Archive for the ‘History’ Category
I’ve been doing everything in my power to disassociate myself from politics during this presidential election year. I’ve been keeping my opinions to myself except for a few comments to my better-half. If the truth be told, I have little or no use for any political party at this point. I’ve morphed from being an social moderate, fiscal conservative Independent to an “Anyone But Hillary” Libertarian. Actually all of those labels are mostly BS anyway but everyone insists that everyone else have a label. If our forefathers could see us now they’d be sad, disappointed, and most certainly ashamed of what we’ve become and are still becoming.
With that thought in mind why don’t you sit back and read some of the thoughts of the men who helped create this country. Take those thoughts from our forefathers and match them up to any of the antics of either the Bushes or Clintons. If your an intelligent and thoughtful American you should be able to figure things out before pulling the lever for Hillary.
- “A government of laws, and not of men.” JOHN ADAMS 1774
- “If the government is in the hands of a few, they will tyrannize the many, if in the hands of the many, they will tyrannize over the few.” ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1787
- “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1801
- “The aggregate happiness of the society, which is best promoted by the practice of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.” GEORGE WASHINGTON 1790
Do those statement in anyway describe our current political situation? That would be a big “HELL NO”. Lets take a moment to discuss with our forefathers the matter of government corruption.
- “Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1738
- “Few men have enough virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” GEORGE WASHINGTON 1799
- “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1821
- “Where the private interests of a member of Congress are concerned in a bill of question, he is to withdraw.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1801
I think they’ve made my point for me. I’ll drop in one last quote from the most infamous of all politicians that perfectly describes many of out current representatives, senators, and Big Businesses.
- “I recognize no moral law in politics. Politics is a game, in which every sort of trick is permissible, and in which the rules are constantly being changed by the players to suit themselves.” ADOLF HITLER Mein Kampf 1924
I realize that my opinion means very little in the grand scheme of things but here it is anyway. Hillary Clinton is the epitome of what’s wrong with our government. Donald Trump may be brash, loud, and combative but he’s a better choice than anyone else I see. We’ve had eight years of Liberal nonsense with Obama and Hillary will be more of the same. Trump will be a breath of fresh air in the halls of Congress that currently smells a lot like a hot and humid day in an outhouse.
VOTE TRUMP!
I feel the need today to once again fill your heads with more of my useless information. These factoids were chosen at random and are in no particular order or category.
- Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair.
- The philosopher Daniel Dennett introduced the Frisbee to Britain.
- Isaac Newton invented the cat door.
- The longest length of time from invention to production was for the ballpoint pen at 58 years. The zipper took only 32 years.
- Windshield wipers, laser printers, and bullet-proof vests were invented by women.
I’m amazed at some of the facts I’ve been finding and the longer I look the crazier they seem to get. Lets continue.
- In India, 127 million people were vaccinated in a single day in 1997.
- There are nearly as many American Indians in California now as there were in the eighteenth century.
- By 2007, the cost of a coffin in Bagdad was 50-75 dollars, up from 5-10 before the Iraq war.
- In Britain, 93% of young people can master a computer game while only 38% can bake a potato.
- Jack Bauer, the lead character from the series 24, personally killed 112 people in the first five seasons of the show.
Re your eyes getting tired? Are you bored yet? No! I’ll just keep going until you’re asleep.
- There are no legal public cinema’s in Saudi Arabia.
- One in every 3400 Americans is an Elvis impersonator.
- There are approximately twenty families with the name Obama in the US, compared with more than 11,000 Clintons and 60,000 Bushes.
- In the year 1377, 35% of all English men were named John.
- There are more people named Chang in China than there are people in Germany.
That’s just about it for today but I have one more tidbit I especially liked:
“In the urban West, one of every three women has blond hair; only one in 20 is a natural blond.”
Someone has the best job ever. He spends all day checking to see if the rugs match the drapes.
I WANT THAT JOB
I am not now or ever have been considered a religious person. I’ve read as much information as I could find on almost every major religion over the years. It was my vain attempt to convince myself one way or the other that such a thing was necessary in my life. I accomplished my goal but it left me with volumes of information on religions both interesting and some not so much. Today I’ll post some strange but true religious trivia and you can do with it what you will.
- The temple of all faiths: Birla Temple in New Delhi, India, includes separate areas for worship for every known religion.
- It was not until the fourth century that the church (Christianity) began to celebrate the feast of Christmas.
- The first Bible printed in America in 1663 was a translation into the Algonkian language.
- The word “and” appears 46,277 times in the King James version of the Bible.
- Hijmar, a holy man of Benares, India, held his left arm in the same position for 12 years.
- The first book digest: Dubash Meghji, of Zanzibar., ate one page of the Koran each day for thirty years.
- Each year Shia Muslims in Ahmadabad, India, mourn the death of Imam Husain, a descendant of the prophet Mohammad, by whipping themselves with knife-tipped chains.
- In 1993, Israel’s telephone company offered a service for people to fax messages to God, to be placed in the Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall.
- Forty nuns at a convent in Stetyl, the Netherlands, have maintained a continuous prayer in their chapel for ninety-eight years.
- The people who worship a nail: The Maria Gonds of Chandra, India, pray only to a 12 inch spike.
- In 1685 a church bell from a Protestant chapel in France was whipped and burned after being charged with “inflaming the hearts of heretics”.
- Prayer stones addressed to Egyptian god Ra and sold to worshippers in Ancient Egypt had large ears engraved on them – so Ra would be sure to hear their messages.
- In 1992 a historic church in Melle, France, installed a juke box that plays Gregorian chants, Tibetan mantras, and Jewish liturgical music.
And last but not least:
- Ancient Egyptian priests in 450 b.c. trained baboons to sweep out their temples.
CAN I GET AN AMEN?
Even though June has barely started I thought an garden update was in order. The warmer weather for the last few weeks has brought everything to life in a big way. Due to the efforts of my better-half we have flowers blooming everywhere.
The gardens in the yard are filled with irises as you can see. we’ve planted them every where and this is the first year we get to see them in all their glory.
Just three years ago this rhododendron was one foot tall and looking poorly. We transplanted it to this spot and here is the results of our efforts.
One of the better-half’s passions is to have as much color in as many places as possible. That of course includes the deck. We get to walk through all of these flowers on our way to the table to have our morning coffee. How great is that?
It’s things like this that help us Mainers wipe away memories of sleet, ice, snow, and our six month’s of winter. It’s worth waiting for. Here’s my recent photo of the vegetable and herb garden as compared with one taken in May. The changes as we move forward will become more and more obvious.
‘May’
‘June’
No, I’m not celebrating computer Spam, that would be stupid. I’m celebrating my all time favorite meat product much loved and much hated around the world. I began my love affair with SPAM while in the service of our great country. The Army introduced me to discipline, mean DI’s (drill instructors ), forced marches, and much, much, more including SPAM. My love for SPAM was one of the only things I left the Army with except for a bag of really ugly olive green clothing.
Many people, my better-half included, hate SPAM. I’ve never understood why because it’s freaking delicious. Since this blog is dedicated to all categories of trivia I thought it only fair you learn something about SPAM today on it’s birthday. I collected a great deal of information from around the Net and elsewhere on this subject and here it is.
-
George A. Hormel & Co introduces SPAM on this date in 1891 although it wasn’t marketed until 1937.
-
During WW II, Hormel sold more than half of its output to the U.S. government, which supplied SPAM to the armed forces of the U.S., and also to the U.S.S.R. under the lend-lease program.
-
A convenient source of protein that required no refrigeration, 100 million pounds of SPAM were shipped to Allied troops during World War II. Russian president Nikita Khrushchev is quoted as saying, “Without SPAM, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.”
-
No one outside the company really understands what the name SPAM represents. While people have posited “Something Posing As Meat” and “Specially Processed Artificial Meat,” the title is likely derived from the words “spiced ham” or an acronym for “Shoulders of Pork And Ham.”
-
To distinguish Hormel’s "spiced ham" from similar products, the company held a contest to come up with a unique name. Kenneth Daigneau, brother of a Hormel executive, won the $100 prize with ‘SPAM.’
-
Hormel produces 44,000 cans of SPAM every single hour. If that sounds like a lot, consider the facts that the canned good is available in 41 countries and comes in 14 varieties. Despite what critics may say, the world loves “Swine Parts and More!”
‘SPAM Sir-fry’
-
The 1 billionth can of SPAM was sold in 1959.
-
The 6 billionth can was produced in 2002.
-
The 7 billionth can was sold in 2007.
-
In 2012 SPAM was being sold in more the 44 countries.
-
Hawaii ranks highest amongst the states in SPAM consumption, downing seven million cans a year. Found in grocery stores, on the McDonald’s menu, and featured at high-end restaurants, Spam should probably be added to the state flag.
‘SPAM & French Fries Casserole’
-
Richard LeFevre holds the world record for eating SPAM by eating 6 pounds in 12 minutes.
-
In the United States alone, 3.6 cans of SPAM are consumed every second, making it the number one product in its category (canned meat) by far.
-
On the island of Guam, more than eight cans of SPAM are consumed by every person each year.
-
West Yellowstone sponsors the ‘SPAM Cup’ cross country ski race, with the winner receiving one can of SPAM.
‘SPAM Sushi’
-
In addition to the U.S., spam is produced in 7 other countries: Australia, Denmark, UK, Japan, Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. SPAM is distributed in more than 50 countries.
-
The SPAMJAM Cafe opened in February 2004 in the Philippines. Except for hot dogs, French fries and desserts, all other menu items are made with SPAM, including SPAM Burger, SPAM Hero, SPAM Club, SPAM Spaghetti, SPAM Baked Macaroni, SPAM Nuggets and SPAM Caesar Salad.
‘Only True SPAM Lover’s Can Pull These Off’
-
SPAM even has a mascot — Spammy, the miniature pig. In 1991, for its 100th anniversary, Hormel Foods opened the First Century Museum. The exhibit of SPAM memorabilia quickly became the most popular.
-
SPAM has earned a place in pop culture history partially thanks to the Brits. The canned creation made its television debut on "Monty Python’s Flying Circus" in 1970.
-
A collector’s edition SPAM — Stinky French Garlic — was introduced to celebrate the opening of "SPAM lot" in London. Not shockingly, the stinky SPAM tasted far better than anything else in the culinary-challenged country.
So there you have it. Everything you ever needed to know about SPAM but were afraid to ask. I love it so much I always have at least one can hidden away in the house. Once my better-half goes to work I’ll get it out and prepare any one of a dozen recipes I love. My all time favorite is my version of SPAM Fried Rice and it’s to die for.
MORE SPAM . . . MORE SPAM . . . MORE SPAM
I’m lying in bed this morning going through my normal morning ritual. What better way to start your day than enjoying a couple of episodes of The Soprano’s. I’m watching the scene where they buried Tony’s mother with all of the family smoking dope and snorting cocaine. Not really much like my own family (Thank God) but it’s still fun to watch.
I’m moving a little slower than usual due in part to our Cinco De Mayo celebration last night. We wanted to avoid the crowds as much as possible so we made an earlier than usual appearance at out favorite Mexican establishment, Casa Fiesta. I decided a margarita was in order so I ordered the biggest one I could find. Here it is in all it’s glory. It was one delicious drink but the three episodes of brain-freeze I could have done without.
‘It was just as big as it looks.’
