Trivia

Ancient man, living in colder climates, is credited with making the first shoes, by adding material to the top of the crude "sandals" his neighbors in warmer climates had invented. He did so out of necessity, to give his feet additional protection from the cold.

Early man, in warmer climates, invented the sandal to protect his feet from sharp rocks, and did so by strapping a mat of woven grass, a strip of animal hide, or a slab of flat wood to his feet with "thongs" he cut out of animal hide. Some even pulled the thongs between the toes and tied them around the ankles to tighten the fit of these crude sandals.

Wealthy ancient Egyptians wore sandals as long as 5,000 years ago, eventually everyone began wearing them, and the Egyptians designed different shoes for different purposes. For example, some of the sandals were make with upturned toes to give the wearer additional protection. These improvements upon the sandal created a need for shoemakers, and the ancient Egyptians became the first shoemakers in the world.

Ancient Greeks invented the boot, by replacing the sandal's thongs with solid leather. Many of these crude shoes have endured and are still worn today. Common examples include the sandals the ancient Greeks and Romans wore, the moccasins American Indians wore, and the clogs people in Holland still wear.

In the Middle Ages, around the time the Crusades began, modern shoes appeared on the scene. The Crusaders, who went on long treks, needed durable, comfortable shoes that people then began making for this purpose.

Eventually, the styles and types of shoes made became a fashion statement, at the cost of comfort, instead of protective footwear. Fashion trends rapidly changed, and the fashionable, uncomfortable shoes with pointed, six-inch toes, gave way to another uncomfortable shoe known as the high heel.

In 1629, a shoemaker by the name of Thomas Beard, arrived in America on the second voyage of the Mayflower, opened a shop in which he could practice his trade, and sparked of our modern shoe industry.

No one has a firm grasp as to why the middle finger, the impedicus, is the longest finger on each hand.

This Latin word, in translation, means impudent, bold, and immodest, but points us in the wrong direction in solving this mystery, as the name, and the lewd gestures commonly made with this finger, in no way explain its length.

The impedicus itself has a Latin name for being the longest, which is mesaxonic, meaning middle axis. Mesaxonic lends a little more assistance in the quest for an explanation for the middle finger's length.

Evolutionary physiologists cling to the symmetry theory, based upon their studies of the evolutionary reasons for the inner workings of animals' bodies. Experts in this field hold that the longer third finger is most likely a vestige of our ancestors' paws, and state the need for balance as the primary reason for its length.

Their esteemed colleagues, evolutionary morphologists, who study the evolutionary aspects of the shape and of the structures of bodies, also adhere to the theory of symmetry, but tack an additional aspect onto this theory, one they refer to as the "geometry of closing." The geometry of closing is merely scientific jargon for the fact that when the hand closes to form a fist, all fingers touch the palm of the hand at the same time. This way, when they grasp an object, they all share the work equally. Simply put, the fingers on our hands differ in length, because this particular shape works so well, and has done so for millions of years.

Anthropologists, in general, disagree with the balancing act behind the theory of symmetry. Their underlying reason for disputing this theory is that, in their studies of human evolution, they have encountered other primates, man's closest, hairiest relatives, who have longer fourth fingers. Anthropologists, however, do not pose a counter theory to the most commonly held one. Until they do, the theory of symmetry wins hands down!

The survival of the bee through the cold months of winter is largely dependent upon the particular kind of over 1,000 species to which it belongs. Generally speaking, the social bees do not summer in the South during the winter, as do migratory birds, but, instead, live or die in their natural environs.

The young queen bumblebee, who earns her title by being the one egg-laying female, or queen mother, in the colony of social bees, does survive the winter. She does so by burrowing out a hold in a well-drained sandbank, or simply by taking the easy way out by moving into a pre-owned home, such as a deserted mouse nest. Once settled into her nest, she plays happy homemaker and makes beebread from the nectar and the pollen she collected all summer, dumps the load of bread, lays eggs on it, covers it with wax, and relaxes atop it.

Approximately 250,000 eggs later, her Highness washes her hands of the whole thing, and leaves the work to her offspring. As soon as the workers, or fertilized, but non-egg producing females sprout wings, they set to work, and only later get assistance in the form of drones, or unfertilized males. The workers bees and drones, who toiled for the queen all summer, are rewarded for their efforts by a certain death in winter. No bother...they are easily replaced by cheap labor, when the queen lays more eggs in the spring, and puts her new brood to work.

Her counterpart, the young queen honeybee, earns her title by being the first of the special queen cells to emerge, and literally kills her competition, her sisters, in their queen cells, before they have the chance to emerge. The colony she rules is the epitome of efficiency, as it adapts to endure a full range of adverse climates. This species of honey-producing bee, ergo the honeybee, winters in a temperature-controlled hive. The worker bee thermostatically controls his hive with great precision, ensuring that the temperature in the hive's nursery, where baby bees are developing, is maintained at 93 degrees Fahrenheit, and that the temperature in the remainder of the hive does not drop below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The worker bees accomplish this winter task by fueling up on the honey that they have stored, and by releasing heat as they feast.

