Wikipedia Daily

Shibboleth

2011-04-26T21:20:00.001-04:00

A shibboleth is any distinguishing practice that is indicative of one's social or regional origin. It usually refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group...

Reb

2011-03-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

Reb (Yiddish: רעב) is a Yiddish honorific traditionally used for Orthodox Jewish men. It is not a rabbinic title; it is the equivalent of the English "mister". In writing it is abbreviated as 'ר.

Algonquin Round Table

2011-03-14T20:22:00.001-04:00

The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle," as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.

GEDCOM

2011-03-07T18:58:00.000-05:00

GEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a proprietary and open de facto specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software. GEDCOM was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an aid to genealogical research.

Smörgåsbord

2011-02-28T20:07:00.003-05:00

Smörgåsbord (Swedish pronunciation: [ˌsmœrɡɔsˈbuːɖ]) is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table, originating in Sweden. In Norway it is called koldtbord, in Denmark it is called kolde bord, in Finland seisova pöytä and in Estonia rootsi laud. Smörgåsbord became internationally known as Smorgasbord at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion's "Three Crowns Restaurant." It is typically a celebratory meal and guests can help themselves from a range of dishes laid out for their choice. In a restaurant, the term refers to a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes from which, for a fixed amount of money, one is allowed to choose as many as one wishes.

Nadar (photographer)

2011-02-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Félix Nadar was the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (6 April 1820, Paris – 21 March 1910), a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist.

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Uncombable hair syndrome

2011-02-23T22:13:00.001-05:00

Uncombable hair syndrome, also known as Pili trianguli et canaliculi, Spun-glass hair, and Cheveux incoiffables, is a rare structural anomaly of the hair with a variable degree of effect. It was discovered in the 1970s. It becomes apparent from as little as 3 months to up to 12 years.

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Frikadeller, aka Frikadella

2011-02-21T10:53:00.003-05:00

Frikadeller are flat, pan-fried dumplings of minced meat, often likened to the Danish version of meatballs. They are a popular dish in Denmark, Poland and Germany. In Sweden, poached quenelles are called frikadeller and are usually served in soup.

Many variations of frikadeller exist but traditionally they are made of minced pork, veal, or beef; chopped onions; eggs; milk (or water); bread crumbs (or oatmeal or flour); salt; and pepper; then formed into balls and flattened somewhat. They are then pan-fried in pork fat, or more commonly in modern times in butter, margarine or even vegetable oil.

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At the deli where my bother worked, they would take all of the ends of the slicing meats that were two small to slice more, grind them up, mix in eggs and deep fry them.

Stravenue

2010-10-07T07:29:00.001-04:00

A stravenue (portmanteau of street and avenue) is a type of road particular to Tucson, Arizona. The United States Postal Service officially supports the suffix STRA for stravenues. A Stravenue runs "diagonally between and intersects a Street and an Avenue."

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Jamón ibérico

2010-09-15T18:48:00.000-04:00

Jamón ibérico, Iberico ham, also called pata negra, is a type of cured ham produced mostly in Spain and in some Portuguese regions, where it's called presunto ibérico. It is at least 75% black Iberian pig, also called the cerdo negro (black pig). According to Spain's Denominación de Origen rules on food products jamón ibérico may be made from cross-bred pigs as long as they are at least 75% ibérico.

Until recently, jamón ibérico was not available in the United States (a fact referenced in the movie Perdita Durango, where the ham of Jabugo is praised as "illegal, but delicious").

Prior to 2005, only pigs raised and slaughtered outside of Spain were allowed to be processed in Spain for export to the United States. In 2005 the first slaughterhouse in Spain, Embutidos y Jamones Fermín, S.L., was approved by the United States Department of Agriculture to produce ibérico ham products for export to the United States.

The first "jamones ibéricos" were released for sale in the United States in December 2007, with the bellota hams due to follow in July 2008. The basic jamón ibérico is priced upwards of $52 a pound, and the bellota is priced upwards of $96 a pound, making these hams some of the most expensive in the world.

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SS Delphine (1921)

2010-07-08T18:11:00.002-04:00

SS Delphine is a yacht commissioned by Horace Dodge, co-founder of Dodge Brothers. The yacht was launched on 2 April 1921, and spans 258 feet (79 m). Power comes from three Babcock and Wilcox boilers which power two 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) quadruple expansion engines. "Of all the large American-built steam yachts built between 1893 and 1930, the Delphine is the only one left in her original condition with her original steam engines still in service."[

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Drones Club

2010-06-29T11:50:00.001-04:00

The Drones Club is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a gentlemen's club in London. Many of his Jeeves and Blandings Castle stories feature the club or its members.

The name "Drones" has been used by several real-life clubs and restaurants.

