Saturday, September 21, 2024
FACTS
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Germany has more castles than there are McDonald's in the United States. Yep, you heard that right. Germany is estimated to have 25,000 castles, and there are around 13,000 McDonald's locations in America.
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Dogs are one of the three deadliest animals in the UK. The other two are bees and cows.
Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animal, killing up to a million people every year via the diseases they spread, such as malaria and dengue fever. In the UK, however, the 36 native mosquito species pose little in the way of threat, so they don’t feature in the three-way tie for the title of UK’s deadliest creature.
One of the three that does, is dogs. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, recently added American XL bully dogs to the list of banned breeds after a rise in dog-related deaths. Numbers were around three per year, but in 2022, 10 people in England and Wales died from dog bite injuries, the tragic result of irresponsible ownership and a trend for breeding bigger, more muscular dogs.
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Sloths are slow in everything they do — including digestion. Because they digest foods so slowly, they basically have to breathe out their farts because they can't *actually* fart. If gas builds up in a sloth's intestines, it could get sick and potentially even burst. Rather than farting, the gases are reabsorbed into the bloodstream and are then respired out of the lungs.
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There are caves in Missouri that store 1.4 billion pounds of government-owned cheese. Located deep in the Ozark Mountains in limestone-converted mines, the caves are kept at a perfect 36ºF.
The stockpiles of government-owned cheese comprise country’s 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese.
In response to a national dairy shortage in the 1970s and 30% inflation on dairy products, the government intervened, resulting in prices falling drastically. So, in 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter decided to pour money into the dairy industry to motivate production and alleviate the crisis. The government set a new policy to subsidize dairy, providing two billion dollars to the industry over the next four years. While this plan was welcome to dairy farmers, it also primed them for overproduction.
Farmers who had been struggling were motivated to produce as much dairy as they could, knowing that whatever was not sold on the market could likely be purchased by the government, and it was. By the early 1980s, the government owned over 500 million pounds of cheese. The reason the dairy product was converted to cheese was because it has a longer shelf life than other dairy products as the government searched for solutions to the problem it had created.
“Government Cheese” was born, and the federal government distributed these cheese blocks through the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). It was given away for free by pickup to people at food banks, community centers, and so on. “Government cheese” became a totem of American culture,
President Ronald Reagan holding a five pound block of “government cheese” in 1981
Flash forward to 2019, when the government again found itself storing cheese, this time to the tune of 1.4 billion pounds. Amid trade disputes and declining dairy consumption nationally, the American government has been subsidizing and stockpiling America’s surplus cheese. According to the USDA, American milk consumption has dropped from 275 pounds per capita in 1975 to 149 pounds per capita in 2017.
Though demand is declining, production is not. It has risen 13% since 2010. In 2016, the American dairy industry dumped a whopping 43 million gallons of milk into fields, animal feed, and anaerobic lagoons.
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Cornflakes were invented to suppress sexual impulses and desires.
The popular cereal was first made back in 1894 by John Harvey Kellogg.It was originally created as a healthy food for the patients of the sanitarium in which he worked, and its inception was functional: it was supposed to be healthy and deliberately bland.
It seems odd that someone should make deliberately tasteless food, but it was all part of an extreme diet – promoted by his church – aimed at suppressing passion. He was a Seventh-day Adventist, a branch of Christianity that advocated a strict vegetarian diet devoid of alcohol, caffeine, or meat. In addition, Kellogg was a fervent believer of abstinence and believed sex and masturbation were unhealthy and abnormal. In his book, Plain Facts for Old and Young: Embracing the Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life he described what he saw as the negative effects of masturbation.
He cited mood swings, bad posture, acne, baldness, stiff joints, palpitations as well as a taste for spicy food to be the side affects of the ‘double abominable’ crime. To fight off any potential desire, he worked on ways people could curb sexual impulses including creating corn flakes, as well as a contraption that ran water through the bowel before following it with yogurt, delivered between the mouth and anus. Luckily, only the corn flakes caught on. His original recipe contained no sugar, so would have no doubt been less palatable than today’s version.
1913 ad
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There's a rare neurological disorder called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, which is a condition related to how you perceive your body, the world around you, or both.
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS), also known as Todd's Syndrome or Dysmetropsia, is a neurological disorder that distorts perception. People with this syndrome may experience distortions in their visual perception of objects, such as appearing smaller (micropsia) or larger (macropsia), or appearing to be closer (pelopsia) or farther (teleopsia) than they are. Distortion may also occur for senses other than vision.