The honeybee wisely keeps a stash of honey for himself, after the beekeeper has had his take, thus benefiting from his labor in the warmer months. The social bees utilize these months in a productive manner, by buzzing from flower to flower, sucking up the flowers' nectar as they bumble along. The nectar the bees extract from the flower flows to their honey sacs, which are enlargements of their digestive tracts, and are located in front of the belly of the bees.

Here, the sugars from the sweet nectar of the flower, chemically transform, and are reduced through the honeybee's built-in mechanism to evaporate large quantities of water contained in the nectar. The honeybee stores the end product, honey, both internally, and externally. Pooh-like "honeypot" cells store the thinner version of honey, honey with a short "shelf-life," and honeycombs, the more concentrated version, honey with the "shelf-life" of canned goods in wartime. In a sense, the honeybee is preparing to combat, and to survive, the bitter winter months that lie ahead.

Most adult women do not have facial hair because female glands and hormones step in to prevent this growth. The female sex hormone stimulates the growth of hair on the head, prompting frequent visits to the hair salon, and stunts the growth of the beard and of body hair. Of course, the female hormones do not always completely inhibit the growth of facial or of body hair, and some unwanted hair develops, but this is nothing that cannot be cosmetically corrected by another trip to the beauty salon, to the drug store, or to the doctor.

At birth, all infants are coated with a fine, fur-like down which gradually disappears as childhood approaches. The delicate hair of a child transforms into adult hair once the child reaches puberty and the sex hormones become very active (what a surprise!). This coat of hair is the final coat of hair - gender determines whether the facial hair stays or goes.

In contrast, the male sex hormone, in a steadily manner, jumps in to stimulate the growth of the beard and of body hair, while slowing the development of hair on the head. This explains the growing popularity of head creams, hair transplant clubs for men, and toupees to treat male hair loss, should it occur over time!

Most believe that men, not women, sport beards, because of Mother Nature's intervention. The most likely explanation for the opposite roles of the male and female hormones in the stimulation of hair growth flashes back to the caveman days. In those days, the caveman's beard greatly simplified life for him, as it was visible from a distance, and he could easily be distinguished as a man.

A Busker is a street performer.

They owe their origins to the jesters and traveling minstrels who entertained Egyptian Pharos, and Middle Age Lords in years gone by.

To define what a Busker actually does, or is, takes some explaining.

Literally defined as a person who entertains in public places for money, a Busker has no set skills they must have. They can juggle, eat fire, play music, or ride a unicycle; among many other things. As appreciation for a Busker's performance, spectators are supposed to put coins in the performer- provided hat.

You can find Buskers performing around the world in places like England; Canada; Italy; Denver, Colorado; and New Zealand, but not all areas welcome these street performers. Laws tend to lump Buskers together as either panhandlers or venders. Panhandlers cannot be taxed, and are illegal, so Buskers face prosecution if caught. Vendors sell goods, which is what a Busker's performance is termed, and need a permit for tax purposes. This method has its drawbacks as Buskers seldom make large profits in the first place. Often times they must be invited to perform at a location to aviod legal hassles.

Whether making balloon art or using slapstick comedy to draw a crowd, the Busker is a unique performer that has been part of human culture for centuries.

Since ancient times, the mistletoe has been one of the most magical, mysterious and sacred plants of European folklore.

The ancient Druids considered the mistletoe to be a sacred plant and believed it had miraculous powers which could cure illnesses, serve as an antidote against poisons, ensure fertility and protect against the ill effects of witchcraft. It was also believed that the mistletoe was an aphrodisiac or a sexual symbol.

From these strange beliefs has come the modern-day custom of hanging a ball of mistletoe from the ceiling and exchanging kisses under it as a sign of friendship and goodwill.

The tradition of smooching under the mistletoe descends from the customs of several different cultures. For instance, exchanging kisses under the mistletoe was a tradition of Greek festivals and marital ceremonies. If a couple in love exchanges a kiss under the mistletoe, it is interpreted as a promise to marry, as well as a prediction of happiness and long life.

The Anglo-Saxons associated the powers of the mistletoe to the legend of Freya, the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. According to the legend, a man had to kiss any young girl who, without realizing it, found herself accidentally under a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Guys would pluck a berry when they smooched the girls and when the last berry was gone, there would be no more kissing!

In France, the custom linked to the mistletoe was reserved for New Year's Day: "Au gui l'An neuf"--Mistletoe for the New Year.

Today, kisses can be exchanged under the mistletoe any time during the holiday season.

The amount of sleep an individual requires varies from person to person, but most adults average eight hours of sleep.

Sleep plays a vital role in our daily regimen, as during this dormant period, it recharges and rejuvenates weary body organs and tissues, and restores the body to an alert state. A person's lifestyle is another variable in the amount of time he needs to achieve this healthy balance, and to feel well rested upon awakening.

The quality of a person's sleep also factors into the sleep equation. When we drift off to sleep, we either fall into a deep, restful sleep, or into a shallow, light sleep. One who normally requires eight hours of sleep, but sleeps shallowly, will most likely awaken feeling tired. In contrast, if the same individual sleeps fewer hours, but lapses into a state of deep sleep, he may well awaken refreshed and invigorated.

A lucky few can bypass shallow sleep altogether, and fall directly into deep sleep on an as needed basis. Alexander the Great's military prowess may have been due, in part, to his ability to take a "cat nap."

