Issues 614-649 written by Lindsey Harrison / Issue 602 written by Mona Sullivan / Issues 600-601 & 603-613 written by Deborah Stumpf
Issue 649
Snippetz Says, An Oxymoron is an Awfully Great Thing
“It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”
– Mark Twain
You probably don’t realize it but our everyday speech is peppered with things that, when you really stop to look at it, don’t quite make sense. Take the oxymoron for example. These interesting little figures of speech make perfect sense in context because we’re all so used to them. But broken down, they seem to contradict themselves. And that’s what makes them fun. People like Samuel Goldwyn, an influential movie producer who worked from the 1920s to the 1950s managed to create a humorous facet of his persona that was based in the use of the oxymoron. What better way to make people laugh than to say something that sounds great but doesn’t really make any sense? Snippetz became curious and decided we had to look into the oxymoron and see if we could find some funny ones to share with you, our faithful readers. So, read on!
What is an Oxymoron?
First off, the plural of oxymoron is not oxymorons; it’s oxymora. So what are oxymora? There are really two ways to use or create an oxymoron. The first is as we mentioned above: when a figure of speech, based on either the words used or the context in which they are placed, produce a self-contradictory effect. Think about “jumbo shrimp.” The words make sense and you probably know that someone means a large category of the crustacean called shrimp when they say that particular phrase. But how can something be considered jumbo, which means big or large, and shrimp, which means small or tiny at the same time?
The second type is called a rhetorical oxymoron and is a more conscious decision on the part of the speaker to put together a phrase composed of words that are not inherently contradictory but help express the opinion that implies the words cannot occur together. For example, some people would consider “bipartisan cooperation” an oxymoron, indicating that the two main political parties cannot possibly cooperate. The intent is usually not malicious; it’s usually meant to be a joke.
Examples of Oxymora
Some oxymora are a little harder to spot than others because we’ve become too accustomed to using them in everyday speech. Others are more obvious to pick out. We’ve compiled a list and a brief explanation of some oxymora for you to peruse. Enjoy!
Act naturally – how can somebody possibly act naturally if, when they are being natural, they aren’t acting?
Exact estimate – an estimate is an educated guess. So the fact that the estimate is exact is the exact opposite of a guess, right? We like to think so . . .
Elevated subway – the prefix “sub” means under, which is why subways are called what they are since they run below the ground. So if you elevate it above the ground, it’s no longer a subway. In fact, a subway that runs above the ground is pretty much a train, right? Why not just call it an elevated train, then?
Boneless ribs – ribs are bones. So how do you get ribs without the bones? When you see this product, the meat around the rib bones without the bones present, the phrase makes sense but when you really look at it, you can see how it’s a perfect oxymoron!
Authentic replica or genuine imitation – we can see how this one makes sense as a phrase but again, it’s a great example of an oxymoron. How can something be both authentic and a replica at the same time? How can something, like leather for example, be genuine and imitation at the same time? We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this little gem was invented by advertising agencies to make replicas more enticing to consumers by throwing in a word like “authentic” or “genuine” to trick our minds. Sneaky, sneaky.
Random order or random pattern – random is defined as lacking any definite plan or prearranged order. That said, pairing “random” with something like “order” or “pattern” is certainly an oxymoron because the first word contradicts the second. Of course, we all know that random order means the order was not prearranged and that random pattern means the pattern was not predetermined, either. Still, the phrase makes you wonder . . .
Relative stranger – how can someone be both a relative and a stranger? Well, if you live in a big Irish-Catholic family and have 30 first cousins, several of which you’ve only met once or twice, then it makes sense. But it’s still an oxymoron.
Rolling stop – if you’re rolling, you have not stopped and if you’ve stopped, you’re not rolling. For many people, learning to drive from their parents included the occasional reference to a “rolling stop,” usually in conjunction with the disclaimer that just because mom and dad do rolling stops doesn’t mean you can, too.
Deafening silence – how can silence be deafening if silence, by definition is the lack of sound? Many of us can relate to that feeling that the silence is deafening but the literal meaning is very contradictory, making this a great oxymoron.
Serious fun – isn’t it interesting how when someone wants to express that they are having a large amount of fun, they call it “serious fun?” It almost seems more appropriate to call it delirious fun, something that denotes a happy time rather than something akin to work. Although, let’s be honest, some work can be fun. Right, George?
Slumber party – sleeping is definitely a great pastime but it’s hard to categorize it as a party. Of course, we all know that there isn’t much sleeping happening at a slumber party, especially if it includes giggly little girls. That said, this still qualifies as an oxymoron.
Numbing sensation – if being numb means a lack of sensation, then what does the sensation of numbing feel like? Maybe we could make a new phrase for this feeling that feels like a lack of feeling . . .
Natural makeup – isn’t it interesting to consider the idea that women consciously put on make that makes it look like they have no makeup on? This oxymoron is one in both name and action, making it that much more powerful, if you ask us.
Literal interpretation – if something is literally happening, there’s no need for interpretation. However, we’ve all been around that person who doesn’t understand certain turns of phrase and who actually does interpret everything you say literally. Mostly, those people are under the age of six, but not always.
Fresh dried fruit – it’s a little confusing to consider that a fruit that is dried and processed could be considered fresh. Perhaps there’s something about certain dried fruits that allows a company to categorize them as fresh but the irony of the title is not lost on us.
Head butt – no, not butthead. Head butt, as in the act of hitting someone with your head. This one is interesting because put together, the two words make up an action but taken apart, represent two parts of the body that are basically polar opposites from one another. They’re not necessarily contradictory but taking the terms literally (like a literal interpretation, if you will) results in a funny picture, don’t you think?
Snippetz Says, An Oxymoron is an Awfully Great Thing
“It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”
– Mark Twain
You probably don’t realize it but our everyday speech is peppered with things that, when you really stop to look at it, don’t quite make sense. Take the oxymoron for example. These interesting little figures of speech make perfect sense in context because we’re all so used to them. But broken down, they seem to contradict themselves. And that’s what makes them fun. People like Samuel Goldwyn, an influential movie producer who worked from the 1920s to the 1950s managed to create a humorous facet of his persona that was based in the use of the oxymoron. What better way to make people laugh than to say something that sounds great but doesn’t really make any sense? Snippetz became curious and decided we had to look into the oxymoron and see if we could find some funny ones to share with you, our faithful readers. So, read on!
What is an Oxymoron?
First off, the plural of oxymoron is not oxymorons; it’s oxymora. So what are oxymora? There are really two ways to use or create an oxymoron. The first is as we mentioned above: when a figure of speech, based on either the words used or the context in which they are placed, produce a self-contradictory effect. Think about “jumbo shrimp.” The words make sense and you probably know that someone means a large category of the crustacean called shrimp when they say that particular phrase. But how can something be considered jumbo, which means big or large, and shrimp, which means small or tiny at the same time?
The second type is called a rhetorical oxymoron and is a more conscious decision on the part of the speaker to put together a phrase composed of words that are not inherently contradictory but help express the opinion that implies the words cannot occur together. For example, some people would consider “bipartisan cooperation” an oxymoron, indicating that the two main political parties cannot possibly cooperate. The intent is usually not malicious; it’s usually meant to be a joke.
Examples of Oxymora
Some oxymora are a little harder to spot than others because we’ve become too accustomed to using them in everyday speech. Others are more obvious to pick out. We’ve compiled a list and a brief explanation of some oxymora for you to peruse. Enjoy!
Act naturally – how can somebody possibly act naturally if, when they are being natural, they aren’t acting?
Exact estimate – an estimate is an educated guess. So the fact that the estimate is exact is the exact opposite of a guess, right? We like to think so . . .
Elevated subway – the prefix “sub” means under, which is why subways are called what they are since they run below the ground. So if you elevate it above the ground, it’s no longer a subway. In fact, a subway that runs above the ground is pretty much a train, right? Why not just call it an elevated train, then?
Boneless ribs – ribs are bones. So how do you get ribs without the bones? When you see this product, the meat around the rib bones without the bones present, the phrase makes sense but when you really look at it, you can see how it’s a perfect oxymoron!
Authentic replica or genuine imitation – we can see how this one makes sense as a phrase but again, it’s a great example of an oxymoron. How can something be both authentic and a replica at the same time? How can something, like leather for example, be genuine and imitation at the same time? We wouldn’t be at all surprised if this little gem was invented by advertising agencies to make replicas more enticing to consumers by throwing in a word like “authentic” or “genuine” to trick our minds. Sneaky, sneaky.
Random order or random pattern – random is defined as lacking any definite plan or prearranged order. That said, pairing “random” with something like “order” or “pattern” is certainly an oxymoron because the first word contradicts the second. Of course, we all know that random order means the order was not prearranged and that random pattern means the pattern was not predetermined, either. Still, the phrase makes you wonder . . .
Relative stranger – how can someone be both a relative and a stranger? Well, if you live in a big Irish-Catholic family and have 30 first cousins, several of which you’ve only met once or twice, then it makes sense. But it’s still an oxymoron.
Rolling stop – if you’re rolling, you have not stopped and if you’ve stopped, you’re not rolling. For many people, learning to drive from their parents included the occasional reference to a “rolling stop,” usually in conjunction with the disclaimer that just because mom and dad do rolling stops doesn’t mean you can, too.
Deafening silence – how can silence be deafening if silence, by definition is the lack of sound? Many of us can relate to that feeling that the silence is deafening but the literal meaning is very contradictory, making this a great oxymoron.
Serious fun – isn’t it interesting how when someone wants to express that they are having a large amount of fun, they call it “serious fun?” It almost seems more appropriate to call it delirious fun, something that denotes a happy time rather than something akin to work. Although, let’s be honest, some work can be fun. Right, George?
Slumber party – sleeping is definitely a great pastime but it’s hard to categorize it as a party. Of course, we all know that there isn’t much sleeping happening at a slumber party, especially if it includes giggly little girls. That said, this still qualifies as an oxymoron.
Numbing sensation – if being numb means a lack of sensation, then what does the sensation of numbing feel like? Maybe we could make a new phrase for this feeling that feels like a lack of feeling . . .
Natural makeup – isn’t it interesting to consider the idea that women consciously put on make that makes it look like they have no makeup on? This oxymoron is one in both name and action, making it that much more powerful, if you ask us.
Literal interpretation – if something is literally happening, there’s no need for interpretation. However, we’ve all been around that person who doesn’t understand certain turns of phrase and who actually does interpret everything you say literally. Mostly, those people are under the age of six, but not always.
Fresh dried fruit – it’s a little confusing to consider that a fruit that is dried and processed could be considered fresh. Perhaps there’s something about certain dried fruits that allows a company to categorize them as fresh but the irony of the title is not lost on us.
Head butt – no, not butthead. Head butt, as in the act of hitting someone with your head. This one is interesting because put together, the two words make up an action but taken apart, represent two parts of the body that are basically polar opposites from one another. They’re not necessarily contradictory but taking the terms literally (like a literal interpretation, if you will) results in a funny picture, don’t you think?
Issue 648
Snippetz Goes Over the Rainbow
“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”
– Lord Byron
ROY G BIV. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. For many of us, we learned this acronym as a way to keep straight all the colors of a rainbow, starting from the outside and working in. Speaking of rainbows, these beautiful phenomena have come to signify more than just a pretty arc in the sky on a rainy day. In fact, they featured prominently in mythology and superstition. Maybe it’s because they aren’t as easy to come by in nature as you may assume. There’s a formula to the creation of a rainbow. All the variables have to align just right. So when they do, people assume there must be something more powerful in the works. And naturally, Snippetz got curious and decided we needed to know: what is it about the rainbow that has captured people’s attention for so long? What makes them so special and why have civilizations searched for their meaning for so long? Read on and you can go over the rainbow with us to find out!
Making a Rainbow
Although rainbows might appear to be more magic than science, that’s not actually the case. Rainbows are made when light strikes a raindrop at the precise angle of 42 degrees. The light entering each water droplet is refracted and then reflected by the back of the droplet. As the light leaves the droplet, it is refracted again at multiple angles. The multiple angles at which the light leaves the water droplet causes the light spectrum to separate out into the observable colors of a rainbow.
Contrary to popular belief, rainbows are actually full circles, not just arcs. The center of the circle is call the antisolar and can sometimes be seen in an aircraft flying above the rainbow. They look like arcs because, from the ground, you can only see the rainbow from the horizon up into the sky. That explains why for centuries they were thought to be arcs and why they’ve been called rainBOWS rather than rainCIRCLES.
Sometimes a second rainbow can be seen which is actually caused by the sunlight hitting inside a raindrop causing a double reflection. Secondary rainbows are an inverted version of the primary rainbow, with red being on the inside and violet on the outside. It doesn’t stop at just two rainbows, though. Laboratory studies have even observed up to the 200th rainbow in a series all from the same initial reflection.
Interestingly enough, rainbows can occur in monochromatic color, meaning they are visible in just one color. For example, red rainbows can occur at sunset because the sunlight travels further into the atmosphere and the shorter wavelengths, such as blue and violet are scattered and as such are not visible in the rainbow.
Rainbow Symbolism
It’s easy to understand the rainbow reference in some instances. Take “The Wizard of Oz” for example. While Dorothy is in Kansas, everything in the movie is in black and white. But once she goes “over the rainbow,” everything changes. The movie suddenly becomes color. Everything is out of the ordinary, too, with talking scarecrows and a man made from tin. The rainbow is the boundary between the world of reality and the dream world Dorothy enters. It also symbolizes hope and renewal because for her, going “over the rainbow” meant a whole new life, with new possibilities and freedom from the stresses she was experiencing at the time.
Rainbows have also taken on the meaning of a bridge between human beings and supernatural beings like gods. In Norse mythology, a rainbow called the Bifrost connects the earth with the land of the gods, called Asgard. Ancient beliefs in the Japanese and Gabon cultures, rainbows were the bridges that ancestral human beings used to come down to the earth.
In the Bible, rainbows were the promise to the world never to send a devastating worldwide flood again.
But rainbow symbolism isn’t always a positive thing. In parts of Burma, rainbows are said to represent demons that threaten children. And in some tribes in the Amazon rainforest, rainbows represent disease.
One of the most famous myths surrounding the rainbow is the Irish legend that a leprechaun has placed a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Of course, since rainbows aren’t just arcs but circles, they don’t have an end so there is no pot of gold.
Other meanings of rainbows include the following: life, divinity, promise, creation, initiation, potential, provision, harmony, expansion, ascension, spirituality, connection, transformation and unity.
Rainbow Legend
We now know how a rainbow is made. Scientifically, that is. But for many years before that discovery, cultures around the world have created their own stories of how rainbows are made. The Native American Ojibwe Nation has a fantastic legend of how the rainbow was made.
A man named Nanabozho, who lived in a house near a waterfall, looked out his window one day and noticed that all the flowers in his meadow were a boring, off-white color. Deciding these flowers needed some sprucing up, he gathered up his paintbrushes and pains and headed out to the meadow.
He set his things up in the tall grass of the meadow and pulled out his red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violets paints, and began to paint the flowers. He painted the violets a dark blue and the tiger lilies got a nice orange undercoat with brown dots on top. The roses he painted red, pink and purples. He used every possible color combination he could think of on the pansies and he chose a bright yellow for the daffodils.
