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Something I learned today: In March of 1957, the U.S.Army Pigeon Service officially closed. The Army used homing pigeons to communicate during both world wars. More than 90 percent of their messages were delivered successfully. The Army donated some “hero pigeons” to zoos and sold about 1,000 others to the general public. I wonder if one came to the local zoo. May 18, 2024
Something I learned today: The wife of 19th President Rutherford B. Hayes, Lucy banned alcohol from the White House during her husband’s term, which earned her the derisive nickname “Lemonade Lucy.” Despite that, she was popular, and her public support for mental health care and education set the standard for political activity in her position. May 17. 2024
Something I learned today: Neither coffee nor tea has always been the breakfast drink of choice in Europe. Their use in the West only began around the time of the Industrial Revolution. Before then, the breakfast drink of choice was beer. May 16,2024
Something I learned today: Americans are spending nearly $500 annually in tips, succumbing to what’s dubbed “tipflation.” The average person shells out $37.80 monthly in gratuity. This equates to $453.60 yearly.
Do you tip when picking up food at a drive-through? May 15, 2024
Something I learned today:
the word pseudonym comes from a Greek word meaning “bearing a false name.” Many celebrated authors have used pseudonyms. Samuel Clemens wrote as Mark Twain, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson assumed the pseudonym Lewis Carroll and Mary Ann Evans used George Eliot. Wonder what I should use. Suggestions? May 10, 2024
Something I learned today: 164 species of fish have been found in the 971-mile-long Ohio River. May 8, 2024
Something I leaned today: Americans
buy more than a billion books annually.
Before you ask, I don’t want to know what percentage of that amount I am responsible for. April 25, 2024
Something I learned today: Our term “sniper” which means a person who shoots from a hiding place, especially accurately and at long range began as an 18th-century term from British soldiers stationed in India. A snipe is a small and easily startled bird that was notoriously difficult for hunters to hit. A sniper was a person who achieved the difficult feat of bagging a snipe on a hunt. The word’s military connotation came in World War I to describe the deadly sharpshooters who picked off soldiers in the trenches at great distances. April 6, 2024
Something I learned today: The Navajo Nation wants to stop firms from sending human remains to the moon. Tribal leaders have met with the Biden administration to explain that to them the moon is sacred and death a taboo. One more thing I had no idea was going on. March 25, 2024
Something I learned today: The average American household owns 300,000 things. At least I don’t have that many books. March 20, 2024
Something I learned today: Scuttlebutt has multiple definitions. First is a cask on shipboard which contains freshwater for a day’s use. Second is a drinking fountain on a ship. Finally it’s rumor, gossip. If you’ve ever watched fellow workers clustered around the water fountain or the coffee pot, they are continuing this long-standing tradition. The word scuttlebutt comes from the verb scuttle meaning “to cut a hole through” and the noun butt meaning “cask.” In time the term for a drinking source was also applied to the gossip and rumors generated around it. March 4, 2024
Something I learned today: On this day in 1986 Kentucky-born Robert Penn Warren was named the nation’s first Poet Laureate. He said he would not be a “hired applauder.”
This is sending me to search through my library. February 27, 2024
Something I recall: 79 years ago today, U.S Marines raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. My father saw it happen and his time there left him forever changed and with forever friends. February 25, 2024
Something I learned today: The Mother Goose rhyme about poor Little Miss Muffet ends in terror: “Along came a spider, who sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away.” “Tuffet” is a low seat, similar to a stool, and “curds and whey,” which Miss Muffett is eating in the rhyme, is another name for cottage cheese. February 17, 2024
Something I learned today : A Florida school district has removed dictionaries from its libraries’ shelves to comply with a state law that restricts access to books that mention “sexual conduct.” It seems that five dictionaries contain definitions of the word “sex.” I simply have no words for this. February 7, 2024
Something else I learned today: The ginkgo is the oldest surviving tree species. February 7, 2024
Something I learned today: The word “zephyr” which we use to describe a breeze from the west and/or any gentle breeze, comes to us from Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind. The word blew into English with the help of poets and playwrights, including Shakespeare, who used the word in his play “Cymbeline.”
