Fact of the Day

[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)

 

In October 2019, a Belgian Malinois military working dog named Conan joined a long list of heroic military working dogs. Military working dogs have been around for centuries worldwide — although in the U.S. they were not officially recognized until March 13, 1942. Considering their long history, there is a wealth of information out there about military dogs and war dogs.

 

Today, there is a huge demand for military dogs — did you know one fully-trained bomb detection dog is likely worth more than $150,000? The American Kennel Club (AKC) even works with the U.S. government to help develop a breeding program for military dogs.

 

U.S. Army military working dog searches among rubble and trash outside a target

building in Rusafa, eastern Baghdad, Iraq.

 

Dogs have been in combat with US soldiers during every major conflict, but they were not officially recognized until WWII.

Sergeant Stubby c. 1920 

Born: 1916
Died: March 16, 1926 (aged 9–10)

 

Sergeant Stubby of the 102nd Infantry, Yankee Division went from mascot to hero during WWI after being smuggled into battle by Private J. Robert Conroy. Stubby went on to detect enemy gas, bark out warnings when rival troops were near and locate the wounded on the battlefield. By the start of WWII, the military had recognized the value canine soldiers could bring and began using them primarily for recon. Stubby forged the way for all canine soldiers who followed and remains a symbol of military bravery and heroism to this day. 

 

They are trained in bomb, weapon and drug detection, tracking, and to attack the enemy.

Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX has been training sentry dogs since 1958. K9history.com details the manpower and dog power that goes into training the amazing pups of the Department of Defense Military Working Dogs Training School (DoD MWD) at Lackland. Today, more than 1,000 dogs are trained at any given time by a staff of 125 from all branches of military service. The complex training techniques are designed to utilize the dogs’ natural gifts for focus and aggression to their advantage. German Shepherds and Labradors can detect weapons, bombs, gases and drugs more accurately than any available military equipment.

 

There are about 2500 dogs in active service today and about 700 deployed overseas.

Military dogs play an integral role in the current overseas conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Stewart Hilliard, Chief of Military War Dog evaluation and training at Lackland Air Force Base told San Antonio Magazine in 2013, “These dogs are among our most effective countermeasures against terrorists and explosives.”

 

85% of military working dogs are purchased from Germany and the Netherlands.

The 2013 article “Canines in Combat” from San Antonio Magazine notes that the bloodlines of these dogs go back hundreds of years, making these pups literally “born for the job.” The Air Force Security Center, Army Veterinary Corps, and the 341st Training Squadron are combining their efforts here in the States to breed suitable dogs for military service. Currently the other 15% of working dogs are USA born and bred, and the military hopes to increase this number.

 

They are extremely valuable, and not just for their service.

According to retired Air Force K9 Handler, Louis Robinson, a fully trained bomb detection dog is likely worth over $150,000. But really, these animals are priceless. With an average of 98% accuracy in their detection skills, the peace of mind they provide to the troops is immeasurable. Robinson resides in Phoenix, AZ and runs Robinson Dog Training. He’s using the extensive skills he learned as a Military Police K9 handler to help civilian dogs learn basic obedience,  search and rescue, therapy skills and advanced protection

 

Only about 50% make it through training.

Military working dogs are not just chosen for their breeding or the keenness of their sense of smell, they must possess several other qualities. They must be free of physical issues like hip dysplasia and be highly reward motivated. Trainers at Lackland use mostly toys like Kongs that can be hidden to represent bombs, but treats are also utilized. Suitable dogs for military service must also be able to attack on command. Pups have actually been dropped from the program due to extreme stress at having to bite a human. Military dogs must have just the right level of aggression and excitability.

 

They aren’t all German Shepherds.

When we think about military dogs, muscular German Shepherds tend to come to mind. But several different breeds have shown patriotic heroism over the years. Many branches use the highly trainable Labrador Retriever. The elite US Navy SEALS use the Belgian Malinois, a breed similar to the German Shepherd, but smaller. These dogs are incredibly compact and fast with a sense of smell 40 times greater than that of a human. Their small stature make them ideal for parachuting and repelling missions with their handlers. The SEALS were accompanied by a Belgian Malinois named Cairo during their raid on Osama Bin Laden in 2013.

 

They can get PTSD.

Just like their human brothers and sisters in arms, pup soldiers are susceptible to the horrors of PTSD. War dogs experience severe emotional trauma during deployment, and for some it becomes too much. Gunner, a Marine bomb sniffing dog became so skittish and unpredictable during active duty that he was declared “surplus” by the military and released from service. Gunner was adopted by the family of Corporal Jason Dunham who was killed near the Syrian border in 2004. He and the Dunhams' are working on healing together.

 

They mourn the loss of their handler and vice versa.

In Rebecca Frankel’s book, War Dogs she explores the remarkable bond that develops between service dog and handler. One such pair was Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Ashley and “Sirius”. They were the number one team during training at Yuma military base, but tragically Josh was killed by an IED just two months after deploying to Afghanistan. “Sirius” at first refused to take commands from his new handler and showed significant signs of agitation at the loss of his partner. Such stories are all too common among canine and handler teams.

 

If a dog of war is lost in combat, he or she is honored by the entire squad. Feeding dishes are symbolically placed upside down and a poem called "Guardians of the Night" is read in their honor.

 

Until November 2000, military dogs were euthanized or abandoned after retirement.

Before this time service dogs were considered “military surplus equipment” and deemed unfit to adjust to civilian life. These heroes were thrown away or put down instead of honored. President Clinton passed “Robby’s Law” in 2000 which allows handlers and their families first dibs at adopting military animals at the end of their useful service. The dogs are next offered to law enforcement, then adoptive families. Organizations like Saveavet.org place these retired heroes with suitable families and ensure they are given the honorable discharge they deserve. There are currently long waiting lists of civilians who want to give these veterans a loving home in which to retire.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Dogs in Warfare  |  BarkPost - Facts about Military Dogs 

Edited September 7, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - D-DAY

Men of the 16th Infantry Regiment,

US 1st Infantry Division wading ashore

on Omaha Beach on the morning of

6 June 1944.

 

Did you know.. that The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. (Wikipedia)

 

The legacy of D-Day resonates through history: It was the largest-ever amphibious military invasion. Allied forces faced rough weather and fierce German gunfire as they stormed Normandy’s coast. Despite tough odds and high casualties, Allied forces ultimately won the battle and helped turn the tide of World War II toward victory against Hitler’s forces.

 

But there are some aspects from D-Day that may not be as well known. Among them: Hitler’s miscalculations, a hero medic who has still not received official recognition, and the horror faced by a 19-year-old coastguardsman as he followed a tough command. Here are some lesser-known stories about the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

 

1. Eisenhower threatened to quit just months before D-Day.

Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Just a few months before the D-Day invasion, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower and English Prime Minister Winston Churchill were at odds over a controversial plan. Eisenhower wanted to divert Allied strategic bombers that had been hammering German industrial plants to instead begin bombing critical French infrastructure. 

 

For Eisenhower, the switch in bombing seemed like a no-brainer. But others, including Churchill and Arthur “Bomber” Harris, head of the Royal Air Force’s strategic bomber command, didn’t see it that way. Harris saw the plan as a waste of resources, while Churchill was concerned about collateral damage to France—an important ally. Facing this opposition, Eisenhower threatened to step down from his position. 

 

The move worked, the bombing plan went ahead and, historians argue, Eisenhower showed the depth of his dedication to making D-Day a successful operation and defeating the Nazis. 

 

2. Hitler thought he was ready–but Nazi defenses were focused in the wrong place.

Adolf Hitler arriving at the Berlin Sportpalast, being greeted by Nazi salutes, circa 1940.

 

As early as 1942, Adolf Hitler knew that a large-scale Allied invasion of France could turn the tide of the war in Europe. But thanks in large part to a brilliant Allied deception campaign and Hitler’s fanatical grip on Nazi military decisions, the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944 became precisely the turning point that the Germans most feared. In 1942 Germany began construction on the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile network of bunkers, pillboxes, mines and landing obstacles up and down the French coastline. But without the money and manpower to install a continuous line of defense, the Nazis focused on established ports. 

 

The top candidate for an Allied invasion was believed to be the French port city of Calais, where the Germans installed three massive gun batteries. Meanwhile, the rest of the French coastline—including the northern beaches of Normandy—was less fiercely defended. What’s more, if Hitler had listened to his Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, matters might have been worse for the Allies landing at Normandy. 

 

3. Key early parts of the invasion did not go to plan.

Medics give a blood transfusion to an injured man on Omaha Beach during D-Day.

 

The strategy on D-Day was to prepare the beaches for incoming Allied troops by heavily bombing Nazi gun positions at the coast and destroying key bridges and roads to cut off Germany’s retreat and reinforcements. The paratroopers were to then drop in to secure inland positions ahead of the land invasion. 

 

But almost nothing went exactly as planned on June 6, 1944.

 

In the end, partly due to poor weather and visibility, bombers failed to take out key artillery, particularly at Omaha Beach. Many paratroopers were dropped far off their marks and became vulnerable to German snipers. And during the land invasion, a critical fleet of marine tanks sunk in stormy seas and failed to make it ashore. Despite the setbacks, Allied troops pushed through and by pure grit, got the job done. 

 

Explore how D-Day unfolded.

 

4. Ramps on Allied landing crafts acted as shields—until they were dropped.

U.S. Army infantry men are amongst the

first to attack the German defenses on

Omaha Beach.

 

D-Day veteran Frank DeVita says he’ll never forget how tough it was to be the man in charge of dropping the ramp as his landing craft approached Omaha Beach. “This was our shield as long as it was up. And as we approached the shoreline where the water hits the sand, and the machine guns were hitting the front of the boat—it was like a typewriter,” DeVita, who was barely 19 on June 6, 1944, remembers. 

 

When he was ordered to drop the ramp, he paused. “I figured in my mind when I drop that damn ramp, the bullets that are hitting the ramp are going to come into the boat. So I froze.”

 

But then the coxswain again yelled at DeVita to lower the ramp, and he followed the order. “I dropped the ramp,” he said. “And the first 7, 8, 9, 10 guys went down like you were cutting down wheat…They were kids.” 

 

Click here to listen to Frank Devita's account of landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

 

5. Among the heroes on Omaha Beach was a black combat medic who treated more than 200 men.

WAVERLY B. WOODSON, JR. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery where American buries its heroes.

 

Heavy machine-gun fire greeted a nauseous and bloody Waverly B. Woodson, Jr. as he disembarked onto Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. A German shell had just blasted apart his landing craft, killing the man next to him and peppering him with so much shrapnel that he initially believed he, too, was dying. 

 

But Woodson, a medic with the lone African-American combat unit to fight on D-Day, managed to set up a medical aid station. For the next 30 hours, he removed bullets, dispensed blood plasma, cleaned wounds, reset broken bones and at one point amputated a foot. He also saved four men from drowning. 

 

After the battle, Woodson was highly commended, but never received a medal. Though Woodson died in 2005, his family has been pushing the Army to award him a Medal of Honor posthumously. 

 

6. Historians are still calculating how many died on D-Day

American cemetery of the Normandy landings, located near Omaha beach.

 

In planning the D-Day attack, Allied military leaders knew that casualties might be staggeringly high, but it was a cost they were willing to pay in order to establish an infantry stronghold in France. Days before the invasion, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was told by a top strategist that paratrooper casualties alone could be as high as 75 percent. The casualties were staggeringly high on D-Day—but how high? 

 

When a memorial was first being planned in the late 1990s, there were wildly different estimates for Allied D-Day fatalities ranging from 5,000 to 12,000. Military records clearly showed that thousands of troops perished during the initial phases of the months-long Normandy Campaign, but it wasn’t clear when many of the troops were actually killed. Historians estimate there were 4,414 Allied deaths on June 6, including 2,501 Americans. But they also know that list isn’t complete and the project to count the dead continues. 

 

7. Allied troops won more than a military victory on D-Day.

 

D-Day’s hard-fought battles not only led to the beginning of the end of the war, the men who fought in the invasion forever changed people’s lives—and influenced the perception of the soldier—as savior—for at least one young boy.

 

French businessman Bernard Marie was 5 years old and living in Normandy on June 6, 1944. He remembers before the Allied invasion, he and his friends could not go out and play on the beaches because “Mother couldn’t trust anybody. So, for me, everybody wearing a uniform was a bad guy. “

 

On D-Day, as sirens wailed over their town starting at 2 a.m., Marie retreated to the basement with his grandfather to take shelter. “My grandfather put his hands on my ears because there was a lot of noise. It was nonstop. And we stayed there 15 hours. We were so afraid.”

 

At 5 pm, Marie recalls, the shooting was done. Then he heard his mother outside yelling, so he and his grandfather ran upstairs to follow her. “I will never forget,” Marie says, “She was hugging a soldier! I could not understand that. For me it was a bad guy. So she called me to come and said, 'These soldiers are good, they’ve come to save us.'” 

 

To this day, Marie is grateful to that soldier—and to all the veterans who fought to liberate France from the Nazis. “The most important thing for any human being is freedom,” he says. “We cannot forget the 6th of June.” 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Normandy Landings (D-Day)  |  History - D-Day Surprising Facts

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HISTORY

Did you know... that History is the study of the past? Events occurring before the invention of writing systems are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Historians place the past in context using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, ecological markers, and material objects including art and artifacts. (Wikipedia)

 

 

It's no secret that history classes in most United States schools leave out quite a bit of information. Not only do they exclude small details about strange conflicts between random countries, but most also leave out incredibly important information about the country's treatment of African Americans and Native Americans, the LGBTQ rights movement and women's rights movement, and the fact that there was a molasses flood — you read that right — in Boston. Sure, the molasses flood might not be of the same importance as the rights movements, but it's shocking and fascinating nonetheless.

 

You can never learn too much history, so even though this isn’t an exhaustive list of stuff you should know, it will at least get you started. Here are some interesting historical facts you didn’t learn in school, but that are totally worth your time. Some are serious omissions related to human rights, while others are silly factoids that might be useful for your next bar trivia night.

 

Hundreds of Nazis fled to America after WWII.

According to NPR, hundreds of Nazis settled in the United States after the war. According to the book and review, many entered the country one by one and served as spies for American intelligence officials. They were able to start over, living under false names so as to protect their identities and past.

 

An item of clothing prompted assaults in the 1940s.

In the 1940s, Zoot Suits — a loose fitting pair of pants and jacket — were commonly worn by Latino, Black, and other men of color, according to the Smithsonian website. But what some saw as a fashion statement, many saw as an insult towards America and its soldiers, given the wartime rations on fabric.  As a result, the summer of 1943 was filled with attacks of members of these minority communities in Los Angeles, according to History. In an effort to stop the attacks, the Los Angeles City Council issued a ban on Zoot Suits.

 

The government created a relocation program that forced Native Americans out of their home.

Not all (if any) Native Americans moved to urban areas by choice. The Indian Relocation Act of 195, which dissolved federal recognition of most tribes and ended federal funding for reservations, made it difficult for families to stay on land that was rightfully theirs, according to the Atlantic.

 

Puerto Rican women were used as birth control test subjects.

In order to receive FDA approval and bring their oral contraceptive to the market in the 1950s, Gregory Pincus and John Rock needed to conduct a large-scale human study. But rather than go through the proper channels, they decided to take a short cut through Puerto Rico.  According to PBS, the duo traveled to the U.S. territory and solicited poor, uneducated women to participate in their trial. Though the trial's researcher noted that the pill was 100% effective, she also reported numerous side effects like bloating and nausea, which Pincus and Rock reportedly felt were minor compared to the benefits. Additionally, three women died during the trial.

The Tulsa Race Massacre left thousands of Black citizens homeless.

