Origin of Birthstones

In the Bible, when Moses went to Egypt, his brother Aaron stayed behind in their birth town in Egypt's far east. When Moses asked the King of Egypt to set his people free, it was Aaron who sold the idea to their kinsfolk.

Aaron became a high priest. His ceremonial breastplate held four rows of three stones each. Exodus 28:17-20 states, "There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes." These 12 stones also symbolized the 12 months of the year and the 12 signs of the zodiac.

Biblical scholars have a difficult time translating exactly what these stones are. The King James Bible lists the stones as: (Row 1) sardius, topaz, carbuncle; (Row 2) emerald, sapphire, diamond; (Row 3) ligure, agate, amethyst; (Row 4) beryl, onyx, jasper. The New American Standard Bible lists them as: (Row 1) ruby, topaz, emerald; (Row 2) turquoise, sapphire, diamond; (Row 3) jacinth, agate, amethyst; (Row 4) beryl, onyx, jasper.

The gems have changed a few times and different countries use different stones. Below is the US version for 2012.

It was in 15th-century Poland that wearing these birthstones gained popularity. In contrast to today's custom of wearing your birthstone throughout the year, the early proponents owned a full set of 12 and wore each month's stone, regardless of birthday. The Gemological Institute of America says the custom began in Germany in the 1560s.

Amazon and Texas Taxes

July 1, 2012 Amazon will be collecting Texas state tax on items purchased online. If you live in Texas and are thinking of buying something soon, buy it before July 1 to save a few dollars on taxes. BTW, while you are there this might be the time to pick up a few of my books.

Most Expensive Beer in the World

Nail Brewing’s Antarctic Nail Ale
Price: $800-$1815/500ml This high priced wonder beer was concocted by Nail Brewing in Perth, Australia. All profits go to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Whale Wars people. 

The Sea Shepherds landed a helicopter on an Antarctic iceberg, dug up some ice, melted it in Tasmania, and flew it to Perth for brewing. Only 30 bottles were made, and the first bottle sold for $800 at auction.

Another extremely expensive beer is made by Pabst. Hard to imagine, but at $44 per bottle, Chinese Pabst Blue Ribbon costs about 40 times more than what’s sold in the US.

PBR 1844 is made from German caramel malts, is aged in uncharred American whiskey barrels, and comes in a fancy glass bottle. Master brewer Alan Kornhauser designed the ale to compete with higher end wines and brandies. It is not sold outside of China.

Marilyn Monroe Thank you Note

For some reason, this tickled me.

Belfast Sparkling Cider

This drink found in many Chinese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, dates back to the Gold Rush of 1849. According to the story, gold prospectors and sailors would frequent San Francisco’s bar scene in search of a good time.

The sailors treated the bar girls to what they thought was French champagne, but which was actually Belfast Sparkling Cider, a lightly sweetened drink introduced to the region by Irish refugees who immigrated to the US during the potato famine.

Ship captains apparently paid the bar girls to play along and watched their sailors become intoxicated to the point that it wasn’t a struggle to get them back to sea.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, it can be found in almost every large Chinese restaurant in San Francisco and to retailers throughout Chinatown. Belfast is especially popular in the month of the Chinese New Year.

Secret Camera Symbol

Most cameras have this strange symbol imprinted somewhere on the case. If you read the camera's manual, you know what it is but if you didn't, that circle with a line drawn through it marks exactly where the sensor of the camera is located.

It is called the 'film plane mark' and is helpful for people who take macro shots. Knowing exactly where the sensor plane (or film plane or focal plane) is inside the camera's body let's photographers know the exact distance between their subject and the film plane.

Happy Friday

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

I have made mistakes and stumbled along the way, but today I am laughing, because it is a Happy Friday!

How Many Kinds of Beer

Here is a great poster of the many kinds of beer and how they relate to each other. You will need to expand it to see the detail. Very interesting. LINK

Useless Inventions

Hot dog and banana slicers.

Seven Un-American Brands

Firestone tires was bought out in 1988 by Bridgestone, a Japanese rubber conglomerate based in Tokyo.

Dial soap was bought in 2004 by by Henkel KGaA, of Germany.

Shell Oil Company is the US-based affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell from Netherlands.

Church's Chicken was sold in 2004 Arcapita of Bahrain (it removed bacon from its menu due to Sharia law).

Holiday Inn is now owned by British InterContinental Hotels Group PLC.

The Chrysler building in New York is now owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.

Budweiser is now owned by Belgian company InBev.

Also, GM, Walmart, Symantec, Kodak (what's left of it), and McDonald's now get the majority of sales outside of the US. In fact, 53.6% of total sales from all the S&P companies were made outside of the US.

What's in a Name, BVD

This men’s underwear maker was originally founded by a group of New Yorkers named Bradley, Voorhees, and Day to make women’s bustles. Eventually the trio branched out into knitted union suits for men, and their wares became so popular that “BVDs” has become a generic term for any underwear.

Stuffed Shirt

Someone who is pompous and conceited is called a ‘stuffed shirt’. Their description goes back to American women’s fashion in the early 1900’s. At that time, women wore ‘shirtwaists’. These were dresses or blouses tailored like shirts.

As dummies were not yet in existence, stores displayed the garments in their show windows stuffed with tissue paper. They may have looked good from afar, but on closer inspection they proved to be flimsy, without substance.