Yet one more variable factors into the amount of sleep we require: that of the brain and of the body sleeping simultaneously. Under normal circumstances, the brain's sleep center blocks off the nerves to the brain and to the body to make sleep possible. The brain has no interest in doing anything, and could not even if it did, because the sleep center has shut down the internal organs, the arms, and the legs. Sometimes, however, the sleep center is unsuccessful in shutting down both the brain and the body at the same time. For example, in times of war, it is not unusual for soldiers suffering from sleep deprivation and from combat fatigue to continue to march, despite the fact that their brains have halted. Thankfully, such a situation is an anomaly, and does not occur with great frequency.

In 1699, Mardi Gras was first mentioned in North America. A French explorer camped by the Mississippi River, fifty miles south of today's New Orleans, named Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, first brought the term to the United States.

Pierre knew that in his native country, France, March 3rd was being observed as a holiday, so he named the spot he was camped on Point du Mardi Gras.

By the 1700s, Mardi Gras was celebrated in both Mobile, Alabama, and in New Orleans, Louisiana. Somewhat more sedate then today's festivities, the day was celebrated with private balls. In both cities random streets played hosts to costumed citizens.

The first documented procession for Mardi Gras took place in 1837, but it was very different then the parades seen there today. The first modern-styled parade didn't occur until 1857, and was arranged by a group called the Mystik Krewe of Comus. The floats were lit by torches and depicted scenes from mythology and literature. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, more krewes sprung up adding to the number of floats and balls.

Today's celebrations are not that different from the ones in the 1860s. There are still parades full of floats and costumed people, and there are still balls held each year. In fact, the celebration is so famous it has become major tourist attraction for New Orleans drawing in millions of people from around the world for Fat Tuesday.

The moon, a satellite, or small body, rotates on its axis around the earth, and "shines" when the sun's light beams onto its surface, and is reflected back to earth. Unfortunately, only one side of the moon is visible to us on the earth, as it takes the moon the same length of time to orbit on its axis, as it takes for it to orbit the earth.

The lunar month is divided into halves. During the first half, lasting approximately 14 days, the sun's light unrelentingly strikes the moon, which has no atmosphere or air to protect it from these rays, and brings the temperature of the moon to above that of the boiling point. The second half of the lunar month plunges the moon into cold, dark nights.

Man has learned a great deal about the moon since the days when ancient man worshipped it as a goddess who ruled the night. Space flights made by the United States, the USSR, now Russia, and our Apollo moon landings, unlocked some of the moon's secrets, by enabling astronauts to collect the moon's soil and rocks, and to photograph the side of the moon invisible to us for scientific analysis. The primary goal of scientific studies of the data collected is to determine if, someday, man can actually inhabit the moon.

The igloo, a temporary winter hunting shelter to the Alaskan Eskimo does, in fact, melt inside, but not to a great extent.

The snowflakes falling outside of the igloo, in the harsh Alaskan winter, quickly melt when they land on its roof, and provide a replacement layer of insulation for the igloo. The ongoing freezing and re-freezing of the igloo, hardens it, and transforms the blocks of snow the Eskimos used in the construction process into a solid, icy, domed refuge. The igloo can now withstand the weight of a massive polar bear, should one happen along and have the urge to play "king of the mountain."

The initial freezing and re-freezing of the igloo takes place at end of the igloo's construction. First, the men must dig a trench into a fresh snow- drift, and, using their knives, cut blocks of snow from it that are specifically shaped to face inward when fully laid out. They then lay the blocks on their edges to form a circle, cutting them to size as they go, so that the end result will be a narrowing spiral. They cap the igloo by dropping a keystone, or block with edges cut wider above than below, into the remaining gap in the roof, and "grout" the gaps between blocks of snow with additional snow.

The men then call in the resident expert, the Eskimo woman, to put the finishing touches on the igloo. Armed with her whale blubber lamp, she enters the structure, lights her lamp to the highest possible setting, beats a hasty retreat, and seals the entrance with a block of ice. Inside the igloo, the snow on the roof begins to melt but, because of its domed design, the water melts down the sides of the igloo, and soaks the blocks of snow. When the blocks are almost completely saturated with water, the Eskimo woman returns, douses her blubber lamp, and allows the frigid outside air to rush in, transforming the fragile snow structure into one of hard, solid ice.

The igloo is now prepared for its temporary tenants, whose body heat, combined with the warmth of one to two blubber lamps, maintain its interior at approximately 55°F. Not until the winter ends, and the exterior temperature rises, does the igloo begin to melt. Hopefully, the Eskimos will be long gone by then, as the igloo will collapse…dome-first!

Pertaining to animals, the answer is yes.

A donkey, an ass, and a burro, are all the same name for the same beast. Jackass, is merely the name for a male ass, while jennett, not jillass, is the name for a female ass.

The Ancient Egyptians domesticated the sturdy ass over 5,000 years ago, for use as transportation, and to transport their belongings and commodities. This form of cheap labor, of which there are many kinds, spread throughout the world, and uses of the ass expanded to include the skin off of the ass, the meat off of it's bones, and the actual export of the ass as a commodity.

