Fact of the Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - HUMPHREY BOGART

Did you know.... Humphrey Bogart’s parents wanted him to be a doctor. It didn’t work out that way, to the benefit of moviegoers everywhere. Instead, he became a top box-office attraction in the 1940s and 1950s, playing tough guys opposite actresses such as Lauren Bacall (whom he married in 1945), Ingrid Bergman, and Katharine Hepburn. Today, he’s often remembered for his role as Morocco nightclub owner Rick Blaine in the all-time classic Casablanca. Read on for a few fascinating facts about Bogie’s childhood, his favorite pastime, and the star who unwittingly helped pave his way.

 

1. Humphrey Bogart Was a Christmas Baby

Bogart was born on December 25, 1899, in New York City. His father, a surgeon and heart and lung specialist, descended from New York’s first Dutch colonial settlers. As an adult, Bogart displayed the family coat of arms on his wall. His mother, known as “Lady Maud” for her imperious manner, was a suffragette known for standing on street corners selling balloons with the slogan “Votes for Women.” She worked as an illustrator and a portrait painter, and later as a magazine art director.

 

2. His Mother Dressed Him in Elaborate Clothing as a Child

Lady Maud liked to dress her son in Little Lord Fauntleroy suits she made herself. The outfit, named for a character in a novel, included velvet jackets and matching pants with a fancy blouse and a lace or ruffled collar. In his early teens, he wore white kid gloves and patent-leather pumps dancing at formal parties. His mother used him as a model for her drawings, but reportedly was not affectionate, and he was mainly taken care of by servants.

 

3. Bogart Was Expelled From Prep School

Young Bogart attended the elite Trinity School in New York City, where he earned poor grades and didn’t participate in social activities. For his last year of high school, his parents sent him to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, a prep school his father had also attended. His parents hoped he would next study medicine at Yale. But Phillips expelled him for his poor academic performance and all-around bad attitude, and Bogart joined the U.S. Naval Reserve instead.

 

4. Bogart Loved Chess

Bogart famously plays chess in Casablanca, and the scenes may have been written into the script to please him. In real life, as a young man, he was said to hustle players for dimes and quarters in New York parks and at Coney Island. Bogart was also a chess tournament director, and active in a Hollywood chess club. In a June 1945 interview, he said that he played chess almost daily, and described the game as one of his main interests.

 

5. Bogart Lived in the Shadow of Another Actor

A better-known actor at the time rejected the scripts for Dead End, High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, and Double Indemnity, giving Bogart the chance to develop the roles in these future classics. The man who overshadowed Bogart back then? George Raft, hardly a household name today. At one point, Raft refused to accept Bogart as his co-star, in the 1941 film Manpower. Ironically, Raft, unlike Bogart, knew the world of tough guys firsthand. He was also born in New York, but in Hell’s Kitchen, then a violent slum. It’s even sometimes said that Raft turned down the chance to play Rick Blaine in Casablanca, but it’s more likely that the studio never offered it to him — despite him campaigning for it.

 

 

Source: Fast Facts About Humphrey Bogart

Edited May 12, 2023 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - GEOGRAPHY

Did you know.... You probably know many famous European landmarks, such as Big Ben in London (technically called Elizabeth Tower), the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Colosseum in Rome. Yet Europe has a lot more to offer, including lesser-known geographical features and astounding geographical facts — like the five below. They just might change the way you look at the continent.

 

1. The Mediterranean Sea Was Once a Desert

If you've spent any time on the shores of the Mediterranean, you might find it hard to believe the picturesque seascape was once a desert. Scientists believe the sea dried up about 5 million years ago as a result of upward movement by the Earth's crust. This movement caused the Straits of Gibraltar to act as a dam and seal off the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean. This epoch is also referred to as "The Messinian Salinity Crisis." Before the sea was blocked off, saltwater from the Atlantic rushed into the sea and couldn't escape. When the water dried up, layers of salt created a mile-high salt wall, and all sea life died.

 

2. Europe Is Larger Than Australia

Maps distort our perception of the world, especially in terms of country and continent size, because it's difficult to project the circular globe onto a flat surface with total accuracy. For example, the common Mercator map has been criticized for exaggerating the size of countries closer to the poles, while downplaying the size of countries and continents closer to the equator. When you look at the map, Australia appears quite large, making Europe the obvious candidate for the "Smallest Continent Award." To be fair, Australia is a large landmass (it would qualify as the largest island in the world if it wasn't a continent), yet Europe is larger than Australia by about 30%.

 

3. Greenland Is Not Its Own Country

The days of Spanish exploration, the Great British empire, and European geographic colonization are gone, with many countries fighting for independence from their motherland. Yet, some overseas territories still do exist, and Greenland is one of them. Technically, Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and also the world's largest island — three times the size of Texas.

 

4. Europe Has a Rainforest

The thought of a rainforest conjures up images of gorgeous, endless flora and fauna found in the Amazon and other tropical locations; it's likely Europe doesn't cross your mind when you hear the term. Yet if you travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, you will find Perucica, a rainforest and one of two remaining old-growth forests in Europe. The forest lies within Sutjeska National Park and remains protected. Nicknamed "the Lungs of Europe," Perucica is home to more than 170 species of trees and bushes, including beech, fir, spruce, and mountain maple, as well as more than 1,000 species of herbaceous plants. Visitors especially enjoy the panoramic views from Vidikovac, a lookout point for Skakavac Waterfall, which falls 246 feet into a forest-covered valley.

 

5. Europe Is Home to the Second-Most Active Volcano in the World

Mt. Etna, located in Sicily, is the second-most active volcano in the world behind Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. Etna has regular volcanic ash eruptions but hasn't had a major eruption since the winter of 2008 and 2009. In 2013, Mt. Etna made the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Those who visit undoubtedly want to hike to the craters, which can be accessed from the north and south side of Mt. Etna with an experienced tour guide. When Etna's activity isn't high or causing earthquakes, adventure seekers can explore the volcano's ancient lava flows, caves, and active fumaroles as they hike along the sides of the volcano.

 

 

Source: Geography Facts That Might Change the Way You Look at Europe

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SEINFELD

Did you know.... For a show about nothing, it sure was something. The NBC sitcom Seinfeld charmed viewers for 180 episodes throughout nine seasons from 1989 to 1998 by leaning into the banal realities of the everyday. During its run, Seinfeld averaged a staggering 30 million viewers each week, with more than 76 million people tuning into the finale. The brainchild of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and writer-producer Larry David, the original idea was to create a 90-minute special meant to air in Saturday Night Live’s time slot. But as the two got to work, they realized that was a long time to sustain their idea about a show about a comedian, so it turned into a half-hour sitcom. “The pitch for the show, the real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material,” Seinfeld said in a Reddit AMA in 2014. “The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are surprised that it caught on as a way that people describe the show, because to us it’s the opposite of that.” However it’s described, much of the lovability of the show rests in its strong characters — Seinfeld playing a fictionalized version of himself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as his sarcastic ex Elaine Benes, Jason Alexander as his insecure best friend George Castanza, and Michael Richards as his oddball neighbor Cosmo Kramer. Here, we look back at 10 facts about the groundbreaking sitcom.

 

1. Elaine Wasn’t in the Pilot Episode

The first episode was missing a significant part of the famous foursome: Elaine. However, there was another female character: a waitress named Claire who worked at the diner where Jerry and George would hang out. Even with Claire in the pilot, it’s widely reported that Elaine came to be because the first episode was “too male-centric.” While Rosie O’Donnell, Patricia Heaton, and Megan Mullaley were all considered for the part, it was Louis-Dreyfus’ close ties to David during their joint time at Saturday Night Live that led to the gig. When David came to her with the Seinfeld character, Louis-Dreyfus was “immediately intrigued” by the writing. “It was unlike anything on television at the time,” she said.

 

2. Kramer’s Name Was Originally “Kessler”

In season four, during the whole show-within-a-show plot, there’s a storyline in which Kramer will only let himself be depicted if he can play himself. As it turns out, that was based on a real situation that Seinfeld dealt with at the start of the show. The comedian had based the wacky character of his real neighbor Kenny Kramer, who would only let him use his name if he could play himself. So in the pilot episode, Richards’ character is referred to as “Kessler.” After it was worked out — and the real Kramer was paid $1,000 — the name was switched.

 

3. The Theme Song for Each Episode Is Different

For the first seven seasons, every episode started with Seinfeld doing a stand-up routine. But what only eagle-eared listeners will notice is that the theme song was made to match those monologues, which means every single episode had a slightly different one. Composer Jonathan Wolff used instruments like the bass — plus his fingers and mouth to improvise the sounds — and synced them to Seinfeld’s stand-up timing to build a simple melody that could easily start and stop for jokes. “I have no idea how many themes we did for Seinfeld…” he told Great Big Story. “The timing, the length, had to be adjustable in a way it would still hold water and still sound like the Seinfeld theme.”

 

4. Elaine’s Hair Was Inspired by Helena Bonham Carter

Elaine’s curls were one of her most distinctive features, and Louis-Dreyfus had gotten the idea from an unusual place: Helena Bonham Carter in the 1985 film A Room with a View. “I thought it was incredibly beautiful, and it was,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “I thought, that’s how I’m going to do my hair, it’s so incredible. That’s where that thing came from, the big wall of hair. And it kept growing and growing.”

 

5. Jerry Stiller Wasn’t Always George’s Dad

So much of George’s character is enveloped by his parents, played by Estelle Harris and Jerry Stiller, but Stiller wasn’t the elder Constanza from the start. In the first appearance of the character in season four, he was played by veteran TV, film and theater actor John Randolph. While Alexander says he adored Randolph, he thought that “John actually looked more like my grandfather than my father.”

After one episode, they moved on to a second actor who “wasn’t noteworthy” before Stiller officially came along in season five. “He’s my favorite character on the show,” Alexander said. “He doesn’t even know how good he is.” He added that Stiller often had trouble remembering his lines, but that worked out for the best. “The lines would come back to him in little stutter steps, so they would come out in little stutter steps — what you were seeing was his own growing anxiety and frustration with his own memory that got translated into the disdain for the world that Frank Constanza had.”

 

Click the link  below to read more about Seinfeld.

 

 

Source: Amazing Facts You Might Not Know About “Seinfeld”

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MOTHER'S DAY

Did you know.... Mother’s Day is here, which means it’s time for children of all ages to think of ways to give thanks to these special women in our lives, or to honor the memory of those no longer with us. But before you get going on making the restaurant reservations, here are six fun facts about the history of the holiday and its celebrations around the world.

 

1. The First Official Mother’s Day Celebrations Happened in 1908

The modern, American version of Mother’s Day came into existence largely through the efforts of Anna Jarvis, who sought to honor her own beloved mom’s passing in 1905. Her extensive letter-writing campaign to politicians and prominent businessmen fueled the first official Mother’s Day celebrations in West Virginia and Philadelphia in 1908, and within four years the occasion was being commemorated in some form in every state. On Saturday, May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the proceedings official by proclaiming the following day, and the second Sunday of every May that followed, to be nationally observed as Mother’s Day.

 

2. Calls for a Day to Honor Mothers Predate the Official Holiday

Anna Jarvis was hardly the first to conceive of a day set aside for those who bear and raise children. Her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, oversaw “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” meant to improve local public health and sanitation, and spearheaded a “Mothers’ Friendship Day” that promoted peace and reconciliation after the Civil War. Famed writer and suffragist Julia Ward Howe also promoted a “Mother’s Peace Day” in the 1870s as a means for healing following the Civil War and Franco-Prussian War. And in 1904, former University of Notre Dame football coach and national president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Frank Hering made a public pitch for maternal recognition; the Fraternal Order of Eagles now claims credit for helping to found Mother's Day.

