Pineberries

This fruit was bred from a wild strain of strawberry in South America that was saved by a group of Dutch farmers. Its genetic makeup is said to be identical to that of a strawberry, however it is a small white berry with red seeds and kind of tastes like pineapple.

Because they are a brand new variety of fruit released this past spring, they are still rare, but are currently being sold in Europe and Belize. Hope they get here soon.

Zippers

Have you ever noticed that almost every zipper has the letters YKK on it? The YKK stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha.  In 1934 Tadao Yoshida founded YKK, which is now the worlds largest zipper manufacturer, making about 90% of all zippers in over 206 facilities in 52 countries.  YKK not only makes zippers and fasteners for clothes, cars, bags, and just about anything that needs to be closed, it also make the machines that make the zippers.

Aunt Jemima Pancakes

Doesn't get better than this. Aunt Jemima with bacon pancakes.

Weimaraner

The beautiful gray dogs with the expressive eyes has probably only been around since the 19th century. According to tradition, that’s when Grand Duke Karl August of Weimar began to selectively breed hunting dogs that were fast, had strong noses, wouldn’t back down from large game like wolves or wildcats, and were smart.

Karl August’s breed allegedly became fashionable among his fellow Weimar noblemen, and the breed gained popularity as a bird-hunting dog as well.

Of Toilets and Paper

 Interesting toilet tidbits:
   * King Minos of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history and that was over 2800 years ago.

    * A toilet was discovered in the tomb of a Chinese king of the Western Han Dynasty that dates back to 206 BC to 24 AD.

    * The ancient Romans had a system of sewers. They built simple outhouses or latrines directly over the running waters of the sewers that poured into the Tiber River

    * Chamber pots were used during the middle ages. A chamber pot is a special metal or ceramic bowl that you used and then tossed the contents out (often out the window).

    * In 1596, a flush toilet was invented and built for Queen Elizabeth I by her Godson, Sir John Harrington.

    * The first patent for the flushing toilet was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775.

    * In 1829, the Tremont Hotel of Boston became the first hotel to have indoor plumbing, and had eight water closets built by Isaiah Rogers. Until 1840, indoor plumbing could be found only in the homes of the rich and the better hotels.

    * Beginning in 1910, toilet designs started changing away from the elevated water tank into the modern toilet with a close tank and bowl.

Thomas Crapper did not invent the toilet. Although he did have patent improvements for it. The crapper company went out of business in 1966.

World War I soldiers passing through England brought together Crapper's name and the toilet. They saw the words T. Crapper-Chelsea printed on the tanks and coined the slang "crapper" meaning toilet. The word 'crap' was around before Thomas Crapper.

Hugh Heffner Income and Outgo

The bunny maker does very well for himself.
Monthly income:
– Salary from Playboy: $116,667
– Social Security: $1,896
– Dividends and interest: $121,099
– Rental property: $17,058
– Income from HMH Productions: $15,808
– Pensions and retirement: $413
– Other miscellaneous income: $17,639

–Total monthly income: $290,580

Monthly Outgo
– Rent (including household supplies, utilities, cell phone, etc.): $53,593
– Food: $18,000
– Entertainment: $25,000
– College expenses for kids: $10,130
– Health care: $3,215

- Total monthly outgo $109,938

Days

Arrgh! Hope you enjoyed International Talk Like a Pirate Day Sep 19.
And today (September 24) is National Punctuation Day (sic)

Also, in case you forgot, World Alzheimer's Day was September 21.

Crazy Crook

In 1995 two bank robberies were performed by an individual wearing no disguise. The surveillance tapes insured that he was arrested the same day. When he was shown the videos he was amazed that they could see his face. He said, “but I wore the juice”. He had been told that putting lemon juice on your face would keep it from showing up on security cameras.

Jack Russell Terrier

Jack Russell was a real guy. John Russell was born in Dartmouth, England in 1795, and over the years he became quite a hunting enthusiast. While he was studying to become a clergyman at Oxford, he met a milkman who had a white terrier bitch named Trump who seemed to be the perfect dog for fox hunting. After convincing the milkman to sell him the dog, Russell began breeding Trump to develop a line of terriers with the stamina to hunt foxes all day and the courage to go after game that had slipped into holes.

International Parking Day

Couldn't resist adding a few pics from International Parking Day, held last week around the globe. It started about five years ago when a company paid the meter for a parking spot for 24 hours. Each year it gets bigger as people grab a spot and decorate it for a day. Here is the site http://parkingday.org

New Guinness World Records

Susan Boyle is in the book for the fastest selling debut album. Her debut album sold 411,820 copies in its first week in the UK. She is also listed as the oldest person to reach number one with a debut album. Other singers to make the new edition include Sir Tom Jones, the oldest artist to have a number one single, and Lady Gaga, who was crowned the most searched-for woman on the internet.

Bringing Home The Bacon

It has become more expensive than in the past, because of shortage of supply and increased demand. On the store shelves, average retail prices have risen more than $1 per pound since last year, to more than $4, the US Department of Agriculture reports. This is happening in the middle of other price reductions and discounts, due to the poor economy.

Bacon was once thought of only a breakfast food, but now is a round-the-clock food showing up as a garnish on all manner of dishes, including concoctions from a variety of chocolate makers. Almost two billion pounds of bacon are consumed in the United States each year, according to the National Pork Board.

One analyst suggests that demand is up because restaurants, seeking to regain business lost to the tight economy last year, have been adding more bacon to sandwiches and salads to spice up flavors.

Top Ten Dead Celebrities Incomes

Income for 2009.

10. Michael Crichton - $9 million (Author)

9. Albert Einstein - $10 million (Mainly gained from licensing his likeness)

8. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) - $15 million (Children's books)

7. John Lennon - $15 million

6. Charles Schulz - $35 million (Creator of Peanuts cartoons)

5. J.R.R. Tolkien - $50 million (Lord of the Rings)

4. Elvis Presley - $55 million

3. Michael Jackson - $90 million

2. Rodgers & Hammerstein - $235 million (Composers, South Pacific, Oklahoma, etc.)

1. Yves Saint Laurent - $350 million (Clothing designer - derived mostly from the auctions of his estate)

Zettabyte

Humankind will generate over one sextillion bytes of digital information this year, surging into a zettabyte. In 2010, 1.2 zettabytes of digital information will be created, according to a new Digital Universe study from IDC, sponsored by IT firm EMC Corporation.

A zettabyte is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes (that's 21 zeroes for those counting). Think of a zettabyte like watching an hour long tv show continuously for 125 years.