As he worked, two bluebirds were flying overhead, playing a game of chase. Nanabozho noticed the birds and would take a few minutes every now and then to watch the two birds play on the seemingly endless expanse of the bright blue sky.
The birds decided to see how quickly they could dive down to the meadow below them and when the first bluebird did, he pulled up at the last minute to avoid a crash, but not before his right wing dipped into Nanabozho’s red paint. The second bird followed and replicated his friend’s moves, only he accidentally dipped his left wing in the orange paint.
Nanabozho tried to shoo the birds away but the pair kept up their game and before long, their feet and feathers were covered with all the different colors of paint. Nanabozho finally managed to wave the birds away and they reluctantly left the man to his work and flew away to resume their game of chase.
The birds began chasing each other over the top of the waterfall near Nanabozho’s house and as the mist from the waterfall sprayed onto the birds, the paint began to come off. The first bird left a long red streak against the sky and his friend left an orange streak. The pair kept at it and eventually the pair had smeared the sky with all the colors from Nanbozho’s pallet in the shape of an arch.
Nanabozho saw what had transpired and was so happy to see what they birds left behind that he left the rainbow permanently floating above the waterfall. And from then on, whenever the sun shines through the rain or the mist, a rainbow forms.
Snippetz Goes Over the Rainbow
“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”
– Lord Byron
ROY G BIV. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. For many of us, we learned this acronym as a way to keep straight all the colors of a rainbow, starting from the outside and working in. Speaking of rainbows, these beautiful phenomena have come to signify more than just a pretty arc in the sky on a rainy day. In fact, they featured prominently in mythology and superstition. Maybe it’s because they aren’t as easy to come by in nature as you may assume. There’s a formula to the creation of a rainbow. All the variables have to align just right. So when they do, people assume there must be something more powerful in the works. And naturally, Snippetz got curious and decided we needed to know: what is it about the rainbow that has captured people’s attention for so long? What makes them so special and why have civilizations searched for their meaning for so long? Read on and you can go over the rainbow with us to find out!
Making a Rainbow
Although rainbows might appear to be more magic than science, that’s not actually the case. Rainbows are made when light strikes a raindrop at the precise angle of 42 degrees. The light entering each water droplet is refracted and then reflected by the back of the droplet. As the light leaves the droplet, it is refracted again at multiple angles. The multiple angles at which the light leaves the water droplet causes the light spectrum to separate out into the observable colors of a rainbow.
Contrary to popular belief, rainbows are actually full circles, not just arcs. The center of the circle is call the antisolar and can sometimes be seen in an aircraft flying above the rainbow. They look like arcs because, from the ground, you can only see the rainbow from the horizon up into the sky. That explains why for centuries they were thought to be arcs and why they’ve been called rainBOWS rather than rainCIRCLES.
Sometimes a second rainbow can be seen which is actually caused by the sunlight hitting inside a raindrop causing a double reflection. Secondary rainbows are an inverted version of the primary rainbow, with red being on the inside and violet on the outside. It doesn’t stop at just two rainbows, though. Laboratory studies have even observed up to the 200th rainbow in a series all from the same initial reflection.
Interestingly enough, rainbows can occur in monochromatic color, meaning they are visible in just one color. For example, red rainbows can occur at sunset because the sunlight travels further into the atmosphere and the shorter wavelengths, such as blue and violet are scattered and as such are not visible in the rainbow.
Rainbow Symbolism
It’s easy to understand the rainbow reference in some instances. Take “The Wizard of Oz” for example. While Dorothy is in Kansas, everything in the movie is in black and white. But once she goes “over the rainbow,” everything changes. The movie suddenly becomes color. Everything is out of the ordinary, too, with talking scarecrows and a man made from tin. The rainbow is the boundary between the world of reality and the dream world Dorothy enters. It also symbolizes hope and renewal because for her, going “over the rainbow” meant a whole new life, with new possibilities and freedom from the stresses she was experiencing at the time.
Rainbows have also taken on the meaning of a bridge between human beings and supernatural beings like gods. In Norse mythology, a rainbow called the Bifrost connects the earth with the land of the gods, called Asgard. Ancient beliefs in the Japanese and Gabon cultures, rainbows were the bridges that ancestral human beings used to come down to the earth.
In the Bible, rainbows were the promise to the world never to send a devastating worldwide flood again.
But rainbow symbolism isn’t always a positive thing. In parts of Burma, rainbows are said to represent demons that threaten children. And in some tribes in the Amazon rainforest, rainbows represent disease.
One of the most famous myths surrounding the rainbow is the Irish legend that a leprechaun has placed a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Of course, since rainbows aren’t just arcs but circles, they don’t have an end so there is no pot of gold.
Other meanings of rainbows include the following: life, divinity, promise, creation, initiation, potential, provision, harmony, expansion, ascension, spirituality, connection, transformation and unity.
Rainbow Legend
We now know how a rainbow is made. Scientifically, that is. But for many years before that discovery, cultures around the world have created their own stories of how rainbows are made. The Native American Ojibwe Nation has a fantastic legend of how the rainbow was made.
A man named Nanabozho, who lived in a house near a waterfall, looked out his window one day and noticed that all the flowers in his meadow were a boring, off-white color. Deciding these flowers needed some sprucing up, he gathered up his paintbrushes and pains and headed out to the meadow.
He set his things up in the tall grass of the meadow and pulled out his red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violets paints, and began to paint the flowers. He painted the violets a dark blue and the tiger lilies got a nice orange undercoat with brown dots on top. The roses he painted red, pink and purples. He used every possible color combination he could think of on the pansies and he chose a bright yellow for the daffodils.
As he worked, two bluebirds were flying overhead, playing a game of chase. Nanabozho noticed the birds and would take a few minutes every now and then to watch the two birds play on the seemingly endless expanse of the bright blue sky.
The birds decided to see how quickly they could dive down to the meadow below them and when the first bluebird did, he pulled up at the last minute to avoid a crash, but not before his right wing dipped into Nanabozho’s red paint. The second bird followed and replicated his friend’s moves, only he accidentally dipped his left wing in the orange paint.
Nanabozho tried to shoo the birds away but the pair kept up their game and before long, their feet and feathers were covered with all the different colors of paint. Nanabozho finally managed to wave the birds away and they reluctantly left the man to his work and flew away to resume their game of chase.
The birds began chasing each other over the top of the waterfall near Nanabozho’s house and as the mist from the waterfall sprayed onto the birds, the paint began to come off. The first bird left a long red streak against the sky and his friend left an orange streak. The pair kept at it and eventually the pair had smeared the sky with all the colors from Nanbozho’s pallet in the shape of an arch.
Nanabozho saw what had transpired and was so happy to see what they birds left behind that he left the rainbow permanently floating above the waterfall. And from then on, whenever the sun shines through the rain or the mist, a rainbow forms.
Issue 647
Snippetz Magically Takes You Back to Once Upon a Time
“What I like about fairy tales is that they highlight the emotions within a story. The situations aren’t real, with falling stars and pirates. But what you do relate to is the emotions that the characters feel.”
– Charlie Cox, actor
When you think of fairy tales, you probably envision a happy little story about a young girl becoming a princess and overcoming some struggle to marry Prince Charming and live happily ever after. It’s such a sweet idea that life can be wrapped into a neat little package like that and everyone comes out feeling great in the end. But we all know that’s not always the case in real life. Real life is hard. We have mortgages to pay, sick kids to take care of and Prince Charming may never come so we might end up eating Cup O’ Noodles for dinner by ourselves rather than surrounded by a houseful of family. It’s easy to understand why we would all feel drawn to the fairy tales that end so sweetly. But are those stories that are so familiar to us really as perfect as they seem? Artistic license often plays a role in the retelling of such stories and so Snippetz decided to go digging to uncover the origins of some of our favorite fairy tales.
Snow White
This popular fairy tale was written by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 in Germany. The original version and the one we’re all most familiar with today differ in a few key ways.
Snow White’s mother was the original “bad guy” of the story until the Brothers Grimm changed it to the wicked stepmother to make the story less scary for younger children.
Snow White happened upon the dwarfs’ cottage but didn’t go inside to clean it up; she actually made a huge mess in their relatively clean house and then fell asleep on their beds.
Snow White’s stepmother, the wicked Queen, tried to kill Snow White three times once she found her at the dwarfs’ cottage. The first time, the queen tied a bodice too tight around the young girl; the second time, she poisoned a comb and then combed Snow White’s hair with it. Both times, the dwarves returned and revived Snow White. The third time, the queen poisoned an apple that got lodged in Snow White’s throat. The dwarves couldn’t revive her that time and assumed she died.
There was no “true love’s kiss” in the original version; instead, the prince happened upon the coffin, fell in love with the girl inside and convinced the dwarves to let him take the girl and the coffin away to be with him forever. The coffin was jostled while being moved, the apple was dislodged from Snow White’s throat and she came to.
Snow White and the prince made plans to marry and even invited her wicked stepmother. The Queen accepted the invitation, shocked that Snow White was alive. As punishment for her attempts to take Snow White’s life, the Queen was forced to put on a pair of white-hot iron shoes and dance until she died.
Beauty and the Beast
This fairy tale was first published in 1740 and the original version was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. As with Snow White, there are several differences between the version many are familiar with and the originally-published version.
Belle was one of three daughters of a wealthy merchant, although she was the only good-hearted one.
On his last trip, Belle’s father lost all his money and couldn’t bring gifts back for his daughters. He stumble upon an enchanted castle in the forest and was allowed to stay the night. He was even permitted to take some expensive gifts back for his daughters but as he was about to leave, remembered that Belle just wanted a rose. He picked one but it turns out to be the prize possession of the Beast of the castle and the Beast threatened to kill the merchant. The merchant convinced the Beast to allow him to leave with all the gifts but promised he would return to the castle.
Belle returned to the castle in her father’s place and the Beast told her she was the mistress of the castle, waiting on her hand and foot and letting her wear beautiful clothes and jewelry. The Beast proposed to her every night but she always refused.
The Beast allowed Belle to visit her family for one week and sent her with a magic mirror and magic ring. When Belle’s sisters saw her new clothes, they became jealous and pretended like they didn’t want her to return in the hopes that if she didn’t go back to the castle in time, the Beast would kill her.
Belle began to feel guilty about not keeping her promise to the Beast and used the magic mirror to see him. He was literally dying from heartbreak. Belle used the ring to return to the Beast where she began to cry because of the state he was in and told him she loved him. Her tears dripped onto him and he transformed back into the prince he once was.
One adaptation of this fairy tale was written in 1937 in China and was called, “Beauty and Pock Face.”
Sleeping Beauty
The first version of this fairy tale was written by Charles Perrault in 1697 and has been adapted several times, in several different ways. Initially, there were two narrative parts but the first is the one most people are familiar with but again, there are differences between Perrault’s version and the more widely-known version.
Instead of three good fairies coming to bestow gifts upon a newly-born princess, there were actually seven. Their gifts were beauty, wit, grace, dance, song and music. The evil fairy who wasn’t invited cursed the baby to prick her hand on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die so the seventh fairy changed the curse so that the princess wouldn’t die but instead, would sleep for 100 years and would be awoken by a king’s son.
In some versions, the princess was sent away to protect her from harm but in the original version, she stayed at the castle and all the spinning wheels were burned except one. That happens to be the one the princess pricked her finger on and fell into a deep sleep.
The princess was put high up in a tower and the good fairies decided to put the rest of the kingdom to sleep so the princess wouldn’t be alone when she finally awoke. They created a forest of trees and brambles to surround the castle to keep the kingdom from being disturbed.
One hundred years later, a prince happened upon the forest and, having heard the stories about the castle inside, climbed the trees and brambles to get inside. He went to Sleep Beauty’s chamber and the curse was broken by his presence so the princess awoke and the two talked for a long time while the rest of the kingdom awoke. There was no “true love’s kiss” in the original version of this story either.
In some versions, the story continued and the prince and princess end up having two children.
Snippetz Magically Takes You Back to Once Upon a Time
“What I like about fairy tales is that they highlight the emotions within a story. The situations aren’t real, with falling stars and pirates. But what you do relate to is the emotions that the characters feel.”
– Charlie Cox, actor
When you think of fairy tales, you probably envision a happy little story about a young girl becoming a princess and overcoming some struggle to marry Prince Charming and live happily ever after. It’s such a sweet idea that life can be wrapped into a neat little package like that and everyone comes out feeling great in the end. But we all know that’s not always the case in real life. Real life is hard. We have mortgages to pay, sick kids to take care of and Prince Charming may never come so we might end up eating Cup O’ Noodles for dinner by ourselves rather than surrounded by a houseful of family. It’s easy to understand why we would all feel drawn to the fairy tales that end so sweetly. But are those stories that are so familiar to us really as perfect as they seem? Artistic license often plays a role in the retelling of such stories and so Snippetz decided to go digging to uncover the origins of some of our favorite fairy tales.
Snow White
This popular fairy tale was written by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812 in Germany. The original version and the one we’re all most familiar with today differ in a few key ways.
Snow White’s mother was the original “bad guy” of the story until the Brothers Grimm changed it to the wicked stepmother to make the story less scary for younger children.
Snow White happened upon the dwarfs’ cottage but didn’t go inside to clean it up; she actually made a huge mess in their relatively clean house and then fell asleep on their beds.
Snow White’s stepmother, the wicked Queen, tried to kill Snow White three times once she found her at the dwarfs’ cottage. The first time, the queen tied a bodice too tight around the young girl; the second time, she poisoned a comb and then combed Snow White’s hair with it. Both times, the dwarves returned and revived Snow White. The third time, the queen poisoned an apple that got lodged in Snow White’s throat. The dwarves couldn’t revive her that time and assumed she died.
There was no “true love’s kiss” in the original version; instead, the prince happened upon the coffin, fell in love with the girl inside and convinced the dwarves to let him take the girl and the coffin away to be with him forever. The coffin was jostled while being moved, the apple was dislodged from Snow White’s throat and she came to.
Snow White and the prince made plans to marry and even invited her wicked stepmother. The Queen accepted the invitation, shocked that Snow White was alive. As punishment for her attempts to take Snow White’s life, the Queen was forced to put on a pair of white-hot iron shoes and dance until she died.
Beauty and the Beast
This fairy tale was first published in 1740 and the original version was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. As with Snow White, there are several differences between the version many are familiar with and the originally-published version.
Belle was one of three daughters of a wealthy merchant, although she was the only good-hearted one.
On his last trip, Belle’s father lost all his money and couldn’t bring gifts back for his daughters. He stumble upon an enchanted castle in the forest and was allowed to stay the night. He was even permitted to take some expensive gifts back for his daughters but as he was about to leave, remembered that Belle just wanted a rose. He picked one but it turns out to be the prize possession of the Beast of the castle and the Beast threatened to kill the merchant. The merchant convinced the Beast to allow him to leave with all the gifts but promised he would return to the castle.
