's independence to the people of the thirteen colonies. (This copy was put up for sale again in June 2000, fetching a $8.14 million bid from television producer Norman Lear in an on-line auction.)



  11. #11
    God/dess VADEN's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2004
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    3,530
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    Sometimes the most innocuous of foodstuffs contain constituents whose origins are less than appetizing. Such is the case with JELL-O, a dessert that has graced millions of dinner tables since its 1897 debut.

    Underneath JELL-O's jiggly wholesomeness lurks a secret many consumers are disconcerted to learn: JELL-O is made from gelatin, an animal product rendered from the hides and bones of animals.

    The production of gelatin starts with the boiling of bones, skins, and hides of cows and pigs, a process that releases the protein-rich collagen from animal tissues. The collagen is boiled and filtered numerous times, dried, and ground to a powder. Because the collagen is processed extensively, the final product is not categorized as a meat or animal product by the federal government. Very strict vegetarians avoid gelatin entirely, but more permissive vegetarians have no problem including JELL-O in their diets.

    JELL-O products account for about 80 percent of the gelatin market.

    Popular belief has it that gelatin comes from horses' and cows' hooves. Kraft, the maker of JELL-O, asserts that hooves do not contain the necessary collagen and therefore are not used in the production of their JELL-O brand gelatin product.



  12. #12
    God/dess VADEN's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2004
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    3,530
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    Next time you're browsing the supermarket in search of the makings of that night's dinner, pause a moment to read the ingredients on the labels of your favorite red-colored ingestibles and cosmetics. Chances are, you'll discover a notation for cochineal, carmine, or carminic acid, pigments whose origins might surprise and possibly disgust you.

    Cochineal and its close cousin carmine (also known as carminic acid) are derived from the crushed carcasses of a particular South and Central American beetle. These popular colorants, which today are used to impart a deep red shade to fruit juices, gelatins, candies, shampoos, and more, come from the female Dactylopius coccus, a beetle that inhabits a type of cactus known as Opuntia.

    Dactylopius coccus was the source of a red dye used by Aztecs and Mexican Indians for centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards. Those indigenous peoples would collect cochineal insects, briefly immerse them in hot water to kill the beasties and dissolve the females' waxy coating, and then dry them in the sun. The dessicated insects would then be ground to a fine powder.

    The Spaniards immediately grasped the potential of the pigment, so these dried insects became one of the first products to be exported from the New World to the Old. Europeans took to the beautiful, bright scarlet colour immediately both for its vibrant hue and for its extraordinary colorfast properties, ensuring that boatloads of cochineal insects would make the trans-Atlantic trek.

    Today cochineal has been surpassed as a dye for cloth by a number of synthetic pigments, but is still widely used as a coloring agent for a number of foodstuffs, beverages, and cosmetics (because many of those synthetic dyes proved dangerous to humans when taken internally or allowed to leach into the body through the skin). It takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound of cochineal.

    While cochineal is used in a wide variety of foods, it is not found in kosher products because Jewish dietary laws prohibit the inclusion of insects or their parts in food. The "ewww!" factor nothwithstanding, cochineal is a safe food colorant aside from a few rare cases of allergic reaction.

    Another red dye used in foods, FD&C Red Dye #40 (alternatively known as Red #40), is often mistakenly assumed to be a euphemism for cochineal or carmine. It's not — it's bug-free and is actually derived from coal.

    Our distaste at the thought of ingesting bugs is based on cultural factors rather than the properties or flavors of the insects themselves. Western society eschews (rather than chews) bugs, hence the widespread "Ewww!" reaction to the news that some of our favorite foods contain extract of beetle.








  13. #13
    God/dess doc-catfish's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2002
    Location
    123 Tornado Alley Way, Hooterville USA
    Posts
    6,322
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 36 Times in 30 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    I learned about strange beer laws. Very interesting.

    http://www.beerfestivals.org/archive..._beer_laws.htm
    Former SCJ now in rehab.

  14. #14
    God/dess VADEN's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2004
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    3,530
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    The oldest working light bulb - 104 years (and counting) for the four-watt bulb at fire station 36 in Livermore, California. It has been in continual use (albeit interrupted by a couple of power outages and moves) ever since it was first switched on in 1901.




  15. #15
    Banned Madcap's Avatar
    Joined
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Saint effing Louis
    Posts
    6,804
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    I learned to always say "hell no" when someone asks for help taking their German Shepard to the vet...

    No shit, TODAY i learned this...

  16. #16
    Featured Member Muyaha's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2004
    Location
    los angeles, ca
    Posts
    1,431
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    chicken salads everywhere are overpriced.

    I may have many faults, but being wrong ain't one of them.

  17. #17
    Banned Madcap's Avatar
    Joined
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Saint effing Louis
    Posts
    6,804
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: What did you learn today?

    Quote Originally Posted by Muyaha
    chicken salads everywhere are overpriced.
    one word: Sushi.

    Only in america can you take two ounces of salmon, wrap it in ten cents worth of rice, and charge nine dollars and fourty-five cents for it...

Similar Threads

  1. Hello, I want to learn.
    By Isis_Devil21 in forum Coming Out
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-21-2008, 11:30 PM
  2. I learn so much from SW
    By ahmeerah in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-22-2008, 06:34 AM
  3. Who Do You Learn From?
    By moonjade6 in forum Newbie Board
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 03-04-2006, 07:50 AM
  4. I want to learn
    By compugirl in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-05-2006, 11:12 PM
  5. Learn from the best
    By lawman20 in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 01-18-2004, 04:42 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •