Cows Face One Direction

Cows always face north or south while eating. A team of scientists reviewed thousands of Google Earth’s satellite images of cows and found that cows will stand along the Earth’s magnetic poles, facing north and south whenever they are grazing or resting. The pattern remained consistent regardless of wind or other factors, and nobody is quite sure why.  It appears that it may have a purpose because of the consistency with which it was observed among cows across six continents.

Veal, Beef and Offal

Veal comes from calves. It can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, but most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds. Limited numbers of male dairy calves are needed for breeding and the rest are sold to the veal industry. Incidentally, rennet (necessary for cheese making) is extracted from part of the fourth stomach chamber of harvested young, unweaned calves used for veal production.

Beef comes from older cattle and can be harvested from bulls, cows, heifers or steers. When a cow is slaughtered, its beef is so fresh it is considered 'green'. Green beef is tough, bland, and has no sustained juiciness. Aging causes natural enzymes to break down the muscle fibers, making it more tender. Most aging takes place within one to two weeks. Incidentally, Kobe beef, prized for its intense marbling, refers to beef from the Tajima strain of wagyu cattle, raised in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture according to rules from the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association.  There are only about 3,000 head of cattle that may qualify as Kobe. No beef from Japan was allowed to be imported into the US by the USDA, starting during 2009. US 'Kobe-style' beef comes from domestically raised wagyu crossbred with Angus cattle. Black Angus is the most common beef breed (sixty percent and greater than the next seven breeds combined) of cattle in the US and is meat is used by McDonald's and Hardees.

Offal is also called variety meats or organ meats and refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal, such as calves, pigs, sheep, and lambs.  It includes most internal organs, but not muscle and bone. Certain offal dishes, including foie gras, pâté, and sweetbread are considered gourmet food in international cuisine. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine including Scottish haggis, Jewish chopped liver, Southern US chitlins, Mexican menudo as well as many other dishes. Intestines are traditionally used as casing for sausages.

Cheap Airline Tickets

There are many sites that offer fares lower than going directly to the airline to book your flights. Google Flights quickly shows you the days and times with the cheapest flights. Visit Airfare Watchdog It checks airline sites for deals and pulls them into one easy-to-find place. Check Hipmunk to find flights with the best balance of cost and convenience.

A good app like Flight Aware allows you to track and know your flight's status and gate information before you leave for the airport, without calling.

Whiskey Name Origins

Four Roses Co-founder Paul Jones Jr. trademarked the Four Roses name in 1888. The story is that Paul Jones Jr. and his father, Paul Jones Sr., had opened a grocery and warehouse in Atlanta and the younger Paul became interested in distilling. At the time, he was also courting a local lady, and asked for her hand in marriage. They agreed that, at a grand ball they were to attend, if she were to accept his proposal of marriage, she would wear a corsage of four red roses. She wore the corsage and the two were married.

Knob Creek is produced at the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, US. It is named for the creek that ran behind Abraham Lincoln’s childhood Kentucky home. The late Booker Noe, Jim Beam’s sixth generation master distiller, chose the name because he thought it reflected his values in making whiskey.

The rye whiskey brand name Whistlepig comes from the 'single oddest piece of social interaction' that founder Raj Bhakta had ever experienced. Bhakta was hiking outside of Denver, Colorado, US. “Out of the blue popped a guy with a thick French accent and a big shock of white hair,” says Raj. “He got very close into my personal space and asked ‘Could it be? A whistlepig?' I had no idea what he was talking about or what he was looking at. When I didn’t understand, he snapped in my face and repeated himself. When I still didn’t understand, he flicked his wrist and took off.”


The Wild Turkey name dates back to the 1940s, “Thomas McCarthy, an executive from Austin, Nichols the company that made the whiskey at the time, took all the New York business folks on a big turkey hunt every year.” The trip’s festivities would include hunting and whiskey. That year, he pulled 101 proof bourbon for the guests. The next year, they asked him to bring the same bourbon. He pulled a sample, and the brand’s name was born.

What's in a Name, Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Rafael Bottom/Leaf Phoenix was one of five children, all with equally interesting names, including River (1970–1993), Rain , Liberty, Summer, and a half-sister Jodean.

After Joaquin's parents, John Lee and Arlyn Bottom, married in 1969, they joined a religious cult and traveled around South America. They became disenchanted with the cult and moved back to the US in 1978, and changed their last name to Phoenix to symbolize new beginning.

About this same time, a young Joaquin began calling himself "Leaf," desiring to have a similar nature-related name as those of his siblings. Leaf was the name he used as a child actor until, at age 15; he changed it back to Joaquin.

Six Benefits of Laughter

Laughter increases a sense of well being and doctors find that people who have a positive outlook on life tend to fight diseases better than negative people. Laugh a little or laugh a lot, it is all good.

1. Laughing lowers blood pressure, which reduces risk of strokes and heart attacks.
2. It reduces stress hormone levels and cuts the anxiety and stress impacting your body.
3. It tones your abs by expanding and contracting stomach muscles.
4. It improves cardiac health and burns a similar amount of calories per hour as walking at a slow to moderate pace.
5. It boosts T cells to help you fight off sickness.
6. Laughing triggers the release of endorphins, which can help ease chronic pain and make you feel good all over.

Happy Friday

"He who laughs, lasts." - Mary Pettibone Poole

I plan to laugh and last a long time, especially while celebrating every Happy Friday!