The better-half was in her glory as well when she discovered they had Pacifico beer on-tap. That’s as happy as I’ve seen her since the start of our current weight loss program. I had a sampler platter with all of the Mexican specialties we’ve come to know and love. The food was great and the habanero Verde sauce was delicious and brutally hot.
‘Delicious, with third degree burns of the tongue.’
We left with habanero on our breath and a distinct glow from the margaritas and Pacifico beers. All in all a rather enjoyable night. Maybe next year will be able to celebrate a little more boisterously with some of our friends.
As I prepare for the exit of Barack Obama as President my mind naturally turns to politics. I’m not going to get into the expected arguments concerning the current roster of candidates because it’s pointless. People make up their own minds and then spend all of their leisure time trying to convince everyone else to vote like they do because they’re smarter than everyone else. It’s those kinds of discussions I don’t want taking place on this blog.
I honestly don’t care a wit for who any of you may vote for. Just like I won’t tell you what I’m going to do. If I agree with your selection I’m smart and intelligent and if I don’t then I’m a dumb ass without a clue about politics. It’s a lose . . . lose for me and not worth my time.
As much as I dislike politics and politicians I still love trivia. So I’ll delve into my archives to find a few interesting political tidbits from past Presidents and presidencies. Here they are.
* * *
Herbert Hoover was the only president to turn over 40 years of his government paychecks to charity.
A $5.7 million dollar renovation of the White House during the Truman administration was caused when the leg of Margaret Truman’s piano broke through the floor of v\her sitting room into the room below.
President Lyndon Johnson and his wife named their dogs Him & Her. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife named their pistols His & Hers.
Camp David located in the Catoctin Mountains was originally named Shangri- La before renaming by FDR.
James Madison, the fourth President was 5’4” tall and never weighed more than 100 pounds.
George Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest in history. It contained only 135 words.
William Howard Taft had a bathtub installed in the White House large enough to hold four men. He weighed in at the time at 325 pounds.
During his 12 years as President FDR used his veto powers 635 times.
Alexander Hamilton is credited with writing George Washington’s famous Farewell Address.
The average age that Presidents have taken office is 54.
First Lady Barbara Bush’s great-great-great uncle was President Franklin Pierce.
FDR was the only President who never used the word “I” in his inaugural speech.
The nickname of the first Presidential plane (a C-45 piloted by Major Henry T. Myers in 1944) was the, ”Sacred Cow”.
John Tyler was the only President to serve as a member of of the Congress of the Confederate States.
John Quincy Adams was the first President to wear long pants rather than knee breeches to his inauguration in 1825.
* * *
I think that’s about enough politics for me today. Anymore and I’ll become nauseous and violently ill.
Now that I have grandchildren running through the house occasionally I’ve been forced to curb my use of all cusswords. I’ve always loved cursing and swearing but stopping cold-turkey has been tough. I have no doubt they’ll be picking up a few dozen new cuss words at home and especially at daycare. We can only hope they don’t pick up too many of the really good ones for a while yet.
I decided to do a little research into cussing as it applies to what will be their daily lives soon enough. Before I do that I thought I’d give you a short history lesson too. Here’s a few retro cusswords from back in the good old days.
Old School Cussing
Heavens to Betsy
Jumpin’ Jahosafat
Yikes
Gadzooks
Holy cow
Sugar
Dagnabit
flippin’
Geez Louise
Jeez oh man,
Fudge
Eat it … RAW
Hell’s bells
Oh Shoot
Great Caesar’s Ghost
Jiminy Cricket
Holy Mary-Mother of God
They sound so lame to us now but back in the day they got the job done with us kids. My Mom knew all of these and a few more modern words as well. Now lets take a look at cusswords in use in the USA today. Some fool took the time to do a study to determine what states used certain cusswords the most. Here are the results.
Asshole – New England, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Arizona
Bitch – Texas through the Carolinas – Along the coast.
Darn – Most of the Great Plains states.
Shit – Texas to Delaware along the coast.