With over 800 injured and an immeasurable amount of deaths, the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 is considered the single worst incident of racial violence in American history by the Oklahoma Historical Society. The incident began when a 19-year old Black man was accused of assaulting a 17-year old white female in an elevator. A mob of more than 2,000 white residents gathered demanding justice for the supposed crime and began attacking Tulsa which was then known as the Black Wall Street of America. Around 10,000 Black citizens were left homeless with $1.5 million in property and $750,000 in personal damage done. This vibrant and successful Black neighborhood was leveled within days leaving no trace of its progressive former self. The incident is rarely ever mentioned in schools across America.

 

Neil Armstrong was probably misquoted on the moon.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong is recorded as saying, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," when he first stepped onto the moon in 1969, but he was probably misquoted.  Armstrong told reporters after the Apollo 11 mission that he actually said, "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."  That missing "a" would make a lot more sense, because without it, Armstrong is repeating himself and saying "That's one small step for man," as in all of mankind, and then "one giant leap for mankind." According to Space.com, computer programmer Peter Shann Ford analyzed audio of the transmission from the moon in 2006, and found that there was a pause between "for" and "man," and the radio just may not have transmitted the "a."

 

There was a Great Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919.

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 was a sticky situation with deadly consequences. United States Industrial Alcohol, which used the molasses to make liquor and in ammunitions manufacturing, had stored the molasses in a tank build after World War 1, according to History.com. One of the company's employees reportedly told them that the tank had been leaking and wasn't structurally sound, but they never took action to fix it.  On, Jan. 15, 1919, when it was warmer than usual, the tank burst and unleashed 2.3 million gallons of molasses, which rushed out onto Boston's streets.  A 15-foot wall of molasses reportedly crashed down Commercial Street going 35 miles per hour. It was so strong that The Boston Globe wrote that it caused buildings to “cringe up as though they were made of pasteboard,” according to History.com.  Overall, 21 people died and 150 were injured.

 

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was the shortest in history.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896, started after the signing of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany in 1890, according to Historic UK. The treaty pretty much divided up "spheres of influence" (colonization) in East Africa, with Zanzibar going to the U.K. and mainland Tanzania going to Germany.  After Zanzibar was declared a protectorate of the British Empire, Britain installed its own sultan to oversee it: Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini. But he died suddenly in 1896, and Sultan Khalid bin Barghash succeeded him — without consulting Britain, according to Historic UK.  Obviously, Britain wasn't happy, so they asked him to stand down. He wouldn't, and, unfortunately for him, the British had two warships (one, the HMS Thrush, is pictured) already waiting in the harbor.  After a few days and an ultimatum, the new sultan still refused to step down, so the British bombarded his palace. The conflict was over in 38 minutes.

 

Some of the world's worst disasters were caused, in part, by sleep deprivation.

A 1988 study on a number of manmade disasters found that, "sleep and sleep-related factors appear to be involved in widely disparate types of disasters," according to HuffPost.  Disasters that were in part the result of sleep deprivation include the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant; the Three Mile Island accident, where a nuclear reactor's core overheated; the Challenger explosion; and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Moral of the story: don't skip out on those Zs, especially if you work at, say, a nuclear power plant.

 

Women couldn't submit a credit application at a bank without a man until 1974.

Until 1974, when the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed, banks required single, widowed, or divorced women to bring a man to cosign any credit application they submitted, regardless of how much money they made, according to The Guardian. Even worse: they would discount the value of a woman's income "when considering how much credit to grant, by as much as 50%." The year after, First Women's Bank, the first commercial bank owned by a woman, opened in New York City. Women's rights activist Betty Friedan (pictured) had an account there, according to The Guardian.

 

Harriet Tubman was the first woman to lead a raid during the Civil War

Harriet Tubman is well known as the woman who fled slavery and then helped lead other enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. But that's not all she did: On June 2, 1863, during the Civil War, she also led the Combahee Ferry Raid under Union Colonel James Montgomery, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She was the first woman to lead a major military operation in the U.S. During that operation, she and 150 African American Union soldiers rescued more than 700 enslaved people.

 

The U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition to deter people from drinking

During Prohibition in the U.S., federal officials ordered industrial alcohol manufacturers to "denature" their products with chemicals like kerosene, iodine, and chloroform, which not only made the alcohol taste worse than it already did, but it also often made it deadly. Around 1927, the Treasury Department also told manufacturers to add more methyl alcohol to their product, so that it comprised 10 percent of the total products, according to Slate.  Once Prohibition ended in 1933, some estimates accuse the government of being responsible for the deaths of 10,000 people through its alcohol poisoning program.

 

Iceland's parliament is the oldest in history (like, really, really old).

Iceland's parliament, the Icelandic Alþingi (also written as the Althingi), is the oldest in history. It was first established in 930 AD. Pretty cool, except not everyone agrees that it's the oldest. The Isle of Man, an island in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, also claims that its parliament, The High Court of Tynwald, is the oldest in the world.  It is more than 1,000 years old, according to its website, with "an unbroken resistance."  That last part might be why the Isle of Man believes its parliament is the oldest — Iceland's parliament has sort of disbanded and then reformed and taken on different names and functions over the years.

 

The 1969 Stonewall Uprising was the start of the LGBTQ rights movement.

On July 28, 1969, police in New York City raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay club, reportedly because the club was serving liquor without a license. During that time, police often violently raided clubs and bars that they thought provided safe harbor for LGBTQ+ people, according to History.com.  In the early morning hours of June 28, police beat patrons of Stonewall with their nightsticks and drew their guns, but the patrons fought back. The raid led to a days-long violent uprising and protest, becoming one of the key historic markers for the start of the LGBTQ rights movement. Stonewall is still a club in New York City, though now it's also designated a national monument.

 

The Emancipation Proclamation didn't free all enslaved people.

The Emancipation Proclamation wasn't written by Abraham Lincoln with the intention of abolishing slavery. The proclamation freed enslaved people in designated areas in the South, and it was actually written as part of Lincoln's military strategy, according to History.com.  It freed slaves in the South, but it exempted Confederate states already under Union control and border states like Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. The Union and Confederacy had been at war for two years when Lincoln issued the proclamation, so it was meant to bolster support for the Union's cause.

 

Source: Wikipedia - History  |  Woman's Day - Historical Facts You Never Learned In School

 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HEDGEHOGS

Mrs. Tiggy-winkle with Jenny Wren's wine-stained table cloth

 

Did you know... that long before Beatrix Potter unleashed the twinkly-eyed hedgehog washerwoman Mrs. Tiggy-Winkles upon the world, children have been enamored by the spiny mammals. In fact, a carved toy hedgehog — presumably a prized possession — was found buried next to a child’s grave unearthed near Stonehenge dating back some 3,000 years. But the love for hedgehogs doesn’t stop when childhood does; one look at YouTube’s nearly 2.5 million videos featuring the prickly creatures points to the fact that we are a people obsessed with hedgehogs. Forget the Digital Age; future historians may just as well refer to this as the Hedgehog Age.

 

Unfortunately, as Daniel Allen of Keele University in Staffordshire, U.K., points out, Britain's favorite mammals (named so by the Royal Society of Biology) are being threatened. In the 1950s, Britain had 30 million hedgehogs running around. Now? Under a million. Farming methods have led to a loss of habitat and a change in hedgehogs' diets, which largely explain the alarming drop in population. And busy roads don't help. It's estimated that more than 100,000 hedgehogs are killed by vehicles on Britain's roads every year.

Many in Britain are banding together — note the British Hedgehog Preservation Society — to help their prickly neighbors by providing feeding stations, making small holes in fences to allow them free access through gardens (thus keeping them off of streets) and being more cautious in their use of pesticides. It's all in the spirit of hedgehog love.

 

But love them as we do, what do we really know about hedgehogs?  Consider this your crash course on the quilled cuties.

 

LANGUAGE
1. The hedgehog was named for its unique foraging methods. They root through hedges seeking their prey — mostly insects, as well as worms, centipedes, bird eggs, snails, mice, frogs and snakes — while emitting snorts, squeaks and grunts. Like a hog, of the hedge ... hence, “hedgehog.”

 

2. Shakespeare gave a nod to hedgehogs in “The Tempest” and “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” calling them “hedgepigs” and “urchins.”

 

3. The collective noun for a group of hedgehogs is "array" or "prickle."

 

GEOGRAPHY

Fifteen species of hedgehog can be found

all over the world. This is an African Pygmy

hedgehog and Albino.

 

4. There are 15 species of hedgehog; they are found in Europe, Asia and Africa, but they have also been introduced into new areas such as New Zealand.

 

5. Importing hedgehogs in the United States can only be done at certain ports, and the animals must have proper permits. Importing them from New Zealand — or any region that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has designated as a place where foot-and-mouth disease exists — is forbidden. Smuggling hedgehogs is highly frowned upon.  Hedgehog importing recently made headlines in Iceland, where a resident imported the nation's first hedgehog. As the Iceland Monitor reports, Eszter Tekla Fekete has owned Bernie since 2015 and her father applied to have him imported in May 2016. After many tests and a four-week quarantine, he got the all-clear in November 2017.

6. Because they are considered wildlife, it's illegal to keep a hedgehog as a pet in many parts of the United States, including California, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, New York City and Pennsylvania. Hedgehogs need a lot of special care to be kept as pets, and anyone considering doing so should do their research first.

 

ANATOMY
7. The earliest known member of the family that includes hedgehogs lived about 58 million years ago. The smallest hedgehog ever, Silvacola acares, lived 52 million years ago in a rainforest in northern British Columbia. It was about 2 inches long.

The European hedgehog is the largest species of all and reaches 14 inches in length.

 

8. Today’s hedgehogs measure roughly from 5 to 14 inches (plus a 1- to 2-inch tail), depending on the species.

 

9. The hedgehog can thank its spines for its signature look; they are 1-inch long modified hairs that cover the critters’ back and sides. The face, chest, belly, throat and legs are covered in fur, helping to give them the appearance of having tough-guy haircuts.

 

10. There are somewhere between 5,000 to 7,000 spines on an average adult hedgehog. (Kudos to whoever counted them.) They are neither poisonous nor barbed, and unlike the quills of a porcupine, the hedgehog's prickers stay firmly attached to the animal.

 

11. That said, they use their quills defensively, more like armor than projectiles. When threatened, hedgehogs roll up into a ball, thereby becoming an orb of hard-to-eat spines. This is how they sleep (which they do during the day, by the way).

 

'Do not disturb, please.'. 

 

12. Rolled into a ball is also how hedgehogs were employed by the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." PETA would not be pleased with the queen's use of live hedgehogs for croquet balls and flamingos for mallets, but fortunately the hedgehogs natural protection allowed them to scamper away, much to the queen's chagrin.

 

BIOLOGY

13. Hedgehogs can live for four to seven years in the wild, a relatively long time for animals of their size. Smaller species live two to four years (though longer in captivity).

 

14. Like opossums, hedgehogs have some natural immunity against snake venom, yet they will still succumb to it if stricken by a more virulent snake.

 

15. Hedgehogs take part in an odd behavior called “anointing” when they first come upon a new object or bit of food. They will lick the substance until a frothy saliva forms, and then they rub said spit onto their skin and spines. No one is quite sure why they do this; possibilities include making them taste less palatable to predators or as some type of olfactory camouflage.

 

16. Depending on the species, the gestation period is 35 to 58 days, and in the end produces a litter of five to six pups for smaller species and three to four pups for larger species.

 

Human moms should appreciate not having to give birth to babies

with quills.

 

17. Hedgehogs are loners; they generally only match up for mating (are you trying to picture that?) – moms kick the babes out of the nest sometime between four and seven weeks.

 

RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANS

18. The most popular species of hedgehog that is kept as a pet is a hybrid of the four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) and the North African hedgehog (A. algirus); these are usually referred to as African pygmy hedgehogs and are bred in the U.S. for the pet trade.

 

19. Hedgehogs get some of the same diseases that humans do, including cancer, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. A medical condition that only hedgehogs get, however, is balloon syndrome. This fun-sounding but actually serious condition involves air or gas trapped under the skin and the hedgehog grows in size. According to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, remedying it only involves a incision on the skin to release the air and then monitoring for any complications related to the collection of air in the first place.

 

Hedgehog suffering from balloon syndrome before deflating

 

20. Cute as they may be, hedgehogs can give humans a fungal skin infection caused by Trichophyton erinacei, also known as ringworm. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, major microbial infections associated with hedgehogs include bacteria such as salmonella and mycobacteria.

 

21. In 2006, McDonald’s launched a new design of McFlurry containers that are hedgehog-friendly. What? Yep. It seems that hedgehogs were consistently getting their heads stuck in the cups while licking up the last drops of McFlurry goodness, leading to many an untimely hedgehog death. (McDonald's, savior of hedgehogs? Who knew?)

 

22. Some people eat hedgehogs — but enough about that. A more amusing fact is that in 1981, a London potato chip maker launched a line of hedgehog "flavoured crisps" — and fortunately for hedgehogs everywhere, the potato chips were not actually flavored with hedgehog.

 

And on that note, bye bye!.

 

Source: Things You Didn't Know About Hedgehogs

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - COAL MINING

Did you know... that coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground? Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine. In the United States, "colliery" has been used to describe a coal mine operation, but this usage is less common.  Coal mining has had many developments over the recent years, from the early days of men tunneling, digging, and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open cut and long wall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. (Wikipedia)

 

Coal is used in many industrial processes, and by electric power plants. Accounting for 18 percent of the energy consumed in the U.S. in 2012, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, coal is used to generate 44 percent of electricity produced in the country (per the Union of Concerned Scientists). It also supplies nearly 30 percent of energy use worldwide and accounts for 44 percent of the CO2 emitted into the air around the globe.  Coal mining has detrimental impacts on human health, the environment, and water supplies. Here are some important facts related to coal mining and burning that cannot be ignored.

 

TYPES OF COAL MINING

 

1. Different types of coal are used depending on the amount of heat released when it is burned. How much heat released is determined by the levels of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Brittle and glassy, Anthracite is 86 to 97 percent carbon and yields almost 15,000 BTUs per pound. Bituminous coal is the most commonly used type of electric power (accounting for over 45 percent of U.S. coal production in 2010); a softer variety, it contains anywhere from 45 to 86 percent carbon content. Sub-bituminous coal is also used and has a carbon content of up to 45 percent. Suited for electric power and synthetic gas production, lignite can be up to 35 percent carbon.

 

2. Coal is mined directly from the surface if deposits are less than 200 feet down. The recovery ratio for a surfaced mine can be over 90 percent. Underground mines are dug to access coal formations hundreds of feet below the surface but allow for recovery of less than 40 percent of the coal there.

 

AIR POLLUTION

 

3. Coal mining contributes to global warming because it releases up to 3.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, every year. This is in the U.S. alone, where there were no regulations limiting how much CO2 is released until new Environmental Protection Agency regulations were introduced in 2015, which set limits on how much coal and other power plants can emit. For coal plants, the top end is 1,400 pounds of CO2/megawatt-hour.

 

4. Coal burning also releases 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year, which causes acid rain, and 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide, also a contributor to acid rain in addition to smog. Tons of hydrocarbons are released into the air and small particles are emitted as well, which are less than 10 microns in size and can cause major lung damage if inhaled.

 

5. Locomotives transport coal by rail from many plants and a typical plant uses 40 railroad cars. Using diesel fuel, these emit close to a million tons of nitrogen oxide every year in the United States, plus 52,000 tons of additional particulates that blow through the air as coal dust.

 

OTHER POLLUTANTS AND HEAVY METALS

 

6. Smokestack scrubbers from coal plants produce up to 125,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge. They use powdered limestone and water to remove pollutants from the exhaust, but these go to landfills, where toxic metals such as lead and mercury may be introduced. Sometimes, ash and sludge are used to make concrete and drywall, taking these pollutants with them.