 

3. The Founder of Mother's Day Eventually Disowned the Holiday

It didn’t take long for Jarvis to channel her energy from launching Mother’s Day toward fighting the entities that sought to profit from the holiday. In the 1920s, she called for a boycott of florists who raised the prices of white carnations (a flower she had promoted at early Mother’s Day celebrations) every May, and made headlines for disrupting events held by organizations she felt were distorting her intentions for the day. Jarvis even criticized First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt the following decade for using Mother’s Day as part of fundraising efforts to combat high maternal and infant mortality rates. Shortly before her death in 1948, her inheritance spent on the numerous lawsuits waged in protection of her creation, Jarvis reportedly told a journalist that she was “sorry she had ever started Mother’s Day.”

 

4. A Mother’s Day Stamp Was Partially Designed by FDR

Heeding a request to create a stamp honoring the nation’s mothers in early 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt whipped up a conceptual sketch based on James McNeill Whistler’s “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1” (aka “Whistler’s Mother”). Although a more accurate reproduction of the painting was eventually used, the FDR inscription “In Memory and in Honor of the Mothers of America” survived the final edits to appear on the printed product in time for Mother’s Day that spring.

 

5. Mother's Day Is a Booming Business

Despite the best efforts of Jarvis, numerous businesses now look forward to the profits annually netted in the name of dear old mom. Some 113 million greeting cards are bought every year, while the Society of American Florists notes that Mother’s Day accounts for around 25% of all holiday sales. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers were expected to spend a record $31.7 billion to celebrate the day in 2022.

 

6. Mother’s Day Is Celebrated at Different Times Around the World

Mother’s Day is said to be observed in some manner in more than 50 countries, although the dates and cultural customs differ. The Mexican Mother’s Day, held every May 10, kicks off with children waking up mamá by singing traditional songs like “Las Mañanitas.” In Thailand, kids kneel to pay respect to their moms on the designated date of August 12, in honor of the Queen Mother Sirikit. And in Ethiopia, the celebrations take the form of a three-day festival known as “Antrosht” at the end of the rainy season, which typically arrives around October.

 

 

Source: Fascinating Facts About Mother’s Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NAMED AFTER

Did you know.... One of the perks of discovering a new plant or animal is getting to name it whatever you want (although there are some rules around making sure the name is unique and not a personal insult or cuss word). While each species needs to have a two-part Latin name, in which the first part is the organism’s genus and the second is its species name, scientists can get pretty creative with the latter. Many choose names that reflect the organism’s physical appearance — for example, the giant panda’s Latin name, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, means “black and white cat foot.” Other scientists commemorate a mentor or national leader. Yet some discoverers notice a quirk in a new species and immediately think of movie stars, musicians, or other celebrities. Here are just a handful of those examples.

 

1. Agromyza Princei

Freelance naturalist Charles Eiseman found an unusual track, made by the larvae of a fly called a leaf miner, on a black raspberry plant in Connecticut in 2016. When the adult fly emerged from the leaf, Eiseman realized it was a new species. His colleague Owen Lonsdale asked him to name it, and, as Eiseman wrote on his blog, “Prince’s ‘Raspberry Beret’ popped into my head, so I decided to call it Agromyza princei.”

 

2. Grouvellinus Leonardodicaprioi

Citizen scientists on a “bioblitz”-style expedition discovered this shiny black water beetle in Borneo’s Maliau Basin in 2018. They named it for Leonardo DiCaprio, but not because of his Oscar-winning performance in The Revenant or his timeless turn in Titanic — instead, the team wanted to honor the actor and his foundation for “promoting environmental awareness and bringing the problems of climate change and biodiversity loss into the spotlight.”

 

3. Carcinonemertes Conanobrieni

Researchers named this parasitic marine worm, a species that seems to feed on the eggs of the Caribbean spiny lobster, for Conan O’Brien, after noticing some traits in common with the ginger-haired comedian. “The physical similarities between the new species and Mr. O'Brien are remarkable,” they wrote in a 2017 paper. “Both exhibit a long and pale [body] with slight tints of orange.”

 

4. Conobregma Bradpitti

Actor Brad Pitt appears to have no physical similarities to C. bradpitti, a brownish wasp from South Africa that resembles a medjool date with legs. Its discoverer, Dr. Buntika A. Butcher, spent long hours studying the new species in the lab under the benevolent gaze of a poster of Pitt, and she decided in 2016 to name the insect for her favorite movie star.

 

5. Gaga

This new genus of lacy tropical ferns resembles outfits worn by Lady Gaga, according to the team that discovered it in 2012 — but there’s a genetic link to the pop star, too. As researcher Fay-Wei Li confirmed these plants’ unique genetic signature, he found the arrangement of DNA base pairs spelled GAGA. Two of the 19 species in the genus also hail Gaga: G. germanotta (echoing her last name) and G. monstraparva (a nod to her fans, known as “little monsters”).

 

6. Hypotrachyna Oprah

Oprah Winfrey may not be the first person you think of when you hear the phrase “new species of lichen,” but James C. Lendemer and Jessica L. Allen readily named the greenish-gray organism after the icon. They cited its bright glow under UV light and its habitat in the Deep South, two traits it shares with Oprah — who was born in Mississippi and has been in the spotlight for decades as a journalist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

 

7. Gormaniella Terricola

Gaga wasn’t Fay-Wei Li’s only discovery, nor his only ode to a celebrity. In 2020, he and his colleagues stumbled on a new species of green algae and debated what to name it. “It was a very dark time,” Li explained, referencing the coronavirus pandemic, and his team wanted to focus on hope. They chose to honor Amanda Gorman and her inspiring 2021 inauguration poem, “The Hill We Climb.” “I have an algae named after me — I think your girl has officially made it,” Gorman tweeted.

 

8. Nannaria Swiftae

Derek A. Hennen and his colleagues at Virginia Tech launched an ambitious project to find new millipede species from specimens that had been languishing in museum collections without proper identification. After comparing the museums’ millipedes with live ones, they discovered 17 species that were new to science, including one they named for Taylor Swift in 2022. “Her music helped me get through the highs and lows of graduate school, so naming a new millipede species after her is my way of saying thanks,” Hennen said.

 

9. Aptostichus Barackobamai

In 2012, prolific species-discoverer Jason Bond at the University of California, Davis named a new type of trapdoor spider after Barack Obama, the “first African American President of the United States and reputed fan of spiders.” But that’s not the only organism named for our 44th POTUS. Obama is the eponym for a blood fluke, a lichen, a diving beetle, a bee, a fish commonly called the spangled darter, and even a species of puffbird, not to mention several extinct creatures. Former First Lady Michelle Obama also has her own eponymous organism, a “smiley-faced spider.”

 

 

Source: Animals and Plants Named After Celebrities

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - RAIN

Did you know... Rain — and by extension the Earth’s water cycle — is an essential planetary process that makes all life possible. Rain supports crops, fills lakes, and tops off reservoirs. And because salt remains behind during evaporation, rain is also a major source of fresh water. Here are six fascinating facts about rain to provide some new perspective when the next rainy day comes your way.

 

1. The Smell of Rain After a Dry Spell Has a Name

Water itself is odorless, of course, but rain, particularly after a dry spell, produces a pleasant, earthy scent, known as “petrichor.” The word is a combination of two Greek words — petros, meaning “stone,” and ichor, referring to the mythological fluid that fills the veins of the Greek gods. This name is actually an apt description for where the smell originates, because when rain hits porous soil or rock, microorganisms called actinobacteria release an organic compound called geosmin into the air, which contributes to the odor we associate with petrichor. Humans are better at sniffing out this compound than sharks are at smelling blood in water, and some scientists theorize that this particular nasal sensitivity helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors find water sources.

 

2. Nearly All Rain Starts as Snow

What we perceive as rain is actually water vapor at the end of a long journey. Precipitation forms when water vapor condenses into water droplets along the surface of certain aerosols that serve as “condensation nuclei.” As these droplets begin their journey toward Earth, they often freeze to form ice crystals at high altitudes, falling as snow. It’s only when the snow meets warmer air at lower elevations that the precipitation becomes hail or rain. (Freezing rain occurs when snow meets a pocket of warm air, melts, and then encounters freezing temperatures near the surface. Because the precipitation doesn’t have time to reform as snow, the rain instead freezes on contact with the ground, creating one of the most dangerous types of wintry conditions.)

 

3. There’s a Place in Antarctica Where It Never Rains

The largest desert in the world isn’t the Sahara, the Arabian, or the Gobi. In fact, those three deserts combined don't make up the entire surface area of the Antarctic polar desert. (Although many of us associate deserts with sand dunes and cacti, they’re actually categorized as such based on their arid climates.) Antarctica as a whole receives very little precipitation, but the driest place by far is an area called the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Thanks to a phenomenon known as katabatic wind, which occurs when gravity pulls cold, dense mountain air downhill, this extremely parched region likely hasn’t seen any rain for an estimated 2 million years. In part because of this, though, it serves as a good analog for the Martian surface, a planet-wide desert in its own right that hasn’t seen precipitation in billions of years.

 

4. The Rain on Venus Is Sulfuric Acid

Mars might be dry as a bone, but Earth’s other planetary neighbor is another story. Thanks to large amounts of sulfur dioxide in Venus’ atmosphere, the planet experiences precipitation in the form of extremely corrosive sulfuric acid. Acids and bases are measured by the pH scale, with “0” being a strong acid and “14” being a strong base. Earth’s rain, for example, typically has a slightly acidic pH of around 5.6, but during powerful volcanic eruptions, as more sulfur dioxide is injected into the atmosphere, the resulting acid rain can have a pH as low as 2.5 (similar to vinegar). The acid rain on Venus, meanwhile, is estimated to have a pH of 1 or even lower, which is extremely hostile to any sort of life. Of course, this rain never actually reaches the planet’s surface, which is a roiling 900 degrees Fahrenheit. (Sulfuric acid evaporates at around 572 degrees Fahrenheit.) In any case, you should probably scratch Venus off of your solar system bucket list.

 

5. Raindrops Don’t Look Tear-Shaped At All

When kids draw raindrops, they’re often big, blue, and tear-shaped. In reality, however, a raindrop doesn’t look anything like a tear. While hovering in clouds, water droplets take on a spherical shape. As a droplet increases in size, it eventually falls to Earth, colliding with other droplets along the way. The bottom of the water droplet faces wind resistance as air also rushes past its sides, forming a jelly bean shape (though NASA describes it as a hamburger bun). Then, when the raindrop grows to about 4 millimeters in diameter, the pressure from the wind resistance flattens the droplet even further into a thin, umbrella shape before it eventually splits it into smaller spherical droplets. This may seem like a nitpicky fact, but knowing the exact shape of raindrops helps radar instruments on orbiting satellites monitor precipitation levels more accurately.

 

6. 1 Inch of Rain on 1 Acre of Land Weighs More Than 100 Tons

One inch of rain may not sound like a lot — especially when you consider that some places get more than 460 inches of rain per year — but all that water adds up. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), 1 inch of rain over 1 acre of land is equal to 27,154 gallons and weighs around 113 tons. To put that into perspective, 1 square mile contains 640 acres, which means 1 inch of rain in 1 square mile is more than 17 million gallons of water. If you continue to scale up, 1 inch of rain over the entire United States is equal to more than 61 trillion gallons. The stats are even more mind-boggling when you consider that the contiguous U.S., for example, experiences enough rain in one year to cover the entire Lower 48 in 30 inches of water — which works out to 1,430 cubic miles of water weighing approximately 6.6 billion tons. By some accounts, an average of 1 billion tons of rain falls on the Earth every minute. Of course, this could shift with climate change. A warmer planet means more water will evaporate in the atmosphere, and that extra moisture could lead to more frequent “heavy precipitation,” which causes soil erosion and increases flood risk. Heavy precipitation doesn’t necessarily mean areas will see an increase of average rainfall; rather, it refers to the nature and intensity of dramatic, storm-filled events. Like so many of Earth’s natural processes, rain will not escape the reality of our warming world.