Belle returned to the castle in her father’s place and the Beast told her she was the mistress of the castle, waiting on her hand and foot and letting her wear beautiful clothes and jewelry. The Beast proposed to her every night but she always refused.
The Beast allowed Belle to visit her family for one week and sent her with a magic mirror and magic ring. When Belle’s sisters saw her new clothes, they became jealous and pretended like they didn’t want her to return in the hopes that if she didn’t go back to the castle in time, the Beast would kill her.
Belle began to feel guilty about not keeping her promise to the Beast and used the magic mirror to see him. He was literally dying from heartbreak. Belle used the ring to return to the Beast where she began to cry because of the state he was in and told him she loved him. Her tears dripped onto him and he transformed back into the prince he once was.
One adaptation of this fairy tale was written in 1937 in China and was called, “Beauty and Pock Face.”
Sleeping Beauty
The first version of this fairy tale was written by Charles Perrault in 1697 and has been adapted several times, in several different ways. Initially, there were two narrative parts but the first is the one most people are familiar with but again, there are differences between Perrault’s version and the more widely-known version.
Instead of three good fairies coming to bestow gifts upon a newly-born princess, there were actually seven. Their gifts were beauty, wit, grace, dance, song and music. The evil fairy who wasn’t invited cursed the baby to prick her hand on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die so the seventh fairy changed the curse so that the princess wouldn’t die but instead, would sleep for 100 years and would be awoken by a king’s son.
In some versions, the princess was sent away to protect her from harm but in the original version, she stayed at the castle and all the spinning wheels were burned except one. That happens to be the one the princess pricked her finger on and fell into a deep sleep.
The princess was put high up in a tower and the good fairies decided to put the rest of the kingdom to sleep so the princess wouldn’t be alone when she finally awoke. They created a forest of trees and brambles to surround the castle to keep the kingdom from being disturbed.
One hundred years later, a prince happened upon the forest and, having heard the stories about the castle inside, climbed the trees and brambles to get inside. He went to Sleep Beauty’s chamber and the curse was broken by his presence so the princess awoke and the two talked for a long time while the rest of the kingdom awoke. There was no “true love’s kiss” in the original version of this story either.
In some versions, the story continued and the prince and princess end up having two children.
Issue 646
Erin Go Bragh! Snippetz Looks at the History of Ireland
“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.”
– Marianne Williamson, author
If there was ever a color that could describe the month of March, it would be green. Not only does the Spring Equinox occur in March, signaling the start of a season of rebirth and regrowth, but it also happens to contain one of the best holidays on the planet: St. Patrick’s Day. What better way to celebrate such a jovial holiday than to uncover some great Snippetz about the country, its people and most of all, its rich history. So break out your shamrocks and green attire, folks or you’re going to get pinched as we take a look back into the history of Ireland, the country that is at the heart of this holiday.
A long, long time ago . . .
It’s true that Ireland has a long rich history. And it would be great to be able to start from the beginning and relay all the incredible tidbits of history that we could find . . . but we can’t. Suffice it to say that mankind’s presence on this island can be traced back to around 8000 B.C. when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers migrated to Ireland.
Agriculture on the island makes its appearance around 4000 B.C. based on analysis of sites such as the Céide Fields in Mayo. Around 3500 B.C., during the Neolithic period, people of the Boyne Valley built a series of incredibly complex chamber tombs, upright standing stones and enclosures that took them over 100 years to complete.
The Bronze Age around 2000 B.C. brought new weapons technologies to Ireland, leading to the creation of flat axes and eventually to copper mining on Mount Gabriel in County Cork and Ross Island in County Kerry.
In 140 A.D., Ptolemy wrote the book, “Geographia.” It provided the first recorded reference to a human settlement in an area near Dublin, called Eblana Civitas.
In 431, Palladius was sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine to be the first bishop to the Irish believing in Christ.
In 432, St. Patrick returned to Ireland from Great Britain after about 15 years of religious training to become an ordained priest. St. Patrick, who was born in Great Britain and taken prisoner and held on Ireland for six years, escaped and walked over 200 miles to the coast where he managed to go back to Britain. There he said he received a message from the angels to return to Ireland as a missionary..
In 536, widespread crop failures led to famine in Ireland and historians blame the cause on a possible volcanic winter, although there is no definitive evidence.
Nearly 30 years later, Ireland began to flourish during the Golden Ages. Monastic schools were established at Iona and Clonfert by Columba and Brendan, respectively. Other similar schools soon followed.
Not quite so long ago . . .
In 852, Vikings land in Dublin Bay. Ivar Beinlaus and Olaf the White built a fortress where they landed, which happens to be located close to where the city of Dublin proper stands now.
The year 980 marks the date when the King of Dublin, Ola Cuaran, abdicated his throne to Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill after the king’s army lost at the Battle of Tara. Eight years later, Máel Sechnaill demanded a tribute from the Vikings at Dublin and this date is often considered the founding date of Dublin as a city.
On April 23, 1014, the armies of Brian Boru defeated Máel Mórda mac Murchada and his Viking forces. It was at this time that the Viking power in Ireland began a definitive decline.
In 1171 Henry II of England arrives at Waterford and declared himself the Lord of Ireland. Four years later, the Treaty of Windsor was drafted between England and Ireland, solidifying Henry II’s claim as Lord of Ireland but also allotting certain benefits to the previous Irish King, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair.
The Great Charter of Ireland, drafted on Nov. 12, 1216 (but not delivered to Ireland until February of the following year), was essentially the Magna Carta for Ireland. About 50 years later, the first representative Irish Parliament, made up of the Lordship of Ireland, met in Dublin.
By 1315, it’s clear that the Irish were resentful of England’s presence on their island. On May 26, Edward Bruce arrives and helps to rally and lead many Irish lords in an uprising against the English attempting to maintain control in Ireland.
Naturally, this didn’t sit well with the English who made repeated attempts to assuage and overrule Irish attempts to rule themselves. In 1472, the Annals of the Four Masters records indicate that the King of England at the time sent an exotic animal to Ireland, possibly a giraffe and possibly as a peace-offering (or a bribe).
Then, in 1494, England’s Lord Deputy of Ireland under the rule of Henry VII, Edward Poyning issued a declaration he called Poynings’ Law which ultimately forbade the Irish parliament from passing any laws without first obtaining consent from the English parliament.
This pattern of attempted control continued into the 1500s when in 1542, Irish parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act. The act established a Kingdom of Ireland that was to be ruled by Henry VIII of England.
In 1575, the Annals of the Four Masters record a draught, possibly the third in the last several hundred years that resulted in widespread disease and plague. Over the next nearly 70 years, the country rebels against English control, especially that of Elizabeth I who had been dubbed a heretic by Pope Pius in 1570.
More recent still . . .
On Oct. 22, 1641 the Irish Rebellion of 1641 began and Phelim O’Neill led the fight and captured several forts in the north of Ireland.
By 1642, the Irish Confederate Wars were in full swing, much of it having to do with the intolerance of Catholicism in the country and the Irish Catholic Confederation was established. In 1646, the Supreme Council of the Confederation signed an agreement with one of England’s King Charles I, which allowed for some rights for Catholics in the country in return for their military support of England. However, once word got out of this new arrangement, the members of the Supreme Council were arrested and the Irish General Assembly renounced the agreement with England.
One year later, another agreement was reached with England which promised tolerance of Catholicism, a repeal of Poynings’ Law and legitimization of lands taken by Irish Catholics during the Confederate Wars.
On Aug. 27, 1798, after years of fending off invasions from the French, the Irish and French band together to defeat the British at the Battle of Castlebar.
On Jan. 1, 1801, Ireland is annexed to Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The country as a whole was moving forward in a generally good way until 1845 when the Great Irish Famine occurred. Two-thirds of the country’s potato crop, a staple in their diet at the time, was destroyed which led to about one million deaths and the emigration of another million people to other countries in search of prosperity.
The century to follow was filled with civil unrest. By 1919, the country turned its sights to England once again and issued a Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. Two years later, on May 3, Northern Ireland was established. That same year, the Irish War of Independence began which resulted in the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.
The Irish Civil began in 1922 and by 1937, the leadership of Ireland developed the Constitution of Ireland, replacing the Irish Free State with a new state, simply called Ireland.
While the country is relatively peaceful now, history indicates that Ireland has been plagued with unrest both within the natives and by outside forces attempting to gain them as a new nation to control. In this month of celebration, it’s important to remember the struggles that were had to reach this point. And to remember one important phrase: Erin go Bragh!
Erin Go Bragh! Snippetz Looks at the History of Ireland
“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.”
– Marianne Williamson, author
If there was ever a color that could describe the month of March, it would be green. Not only does the Spring Equinox occur in March, signaling the start of a season of rebirth and regrowth, but it also happens to contain one of the best holidays on the planet: St. Patrick’s Day. What better way to celebrate such a jovial holiday than to uncover some great Snippetz about the country, its people and most of all, its rich history. So break out your shamrocks and green attire, folks or you’re going to get pinched as we take a look back into the history of Ireland, the country that is at the heart of this holiday.
A long, long time ago . . .
It’s true that Ireland has a long rich history. And it would be great to be able to start from the beginning and relay all the incredible tidbits of history that we could find . . . but we can’t. Suffice it to say that mankind’s presence on this island can be traced back to around 8000 B.C. when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers migrated to Ireland.
Agriculture on the island makes its appearance around 4000 B.C. based on analysis of sites such as the Céide Fields in Mayo. Around 3500 B.C., during the Neolithic period, people of the Boyne Valley built a series of incredibly complex chamber tombs, upright standing stones and enclosures that took them over 100 years to complete.
The Bronze Age around 2000 B.C. brought new weapons technologies to Ireland, leading to the creation of flat axes and eventually to copper mining on Mount Gabriel in County Cork and Ross Island in County Kerry.
In 140 A.D., Ptolemy wrote the book, “Geographia.” It provided the first recorded reference to a human settlement in an area near Dublin, called Eblana Civitas.
In 431, Palladius was sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine to be the first bishop to the Irish believing in Christ.
In 432, St. Patrick returned to Ireland from Great Britain after about 15 years of religious training to become an ordained priest. St. Patrick, who was born in Great Britain and taken prisoner and held on Ireland for six years, escaped and walked over 200 miles to the coast where he managed to go back to Britain. There he said he received a message from the angels to return to Ireland as a missionary..
In 536, widespread crop failures led to famine in Ireland and historians blame the cause on a possible volcanic winter, although there is no definitive evidence.
Nearly 30 years later, Ireland began to flourish during the Golden Ages. Monastic schools were established at Iona and Clonfert by Columba and Brendan, respectively. Other similar schools soon followed.
Not quite so long ago . . .
In 852, Vikings land in Dublin Bay. Ivar Beinlaus and Olaf the White built a fortress where they landed, which happens to be located close to where the city of Dublin proper stands now.
The year 980 marks the date when the King of Dublin, Ola Cuaran, abdicated his throne to Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill after the king’s army lost at the Battle of Tara. Eight years later, Máel Sechnaill demanded a tribute from the Vikings at Dublin and this date is often considered the founding date of Dublin as a city.
On April 23, 1014, the armies of Brian Boru defeated Máel Mórda mac Murchada and his Viking forces. It was at this time that the Viking power in Ireland began a definitive decline.
In 1171 Henry II of England arrives at Waterford and declared himself the Lord of Ireland. Four years later, the Treaty of Windsor was drafted between England and Ireland, solidifying Henry II’s claim as Lord of Ireland but also allotting certain benefits to the previous Irish King, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair.
The Great Charter of Ireland, drafted on Nov. 12, 1216 (but not delivered to Ireland until February of the following year), was essentially the Magna Carta for Ireland. About 50 years later, the first representative Irish Parliament, made up of the Lordship of Ireland, met in Dublin.
By 1315, it’s clear that the Irish were resentful of England’s presence on their island. On May 26, Edward Bruce arrives and helps to rally and lead many Irish lords in an uprising against the English attempting to maintain control in Ireland.
Naturally, this didn’t sit well with the English who made repeated attempts to assuage and overrule Irish attempts to rule themselves. In 1472, the Annals of the Four Masters records indicate that the King of England at the time sent an exotic animal to Ireland, possibly a giraffe and possibly as a peace-offering (or a bribe).
Then, in 1494, England’s Lord Deputy of Ireland under the rule of Henry VII, Edward Poyning issued a declaration he called Poynings’ Law which ultimately forbade the Irish parliament from passing any laws without first obtaining consent from the English parliament.
This pattern of attempted control continued into the 1500s when in 1542, Irish parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act. The act established a Kingdom of Ireland that was to be ruled by Henry VIII of England.
In 1575, the Annals of the Four Masters record a draught, possibly the third in the last several hundred years that resulted in widespread disease and plague. Over the next nearly 70 years, the country rebels against English control, especially that of Elizabeth I who had been dubbed a heretic by Pope Pius in 1570.
More recent still . . .
On Oct. 22, 1641 the Irish Rebellion of 1641 began and Phelim O’Neill led the fight and captured several forts in the north of Ireland.
By 1642, the Irish Confederate Wars were in full swing, much of it having to do with the intolerance of Catholicism in the country and the Irish Catholic Confederation was established. In 1646, the Supreme Council of the Confederation signed an agreement with one of England’s King Charles I, which allowed for some rights for Catholics in the country in return for their military support of England. However, once word got out of this new arrangement, the members of the Supreme Council were arrested and the Irish General Assembly renounced the agreement with England.
One year later, another agreement was reached with England which promised tolerance of Catholicism, a repeal of Poynings’ Law and legitimization of lands taken by Irish Catholics during the Confederate Wars.
On Aug. 27, 1798, after years of fending off invasions from the French, the Irish and French band together to defeat the British at the Battle of Castlebar.
On Jan. 1, 1801, Ireland is annexed to Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The country as a whole was moving forward in a generally good way until 1845 when the Great Irish Famine occurred. Two-thirds of the country’s potato crop, a staple in their diet at the time, was destroyed which led to about one million deaths and the emigration of another million people to other countries in search of prosperity.
The century to follow was filled with civil unrest. By 1919, the country turned its sights to England once again and issued a Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. Two years later, on May 3, Northern Ireland was established. That same year, the Irish War of Independence began which resulted in the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the creation of the Irish Free State.
The Irish Civil began in 1922 and by 1937, the leadership of Ireland developed the Constitution of Ireland, replacing the Irish Free State with a new state, simply called Ireland.
While the country is relatively peaceful now, history indicates that Ireland has been plagued with unrest both within the natives and by outside forces attempting to gain them as a new nation to control. In this month of celebration, it’s important to remember the struggles that were had to reach this point. And to remember one important phrase: Erin go Bragh!
Issue 645
Snippetz is Singing Aloud: Barry is the Man-ilow
“Whenever there was a choice between music and anything else, music won hands down every time.”
– Barry Manilow, musician
We’ve all heard his name before: Barry Manilow. But maybe it’s harder to place what music he’s created that we instantly recognize. Or maybe it’s not. If we were to say, “Like a good neighbor…”, would you reply, “State Farm is there?” Probably. And if you did, then you have just finished a jingle created by Barry Manilow. Not only was he a prolific singer, composer, arranger (the list goes on and on) but he created some of the most memorable jingles that have withstood the test of time. So while you may not be a huge Fan-ilow of Barry Manilow, his work has touched each of our lives in one way or another. And Snippetz couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dig into his life to see what this Man-ilow is truly all about. Who knows? Maybe by the end of this article, you’ll be a Fan-ilow, too!