The Somali wild ass, hailing from Somalia and elsewhere in Africa, is a prime example of the versatility of the ass, as these shy animals, living together in groups of 5-20, adapt well to the desert climate, and can exist on a diet of dry grass and shrubs. The over-depletion of the versatile Somali wild ass, however, explains its rarity today. Asian wild asses, for example, the Syrian wild ass, suffered a similar fate, and can no longer be found in Syria, and in other parts of the Middle East. Man has hunted the Nubian wild ass, a northeastern African type, once living from the Nile to the Red Sea, almost to the point of extinction. Certain groups are attempting to protect the few remaining asses from being hunted and killed.

The modern ass, a descendent of the Nubian wild ass, meets the same transportation needs in Mexico, and in Central America, as it did in Ancient Egypt.

The primary reason that our feathered friends migrate South in the Fall, or North in the Spring, does not solely lie in the cold of winter, as most are well-equipped to survive in extreme temperatures, but instead lies with the upcoming shortage of food. Mother Nature endowed birds with an internal clock that warns them to get out-of-town, or to face possible starvation. Because birds can to detect seasonal changes, they take note when the days become shorter, and fly South in search of alternate food sources, only to return home again in the Spring when there is an abundance of tasty insects, or small, scurrying rodents.

An additional trigger for birds to migrate is the need to breed to repopulate their species. Often, they return in the spring to procreate in the exact nesting spot they vacated in the fall. Birds certainly do qualify as creatures of habit!

The streamlined, aerodynamic birds go to great lengths to make their migratory trips, sometimes flying as far as to other continents, or from the lowlands to the highlands, or from the interior of a country to the seashore. The Arctic tern holds the long-distance medal for travel, as he travels from Antarctica to Massachusetts, logging up to 22,000 miles in stretches of up to 1,000 miles per week. Unfortunately, he does not rack up frequent flyer miles! Most land-lubbers make puddle-jumper like flights, with the exception of the American Golden Plover, who undertakes a non-stop, direct flight over the open expanse of ocean, from Nova Scotia to South America, without making one pit-stop!

For some reason, most migratory birds schedule their annual departure and return dates close to, or on the same day, as in the previous year. Their timing, however, is not exact, as is the case with the legendary swallows of Capistrano, California. Reportedly, their annual migration begins like clockwork on October 23, and ends with their return on March 19. The legendary swallows sometimes do disappoint and vary their migratory schedule, much to the chagrin of the California Division of Tourism!

No scientific certainty exists as to how migratory birds establish their flight plans or patterns. They are not blessed with the bat's radar system, so fly-by-night birds have no physical landmarks to guide them, and those who make overseas flights have no landmarks to go by, even during the daylight hours. The most prevalent, plausible theory is that migratory birds sense the magnetic fields that surround the earth, and guide their flights by these lines, which stretch from North to South. How else would young birds, who have logged no flight miles, successfully complete their migrations, especially in light of the fact that their mothers leave them in the dust, and begin their migrations first? Whatever the reason, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these birds from the swift completion of their annual migrations!

Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zipper and YKK is the Japanese company that makes them.

Whitcomb L. Judson was a lover of gadgets and machines and the idea for his "clasp locker" came from when a friend had a stiff back from trying to fasten his shoes. Judson's clasp locker was used mostly on mailbags, tobacco pouches and shoes. However, his design, like most first inventions needed to be fine-tuned.

A more practical version came on the scene in 1913 when a Swedish-born engineer, Gideon Sundback revised Judson's idea and made his with metal teeth instead of a hook and eye design. In 1917, Sundback patented his "separable fastener."

The name changed again when the B. F. Goodrich Co. used it in rubber boots, galoshes, and called it the "zipper" because the boots could be fastened with one hand.

The 1940s brought about research in Europe of the coil zipper design. The first design was of interlocking brass coils. However, since they could be permanently bent out of shape, making the zipper stop functioning, it was rather bad for business and wasn't too practical. The new design was improved after the discovery of stronger, more flexible synthetics. Coil zippers eventually hit the market in the early 1960s.

In 1934, Yoshida Kogyo Kabushililaisha was founded. Sixty years later they changed their name to YKK Co. The privately owned firm, headquartered in Japan, now is made up of 80 companies at 206 facilities in 52 countries. Wow! you say? but of course, the demand for zippers is great. YKK makes everything from the dyed fabric around the zipper to the brass used to make the actual device.

In the often unheated buildings of the middle ages, long gowns were necessary for scholars to ward off the cold.

Academic dress for graduations started in the 12th and 13th centuries when universities first began forming. Whether a student or a teacher, standard dress for scholars was clerical garb. Most medieval scholars had made certain vows, and had at least taken minor orders with the church so clerical robes were their main form of dress to begin with.

In 1321, the University of Coimbra mandated that all Doctors, Bachelors, and Licentiates must wear gowns. In the latter half of the 14th century, excess in apparel was forbidden in some colleges and prescribed wearing a long gown. By the time of England's Henry VIII, Oxford and Cambridge began using a standard form of academic dress, which was controlled to the tiniest detail by the university.

