Fun Friday Fact - hope you respond weekly to give us all a smile

[Charlize]

Thanks for the reminder that it's time to get into the woods to work on our syrup lines.  here in NJ we often tap in January but last year flows started in late December.  Who knows how long our trees will be able to handle the warming temperatures of the earth.  For now however i've got work to do.  Fun fact:  NJ makes maple syrup too!

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Maple fact - sugar maples can sometimes be tapped for syrup as far South as Tennessee/Arkansas in a colder year.  Not just an activity for the far north. 

[miz miranda]

I fell for the Autumn category:

 

Autumn has been called the “hectic beauty of death

 

Levels of testosterone in both men and women are at their highest in the fall. Scientists speculate the surge may be a result of ancient mating instincts (e.g., the fall “rutting season”) or that decreasing daylight somehow triggers it.

 

According to NASA, autumn is “aurora season” because geomagnetic storms are about twice as frequent as the annual average during the fall.

 

A “Harvest Moon” is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox. Before artificial lighting, such moonlight was essential to a farmer’s successful harvest.

 

Each fall, the black-capped chickadee’s tiny hippocampus enlarges by 30%, which enables it to remember where it collected seeds in different spots in trees and on the ground.

 

People who live on the equator or central area of the planet never experience autumn.

 

While heart attacks and car accidents increase after the start of daylight saving time in the spring, the opposite is true of the end of it in the fall: heart attacks and accidents decrease the Monday after daylight saving time ends.

 

Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, takes place each autumn. The festival began as part of a crown prince’s wedding celebrations in 1810 and has continued since. About 1.3 million gallons (5 million liters) of beer are poured during the festival.

[Heather Shay]

There actually aren’t “57 varieties” of Heinz ketchup, and never were. Company founder H.J. Heinz thought his product should have a number, and he liked 57. Hint: Hit the glass bottle on the “57,” not the bottom, to get the ketchup to flow. 

[Davie]

A better solution to Florida’s hurricane problem
        Coral reefs can protect coastal cities from deadly floods, if only we keep them alive.  Coral reefs are among the many ecosystems, including mangrove forests and wetlands, that can protect us. They function like natural breakwaters during a hurricane, helping to dampen or “break” waves that can flood homes and offices near shore.
       Coral reefs help safeguard the homes of more than 18,000 people and avert $1.8 billion in flood damage each year, according to a recent analysis by the US Geological Survey (USGS).

[Heather Shay]

Fall is not an exclusively US term. The word "fall"– short for "falling of the leaf" – was used in the 17th century throughout Britain.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Foxes may have been the original domesticated pet.  Foxes have been found buried with humans in ancient grave sites that predate examples of dogs or cats buried with people by 4,000 years or more.

[Heather Shay]

1. “Rainbow” comes from the Latin arcus pluvius, meaning “rainy arch.”

 

2. In Greek and Roman times, it was believed that rainbows were a path created by the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, linking us to the immortals.

 

3. What do rainbows have to so with peacocks? The Greeks used the word “iris” to refer to any colored circle, thus the iris of the eye or even the spot on the tail of a peacock. Other words that take their cue from the goddess of the rainbow include the iris flower, the chemical iridium, and the word “iridescent.”

 

4. Even though rainbows figure prominently in the myths and religions of so many cultures throughout history, no one had any idea what the heck they actually were until the 17th century.

 

5. The Greek epic poet Homer believed that rainbows were made of a single color, purple. (How decidedly unpoetic.)

 

6. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes elaborated by bestowing the rainbow with another two colors, saying that it was comprised of purple, yellow-green, and red.

 

7. Aristotle agreed with Xenophanes in his treatise, Meteorologica: “The rainbow has three colors, and these three, and no others.” Apparently this was a hot topic!

 

8. During the Renaissance, it was decided that, no, there were four colors: red, blue, green, and yellow. By the 17th century, western thinkers had agreed upon five colors: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

 

9. In 1637 René Descartes discovered that rainbows were caused by light from the sun being split into different colors by rain. Gold star for Descartes.

 

10. In 1666, Isaac Newton added indigo and orange to give us the seven-colored Roy G. Biv that we all know and love today. However, in China rainbows are considered to contain just five colors.

[Charlize]

As a painter i have always looked at the rainbow as 6 colors,  The three primaries: red, yellow and blue and the secondary colors made by mixing the primaries creating orange, green and purple.  Hence the rainbow flag.  Perhaps since indigo gets so close to black it is often not included.  I have found it a difficult color to obtain with most paints.  Some makers produce an indigo but it just doesn't seem to make that illusive color.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[miz miranda]

The color didn't have a name until relatively modern times

 

 the evidence of ancient Greek literature and philosophy shows that since blue was not part of Homer and his readers’ shared vocabulary (yellow and green do not appear either), it may not have been part of their perceptual experience, either. The spread of blue ink across the world as a relatively recent phenomenon has to do with its availability. “If you think about it,” writes Business Insider’s Kevin Loria, “blue doesn’t appear much in nature — there aren’t blue animals, blue eyes are rare, and blue flowers are mostly human creations.”

The color blue took hold in modern times with the development of substances that could act as blue pigment, like Prussian Blue, invented in Berlin, manufactured in China and exported to Japan in the 19th century. “The only ancient culture to develop a word for blue was the Egyptians — and as it happens, they were also the only culture that had a way to produce a blue dye.” Color is not only cultural, it is also technological. But first, perhaps, it could be a linguistic phenomenon.