The Early Years
Barry Manilow was actually born Barry Alan Pincus. His parents, Harold Pincus and Edna Manilow welcomed their son on June 17, 1943 while they were living in Brooklyn, New York. As a young Jewish man, Barry decided to take his mother’s maiden name as his own last name at his bar mitzvah.
Manilow graduated from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn in 1961 and immediately enrolled in the Julliard School of performing arts. To help pay for his bills during that time, Manilow also got a job working at CBS. That job proved to be a fateful decision for Manilow because it provided him the opportunity to meeting Bro Herrod in 1964, a director at CBS who wanted him to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of a melodrama called “The Drunkard.”
Manilow decided to write an entire original score instead, which Herrod used in the musical which debuted Off Broadway and maintained an eight-year stint at New York’s 13th Street Theatre. During that time, Manilow worked as a pianist, producer and arranger to make a living.
It was during this time that Manilow began developing his skills as a jingle writer, a source of income that helped sustain him well into the 1970s. As mentioned above, Manilow wrote the jingle for State Farm as well as the Band-Aid jingle that goes, “I am stuck on Band-Aid, ‘cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” Many of the jingles he either wrote or composed, sometimes both, and would often perform them as well. Some he only performed, such as jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Dr Pepper and McDonald’s.
Manilow managed to secure the position of musical director for the series “Callback” on WCBS-TV by 1967. He also worked to arrange a new theme song for The Law Show, while writing, producing and singing his jingles for radio and T.V, and simultaneously teamed up with Jeanne Lucas to perform as a duo for two seasons at New York’s “Upstairs at the Downstairs” club.
Becoming the Man-ilow
Barry Manilow’s road to success wasn’t all smooth sailing. In fact, he has several flops under his belt, three of which he recorded with a group of sessions musicians who called themselves “Featherbed.” Manilow said he was grateful for the lack of success those songs achieved and it’s easy to see why when you fast-forward to 1971.
At that time, Manilow was providing piano accompaniment for other artists during their auditions and performances when a certain lady (perhaps you’ve heard of her) named Bette Midler happened upon one of his performances. She was impressed with what he could do and decided to use his talent to help her produce her debut and sophomore albums, called The Divine Miss M and Better Midler. Manilow also acted as her musical director for her The Divine Miss M tour that followed. The pair worked together until 1975.
Manilow continued to pursue his own solo career while helping Bette Midler and in July 1973, he released his debut album, Barry Manilow through Bell Records. His talent saved him from being dropped after Bell Records was taken over and became part of the newly-created Arista Records. The label’s top dog, Clive Davis dropped many artists but felt confident that he had a winner in Manilow after seeing him perform as Dionne Warwick’s opening act at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park on June 26, 1974.
That same year, Manilow released his second album which contained his No. one hit, “Mandy.” This song helped lay the groundwork for his rise to fame, although he did not actually write it himself.
On Mar. 22, 1975 Manilow made his first of many appearances on American Bandstand. He struck up a friendship with Dick Clark which led to several appearances on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, American Bandstand anniversary shows and performances on the American Music Awards.
Following his increasing popularity, Manilow made appearances in other entertainment arenas as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the television company ABC aired four variety specials that Manilow starred in and executive produced called, “The Barry Manilow Special.” On Mar. 2, 1977, his guest was Penny Marshall and the show aired to an audience of 37 million strong. His hard work for that special was rewarded with four Emmy nominations and won the Emmy for “Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special.” His second special featuring Ray Charles in 1978 was also nominated for four Emmys.
Manilow also tried his hand at acting when he portrayed Tony Starr in the 1985 CBS film based on his song, “Copacabana.” He wrote all the songs for the movie.
Manilow had a hand in several other endeavors, including lobbying against a copyright bill that would do away with a blanket license for theme and incidental music and instead requires that payment is done on a per-use basis. He also published an autobiography called, “Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise.”
Manilow returned to Broadway with his concert series called, “Manilow on Broadway” in 2013. His musical, “Harmony” started its second run in September 2013 at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and is booked for performances in Los Angeles for this year.
Manilow Snippetz
Snippetz is Singing Aloud: Barry is the Man-ilow
“Whenever there was a choice between music and anything else, music won hands down every time.”
– Barry Manilow, musician
We’ve all heard his name before: Barry Manilow. But maybe it’s harder to place what music he’s created that we instantly recognize. Or maybe it’s not. If we were to say, “Like a good neighbor…”, would you reply, “State Farm is there?” Probably. And if you did, then you have just finished a jingle created by Barry Manilow. Not only was he a prolific singer, composer, arranger (the list goes on and on) but he created some of the most memorable jingles that have withstood the test of time. So while you may not be a huge Fan-ilow of Barry Manilow, his work has touched each of our lives in one way or another. And Snippetz couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dig into his life to see what this Man-ilow is truly all about. Who knows? Maybe by the end of this article, you’ll be a Fan-ilow, too!
The Early Years
Barry Manilow was actually born Barry Alan Pincus. His parents, Harold Pincus and Edna Manilow welcomed their son on June 17, 1943 while they were living in Brooklyn, New York. As a young Jewish man, Barry decided to take his mother’s maiden name as his own last name at his bar mitzvah.
Manilow graduated from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn in 1961 and immediately enrolled in the Julliard School of performing arts. To help pay for his bills during that time, Manilow also got a job working at CBS. That job proved to be a fateful decision for Manilow because it provided him the opportunity to meeting Bro Herrod in 1964, a director at CBS who wanted him to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of a melodrama called “The Drunkard.”
Manilow decided to write an entire original score instead, which Herrod used in the musical which debuted Off Broadway and maintained an eight-year stint at New York’s 13th Street Theatre. During that time, Manilow worked as a pianist, producer and arranger to make a living.
It was during this time that Manilow began developing his skills as a jingle writer, a source of income that helped sustain him well into the 1970s. As mentioned above, Manilow wrote the jingle for State Farm as well as the Band-Aid jingle that goes, “I am stuck on Band-Aid, ‘cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” Many of the jingles he either wrote or composed, sometimes both, and would often perform them as well. Some he only performed, such as jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Dr Pepper and McDonald’s.
Manilow managed to secure the position of musical director for the series “Callback” on WCBS-TV by 1967. He also worked to arrange a new theme song for The Law Show, while writing, producing and singing his jingles for radio and T.V, and simultaneously teamed up with Jeanne Lucas to perform as a duo for two seasons at New York’s “Upstairs at the Downstairs” club.
Becoming the Man-ilow
Barry Manilow’s road to success wasn’t all smooth sailing. In fact, he has several flops under his belt, three of which he recorded with a group of sessions musicians who called themselves “Featherbed.” Manilow said he was grateful for the lack of success those songs achieved and it’s easy to see why when you fast-forward to 1971.
At that time, Manilow was providing piano accompaniment for other artists during their auditions and performances when a certain lady (perhaps you’ve heard of her) named Bette Midler happened upon one of his performances. She was impressed with what he could do and decided to use his talent to help her produce her debut and sophomore albums, called The Divine Miss M and Better Midler. Manilow also acted as her musical director for her The Divine Miss M tour that followed. The pair worked together until 1975.
Manilow continued to pursue his own solo career while helping Bette Midler and in July 1973, he released his debut album, Barry Manilow through Bell Records. His talent saved him from being dropped after Bell Records was taken over and became part of the newly-created Arista Records. The label’s top dog, Clive Davis dropped many artists but felt confident that he had a winner in Manilow after seeing him perform as Dionne Warwick’s opening act at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park on June 26, 1974.
That same year, Manilow released his second album which contained his No. one hit, “Mandy.” This song helped lay the groundwork for his rise to fame, although he did not actually write it himself.
On Mar. 22, 1975 Manilow made his first of many appearances on American Bandstand. He struck up a friendship with Dick Clark which led to several appearances on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, American Bandstand anniversary shows and performances on the American Music Awards.
Following his increasing popularity, Manilow made appearances in other entertainment arenas as well. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the television company ABC aired four variety specials that Manilow starred in and executive produced called, “The Barry Manilow Special.” On Mar. 2, 1977, his guest was Penny Marshall and the show aired to an audience of 37 million strong. His hard work for that special was rewarded with four Emmy nominations and won the Emmy for “Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special.” His second special featuring Ray Charles in 1978 was also nominated for four Emmys.
Manilow also tried his hand at acting when he portrayed Tony Starr in the 1985 CBS film based on his song, “Copacabana.” He wrote all the songs for the movie.
Manilow had a hand in several other endeavors, including lobbying against a copyright bill that would do away with a blanket license for theme and incidental music and instead requires that payment is done on a per-use basis. He also published an autobiography called, “Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise.”
Manilow returned to Broadway with his concert series called, “Manilow on Broadway” in 2013. His musical, “Harmony” started its second run in September 2013 at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and is booked for performances in Los Angeles for this year.
Manilow Snippetz
- The hit song “Mandy” was originally titled “Brandy” but the name had to be changed. Clive Davis, Arista Records’ label chief vetoed it because another group called “Looking Glass” had released a song by that same name in 1972 under Davis’ Epic label.
- The song “It’s a Miracle” has been Manilow’s opening song of choice at every show he’s ever performed.
- Apparently even Barry Manilow isn’t immune to bouts of clumsiness; on Oct. 25, 1978, he fractured his ankle one hour prior to his debut at the Olympia Theatre. He had his ankle taped and went about his show, including the disco dance to his song “Copacabana.”
- In 2003, he walked into a wall in the middle of the night, injuring his nose and passed out for several hours afterwards. He was reportedly fine and his nose was not permanently damaged.
- The irony of his religious background and his song choice was not lost on Manilow; he’s quoted as saying, “For a Jewish guy, I’ve recorded a lot of Christmas albums.”
Issue 644
Snippetz Goes Gaga Over the Latest Gadgets
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke, writer
Do you ever feel like every time you turn around, there’s something new in the technological world that’d being advertised as that thing you really need and shouldn’t be living without? Your computer was new when you bought it six months ago but now there’s something new that’s just been released that makes your laptop look like the massive desktop computers you used to play “Oregon Trail” on in grade school. The screen isn’t removable and doesn’t double as a tablet or it’s not light as air with double the memory. Technology just seems to move too fast to keep up with. But Snippetz just couldn’t let some of these new inventions slip by without giving them a nod for their ingenuity. So we’ve compiled information about some of the newest gadgets on the market to astonish you as they did us!
Livescribe Echo Smartpen
The Livescribe Echo Smartpen is something many of us probably wish we had in college when we were scribbling away during lectures only to find out we couldn’t make out what we had written. It allows you to record audio while taking notes so you never have to rely on those illegible notes again. The memory storage holds up to 800 hours of audio, charges through your computer through a USB connector and allows you to connect to smartpen apps so you can easily navigate through the audio files you’ve stored.
Cobra Tag
The Cobra Tag sensor attaches to your keys, laptop bag, purse or whatever you want to keep from being stolen. The sensor communicates with a free app you can download to your smartphone which reminds you if you leave your tagged item behind. But it also works the other way around. You can use the Cobra Tag to find your smartphone, too. Simply tap the button on the tag and your smartphone rings. Use the app on your smartphone to make the Cobra Tag ring. You can also use the Cobra Tag’s PhoneHalo app to lock your phone so your personal information can’t be stolen if your phone ever is.
Vuzix M100 smart glasses
These Andriod-based glasses are “monocular augmented reality devices.” In laymen’s terms, they’re really cool glasses that feature a display, video recording capabilities and wireless connectivity. They come with pre-installed apps that can record and play back high definition video images and pictures. It’s like wearing a camera on your face and who wouldn’t like that? The glasses feature Bluetooth technology so they can be paired with other Bluetooth devices. They also create a type of situational awareness through the use of GPS and integrated head-tracking capabilities (say that three times fast).
Soulra XL solar-powered sound system
This innovative sound system allows you to take your iPod or iPhone outside and blast your music to drive your neighbors crazy in a whole new way! The system features eight speakers and a 22W output with bass boost so you can enjoy the tunes on your device while outside . . . and because the unit has a 72-square-inch monocrystal solar panel, the whole system can be fully charged in just five hours of direct sunlight. The lithium ion battery can provide up to eight hours of playback time and it charges your iPod or iPhone while the sun charges it. You can also use the AC adapter if you want to bring your system inside. Now you can kiss your regular sounds system goodbye!
Nissan 3E
We know, this sounds like it must be a car, right? It’s not, although it is made by the Nissan Motor Company. The Nissan 3E is actually a monocle-style eyepiece that shoots video and adds augmented reality information to what you’re seeing. The purpose: to provide customers an enhanced way to shop for a vehicle by providing additional information on the device for the viewer to peruse while checking out a specific car. Who’s to say this won’t become the new way to shop not only for cars but for everything? It might be helpful to have those nutritional labels right there in front of your face on your monocle than having to scan for what’s in your favorite breakfast cereal.
Skully P1
All you Harley riders out there, this one’s for you. Made by Skully Helmets, the Skully P1 is a motorcycle helmet with a camera built onto the back of it to provide 180-degree viewing capabilities. Inside the helmet, the Heads-Up Display illuminates your blind spots and shows navigational information. The helmet has GPS mapping capabilities and the built-in Bluetooth lets you sync with your smartphone.
Sleepow
The Sleepow is a memory-foam pillow that plays calming low-frequency beats through built-in speakers to help reduce stress and ease you into a deep, relaxing sleep. It comes with pre-loaded sounds but you can add your own favorite sounds through the built-in mp3 player.
FLIR One
For all you budding James Bonds out there, the FLIR One was created just for you! It attaches to your iPhone and allows you to see infrared light. Basically, it provides thermal imaging for anyone willing to pay for it who doesn’t want to lug around heavy equipment. You can do some serious top secret spy missions with this puppy . . . but you have to wait until this spring for it to be available.
Heapsylon Sensoria socks
The Heapsylon Sensoria socks work with an included anklet that transmits data from the electronic fibers woven into the socks to an app that compiles your fitness and exercise data. The socks can tell you if you’re unevenly using your feet or striding too hard when you run. And for just $259 for four pairs, these innovative socks you may not have ever known you needed can be yours.
Garmin Vivofit
Ever have those days when all you want to do is just sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips and watch a marathon of “The Big Bang Theory?” Well, the Vivofit may not let you. This wristband uses a motion detector to sense when you’ve been a lazy bum, er, excuse me, inactive for over an hour and starts bleeping at you until you get up and move around. Just don’t forget to take it off at bedtime!
Google Contact Lenses
Using the concept of the regular contact lens, GoogleX developers have created these contact lenses that allow diabetics to continually check their glucose levels through a tiny processing chip, a specialized glucose sensor and an antenna that is thinner than a human hair. The sensor detects glucose levels in the wearer’s tears by taking readings once per second and the transmitter sends the readings to an external device to allow for constant monitoring without the finger-poking most people have to endure.