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Vexillology

2010-05-20T20:05:00.001-04:00

Vexillology is the scholarly study of flags. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum, meaning "flag", and the suffix -logy, meaning "study of". The vexillum was a particular type of flag used by Roman legions during the classical era; its name is a diminutive form of the word vela meaning sail, and thus literally means "little sail". Unlike most modern flags, which are suspended from a pole or mast along a vertical side, the square vexillum was suspended from a horizontal crossbar along its top side, which was attached to a spear.

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Hollywood Pins

2010-02-10T21:54:00.000-05:00

Hollywood Pins was a company that operated in California from 1990 to 1995. The company's primary products were replica Starfleet insignia associated with the Star Trek science fiction franchise.

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Geneva drive

2010-01-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

The Geneva drive or Maltese cross is a mechanism that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion. It is an intermittent gear where the drive wheel has a pin that reaches into a slot of the driven wheel and thereby advances it by one step. The drive wheel also has a raised circular blocking disc that locks the driven wheel in position between steps.

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Moloch

2010-01-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Moloch, Molech, Molekh, Molek, or Moloc, representing Semitic מולך m-l-k, (a root which occurs in various Hebrew and Arabic words related to kings) is either the name of a god or the name of a particular kind of sacrifice associated with fire. Moloch was historically affiliated with cultures throughout the Middle East, including the Ammonite, Hebrew, Canaanite, Phoenician and related cultures in North Africa and the Levant.

In modern English usage, "Moloch" can refer derivatively to any person or thing which demands or requires costly sacrifices.

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Aiguillette

2009-11-07T21:55:00.001-05:00

An aiguillette is an ornamental braided cord most often worn on uniforms, but may also be observed on other costumes such as academic dress, where it will denote an honor. Originally, the word "aiguillette" referred to the lacing used to fasten plate armour together. As such a knot or loop arrangement was used which sometimes hung down from the shoulder.

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Majordomo

2009-05-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

A majordomo is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, the term refers to the highest (major) person of a household (domo) staff, one who acts on behalf of the (often absent) owner of a typically large residence. Similar terms include castellan, concierge, chamberlain, seneschal, Mayor of the Palace, maître d'hôtel, butler and steward. The term also refers, more informally, to someone who oversees the day-to-day responsibilities of a business enterprise.

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Kentucky Do-Nothing

2009-03-22T15:40:00.001-04:00

A Kentucky Do-Nothing is toy or novelty consisting, in its simplest form, of a base and a crank and two sliding parts. One sliding part is connected to the crank at the crank's end, the other is connected at the crank's midpoint. When the crank is turned, the sliding parts move back and fourth in grooves cut into the base. Because of the restricting movement of the sliding parts, the free end of the crank (often with a knob) moves in an elliptical pattern.

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Kinda looks like the Seaduck

2009-03-18T11:00:00.003-04:00

Blohm & Voss BV 138

The Blohm & Voss BV 138 Seedrache (Sea Dragon, but nicknamed Der Fliegende Holzschuh (flying clog)) was a World War II German flying boat that functioned as the Luftwaffe's main long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

...Unusual were the aircraft's twin boom tail unit, and gun turrets at the bow and the stern of the fuselage, as well as behind the central engine. These features together produced the aircraft's ungainly appearance.

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Decoy effect

2009-01-17T19:32:00.001-05:00

In marketing, the decoy effect (or asymmetric dominance effect) is the phenomenon whereby consumers will tend to have a specific change in preference between two options when also presented with a third option that is asymmetrically dominated. An option is asymmetrically dominated when it is inferior in all respects to one option; but, in comparison to the other option, it is inferior in some respects and superior in others. (more...)

Piet Pieterszoon Hein

2008-11-17T20:22:00.001-05:00

Piet Pieterszoon Hein (or Pieter Pietersen Heyn) (November 25, 1577 – June 18, 1629) was a Dutch naval officer and folk hero during the Eighty Years' War between the United Provinces and Spain.

Cargo cult

2008-09-02T17:39:00.001-04:00

A cargo cult appears in tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced, non-native cultures. Focused on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magical thinking, religious rituals and practices, the cargo cult believes the wealth was intended for them by their deities and ancestors.

Following contact with people from more technically advanced societies through exploration, colonization, missionary efforts, and international warfare, the cultures of New Guinea and other Micronesian and Melanesian countries in the southwest Pacific Ocean are locations where these religious movements were initially documented.

