@munkg: I heard that potato chip story too—but alas!
The true origin of the crispy fried potato will probably never be known. In almost all its particulars, the story of George Crum’s deep-fried stunt is wrong. Cornelius Vanderbilt is falsely accused of being the difficult customer; in fact, he spent that summer touring Europe with his family (though he did frequent Saratoga). The Moons, who play a small but instrumental role in the story, did not purchase the Lake House until 1854. And, most importantly, crispy fried potatoes were not new to Saratoga in the summer of 1853.
Click the quote above to read the full article on JSTOR.
Donkeys are known for being stubborn and stupid.
They are not.
They don't understand what you are asking them to do and act in their own self preservation above all.
They are actually very cuddly intelligent equines with amazing personalities.
Avoid strong liquor. It could cause you to shoot at tax collectors ... and miss.
@jubal Or make sure you've got one of those good moonshiner cars that will outrun the revenuers Lol.
Glass slumping occurs in a kiln to shape glass using a mold (which can be ceramic, carbon fiber paper, vermiculite, or stainless steel - all of which are usually primed with a release so glass doesn't stick to it), which is how glass artists create shapes (bowls, platters, vases, etc), or textures (dots/bumps, bars, checkerboards, grooves, etc). Kilns must reach a temperature range of about 1300 F to slump glass.
Glass fusing occurs in a kiln to combine glass that has the same coefficient. Glass with differing coefficients when attempted to fuse in a kiln will literally explode: bye bye, usable kiln. I've only done this once (because I used two different, but mis-labeled glass pieces), and fortunately it was a small test piece I was fusing, and there was no damage to the kiln's heating coils. Glass, when heated to a full fuse (about 1450 F), wants to flatten to 1/4" inch thick. A standard piece of glass is roughly 1/8" inches thick and will "bead up" eventually, from edges towards the center, to attain 1/4" inch uniformity based on the kiln firing schedule.
"Excuse me, miss, but I speak glass."
@Sideon Ooof, coils are EXPENSIVE
@SunsetSnuggles I like men with high voices too. The video you shared was impressive. Even better when countertenors and tenors embrace their high voices.
@Emerald20772 Head over here for some more high and unique voices!
https://www.cuddlecomfort.com/forum/discussion/comment/183380/#Comment_183380
~ Sunset Snuggles
Here’s some more random facts from me. Apologies if some are common knowledge.
-Contrary to popular belief, Mercury is not the hottest planet in the solar system despite it being closest to the Sun. Venus is the hottest planet due to its strong greenhouse effect.
-Green is the rarest eye color. Only 2% of the world’s population have green eyes. They are mainly found in northern and Central Europe. I’m proud to be blessed with this rare eye color, hence my username 💚
-Blonde hair is not as common as you think. Many people dye their hair blonde. Only 2% of the world’s population has naturally blonde hair. In fact, many babies who are born with blonde hair experience their hair darkening to brown as they get older.
-The Jamaican flag is the only flag that doesn’t have red, white, or blue on it.
-You can’t hum while holding your nose.
-Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors, while orange, green, and purple are secondary colors.
In the 1800's Cannibalism was so common for shipwrecked sailors at sea that there was a cultural understanding of how a group of sailors would choose the person to be eaten. They would draw lots. Deviating from this custom could result in being charged with murder because necessity was not considered a defense for murder. .See R. V. Dudley and Stephens for more information about customs of the sea.
In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings 43 times every second.
@Emerald20772 and @SunsetSnuggles - Back on page two of this thread, I posted links to some Alfred Deller recordings. He was probably the greatest counter-tenor of the 20th century.
Actually, there is nothing special about red, yellow, and blue. They are primary colors, only by convention. There are many possible sets of colors that can be used as primary. On computers, red, green and blue are used as primary colors. In the printing business cyan, magenta, and yellow are used to define color, while black defined intensity or brightness.
Ancient people did not recognize the color blue as a separate thing. There is a curious phenomenon of a word for "blue" being consistently missing from ancient languages.
That is interesting @MCcuddles2.
@MCcuddles2 whaaat?!! I love this. So mysterious. Okay, so I have a lot of nautical macabre facts. I'm sorry in advance.
Over 1000 shipwrecks have occurred around Cape Cod. The coast is treacherous in general; however the dangers were exacerbated during the 18th and 19th century because of the "mooncussers" or land pirates who would use decoy lanterns to lead ships astray before pillaging the shipwrecks. They were called Mooncussers because they only worked in complete darkness and the moon would foil their plans causing them to curse.
@Mr_Cuddle_Bear There isn't a swallow alive that can beat it's wings even close to that fast. Every reference that I can find states that swallows beat there wings about 12 to 15 times per second.
The Swallowtail butterfly beats around 5 times per second. The Giant Hummingbird beats its wings 10-15 times per second. North American hummingbirds average around 53 beats per second in normal flight. The fastest recorded rate (for birds) is about 80 beats per second on an Amethyst Wood- star Hummingbird. The house fly beats it's wings around 265 beats per second. The tiny midge beats around 1,000 beats per second.
Do you notice the trend? The longer the wing, the slower the beat. The flap rate of any wing, from gnats to condors will be very close to the frequency of a pendulum of the same length, which is determined by the formula below, where f is the rate, in beats per second, and L is the length of the wing, in inches.
@GreatHornedOwl I suspect your numbers refer to an unladen swallow, while Mr_Cuddle_Bear was referring to a laden swallow but forgot to mention that detail.
I don't know whether the swallow being African or European makes a difference.
@CuddleDuncan , thank you for getting the refference.