Smart wig
That’s right. Sony has recently filed for a patent application for a smart wig. Supposedly, the wig will contain sensors, communications functionality and “an actuator for tactile feedback.” They say the wig could be used as a navigation tool for the sight-impaired by sending out ultrasound signals to detect objects. It will then alert the wearer through vibrations or small electric shocks. Sounds pleasant.
Smart tattoos
It sounds completely crazy but Google has been working to obtain a patent that links skin tattoos to mobile devices. Why? Well, the patent application says that the tattoo, probably located on a person’s throat, could act as a microphone, a transceiver for wireless communications and an energy supply. Maybe you can charge your phone through your throat tattoo . . .?
Snippetz Goes Gaga Over the Latest Gadgets
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke, writer
Do you ever feel like every time you turn around, there’s something new in the technological world that’d being advertised as that thing you really need and shouldn’t be living without? Your computer was new when you bought it six months ago but now there’s something new that’s just been released that makes your laptop look like the massive desktop computers you used to play “Oregon Trail” on in grade school. The screen isn’t removable and doesn’t double as a tablet or it’s not light as air with double the memory. Technology just seems to move too fast to keep up with. But Snippetz just couldn’t let some of these new inventions slip by without giving them a nod for their ingenuity. So we’ve compiled information about some of the newest gadgets on the market to astonish you as they did us!
Livescribe Echo Smartpen
The Livescribe Echo Smartpen is something many of us probably wish we had in college when we were scribbling away during lectures only to find out we couldn’t make out what we had written. It allows you to record audio while taking notes so you never have to rely on those illegible notes again. The memory storage holds up to 800 hours of audio, charges through your computer through a USB connector and allows you to connect to smartpen apps so you can easily navigate through the audio files you’ve stored.
Cobra Tag
The Cobra Tag sensor attaches to your keys, laptop bag, purse or whatever you want to keep from being stolen. The sensor communicates with a free app you can download to your smartphone which reminds you if you leave your tagged item behind. But it also works the other way around. You can use the Cobra Tag to find your smartphone, too. Simply tap the button on the tag and your smartphone rings. Use the app on your smartphone to make the Cobra Tag ring. You can also use the Cobra Tag’s PhoneHalo app to lock your phone so your personal information can’t be stolen if your phone ever is.
Vuzix M100 smart glasses
These Andriod-based glasses are “monocular augmented reality devices.” In laymen’s terms, they’re really cool glasses that feature a display, video recording capabilities and wireless connectivity. They come with pre-installed apps that can record and play back high definition video images and pictures. It’s like wearing a camera on your face and who wouldn’t like that? The glasses feature Bluetooth technology so they can be paired with other Bluetooth devices. They also create a type of situational awareness through the use of GPS and integrated head-tracking capabilities (say that three times fast).
Soulra XL solar-powered sound system
This innovative sound system allows you to take your iPod or iPhone outside and blast your music to drive your neighbors crazy in a whole new way! The system features eight speakers and a 22W output with bass boost so you can enjoy the tunes on your device while outside . . . and because the unit has a 72-square-inch monocrystal solar panel, the whole system can be fully charged in just five hours of direct sunlight. The lithium ion battery can provide up to eight hours of playback time and it charges your iPod or iPhone while the sun charges it. You can also use the AC adapter if you want to bring your system inside. Now you can kiss your regular sounds system goodbye!
Nissan 3E
We know, this sounds like it must be a car, right? It’s not, although it is made by the Nissan Motor Company. The Nissan 3E is actually a monocle-style eyepiece that shoots video and adds augmented reality information to what you’re seeing. The purpose: to provide customers an enhanced way to shop for a vehicle by providing additional information on the device for the viewer to peruse while checking out a specific car. Who’s to say this won’t become the new way to shop not only for cars but for everything? It might be helpful to have those nutritional labels right there in front of your face on your monocle than having to scan for what’s in your favorite breakfast cereal.
Skully P1
All you Harley riders out there, this one’s for you. Made by Skully Helmets, the Skully P1 is a motorcycle helmet with a camera built onto the back of it to provide 180-degree viewing capabilities. Inside the helmet, the Heads-Up Display illuminates your blind spots and shows navigational information. The helmet has GPS mapping capabilities and the built-in Bluetooth lets you sync with your smartphone.
Sleepow
The Sleepow is a memory-foam pillow that plays calming low-frequency beats through built-in speakers to help reduce stress and ease you into a deep, relaxing sleep. It comes with pre-loaded sounds but you can add your own favorite sounds through the built-in mp3 player.
FLIR One
For all you budding James Bonds out there, the FLIR One was created just for you! It attaches to your iPhone and allows you to see infrared light. Basically, it provides thermal imaging for anyone willing to pay for it who doesn’t want to lug around heavy equipment. You can do some serious top secret spy missions with this puppy . . . but you have to wait until this spring for it to be available.
Heapsylon Sensoria socks
The Heapsylon Sensoria socks work with an included anklet that transmits data from the electronic fibers woven into the socks to an app that compiles your fitness and exercise data. The socks can tell you if you’re unevenly using your feet or striding too hard when you run. And for just $259 for four pairs, these innovative socks you may not have ever known you needed can be yours.
Garmin Vivofit
Ever have those days when all you want to do is just sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips and watch a marathon of “The Big Bang Theory?” Well, the Vivofit may not let you. This wristband uses a motion detector to sense when you’ve been a lazy bum, er, excuse me, inactive for over an hour and starts bleeping at you until you get up and move around. Just don’t forget to take it off at bedtime!
Google Contact Lenses
Using the concept of the regular contact lens, GoogleX developers have created these contact lenses that allow diabetics to continually check their glucose levels through a tiny processing chip, a specialized glucose sensor and an antenna that is thinner than a human hair. The sensor detects glucose levels in the wearer’s tears by taking readings once per second and the transmitter sends the readings to an external device to allow for constant monitoring without the finger-poking most people have to endure.
Smart wig
That’s right. Sony has recently filed for a patent application for a smart wig. Supposedly, the wig will contain sensors, communications functionality and “an actuator for tactile feedback.” They say the wig could be used as a navigation tool for the sight-impaired by sending out ultrasound signals to detect objects. It will then alert the wearer through vibrations or small electric shocks. Sounds pleasant.
Smart tattoos
It sounds completely crazy but Google has been working to obtain a patent that links skin tattoos to mobile devices. Why? Well, the patent application says that the tattoo, probably located on a person’s throat, could act as a microphone, a transceiver for wireless communications and an energy supply. Maybe you can charge your phone through your throat tattoo . . .?
Issue 643
Snippetz Tosses Up the Topic of Salad
“I was born in the Midwest, where ‘salad’ was cherry Jell-O with bananas in it. Now children are more aware of healthy foods.”
- Candy Crowley, journalist
Ask anybody out there what they consider salad to be and they’ll probably tell you that it’s lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, dressing or something similar to that. But there’s so much more to salad than just those common ingredients. Salad can be an entrée or an appetizer. It can be a side dish or it can be a snack. It’s versatile, relatively healthy (yes, even the Jell-O and banana version is pretty good for you) and can be the perfect way to combine all the elements of a well-rounded meal into just one dish. And of course, Snippetz just had to investigate the ins, outs, ups and downs about salad.
What is a Salad?
The word “salad” comes from the French term “salade” which, in turn comes from the Latin “salata” meaning salty. Why? During ancient Roman times, salads were often salty because they were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings. The word “salad” first appeared in the English language in the 14th century although it was sometimes spelled “sallet.”
Asking the question, “What is a salad?” is almost like asking, “What is a bug?” There are so many different right answers that it’s almost impossible to get it wrong. Salads can be green salads, vegetable salads, pasta salads, grain salads, fruit salads and seafood salads, just to name a few. They can be hot or cold or a bit of both. Often the definition of salad depends who you’re talking to and what part of the world the salad comes from. We’ve rounded up some salads from different parts of the world to give you a literary taste of what these salads have to offer.
Hail Caesar ... salad
If you’ve ever been to a restaurant (and we’re betting you have!), you’ve probably seen Caesar salad on the menu. You’ve probably read through the ingredients to see if you can discern where the name “Caesar” came from. You might’ve even assumed it was named after Julius Caesar, the famous ancient Roman emperor. Well, if you did, you were wrong.
As is the case with the Waldorf salad, the Caesar salad is named after the salad’s creator, Caesar Cardini. The story of the birth of the Caesar salad says that Cardini, an Italian immigrant who lived in San Diego owned a restaurant in Tijuana. On July 4, 1924, he found himself low on supplies. Some hungry friends stopped by for a bite to eat and, not wanted to disappoint his friends, he tossed a few of the ingredients he still had hanging around into a bowl and mixed the whole thing together table-side. These ingredients included romaine lettuce, garlic, croutons, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, eggs and Worcestershire sauce.
It’s said that his friends were thrilled with the new salad Cardini had created and as usually happens with something great like this, word spread. Although the salad has withstood the test of time, the restaurant from which it came has since closed its doors.
Naturally, there is some debate about who actually created the sensational salad, probably due to its incredible popularity. Some claim that Caesar’s brother Alex threw in the anchovies that, more often than not, accompany the salad today while others claim that Caesar took the credit from some other chef whose name has been lost to oblivion.
Salad Snippetz
True salad wisdom comes from knowing that a tomato is a fruit but NOT including it in a fruit salad.
Snippetz Tosses Up the Topic of Salad
“I was born in the Midwest, where ‘salad’ was cherry Jell-O with bananas in it. Now children are more aware of healthy foods.”
- Candy Crowley, journalist
Ask anybody out there what they consider salad to be and they’ll probably tell you that it’s lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, dressing or something similar to that. But there’s so much more to salad than just those common ingredients. Salad can be an entrée or an appetizer. It can be a side dish or it can be a snack. It’s versatile, relatively healthy (yes, even the Jell-O and banana version is pretty good for you) and can be the perfect way to combine all the elements of a well-rounded meal into just one dish. And of course, Snippetz just had to investigate the ins, outs, ups and downs about salad.
What is a Salad?
The word “salad” comes from the French term “salade” which, in turn comes from the Latin “salata” meaning salty. Why? During ancient Roman times, salads were often salty because they were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings. The word “salad” first appeared in the English language in the 14th century although it was sometimes spelled “sallet.”
Asking the question, “What is a salad?” is almost like asking, “What is a bug?” There are so many different right answers that it’s almost impossible to get it wrong. Salads can be green salads, vegetable salads, pasta salads, grain salads, fruit salads and seafood salads, just to name a few. They can be hot or cold or a bit of both. Often the definition of salad depends who you’re talking to and what part of the world the salad comes from. We’ve rounded up some salads from different parts of the world to give you a literary taste of what these salads have to offer.
- Acar salad – a vegetable salad made from yardlong beans, carrots and cabbage that are pickled in vinegar and dried chili peppers. The ingredients are mixed and tossed in ground peanuts. This salad hails from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- Insalata Caprese salad – a tomato and cheese salad made from slices of fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil and then seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil. This salad hails from the Italian region of Campania.
- Larb salad – a spicy meat salad made with chicken, beef, duck, turkey, pork or fish and flavored with fish sauce, lime juice and herbs. This salad hails from the Isan region of Thailand.
- Lyutika salad – a vegetable salad made from roasted peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onions, vegetable oil and is usually crushed in a pestle with a mortar. This salad hails from Bulgaria.
- Mesclun salad – a vegetable salad that is traditionally made with a mix of chervil, arugula, leafy lettuces and endive all combined in equal amounts. More modern takes on the Mesclun salad include less precise mixes of fresh lettuces and greens that are available during that particular season. This salad hails from Provence, France.
- Naem khluk salad – a meat salad made from crumbled, deep-fried balls of sticky rice and naem (a type of fermented sausage made from pork skin and sticky rice) that are mixed with sliced shallots, dried chilies, fish sauce and lime juice. Raw vegetables and fresh herbs round out the dish. This salad hails from Thailand.
- Poke salad – a seafood salad typically made from cubed yellowfin tuna sashimi that is marinated with sea salt, soy sauce, inamona (roasted and crushed candlenut), sesame oil, limu seaweed and chopped chili pepper. This salad hails from Hawaii.
- Russian salad – a potato and meat salad made from diced potatoes, hard boiled eggs, green peas, pickles, meat or sometimes fish or seafood all mixed together with mayonnaise. This salad hails from (what for it . . .) Russia!
- Taramosalata – a salad made from taramas which are the salted and cured roe of the carp or cod, mixed with either bread crumbs or mashed potatoes, lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. This salad hails from Greece and Turkey.
- Wurstsalat – a meat salad made from sausage, vinegar, oil and onions. This salad hails from Germany, Alsace, Switzerland and Austria.
- Yorkshire salad – a vegetable salad made from lettuce, cucumber, chopped onion, chopped fresh mint, a bit of sugar and malt vinegar. This salad hails from Yorkshire, England and was created to accompany a roast or Yorkshire pudding.
- Waldorf salad – a fruit salad made from julienned apples and celery, chopped walnuts, grapes and mayonnaise. This salad hails from the Waldorf Hotel in New York City.
- Yam thua phu salad – a vegetable salad made with winged beans, salted eggs, toasted coconut, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice and chilies. Squid is sometimes added. This salad hails from Thailand.
- Urnebes salad – a cheese salad made from pavlaka which is a dairy product made by souring heavy cream and hot chili peppers and combined with salt and other spices. This salad hails from Serbia.
- Wedge salad – a vegetable salad made from cutting a solid head of lettuce into a wedge shape and topped with blue cheese salad dressing and pieces of cooked bacon. This salad hails from the United States (didn’t the bacon clue you in to that one?).
Hail Caesar ... salad
If you’ve ever been to a restaurant (and we’re betting you have!), you’ve probably seen Caesar salad on the menu. You’ve probably read through the ingredients to see if you can discern where the name “Caesar” came from. You might’ve even assumed it was named after Julius Caesar, the famous ancient Roman emperor. Well, if you did, you were wrong.
As is the case with the Waldorf salad, the Caesar salad is named after the salad’s creator, Caesar Cardini. The story of the birth of the Caesar salad says that Cardini, an Italian immigrant who lived in San Diego owned a restaurant in Tijuana. On July 4, 1924, he found himself low on supplies. Some hungry friends stopped by for a bite to eat and, not wanted to disappoint his friends, he tossed a few of the ingredients he still had hanging around into a bowl and mixed the whole thing together table-side. These ingredients included romaine lettuce, garlic, croutons, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, eggs and Worcestershire sauce.
It’s said that his friends were thrilled with the new salad Cardini had created and as usually happens with something great like this, word spread. Although the salad has withstood the test of time, the restaurant from which it came has since closed its doors.
Naturally, there is some debate about who actually created the sensational salad, probably due to its incredible popularity. Some claim that Caesar’s brother Alex threw in the anchovies that, more often than not, accompany the salad today while others claim that Caesar took the credit from some other chef whose name has been lost to oblivion.
Salad Snippetz
True salad wisdom comes from knowing that a tomato is a fruit but NOT including it in a fruit salad.
