NECCO Wafers - New England
Confectionery COmpany.
The Quaker Oats guy's name is Larry.
Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Kool-Aid was originally marketed as “Fruit Smack.”
Jul 20, 2012
Going Dutch
Some pejorative expressions using Dutch were
created through cultural enmity between the English and the Dutch
during their fight for naval supremacy in the seventeenth century.
Some included: Dutch reckoning (a bill presented without any
details and which gets bigger if you argue), Dutch widow (a
prostitute) and Dutch feast (an alcohol-fueled event in which the
host gets drunk ahead of his guests).
Others, including Dutch courage and Dutch uncle, Going Dutch, Dutch lunch, Dutch treat, Dutch party, and Dutch supper, all with closely similar meanings, are American creations from the nineteenth century.
They were used in the literal sense of a meal reflecting a particular culture. The evidence shows they were more correctly German, as in Pennsylvania Dutch. A newspaper report in 1894 mentions that for a Dutch supper to be successful everything must be “consistently expressive of the fatherland” and mentions rye bread, cabbage salad, Wienerwursts (hot dogs), and beer. Americans invented the terms based on their observations of the habits of the immigrants. Early users applied them as straightforward descriptions and not as derogatory terms. So, let's do lunch, Dutch treat.
Others, including Dutch courage and Dutch uncle, Going Dutch, Dutch lunch, Dutch treat, Dutch party, and Dutch supper, all with closely similar meanings, are American creations from the nineteenth century.
They were used in the literal sense of a meal reflecting a particular culture. The evidence shows they were more correctly German, as in Pennsylvania Dutch. A newspaper report in 1894 mentions that for a Dutch supper to be successful everything must be “consistently expressive of the fatherland” and mentions rye bread, cabbage salad, Wienerwursts (hot dogs), and beer. Americans invented the terms based on their observations of the habits of the immigrants. Early users applied them as straightforward descriptions and not as derogatory terms. So, let's do lunch, Dutch treat.
Chantilly Lace
Some of you might remember the Big
Bopper’s hit of the same name in 1958. LINK
Some will remember what it looks like. This style of lace-making dates to the 1600s. While the majority of the lace was actually produced elsewhere, it gets its name from the town of Chantilly, France.
Some will remember what it looks like. This style of lace-making dates to the 1600s. While the majority of the lace was actually produced elsewhere, it gets its name from the town of Chantilly, France.
Jul 19, 2012
Sons of the Desert Convention
The 18th annual (held every
other year) international convention is being held July 17 - 22 in
Manchester New Hampshire. It is attended by folks who love a good
time and follow Laurel and Hardy. I have attended a few and had a
great time. During one convention in California, we staged a pie
fight to commemorate a scene from another of L&H movies. It
turned out to be the largest pie fight in the world and we were on
the TV show 'Real People'. Took me days to get the lemon custard out
of every nook and cranny of my body.
The 'Sons of the Desert' name is taken from a lodge that the boys belonged to in the movie of the same name. It is an international fraternal organization devoted to lives and films of comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Each participating city has a "tent" with the name taken from one of their movies. The exception is Detroit, which took the name 'Dancing Cuckoos' from the theme song.
The group is loosely formed and has never approved the bylaws, which Stan Laurel said must maintain a 'half-assed dignity'. Meetings consist of watching their old movies and enjoying drinks and popcorn. Each year the bylaws are brought up for vote and ceremoniously ignored. The leader of the group has the title 'Exhausted Ruler', also taken from one of the movies. It was formed in 1964.
The 'Sons of the Desert' name is taken from a lodge that the boys belonged to in the movie of the same name. It is an international fraternal organization devoted to lives and films of comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Each participating city has a "tent" with the name taken from one of their movies. The exception is Detroit, which took the name 'Dancing Cuckoos' from the theme song.
The group is loosely formed and has never approved the bylaws, which Stan Laurel said must maintain a 'half-assed dignity'. Meetings consist of watching their old movies and enjoying drinks and popcorn. Each year the bylaws are brought up for vote and ceremoniously ignored. The leader of the group has the title 'Exhausted Ruler', also taken from one of the movies. It was formed in 1964.
Six Types of Collectors
Deltiologists study and
collect postcards.
Phillumenists collect matchbooks and other match-related items. The world’s top phillumenist has a collection of over 700,000 different labels.
Pannapictagraphists collect comic books and probably can't even spell what they are.
Vexillophiles collect and display flags.
Plangonologist are collectors of dolls.
Arctophiles collect teddy bears.
Phillumenists collect matchbooks and other match-related items. The world’s top phillumenist has a collection of over 700,000 different labels.
Pannapictagraphists collect comic books and probably can't even spell what they are.
