Fact of the Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THE KENTUCKY DERBY

 

 

Did you know... that the Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival? The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles at Churchill Downs. (Wikipedia)

 

In 1872, Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., who was the grandson of William Clark from the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England. There he visited Epsom in Surry, which is where The Derby had been running annually since 1780. Clark then traveled to Paris, France, where in 1863, a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club. This was a traditional gentlemen’s club and is still regarded as one of the most prestigious private clubs in Paris. It’s best remembered as an elite gathering of French society from the nineteenth century. In addition to the French Jockey Club, they organized the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, which was the greatest race in France at that time.

 

Clark returned home to Kentucky, and then organized the Louisville Jockey Club. His sole purpose was to raise money to build quality racing facilities outside of the city. The track that we know and love would soon be known as Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs was named for John and Henry Churchill, who were the ones that provided land for the racetrack. In 1937, the racetrack was officially incorporated as Churchill Downs.

 

The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875. There were a crowd of 10,000 people who watched 15 three-year-old Thoroughbred horses race for 1.5 miles (or 12 furlongs). This was the same distance as the Epsom Derby. A three-year-old Thoroughbred named Aristides won the race in just over two minutes and 37 seconds. His jockey was Oliver Lewis (that name sound familiar, Lexingtonians?) who was only 19 years old. Aristides’ trainer was Ansel Williamson. Aristides took a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes later that year. By1896, it was changed to a mile and quarter (10 furlongs), which is the same length it remains to this day.

 

Despite the initial success of the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs, by 1894 the track ran into financial difficulties. This led to the Louisville Jockey Club being incorporated that same year. Despite this, the business continued to flounder until 1902, when the Derby would find its salvation in a man named Col. Matt Winn. A skilled marketer, Col. Matt Winn was able to put together a syndicate of businessmen to purchase the facility and within his first year of ownership, was turning a profit. Under Winn, Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby became the preeminent race track, and race, in North America. Winn was soon recognized for his success and accomplishments, being recognized as an official Kentucky Colonel, forever being known as Col. Matt Winn.

 

TRADITIONS OF THE KENTUCKY DERBY:
There are a large number of traditions that are associated with The Kentucky Derby, such as the Mint Julep. The Mint Julep consists of bourbon, mint, simple syrup, and is the traditional drink of choice for the race. This quintessential Kentucky drink is served in a silver Julep cup. Burgoo is also served at the Derby. It’s a popular dish that is a thick stew consisting of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables.

 

While attending the race is the greatest tradition of all, how you do it is up to you. The infield is general admission and it’s likely you won’t see much of the race. This is where the majority of people come to party! However, “Millionaire’s Row” lives up to its name. It refers to the expensive box seats. This is where you’ll see celebrities and well known people in society.

 

Of course, you can’t mention Derby tradition without mentioning the large, elaborate hats, or fascinators, worn by the women in attendance.  In fact, 90% of female attendees were a hat, and the cost of a high-end Derby hat is $500 to $1000. It’s labor extensive, and usually takes 1 to 7 days to make from start to finish.

 

THE MINT JULEP:
Each year, over the two-day period which includes the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby, 120,000 Mint Juleps are served at Churchill Downs Racetrack. What does that take to pull off? It requires more than 10,000 bottles of Old Forester Mint Julep Ready-to-Serve Cocktail, 60,000 pounds of ice, and 1,000 pounds of freshly harvested mint.

 

$1000 MINT JULEP:
If a ready-to-serve cocktail doesn’t do it for you, how about the $1000 Mint Julep? Since 2006, Churchill Downs has also served extra-premium custom-made mint juleps at a cost of $1000 each at the Kentucky Derby. These mint juleps were served in gold-plated cups with silver straws, and were made from Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, spring water ice cubes from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar from Australia. The proceeds were used to support charitable causes dedicated to retired race horses.

 

 

THE KENTUCKY DERBY TROPHY:
The Kentucky Derby trophy is made of 14 karat gold and stands on a jade base. It’s 22 inches tall and weighs 3.5 pounds.

 

 

GARLAND OF ROSES:
The garland is made up of more than 400 red roses that are sewn onto green satin. It weighs more than 40 pounds. In the center of the garland is a rose “crown,” with a single rose pointing up that symbolizes the heart and struggle needed to reach the Kentucky Derby Winner’s Circle. The number of roses in the crown are determined by how many horses compete in the Derby. They believe that the tradition may have originated in 1883, when New York socialite E. Berry Wall presented roses to ladies at a post-Derby party that was attended by Churchill Downs founder and president, Col. M. Lewis Clark. This gesture is believed to have led Clark to the idea of making the rose the race’s official flower. However, it was not until 1896 that any recorded account referred to roses being draped on the Derby winner, when Ben Brush, the winner of the 22nd Derby, was given a garland that was made of white and pink roses. Later, in 1904, the red rose became the official flower of the Kentucky Derby. Then in 1925, sports columnist Bill Corum coined the term, “Run For the Roses.”

 

 

LENGTH OF THE TRACK:
The historic 1¼-mile race was originally 1½ miles before the current distance was established in 1896.

 

THE SAME DATE:
Ever since 1931, The Kentucky Derby has been held on the first Saturday, instead of an undetermined date in mid-May. The move was largely due to the popularity of the idea of a Triple Crown winner, and allowed for a consistent racing schedule for horses that would participate in all three races – The Kentucky Derby, followed by the Preakness Stakes, and then the Belmont Stakes.

 

WEATHER:
There hasn’t been a Derby that has ever been postponed because of rain or bad weather.
 

TRACK ATTENDANCE:
In 2017, a crowd of 158,070 watched Always Dreaming win the Derby, making it the seventh biggest attendance in the history of the racetrack. The largest attendance at the Kentucky Derby was in 2015, when over 170,000 people watched from the grandstand. That’s in addition to the millions of people who watched on TV. Sixteen million viewers saw the 143rd Run for the Roses on TV.

 

BETS:
The Kentucky Derby set a record for wagering with over $187 million bets on the horse races in 2012. According to Churchill Downs data, the total was estimated to be $165 million in 2011. This is the combined total from on and off-track bets, both. Since Kentucky Derby is the biggest race in the world, millions of people from around the world bet at various live tracks and online sports books.

 

FASTEST HORSE:
Who’s the fastest horse in the history of the Derby? It probably won’t surprise you to know is was Secretariat. In 1973, Secretariat broke Northern Dancer’s record from 1964, by running the Derby in 1:59:4. Not only is this record still standing today, but Secretariat went on set even faster times, in each of his Triple Crown races.

 

 

TRIPLE CROWN:
The Kentucky Derby is the first race in horse racing’s coveted Triple Crown, which also includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. The Preakness and the Belmont Stakes took hiatuses in 1891-1893 and 1911-1912, but the Kentucky Derby has been ran every year consecutively since 1875. To win the Triple Crown, a horse must win all three races, a feat only accomplished by twelve horses.

 

GRAND SLAM!:
What happens when a Horse wins the Triple Crown, but doesn’t stop there? A “Grand Slam” of course! The only horse to ever be a “Grand Slam” winner, American Pharoah, went on to also win the Breeders’ Cup Classic after winning the Triple Crown.

 

THE DERBY BY NUMBERS:

• Johnny Longden is the only person who won as a jockey AND a trainer. He won as a jockey in 1943 and as a trainer in 1969.
• 2016 was the first year of the sire wager (betting that a horse’s offspring will one day win the Derby).
• Three female horses have won the Kentucky Derby.
• Six jockeys have scored back to back wins. Most recently, Victor Espinoza with California Chrome in 2014 and American Pharoah in 2015.
• Nine horses bred by Calumet Farm have won the Kentucky Derby (most of any breeder).
• Eleven Kentucky Derby winners had a parent that won the Derby. Most recently, Grindstone in 1996 and Unbridled in 1990.
• Twelve horses have won the Triple Crown.
• Thirteen of fifteen riders in the first Kentucky Derby were African-American.
• 109 Kentucky Derby winners were born in Kentucky.
• For New England Sterling artisans to create the Kentucky Derby trophy in 1975, it took 2000 hours.
• $2,500 is the most expensive Mint Julep and 15 are made per year.
• 55,000 jobs generated by Kentucky’s equine industry.
• The estimated value of the Kentucky Derby trophy is $200,000.
• More than 2 million dollars has been raised for charity by the Kentucky Derby Festival since 2005 (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Cystic Fibrosis Research Inc,. Multiple Sclerosis Society, American Red Cross, Alzheimer’s Association, and Whas Crusade For Children).
• 16.5 million was the average number of viewers for the 2017 Kentucky Derby (most since 1989).
• $83 million dollars is Churchill Downs’ annual Kentucky Derby profits.
• $151.8 million dollars were paid on winning tickets in 2016.
• $400 million is the Kentucky Derby’s economic impact on the region.
• $4 billion is horse racing’s economic impact on Kentucky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - FRENCH CULTURE

 

The skyline of Paris viewed from the top of Notre Dame. (Image: © William Perugini | Shutterstock)

 

Did you know... that Some classic French dishes include boeuf bourguignon — a stew made of beef braised in red wine, beef broth and seasoned with garlic, onions and mushrooms — and coq au vin, a dish made with chicken, Burgundy wine, lardons (small strips or cubes of pork fat), button mushrooms, onions and optional garlic?

 

Most people associate French culture with Paris, which is a center of fashion, cuisine, art and architecture, but life outside of the City of Lights is very different and varies by region.

 

France doesn't just have culture; the word "culture" actually comes from France. "'Culture' derives from the same French term, which in turn derives from the Latin colere, meaning to tend to the earth and grow, cultivation and nurture," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science.

 

Historically, French culture was influenced by Celtic and Gallo-Roman cultures as well as the Franks, a Germanic tribe. France was initially defined as the western area of Germany known as Rhineland but it later came to refer to a territory that was known as Gaul during the Iron Age and Roman era.

Languages
French is the official language and the first language of 88 percent of the population, according to the BBC. It is the dominant language of the country's 70 million residents, but there are a number of variants based on region. French is the second most widely learned foreign language in the world, with almost 120 million students, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

 

About 3 percent of the population speaks German dialects, and there is a small group of Flemish speakers in the northeast, according to the BBC. Arabic is the third-largest minority language.

 

Those living near the border of Italy may speak Italian as a second language, and Basque is spoken by people living along the French-Spanish border.

 

Other dialects and languages include Catalan, Breton (the Celtic language), Occitan dialects, and languages from the former French colonies, including Kabyle and Antillean Creole.

 

Religion
Catholicism is the predominant religion of France. In a survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), 64 percent of the population (about 41.6 million people) identified themselves as Roman Catholic. The other religions in France include Islam, Buddhism and Judaism. From 23 to 28 percent of people in France do not subscribe to a religion, according to the CIA.

 

Values
The French take immense great pride in their nation and government and are typically offended by any negative comments about their country. Visitors, particularly Americans, often interpret their attitude toward foreigners as rude.

 

"From around the 16th century, in Europe, culture became a term for the cultivation of the mind, the intellect, knowledge, learning, creative faculties and acceptable ways of behaving," said De Rossi. The French embrace style and sophistication and take pride in the fact that even their public spaces strike a regal tone.

 

The French believe in égalité, which means equality, and is part of the country's motto: "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité." Many say they place a higher importance on equality than liberty and fraternity, the other two words in the motto.

 

The French embody romance and passion, and there is an open attitude toward sex outside of marriage, according to a study by France's National Research Agency on AIDS. Even the country's top politicians have been known to carry out extramarital affairs without making an effort to conceal them. As a reflection of the country's secular nature, it is not uncommon for children are born to unmarried couples.

 

In addition to traditional marriage, French couples also have the choice of getting a pacte civil de solidarité (PACS). This is a union that has many of the same benefits of marriage, like tax breaks, but can be dissolved with a notice or by marrying someone else or instead of a divorce. Two-thirds as many French couples are in a PACS as are married, according to The Economist. 

 

French cuisine
Food and wine are central to life at all socioeconomic levels, and much socializing is done around lengthy dinners.

A traditional French dish is coq au vin — chicken in Burgundy wine, lardons (small strips or cubes of pork fat), button mushrooms, onions and garlic. (Image credit: Dream79 Shutterstock)

 

While cooking styles have changed to emphasize lighter fare, many still associate French cooking with heavy sauces and complicated preparation. Some classic French dishes include boeuf bourguignon — a stew made of beef braised in red wine, beef broth and seasoned with garlic, onions and mushrooms — and coq au vin, a dish made with chicken, Burgundy wine, lardons (small strips or cubes of pork fat), button mushrooms, onions and optional garlic. 

 

French fries, interestingly enough, may not be French. According to National Geographic, they may actually be from Spain or Belgium. The reason why Americans call fried potatoes French fries is because Thomas Jefferson discovered the treat while in France while serving there as American Minister from 1784 to 1789. He brought the idea back to the States.

 

Clothing
Paris is known as the home to many high-end fashion houses, such as Dior, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Many French people dress in a sophisticated, professional and fashionable style, but it is not overly fussy. Typical outfits include nice dresses, suits, long coats, scarves and berets.

 

The term haute couture is associated with French fashion and loosely means fancier garments that are handmade or made to order. In France, the term is protected by law and is defined by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, according to Eva Domjian, a London-based fashion writer and editor. Domjian writes on her blog:

 

"To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, a fashion house must follow these rules:

1. Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
2. Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least 15 people full-time.
3. Each season (i.e. twice a year) present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least 35 runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear."

French art

• Art is everywhere in France — particularly in Paris and other major cities — and Gothic, Romanesque Rococo and Neoclassic influences can be seen in many churches and other public buildings. 
• Many of history's most renowned artists, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, sought inspiration in Paris, and they gave rise to the Impressionism movement. 
• The Louvre Museum in Paris is among the world's largest museums and is home to many famous works of art, including the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. 

 

Holidays and celebrations
The French celebrate the traditional Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter. They mark May Day, also known as Labor Day, on May 1. Victory in Europe Day on May 8 commemorates the end of hostilities in Europe in World War II. Bastille Day is celebrated on July 14. This is the day the Bastille fortress in Paris was stormed by revolutionaries to start the French Revolution.

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

 

 

Did you know... that The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres? The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. (Wikipedia)

 

The Great Barrier Reef: it’s one of the most iconic, most beautiful and most diverse locations on earth. Stretching from Cape York in northern most Queensland down to Bundaberg on the central coast, this enormous living organism (the world’s largest) is nothing short of breathtaking. And it’s right on our doorstep.

 

It's the only place on earth where two Unesco World Heritage Sites meet. 

Officially a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981, just one accolade was not enough for this jaw-droppingly beautiful part of the world; so it got two. The Reef hugs the coastline of the incomparable Wet Tropics, the oldest rainforest in the world. Both are home to some of the rarest creatures and prehistoric plant life on earth, giving it near-on magical status. Pretty spectacular stuff. 

 

It's bigger than Tasmania and Victoria, combined.

Stretching 2,300 kilometres along two-thirds of the Queensland coast, the Great Barrier Reef is enormous. It’s the only living structure in the world that can be seen from space and covers an area bigger than two Australian states. Big doesn’t begin to cover it. 