Issue 642
Snippetz Opens the Book on the History of Printing
“Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.”
– Henry David Thoreau, author
Before the advent of the printing press, humans struggled with how to distribute their ideas. Sure, we could talk to each other and tell our stories and ideas to our fellow humans with the hopes that things wouldn’t get jumbled along the lines. Or we could hand write whatever it was that we wanted to share but hand cramps are no joke and hand writing is incredibly time consuming. We knew there had to be a better way. There had to be a way to get the information we longed to share out to the world in a fast, efficient manner; a more permanent option than just speaking and a more mobile option than cave drawings. So how did it all start? How did we get from how things were back then to how they are now? Snippetz wanted answers so we decided to investigate the history of printing.
Stamp of approval
Printing is little more than stamping. Truthfully, that’s where it all started in the first place. Early humans discovered how to duplicate an image by pressing it into some material, like clay, that would hold its shape once the image was removed. This was the case in civilizations dating back to at least 3000 B.C. and likely even earlier.
Woodblock printing
The original stamping concept evolved into the first true form of printing, called woodblock printing. This method involved cutting an image into a block of wood and then using pigment to transfer that image onto textiles or paper. The earliest woodblock printings on cloth that still exist today are from China in about 220 A.D. They were printed on silk and depict flowers in three different colors.
One of the mandates of the Buddhist religions is the circulation of standard translations of the scripture across a wide area and what better way to achieve that through the use of the same woodblock printing technology on paper. Other important Buddhist texts were also copied and distributed through this same method.
The oldest book that was produced using woodblock printing is the Diamond Sutra and the date states that it was printed “the 13th day of the fourth moon of the ninth year of the Xiantong era,” or May 11, 868.
Woodblock printing on cloth reached Europe and was commonly practiced by 1300. Many printings were religious in nature and at first, were quite large but by the 1400s, the popularity switched to smaller prints and eventually to images other than religious ones that were printed on playing cards. Starting from about 1425, these images began to be printed in a large quantity.
Beginning in the 1450s block-books became widely used. Block-books were woodcut blocks containing both images and text carved on the same block and provided a less expensive, simpler alternative to books that were printed using several blocks. Most often, they contained a lot of illustrations and minimal text but emerged as the bestsellers of the times. The two most common examples of block-books are the “Ars moriendi” and the “Biblia pauperum.”
Movable type printing
Movable type printing is a method that includes movable pieces of metal type. This method dates back to China in about 1040, when the first system was created by Bi Sheng out of porcelain. The first metal movable type was created in Korea around 1230.
While initially thought to be a good idea, the massive set of characters in the Chinese language made movable type a bit difficult to use.
Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Germany is credited with creating the first European movable type print technology around 1439. Not long after, he developed the printing press and changed the face of printing forever, allowing for mass production of a single text with minimal work and time.
When compared to woodblock printing, movable type page-setting can be achieved much more quickly and is typically more durable. The metal pieces aren’t prone to wear like the blocks of wood and the lettering is more uniform, which led to the development of typography and fonts.
Once the Gutenberg Bible was printed in 1455, the obviously higher quality and lower cost of the book solidified the superiority of movable type and spurred the spread of printing presses throughout Europe.
Most printing done today is completed on some sort of derivative of Gutenberg’s movable type printing.
The printing press
A printing press is a machine that is used to apply pressure to a surface covered with ink, like an inkpad, that rests on a medium like cloth or paper, which ultimately transfers an image to that medium.
As mentioned above, Gutenberg developed the first printing press in Europe but he didn’t work alone. He partnered with Andreas Dritzehen and Andreas Heilmann, the former having been a gem-cutting student of Gutenberg’s and the latter being the owner of a paper mill.
Using the printing press, printing houses were able to mass-produce texts on a scale on previously dreamed of. These houses were run by master printers who owned the shops, chose and edited their selected manuscripts, determined the quantity in which a book was to be printed, sold the books they produced, raised money to run the production operation and set up distribution of the books.
Within print shops, there were several jobs held by several workers. Apprentices worked for the master printers by preparing the ink, dampening the sheets of paper and assisting with the press.
Journeymen printers were men who had completed their apprenticeships and typically helped ensure the quality of the product by centering the print on the paper. Compositors set the type for printing and pressmen worked the press which was a physically demanding job
Lithography
Bavarian author Aloys Senefelder invented lithography in 1796 and this method s used for printing on a smooth surface. It uses chemicals to create the desired image. When the printing plate is introduced to a compatible ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the hydrophobic chemical on the plate, creating the positive part of the image. This allows for a much flatter printing plate and allows for longer use of that plate. High-volume lithography is still used today to produce posters, maps, books, newspapers, really anything that is smooth and mass-produced.
Rotary printing press
In 1843, Richard March Hoe invented rotary drum printing and patented it in 1847. Rotary drum printing involved carving the images around the outside of a cylinder which is then rolled along a continuous roll of paper, cardboard, plastic or other medium, creating a series of copies that can be cut into individual texts.
Into the future . . .
Printing has come a long way from its humble beginnings in ancient Asian cultures. From screenprinting and flexography to photocopying and laser printing, many incredible developments have been made to aid us in our ever-increasing need to distribute knowledge in easier ways. And as you can probably assume, more milestones are being hit every day. In fact, 3D printing is no longer just a special effect from sci-fi movies anymore. It can be used to recreate things by physically “printing” successive layers of a material on top of the previous ones to build a three dimensional image of whatever it is you want to create. We don’t know what the future of printing holds for us but it’s gonna be great to see what happens!
Snippetz Opens the Book on the History of Printing
“Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.”
– Henry David Thoreau, author
Before the advent of the printing press, humans struggled with how to distribute their ideas. Sure, we could talk to each other and tell our stories and ideas to our fellow humans with the hopes that things wouldn’t get jumbled along the lines. Or we could hand write whatever it was that we wanted to share but hand cramps are no joke and hand writing is incredibly time consuming. We knew there had to be a better way. There had to be a way to get the information we longed to share out to the world in a fast, efficient manner; a more permanent option than just speaking and a more mobile option than cave drawings. So how did it all start? How did we get from how things were back then to how they are now? Snippetz wanted answers so we decided to investigate the history of printing.
Stamp of approval
Printing is little more than stamping. Truthfully, that’s where it all started in the first place. Early humans discovered how to duplicate an image by pressing it into some material, like clay, that would hold its shape once the image was removed. This was the case in civilizations dating back to at least 3000 B.C. and likely even earlier.
Woodblock printing
The original stamping concept evolved into the first true form of printing, called woodblock printing. This method involved cutting an image into a block of wood and then using pigment to transfer that image onto textiles or paper. The earliest woodblock printings on cloth that still exist today are from China in about 220 A.D. They were printed on silk and depict flowers in three different colors.
One of the mandates of the Buddhist religions is the circulation of standard translations of the scripture across a wide area and what better way to achieve that through the use of the same woodblock printing technology on paper. Other important Buddhist texts were also copied and distributed through this same method.
The oldest book that was produced using woodblock printing is the Diamond Sutra and the date states that it was printed “the 13th day of the fourth moon of the ninth year of the Xiantong era,” or May 11, 868.
Woodblock printing on cloth reached Europe and was commonly practiced by 1300. Many printings were religious in nature and at first, were quite large but by the 1400s, the popularity switched to smaller prints and eventually to images other than religious ones that were printed on playing cards. Starting from about 1425, these images began to be printed in a large quantity.
Beginning in the 1450s block-books became widely used. Block-books were woodcut blocks containing both images and text carved on the same block and provided a less expensive, simpler alternative to books that were printed using several blocks. Most often, they contained a lot of illustrations and minimal text but emerged as the bestsellers of the times. The two most common examples of block-books are the “Ars moriendi” and the “Biblia pauperum.”
Movable type printing
Movable type printing is a method that includes movable pieces of metal type. This method dates back to China in about 1040, when the first system was created by Bi Sheng out of porcelain. The first metal movable type was created in Korea around 1230.
While initially thought to be a good idea, the massive set of characters in the Chinese language made movable type a bit difficult to use.
Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Germany is credited with creating the first European movable type print technology around 1439. Not long after, he developed the printing press and changed the face of printing forever, allowing for mass production of a single text with minimal work and time.
When compared to woodblock printing, movable type page-setting can be achieved much more quickly and is typically more durable. The metal pieces aren’t prone to wear like the blocks of wood and the lettering is more uniform, which led to the development of typography and fonts.
Once the Gutenberg Bible was printed in 1455, the obviously higher quality and lower cost of the book solidified the superiority of movable type and spurred the spread of printing presses throughout Europe.
Most printing done today is completed on some sort of derivative of Gutenberg’s movable type printing.
The printing press
A printing press is a machine that is used to apply pressure to a surface covered with ink, like an inkpad, that rests on a medium like cloth or paper, which ultimately transfers an image to that medium.
As mentioned above, Gutenberg developed the first printing press in Europe but he didn’t work alone. He partnered with Andreas Dritzehen and Andreas Heilmann, the former having been a gem-cutting student of Gutenberg’s and the latter being the owner of a paper mill.
Using the printing press, printing houses were able to mass-produce texts on a scale on previously dreamed of. These houses were run by master printers who owned the shops, chose and edited their selected manuscripts, determined the quantity in which a book was to be printed, sold the books they produced, raised money to run the production operation and set up distribution of the books.
Within print shops, there were several jobs held by several workers. Apprentices worked for the master printers by preparing the ink, dampening the sheets of paper and assisting with the press.
Journeymen printers were men who had completed their apprenticeships and typically helped ensure the quality of the product by centering the print on the paper. Compositors set the type for printing and pressmen worked the press which was a physically demanding job
Lithography
Bavarian author Aloys Senefelder invented lithography in 1796 and this method s used for printing on a smooth surface. It uses chemicals to create the desired image. When the printing plate is introduced to a compatible ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the hydrophobic chemical on the plate, creating the positive part of the image. This allows for a much flatter printing plate and allows for longer use of that plate. High-volume lithography is still used today to produce posters, maps, books, newspapers, really anything that is smooth and mass-produced.
Rotary printing press
In 1843, Richard March Hoe invented rotary drum printing and patented it in 1847. Rotary drum printing involved carving the images around the outside of a cylinder which is then rolled along a continuous roll of paper, cardboard, plastic or other medium, creating a series of copies that can be cut into individual texts.
Into the future . . .
Printing has come a long way from its humble beginnings in ancient Asian cultures. From screenprinting and flexography to photocopying and laser printing, many incredible developments have been made to aid us in our ever-increasing need to distribute knowledge in easier ways. And as you can probably assume, more milestones are being hit every day. In fact, 3D printing is no longer just a special effect from sci-fi movies anymore. It can be used to recreate things by physically “printing” successive layers of a material on top of the previous ones to build a three dimensional image of whatever it is you want to create. We don’t know what the future of printing holds for us but it’s gonna be great to see what happens!
Issue 641
Llama Shlama, Snippetz Inquires: What's the Deal with Alpacas?
“Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Alpaca.”
“Alpaca who?”
“Alpaca suitcase if you pack a trunk.”
Most people probably don’t know the difference between a llama and an alpaca. Or what makes alpacas so special. But with more than 40 alpaca ranches within 25 miles of Colorado Springs, there’s got to be something to these incredible camelids. Is it their fleece which can net between five and 10 pounds per shearing? Maybe it has something to do with the contented humming sounds they make when they are, well, content. Maybe it’s that they are grazing animals that don’t need a ton of space on which to graze, making them easier to raise on a smaller plot of land. Or maybe it’s their naturally intelligent and curious demeanor. Whatever the reason, alpacas certainly are special. And naturally, Snippetz decided to look into alpacas to find out more about them and to see if we could pinpoint exactly what IS so special about them!
All About Alpacas
There are two types of alpacas: Suri and Huacaya. Suri alpacas have longer, shiny fleece that is very soft and often has a slight curl. Suri alpacas are rarer and therefore more expensive. It is estimated that their population makes up about 20 percent of the total alpaca population in the United States. Their fleece reflects their scarcity and is more expensive as well. Often the fiber from Suri alpacas is too slippery to spin into useable yarn by itself and is frequently mixed with cotton, wool or silk.
Huacaya alpacas are fluffier and have a teddy-bear like look which appeals to many alpaca ranchers. These alpacas are actually hardier than Suri alpacas which makes them easier to care for.
Alpacas don’t have horns, hooves, claws or incisors. They are camelids, meaning they are larger animals with long necks and legs, and are herbivores. They have three-chambered stomachs and have two-toed feet with toenails and large, soft foot pads. The foot pads are more versatile than hooves which allows them to navigate steep, rocky terrain.
As you can probably guess, alpacas are not native to North America. In fact, they didn’t make their appearance in the United States until 1984 after being imported from their home in the Andean Mountain range running through Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile in South America. In those parts, they thrive at altitudes between 11,500 and 16,000 feet. They are typically kept in herds and graze on hays and grasses in a smaller quantity than most animals their size.
Speaking of size, alpacas are smaller than llamas, which is one key way to tell the two animals apart. Llamas weigh around 250 to 450 pounds while alpacas weigh about 100 to 150 pounds. The average alpaca stands about 34 to 36 inches at the withers, or the shoulders, while a typical llama stands about 42 to 48 inches tall at the same place. Alpacas are too small to be used as pack animals and are usually bred exclusively for their meat and fleece.
Breeders typically wait until a female is about 18 months old before they begin breeding her. Once a female alpaca is pregnant, the gestation period is about 330 to 360 days and typically results in just one offspring, called a cria. The average cria weighs about 18 pounds. Female alpacas can continue to breed throughout their lifetime.
Alpacas usually live to be about 20 years old, although it’s not unheard of for them to live to be 25 years old.
Alpaca Fleece
Alpaca fleece is often used in knitting and woven items such as blankets, scarves, hats, sweaters, gloves, socks and other similar items. The texture is often compared cashmere because it is incredibly soft and luxurious but provides the same warmth as wool at just one-third the weight. Clothing made from alpaca fleece is stretchy, water-repellant and wrinkle-resistant.
The fleece is also hypoallergenic, making it ideal for people with sensitive skin. Not only is it smoother than wool, which makes it less scratchy, but it also has no lanolin which gives the fleece its hypoallergenic properties.
The type of alpaca from which the fleece is obtained can impact several of the above properties. For example, because Huacaya alpacas have fluffy, crimpy fleece, it is more elastic and better suited for knitting. Suri alpacas have finer, silkier fleece that is better for woven goods.
To obtain their fleece, alpacas are shorn every 12 to 18 months. Many people purchase the fleece in its “raw” form in order to spin it themselves although many others, especially knitters, prefer to buy it as pre-spun yarn.
There are 22 natural shades of alpaca fleece ranging from black to silver to deep brown to champagne. Of course, it is possible to dye the fleece a different color, which is often done to obtain the wide variety of colors desired for yarn. Luckily, it readily accepts dye making it easy to do so.
Alpaca fleece can be purchased through boutiques such as Peak Ranch’s Alpaca Boutique, located in Monument. In 2008 owners and operators Rene and Dennis Beshear, opened Peak Ranch, which boasts a herd of 27 alpacas. The boutique offers a variety of alpaca fleece products, including baby blankets and yarn just waiting to be knitted into a spectacular scarf.
