tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50078195288485045852012-05-28T11:04:28.959-06:00Suck at Jeopardy? Not anymore!Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-51166778310503329882007-03-27T21:09:00.000-07:002007-03-27T21:33:00.839-07:00

Roboshark is a robotic shark that is programmed to eat robotic tuna (Tintuna) which school together when they sense Roboshark headed their way. Roboshark also shares tank space with "gliders", which I assume to be like stingrays.Roboshark could previously be seen swimming with real sharks at the National Marine Aquarium when it was on loan during 2003. Its new home, is apparently still in the

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-77498380640006319942007-03-24T00:28:00.000-07:002007-03-27T21:03:02.888-07:00

Stubby was originally a stray pit bull dog that became the mascot of the 102nd Infantry during WWI. He was smuggled overseas and aided the soldiers by detecting gas attacks, lifting troop morale and even finding and holding onto a German spy until the troops could capture him.He was eventually smuggled back to the United States where he became a lifetime member of the American Legion, Red Cross

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-37250239443395322382007-01-22T07:50:00.000-07:002007-01-22T08:11:35.459-07:00

The first US Congressman to be killed in the line of duty was Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr. He was a representative from the 11th district in California.In 1978, he was asked by family members to investigate the People's Temple, which had relocated from California to Guyana. The People's Temple was a religious cult led by Jim Jones.Congressman Ryan, his aide, and several others visited the compound on

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-66864697245652471402007-01-12T06:54:00.000-07:002008-12-09T07:33:44.946-07:00

Crepuscular animals are those that are active during twilight hours or bright moonlit nights. During the day and during the darkest hours of night, they are hiding or sleeping. Many animals are considered crepsucular. A short list includes:mosquitoesdogscatsnighthawksmooserabbitferretmouseratThe word derives from the French and Middle English word, crepuscule, which means twilight.Source:

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-3422519053210910872007-01-09T13:02:00.000-07:002007-01-09T13:18:49.327-07:00

Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts attempted to weigh the human soul. In 1907, he placed 6 dying patients on a homemade scale, which also acted as a bed for the patients. He then recorded their weights before and after death. According to Dr. MacDougall, there was a difference of 21 grams between the heavier, living patients and their dead bodies.He also experimented on 15 dogs and

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-84897845663540765932007-01-06T13:52:00.000-07:002008-12-09T07:33:45.143-07:00

Besides alcohol, which may have been invented before bread, aspirin seems to be one of the oldest drugs to be continually used by human beings.Aspirin has been used since the times of Ancient Greece in the form of willow bark and leaves. The willow trees contain a chemical called salicin which relieves pain and fever. Hippocrates (circa 460 B.C.E and 377 B.C.E) prescribed aspirin for pain, fever

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-20559910040126298832006-11-29T06:32:00.000-07:002006-11-29T07:11:42.208-07:00

Marie Curie was the first scientist to be awarded two Nobel Prizes: one in Physics (1903) and one in Chemistry (1911).She also invented the word "radioactivity" based on the Latin word for ray (radio-, radi-, rad-).She and her husband, Pierre, helped name and add two more elements to the Periodic Table: polonium and radium.Source: Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-72511842153467498522006-11-24T08:00:00.000-07:002006-11-24T20:45:52.495-07:00

Lots of popular foods come from the "New World." Some are well known, but others may surprise you. ;) Nearly 30% of all cultivated plants grown worldwide have their origins in the New World (1).VegetablesCassava (Tapioca or Manioc) -- from South America. It can be grown in very poor soils and still yield a very nutritious vegetable. Amazon Indians domesticated over 40 varieties. Some can be eaten

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-4460139668677213232006-11-14T09:56:00.000-07:002006-11-14T10:04:21.456-07:00

White Sands National Monument is an amazing place to visit. Just last Sunday, I drove up there with my kids. We had a super time.The sands are almost pure gypsum. Gypsum is a type of rock that is almost completely soluble. It dissolves easily in water and when it rains, it washes out of the surrounding mountains into the White Sands area inside the Tularosa Basin. The reason all the sand stays in

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-30457272600302345612006-11-10T07:22:00.000-07:002006-11-14T13:07:05.106-07:00

Ska is a form of music that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950's and early 60's. It is the first popular form of music indiginous to Jamaica and gave rise to other more familiar types of music such as rocksteady and reggae.From About.com:Ska music was made for dancing. The music is upbeat, quick and exciting. Musically, ska can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-4894631299903544162006-11-08T09:50:00.000-07:002006-11-08T10:34:37.491-07:00

In the words of a dishtowel I saw in a catalog: "Coffee: do stupid things faster and with more energy."Yep. Coffee definitely does that for me!I wanted to find out a little more about the history of coffee, so here are some trivial tidbits about this wonderful beverage.Coffee originated somewhere in Africa and around 700 AD, there was evidence of coffee use in the Red Sea area. Coffee made its

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-12225514177200312002006-11-07T07:47:00.000-07:002006-11-07T08:37:20.190-07:00

What is galvanized steel? It's a process where zinc is bonded to the outside of steel in order to prevent corrosion or rust. Galvanized steel is used on cars, for hardware cloth (like chicken wire) and many other things. The zinc on the outside of the steel oxidizes to form zinc oxide which is not brittle like iron oxide.The first known description of galvanizing with zinc comes from a French

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-45124989271943855812006-11-05T19:54:00.000-07:002006-11-05T20:00:53.130-07:00