Wow. I love the bird experts here. As an observer of the many sea birds, I one day aspire to know as many details on my feathered neighbors here. My favorite bird so far in this area is the Carolina Wren because it often wakes me up in the morning by saying my name three times in a row over and over again until I'm up. It's very Snow White. I'm also sure it's not all in my head as I've asked many people and they agree that the bird is in fact saying my name. (no it's not MxSmith)
I can't figure out how y'all can learn and retain so much stuff and still have time to cuddle, but more power to you
@achetocuddle - I've never cuddled before unless I paid for it.
@Mr_Cuddle_Bear & @CuddleDuncan You weren't being serious, were you? The load makes very difference.The rate at which a bird (or any other animal) flaps will be within less than 10% of their natural frequency. If they flap much slower than that, they won't develop enough lift. Attempting to flap faster will require more energy than the bird can generate.
That natural frequency will not be exactly the same as that of a pendulum of the same length, That's because a bird wing doesn't have the same weight distribution as a perfect pendulum, which has all of its weight concentrated at the end. Its very inefficient to flap either faster of slower than its natural frequency.
Have you ever wondered why there no small birds with long wings, or large birds with short wings?
Archeopteris (the first bird) was about the size of a large duck. As birds evolved, their wings evolved with them. Some birds got larger, and their wings got larger too. Those that got smaller had their wing get smaller too. The body and wing had to evolve together. The wing had to be able to develop the necessary amount of lift when flapped at the natural frequency but required too much energy to flap at a greater frequency. Whenever the body and the wing had a mismatch, evolution forced one or the other to change.
@MxSmith The best way to learn bird songs is to put words to the music. For some species, birders have somewhat standardized the words. For instance:
The Carolina Wren sings "Teakettle teakettle teakettle." https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Carolina_Wren/sounds
The White-throated sparrow sings "Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody," except north of the boarder, where he sings "Oh Sweet Canada Canada, Canada" https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-throated_Sparrow/sounds
The House Sparrow proclaims its value "Cheep cheep cheep ........." https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/214315201
Sometimes, a mechanical sound works better. A Blue Jay has no real song, but his call sounds like an old fashioned, long handled water pump. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/232827071#_ga=2.153396159.662975677.1658786071-1312424353.1658786066
This convo just beats anything I could say about a bird, oh wait...the other day my aunt watered a potted arrangement of green plants on her front porch and three baby birds flew out and scared her. Lol.
This site is so different from my real life. I don't know many educated or well-read people in real life, so I am used to being one of the knowledgeable ones there. Lol. But I love listening to the intelligent people here. One thing that is better about the forum than real life is I can join in the convo, or just read it or not read it, and no one decides that I am being left out and makes some inane small talk directed at me to include me. I just hate that stuff, no matter how well-intentioned.
@Mike403 You must have a lot of energy. You work a lot, go to school, go to all those festivals, post on the music thread a lot (and it's stuff I have actually heard of and like) and still cuddle
@achetocuddle Don't mix up intelligence with being studied or well read. For example, I've been an avid birder for well over 50 years, It's only natural that I've learned a few things about birds in all that time. On the other hand, I know some exceptionally intelligent people who can't name but a hand full of the birds who regularly visit their yard.
It also helps to be active in a field. I used to lead the bird walks at a local state park. Back then, I could probably identify well over 150 bird species by their song. I haven't been doing as much birding as I used to, and now I probably can't identify more than half that number.
Having read more than a few of your posts, I have not the slightest doubt that there's a well functioning mind behind them. Don't disparage yourself.
@GreatHornedOwl that is a great tip on how to learn bird songs. Ok I need help with identification, because my name is not "Teakettle". The bird I'm talking about, I've never seen. It stays hidden. The closest bird I could find sings "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy" (my name is not Jimmy but its close enough) and that one came up on google as a Carolina Wren. But I have noticed that many of the recordings for carolina wrens are different. what am I missing?
To complicate matters, a single individual bird may may sing several variations of the "typical" song. Also, like people, there regional accents. Cornell's Macaulay Library has 14 recordings of songs and calls of Carolina Wrens. The iBird Pro app has 15. Sibley's app has 11. This is the most common song is this: You can also hear some Northern Cardinal and Black-capped Chickadee songs in the background.
Here's a good introduction to learning bird songs. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/how-to-learn-bird-songs-and-calls/
Astronaut John Glenn once snuck aboard a corned beef sandwich on the Gemini 3 mission (to low Earth orbit), much to the chagrin of mission controllers.
(Things that create wet crumbs are very dangerous in zero gravity, especially back then, as then can get into electrical components)
@GreatHornedOwl Thank you. I do consider myself smart actually. But I don't mind admitting there are many people here who I think are smarter than me. And intelligence, education and being well-read are 3 separate things. I think of myself as realistic about everything, including my strengths and weaknesses. tbh, I don't mind admitting some of my weaknesses cause I think it might make me appear as approachable as I think I am. And I'm smart enough to know when to play dumb. Lol. (This thread not being a time when I'm playing dumb.)
@MxSmith: Actually, many ancient cultures did have words for shades we'd call blue—just not one overarching term for all "blue" shades.
In ancient Greece, for instance, "lampros" meant "metallic silver with a blue tint." [source]
What's really neat, though, is that what words you have for color affect the way you perceive color. Take Russian, which also doesn't have a single word for "blue"—in 2007, there was a study that showed Russian speakers are better at telling the difference between light blue and dark blue than English speakers. [source]
And in a longitudinal study of color perception in English-speaking vs. Otjihimba-speaking children, researchers discovered that as language was learned, the English-speaking group was more likely to categorize this color— —as blue, while the Otjihimba-speaking group was more likely to classify it as a shade of black, which you know is going to affect the way they describe things in their literature, which brings me to Homer's "wine-dark sea"—oh, wait... I need food.