Saggy Pants

Have often wondered where the style of some youth began with wearing pants sagging much below the waist. Many US towns have banned wearing in public trousers that are slung so low as to expose the wearer’s underwear.

This saggy trend appears to have originated in US jails where the combination of a prison diet and vigorous sports leads to a slimmer waist. As prisoners are required to wear the trousers they were issued with at the beginning of their sentences, and because belts are usually banned for various reasons, this led to inadvertent sagging. The 'fashion statement' spread beyond the prison walls and has become a sought-after look among America’s disaffected youth.

Horsepower and Watts

Although he was not first to use the horsepower name, James Watt was the first to apply specific measurement to it. During the 1780s, after making a vastly superior steam engine to the common Newcomen steam engine, Watt was looking for a way to market his invention, advertising the fact that his engine was superior and used about 75% less fuel than a similarly powered Newcomen.

He came up with a new unit of measurement that those in need of his engine understood, horse power, referring to powerful draft horses. He calculated how much power a typical draft horse could generate and figured out a typical draft horse could do about 32,400 foot-pounds of work per minute and maintain that power rate for a full workday. He then rounded up, going with 33,000 foot-pounds per minute for 1 horsepower. By overestimating what a horse could do he made sure that his product would always over deliver what he said when trying to get people to buy it.

Watt’s engine was revolutionary and played a huge role in the Industrial Revolution. His unit of measure of an engine’s power became popular. Today the SI unit of power, the Watt, which was named in homage to James Watt, has widely come to replace horsepower in most applications.

Bacon Elevator

Bacon is an effective mood elevator. Bacon makes us feel happy, satisfied, and blissful, which greatly reduces stress and effectively relieves the negative effects of frustration.

Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and Subs

The Grinder arose in New England and was likely named after the dockworkers whose jobs involved much noisy grinding to repair and refurbish the ships. However, some attribute the name to the amount of chewing and grinding it takes to work through the crusty Italian bread and tough meats on the typical sandwich.

The Hero can contain an infinite number of combinations of meats, cheeses, condiments, vegetables and pickled things. Many believe the Hero Sandwich was named by food columnist, Clementine Paddleworth in the 1930s relating to the Submarine sandwich, when she noted, “You had to be a hero to eat it.” The Oxford English Dictionary credits the naming to armored car guards.

Hoagie is what the folks in Philadelphia call it. Most claim that the name came originally from Al De Palma who thought that a person “had to be a hog” to eat such a large sandwich. When he opened his own sandwich place during the Great Depression, Al called his big subs 'hoggies'. It is assumed that the strong Philadelphia accent changed the pronunciation, and eventually, the spelling.

The Submarine sandwich originated in several different Italian American communities in the Northeastern United States from the late 19th century. So, all Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and many other regional names for these great sandwiches are Subs and all Subs are sandwiches, but not all sandwiches are Subs.

Five Fun Facts

We eat pizza from the inside out.
Denver International Airport is larger than Manhattan.
There are more life forms living on your skin than there people living on earth.
The craters named Beer on Mars and the Moon were named for German astronomer Wilhelm Beer, not the drink.
Russia considered beer as a soft drink and not alcohol until 2011.

3D Printed Prosthetic Hand

Hayley Fraser, a five-year-old girl from Scotland, recently became the first child in the United Kingdom to be outfitted with a prosthetic limb made using 3D printing technology.

She was born without fingers on her left hand. Her parents, David and Zania Fraser, went online to try and help their daughter who had been turned down by the National Health System. They came across the website of E-nable, a group of volunteers in the United States who design and build prosthetics for children. They made a cast of their daughter's hand and sent it to the group. Professor Flood used the model to print out properly-sized prosthetic components using a 3D printer.

Now, Hayley can manipulate her prosthetic hand's artificial tendons, joints, and fingers by flexing and rotating her wrist. She can hold her teddy, peel a banana, and even paint her nails. Her new bright pink bionic hand was inspired by the movie Ironman.

Sad Presidential Fact

Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died in the same house on the same day, Valentine’s Day 1884. His wife had just given birth to their daughter Alice, and the pregnancy had hidden her kidney disease. He held her for two hours, had to be torn away to see his mother die of typhoid fever, then returned to his wife, who died in his arms.

Find a Hometown Paper

Many of us move quite far from home and every now and then might be curious about what is going on at the place or places we left. I find it fascinating how different places report the 'same' news, or at least their slant on the same news.
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Free Frdiday Smile

Happy Friday

Smiles are catchy like yawns, but more fun.

It is infinitely more fun to throw a smile on a Happy Friday!

Time Change and Vote

Don't forget to change clocks back this Saturday night in most parts of the United States. The election is next week, November 4 and folks in the US can electorally choose to fall back or jump ahead. Get out and vote or do not complain for the next few years.

Happy Halloween

This Holiday makes me squirrelly

Twice as much chocolate is sold on Halloween as on Valentine's Day.

Here is a scary, but true thought - You are ten times more likely to get bitten by a person from New York than a shark.