History of Alpacas
The history of alpacas can be traced back about 1000 years before the great pyramids of Giza were built. It was considered a great display of wealth and nobility for a person to have many alpacas and Incan noblemen often showed off their garments that were created using alpaca fleece.
For thousands of years, alpacas bolstered the economy in areas such as Peru before Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Incas in the 17th century. To escape the invaders, the Inca hid in the Andes Mountains, taking with them their alpacas. This act likely helped the species escape extinction.
In the 1940s, Don Julio Barreda began breeding alpacas to produce better fleece and certain sought-after colors. The two different types of alpacas were created by Barreda’s breeding efforts and he is recognized today as the world’s finest alpaca breeder.
Alpaca Snippetz
Llama Shlama, Snippetz Inquires: What's the Deal with Alpacas?
“Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Alpaca.”
“Alpaca who?”
“Alpaca suitcase if you pack a trunk.”
Most people probably don’t know the difference between a llama and an alpaca. Or what makes alpacas so special. But with more than 40 alpaca ranches within 25 miles of Colorado Springs, there’s got to be something to these incredible camelids. Is it their fleece which can net between five and 10 pounds per shearing? Maybe it has something to do with the contented humming sounds they make when they are, well, content. Maybe it’s that they are grazing animals that don’t need a ton of space on which to graze, making them easier to raise on a smaller plot of land. Or maybe it’s their naturally intelligent and curious demeanor. Whatever the reason, alpacas certainly are special. And naturally, Snippetz decided to look into alpacas to find out more about them and to see if we could pinpoint exactly what IS so special about them!
All About Alpacas
There are two types of alpacas: Suri and Huacaya. Suri alpacas have longer, shiny fleece that is very soft and often has a slight curl. Suri alpacas are rarer and therefore more expensive. It is estimated that their population makes up about 20 percent of the total alpaca population in the United States. Their fleece reflects their scarcity and is more expensive as well. Often the fiber from Suri alpacas is too slippery to spin into useable yarn by itself and is frequently mixed with cotton, wool or silk.
Huacaya alpacas are fluffier and have a teddy-bear like look which appeals to many alpaca ranchers. These alpacas are actually hardier than Suri alpacas which makes them easier to care for.
Alpacas don’t have horns, hooves, claws or incisors. They are camelids, meaning they are larger animals with long necks and legs, and are herbivores. They have three-chambered stomachs and have two-toed feet with toenails and large, soft foot pads. The foot pads are more versatile than hooves which allows them to navigate steep, rocky terrain.
As you can probably guess, alpacas are not native to North America. In fact, they didn’t make their appearance in the United States until 1984 after being imported from their home in the Andean Mountain range running through Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile in South America. In those parts, they thrive at altitudes between 11,500 and 16,000 feet. They are typically kept in herds and graze on hays and grasses in a smaller quantity than most animals their size.
Speaking of size, alpacas are smaller than llamas, which is one key way to tell the two animals apart. Llamas weigh around 250 to 450 pounds while alpacas weigh about 100 to 150 pounds. The average alpaca stands about 34 to 36 inches at the withers, or the shoulders, while a typical llama stands about 42 to 48 inches tall at the same place. Alpacas are too small to be used as pack animals and are usually bred exclusively for their meat and fleece.
Breeders typically wait until a female is about 18 months old before they begin breeding her. Once a female alpaca is pregnant, the gestation period is about 330 to 360 days and typically results in just one offspring, called a cria. The average cria weighs about 18 pounds. Female alpacas can continue to breed throughout their lifetime.
Alpacas usually live to be about 20 years old, although it’s not unheard of for them to live to be 25 years old.
Alpaca Fleece
Alpaca fleece is often used in knitting and woven items such as blankets, scarves, hats, sweaters, gloves, socks and other similar items. The texture is often compared cashmere because it is incredibly soft and luxurious but provides the same warmth as wool at just one-third the weight. Clothing made from alpaca fleece is stretchy, water-repellant and wrinkle-resistant.
The fleece is also hypoallergenic, making it ideal for people with sensitive skin. Not only is it smoother than wool, which makes it less scratchy, but it also has no lanolin which gives the fleece its hypoallergenic properties.
The type of alpaca from which the fleece is obtained can impact several of the above properties. For example, because Huacaya alpacas have fluffy, crimpy fleece, it is more elastic and better suited for knitting. Suri alpacas have finer, silkier fleece that is better for woven goods.
To obtain their fleece, alpacas are shorn every 12 to 18 months. Many people purchase the fleece in its “raw” form in order to spin it themselves although many others, especially knitters, prefer to buy it as pre-spun yarn.
There are 22 natural shades of alpaca fleece ranging from black to silver to deep brown to champagne. Of course, it is possible to dye the fleece a different color, which is often done to obtain the wide variety of colors desired for yarn. Luckily, it readily accepts dye making it easy to do so.
Alpaca fleece can be purchased through boutiques such as Peak Ranch’s Alpaca Boutique, located in Monument. In 2008 owners and operators Rene and Dennis Beshear, opened Peak Ranch, which boasts a herd of 27 alpacas. The boutique offers a variety of alpaca fleece products, including baby blankets and yarn just waiting to be knitted into a spectacular scarf.
History of Alpacas
The history of alpacas can be traced back about 1000 years before the great pyramids of Giza were built. It was considered a great display of wealth and nobility for a person to have many alpacas and Incan noblemen often showed off their garments that were created using alpaca fleece.
For thousands of years, alpacas bolstered the economy in areas such as Peru before Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Incas in the 17th century. To escape the invaders, the Inca hid in the Andes Mountains, taking with them their alpacas. This act likely helped the species escape extinction.
In the 1940s, Don Julio Barreda began breeding alpacas to produce better fleece and certain sought-after colors. The two different types of alpacas were created by Barreda’s breeding efforts and he is recognized today as the world’s finest alpaca breeder.
Alpaca Snippetz
- Alpacas are cousins to the llama and are often confused with the vicuña, a smaller type of camelid.
- Alpacas can spit as llamas do but don’t do it as often. A pregnant female will often use this action as a way to ward off a male who is making unwanted advances.
- Since they only eat the top of the pasture grass rather than uprooting the entire plant, alpacas aren’t nearly as damaging to fields than other similar animals.
- Unlike other pasture animals, alpacas create their own communal dung pile which keeps the pastures they roam relatively clean. Their dung can also be used as natural fertilizer.
- Because alpacas have long necks, they can more easily spot predators among the rocks of the mountain slopes in their native Andes Mountains. In the U.S., llamas, donkeys or guard dogs are often used to protect alpacas on their ranches. They still often become prey to mountain lions, coyotes, bears and other similar carnivores.
Issue 640
Snippetz Has Entered Bronco Country… and We're Staying!
“You always want to have good balance. That’s the key to winning a Super Bowl. You look at the teams who have won championships, you got to have balance. So, to be able to run the ball effectively and throw the ball effectively is what gives you the chance to win a world championship.” – John Elway
It’s undeniable that the Broncos had an epic 2013 regular season. Records were broken, games were won and fans were reaffirmed that their Denver Broncos are the real deal. By now, the Seattle Seahawks and the Broncos have faced off in Super Bowl XLVIII and win or lose, our hometown heroes have had an incredible season. But Snippetz had to know, where did it all begin, how did it all start and what did it take for the Broncos to get to where they are now? But besides that, what are some cool facts about this obviously cool team? Read on because Snippetz has done some digging and found out some pretty great information about the Denver Broncos!
Humble Beginnings
The Denver Broncos were founded on Aug. 14, 1959 by Bob Howsam, a minor league baseball owner who was awarded the charter franchise, and were initially part of the American Football League. The team played the first-ever AFL game against the Boston Patriots on Sept. 9, 1960 and pulled off a 13-10 win. Winning seasons were not on the agenda for the Broncos during the 60s, however and the team walked away from that decade with a 39-97-4 record. In fact, throughout the entire 10-year AFL history, the Broncos were the only original team never to have a winning season. The Broncos were also the only original AFL team never to play in the title game.
The team ran into some turmoil in 1965 when the franchise was almost lost but a local ownership group swooped in and took control of the team, rebuilding it. In 1967, the team signed “Franchise” Floyd Little who was a key player in helping the team stay in Denver. That same year, on Aug. 5, 1967, became the first AFL team to play a National Football League team and pull off a win, after defeating the Detroit Lions 13-7 in a preseason game.
Hitting their Stride
The Broncos joined the NFL in the AFL-NFL merger of 1970 and three years later, after hiring former Stanford University coach John Ralston as their head coach the prior year, the Broncos achieved their first winning season. They walked away with a record of 7-5-2. Ralston helped the team achieve two more winning seasons while he was there and finished out the 1976 season with a 9-5 record. Even though he had led the team to their only winning seasons in the franchise’s history, several prominent players made their not-so-good feelings known about Ralston and he soon resigned.
In 1977 the Broncos made their first playoff appearance. They were led by Red Miller, the “Orange Crush Defense” and quarterback Craig Morton and managed to make it to their first Super Bowl appearance where they played, and were ultimately defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, 27-10.
Enter John Elway
John Elway played college football at Stanford before coming to the Broncos. But they didn’t initially had dibs on him. In fact, in 1983, Elway was chosen as the first pick of the draft by the Baltimore Colts. But Elway, who had also been drafted by the New York Yankees as a center-fielder, said he would rather play baseball than football unless he was traded to a team he preferred better and the Denver Broncos just happened to be one of those teams.
Prior to acquiring Elway, the Broncos had featured 24 different starting quarterbacks in the 23 seasons they had been in existence. Elway stayed on with the Broncos from 1983 to 1999, led them to five Super Bowls, two of which they won back-to-back, before he retired.
After Elway
Brian Griese took over as the Broncos quarterback in 1999 following Elway’s retirement but didn’t have a very successful season, ending it with a 6-10 record. Jake Plummer replaced Griese in 2003 and was relatively successful, leading the team to two consecutive 10-6 seasons. In 2005, they made it to the playoffs and were able to hold off the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls. They lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers the following week, ending their Super Bowl bid for that year.
In 2006, the Broncos defense allowed only one touchdown in the first five games, which was an NFL record. Plummer held the team at a strong 7-2 record during that season but was replaced by rookie QB Jay Cutler. Cutler started all that next season which became the Broncos’ first losing season since 1999.
In 2008, the Broncos fired their head coach, Mike Shanahan who had been with them for 14 years and represented the most successful coach in franchise history. Two weeks after his release, the team hired Josh McDaniels as the new head coach and shortly thereafter, hired Kyle Orton as their new quarterback and sent Cutler to the Chicago Bears.
With the 2009 season off to a surprisingly successful start, the Broncos finished it at 8-8 and the next season lost all momentum and crashed to a new franchise record for losses in a single season, ending at 4-12. McDaniels was fired, John Fox was hired, Tim Tebow came in as quarterback to finish out the last three games and after a 1-4 start to the following season, Tebow replaced Orton as the starting quarterback.
Tebow helped the team earn a new NFL record in the 2011 season playoffs by posting the fastest overtime ever, winning in 11 second with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. That’s where their season ended, though because they were defeated 45-10 by the Patriots in the next game.
He’s the Man- ning
Peyton Manning reached an agreement with the Broncos to be their new quarterback on Mar. 20, 2012 and eventually pulled the Broncos back from a rough 2-3 start to an overall 13-3 winning season.
By the 2013 season, the team signed several key players including wide receiver Wes Welker, linebacker Shaun Phillips and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and by drafting defensive tackle Sylvester Williams and running back Montee Ball.
The regular season ended with a 13-3 record with Manning setting new NFL single-season records for passing yardage and passing touchdowns. They also set franchise and league records for touchdowns and points scored.
Broncos Snippetz
Snippetz Has Entered Bronco Country… and We're Staying!
“You always want to have good balance. That’s the key to winning a Super Bowl. You look at the teams who have won championships, you got to have balance. So, to be able to run the ball effectively and throw the ball effectively is what gives you the chance to win a world championship.” – John Elway
It’s undeniable that the Broncos had an epic 2013 regular season. Records were broken, games were won and fans were reaffirmed that their Denver Broncos are the real deal. By now, the Seattle Seahawks and the Broncos have faced off in Super Bowl XLVIII and win or lose, our hometown heroes have had an incredible season. But Snippetz had to know, where did it all begin, how did it all start and what did it take for the Broncos to get to where they are now? But besides that, what are some cool facts about this obviously cool team? Read on because Snippetz has done some digging and found out some pretty great information about the Denver Broncos!
Humble Beginnings
The Denver Broncos were founded on Aug. 14, 1959 by Bob Howsam, a minor league baseball owner who was awarded the charter franchise, and were initially part of the American Football League. The team played the first-ever AFL game against the Boston Patriots on Sept. 9, 1960 and pulled off a 13-10 win. Winning seasons were not on the agenda for the Broncos during the 60s, however and the team walked away from that decade with a 39-97-4 record. In fact, throughout the entire 10-year AFL history, the Broncos were the only original team never to have a winning season. The Broncos were also the only original AFL team never to play in the title game.
The team ran into some turmoil in 1965 when the franchise was almost lost but a local ownership group swooped in and took control of the team, rebuilding it. In 1967, the team signed “Franchise” Floyd Little who was a key player in helping the team stay in Denver. That same year, on Aug. 5, 1967, became the first AFL team to play a National Football League team and pull off a win, after defeating the Detroit Lions 13-7 in a preseason game.
Hitting their Stride
The Broncos joined the NFL in the AFL-NFL merger of 1970 and three years later, after hiring former Stanford University coach John Ralston as their head coach the prior year, the Broncos achieved their first winning season. They walked away with a record of 7-5-2. Ralston helped the team achieve two more winning seasons while he was there and finished out the 1976 season with a 9-5 record. Even though he had led the team to their only winning seasons in the franchise’s history, several prominent players made their not-so-good feelings known about Ralston and he soon resigned.
In 1977 the Broncos made their first playoff appearance. They were led by Red Miller, the “Orange Crush Defense” and quarterback Craig Morton and managed to make it to their first Super Bowl appearance where they played, and were ultimately defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, 27-10.
Enter John Elway
John Elway played college football at Stanford before coming to the Broncos. But they didn’t initially had dibs on him. In fact, in 1983, Elway was chosen as the first pick of the draft by the Baltimore Colts. But Elway, who had also been drafted by the New York Yankees as a center-fielder, said he would rather play baseball than football unless he was traded to a team he preferred better and the Denver Broncos just happened to be one of those teams.
Prior to acquiring Elway, the Broncos had featured 24 different starting quarterbacks in the 23 seasons they had been in existence. Elway stayed on with the Broncos from 1983 to 1999, led them to five Super Bowls, two of which they won back-to-back, before he retired.
After Elway
Brian Griese took over as the Broncos quarterback in 1999 following Elway’s retirement but didn’t have a very successful season, ending it with a 6-10 record. Jake Plummer replaced Griese in 2003 and was relatively successful, leading the team to two consecutive 10-6 seasons. In 2005, they made it to the playoffs and were able to hold off the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls. They lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers the following week, ending their Super Bowl bid for that year.