The cause of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is currently not known, but it has often been associated with migraines, head trauma, or viral encephalitis caused by Epstein–Barr Virus Infection. It is also theorized that AIWS can be caused by abnormal amounts of electrical activity, resulting in abnormal blood flow in the parts of the brain that process visual perception and texture.
Although there are cases of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome in both adolescents and adults, it is most commonly seen in children.
Friday, September 20, 2024
POEM
The Power of One
- Ashish Ram
One song can spark a moment,
One whisper can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One moment can make one fall in luv.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true,
One life can make a difference,
You see, it's up to you!
One song can spark a moment,
One whisper can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One moment can make one fall in luv.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true,
One life can make a difference,
You see, it's up to you!
Thursday, September 19, 2024
FUNNY FRIDAY
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A mixed collectionn of humour today, readers, but hoefully ones that will bring at least a chuckle.
Some risque ones as well, be warned.
Enjoy.
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SOME HUMOUR:
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Did you hear about Tupperware filing for bankruptcy?
The story broke before they could put a lid on it
Tupperware files for bankruptcy, which is a surprise.
I thought their finances would have been airtight.
Some reader comments:
It’s because they couldn’t keep a lid on their constant parties.
Did you hear the inventor died? They struggled for ages to find the right lid for the coffin
"A Tupperware lid would be the perfect murder weapon–no one would ever be able to find it."
I mean, their name is "top-are-where"
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Today the CEO of my company came in to the office in a brand new BMW.
“Nice car”, I complimented him.
“Well”, he said, “if you put in enough time, effort, and dedication, and work as hard as you can then next year I’ll have even a better car.”
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My wife prepared a list of 33 items I needed to get from the market. She warned me not to forget a single thing.
I forgot the shopping list.
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A woman has her 100 birthday.
As usual, local newspaper sends a guy to interview her. What is your secret? How do you stay healthy?
Well, nothing special. If I get up with a stomach bug, I drink a glass of beer. High blood pressure? A glass of whiskey. Low blood pressure? A glass of red wine. No appetite? A glass of white wine. Cold, Flu? A shot of vodka.
The shocked correspondent understands whom is he talking to, so he decided to ask just one more question. So when do you drink water?
Water? Let's see... No, I've never been that sick!
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On a golf tour in Ireland, Tiger Woods drives his BMW into a petrol station in a remote part of the Irish countryside. The pump attendant, obviously knows nothing about golf, greets him in a typical Irish manner completely unaware of who the golfing pro is.
"Top of the mornin' to yer, sir" says the attendant.
Tiger nods a quick "hello" and bends forward to pick up the nozzle. As he does so, two tees fall out of his shirt pocket onto the ground.
"What are those?", asks the attendant.
"They're called tees" replies Tiger.
"Well, what on the God's earth are dey for?" inquires the Irishman.
"They're for resting my balls on when I'm driving", says Tiger.
"Fookin Jaysus", says the Irishman, "BMW thinks of everything."
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LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:
Said an ape as he swung by his tail,
To his offspring both female and male,
"From your offspring, my dears,
In a couple of years,
May evolve a professor at Yale."
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GALLERY:
Sent to me by John P, thanks John:
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RELIGION SPOT
One day, 3 men died and went to heaven
"Religion?" God's secretary asked the first man. "Jewish," the man replied. "Okay, go to room 23, but be very quiet when you go past room 8," the secretary said. "Religion?" he asked the second man. "Muslim." "Go to room 10, but be very quiet when you go past room 8." "Religion?" he asked the third man. "Agnostic." "Go to room 71, but be very quiet when you go past room 8." "Why must I be quiet when I go past room 8?" the man asked. The secretary replied, "Oh, the Catholics are in room 8, and they think that they are they only ones here."
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LAW & LAWYERS
A lawyer’s wife died. At her grave, everyone was appalled.
The tombstone read, “HERE LIES PHYLLIS, WIFE OF ATTORNEY MURRAY WILLIAMS; SPECIALIZES IN DIVORCE AND MALPRACTICE”.
Murray burst into tears. His brother said, “You SHOULD cry, pulling a cheap publicity stunt like this.”
Murray said, “You don’t understand. I gave them my business card.”
His brother apologized.
“…and they didn’t include the phone number!”
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CORN CORNER:
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6:30 is the best time
Hands down.
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To the person who stole my glasses.
I will find you, I have contacts.
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I never understood why childbirth is called delivery.
It should have been called takeout instead.