 

7. Toxic metals released from coal plants include arsenic, lead, and cadmium. Mercury has been a problematic pollutant connected with coal production. It has been identified in lakes and rivers in Wisconsin, and bodies of water in other northern and northeastern states, as well as in Canada.

 

8. Most naturally occurring elements have been found in coal, including uranium. Traces of this radioactive element have been found through coal combustion in greater amounts than when producing nuclear power, according to a Department of Energy study at Oak Ridge National Lab. Researchers have detected less than 1 part per million of uranium to about 10 parts per million. There is also 2.5 times more thorium than uranium in coal.

 

WATER USE

9. Typically, a coal plant takes between 70 and 180 billion gallons of water from lakes, rivers, and oceans, and consumes up to 1.1 billion gallons of that. Plants with once-through cooling systems withdraw more water, but even a plant with a wet-recirculating cooling system can consume up to 4 billion gallons every year. Dry-cooled coal plants consume less.

 

10. Young and adult fish, fish eggs, and larvae are drawn into intakes by the millions. Those trapped are often injured or killed before they can escape.

 

11. An integrated gasification combined-cycle can reduce water consumption in coal plants by 35 to 60 percent. The technology is currently being commercialized and can also reduce the number of pollutants released into the air.

 

12. Around the world, there are over 8,000 coal-burning power plants. The amount of water they use is enough to serve one billion people. Water goes toward maintaining boilers and handling coal ash. Even plants that use seawater use a substantial amount of fresh water in their processes.

 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

13. The largest source of carbon dioxide emissions is coal burning, according to Greenpeace. A 500 MW coal power plant can release 600,000 cars worth of emissions and may operate for at least 40 years. Methane, another greenhouse gas, is 84 times more powerful at affecting the climate. At the current pace of growth, the organization says, coal will account for 60 percent of CO2 emissions by 2030.

 

14. Dust can blow from piles of burned coal, usually stored outdoors on the site of a power plant. It can settle in nearby houses, soils, and backyards. When it rains, this dust can run off and further contaminate land and water.

 

ILLNESS AND INJURIES

 

15. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the coal mining industry has nearly six times the rate of fatal injuries compared to other private industry sectors. In 2007, 20 of the 28 reported fatalities were related to underground bituminous coal mining. Most fatal injuries resulted from transportation mishaps and injury from objects and equipment. In 2008, non-fatal injury and illness rates were 13 percent higher than for private industries in general.

 

Mining and burning coal, therefore, don’t just pollute the air, water, and land; they also jeopardize human health and contribute to excessive resource consumption and climate change.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Coal Mining  |  Facts about Coal Mining and Burning

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - BARBIE

 

Did you know... that Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. (Wikipedia)

 

In 2019, Barbie celebrated her 60th birthday, and Mattel went all out for her big day. Her "diamond jubilee" doll was available, a large Barbie pop-up experience opened in New York City on her "birthday," and a seven-month Barbie 'Be Anything' Tour featuring country singer Kelsea Ballerini hit 34 Walmarts across the country. How she looks so good for being nearly six decades old, we'll probably never know, but we do know these other fun Barbie factoids.

 

SHE WAS BORN ON MARCH 9, 1959.

 

 

Barbie's official birthday represents her public debut at the 1959 American International Toy Fair in New York. She stood 11 inches tall and was dressed for a pool party in her black and white striped one-piece. Barbie was instantly recognizable as the only toy in the doll aisle that wasn't modeled as a baby or a little kid—having a grown woman as a plaything for children was an entirely new concept. One thing she didn't have at first? A belly button. That was added to her design more than 40 years later, in 2000.

 

SHE WAS CREATED BY AN ENGINEER WHO USED TO WORK FOR THE PENTAGON.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

 

Jack Ryan began his career as an engineer, making missiles for the Pentagon, but was eventually hired away by Mattel for his "space-age savvy" and knowledge of materials (meaning, he'd be able to make high-quality, well-functioning toys). His designs helped give Barbie her twistable waist and "click click" knee joints.

 

SHE WAS BASED ON AN R-RATED GERMAN DOLL.

 

Though Ryan designed Barbie, the concept came from Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler. Handler was traveling through Europe with her kids when she came across the Germany-born Bild Lilli doll, who was anything but kid-friendly: Lilli was a high-class call girl who began her life as a comic and was sold in smoke shops, adult toy stores, and other not-kid-friendly places. But Handler, who had mentioned the idea of an adult doll to her Mattel exec husband before, liked what she saw. Though her husband, Elliot, had initially balked at the idea, the Lilli dolls sold him on the concept. Though Bild Lilli's manufacturer initially sued Mattel for patent infringement, the case was eventually dismissed and Mattel officially bought the rights to the doll for $21,600.

 

BARBIE IS NAMED AFTER THE CREATOR'S DAUGHTER

Barbara Handler, daughter of Ruth Handler and namesake inspiration

for the Barbie doll, poses for a photograph after placing her hands

in cement that will adorn the sidewalk at the Egyptian Theatre in

Hollywood, California, in 2002.

 

Barbie is named after the Handlers' daughter, Barbara. Ken is named after their son, Kenneth. In Barbie's world, her parents are George and Margaret Roberts from Willows, Wisconsin. Other family members include her siblings: Skipper, Tutti, Todd, Stacie, Kelly, Chelsea, and Krissy. Tutti and Todd are twins … but so are Todd and Stacie, apparently (at least according to Todd's box). She also has cousins named Francie and Jazzie.

 

ONE OF HER SIBLINGS WENT MISSING.

 

Only adding to that whole twin sibling mystery: Tutti mysteriously disappeared in 1971, so we can only assume that Stacie (introduced in 1992) is Tutti reincarnated.

 

SHE'S BEEN AT THE CENTER OF SOME VERY REAL BODY-IMAGE CONTROVERSIES.

 

Barbie has been at the center of many body image controversies over the years due to her ridiculously svelte-yet-busty figure. Mattel makes Barbie at a 1/6 scale, which is standard scale for action figures. This would make Barbie's measurements 38-18-28 (reports vary based on versions of dolls). Various outlets and organizations have pointed out how these proportions make her more than just an unrealistic standard—they would make a human woman physically incapable of walking, holding up her head, or having fully functioning internal organs. Mattel has responded to calls for change by releasing a number of dolls with varying body types, skin tones, and hairstyles.

 

ONE SPECIAL-EDITION BARBIE CAME WITH A WEIGHT LOSS BOOK THAT INCLUDED "DON'T EAT" AS A TIP.

 

Making body-image matters even worse is a piece of Barbie's history—1965's Slumber Party Barbie came with her very own "How to Lose Weight" book, which included tips like "don't eat." She also came with a bathroom scale that put the 5'9" Barbie in at 110 pounds. Well, 5'9" if you consider the 1/6 scale, which makes Barbie about 35 pounds underweight.

 

AN ORIGINAL BARBIE IS WORTH SOME SERIOUS MONEY TODAY.

 

The first Barbie sold for $3 each (various accessories were extra). Today, an original in mint condition could likely fetch nearly $25,000 at auction. Of course, plenty of non-mint Barbies are also worth a pretty penny, and are regularly for sale on eBay and through various vintage retailers.

 

THERE HAVE BEEN LOTS OF CELEBRITY DOLLS.

An Elizabeth Taylor Barbie doll.

 

British fashion icon Twiggy was the first real-life celebrity to get her own Barbie—the supermodel's doll wore a mod mini-skirt, go-go boots, and her signature spider lashes. Numerous other famous people have had their own Barbies as well, including dolls wearing the classic looks of Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn, as well as more modern women like Nicki Minaj, J.K. Rowling, Gigi Hadid, and Ava Duvernay.

 

BARBIE'S FIRST CAREER WAS AS A TEEN MODEL.

 

Since embarking on her first career as a teen fashion model, Barbie has had many other jobs, including: a fashion editor, a flight attendant, a ballerina, a tennis pro, an executive, a candy striper, an astronaut, a surgeon, Miss America, a gold medal gymnast, an actress, an aerobics instructor, a reporter, a rock star, a UNICEF ambassador, an army officer, a rapper, a chef, a police officer, a Rockette, a baseball player, a SCUBA diver, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird Squadron Leader, a paleontologist, a NASCAR driver, a pilot, a sign language teacher, a presidential candidate, an American Idol winner, a zoologist, a Space Camp instructor, and a fashion intern (which, ironically, came decades after her fashion editor gig). And this list is by no means exhaustive—she's had more than 200 careers so far.

 

HER SIGNATURE COLOR, IN CASE YOU HADN'T NOTICED, IS PINK.

 

Specifically, Barbie's pink is Pantone color PMS 219 C (and yes, there is a special Barbie with a dress made out of Pantone swatches).

 

Soure: Wikipedia - Barbie  |  MentalFloss - Barbie Facts

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - BARD

 

Did you know... that in Celtic cultures, a bard was a professional storyteller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities? 

Originally bards were a specific lower class of poet, contrasting with the higher rank known as fili in Ireland and Highland Scotland.  With the decline of a living bardic tradition in the modern period, the term has loosened to mean a generic minstrel or author (especially a famous one). For example, William Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore are respectively known as "the Bard of Avon" (often simply "the Bard") and "the Bard of Bengal". (Wikipedia)

 

Bards were probably a social class in Celtic Europe. They were poets or singers. Most likely they were in the service of Celtic nobility. They were probably employed to tell about how good their master (the nobleman) was, or to sing about what he did. Today, it is not quite clear what the difference was from a druid. Early Roman scholars used the word vates to refer to all of them. Vates has been translated as prophet or soothsayer. It is also a common school in the North East Pacific West.

 

In modern English, the nouns vates and ovate are used as technical terms for ancient

Celtic bards, prophets and philosophers.

 

In medieval Gaelic and Welsh society, a bard (Scottish and Irish Gaelic) or bardd (Welsh) was a professional poet, employed to compose eulogies for his lord. If the employer failed to pay the proper amount, the bard would then compose a satire (c.f. fili, fáith). In other Indo-European societies, the same function was fulfilled by skalds, rhapsodes, minstrels and scops, among others. A hereditary caste of professional poets in Proto-Indo-European society has been reconstructed by comparison of the position of poets in medieval Ireland and in ancient India in particular.

 

Bards (who are not the same as the Irish 'filidh' or 'fili') were those who sang the songs recalling the tribal warriors' deeds of bravery as well as the genealogies and family histories of the ruling strata among Celtic societies. The pre-Christian Celtic peoples recorded no written histories; however, Celtic peoples did maintain an intricate oral history committed to memory and transmitted by bards and filid. Bards facilitated the memorisation of such materials by the use of metre, rhyme and other formulaic poetic devices.  One of the most notable bards in Irish mythology was Amergin Glúingel, a bard, druid and judge for the Milesians.

 

 

Ireland

In medieval Ireland, bards were one of two distinct groups of poets, the other being the fili. According to the Early Irish law text on status, Uraicecht Becc, bards were a lesser class of poets, not eligible for higher poetic roles as described above. However, it has also been argued that the distinction between filid (pl. of fili) and bards was a creation of Christian Ireland, and that the filid were more associated with the church. By the Early Modern Period, these names came to be used interchangeably.

 

Irish bards formed a professional hereditary caste of highly trained, learned poets. The bards were steeped in the history and traditions of clan and country, as well as in the technical requirements of a verse technique that was syllabic and used assonance, half rhyme and alliteration, among other conventions. As officials of the court of king or chieftain, they performed a number of official roles. They were chroniclers and satirists whose job it was to praise their employers and damn those who crossed them. It was believed that a well-aimed bardic satire, glam dicenn, could raise boils on the face of its target.

 

The bardic system lasted until the mid-17th century in Ireland and the early 18th century in Scotland. In Ireland, their fortunes had always been linked to the Gaelic aristocracy, which declined along with them during the Tudor Reconquest.

 

The early history of the bards can be known only indirectly through mythological stories. The first mention of the bardic profession in Ireland is found in the Book of Invasions, in a story about the Irish colony of Tuatha De Danann (Peoples of Goddess Danu), also called Danonians. They became the aos sí (folk of the mound), comparable to Norse alfr and British fairy. During the tenth year of the reign of the last Belgic monarch, the people of the colony of Tuatha De Danann, as the Irish called it, invaded and settled in Ireland. They were divided into three tribes—the tribe of Tuatha who were the nobility, the tribe of De who were the priests (those devoted to serving God or De) and the tribe of Danann, who were the bards. This account of the Tuatha De Danann must be considered legendary; however the story was an integral part of the oral history of Irish bards themselves.

 

 

Scotland
The best-known group of bards in Scotland were the members of the MacMhuirich family, who flourished from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The family was centred in the Hebrides, and claimed descent from a 13th-century Irish bard who, according to legend, was exiled to Scotland. The family was at first chiefly employed by the Lords of the Isles as poets, lawyers, and physicians. With the fall of the Lordship of the Isles in the 15th century, the family was chiefly employed by the chiefs of the MacDonalds of Clanranald. Members of the family were also recorded as musicians in the early 16th century, and as clergymen possibly as early as the early 15th century. The last of the family to practise classical Gaelic poetry was Domhnall MacMhuirich, who lived on South Uist in the 18th century.

 

In Gaelic-speaking areas, a village bard or village poet (Scottish Gaelic: bàrd-baile) is a local poet who composes works in a traditional style relating to that community. Notable village bards include Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna and Dòmhnall Ruadh Phàislig [gd].

 

 

Wales
A number of bards in Welsh mythology have been preserved in medieval Welsh literature such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. The bards Aneirin and Taliesin may be legendary reflections of historical bards active in the 6th and 7th centuries. Very little historical information about Dark Age Welsh court tradition survives, but the Middle Welsh material came to be the nucleus of the Matter of Britain and Arthurian legend as they developed from the 13th century. The (Welsh) Laws of Hywel Dda, originally compiled around 900, identify a bard as a member of a king's household. His duties, when the bodyguard were sharing out booty, included the singing of the sovereignty of Britain—possibly why the genealogies of the British high kings survived into the written historical record.

 

The royal form of bardic tradition ceased in the 13th century, when the 1282 Edwardian conquest permanently ended the rule of the Welsh princes. The legendary suicide of The Last Bard (c. 1283), was commemorated in the poem The Bards of Wales by the Hungarian poet János Arany in 1857, as a way of encoded resistance to the suppressive politics of his own time. However, the poetic and musical traditions were continued throughout the Middle Ages, e.g., by noted 14th-century poets Dafydd ap Gwilym and Iolo Goch. The tradition of regularly assembling bards at an eisteddfod never lapsed, and was strengthened by formation of the Gorsedd by Iolo Morganwg in 1792, establishing Wales as the major Celtic upholder of bardic tradition in the 21st century. Many regular eisteddfodau are held in Wales, including the National Eisteddfod of Wales (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru), which was instituted in 1861 and has been held annually since 1880. Many Welsh schools conduct their own annual versions at which bardic traditions are emulated

 

Taliesin

 

Source: Wikipedia - Bard

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - BLOODLETTING

 

Did you know... that bloodletting is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily fluids were regarded as "humours" that had to remain in proper balance to maintain health. It is claimed to have been the most common medical practice performed by surgeons from antiquity until the late 19th century, a span of over 2,000 years. In Europe the practice continued to be relatively common until the end of the 18th century. The practice has now been abandoned by modern-style medicine for all except a few very specific medical conditions. It is conceivable that historically, in the absence of other treatments for hypertension, bloodletting sometimes had a beneficial effect in temporarily reducing blood pressure by reducing blood volume. However, since hypertension is very often asymptomatic and thus undiagnosable without modern methods, this effect was unintentional. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the historical use of bloodletting was harmful to patients.