 

You'll find a 3rd of the world's Coral here

More than 400 coral species can be found in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, making it not only an impressive feat of Mother Nature but an important, and highly protected, habitat to thousands of marine species found nowhere else on earth.

 

And it's home to nearly 5,000 marine and mammal species

Thanks to its abundant coral reefs and protected coral cays (we’re talking 600+ pristine beaches and remote tropical islands), the Great Barrier Reef is home to some of the world’s most unique creatures. More than 1,500 species of fish, 215 bird species, 3,000 species of molluscs, six of the world’s seven species of marine turtle, 30 species of whale and dolphin, and one of the world’s most important dugong populations all call this stretch of ocean home.  

 

You can volunteer on The great Barrier Reef

Visiting the Great Barrier Reef is a life-changing experience in itself, but helping ensure its survival for generations to come will stay with you forever. Destinations such as Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island and Lady Musgrave Island are award-winning for their eco-sustainable accommodation and on-site research and volunteer programs.  

 

Ensuring facilities and guests leave no footprint, you can be beachside one day, rehabilitating a baby turtle or learning about coral health the next.  

 

The Reef "TAX" helps fund much-needed research

To ensure the ongoing protection of the Great Barrier Reef, a ‘reef tax’ of AUD$6 per day is paid by any visitor to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. While the entire region hugely benefits from tourism, these much-needed funds go toward the ongoing research and protection conducted by marine park officers. 

 

You'll find some of the most famous dive sites in the world here

While the average depth of the Great Barrier Reef hovers around 35 metres, the Continental Shelf drops to depths of more than 2,000 metres, making it a hotbed of marine life activity. 

 

Offering some of the most impressive diving locations in the world, depending on the time of year you could be swimming with whales on Norman Reef, watching a shark feeding frenzy at North Horn or be drifting next to manta rays off Lady Elliot Island. Being spoilt for choice on the Reef is just a way of life. 

 

November is Coral spawning season

Each year the Great Barrier Reef puts on the world’s largest, most impressive coral spawning event. Releasing eggs and sperm into the ocean at exactly the same time, cloud-like plumes rise to the surface to fertilise. This synchronised reproduction happens over a period of just a few days and is key in helping the reef grow and repair. Oh, and it’s wildly beautiful to witness. If you time your visit right… 

 

Swim with Australia's great 8

Snorkelling is one of the best ways to encounter the Great Eight; just remember to keep your eyes peeled. While the Southern Great Barrier Reef is manta ray territory, you’ll see Humpback whales migrating the length of the Queensland coast during the winter months.  

 

Turtles stretch the length of the Great Barrier Reef; you’ll likely spot at least one on a snorkelling trip. But, if you want to witness hatchlings taking their first tiny steps toward their life in the ocean, head straight to Mon Repos in Bundaberg. If swimming with the world’s most iconic sea creatures is on your bucket list, then you’ve come to the right reef. 

 

View The Great Barrier Reef from above

In 2012 Google launched the very first underwater ‘Street View’ on the Great Barrier Reef. The Underwater Earth project uses data and imagery from the ground-breaking Catlin Seaview Survey project – a series of expeditions aiming to explore and survey the health of coral reefs worldwide – so you can spy on the antics of the Reef’s inhabitants.  

 

Here are more interesting facts about The Great Barrier Reef!

• The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world.
• It is found in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
• The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest living structure.
• It is made up of around 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands.
• The Great Barrier Reef is around 2600 kilometres (1616 miles) in length.
• Astronauts can see the Great Barrier Reef from space.
• Marine animals called coral play an important role in the formation of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Coral create calcium carbonate which forms a hard, shell-like skeleton.
• The Great Barrier Reef is home to a wide range of life, including fish, sea turtles, giant clam, seahorse, sea snakes, nudibranch, sea turtles, stingray, sharks and many more.
• Over 1500 different species of fish live in the Great Barrier Reef, including clownfish, star of the animated film Finding Nemo.
• Whales, dolphins and dugong can also be seen in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Climate change is perhaps the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
• Warmer ocean temperatures put stress on coral and lead to coral bleaching.
• The Great Barrier Reef is a popular tourist destination with around 2 million visitors every year.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - LANTERN FESTIVAL

 

 

Did you know... that the Lantern Festival or the Spring Lantern Festival is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar? Usually falling in February or early March on the Gregorian calendar, it marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. (Wikipedia)

 

Emperor Han Mingdi, a proponent of Buddhism, found monks who lit lanterns in the temples to show respect to Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. He then ordered all temples, homes, and royal palaces to light lanterns that evening, which later became known as the Lantern Festival.

 

Chinese Lanterns Are Almost Always Red

 

Traditionally, Chinese lanterns are red and oval-shaped, decorated with red and gold tassels. In Chinese culture, the color red is believed to symbolize warmth, happiness, and good fortune. It's also considered the national color of China.  Lantern shades are created from thin paper or silk. The frames are created from bamboo, wood, wire, or rattan (a type of climbing palm indigenous to China). The lanterns are then decorated with calligraphy, paintings, or detailed embroidery.  In addition to the traditional oval-shaped lanterns, you can find square, rectangular, and spherical lanterns. Lanterns can be as small as a baseball or as large as a person.

 

There Are 3 Different Types of Lanterns

(Flying type)

 

The most common type is the hanging lantern, which is hung in homes and in public spaces. The hanging lantern is thought to bring protection and good luck.

 

On holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can find flying lanterns throughout China. These lanterns are similar to hot air balloons, propelled by a small flame that creates hot air to send the balloon into the night sky.

 

Floating lanterns are also common during lantern celebrations, like the Dragon Boat Festival. This festival takes place near a river, pond, or lake, and features floating lanterns in different shapes and designs.

 

Hong Kong Holds the Lantern Display Record
In 2011, the biggest Mid-Autumn Festival event hosted in Hong Kong's Victoria Park set a Guinness World Record for the largest lantern sculpture. The fish-shaped sculpture measured over 36 x 9 x 13 meters (119 x 31 x 43 feet). It was made from 2,360 traditional Chinese lanterns and took 35 people 13 days to build. Year after year, this event in Hong Kong is considered the grandest Mid-Autumn Festival celebration in all of China. You can watch kung fu demonstrations, experience the fire dragon dance, and of course, view lantern displays.

 

Lantern Design is Full of Symbolism

 

Color: Aside from the popular red color, pink symbolizes romance, white represents good health, green yields growth, orange means money, yellow brings good luck in school, and light blue and purple make dreams come true.Shape: The round shape symbolizes wholeness and togetherness in China, reminiscent of the full moon, which presides over the Lantern Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

 

Chinese calligraphy: Common decorative writings represent best wishes for a long, healthy life and a prosperous, wealthy future.

 

Art: Typically, lantern crafters will paint dragons for strength, bamboo for resilience, butterflies and flowers for happiness, and trees and plants for growth. The Chinese zodiac animal for the year also makes it into New Year lantern design.

 

Chinese Lanterns Became Popular Over 2,000 Years Ago
Historians believe the first lanterns were used during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).  Emperor Han Mingdi, a proponent of Buddhism, found monks who lit lanterns in the temples to show respect to Buddha on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. He then ordered all temples, homes, and royal palaces to light lanterns that evening, which later became known as the Lantern Festival.

 

Lantern Meaning and Use Has Changed Drastically

 

When lanterns were first developed in ancient China, they were used primarily to provide light and in worship of Buddha.

 

Today, lanterns are mainly used in decoration and celebration of public festivals. Some places in China, like Beijing's Forbidden City and Pingyao's Ancient City, hang lanterns all year round for decoration. Some Chinese people still believe that lighting lanterns ensures a prosperous future, but for most this is now to do with symbolism and spiritual superstition, rather than belief in Buddhist deities.

There Are 4 Major Lantern Festivals in China

Zhaolin Park during Harbin's Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

 

All over China, people light lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese New Year, the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, and of course, the Lantern Festival.

 

The Lantern Festival is the best time to view Chinese lanterns. It takes place on the fifteenth day of the first Chinese lunar month, which is normally between February 5 and March 7. Lighting and viewing the lanterns with friends and family is the main activity of the festival.

 

The Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is the world's best place to see ice lantern displays. From January 1 to February 15, travelers from all of the world visit the festival. One of the venue highlights is Zhaolin Park, where over 1,000 ice lanterns are illuminated.

 

Solving Lantern Riddles Is As Hard As "Shooting a Tiger"

 

A tradition that began during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has lasted until today, and has become one of the most important traditions during the Lantern Festival. Solving lantern riddles was considered quite a challenging task. The Chinese believed solving them called for the strength of a tiger, so lantern riddles were called 'literary tigers' (文虎 wénhǔ) or 'lantern tigers' (燈虎 dēnghǔ). When one solved a riddle, they were thought to have “shot the literary tiger”.

 

Lantern owners write riddles using prose or poetry, and tape them to their lanterns. Lantern viewers will then try to guess the riddle in exchange for a small prize. Think you have what it takes? Try to solve this popular lantern riddle: 

 

• 万里追随你，从不迷路；不怕冷，不怕火，不吃又不喝；太阳西下，我便消失。I can follow you for thousands of miles and not get lost, without fearing cold or fire, neither eating nor drinking, but I disappear when the sun sets. Who am I? 
   

For the answer, see our Chinese Sayings page.

 

There Is Only 1 Lantern Museum in China

Located in the "Lantern Town of the South Kingdom" in Zigong, Sichuan Province, the Zigong Lantern Museum is the only one of its kind in China, and is even considered one of the Three Wonders of Zigong. The Lantern Museum is important to the preservation of Chinese lanterns and ancient cultural relics. The museum's beautiful array of lantern displays are surely worth the visit. In addition to the museum, Zigong hosts a wonderful lantern festival between February 8 and February 13. The festival is known for being full of local flavor and rich tradition.

 

Zigong is 215 kilometers, or about three hours by car, from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. For more information about getting to Zigong, visit our Zigong travel guide.

 

The Best Places to View Lanterns in China Are Nanjing, Beijing, and Pingyao

Ancient City of Pingyao

 

While the beauty of lanterns are celebrated all over China, we recommend visiting the following locations to experience the best Chinese lantern displays:

• If you're looking to go big, the largest lantern festival in China is the Qinhuai International Lantern Festival, which takes place in Nanjing between February 4 and March 31.
• For a classic, yet unique experience visit Beijing to view the beautiful lantern displays at many renowned sites, such as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
• Take a step back in time and visit Pingyao, one of China’s best-preserved ancient walled towns. Experience the rich history of Chinese lanterns year-round in this quaint city.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - DIGITAL MEDIA PLAYERS

 

(The Roku XD/S digital media players works with popular streaming media sites like Prime Video and Netflix as well as locally stored content)

 

Did you know... that a digital media player (DMP) is a home entertainment consumer electronics device that can connect to a home network to stream digital media such as music, photos or digital video? Digital media players can stream files from a personal computer, network-attached storage or another networked media server, to play the media on a television or video projector display for home cinema. Most digital media players utilize a 10-foot user interface, and many are navigated via a remote control. Some digital media players also have smart TV features, such as allowing users to stream media such as digital versions of movies and TV shows from the Internet or streaming services.

 

Digital media players were first introduced in 2000. In the 2010s, the main difference between most digital media players and modern set-top boxes was the obligation to have a TV tuner. Set-top boxes generally contain at least one TV tuner and are as such capable of receiving broadcasting signals from cable television, satellite television, over-the-air television or IPTV.

 

In the 2010s, with the popularity of portable media players and digital cameras, as well as fast Internet download speeds and relatively cheap mass storage, many people came into possession of large collections of digital media files that cannot be played on a conventional analog HiFi without connecting a computer to an amplifier or television. The means to play these files on a network-connected digital media player that is permanently connected to a television is seen as a convenience. The rapid growth in the availability of online content has made it easier for consumers to use these devices and obtain content. YouTube, for instance, is a common plug-in available on most networked devices. Netflix has also struck deals with many consumer-electronics makers to make their interface available in the device's menus, for their streaming subscribers. This symbiotic relationship between Netflix and consumer electronics makers has helped propel Netflix to become the largest subscription video service in the U.S., using up to 20% of U.S. bandwidth at peak times.

 

Media players are often designed for compactness and affordability, and tend to have small or non-existent hardware displays other than simple LED lights to indicate whether the device is powered on. Interface navigation on the television is usually done with an infrared remote control, while more-advanced digital media players come with high-performance remote controls which allow control of the interface using integrated touch sensors. Some remotes also include accelerometers for air mouse features which allow basic motion gaming. Most digital media player devices are unable to play physical audio or video media directly, and instead require a user to convert these media into playable digital files using a separate computer and software. They are also usually incapable of recording audio or video. In the 2010s, it is also common to find digital media player functionality integrated into other consumer-electronics appliances, such as DVD players, set-top boxes, smart TVs, or even video game consoles.

Digital media players are also commonly referred to as a "digital media extender", "digital media streamer", "digital media hub", "digital media adapter", or "digital media receiver" (which should not be confused with AV Receiver that are also called Digital Media Renderer).

 

By November 2000, an audio-only digital media player was demonstrated by a company called SimpleDevices, which was awarded two patents covering this invention in 2006. Developed under the SimpleFi name by Motorola in late 2001, the design was based on a Cirrus Arm-7 processor and the wireless HomeRF networking standard which pre-dated 802.11b in the residential markets. Other early market entrants in 2001 included the Turtle Beach AudioTron, Rio Receiver and SliMP3 digital media players. An early version of a video-capable digital media player was presented by F.C. Jeng et al. in the International Conf. on Consumer Electronics in 2002. It included a network interface card, a media processor for audio and video decoding, an analog video encoder (for video playback to a TV), an audio digital to analog converter for audio playback, and an IR (infrared receiver) for remote-control-interface.

 

A concept of a digital media player was also introduced by Intel in 2002 at the Intel Developer Forum as part of their “Extended Wireless PC Initiative." Intel's digital media player was based on an Xscale PXA210 processor and supported 802.11b wireless networking. Intel was among the first to use the Linux embedded operating system and UPnP technology for its digital media player. Networked audio and DVD players were among the first consumer devices to integrate digital media player functionality. Examples include the Philips Streamium-range of products that allowed for remote streaming of audio, the GoVideo D2730 Networked DVD player which integrated DVD playback with the capability to stream Rhapsody audio from a PC, and the Buffalo LinkTheater which combined a DVD player with a digital media player. More recently, the Xbox 360 gaming console from Microsoft was among the first gaming devices that integrated a digital media player. With the Xbox 360, Microsoft also introduced the concept of a Windows Media Center Extender, which allows users to access the Media center capabilities of a PC remotely, through a home network. More recently, Linksys, D-Link, and HP introduced the latest generation of digital media players that support 720p and 1080p high resolution video playback and may integrate both Windows Extender and traditional digital media player functionality.

 

A digital media player can connect to the home network using either a wireless (IEEE 802.11a, b, g, and n) or wired Ethernet connection. Digital media players includes a user interface that allows users to navigate through their digital media library, search for, and play back media files. Some digital media players only handle music; some handle music and pictures; some handle music, pictures, and video; while others go further to allow internet browsing or controlling Live TV from a PC with a TV tuner.