Fuck – All coastal states, East, West, and South.
Motherfucker – Southwestern states and Maine’s
Before too long our grandchildren will on the Web and getting introduced to Facebook and Twitter and all of the associated idiots who roam there. Here is some information and usage on both of those sites.
Twitter
Detailed work by researchers at Wright State University in Ohio has found that 34.7% of all the swearwords in their sample of 51m tweets were "fuck" or one of its long list of cognates.
In comparison, the second and third most popular swearwords – "shit" and "ass" – accounted for 15.0% and 14.5% respectively, while other highlights included "bitch" (10.3%), "hell" (4.5%), "whore" (1.8%), "dick" (1.7%), "piss" (1.5%) and "pussy" (1.2%). Between them, the top seven make up 90.6% of all the swearing on Twitter.
Facebook
Someday, when aliens are sifting through Facebook data to find out what 21st-century humans thought and cared about, they’re going to see a lot of shit. That’s the most popular swear word on Facebook, according to an analysis by Slate. In the three-day period queried, shit appeared in 10.5 million U.S. Facebook interactions, fuck in 9.5 million, damn in 6.3 million, bitch in 4.5 million, and crap in 2 million.
This next section applies directly to Rap Music. It’s always been known for bad language and we find out now that criticism was totally justified. I feel bad for the fool that had to sit through this terrible music to complete this study. It must have been brutal.
Rap Music
-
217.7 cuss words-per-album average.
-
One song from the study had, on average, 13.76 instances of profanity.
-
Too $hort’s 1985 album Raw, Uncut & X-Rated was the most profane album, clocking 49.8 curse words per song.
-
The most profane artists per song were The Geto Boys, as they uttered cuss words on average 46.4 times per song. The second-most vulgar artist? Geto Boys’ Scarface, with 33.3 cuss words per song.
-
Bun B’s song “Some Hoes” had the most instances of profanity in its lyrics with over 113 cuss words. The words “nigga” (51 times) and “ho” (46) make up the majority. However, the study qualifies that Lil Jon’s “Roll Call” is perhaps the most vulgar with 329 cuss words but it was not used in the study.
-
The most profane year in Hip-Hop from the study was 2001 with 22.66 cuss words per song.
If both grandson’s can last more than fifteen minutes in this cuss filled society without becoming cussing experts it will be nothing short of a miracle. Since I believe that “turn-about is fair play” I’ll just wait until they start cussing on their own then I’ll step in and add a few of mine.
SHIT ! ! !
IF IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR FACEBOOK, IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.
It’s another gray and rainy day here in Maine. While I dislike these kinds of days they do serve a useful purpose. They force me to stay inside out of the weather and to find other interesting things to do. One thing that remains interesting regardless of the weather is SEX. Sex is almost never boring (unless you know the girls from my high school class) who made sex not just boring but difficult to obtain. It’s with them in mind that I offer up a collection of sexual facts and trivia to amuse you. Let’s get started . . .
-
The condom is said to be named after the Earl of Condom, a British physician at the court of Charles II who was asked by the king to design him something to keep him from developing syphilis. The oiled sheep intestine was a big hit.
-
Humans aren’t the only species that partake in oral sex; cheetahs, hyenas, and goats all go down too.
-
In 2000, the Mississippi state legislature introduced a bill to make it illegal for a male customer to have an erection at a strip club even if he is fully dressed.
-
The sperm of a mouse is longer than the sperm of an elephant.
-
Slang for “prostitute” in Victorian times was “blowsy” and slang for “ejaculation” was “blow,” leading to the current phrase “blow job.” In ancient Greece, a blow job was called “playing the flute.”
Oiled sheep intestines . . . YUCK. I’ll bet the donating sheep weren’t too happy either.
-
Of all the primates, man has the largest penis. The gorilla has a two-inch penis, while the chimpanzee’s is three inches. The blue whale has the largest penis in the animal kingdom: 11 feet.