I guess I spend a lot of time thinking about little things. The other day, when I was moving files around on my Windows-based PC computer, I started wondering why the B: drive was skipped. I have an A: drive and a C: drive, but no B: drive.Well, I looked up the info on the web and found out that there had always been a B: drive. Back in the day when computers had two floppy disk drives, one was

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-27809298176359033652006-10-30T21:11:00.000-07:002006-10-30T21:22:49.905-07:00

In old cartoons, whenever there is machinery or an assembly line, a certain piece of music was played to accompany the action. I always wondered what the name of that song was. Finally, I know.The "assembly line" music is called Powerhouse and was written by Raymond Scott, a composer, musician and engineer. According to Wikipedia, Scott's wife said that Raymond Scott didn't watch cartoons and had

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-63126031785077641922006-10-29T22:15:00.000-07:002006-10-29T22:40:45.033-07:00

The public square of El Paso is known as Plaza de los Lagartos. This is because the public square was home to several alligators from 1883 until 1965. When it was too cold for the alligators in the winter, men would wrap them in coffee sacks, take them to the saloon and have them stay by the stoves to keep warm!How did the alligators get to El Paso? Two possible stories come from Borderlands:One

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-74755302182547553642006-10-26T21:18:00.000-06:002006-10-26T22:48:03.096-06:00

A falangist is a supporter and follower of the highly nationalistic, fascist, ultra Catholic style of government as supported by Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco.Surprisingly, there is a political party, the Christian Falangist Party of America, which is active in politics to this day. They are extremely conservative, calling participants of Gay Pride parades "sexual perverts." In addition,

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-91435541298792595022006-10-26T06:38:00.000-06:002006-10-26T12:22:34.694-06:00

Joseph Beuys is an interesting individual. He was born in 1921 in Germany and volunteered for the war in 1940. He was trained as a pilot an an aircraft radio operator. He was wounded several times and was held in a prisoner of war camp in Britain for some time.After the war, he studied art, specifically sculpture. Many of his sculptural pieces were made of felt and hard fat. Beuys often

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-38370774644558350992006-10-25T19:52:00.000-06:002006-10-25T20:12:49.534-06:00

Autism is a neurological condition that I am very familiar with. My daughter, Rei, is moderately autistic and goes to school 8 hours every day for therapy, learning and social integration. She's not even 4 yet!While reading an excellent article (linked in the source below) in Scientific American Online, I found this interesting little bit of trivial information.The word autism bascially means "

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-80359397586947044442006-10-24T08:04:00.000-06:002006-10-24T08:36:51.677-06:00

The first Mini-Van debuted in 1972. It was the Brubaker Box, named after its creator, Curtis Brubaker. He built the original on a Volkswagen Beetle body. The only entrance is the one you see in the photo.The Brubaker Box never became a commercial success. Even though Curtis Brubaker received positive feedback at the Los Angeles International Motorsports Show, making this custom car was

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-73070124893094720442006-10-23T12:32:00.000-06:002006-10-23T13:18:17.091-06:00

Dr. Rodney McKay is a character from Stargate Atlantis. However, Dr. McKay's real first name is actually Meredith. His middle name is Rodney.Source: Season 3, Episode 8 McKay and Mrs. Miller

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-91948716445772938552006-10-23T09:50:00.000-06:002006-10-23T10:17:36.619-06:00

Curling is a sport with probable origins in Scotland. The first known curling stone was dated 1511 on the stone itself. Written accounts of curling occur in 1541 from Paisley Abbey, Renfrew. Curling was also depicted in two painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder in 1565 showing Dutch peasants playing the game.No matter what, it's clear that this unusual sport has very old origins. Curling is

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-80807792772836931192006-10-22T22:59:00.000-06:002006-10-26T13:52:05.714-06:00

The word Photography was coined by Sir John Frederick William Herschel in 1839. Sir John Herschel was a mathematician and astronomer. He helped improve many of the techniques used in photography during the 19th century.He also coined the words positive and negative to describe parts of the photographic process.Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary, Wikipedia

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-33006577644414566382006-10-22T14:00:00.000-06:002006-10-24T08:03:53.430-06:00

The earliest archaeological evidence for cheese making comes from Egyptian tomb murals, dating to about 2300 BCE.The cheese shown is called Sage Derby Cheese. It was traditionally made with cow's milk and sage, but today the sage is usually substituted with spinach juice or vegetable dye. The sage was added for health benefits in the 17th century.Sources: Yahoo! Answers, Cheese.com

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-5506983601844863962006-10-22T13:18:00.000-06:002006-10-22T13:29:41.200-06:00

People know Death Valley National Park in the US for its insanely hot temperatures and extra-harsh landscape. Summer temperatures typically average around 120 degrees Fahrenheit and in 1913, a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded.One of the most surprising things about Death Valley is the fact that one of the largest aquifers in the US lies right under the dry surface of the

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5007819528848504585.post-68037497512904658872006-10-21T18:07:00.000-06:002006-10-21T18:14:02.504-06:00

So, it's not unusual to find people who are familiar with the lounge singer, Tom Jones. He's famous for his "sexy" moves, especially at a time when it was sort of outrageous to be a sexy singer.Tom Jones' full name is Thomas Jones Woodward, and he is Welsh. The stage name he eventually settled on, Tom Jones, fits in well with the sexy novel, History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding.

Susan (Ayame)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17712271934026708799noreply@blogger.com0