Not until the late 1800s were colors assigned to signify certain areas of study, but they were only standardized in the United States. European institutions have always had diversity in their academic dress, but American institutions employ a definite system of dress thanks to Gardner Cotrell Leonard from Albany, New York. After designing gowns for his 1887 class at Williams College, he took an interest in the subject and published an article on academic dress in 1893. Soon after he was asked to work with an Intercollegiate Commission to form a system of academic apparel.

The system Gardner Cotrell Leonard helped form was based on gown cut, style and fabric; as well as designated colors to represent fields of study. For example green was the color of medieval herbs, and was assigned to medical studies. Because olive is close to green, was designated for pharmaceutical studies.

In 1959, the American Council on Education had a Committee on Academic Costumes and Ceremonies review the costume code and make changes. In 1986, the committee changed the code to clarify the use of dark blue for a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Specifications:

The shape and size of the hood and the sleeve design of the gown show the degree a student pursued: a Bachelor's Degree gown has pointed sleeves and no hood, a Master's Degree gown had long, closed sleeves with arm slits and a narrow hood, and a Doctor's Degree had bell-shaped sleeves and a draped, wide hood.

The color of the hood's lining tells which college or university the degree was given by. For example: Harvard is crimson, Temple is cherry and white, and Cornell is purple and white. However, other than the lining, the hood must be black.

The field of study is designated by the color of the hood's facing. For example: Theology is scarlet, Arts Letters and Humanities are white, and Music is pink.

Caps should only be made of black cotton poplin, broadcloth, rayon, or silk, to match gown they are to be used with. Velvet may only be used for a doctor's degree.

Tassels should be fastened to the middle of the cap's top and allowed to lie where it will. It should be black, or the color of field of study, unless it is for a doctor's degree in which case is may be gold.

In the days before firehouses even existed, Dalmatians were bred and trained for the specific purpose of preventing highway robbery. Dalmatians, or "coach dogs," ran alongside of horse-drawn stagecoaches, and acted as a buffers and as bodyguards to ward off robbers, also known as highwaymen, who attempted to ambush the carriages and, quite literally, to lighten their loads.

When horse-drawn fire engines arrived on the scene, firemen naturally chose Dalmatians to assist them, since the breed was accustomed to running long-distances, and to being around horses. Their bright white coats, covered with large black spots, made them a highly visible warning sign to bystanders and onlookers, as the dogs ran ahead of, and cleared the path for, fire engines racing towards a fire.

With technological advancement, horse-drawn fire engines became obsolete, and the need for Dalmatians to clear the way for fire engines no longer existed. People knew better than to get in the way of motorized fire engines speeding towards them with blaring sirens!

Fortunately, Firemen did not fire the gentle Dalmatian from his position in the Department. Instead, they honored him, by adopting the breed as the official firehouse mascot. The tradition continues to this day, and Dalmatians can even be spotted at some Fire Stations!

The question as to why doughnuts have holes has been raised by dozens of bakers over the years, but most agree that the answer to this sticky question lies in the fact that the interior of these fried cakes would not cook fully without a hole in the center. In short, the consistency of a doughnut lacking a hole would be, quite simply, doughy.

Another riveting theory as to the origin of the bulls eye in the doughnut holds that a sea captain named Hanson Gregory, while manning his post one stormy night, found it impossible both to steer his vessel and to eat his fried cake. Out of sheer frustration, and probably out of hunger, he impaled his cake over one of the spokes of the ship's wheel, thereby creating a finger hold with which to grip the cake. Quite pleased with his ingenuity, Mr. Gregory ordered the galley's cook to fry the cakes in that manner henceforth.

Whatever the reason for the hole in the doughnut, this fried cake, with or without a hole, has been incorporated into the diets of people throughout the world for centuries. In fact, archaeologists found petrified fried cakes with holes amongst the artifacts of a primitive Indian tribe.

Many credit Dutch settlers to America with introducing the non-holed olykoeks, or "oily cakes," to this continent, and with their subsequent popularity.

There is no disputing the fact that the fried cake became the rage in New York and in New England, and that before long, it became the specialty of coffee shops. Fried cakes came into their own in 1673, when a self-made New York marketing guru, Anna Joralemon, made their purchase at the market possible.

To this day, doughnuts, in any shape or form, remain married in our minds to coffee and police officers, and are here to stay.

Today's playing cards got their names from a combination of names in Italian and French decks of cards.

The French trimmed the Italian deck from 78 cards to 52 cards, kept certain aspects of the Italian deck, and combined it with aspects of their deck. The British adopted the new French deck, the Americans followed suit, and the product of the changes the French made to their deck is the modern deck of cards.

Certain cards in today's playing cards, Italy's tarots, or picture cards, were used for both fortune telling and for card games, and made up 22 of the Italian deck of 78 cards. The remaining 56 cards were number cards. One tarot card named "il matto," or the fool, is present in today's deck as the joker.

The Italian deck had four suits, which represented the chalice, the sword, money, and the baton, and four "court" cards, the king, queen, knight, and knave.

Of the 56 cards in the Italian deck, the French kept 52, which included the king, queen, knave, and 10 number cards in each of the four suits. They renamed the suits the spade, heart, diamond, and club and the deck they created is the most common deck in use today.

The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name Saint Nicholas).

Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century.