 

 

Source: Amazing Facts About Rain

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NO EXPIRATION DATE

Did you know.... It’s easy to lose track of items in the back of a dark pantry, which is why expiration dates can be so helpful in determining when to toss old foods. However, the “best by” dates we rely on aren’t always a true picture of how long a food is shelf-stable. Food dating is mostly a voluntary process for grocery manufacturers, who often just estimate when their products will no longer be at their best quality. Luckily, there are some foods — like the six listed below — that are safe to keep using even if their expiration date has long passed.

 

1. Vinegar

Most foods produce a noxious smell when they’ve spoiled, but vinegar always smells pretty potent, so it may be hard to use the old-fashioned sniff test to guess at its quality. Luckily, you don’t have to, since vinegar doesn’t expire. Vinegar is a fermented product, created when yeast consume sugars or starches to create alcohol; that byproduct is then exposed to oxygen and a bacteria called Acetobacter, which continues fermenting to create the final acidic product. That acidity actually makes vinegar self-preserving, which is why it generally doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Over time, vinegar can become hazy or develop sediment, particularly a gelatinous substance called “mother,” though that doesn’t mean you need to toss it — in fact, vinegar mothers (aka a colony of healthy bacteria that forms in fermented liquids) can even be used to create a new batch of the multipurpose solution.

 

2. White Rice

Comedian Mitch Hedberg once joked that rice is the perfect meal if you’re “really hungry and want to eat 2,000 of something.” It’s also a great food for long-term storage. White rice — which starts as brown rice but is milled to remove its exterior husk, bran, and germ — keeps best, so long as it’s properly stored away from moisture and pets. At temperatures under 40 degrees Fahrenheit, white rice’s life span pushes upwards of 25 to 30 years, but even when stored at warmer temperatures, it can last up to 10 years if packed with oxygen absorbers. However, not all rice keeps long-term; opened bags should be used within two years, and brown rice lasts about six months at room-temperature storage because of its naturally occurring oils, which can go rancid.

 

3. Sugar

Sugar has a particularly sweet characteristic: It doesn’t really go “bad.” Granulated sugars (along with some syrups, like corn syrup) are so inhospitable for bacteria that they’re often the primary ingredient used to preserve jellies, jams, and canned fruits. However, like all long-stored pantry staples, helping sugar maintain a long shelf-life means keeping it away from any source of condensation or moisture, which is easily absorbed and can leave behind a hardened block. Even with its ability to last indefinitely, food storage experts say sugar is best consumed within two years of opening — just another reason to mix up a batch of fresh cookies.

 

4. Salt

Vegetable, animal, or mineral? Salt falls in the latter category, which is one reason it can enjoy an indefinite stay in your pantry without spoiling. Salt has been used to preserve foods (especially meats) for centuries because it’s so effective at inhibiting bacteria; the mineral is able to break down enzymes that help germs grow while also dehydrating food and removing water that bacteria needs to thrive. Its ability to repel water keeps salt unlimitedly useful, though there are some kinds of processed salt that are more likely to deteriorate in quality over time — specifically those with additives such as iodine or anti-caking agents (these kinds are best used in under five years). As for plain salt — it can last forever, especially if kept in a cool, dry place.

 

5. Vanilla Extract

Pure vanilla extract can be a grocery store splurge, but if your oven is known for taking a hiatus between bursts of baking, it could be worth the extra cost. That’s because real vanilla extract doesn’t spoil thanks to its high alcohol content — over time, it can actually develop a deeper flavor. Imitation vanilla extract, however, has a drastically shorter shelf-life. While real vanilla is created by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol (which acts as a preservative), the flavoring dupe is made from vanillin, a manufactured substance that replicates the sweet and syrupy flavor. On the shelf, imitation vanilla lasts just six to 12 months before beginning to degrade and losing its flavor.

 

6. Honey

Humans have risked bee swarms for thousands of years in the hopes of collecting a little honey. Beyond its use in cooking, the substance has also been used for healing wounds and even as a natural preservative — because the insect-produced food is one of the few that rarely expires. Honey’s indefinite shelf-life is thanks to its sugar-dense composition, with less than 20% of its makeup coming from water. The nectar also has two other preserving factors: It has an acidic pH level that is unsuitable for bacteria, and its viscous state creates an oxygen barrier that prevents pathogens from growing. However, there is a catch: To maintain these properties, honey must be stored in a sealed container safe from humid conditions. Even then, the USDA suggests honey is at its best when consumed within a year.

 

 

Source: Foods That Never Expire

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - FAVORITE FOODS

Did you know.... Not all countries are agriculturally equal, and a handful of places — China, the U.S., India, and Brazil — dominate global food production and exports. Yet smaller players also contribute to stocking the shelves with our favorite foods, thanks to native plant species, environmental factors, and infrastructure investments. Take, for instance, Canada’s abundance of lentils or Peru’s booming quinoa industry. Here are 13 foods and their top-producing countries. Do you know where your favorite snack comes from?

 

1. Turkey: Hazelnuts

Turkey is the world's leading hazelnut producer, by a large margin. The transcontinental country, which straddles Asia and Europe, accounts for about 72.9% of the total global supply. By comparison, Italy, the second-highest hazelnut-producing country in the world, yields just 20% of the world’s supply each year. About 60% of Turkey’s crop comes from the Eastern Black Sea region; the persistent rainfall, moderate temperatures, and hospitable soil on the steep hills create the perfect growing conditions for the nut. It’s likely you’ve sampled Turkey’s supply and not even realized: Companies like Nestlé, Ferrero, and Godiva primarily source hazelnuts for their candy bars, Nutella spread, and decadent chocolates from the region.

 

2. Indonesia: Coconuts

Coconuts have created a heated agricultural competition between Indonesia and the Philippines over the past several years. In 2019, Indonesia edged out the Philippines as the top producer in the world, growing around 19 million tons versus the Philippines’ 14 million tons. (The Philippines, however, remains the world’s top producer of coconut oil.) The coconut is a resilient fruit, and while the palm tree it grows on doesn’t require a specific soil, a high amount of rainfall is needed to properly sustain growth. The trees thrive in humid coastal areas; India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Thailand also rank among the world’s major coconut producers. The coconut is extremely versatile; everything from the tree’s leaves and wood to the fruit’s water, meat, and shell can be used, giving the palm tree its nickname, the “Tree of Life.”

 

3. Madagascar: Vanilla

If you love the smell and taste of vanilla, you can thank Madagascar. Though it originated in Mexico, 80% of the enduringly popular spice is now grown in the East African country. Anyone who has ever sought natural vanilla extract or beans knows that the prices are not always consumer-friendly, but it’s for good reason: Vanilla isn’t an easy crop to grow. Vines take anywhere from two to four years to mature, pollination is done artificially by hand (flowers open only one day a year, and the plant’s natural pollinator, the Melipona bee, is found only in Mexico), and the beans take nine months after pollination to be ripe for picking. It then takes many more months of preparing and drying the vanilla beans in the sun for their aromatic appeal to be just right, meaning the process from pollination to shipment takes about one year.

 

4. Costa Rica: Pineapples

Although pineapples are native to South America, Costa Rica leads the world in pineapple production and exports. The small Central American country leans heavily on the crops, which generate an estimated $1 billion USD a year for their economy. While the crops are bountiful for the country (as well as for Brazil and the Philippines), they require a significant amount of time and effort to produce fruit — one plant typically produces only one or two pineapples every 18 to 24 months. In an effort to speed up the growth, some producers have used artificial fertilizers, but not without criticisms and concerns over the toxicity to the famously environmentally forward country. In response, the Costa Rican pineapple industry is working toward implementing regulations to ensure more sustainable practices.

 

5. Mexico: Avocados

Avocados have become so ubiquitous in food culture that their consumption was once cited as a reason for Millennials not being able to buy homes. But before they became a so-called luxury grocery item for hip young people, avocados were a long-running staple of the Mexican diet, and to this day, Mexico is the leading avocado producer and exporter in the world. Avocados weren’t always so popular outside of their native land, though — it wasn’t until a PR campaign and Super Bowl commercial in the early 1990s that guacamole became a game-day staple. Today, a staggering 87% of the U.S. supply comes from Mexico, where the avocado industry provides 40,000 jobs and 70,000 seasonal jobs during harvest.

 

6. Peru: Quinoa

In the mid-to-late 2000s, quinoa enjoyed a huge popularity surge in Europe and the U.S., where it was touted for its health benefits. Since 2015, Peru — the native region for the Andean plant — has emerged as the largest quinoa producer and exporter in the world. The “superfood” is a grain crop, the edible seeds of which are high in protein, amino acids, fiber, iron, and antioxidants. The ancient grain is so revered that it even received a special honor from the United Nations General Assembly, who named 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. The popularity and production boom has been financially beneficial to Peruvian farmers, who previously grew quinoa primarily for their own family’s use.

 

Click the link below to read more on what country your favorite foods comes from.

 

 

Source: Which Country Produces the Most of Your Favorite Foods?

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - ACCIDENTAL INVENTIONS

Did you know.... While many inventions are the outcome of tireless effort and incredible insight, a little luck never hurts. Some inventions — from Post-it Notes to penicillin — are amazing examples of good fortune as well as curiosity and tenacity. After all, it’s not enough for an accident to reveal some incredible new advancement; it also needs to be witnessed by an inquisitive person prepared to understand its significance. Here are seven world-changing inventions that were discovered by accident, by people who made sure that these serendipitous moments didn’t go unnoticed.

 

1. Post-Its

In 1968, scientist Spencer Silver was working at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, also known as 3M. Founded in 1902, 3M quickly evolved beyond mining, and by the mid-20th century, the company had expanded into the adhesives game. At the time, Silver was trying to make “bigger, tougher, stronger” adhesives, and thus considered one of his creations, known as acrylate copolymer microspheres, a failure. These microspheres could retain their stickiness but could also be removed easily — not exactly big, tough, or strong. While Silver believed this light-hold adhesive could have some sort of use (he patented it just to be safe), he couldn’t put a finger on what that use was, exactly, until one day when fellow 3M scientist Art Fry was in search of a bookmark that could stick to pages without damaging the paper. Fry immediately thought of Silver’s microspheres, and the two scientists soon found themselves writing each other messages around the office on the world’s first Post-it Notes. “What we have here isn't just a bookmark," Fry once said. "It's a whole new way to communicate."

 

2. Microwave Ovens

Today 90% of American households have a microwave oven — and it’s all thanks to magnetron expert Percy Spencer. In the mid-1940s, Spencer was working at the aerospace and defense company Raytheon when he took a step in front of an active radar set. To his surprise, the candy bar in his pocket melted. Spencer conducted a few more experiments, using popcorn kernels and eggs, and realized that microwaves could vibrate water molecules, causing them to produce heat and cook food. Raytheon patented the invention in 1945, and released the first microwave oven, called the “Radarange,” the next year. It weighed 750 pounds and cost $5,000 (about $52,000 today). It wasn’t until the 1970s that both the technology and price reached that consumer sweet spot, and microwave ovens became a must-have appliance in every U.S. home.