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Wednesday, September 18, 2024
INTERESTING PEOPLE: RAYMOND ROBINSON
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RAYMOND ‘RAY’ ROBINSON: ‘GREEN MAN’
Raymond Theodore Robinson (1910 – 1985) was a disfigured American man whose years of walks at night resulted in his becoming an urban legend in western Pennsylvania. Robinson was so severely injured in a childhood electrical accident that going out in public created fear and panic. Instead he went for long walks at night.
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About:
Robinson was eight years old when he was injured by an electrical line as he climbed a pole and reached for a bird's nest on the Morado Bridge, outside of Beaver Falls. The bridge carried a trolley and had electrical lines of both 1,200 and 22,000 volts, which were responsible for the death of another boy less than a year earlier. Robinson survived, defying doctors' expectations, but he was severely disfigured; he lost his eyes, nose, and right arm. The high-voltage shock burnt Robinson’s face and arms, leaving holes where his eyes and nose once were.
Despite this horrific injury, reports at the time noted that he was in good spirits and that he could still hear and talk.
He was isolated and ostracized, even by his own family in Koppel, Pennsylvania, who would eat separately from him. He tried to make the best of it. An avid baseball fan, he listened to every game he could pick up on his radio. He learned to read braille and how to make wallets and doormats out of old tires. When he became a man, his family fashioned a small apartment for him out in their garage.
Because of his appearance, he rarely ventured out during the day. However, at night, he went for long walks on a quiet stretch of State Route 351, feeling his way along with a walking stick. Groups of locals regularly gathered to search for him walking along the road. Robinson usually hid from his curious neighbours but would sometimes exchange a short conversation or a photograph for beer or cigarettes. Some were friendly, others cruel, but none of his encounters deterred Robinson from his nightly walks. He was struck by cars more than once.
He stopped his walks during the last years of his life and retired to the Beaver County Geriatric Center, where he died in 1985 at the age of 74.
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Urban Myth:
Robinson became a local myth in the Pittsburgh area, and his real story was obscured by urban legend. In the stories, he is the "Green Man", and as a boy, he climbed an electric pole to see into a bird's nest, and was shocked. He fell to the ground, and lost his eyes, nose, mouth, one ear, and one arm. The story states that when he grew older, he hid in an abandoned house.
There are different versions of how the name ‘Green Man’ came about.
One is that the name came from his skin, which was purported to be green because of the electrical shock he suffered in the stories.
Another is that it came from car lights reflecting off Ray Robinson’s flannels when they passed him in the night.
Through several generations, Robinson's story was passed on so many times that his name and his real history have been overshadowed by the ghost story that grew out of them.
He also became known as Charlie No-Face.
Little more is known about Robinson’s life, other than that he lived a fairly solitary existence.
He stopped his walks during the last years of his life and retired to the Beaver County Geriatric Center.
Raymond Robinson passed away in 1985 at the age of 74 from natural causes but though he may be gone, the legend of The Green Man and Charlie No-Face lives on.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Sent to me by John P . . .
Thanks John.
See the poem which follows in the post below.
POETRY SPOT
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As I get older (I am now older than my father when he died) I start to sound more and more like a crusty old curmudgeon.
Some of the references in the poem below are earlier than my yout, although we lived in a corrugated iron shed for 6 months with no water or electrcity whilst my parents to have a house built on that land.
Nonetheless the poem below, certainly not an Ode on a Grecian Urn or The Raven, To Autumn or The Bastard from the Bush (no, I mentioned the last one to get your attention), contains some nostalgic truths that the youngsters of today will not experince or know. More's the pity.
Let me know what you think.
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Monday, September 16, 2024
SONG SPOT
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The following item was sent to me by friend John Pierce yesterday, my comments follow at the end.
Thanks John.
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John’s item:
Enjoy this songs history and following performance. Almost expect to see Sinatra appear on stage at some point.
Interesting article below and very enjoyable 5 min musical video.
Before you click on the video, take a few minutes to read below!
While singer-songwriter legend Paul Anka has left a long trail of hits over his 60-year career, he admits that early on, he was terrified to pen a tune for Frank Sinatra. “He’d always tease me, ‘hey kid, when are you going to write me a song?’” Anka remembers. “But I couldn’t. I was scared to death. I was writing all this teen stuff.” Of course, there are few music lovers today who aren’t familiar with the poignant ballad Anka eventually crafted for Sinatra, “My Way.” Some dub it the most powerful of Anka’s many earworms, which also include classics like “Puppy Love,” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and even Johnny Carson’s theme song for “The Tonight Show.”