 

Today, the term phlebotomy refers to the drawing of blood for laboratory analysis or blood transfusion. Therapeutic phlebotomy refers to the drawing of a unit of blood in specific cases like hemochromatosis, polycythemia vera, porphyria cutanea tarda, etc., to reduce the number of red blood cells. The traditional medical practice of bloodletting is today considered to be a pseudoscience. (Wikipedia)

 

Several thousand years ago, whether you were an Egyptian with migraines or a feverish Greek, chances are your doctor would try one first-line treatment before all others: bloodletting. He or she would open a vein with a lancet or sharpened piece of wood, causing blood to flow out and into a waiting receptacle. If you got lucky, leeches might perform the gruesome task in place of crude instruments.

 

Leeches

 

Considered one of medicine’s oldest practices, bloodletting is thought to have originated in ancient Egypt. It then spread to Greece, where physicians such as Erasistratus, who lived in the third century B.C., believed that all illnesses stemmed from an overabundance of blood, or plethora. (Erasistratus also thought arteries transported air rather than blood, so at least some of his patients’ blood vessels were spared his eager blade.) In the second century A.D., the influential Galen of Pergamum expanded on Hippocrates’ earlier theory that good health required a perfect balance of the four “humours”—blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. His writings and teachings made bloodletting a common technique throughout the Roman empire. Before long it flourished in India and the Arab world as well.

 

In medieval Europe, bloodletting became the standard treatment for various conditions, from plague and smallpox to epilepsy and gout. Practitioners typically nicked veins or arteries in the forearm or neck, sometimes using a special tool featuring a fixed blade and known as a fleam. In 1163 a church edict prohibited monks and priests, who often stood in as doctors, from performing bloodletting, stating that the church “abhorred” the procedure. Partly in response to this injunction, barbers began offering a range of services that included bloodletting, cupping, tooth extractions, lancing and even amputations—along with, of course, trims and shaves. The modern striped barber’s pole harkens back to the bloodstained towels that would hang outside the offices of these “barber-surgeons.”

 

Three Blade Fleam

 

Barber-Surgeon

 

As hairdressers lanced veins in an attempt to cure Europeans’ ailments, in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica bloodletting was believed to serve a very different purpose. Maya priests and rulers used stone implements to pierce their tongues, lips, genitals and other soft body parts, offering their blood in sacrifice to their gods. Blood loss also allowed individuals to enter trance-like states in which they reportedly experienced visions of deities or their ancestors.

 

Bloodletting as a medical procedure became slightly less agonizing with the advent in the 18th century of spring-loaded lancets and the scarificator, a device featuring multiple blades that delivered a uniform set of parallel cuts. Respected physicians and surgeons extolled the practice, generously prescribing it to their most esteemed patients. Marie-Antoinette, for instance, seemed to benefit from a healthy dose of bloodletting while giving birth to her first child, Marie-Thérèse, in 1778, 14 years before the guillotine would shed more of the queen’s blood. As an excited crowd thronged her bedchamber, hoping to witness a dauphin’s arrival, the mother-to-be fainted, prompting her surgeon to wield his lancet. Marie-Antoinette immediately revived after the bloodletting—perhaps because the windows were simultaneously opened to let in fresh air.

 

A collection of single and multibladed mechanical scarificators. These include examples from England,

France and Germany and they date from between 1780 and 1900. Instruments such as these were

designed to create wounds on the surface of the skin, principally for wet cupping procedures. Cupping is

a form of bloodletting historically used to 'treat' a range of ailments by removing surplus bodily 'humours'

(fluids within the body).

 

America’s first president was less fortunate than France’s most infamous queen. On December 13, 1799, George Washington awoke with a bad sore throat and began to decline rapidly. A proponent of bloodletting, he asked to be bled the next day, and physicians drained an estimated 5 to 7 pints in less than 16 hours. Despite their best efforts, Washington died on December 17, leading to speculation that excessive blood loss contributed to his demise. Bloodletting has also been implicated in the death of Charles II, who was bled from the arm and neck after suffering a seizure in 1685.

 

By the late 1800s new treatments and technologies had largely edged out bloodletting, and studies by prominent physicians began to discredit the practice. Today it remains a conventional therapy for a very small number of conditions. The use of leeches, meanwhile, has experienced a renaissance in recent decades, particularly in the field of microsurgery.

 

Source: A Brief History of Bloodletting  |  Wikipedia - Bloodletting

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - WRESTLING

Ancient Egyptian Wrestling

 

Did you know... that wrestling and grappling sports have a long and complicated history, stretching into prehistoric times. Many traditional forms survive, grouped under the term folk wrestling. More formal systems have been codified in various forms of martial arts worldwide, where grappling techniques form a significant subset of unarmed fighting (complemented by striking techniques). (Wikipedia)

 

 

History - December 21, 2019  |  Eric Kiarie
 

The first real traces of the development of wrestling date back to the times of the Sumerians, 5000 years ago. The Epic of Gilgamesh written in cuneiform, the sculptures and the low reliefs, are numerous sources that reveal the first refereed competitions, accompanied by music.

 

There are also many historical and archaeological traces of wrestling in Ancient Egypt. Among them, it is worth mentioning in particular the drawings discovered in the tombs of Beni-Hassan representing 400 couples of wrestlers. These drawings, as well as many other vestiges, witness the existence of corporations of wrestlers in Ancient Egypt, wrestling rules and refereeing codes.

 

Detail of the wrestling scenes in tomb 15.

 

For the Greeks, wrestling was a science and a divine art, and it represented the most important training for young men. Athletes wrestled naked, with their bodies coated with olive oil and covered with a layer of very thin sand to protect the skin from sunlight or from cold during winter.

 

The Wrestlers - Andre the Giant (1970s)

 

After wrestling, they scraped this layer off with an instrument called strigil and washed themselves with water. Fights were similar to those of freestyle wrestling, as shown by drawings and inscriptions from that time. The competitor who first threw his opponent or first brought him down - either on his back, hips, chest, knees or elbows - was proclaimed the winner.

 

During the Ancient Olympic Games, from 708 B.C., wrestling was the decisive discipline of the Pentathlon. In fact, it was the last discipline to be held – after the discus, the javelin, the long jump and the foot race – and it designated the winner of the Pentathlon, the only crowned athlete of the Games.

 

The most famous of all wrestlers was Milon of Croton (student of the philosopher Pythagoras), six times Olympic champion (from 540 to 516 B.C.), ten times winner of the Isthmian Games, nine times winner of the Nemean Games, and five time winner of the Pythian Games. Legend has it that when he tried to splinter a tree with his own hands, his fingers got stuck in the split tree-trunk and he was devoured by a lion.

 

Milo of Croton by Joseph-Benoît Suvée

(18th century, oil on canvas), depicting

Milo with his hand stuck in a trunk.

 

Further Developments 
Wrestling in Roman Times was developed on the basis of the legacy of the Etruscans and the restoration of the Greek games. Wrestling was the favourite sport of young aristocrats, soldiers and shepherds. According to Cassius Dion, the palestra was at the origin of the military success of the Romans.

 

In 393, Emperor Theodosius I prohibited all pagan games and outlawed the Olympic Games. Olympic Values sank into the dark Middle Ages, but they were always latent, without ceasing to exist. During Middle Ages and Renaissance, wrestling was practiced by the social elite, in castles and palaces.

 

Numerous painters and writers celebrated wrestling and encouraged its practice : Caravaggio, Poussin, Rembrandt, Courbet, Rabelais, Rousseau, Montaigne, Locke, etc. It is also interesting to mention that the first book to be printed came out in 1500, and that already in 1512 came out the wrestling manual in color by German artist Albrecht Dürer.

 

Page from Book

 

The attempts made to restore the Olympic Games were numerous, but it was not until 1896 that they were re-established by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. After the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894, the development of new international sport federations and Olympic committees were accelerated.

 

The first Olympic Congress took place in 1894 at « la Sorbonne » and decided of the ten sports that would be part of the Olympic program : athletics, wrestling, rowing, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming, shooting and tennis (see the congress minutes). During the wrestling tournament in Athens, there were no weight categories and all five competitors wrestled under rules similar to those of the professional Greco-Roman wrestling.

 

The matches lasted until one of the competitors won. It was allowed to interrupt and resume the matches on the following day. The first Olympic champion – the German athlete Schumann – who was not a trained wrestler, was also the winner of horse jumping and parallel bars.

 

Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's Greco-Roman

Schuhmann (left) before the Olympic wrestling final, which he won (10–11 April)

 

Schumann succeeded to beat the English weightlifting champion Launceston Elliot, who was heavier than him, by executing a quick and accurate body lock.

 

In Paris, in 1900, and for this unique occasion in the history of the modern Olympic Games, the Games did not include wrestling in their program, even if at the same time, professional wrestling was at its best shape at the Folies Bergères and the Casino de Paris.

 

Professional Wrestling 

Martin “Farmer” Burns – The Godfather of Pro Wrestling

Professional wrestling began in France around 1830. Wrestlers who had no access to the wrestling elite, formed troupes that travelled around France showing their talent. Wrestlers thus frequented wild animals’ exhibitors, tightrope walkers and bearded women. Showmen presented wrestlers under names such as “Edward, the steel eater”, “Gustave d’Avignon, the bone wrecker”, or “Bonnet, the ox of the low Alps” and challenged the public to knock them down for 500 francs. In 1848, French showman Jean Exbroyat created the first modern wrestlers’ circus troupe and established as a rule not to execute holds below the waist.

 

He named this new style « flat hand wrestling ». Upon Mr. Exbroyat’s death in 1872, Mr. Rossignol-Rollin attorney from Lyon assumed the direction of this troupe and was soon noticed for his ability to advertise, to « arrange » matches and to reward wrestlers in the name of the audience.

 

The French influence extended to the Austrian Hungarian Empire, to Italy, to Denmark and to Russia and the new style circulated under the name of Greco-Roman wrestling, classic wrestling or French wrestling.

 

Professional wrestling matches were thus organized everywhere in Europe with variable programs and competition rules according to the taste of wrestlers, of managers and of the audience. In 1898, the Frenchman Paul Pons, also named “the Colossus”, was the first Professional World Champion just before the Polish Ladislaus Pytlasinski.

 

Paul Pons

 

Some other great champions succeeded him, like the Turkish Kara Ahmed (the eastern Monster), the Bulgarian Nikola Petrov (the lion of the Balkans) or the Russian Ivan Poddubny (the Champion of Champions).

 

At the end of the 19th century, professional wrestling was the most in vogue sport in Europe, but it started to degrade from 1900 because of the pre-arranged matches, the announcement of forgery, false victories and false nationalities of the competitors.

 

The rediscovery of Olympic amateurism encouraged the creation of numerous clubs and schools that finished professional wrestling off. However, from a historical point of view, professional wrestling has its indisputable merits.

 

Competitions contributed to making wrestling more popular, the physical aspect of wrestlers served as a model to young men and the training system allowed amateur wrestling clubs to rapidly become more structured.

 

Modern Olympic Wrestling 

Wrestling at the 1904 Summer Olympics

In 1904, freestyle wrestling was first introduced during the St. Louis Games and was only disputed by American wrestlers. It was only during the fourth Olympic Games held in London in 1908 that competitions were organized for both styles.

 

At the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912, freestyle wrestling was again absent from the program and glima competitions (Icelandic wrestling) were organized. Wrestling matches took place on three mats in the open air. They lasted one hour, but finalists wrestled without limit of time. The match which confronted the Finnish wrestler Alfred Johan Asikainen and the Russian Martin Klein lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes and appears on the Guinness Book of Records. Both wrestlers, having the same score, were separated by two periods of three minutes of ground wrestling.

 

Asikainen (right, in black) and Klein wrestling at the 1912 Olympics

 

The Russian finally defeated the Finnish who weighed 8 kilos (17.64 lbs) more than he did. Exhausted by this match, Martin Klein could not beat the Swedish Johansson who won the gold medal for the 75 kilos (165.35 lbs).

 

From this date, and encouraged by the newly created International Federation, wrestling developed in every country. Northern Europe countries maintained during many years the monopoly of Greco-Roman wrestling, whereas freestyle wrestling was largely dominated by the English and the Americans.

 

In Amsterdam, in 1928, the Egyptian wrestler Ibrahim Mustafa was the first African wrestler to win an Olympic title. The Japanese Shohachi Ishii won the first Asian title at the Olympic Games in Helsinki, in 1952. Numerous legends shaped the history of wrestling around the world and it would be impossible to name them all.

 

However, four wrestlers have deeply changed the history of Modern Olympic Games by winning three Olympic titles : the Swedish Carl Westergren (Greco-roman wrestling in 1920, 1924 and 1932), the Swedish Ivar Johansson (Greco-roman and freestyle wrestling in 1932, and freestyle wrestling in 1936), the Russian Alekandr Medved (freestyle wrestling in 1964, 1968 and in 1972) and the Russian Aleksandr Karelin (in 1988, 1992 and 1996). After obtaining his third title, Aleksandr Karelin decided to conquer his fourth title at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, but to the general surprise, he was beaten by the American wrestler Rulon Gardner.

 

Gardner's win over Russian Alexander Karelin "shocked the wrestling world."

After defeating Karelin, who was previously undefeated in 13 years, he became a

local hero in his hometown of Afton, Wyoming.

 

In 2002, during the World Championship held in Moscow, FILA awarded the title of Best Wrestler of the Century to both Russians : Aleksandr Medved (for freestyle wrestling) and Aleksandr Karelin (for Greco-roman wrestling), offering them the FILA Gold necklace, award generally reserved for heads of state.

 

A hundred years after the introduction of freestyle wrestling in the Olympic program, worldwide wrestling entered a new era with the acknowledgement of female wrestling as an Olympic discipline on the occasion of the Athens Games in 2004.

 

This decision is part of the policy of the IOC that aims at establishing equality in sport, and legitimized the efforts made by FILA to sustain the development of female wrestling since the end of the 80s.

 

Source: Wikipedia - History of Wrestling  |  Origins and History of Wrestling

Edited September 15, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SUNGLASSES

 

Did you know.. that sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies) are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can sometimes also function as a visual aid, as variously termed spectacles or glasses exist, featuring lenses that are colored, polarized or darkened. In the early 20th century, they were also known as sun cheaters (cheaters then being an American slang term for glasses). (Wikipedia)

 

A Brief History of Sunglasses

The right pair of shades can make or break an outfit. But just who do we have to thank for this sartorial — yet practical — invention?

 

Primitive sunglasses were worn by the Inuit all the way back in prehistoric times, but these were merely walrus ivory with slits in them — good for helping with snow blindness but not particularly fashionable (unless you were a prehistoric Inuit). These snow goggles shielded the eyes with only narrow slits in the front. Inuits also rubbed them with gunpowder or soot mixed with oil to further combat the sun glare off of the snow.  Although these weren’t “glasses” per se, the Inuits were onto an idea that wouldn’t be fully realized until centuries later.

 

Image: Anavik at Banks Peninsula, Bathurst Inlet,

Northwest Territories (Nunavut), May 18, 1916,

Photo by Rudolph Martin Anderson, Canadian, 1876–1961,

Canadian Museum of Civilization, 39026.

 

Legend has it that the emperor Nero watched gladiator fights wearing emerald lenses, but many historians cite this claim as iffy.

 

The Chinese made a slight improvement over the Inuit model in the 12th century, when they used smoky quartz for lenses, but the specs were used for concealing judges’ facial expressions rather than style or sunlight purposes.

 

Smoky Quartz

 

Sunglasses were seen again in the 1400s in Italy, where it’s said that the first pair of darkened glasses was first introduced, although there isn’t a lot of evidence to verify this.

 

In the mid-1700s, a London optician began experimenting with green lenses to help with certain vision problems — and, indeed, green is the best color for protecting your peepers from the sun’s rays. Emerald-tinted specs remained quite the rage for some time, as evidenced by several mentions in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.

 

From there, lenses that were tinted blue and green were developed.  Ayscough often is credited with being a major sunglasses pioneer.