 

Some other capabilities which are accomplished by digital media players include:

• Play, catalog, and store local hard disk, flash drive, or memory card music CDs and view CD album art, view digital photos, and watch DVD and Blu-ray or other videos.
• Stream movies, music, photos (media) over the wired or wireless network
• View digital pictures (one by one or as picture slideshows)
• Stream online video to a TV from services such as Netflix and YouTube.
• Play video games such as Angry Birds and others.
• Browse the Internet, check email and access social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn on TV through downloadable applications.
• Video conference by connecting a webcam and microphone.

In the 2010s, there are stand-alone digital media players on the market from AC Ryan, Asus, Apple (e.g., Apple TV[16]), NetGear (e.g., NTV and NeoTV models), Dune, iOmega, Logitech, Pivos Group, Micca, Sybas (Popcorn Hour), Amkette EvoTV,[17] D-Link, EZfetch, Fire TV, Android TV,[18] Pinnacle, Xtreamer, and Roku,[19] just to name a few. The models change frequently, so it is advisable to visit their web sites for current model names.

 

Want to read more on Digital Media Players?  Click here.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - BILLIE HOLIDAY (STRANGE FRUIT)

 

Did you know... that "Strange Fruit" is a song performed by Billie Holiday, who first sang and recorded it in 1939. Written by teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem and published in 1937, it protested American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. ... The great majority of victims were black.
 

Composer: Abel Meeropol
Form: Song

en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Strange_Frui

 

 

 

In March 1939, a 23-year-old Billie Holiday walked up to the mic at West 4th's Cafe Society in New York City to sing her final song of the night. Per her request, the waiters stopped serving and the room went completely black, save for a spotlight on her face. And then she sang, softly in her raw and emotional voice: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees..."

 

When Holiday finished, the spotlight turned off. When the lights came back on, the stage was empty. She was gone. And per her request, there was no encore. This was how Holiday performed "Strange Fruit," which she would determinedly sing for the next 20 years until her untimely death at the age of 44.

 

"Strange Fruit" was originally a poem
Holiday may have popularized "Strange Fruit" and turned it into a work of art, but it was a Jewish communist teacher and civil rights activist from the Bronx, Abel Meeropol, who wrote it, first as a poem, then later as a song.

 

His inspiration? Meeropol came across a 1930 photo that captured the lynching of two black men in Indiana. The visceral image haunted him for days and prompted him to put pen to paper. After he published "Strange Fruit" in a teachers union publication, Meeropol composed it into a song and passed it onto a nightclub owner, who then introduced it to Holiday.

 

The song reminded Holiday of her father
When Holiday heard the lyrics, she was deeply moved by them — not only because she was a black American but also because the song reminded her of her father, who died at 39 from a fatal lung disorder, after being turned away from a hospital because he was black.

 

Because of the painful memories it conjured, Holiday didn't enjoy performing "Strange Fruit," but knew she had to. “It reminds me of how Pop died,” she said of the song in her autobiography. “But I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it, but because 20 years after Pop died, the things that killed him are still happening in the South.”

 

The protest anthem became Holiday's downfall
While civil rights activists and black America embraced "Strange Fruit," the nightclub scene, which was primarily composed of white patrons, had mixed reactions. At witnessing Holiday's performance, audience members would applaud until their hands hurt, while those less sympathetic would bitterly walk out the door.

 

One individual who was determined to silence Holiday was Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger. A known racist, Anslinger believed that drugs caused black people to overstep their boundaries in American society, and that black jazz singers — who smoked marijuana — created the devil's music.

 

When Anslinger forbid Holiday to perform "Strange Fruit," she refused, causing him to devise a plan to destroy her. Knowing that Holiday was a drug user, he had some of his men frame her by selling her heroin. When she was caught using the drug, she was thrown into prison for the next year and a half.

 

Upon Holiday's release in 1948, federal authorities refused to reissue her cabaret performer’s license. Her nightclub days, which she loved so much, were over.

 

Still determined to soldier on, she performed to sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall, but still, the demons of her difficult childhood, which involved working at a brothel alongside her prostitute mother, haunted her and she began using heroin again.

 

In 1959, Holiday checked herself into a New York City hospital. Suffering from heart and lung problems and cirrhosis of the liver due to decades of drug and alcohol abuse, the singer was an emaciated version of herself. Her once heartfelt voice now withered and raspy.

 

Still bent on ruining the singer, Anslinger had his men go to the hospital and handcuff her to her bed. Although Holiday had been showing gradual signs of recovery, Anslinger's men forbid doctors to offer her further treatment. She died within days.

 

"Strange Fruit" was declared 'song of the century'
Despite her tragic demise, Holiday has a lasting legacy in the world of jazz and pop music. She garnered 23 Grammys posthumously and was recently inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

 

Among the many songs that Holiday is celebrated for, "Strange Fruit" will always be one of her defining works. It allowed her to take what was originally an expression of political protest and transform it into a work of art for millions to hear.

 

In 1999 Time designated "Strange Fruit" the "song of the century."

Source: Biography

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - Pianos

 

Did you know... that the largest piano ever made was by Adrian Mann, a piano tuner from New Zealand? It weighs 1.4 tons and is 5.7 meters long. It took this 25-year-old 4 years to build it! There are 18 million non-professional piano players in the US alone!

 

The piano has been a huge contribution to both classical and modern music. It was first created in the early 1700s. It originated from a harpsichord and has changed in size and shape several times since then. Now we have grand pianos, digital pianos, and synthesizers. Here are fifteen interesting facts about this very popular instrument.

• The piano was invented in Italy in 1709 by Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori.
• The piano was originally called the pianoforte because of its ability to play notes both quietly (piano) and loudly (forte). The harpsichords that came before were only able to play softly.
• The piano has over 12,000 parts, 10,000 of which are moving. It is an enormous number of small pieces that need to work perfectly to get the sound that you want out of the instrument.
• There are 230 strings needed for a piano to make its full range of sound.
• The strings are made out of steel and produce their sound when struck by tiny hammers inside the piano. Each string usually holds about 170 pounds of tension. This is one of the reasons why piano tuning is a job for a specialist!
• The piano can be considered both a string instrument and a percussion instrument. Most believe it is percussion because the hammers are striking the strings inside.
• The range of the piano goes from the lowest note you can play on a double-bassoon to the highest note you can play on a piccolo. That is an entire orchestral range in one instrument!
• Many people refer to the piano keys as “ivories,” but actually they haven’t been made out of ivory since the 1940’s. They are now made out of plastic to protect endangered resources.
• The exact middle of a piano keyboard is NOT middle C. It is actually the space between E and F above middle C.
• What are those pedals at the bottom of the piano for? The pedal on the left is a damper pedal. It moves the hammers closer to the string, which makes the sound softer. The middle pedal is a sostenuto pedal. It sustains only the notes you press, and then allows you to play others without sustain. The right pedal is the sustain pedal and is used the most often.
• The first piano invented was so expensive that average rich families could not afford. You could only really find these expensive instruments in homes of aristocrats and royalty for nearly a century before it became more accessible to the rest of the public.
• The largest piano ever made was by Adrian Mann, a piano tuner from New Zealand. It weighs 1.4 tons and is 5.7 meters long. It took this 25-year-old 4 years to build it!
• There are 18 million non-professional piano players in the US alone!
• The best piano brand is considered to be Steinway. The Steinway family has been making pianos since 1853!
• One of Cristofori’s original pianos is still in existence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City!

 

The piano has been part and parcel of classical music for more than three centuries and has contributed greatly to modern music. First created in the early 1700’s the instrument originated from the harpsichord and has undergone various transformations over the years.  Various forms of the piano include the grand piano, upright piano, digital piano and the most recent forms – keyboards and synthesizers. In addition to being one of the most popular musical instruments in existence, it also makes for a great piece of furniture.

 

But there’s a lot more to pianos than meets the eye. Here are 10

 

The first piano was invented in 1709

Harpsichord maker Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori invented the very first piano in Italy in 1709.

His first creation was called gravicèmbalo col piano e forte which, in Italian, means harpsichord with loud and soft. This name was later shortened to ‘fortepiano’ to then just ‘piano’. As you may already know, the harpsichord is only capable of producing sound in certain volume and expression, so having an instrument that is sensitive to touch was a game changer. The first piano invented was so expensive that even average rich families could not afford it. You could predominantly find the instrument in the homes of aristocrats and royalty for nearly a century before it became more accessible to the rest of the public. Via Normans

 

There are only three Cristofori pianos left
Today, there are only three original Cristofori pianos in the world. One is located at the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome, the second is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the third is in the Museum of Musical Instruments, Leipzig University in Germany.

 

There’s massive tension in there
A typical piano has about 220-230 steel strings. These produce the instrument’s sound when struck by the hammers, so they must be strung extremely tight to produce this sound.

Each string usually holds around 168 pounds of tension, making the total tension of most standard pianos around 18-20 tons. However, some of the largest grand pianos hold up to whopping 30 tons of tension! This is truly incredible and exactly what makes piano tuning such a specialist, intricate job that can only be done by a professional. Via Normans

 

It’s not a string instrument
Despite having more than 200 strings, the piano is not a string instrument. It is actually a percussion instrument since its sound is produced as a result of the hammers that hit on the strings.

 

The Upright piano is slower than the grand

It may be unnoticeable to some pianists; however, the action on a grand piano is faster than the one on an upright, allowing you to play much faster. This is because a grand piano has a repetition lever, allowing the musician to repeat the notes when the key is only half way up. On an upright, vertical action requires the key to go all the way up to reset it. Via Normans

 

Digital pianos only came to be in 1980

1700s, a digital piano was not brought to the market until 1980! The quest for an electronic instrument, however, had begun in the 1920s and, around 30 years later, the electric piano was born. It was an acoustic instrument with a pick up that would let you amplify it and quickly gained huge popularity – the electric piano was used by famous musicians such as Ray Charles and Duke Ellington. Then, in 1960s synthesizer appeared, which then influenced many genres of music thereafter. Finally, in the 1980s, the modern digital piano was introduced as we know it today! This opened a whole world of possibilities and also solved a lot of disadvantages of acoustic pianos, allowing musicians to practice silently, amplify the instrument, save space and tuning costs. Via Normans

 

The world’s largest piano was constructed by a 25-year old
Actually, Adrian Mann was only about 21 years old when he started constructing the grandiose instrument, which weighs 1.4 tonnes and measures 5.7 metres in length. Adrian is a piano tuner from New Zealand and he must love pianos to have dedicated 4 years of his early 20s to his masterpiece.

 

The most expensive piano costs $3.22 million
Designed by Canadian manufacturer Heintzman Pianos, the Crystal Piano is as beautiful as it is expensive. It features a gorgeous transparent design and was played for the first time at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

It was later sold at an auction for $3.22 million, making it the most expensive piano in the world. Via Normans

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SUSPENSION BRIDGES

 

1955 Niagara Suspension (Niagara River - Niagara Falls, New York, USA and Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)

 

Did you know... that a suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders? The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world. (Wikipedia)

 

Suspension bridge is a type of bridge which has cables between towers (so called “suspension cables”) and from them vertical “suspender cables” (or hangers”) that hold the deck. Suspension cables are anchored at each end of the bridge and they carry the majority of the load.

 

Suspension bridges, as we know them today and of which the first modern examples were built in the early 19th century, actually evolved from the “simple suspension bridges”. These bridges are one of the oldest types made by man. They have load-bearing cables but don’t have towers.

 

Earliest versions of suspension bridges were built by Thangtong Gyalpo, Tibetan saint and bridge-builder (among other things) from the 15th century. He built over 58 iron chain suspension bridges around Tibet and Bhutan and one of his bridges survived until 2004 when it was destroyed by a flood. Most of his bridges had chains as suspension cables while his early bridges used ropes from twisted willows or yak skins.

 

The first design of a suspension bridge that is similar to today's modern designs appeared in book “Machinae Novae” from 1959 which was written by Venetian polymath Fausto Veranzio. He also has designs in his book for a timber and rope suspension bridge, and a hybrid suspension and cable-stayed bridge using iron chains.

 

The first iron chain suspension bridge on the soil of United States was one made at Jacob's Creek in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in 1801. This bridge was the first to have all the necessary components of a modern suspension bridge and was designed by James Finley who patented a system for suspending a rigid deck from a bridge's cables in 1808. This years is considered as a begging o the era of the modern suspension bridges. After that, two bridges were built in England: Dryburgh Abbey Bridge (built in 1817) and Union Bridge (built in 1820). The first large bridge that used the technique invented by Finley was bridge over the Menai Straits in Wales built by Thomas Telford and finished in 1826. Cables consisting of many strands of wire for suspension were used instead of chains for the first time in 1930 by French engineers. Soon John Roebling, American inventor, found a way to spin the cables at the place of building instead of transporting them prefabricated. He also invented rigid deck platform which is stiffened with trusses.

 

Since then suspension bridges became popular because they allowed to bridge spaces that could not be bridged with conventional methods. Its advantages are that it can be made with longer spans than with other types; it is cheaper bridge type (even with longer spans) because it uses less material; during construction it does not require access from below so it doesn't matter much what is below nor how high is bridge; it is more earthquake-proof than other types; and it can be modified easily to accommodate wider vehicles or to add additional lanes. Like everything it also has its disadvantages: it must be made very stiff or aerodynamic so high winds wouldn't cause vibrations; and it is very difficult for to carry heavy rail traffic compared to other bridge types because of relatively lower stiffness of a board.

 

When compared, suspension bridges are often compared by the length of their main span (longest span they have). Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is the suspension bridge with the longest span in the world since 1998. Its main span has 1,991 meters in length and it connects Kobe and Awaji Island in Japan. Second longest mains pan has Xihoumen Bridge on the Zhoushan Archipelago, the largest offshore island group in China with 1,650 meters.

 

Suspension bridge, bridge with overhead cables supporting its roadway. One of the oldest of engineering forms, suspension bridges were constructed by primitive peoples using vines for cables and mounting the roadway directly on the cables. A much stronger type was introduced in India about the 4th century AD that used cables of plaited bamboo and later of iron chain, with the roadway suspended.

 

The Georges Washington Bridge, a vehicular suspension bridge across the Hudson River, U.S.

 

 

In modern times, the suspension bridge provided an economical solution to the problem of long spans over navigable streams or at other sites where it is difficult to found piers in the stream. British, French, American, and other engineers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries encountered serious problems of stability and strength against wind forces and heavy loads; failures resulted from storms, heavy snows, and droves of cattle. Credit for solving the problem belongs principally to John Augustus Roebling, a German-born American engineer who added a web truss to either side of his roadways and produced a structure so rigid that he successfully bridged the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls, New York, the Ohio River at Cincinnati, and, finally, in his masterpiece, the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan at New York City.

 

The technique of cable spinning for suspension bridges was invented by the French engineer Louis Vicat, a contemporary of Roebling. Vicat’s method employed a traveling wheel to carry the continuous cable strand from the anchorage on one side up over the tower, down on a predetermined sag (catenary) to the midpoint of the bridge, up and over the tower on the farther side to the farther anchorage, where a crew received the wheel, anchored the strand, and returned the wheel, laying a fresh strand. From these successive parallel strands a cable was built up.

