No. 304 - 18th Amendment Bar

Today on page 316 of Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace I read:

It was a small paper sack. Ruby looked inside and saw that it contained two candy bars of a kind she'd never seen before. She pulled one out and held it up to the light. It was called the 18th Amendment Bar and featured a colorful drawing of [a] bottle of rum on the wrapper.

Then on page 318 I read:

"Did the girls like their candy bars?" was the first thing he asked. Ruby nodded. In truth, neither had been able to tolerate the ersatz rum flavor, though Allie had loved being able to add to her candy-wrapper collection.

And finally on page 340 I read:

It was the wrapper for the 18th Amendment Bar, with its cartoon jug of rum. Ruby bent close to the wrapper to read the small print. "Marvel Company, Chicago, Illinois."

I learned that, according to Ray Broekel, the author of The Great American Candy Bar Book (1982) and The Chocolate Chronicles (1985), and widely regarded as the world’s ranking authority on candy bars, there have been more than 100,000 brands of candy bars introduced in the United States, nearly a third of them in the years between World War I and the Great Depression.

And, sure enough, during Prohibition, the Marvel Company of Chicago made an 18th Amendment Bar, which boasted “the pre-war flavor” and pictured a bottle of rum on the label.

No. 303 - Cornhole

We spent the afternoon at a local non-haunted (for the kids) mountain attraction enjoying a bumpy hayride, walking a corn maze, drinking hot chocolate and hot cider and listening to stories from a tattie bogle, the subject of Post No. 279. Fun stuff.

On the ride home, my wife was reading status updates from her Facebook friends and said someone was looking forward to playing cornhole today, and asked if I knew what that was. The closest thing that came to mind was Cornholio from Beavis and Butthead, but that appeared to have nothing to do with it.

I learned that cornhole is basically another name for bean bag or bean toss. It is a lawn game in which players take turn throwing cornhole bags (cotton duck bags filled with feed corn) at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. These platforms are usually made with plywood or plastic and are often decorated. A corn bag in the hole scores 3 points, while one on the platform scores 1 point. Play continues until a player reaches the score of 21.

It has been said that the game originated in Germany in the 14th century, and then was rediscovered in the hills of Kentucky over 100 years ago.

No. 302 - Capicola

Almost every Friday, I order lunch from the best hoagie shop ever. I've had many a hoagie over the years, but nothing compares to this one. Their secret is incredibly fresh Italian meats and cheeses and crazy-delicious South Philly bread.

Spicy Tuna, Spicy Turkey and Roast Beef spend the most time in the top rotation. Today I tried something new (for me) on the menu -- Dry Cap and Sharp, as in Dry Cured Capicola and BelGioioso Sharp Provolone.

It was amazing. I knew that capicola was a type of ham but didn't know that it came from a particular part of the pig.

I learned that Capicola, or coppa, is a traditional Calabrian Italian cold cut (salami) made from pork shoulder or neck. The name coppa is Italian for nape (back of the neck), while capocollo comes from capo—head—and collo—neck—of a pig. It is similar to the more widely known cured ham, prosciutto, because they are both pork-derived cold cuts that are used in similar dishes. However, the technical definition of ham is the thigh and buttocks of a pig, whereas capicola is solely meat from the shoulder or neck.

No. 301 - Houdini

I was listening to a show on XM Radio today about Harry Houdini, the famous magician. It mentioned that he died on Halloween in 1926. I think I recall hearing that at some point.

I learned that in the summer of 1926, a few months before he died, Houdini heard about a magician who had sealed himself inside a box and had been lowered into water, where he allegedly stayed for over an hour, submerged, before coming up out of the water and the box, triumphant. Houdini purchased a bronze coffin and had himself locked into it and submerged in a hotel swimming pool for an hour and a half before the coffin was pulled out of the water and opened to reveal a smiling, healthy Houdini. Houdini took the coffin on tour with him in the fall, displaying it in the lobbies of the theaters he played. The famous Buried Alive! poster was designed to promote this very illusion. He jokingly instructed his wife to use the coffin should anything happen to him while on tour. Sadly, it was in that very coffin that Houdini's body was returned to New York for burial.

