Happy Canada Day

On July 1, 1867, the nation was officially born when the Constitution Act joined three provinces into one country: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canada province, which then split into Ontario and Quebec. However, Canada was not completely independent of England until 1982.

Sound Mirrors

Mirrors can actually reflect sound as well as light. Mirrors that reflect sound waves are known as “acoustic mirrors,” and were used in Britain during World War I to detect certain sound waves coming from enemy aircraft from 8 to 15 miles away. This was before the development of radar.

Several were built around the coast of Britain, and are still standing today on both the north and south shores of England. They are also called listening stones.

Concrete acoustic mirrors were built on the south and northeast coasts of England between about 1916 and the 1930s. The ‘listening ears’ were intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy aircraft.

They did work, but the development of faster aircraft made them less useful, as an incoming aircraft would be within sight by the time it had been located. Also, increasing ambient noise made the mirrors more difficult to use successfully, and then radar rendered acoustic detection redundant.

There is also an example of one that is a parabolic sound mirror carved into boulders to dramatically magnify the sound of a nearby stream for listeners. It is inspired by satellite dishes, the seating in choir lofts where curved walls reflect sound, and the antique hand-held sound magnifiers used in the days before hearing aids.

American Brands or Not

Do you know which of these ten brands are American owned?
Lucky Strike, Budweiser, Vaseline, Good Humor, Hellman's (mayonnaise), Purina, French's (condiments), Frigidaire, Popsicle, 7-Eleven

Answer, None.

Lucky Strike, England
Budweiser, Belgium
Vaseline, England
Good Humor, England
Hellman's, England
Purina, Switzerland
French's England
Frigidaire, Sweden
Popsicle, England,
7-Eleven, Japan

Kind of looks like England is buying the US back, one brand at a time. It has made its strike to take our good humor and other things to just rub it in and on us. At least we have Krafted a way with some Mondelēz to get back some sweets by taking over Cadbury a few years ago.

Size of England and UK

England makes up about half the total area of the UK. It is also about the size of the state of Alabama. You could fit about three of the entire United Kingdom in the state of Texas.

Worcestershire Sauce

This is difficult to spell and more difficult to pronounce liquid is made of vinegar and soy sauce, spices, and liquefied anchovies. The anchovies are soaked in vinegar until they are totally dissolved, including the bones.

It is named for the town  in England where it was originally brewed. (woos teh shur) Here is one Heinz pronunciation LINK

Renminbi and Sterling

Now that Australia joins a host of nations that are bypassing the US Dollar as the world's "reserve currency" and trading currency directly with China, I thought it might be good to discuss confusion about the name of the Chinese currency.

Renminbi is the name of China’s currency, but yuan is the denomination of bills. It is equivalent to Britain’s currency, which is sterling with its pound as denomination of bills. The number of renminbi per dollar or sterling per dollar is incorrect. Renminbi and Sterling are the currency, but not a unit of the currency.  Prices and exchanges are measured in yuan and pounds, not Renminbi or Sterling.

The primary unit of renminbi is the yuan. One yuan is subdivided into 10 jiao , which is subdivided into 10 fen. Renminbi banknotes are available in denominations from 1 jiao to 100 yuan and coins have denominations from 1 fen to 1 yuan.

During the past two years - China and Japan economies bypass dollar and engage in direct currency trade, China and Russia drop dollar for direct trade, China and Iran bypass dollar, India and Japan bypass dollar, Iran and Russia replace dollar with rial and ruble in trade, India and Iran transact directly in rupees, Brazil bypasses dollar for direct China currency, Australia and China bypass dollar for direct currency trade.

Novel Uses for Sugar

Healers in Africa have been putting crushed sugar cane on wounds for generations. Moses Murandu is a nurse who grew up watching his father use the remedy in Africa and was surprised to find that doctors in England didn't use it. He started a study to research the idea and tested it on patients with bed sores, leg ulcers, and amputations before dressing the wounds. They found that sugar can reduce pain and kill bacteria that slow healing. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it naturally absorbs water, which bacteria needs to survive. Sugar is also much cheaper than modern antibiotics. The next time you cut yourself, give it a sprinkle of sugar before putting on a band-aid.

Great Britain

Do you know the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom? This video explains it all. LINK  Very fast talker, but interesting way to get the facts.

Christmas Carols

"Carol" is a derivative of the French word caroller, the interpretation of which means dancing around in a circle. Carol and carols, eventually came to mean not only to dance, but included music and lyrics - hence Christmas Caroling.

Christmas carols are based on Christian lyrics and relate mostly to the Nativity. Christmas carols were introduced in to church services by St Francis of Assisi in the 12th century.

The joyous themes for many traditional Christmas carols were banned in England by the staunch Protestant Oliver Cromwell and many of the very old Christmas carols and songs were subsequently lost for all time. They were only fully popularized again during the Victorian era when they again expressed joyful and merry themes in their carol lyrics as opposed to the normal somber, Christian lyrics found in hymns. As religious observances in the United States and England were closely linked, the popularity of Christmas carols grew in both countries during the 19th century. Many Christmas songs are relatively recent, and bear no relation to Christmas carols, such as the famous 'Grandma got run over by a reindeer'.

Interesting Facts About Your Feet

Did you know that you will walk more than 100,000 miles in your lifetime?

Over 80% of Americans suffer from foot pain.

Medieval Europeans believed that wearing pointy-toed shoes would make witches helpless.

High heels were first introduced in the 16th century by Queen Catherine de Medici of France.

In the same century, Italian women began wearing very strange-looking, two-foot high platform shoes called “chopines”. They were originally designed to keep women 'on a pedestal', so to speak. The shoes were banned because they presented the danger of miscarriage to pregnant women who fell from the that height.

About 60% of the body’s weight is supported by the balls of the feet, not the heels.

The foot measurement began in ancient times was based on the length of the human foot.

By the Middle Ages, the foot as defined by different European countries ranged from 10 to 20 inches.

In 1305, England set the foot equal to 12 inches. (The measurement we still use today)

In animals that walk on all four legs, the ends of the front and hind feet are much the same.

The human foot has 26 bones. There are three sets of bones: the ankle bones (tarsals), instep bones (metatarsals), and toe bones (phalanges).

Bones in the feet are not completely formed until a person is about 20 years old.

The foot has as many muscles as the hand, but the foot’s structure allows less flexibility and freedom of movement than the hand.

Swollen ankles can be a sign of congestive heart failure.

Feet that are insensitive to pain and temperature can be a sign of diabetes.

Cold feet may signify circulatory disease.