Wednesday, May 30, 2007

102

According to the movie Jesus Camp, 75% of homeschooled children in America are Evangelical Christians. I have such a thing against homeschooling. I know that there are some good reasons for it; however the vast majority of people who homeschool are not doing it for those reasons but for other, scarier reasons. Brainwashy reasons, in my opinion.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

101

CD101 (WWCD, 101.1 FM) began broadcasting on August 20, 1990. The first song they ever played was "Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello (Petrol)," by Something Happens.

I have been listening to CD101 my entire "adult" life (10 years?). I no longer have any idea how cool or uncool it is; I no longer care. That shit is part of who I am, and I don't say that lightly.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Ninety nine, One hundred

Today I learned about Eskimo kisses. Apparently Inuit people actually do/did this. It was just a greeting that was used because most skin was covered except for the nose and eyes. There are...a lot of people out there who I wouldn't want to rub noses with.

I also learned that basically all the stores at Easton close at 6 on Memorial Day (not Macy's!), which is dumb. I thought that Memorial Day was like a big shopping type holiday. There are always Memorial Day sales and everything. But everything was closed, and I didn't even see anything about it on their holiday hours section of the web site, even though I looked yesterday. Yet again I am foiled in my attempts to eat my weight in Cheryl's frosted triple chocolate cookies.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Ninety eight

Today I learned on the Food Network that Chinese take-out containers were originally oyster pails. Oysters were cheaper and more plentiful than they are today, so people would buy them and take them home in those little white containers. When oysters were overharvested and got more expensive, oyster pails were re-marketed as containers for Chinese food. Yum.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Ninety six, Ninety seven

I really could use a break from this blog. I'm not going to take one, I'm just saying I could use one. I'm learning as much as ever but sometimes it wears on me to have to remember what it was, where I read about it, etc. Aaaanyway...

1.) I learned about the word "bunny." I wondered where it came from, because it's really not similar at all the the word "rabbit." At least, say, "kitty" and "cat" are somewhat close-sounding. Well it's a really old word and it may be related to the "bun" hairstyle, so like, the little bunny tail is like a bun? Hehe. It also was a term for a pretty woman or young girl.

2.) I learned about something called "polymorphous light eruption" which sounds sort of like what I have as far as getting a rash in the sun, but also kind of not. I'm almost positive that mine's triggered by cosmetics (ie, lotion) but I'm not sure. It sucks, I'm sure of that.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Ninety four, Ninety five

I am going to put this up even though I feel like there might be errors...I just read something that gave a 1 in 3 statistic, but this says 1 in 27. Anyway, I heard somewhere once that all orange cats are male, but then recently I saw one or two female orange cats up for adoption at the CAHS. The answer is that MOST orange cats are male, but not all.
http://www.scienceiq.com/ShowFact.cfm?ID=207
The "Cat Scratchins" site that seems to best answer the question is not working, so I'll have to go with that one.

Today I learned about black squirrels. They are not native to the Kent State area, but a groundskeeper once brought in 10 of them and now they're all over the place. Once at my temp job I told this guy I was going to go to Kent State, and he said "ah, home of the black squirrels." I did not know what the hell he was talking about, and I just stared at him and then went back to reading my book. No wonder everybody thought I was a weirdo.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Ninety three

Today I learned about something called "quiverfull" which basically refers to people who don't believe in any kind of birth control and feel it's their duty to have as many kids as god wants them to have. You know, like the Duggars? Stars of all those shows on TLC like 15 Children and Moving In? It is too late for me to really get into my thoughts on this kind of thing, but I guess basically it comes down to: we already have enough people on this planet. We're full.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Ninety, Ninety one, Ninety two

Aight, three things for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

1.) A "biome" is "a major portion of the living environment of a particular region (such as a fir forest or grassland), characterized by its distinctive vegetation and maintained by local climatic conditions."

2.) Rainbows! Rainbows are caused when light is refracted upon entering a rain drop, reflects off the back, and then is refracted again on the way out the front. "
The amount by which light is refracted depends upon its wavelength, and hence its colour. Blue light (shorter wavelength) is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but because the area of the back of the droplet has a focal point inside the droplet, the spectrum crosses itself, and therefore the red light appears higher in the sky, and forms the outer colour of the rainbow" (Wikipedia). Got it? Good.


3.) I had a third thing I was supposed to look up, but, unsurprisingly, I can't remember what it was. Hmm...hey, remember these?! That has nothing to do with learning but I just came across it. I had so many of those. Jeez, how many Happy Meals did my mom let me eat? Oh wait, no, I did learn something. They had names: Robocakes, Gallacta Burger, Fry Force, Krypto Cup, Macro Mac, Turbo Cone, C2 Cheeseburger, and FryBot. Heh, that's funny.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Eighty eight, Eighty nine

Wednesday I learned that they have four (?) new sauces for the wings at Hoggy's: bourbon barbecue, cajun rub, garlic ranch, and...um...maybe it's just three. They also have flatbread pizzas and some other new stuff. I really liked the cajun rub wings, but I still can't eat more than, like, eight, so...that sucks.

And today I learned that Nickel Creek is coming to Columbus in August, so I don't have to go to Cleveland to see them after all...and fortunately, I hadn't bought those tickets yet. Yay! Finally procrastinating pays off.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Eighty seven

Etymology of "new fangled":

c.1470, "addicted to novelty," lit. "ready to grasp at all new things," from adj. newefangel "inclined to take" (c.1386), from new + -fangel, from root of O.E. fon "to capture" (see fang). Sense of "lately come into fashion" first recorded 1533.