Who groaned when he or she read “blew into English”? I couldn’t help myself. February 6, 2024
Something I learned today : Personal genealogical research is the third most common use of the internet after shopping and pornography. February 4, 2024
Something I learned today: I live in a hibernaculum. The word means a shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal. The word has been used for a cozy caterpillar cocoon attached to a wintry twig and for the spot in which a frog has buried itself in the mud. In case you were wondering, yes, “hibernate” is related; both words come from Latin “hibernare,” meaning “to pass the winter.” February 3, 2024
Something I learned today : The average reading level of adults in America is seventh grade. So much for thoughtful consideration of political issues. January 31, 2024
Something I learned today: In 1902, Buffalo Forge heating company worker Willis Haviland Carrier was asked to find a way to eliminate humidity at a Brooklyn printing company. The humid air made the paper expand and contract, which caused illustrations to be printed out of alignment. Carrier developed a system that used pistons to pump air over chilled coils and fan it out into the factory, cooling and dehumidifying the space.We’ll appreciate his contribution more when we’re aren’t huddled under a blanket. January 17, 2024
Something I learned today: In January of 1984 the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time since 1867. That ban had stemmed from widespread anti-Roman Catholic sentiment. The White House said the lifting of the ban was “an effort to improve communications at a time when Pope John Paul II had become increasingly involved in international affairs.”January 14, 2024
Something I learned today: The first recorded vaccine – for smallpox – was administered by Edward Jenner, an English doctor, in 1796 to an 8 year-old boy, James Phipps. Jenner took fluid from the lesions of a dairymaid who had become infected with cowpox, and used it to inoculate Phipps against cowpox and smallpox. I must confess I don’t know the current status of smallpox vaccinations. Can anyone provide that information? January 8, 2024
Something I learned today: Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. What a sad loss we all experience. September 14, 2023
Something I learned today: the Indiana Toll Road links the Midwest to the East Coast. The state of Indiana built the road in 1965 and then leased it to a joint venture of Spanish and Australian companies for $3.8 billion in 2006 for 75 years. September 12, 2023
Something I learned today: the average raindrop falls at 15 mph. I’ll bet I know what song you end up humming. August 29, 2023
Something I learned today: German diplomats tried to convince Mexico to enter World War I on their side, offering to return Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Mexico if the United States was defeated. August 22, 2023Something I learned today: photographer Dorothea Lange joined her friend Ansel Adams during World War II in photographing the plight of Japanese-Americans imprisoned at internment camps. The pictures were so effective they were banned by the government. August 19, 201
Something I learned today: Evansville’s Central High School is the oldest high school west of the Allegheny Mountains in continuous operation. August 18, 2023
Something I learned today: 4% of the food people eat in a lifetime is consumed in front of an open refrigerator. In my case, probably trying to decide what I want to eat. August 17, 2023
Something I learned today:The average American eats 20 pounds of ice cream a year, which works out to more than 10 scoops a month. August 2, 2023
Something I learned today: The word “scuttlebutt” comes from U.S. nautical slang for gossip, which in turn comes from the “scuttled butt” that held water on a ship. A butt is a cask and a liquid measure equal to 126 gallons. A butt that’s been scuttled is a cask with a hole through which the liquid is dispensed. I think I’ll stick to water bottles. July 17, 2023
Something I learned today: The Greek word for “return” is “nostos.” “Algos” means “suffering.”So “nostalgia” is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return. July 12, 2023
Something I learned today: In the early 1800s, stage lights were fueled with calcium oxide, a chemical commonly referred to as quicklime. Using a blowpipe to mix oxygen and hydrogen produced an extremely hot flame, but adding quicklime to the mix created a bright, white light that stagehands used to highlight performances at the theater. Even after the invention of the lightbulb made the limelight process obsolete, the phrase stuck and people often refer to a time they felt honored as their time “in the limelight.” July 11, 2023
Something I learned today: On this day in 1835, the Liberty Bell cracked while being rung during the funeral of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall in Philadelphia. July 8, 2023
Something I learned today: I’ve been reminded that there is a word for everything. A pogonophile is a lover of beards and the bearded. July 5, 2023
Something I learned today: a “keeper” is the loop on a belt that holds the loose end. July 4, 2023
Something I learned today: the average American consumes about 57 pounds of added sugars (that is, sugars or syrups added to processed food) a year. July 3, 2023
Did you know that Thomas Edison slept in his work clothes because he was convinced that changing into pajamas at night messed with your body’s chemistry and gave you insomnia? July 2, 2023
Something I learned today: Two songs written by Stephen Foster have become official state anthems: “Swanee River” in Florida and “My Old Kentucky Home” in Kentucky. Bet you’ll be humming all day. July 2, 2023
