271, 272, 273, 274, 275

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.

116

Today I learned that Mr. Wizard died yesterday. Aww, sadcakes. He was 89 though, that is pretty old. I remember one episode where he made caramel corn. He must have been talking about caramelizing sugar or something. Unsurprisingly, I pretty much just remember the caramel corn.

103, 104

Yesterday, unfortunately, I learned about scabies. Here is a fact sheet on scabies. Scabies are gross. You can have them for weeks before you even know they're there. They poop, fornicate, and lay eggs in you. Fortunately they are easy to kill.

Today I learned about Elmyra from Tiny Toons. Remember her? I learned about her because I was talking about how I smoosh the hell out of my cats until they run away from me. I can't help that they are fat and squishy. Anyway, Elmyra's name was Elmyra Duff, which was a takeoff on Elmer Fudd...Elmyra=Elmer, and "Duff" is "Fudd" said backward. I never knew that.

Fifty five, Fifty six

Friday I learned that Bob Barker will be retiring from The Price Is Right at the end of this season, which makes me want to DIE. Every day since before I was born, Bob Barker has been on The Price Is Right. Watching that show is one of my earliest memories, and to this day I will screw up my whole day's schedule in order to watch it in the morning, postponing my shower until noon, when it's over, if that's what it takes. Damn. Friday June 15 will be a sad, sad day.

Today I learned some Italian. I was shelving a ton of stuff in the teen area whilst some dude was getting an Italian lesson, and by the end of my time over there I think I was doing better than he was. In my head I was all "spero che...you HOPE the movie starts soon" and "no, she said gia, already...the movie ALREADY started..." I should have made him shelve my stuff while I finished up the Italian lesson.

Fifty two, Fifty three, Fifty four

I suck, I suck.

Tuesday I learned about the appendix, because I always think that I am dying of appendicitis. It's on the right side, by the way. I can never remember. Anyway, some people actually think the appendix might have a function. It has lots of lymph cells in it, so it might play some part in the immune system (although that doesn't seem likely because people who've had them removed/are born without them don't seem to have weaker immune systems). One guy thinks it may play a part in developing fetuses (feti?). Most people think it's leftover from when we were herbivores; it produced the bacteria needed to digest cellulose in all those veggies. Now it's shriveled up and does nothing other than occasionally kill people. Thanks a lot, evolution.

Yesterday I learned that American Gladiators airs on ESPN Classic weeknights at 7. Score!

Today is for mood rings. I'm totally copying this straight from howstuffworks.com because I am a lazy motherfucker, and plus they can say it better than I can anyway. So: " The stone in a mood ring is either a hollow glass shell filled with thermotropic liquid crystals or a clear glass stone sitting on top of a thin sheet of liquid crystals. These liquid crystal molecules are very sensitive; they change position, or twist, according to changes in temperature. This change in molecular structure affects the wavelengths of light that are absorbed or reflected by the liquid crystals, resulting in an apparent change in the color of the stone."

Awesome! I am wearing a mood ring today. My mom bought it for me in Arizona...she came back with all this authentic Native American type stuff, plus a mood ring. I dunno.