 

The last major development that would ultimately influence future sunglasses came from Sir David Brewster (who also invented the kaleidoscope), during his studies on polarized light.  Brewster figured out the angle at which light on a reflective surface may be transmitted as plane-polarized. This came to be known as “Brewster’s Angle,” and without it, we wouldn’t have polarized sunglasses today.

 

It wasn’t until the 20th century that modern sunglasses as we know them were invented. In 1929, Sam Foster began selling the first mass-produced shades, which soon became a hot fashion item on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. A few years later, Bausch & Lomb got in on the act when the company began making sunglasses for American military aviators, a design that has changed little since General Douglas MacArthur sparked a new trend when he wore a pair to the movies.

 

Douglas MacArthur

 

Sunglasses go mainstream
Little by little, people began wearing tinted glasses to deal with eye issues including light sensitivity, which was a symptom of syphilis.

 

Sunglasses weren’t something that people with regular vision wore or wanted. In fact, people who wore them often stood out for having something wrong with their eyes.

 

All that changed in 1929, thanks to Sam Foster. Foster sold the first pair of sunglasses on the Atlantic City boardwalk intended for the mass market, and it was quite the hit among beachgoers.

 

The brand became known as Foster Grant, "The Original American Sunglass Brand."

 

 

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, sunglasses were also starting to be associated with glamour and glitz. Back then, the strong lighting on movie sets and photographer flash bulbs were causing eye strain, so movie stars began wearing sunglasses in public to protect their eyes.

 

Then came 1936, when the American inventor Edwin H. Land (who also co-founded Polaroid) created a polarizing lightweight filter that could be produced inexpensively for use on sunglasses. 

 

With that polarization technology in place, Bausch & Lomb developed Ray-Ban sunglasses, intended as anti-glare spectacles for pilots, and soon after, marketed them to outdoor enthusiasts.

 

While regular sunglasses cost a few cents, this style was considered a specialty item costing several dollars. The shape and tint of these sporting gear sunglasses ushered in the popular aviator sunglasses still popular today.

 

Sunglasses and pop culture

From the mid-20th century to the present, sunglasses have become a huge part of pop culture, with fashion icons, rock stars, actors and politicians sporting shades.

 

Tom Cruise in Top Gun

 

John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Audrey Hepburn and Bono are just a few celebrities who have their own signature sunglasses style.

 

John Lennon Glasses

 

Other famous shades include Jackie O’s large, round sunglasses and the cat eye style worn by Marilyn Monroe that dominated the 1950s and 1960s.

 

The 1970s was all about oversized frames (think Lynda Carter in “Wonder Woman”), while the 1990s trend was smaller with colorful tints.

 

Tom Cruise’s “Risky Business” role made Wayfarers a popular look in the 1980s.

 

And perhaps no pop culture figure has done more to promote sunglasses than Elton John, who probably has one of the largest and most eclectic collections.

 

Elton John and his most fashionable glasses.

 

Songs that have been written about sunglasses or that mention sunglasses include ZZ Top’s “Cheap Sunglasses,” Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night,” and The Eagles song “Boys of Summer,” which mentions Wayfarers.

 

And in film, sunglasses have had supporting roles in everything from “They Live” to “Men in Black,” not to mention giving so many characters memorable looks from “The Matrix” to “Scarface.”

 

Sunglasses today: So many options
With more awareness than ever before about the potential harm that can be done by the sun’s UV rays, sunglasses aren’t just a cool accessory, but a necessity – something the Inuit knew many centuries ago, even if they didn’t actually know about UV protection.

 

Today, though, from babies to seniors, you’ll see people wearing sunglasses year-round. We even have a National Sunglasses Day celebrated annually on June 27 to raise awareness about how wearing shades can protect your eyes.  Those who spend a significant amount of time outdoors or have a hard time with sun glare should invest in a good pair of sunglasses with polarized lenses that offer protection from both UVA and UVAB rays. 

 

Today, you also can find sunglasses that fit over prescription glasses, flip up or clip onto regular frames, sports sunglasses and more. Photochromic lenses are another option as they automatically darken outdoors and lighten again indoors.  The good news is, with a range of retail options in store and online, you can find just about any style, shape, color and size sunglasses to fit your budget.

 

Source: A Brief History of Sunglasses  |  Wikipedia - Sunglasses  |  History of Sunglasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - DRIVE-IN THEATERS

First drive-in theater, Pennsauken,

New Jersey, 1933.

 

Did you know.... that a drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars. Some drive-ins have small playgrounds for children and a few picnic tables or benches. The screen can be as simple as a wall that is painted white, or it can be a steel truss structure with a complex finish. Originally, the movie's sound was provided by speakers on the screen and later by individual speakers hung from the window of each car, which were attached by wire. These systems were superseded by the more practical method of microbroadcasting the soundtrack to car radios. This also allows the soundtrack to be picked up in stereo by the audience on in-car stereo systems, which are typically higher in quality and fidelity than the simple speakers used in the old systems. (Wikipedia)

 

THE INVENTOR

In l933, Richard Hollingshead invented the drive-in movie theatre, a cinema for Americans infatuated with the automobile.  Always on the lookout for new ideas, as the son of the owner of "Whiz Auto Products Company," Hollingshead considered the buying habits of Americans and recognized that people gave up food, clothing, autos and movies last, in that order.  Seeking to capitalize on this realization, noticing that despite the depression, people continued to go to the movies at their local theatres, Hollingshead, driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, began to experiment with the concept of the outdoor theater in his backyard on 212 Thomas Avenue in Riverton, New Jersey.  He began by placing an old Kodak projector on the hood of his car, projecting the movie onto a screen nailed to a tree. Simulating rainfall with a sprinkler, placing a radio behind the screen to provide sound, Hollingshead moved towards the crucial concept of the drive-in, ensuring that all of the vehicles had an unobstructed view of the screen.  After experimenting with various arrangements and configurations he finally solved the visibility problem by envisioning a series of terraced rows with raised ramps providing an unobstructed view for all cars.

 

THE PATENT

After conceptualizing this unique arrangement of ramps as the core concept behind the idea of the drive-in, Hollingshead felt that it was specialized enough to be patented, which would allow him to collect royalties from future drive-in operators for a period of 17 years (the standard time limit for patents).  He filed an application for the patent on August 6, 1932, and it was later granted by the patent office on May 16, 1933 under patent number 1,909,537.

 

INVESTORS
Financial backing came from Willie Warren Smith, Hollingshead's first cousin and parking lot operator, who, along with Hollingshead, formed a company, Park-In Theaters Inc.  Along with Smith, road contractor, Edward Ellis, was brought in to grade the lot of the first theater in exchange for stock.  Oliver Willets, an executive of Campbell's Soup, also bought stock in the company in order to get things off the ground.

 

THE FIRST DRIVE-IN
On May 16, 1933, the day the patent was granted, construction began on the first drive-in on Crescent Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. (While the location is usually reported as Admiral Wilson Blvd. in Camden, the theater was technically over the Camden town line, where the name of the road changes.)

 

Historic Vehicle Association (HVA)

 

Holding under 400 cars, this first drive-in had large trees and fencing around it in order to prevent people from seeing the screen from outside the lot.  The screen was 30 ft. high, 40 ft. wide, and 12 ft. from the ground and was housed by a larger structure that was 149 ft. wide, 35 ft. high, and 60 ft. deep.  The field was paved with gravel and oiled to keep dust down and mosquitoes away.  Sound was supplied by 3 six-foot square RCA speakers and could be heard from miles around.  The hallmark concession stand was added after the first week.  Total cost was published at $60,000, but considering the small size of this first drive-in, as well as more reliable figures for later 30's drive-ins, this figure is highly exaggerated.  A cost around $30,000 is probably closer to the mark.

 

June 6, 1933 marked opening night at the "Drive-In Theater," as it was called (although the actual name was the "Automobile Movie Theater").  Cars packed into the terraced theater to see the 1932 release of "Wives Beware," which was in second-run status at the time. Admission was 25 cents for each car and an additional 25 cents for each person, which at the time, was somewhat higher than the price at indoor movie houses.

 

PROMOTION

 

Hollingshead promoted the drive-in concept by endorsing the numerous advantages it afforded to patrons, such as the option of smoking without bothering anyone or violating fire laws, talking in your car without disturbing neighbors, eating in the privacy of your vehicle, and eliminating the need for babysitters, since children could be brought along in their pajamas and sleep in the back seat.  The aged and infirm and severely overweight individuals also benefited, as the narrow aisles and small seats of indoor houses posed problems that the drive-in purged.

 

FUN FACT: One early backlash to drive-ins was a "Babysitter Protest" with picketing teenage girls marching around with signs that read "Down with Drive-Ins, More Work for Babysitters."

 

SHOWING FILMS
While it was initially thought that 3 shows a night would be viable, after only 2 nights, the drive-in began showing only 2 shows per night, one at 8:45 and another at 10:45.  In the early days of movie theatres, it was possible for a small town house or DI to get 2-3 changes a week, which meant that if the theater were drawing from a small local population, it had something fresh every few days to keep people come in.

Today, it is not unusual for big studios and distributors to force exhibitors to show a film for a minimum of 4 weeks.  While this can be negotiated down, it really hurts attendance when most of the audience sees the new release on the first weekend and then the theater is dead for the next 3 weeks waiting for the next new film.  This led to most theaters becoming twinned and tripled until the dawn and proliferation of the indoor multi-plex and mega-plexes we see everywhere today. With 15 screens or more, these theaters always offer something new to see and led to the closing of many drive-ins and small neighborhood houses.

 

EARLY PROBLEMS
Despite the excitement surrounding the idea of the drive-in, this first theater did not last long. It was closed by 1936 and "moved" to Union, New Jersey by the man who bought it from Hollingshead. While Hollingshead sited high film rental costs as the major reason behind the drive-in's lack of profitability (he paid $400 for a 4-day rental of "Wives Beware" when Hollywood studios made it available to indoor exhibitors for $20 a week), there were additional reasons for the closure.  The sound was horrible and was not synchronized with the screen due to the delay caused by the location of the speakers near the screen, the insects bothered patrons, the ticket prices were higher than indoor houses, and the single bill policy also contributed to its closing.

 

Click the link below  to continue reading about the Drive-In Theaters' Proliferation & Legal Chaos, Rise and Fall, Innovations over Time, Reputation, Paying Tribute and look at the Gallery.

 

Drive-In Theater

 

Source: Wikipedia - Drive-In Theater  |  Drive-In Theaters

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day – CHER

 

Did you know…. that Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Commonly referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry.  Cher is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances throughout her six-decade-long career. (Wikipedia)

 

But what do we really know about this singer, songwriter, actor, and all-around amazing idol? We know that she’s had a career of some ups and downs, but that she’s still performing for huge crowds at the age of 74. We know that she’s been a style icon for decades, and we know that her music will stand the test of time.
 

But there’s more to Cher than meets the eye.  How did she grow up? What goes on in her day-to-day life? These are the questions that true Cher fans ask themselves.
 

These 10 facts about Cher will help you get more acquainted with the superstar.
 

1. She Started As An Extra For TV

 

When she was just a little girl, Cher started her career along with her little sister as an extra on TV shows like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.  Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt, was also a bit actress and occasional model. She was able to secure the parts for her children.

 

2. She Once Stayed At An Orphanage For Several Weeks

 

Cher and her mother are and always have been very close, but times weren’t always easy. Cher remembers having to keep her shoes together with rubber bands while moving all over the country, hoping her mother would make ends meet.  There was a period of time when Georgia had to leave her daughter at an orphanage for a few weeks. The experience was traumatizing for both of them, as documented by Cheryl Napsha and Connie Berman, authors of Cher.  These days, you can find Cher and her mother posing for pictures together, all smiles!

 

3. She Found Her Cat Under A Truck On Tour

 

Cher found her beloved cat, Mr. Big, underneath one of her tour trucks when she was in Detroit.

 

4. Sonny Didn't Want To Change With The Times

 

In Cher’s book The First Time, she says that when tastes were shifting to heavier rock music with the likes of Zeppelin and Cream, she was game to move in that direction. In fact, she really liked the heavier feel.  However, her husband Sonny was set on keeping their original image. Ultimately, their clean-cut image and sound caused them to lose their previously strong fan base.

 

5. She Thinks David Letterman Is In Love With Her

 

Cher once told US Weekly that she is convinced that former late night TV host David Letterman is in love with her. No word from David on how true this hunch is.

 

6. While She Looks Amazing, She's Not Keen On Aging

 

As incredible as Cher looks, and as much as it seems that she’s found some magical way to turn back time, she told CBS about how much she doesn’t like aging. This may seem surprising at first, but really, it just proves that she’s no different than the rest of us.

 

7. She Doesn't "Need To Be In A Hall To Rock"

 

Cher, for some reason unbeknownst to us, has not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She’s taken a pretty rock ‘n’ roll attitude towards it, though, telling CBS, “I don’t need to be in a hall to rock.”  She knows what she’s worth — and that she’s the only artist to ever have a #1 Billboard hit on at least one chart for six straight decades. Who needs ’em, anyway?

 

8. Illness Temporarily Sent Her Career In A Different Direction

 

When Cher contracted Epstein–Barr virus in the early 1990s, she was too weak to continue with the busy and taxing music and film career she’d started. To pay the bills, she started doing infomercials. The public took hold of this and turned her into the queen of infomercials. Cher had no idea that taking these jobs would essentially strip her of everything else she’d accomplished up to that point, such as performing with David Bowie in the 1970s. Many thought that her career was over. Little did they know how wrong they were.

 

9. She's Worth $305 Million

 

Speaking of Cher’s worth, according to The Richest, Cher’s net worth is $305 million. That’s no small dice!

 

10. She And Meryl Streep Are Basically Superheroes

 

In her interview in Us Weekly, Cher says that she and Meryl once saved a young woman from getting mugged in New York City.

 

I can totally picture that happening in my head, no stretch of the imagination needed, as they both seem like very strong and kind women.

 

Source: Wikipedia – Cher  |  Facts You Didn’t Know About Cher

 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - POP CULTURE

 

Did you know... Popular culture (also called mass culture and pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of the practices, beliefs, and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. Popular culture also encompasses the activities and feelings produced as a result of interaction with these dominant objects. Heavily influenced in modern times by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of people in a given society. Therefore, popular culture has a way of influencing an individual's attitudes towards certain topics.[1] However, there are various ways to define pop culture.[2] Because of this, popular culture is something that can be defined in a variety of conflicting ways by different people across different contexts.[3] It is generally viewed in contrast to other forms of culture such as folk cults, working-class culture, or high culture, and also through different high praised perspectives such as psychoanalysis, structuralism, postmodernism, and more. The most common pop-culture categories are: entertainment (such as film, music, television and video games), sports, news (as in people/places in the news), politics, fashion, technology, and slang. (Wikipedia)

 

Drop the phrase “pop culture” into a conversation, and the people you’re talking with will likely conjure images of Hula Hoops, Pet Rocks, Britney Spears or reality shows. Words like “vapid,” “transient” and “shallow” may flash through their minds.

 

Despite its much-maligned image, popular culture, or “pop” culture as it is more commonly known, is a vital component in the story of humanity. For that reason, pop culture history warrants exploration. Besides, it’s fun to talk about.

 

It doesn’t cure diseases, topple nations or make technological advances—unless one considers things like Les Paul’s development of multitrack music recording a technological advancement, which I, for one, do—but pop culture reveals many facets of human behavior throughout history. It is hard to define the human experience without it.

 

The Genesis of Popular Culture

 

Written scores gave musical creations wider audiences. Library of Congress.
 

Sociologists consider culture as the formation of traditions and trends that link humans in a common group. Therefore, human culture existed even in prehistoric societies; however, those prehistoric societies’ tradition and arts (things that are created, such as cave paintings and decorated pottery) are generally considered as folk art and folkways. Popular culture, by definition, requires that the masses—that’s us, folks—be engaged in practicing and consuming it, thereby making it popular.