As early as 1773 the name appeared in the American press as "St. A Claus," but it was the popular author Washington Irving who gave Americans their first detailed information about the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the saint on horseback each Eve of Saint Nicholas.

This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas" by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods; and the method by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney. (Moore's phrase "lays his finger aside of his nose" was drawn directly from Irving's 1809 description.)

The American image of Santa Claus was further elaborated by illustrator Thomas Nast, who depicted a rotund Santa for Christmas issues of Harper's magazine from the 1860s to the 1880s. Nast added such details as Santa's workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of the good and bad children of the world. In the first Nast illustration, Santa was delivering Christmas gifts to soldiers fighting in the Civil War. The cartoon, entitled "Santa Claus in Camp" appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863.

Over time, the custom of kissing developed as a way for adults to express their love and affection for one another. The roots of this form of affection can be traced back to primitive times, when mothers fondled their children, much as mothers do today.

Much later, in the sixth century, society apparently accepted the custom of kissing between adults as an expression of their affection. Not surprisingly, France first accepted kissing in courtship, and in amore. There, figure dancing was the rage, and each dance was sealed with a kiss.

The custom of kissing swept from France through Europe to Russia, where Russian nobility loved to ape the French. Eventually, the kiss was incorporated into marriage ceremonies, and today lip-locks couples into sweet matrimony.

The custom of kissing today, as well as in ancient times, serves to show respect, and to pay homage to another. For example, early Romans kissed each other on the mouth or on the eyes to greet one another in a manner they deemed to be a dignified. One Roman emperor even ranked a person's importance by the body part he was allowed to kiss. He allowed important nobles to kiss his lips, less important ones to kiss his hands, and the least important ones to kiss his feet.

In Russia, the highest sign of recognition from the Crown meant a kiss from the Tsar himself. Today, natives of many African tribes pay homage to their Chief by kissing the ground over which he has walked.

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In 1927, in Vienna, Austria, a candy maker by the name of Eduard Haus, III, developed a candy to conceal adult smokers' bad breath.

In fact, the target market for the candy, labeled as a compressed breath mint, consisted of adult smokers. The original flavor for the candy, which is still available today, was Peppermint.

When marketers extracted the first, middle, and the last letters of the German word for Peppermint, Pfefferminz, they were left with PEZ, and the name stuck. Convenient, headless PEZ dispensers surfaced in the late 1940, and allowed the smoker to pop a PEZ to freshen his breath at any given time.

In 1952, the PEZ revolution spread to the United States, the land of opportunity, or opportunism, however you choose to look at it. Marketing gurus, after extensive research with children, concluded that the adult smokers' mint should be replaced by a fruit-flavored children's candy, complete with a gimmick. They determined that PEZ dispensers with character heads were just the vehicle to drive up sales, and they were right!

Flavors of the ever popular candies PEZ, which are compact, flavored sugar pellets, have come and gone over the years as peoples' tastes have changed. The flavors Chlorophyll, Eucalyptus, and Flower, were destined to be discontinued from the start. Other flavors no longer with us include Coffee, Licorice, Menthol, and Cinnamon.

The current availability of certain flavors of PEZ depends upon where you live. For example, in the United States, your choices are limited to Grape, Lemon, Orange, and Peppermint, while our Canadian neighbors have an additional fruit flavor, cherry, at their disposal. Overseas, in Spain, Apple and Raspberry flavors may be purchased, while in Hungary and Thailand, Chocolate flavor may be added to your stash. One additional type of PEZ exists; the vitamin enriched IZO PEZ.

Since 1952, PEZ dispensers have become collectors' items, with some rare dispensers carrying hefty price tags. So rare is the Big Top Elephant model, that one collector recently paid $3,600.00 to become the elephant's proud new owner! Over 275 different PEZ character heads have been designed since 1952, with as many as 48 different models on the market at any one time. In terms of popularity, the Mickey Mouse and the Santa Claus models top the list year after year. One set of models, that of the Flintstone cartoon characters, flew off of the shelves so quickly, that the rush to buy left the most popular one, Dino, the purple dinosaur, in short supply.

Technology's attempt to jump on the PEZ dispenser bandwagon has proven far less successful. One company produces a battery-powered dispenser, complete with a top that spins and pops candy into your mouth, and another produces the PEZ watch, which dispenses candy out of one side of the watch when a PEZ attack hits.

No doubt, PEZ will introduce new flavors and new dispensers in the future, but no matter what changes are made, PEZ has become so deeply engrained in our culture, that it is certainly here to stay.

The measurement known as a mile is a vestige of the Roman Empire's rule over Britain. At this time, the Romans had a measurement known as mille pasuum (ME-lay PA-soo-em), or a thousand paces. A pace comprised five, possibly sandal shod, Roman feet. Using a simple mathematical calculation, we arrive at 5,000 feet per mile.

The demise of the Roman Empire left the Britons in a quandary. They now had a mile, consisting of 5,000 feet, and their own agricultural measurement, the furlong, used to measure the farmers' fields for the purpose of property deeds, etc. Instead of using the Roman foot in calculating the measure of a furlong, they used the distance a horse could pull a plow, in a linear fashion, before the nag needed a nap. They agreed that this measurement consisted 660 feet.