FOURTEEN SEVENTY, you guys. That is an old-ass word. (Old-fangled, if you will.) Seriously though, had humans as a species even evolved the ability to speak in 1470? Jeez.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Eighty four, Eighty five, Eighty six

Saturday I learned that, um, you do have to fill out a security report if you happen to see someone's boob at the library.

Sunday I learned about the word "picnic." There was an urban legend going around that "picnic" was a horrible word because it originated in the practice of people sitting outside and eating lunch while watching a random black person be lynched (you can use your imagination to make the connection between that activity and the word). Of course, this is completely untrue. It actually comes from the French "piquenique," "pique" meaning to pick or peck and "nique" probably just added because it rhymed.

Today I learned about the website Goodreads, because Mary added me as a friend. I haven't totally looked around the site yet, but it seems cool. I actually was wondering a while ago if something like this existed, and then thinking that I would become a multi-billionaire by creating it myself. Frick! Beaten to the punch.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Eighty two, Eighty three

I've learned a bunch of things already today. Woe is me, having to post about only two.

One thing I learned is what "helioplex" is. It's a stabilizing substance that helps your sunscreen stay on longer and work longer. Just what I need. I am actually in the market for a new sunscreen. Apparently Neutrogena uses this stuff, and I'm reading good reviews of the spray-on sunscreen even though I always thought that kind wouldn't really work.

Thing two is that I learned about the "language of flowers." Obviously I knew that yellow roses mean friendship, red mean love, etc. But there's this whole big thing where like every flower has a meaning. It was developed in the Victorian era so people could send each other coded messages through flowers. That's awesome! I wonder what flower says "bring me some donuts."

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Eighty one

Today I was farting around on Wikipedia and I read the article on three-card Monte. It's late though and I don't really feel like going into it. You can read it for yourself, if you want.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Eighty

Just now I learned about Lyme Disease. You get Lyme Disease from ticks, which I knew. Symptoms of Lyme Disease include fever, fatigue, soreness, and a rash around the tick bite. Onset is usually 1-2 weeks after you're bitten, but it can happen with in a couple of days or even take months. If you're diagnosed early, you'll be given a couple weeks of antibiotics and then you should be all better. But some people have joint or muscle pain, fatigue, and neurological problems that last for YEARS after they're diagnosed. The longer the tick is on you, the better your chances of getting Lyme Disease; it may have to be on you for 12 hours before you can catch anything. Only ticks in the nymph stage can transmit the disease. Only 58 people in Ohio in 2005 were diagnosed with Lyme Disease, which sounds like a lot, but the cases are well into the thousands per year in New England. So only .5 people per 100,000 in Ohio will get Lyme Disease in any given year.

Bill got a tick on him Sunday at Blendon Woods, and I'm now convinced that he's going to die a slow and horrible tick-related death. PLEASE DON'T DIE, DUDE.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Seventy nine

Today I learned about polydactyl cats. I was reading about Key West, because I secretly long to go on a super-ritzy, possibly romantic vacation there (or maybe live there, though I'm not super keen on getting killed by a hurricane). Anyhoo, I saw some of these little mofos running around during the one day I spent on Key West. It's a genetic mutation; I thought they just had one extra toe in the front, but apparently they can end up having up to like one billion toes on any combination of paws. Sometimes the extra toes help them learn to do things like open latches. Um, yikes!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Seventy eight

Today I learned how to ID poison ivy...sort of. I actually kind of figured it out on my own just by looking around, but I just checked a web site to get a better idea of what it looks like. My mom's horror stories have made me scared to death of getting poison ivy, and the stories on that site about how breathing in smoke from poison ivy/getting its sap into scrapes can send you to the hospital now have me even more freaked out. No poison ivy in '07! Make it happen, people.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Seventy five, Seventy six, Seventy seven

Thursday I learned who picks Nobel prize winners...people are nominated in the beginning, then they are discussed by experts in the field and ultimately they're chosen by a small committee.

Friday I learned about the origins of Spider Man, because I saw the movie.

Today I learned about Skybus and how ridiculously cheap their plane tickets are. I mean, RIDICULOUSLY cheap. I'm totally going on vacation this summer, don't try to stop me!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Seventy four

Um, Jared tried to teach me about binary over IM today, but it didn't really take because I was watching Idol and in between messages I was all "OMG CHRIS RICHARDSON OMG LET'S HUG." I mean, I pretty much understand it, but I want to read that whole huge Wikipedia entry and it's totally not happening tonight. I'll, like, put it on the list or whatever. I should have a list.

Hey, have you seen that Skittles commercial with that weird rabbit that sings? That rabbit is weird!

Oh, damn. Learnings. Um...okay. Hey, look at this: How Clapperboards Work. I really did not know that. I don't know that I ever even thought about it. Well there you go. That was a fun one.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Seventy three

Today I learned what a yurt is. I came across the word while looking at camping stuff online, and then later THE SAME DAY I came across it while reading Wicked. Isn't that weird? 24 years without ever wondering what a yurt was and then there it is twice in one day.

A yurt is a wood-framed, round dwelling with a thatched or fabric roof. A teepee/tent sort of setup, I gather.