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Chicken Bus

2008-07-28T09:54:00.001-04:00

from wikipedia:

A chicken bus (Spanish: "camioneta") is a colloquial English name for a colorful modified and decorated US school bus and transit bus that transports goods and people between Guatemalan communities. The word "chicken" refers to the fact that rural Guatemalans regularly transport live animals on such buses, a practice that tourists from other countries might find remarkable. The buses are also commonly used in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

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Pith Helemt

2008-07-11T09:51:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The pith helmet (also known as the sun helmet, topee, sola topee, salacot or topi) is a lightweight helmet made of cork or pith, typically from the sola (Indian swamp growth, Aeschynomene aspera or A. paludosa) or a similar plant, with a cloth cover, designed to shade the wearer's head from the sun. The pith would be soaked in water before wearing, and the gradual evaporation of the water would act as a steady coolant. Pith helmets were once much worn by Westerners in the tropics; today they are most frequently used in Vietnam. (The forms solar topee and solar topi are folk etymology—the name comes from sola, and is not connected—etymologically—with the sun in any way.)

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Adventurers Club

2008-06-30T11:34:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Adventurers Club is a themed nightclub in Pleasure Island at the Walt Disney World Resort. It is styled after a private club for world travelers and explorers and is set in 1937. The walls of the club are covered with artifacts and photographs from various explorations. The Adventurers Club features animatronics, puppets, and a cast of adventurers who perform in shows and improvise comedy while mingling with the club's patrons. Shows and conversation are often laced with innuendo, and the patrons might be welcomed as guests, given fictitious names and "recognized" as fellow adventurers, or simply referred to as "drunks".

On June 27th, 2008 The Orlando Sentinel announced the Adventurer's Club (along with all other clubs on Pleasure Island) would be closing forever on September 27th 2008. An online petition to save the club was created by members the DIS boards at Petition Online in hopes that Disney would consider moving the club or keeping it as part of the new Pleasure Island format. Petition located at www.petitiononline.com/wdwaclub

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Lary shorts

2008-06-30T10:17:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Larry shorts are two animated films made by Seth MacFarlane in the 1990s, which led to the development of Family Guy as a prime-time TV show from 1999 onwards.

In basic form, Larry and Steve is very similar in format to Family Guy. Both Larry shorts use characters and voices similar to those found in Family Guy, with Peter Griffin (the moronic, lowbrow family patriarch) based on Larry and Brian Griffin (the smart, witty, alcoholic dog) based on Steven (though only Larry can understand him, everyone else just hears barking) as well as an airline pilot character with a voice very similar to that of Glenn Quagmire, who is an airline pilot on Family Guy. In the Larry and Steve short, Larry mentions a store named "Stewie's" which coincides with name of Peter Griffin's infant son, Stewie. Larry's wife is named Lois, which is also the name of Peter's wife in Family Guy. Peter's teenage son, Chris, is very similar in appearance to Larry's son, Milt.

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2008-06-18T13:26:00.001-04:00

from wikipedia:

James Bigglesworth, better known in flying circles as "Biggles", is a fictional pilot and adventurer created by W. E. Johns.

He first appeared in the story "The White Fokker", published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine, in 1932. The first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels are Coming, was published that same year.

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Structural insulated panel

2008-06-09T11:08:00.001-04:00

from wikipedia:

Structural insulated panels (or structural insulating panels), SIPs, are a composite building material. They consist of a sandwich of two layers of structural board with an insulating layer of foam in between. The board is usually oriented strand board (OSB) and the foam either expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) or polyurethane foam.

SIPs share the same structural properties as an I-beam or I-column. The rigid insulation core of the SIP performs as a web, while the OSB sheathing exhibits the same properties as the flanges. SIPs replace several components of conventional building such as studs and joists, insulation, vapor barrier and air barrier. As such they can be used for many different applications such as exterior wall, roof, floor and foundation systems.

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Interrobang

2008-06-08T21:53:00.003-04:00

‽
The interrobang (/ɪn'tɛrəbæŋ/) (‽) is a rarely used, nonstandard English-language punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark (also called the interrogative point) and the exclamation mark (known in printers' jargon as the bang). The typographical character is a superimposition of those two marks. The same effect is also frequently achieved by using both, e.g., "How could you do such a thing!?" or "How could you do such a thing?!" (more...)

Severe weather terminology (United States)

2008-06-08T13:19:00.005-04:00

This article describes the United States National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS defines precise meanings for nearly all its weather terms. This article describes NWS terminology and related NWS weather scales. Some terms may be specific to certain cities or regions. (more...)

Club 33

2008-05-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Club 33 is a private club located in the heart of the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland. Officially maintained as a secret feature of the theme park, the entrance of the club is located next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant at "33 Royal Street" with the entrance recognizable by an ornate address plate with the number 33 engraved on it. When riding Pirates of the Caribbean, just as the ride departs, the Blue Bayou restaurant is visible, but the balconies above it are actually a part of Club 33.