 

Another major development in the modern suspension bridge was the pneumatic caisson, which permitted pier foundation at great depths. It was used initially by French, British, and American engineers, including Washington Roebling, who completed his father’s Brooklyn Bridge.

 

For a time in the 1930s, American engineers experimented with a narrow solid girder in place of the web truss to stiffen the roadway, but the failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 under aerodynamic forces instigated a return to the web truss. Later, aerodynamically stable box girders replaced the web truss.

 

By the late 1980s, three suspension bridges (the Golden Gate, in San Francisco, the Verrazano-Narrows, in New York City, and the Humber Bridge, near Hull, England) had main-span lengths of more than 4,000 feet (1,200 metres). Modern steel alloys are considered capable of much greater spans. Though suspension bridges can be made strong enough to support freight trains, they have nearly all been designed for automobile traffic.

 

A cable-braced bridge was developed by German engineers at Cologne, Düsseldorf, and elsewhere in the 1950s and ’60s; in this form a single tower at the midpoint supports the roadway by means of a number of cables. Another development of the 1960s, aimed at reducing time of construction, was cable fabricated in the shop.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CHINESE ZODIAC AND WESTERN ASTROLOGY

 

 

Did you know... that the Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle? The 12-year cycle is an approximation to the 11.85-year orbital period of Jupiter. (Wikipedia)

 

With Chinese New Year coming up, and 2020 is the year of the Rat, it is worth trying to understand the Chinese zodiac, a system of divination that differs from Western astrology.

 

 

The main similarities between the two systems is that both systems are based on date and time of birth, with 12 symbols or signs used to communicate across meaning. We've listed some of the main differences, to make things a little easier to understand.

 

The 12 Signs
In both systems, there are the same number of signs: 12. Two are superficially similar: Ox/Bull and Goat/Ram.

• The Chinese signs are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
• The Western signs are: Ram, Bull, Twins, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Scales, Scorpion, Centaur, Sea-Goat, Water Bearer, and Fish.

 

Origins of the Signs

• In Chinese astrology, the 12 signs are derived from a myth that when God was developing a calendar, all creatures on Earth were summoned to participate in a race. The first 12 to cross the line were awarded signs in the Chinese zodiac.
• This differs from Western astrology where the 12 signs are based on constellations' positions relative to the earth. The constellations were named according to Greek mythology.

 

Zodiac Months — Another Similarity

• The Chinese zodiac animals were assigned months on the traditional Chinese solar calendar. Each animal sign corresponds with two of the 24 solar terms, for a period similar to a Western zodiac month.
• This means that the Western astrological signs and Chinese zodiac months have a half-month overlap, as can be seen in the diagram right.
• The Chinese cycle starts with the month of the Rat around December 7 (including solar terms 'Major Snow' and 'Winter Solstice', i.e. half of Sagittarius and half of Capricorn). Read more about the Solar Terms here.

 

More Than Just Your Birth Year or Month

Within the simplified Western astrological framework, signs are divided per month, while the Chinese signs are divided on a year-by-year basis when it comes to popular astrology. This means that in Chinese beliefs, people who were born in the same year have similar traits, as opposed to the Western belief that those born in the same month-long time frame have similar traits.

 

However, of course, there is more to it. In Western astrology, apart from the constellations, the planets, for example, symbolize basic motivations in the human psyche. Beside the yearly zodiac, Chinese astrology has three other pillars that create your fate, making four pillars in total: birth year, birth month, birth day, and birth hour. 

 

When comparing the four pillars to Western astrology, the main difference is that Western astrology focuses on celestial alignment (of constellations with planets, stars, the moon, etc.), while the four pillars are based on the alignment of blocks of time in the Chinese calendar.

 

Lunar, But Mostly Solar

In the popularly-used Chinese astrology system (the lunar calendar), each month begins with a new moon and lasts for 29 or 30 days. The Chinese New Year date and length of a lunar year change by up to a month relative to a solar calendar.

 

However, "professional" or conventional Chinese astrology mainly uses the traditional solar calendar when it comes to making predictions and laying out horoscopes. In this method, a year begins on February 4th (within a day).

 

The Western astrological calendar is based on the Earth's orbit around the sun (and resulting celestial alignment), which gives every zodiac month a set date (within a day), lasting between 29 and 31 days. This is why Western zodiac star signs are also known as sun signs.

 

Lunar Phases in China and the West
Chinese astrology places emphasis on the lunar phase at the time of your birth. There are four moon phases: new moon, waxing moon, full moon, and waning moon. New moon types are those seeking innovative environments, waxing moon people are known for being hard working, full moon types are diplomatic, while waning moon people desire peaceful surroundings.

 

The Western system, comparatively, considers two moon nodes; the North or Ascending Node, and the South or Descending Node. While still playing a role in sensitive areas, in Western astrology the planets are seen as more important factors.

 

Involving the Elements

 

The Chinese astrology system identifies five elements: fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Each element is linked to motivating forces in your life.

 

Because the animals are on 12-year cycles and there are five elements, the entire Chinese zodiac-element cycle lasts 60 years. In this system, each sign has a fire, earth, metal, water, and wood variety depending on your birth year.

• Fire signs are inspired by excitement,
• earth signs are motivated to secure foundations,
• metal signs are driven to create order,
• water signs are compelled to form emotional bonds,
• and those born under the wood element have a desire to explore.

 

In the Western system, only four elements are identified: fire, earth, air, and water, and each element is associated with three signs with psychological features. Each sign has one element associated with it.

• Water signs are driven by emotion,
• earth signs are practical,
• fire signs are impulsive, and
• air signs are intellectually oriented.

 

Your Chinese Zodiac Year Is Bad Luck!
 A feature of the Chinese zodiac that is incomparable to anything in the West is that it is bad luck when your year comes around (every 12 years you "offend the god of age"). Your horoscope is no more unlucky (or lucky) than usual in your Western zodiac month.

 

Pigs beware in 2020 (a Rat year). Read more here about how to make sure you're lucky in your zodiac year.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ZOOS

 

(Gerenuks stand on their hind legs to peer over their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. (In the wild, this species of antelope uses this adaptation to reach tree leaves.) The San Diego Zoo is one of the most prestigious zoos in the world, featuring many conservation projects and a safari park.)

 

Did you now... that a zoo is a facility in which all animals are housed within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also breed? The term "zoological garden" refers to zoology, the study of animals, a term deriving from the Greek 'zoion, "animal," and logia, "study.". Wikipedia

 

A zoo is a place where animals live in captivity and are put on display for people to view. The word “zoo” is short for “zoological park.” Zoos contain wide varieties of animals that are native to all parts of the Earth.

Though people have kept wild animals for thousands of years, those collections have not always resembled modern zoos. The first zoos were created as private collections by the wealthy to show their power. These private collections were called menageries.

 

Wall carvings found in Egypt and Mesopotamia are evidence that rulers and aristocrats created menageries as early as 2500 BCE. They left records of expeditions to distant places to bring back exotic animals such as giraffes, elephants, bears, dolphins, and birds. There is evidence that ancient zoo owners hired animal handlers to make sure their animals thrived and reproduced.

 

Zoos also existed in later civilizations, including China, Greece, and Rome. The Aztec emperor Montezuma II, in what is today Mexico, maintained one of the earliest animal collections in the Western Hemisphere. It was destroyed by Hernan Cortes during the Spanish conquest in 1520.

 

Modern Zoos

The model of the modern, public zoo became popular in 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was a period in European history when science, reason, and logic were promoted as ideals of society and government. The scientific focus of the Age of Enlightenment extended to zoology.

 

During this time, people started wanting to study animals for scientific reasons. Scientists wanted to research animal behavior and anatomy. To do this, scientists and zookeepers had to keep animals in places that were close to, or resembled, the animals’ natural habitats.

 

The first modern zoo, built in 1793, opened in Paris, France. The menageries of French aristrocrats, including the king and queen, were taken by leaders of the French Revolution and relocated to the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes. The facility is still a busy and popular zoo in downtown Paris.

 

Early zoos like the Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes were more like museums of living animals than natural habitats. Animals were kept in small display areas, with as many species as space would allow.

Today, zoos are meant to entertain and educate the public but have a strong emphasis on scientific research and species conservation. There is a trend toward giving animals more space and recreating natural habitats. Zoos are usually regulated and inspected by the government.

 

Types of Zoos

 

Urban and Suburban Zoos
Urban zoos, located in large cities, still resemble the smaller zoos that were popular 200 years ago. Often, these zoos sit in the middle of cities, making expansion difficult. There is little room for urban zoos to grow, and many of the zoo’s buildings are historic landmarks that cannot be destroyed or redesigned.

 

In many urban zoos, animals are kept in relatively small enclosures. Some animal activists argue that keeping animals in urban settings is cruel because of cramped conditions, noise, and pollution.

 

Urban zoos are common in Europe, while many zoos in the United States developed as sprawling parks in suburbs outside cities. These open-range zoos give animals more territory to roam and provide more natural habitats. This popular technique of building realistic habitats is called landscape immersion.

 

The San Diego Zoo, in southern California, is the largest zoo in the United States. It is a suburban zoo that houses more than 4,000 animals (800 different species) in its 0.4 square kilometers (100 acres). Landscape immersion divides animals into their natural habitats, such as the tundra (with reindeer and polar bears) or bamboo forest (featuring pandas.) The San Diego Zoo also includes a wild animal park, which is even more expansive (almost 8 square kilometers or 2,000 acres.)

 

Safari Parks
Larger than urban and open-range zoos, safari parks are areas where tourists can drive their own cars to see non-native wildlife living in large, enclosed areas. These attractions allow the animals more space than the small enclosures of traditional zoos.

 

Fuji Safari Park, in Susono, Japan, offers a traditional zoo as well as a drive-through safari park. Visitors can take their own cars or one of the park’s buses. Fuji Safari Park offers night tours, so visitors can see nocturnal animals, or animals that are active at night. At the park, visitors can also feed some animals, such as lions, from bus windows. Not all parks encourage or even allow visitors to feed animals.

 

Safari parks, especially in Europe, are often part of larger theme parks or resorts. They include golf courses and fairground attractions, such as games and rides.

 

Game Reserves

Game reserves are large swaths of land whose ecosystems and native species are protected. The protections allow animals to live and reproduce at natural rates. Animals are allowed to roam free.

 

In the 1800s, a trip to hunt “big game” (large animals such as elephants or lions) was called a safari. While some game reserves allow traditional hunting safaris today, others limit visitors to a “photo safari,” where visitors can shoot photographs, not animals.

Animals in all game reserves are protected from illegal hunting, which is a threat to many endangered species. Legal hunts are regulated by the government. Hunters must purchase licenses and are strictly limited to the type and number of animals they can hunt. Poachers, or hunters without licenses, kill animals for valuable body parts. Elephants, for example, are killed by poachers for their ivory tusks.

 

There are game reserves in Asia, the Americas, and Australia. However, most game reserves are in Africa. Millions of visitors flock to sites across Africa to see the same animals that captivated audiences thousands of years ago. The biggest attractions are Africa’s “Big Five” species—lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, elephants, and water buffalo. The Big Five are not Africa’s largest species (although the elephant is): They are the most difficult to find and, when legal, to hunt.

 

Only recently has a single zoo, Gondwana Game Reserve in South Africa, offered all Big Five animals in one place. Gondwana sits on 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) near the center of South Africa’s southern coast. Like many large game reserves, Gondwana has diverse ecosystems that occur naturally and has no need for landscape immersion. In Gondwana, grasslands coexist with shrubland called fynbos. Visitors to Gondwana, like many game reserves, can stay in hotels right in the park.

 

Petting zoos
Petting zoos feature domesticated animals that are gentle enough for children to pet and feed. Sheep, goats, donkeys, and rabbits are common petting zoo animals.  These types of zoos are found at parks and inside of larger zoos. Sometimes mobile petting zoos travel with fairs or carnivals from city to city.

 

Specialization

Most zoos have specialized enclosures and habitats for specific animals. Zoos in cold climates, such as Novosibirsk, Russia, must recreate warm ecosystems for animals like lemurs. Lemurs are a type of primate native to the island of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast.

 

The summer temperatures of both Siberia and Madagascar are about the same—around 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

However, Madagascar receives about 200 to 250 millimeters (8 to 10 inches) of rain each summer, making it a humid jungle environment. Novosibirsk gets just 60 to 65 millimeters (2 to 3 inches) of rain and snow. The difference in winter temperatures is even more drastic: Madagascar is about 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). Lemurs’ fur can keep them warm at this temperature. Winter in Novosibirsk is -10 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit). The Novosibirsk Zoo has two species of lemur with a specialized heated enclosure with high humidity.

 

Some zoos are dedicated entirely to certain species. Aquariums are types of zoos that exclusively house aquatic animals. The Sydney Aquarium in Australia has exhibits of all of Australia’s major water systems and is home to more than 650 native Australian species.

 

Aviaries and bird parks are another type of specialized zoo. The Jurong Bird Park in Singapore has more than 8,000 birds of 600 species from around the world. Jurong has more than 1,000 flamingoes in an African wetlands exhibit that features a daily simulated thunderstorm.

 

Conservation

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the international organization for zoos, is concerned with the health of animals in zoos. The focus of environmental efforts takes the form of research, captive breeding of rare animals, and conservation.

 

Researchers at zoos can study animals up-close. They can observe behavior such as mating and nutrition choices. Biologists and veterinarians are also available to treat sick or injured animals.

 

Captive breeding of endangered species makes zoos valuable places for animal survival. Animals such as the black soft-shelled turtle, native to India and Bangladesh, are extinct in the wild. But they survive in several zoos around the world, with their health looked after by biologists.

 

The goal of many captive breeding programs at zoos is the re-introduction of animals into the wild. The California condor, a very large bird native to the west coast of the United States, has been re-introduced to its native habitat after breeding in zoos and wildlife parks. There are several breeding pairs of California condors in the wild today.

 

Critics of captive breeding programs say that releasing a few animals into the wild does little to help the species population. Animals are extinct in the wild largely due to loss of habitat. The re-introduction of animals, especially large mammals that require vast territory for survival, does nothing to recover lost habitat. People continue to develop land for homes and businesses.

 

Zoos often have conservation projects in the native habitats of the animals they keep in captivity. For instance, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums established a partnership with people in rural Papua New Guinea to save tree kangaroos. These rare species are threatened by loss of habitat and the growing population of Papua New Guinea: Villagers hunt the tree kangaroo for meat. A zoo program introduced a rabbit-farming program to address the nutritional needs of the villagers. Zoos also set up conservation sites where the hunting of tree kangaroos was outlawed.

 

zoos say they play an important role in protecting endangered species.

 

Zoo-Literacy
Many books of fiction, nonfiction, and historical fiction concern zoos.

 

Life of Pi is a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. The father of the main character, Pi, is a zookeeper at the Pondicherry Zoo in India. When traveling across the Pacific Ocean, from India to Toronto, Canada, the boat carrying Pi, his family, and all the animals of the zoo sinks. The only survivors, alone on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, are Pi and the zoo's Bengal tiger, whose name is Richard Parker.