 

3. Penicillin

If you ever need to stress to your boss the importance of vacation, share the tale of penicillin. On September 3, 1928, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming returned to his laboratory at St. Mary’s Hospital in London after a vacation of more than a month. Sitting next to a window was a Petri dish filled with the infectious bacteria known as staphylococcus — but it’s what Fleming found in the dish alongside the bacteria that astounded him. Inside the Petri dish was a fungus known as penicillium, or what Fleming at the time called “mould juice.” Whatever the name, this particular fungus appeared to stop staphylococcus from spreading, and Fleming pondered whether this fungus’s bacteria-phobic superpowers could be harnessed into a new kind of medicine. Spoiler: It could, and in the coming years, Fleming developed the world’s first antibiotic, winning the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1945 for his accidental yet world-changing discovery. “I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that,” Fleming once said. “I only discovered it by accident.”

 

4. X-Rays

In November 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was hard at work studying cathode radiation in his Würzburg laboratory when a chemically coated screen 9 feet away began to glow. What followed was seven weeks of what Röntgen’s wife, Bertha, later described as a “dreadful time.” Röntgen worked tirelessly, obsessed with discovering the secrets of the phenomenon he called “X-rays” (named because the rays were unknown, as in “solving for x”) — often coming home in a bad mood, and eating silently before immediately retreating back to his lab. Eventually, he even moved his bed to his lab so he could work around the clock. As Röntgen would later put it, “I didn’t think; I investigated.” The result of this investigation was a paper published in late December that same year, titled “On a New Kind of Rays.” The work detailed how these X-rays could penetrate objects, and the medical applications for such an invention were immediately apparent. Within a month or two, the first clinical uses of X-rays occurred in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Röntgen became the recipient of the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901.

 

5. Vulcanized Rubber

On its own, natural rubber isn’t immensely useful — it melts in warm weather, cracks in the cold, and adheres to basically everything. But once rubber undergoes a process known as “vulcanization,” in which natural rubber is mixed with sulfur (or some other curative) and heated to between 140 to 180 degrees Celsius, it gains immense tensile strength and becomes resistant to swelling and abrasion. Although creating this kind of tough rubber is a relatively complicated process, evidence suggests that an ancient Mexican people known as the Olmecs (which means “rubber people”) used some type of vulcanization. But modern vulcanization didn’t arrive until 1839, when American inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped India rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Recognizing that the rubber held its shape and also gained strength and rigidity, Goodyear soon patented his discovery. Alas, protecting those patents from infringement proved impossible, and Goodyear died in 1860 some $200,000 in debt. However, Goodyear still saw his life as a success, once writing: “I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.” Thirty-eight years later, American entrepreneur Frank Seiberling started a company to supply tires for the nascent automobile industry. Because creating tires capable of handling the rough terrain of dirt roads relied entirely on the process of vulcanization, Seiberling named his enterprise after the man who made it all possible — calling it the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.

 

6. Velcro

Amazing inventions come to curious minds, and that’s certainly the case for Swiss engineer George de Mestral. While on a walk in the woods with his dog, de Mestral noticed how burrs from a burdock plant stuck to his pants as well as his dog’s fur. Examining the burrs under a microscope, de Mestral discovered that the tips of the burr weren't straight (as they appeared to the naked eye), but instead contained tiny hooks at the ends that could grab hold of the fibers in his clothing. It took nearly 15 years for de Mestral to recreate what he witnessed under that microscope, but he eventually created a product that both stuck together securely and could be easily pulled apart. In 1954, he patented a creation he dubbed “Velcro,” a portmanteau of the French words velours (“velvet”) and crochet (“hook”).

 

7. Synthetic Dye

For most of human history, dyes and pigments were sourced from natural resources such as metals, minerals, and even bat guano. It was an expensive process, and one of the most costly colors to create was purple, which had to be sourced from a particular mollusk along the coast of Tyre, a city in modern Lebanon. In fact, the dye was so expensive that the color was reserved for royalty, with monarchs like Queen Elizabeth even passing laws to ensure as much. Then came 18-year-old British chemist William Henry Perkin. In 1856, Perkin was working in a lab, where he was trying (and failing) to produce a synthetic form of quinine, a compound found in the bark of cinchona trees and used to treat malaria. While washing out the brown sludge of one failed experiment with alcohol, the mixture turned a brilliant purple. Calling his creation “mauveine,” Perkin soon realized that not only was this dye cheap to produce, but it also lasted longer than dyes derived from natural sources, which tended to fade quickly. Perkin’s discovery kick-started a chain reaction of chemical advances that brought cheap, colorful dyes to the fashion industry. Within six years of Perkin’s happy accident, even Queen Victoria herself began wearing colorful garments of bright mauveine.

 

 

Source: Major Inventions That Were Created by Accident

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - KING TUT'S CURSE

Did you know.... On November 4, 1922, a team of researchers led by British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered a step that marked the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb. When King Tut's tomb itself was unearthed on November 26, 1922—after more than 3000 years of uninterrupted repose—some believed the pharaoh unleashed a powerful curse of death and destruction upon all who dared to disturb his eternal slumber. Like any urban legend or media sensation, the alleged "curse of the pharaohs" grew to epic proportions over the years. Here are nine people who might make you believe in such things, and one who should have been a direct recipient of Tut's wrath 100 years ago.

 

1. George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon
The man who financed the excavation of King Tut's tomb was the first to succumb to the supposed curse. Lord Carnarvon accidentally tore open a mosquito bite while shaving and ended up dying of blood poisoning shortly thereafter. This occurred a few months after the tomb was opened and a mere six weeks after the press started reporting on the "mummy's curse," which was thought to afflict anyone associated with disturbing the mummy. Legend has it that when Lord Carnarvon died, all the lights in his house—or, according to some accounts, all the lights in Cairo—mysteriously went out.

 

2. Sir Bruce Ingham
Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb, gave a paperweight to his friend Bruce Ingham as a gift. The paperweight appropriately (or perhaps quite inappropriately) consisted of a mummified hand wearing a bracelet that was supposedly inscribed with the phrase, "cursed be he who moves my body." Ingham did not die from the mummy's curse, though his house burned to the ground not long after receiving the gift. When he tried to rebuild, it was hit with a flood.

 

3. George Jay Gould
George Jay Gould was a wealthy American financier and railroad executive who visited the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1923 and fell sick almost immediately afterward. He never really recovered and died of pneumonia a few months later.

 

4. Aubrey Herbert
It's said that Lord Carnarvon's half-brother suffered from King Tut's curse simply by being related to the amateur Egyptologist. Aubrey Herbert was born with a degenerative eye condition and became totally blind late in life. A doctor suggested his rotten, infected teeth were somehow interfering with his vision, so Herbert had every single tooth pulled from his head in an effort to regain his sight. It didn't work. He did, however, die of sepsis as a result of the dental surgery, just five months after the death of his supposedly cursed brother.

 

5. Hugh Evelyn-White

Hugh Evelyn-White, a British archaeologist, visited King Tut's tomb and may have helped excavate the site. By 1924, after seeing death sweep over about two dozen of his fellow excavators, Evelyn-White died by suicide—but not before writing, allegedly in his own blood, "I have succumbed to a curse which forces me to disappear."

 

6. Aaron Ember
American Egyptologist Aaron Ember was friends with many of the people who were present when King Tut's tomb was opened, including Lord Carnarvon. Ember died in 1926, when his house in Baltimore burned down less than an hour after he and his wife hosted a dinner party. He could have exited safely, but his wife encouraged him to save a manuscript he had been working on while she fetched their son. Sadly, they and the family's maid died in the catastrophe. The name of Ember's manuscript? The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

 

7. Richard Bethell
Bethell was Lord Carnarvon's secretary and the first person behind Carter to enter the tomb. He died in 1929 under suspicious circumstances—though one modern historian has attributed his death to the work of infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. Bethell was found smothered in his room at an elite London gentlemen's club. Soon after, the Nottingham Evening Post mused, "The suggestion that the Hon. Richard Bethell had come under the ‘curse’ was raised last year, when there was a series of mysterious fires at [his] home, where some of the priceless finds from Tutankhamen’s tomb were stored." No evidence of a connection between artifacts and Bethell's death was established, though.

 

8. Sir Archibald Douglas Reid
Proving that you didn't have to be one of the excavators or expedition backers to fall victim to Tutankhamun's curse, Sir Archibald Douglas Reid, a radiologist, merely X-rayed Tut before the mummy was given to museum authorities. He got sick the next day and was dead three days later.

 

9.  James Henry Breasted
James Henry Breasted, another famous Egyptologist of the day, was a member of Carter's team when King Tut's tomb was opened. Shortly thereafter, he allegedly returned home to find that his pet canary had been eaten by a cobra—and the cobra was still occupying the cage. Since the cobra is a symbol of the Egyptian monarchy, and a motif that kings wore on their headdresses to represent protection, this was a rather ominous sign. Breasted himself didn't die until 1935, although his death did occur immediately after a trip to Egypt.

 

10. Howard Carter

Carter never had a mysterious, inexplicable illness and his house never fell victim to any fiery disasters. He died of lymphoma at the age of 64. His tombstone even says, "May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness." Perhaps the pharaohs saw fit to spare him from their curse.

 

 

Source: Victims of King Tut's Curse (And One Who Should Have Been)

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

Did you know.... Apotpourri of memorable dance scenes and endearing jokes, Singin' in the Rain is the type of film beloved by both cinema buffs and casual fans who become ensnared while channel-surfing on a Saturday night. Although perhaps underappreciated (more on that below) when it was released in the spring of 1952, the film has endured as one of the all-time greats thanks to the inspired work of star/choreographer/co-director Gene Kelly, and the efforts of supporting stars Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, and Jean Hagen. Read on to learn more about what went into the production of this classic Hollywood gem.

 

1. The Soundtrack Mostly Consisted of Well-Known Songs
Co-written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, Singin' in the Rain was essentially a vehicle for recycling a catalog of old songs created by the film's producer, Arthur Freed, and his longtime composing partner, Nacio Brown. Although it's now closely associated with Kelly's iconic dance number, the film's title track was written in the late 1920s and appeared in at least seven MGM films overall. Other tracks, like "All I Do Is Dream of You" and "You Were Meant for Me," were also featured in previous pictures and recorded by multiple artists. According to Singin' in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece, the only new pieces written for the film were "Moses Supposes" — with the lyrics partly lifted from 19th-century English nonsense verse — and "Make 'Em Laugh" — which bore a strong resemblance to the Kelly-performed "Be a Clown" from 1948's The Pirate.

 

2. Debbie Reynolds Endured Harsh Training From Gene Kelly

A 19-year-old with limited screen and dance experience when she was cast for the role of Kathy Selden, Debbie Reynolds learned the hard way what it was like to work with a top-notch pro like Kelly. The film's nimble-footed lead was relentless when it came to training his romantic co-star, who at one point was found sobbing beneath a rehearsal studio piano by Fred Astaire. The day-long shooting for the "Good Morning" dance scene reportedly left her with bloody feet, a grueling experience rendered unnecessary when Kelly wound up using the first take. Although she later gave Kelly credit for whipping her into shape, Reynolds also compared the making of the movie to childbirth, saying they were the "two hardest things" she'd ever done.

 

3. Gene Kelly Battled a Fever While Shooting the "Singin' in the Rain" Sequence

Although he seems happy as a clam during his title-track song-and-dance scene, Kelly was feeling less than glorious while gritting through his moves in a wool suit with a 103-degree fever. Of course, he didn't have the luxury of taking much time off to recover, so, according to his wife, he relaxed in the sunlight between takes to "just kind of bake this fever out of him." Another problem affecting the scene was the amount of water needed to simulate a rainstorm. Although a network of pipes normally ensured that Kelly was sufficiently drenched, filming had to pause when local residents watered their lawns in the late afternoon and caused the set's flow to dim to a trickle.