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Fluyt

2008-05-21T20:45:00.002-04:00

from wikipedia:

A fluyt or a flute is a type of sailing vessel originally designed as a dedicated cargo vessel. Originating from the Netherlands in the 16th Century, the vessel was designed to facilitate transoceanic delivery with the maximum of space and crew efficiency. It usually carried 12 to 15 cannons, but was still an easy target for pirates. To the end, the standard design minimized or completely eliminated its armaments to maximize available cargo space, and used block and tackle extensively to facilitate ship operations. This ship class was credited in enhancing Dutch competitiveness in international trade, and was widely employed by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th and 18th centuries. However it gained such popularity beyond its native waters that it was soon in use by other sea faring nations.

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Space money

2008-05-21T06:43:00.002-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination, called the 'Quid', is a prototype for a possible future type of currency for use by space tourists. The idea behind the design was to create a possible form of currency that would have no sharp edges, no harmful chemicals, and be made out of a material that would stand up to the rigors of space travel. The Quid is made from teflon, and has rounded edges to prevent damage in low gravity environments. The full name is a backronym from 'quid', a slang term for the British Pound.

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Water Rockets!

2008-05-20T17:05:00.002-04:00

from wikipedia:

A water rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The pressure vessel—the engine of the rocket—is usually a used plastic soft drink bottle. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air.

The term "aquajet" has been used in parts of Europe in place of the more common "water rocket" and in some places they are also referred to as "bottle rockets" (which can be confusing as this term traditionally refers to a firework in other places).

Water rocket engines are most commonly used to drive model rockets, but have also been used in model boats, cars, and rocket-assisted gliders.

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Gasparilla Pirate Festival

2008-05-16T08:20:00.002-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Gasparilla Pirate Festival is an annual celebration held in the city of Tampa, Florida. Held each year in late January and hosted by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla and the City of Tampa, it celebrates the apocryphal legend of José Gaspar (Gasparilla), supposedly a Spanish pirate captain who operated in southwest Florida. The theme is an "invasion" by Gasparilla and his men, which begins when the "Krewe" (made up of residents of the city) arrives on a 165' long pirate ship, the Jose Gaspar, in Tampa Bay and land near downtown Tampa.

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Kaspar Hauser

2008-05-12T20:30:00.002-04:00

from wikipedia:

Kaspar Hauser (April 30, 1812 (?) –December 17, 1833) was a mysterious foundling in 19th century Germany with suspected ties to the royal House of Baden.

On May 26, 1828 a teenage boy appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. He would barely talk, but he carried a letter with him addressed to the captain of the 4th squadron of the 6th cavalry regiment, Captain von Wessenig.

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Petarded!

2008-05-09T14:28:00.001-04:00

from wikipedia:

A petard was a medieval small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. In a typical implementation, it was commonly either a conical or rectangular metal object containing 5 or 6 pounds of gun powder, activated with a slow match used as a fuse. It was often placed either inside tunnels under walls, or directly upon gates.

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Alberto Santos-Dumont

2008-05-08T20:05:00.001-04:00

from wikipedia:

Alberto Santos-Dumont (July 20, 1873 – July 23, 1932) was an early pioneer of aviation. He was born and died in Brazil. He spent most of his adult life living in France. His contributions to aviation took place while he was living in Paris, France.

Santos-Dumont designed, built, and flew the first practical dirigible balloons. In doing so he became the first person to demonstrate that routine, controlled flight was possible. This "conquest of the air", in particular winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize on October 19, 1901 on a flight that rounded the Eiffel Tower, made him one of the most famous people in the world during the early 20th century. In addition to his pioneering work in airships, Santos-Dumont made the first public European flight of an airplane in Paris on October 23, 1906. That aircraft, designated 14-bis or Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey"), is considered by Santos-Dumont supporters to be the first to take off, fly, and land without the use of catapults, high winds, launch rails, or other external assistance.

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Obake Karuta (Monster Cards)

2008-05-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Karuta (かるた Karuta, loaned from the Portuguese word meaning "card" (carta)) is a Japanese card game.

The basic idea of any karuta game is to be able to quickly determine which card out of an array of cards is required and then to grab the card before it is grabbed by an opponent. There are various types of cards which can be used to play karuta. It is also possible to play this game using two standard decks of playing cards.

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Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T10:10:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "5th of May") is primarily a regional and not an obligatory federal holiday in Mexico. The holiday commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day; Mexico's Independence Day is actually September 16 (dieciséis de septiembre in Spanish), which is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has taken on a significance beyond that in Mexico. The date is perhaps best recognized in the United States as a date to celebrate the culture and experiences of Americans of Mexican ancestry, much as St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, and the Chinese New Year are used to celebrate those of Irish, German, and Chinese ancestry, respectively.

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Half-Way Covenant

2008-05-04T08:42:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Halfway Covenant was a form of partial church membership created by New England Puritans in 1662. It was promoted in particular by the Reverend Solomon Stoddard, who felt that the people of the English colonies were drifting away from their original religious purpose. First-generation settlers were beginning to die out, while their children and grandchildren often expressed less religious piety, and more desire for material wealth.