 

Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War is a nonfiction book written by Yukio Tsuchiya and illustrated by Ted Levin. The book tells the story of three elephants of the Uneo Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, in the time leading up to World War II.

 

Pride of Baghdad is a graphic novel written by Brian K. Vaughn and illustrated by Niko Henrichon. The factual story, of lions that escaped from the Baghdad Zoo as the war in Iraq began, is told from the lions' point of view.

 

City of Brotherly Animals
The first zoo in the United States opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1874. The Philadelphia Zoo remains one of the most important zoos and facilities for breeding rare and endangered animals.

 

Modern Menageries
People still enjoy collecting animals to display in their private homes. The American entertainer Michael Jackson, for instance, had a menagerie that included tigers, giraffes, parrots, and, of course, his pet chimpanzee, Bubbles.

 

The Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar kept an enormous private zoo that included elephants, buffalo, and camels. Some of Escobar's hippopotamuses, native to Africa, escaped into the Colombian jungle. After Escobar's death, the rest of the animals were sold or donated to zoos around the world.

Edited March 10, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - RMS TITANIC

 

 

Did you know... that  RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner operated by the White Star Line that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. (Wikipedia)
 

• Construction started: March 31, 1909
• Launched: May 31, 1911
• Length: 882 feet (269 metres) 
• Height: 175 feet (53 metres)
• Place built: Belfast, United Kingdom
• Builder: Harland and Wolff
• Sister ships: HMHS Britannic, RMS Olympic

On April 15, 1912, at 2:20 a.m., what was deemed one of the most luxurious and safe ships ever built, hit an iceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland, taking more than 1,500 lives. The ship, the world's largest passenger ship at the time, was on its maiden voyage, headed from Southampton, England, to New York City.

 

It would take 73 years for the ship's wreckage to be found. Dr. Robert Ballard and scientist Jean-Louis Miche located the remains of the Titanic on September 1, 1985. 

 

While the tragedy has inspired myriad movies, books, and articles, the ship and its passengers still hold secrets and little-known facts that might surprise you.

 

Actress Dorothy Gibson, who was aboard the Titanic and survived, starred in a film called "Saved From the Titanic," which was released just one month after the ship sank.

American silent film actress Dorothy Gibson was one of the approximately 700 survivors of the collision.

 

Upon arriving in New York City unscathed, she immediately began filming "Saved From the Titanic," the first film to depict the events of the sinking. It was released in May 1912, a month after the crash. She is famous for wearing the same clothes and shoes in the movie as she had worn during the actual sinking.  While the film was successful, it only exists in memories now. The only known print of the film was destroyed in a fire.

 

Another survivor, Lawrence Beesley, tried to crash the filming of the 1958 film "A Night to Remember" because he wanted to symbolically go down with the ship.

According to IMDB, Beesley was on the set of "A Night to Remember," which is considered the most accurate of all Titanic films. He allegedly tried to jump into the scene depicting the ship's sinking, in order to symbolically go down with the ship. Legend has it that director Roy Ward Baker refused, as it would have been a union violation and could have halted filming.

 

Beesley was a survivor from the second class, and wrote a memoir about his experience entitled "The Loss of the SS Titanic."

 

The 700 third-class passengers had to share two bathtubs.

The movie "Titanic" made third class seem like a real party. Twentieth Century Fox

 

Even though, by all accounts, the third-class accommodations on the Titanic were much better than those on an average ship, they were still pretty rough. The total amount of third-class passengers ranged from 700 to 1,000, and they all had to share two bathtubs.

 

One of the ship's musicians wasn't officially declared dead until 2000.

The ship's musicians as portrayed in the 1997 film "Titanic." Twentieth Century Fox

 

Roger Bricoux was the Titanic's cello player and just 21 years old when he perished during the ship's sinking. But Bricoux wasn't officially declared dead until 2000, though all of the musicians died on April 15, 1912. The French army even called him a deserter when he failed to show up to serve in World War I. The Association Française du Titanic (French Association of the Titanic) worked to clear his name and officially put Bricoux to rest, but didn't succeed  until 88 years after the Titanic sank.

 

The ship's band played music right until the very end to try and calm passengers.

The Titanic's orchestra. Wikipedia
 

They have been called heroes, and apparently played music for more than two hours after hitting the iceberg.

 

The ship's lookouts had to rely on their eyesight alone — the ship's binoculars were locked inside a cabinet that no one could find the key to.

The ship's lookouts had to rely on their eyesight alone. Wikimedia Commons
 

The ship's lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, didn't have access to binoculars during the journey, and therefore couldn't see very far.  The ship's second officer was replaced at the last minute, and forgot to hand off the key to the locker that housed the ship's binoculars.  The key resurfaced at auction in 2010, where it was sold for over $130,000.

 

It is likely that the crew didn't spot the iceberg in time because they didn't have binoculars.

Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the Evening News telling of the Titanic maritime disaster, outside the White Star Line offices at Oceanic House in London. Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
 

According to the official 1912 inquiry findings, only 37 seconds elapsed between actually seeing the iceberg, calling downstairs, and deciding what course of action to take.

 

At the memorial of Frederick Fleet — one of the lookouts — a prankster left a pair of binoculars with a note reading "Sorry for bringing these 100 years too late."

Frederick Fleet. Wikimedia Commons
 

Fleet was the lookout who called out the now-famous words, "Iceberg, right ahead." He survived the sinking, but tragically went on to commit suicide in 1965, after the death of his wife.  On the centennial anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, a prankster removed a memorial wreath from his gravestone, and replaced it with a pair of binoculars and a note apologizing for the lateness of the binoculars.

 

The Titanic was plagued by tragedy from the start. Eight people alone died during the ship's construction.

The Titanic and its sister ship the Olympic under construction in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Wikimedia Commons
 

Eight men died during the construction of the ship, but only five of the names are known: Samuel Scott, John Kelly, William Clarke, James Dobbin, and Robert Murphy. A plaque memorializing the eight men in Belfast was unveiled in 2012.

 

Want to know and read more about The Titanic? Click here.

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - JANE GOODALL

 

 

Did you know... that Dame Jane Morris Goodall DBE, formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English primatologist and anthropologist? (Wikipedia)

 

Jane Goodall is an expert on wild chimpanzees. Recognized for her groundbreaking discoveries about their behavior – she discovered that chimpanzees make tools, eat and hunt for meat, and have similar social behavior to humans – she completely transformed our understanding of our closest relative in the animal kingdom.

 

Beginnings
Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in the United Kingdom’s capital city, London.

 

Her father, Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, was a telephone engineer who became a racing car driver for Aston-Martin. Her mother, Margaret Myfanwe Joseph, was a secretary who later became an author, writing under the name Vanne Morris-Goodall. Both parents were from relatively wealthy families.

 

Jane’s first home was in the London suburb of Chelsea.  She was looked after by a nanny for much of her childhood. 

 

When she was about a year old her father gave her a toy chimpanzee called Jubilee. The toy had been made to celebrate London Zoo’s first chimpanzee birth in captivity.  Although, as she got older, she received other toys, Jubilee remained Jane’s favorite forever.

The real Jubilee with her mother Boo Boo. Image by F.W. Bond.

 

Moving Around
Her family moved house several times while Jane was young. In 1935, when she was a year old, the family moved out of London to the town of Weybridge. Her father’s career as a racing driver was beginning to flourish and the move took them close to the famous Brookland’s racing circuit.

 

In May 1939 the family moved again, this time to the seaside town of Le Touquet in northern France. Her father had now become a full-time racing driver and, with most of his races in continental Europe, this location was more convenient than anywhere in England. It also gave his daughters an opportunity to become fluent French speakers.  However, their stay in France was brief. Within a few months of their arrival, World War 2 had begun. The family fled from France just before the war started, moving into Jane’s paternal grandparents’ large home in the English coastal town of Folkestone.

 

A Happy Childhood and a Love of Nature
No matter where she happened to be living, Jane’s childhood was happy. From an early age she loved animals and she enjoyed exploring gardens and observing the wildlife she found – anything from butterflies to slugs. Her family took in several pets, including a dog and a tortoise. At the age of five Jane went missing in Folkestone and a search was started for her. When she was eventually found, it turned out she had been sitting for several hours in the hen house. She had wanted to find out how chickens laid eggs and had sat waiting for one to come into the hen house so she could see for herself how it actually happened.

 

While they were in Folkestone Jane’s father, who was 32 years old, joined the army. The family then moved to the small town of Hythe. Jane’s father was posted to France in 1940, at which point the rest of the family – Jane, her mother, and younger sister Judith – moved to her grandmother’s home in the beach resort of Bournemouth.

 

Despite the war, the bombs she heard exploding, the blackouts, the food rationing, and her father’s absence, Jane lived contentedly in Bournemouth. She loved nature and collected many pets including racing snails, caterpillars, a lizard, guinea pigs, a hamster and a canary.

 

School, Books, and a Longing for Africa

Jane attended elementary schools in Bournemouth and developed a passion for reading.

 

Her favorite books – Doctor Doolittle, The Jungle Book, and Tarzan – all involved people who were spectacularly close to animals and could communicate with them. She began to dream that one day she might be able to study animals in Africa.

Jane Goodall loved Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan stories, featuring a hero who had been raised since infancy by a female great ape.

 

In 1945, aged 11, she began high school at Uplands School for girls. At the age of 12, she formed a nature club called the Alligator Club. It had three other members: her sister Judy and two of their friends. Jane organized club events and wrote a club magazine.

 

As school continued, Jane became increasingly uncomfortable and unhappy.  In his excellent biography of Jane Goodall, Dale Peterson quotes one of her diary entries from early 1951 when, aged 16, she wrote:

“Woke up to be faced by yet another dreary day of torture at that gloomy place of discipline and learning, where one is stuffed with ‘education’ from day’s dawn to day’s eve.”

 

Jane was a happy, lively girl, and it’s clear from the quote that she did not enjoy the regimented life school offered her.  She yearned to be at one with nature and with animals, but there was no place in school for these longings.  Towards the end of school, Jane’s interest in English and biology picked up and she began enjoying learning again. She won two school prizes for essay writing.  Her exam grades were good enough to go to university, but her family could not afford it.  She continued reading nature books and dreaming of being with Africa’s magnificent wildlife.

 

College and Work
In 1953, aged 19, Jane Goodall enrolled at London’s Queens Secretarial College. She wanted to become a journalist, but her mother advised her to get a qualification first that would guarantee her a job. She graduated the following year, then moved from one clerical job to another, in Bournemouth, at Oxford University, and with a film company.  Then the chance came for her to realize her dream and visit Africa.

 

Africa and Becoming a Naturalist
In the summer of 1955, Goodall replied to a letter from a former school friend who was planning to go to her family’s farm in Kenya. Her friend had asked if she would like to stay on the farm for a few months.   Goodall saved hard for the fare, finally leaving for Africa in March 1957, traveling three weeks by ship.  Africa turned out to be everything she had hoped for. Its wildlife was fascinating; magical; mesmerizing.  She took an office job in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, where she met the paleontologist Louis Leakey, curator of Nairobi’s natural history museum.

 

Leakey believed that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor, an idea advanced in earlier times by Charles Darwin.  Leakey was impressed by the young woman he met: not only by her enthusiasm, but also by how much she knew about natural history. He asked her if she would like to work as his secretary, which she agreed to.

 

In fact, although he said nothing at first to Goodall, Leakey was actually looking for someone to research chimpanzee behavior. He thought Goodall was probably the perfect candidate. He did not want the research to be carried out by anyone with the preconceptions of a typical university academic.

 

He wanted someone who would look at chimpanzees with fresh eyes. He hoped this might uncover evidence of behavioral similarities in humans and chimpanzees that would help make the case for his common ancestor theory. Moreover, he believed that studying chimpanzee behavior would open a window on the behavior of Homo sapiens’ ancestors.

Nowadays analysis of DNA has established that the chimpanzee is our nearest living animal relative and that we share a common ancestor dating back about 7 million years. DNA analysis was not available to Louis Leakey, who needed to gather evidence in other ways.

 

Before beginning secretarial work for Leakey, Goodall spent time with a team including Leakey and his wife Mary searching for hominid fossils in Tanzania. It was there Leakey made the decision: Goodall would become his team’s chimpanzee researcher.

 

In 1958, aged 25, Jane Goodall traveled back to London and spent some time in the offices of experts in the fields of primate anatomy and behavior. In the summer of 1960, Leakey had raised enough money to fund her work, and she returned to Africa. There she traveled to Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanzania to begin her observations.  Her mother accompanied her for the first few months. They were alone in the untamed African bush – an incredible adventure. Gradually they befriended fishermen and tribes people who lived in the surrounding area.

 

Jane Goodall’s Discoveries
Becoming Accepted
The chimpanzees living on the reserve were not used to humans. For the first few months the chimps ran away whenever they saw Goodall. It was, however, not only the chimps who needed to be cautious.

People sometimes forget that chimpanzees are immensely strong animals: adults are strong enough to literally pull a human apart. It takes nerve to get close to wild adult chimpanzees. Leakey had told Goodall that if she was calm and meant no harm to a chimp, the chimp would most likely sense this and not be hostile.

 

The first chimpanzee to accept Goodall she named David Greybeard. (Naming chimpanzees was an unusual practice for a scientific study.) With David Greybeard’s acceptance, other chimps began to be less timid. In fact, after they grew more used to Goodall, some became initially rather hostile. On these occasions Goodall had to stay calm and not give in to fear: many people would have in similar circumstances.

 

Tool Making
One day, Goodall noticed that David Greybeard, searching for a snack, utilized a piece of grass to pull termites out of a termite mound. Another day she saw him strip leaves from a twig to make a better tool to get at termites. This was a groundbreaking moment – the first time in history that an animal other than a human had been recorded making and using a tool.

A chimpanzee eats termites gathered on a twig tool. Image by Su Neko.

 

Until this discovery, scientists had said that humans were different from other animals because we were the only animal known to make and use tools. Louis Leakey remarked:

“We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human.”
LOUIS LEAKEY
1903 – 1972

 

Meat Eating
A few weeks later, Goodall noticed David Greybeard climbing a tree holding something that looked like meat. Using binoculars she saw him eating the meat. A female chimp was also there, begging for a share. At the bottom of the tree were two aggressive looking pigs. The meat David Greybeard was eating was a piglet.  Goodall then witnessed a hunt. A group of chimpanzees caught, killed, and ate a monkey.

Chimpanzees eating a columbus monkey. Image by David Bygott.

 

Tribal Warfare
Another of the significant discoveries Goodall made was that male chimps patrol the borders of their territory. If they meet a solitary male from another chimpanzee tribe, they will chase, attack and, given the opportunity, kill him. She likened this behavior to that of human criminal gangs protecting their territory.

 

Doctor Jane Goodall
With a number of major discoveries under her belt, Louis Leakey advised Goodall that she should get an academic qualification. This would enable her to get funding as an independent naturalist for her own projects. He arranged for her to go straight into a Ph.D. course at the University of Cambridge. The subject was ethology – the study of animal behavior. Her supervisor taught her to write her work in such a way that it would be less open to criticism as ‘non-academic’ or ‘anthropomorphic.’ Scientists would not entertain the idea that animals could exhibit human type feelings or behavior.  Goodall graduated in 1965 with a thesis entitled Behavior of the Free Ranging Chimpanzee.