Vexillophiles collect and display flags.
Plangonologist are collectors of dolls.
Arctophiles collect teddy bears.
What's in a Name, Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood may be
remembered today in his eponymous pottery, but his life was far more
exciting than that association would lead one to think.
In his day he was a prominent abolitionist, and his pottery company made a medallion with the design of a black slave on his knees with the motto, “Am I not a man and brother?” He produced large quantities of the medallion and distributed them for free through the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Fashionable women started wearing them as jewelry and men smoked pipes with the image on the side. It became the most widely recognized image of a black person during the 1700s. Josiah died before slavery was abolished in England.
He also has the distinction of being the grandfather of Charles Darwin.
In his day he was a prominent abolitionist, and his pottery company made a medallion with the design of a black slave on his knees with the motto, “Am I not a man and brother?” He produced large quantities of the medallion and distributed them for free through the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Fashionable women started wearing them as jewelry and men smoked pipes with the image on the side. It became the most widely recognized image of a black person during the 1700s. Josiah died before slavery was abolished in England.
He also has the distinction of being the grandfather of Charles Darwin.
Olympic 3D
While the 2008 Olympics were the first to be
broadcast entirely in HD, the 2012 Olympics are the first to
broadcast in HD as well as 3D. The games were first televised in
Berlin in 1936 and played on big screens about the city. Then came
the first games to enter households, strictly in London in 1948,
followed by the first internationally televised games during the
1960 Olympics in Rome.
Jul 13, 2012
Happy Friday
Take Risks - If you win you will be happy, if you lose you will be
wise.
I am happy that I am wise enough to enjoy a Happy Friday!
I am happy that I am wise enough to enjoy a Happy Friday!
History of Mooning
Some sources have cited mooning, or baring
one’s butt at another as an insult that stretches back to the
Romans, but the gesture as we know it today seems to have started in
the Middle Ages.
Wikipedia claims that the first known instance of mooning was recorded by the famous Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 1st century A.D. According to Josephus’ account in The Wars of the Jews, a Roman soldier bared his rear to an audience of Jews celebrating Passover, and incited a riot that killed “upwards of thirty thousand.” However, a closer examination of Josephus’s account shows that the soldier was not mooning the crowd, but rather farting in their general direction. Josephus puts it more delicately, “One of the soldiers, raising his robe, stooped in an indecent attitude, so as to turn his backside to the Jews, and made a noise in keeping with his posture.”
One of the earliest known instances of mooning happened during the Fourth Crusade around 1203, when Western Europeans attempted to take Constantinople. As the crusaders’ ships pulled away after the failed attack, the Byzantines hooted and hollered and “showed their bare buttocks in derision to the fleeing foe.” Another account tells of the Italian nobleman and troubadour Alberico da Romano, who was so indignant at losing his favorite falcon during a hunt that he “dropped his trousers and exposed his rear to the Lord as a sign of abuse and reviling."
Though it was a worldwide phenomenon by the 19th century, mooning didn’t get its name until the 1960s. The Oxford English Dictionary dates moon and mooning to student slang of the 1960s, when the gesture became increasingly popular at American universities. The term derives from the use of moon or moons as slang for the bare buttocks.
Wikipedia claims that the first known instance of mooning was recorded by the famous Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 1st century A.D. According to Josephus’ account in The Wars of the Jews, a Roman soldier bared his rear to an audience of Jews celebrating Passover, and incited a riot that killed “upwards of thirty thousand.” However, a closer examination of Josephus’s account shows that the soldier was not mooning the crowd, but rather farting in their general direction. Josephus puts it more delicately, “One of the soldiers, raising his robe, stooped in an indecent attitude, so as to turn his backside to the Jews, and made a noise in keeping with his posture.”
One of the earliest known instances of mooning happened during the Fourth Crusade around 1203, when Western Europeans attempted to take Constantinople. As the crusaders’ ships pulled away after the failed attack, the Byzantines hooted and hollered and “showed their bare buttocks in derision to the fleeing foe.” Another account tells of the Italian nobleman and troubadour Alberico da Romano, who was so indignant at losing his favorite falcon during a hunt that he “dropped his trousers and exposed his rear to the Lord as a sign of abuse and reviling."
Though it was a worldwide phenomenon by the 19th century, mooning didn’t get its name until the 1960s. The Oxford English Dictionary dates moon and mooning to student slang of the 1960s, when the gesture became increasingly popular at American universities. The term derives from the use of moon or moons as slang for the bare buttocks.
Nitpicking, Bigwigs, and Perukes
By 1580, syphilis had
become the worst epidemic to strike Europe since the Black Death.
Without antibiotics, victims developed open sores, nasty rashes,
blindness, dementia, and patchy hair loss.
