Sep 19, 2012

Donut Bacon Burger Breakfast

This is a great twist on an old idea. Southern Californian burger chain Slater’s 50/50 now offers a Donut Burger on its weekend breakfast menu during regular season football.

It consists of two glazed donuts which sandwich their 50/50 half bacon, half beef burger with a sunny side up egg and cheese. It comes with a side of strawberry jelly. Mmmm.

Welcome

Greetings to all my new best friends from Poland. I have seen many new people sign up recently.

Am interested in how you found my blog. Please comment below to tell me the source that sent you.

Thank you and welcome. I hope you continue to enjoy my posts.

The Butler Did It

The phrase "the butler did it" is commonly attributed to Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958). Mary was a very popular writer who authored over 50 books, many of which became best-sellers. Mary (also a playwright) at one point had three plays running simultaneously on Broadway.

She also created a super-criminal called The Bat in 1920, who was cited by Bob Kane as one of his inspirations for Batman. Mary's first book The Circular Stairs was published in 1908.

In 1930, her book The Door was published and in the story the butler really did it. Although Mary Roberts Rinehart is generally credited with the origin of the expression, the words "the butler did it" do not actually appear in the book. Mary used the "butler as criminal" device in other novels as well. After that, the bit became so popular it was considered a cliche and spawned many satirical jabs.

Sep 14, 2012

Happy Friday

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

You cannot fail when you have the courage to have another successful Happy Friday!

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.

Sep 12, 2012

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.