 

4. Reynolds' Voice Was Dubbed for Two Songs and One Speaking Scene

Naturally, in a movie that spotlights Hollywood's use of uncredited singers supplying voice work for its headlining talents, there's an uncredited singer supplying voice work for a headlining talent. As described in The Making of an American Masterpiece, Reynolds' solo performance for "Would You?" and her duet with Kelly on "You Are My Lucky Star" were both dubbed by actress Betty Noyes. Furthermore, in the scene where Reynolds' Kathy Selden is recording the spoken lines to be used by Hagen's screechy Lina Lamont, that's actually Hagen's real voice being used.

 

5. "Make 'Em Laugh" Was Strung Together From Donald O'Connor's Bag of Trick

A standout number in a film bursting with standout numbers, "Make 'Em Laugh" differed from the other Kelly-choreographed sequences in that it was pieced together with bits from O'Connor’s days as a vaudeville star. Per An American Masterpiece, this included stunts such as the backflip off the wall — performed in two of his previous movies — and the running-in-circles-on-the-floor gag, borrowed from Jerry "Curly" Howard of the Three Stooges. Several sources, including O'Connor, have claimed that he was bedridden with exhaustion after shooting the scene, and then had to shoot it again because the original footage was ruined, although O'Connor contradicted himself when he told Roger Ebert in 2003 that those travails were fabricated.

 

6. The Film Was Initially Overshadowed by Another Kelly Featur

Although it was generally well reviewed and turned a profit at the box office, Singin' in the Rain was hardly considered an instant classic. That's partly because it was overshadowed by Kelly's previous musical, An American in Paris (1951), which claimed a whopping eight Oscars at the March 1952 Academy Awards. (Singin' in the Rain won zero Oscars the following year.) Within a few decades, however, Singin' had surpassed An American in Paris as the defining musical of its time. Among the accolades that burnished its legacy, Singin' was among the 25 motion pictures selected for the brand-new National Film Registry in 1989, and it ranked No. 5 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years … 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list in 2008.

 

 

Source: Sunny Facts About “Singin’ in the Rain”

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - CHESS

Did you know.... It’s sometimes said that soccer is the world’s game, but if there’s any activity that offers something close to universal appeal, it’s probably chess, with a reported 600 million-plus regular adult participants. Given the minimal space and physical exertion needed, it’s easy to see why, although chess can definitely count as a mental workout. While most of us would fail at executing an acrobatic scissor kick, it’s somewhat easier (at least physically) to learn to strategically move chess pieces to opportune spots while slowly reducing an opponent to a quivering mess. Read on to learn six fun facts about the ultimate battle board game, but be sure to keep a watchful eye on your king.

 

1. Chess Evolved From the Indian Board Game Chaturanga

Although the exact rules of the sixth-century Indian board game chaturanga are lost to time, enough is known to label it a clear forerunner to chess. Like its more recent relative, chaturanga was a simulated war game that involved moving pieces of differing attacking capabilities, with the end goal of capturing the opponent's king-like piece. Chaturanga was eventually adapted into shatranj (or chatrang) by Persian players, and this was the version of the game that spread across Europe. With the introduction of a few key changes, including the transformation of a somewhat punchless king's minister into the mighty queen, the modern form of chess was born in the 15th century.

 

2. Benjamin Franklin Helped Popularize Chess in the U.S.

A man of immense intellectual capacity, Benjamin Franklin was unsurprisingly drawn to the challenges that arose from the chessboard. He wrote of playing as far back as 1733, and later was often seen competing in public venues during his time as minister to France in the 1770s and '80s. His treatise "The Morals of Chess," which surfaced in 1779, is considered the first published work on the subject by an American author. Although he was perhaps admired more for his enthusiasm than pure talent, Franklin's endorsement of the game boosted its popularity in his home country, and eventually led to his induction into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1999.

 

3. Many Chess Champions Have Come From Russia

After Austria's Wilhelm Steinitz won the first official World Chess Championship in 1886, the top ranks of international chess became increasingly dominated by Russian-born competitors. Along with delivering the game's first female champion in Vera Menchik, the talent pool from this area of the world produced a series of men's champions of almost exclusively Soviet/Russian nationality during the second half of the 20th century. The one player to break through the Eastern Bloc was American Bobby Fischer, who defeated Boris Spassky for the championship in 1972, although he was later stripped of the title in 1975 for refusing to follow federation rules.

 

4. There Are More Possible Chess Moves Than Atoms in the Observable Universe

This is the sort of tidbit that pops up on internet searches without much of an explanation, but it’s valid if you follow the logic proposed by mathematician Claude Shannon, sometimes called the "father of information theory." According to his 1950 paper "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess," there are approximately 1,000 unique possibilities for each coupled pair of white-then-black moves, which adds up to 10 to the power of 120 possible moves — aka the "Shannon Number" — for a game lasting 40 turns. As there are an estimated 10 to the power of 80 atoms in the observable universe, that would be checkmate for the Shannon Number in this comparison of incomprehensibly enormous figures.

 

5. The 1997 Deep Blue-Kasparov Match Marked a Turning Point for Computer Chess

While Shannon and fellow geniuses like Alan Turing were fixated on chess-playing computers as far back as the 1950s, the landmark moment in this field arrived in May 1997, when the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. Although the humbled champ suspected that human intervention was involved because of an unusual sacrifice offered by his opponent — later explained as a bug in the software — the rapid development of computing power soon obliterated any hope of humans retaining the edge over machines. Writing of his experience playing computers in 2010, Kasparov casually mentioned that anyone could buy a "home PC program that will crush most grandmasters." In fact, it’s now been at least 15 years since a human beat a computer in a chess tournament.

 

6.  The World’s Biggest Chess Set Can Be Found in Norway

 

While some programmers are devoted to creating ever smarter and faster chess engines, other fans of the game remain fixated on size. As such, there are several claims to the title of world's largest chess board, although the winner, as of 2023, appears to be the 11.5-by-11.5-meter MegaChess set in Stavanger, Norway. A similar battle plays out for the distinction of largest chess piece: The World Chess Hall of Fame advertises ownership of the reigning champ, a 20-foot king, on its Missouri campus, while publicly ignoring the 20-foot, 6-inch king unveiled by a French chess club in 2022.

 

Source: Crowning Facts About Chess

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - FUNGI

Did you know.... We eat them. We drink them. We breathe them — fungi are truly everywhere. Not quite plants and not quite animals, fungi are masters of their own biological kingdom, and scientists estimate that there may be a staggering 3.8 million species. To put that number in perspective, scientists only know about 320,000 plant species total. Fungi can be good or bad for us; some contain compounds that can alter human brain chemistry, while others serve a vital role in making foods that have sustained countries and empires. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the humble fungus, and these six amazing facts show why.

 

1. They’re More Like Humans Than Plants

For centuries, fungi were misclassified as plants — and it’s an understandable mistake to make. After all, both appear to have a stalk-like structure and otherwise look visually similar. However, fungi have more in common with animals than they do with plants. Some 1.5 billion years ago, animals and fungi separated from plants, and it wasn’t for another 10 million years that fungi and humans went their separate evolutionary ways. Using computational phylogenetics, scientists discovered that humans and fungi are actually part of the same biological clade, called an “opisthokonta,” named after a part now found in both animal sperm and fungal spores. It’s estimated that humans and fungi share roughly 50% of their DNA.

 

2. They’re Used in Some of Humanity’s Most Important Medicines

Fungi are often considered a fine delicacy, a poisonous hazard, or a hallucinogenic head trip, but they also play a vital role in medicine. The most famous fungi-based drug is penicillin, whose lifesaving properties were discovered completely by accident. In 1928, upon returning to his laboratory at St. Mary’s Hospital in London after a two-week vacation, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming found mold growing on a petri dish of Staphylococcus, a group of bacteria known to cause a variety of infections. Instead of tossing the petri dish in the trash, Fleming noticed that the mold, a fungi known as penicillium, appeared to stop the bacteria dead in its tracks. This happy accident kick-started a mission to create the world’s first antibiotic — one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 20th century and arguably one of the greatest in human history.

 

3. One Fungi Can Turn Ants Into Zombies

While some fungi can save lives, others can take them. Take, for instance, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. Found in tropical forests, this fungus possesses the incredibly creepy ability to essentially take control of an ant’s body (likely via its nervous system), effectively transforming it into a zombie. Compelled by the fungus to find a humid microclimate more advantageous for the fungus’ propagation, the ant moves to a suitable spot and eventually dies, and the fungus uses its desiccated corpse to produce fruiting bodies that’ll send spores off to infect more ants — and the cycle continues. This specific fungus inspired the hit video game and television series The Last of Us, which follows a society in collapse as humans become mindless zombies in service of this bizarre fungus. Thankfully, in reality, human bodies are far too warm and complex for Ophiocordyceps unilateralis to have any mind-altering effect.

 

4. A Fungus in Oregon Is the World’s Largest Organism

Located in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon and known affectionately as “the Humongous Fungus,” Armillaria ostoyae is the largest known organism in the world by biomass. Stretching 2,385 acres (about the size of the Mall of America), this fungus (and its interconnected mycelia) is located mostly underground — in fact, hikers could walk on it and not even notice. Scientists discovered this massive fungus (also known as the honey mushroom, in reference to its honey-colored cap) in 1998, but estimates suggest that the fungus has been lurking in the forest for around 10,000 years. Its location underground likely aids its longevity; scientists theorize that being cut off from the sun’s rays limits genetic mutations over millennia. The fungus isn’t great news for trees in the vicinity, since it often kills them, but the forest’s constant regeneration keeps the hungry fungus alive.

 

5. There are 80 Types of Fungi on the Heel of Your Foot

It’s easy to picture fungi as simple fruiting bodies popping out of dense, debris-littered forest floors, but microscopic fungi are literally everywhere — in the water you drink, the air you breathe, and yes, even on your body. Scientists in 2013 analyzed “hot spots” of the human body ripe for fungal growth (think palms, feet, etc.), and found that the heel is host to at least 80 different types of fungi. The rest of the foot doesn’t fare much better, with 60 types found in toenail clippings and 40 found between toes. Not all fungi are harmful to humans, but around half of them are, which is why feet are common victims of fungal infections such as athlete’s foot. But although some fungi can be a health risk, other microscopic fungi are what make life worth living — they serve as the biological engine behind such delicacies as bread, cheese, wine, and beer.

 

6. 90% of Fungi Is Unknown to Science

As recently as the 1960s, scientists still considered fungi to be plants, so it’s probably not surprising that there are a few more mysteries to uncover within this expansive kingdom. But finding the answers to those mysteries can be daunting, because scientists only know about 10% of the estimated 3.8 million species of fungi in the world. And yet fungal existence underpins the natural world itself: Fungi serve as vital decomposers, especially in the world’s forests and jungles. Today, fungi are being used for making new biofuels and breaking down plastics —and in some cases, even replacing plastics entirely. Fungus is truly among us, and it’s a very good thing that it is.

 

Source: Fantastic Facts About Fungi

 

 

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - STARBUCKS

Did you know... Few brands are as recognizable as Starbucks, a company that began in 1971 as a single Seattle-based store before blossoming into one of the world’s most notable coffee suppliers. Starbucks’ legendary green-and-white logo can be found in most corners of the globe, providing that important morning boost to coffee lovers everywhere. With a legacy over five decades old, Starbucks’ history is as fascinating as its coffee is invigorating. Keep reading to start your day off right with six facts about Starbucks to perk you up.