No. 300 - Toastmasters

Today I read the following Facebook friend status update: Just ordered E-Myth...now I just need to join Toastmasters!

I turned to my wife and asked if she knew what Toastmasters was. She replied, "Yeah, isn't that where you learn to give speeches?" She was right.

I learned that Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. The organization has more than 260,000 members in over 12,500 clubs in 113 countries.

The first meeting was held in 1924 by Ralph C. Smedley in the basement of a YMCA in Santa Ana, California. While working at the YMCA, Smedley observed that many of the young patrons needed “training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings” and he wanted to help them. He decided the training format would be similar to a social club. During the early 1900s the word “toastmaster” referred to a person who proposed the toasts and introduced the speakers at a banquet. Smedley named his group “The Toastmasters Club” because he thought it suggested a pleasant, social atmosphere appealing to young men.

No. 299 - Patch Tuesday

I was in a seminar today and the instructor asked the class if anyone notices that their computer and/or internet connection is slower on the second Tuesday of each month. I thought it was a joke and waited for the punch line.

Instead, I learned about Patch Tuesday, which is the day on which Microsoft releases security patches, or fixes, to its operating systems. It started in October 2003 as a way for users to have their systems updated automatically, instead of having to check and install updates manually. Security patches are now accumulated over a period of one month and then dispatched all at once on the second Tuesday of the month. Some speculate that Tuesday was selected so that post-patch problems could be troubleshot and resolved before the weekend.

No. 298 - Moxie

Last night I was chatting with my brother who told me about a relatively new series of books for kids called 39 Clues. He said it reminded him of the Magic Tree House series. As soon as I got off the phone, I went and told my daughter, who loved the Magic Tree House series and read them all this year.

Because she loved the series so much, for her last birthday I wrote her a book based on the characters in the story. My wife came up with the brilliant idea of having it professionally printed. I used Blurb.com and it turned out way better than I could have imagined. You can read it here.

I was reading about the 39 Clues series today and came across this sentence in the description on Amazon.com:

Likable orphans Amy and Dan Cahill have moxie (plus Dan can memorize numbers instantly) and frailties (Amy hates crowds).

They have moxie? I don't recall ever hearing that term.

Dictionary.com says that moxie (pronounced mok-see) is a slang term meaning courage, vigor or nerve. The word originated and was popularized by Moxie, a non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage. The word was used as far back as 1876 as the name of a patent medicine advertised to "build up your nerve."

I also learned that Moxie was one of the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It continues to be regionally popular today and is the main ingredient in the New Englander cocktail. Moxie has a unique flavor that is not as sweet as most modern soft drinks and is described by some as "bitter."

Now that I think about it, there was an older gentleman named Moxie who lived up the street from us when I was a kid. I wonder if it was a nickname based on this slang term. I'll have to ask my dad.

No. 297 - Bandy

Most of the day had gone by before I thought about what my post for the day would be. Nothing came to mind. Then I thought back to a word I read this morning in Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace, the subject of Post No. 275. On page 168, I read the following:

"Don't worry about me," she said, smiling away Ruby's distress. "You think I haven't been through worse? Remind me to tell you about the trip I took with my bubbie from Arkhangelsk when I was seven. This is nothing."

I did not know where Arkhangelsk was so I looked it up and discovered that Arkhangelsk, or Archangel in English, is a city in Russia. Besides that, there wasn't anything exciting to learn, until I read that bandy is the biggest sport in the city.

I learned that bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The rules of the game have many similarities to those of soccer: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a soccer field. Each team has eleven players, one of whom is a goalkeeper. A standard bandy match consists of two halves of 45 minutes each.