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Elizabethan collar

2008-05-02T03:33:00.000-04:00

An Elizabethan collar or space collar is a protective medical device worn by an animal, usually a cat or dog. Shaped like a truncated cone, its purpose is to prevent the animal from biting or licking at its body or scratching at its head or neck while wounds or injuries heal. (more...)

Maldives

2008-04-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Maldives (or Maldive Islands) (IPA: /ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives are located south of India's Lakshadweep islands, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The Maldives' twenty-six atolls encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, two hundred and fifty islands are inhabited.

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Macuahuitl

2008-04-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The macuahuitl (a name derived from the Nahuatl language) is a weapon shaped like a wooden club. Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades made from obsidian, a volcanic glass stone frequently used for tool making by the Aztec and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.

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Priestly Blessing

2008-04-24T09:09:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Priestly Blessing, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים; translit. Birkat Kohanim), also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, (lit. Raising of the Hands), is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptual verse: "They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them."

In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy, who was raised in a traditional Jewish home, used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan Hand Salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek. He has explained that while attending Orthodox services as a child, he peeked from under his father's tallit and saw the gesture; many years later, when introducing the character of Mr. Spock, he and series creator Gene Roddenberry thought a physical component should accompany the verbal "Live long and prosper" greeting.

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Earth Day is April 22nd!

2008-04-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day, which was founded by John McConnell in 1969, each year on the March equinox, while a global observance originated by Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, and since January 1970 also called Earth Day, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22, including the U.S.

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Ollie Johnston passes away

2008-04-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last living member. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

He was a directing animator at Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1978. He contributed to many films including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Bambi and Pinocchio. His last full work for Disney came with The Rescuers, in which he was caricatured as one of the film's characters, the cat Rufus.

Johnston co-authored, with Frank Thomas, the reference book The Illusion of Life. This book helped preserve the knowledge of the techniques that were developed at the studio. The partnership of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston is fondly presented in the documentary Frank and Ollie, produced by Thomas' son Theodore.

Ollie Johnston died of natural causes on Monday, April 14, 2008 at the age of 95

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House rabbit

2008-04-15T06:55:00.001-04:00

A house rabbit is a domestic rabbit kept as a pet for companionship, who lives inside the home with his owners. He has an indoor pen and a rabbit-safe place to run and exercise, such as a living or family room. Rabbits are easily trained to use a litter box and can learn to come when called. Their diets typically consist of unlimited timothy hay, a small helping of pellets, and some fresh vegetables and fruits. House rabbits are very quiet pets. They are suitable for families without small children, due to the likelihood of frightening or harming these timid creatures by loud sounds or mishandling. (more...)

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

2008-04-14T14:04:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity whose aim is to save lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as inshore. It was founded on 4 March 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, adopting the present name in 1854.

The RNLI operates over 230 lifeboat stations, strategically placed around the coasts of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Since 1980, lifeboat rescues have doubled; the RNLI rescues an average of 22 people each day.

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Landing Craft Utility

2008-04-11T11:02:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a small ship used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.

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Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

2008-04-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Oldsmobile used the Custom Cruiser name on their large rear-wheel drive station wagons from 1971 to 1992. The Custom Cruiser wagon used the same B-body platform as the Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster, and the full sized preformance sedan based of and in the same body shell as the Chevrolet Caprice, the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala.

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Sutro Baths

2008-04-08T15:38:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Sutro Baths were a large privately owned swimming pool complex in San Francisco, California built in the late 19th century. The building housing the baths burned down in 1966 and was abandoned. The ruins may still be visited.

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Rickroll

2008-04-08T13:18:00.001-04:00

Rickrolling is a prank and Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". In a rickroll, a person provides a link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand which actually takes the user to the Astley video. It can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.^[1] A person who falls for the prank is said to be "rickrolled". In some cases, this term is also used to describe a person who merely hears the song. (more...)

Facebook

2008-04-08T09:41:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Facebook is a social networking website that was launched on February 4, 2004. The website is owned and operated by Facebook, Inc., the parent company of the website and a privately held company. The free-access website allows users to join one or more networks, such as a school, place of employment, or geographic region to easily connect and interact with other people. Users can post messages for their friends to see, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves.

Link to Facebook...

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Peak Oil

2008-04-07T13:22:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically.

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Buck's Rock

2008-04-06T08:57:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp is an educational summer camp located in New Milford, Connecticut. The camp was established in 1942 by Dr. Ernst Bulova and his wife Ilse, Austrian educators who had studied under Maria Montessori.

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National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day is celebrated on April 24!

2008-04-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

In the United States, the term "pigs in a blanket" often refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, or breakfast/link sausages wrapped in biscuit dough, pancake, or crescent-roll dough, and baked. A common variation is to slit the hot dog or sausage and stuff it with cheese before wrapping in dough. The dough is sometimes homemade, but canned dough is most common.