One modern researcher, Jules Davidoff, found this to be true in experiments with a Namibian people whose language makes no distinction between blue and green (but names many finer shades of green than English does). “Davidoff says that without a word for a colour,” Loria writes, “without a way of identifying it as different, it’s much harder for us to notice what’s unique about it.” Unless we’re color blind, we all “see” the same things when we look at the world because of the basic biology of human eyes and brains. But whether certain colors appear, it seems, has to do less with what we see than with what we’re already primed to expect.

[Heather Shay]

[Jani]

This can apply to many of us.  "So you see, there were plenty of bumps in the road but at the end of the day, they pushed on." 

[Heather Shay]

1. The most expensive film ever made was Pirates of the Caribbean, which cost more than 375 million dollars to create. For reference, the average budget for a big studio movie is around $65 million.
2. If E.T. is one of your favorite movies of all time, then you'll be interested to know that someone squished their hands in jelly to make the sound effect for E.T. walking around.
3. Buzz Lightyear's original name is Lunar Larry. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, right? But it is on theme.
4. The bookworms will appreciate this fun fact: Isaac Asimov is the only author to write a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
5. Another literary fact for you: It took Leo Tolstoy six years to finish his novel War and Peace.

[Marcie Jensen]

The fact about Asimov is very interesting. I knew he was a genius and had written everything from poetry to chemistry to science fiction, but had no idea he had written in every Dewey-decimal category. Thanks for sharing.

[Heather Nicole]

8 hours ago, Heather Shay said:

The bookworms will appreciate this fun fact: Isaac Asimov is the only author to write a book in every Dewey-decimal category.

 

If his 600's work just happened to be a 641, then I'm going to have to make it my life's mission to find this "Cooking with Asimov" book.

[Heather Nicole]

Speaking of the dewey decimal system, here's one:

 

Did you know the dewy decimal system isn't just for non-fiction?

 

While libraries usually have separate sections without any call numbers for most of their fiction collections, the dewey decimal system is designed to accommodate fictional works. For example, 398 contains traditional folk tales and mythologies, Shakespere's works are in 822.33, and the 800's in general contain such things as poetry, comedy, and other fictional literature.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

Well, maybe I'll add something to the day's theme of the Dewey decimal system.

 

Apparently, the system has been repeatedly revised for bias.  For example, the original version placed books related to homosexuality in the categories of "mental derangement" and "abnormal psychology.".  Today they have been more appropriately placed in the 300's area for sex and relationships. 

[Heather Shay]

"Bruce Wayne probably helps more people by being a billionaire philanthropist than he does by being Batman."

[miz miranda]

@Heather ShayBruce probably stopped when the tax deductions were reduced

 

Does Superman cause cancer with his X-ray vision?

 

 Aqua man identifies as a mermaid

 

Wonder woman is repatative

[Colleen Henderson]

24 minutes ago, miz miranda said:

@Heather ShayBruce probably stopped when the tax deductions were reduced

 

Does Superman cause cancer with his X-ray vision?

 

 Aqua man identifies as a mermaid

 

Wonder woman is repatative

 

The Invisible Man is retired and living here in Central Florida. He was recently arrested for Failure To Appear. He made up some story, but the judge saw right through it. Now he's sitting in jail...they think.

 

 

[miz miranda]

@Colleen HendersonYour puns are heroic

[Heather Shay]

@Colleen Henderson LOLOLOLOL I love punning around.

[Heather Shay]

 

Music Affects Your Perception of the World

 

Shutterstock

A 2011 study conducted at the University of Groningen showed that music not only affects mood, but it has an even more significant effect on perception. Subjects who were tested were influenced by the music they heard, based on what they saw; participants were asked to listen to music and identify corresponding smiley faces. Smiley faces that matched the music were identified much more accurately. And even when no smiley face was shown, the subjects thought they recognized a happy face when listening to happy music, and a sad face when listening to sad music.

[miz miranda]

Musical Education Leads to Better Exam Scores. Studying music is an actual workout for your brain. Learning an instrument has been proven to help students in myriad ways from mastery of memorization, pattern recognition and emotional development. Students who have experience with music performance or taking music appreciation courses score higher on the SAT(Scholastic Aptitude Test). A report indicated that they score, on average, 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math.

 

Music Helps Plants Grow Faster. According to a study by scientists from South Korea, plants grow at a faster pace when they are played classical music. Using 14 different pieces of music, the scientists played music to a rice field and studied the results.  Findings were that the music helped the crops grow and even suggested evidence that plants could “hear”.  We suggest practicing your instrument in your veggie garden!

 

While listening to a song, you get some chills, which is mostly caused by the brain releasing dopamine as you anticipate the peak of that song.

 

Monaco’s Military Orchestra has more soldiers than its Army. The Monaco’s Army has 82 soldiers while its Orchestra has 85 soldiers. 

[Marcie Jensen]

2 minutes ago, miz miranda said:

Monaco’s Military Orchestra has more soldiers than its Army. The Monaco’s Army has 82 soldiers while its Orchestra has 85 soldiers. 

On Veterans; Day, it's interesting to know that Monaco has an army.