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Grr. I actually learned this yesterday, but as usual I forgot it by the time I did my blog. In 8th grade my English class read the book "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. I knew that it was also sometimes called "Ten Little Indians" but that "Indians" was not P.C. and so they changed it. What I did not know what that the book was originally titled "Ten Little Niggers." Yikes! It was based on the "Ten Little Indians" rhyme which was also originally titled "Ten Little Niggers." You can read the original rhyme here. I can't believe I never heard that until now. I guess some high school was planning to do the play of "And Then There Were None" but had to cancel the production because people had complaints about the racist nature of the original title. That kind of seems like overkill to me, but then again I guess I don't really know what I'm talking about.

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Today I learned about advent calendars. Advent calendars began at the start of the 19th century or thereabouts, with the German Lutheran community. I guess that is not surprising, because I always bought my advent calendars from the German Club in high school. Your traditional advent calendar has little doors you can open with either a Christmas picture or a Bible verse behind each set of doors. Mine always have chocolate behind the doors although this apparently is less common and is supposed to be anti-Jesus/pro-Santa Claus. I don't know why Jesus would have had a problem with kids getting a little piece of chocolate every day for a month. In fact my brother and I used to nicely divide up the pieces of chocolate by odd and even days, which seems like something Jesus would have been in favor of.

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Today, after many hours of fascinated clicking on Wikipedia, I learned that mice may eat their own tails if they are starving. That's so sad! Don't eat your own tail. Things will get better, mouse...just hang in there.

("If you were a mouse, and you were starving, would you eat yourself?")

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Saturday I learned the phrase "mackerel snapper." It is a derogatory term for Catholics, which comes from their abstaining from meat on Fridays. My dad said that he heard this term while growing up Catholic but no one else knew what the hell he was talking about.

Today I learned how to put up the clear plastic stuff that goes on the inside of your windows to help keep the heat in/cold out. This includes cleaning the window frame, applying the tape, applying the plastic sheet, and then blowing it with a hair dryer. I also learned how to take down the blinds in my house. I did not even know that you could take blinds down.

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Wednesday I learned that there are 2 different types of allergy tests you can get done. In one type, you get pin-pricked with little particles of different allergens to see which one(s) you react to. In the other, you get these big strips pasted onto your back. The strips have like 20 of the most common allergens on them, and you leave them on for two days (gross) and then get them removed and the doctor sees what things you are allergic to. I do not like the sound of either of these.

Thursday I learned that the wish bone on a turkey is actually called the furcula. It is part of the sternum/clavicle region and it helps support the wings in flight. I like to break the wish bone because I am superstitious about wishes, but I don't like to do it because I am terrified of bones breaking. This year I did not get to break the wish bone, and I also did not get my birthday wish on my birthday cake. This may be a bad year.

Today I learned what sweet potato pie tastes like. It tastes mostly like pumpkin pie, but a lot less gross.

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Today I learned where the Westerville BMV is, and how much it costs to renew your license and registration, and that I now can't drive w/o my glasses (damn you, "B" restriction!).

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Thursday I learned about the Blue Man Group. The BMG has been around since the 80s. The big sticks that they swing around, "airpoles," are actually boat antennae. Uh, there's a lot more, obviously. I mean, I saw their show at Nationwide, so I experienced them firsthand which is a kind of learning, right? And I skimmed their Wikipedia entry even though it's like really long. It was a fun show.

Friday I learned the history of jumping in Mirror Lake before the OSU-Michigan game. I guess it's really only officially been going on since the 90s. Here is a crappy article on it from The Lantern.

Saturday I learned about rust. God, that's boring. This is like a joke blog entry. But I really did learn about rust. I used this article instead of the Wikipedia entry because the Wikipedia entry had like big long chemical equations and this one is all in normal dumb people words. The reason why rust is a problem is that the iron oxide molecule is bigger than the regular iron molecule, so it puffs up and gets flaky because it doesn't fit in its original space.

Sunday I learned that Are You Afraid of the Dark actually HAS been released on DVD. Waaaant...

Today I learned what a melodica is. It's a keyboard instrument that you blow into as you play. One of Feist's band members last night was playing one of these or something similar to it.

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Yesterday I learned the word "fungible." I know I just did a word of the day not too long ago, but I like "fungible." It means easily replaced; interchangeable, flexible.