 

Want to learn more about Jane Goodall?  Click here.

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WAR DOGS

 

 

Did you know... that dogs in warfare have a very long history starting in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military usage? (Wikipedia)

 

Military working dogs (MWD) stand side by side with their handlers in more ways than one. They do an important job to help keep soldiers and civilians from harm’s way.

 

 

Long History in Combat

The earliest recorded use of dogs in times of war dates back to around 600 BC. War dogs were used extensively by the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians. Beginning with the Revolutionary, canines have been in every major conflict in a variety of roles, but weren’t officially recognized as military dogs until World War II where they were used to carry messages, as sentries, scouts and assault or detection dogs. Today, MWD are trained to do a wide variety of specialized tasks.

 

Military Working Dog Breeds

When the military began training dogs during WWII, they used more than 30 different breeds. However, over the years the list of acceptable breeds has been reduced to just a handful – the German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, and Retrievers. The German Shepherd is preferred because of specific and consistent traits that includes moderately aggressive behavior, easy to train, dependable, predictable, intelligent and adaptable to most climates.

 

In 1941, British advertisements began targeting local dog owners asking them to loan their dogs to fight for their country.
Would you loan your dog? About 3,300 people across the world did!

 

A group of civilians came together on the belief that their sled dogs could effectively serve the army in a variety of functions. Together, they formed a coalition called Dogs for Defense.
This group was created in 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They would become the primary training force for sentry dogs.  The U.S. Army was involved in the development of this organization and encouraged dog owners across the country to donate their dogs for training.  

The most used dog breeds

The German Shepherds, Dobermans, Boxers, Bull Terriers and Labradors. 

 

The Belgian Malinois is preferred by US Navy Seals because the breed, while similar to German Shepherds, is smaller and more compact. The Malinois is better suited for tandem parachute jumping or rappelling. During the 2013 raid on Osama Bin Laden, a Malinois named Cairo was with the Navy Seal team.

 

Labrador, Golden and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Viszlas and short or wire-haired pointers are the preferred breeds as single purpose dogs. These dogs are trained to locate explosives or drugs, but never both. When a dog gives an alert, the handler needs to know if it’s for danger or to make an arrest.

 

There are around 2,500 military dogs in service today, and approximately 700 serving overseas.

 

Training and Care is Expensive

The value of a fully trained explosive detection dog is more than $150,000. But you can’t put a price on a well trained, loyal dog that saves human lives. The Pentagon tried to create a machine between 2004 and 2010 to replicate the ability of a bomb sniffing dog. After spending $19 million dollars, it was shut down as a failure. Explosive detection dogs have a 98% accuracy rate, while machines have a measly 50%.

 

Some Dogs are High Jumpers

Navy Seal dogs are trained to parachute and rappel from helicopters and airplanes, ready for action the moment their paws hit the ground.

 

Training Begins in Texas

The Department of Defense Military Working Dogs Training School (DoD MWD) is located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. They began training sentry dogs at the base in 1958. Today over 1,000 dogs are put through complex training techniques by a staff of trainers from all branches of the military. Around 425 students from all branches of the US military go through training to become canine handlers.

 

The military even has puppy development specialists who work with pups until they begin training at around 6-7 months of age. Puppies are taught basic social skills and prepared for training as a military working dog.

 

Not all Dogs Make It Through Training

Around 50% of young dogs never make it through training. MWD must have the right balance of excitability and aggression, be free of physical issues, be highly reward motivated and attack on command. Some pups are dropped from the program because they display stress when having to actually bite a human.

 

Many Dogs are Foreign Born

Around 85% of canines entered into military service are purchased mainly from Eastern Europe.

 

Average Career

The average career span for a military working dog is 8-9 years, depending on health, and more than 90% of retired dogs are adopted by a former handler.

 

The most common jobs

Guard dogs, messenger dogs, scout dogs, detection dogs, assault dogs and even parachute dogs.

 

The Army’s initial canine members were trained for sentry duty.  The dogs were trained to alert their handlers to any strangers in their vicinity and to attack on command. Sentries were the primary use of dogs during World War II because of the worry that enemy submarines would invade.  

 

As that threat began to diminish over time, the role of dogs in the war shifted to scouts and messenger dogs.  A plan was developed to train “assault dogs” to attack enemy soldiers without any human guidance or commands. This plan, of course, failed.  Perhaps the strangest use of dogs were the “Paradogs”. A group of dogs who were taught how to parachute and then dropped behind enemy lines.  

 

With the German’s new landmine innovations, general bomb detection methods had become obsolete. Thus, detection dogs were created. 

Although the idea seemed strong, it was not understood at the time how sharp the canine sense of smell truly is, resulting in mostly ineffective training methods for mine detection. 

 

Every Military Working Dog is a Noncommissioned Officer

In the spirit of tradition, to make sure handlers don’t mistreat their dogs, each canine holds the rank of noncommissioned officer – one rank higher than the handler.

 

Robby’s Law

Military dogs in the past were considered surplus equipment and either abandoned by the US government or euthanized after their tour of duty ended. Thankfully, that changed in 2000 when President Clinton signed Robby’s Law. This gives handlers or their families first dibs to adopt a MWD after the dog retires.

 

The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act mandates the return of retired MWD back home to US soil and gives former handlers and their families the first right to adopt a retiring military dog.

 

After the war, it was discovered that dogs are actually able to pick out the chemical components within explosives.
World War II paved the way for how military dogs are used in in the modern era Now that we know more about dogs’ behavior and their acute sense of smell, we now deploy dogs in a much more effective manner.

 

US War Dog Memorial

Dedicated in 2006, the United States War Dog Memorial guards the gateway to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Holmdel, New Jersey. The bronze statue of a Vietnam soldier kneeling beside his dog rests on a black granite base. The memorial honors all of America’s war dogs and their handlers – past, present and future.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - IDES OF MARCH

 

 

Did you know... that the Ides of March was a day in the Roman calendar that corresponds to 15 March? It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history.

 

While it's true that William Shakespeare wrote the play Julius Caesar and the famous line "Beware the Ides of March," Shakespeare did not come up with the concept of the "Ides of March." The Ides were actually established long before Shakespeare ever wrote his play.  The phrase actually refers to the date of March 15 on the Roman calendar. In the Roman calendar, the days are labeled based on what day of the month it is in correspondence with the cycle of the moon.

 

In the ancient Roman calendar, the first day of the month, which signifies the start of the month and begins with the new moon cycle, was always called the "Calends." The "Nones" happened on the half moon on either the fifth or seventh day of the month depending on the month, according to Time and Date. The "Ides" marked the 15th day in the months of March, May, July and October. In all of the other months, the Ides fell on the 13th day, supposedly when the full moon occurred.

 

Death of Julius Caesar

This piece of art shows the aftermath of the murder of Gaius Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 B.C. otherwise known as the Ides of March.
EDWARD GOOCH/GETTY IMAGES

 

Thus, the phrase "Beware the Ides of March," simply means to beware of March 15. While It wasn't until after Shakespeare wrote the phrase in his play that it became a popular one, there are some historical events that occurred on March 15 that make the day significant.

 

The most well-known event that happened on the Ides of March was the murder Julius Caesar by his own senators. The story goes that despite several bad omens prior to and on March 15, 44 B.C. Caesar decided to go to a meeting of the Senate anyway. There, a plan was put in motion by multiple senators to assassinate the ruler and he was stabbed repeatedly until he died.

 

When Shakespeare wrote his play on Caesar more than a thousand years later the warning from a soothsayer, or fortune teller, he included was "Beware the Ides of March." Thus that phrase, as well as "Et tu, Brute?" became well associated with Caesar as a historical figure as well as a theatrical one.

 

The Ides Is Not Always On The 15th Of The Month

In the Roman calendar, there were three component parts of every month: the Kalendae or Kalends was the first of the month, the Nonae which came nine days before the Ides and the Idus. The Ides of March, May, July and October fall on the 15th, and on every other month they were on the 13th. Thus in April, the Ides will fall on the 13th. Romans counted inclusively, so the Nones could be on the 7th or the 5th.

The Pre-Julian Republican calendar as preserved in a reconstruction of the Fasti Antiates Maiores with the Ides of March underlined. Painted calendar from the beginning of the 1st century BCE. The original is now in Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Massimo). Image via Wikimedia. IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA AND IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

 Julius Caesar Was Not Stabbed In The Main Roman Senate House In The Forum

When you walk through the Roman Forum today, the main Curia (Senate House) is distinctive as one of the most imposing structures within it. Diocletian later rebuilt this version of the senate house, called the Curia Julia. However, the Curia Julia was not finished by the Ides of March in 44 BCE; it wouldn't be completed until the reign of Augustus. Many tourists point it out as the place where Caesar was stabbed, but this event actually happened in a small area near the Circus Flaminius and the Tiber called the Curia Pompeia, within the Theater of Pompey's complex. Meetings of the senate were not always held in the main senate house in the forum. The legal and religious stipulation was simply that the senate meet in a consecrated space and thus there were a number of curiae within the city of Rome.

Photo of the Curia Julia in the Roman Forum, as reconstructed by Diocletian in the 3rd century CE and then later added onto by Theodoric. In the early middle ages, it was turned into a consecrated Church, which preserved the structure quite well until Mussolini rebuilt it in the early 20th century as a symbol of his Roman renaissance. PHOTO BY SARAH E. BOND

 

The Place Where Caesar Was Stabbed Is Now A Cat Sanctuary

The place where we believe Caesar was stabbed is now populated by a number of cats. Torre Argentina is a sunken area not far from the Pantheon, and many stop to look at the gatti that inhabit the space. Last time I was there, I counted 23 cats in this small area, but I am told there are around 150. You can now "adopt" one of these sacred cats that walk around the ruins. A group of dedicated Romans provide them with healthcare, love and food every day.

Cats chill in Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome. You can even do a distant adoption of these cats through the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary foundation. IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-SHARE ALIKE 3.0 UNPORTED LICENSE.

 

They Often Do Recreations Of Caesar Being Stabbed Every March 15

You can tune in today and watch Roman archaeologist Darius Arya walk around the site where we think Caesar was killed by his assassins. At 9:00 a.m. and then 10:30 a.m. (Eastern), Dr. Arya will be Periscoping the experience and live-streaming it on YouTube.

 

Caesar Was Probably Killed Around 1 p.m.

This is a timetable of the events leading up to Caesar's death and tried to reconstruct it hour-by-hour. According to the ancient sources, Caesar died near the 7th hour of the day, perhaps around 1 p.m.

An hour-by-hour reconstruction of the death of Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BCE. GRAPHIC IS BY SARAH E. BOND

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - VIRUSES

 

 

Did you know... that a virus is a biological agent that reproduces inside the cells of living hosts? When infected by a virus, a host cell is forced to produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus at an extraordinary rate. (Wikipedia)

 

Viruses are not alive: They do not have cells, they cannot turn food into energy, and without a host they are just inert packets of chemicals.  Viruses are not exactly dead, either: They have genes, they reproduce, and they evolve through natural selection.

 

Scientists have been debating this issue since 1892, when Dmitry Ivanovsky, a Russian microbiologist, reported that an infection in tobacco plants spreads via something smaller than a bacterium. That something, now called the tobacco mosaic virus, appears on this page (magnified and colorized).

 

Score one for Team Nonliving: After American biochemist Wendell Stanley purified the tobacco mosaic virus into needlelike crystals of protein, he won a 1946 Nobel Prize—awarded in chemistry, not medicine.

 

Score one for Team Living: Some viruses sneak DNA into a bacterium through its, um, sex appendage, a long tube known as a pilus. If that’s not life, what is?

 

Virus comes from the Latin word for “poison” or “slimy liquid,” an apt descriptor for the bug that causes flu and the common cold.

 

In 1992 scientists tracking a pneumonia outbreak in England found a massive new kind of virus lurking within an amoeba inside a cooling tower. It was so large and complex, they initially assumed it was a bacterium.

8  That über-virus is now called Mimivirus, so named because it mimics bacteria and because French biologist Didier Raoult, who helped sequence its genome, fondly recalled his father telling the story of “Mimi the Amoeba.”

 

Mimivirus contains more than 900 genes, which encode proteins that all other viruses manage to do without. Its genome is twice as big as that of any other known virus and bigger than that of many bacteria. Mamavirus, closely related to Mimivirus but even bigger, also turned up inside an amoeba in a Paris cooling tower. (Maybe somebody should clean those towers.) Mamavirus is so big that it has its own dependent, a satellite virus named Sputnik.

 

Amoebas turn out to be great places to seek out new viruses. They like to swallow big things and so serve as a kind of mixing bowl where viruses and bacteria can swap genes.

 

Viruses are already known to infect animals, plants, fungi, protozoa, archaea, and bacteria. Sputnik and Mamavirus suggest that they can infect other viruses, too. In fact, scratch the whole concept of “us versus them.” Half of all human DNA originally came from viruses, which infected and embedded themselves in our ancestors’ egg and sperm cells.

 

Most of those embedded viruses are now extinct, but in 2005 French researchers applied for permission to resurrect one of them. Some scientists objected, saying the resurrected virus could go on a rampage; the research ministry approved the project.

 

Apocalypse Not: The virus, dubbed Phoenix, was a dud. Then again, other viral relics in our genomes may play a role in autoimmune diseases and certain cancers.

 

Some viral proteins do good. They may have kept your mother’s immune system from attacking you in utero, for instance.

 

A virus called HTLV, which has coevolved with humans for thousands of years, is being used to uncover prehistoric migration patterns. Its modern distribution suggests that Japanese sailors were the first people to reach the Americas, millennia before Siberians wandered across the Bering Strait.

 

We are family: Scientists suspect that a large DNA-based virus took up residence inside a bacterial cell more than a billion years ago to create the first cell nucleus. If so, then we are all descended from viruses.

 

Viruses are frequently the cause for global health concerns. In 2009, the H1N1 Influenza virus caused a worldwide pandemic. The Ebola virus – with over 27,000 cases to date – whilst limited to West Africa is still classed as an epidemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and more recently, the Zika virus which made the headlines. Passed to humans from a mosquito bite, it has already been declared a global emergency.  And now COVID-19.

 

The name ‘virus’ means ‘poison’ and ‘venom’ Latin
Viruses have been the culprits in many human diseases, including smallpox, flu, AIDS, and the ever-present common cold

 

Viruses can infect anything that is living
Some viruses can even infect bacteria! The scientific name for this group of viruses is a Bacteriophage

 

Read the key facts about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ST. PATRICK DAY

 

 

Did you know... that Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland? (Wikipedia)

 

Every March 17, countries around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in observance of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland credited for bringing Christianity to the country. Initially a religious feast day in the 17th century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a day of celebrating Irish culture with parades, music, dancing, special foods, and of course, a lot of green.

 

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are a few interesting St. Patrick’s Day facts!

