No. 90 - Bucket List

I heard people on the radio this morning discussing their "bucket lists." I learned that a bucket list is a wish list of things to do before you "kick the bucket." Apparently the term originated from a 2007 movie of the same name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In the movie two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

In the comment section below, let's hear one thing that's on your bucket list.

I'll go first. Before I die, I want to write a novel. Hopefully a good one :)

No. 89 - Ab Aeterno

It's Tuesday, which means it's LOST day. In anticipation of tonight's episode I reviewed last week's show notes on Lostpedia.com. The episode was called "Ab Aeterno" and it may have been one of the best episodes of LOST yet. In the episode it is revealed that...

Hold on! Spoiler Alert!

If you are a LOST fan and haven't watched the episode yet then stop here. Come back after you watch it to finish reading. I only learned what the definition of Ab Aeterno is anyway so nothing too exciting.

So in the episode it is revealed that there are two dominant forces at work on the island. One which believes that people are inherently evil and one which believes that people are inherently good. I am in the latter camp. People are brought to the island, it seems, as a game to prove which force is more powerful. The good side seems to give the participants the free will to choose for themselves while the bad side tries to manipulate them into following his will. If that sounds a lot like God versus the Devil, do not be surprised. There are numerous references and allusions to religions and ideologies in LOST.

I learned that Ab Aeterno is Latin for "from eternity."  The phrase is used to mean "since the beginning of time" perhaps implying that the struggle between good and evil has existed from the very beginning.

No. 88 - Young Forever

I heard Jay-Z's song Young Forever on the radio this morning and thought that it sounded very much like a song from the 80s. Being a product of the 80s - it cannot be proven (easily) that I ever had a mullet - I have a keen ear for the sound of the synthesizer.

Sure enough, I learned that it's a re-work of Alphaville's 1984 Forever Young (video here). Young Forever (featuring Mr. Hudson) appears on Jay-Z's latest album The Blueprint 3, which also contains Run This Town (featuring Rihanna and Kanye West) and Empire State of Mind (featuring Alicia Keys).

Alphaville's version failed to reach the American Top 40 getting only as high as #65. As of today Jay-Z's version (video here) is at #33 on the Billboard Top 100, which was up from #44 last week.

No. 87 - Chicken Nuggets

I was watching an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. This is the show where Jamie attempts to change the eating habits of the residents of Huntington, West Virginia, the most unhealthy city in America.

In this episode he showed some kids how chicken nuggets are made. He took a whole chicken and cut off the nice meaty breasts. Then be cut off the thighs, legs and wings. What was left was a chicken carcass. He took a heavy butcher's knife and cut the bony shell into 4 sections and dump them into a food processor along with some chicken skin and ground it all up. He dumped the meat-bone-skin-bits mixture into a strainer to squeeze through the soft stuff catching the hard stuff. The mush that made it through the strainer was then combined with other stuff to add flavor and hold the mush together and then bread crumbs were added. (You can watch this during the first 8 minutes of the episode here.)

Before showing this pretty gross display, Jamie said, "Thankfully chicken nuggets in this country are not made this way."

I wondered how chicken nuggets, or more specifically Chicken McNuggets, are made.

I found this in the wikipedia entry for Chicken McNuggets:

The 2004 documentary Super Size Me states that the McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, originally made from old chickens no longer able to lay eggs, are now made from chickens with unusually large breasts. These chickens are stripped down to the bone, and then "ground up" into a chicken mash then combined with a variety of stabilizers and preservatives, pressed into familiar shapes, breaded and deep fried, freeze dried, and then shipped to a McDonald's near you.

Why does that sound a lot like what Jamie Oliver showed?

Chicken McNuggets were introduced in 1980 in test markets and in 1983 nationwide.

No. 86 - Woody

Tap, tap, tap. What was that? Tap, tap, tap. I rolled over in bed and listened carefully. Tap, tap, tap. Oh, no. The woodpecker is back! We have a friendly neighborhood woodpecker who enjoys digging holes in our cedar wood siding.

It reminded me of Woody Woodpecker, the animated cartoon character. Remember his trademark "Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha" laugh? I wasn't aware that Woody was an acorn woodpecker. Nor was I aware that such a breed of woodpecker existed. But as the name implies the acorn woodpecker relies heavily on acorns for food. The adults are black and white in color, with the male having a red cap on his head. I don't think ours is an acorn woodpecker since their natural habitat is in the southwestern United States.