-
In 2003, a Texas man woke up from bladder surgery to discover that doctors had removed his penis without his permission.
-
For most men, the left testicle hangs lower—but in some men, most commonly left-handed men, the right one hangs lower.
-
Married people are more likely to masturbate than people living alone, according to the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS).
-
President Lyndon B. Johnson referred to his penis as “Jumbo.”
He may have been President but even “Jumbo” Johnson can’t hold a candle to that blue whale’s eleven foot penis.
‘Head to Toe’
-
Exhaustive research published by Johnson & Johnson found that the average time between penetration and male orgasm is 7.3 minutes – this involved 1,587 couples having stopwatch-timed sex.
-
The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
-
When men of Australia’s Walibri tribe greet each other, they shake penises instead of hands.
-
Upper Paleolithic art dating back 30,000 years depicts people using dildos to pleasure themselves and others. That means mankind invented sex toys long before the wheel.
-
The average number of times a healthy male will ejaculate in a lifetime is 7,200. Of this number, approximately 2,000 times will result from masturbation.
Thirty thousand year old dildoes. No wonder the women of that time are pictured with huge muscular arms . . . no batteries available . . . So Sad!
-
A teaspoon of semen contains 5 calories. A sperm takes one hour to swim seven inches.
-
Men do not need to be sexually aroused to have an erection. Erections can occur if a man is frightened, nervous, or has a full bladder. It’s normal for a man to have several erections during the dream phrase of sleep.
-
Women who went to college are more likely to enjoy receiving and giving oral sex.
-
The average man has 11 erections per day and 9 erections a night.
And here’s an interesting theory on everyone’s favorite word. The big F-Bomb. It’s been around almost as long as those thirty thousand year old dildoes.
-
Contrary to popular opinion, the word “fuck” is not an acronym for the phrase “Fornication Under Command of the King.” It is a very old word that is hard to trace because the editors of the initial Oxford English Dictionary considered the word taboo in 1893. It may have a Scandinavian origin, similar to the Norwegian word fukka, meaning to “copulate,” or the Swedish foka, meaning “to copulate, strike, push,” orfock, meaning “penis.”
SEX . . . YEAH !!!
I’ve been complaining for months about wanting warmer temperatures and yesterday I got my wish. We had a gorgeous day in the mid-sixties and it was sunny without a cloud in the sky. The cat and I even managed an hour on the deck to work on our tans a bit. It was incredible.
How do you end the perfect day? Always a good question I suppose. After my better-half arrived home from work we discussed just that. It was the perfect night for a bonfire to start our Spring and Summer seasons off properly. Before dark I spent a few minutes preparing.
A bonfire while being really great also gives me a chance to rid myself of wood scraps collected during the winter months in my workshop and from the garden repairs and upgrades. The wood was cut and we were ready to go. Next I built the fire and lit it up.
The darker it got the better it became. We sat quietly enjoying the warm night and the good company. The sky was showing some light from Portland a few miles away which offered up a photo or two work keeping.
As we fed the fire it became really cozy and intimate. No vehicles noises, no kids playing and screaming, just peace and quiet.
The smell of burning firewood took us both back to past years around similar fires with family and friends who are no longer with us. The heat of the fire on my face was just the best. After a few hours we shuffled off to bed feeling good about each other and life in general. We left the fire with some regret.
SPRING HAS OFFICIALLY ARRIVED
I’ve been doing everything in my power to disassociate myself from politics during this presidential election year. I’ve been keeping my opinions to myself except for a few comments to my better-half. If the truth be told, I have little or no use for any political party at this point. I’ve morphed from being an social moderate, fiscal conservative Independent to an “Anyone But Hillary” Libertarian. Actually all of those labels are mostly BS anyway but everyone insists that everyone else have a label. If our forefathers could see us now they’d be sad, disappointed, and most certainly ashamed of what we’ve become and are still becoming.
everyuselessthing.com 