No. 296 - Shorty

We were in the truck for several hours today driving to a family soup fest. What a great time and a fantastic variety of tasty soups! We were singing along to Just a Dream by Nelly until we came to the lyrics, "My lover, my life. My shorty, my wife." I asked my wife what "shorty" meant in rapper's lingo.

I recall last year there was a song called Fire Burning by Sean Kingston that contained the lyrics,  "Shawty fire burning on the dance floor."

My wife looked it up on her droid and informed me that shorty (alternatively spelled and pronounced shawty) is an urban slang for a sexy female. Urbandictionary.com said that it is used to describe "a girl that is attractive." It also said it is "mostly used as a term of endearment to others or just a way of addressing someone, like "Wassup Man." Instead of "Man", shawty is used."

No. 295 - Backyard Tigers

My Google Reader coughed up this little headline today: Interesting Fact of the Day. So I opened it and read:

According to this article, there are "more tigers in captivity in the U.S. than survive in the wild. As few as 3,200 tigers are left in the wild across Asia, down from 100,000 a hundred years ago. America's 5,000-plus captive tigers are mostly kept by private individuals, not zoos."

I also learned that while some tigers are housed in zoos, many more are privately owned, often free to roam urban apartments and backyards, hence the term, backyard tigers.

Since there are only 3,200 wild tigers in the whole world, and there are 5,000 tigers in various forms of captivity in the U.S. alone, I suppose it is more likely that I would see the eye of the tiger, the subject of Post No. 96, in my own backyard.

No. 294 - Chock full o'Nuts

A Facebook friend posted a link to an article titled, Money makeover: 20 ways to slash your grocery store spending. As I mentioned back in Post No. 83, saving money is almost considered a sport in our house.

I didn't think there would be anything new to learn from the article, likely a rehash of the usual. But then I came to #6 in the list, which read:

Life without coffee is hardly living. So buy cheap coffee. I have three words and one contraction for you: Chock Full o’Nuts. I know, you don’t believe it’s good. I didn’t either. But it is! Pinky swear.

Coffee has been mentioned in at least ten blog posts, so it's no surprise that I like coffee. But cheap coffee? I have tried many canned coffees over the years and recall one very good one, Maxwell House Italian Espresso Roast, but my local grocery store stopped carrying it and I moved on.

I learned that Chock full o’Nuts began as a nut shop in 1926 and became a coffee shop chain during the Depression. A good cup of coffee and a sandwich sold for a nickel. Their signature "nutted cheese" sandwich was made of cream cheese and chopped nuts on dark raisin bread.

The lunch counters gradually began closing in the 1970s and were almost all gone by the early 1980s. But just last month, the chain announced it was returning to the lunch counter business by opening its first store in almost 30 years, in Manhattan.

Guess who's going to be trying some Chock full o'Nuts coffee soon?

No. 293 - Load 'N Launch

The Wall Street Journal sports page typically has a section which shows a number, and then describes the significance of it. Today the number was 3.5. The description read: The number of inches a new line of basketball shoes says it can add to a player's vertical leap. The NBA banned the shoes Tuesday for giving an 'undue' advantage.

With 3.5 inches even I could dunk a basketball. Well, maybe, when I was a wee bit younger. I once two-handed dunked in a basketball game in high school. But just once. And I don't exactly think the rim was regulation height. But still. It happened.

I learned that a company called Athletic Propulsion Labs has a sneaker called the Concept 1 which "utilizes some of the most technologically advanced materials ever seen on a basketball shoe." On their website they indeed claim that the sneaker system provides "as much as 3.5 inches of additional vertical leap to athletes wearing the shoes."

They say the shoe technology is centered around a revolutionary propulsion device - dubbed Load 'N Launch - which is implanted in a cavity under the forefoot, in front of the ball of the foot and the flex zone. It seems to act like a spring. The device harnesses the downwardly applied energy and then releases it when the athlete begins his vertical ascent.