Something I learned today on this the first day of the second half of 2023: Frederick the Great was said to have consumed eight cups of coffee in the morning and a pot in the afternoon. But he feared that excessive coffee imports would destroy the Prussian economy, so he is reported to have employed undercover smellers to roam the streets and sniff out illegal coffee bean roasters. To my mind, there is no more delicious smell than coffee brewing. July 1, 2023
Something I learned today: John Adams, the future signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States, was the defense attorney for the commander of the British troops in the trial following the Boston Massacre. June 20, 2023
Something I learned today: Taco Bell serves forty-two million people a week. Customers go through eight billion sauce packets a year—more than the number of people on earth. June 8, 2023
Something I learned today: In a typical year, America builds more three-car garages than one-bedroom apartments. Seems Joni Mitchell was right. They did “pave Paradise and put up a parking lot.” June 5, 2023
Something I learned today: In da Vinci’s famous painting The Last Supper, a salt cellar near Judas Iscariot is knocked over. Some think that started the superstition that spilled salt is unlucky. May 22, 2023
Something I learned today: In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from New York in his single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, bound for Paris. While he winged his way across the Atlantic, his mother taught her chemistry class at Cass Technical High School as usual. May 20, 2023
Something I learned today: On May 8, 1541, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto claimed to have discovered the Mississippi River. Two years earlier, he had landed in Florida. He died of a fever in 1542 on the banks of the Mississippi River, only a year after he discovered it. May 8, 2023
Something I learned today: The mastery of fire in cooking profoundly changed human evolution. Cooking food neutralized toxins and made it much easier to chew and digest. Also, we didn’t have to work as hard to get the calories our brains needed to develop. The human brain makes up only 2 percent of our body weight, but requires 20 percent of the energy we consume each day. March 8, 2023
Something I learned today: a quote from Mark Twain: “Forget and forgive. This is not difficult when properly understood. It means forget inconvenient duties, then forgive yourself for forgetting. By rigid practice and stern determination, it comes easy.” May 3, 2023
Something I was reminded of today: On this day in 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials began in some elementary schools around the United States. Howard Roosa School in Evansville was one of them. I was one of those Polio Pioneers as were most of my classmates. My mother, a “room mother,” could have taken the injections as well, but declined because she wanted to be well enough to take care of me should I have fallen ill. I’m sure the button we had pinned on our blouses is somewhere in my house. April 26, 2023
Something I learned today: On Feb. 13, 1866, American outlaw Jesse James along with a few others robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, completing his first documented robbery. James left with close to $60,000 in various assets, and his gang killed an unsuspecting passerby in the process. Before his life of crime, James was a member of a Confederate guerilla group during the Civil War. February 13, 2023
Something I learned today: Add up all the developed areas in the 50 states – the cities and suburbs and exurbs and towns, the highways and railways and back roads, the orchards and vineyards and family farms, the concentrated animal feedlots, the cornfields and wheat fields and soy beans and sorghum – and it will amount to a fifth of our nation. What is all the rest? Forests, wetlands , rangeland, tundra, glaciers, barrens, bodies of water of one kind or another.
So much to see. So many places to go! February 4, 2023
Something I learned today: To do something “in a jiffy” is generally understood to be very fast. But this figurative idiom is rooted in the sciences, where a “jiffy” is a concrete, measurable unit. It’s used by scientists in different ways to denote a very, very tiny amount of time. For physicists, it indicates how long it takes for light to travel one femtometer (a millionth of a millionth of a millimeter). A “jiffy” is also used by electrical engineers to measure the length of a single cycle of alternating current where it equals 17 milliseconds. In computer science, it’s variable; a jiffy equals one to 10 milliseconds. Looks as if I’m going to have to pick up the pace when I tell someone I’ll get something done in a jiffy. December 22, 2022
Something I learned today: Noah Webster lived in a noisy house with children racing around as children will do. He needed a quiet place to work on his foundational Dictionary of American English. Finally a solution presented itself. He lined the walls of his study with sand. Ahh, blessed peace and quiet. June 4, 2021
Something I learned today: The term “hallmark” springs from Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, where articles of gold and silver were appraised and stamped. The earliest documented use was in 1721. It has come to mean a mark of quality, genuineness or excellence. June 3, 2021
Something I learned today: Written by Edward Elgar in 1901, the musical piece played during every graduation was actually one of five “Pomp and Circumstance Marches” by the British composer. In England, the tune — which is named for a line in Shakespeare’s Othello — became a patriotic staple after being played at the 1902 coronation of Britain’s Edward VII. The tune wouldn’t become a U.S. graduation tradition until 1905.Sorry if you find yourself humming this off and on all day. May 30, 2021