Regardless, I think I'll call our woodpecker Woody from now on. And I filled his holes in today. Take that Woody! Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha!

No. 85 - Highlights for Children

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I love to learn new things. I also love to teach my kids new things and try to find creative ways for them to learn and have fun doing it. The other day I saw a copy of Highlights for Children in my mechanic's waiting room. I tore out one of the subscription cards and stuffed it into my pocket. I finally got around to ordering a subscription for my kids today. It looks like a fun and educational magazine and I thought it would be neat for the kids to anticipate its monthly arrival in the mail.

I learned that Highlights began publication in 1946 and was started by a couple in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Highlights published their one billionth copy in 2006 and it is estimated that two million children and adults read the magazine annually. Highlights aims to "help children develop creativity, sensitivity, literacy and the ability to think and reason."

No. 84 - Waffle Day

On the CBS morning news I heard that today was National Waffle Day. My first thought was "why do we need a day to celebrate waffles?"

I looked it up and learned that it is not actually "National" Waffle Day - - how many times must I tell you not to believe everything you hear coming out of the talking box? National Waffle Day is actually August 24 and marks the date of the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron in 1869.

I learned that today is "International" Waffle Day. The holiday originated in Sweden where it is called Vaffeldagen. It occurs exactly nine full months before Christmas - in the Christian faith it is the day the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was pregnant with baby Jesus. This day was also considered the start of spring in Sweden and it became a custom for Swedish families to celebrate the two events by making waffles.

No. 83 - Groupon

I love to save money. Or, rather, I love to spend as little money as possible and still get the things I need or want. I recall hearing a long time ago that "it's not how much you make, it's how much you spend." Saving money is almost considered a sport in our house.

We quite frequently shop for the lowest price if quality isn't a concern. For example, what does it matter who collects our trash? As long as we drop it off in front of the house each week and it disappears the next day, it's all good. I remember one time we received a much lower price from a smaller trash collection company. So we called our current, and significantly larger, trash company to see if they would match the price. They said no, and then proceeded to tell us that they have more employees and more trucks and, therefore, more costs which makes the price they charge their customers higher. Wow! So we switched. That was years ago. And every week our trash still disappears, except now less money disappears with it.

But I digress.

Anyway, it is amazing how much money people overspend because they don't ask a simple question, "Is that the lowest price you can sell this to me for?" or some variation thereof.

How about a flat-screen TV at BestBuy?

Me: I think I'd like to buy this TV today, and I see it's on sale, but is there anyway you could take another 50 bucks off?

Them: No problem, sir, I think we can do that.

It's so easy sometimes it's almost funny.

But I digress. Again.

Today I learned about Groupon.com. Their website says they "offer daily deals at unbeatable prices through the power of group buying." Groupon solicits retailers to offer around 50% to 90% off "the best stuff your city has to offer." A local restaurant is a good example of a typical offering. They showcase just one retailer a day. If a certain minimum number of people agree to purchase the item, then it will sell for that price. Otherwise, no deal. Sounds interesting. I think I'll give it a try.

There's another similar service that's coming to our area soon called LivingSocial.com that offers a similar service, but without the minimum number of buyers needed to get the deal.

No. 82 - Drawing Room

I am really enjoying the fictional world that Ayn Rand created in The Fountainhead, the subject of Post No. 47. What an extraordinary character Howard Roark is. How many books do you remember the main character a month later, or six months, or a year? There are only a few for me. But I would find it hard to imagine that I will ever forget Howard Roark.

The story takes place in the 1920s and 1930s and focuses on the world of architecture with a few of the main characters, including Howard Roark, being architects so when I first stumbled upon the word "drawing room" I did what most people likely do - word association - and figured that it was a room, like an office or a library, used for drawing or sketching. It fit for a while but then it just didn't seem to make sense. Everyone seemed to have one of these drawing rooms, not just the architects.

I learned that a drawing room is a room in a house where guests are entertained. The origin of the word dates back to the sixteenth century and is a shortened form of "withdrawing" room, or a room in which the ladies would "withdraw to" after dinner. The word is not used much anymore but would typically refer to the American parlor or, as it is called these days, the living room.