So how much does an inch of additional leap cost? The sneakers retail for $300, making it less than $100 per inch. Quite a bargain.

No. 292 - Publius

A Facebook friend posted: Who is Publius? or, Who's Afraid of Anonymous Political Speech?

Well, I didn't know who Publius was, so I clicked on his posted link which took me to this YouTube video.

I learned that the authors of The Federalist Papers used the pseudonym "Publius," in honor of Roman consul Publius Valerius Publicola. Cool name.

As a history refresher, The Federalist Papers (originally titled The Federalist) are a series of 85 articles or essays advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. They were written in 1787-1788 by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. The Federalist remains a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as the essays outline a lucid and compelling version of the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government. The authors of The Federalist wanted both to influence the vote in favor of ratification and to shape future interpretations of the Constitution.

No. 291 - Lionfish

My son asked me to read him One Less Fish by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather before bed. He got it from the school library. Near the end we read together:

One lonely lionfish
left to be the hero.
No fish left to save-
now there are...
zero.

I learned that a lionfish is a venomous marine fish also known as the scorpion fish, dragon fish and turkey fish. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance.

The lionfish’s native habitat is the rocky crevices and reefs of the Indian Pacific region, although these days they can be found in the eastern coast of America too. It is not clear how they have found their way there, but according to some speculation it is thought that perhaps some specimens that were released by some aquariums have begun to propagate themselves in these warm waters.

A person punctured by one of the sharp spines will immediately feel strong pain. Rapid swelling of the affected body area develops along with the possibility of making movement of limbs very difficult. Lionfish stings can cause nausea, breathing difficulties, paralysis, convulsions and collapse. Even death may occur in exceptional circumstances. Most people survive in spite of the great pain.

No. 290 - Bananas

My dad asked me today if I knew what the #1 item sold at Wal-Mart was. I immediately thought milk, then thought maybe diapers.

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Wal-Mart sells more bananas than any other single item.

Speaking of bananas, I recently had some Wells Banana Bread Beer, mentioned in Post No. 101. It was different, good, not great. A friend of mine said it best: "I wouldn't buy it again, but I'd drink it if offered."

No. 289 - Four Loko

My dad mails me interesting newspaper articles from time-to-time. Today he handed me one, since he and my mom are staying with us for a couple nights.

I read about an alcoholic energy drink called Four Loko. It is nicknamed "liquid cocaine" and "blackout in a can." The drink is available in nine fruity flavors, such as watermelon, grape, and lemonade. It is sold in a 24 ounce can with a 12% alcohol content.

The tone of the article was serious and was meant to warn of the dangers of consuming this particular beverage. Words like kids, adolescents, youths, children and young people were used throughout the article, insinuating that it was being consumed by minors. To me, the problem is underage drinking, not necessarily the type of the drink.

I mean, what is stopping someone from taking a Red Bull and adding vodka to it? I have. It's good. And if someone drank enough of them they could probably get really drunk. Perhaps even blackout.

We could instead be promoting the mantra that I live by: Everything in moderation, nothing in excess. Maybe even (occasionally) the slogan I saw on a sign while on vacation this summer: Excess in moderation.

No. 288 - Cruciferous Vegetables

I read an article today that suggested that breast cancer awareness campaigns cause more harm than good. I hope that is not true, but I often wonder who those people are that aren't "aware" of breast cancer.

Breast cancer awareness campaigns seem to be aimed at having women get screened more often. I don't know if that helps or not. I'm not a doctor. And I don't play one on TV either.

I have focused my attention, however, in recent years on the campaign to have everyone "roll up their sleeves" and get an annual flu shot. Interestingly, I have not seen any public service announcements advising people to increase their vitamin D levels in the fall and winter months, as a natural alternative. I wonder why that is. It is well-known that exposure to sunlight is an important source of vitamin D. It is further well-known that in the northern hemisphere the average amount of sunlight from November to February is insufficient to produce significant vitamin D synthesis in the skin. With less vitamin D our immune systems are more susceptible to disease, including the flu.