Something I learned today: The word “taser” is an acronym. The weapon was invented in the 1970s by a man named Jack Cover. He named it after a fictional weapon used in his favorite science-fiction book. It’s the 1911 novel “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.” May 28, 2021
Something I learned today: Familial estrangement is widespread in America. A recent Cornell survey found that 27percent of adult Americans are estranged from a close family member. The relationship most commonly severed is that between parent and child, and in most cases it is the child who wields the knife. May 27, 2021
Something I learned today: Malt extract is thought to have kept Sterling Brewery profitable during Prohibition. May 26, 2021
Something I learned today: Nearly a third of all birds — three billion creatures — have vanished from North America in the last 30 years. Too sad to even contemplate. April 27, 2021
Something I learned today: Nine in 10 facial plastic surgeons reported bookings for procedures such as face-lifts rose more than 10 percent during the quarantine. Did we spend that much more time looking in the mirror? April 18, 2021
Something I learned today: The name of the Latin Quarter in Paris derives from the use of Latin as the language of study by students at the Sorbonne in the Middle Ages. The renowned university was founded there in 1253 on the left bank of the Seine. March 26, 20201
Something I learned today: More than 31.5 million United States residents claim Irish ancestry, second only to German (43.0 million). And when it comes to U.S. presidents, including current President Joe Biden, exactly half (23) trace some of their roots to Ireland. March 16, 2021
Something I learned today: It was on this day in 1931 that the US Senate approved “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem of the United States. Did you ever notice that the anthem both begins and ends with a question? March 3, 2o21
Something I learned today: American writer Robert Penn Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel “All the King’s Men” and twice for collections of his poetry. Looks as if I need to dip into his poems. February 20, 2021
Something I learned today: Milton created the word “pandemonium” with his 1667 epic poem, “Paradise Lost.” The chaotic word, used for the capital of Hell, combines the Greek word pan, meaning “all,” and demon to mean “all demons.” February 19, 2021
Something I learned today: Women are much better than men at tactile sensitivity with fingers, possibly because they have smaller hands and thus a more dense network of sensors. The brain doesn’t just tell you how something feels, but how it ought to feel. That’s why the caress of a lover feels wonderful, but the same touch by a stranger would feel creepy or horrible. It’s also why it is so hard to tickle yourself. February 17, 2021
Something I learned today: In the late 1700s, a doctor showed up in Paris practicing some strange medicine. He would escort patients into dimly lit rooms, wave his arms over their bodies, and touch them with a magnetic wand. Patients would react to these treatments violently—crying, sweating, convulsing, or shrieking. But then they would emerge healed! According to the doctor anyway. Many believed this doctor was a fraud, but he inadvertently gave us a new word: mesmerize. The doctor’s name was Franz Anton Mesmer. February 10, 2021
Something I learned today: Arizona very nearly didn’t become a state at all — because the United States initially didn’t want it. When Arizona was a U.S. territory, it was widely known as a harsh desert region filled mainly with scoundrels and outlaws. Congress was therefore reluctant to recognize the area with statehood. As a result, Arizona spent 56 years petitioning for statehood until, finally, it was recognized as the 48th state in the Union on Valentine’s Day in 1912. February 8, 2021
Something I was reminded of today: Emerson observed, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”When we have little to choose except solitude, it’s well to be reminded of its potential for sweetness. February 6, 2021
Something I learned today: There’s an itch on your back that you just can’t quite manage to scratch. It’s right in the middle and always seems just a little out of reach. That spot is your “acnestis,” quite possibly the reason back scratchers were invented. There’s a word for everything, it seems. February 1, 2021
Something I learned today: Today is the birthday of novelist Colette, born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in France in 1873. She is known to have said “Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.” January 28, 2021
Something I learned today: Writer Patricia Highsmith had a thing for snails. She collected them for decades, keeping hundreds at home and scores in her handbag, which she let loose when bored at dinner parties. Not the ideal dinner guest, I’d say. January 27, 2021
Something I learned today: The quark, the smallest fundamental component of matter, was named after a line from James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”: “Three quarks for Muster Mark.” May 26, 2019
Something I learned today:
An early USDA guidebook called for planting more male trees, which produce pollen, to avoid littering city streets with the seeds and fruits of female trees. This is one of the most significant reasons why allergies have gotten so bad for city dwellers in recent decades. Who knew?! May 21, 2019
Something I learned today: With 60% of its population under 25, Africa is the world’s youngest continent. By 2100, almost half of the world’s youth are expected to be from Africa. May 12, 2019
Galileo once offered to name Jupiter’s moons after the Grand Duke of Tuscany, his patron. April 30, 2019
Tulips first arrived in the Netherlands in 1562. Mistaken for a Turkish onion, they were tasted, found underwhelming and dumped as rubbish, then rescued by someone who spotted flowers emerging from the rubbish heap in spring. April 29, 2019