Let's see now. When we have guests over it seems like most of the entertaining is done in the kitchen. And the kids quite frequently use the kitchen counter for drawing and coloring. So in our house it would appear that our kitchen is the drawing room.

No. 81 - Ice Cream Sunday

This day was quite busy, but soon I will be enjoying an ice cream sundae with my family. We love making sundaes and get all the good toppings - chocolate shell, whipped cream, caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, sprinkles (usually more than one variety) and cherries.

Sticking with the theme of when things were invented over the last few days, I learned that the ice cream sundae was invented sometime between 1890-1899. There are at least eight cities claiming they came up with it first although the biggest rivalry is between Ithaca, New York and Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

The invention of the sundae was in response to a law prohibiting the serving of ice cream sodas on Sundays. To get around this law, soda was omitted from the dessert. It then took the name of Sundae in honor of the day it was served.

No. 80 - Tee Ball

The kids had their first tee ball practice today. As I sat watching, cheering, and occasionally calling out some helpful pointers, I wondered aloud when tee ball was invented. When I was little there was no such thing as tee ball, or was there? Where I grew up tee ball was not yet an organized sport, but then again neither was soccer. And I'm pretty sure that sport goes back quite some time.

I was surprised to learn that the game's origins date back to the 1940s and 1950s. Albion, Michigan claims that tee ball was invented there in 1956. But there are quite a few others laying claim to it as well.
 
I learned that "Tee Ball" was registered as a U.S. trademark in the early 1970s. The name "t-ball" is used as the generic term.

No. 79 - The Dandy Horse

Today we visited the house that General George Washington stayed in during his and the Continental Army's encampment at Valley Forge over the winter of 1777-1778.

While walking along the beautiful paths of Valley Forge I was quizzing the kids. Do you think there were cars around when George Washington stayed here? They said no. Do you think there were airplanes around when George Washington stayed here? They also said no. Do you think there were bicycles around when George Washington stayed here? At which point I immediately realized that I did not know the answer and told the kids that I wasn't sure. I am usually pretty honest with my kids. Adults on the other hand, well, if they believe some of the things I make up then shame on them.

So my thinking was that the bicycle is not a very complicated vehicle. A couple of wheels, which were surely around at that time, and pedals attached to a chain to spin the wheel. I guessed yes. My kids guessed yes. My wife guessed no. Who do you think was correct?

Don't look if you haven't guessed yet.

Did you guess?

Wikipedia says the first chain-driven upright bike was invented around 1885, or a cool 100 years after General George's stay in Valley Forge.

But hold on just a minute. In 1817 Baron von Drais invented the dandy horse (German for running machine), a two-wheeled vehicle, that was propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with his feet. The front wheel and handlebars rotated to allow steering. But no chain. And still about 4 decades later.

Let's not crown the winner yet. What about that wooden scooter-like contraption known as the velocifere (Latin for fast carry) invented in 1790? But this one didn't even have a steering wheel. You basically had to do a wheelie and pull the front wheel off the ground to reposition it in another direction.

So the prize goes to my wife. The winner gets to do the dishes. Congratulations.

No. 78 - The Baby-Sitters Club

My daughter has taken an interest in a series of books called the Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne. So when she brought home from school those forms to buy books and a set of 33 books was on it - and she really, really wanted them - how could I resist? I am a push-over when it comes to books. Video games, no. This, no. That, no. Books, oh yeah.

Yesterday the books arrived and my daughter informed me that she planned on exceeding my feat of reading 52 Books in 52 Weeks, by reading all 33 Magic Tree House books in one week. Nice.

An article in the WSJ today caught my attention. It was about another series of children's books called The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin. There were 131 titles in this series which was released from 1986 to 2000. Over 176 million copies of the books were sold.

The premise of this series is quite interesting especially given today's current economic struggles. The girls discovered an inefficiency in the local market for baby-sitting. That is, parents would have limited number of baby-sitters to choose from and hope that they were available when called upon. The sitter, on the other hand, would have to wait for the phone to ring in hopes that a few parents they knew would call asking for their services. So the girls formed a club to make available their baby-sitting services. Parents could place one call and almost be assured a sitter and the girls would end up getting more sitting jobs.

This kind of creative thinking might be quite useful to many people today who are having a very difficult time finding employment opportunities.

The books are currently out of print but the series is scheduled to be reissued next month.