Today I learned about Gregor Mendel, the pea plant guy. Did you know that his ideas weren't really accepted until like 35 years after he first presented them? And it also is hard for me to believe that he was doing his work less than 150 years ago. 150 years ago does not seem like very long at all, but to think that a.) we really knew nothing about genetics then and b.) Mendel basically discovered genetics just by planting and observing a ton of pea plants is insane to me. Think of all the crazy-high tech, complicated scientific research that goes on these days. This is so rambly. I can't get my point across...it's just that what he was doing seems so simple to produce such amazing results. It seems like that can't happen anymore.

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Today I learned about Basic English. Basic English is an actual constructed language that is made up of 850 of the most simple and commonly used English words. It came out in a 1930 book by Charles Kay Ogden, and is used to teach people English quickly or to translate complex books for users in many different countries. There is actually a whole separate Wikipedia written in Simple English, which is a more complex variation of Basic English. It just occurs to me that I should have tried to write this post using nothing but Basic English, but really it's too late for that now.

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Friday I learned that Jason Collett will be opening up for the Feist concert in the 18th. I got his album off iTunes but I haven't really had a chance to listen to it yet. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow while I'm working.

Saturday I learned how house numbers are assigned. Like, when you're driving down the road it's not usually like 265 Elm Street, 267, 269, etc. They tend to jump around more. Well, the answer is not super simple and it actually depends on where you live. In some places there is an assigned center of the city or county or whatever and the house number has to do with the distance from that center. Some places, a stretch of road is assigned a number (say 5000) and then house numbers are assigned for their distance along that road (so 5015 and 5045 are closer together than the next neighbor, 5095). Sometimes builders might skip numbers on larger pieces of land in case it gets divided up later. It really varies.

Today I learned about Mormon missionaries. I see them at work kind of regularly and we actually have 2 who volunteer there. This is, like, serious business. They have a schedule that they follow six days a week, specific clothes and nametags to wear, etc. A lot of them have to learn a new language in 2-3 months. They have another missionary who is their companion, and they are never supposed to be apart from their companion throughout the day except for bathroom time. They can write to their parents weekly, but can generally only call home on Christmas and Mother's Day; these missions usually last 18 months to 2 years, and these are college-aged kids. Man alive. I literally could not do something like that without complaining nonstop from start to finish. But, that's because I'm a bad person and I'm going to hell, which should not be surprising to anyone.

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Today I learned how to blow my nose. Don't blow too hard, support your back if you're coughing or sneezing. That's great. I will continue to ignore that advice and blow my nose until my brain hurts and I see spots, as I have been doing for the past several days. Seriously, I have weird pains and I smell blood. That's ok, right?

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Uh, I thought I did my blog yesterday but I guess not. Yesterday I learned a whole mess of crap about using formulas in Excel. I learned all this at Using Formulas In Excel. I am really stupid with Excel because I never use it, but the trainings through my work are actually somewhat helpful. And I used one of our online training things for the first time; they are pretty decent.

Today I learned about the pound sign (#). Why is it called the pound sign, I wondered. Because it means "pounds," that's why. I honestly did not know that. You can be all, "That girl needs to eat a cheeseburger, she looks like she weighs 80#." No one does that, do they? I mean, I call it the pound sign, but I don't use it for pounds. It means number to me, like, "#5 was the hardest question on the quiz." The Wikipedia article is like really snotty about it; it repeats over and over how only PARTS OF THE US AND CANADA use the term "pound sign" and that no on in the U.K. would ever, ever call it that, okay?

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Saturday I learned about the common cold. I learned a lot about it. I don't know what to say. One thing is that you get a cold by getting the germs in your nose or eyes, and then they multiply in the lining of your nose and throat.

Sunday I learned Merriam Webster's word of the day, "fata morgana." Now that is one I had never heard.

Today I learned how to do the money at my job. Uh, I don't know how to describe "doing the money" to those that don't work there, but anyway. I was actually shown last week but I did it today for the first time on my own, so I'm counting it.

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Today I learned what a pavlova is. A pavlova is a giant cake-sized meringue that you decorate with whipped cream and fruit. (Side note: my new huge pet peeve is people who write "whip cream." It is not "whip cream." It is cream that has been whipped: whipped cream.) It gets crispy on the outside but stays moist on the inside. The pavlova comes from New Zealand and does not particularly look like something that I would want to eat.

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Today I learned about my new Sunday work location. I learned how they do things, where things are, etc. Plus I met a few people. That's boring, I know. Sorry.