I have never, and will never, take a flu shot. I do consciously eat more food high in vitamin D in the fall and winter. And guess what? I never get the flu. Imagine that.

So anyway, the article ended with the following advice:

Real breast cancer awareness involves taking active steps to improve your health naturally, both nutritionally and environmentally. These include maintaining optimal vitamin D levels in your blood, avoiding exposure to toxins that cause cancer and eating plenty of cruciferous vegetables rich in anti-cancer nutrient.

Cruciferous vegetables? Now there's a ten-dollar word of the day.

I learned that this family of vegetables takes its name from the Latin word, cruciferae, meaning cross-bearing , from the shape of their flowers, whose four petals resemble a cross. Cruciferous vegetables are one of the dominant food crops worldwide. Widely considered to be healthy foods, they are high in vitamin C and soluble fiber and contain multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties.

Some of the more popular vegetables in this category include: broccoli, brussels spout, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, and wasabi, the subject of Post No. 46.

No. 287 - Obwarzanek

I didn't have time to read the WSJ yesterday so, before chucking it in the garbage today, I scanned it for any important news. The rescue of the Chilean mine workers was the "above-the-fold" front page story. I was curious, however, about the "below-the-fold" picture of something that resembled a bagel, the subject of Post No. 39. By the way, I still haven't tasted a Montreal-style bagel.

I learned from the article that the bagel impersonator is called an obwarzanek (pronounced obe-var-jon-eck) and it's a regional specialty in Krakow, Poland.

I also learned that the obwarzanek, which comes from the Polish word "to boil," are bigger than bagels, and are woven from two strands of dough, instead of one. The obwarzanek has a diameter of 4.7 to 6.7 inches, weighs about 4 ounces and has a "sweetish taste."

The bread was originally baked only during Lent. Now it is sold in shops, bakeries and about 180 street carts, with daily production of about 150,000. The obwarzanek is used in ads meant to attract tourists to the city and adorns the doors of city-endorsed restaurants.

It is believed that the bagel and the obwarzanek started off as pretty much the same thing, but with different names in Yiddish and Polish. Older residents in Krakow said the two breads were indistinguishable as recently as the 1930s. It is further believed that both the bagel and the obwarzanek were derived from a white, braided German specialty -- the pretzel.

No. 286 - Conviction

I was in a seminar today and during a break, our instructor told us that many films are now being made in Michigan, where he lives. He applied to be an extra and was called to appear as a professor in the background of a few scenes in a movie coming out this weekend called Conviction.

He hasn't seen the final production but said he might be in a scene in a student union building sitting at a table talking to another professor and waving a yellow highlighter.

I learned that Conviction is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters, an unemployed single mother who, with the help of attorney Barry Scheck from the Innocence Project, exonerated her wrongfully convicted brother. In order to do this she earned her GED, then her bachelor's, a master's in education, and eventually a law degree from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. She accomplished this while raising two boys alone and working as a waitress part-time.

Talk about conviction. And determination. And as my dad would say, intestinal fortitude. What an inspirational story for those who don't think it's possible to complete a goal, or achieve a dream!

No. 285 - Mr. Darcy's Diary

The other day in my Facebook status updates, I read that Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel was on sale in the Kindle store for $1.59. A few friends told me they liked it, so I bought it. Heck, I can't even go 10 miles in my truck without spending a $1.59.

The question though is: when will I read it? If I could read 50 books a year for the next 50 years, that amounts to only 2,500 books. When you look at it that way, you need to select each book very carefully since there's a finite number you can read before you expire. And you need to be able to walk away from bad ones before you waste too much time. I used to finish each book I started. But not anymore. The last two books I started I ended less than a quarter into them. One I may go back to later. The other, never.

Today in my Google Reader I learned about a free Kindle book called Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange. This novel retells Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen from one of the main character's (Fitzwilliam Darcy's) point of view.