No. 77 - Disposable Razor Blades

Today I learned that a "disposable" razor is getting to be not so disposable. Gillette's latest creation is called MVP Power. In addition to its five blades, it has an "on-board microchip" and "battery power" which together provide "soothing micropulses to help reduce friction and increase razor glide, so you barely feel the blades." Okie dokie.

Me? I'm still back on the Mach3 Turbo with just three blades, which seems like two blades more than one would need to remove unwanted facial hair.

The Mach3 blades run about $2.00-$2.50 per blade. Gillette will debut a new model called the ProGlide Power in June in which the blades will run a whopping $4.50 per blade.

A while back, when I noticed how expensive replacement blades were getting, I decided to do a little experiment. Normally one would change their blade every week or so when it starts to get a little dull. Or if the conveniently provided "wear" strip changes color to "remind" you to change your blade. I decided to see what would happen if I kept using the same blade after the initial new blade sharpness wore off.

What I discovered is that the blade quality doesn't deteriorate much after that first week or two. I haven't counted the days - I've been meaning to do that - but I bet I have gone many months (3? 4?) before changing the blade. Instead of a great shave that very first time the blade is used, it's still a pretty darn good shave months later. The next time I change the blade I will note the date and report back in the comments section below on how long one Mach3 blade can last.

No. 76 - Blarney Stone

My dad asked me a few days ago if I was posting about things I already knew. I explained that each thing I post is new to me that day. Meaning that when I learned about it I did not know, or did not recall, and could not articulate to someone else, what exactly it was.

Try this. Without reading any further, turn to your spouse, or kid, or just talk out loud, and explain what the "Blarney Stone" is. Were you able to do it? That's just great. Give yourself a pat on the back. If not, you see what I mean.

The Blarney Stone is a particular block of limestone that was built into Blarney Castle in Blarney, Ireland. According to legend, whoever kisses the Blarney Stone is gifted with eloquence and persuasiveness.

The word "blarney" in the dictionary has come to mean "smooth, flattering talk" and "flattery designed to gain favor."

Oh yeah. One more thing. In order to kiss the stone you must lean backwards over the edge of the castle about 4-5 stories up in the air. Sounds like a legendary joke to me.

No. 75 - World's Fattest Woman

Sometimes I wonder if the new things I learn are a net benefit to me, or whether I could potentially be worse off for knowing it. Could something you learn actually harm you? Today has me scratching my head.

I found out this morning that a woman in New Jersey is attempting to become the world's fattest woman. Yep. She already weighs 600 pounds and has a "goal" to exceed 1,000 pounds - that's half a ton! She spends $750 a week on food and consumes five times more than the recommended daily calories for a woman her age. She's 42. She needs to use a motor scooter when she goes food shopping because she can't walk more than 20 feet. She has a website where people pay to watch her eat and show off her super-sized self in a bikini. I kid you not! I found the website but I will not post the link. Believe me, it's for your own good. You can thank me now. No seriously, you should thank me now.

This article quotes the woman as saying, "I have one of the largest bellies around...On the website I also have videos of me in motion, because they like to see me in motion, see how my fat jiggles and moves."

To each his own. Unless she ends up needing medical care at the expense of other taxpayers. If she was looking for a little attention there are easier ways to get it. She could have just started a blog :) And it wouldn't cost her $750 a week.

No. 74 - Shawarma

I read an article in the WSJ this morning about a couple who opened the first Arabic food stand at Camp Pendleton, CA, the largest Marine base on the west coast. The food has been a hit with the Marines returning from Iraq and the Persian Gulf who were craving the food they were exposed to while stationed abroad.

The most mentioned food in the article was shawarma.

I learned that shawarma is a sandwich-like wrap made with shaved lamb, goat, chicken, beef, turkey or a combination of meats. The meat is placed on a spit and may be grilled for a whole day. It is often served on pita bread and is similar to a gyro. It is considered a fast-food staple across the Middle East and North Africa.

No. 73 - Pysanky

One of my Facebook friends posted the following status update today: "Can't stop making pysanky." I couldn't resist and replied, "I can't stop making pysanky either, but that's not what I usually call it."

This is back-to-back days for words that don't appear in the dictionary.