 

1. The Company’s Name Was Inspired by the Novel “Moby-Dick”

While the word “Starbucks” is known by coffee lovers worldwide, the singular version of that word holds a different meaning in the world of literature. The name of the brand was inspired by Herman Melville’s 1851 work Moby-Dick, though that almost wasn’t the case. When deciding on a name for their new company in 1971, the founders of Starbucks briefly considered “Cargo House.” The goal during those early brainstorming sessions was to come up with a name that captured an adventurous spirit and also reflected the storied fishing history of the Pacific Northwest. This in turn led to a suggestion by co-founder Gordon Bowker, who proposed the name “Pequod,” after the ship from Moby-Dick. However, the group decided that going for a “cup of Pequod” didn’t sound particularly appealing, forgot about Moby-Dick for the time being, and went back to the drawing board. As the brainstorming continued, Bowker claims that his business partner, designer Terry Heckler, mentioned that words beginning with “st” felt powerful. In searching for words beginning with “st,” the group came across an old mining town called “Starbo” on a map of the nearby Cascade Mountains. This reminded Bowker once again of Moby-Dick, and specifically the character Starbuck, who served as the first mate for Captain Ahab. Bowker’s suggestion was a hit with his co-founders, and they tacked on an “s” at the end and officially adopted the name “Starbucks” for their new brand.

 

2. Starbucks Won a Grammy Award in Collaboration With Ray Charles

Starbucks hasn’t only achieved greatness in the world of coffee, but in the music industry, too. Starbucks helped co-produce the 2004 Ray Charles album Genius Loves Company, which proved to be the final studio album by the legendary singer and pianist. The album features 12 awe-inspiring duets with other musical greats, including Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, and B.B. King. It wouldn’t have been possible without the backing of Starbucks, who partnered with Concord Records to produce the album. The result was a smash hit — Genius Loves Company went on to win eight Grammy Awards, including both Record and Album of the year, and also sold enough copies to go triple-platinum. Starbucks later acquired the Hear Music record label in 2007, expanding its influence in the world of music. However, despite producing albums for esteemed artists including Kenny G, Paul McCartney, and Carly Simon, the label ultimately fell by the wayside as digital music displaced physical media. Even still, Starbucks began a partnership with streaming service Spotify in 2016, ensuring that the coffee company would remain involved in the music scene to some degree.

 

3. There’s a Special Starbucks for Members of the CIA

With upwards of 30,000 publicly accessible franchises worldwide, there’s only one Starbucks that specially caters to members of the Central Intelligence Agency. Located inside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, this Starbucks is only available to those with the highest levels of security clearance. While the store is decorated to look like a normal Starbucks in order to help humanize an otherwise tense job, the experience at this Starbucks is anything but normal. In order to maintain secrecy, receipts merely depict “Store Number 1” as opposed to any specific location. Furthermore, baristas — who undergo extensive background checks — are forbidden from writing names on any of the cups, not even aliases; this is done to preserve the confidential identities of CIA agents. Don’t try using your Starbucks rewards card here either, as such perks are banned for fear that they could “fall into the wrong hands.” Despite all these irregularities compared to the normal experience, the store remains an immensely popular fixture among CIA employees and boasts long lines at all hours of the day.

 

4. Different Colored Starbucks Aprons Mean Different Things

When Starbucks was first founded in 1971, its baristas were known for wearing simple brown grocers’ aprons. In 1987, the company adopted their now-iconic green aprons featuring a brand-new logo, which remains the norm for the majority of baristas. Though you’re likely to mostly see green aprons at Starbucks locations, other designs may pop up from time to time. Some Starbucks aprons boast practical applications — traditional green aprons that are embroidered with ASL fingerspelling signify that the barista is fluent in American Sign Language. Others are unique to certain regions, including orange aprons, which are worn in the Netherlands during King’s Day, an annual Dutch celebration on April 27. This seasonality extends to America as well, where red aprons are worn around the December holidays. The colors black and purple, however, are worn only by the best of the best. The coveted black apron is worn by Starbucks Coffee Masters, who complete the Starbucks Coffee Academy and earn their certification for being extraordinarily passionate and knowledgeable about the product. Even more prestigious is the purple apron, which signifies being a champion barista. These are given to winners of the company’s annual international Starbucks Barista Championship, making it the rarest color of the bunch.

 

5. The World’s Largest Starbucks Is Located in Chicago, Illinois

In 2019, the 32,000-square-foot Tokyo Reserve Roastery ceded its “World’s Largest Starbucks” title to a brand-new location on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois. Encompassing 35,000 square feet of area and spanning five stories, the new world’s largest Starbucks provides a different experience on every floor. The first and second stories offer customers the chance to sample Reserve brand Starbucks coffee, consume baked goods, and purchase Chicago-themed Starbucks merchandise. Moving up to the third floor, you can find an experiential coffee bar, featuring unique nitrogen-infused gelato drinks and special pistachio lattes, among other concoctions. Floor four offers a different kind of Starbucks experience, as it’s home to a bar brewing up decadent alcoholic cocktails. Last but not least, the fifth floor allows the opportunity for customers to enjoy their Starbucks beverages in a private rooftop setting. All in all, you’re not going to find a bigger Starbucks anywhere in the world.

 

6. Starbucks Invented the Pumpkin Spice Latte

Love it or hate it, the pumpkin spice latte is a part of the American coffee identity. It’s hard to imagine that the drink didn’t exist as recently as the early 2000s, and we have Starbucks to thank for the seasonal treat — they introduced it in 2003. Pumpkin spice lattes were created by the “Liquid Lab” at Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters, and are considered to be the brainchild of Peter Dukes. Dukes had the idea for the latte back in 2001, at a time when Starbucks was trying to conceive of a fall-themed beverage that would become as popular as their seasonal holiday drinks. Short of an actual recipe, the testers brought pumpkin pies into a lab, poured espresso atop, and ate the pie in what proved to be a delicious treat. After matching the taste in drink form, the result blew up into a worldwide sensation. Pumpkin spice lattes were first tested in 100 Starbucks stores in 2003 before launching worldwide the following year. They went on to sell upwards of 500 million cups in the drink’s first 18 years on the market. The drink has expanded far beyond Starbucks ever since, becoming an autumnal staple of coffee shops everywhere.

 

 

Source: Facts About Starbucks to Perk You Up

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - NATIVE PLANT GARDEN

Did you know... Maybe you’ve heard of No-Mow May or the anti-lawn movement: Both encourage homeowners to create more flora- and fauna-friendly habitats in their yards. Planting native flowers, shrubs, and trees instead of ornamentals or plain grass around your home has a number of long-term environmental benefits. Native plants provide food and shelter for wildlife; offer a habitat for pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds; and increase biodiversity. These gardens often need less maintenance and use fewer resources than regular landscaping, and they may (indirectly) boost your mental health. Here a few tips to get you started. 

 

1.  Assess your property’s micro-environments.

Your first step, even before ripping out your grass, is to take a close look at your yard’s environment. Plants require specific amounts of light, water, and soil nutrients to thrive, so you’ll want to create a profile of your yard’s characteristics. Note which areas get full sun (at least six hours per day), are partially shaded (receiving at least six hours of shade or dappled sun), or are in the shade for most of the day. Then figure out what type of soil you have. Most soil in the United States is either sandy, silty, clay, or a mix of these types. Forming a ball of soil in your hand and seeing if it sticks together is a quick way to assess your soil’s makeup [PDF]—the firmer the ball, the more clay-ey the soil. It will also help to do a pH test to discover whether your soil is particularly acidic or alkaline; you can find inexpensive test kits at hardware stores. Finally, check how water drains from your yard. Take note of low-lying spots that puddle or areas that seem to dry out quickly after a rain storm. As you put together your yard profile, review the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zones map to find out which zone you live in. The zones indicate average temperatures and climates and give you a clue about which plants will do well in your area. You’ll find the hardiness zones for specific plants marked on their pots or seed packets.

 

2. Map out the areas for planting.
This is an optional but helpful step if you plan to totally remake your yard into a Garden of Eden. On a piece of graph paper (if you’re old school) or by using an online garden-planning template, sketch a map of your entire yard, including your house’s footprint, patio, or any other features, along with the areas you intend to plant. Label the different areas according to your yard profile—chances are, some areas are fully sunny, while others are shaded at certain times of the day. Some templates and apps will allow you to input placeholder trees, shrubs, and perennials, so you can design your native garden according to plant size or type. You may want to cluster shrubs and flowers around a tree or outline your home with a bed of different bushes. Or you can skip this step by simply replanting existing flower beds with native species.

 

3. Make a “lasagna garden.”

You’ll want to have your planting beds fully prepped before heading out to the local nursery. Impatient and labor-averse gardeners can create a “lasagna garden.” No, this doesn’t mean dumping pasta in the woods; it’s a toil-free method for getting rid of weeds and nourishing the soil at the same time.  A lasagna garden will work best in full sunlight. Basically, you stack layers of organic materials—which might normally go in a compost bin—on top of the area you want to go native. The first layer should be made of damp newspaper or cardboard and completely cover the bed to smother existing grass and weeds. The next layer should be carbon-rich organic stuff (a.k.a. “browns”) like dead leaves, straw, mulch, or wood chips. On top of that, spread a layer of nitrogen-rich material (a.k.a. “greens”) such as grass clippings, coffee grounds, or vegetable scraps. The greens layer should be about one-fourth the thickness of the browns layer. Then, repeat the browns and greens layers as needed until your lasagna is about a foot and a half tall (it will “cook down” over time). When the layers are laid, you can sit back and let sunlight and microbes do their thing. You may want to water the lasagna during dry spells, and top up the layers as they break down into compost, but there’s no turning or sifting needed. After a few months, you’ll have weed-free, nutrient-rich soil ready for your herbaceous babies. 

 

4. Choose plants that are native to your region of the country.
Here’s where the fun starts! But the vast amounts of information online can be a little bewildering. A tried-and true source to help you choose and find native plants is your state’s university cooperative extension service. These government-supported, education-focused programs offer tons of useful, trustworthy tips for home gardeners, including information about plants native to your state and regionally specific hacks (like choosing deer-resistant species). Another great resource is the National Audubon Society’s Native Plants database. You can punch in your ZIP code to see a big list of species native to your area, then filter the results by plant type, plant resources (like nuts, berries, or nectar), and even by the kind of birds you want to attract to your yard. You can let your imagination run wild by browsing an analog wildflower or tree field guide, or by checking the website of the native plant society in your state. The societies often have active Facebook groups with members sharing tips and tricks. The USDA also suggests native alternatives to some common non-native landscape plants.

 

5. Find native plants online or at a specialty nursery.

Your local Home Depot or Walmart probably doesn’t stock a lot of native plants. Your best bet for finding natives is a specialty nursery in your area, or by ordering plants from online retailers that specify they carry natives.  Online retailers offer copious information about their plants’ growing requirements so you can quickly eliminate the ones that won’t be suited to your space. Plants will usually be shipped either in soil-filled containers or as a bare root with no soil. Each method has its advantages—containerized plants look more “established,” while bare roots weigh less and are thus cheaper to buy and ship. Online nurseries usually stock native flora in the spring so gardeners can plant them at the proper time of the year (and you might find the most popular types sell out quickly, so don’t wait to order once you know what you want). Natives can also be grown from seeds, though you’ll likely have to wait six months to a year after planting for full gratification.

 

6. Attract more pollinators with your native garden.

Once you’ve planted your natives, you can add features to your gardenscape to attract pollinators and increase your area’s biodiversity. Providing a water source helps birds and insects stay hydrated. A simple birdbath is good start (though it’s important to freshen the water a few times a week—you don’t want mosquito larvae growing in there.) Bird feeders offering a variety of seeds, fruit, and nectar can complement the native plant offerings and lure colorful, active species; make sure you regularly clean the feeders to prevent the spread of avian diseases. In addition to the shelter provided by your native garden, you can mount bird houses, bat boxes, or bee hotels around your yard and encourage pollinators to return year after year.