Now came the dilemma. The British wished to marry the furlong to the mile, but, as they wanted a mile to comprise eight furlongs, totaling 5,280 feet, instead of the Roman 5,000 feet per mile, they had no choice but to select one of the two. Not surprisingly, they chose their measurement over the Roman measurement because, as property deeds at the time were measured in furlongs, or 660 feet, a change to the Roman measurement would short the farmer or landowner.

The creation of this confection is tedious and time-consuming, and has both a sweet and a bittersweet ending. Initially, skilled workers cut ripe cacao bean pods from the cacao tree, split them open, and scrape out the pulp contained inside. After the mass of pulp ferments for a few days, workmen spread it in the hot sun to dry, separate the dried seeds from the remainder of the pulp, and bag them for shipment to the market.

Once the bagged seeds arrive at their destination, the manufacturer's processing mill, they are cleaned to remove foreign material. Next, they are roasted, to loosen their husks, which are then literally blown away in yet another process. Finally, the inner kernel of the seed is broken into bits called "nibs." At this juncture, the road in the chocolate making process forks, as what is done next with the nibs determines the final product.

When the nibs are ground under heavy stone mills, the oil within the nibs is released, and transforms the mass into "chocolate liquor," a thick substance which, upon hardening, produces the bitter chocolate used in recipes for baking and for candy-making. The method of producing sweet chocolate follows that of producing bitter chocolate, with the addition of other substances, such as cocoa butter, a fat.

Workmen obtain cocoa butter, a byproduct of the cocoa making process, by grinding the nibs, and by separating part of the fat from the resulting mass. Not only is cocoa butter an essential ingredient in producing sweet chocolate, but also in producing cosmetics and medicines. Once the cocoa butter is extracted for its various uses, the remaining mass is finely, and finally, ground to produce cocoa.

Cocoa, the drink, is the mother of all chocolate making. The ancient Aztecs prepared the original version of this beverage by crushing cacao beans, which they boiled with water and various spices, seasoned with pepper, and served cold.

Spanish explorers, who stumbled upon this potent Aztec drink, stole the recipe, deleted the pepper from it, and substituted an equal measure of sugar to the crushed cacao beans and water before boiling it. The Spaniards successfully squirreled away their new and improved drink recipe for almost 100 years until, in the mid 17th century, a Frenchman found sweet success by discovering the art of making solid chocolate from finely ground cacao beans.

The secret was out, and the rest is history!

When something makes a noise, it sends vibrations, or sound waves, through the air.

The human eardrum is a stretched membrane, like the skin of a drum. When the sound waves hit your eardrum, it vibrates and the brain interprets these vibrations as sound.

Actually, as most things having to do with the human body, it is a little more complicated than that.

After the vibrations hit your eardrum, a chain reaction is set off. Your eardrum, which is smaller and thinner than the nail on your pinky finger, sends the vibrations to the three smallest bones in your body. First the hammer, then the anvil, and finally, the stirrup. The stirrup passes those vibrations along a coiled tub in the inner ear called the cochlea.

Inside the cochlea there are thousands of hair-like nerve endings, cilia. When the Cochlea vibrates, the cilia move. Your brain is sent these messages (translated from vibrations by the cilia) through the auditory nerve.

Your brain then translates all that and tells you what you are hearing. Neurologists don't yet fully understand how we process raw sound data once it enters the cerebral cortex in the brain.

Color television pictures are produced by three different colors: red, green and blue. These combine to create a whitish light with a color temperature close to that of daylight (5500 to 6500 Kelvin).

Color temperature is a way of describing the relative amounts of the different colous that make up the light from a particular source. It can be thought of roughly as the temperature an object would need to be heated to give off light with that mixture of wavelengths. At low temperatures, low-energy colors such as red and yellow predominate; at higher temperatures the proportions of green or blue increase.

For example, standard tungsten light bulbs have a color temperature of 3200 K and are very yellow. Your eyes adjust to this light, making it appear whiter and more like daylight. At twilight or at night, anything with a higher color temperature than tungsten lights, such as a television, appears distinctly blue.

The same effect is seen if you look out of a room lit by tungsten light. The twilight appears particularly blue, and yet if you were to go outside and look at the same scene, the eye would no longer compare it to the lit room and the colors would appear more neutral.

The converse is also true. Viewed from outside, the windows of houses lit by tungsten light sources look distinctly yellow. Fluorescent sources generally have a spectrum much closer to that of daylight and don't produce the same effect.

Sing to an oyster?

No - irritate an oyster!

About 4,000 years ago the Chinese discovered pearls in oysters. The inside of an oyster's shell is covered with a smooth shiny coating called mother-of-pearl. When an irritant, such as a grain of sand, gets caught inside the oyster's shell it secretes layers of mother-of-pearl to protect its body by coating the irritant. The coated grain of sand becomes a pearl.

Man can force the oyster to produce a pearl by inserting an irritant into the shell. It takes the oyster two to three years to produce a good size pearl. Cultured pearls are usually not perfect, but the Japanese have discovered that if you surgically insert an irritant directly into the body of the oyster this will produce a perfect pearl.