• Saint Patrick didn’t wear green. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue.” The color green became associated with St. Patrick’s Day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
• Despite his Irish notoriety, Saint Patrick was British. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century.
• According to Irish legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.
• Saint Patrick is credited for driving the snakes out of Ireland, but according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to snakes as it was too cold to host reptiles during the Ice Age. The surrounding seas have kept snakes out since.
• There isn’t any corn in the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. The name is a reference to the large grains of salt historically used to cure meats, which were also known as “corns.”
• Saint Patrick was born “Maewyn Succat” but changed his name to “Patricius” after becoming a priest.
• Irish immigrants began observing St. Patrick’s Day in Boston in 1737 and the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in America was held in New York City in 1766.
• In Chicago, the Plumbers Local 110 union dyes the river Kelly green. The dye lasts for around five hours.
• On or around St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish taoiseach, or prime minister, presents the U.S. president with a crystal bowl of live shamrocks as a symbol of the close ties between the two countries.

While St. Patrick’s Day is now associated with wearing green, parades (when they're not canceled) and beer, the holiday is grounded in history that dates back more than 1,500 years. The earliest known celebration was held on March 17, 1631, marking the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick in the 5th century. Learn more about the holiday’s history and how it evolved into the event it is today.

 

1. The Real St. Patrick Was Born in Britain

St. Patrick (Aleroy4/Getty Images)

 

Much of what is known about St. Patrick's life has been interwoven with folklore and legend. Historians generally believe that St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Britain (not Ireland) near the end of the 4th century. At age 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave to a Celtic priest in Northern Ireland. After toiling for six years as a shepherd, he escaped back to Britain. He eventually returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary.

 

2. There Were No Snakes Around for St. Patrick to Banish from Ireland

St. Patrick depicted with his foot on a snake. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

 

Among the legends associated with St. Patrick is that he stood atop an Irish hillside and banished snakes from Ireland—prompting all serpents to slither away into the sea. In fact, research suggests snakes never occupied the Emerald Isle in the first place. There are no signs of snakes in the country’s fossil record. And water has surrounded Ireland since the last glacial period. Before that, the region was covered in ice and would have been too cold for the reptiles.

 

3. Leprechauns Are Likely Based on Celtic Fairies

Leprechauns are known as mischievous Irish fairies.

(CSA-Archive/Getty Images)

 

The red-haired, green-clothed Leprechaun is commonly associated with St. Patrick’s Day. The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is “lobaircin,” meaning “small-bodied fellow.” Belief in leprechauns likely stems from Celtic belief in fairies— tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies.

 

4. The Shamrock Was Considered a Sacred Plant

Three-leaf clovers symbolize spring. (Marco Dubrick/EyeEm/Getty Images)

The shamrock, a three-leaf clover, has been associated with Ireland for centuries. It was called the “seamroy” by the Celts and was considered a sacred plant that symbolized the arrival of spring. According to legend, St. Patrick used the plant as a visual guide when explaining the Holy Trinity. By the 17th century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism.

 

5. The First St. Patrick’s Day Parade Was Held in America

Men march in the 1895 Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York City. 

(Museum of the City of New York/Byron Collection/Getty Images)

 

While people in Ireland had celebrated St. Patrick since the 1600s, the tradition of a St. Patrick’s Day parade began in America and actually predates the founding of the United States. 

 

Records show that a St. Patrick’s Day parade was held on March 17, 1601 in a Spanish colony in what is now St. Augustine, Florida. The parade, and a St. Patrick’s Day celebration a year earlier were organized by the Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Ricardo Artur. More than a century later, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in Boston in 1737 and in New York City on March 17. Enthusiasm for the St. Patrick’s Day parades in New York City, Boston and other early American cities only grew from there. In 2020, parades throughout the country, including in New York City and Boston were canceled or postponed for the first time in decades due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

6. The Irish Were Once Scorned in America

 

While Irish Americans are now proud to showcase their heritage, the Irish were not always celebrated by fellow Americans. Beginning in 1845, a devastating potato blight caused widespread hunger throughout Ireland. While approximately 1 million perished, another 2 million abandoned their land in the largest-single population movement of the 19th century. Most of the exiles—nearly a quarter of the Irish nation—came to the shores of the United States. Once they arrived, the Irish refugees were looked down upon as disease-ridden, unskilled and a drain on welfare budgets.

 

7. Corned Beef and Cabbage Was an American Innovation

Corned Beef and cabbage. (Bhofack2/Getty Images)

 

The meal that became a St. Patrick’s Day staple across the country—corned beef and cabbage—was an American innovation. While ham and cabbage were eaten in Ireland, corned beef offered a cheaper substitute for impoverished immigrants. Irish-Americans living in the slums of lower Manhattan in the late 19th century and early 20th, purchased leftover corned beef from ships returning from the tea trade in China. The Irish would boil the beef three times—the last time with cabbage—to remove some of the brine.

 

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WORLD FACTS

 

Did you know... that with around 200 countries and more than 7.5 billion people, the world is full of interesting, fun, and fascinating people, places, and things? In the land of the Kiwis, for instance, you'll find the highest concentration of pet owners on the planet. And over in Nicaragua, you'll find one of the only two flags in the world that features the color purple. Hungry for more facts about the world and its ever-growing population? Read on to learn some interesting facts about the Earth's past, present, and future.

 

North Korea and Cuba are the only places you can't buy Coca-Cola.

 

No matter where you go, it's comforting to know you can always enjoy a Coca-Cola. Well, almost anywhere. While this fizzy drink is sold practically everywhere, it still hasn't (officially) made its way to North Korea or Cuba, according to the BBC. That's because these countries are under long-term U.S. trade embargoes.

 

However, some folks say you might be able to snag a sip of the stuff if you try hard enough (although it'll typically be a lot more expensive than what you would pay in the states—and probably imported from a neighboring country such as Mexico or China).

 

The entire world's population could fit inside Los Angeles.

The world's total population is more than 7.5 billion. And obviously, that number sounds huge. However, it might feel a little more manageable once you learn that if every single one of those people stood shoulder-to-shoulder, they could all fit within the 500 square miles of Los Angeles, according to National Geographic.

 

There are more twins now than ever before.

You might think twins are a rarity, but they're actually becoming more common than ever. "From about 1915, when the statistical record begins, until 1980, about one in every 50 babies born was a twin, a rate of 2 percent," writes Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic. "Then, the rate began to increase: by 1995, it was 2.5 percent. The rate surpassed 3 percent in 2001 and hit 3.3 percent in 2010. [That means] one out of every 30 babies born is a twin."

 

Scientists believe this trend is due to the fact that older women tend to have more twins, and women are choosing to start families later. Fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization likely also play a role.

 

The hottest chili pepper in the world is so hot it could kill you.

The "weapons-grade" Dragon's Breath chili pepper is so hot it's downright deadly. If you ate one, it could potentially cause a type of anaphylactic shock, burning the airways and closing them up.

 

"I've tried it on the tip of my tongue and it just burned and burned," said Mike Smith, the hobby grower who invented the Dragon's Breath along with scientists from Nottingham University. So why make such an impractical pepper? As it turns out, the chili was initially developed to be used in medical treatment as an anesthetic that can numb the skin.

 

More people visit France than any other country.

France is a beautiful country, filled to the brim with delicious wines, scrumptious cheese, and tons of romance. So it's no surprise that more people want to visit France than any other country in the world, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

In 2017, the European country welcomed 86.9 million people. Spain was the second-most popular destination with 81.8 million visitors, followed by the United States (76.9 million), China (60.7 million), and Italy (58.3 million). La vie est belle!

 

The world's most densely populated island is the size of two soccer fields.

Santa Cruz del Islote in the Archipelago of San Bernardo off the coast of Colombia may only be about the size of two soccer fields (AKA two acres), but the artificial island has four main streets and 10 neighborhoods. Five hundred people live on the island in around 155 houses. With so many people packed into such a small space, it's the most densely populated island in the world, according to The Guardian.

 

The Canary Islands are named after dogs, not birds.

It might seem safe to assume that the Canary Islands were named after canary birds, but the location was actually named after dogs. Although it's off the coast of northwestern Africa, the archipelago is actually part of Spain. In Spanish, the area's name is Islas Canarias, which comes from the Latin phrase Canariae Insulae for "island of dogs." World facts related to dogs? Now those we can get behind!

 

Indonesia is home to some of the shortest people in the world.

Though there are short people and tall people everywhere, Indonesia is home to some of the shortest people in the world, according to data compiled from various global sources by the Telegraph in 2017. When taking both genders into account, the average adult is around 5 feet, 1.8 inches. People in Bolivia don't tend to be much taller, with an average adult height of 5 feet, 2.4 inches. The tallest people among us live in the Netherlands, where the average adult height is 6 feet.

 

The Paris Agreement on climate change was signed by the largest number of countries ever in one day.

When 174 world leaders signed the Paris Agreement on Earth Day in 2016 at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, it was the largest number of countries ever to come together to sign anything on a single day, according to the UN. The agreement aimed to combat climate change and accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed to strengthen the global climate effort.

 

The world's quietest room is located at Microsoft's headquarters in Washington state.

Silence is golden, as they say. And while it may not be worth quite as much as jewels and gold to most people, it certainly was the primary goal for those who built the quietest room in the world. Located at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the lab room measures a background noise of -20.35 dBA, which is 20 decibels below the threshold of human hearing and breaks previous records for spaces that were deemed the planet's quietest places, according to CNN.

 

"As soon as one enters the room, one immediately feels a strange and unique sensation which is hard to describe," Hundraj Gopal, a speech and hearing scientist and principal designer of the anechoic chamber at Microsoft, told CNN. "Most people find the absence of sound deafening, feel a sense of fullness in the ears, or some ringing. Very faint sounds become clearly audible because the ambient noise is exceptionally low. When you turn your head, you can hear that motion. You can hear yourself breathing and it sounds somewhat loud."

 

What to read more about World Facts?  Click here.

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ENGLISH VOCABULARY

 

 

Did you know... that the English language is kinda nuts, isn’t it? After being built up, mish-mashed, and altered over so many years, we now have this giant and wonderful hodgepodge of words to choose from when forming sentences. It makes writing nerds super happy (or is it elated … maybe ecstatic? No, definitely delighted!), and the best part is that we’re not even close to being done with all the additions and changes. Though, we could probably do without “LOL” in the dictionary.

 

The word “chicken” has been used to describe cowards since the 14th century, but it didn’t become popular slang in American culture until the 1940’s. Just 10 years after that, in 1953, kids started playing the game “chicken” to test the courage of their peers. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)
 

“Porpoise” (you know, those adorable dolphin-esque sea mammals) literally means “pork-fish.”

 

n Hollywood’s early days, people regularly threw custard pies at comedy sketches. Those pies were called “magoos.” (And yes, I included this because it kind of sounds like Magoosh.)
 

The shortest “-ology” is oology, which is the study of birds’ eggs. Egg collecting became popular in the 1800s before the invention of binoculars made it easier to study birds. Serious collectors were notoriously obsessive about obtaining rare bird eggs. For example, in 1872, Charles Bendire, a U.S. Army soldier and noted oologist, was willing to have his teeth broken to retrieve a rare hawk’s egg that got stuck in his mouth. (Apparently he put it there for safe keeping while he climbed back down the tree.)
 

“Abracadabra” has an adjective form! It’s “abracadabrant” and, according to the Learn English Network, it describes anything that seems to have happened by magic.

 

A “rounce-robble-hobble” was the nickname given to thunderclaps in Elizabethan English. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)
 

The name Rebecca can also be used as a verb to mean “demolish a gate.” If you have any friends named Rebecca, this is your cue to go tell her not to Rebecca. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)
 

The words “bookkeeper” and “bookkeeping” are the only words in the English language that has three consecutive double letters without needing a hyphen.
 

Any number with a series of repeating digits, like 7777, is called a “repdigit.” Makes total sense, actually.
 

“Pangram” = a sentence that contains all 26 letters of the English alphabet. Here’s one: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

 

There are 10 words hidden inside the word “therein” — you don’t even need to rearrange it to find them! They are: the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
 

A 672-sided shape is called a “hexahectaheptacontakaidigon.” No thanks, not even going to try to pronounce that.
 

Never tell your significant other that they look “erinaceous” because it means they look like a hedgehog. Unless they think hedgehogs are cute, in which case, go for it.

 

Speaking of significant others, the Old English name for honeymoon is “flitterwochen,” which means “fleeting weeks.” Can we start using this one again?
 

The letter E makes up 11% of the entire English language.
 

“Uhtceare” (pronounced oot-kay-are-a) is a noun describing the act of waking up before dawn, but being so worried about something that you can’t go back to sleep. Some of our students may recognize this feeling as the one they experienced the night before the big test.
 

A “squib” means, technically,  “a type of small explosive” or “the head of an asparagus” (big jump, I know). But if you’re like me, you’re thinking, “No, a squib is someone born into a wizarding family but doesn’t have any magic powers … like Filch.” Thanks, Harry Potter. If you’re not like me, the last two sentences never happened. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)
 

The word “eyeball” was invented by Shakespeare, along with hobnob, skim milk, and luggage.

 

The word “selfie” was the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2013 because the use of the term increased 17,000% from 2012 to 2013. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)
 

And finally, my favorite: To “snirtle” is to try and suppress a laugh. It’s classified as any suppressed laugh that’s a just bit shorter than a snicker or a snigger. I’m going to use this all the time. (Source: Paul Anthony Jones / Huffington Post)

 

Source: Maizie on Magoosh

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HAND SANITIZER

 

Did you know... that hand sanitizer is a liquid or gel generally used to decrease infectious agents on the hands? Formulations of the alcohol-based type are preferable to hand washing with soap and water in most situations in the healthcare setting. (Wikipedia)

 

Debunking Common Hand Sanitizer Myths
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers play a key role in keeping us healthy – especially as the winter germ season approaches. In fact, practicing good hand hygiene – handwashing with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when hands are not visibly soiled – is one of the easiest and most effective ways to stay healthy.  Yet, there are many misconceptions about alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and now to set the record straight. The following takes a closer look and tells the truth about hand sanitizers.

 

 

Truth: Hand Sanitizers DO NOT Cause Antibiotic Resistance
A common myth about hand sanitizers is they can cause antibiotic resistance. The truth is that antibiotics are ingested, and they operate completely differently than alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The alcohol quickly kills a broad spectrum of germs, and it is not left behind on your skin to let the germs become resistant.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the primary cause of antibiotic resistance is the repeated and improper use of antibiotics.

 

Truth: Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers DO NOT Cause Supergerms
One of the myths currently out there about alcohol-based hand sanitizers is they can create “super germs.” The truth is that ethyl alcohol, the active ingredient in many hand sanitizers, rapidly destroys the cell membranes and denatures the proteins. It’s not left behind to let the germs become resistant or become what some people call “super germs.”

 

Truth: All Germs ARE NOT the Same
There are actually two different types of germs – transient organisms and resident organisms. The resident organisms live on our skin at all layers of the skin. The transient organisms are acquired as you touch something, and they can be transmitted inside your body, or to someone else directly or via other objects touched (i.e. cross-contamination), putting you and others at risk for illness.