 

7. Know your enemies—but be careful when killing them.
No matter how diligently you layered your lasagna, you will likely end up with weeds or other volunteers in your garden. Do not reach for the Roundup! Using chemical herbicides and pesticides on weeds and insects will also harm your native flora—and one of the main reasons behind native gardening is to attract beneficial bugs. These chemicals can also prove lethal for birds. If you do have an infestation that is damaging plants, seek out non-chemical mitigation methods. The best way to permanently eliminate invasives like kudzu, English ivy, or Japanese honeysuckle—to name but a few—without harming other plants is to manually dig up their roots. A weeder is indispensable for this purpose. You can also apply a non-toxic weed killer like vinegar to individual weeds. It may take a season or two for your native garden to thrive, but its beauty and environmental benefits will last a long time.

 

 

Source: Tips for Growing a Native Plant Garden

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MEDICAL MARVELS

Did you know.... Medicine has come a long way since the four humors and miasma theory. Today’s medical advances incorporate futuristic technology like human-robot interfaces, lab-grown cells, and interspecies transplantation to help patients live healthier and more rewarding lives. Here are a few recent breakthroughs.

 

1. A Bionic Nose to Smell the Roses

More than 20% of the general population may experience the loss of their sense of smell, known as anosmia, at some point in their lives. Anosmia can be caused by an injury or disease, and it’s a common symptom of COVID-19. Now, a neuroprosthetic nose being developed by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Smell and Taste Disorders Center could help people with long-term anosmia by restoring their sense of smell. The device works by transforming odor into radio waves and transmitting the signal directly to the brain, bypassing the olfactory nerves. The concept is similar to a cochlear implant: Users wear a small sensor that picks up an aroma in the air and transmits it to a tiny processor, which turns it into a specific frequency and sends it to a receiver implanted in the user’s brain. The receiver then sends the signal to electrodes that stimulate the brain as if the user were smelling the odor. If the final product makes it to market, this bionic nose may one day help people smell again.

 

2. 3D-Printed Hearts to Help Doctors Test Treatments

Everybody’s heart is different, and the tricky part of treating heart disease is figuring out which treatments are best for a specific patient. Over the past few years, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been developing 3D-printed hearts to help cardiologists save lives. First, specialists take images of a patient’s heart and then convert them into a digital model. They can 3D-print the model using a flexible ink, creating a malleable ticker that is anatomically and mechanically identical to the patient’s. Doctors can even 3D-print arteries and valves and manipulate the parts to test various treatments for the patient’s condition. Though they’re not meant for transplanting, the hearts have the potential to help doctors quickly tailor treatments (such as choosing the right kind of synthetic valve to implant) to individual people.

 

3. Lab-Grown Retinal Cells That Act Like the Real Thing

Researchers supported by the National Eye Institute had a recent breakthrough in the fight against vision loss. They not only grew real human retinal cells in their lab; they were able to coax the cells into forming synapses, the connections that allow the retina to capture images and eventually send them to the brain. In their experiment, the scientists grew stem cells into the different cells that make up the eye’s retina, such as light-sensing rods and cones, which eventually formed rudimentary organoids (tiny tissue cultures derived from stem cells). Then they broke them up into individual cells, severing any synapses that had formed, and injected the cells with a molecule that would show whether new synapses grew. After just 20 days, the different types of cells had formed the circuits and were “talking” with one another. That is raising hopes for restoring people’s sight through transplantation. Retinal cells aren’t the only organoids that researchers have been able to create from human stem cells, though: Liver, bone, skin, muscle, and even brain organoids have been grown in labs.

 

4. Robotic Hands With the Sense of Touch

Robotic prostheses for people who have lost their arms or hands have been around for over a decade; wearers can control the devices by using muscles in their shoulders or just by thinking about specific movements. But a common complaint among users is that the prostheses don’t feel natural. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Rehab Neural Engineering Labs recently succeeded in creating prosthetic hands with sensors that “touch.” When a person grasps an object with the sensor-enabled hand, it transmits the sensation of touch to the wearer’s nervous system via an implanted receiver near the spine. People who have participated in experimental studies report a tingling feeling similar to the natural sense of touch. Researchers believe that the sensors will help users with robotic hands perform actions more efficiently, and the bionic body parts may also reduce phantom pain associated with limb loss.

 

5. Curing Genetic Conditions With Gene Therapy

Since the development in 2012 of CRISPR-Cas9, a molecular tool that can fix faulty DNA by activating or deactivating genes or removing them altogether, scientists have been trying to use the tool to cure genetic diseases. Through much trial and error, as well as controversy, a handful of treatments based on gene therapy have now been FDA-approved. One genome-editing therapy treats an inherited blood disorder called beta-thalassemia, in which the body doesn’t produce enough red blood cells and thus isn’t able to deliver enough oxygen to muscles and organs. The single-dose treatment genetically modifies some of the patient’s own blood cells so that they function correctly. Researchers are hopeful that a similar genome-editing approach will also cure sickle cell disease, an excruciating genetic blood disorder affecting mainly people of African descent. A clinical trial for a CRISPR-based sickle cell treatment has shown “prolonged benefit” for participants, according to a report in STAT.

 

6. A Brave New World of Animal-to-Human Transplants

The chronic shortage of human organs for transplants led a team of surgeons to take what some might view as a dramatic step. In 2022, in a medical first, a patient with severe heart disease received a brand new heart from a pig. The 240-pound, genetically modified animal had been raised for the purpose. The surgery, which took place at the University of Maryland Medical Center, was successful: the patient survived the procedure and was breathing on his own a couple of days afterward, with the heart pumping appropriately. However, the patient died two months after the surgery, likely due to a porcine virus that was transferred along with the heart; the patient’s weakened immune system couldn’t fight it off. Despite the unhappy outcome, many consider the experimental operation useful toward making xenotransplantation an option for people needing new organs.

 

 

Source: Modern Medical Marvels

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - POOLS

Did you know... Feeling the heat? Head to the pool for a dip, a splash, or to swim some laps. Or just immerse yourself in these incredible facts about swimming pools. They might not cool you down, but they will give you something to ponder as you bask in all that beauty and chlorine.

 

1. Heated Swimming Pools Are Old — Really Old

Think warm swimming pools are a modern invention? Think again: Gaius Maecenas beat modern pool-makers to it by about two millennia. The wealthy ancient Roman diplomat and patron of the arts championed luxurious baths heated underneath the floors all the way back in the first century BCE, leading to a boom in warm public baths that, as one historian writes, were "hugely prodigal of fuel and finance." They became a must-have feature in luxurious Roman villas, then a common feature in public baths around the reign of Augustus (31 BCE to 14 CE).

 

2. U.S. Pools Were Originally Designed to Keep the Masses Clean

Boston's Cabot Street Bath was the nation's first indoor municipal pool. Founded in 1868, the pool was on the bleeding edge of what would become a boom in baths designed to help the working classes clean up. The short-lived facility (it was open for only eight years) was soon followed by municipal baths and pools all over the nation, especially in cities with growing immigrant populations whose tenement apartments didn't contain adequate bathing facilities. In New York, starting in 1870, river water filled floating, pool-like public baths that, according to one onlooker, were as filthy as "floating sewers." Eventually, by about the mid-20th century, the city's river baths morphed into the indoor pools we know today — though the city does still have some seasonal outdoor pools.

 

 

3. Arizona Is Pool Heaven

With its dry, hot weather and its low building costs, Arizona is America's swimming pool hot spot. One recent survey found that a full 32.7% of homes in Phoenix have in-ground pools, beating out Miami and even Las Vegas for the most pools per capita. But there's a dark horse on the list of cities with the highest residential pool ownership: Buffalo, New York, where 8.3% of residences have pools. Portland, Oregon, came in last in the survey, ranking even lower than cold cities like Milwaukee and Chicago.

 

4. You Can Thank Rowers for the Modern Swimsuit

Speaking of Portland, the city was home to the company that popularized today's modern swimsuit: Jantzen, formerly known as the Portland Knitting Company. In 1913, a rower approached the company in search of something he could comfortably wear on his bottom half while rowing. Soon, the company had popularized swimming trunks, and went on to popularize modern, slim-silhouette suits for women, too. The company became so big that it had its own Oregon amusement park designed to encourage swimming. The Jantzen Beach Amusement Park along the Columbia River opened in 1928 and was popular until it closed in 1970.

 

5. This Pool Gave New Meaning to “Religious About Swimming”

In 1931, Joseph Stalin's Communist government blew up Moscow's landmark Christ the Savior Cathedral in order to build what eventually became the mother of all Soviet public works projects: the Palace of Soviets, intended to be a combination conference hall/administrative building. But the project never came to fruition, so the Soviets designed and built a massive pool on the site instead. For years, it was the largest in the USSR. The Moskva pool, as it was known, was the size of two soccer fields and hosted thousands of Muscovites in search of a swim. Alas, it didn't survive the USSR: It was drained after the collapse of the Soviet Union and is now the site of a rebuilt cathedral.

 

6. Swimming Pools Were the Original Skate Parks

In the late 1970s, drought hit Southern California — and prompted many to drain their pools. Their loss was skateboarding's gain: As a result, skating kicked and pushed its way into the mainstream as kids with boards flew around the interiors of all those emptied pools (legally or not), an activity known as bowl skating or pool skating. Major skateboarding stars like Tony Hawk got their start pool skating. Modern skate parks still contain concrete pool-like structures designed for vert skateboarding, which involves skating up an incline.

 

 

Source: Cool Facts About Swimming Pools

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - SUGAR

Did you know.... It’s hard to imagine life without a spoonful of sugar. It helps fuel our sweet tooth and our bursts of energy, and it just may be a future way to power high-flying jets. It’s also been with us for a while: Scientists believe the saccharine substance likely made its way into our guts by accident millennia ago, eventually becoming a standard human craving as it spread across the globe. Take a bite out of sugar’s backstory with these six sweet facts.

 

1. All Plants Produce Sugar

Not all plants are made for eating, and chances are most aren’t palatable to human taste buds. However, nearly all plants make sugar, particularly those with green leaves. Sugar, aka sucrose, consists of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose; glucose is a naturally occurring byproduct of photosynthesis, the process plants undergo to convert sunlight to energy. Plants produce glucose in their leaves and then send it to their roots, storing the energy they need to grow. All plants store their sugar differently; some, like potatoes, transform it into starch, while others, like apple and orange trees, store sugar in their fruits. Plants with particularly high concentrations of glucose are the ones humans harvest for table sugar — specifically sugar cane and sugar beets.

 

2. Sugar Cane Originally Comes From New Guinea

More than 60 million acres of land worldwide are used for sugar cane farming, often in regions that were once tropical forests. The crops thrive in warm climates with consistent year-round temperatures — generally in spots close to the equator. However, biologists believe sugar cane plants, aka Saccharum officinarum, originated in just one spot — New Guinea — where Indigenous peoples may have cultivated the crop starting 10,000 years ago. Some researchers believe sugar cane was originally grown for chewing, like gum, and early farmers selected the sweetest, softest stalks for consumption. Over time, humans helped spread Saccharum plants through Southeast Asia, India, and the Pacific islands, where they merged with other wild sugar canes to create the modern variety we know and grow. By the 15th century, sugar cane plants made their way to the Americas, where they became established crops; today, Brazil is the world’s leading exporter of sugar cane.