Pysanka (plural pysanky) is a Ukrainian Easter egg that is decorated with beeswax and dyes. I feel like I must have learned this word before, and forgot it, since I have an aunt who is really good at making these eggs. When I was little I remember asking how she got the egg out of the shell and she showed me the pinholes on the top and the bottom in which it is blown out. I was always impressed with the intricate patterns and the time it must have taken to carefully decorate them.

As I was typing this blog entry my daughter asked me what I learned today. Then as I was showing her a picture of pysanky on the computer, my wife said that we had one of my aunt's eggs in our dining room. I quickly ran to get it to show the kids. When my son was holding it I felt like he was squeezing it a little too hard so I told him to be careful and while attempting to get the egg back from him I dropped it.

Luckily, it dropped onto a carpeted surface and didn't crack :)

Unluckily, after getting to the carpet, the egg took off rolling. It eventually stopped but not before running into the metal leg of a cabinet :(

And then it cracked :((

I felt horrible while looking at the crack in the egg and said something like, "I can't believe I cracked the egg." To which my son replied, "Are you going to put this on your blog?"

No. 72 - Palooza

My daughter left me a phone message while she was out running errands with my wife this morning. She asked me learn about the word "palooza" today, although she was pronouncing it "balooza." When she got home I asked her what she meant. She said she wanted to make a bunch of paper fortune tellers and sell them at a palooza. I asked where she heard the word. She said she didn't remember but then thought it came from the "great big bullfrog book." This sparked my curiosity to see if the word was in that book. After about 10+ minutes of searching bookshelves, I found Hello, Great Big Bullfrog by Colin West. No mention of the word palooza, or balooza, but halfway through the book the bear says, "Let's have a great big HULLABALOO!" I can make that connection.

While palooza is not defined in the dictionary, it could best be described as "an exaggerated event" or a "giant party."

So if I had a bunch of paper fortune tellers, could there be a better venue to sell them at than a palooza? I think not.

No. 71 - ABBA

I heard on the radio this morning that XM Channel 7 - 70s on 7 - will be playing ABBA all weekend in honor of the group being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday.

I learned that ABBA is the #2 best-selling music group of all time behind The Beatles. On the best-selling list which includes both groups and solo artists, they are #4 behind The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

I also did not know that ABBA was an acronym formed from the first letters of each band member's name: Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid.

No. 70 - Stink Bug

When we moved into our current house, we encountered a little critter referred to as a "stink bug." It's given its name because, as a protection mechanism from being eaten by birds and lizards, it can emit an extremely foul odor. Whenever I pick one up to get rid of it, I get stunk. Every time. My wife, however, using the same technique, does not get stunk. Therefore, she is the official stink bug exterminator in our house.

I have developed a fail safe procedure in the event she is not home and the stink bug is dive-bombing me. I call it the "flick and flush." Using a flat piece of paper, magazine, or book - whatever is available will do - I coax the bug to crawl onto the paper and then carefully escort him - no sudden movements - to the toilet. A quick "flick" of the middle finger sends him into the bowl where he promptly gets "flushed."

I learned today that it was around the same time that we moved into the house - in fall of 2001 - that the stink bug first appeared in the United States. All along I thought it had something to do with the location of our house, perhaps being near a natural habitat of the bug. The first documented specimen was collected in Allentown, PA and it is believed that the bug got here by hitching a ride in packing crates from Japan and China.

No. 69 - Limonin

I previously mentioned in Post No. 52 that we are having a lot of fun with a new juicer. We typically juice several fruits or vegetables at a time and store them in plastic containers in the refrigerator. I have been baffled though by orange juice. It tastes incredible delicious as soon as it is squeezed, but by the next day it is terribly bitter.

I learned today that the reason is limonin.

Dictionary.com defines limonin as "a bitter, white crystalline substance found in orange and lemon seeds." It appears that when the fruit is squeezed the limonin is released from the seed. It then begins to hydrolyze (i.e. decompose) and within hours even the freshest fruit tastes bitter.

The solution that I mentioned to my wife just this morning seems to be the answer: Drink the juice immediately.

Problem solved!

No. 68 - Little House on the Prairie

I was the mystery reader in my daughter's class this afternoon. I chose two stories from the My First Little House Books series. These are condensed versions for early readers based on the Little House series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Little House on the Prairie was one of my favorite television shows as a kid. The series ran from 1974-1983. I have never read the original books but recently got the complete Little House nine-book set as a Christmas gift.