Anka didn’t think twice 55 years ago when Sinatra called him out of the blue and declared, “kid, we’re going to dinner.” “When Sinatra says ‘we’re going to dinner, you drop everything and you go to dinner,” recalls Paul, who as a budding Vegas headliner in the 1960s had a friendly tie with the Rat Pack. During the meal, Sinatra dropped a stunning surprise: He was about to quit showbiz. “He said, ‘I’ve had it. I’m fed up. But I’m doing one more album,’” Anka remembers. “He said, ‘and you never wrote me that song.”
Anka felt the pressure. Still reeling over the news at 1 a.m. in his apartment, he found himself toying with lyrics to a melody he had heard in France. “I thought, ‘What would Frank do with this melody, if he were a writer?’” Anka says. “And all of a sudden, it just came to me: ‘And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.’”
He finished the song at 5 a.m. and called Sinatra on the spot, promising him a song for his final album. “I knew I had something I wouldn’t be afraid to give him,” Anka says. The next day, he recorded a demo of the song and flew to Las Vegas, where Sinatra lived. “I played him the song and he looked at me and said, ‘I’m doing it.’”
Two months later, Sinatra called Anka again. This time, with better news. “He says, ‘kid, listen to this,’ and puts the phone up to the speaker,” Anka remembers. “I heard ‘My Way’ playing for the first time, and I started to cry.”
Paul Anka never knew what a legacy he had created when, at the request of Ol’ Blue Eyes, he wrote this song for Frank’s (presumed) retirement. Frank Sinatra had a mega smash hit with it, followed by the Three Tenors, Pavarotti and numerous other big stars who covered the song over the years.
*In this video, 10 superb voices, an amazing orchestra, plus piano,saxophone, electric guitar and extra choral support go well beyond of doing justice to Anka’s composition. The singers are Dutch, and you will notice that the majority of the orchestra are women. The performance is fantastic and extraordinarily beautiful. Take five from those Holiday chores, and enjoy this beautiful rendition.*
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My comments:
John’s email did not contain a link to the version he referred to above, but this is it:
Personally that version did not grab me and nothing will ever surpass the Chairman’s version:
Frank Sinatra performing My Way Live from Madison Square Garden in 1974
Frank Sinatra, remastered studio version:
By the way:
In 1960 Frank Sinatra founded Reprise Records after he moved away from Capital Records. Sinatra founded Reprise because he wanted more creative freedom, which is something he also offered to acts who joined the label, which included The Kinks, Rosemary Clooney and pals like Sammy Davis, Jr. It was in founding Reprise that Frank Sinatra earned the "Chairman of the Board" title, which soon became his most popular nickname. Despite this, Frank Sinatra's spouse Barbara once stated the singer himself hated the term.
Some other versions:
The Three Tenors (2017):
Miley Cyrus:
Robbie Williams, Live From Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London. [2001]
Sunday, September 15, 2024
UNUSUAL FACTS
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There is a Facebook page called Unusual Facts which can be looked at by clicking on the following link:
Bored Panda recently published a selection, at:
Here is a selection from both sites . . .
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Coober Pedy, located in the arid outback of northern South Australia, is renowned as the world's leading producer of opals, contributing to over 70% of the global supply. The town was established in 1915 after the discovery of opal by prospectors and quickly became a key mining hub.
To cope with extreme weather conditions, where summer temperatures can soar above 40°C (104°F), many residents live in underground homes known as "dugouts." These structures are carved into the earth to provide a cooler and more stable living environment compared to traditional surface homes. This unique lifestyle extends to various underground facilities, including churches, shops, and even hotels, making Coober Pedy distinctive for its extensive subterranean architecture.
The landscape of Coober Pedy is dotted with thousands of mine shafts and piles of excavated rock, reflecting the town’s ongoing mining activities. The local economy remains heavily reliant on opal mining, with numerous active mines. In addition to mining, tourism plays a significant role, as visitors are drawn to explore the opal mines, underground attractions, and learn about the town's mining heritage. Despite the challenges posed by the harsh environment, Coober Pedy continues to be a significant contributor to the opal market and an iconic site within Australia's mining industry.
The town's innovative solutions to extreme conditions, combined with its ongoing role in the opal industry, make Coober Pedy a fascinating and resilient community.
1998: Yahoo refuses to buy Google for $1 million.
2002: Yahoo realises their mistake, offers to buy Google for $3 billion. Google wants $5 billion. Yahoo declines.
2008: Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $40 billion. Yahoo declines.
2016: Yahoo sold to Verizon for $4.6 billion.
Google's value today: $515 billion.
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