Having never read Pride and Prejudice, I also learned that, next to the opening line in Moby-Dick ("Call me Ishmael"), the first sentence in it is one of the most quoted in literature:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Speaking of Moby-Dick, reading it this year is one of my goals and I have yet to start it. I should probably get moving on that.

Anyway, Pride and Prejudice was also free in the Kindle store, so I downloading it along with Mr. Darcy's Diary. It would be cool to read those two books back-to-back.

The only question is: when?

No. 284 - McRib

I have an iron stomach and will eat practically anything, although I prefer things nicely cooked and seasoned :)

I've eaten cow's tongue and stomach and even deep-fried Rocky Mountain oysters. There is only one food item that I have vowed to never eat again -- the McChicken sandwich. I actually liked them at one point and then, probably more than 10 years ago, I ate one and saw the light. It was so terrible that I had to make a stand. It's officially the only thing on my banned food list, but it's a start.

Today my eye caught an article in the Wall Street Journal about the McRib sandwich. Remember that one? It was pretty gross. Well apparently it's been part of a marketing campaign over the years to create a "buzz" that it will be retired forever, as it should be. It's had at least three farewell tours.

I learned that this culinary delight was introduced in 1981, just two years after Bunnicula, the subject of yesterday's post. The article describes it best: The McRib actually has nothing to do with ribs. It's a boneless pork patty molded into the shape of a rib slab and adorned with pickles, onions and barbecue sauce on a bun.

Yum. Not.

So why isn't the McRib on my banned food list? Because unlike the McChicken, if I'm really, really hungry I'd consider eating it again. Hey, you can't be too picky, right?

No. 283 - Bunnicula

My daughter and I were reading together this morning. She told me about a book called Bunnicula that they are reading in school. She wasn't exactly sure how to describe it but said the front cover has the words "Today Vegetables...Tomorrow The World" on it.

So we used the iPad to look it up together. I read the Wikipedia entry for it out loud:

Bunnicula is a children's book series written by James Howe about a vampire bunny that sucks the juice out of vegetables. It is also the name of the first book in the series, published in 1979.

1979? That means it came out back when I was a kid. Huh. Never heard of it.

We continued reading:

The story is centered on the Monroe family and their pets and is told from the perspective of their dog Harold. The Monroes find a bunny at the theater where they were watching a Dracula film. Because of this, they name him Bunnicula. Their cat Chester, however, is convinced Bunnicula is a vampire and attempts to get Harold to help save the Monroes from the perceived menace.

It sounds like a cute story for Halloween, plus her and her brother were a huge help in stacking firewood yesterday. So we went to Amazon.com and ordered The Bunnicula Collection: Three Hare-Raising Tales in One Volume. It should be here in a few days. She is so excited.

No. 282 - A Visit From St. Nicholas

I've purchased several books from Easton Press in the past -- the beautiful leather-bound editions, with moiré fabric, acid-neutral paper, and gilded page ends. These books are virtually indestructible and I have no doubt they will still look brand-new a hundred years from now. They should with an average price of about fifty bucks.

I get about two offers a week it seems to buy more of them. When today's mail arrived the solicitation was for A Visit From St. Nicholas, also known as The Night Before Christmas, touted as "a wonderful gift for almost anyone on your Christmas list."

The glossy advertisement said the author of the book was Clement Clarke Moore. I've never heard of him. Then I thought: how is it possible that I've never heard the name of the author of, arguably, the most recognizable Christmas poem in the English-speaking world?

I wasn't alone. My wife never heard of him either.

I also learned that the poem is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, as well as the tradition that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas varied considerably.

The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York, Sentinel on December 23, 1823.

No. 281 - Fall of Giants

I've been feeling lately that I've had to stretch a bit to learn something new each day. Some days things just fall in my lap. Other days, not so much. I decided today that if nothing came easily, I would learn about the #1 fiction book in the WSJ's bestsellers list.