I learned that the actual location of the original "Little House" is 13 miles southwest of Independence, Kansas. This picture shows a replica of the house on its original site. The house in the television show was in Minnesota, where the family moved to after leaving Kansas.

About a quarter of the kids in the class knew about Little House. All of them were curious and interested and asked lots of questions. Hopefully a few of them will go home tonight and ask their parents about this strange world of log cabins and wagons and stewed jackrabbit and butter churns.

No. 67 - Bears

It appears that my son might be taking over this blog as several of the last posts have been inspired by him. Today is no different. He has been asking me for several days to learn something new about bears. His favorite stuffed animal is a bear appropriately named "Bear-bear."

This summer we went camping with friends in Northeast Pennsylvania. Several black bears approached the cabin we were staying in and the kids got to see them up close. It was quite an amazing sight -- until I came within five feet of a several hundred pound black bear. I thought I heard a noise in a screened-in porch area of the cabin and when I opened the door - cautiously for some reason - there stood a huge black bear. Luckily (for me) he was probably as scared of me as I was of him and he took off running as I swiftly closed and locked the door.

I was not aware - or did not recall - that the teddy bear got its name from the 26th President of the United States, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

As the story goes, the President was on a bear hunt and, after not getting a bear, was presented a captured bear by others in his hunting party to shoot. The President apparently refused to kill the bear under those circumstances as he deemed it to be unsportsmanlike. A newspaper picked up the story and posted a cartoon picture of the President with a bear. Then a novelty and candy store owner in Brooklyn, NY created a little stuffed bear, which he sent to the President and was granted permission to call it "Teddy's Bear." This supposedly set off a "craze" for teddy bears in the first decade of the 1900s such that ladies carried them around and children were often photographed with them.

No. 66 - Pepperoni

After a tiring afternoon of helping to stimulate the economy, we ordered a pepperoni pizza from Wegmans, my new favorite pizza place.

I learned that pepperoni comes from the word peperoni, which is the plural form of peperone, which is the Italian word for capsicum. Capsicum in the U.S. is known as, you guessed it, the pepper. It includes all the common pepper varieties, such as the red and green bell pepper and the chili pepper as well as the pimento, the subject of Post No. 25.

Pepperoni is an offspring of the spicy salamis from southern Italy. I also learned that Soppressata, one of my favorite salamis originated in Calabria, the region in Italy were my great-grandfather Domenico was born.

No. 65 - Kukgi Bae Rye

Today I learned from my son's karate instructor that "kukgi bae rye" in Korean means "salute the flag." My son took a test this morning to get two red stripes on his white belt. I was impressed with the focus and determination he exhibited during the testing. He will find out this week if he passed the test, but I have no doubt that he did.

I also learned to count to four in Korean. Hana. Dool. Set. Net. I'm not sure why they stopped at four. Perhaps as the kids get older the instructor will teach them more.

No. 64 - Taste Buds

Today is another special request day! This time from my very inquisitive daughter. One of the fun things about doing this blog is that each night at dinner we discuss the new "thing" I learned that day. Some of the topics are really fun and keep the kids talking for many days like inukshuk in Post No. 53. Others, like the abortion topic in Post No. 61, are a little more difficult to explain to them. And we ordered a steelpan from Post. No 59. (Thanks Yeti!)

This blog isn't just about learning. It's also about teaching. "Docendo discimus" is a Latin phrase which means "By teaching, we learn." It's easy to learn something new. It's a bit more challenging to explain it to someone else in a simple way so that they too understand it. The "active" process of trying to get a point across to someone changes what you learn from an otherwise "passive" exercise and increases your ability to retain information.

So here we go...my daughter asked me to learn something new about taste buds.

An average person has about 10,000 taste buds on their tongue and they are replaced about every 2 weeks. As you grow older, some of the taste buds don't get replaced. An older person might only have 5,000 taste buds.

Taste buds help you detect the different kinds of tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet and savory. But taste doesn't just come from the buds on the tongue. The olfactory receptors in the nose detect smells from the mouth to help create the flavors in food. That's why when you are sick your sense of taste is diminished. You can test this by holding your nose while chewing food. Go ahead and give it a try. You know you want to.

No. 63 - PB&J

I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today. I remember for many years after college and before having kids when the PB&J completely fell off the radar screen. Thankfully it's back on.

Because of its low cost and high nutritional content the peanut butter sandwich was one of the top children's meals during our country's First Great Depression.