Powdered wigs, called perukes saved the day. Victims hid their baldness, as well as the bloody sores that scored their faces, with wigs made of horse, goat, or human hair and coated with powder scented with lavender or orange, to hide the odor. Wigs were not necessarily stylish, just a shameful necessity.
When Louis XIV was only 17 his hair began thinning. He hired 48 wig makers to save his image. Five years later, the King of England, Louis’ cousin, Charles II, did the same thing when his hair started to gray. Other aristocrats immediately copied the two kings. They sported ostentatious wigs, and the style trickled down to the upper-middle class.
The cost of wigs increased, and perukes became a scheme for flaunting wealth. An everyday wig cost about 25 shillings, a week’s pay for a commoner. The bill for large, elaborate perukes could cost as much as 800 shillings. The word 'bigwig' was coined to describe snobs who could afford big, flowing wigs.
At the same time, head lice were everywhere and nitpicking was a painful and time-consuming chore. Wigs curbed the problem. Lice stopped infesting people’s hair, which had to be shaved for the wig to fit, and moved to the wigs. Delousing a wig was much easier than delousing a head of hair. A wig-maker would simply boil the wig to remove the nits.
Powdered wigs, called perukes saved the day. Victims hid their baldness, as well as the bloody sores that scored their faces, with wigs made of horse, goat, or human hair and coated with powder scented with lavender or orange, to hide the odor. Wigs were not necessarily stylish, just a shameful necessity.
When Louis XIV was only 17 his hair began thinning. He hired 48 wig makers to save his image. Five years later, the King of England, Louis’ cousin, Charles II, did the same thing when his hair started to gray. Other aristocrats immediately copied the two kings. They sported ostentatious wigs, and the style trickled down to the upper-middle class.
The cost of wigs increased, and perukes became a scheme for flaunting wealth. An everyday wig cost about 25 shillings, a week’s pay for a commoner. The bill for large, elaborate perukes could cost as much as 800 shillings. The word 'bigwig' was coined to describe snobs who could afford big, flowing wigs.
At the same time, head lice were everywhere and nitpicking was a painful and time-consuming chore. Wigs curbed the problem. Lice stopped infesting people’s hair, which had to be shaved for the wig to fit, and moved to the wigs. Delousing a wig was much easier than delousing a head of hair. A wig-maker would simply boil the wig to remove the nits.
Facts About Television
The first time color TV sets outsold
B&W was in 1972. That was also the first year that broadcast
satellite TV began, although cable had been around for years before
that. Only 20% of U.S. households had two or more sets at the time,
and almost all portable TVs (usually the choice for a second set)
were still black and white due to the technology involved for color.
By 1979 no more black and white consoles were made. About six
channels were available for watching and the average screen size was
22 inches.
During the 90s the average screen size was 27 inches and the 'giant size screens' were 40 inches. The average TV screen size is about 37 inches today and expected to average 60 inches by 2015.
Later this year super HiDef will be coming at four times the 1080p of today and the TV set definition will be 16 times greater by 2015, likely with prices to match.
During the 90s the average screen size was 27 inches and the 'giant size screens' were 40 inches. The average TV screen size is about 37 inches today and expected to average 60 inches by 2015.
Later this year super HiDef will be coming at four times the 1080p of today and the TV set definition will be 16 times greater by 2015, likely with prices to match.
Jul 11, 2012
Social Site Facts
Twitter has 901 million users, Twitter
has 555 million users, Google+ has 170 million users, and Linkedin
has 150 million users. The average user spends 405 minutes on
Facebook, 89 minutes on Twitter, 3 minutes on Google+, and 21
minutes on Linkedin.
Presidential Height Index
Did you know that in the past 27
US presidential elections, the shorter candidate has won only six
times? Handlers for Jimmy Carter (5' 9") went to great lengths to
prevent him from standing next to the taller Gerald Ford (6'). It
worked, Carter won.
The tallest President elected to office was Abraham Lincoln at 6' 4" and George Washington was 6' 2". Eighteen presidents have been 6 foot or taller. James Madison was the shortest at 5 foot 4.
Mitt Romney is 6’2” and Barack Obama is 6’1”.
Michigan is the only state that has a statute prohibiting height discrimination. (Maybe because Jimmy Hoffa was 5'5").
The tallest President elected to office was Abraham Lincoln at 6' 4" and George Washington was 6' 2". Eighteen presidents have been 6 foot or taller. James Madison was the shortest at 5 foot 4.
Mitt Romney is 6’2” and Barack Obama is 6’1”.
Michigan is the only state that has a statute prohibiting height discrimination. (Maybe because Jimmy Hoffa was 5'5").
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