I learned that the #1 book this week, and included on the list for the first time, is Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.

On Ken Follett's website he describes it as: The first novel in the Century trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

While I don't seek out historical fiction novels, I enjoy them when they come along, like the book I finished last night. I also have taken a liking to long novels, as I described in Post No. 213. I am not a fan of trilogies, although I hope the sequels to The Passage by Justin Cronin, the subject of Post No. 159, change my mind.

Ken Follett says, "The second book in the 'Century' series, due to be published in 2012, will feature the children of the characters in Fall of Giants as they live through the Depression and the Second World War. The third book, due out in 2014, will be about the next generation during the Cold War."

No. 280 - Haydn

I am almost finished reading The Report by Jessica Francis Kane, mentioned in Post No. 276, and should be done today. This morning I read the following:

Rev. McNeely lost his voice on several occasions, dabbing at his eyes each time with bandaged fingers and a scorch-marked cuff. During the eulogy he told a story about the eighteenth-century composer Joseph Haydn. The congregation knew McNeely was a lover of music, so this reference did not confuse them. His intended meaning, however, was another matter. During the first performance of Haydn's Symphony no. 102, McNeely said, a portion of the audience got up and moved to the edge of the stage in order to be closer to the great composer. Just then a large chandelier fell from the ceiling, landing on the empty seats. Not a single person was hurt.

I learned that Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony." He was also a close friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Can you imagine these three getting together one night for a couple of frosties and then rocking out for the rest of the evening?

No. 279 - Tattie Bogle

I opened an e-mail today from a local ski mountain that transforms itself for Halloween and promises "lots of fun and lots of screams!" They mentioned three such spooky activities: a Haunted Hayride, a Haunted Ski Lodge and a Tattie Bogle.

Huh. I never heard of a tattie bogle. They described that part of the attraction as "Children will listen to Tattie Bogle tell stories about the little hobgoblins who hid her great grandmothers treasures and then help her find them!"

I learned that a tattie bogle is the Scottish word for scarecrow. A tattie is a potato and a bogle is an evil or mischievous spirit, so a tattie bogle is a scarecrow set up to keep birds away from the potato field.

I came across a weird/interesting connection in researching this. Another spelling of tattie bogle is tatty bogle. And there's a night club called Tatty Bogle in Bethnal Green, London, which is the setting of the novel I'm reading called The Report by Jessica Francis Kane, mentioned in Post No. 276.

No. 278 - Pubit!

A Facebook friend today posted: Holy Cow!!!! This changes everything! And he posted a link to the website PubIt! by Barnes & Noble.

I learned that PubIt! is an online, self-service Web portal where independent publishers and authors can upload their eBooks and make them available for sale through the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. Essentially, you can take your book, upload it, choose your cover art, and begin selling it through Barnes & Noble within 24 to 72 hours. There is no charge for using the service. B&N keeps a percentage of the sales.

And the pricing model looks pretty good. For books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 you get to keep 65% of the list price. For books priced above or below that range, you keep 40%. Back in Post No. 215, I said that I think the price point which would be most attractive to sell a lot of e-books is $3 to $5. In this range you would keep $1.95 to $3.25 for every book sold.

I agree with my FB friend. This has the potential to change everything in the publishing world. It was only a matter of time. And where is Amazon in all this. No doubt, they will be announcing a similar service soon.

No. 277 - Waiting for "Superman"

I follow several blogs, mainly economics-related. I don't have time every day to read them all, so I use Google Reader to show me the title of each. If one catches my attention, I will open it and read more. Today my curiosity was aroused by the heading "Interesting Fact/Trivia of the Day".

It came from a New York Times movie review, which stated: "In Illinois, where one in 57 doctors loses his medical license and one in 97 lawyers loses his law license, only one in 2,500 teachers loses his credentials, because of union rules."

Unless there's something rather unique about Illinois, I suppose this statistic would be fairly applicable in the United States in general.

