Duffel Bags

Duffel bag now stands for a particular style of bag. They were originally named for the thick Duffel cloth they were made out of, which was produced in the town of Duffel, Belgium. Duffel coats are named for the same cloth.

Five Weaponology Facts

The Chinese invented gunpowder, but they were not the first to develop firearms.

Sam Colt invented the revolving pistol, therefore, all revolvers are correctly called pistols.

Revolvers cannot be silenced, due to all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.

A 12 gauge rifled slug does not spin, even though there are grooves on its bearing surface. A slug actually travels like a dart.

A bullet fired from the 7.62 x 51mm NATO cartridge (also called the .308 Winchester) is still supersonic at 1000 yards.

Happy Friday

Words are strong, brevity stronger, silence strongest.

No words needed to have a Happy Friday!

Glass is the New Plastic

For the techno geeks, here is an interesting site that discusses technological uses of glass, like curved glass, smart glass, wearable glass, Gorilla glass and more. Too much to summarize here. link

Leprosy

Contrary to popular belief, leprosy does not cause rotting flesh or the loss of limbs. It is actually a disease (now called Hansen’s disease, named after Gerhard Hansen a Norwegian physician who discovered the leprosy bacteria that damages nerve endings and effects the skin. Because of the numbness caused by leprosy, a sufferer can be unaware of harming himself accidentally. It is this accidental harm that can lead to infections and, consequently, the loss of limbs.

Leprosy has been treatable since the 1930s, but to this day there remain leper colonies in some nations such as India, Japan, and China.

Armadillos also carry leprosy and can transmit it to humans. Ninety five percent of humans are naturally immune to the disease, and the remaining five percent can be easily and successfully cured of it.

Wilhelm Scream Again

A while back I had a Friday Thought about the Wilhelm Scream from movies. I just found out it was the voice work of Sheb Wooley, a man more famous for his novelty song ‘Purple People Eater’. Shelby Wooley passed away in 2003. He played Ben Miller, brother of Frank Miller in the film High Noon, played Travis Cobb in The Outlaw Josey Wales, and also had a co-starring role as scout Pete Nolan in the television program Rawhide.

The Cool Botijo

The botijo generally has a wide, spherical belly with two openings on top -- a wide opening to pour water in the jug and a smaller drinking spout -- as well as one or two handles to carry it. Traditionally, people drink the water directly from the botijo by holding it up and tilting it so that the water pours from the drinking spout.

Botijo-etiquette demands that the lips do not touch the drinking spout, as the water container is usually shared among several people. The large opening is covered with a cork or a cloth after filling the jug, in order to keep insects out. Botijos come in different sizes, but on average it contains about 3 liters of water, with larger ones holding up to 7 liters, enough to supply a small group of people with drinking water for a full day.

After the botijo is filled with water, it is preferably placed outside in the shade, although it also works when placed in the sun or indoors. The technology is based on evaporative cooling, the same process that keeps the human body cool by sweating. Because the ceramic jug is not completely water-tight, a small amount of the stored water filters through the pores of the clay and evaporates once it comes in contact with the outside, dry environment. Evaporation (the transition from liquid to gas) requires thermal energy, which is partly extracted from the water inside the jug, cooling it down. One 1995 study showed that, under optimal conditions, a cooling of up to 15 degrees Celsius can be obtained.

Glazed botijos often sold as tourist souvenirs do not cool water as it cannot evaporate through the glaze.

The botijo is a mobile refrigeration device, for which there exists no modern counterpart. Plastic, glass or metal bottles, which have no pores are unable to 'sweat'.

What's in a Name, Adidas

Adolph 'Adi' Dassler and his brother Rudolph owned their own shoe company in Germany during the 1920s and 30s. Their products were so popular, many of the German competitors in the 1928 Olympics wore Dassler Brothers shoes.

During WWII the brothers had a falling out. Both joined the Nazi party, but Rudolph was more fanatical and went off to fight, leaving Adi to make shoes for the military. After the war ended, Rudolph left and formed his own company, Puma. Adi then renamed the original company after himself, and Adidas was born.

New GE Bulb

First we get the hundred dollar bulb, now we get an over-engineered bulb that requires built in cooling. GE just announced a new LED light bulb replacement for the 100 watt incandescent that uses pulses of air to keep cool. The design comes just as the 100 watt incandescent bulb phase-out is this year, 2012. 

If common bulbs cost a hundred dollars, need to be cooled, or contain mercury they have other deficiencies beside cost. This would be the same as building an iPad that cost five thousand dollars and needs continuous water cooling. GE and Philips must be designing these bulbs in Washington DC. Thomas Edison is likely crying in his grave at the politicians who caused this.