Happy National Doughnut Day

National Doughnut Day is celebrated on the first Friday of June each year. (Doughnut is the dictionary spelling, but donut is becoming more acceptable each year.)

National Doughnut Day started on June 7, 1938 when a young military doctor by the name of Morgan Pett was sent to a military base. On his way there he stopped at a bakery and picked up eight dozen doughnuts. When he arrived at the base he started helping many wounded soldiers, and would give them a free doughnut. One man he helped was a Lieutenant General by the name of Samuel Geary. Samuel Geary decided to make a fund raiser with Morgan Pett to give every wounded soldier, and the needy a doughnut. This fund raiser was later joined with the Salvation Army. Many donut shops still give out free donuts on this day.

In honor of the day Krispy Kreme, with no purchase necessary, will hand out a free donut of choice to each customer.

Dunkin Donuts (which began the new spelling) will give out one free donut with the purchase of any beverage.

Incidentally, International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day is widely recognized as June 8.

The Real D-Day

When Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy. It was a turning point of WWII, and not a day the world will soon forget. According to the National WWII Museum, June 6th, 1944 wasn’t the only “D-Day.” The term was used for any important operation. “D-Day” was the day of the operation itself, and the days leading up to and after the operation were indicated with “+” and “-”. So the “D” is a variable. If June 6th, 1944 was “D-Day” then June 1st, 1944 was “D-5″, and June 8th was “D+2.”

Since the variable references a specific day, “D” in “D-Day” essentially stands for “Day.”

The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins says the French meaning of the D is “disembarkation,” and it also quotes a letter from Eisenhower’s executive assistant, Brigadier General Robert Schultz, in 1964 who responded to a letter to Eisenhower asking to clarify the meaning of “D-Day.” Schultz wrote, “Be advised that any amphibious operation has a ‘departed date’; therefore the shortened term ‘D-Day’ is used.”

D-Day has become synonymous with June 6th, 1944 because of the significant impact that particular operation had on World War II and world history.

Oregon Owns Water

According to Oregon water laws, all water is publicly owned. Therefore, anyone who wants to store any type of water on their property must first obtain a permit from state water managers.

A rural Oregon man was sentenced in 2012 to thirty days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.

Oregon law that says all of the water in the state of Oregon is public water and if you want to use that water, either to divert it or to store it, you have to acquire a water right from the state of Oregon before doing that activity. The law states that the city of Medford, Oregon holds exclusive rights to “all core sources of water.”

Car Tire Colors

Car tires were initially off white, due to the natural color of the rubber used. Pure vulcanized rubber is soft and wears out very quickly and tends to heat up and deform under load. Tire makers mixed zinc oxide in with the rubber that added temperature stability and hardness, and which made the tires bright white in color.

As the benefits of adding carbon black to the compound became known, that additive was used just on the tread portion, while the side of the tire remained the natural color, the original whitewall tires. Adding carbon black made the tires darker, and they lasted four to five times longer.

Binney & Smith began selling their carbon black chemicals to Goodrich Tire Company (now Michelin). Binney & Smith would later switch to making school products, and, eventually, re-name their company after their most popular product, Crayola Crayons.

There are a few tire manufacturers that make specialty color tires, mostly for car shows, and during 1961, Goodyear Tires introduced an experimental tire that was illuminated from the inside. Small incandescent bulbs were mounted inside the tire through holes inside the rim and the tire was made from a single piece of synthetic rubber. The synthetic rubber was created much thinner than a regular tire to allow for the light to penetrate the rubber. Due to the strict laws regarding the manufacturing of street-legal tires and the obvious hazard of having fragile glass inside them, Goodyear’s illuminated tires never actually saw mass production.

Ant Life Facts

Spring is here and the ants have become active. The life of an ant starts from an egg. If the egg is fertilized, the progeny will be female; if not, it will be male. All females, except the queen are workers who feed the babies, take out the trash, and forage for food and supplies, and defend the nest. Males have one job, to mate with the queen.

Males can deliver 5 to 6 million sperm, which the queen can store and use for the rest of her life. The queen can produce a few thousand eggs a day and up to a million or more during her lifetime. She also decides which eggs to fertilize.

Queen ants can live for up to 30 years, and workers live from 1 to 3 years. Males, however may survive for just a few weeks.

Incidentally, there are an estimated 22,000 species of ants. Also, all male ants have a grandfather, but no father, and their grandfather had only a grandfather, but no father.

The Real William Shakespeare

A true, only known, actual portrait of William Shakespeare was recently found in a botany book. He was presumed to be about 33 at the time.

Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths claims in the new issue of Country Life Magazine that he has identified the “first and only known demonstrably authentic portrait of the world’s greatest writer made in his lifetime.” It was discovered on the title page of a 16th century botany book called “The Herball” by John Gerard.

Recipes and Rx

Retail prescription drugs in the US are over $200 billion annually. The origin of the Rx symbol comes from medieval time as an abbreviation for a form of the Late Latin word recipere meaning 'to take' or the imperative form of recipe, meaning 'take'.

By the late 1500s it came to mean medical prescription. This meaning lasted until the mid-1700s, when it was also applied to food preparation.

Physicians typically begin their directive with the command recipe, abbreviated to Rx. Other abbreviations used in the medical field for charting are “dx” (diagnosis), “sx” (signs and symptoms), and “hx” (history). Incidentally, females in the US fill almost fifty percent more prescriptions per capita than males.