I learned that the movie being reviewed was for Waiting for "Superman". The tagline of the documentary is "The fate of our country won't be decided on a battlefield, it will be determined in a classroom." The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system.

I think that whether a child's education comes from public or private schools, the responsibility of educating a child resides with the parents. The teachers in the classroom need to be pretty good as well, but I view them as secondary. And I never really understood the concept of tenure. There are very, very few jobs that are secured for life. I don't see how being a teacher should be one of them. Losing your job because you are not performing as good or better than your peers is a huge incentive to perform well. I want the best teachers teaching our kids. Not just the ones who have been there the longest.

No. 276 - Woolton Pie

I'm reading The Report by Jessica Francis Kane. It's a historical fiction novel set in 1943 London and I've encountered a few words unique to the period and geographic location. Today I came across another one when reading the following:

Laurie ate a cold Woolton pie that night with Armorel.

Later on the same page, I read:

Armorel shook her head again and picked up her spoon. "This is just soup with a crust. Do you think Lord Woolton eats it?" Laurie smiled. Like most of their friends, they'd dismissed their servants for war work and now managed on their own. Woolton pie was supposed to count toward making your main dish a potato dish three times a week, according to the Ministry of Food's Potato Plan.

I learned that Woolton pie, at first known as Lord Woolton pie, was a dish of vegetables recommended to the British public by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War to enable a nutritional diet to be maintained despite shortages and rationing of many types of food, especially meat.

It was named after Frederick Marquis, 1st Lord Woolton (1883-1964), who became Minister of Food in 1940.

The recipe involved dicing and cooking potatoes, cauliflower, swedes (turnips) and carrots with chopped spring onions and oatmeal. The dish was topped with a crust of potatoes or wholemeal pastry and served hot with brown gravy. It was basically a pot pie sans meat. The recipe could be adapted to reflect the availability and seasonality of ingredients.

No. 275 - Diamond Ruby

My daughter and I met Joseph Wallace, author of Diamond Ruby, today at a local reading series event.

Diamond Rudy is a novel about a girl who could throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers in baseball at the time. The story was inspired by the short career of Jackie Mitchell, who, after striking out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, was barred from organized baseball in 1931.

My daughter has told me that she wants to be the first pitcher on the Philadelphia Phillies. The author was excited to hear this and personalized her copy of the book with "I can't wait to hear all about your great baseball career."

I learned that the idea for the book came when the author was at the Baseball Hall of Fame doing research for another nonfiction book. He came across a photo of Jackie Mitchell shaking Babe Ruth's hand with Lou Gehrig standing next to the Babe. He asked someone to tell him about what he was seeing in the photo and learned the story of Jackie Mitchell. I have often heard that the hardest part of writing a fiction novel is coming up with the story. I thought that it was pretty cool that a historical photo provided such inspiration.

To research the setting in the novel - Brooklyn, New York in the 1920s - the author read several daily local newspapers to accurately portray the era and location.

I haven't yet read the book, but it has now moved up significantly on my to-be-read pile. I also learned that the book has been optioned for a movie. I'm not a big fan of books being made into movies, but I think this one would make for a great one.

No. 274 - Wet Coffee

I enjoy coffee. It's part of my morning ritual. And it's been the subject of several posts this year, including learning about the coffee berry, er seed, er bean in Post No. 62, as well as coffees from Ethiopia in Post No. 246 and Hawaii in Post No. 248.

Today, a Facebook friend posted: What is a 'wet' coffee at Starbucks? I didn't order mine 'wet' but when it dribbled down the front of me...I know it was wet.

I learned that for coffee drinks that include milk and foam, "dry" means more foam and less milk and "wet" means more milk and less foam. This would be relevant for cappuccinos and lattes so it doesn't apply to me. Just give me a large bold coffee, with room for half and half, of course. I refuse to call it a venti, even if it's the Italian word for twenty (meaning twenty ounces). We all know I don't speak foreign languages.