Talk Like a Pirate Day

The establishment of International Talk Like a Pirate Day took off in 2002 when Dave Barry mentioned us in his nationally syndicated newspaper column, and the date September 19th was based on someone’s ex-wife’s birthday. There is a Facebook page, Twitter account, and much more on the web. The official website provides lingo in English, German, Dutch, and more. LINK

Here are some origins of pirate words: A starboard is a steering paddle or rudder and in England, it was on the right side of the ship, hence starboard side.

The port side of a ship was originally called the larboard side, or loading side, but became verbally confusing, especially in bad weather or battles, so it was changed to port side.

Duffel is a sailor's personal belongings and the bag that carries them. It is named after the Flemish town of Duffel that produced the woolen cloth which the bags were made of.

Avast comes from the Dutch phrase 'houd vast' which meant 'hold fast' or 'stop'. Over time it became 'hou vast' and later 'avast'.

Poop deck originates from the French word for stern, la poupe. The poop deck is technically a stern deck, which in sailing ships was usually elevated as the roof of the stern cabin, also known as the 'poop cabin'. In sailing ships, an elevated position was ideal for both navigation and observation of the crew and sails.

Ink Jet Printer Origin

A Canon engineer discovered this one when he set a hot soldering iron a bit too close to his pen. The pen reacted by spitting out ink just moments later, and the principle behind a new piece of tech was born.

Why Crustaceans Turn Red

Crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and some other crustaceans turn red/orange when cooked from their typical blue-green to grayish color.

The exoskeletons of such creatures are made up of several pigments, one of which is a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which provides it’s reddish coloring (astaxanthin is the same carotene that gives salmon its color). At normal temperatures and when alive the astaxanthin pigments are hidden because they are covered with other protein chains that give their shells the bluish-gray or brownish-green color we see.

Exposure to heat destroys this protein coating, while the carotenoid pigment, astaxanthin still remains stable. So when you cook a crab or lobster or other crustaceans,  the heat breaks down all the pigments except for astaxanthin, causing the bright red color we see in cooked lobsters, crabs, and crayfish or the reddish-orange color of cooked shrimp.

Only the albino crab and lobster do not turn red when cooked because they have no pigmentation, so they remain the same white color even when cooked.

A one pound lobster is about seven to eight years old, and a eight pounder may be 20 to 50 years old. Lobsters are capable of living over 100 years.

Swiffer Substitutes

Microfiber cloths are great and cheaper substitutes for disposable cloths. When one side is soiled, turn the cloth over and use the other side, same as with the disposables. Microfiber cloths can be tossed into the wash instead of thrown away and one package of reusable microfiber cloths cost less than a package of disposable wipes for the Swiffer.

Myth: Earth is Close to Overpopulation

This is a myth has been around since the 18th century, but the world is a really big place with plenty of space.

Let's look at how much land it really takes to hold 6 billion people. To give you an idea, consider the small nation of Japan, which has about 143,000 square miles of land. One square mile has 27.9 million square feet. Japan has a total of about 4 trillion square feet, enough to give each person on earth 670 square feet. If we housed people in families of four in simple two-level buildings (8 people per building, one family of four per level), each building could be on a lot of over 5300 square feet.

Using the American average of 8,000 square feet to house four people, the entire population of the planet would fit into a space the size of Texas and Nevada combined or less than the state of Alaska. That leaves a bunch of unused space for growing crops, sailing, and going on vacations.

Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards

She was the first woman to graduate from a scientific institute in the United States. She was the first female student and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She met her husband, Robert Richards at MIT.  Ellen Richards was also the first woman to be elected to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.

In addition, she was a leading figure in the study of nutrition and hygiene. Ecology was a word coined by her. Ellen was an instructor in the laboratory of sanitary chemistry at the Lawrence Experiment Station. She also became the first president of the American Home Economics Association in 1908. In 2011, she was listed as #8 on the MIT150 list of the top 150 innovators and ideas from MIT. Ellen was born in 1842 and died in 1911.

Bacon Barter

They have finally done it.  Driving across country with no money and no credit cards. Josh Sankey is freeloading his way across the US armed with nothing more than a truckload of bacon.

Oscar Mayer supplied enough bricks of Butcher Thick Cut Bacon fill his refrigerated truck.

Sankey is literally hauling a trailer full of 3,000 pounds of bacon from New York to L.A., going coast to coast with zero cash, cards, or checks. He is relying only on the goodness of Americans and the goodness of bacon. He offers bacon to finagle whatever he wants from whomever he wants and so far it's working.

Sankey kicked off the cross-country adventure at the Jets' opener, crashing the tailgate party with a red wagon load of bacon. His goal was to get tickets to the game by trading bacon. He stacked his odds with Camille Burford, host of The Movie Show. They scored two seats. He went on to Maryland, and is now through Charleston. I imagine when he needs a snack, he just throws a few rashers on the engine block to heat them up.

Doughnut Crumbs

No one really knows when donuts were invented or who invented them. One theory suggests they were introduced into North America by Dutch settlers, who were responsible for popularizing other American desserts, including cookies, cream pie, and cobbler. Another theory is the English brought the recipes over when they settled in the US.


Doughnut is the more traditional spelling, and still dominates outside the US. Doughnut and the shortened form donut are both pervasive in American English.


Donuts were originally made as a long twist of dough. It was also common in England for doughnuts to be made in a ball shape and injected with jam after they were cooked. Both methods of cooking involved no human intervention as the balls and twists turn over when the underside is cooked.


Hansen Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring donut in 1847 when he was traveling on a steam boat. He was not satisfied with the texture of the center of the donut so he pressed a hole in the center with the ship’s tin pepper box. Excuse me, I feel the need to graze on a glazed.
------------------

Bloginalia

Try my last few years of posts in these books on Amazon:

Bloginalia 2009 Kindle and paperback LINK

Bloginalia 2010 Kindle and paperback LINK

Bloginalia 2011 Kindle and paperback LINK

Kindle is only $2.99