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Magnetic ink character recognition

2008-04-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, or MICr, a character recognition technology adopted mainly by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of Cheques. The process was demonstrated to the American Bankers Association in July 1956, and it was almost universally employed in the U.S. by 1963. MICR is standardized by ISO 1004.

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17th/21st Lancers

2008-04-01T15:02:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1922 to 1993.

It was formed in 1922 in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) and the 21st Lancers (Empress of India's). From 1930 to 1939 it was deployed overseas; first in Egypt for two years, and then in India for seven. In 1938 the regiment was mechanised.

In 1993, with the reductions in forces after the end of the Cold War, the regiment was amalgamated with the 16th/5th Lancers to form the Queen's Royal Lancers.

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Image Source: NYPL Digital Gallery

Boondoggle

2008-03-31T14:53:00.000-04:00

From Wikipedia:
Scoubidou (Gimp, Scoubi, Scoobie, Boondoggle, or Lanyard) is a plaiting and knotting craft, originally aimed at children, which originated in France, where it became a fad in the late 1950s. The name Scoubidou came from the late French singer Sacha Distel, who scored his first hit with the song of the same name in 1958. It came back into fashion in various countries, including the United Kingdom, in 2004 and 2005. It uses commercially supplied plastic strips or tubes.

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Caipirinha

2008-03-31T13:32:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Caipirinha (pronounced [kaj.pi.'ɾĩ.jɐ]) is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça (pronounced IPA: [ˌkaˈʃasɐ]), sugar and lime. Cachaça is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage. Like rum, it is made from sugarcane. Cachaça is made from sugarcane alcohol, obtained from the fermentation of sugarcane juice which is afterwards distilled. Caipiroska, a common variant of the drink, uses vodka in place of cachaça. A Caipirissima substitutes rum for the cachaça.

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MP3 file of pronunciation

Bar Jack!

2008-03-31T11:44:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Carangoides ruber, or the bar jack is an ocean-dwelling fish commonly found in the central Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean. It is a fairly popular sport fish and can be caught on light tackle. However, most recorded ciguatera cases on the island of St. Thomas can be traced to this single species.

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Water wheel

2008-03-24T13:19:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

A water wheel is a means of extracting power from the flow (or fall) of water, that is hydropower. Water wheels were widely used in the Middle Ages to power industry in Europe. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal power. The most common use of the water wheel was to mill flour in gristmills, but other uses included foundry work and machining, and pounding linen for use in paper.

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Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Easter, also called Pascha, is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. It is believed by the Christians to be the resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe occurred on the third day after his crucifixion around AD 33. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance. Many non-religious cultural elements have become part of the holiday, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians.

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Lincoln Electric

2008-03-21T14:16:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ: LECO) is a company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States that manufactures arc welding equipment. They are a worldwide leader in production of welding equipment and have subsidiary companies around the globe. It was founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln with a capital investment of $200 to make electric motors he had designed. In 2007, Lincoln Electric Holdings is listed as 866 among the Fortune 1000.

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Antikythera mechanism

2008-03-21T07:06:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator (also described as the first "mechanical computer") designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, in 1900. Subsequent investigation, particularly in 2006, dated it to about 150-100 BC, and hypothesised that it was on board a ship that sank en route from the Greek island of Rhodes to Rome, perhaps as part of an official loot. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not appear until a thousand years later.

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You blockhead!

2008-03-20T13:01:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

In HTML and XHTML, the blockquote element defines a block quotation within the text. The syntax is <blockquote>blockquoted text goes here</blockquote>.

The blockquote element is used to indicate the quotation of a large section of text from another source. Using the default HTML styling of most web browsers, it will indent the right and left margins both on the display and in printed form.

The excerpt above uses the blackquote tag and is an example of how it can be styled.

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St. Urho's Day

2008-03-20T08:58:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The legend of St. Urho was the invention of a Finnish-American named Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola's Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota in spring of 1956. Mattson later recounted that he invented St. Urho when he was questioned by coworker Gene McCavic about the Finns' lack of a saint like the Irish St. Patrick, whose feat of casting the snakes out of Ireland is remembered on St. Patrick's Day.

According to the original "Ode to St. Urho" written by Gene McCavic and Richard Mattson, St. Urho was supposed to have cast "tose 'Rogs" (those frogs) out of Finland by the power of his loud voice, which he obtained by drinking "feelia sour" (sour whole milk) and eating "kala mojakka" (fish soup).