Three early, significant popular-culture mileposts are, in chronological order, wedding ceremonies, music performed from written scores, and the establishment of fashion styles.

 

• Wedding ceremonies, predating even Biblical accounts, began traditions based on religious tenets and quickly became ingrained in society.
• During the Renaissance composers began committing notes to paper and thus created the opportunity for music to be shared beyond first-person familiarity. For the first time, a piece of music could be performed by someone who had never heard it.
• Fashion styles that took clothing beyond mere functionality were initially set by royalty and aristocracy, but societal changes like the emergence of the French bourgeois class and simple technological advances in clothing manufacture such as the sewing machine gave style a broader “popular” appeal. Thus, in a couple hundred years we went from tights and lace cuffs for European aristocracy to modern teenagers wearing their pants around their knees.

 

Shakespeare the Superstar

 

William Shakespeare. Library of Congress.
 

The Western world’s first pop culture “superstar” was probably William Shakespeare. His theater plays are timeless classics, but he wrote them for a mass audience, thus fulfilling pop culture’s requirement of art that is meant to be enjoyed by the masses. Shakespeare’s art bridged the gap between popular and fine art in 16th century England—and ever since, as it is among the finest literature ever produced in English. Several of his plays were set elsewhere in Europe, which exposed the common Englishman to wedding and courtship traditions of different classes and cultures, potentially influencing those of England.
 

Popular Culture Becomes Global
Popular culture didn’t require satellite television and the Internet to become global. When the first explorers took to the seas or traveled overland routes to distant places, they were influenced by, and returned with, examples of other cultures’ popular art, artifacts and customs, such as drinking coffee. If that hadn’t caught on, Starbucks would be stuck trying to sell cups of hot, frothy milk for three bucks a pop.

 

The masses were usually not the first to experience exotic forms of popular culture, but they were exposed to them over time. The mixture of popular elements of different cultures was also one of the factors that began to blur the lines between popular and fine arts. While Kabuki Theater was accessible to all classes of Japanese people, Europe’s aristocrats initially regarded it as high art.

 

Kabuki Theater

 

The Age of Industrialization: Relax, Enjoy
In the case of popular arts especially (theater, dance, music and more recently movies and television), the masses must have sufficient time and resources to enjoy these arts. Technology is the catalyst that made this possible.

 

Even though many 19th-century industrial laborers worked long hours, they did not generally work the dawn-to-dusk, seven-day-a-week schedules of agrarian toilers—cows need milking even on the Sabbath—and industrial laborers had more money in their pockets. This enabled them to enjoy entertainment venues and engage in hobbies, crafts and recreation outside their work lives. Life became more than survival, family and religion. The concentration of people in urban areas, attracted by jobs in the factories, also gave rise to more and different kinds of popular art forms by concentrating potential audiences.

 

Technology and Pop Culture

 

The sewing machine provided new fashions for everyone. Currier and Ives, Library of Congress.

Technology also created new kinds of arts and items and made them available to everyone, not just the wealthy elite. Obvious examples that changed society significantly enough to alter the course of history are radio, television, motion pictures, amplified music, computers and the Internet. Technology recently erected another significant milepost in the pop culture timeline—the development of tech-based social networking. Other technological advances resulted in such diverse things as silk-screen printing (Express your opinion on your T-shirt!), bowling alleys’ automatic pinsetters, and Wii.
 

Pop Culture History Portal

Historynet.com offers this Pop Culture mini-page with linked articles to advance the knowledge of the role pop culture history has played in changing human history and how it continues to do so, in order to better understand its effects on the history of human endeavor.

 

An important aspect in the study of pop culture is opinion. What makes some elements of pop culture forgettable while others become timeless? What do you regard as some of the most important—or maybe just memorable—contributions of pop culture in history? 

Source: Wikipedia - Popular Culture  |  Pop Culture History - Jay Wertz

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SWING MUSIC

 

Did you know.. that swing music is a form of jazz that developed in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. The name came from the emphasis on the off–beat, or weaker pulse. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Harry James, Louis Jordan, Glenn Miller, Louis Prima, and Artie Shaw. (Wikipedia)

 

Ellington sits with Billie Holiday and pianist and music critic Leonard Feather

in this 1945 photo. Holiday starred in a short film with Ellington in 1935 and

toured Europe with Feather in 1954.

 

Swing, in music, both the rhythmic impetus of jazz music and a specific jazz idiom prominent between about 1935 and the mid-1940s—years sometimes called the swing era. Swing music has a compelling momentum that results from musicians’ attacks and accenting in relation to fixed beats. Swing rhythms defy any narrower definition, and the music has never been notated exactly.

 

Swing is sometimes considered a partial dilution of the jazz tradition because it organized musicians into larger groups (commonly 12 to 16 players) and required them to play a far higher proportion of written music than had been thought compatible with the fundamentally improvisatory character of jazz. Nevertheless, it was the first jazz idiom that proved commercially successful. The swing era also brought respectability to jazz, moving into the ballrooms of America a music that until that time had been associated with the brothels of New Orleans and the Prohibition-era gin mills of Chicago.

 

Benny Goodman Band - 1937

 

The big swing bands organized their players into sections of brass, reeds, and rhythm and hired skilled orchestrators to write music for them. This structure encouraged a relatively simple compositional technique: sections were played off against each other, sometimes in counterpoint, sometimes in musical dialogue. A popular device was the riff, a simple musical phrase reiterated by a band or by a section in counterpoint with other sections’ riffing until, by sheer power of repetition, it became almost hypnotic. The bands led by the black pianist Fletcher Henderson in the 1920s were especially important in disseminating these musical ideas, which were picked up by white orchestras riding the later tide of swing’s popularity. Henderson and his brother Horace remained among the most influential swing arrangers of the following decade. Equally as important was Duke Ellington, whose music was infused with a unique range of harmonies and sound colours.

 

As the wind basses and banjos characteristic of earlier jazz were replaced in the swing band of the 1930s by stringed basses and guitars, the effect of the rhythm section became lighter, and musicians accustomed to playing in 
2/2 metre adapted to 4/4 metre. The flowing, evenly accented metres of Count Basie’s band proved especially influential in this regard.

 

Count Basie with his band and singer

Ethel Waters in the film Stage Door Canteen,

1943

 

The swing era was in many ways an exercise in public relations. To succeed on a national scale, a band—especially its leader—had to be commercially exploitable; in this period of U.S. history, this meant that its leader and members had to be white. Although several black orchestras—e.g., those of Basie, Ellington, Chick Webb, and Jimmie Lunceford—became famous during the period, the swing age was in the main a white preserve whose outstanding bandleaders included Benny Goodman, Harry James, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. Although Goodman was billed as the “King of Swing,” the best band was that of Ellington, and Basie’s was perhaps next.

 

Concurrent with the big-band craze came a flowering of the solo art among both small-group musicians, such as pianists Fats Waller and Art Tatum and guitarist Django Reinhardt, and big-band players with after-hours careers. The great virtuosos of the second category included saxophonists Lester Young, Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster; trumpeters Roy Eldridge, Buck Clayton, Henry (“Red”) Allen, and Cootie Williams; pianists Teddy Wilson and Earl Hines; guitarist Charlie Christian; bassists Walter Page and Jimmy Blanton; trombonists Jack Teagarden and Dicky Wells; and singer Billie Holiday.

 

Billie Holiday

 

The swing era was the last great flowering of jazz before its period of harmonic experimentation. At its best, swing achieved an art of improvisation in which current harmonic conventions counterbalanced the stylistic individuality of its great creators. The swing era also coincided with the greatest popularity of dance bands in general. But when singers who began as swing stylists, such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughan, became more popular than the swing bands they sang with, the swing era came to an end. The harmonic experimentation of the late swing era, evident in, for example, the Woody Herman and Charlie Barnet bands of the early 1940s, presaged the next development in jazz: bop, or bebop.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Swing Music  |  Britannica - Swing Music

Edited September 20, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - TOMMYKNOCKERS

Tommyknocker

 

Did you know... that the Tommyknockers were first heard of in the United States when Cornish miners worked in the western Pennsylvania coal mines in the 1820s. When the California Gold Rush began, these experienced Cornish miners were welcomed and often sought after by the mine owners. (Wikipedia)

 

The TommyKnocker legend, so folklore tells us, is a little imp like creature that inhabits old mining shafts. The further back you dig the more chance you have of waking up a Tommyknocker.  They earned their names from the miners. Too often to be coincidence, the miners would hear a knocking coming from deep within the mines. Always in a pattern. Then the entire thing would cave in..

 

California Gold Rush

 

The Cornish believed these wee little men were the souls of the Crusaders who crucified Jesus Christ. They also believed they were sent by the Romans to work in the tin mines  The Tommyknocker was never heard on a Saturday or during any time of Jewish festivities. Ranging in size from 2ft tall to just inches from the ground, and most often seen as tiny little men wearing miners clothing. Kind of like grizzly little Gnomes.

 

THE NATURE OF A TOMMYKNOCKER, GOOD OR EVIL?
There is a lot of theory around these little guys, some say they are the spirits of dead miners. Some miners believed their former workmates were tapping and knocking on the walls of the mines as a warning of danger, telling them to get out. 

You do not ignore a Tommyknocker, not if you want to live. However, nowhere else in the paranormal world have we heard of the ordinary ghost turning into anything but a human spirit after death. So it makes more sense that these things were never human, to begin with.

 

An Ancient Depiction of Tommyknockers, Tommyknocker

 

They are said to, first, manifest as little glowing lights and then a strange mist will take the form of a fallen miner and then, but very rarely, show their true form. 

 

Miners for generations have been leaving out food for the Tommyknockers in order to gain their favor. However, there are those who have mocked them as well. A written story from miners in the hills of Smokeshire almost 200 years ago, tells us of a group of seven miners were at work when they heard a faint sequenced tapping from deep back in the mine.  Three of seven laughed and joked, claiming the Tommyknockers did not exist and began provoking them. ”C'mon then Tommyknockers show us what you can do.” The remaining 4 miners fled. They actually saw the impish like creatures running ahead of them whilst the mine collapsed. The three who mocked the Tommyknockers died. 

 

Another theory is that the little monsters lure people deep into the shafts, you can sometimes hear them calling you by name. Also, a terrifying theory will tell us that the knocking sounds are the Tommyknockers chipping away at the support beams.

 

Whatever these incredible little creatures may be, they are elusive. If you wish to find them yourself go look where they have been seen, grab a torch and head into the mine. But, if you hear a knocking, by now, you should know what to do. RUN.

 

 

Mining is one the oldest professions out there as well as being one of the most dangerous.  No doubt that countless miners have been buried alive in the mines. Such an ancient practice will always have its superstitions, such as our dear little friend the Tommyknocker.  The Tommyknocker has been held responsible for both the deaths and near death experiences of the miners. These Impish little creatures have been seen in the deepest parts of mines all over the world for centuries.  Tommyknocker is a term that sends terror into the heart of ancient miners. Today Tommyknocker is an untold truth, that we as the most curious of our generation, we hunt for. 

 

Are They Good Or Evil?

Many miners believe that tommyknockers have good intentions. They are convinced that their former mining co-workers tap and knock on the walls to warn them of impending danger (such as cave-ins) and to get out of the location immediately. They are also thought to bring miners wealth and favors.  They are also known to be rather mischievous and can play pranks on miners, such as eating their lunches, to hiding their tools, pinching them, and knocking their hard hats off. A more disturbing theory is that they are in fact monsters who call out people’s names in order to lure them deep into the shafts. Others believe that the knocks people hear aren’t that of the tommyknockers warning the miners, but of the little monsters chipping away at the support beams in an evil manner of causing a cave-in.

 

Stephen King’s “The Tommyknockers”

 

 

 

When a lot of people think of the word “tommyknocker,” they automatically think of Stephen King’s book, although it’s completely different from the actual tommyknocker legend that haunts many mines around the world.  In 1987, Stephen King wrote a science fiction novel titled “The Tommyknockers.” However, his book was about aliens instead of the little gnome-like creatures that we are accustomed to hearing about. Then in 1993, there was a television mini-series based on King’s novel.  After last year’s huge success of the movie It, which was based on one of his books, King’s novel is now also being made into a movie.

 

The Cornish Folklore

 

Cornish miners from Cornwall, England were considered to be the leading people in mining technology and were thought of as the greatest hard rock miners in the world, therefore they were brought to America in the 1800s to help with the mining industry. They were, however, known to be very superstitious when it came to their mining jobs. Their biggest superstition was that of the tommyknockers. The Cornish described these creatures as little people who were two feet tall, had big heads, long arms, wrinkled faces, and white whiskers. They believed that these little men snuck into the Cornish miners’ luggage before heading to America. There were very particular on listening to the knocks as they believed that two knocks meant “dig here” or “that’s it,” where three knocks meant “don’t dig here” or “it ain’t here.”

 

Superstitions

 

It’s no secret that miners are superstitious, especially working in such dangerous conditions. Some superstitions include that it is very unlucky to whistle inside of mines because it is offensive to the tommyknockers. Miners also usually carry extra food with them in their lunch pails as a friendly offering to the tommyknockers. And after their shifts, when the miners would go to the bar and tell stories about the little creatures, they would make extra room for the tommyknockers to sit at the bar with them. Miners also believed that it was bad luck for a woman to go into a mine, especially if she had red hair. Also, if a miner’s clothes slipped off the hook in the changing room, it meant that he was going to fall into a hole. Another superstition is that if a miner’s lamp didn’t burn bright enough underground, it means that his wife was out with another man.

 

Cripple Creek Tommyknockers

 

Legend has it that tommyknockers haunted the Mamie R. Mine which was located near Cripple Creek, Colorado. While tommyknockers are believed to be both good and evil, the fear alone caused countless miners to leave that mine and never go back. Other miners who were much less superstitious worked at the Mamie R. Mine hoping to get rich. However, tragedy did strike that mine. A man by the name of Hank Bull was convinced that he heard the voice of a boy who was lost in a tunnel, but when he went down to search for the child, the ceiling collapsed, killing him. Another death happened when a bucket fell and crushed a miner’s skull. After those deaths, other miners reported seeing the ghosts of these two men in the mine. There were also reports of hearing whispers and seeing odd shapes moving around. The miners, who believed it was the tommyknockers who were causing all of the tragic deaths, decided they finally had enough and left the mine for good. In January 1895, the mine closed.

 

Tommyknockers In Oregon’s Crescent Mine

 

 

The Crescent Mine in Sumpter, Oregon is a well-known hot spot for tommyknockers and there was even a show called Ghost Mine that ran for two seasons starting in 2013, documenting the strange experiences at that location. In addition to several experienced miners, two paranormal investigators also joined the team in search of what was haunting the mine. The location was once a booming mining town until a fire tragically destroyed the mine in 1917. With a number of unexplained tragedies that happened in the mine, it received a bad reputation for being haunted and was closed down. It was again reopened at the time when Ghost Mine was filmed but was eventually put up for sale by the owners. It is said that there is still around $10 million worth of gold inside of the Crescent Mine, so maybe it’s worth dealing with the tommyknockers and ghosts.

 

The Hills Of Smokeshire

 

While most people want to stay on the good side of tommyknockers, there is one story where a group of miners mocked the little creatures and the end result was devastating. Around 200 years ago, there were seven miners who were working in the hills of Smokeshire at a gold mine when they heard tapping sounds from deep within the mine. Instead of listening to the warning and getting out there immediately, three of the seven miners started laughing and joking, saying that tommyknockers didn’t exist. They also provoked them by saying “C’mon then tommyknockers show us what you can do.” Four of the miners left the area immediately, but the three who mocked the tommyknockers died in the cave-in. The four who escaped also said that they actually saw the tommyknockers as they were running out of the mine.  Although there is still said to be gold in the mine, nobody would go back in there to work and it was sealed up.