Historically, pearl divers dove up to 80 feet with equipment no more sophisticated than nose clips. The divers could stay under water for about a minute and they scooped up the shells with their hands and put them in tubs that would float to the surface. The largest pearl ever found is reported to be four inches around and two inches long.

In 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer, an engineer for the Raytheon Company, pulled the idea for the microwave oven right out of his pocket.

An invention of Raytheon Company scientists Sir John Randall and Dr. H.A. Boot, the magnetron, provided Dr. Spencer with both the most critical component of the microwave oven, and created the accident, which led to its discovery.

The magnetron the two Birmingham University scientists were charged with inventing during World War II, provided the Allies with the means to pinpoint the exact locations of Nazi war machines and arsenals, as the magnetron produced microwaves which radar then bounced off of these weapons of destruction, and back to the Allies.

Testing using the magnetron continued in the post-war years, and Dr. Spencer, in the midst of performing one of these tests, made a logical connection, which gave birth to the microwave oven. While performing such a test, Doc Spencer had a hankering for the chocolate bar he had stashed in his pocket. He eagerly reached into his pocket, only to discover chocolate sauce. Percy reasoned that the culprit responsible for the melted mass of chocolate was not his body heat, but his proximity to the heat-producing magnetron.

In true scientific fashion, Dr. Spencer decided to put his theory to the test, and sent for a bag of unpopped corn. He placed the corn in front of the magnetron tube and watched as the kernels popped into the air, and rained down upon the floor. Still dissatisfied with the amount of data he had collected, the good doctor decided to perform one more test to solidify his theory. To add more drama to his next act, he chose to cook an egg, which, when placed in front of the magnetron tube, summarily blew up in the face of an on-looking colleague.

Raytheon deemed these data conclusive, and launched an effort to produce the first microwave oven. The mammoth microwave oven they created bore the name Radar Range, in honor of the magnetron's service to this country during wartime. Sales of the large appliance in the 1940s were virtually nil, with the exception of sales to the military and to restaurants.

In 1952, Tappan introduced a home use model, selling at a mere $1295.00, and sales of microwaves increased. Today, the compact versions of the original Radar Range, carrying much lower price tags, are standard in most homes, and almost everyone can afford to enjoy microwave popcorn from a bag, not from off of the floor!

One can bank on the fact that most coins derive from Latin words, and are named after people, places, or things.

Even the word coin, translates from the Latin "cuneus," meaning wedge, and was thusly named because early coins ressembled the wedges the dies used to coin coins. Our cent, from the Latin "centum," meaning one hundred, our dime, from the Latin "decimus," meaning tenth, and the French franc, from the Latin "Franconium Rex," meaning King of the Franks, are all examples of the naming of money, the root of all evil, which translates from the Latin word "mona," meaning to warn!

On to a more weighty manner in which people named coins, that being physical weight. The English pound, translates from the Latin "pondo," meaning pound, or, to get more heavily into detail, from the Latin "libra pondo," meaning a pound of weight. This method of naming coins weighed heavily in naming of the Spanish peso and of the Italian lira.

A sense of fairness dictates that some coins bear the names of the metals of which they are composed. Thus, our nickel is made of nickel. Location, not Latin, sometimes figures prominently into the naming of sum (oops!), some coins. Our very own dollar, not always in paper form, originally hailed from the silver mines of Bohemia, where Bohemians extracted silver for the coins, and minted them in the town of Joachimsthal. Realizing that the coin they termed the Joachimsthaler, short of lacking in creativity, was rather lengthy, our Bohemian friends lost the head of the name, and kept the tail, with the end result being the thaler. The thaler eventually lost its lisp, and became our dollar.

Many countries used their word for crown, for example, crown, sovereign, krone, krun, krone, corona (not the beer), to demonstrate that some crown authority initially granted permission to mint them. Other countries named coins in honor of their heros, such as the Panamanian balboa, after the explorer Balboa, the Venezuelan bolivar, after one of it's national heros, and the Peruvian sol, also not a beer, but the Spanish word for sun, after this ancient Incan object of worship.

Size is not a criterion in our definition of what constitutes a country. A country need only be an independent state, with distinct territorial boundaries, and its own government. This is a true blessing for Vatican City, as, weighing in at a mere 0.17 miles, it holds the title of being the smallest country in the world.

Prior to 1870, however, political control by papal governments in central Italy spanned approximately 16.000 square miles. In 1870, the Kingdom of Italy, in a shift of political power, established Rome as the national capital of Italy, wrested political power from the papal governments, and absorbed the so-called "Papal States" into its territory.

A 1929 Agreement hammered out by the Italian government and the Pope, established Vatican City as a country... all 0.17 square miles of it! Gradually the country has gained recognition as such, by establishing diplomatic ties with other countries, and by receiving dignitaries from other nations.

Vatican City is the official seat of the Catholic Church, and its head, the Pope, rules through a civil governor. As with any other country, this miniature country sports its own flag, coins its own coins, runs its own postal, transportation, telephone systems, and radio broadcasting station. Vatican City is all grown up.

This pint-size powerhouse of a country primarily supports itself through contributions from Catholics around the world, and through tourism. Safely ensconced within Vatican City lie some of the worlds' most precious of treasures; the Gardens, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Vatican Palace, which houses the Vatican Library, and...the Pope himself.