The original "Ode to St. Urho" identified St. Urho's Day as taking place on May 24. Later the date was changed to March 16, the day before St. Patrick's Day. St. Urho's feast is supposed to be celebrated by wearing the colors Royal Purple and Nile Green. Other details of the invented legend also changed, apparently under the influence of Dr. Sulo Havumäki, a psychology professor at Bemidji State College in Bemidji, Minnesota. The legend now states that St. Urho drove away grasshoppers (rather than frogs) from Finland using the incantation "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!" ("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to Hell!"), thus saving the Finnish grape crops.

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Arthur C. Clarke passes away

2008-03-19T09:53:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

Clarke died in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008 after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides.

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Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

2008-03-19T05:44:00.000-04:00

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the Māori name for a hill, 305 metres high, close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. (more...)

Snow Trac

2008-03-18T10:28:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Snow Trac is a small personal Snowcat that is roughly the size of a modern compact car.

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Save Polaroid!

2008-03-17T13:12:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Instant film is a photographic film that is designed to be used in an instant camera (and, with accessory hardware, with many professional film cameras). The film pack contains the chemicals needed for developing, and the instant camera automatically initiates the developing process after a photograph has been taken. In most types of Polaroid instant cameras, the film is pulled out through rollers which break open a pod containing the chemicals. The chemicals spread out over the surface of the film, and the positive image appears a few seconds to minutes later. The chemicals have time delays built into them so that each layer of the film can be processed in the correct order.

...In February 2008, Polaroid announced it would cease production of all instant film; the company will shut down three factories and lay off 450 workers.

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savepolaroid.com

Parmigiano-Reggiano

2008-03-17T04:34:00.001-04:00

Parmigiano-Reggiano is a hard, fat granular cheese, cooked but not pressed, named after the producing areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, and Mantova, in Lombardy, Italy.

Parmigiano is simply the Italian adjective for Parma; the French version, Parmesan, is used in English. The term Parmesan is also loosely used as a common term for cheeses imitating true Parmesan cheese, especially outside Europe; within Europe, the Parmesan name is classified as a protected designation of origin. (more...)

HyperCard

2008-03-14T18:04:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

HyperCard was an application program from Apple Inc. (at the time Apple Computer, Inc.) that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combined database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable approach. It also included HyperTalk, a powerful and relatively easy to learn programming language, to manipulate data and the user interface. HyperCard users often used it as a programming system for Rapid Application Development of different kinds of applications, database and otherwise.

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Happy Birthday, Quincy!

2008-03-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American music impresario, conductor, record producer, musical arranger, Academy Award-winning film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991.

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Go Banana!

2008-03-13T12:51:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

Banana republic is a pejorative term for a small, often Latin American, Caribbean or African country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy and corrupt clique. In most cases they have kept the government structures that were modeled after the colonial Spanish ruling clique, with a small, largely leisure class on the top and a large, poorly educated and poorly paid working class of peons. The term was coined by O. Henry, an American humorist and short story writer, in reference to Honduras. "Republic" in his time was often a euphemism for a dictatorship, while "banana" implied an easy reliance on basic agriculture and backwardness in the development of modern industrial technology.

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Pigpen cipher

2008-03-12T15:06:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The pigpen cipher (sometimes called the masonic cipher or Freemason's cipher) is a simple substitution cipher exchanging letters for symbols based on a grid. The use of symbols is no impediment to cryptanalysis however, and cryptanalysis is identical to that of other simple substitution schemes. The example key shows one way the letters can be assigned to the grid.

The scheme was used so often by the Freemasons that it is often called the Freemason's cipher. They began using it in the early 1700s to keep their records private and for correspondence (Kahn, 1967, p.~772; Newton, 1998, p. 113). Due to the simplicity of the cipher, it is still used by schoolchildren today.

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Hat's Off

2008-03-11T19:55:00.001-04:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_500_Hats_of_Bartholomew_Cubbins

The Twisted World of Marge Simpson

2008-03-11T09:35:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

"The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" is the eleventh episode of the The Simpsons' eighth season, which originally aired January 19, 1997. It was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Chuck Sheetz. The episode guest stars Jack Lemmon as Frank Ormand and Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony. Over the course of the episode, Marge sets up her own business, selling pretzels.

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Pioneer plaque

2008-03-10T15:36:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold anodized aluminum plaques which were placed on board the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft, featuring a pictorial message from humanity, in case either Pioneer 10 or 11 are intercepted by extraterrestrial beings. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft.

The Pioneer spacecraft were the first human-built objects to leave the solar system. The plaque is attached to the antenna support struts in a position that shields it from erosion by stellar dust.

The Voyager Golden Record, a much more complex and detailed message using (then) state-of-the-art media, was attached to the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.

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Folly

2008-03-10T15:25:00.000-04:00

from wikipedia:

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed strictly as a decoration, having none of the usual purposes of housing or sheltering associated with a conventional structure. They originated as decorative accents in parks and estates. "Folly" is used in the sense of fun or light-heartedness, not in the sense of something ill-advised.