 

The Phoenix Gold Mine

The Phoenix Gold Mine is located in Idaho Springs, Colorado. The mine was originally discovered in 1871 and it has a tragic past. Two men were murdered close to the mine and there were remains found of two people who were buried inside. One of the two deceased people who were found was said to have been a witch who was into black magic. The owner of the mine said that a visitor told him that they had a conversation with a person who then just vanished. In fact, many people who have visited the location have reported seeing two ghostly apparitions of men. Another claim is that people hear their names being whispered and many have seen the ghost of an old miner. And yes, there have been several reports of tommyknockers believed to be in the mine, as well as people hearing knocks. The Ghost Adventures crew did an investigation there and they caught some interesting evidence.

 

Are They Or Aren’t They Real?

 

 

The tommyknocker legend has been around for centuries and many miners believe in them. Is it simply coincidental that just before a cave-in, they hear knocking sounds? Perhaps, but it also could be a warning from the tommyknockers to get out. And it’s a little unnerving to think that when three miners made fun of the tommyknockers, they were trapped and killed by a cave-in while their co-workers took the knocking sounds as warnings and escaped unharmed. And we can’t discredit all of the eye-witness reports of miners seeing tiny men in old mining outfits.  Whether tommyknockers are just a legend or based on actual fact, one thing is for certain and that’s whenever miners hear knocking sounds coming from inside of the mine, it’s time to run out as fast as they can.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Knocker (Folklore)  |  The Tommyknocker Legend  |  Facts About the Tommyknocker Legend

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NOBLE GASES

Kripton (Kr)

 

Did you know... that the noble gases (historically also the inert gases; sometimes referred to as aerogens) make up a class of chemical elements with similar properties; under standard conditions, they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low chemical reactivity. The six naturally occurring noble gases are helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), and the radioactive radon (Rn). Oganesson (Og) is variously predicted to be a noble gas as well or to break the trend due to relativistic effects; its chemistry has not yet been investigated.  (Wikipedia)

 

In 1785 Henry Cavendish, an English chemist and physicist, found that air contains a small proportion (slightly less than 1 percent) of a substance that is chemically less active than nitrogen. A century later Lord Rayleigh, an English physicist, isolated from the air a gas that he thought was pure nitrogen, but he found that it was denser than nitrogen that had been prepared by liberating it from its compounds. He reasoned that his aerial nitrogen must contain a small amount of a denser gas. In 1894, Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, collaborated with Rayleigh in isolating this gas, which proved to be a new element—argon.

 

Apparatus used in the

isolation of argon by

English physicist Lord

Rayleigh and chemist Sir

William Ramsay, 1894

 

After the discovery of argon, and at the instigation of other scientists, in 1895 Ramsay investigated the gas released upon heating the mineral clevite, which was thought to be a source of argon. Instead, the gas was helium, which in 1868 had been detected spectroscopically in the Sun but had not been found on Earth. Ramsay and his coworkers searched for related gases and by fractional distillation of liquid air discovered krypton, neon, and xenon, all in 1898. Radon was first identified in 1900 by German chemist Friedrich E. Dorn; it was established as a member of the noble-gas group in 1904. Rayleigh and Ramsay won Nobel Prizes in 1904 for their work.

 

In 1895 the French chemist Henri Moissan, who discovered elemental fluorine in 1886 and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1906 for that discovery, failed in an attempt to bring about a reaction between fluorine and argon. This result was significant because fluorine is the most reactive element in the periodic table. In fact, all late 19th- and early 20th-century efforts to prepare chemical compounds of argon failed. The lack of chemical reactivity implied by these failures was of significance in the development of theories of atomic structure. In 1913 the Danish physicist Niels Bohr proposed that the electrons in atoms are arranged in successive shells having characteristic energies and capacities and that the capacities of the shells for electrons determine the numbers of elements in the rows of the periodic table. On the basis of experimental evidence relating chemical properties to electron distributions, it was suggested that in the atoms of the noble gases heavier than helium, the electrons are arranged in these shells in such a way that the outermost shell always contains eight electrons, no matter how many others (in the case of radon, 78 others) are arranged within the inner shells.

 

In a theory of chemical bonding advanced by American chemist Gilbert N. Lewis and German chemist Walther Kossel in 1916, this octet of electrons was taken to be the most stable arrangement for the outermost shell of any atom. Although only the noble-gas atoms possessed this arrangement, it was the condition toward which the atoms of all other elements tended in their chemical bonding. Certain elements satisfied this tendency by either gaining or losing electrons outright, thereby becoming ions; other elements shared electrons, forming stable combinations linked together by covalent bonds. The proportions in which atoms of elements combined to form ionic or covalent compounds (their “valences”) were thus controlled by the behaviour of their outermost electrons, which—for this reason—were called valence electrons. This theory explained the chemical bonding of the reactive elements, as well as the noble gases’ relative inactivity, which came to be regarded as their chief chemical characteristic.

 

Shell atomic modelIn the shell atomic model, electrons occupy different energy levels, or shells.

The K and L shells are shown for a neon atom.

 

Screened from the nucleus by intervening electrons, the outer (valence) electrons of the atoms of the heavier noble gases are held less firmly and can be removed (ionized) more easily from the atoms than can the electrons of the lighter noble gases. The energy required for the removal of one electron is called the first ionization energy. In 1962, while working at the University of British Columbia, British chemist Neil Bartlett discovered that platinum hexafluoride would remove an electron from (oxidize) molecular oxygen to form the salt [O2+][PtF6−]. The first ionization energy of xenon is very close to that of oxygen; thus Bartlett thought that a salt of xenon might be formed similarly. In the same year, Bartlett established that it is indeed possible to remove electrons from xenon by chemical means. He showed that the interaction of PtF6 vapour in the presence of xenon gas at room temperature produced a yellow-orange solid compound then formulated as [Xe+][PtF6−]. (This compound is now known to be a mixture of [XeF+][PtF6−], [XeF+] [Pt2F11−], and PtF5.) Shortly after the initial report of this discovery, two other teams of chemists independently prepared and subsequently reported fluorides of xenon—namely, XeF2 and XeF4. These achievements were soon followed by the preparation of other xenon compounds and of the fluorides of radon (1962) and krypton (1963).

 

In 2006, scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, announced that oganesson, the next noble gas, had been made in 2002 and 2005 in a cyclotron. (Most elements with atomic numbers greater than 92—i.e., the transuranium elements—have to be made in particle accelerators.) No physical or chemical properties of oganesson can be directly determined since only a few atoms of oganesson have been produced.

 

General Properties Of The Group
Each noble-gas element is situated in the periodic table between an element of the most electronegative group, the halogen elements (Group 17, the atoms of which add electrons to achieve the octet and thereby become negative ions), and an element of the most electropositive group, the alkali metals (Group 1, the atoms of which lose electrons to become positive ions).

 

Several important uses of the noble gases depend on their reluctance to react chemically. Their indifference toward oxygen, for example, confers utter non-flammability upon the noble gases. Although helium is not quite as buoyant as hydrogen, its incombustibility makes it a safer lifting gas for lighter-than-air craft. The noble gases—most often helium and argon, the least expensive—are used to provide chemically unreactive environments for such operations as cutting, welding, and refining of metals such as aluminium (atmospheric oxygen and, in some cases, nitrogen or carbon dioxide would react with the hot metal).

 

The helium-filled balloon Bubble, manned

by a scientist researching the rainforest canopy,

in the Danum Valley, Sabah, Malay., 2005.

 

The noble gases absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation in a much less complex way than do other substances. This behaviour is used in discharge lamps and fluorescent lighting devices: if any noble gas is confined at low pressure in a glass tube and an electrical discharge is passed through it, the gas will glow. Neon produces the familiar orange-red colour of advertising signs; xenon emits a beautiful blue colour.

 

Noble gases have uses that are derived from their other chemical properties. The very low boiling points and melting points of the noble gases make them useful in the study of matter at extremely low temperatures. The low solubility of helium in fluids leads to its admixture with oxygen for breathing by deep-sea divers: because helium does not dissolve in the blood, it does not form bubbles upon decompression (as nitrogen does, leading to the condition known as decompression sickness, or the bends). Xenon has been used as an anesthetic; although it is costly, it is nonflammable and readily eliminated from the body. Radon is highly radioactive; its only uses have been those that exploit this property (e.g., radiation therapy). (Oganesson is also radioactive, but, since only a few atoms of this element have thus far been observed, its physical and chemical properties cannot be documented.)

 

Only krypton, xenon, and radon are known to form stable compounds. The compounds of these noble gases are powerful oxidizing agents (substances that tend to remove electrons from others) and have potential value as reagents in the synthesis of other chemical compounds.

Source: Wikipedia - Noble Gas  |  Britannica - Noble Gas by Gary J. Schrobilgen

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ARBORICULTURE

An arborist practicing tree care: using a chainsaw

to fell a eucalyptus tree in a park at Kallista, Victoria.

 

Did you know.... that arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal. (Wikipedia)

 

The basic principles and objectives of arboriculture are of ancient origin. Early Egyptians transplanted trees with a ball of earth and originated the practice of shaping the soil around a newly planted tree to form a saucer to retain water, both still practiced. About 300 BC the Greek philosopher Theophrastus wrote Peri phytōn historia (“Inquiry into Plants”), in which he discussed transplanting of trees and the treatment of tree wounds. Virgil’s Georgics portrays Roman knowledge of tree culture. The English horticulturist John Evelyn, in his Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-trees, and the Propagation of Timber (1664), offered advice on pruning, insect control, wound treatment, and transplanting.

 

 

Trees or plants may be propagated by seeding, grafting, layering, or cutting. In seeding, seeds are usually planted in either a commercial or home nursery in which intensive care can be given for several years until the plants are of a size suitable for transplanting on the desired site. In soil layering, the shoots, or lower branches of the parent plant, are bent to the ground and covered with moist soil of good quality. When roots have developed, which may require a year or more, the branch is severed from the parent and transplanted. In an alternative technique, air layering, the branch is deeply slit and the wound covered by a ball of earth, moss, or similar material. The ball, enclosed in a divided pot supported from underneath, or in a sturdy paper cone, is kept moist. As in soil layering, the branch is severed and transplanted after roots have developed. Root cuttings can be used for propagating trees that do not normally produce roots from stems. Tree species such as willow and poplar that sucker, or send up shoots readily, are usually propagated from stem cuttings. Cuttings are made from deciduous plants during dormancy, preferably from the terminal growing shoots of the current season. Pieces 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimetres) long with two or more buds are tied in bundles and stored in damp sand or moss for callus formation before planting in prepared beds. Root formation may be stimulated by application of growth-promoting chemicals or growth hormones.

 

In treating tree-trunk wounds in which large areas of bark are torn away, the bark around the wound is trimmed back to sound tissue and, at the top and bottom of the injury, trimmed to form a pointed ellipse of the wound area. The exposed wood is covered with wound dressing material, protecting it from wood decay fungi.

 

Repairing Damaged Tree Bark

 

Flexible cables (guys) or rigid braces are used to support recently transplanted trees until the roots become established, or to lessen the danger that a tree with a weakened root system will be blown over by the wind; bracing is also used to support unduly long or heavy branches, to prevent splits developing at branch forks, or to permit healing of splits already developed.

 

 

Cavities in trunks, caused by decay-inducing fungi, may be treated with antiseptic dressing and left open, with drains installed at the bottom, or filled with concrete or other material after removal of the decayed wood. See also graft; pruning; transplant.

 

Fun Facts About Arboriculture

The general aim of arboriculture is to cultivate trees for amenity reasons. Arborists recognize these trees as a source of beauty to homes and gardens. The difference between arboriculture and forestry is that arboriculture is concerned with cultivating trees and shrubs to enhance the pleasantness and desirability of a garden. On the other hand, forestry, also known as silviculture, is an art of establishing and managing trees mainly for the production of timber. 

 

Forest Ecosystem

It is also essential to recognize that both arboriculture and forestry share certain similarities. Both disciplines require specific sets of scientific skills to establish. In addition to this, the two are equally important and there is a need for advocating the importance of planting trees and taking care of the already existing ones. That is why there is a need for professional arborists, especially in urban areas where trees can pose some dangers to people or vehicles passing by. The people behind Maple Leaf recognize these threats and have made the jobs of arborists not only easier, but safer as well by providing them with quality gear that allows them to work more efficiently in an urban community. They believe that there is absolutely no need to cut down a tree way ahead of its time, and that maintenance will be more beneficial not only to the tree but to the community as well. 

 

Below are some fun facts about arboriculture:

1. There Are More Tree Species Than There Are Tribes Of The World

Surprisingly, it was until 2007 when a world census for trees took place. Yes, trees get counted too! This is to ascertain the tree species that are either near extinction or are already extinct. The research conducted back then revealed that there were more than 600,000 tree species on the face of the earth. The data was compiled both from the field, botanical centers, agricultural centers, and museums. Some tree species have played a crucial role in human development both economically and culturally. Economically in the sense that certain tree species will specifically be used for the production of high-quality timber, ropes, paper, and rubber. You'll bear witness that man can not do without paper and rubber. The databases of ancient trees such as the Old list dates certain species of trees at White Mountains of California as over 4,800 years old! 

2. Can Trees Really Communicate With Each Other?

The ability to signal each other when there is an attack coming either from insects or from the changes in the environment has for the longest time baffled scientists globally. Trees will use the networks they share when drawing nutrients from the ground to send distress signals about eminent insect attacks, diseases, and drought. When various trees receive these signals, they'll change their behaviors including folding their leaves or shedding them. Arborists and other scientists have established that trees can defend themselves against insect attacks by folding their leaves or by shedding them.

 

3. Certain Species Of Trees Have Gender 

Like human beings and other living organisms, there is a need for reproduction. Some trees, such as pine reproduce sexually. The male pine cone secretes pollen grains and sheds on the female pine cones for pollination. The female pine cones then make seeds which will then, on the ground, germinate and grow into adorable pine “babies”!

 

A mature female Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri) cone,

the heaviest pine cone.

4. Planting Of Trees and Shrubs Drastically Reduces The Cost Of Energy 

When you start smart landscaping, you save energy costs. Having trees and shrubs on your property can save you up to 25% of your energy bills. When trees are strategically positioned, they'll provide your home with natural air conditioning thus slashing those air conditioning bills by nearly half and in addition to this, they'll block the winter draft so you don't have to keep your heaters running. In a way, trees care about your economic well being and it's time you gave back by protecting them! 

5. Trees And Shrubs Offer Excellent Protection And Add Value To A Property

They’ll provide vegetative cover to your property, protecting it from soil erosion, and provide food to insects that would otherwise become a menace in your household. The proper selection, cultivation, and maintenance of trees and shrubs can help to increase the value of your property. They provide shade to your land by preventing excessive heating by the sun’s radiation. 

 

6. Trees Can Be Used as a Compass

In the northern hemisphere, the moss plant grows in the temperate climates on the north side of tree trunks. This is the side associated with more shade. You can follow the direction using the shadows to find your way. This is an old wisdom that has been passed from one generation to the other. If your compass is stuck, don't worry, stay calm, and follow the moss!