The combination of peanut butter with jelly became popular in the 1940s when Americans were returning from the Second World War. It is speculated that since the U.S. military rations included both peanut butter and jelly, soldiers combined the two spreads to make them easier to eat.

PB&J is a high energy food, with peanut butter providing calories from fat, jelly supplying calories from sugar, and bread adding calories from starch. Peanut butter also provides protein and bread usually has some fiber.

It is estimated that an average American will eat 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school.

No. 62 - Coffee

Today is special request day! Last night my son asked me to learn something new about coffee. He knows that I enjoy coffee and on weekends he quite frequently asks for a sip (after it cools down of course). So this one's for you little buddy!

What people commonly refer to as a coffee "bean" is actually a "seed." In fact, the "bean" starts off as a "berry," which is picked from a coffee "bush," which is also referred to as a "tree." The flesh of the berry is removed and what's left is the "seed." The seed, or bean, is first dried and then roasted before it is crushed to brew a cup of coffee.

In grade school I remember being taught a corny song that went something like "C-o-f-f-e-e, coffee is not for me." I did a Google search and found the lyrics and the melody to a children's song called the "Coffee Song":

C-o-f-f-e-e, coffee is not for me,
It's a drink some people wake up with,
That it makes them nervous is no myth,
Slaves to a coffee cup, they can't give coffee up.

While I don't really remember the second, third, or fourth lines, I certainly remember the melody so this must be it. It strikes me today as a really strange song to be teaching kids. If the point was to indoctrinate them that they shouldn't drink coffee, I guess it didn't work on me.

There are varying opinions on whether coffee has medicinal properties that could be good for you, or bad for you. The approach I take to everything else in life is the same I take when drinking coffee: Everything in moderation; nothing in excess.

No. 61 - Misquoted Abortion Rate

I heard someone on the radio this morning say that the abortion rate among blacks is 50% - meaning that 1 in every 2 pregnancies results in an abortion. I thought that was a staggering statistics that couldn't possibly be true. A few Google searches later and the best I could determine is that this 50% rate is commonly misquoted. It seems to have been taken from a 2004 CDC Report. If you scroll down to the "Results" section in the report it says:

In the 38 reporting areas for which race was provided, classified according to the same categories used in previous years, approximately 53% of women who obtained legal induced abortions were white; 35%, black; and 8%, other; race was not known for 4%. The abortion ratio for black women (472 per 1,000 live births) was 2.9 times the ratio for white women (161 per 1,000), and the ratio for women of the nonhomogeneous "other" race category (330 per 1,000) was 2.0 times the ratio for white women.

It seems as though some people have a hard time with math and interpreted the "472 per 1,000 live births" to mean 47.2% or almost 50%. However, if there were 1,000 live births and 472 that were never born, the denominator would be 1,472. Therefore 472 divided by 1,472 would result in an abortion rate of 32%. Still a staggering statistic.

I did not learn that you shouldn't believe everything you hear on the radio (or see on television) since I learned that long ago. And whether the above 32% rate is totally accurate today would be subject to further investigation. But I was not aware that the abortion rate for any group of people could have been nearly that high, or even half of that rate.

No. 60 - Molson

Last night Canada defeated the United States to win the gold medal in Olympic Hockey. I then found out that there was a friendly wager on the game between President Obama and Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. The wager was on a case of beer -- one from each of the country's oldest breweries. Yuengling for the United States and Molson for Canada.

Being a native Pottsvillian, we learned in Kindergarten that Yuengling was "America's Oldest Brewery," which was started in 1829. It wasn't until years later that we were told that Yuengling was not "North" America's oldest brewery. Oops. That title belonged to a Canadian company called Molson. But in 1998 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that Yuengling could continue to use the slogan since most beer buyers would associate the word "America" with the United States, and not include Canada. So that settled that.

I learned today that Molson was started 43 years before Yuengling in 1786. It continues to brew beer on the site of its original brewery -- kinda like Yuengling. The original 1829 Yuengling brewery burned down and was moved to its current location in 1831. And the Molson beer name comes from the family name of its founder, John Molson -- kinda like Yuengling. The only minor difference being that David Yuengling anglicized his name from David Jungling after immigrating to the United States.

The only question I have is what flavor Yuengling will be sent. Perhaps Bock?