 

3. More Than One-Third of the World’s Sugar Comes From Beets

Not all commercially produced sugar comes from sugar cane plants; about one-third of the world’s sugar supply comes from sugar beets, a root crop that thrives in cooler temperatures far from the equator. More than half of the U.S. sugar supply comes from sugar beets, which are grown in Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, and other northern and western states, and each year more than 4.5 million tons of sugar are produced from American-grown sugar beets. Each beet grows for about five months before reaching its maximum size: about a foot long, and weighing between 2 and 5 pounds. While sugar cane and sugar beets are grown and processed differently, the final sugar product is chemically identical. Nevertheless, some chefs believe the two sugars cook slightly differently and can have contrasting colors when caramelized or used to make syrups.

 

4. The 1904 World’s Fair Was a Sugar Showcase

World’s fairs may feel like a relic of the past; the last one in North America was in Vancouver in 1986. Yet they were the launching point for some of today’s favorite sugary treats. At the 1904 world’s fair (aka the Louisiana Purchase Exposition) in St. Louis, attendees got their first sample of fairy floss, the fluffy spun-sugar that’s now more commonly called cotton candy. The confection was so popular that creators William J. Morrison and John C. Wharton sold more than 65,000 boxes at 25 cents each — about half the price of admission to the fair. “Cornucopias,” aka ice cream cones, also hit American taste buds on a wide scale for the first time at the fair, crafted from rolled waffles and stuffed with ice cream. And while Jell-O had already been around in its fruit-flavored form since 1897, the world’s fair helped launch the jiggly sweet’s advertising campaign, with demonstrations that showed how easy it was to make by just adding hot water. The fair’s influence was immediately noticeable: Jell-O sales quadrupled between 1902 and 1906, reaching $1 million in sales.

 

5. There’s Sugar in Space

If you’re trying to curb your sweet tooth, it can feel like sugar is everywhere. And in some ways, you’re not wrong — sugar isn’t just on Earth; it can also be found in space. In 2000, space scientists discovered a simple sugar called glycolaldehyde while looking for other molecules that could potentially support life outside our atmosphere. Despite being labeled a “simple sugar,” glycolaldehyde plays a huge role in DNA creation; when combined with a chemical called propenal, it makes ribose, a major component of ribonucleic acid (aka RNA, a chemical chain found in all living things). However, this clue for potential space life has only been found in two spots: the center of the Milky Way, and near a star some 400 light-years from Earth.

 

6. Dogs Can Taste Sugar

Man’s best friend shares our ability to taste different flavors, albeit at a diminished level. While humans have between 2,000 and 10,000 taste buds (a number that shrinks with age), dogs have a mere 1,700. Yet studies have shown that dogs can taste sweetness. This trait may have developed from ancient dogs who lived as omnivores, consuming fruits and vegetables along with meat. However, not all household pets have a sweet tooth. Cats are unable to taste sugars and sweets because they lack the necessary taste buds thanks to genetic mutations that occurred millions of years ago — meaning that while dog owners may have to give up a scoop of ice cream or order a “pup cup,” cat parents are free to indulge without sharing, guilt-free.

 

 

Source: Sweet Facts About Sugar

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - MEMORIAL DAY

Did you know... Although many people look forward to Memorial Day as the unofficial start of summer, with pools and beaches opening and shuttered offices offering the chance to get out of town, the promise of a fun-filled weekend can obscure the meaning of a day intended to honor the military servicemen and women who lost their lives in battle. Read on to learn more about Memorial Day’s origins and other facts related to this American-born day of remembrance.

 

1. The Holiday Was Originally Known as "Decoration Day"

In the aftermath of the brutally bloody Civil War, communities in both Northern and Southern locales, especially widows, adopted the custom of visiting cemeteries in springtime to place flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers. One early proponent was Mary Ann Williams, a Georgia woman who entreated Southern women to decorate their fallen men’s graves, leading to a Confederate-focused holiday in Southern states that began in 1866. General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) veterans group then worked to popularize the holiday in the North. He declared May 30 as the date for such observances, and in 1868, the first major Decoration Day ceremony was held at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery. New York subsequently became the first state to make Decoration Day a legal holiday in 1873, and by 1890, every other former Union state had done the same.

 

2. The Town of Waterloo, New York, Is Recognized as the "Birthplace" of Memorial Day

More than two dozen sites have been linked to the foundation of Memorial Day, including a former racetrack in Charleston, South Carolina, that hosted a celebration by freed African Americans less than a month after Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. However, the formal winner of this designation is the town of Waterloo, New York, which was recognized by President Lyndon B. Johnson for its role as the "birthplace" of Memorial Day in 1966. On May 5, 1866, Waterloo held what has been called the "first, formal, complete, well-planned, village-wide observance of a day entirely dedicated to honoring the war dead."

 

3. Memorial Day Became a Federal Holiday in 1971

On June 28, 1968, President Johnson signed into law the Uniform Holiday Bill, which established Memorial Day as one of a series of federal holidays. Additionally, the bill decreed that Memorial Day (along with other holidays like George Washington’s Birthday and Veterans Day) would not take place on a fixed date, but would be observed on a Monday. LBJ was upfront about the economic reasons behind these extended holiday weekends, which he claimed would "stimulate greater industrial and commercial production." However, the associated commercialization continues to rankle plenty of veterans, some of whom want to see Memorial Day returned to its initial date of May 30.

 

4. There’s a Special Time of Day to Mark It

In response to the sense that the holiday was devoid of some of its original meaning, Congress in 2000 passed a law designed to prompt more sober observations of Memorial Day. The National Moment of Remembrance Act legally established 3:00 p.m. local time on Memorial Day as a moment to be observed “to raise awareness of and respect for the national heritage, and to encourage citizens to dedicate themselves to the values and principles for which those heroes of the United States died.” Ever since, the federal government — and even entities such as Greyhound and NASCAR — have observed a moment of silence at that hour. But one company marks it in a much louder way: Amtrak’s train conductors sound a long whistle during the moment of remembrance each year.

 

5. Formal Observances Include Guidelines for Flying Flags

Beyond the traditional parades held in many towns and the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. local time, there are a series of formalities tied to the commemoration of this holiday. Arlington National Cemetery remains the site of an annual ceremony marked by the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There's even an established Memorial Day protocol for those responsible for manning a flagpole: The flag is to be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon, then raised briskly to the top of the staff until sunset.

 

6. The Holiday’s Red Poppy Tribute Began After World War 1

The wearing of red poppies as a Memorial Day tradition grew from the World War I experiences of Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. Noting the proliferation of the flowers on the scarred European battlefields, McCrae penned the short but moving poem "In Flanders Fields," which appeared in London's Punch magazine in late 1915. The poem inspired American professor Moina Michael to campaign for the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, with Frenchwoman Anna Guérin picking up the cause on the other side of the Atlantic. Both clearly found a receptive audience, although outside the United States the remembrance poppies are more commonly associated with Armistice Day (Veterans Day in the U.S.).

 

7. An American General Delivered a Memorial Day Speech for the Ages in 1945

Memorial Day has been the occasion of many notable speeches. President Reagan offered a tribute to the remains of an unknown Vietnam combatant in 1984. LBJ foreshadowed the arrival of civil rights legislation in 1963. But perhaps the most stirring oratory was one that was delivered at Italy's Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in 1945 by General Lucian Truscott Jr. According to famed World War II cartoonist Bill Maudlin, the general stunned the audience when he suddenly turned and began addressing the soldiers buried behind him. "It was the most moving gesture I ever saw," Maudlin later wrote in his memoir. "He promised that if in the future he ran into anybody, especially old men, who thought death in battle was glorious, he would straighten them out. He said he thought that was the least he could do."

 

 

Source: Facts to Remember About Memorial Day

[DarkRavie]

Fact of the Day - YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Did you know.... As America's first national park and one of its most important biosphere reserves, Yellowstone holds a unique place in our national consciousness — more than four million people visit the park each year. However, with its rich history, there are likely many facts you've probably never heard of, even if you consider yourself a park aficionado. Here are eight fascinating Yellowstone National Park facts that will take your knowledge of America's favorite national park to the next level.

 

1. There's Another Grand Canyon at Yellowstone

When most people think of the Grand Canyon, they think of Arizona. But what about the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River? This 20-mile long canyon is said to be an important example of river-type erosion, with a depth of more than 1,000 feet. On the ridge of the canyon lies Artist Point, which offers one of the most beautiful views in the park. From this spot on the trail, you can see a majestic, 300-foot waterfall flowing into the canyon. If you look down, you'll see steep canyon walls in gorgeous hues of pink, orange, yellow, and red.

 

2. Half of the World's Geysers Are in the Park

Yellowstone is home to a whopping 10,000-plus hydrothermal features, including 500 geysers — which scientists estimate is about half of the world's geysers. The most famous is Old Faithful, which erupts around 17 times a day. Other breathtaking features, like the Beehive Geyser and Grotto Geyser, are somewhat less popular but still provide a thrilling show of geothermal action. So, if you're worried about Old Faithful being too crowded at peak times of the year, don't worry — you still have hundreds of other geysers to see.

 

3. Bison in Yellowstone Are the Oldest in America

While many other grassland areas have been over-hunted and bison have been driven to extinction, Yellowstone's herd has remained intact. According to the History Channel, Yellowstone's bison population is the only herd that has existed since prehistoric times in the United States. In the 19th century, the herd was hunted down to its last 23 members by avid fur traders exploring the Wild West. Today, however, the park is home to 5,500 bison, making it the biggest bison population in the country.

 

4. Yellowstone County Has Its Own Judicial System

For 30 years, the United States Army kept order at Yellowstone. Until 1916, soldiers patrolled the park to protect the wildlife from unscrupulous poachers. The park spans three states — Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming — all of which have differing laws pertaining to wildlife and preservation. To fix this decades-old issue of disputes in different parts of the park, Yellowstone officially created the Yellowstone County judicial system in 2006. That means if you break the law while you're visiting the park, you'll be put in the official Yellowstone jail. And, your mugshot may just be the only souvenir you get to take home.

 

5. The Park Is One of Only UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the U.S.

Around the world, 878 extraordinary locations have been designated as United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites. The United States only has 20 sites across the entire country, and Yellowstone is one of the most important. UNESCO's website provides a list of reasons for Yellowstone's coveted honor, including its distinctive manifestation of geothermal forces and vast number of rare species. These ecological features are why Yellowstone stands alongside culturally significant sites like the Great Barrier Reef and Machu Picchu.

 

6. Yellowstone Is Actually a Giant Supervolcano

Hot spots and geysers represent just a fraction of the action beneath the surface at Yellowstone. The whole park is actually a supervolcano, although it's not supposed to erupt anytime soon. But, how do we know this? Despite the warnings, Yellowstone is quite safe: Its supervolcano is made up of two magma chambers. The first chamber contains no more than 15% molten. Meanwhile, the second chamber contains only two percent molten. According to Forbes, it's practically impossible for a supervolcano to erupt unless its magma chambers contain at least 50% molten. So, rest easy — and don't forget to enjoy the view.

 

7. The Bears Aren't as Dangerous as You Think

In the entire history of Yellowstone, only eight people have ever been killed by bears in the park. To put this in perspective, that means only one in 2.7 million visitors will have a fatal bear encounter. Getting injured by a bear is a bit more common, but still happens only about every 20 years. The National Park Service cautions people to look out for falling trees instead, which kill the same number of people (but get a lot less media attention).

 

8. Hundreds of Unique Flowers Thrive in Yellowstone

An estimated 1,350 different types of flowering plants grow wild at Yellowstone, the vast majority native to the region. One remarkable plant that calls the park home is Yellowstone sand verbena, a flower which normally thrives in warm environments but has managed to grow at a 7,700 foot altitude inside the park. Another unique floral trademark of Yellowstone is Ross's Bentgrass, which grows exclusively in hot, vapor-heavy environments. This plant is a common sight at the park but rare everywhere else in the world.

 

 

Source: Famous Voice Actors You May Not Recognize (But You’ve Definitely Heard)