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Dimples of Venus

2008-03-10T07:39:00.001-04:00

The phrase dimples of Venus refers to the pair of sagittally symmetrical indentations sometimes visible on the human lower back, just superior to the gluteal cleft. (more...)

Chair Mania!!!

2008-03-10T07:15:00.001-04:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chairs

Parallax scrolling

2008-03-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the "camera" slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera technique used in traditional animation since the 1940s.

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53rd and 6th

2008-03-07T00:52:00.001-05:00

53rd and 6th or Chicken and Rice is a popular halal gyros stand on the corner of 53rd street and 6th avenue in New York City. (more...)

The Blue Marble

2008-03-06T18:01:00.001-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble

Guayabera

2008-03-05T14:44:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

The guayabera is a men's shirt popular in Latin America, the Caribbean, southeast Asia, and the West Indies.

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The Chewbacca defense

2008-03-04T18:10:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

The Chewbacca defense is a fictional legal strategy used in the South Park episode 27 "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998 as the fourteenth episode of the second season. The aim of the argument is to confuse the jury. The concept satirized attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument defending O. J. Simpson in his murder trial.

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Principality of Sealand

2008-03-04T13:24:00.001-05:00

The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

Since 1967, the facility has been occupied by former radio broadcaster and British Army Major Paddy Roy Bates, his associates and family, who claim that it is an independent sovereign state.^[2] External commentators generally classify Sealand as a micronation.^[3]^[4]^[5] It has been described as the world's best-known micronation.^[6]

Sealand is not recognized as a sovereign state by any United Nations member, and critics, citing court rulings in the United States and in Germany, have asserted that Roughs Tower has always remained under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. (more...)

How unlikely is your existence?

2008-03-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

In astronomy a habitable zone (HZ) is a region of space where conditions are favorable for life as it may be found on Earth. There are two regions that must be favorable, one within a planetary system and the other within the galaxy. Planets and moons in these regions are the likeliest candidates to be habitable and thus capable of bearing extraterrestrial life similar to our own. Astronomers believe that life is most likely to form within the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ) within a solar system, and the galactic habitable zone (GHZ) of the larger galaxy (though research on the latter point remains nascent). The HZ may also be referred to as the "life zone", "Green Belt" or the "Goldilocks Zone" (because it's neither too hot nor too cold, but "just right"). In our own solar system, the HZ is thought to extend from a distance of 0.95 to 1.37 astronomical units.

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Chew on this!

2008-03-04T08:13:00.001-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum_ban_in_Singapore

The Defenestrations of Prague

2008-03-03T13:31:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

The Defenestrations of Prague can refer to either of two incidents in the history of Bohemia. The first occurred in 1419 and the second in 1618, although the term "Defenestration of Prague" is more commonly used to refer to the second incident. Both helped to trigger prolonged conflict within Bohemia and beyond. Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

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da Vinci's Tank Hauled Ass

2008-03-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

If you look at his drawing, there are speed lines and a lot of dust being kicked up.

More images from da Vinci...

da Vinci in wikipedia...

My Friend, The Giant Ground Sloth

2008-03-01T07:35:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

Megatherium ("Great Beast") was a genus of elephant-sized ground sloths that lived from 2 million to 8,000 years ago. A related genus was Nothrotheriops, which were primarily bear-sized ground sloths. The rhinoceros-sized Promegatherium is suggested to be the ancestor of Megatherium.

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Fungo

2008-02-29T09:35:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

A fungo bat is specially designed bat used by baseball and softball coaches for practice purposes. The bat is not designed to hit thrown or pitched balls, rather it is designed to hit balls tossed up in the air. Typical fungo bats are 35–37 inches long and weigh 17–22 ounces. Coaches hit many balls during fielding practice and the weight and length allow for the coach to hit balls repeatedly with high accuracy.

From the article on Bats

The Millennium Falcon

2008-02-29T08:54:00.001-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenium_Falcon

A 14th Century Illustration of Vomiting

2008-02-28T22:44:00.000-05:00

From the Tacuinum Sanitatis, a medieval handbook on wellness.

Wikimedia commons has over 70 images from the Tacuinum Sanitatis.

Durian - the King of Fruits!

2008-02-28T12:49:00.001-05:00

The durian (IPA: [ˈdu.ɹi.ən]) is the fruit of trees of the genus Durio belonging to the Malvaceae, a large family which includes hibiscus, okra, cotton, mallows and linden trees. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits,"^[1] the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. (more...)

Baron von Steuben

2008-02-28T09:49:00.000-05:00

from wikipedia:

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben (September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794) was a German-Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline, helping to guide it to victory. He wrote the book that became the standard United States drill manual until the War of 1812, and served essentially as General George Washington's chief of staff in the final years of the war.

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