Aren't these facts amazing! You probably didn't know that trees actually cared about your well being, right? For centuries, trees have existed peacefully with mankind but unfortunately, man is almost driving some tree species into extinction. This means that there is a great need to plant more trees and take care of the already existing ones. This will help restore a harmonious balance.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Arboriculture  |  Britannica - Arboriculture  |  Fun Facts about Arboriculture

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - JACK-IN-THE-BOX

Victorian Wooden Jack-In-The-Box

 

Did you know.... that a jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a box with a crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of times (such as at the end of the melody), there is a "surprise": the lid pops open and a figure, usually a clown or jester, pops out of the box. Some jacks-in-the-box open at random times when cranked, making the startle even more effective. Many of those that use "Pop Goes the Weasel" open at the point in the melody when the word "pop" would be sung. In 2005, the jack-in-the-box was inducted into the American National Toy Hall of Fame, where are displayed all types of versions of the toy, starting from the beginning versions, and ending with the most recently manufactured versions. (Wikipedia)

 

The Jack-in-the-Box has been one of the most enduring toys throughout the centuries.

 

There are many stories and theories circulating about the origin of this classic toy. One is that it was popularized in the 15th and 16th centuries, based on the very popular “Punch” puppet featured in the “Punch and Judy” shows seen in public squares throughout England beginning in the Middle Ages. Early Jack-in-the Box toys resembled the jester Punch, with his white painted face.

 

 

Another theory is that the name “Jack” was a reference to the devil, referred to as a “jack”. There is a legend in England about a medieval ecclesiastic who claimed to have captured the devil by trapping him a boot. This story may have contributed to the toy’s invention as well, as illustrations were made of him holding a boot with the devil’s head popping out of it. Of course, wind-up toys had been evolving since early Grecian days and there was a revival of this earlier technology with clockmakers beginning in the 13th century.

 

The first documentation of a Jack-in-the-Box toy was of one made in Germany in the early 16th century by a clockmaker as a gift for the son of a local prince. The wooden box had a handle on the side that when cranked, would play music until a “jack”, or devil on a spring was suddenly released. Word spread among the nobles, creating demand for the toy.

 

Technology improved, and by the 1700s, the Jack-in-the-Box had become easier to produce, thus becoming a common toy for people of all ages. The Cockney tune known as “Pop Goes the Weasel” became a frequently used melody in the toy. The Jack-in-the-Box itself became a frequently used image in political cartoons, featuring the face of the latest politician to be lambasted.

 

Out again,Political cartoon,Theodore Roosevelt

as jack-in-the-box, fists raised.

 

In the 1930s, the Jack-in-the-Box began to be made out of tin, rather than wood. The exterior of the boxes were stamped with images from nursery rhymes and the “jack” was changed to one of the characters featured in the rhymes. The music was sometimes the tune traditionally sung along to the rhyme.

 

 

In 1951 restaurateur Robert O. Peterson opened the first Jack in the Box hamburger stand. The top of the building featured a clown head sprouting from a SpeakerBox. In 1980 the company rebranded and the clown’s head became a simple sphere, often sitting atop a human body.

 

 

The Jack-in-the-Box character continues to be made today and it makes for a great toy for young children, due to the surprise factor associated with it. Of course, many people who are merely young at heart enjoy them, too.

 

 

Charlie-in-the-Box from

Island of Misfit Toys,

TV's Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Reindeer 1964

          

                

Snoopy Jack-in-the-Box Snoopy Peanuts

Characters on tin box 1966 Mattel.

 

 

Source: Wikipedia - Jack-in-the-Box  |  Classic Toys: Jack-in-the-Box 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CAVING OR SPELUNKING

Spelunking in the Cango Caves.

 

Did you know... that caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems. In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment. (Wikipedia)

 

There's just something about a cave. It represents nature's final frontier -- a subterranean universe of mazelike passages, tight crawl spaces, vast chambers, deep crevices, cascading waterfalls, bizarre creatures and extraordinary natural sculptures just waiting to be discovered.

 

Spelunking is the recreational sport of exploring caves, but no one really calls it spelunking anymore. The acceptable term -- and the one we'll use here -- is caving.

 

Caves, like this one in Cueva de Villa Luz, Mexico,

offer some amazing views for those willing to take

a chance and go inside. 

 

Caving, like scuba diving or rock climbing, is as adventurous as you want it to be. There are family-friendly caves you can stroll through on a paved path. And there are others that require hundreds of feet of face-in-the-dirt crawling and rappelling down bottomless shafts.

 

There are thousands of caves in the United States, and more than 100 are open to the public for guided tours and expeditions [source: National Caves Association]. More than 200 U.S. caving clubs offer organized excursions to remote caves, teach advanced caving skills and participate in cave conservation.

 

Humans have been drawn to caves since ancient times. Modern archeologists have found evidence that ancient people viewed caves as sacred locations in which to carry out important religious rites. In prehistoric times, caves were attractive dwellings that offered stable interior temperatures and protection from harsh weather and other humans. In more recent history, caves have served as hiding places for stashed treasure, ideal environments for aging cheese and wine, and excellent natural labs for scientific discovery.

 

All About Caves

Caves like this one in coastal Australia are formed

over long periods as water eats away at the limestone

underground.

 

A cave is any kind of natural, hollow, underground passage or enclosure with an opening to the surface. Caves are most commonly found in what's called a karst landscape, characterized by sinkholes, substantial underground aquifers and active subterranean drainage. Around 20 percent of the United States qualifies as karst [source: National Caves Association].

 

Caves are formed by four basic processes:

• The majority of caves are limestone caves. These form when rainwater seeps down through the soil, picking up extra carbon dioxide. The result is a weak acid called carbonic acid. The water collects in underground aquifers where it slowly eats away the limestone. Some limestone caves are also formed by large amounts of running rainwater which carves away at the rock in a process called corrasion, or erosion by abrasion [source: Nova].

Limestone Caves, Baratang Island

 

• Only very recently have researchers discovered that microscopic bacteria have helped form some of the most impressive caves in the world. Bacteria called extremeophiles (creatures that thrive in "extreme" or highly toxic conditions) feed off of deep underground oil deposits. After eating a big meal, they expel hydrogen sulfide gas that bubbles up through the groundwater, picking up extra oxygen to become sulfuric acid, a powerful corrosive agent. Other bacteria live in the caves themselves, feeding off hydrogen sulfide to make even more sulfuric acid.

Extremophile microbes survive

only on energy from formate

oxidation

• Pounding waves eat away at weak points in seaside cliffs forming caves with large overhanging ceilings. Most sea caves are carved from sandstone or limestone.
• Lava tubes are created when the sides of an active lava flow cool first, forming a crust that slowly merges to cover up the still-liquid center. When all the liquid lava flows out, only the hardened tube is left. If part of the tube ceiling collapses, you have an opening to a lava cave. [source: Nova]

Stalactites (the ones that hang down) and stalagmites (the ones that point up) are the best-known examples of speleotherms, also called cave formations. There's an astounding variety of speleotherms, some with oddly descriptive names like fried eggs and bacon. When carbonic acid eats away at limestone, it creates the mineral calcite, which is then carried by rainwater into the cave. When this rainwater drips onto the floor of a cave, it very slowly deposits bits of calcite until a stalagmite is formed. Other speleotherms are formed by calcite being precipitated in brilliant patterns and crystalline formations on cave walls, ceilings and floors.

 

Speleothems

 

There are three different classifications of animals that live in caves:

• Trogloxenes are temporary visitors that live in and around the entrances to caves. Bats are the most famous trogloxenes, but the list also includes bears, bobcats, raccoons, cave swallows and pack rats.
• Troglophiles spend most of their lives in caves, but occasionally wander out for food. Examples would be salamanders, crickets, flatworms and different species of spiders and daddy longlegs.
• Troglobites live their entire lives in the pitch-black depths of dry and sea caves. All are blind and some don't even have eyes. Examples are the Ozark blind salamander, the Tooth Cave spider and Tooth Cave beetle, cave fish and blind shrimp [source: U.S. Geological Survey]

Cave conditions vary dramatically depending on how the cave was formed and where it's located. Some caves are wet and muddy; others are dry and dusty. The temperature of a cave is very stable. It's always the average annual temperature of the surface above the cave [source: National Speleological Society].

 

Click below to learn more about Caving and the equipment needed.

 

Source: Wikipedia - Caving  |  How Spelunking Works

 

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - TETHER CAR

A tether car with 1.5 cc engine.

 

Did you know... that Tether Cars are model racing cars powered by miniature internal combustion engines and tethered to a central post. Unlike radio control cars, the driver has no remote control over the model's speed or steering. (Wikipedia)

 

Tether cars were developed beginning in the 1920s–1930s and still are built, raced and collected today. First made by hobby craftsmen, tether cars were later produced in small numbers by commercial manufacturers such as Dooling Brothers (California), Dick McCoy (Duro-Matic Products), Garold Frymire (Fryco Engineering) BB Korn, and many others. Original examples of the early cars, made from 1930s to the 1960s, are avidly collected today and command prices in the thousands of dollars.

 

Dooling brothers Mercury Midget rear drive, 1939-41

 

Building model cars has been a longtime hobby of car enthusiasts both young and old, but most model cars, whether built for display or to be raced, don't quite stack up to the sheer speed that tether car racing produces. Tether cars are built for maximum speed, which is why some people describe them as bullets on wheels, rather than cars. The world record for the top tether car speed is 214 miles per hour (344.4 kilometers per hour), well above the top speed of most model cars and perhaps more impressively, well above the top speed of most full-size cars [source: AMRCA].

 

Tether car racing is so named because each car races while tethered to a pole. The cars race individually on a circular track while attached to the center pole by a steel wire. Similar to rally car competition, the cars race individually and the winners of the tether car races are determined based on average speed of several laps. Once the cars get up to top speed, they can exert a force of about 91 Gs. That means the car is pulling away from the pole with a force about 91 times heavier than its own weight.

 

Although tether cars reach extremely high speeds, the actual construction of the cars and time spent building them is the true focus of the hobby. Each car, called a racer, has many of the same components of a real car, but on a much smaller scale. The cars easily come apart so they can be worked on. Those who build and race the cars are called drivers and they constantly modify and tweak the cars to outperform others on the track. Each car receives many hours of preparation time and testing before a race.

 

Tether car racing earns a certain unique cachet among other types of model car building, because of its long history and unique style of racing. 

 

 

History of Tether Cars

Two pictures of Ed Baynes --

after the Nationals competition at Anderson,

Ind., in 1956, and after the same event held in

the same place 50 years later.

 

Shortly after Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly his airplane over the Atlantic Ocean, model airplanes and cars quickly became a hobby in the United States. In the late 1930s, hobbyists started adapting their model airplane engines for use in model cars. One such hobbyist, Tom Dooling and his brothers, often referred to collectively as the Dooling Brothers, receive much of the credit for starting the tether car sensation. After building and flying model airplanes, the brothers decided that they could build a car using an airplane engine.

 

It worked, and the Dooling Brothers began building their own tether cars immediately. The first unofficial tether car races were held in an abandoned lot in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1937 [source: Macropoulos]. In 1939, they held their first official miniature car race in Fresno, Calif., and one year after that they had built a car that reached a top speed of about 64 miles per hour (103 kilometers per hour). The brothers began building tether car engines and racers to be sold to the public in the late 1930s and early 1940s. They created a famous car design called the Frog, and also a popular engine called the Dooling 61.

 

The Dooling Frog

 

During this time, tether car racing grew in popularity in the United States. By 1948, there were about 2,500 to 3,000 racers nationwide, with about 440 tracks throughout the country. However, during World War II, the demand for scrap metal contributions almost brought an end to the hobby. After the war, land development across the nation eliminated many of the tracks throughout the country.

 

Mainly because the hobby can be very time consuming, people began to lose interest during the 1980s, and by 2008 there were only 150 members remaining in the American Miniature Racing Car Association, or AMRCA. Although membership in the states is low, the hobby is still popular in many European countries and Australia. The AMRCA holds races in the United States and other countries under the World Organization for Model Car Racing, or WMCR, association. In 2009, an Italian driver, Gaultier Picco, set a new world record of 214 miles per hour (344.4 kilometers per hour) with his racer in Sydney, Australia [source: AMRCA].

 

Achieving that speed takes a significant amount of off-track tinkering and engine modifications. 

 

Vintage tether cars. See pictures of classic toys.
 

Tether Car Specifications

 

On the outside, tether cars look a lot like the vehicles that break land-speed records. The cars are narrow and most of the engine parts are enclosed inside the body of the racer. They're comprised of parts similar to a full-size car, including a combustion engine, exhaust pipe, air intake, flywheel, gearbox, driveshaft and wheels. The racers also have a tailskid, located in the back that stabilizes the vehicles at top speeds. The cars are typically about one to two feet (30.5 to 61 centimeters) long, and weigh anywhere from two to six pounds (0.9 to 2.7 kilograms).

 

 

In the international competitions, there are five different engine sizes that compete. The smallest is the 1.5 cubic centimeter (cc) engine, which has a top speed over 65 miles per hour (104.6 kilometers per hour). The other engine sizes are the 2.5cc, 3.5cc, 5cc and 10cc classes. The 10cc engine class cars are capable of producing speeds over 200 miles per hour (321.9 kilometers per hour). These two-cylinder engines typically run on a fuel mixture of 80 percent methanol and 20 percent castor oil and are capable of producing engine speeds up to 45,000 revolutions per minute.

 

Drivers can spend hours modifying the cars to squeeze just a little more speed -- perhaps a half a mile per hour more -- out of the engines. In fact, making adjustments and changes to the engine are a huge part of the hobby. One of the main components contributing to the car's speed is the tuning pipe. The tuning pipe not only acts as the exhaust pipe, but it also helps to propel the car. The pipe's design sucks out any unspent fuel in the engine, shoots it to the back of the pipe where it becomes vaporized, and then forces part of it back into the engine. The vaporized fuel gives more power to the engine and helps it reach its top speed, but this effect only kicks in after the car reaches 100 miles per hour (160.9 kilometers per hour).

 

With cars regularly achieving speeds well over 100 miles per hour (160.9 kilometers per hour), the tracks they race on have to be specially built to accommodate the tether cars and protect the people watching the races. 

 

Tether Car Races

Ed Baynes readies a tether car for competition

in the moment called "pushing off." The tether

itself is faintly visible in the photo, attached to

the frame of the car.

 

We already know that the cars can achieve speeds faster than 200 miles per hour (321.9 kilometers per hour) and they pull with a force of up to 91 times their own weight, but how do these cars actually race on a track?

 

Each car has a metal bar attached to the body called the panhandle. The panhandle attaches the car to the steel cable and post in the center of the circular track. Official WMCR racetracks are made of flat concrete and are built in two different sizes. The first size is a 70-foot (21.3-meter) diameter track that provides the cars with six laps for a total distance run of one-fourth of a mile (.4 kilometers). However, the WMRC rulebook states that new tracks should be built at 19.9 meters (65 feet, 3 and 1/2 inches) in diameter and allow 8 laps of running time, equaling 500 meters (.3 miles) total.

 

Races are won by averaging the speed of eight laps compared to the averages of other drivers. The driver decides when his or her car is at its maximum speed, and then the laps are counted from that point forward. Drivers have three minutes to stop the race if they feel their car isn't performing correctly. Each driver is assisted by up to two helpers to start his or her vehicle. To start the car, the driver or a helper pushes it forward with a stick, turning on the fuel switch. Another helper, called the horser, holds the 33-foot (10.1-meter) long steel cable off of the ground until the car is going fast enough to hold the cable up by its own force, which usually occurs around 80 miles per hour (128.7 kilometers per hour). To stop the tether car, a broom is used to knock the fuel switch down, shutting off the fuel to the engine.

 

In the United States, there are only three official tracks still in use. They're located in Whittier Narrows, Calif., Seaford, N.Y., and now there's a portable track located in northern California, too. Protective fences are built around each track due to the extreme top speeds and the tremendous force exerted on the car can cause parts of the vehicle to fly off or break during a race.

 

Although there are only a handful of tether car members and racetracks across the United States, those involved in the sport are committed to this 70-year-old hobby.

 

 

210 mph Electric Powered Vector Tether Car

 

Source: Wikipedia - Tether Car  |  How Tether Car Racing Works