 

Truth: Hand Sanitizers Kill Illness-Causing, or Transient Germs
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers reduce the transient organisms, or the illness causing germs, on your hands. They also reduce the resident organisms, or what many refer to as “good germs,” but those “good germs” quickly grow back and remain as our normal microbiota.

 

Truth: All Hand Sanitizers ARE NOT the Same. Formulation matters.
Alcohol-based and non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not the same; in fact, they are very different. The truth is that the formulation matters. The active ingredient is important but the total formulation affects the antimicrobial efficacy. The product also has to deliver good skin care performance – at least not damage the skin. And the third important point is that it provides a good sensory experience: it’s likeable to use.

 

Truth: Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizers DO NOT Contain Triclosan
One of the most common myths with hand sanitizers is that they contain triclosan. The truth is that alcohol-based products do not contain triclosan. In the United States, the FDA requires that triclosan not be used in products that are left on the skin.

 

Truth: Using Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers DO NOT Dry Your Hands
Many believe the frequent use of hand sanitizers will dry out your hands or your skin. The truth is that formulation matters. PURELL® Advanced Hand Sanitizer has been developed to be used repeatedly without damaging the skin. The truth is that good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, is a strong preventive measure you can take to reduce the spread of illness-causing germs and risk of illness.

 

Information for this article provided courtesy of Purell.®

 

Now here a few things you didn't know about hand sanitizers.

Hand Sanitizers Do Not Create Super BacteriaAn interesting myth that many people now believe is that hand sanitizers can actually create drug resistant super bacteria. This is simply not true, as long as alcohol is the main ingredient in the product. The Honest Company, for example, makes sure to use at least the standard 60 percent alcohol formulations and sells hand sanitizers that are excellent in terms of maintaining personal hygiene; moreover, they adhere to the highest standards set forth by health authorities and organizations. There is no evidence that bacteria is able to develop a resistance to alcohol. In fact, alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been shown to kill drug-resistant bacteria. Of course, you still need to be careful with natural and non-alcohol based hand sanitizers so be sure to check the label carefully.
 

Both Dosage and Ingredients Matter

Speaking of ingredients used in hand sanitizers, what’s in your preferred product isn’t the only thing that matters. Of course, as mentioned you do want to have a sanitizer comprised of at least 60 percent alcohol. Anything less that this will not be effective and may actually encourage the growth of bacteria, according to Parents Magazine. However, you also need to pay attention to how much you’re using. The proper dose is about a quarter to half-dollar sized dollop. This should be enough to fully cover your entire hands. It is also helpful to get a little bit under your nails.
 

Hand Sanitizers Are Safe for Babies

Babies have skin that’s very thin and delicate, but that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from hand sanitizers. While the chance for alcohol absorption is fairly high, there are rarely any major effects from exposure in babies and even young children under the age of 6. Of course, you don’t want to overdo it. Make sure to use smaller amounts of hand sanitizer, and your children should be just fine.
 

Hand Sanitizers Help Protect Against Flu

Of course, hand sanitizers can kill a large amount of the flu virus on your hands and even reduce the transmission of gastrointestinal diseases, according to the Consumer Search website. But there are some limits. Since the flu virus is airborne, hand sanitizers offer good, but not total, protection. While using a hand sanitizer to kill germs and viruses should certainly be part of your health conscious daily routine, make sure that it’s not the only thing you do. Germs are everywhere; protection needs to be multi-faceted and cover not only the hands but also the face and other areas on the body.
 

Soap and Water Doesn’t Eliminate More Germs

Should you wash your hands or sanitize them? That’s a question you may be wondering. If your hands are visibly dirty, then soap and water is clearly the best option. Hand sanitizers do nothing for actual dirt. The beauty of hand sanitizers is the fact that they work to eliminate germs that are unseen. There have actually been more than 20 studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control which show that alcohol-based hand sanitizers do indeed eliminate more germs than soap and water.
 

Hand Sanitizers Do Not Irritate Skin

The truth is that skin reactions to hand sanitizers are quite rare, even though they do contain alcohol. The inclusion of a number of additional ingredients like emollients actually soothe and protect the skin. Experts also seem to agree on the fact that sanitizers are even gentler on skin than soap and water. Compared to only soap and water, using a hand sanitizer seems to put back more moisture into the skin. This is certainly not a replacement for any other skin treatment currently being used, but it is nice to know that they can help as well.
 

Big Difference Between Homemade and Store Brands

Many people are under the misconception that they can make their own hand sanitizer quite easily. This is not true, at least not a blend or formulation that would be considered effective. Once again, a hand sanitizer needs to have at least a 60 percent alcohol content. It is very difficult to be able to achieve this with a homemade product. If you want the best results, stay away from something homemade.
 

Hand Sanitizer as Deodorant Just in case you ever forget your deodorant, hand sanitizer can be used as a replacement. The alcohol in the sanitizer kills the bacteria under the arm that causes odor. Plus, the alcohol dries up quickly, so there is no fear of wetness remaining. The alcohol smell also dissipates rather quickly. Just don’t do this every day, since it could dry out the underarm skin and/or cause irritation.

 

Source: Makobi Scribe

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - THE LETTER X

 

 

Did you know... that X or x is the 24th and third-to-last letter in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet? Its name in English is ex, plural exes. (Wikipedia)

 

What’s so mystifying about the letter “X?”

For starters, the swastika X—or cross—has come to symbolize the very essence of evil. And the letter, as signified by the skull and crossbones, portrays death by poison. Yet it also represents virtue and eternal life in being employed as an abbreviation for Christ in Xmas, and for Christianity generally. Such a curious dichotomy only hints at the many convoluted complexities of a letter seemingly “designed” to beguile us with contradictory connotations.

 

In this post, I’ll attempt the unusually challenging task of organizing the various meanings of this strangest, and most alluring, of letters. “X” may take up less space in the dictionary than any of its 23 compatriots but, in terms of its diverse uses, it’s a letter that defines, well, overcompensation. For it seems, waywardly, to want to sprawl out in every direction imaginable. As such, it vigorously resists all attempts to restrain it.

 

Nonetheless, I’ve sought here to somehow “rein it in,” to make this piece as comprehensible as possible, so as not to overwhelm the reader with the almost dizzying functions that, over the centuries, the letter has taken on.

Because it’s been employed in so many fields—from algebra, to genetics, to aerospace, to sex and spirituality—X’s abundant meanings have almost everything to do with the context that engages it. So in my efforts to categorize its disparate functions, I’ve struggled to find groupings that might accommodate its perversely “wandering,” or unstable, nature. Which is why some of my categories may seem arbitrary, and also why my last segment highlights its heterodoxy through the grabbag heading of “miscellaneous symbology.” For unquestionably, the broad array of meanings associated with “X” make all the other letters of the alphabet seem mundane—or puny—by comparison.

 

Even within contexts—say, the field of sports—X’s meaning can vary substantially. So, for example, a strike in baseball is not a good thing for a batter (and a strikeout even worse). But in bowling, a strike is a very good thing, for it means knocking down all 10 pins—or should I say "X pins" since, after all, X is the Roman numeral for 10. Moreover, an overall score of all X’s represents nothing short of bowling perfection (comparable to batting a 1,000!).

 

1. Unknown vs. Known

The Unknown/Nebulous/Ambiguous/Mysterious/Vague/Variable/ Multitudinous ... and Top Secret (as it relates to a person, place, or thing)

 

So we have:

• In mathematics, X as the symbol for multiplication.
• In algebra, X as the variable—vs. a constant. We may be asked to "solve for X." t’s literally a puzzle—or unknown—meant to be deciphered. Jonathon Green, a lexicographer writing on X, wittily remarks that it “torments students of mathematics at all levels, from the common multiplication symbol in arithmetic to the more complicated X of algebraic equations."
• In a Cartesian coordinate system, the x-axis as the horizontal of the x, y, and z.
• In measurement, X as an added dimension, or by—as in a 3x5 card.
• In advertising, as it depicts a generic version of the product being promoted—as in “Brand X”—conveniently unidentified and deprecated as inferior to the named brand.
• In “secret societies,” X as employed to emphasize their strength, exclusivity, and a certain subversiveness, or duplicity, about them: expressed, for example, through crossed arms and legs, which can be code for “crossed” meanings—as in left meaning right, or things being inverted (e.g., black for white, yes for no, etc.).
• In linguistics, X as what’s been called a “phonetic chameleon.” It’s used to replicate such sounds as “ks” (as in, “wax”), “gz” (as in, “exhaust”), “z” (as in, xenophobia), “k” (as in, “excite”), and “kzh” (as in, “luxury”). And the letter can also “hush up”—that is, be silent (as in, “Sioux Falls”). Wow, talk about diversity! Or confusion.

 

The Known/ Specific/Precise/Measurable/Identifiable ... or, Clearly Identifying Something, and Filling in a Blank (Where X Has an Unmistakable, Delimited Meaning)

 

So, in these instances, we have X as:

• Marking ballot boxes to indicate a choice of candidate, or position on an issue.
• Marking places on a map, to indicate the center, crossroad, or location of a mountain—as well as X marking the spot on a map where, presumably, a hidden treasure is buried.
• Marking a defensive player in a football diagram.
• Referring to “Generation X,” so named because at the time it was the 10th generation of Americans since 1776—though it’s employed specifically to designate the generation born following the peak of the post-WWII Baby Boom.
• Marking the scene of a crime in a plan or photograph.
• Signifying the crosshairs of a scope used to sight a firearm.
• Indicating something's relative strength—as in the strength of an ale (Don Equis); XXX moonshine, with the number of Xs marking how many times a particular batch ran through the still; and XXXX is also a logo for a brand of Australian beer!
• To sum up here, I’ll quote David Barringer, who states:
• "The resonance of X as a signifier of mysterious precision [my italics to accentuate his "revealing" oxymoron] explains why it’s so common in commerce and branding. The Jaguar X-Type. The 2008 Mitsubishi Evolution X. The X2000, Sweden’s high-speed train. The X-Acto knife. Mac OS X. The X game for Nintendo’s Game Boy. Microsoft’s Xbox console. Vitamin Water XXX (with three antioxidants). The X is a California roller coaster (the seats swivel around). Product X is a protein powder for bodybuilders. The X-Vest adds weight for exercise." 

 

 2. Daring, Danger, Death—and Death Undefeated

• This heading, not entirely distinct from others that follow, emphasizes some of the more “pointed” ways that X has been put to use. So we have:
• The military’s propensity to attach an X to its mach-smashing aircraft, such as the X-1 or X-15. And, as in so many other applications (e.g., liquor, sex, and sports cars), there’s a certain macho quality that's become linked to the letter.
• X-sports—short for Extreme sports—representing the most daredevil, risky (or reckless) of activities, seemingly calculated to tempt fate.
• X as signifying the end of something—an entity whose existence is over, past, dead, and gone. Here, perhaps, we have X as the most “nihilistic” of letters. And curiously, cartoonists have traditionally employed it to display a character “out cold” or dead through drawing Xs over their eyes.
• As already alluded to, as symbolizing fatality in the well-known skull and crossbones emblem.
• In Kabbalistic philosophy, a branch of Jewish mysticism, as referring to both life and death.
• X as a sign of the cross where Christ was crucified, or for Christ himself. But this symbol, or marker, can also be understood as a “crossing over” to another dimension: a transcendence, transformation, or transmigration.

 

3. Positive or Good; Negative, Bad, or Evil

• Here, too, we have a plethora of possibilities. So my entries are hardly exhaustive and might be “assigned” to other categories as well. For a small sampling:
• A rotated plus is the logo for the Red Cross (and, of course, X is all about “crossing”). In this context it signifies benevolence and humanity in helping those urgently in need.
• In looking up prescribed, brand-name medications that begin with the letter “X,” I discovered a site listing over 50 of them—and that doesn’t even include those drugs (prescribed or OTC) whose names contain an X in the middle or end (like Lovenox, Zyprexa, or Sominex). A tiny sampling here would include: Xarelto, Xeljanz, Xenical, Xylocaine, and Xanax (which—“X-wise”—outdoes itself!).
• Moving in the opposite direction, X has been used as a symbol of that which is negative, or a negation generally (i.e., null), such as crossing one’s fingers behind one’s back to void a promise being made;
• X has long been recognized as an occult symbol for Satan, and the black art or witchcraft of satanism.
• Witches cross their fingers to focus their energy and convey their possession of demonic powers; yet, on the other hand (no pun intended!), people cross their fingers to make a wish—doing it, for good (i.e., non-malignant) luck.
• As a cross mark, X signifies an error or cancellation: so we have “X out,” “X off,” and “X over,” indicating the need for a do-over.
• Being “cross” indicates petulant anger.
• Being at “cross purposes” with another communicates conflict or contrariness.
• Being “double-crossed” indicates being swindled, deceived, or betrayed.

 

4. Love, Sex, and Pornography (Maybe This Is What You've Been Waiting For?)

• Adding an “O” for a hug (i.e., two individuals “encircling” one another) to an “X,” for a kiss (i.e., two lips “crossing over”), we get XOXO, or kisses and hugs—a basically affectionate symbol, free of any lurid sexual connotations; and also, xxx, typically understood as three little kisses;
• X, as it relates not so much to a fond or sentimental attachment but to something far more lustful or passionate, gives us X-rated and the word sex itself. And not only does this usage address the earthier, more animalistic side of our nature, it can also slip into the realm of the naughty, illicit, or forbidden. Symbolizing explicit or graphic sexual content, we have extreme porn designated as XXX. And XXXX has been increasingly showing up to suggest really bold, intense, or outrageous displays of sexual derring-do.
• Forex condoms, no longer manufactured, were probably the first XXXX-related product for men;
• X has also been used to represent the anus, “the portal of transformation in ritual or key of David sodomy."
• XXXX is now also used in written slang to signify the word “f**k”—as in, “Who gives a XXXX?!”

 

5. Miscellaneous Symbology

• This highly condensed segment can only hint at everything that hasn’t yet been covered. And one irony here is that although X has an almost immeasurable diversity to it, it’s commonly used (as already described) for purposes of measurement. So:
• In genetics, we have XX standing for the female pair of sex chromosomes (as distinguished from the male’s XY combination).
• Racially considered, we get black Muslims’ appropriating, in place of their slave name, an X (i.e., unknown). Malcolm X is the best-known example of this.
• X is implicated in taking a life/death oath—as in, “cross my heart and hope to die."
• X signifies the sun god, a simple-rayed sun or star.
• In clothing sizes, X means “extra,” as in “XS” for extra small, “XL” for extra-large, and so on.
• X in aerospace stands for “experimental."
• X is the diagnostic tool familiar to all of us as the X-ray.
• Vitamin X refers to the rave or dance club drug, Ecstasy.
• Camp X, aka Intrepid Park, refers to where experiments with mind control were done during WWII.
• X-Files, in the cult hit TV series, represent mysterious, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.
• X-Factor, in the world of entertainment, signifies star quality—but now is more closely associated with ITV’s musical talent show.
• That about completes my "pocket-sized" review of the intriguing letter X. And I hereby predict that—going forward—never will you view the consonant in the same way again!

© 2016 Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.