In 2006, the Broncos defense allowed only one touchdown in the first five games, which was an NFL record. Plummer held the team at a strong 7-2 record during that season but was replaced by rookie QB Jay Cutler. Cutler started all that next season which became the Broncos’ first losing season since 1999.
In 2008, the Broncos fired their head coach, Mike Shanahan who had been with them for 14 years and represented the most successful coach in franchise history. Two weeks after his release, the team hired Josh McDaniels as the new head coach and shortly thereafter, hired Kyle Orton as their new quarterback and sent Cutler to the Chicago Bears.
With the 2009 season off to a surprisingly successful start, the Broncos finished it at 8-8 and the next season lost all momentum and crashed to a new franchise record for losses in a single season, ending at 4-12. McDaniels was fired, John Fox was hired, Tim Tebow came in as quarterback to finish out the last three games and after a 1-4 start to the following season, Tebow replaced Orton as the starting quarterback.
Tebow helped the team earn a new NFL record in the 2011 season playoffs by posting the fastest overtime ever, winning in 11 second with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. That’s where their season ended, though because they were defeated 45-10 by the Patriots in the next game.
He’s the Man- ning
Peyton Manning reached an agreement with the Broncos to be their new quarterback on Mar. 20, 2012 and eventually pulled the Broncos back from a rough 2-3 start to an overall 13-3 winning season.
By the 2013 season, the team signed several key players including wide receiver Wes Welker, linebacker Shaun Phillips and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and by drafting defensive tackle Sylvester Williams and running back Montee Ball.
The regular season ended with a 13-3 record with Manning setting new NFL single-season records for passing yardage and passing touchdowns. They also set franchise and league records for touchdowns and points scored.
Broncos Snippetz
- The Broncos have a fight song called The Mighty Bronco March.
- Elway threw 300 touchdown passes during the regular season while he was a Denver Bronco. The first touchdown he ever threw was for 33 yards to Rick Parros. That was the only pass he ever threw to Parros.
- Jason Elam remains the first and only Broncos kicker ever to attempt at least 20 field goals in a season and walk away having made over 90 percent of them in 2006.
- In 1997, the Broncos led the NFL in points scored, a first in team history. That season, they scored 472 points, gave up 287 points and won the Super Bowl.
- Rod Smith played his entire 12-year NFL career with the Broncos and caught 68 touchdown passes from seven different quarterbacks.
Issue 639
Snippetz Has Cooked Up a Simple Guide to Baking
“Most recently, I learned another hobby: baking. It’s so much fun to mix all the ingredients and to see the cake come out nice. It’s so rewarding when the cake comes out great and tastes great.”
– Yani Tseng, athlete
A few months back, I took a bread-baking class with my mother-in-law and since then, we have both discovered a passion for cooking and baking. Admittedly, her passion has much more skill to back it up but I enjoy baking and creating food even if it’s not always the most appetizing once it’s done. But my bacon and cheddar-filled French rolls were a hit at Christmas so I must have at least a teeny bit of talent tucked away somewhere. And I know I’m not the only person out there who enjoys doing something like baking that doesn’t come naturally to them. So we at Snippetz decided to offer up some guidance to all those budding Julia Childs and Betty Crockers out there who are tired of serving burnt cakes and rock-hard biscuits to their families. Here is our simple guide to baking!
Up Here, the Air is Rare
Most recipes are developed for use at sea level. In Monument, though where the elevation is about 6,975 feet, baking can be difficult. Why? Here are several reasons:
The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure. When the pressure is low, food takes longer to bake. You may need to adjust the temperature, the baking time, or both.
Liquids also evaporate faster so adjustments need to be made to the amounts of flour, sugar and liquids that you add to avoid mixing up a batter that is too moist, too dry or gummy.
Gases expand more than at lower altitudes so dough tends to rise faster. You may need to adjust the rising time and physically punch down the dough during the rising process, or you may need to add less leavening ingredients (like baking soda or powder).
Most prepackaged mixes for baked goods offer advice for how to successfully bake their product by indicating what changes need to be made. Heed that advice!
Common Baking Problems
Perhaps you’ve tried your hand at baking something from scratch only to have your creation come out inedible. Here are some common baking problems you might encounter and a few ideas for how to combat them.
Cakes – often cakes baked above 5,000 feet will rise nicely during baking but may cave in or fall when you take them out. Sometimes they may be coarse or crumbly. You can strengthen the batter by reducing the amount of sugar you use or by adding eggs, egg yolks, or just a bit more flour.
Pies – pies are slightly easier to deal with at higher altitudes but often the crust is too dry and the top gets burned before the filling is completely cooked. Adding more liquid to the crust can help but too much liquid can cause the crust to become tough. Loosely covering your pie with foil can keep the top from burning.
Cookies – cookies baked at our elevation are typically fine but sometimes they spread too much or come out a little tough. Experiment with using less sugar, leavening or fat, or adding a little more liquid and flour to your recipe to see what works best for your altitude. Too much flour can make the cookies tough so be careful with that ingredient. Sometimes the answer is simply to increase your oven’s heat by 15°F or 25°F.
Muffins, scones, biscuits, cornbread, etc – with baked goods such as these, a common problem is that the batter doesn’t rise properly. To combat this, you’ll want a more acidic batter so use less baking soda which neutralizes acid. If your batter keeps collapsing, use less sugar and increase the flour you add. To prevent your creation from being too dry, you can substitute buttermilk or yogurt for water. As with pies, the top may cook faster than the batter underneath so using foil to cover the pan loosely can help.
Yeast breads – breads of this sort tend to rise much faster at our high altitude so ingredient or technique adjustments are often a must. Some people reduce the amount of yeast or use ice water instead of warm water in their recipes. Others will punch down their dough more often and allow for a longer rising time to balance it out. “Over-proofed” bread dough (one that has risen too much) is a common problem and can cause the dough to warp, collapse or droop during baking. To prevent over-proofing, allow the dough to rise about one third of the total volume rather than doubling in volume before baking. And salt is a must; never leave it out. Salt slows down the growth of yeast and the expansion of gases, hampering the rising process to an acceptable speed. Include a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven when baking to achieve a good rise and crisp crust.
Other High Altitude Baking Tips
High Altitude “Rules of Thumb”
In general, the following adjustments will work to prevent some of the problems we listed above.
Remember that all of the above suggestions are just that: suggestions. The absolute best way to determine what will work for your area is to try different techniques and adjustments. Only adjust one thing at a time or you won’t know what adjustment was the correct one! And above all, HAVE FUN!
Snippetz Has Cooked Up a Simple Guide to Baking
“Most recently, I learned another hobby: baking. It’s so much fun to mix all the ingredients and to see the cake come out nice. It’s so rewarding when the cake comes out great and tastes great.”
– Yani Tseng, athlete
A few months back, I took a bread-baking class with my mother-in-law and since then, we have both discovered a passion for cooking and baking. Admittedly, her passion has much more skill to back it up but I enjoy baking and creating food even if it’s not always the most appetizing once it’s done. But my bacon and cheddar-filled French rolls were a hit at Christmas so I must have at least a teeny bit of talent tucked away somewhere. And I know I’m not the only person out there who enjoys doing something like baking that doesn’t come naturally to them. So we at Snippetz decided to offer up some guidance to all those budding Julia Childs and Betty Crockers out there who are tired of serving burnt cakes and rock-hard biscuits to their families. Here is our simple guide to baking!
Up Here, the Air is Rare
Most recipes are developed for use at sea level. In Monument, though where the elevation is about 6,975 feet, baking can be difficult. Why? Here are several reasons:
The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure. When the pressure is low, food takes longer to bake. You may need to adjust the temperature, the baking time, or both.
Liquids also evaporate faster so adjustments need to be made to the amounts of flour, sugar and liquids that you add to avoid mixing up a batter that is too moist, too dry or gummy.
Gases expand more than at lower altitudes so dough tends to rise faster. You may need to adjust the rising time and physically punch down the dough during the rising process, or you may need to add less leavening ingredients (like baking soda or powder).
Most prepackaged mixes for baked goods offer advice for how to successfully bake their product by indicating what changes need to be made. Heed that advice!
Common Baking Problems
Perhaps you’ve tried your hand at baking something from scratch only to have your creation come out inedible. Here are some common baking problems you might encounter and a few ideas for how to combat them.
Cakes – often cakes baked above 5,000 feet will rise nicely during baking but may cave in or fall when you take them out. Sometimes they may be coarse or crumbly. You can strengthen the batter by reducing the amount of sugar you use or by adding eggs, egg yolks, or just a bit more flour.
Pies – pies are slightly easier to deal with at higher altitudes but often the crust is too dry and the top gets burned before the filling is completely cooked. Adding more liquid to the crust can help but too much liquid can cause the crust to become tough. Loosely covering your pie with foil can keep the top from burning.
Cookies – cookies baked at our elevation are typically fine but sometimes they spread too much or come out a little tough. Experiment with using less sugar, leavening or fat, or adding a little more liquid and flour to your recipe to see what works best for your altitude. Too much flour can make the cookies tough so be careful with that ingredient. Sometimes the answer is simply to increase your oven’s heat by 15°F or 25°F.
Muffins, scones, biscuits, cornbread, etc – with baked goods such as these, a common problem is that the batter doesn’t rise properly. To combat this, you’ll want a more acidic batter so use less baking soda which neutralizes acid. If your batter keeps collapsing, use less sugar and increase the flour you add. To prevent your creation from being too dry, you can substitute buttermilk or yogurt for water. As with pies, the top may cook faster than the batter underneath so using foil to cover the pan loosely can help.
Yeast breads – breads of this sort tend to rise much faster at our high altitude so ingredient or technique adjustments are often a must. Some people reduce the amount of yeast or use ice water instead of warm water in their recipes. Others will punch down their dough more often and allow for a longer rising time to balance it out. “Over-proofed” bread dough (one that has risen too much) is a common problem and can cause the dough to warp, collapse or droop during baking. To prevent over-proofing, allow the dough to rise about one third of the total volume rather than doubling in volume before baking. And salt is a must; never leave it out. Salt slows down the growth of yeast and the expansion of gases, hampering the rising process to an acceptable speed. Include a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven when baking to achieve a good rise and crisp crust.
Other High Altitude Baking Tips
- Cake batter tends to stick to the pan more at higher altitudes so make sure to grease you pan well and then dust them with flour. You can opt to line pans with parchment paper instead.
- Instead of filling pans 2/3 full as usually indicated by a recipe, fill it 1/2 full to prevent overflowing.
- At high altitudes, flavors tend to be less pronounced because there aren’t as many moisture particles to carry the aroma to the nose so be prepared to use more spices to create the desired flavor profile.
- If your recipe calls for beaten egg whites, be cautious. Stiffly beaten whites tend to expand quickly and they can literally pop inside your batter causing whatever it is you’re baking to collapse on itself as it cools.
- Make sure to promptly wrap and store your baked goods once they’ve cooled. They will dry out and go stale much more quickly at a higher altitude than at lower ones.
- Always properly preheat your oven. While it may beep indicating it’s ready to use, it’s best to wait about 15 minutes anyway to make sure you’re getting as much heat as possible.
- The middle rack of the oven provides the most even heat. It will remain moderately heated throughout the baking time while the bottom rack can get overly hot and burn your creation.
High Altitude “Rules of Thumb”
In general, the following adjustments will work to prevent some of the problems we listed above.
- Reduce the amount of baking powder by 1/4 teaspoon for each teaspoon the recipe calls for.
- Reduce the amount of sugar used by up to 2 tablespoons for each cup the recipe calls for.
- Increase the amount of whatever liquid you need by 3 to 4 tablespoons for each cup the recipe calls for.
- Increase your oven temperature by 25°F.
Remember that all of the above suggestions are just that: suggestions. The absolute best way to determine what will work for your area is to try different techniques and adjustments. Only adjust one thing at a time or you won’t know what adjustment was the correct one! And above all, HAVE FUN!
Issue 638
Snippetz Has a Growing Curiosity: Homemade Greenhouses
“There’s nothing I like more than picking fresh vegetables then putting them in the dinner you make that night.”
– Patrick Duffy, actor
With the rising cost of foods today, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, more people are turning to gardening as an alternative to buying those items from the store. In Colorado’s harsh winters and often drought-plagued summers, keeping your plants healthy and happy throughout the year can be quite a challenge. It’s far from impossible, though. So what’s the solution to this conundrum? Build a greenhouse! They are climate-controlled, can be customized to fit whatever size space you have available and can be used year-round to allow you to keep an ample supply of your favorite fresh fruits and veggies at hand. Feeling confident that erecting a greenhouse is more complicated than it sounds, Snippetz decided to research some homemade greenhouse options and compiled it all right here, just for you!
The basics
There are two very important elements to any greenhouse: the frame and the covering. The frame must be sturdy enough to hold up the covering and leave enough room inside for the plants to grow. The covering must be transparent enough to allow sunlight in to help the plants grow up solid enough to keep the heat trapped inside.
Knowing what you plan to do with your greenhouse is also a key element when determining how to build your greenhouse. Some people want to extend their growing season of plants that can be easily found in their climate during the growing season. Others wish to grow plants found outside their climate range which can be a bit more difficult. With the right materials, both options are viable.
Getting started
Size, location and materials are essential considerations to make when choosing how to build your greenhouse. Knowing that a small stream tends to form directly along one of your fence lines in hard rainstorms makes that area an easy one to eliminate. Also, taking into consideration weather phenomena like extreme wind or heavy snow is very important when determining what your greenhouse should look like and be made of.
Once you know what you want to grow and how much space you need to grow it, you can begin to assemble the materials necessary to construct your greenhouse. Here are some guidelines for getting the right materials based on what you plan to grow.
For the person who wants to extend the growing season or boost the longevity of their seasonal plants, plastic sheeting should suffice for a covering for your greenhouse. It is the least expensive type of covering and the easiest to use. Light transmission is limited as is heat retention which limits your growing capabilities, especially for plants outside your climate range.
Plexiglass or another hard, clear plastic is a great choice for anyone wanting to not only grow things within their own climate range but even a range out two outside of it. The problem is that the sheets tend to yellow over time and may need replacing but if the frame is sturdy enough, the project isn’t too difficult or expensive and the results of what you can successfully grow are worth the effort.
Fiberglass is another alternative covering that provides maximum strength through a lightweight material. It provides decent light and heat penetration and will allow you to grow plants from most climate zones. This material tends to be more costly which might put it out of the typical do-it-yourself greenhouse builder’s budget.
For the die-hard gardener with a larger budget, tempered glass is by far the best option. It provides the best light penetration and won’t yellow over time. It is definitely heavy and can be more susceptible to breakage, especially during massive hailstorms like the ones that ravaged our area over the past summer. It is more expensive but allows you do grow just about anything you want.
The covering you choose typically determines what framing material you’ll use. For plastic sheeting, just about any frame from wood to aluminum will work. For glass, aluminum is a better, sturdier construction material. Wood works best for plexiglass or fiberglass.
Buy or build? That is the question . . .
Building your own greenhouse may sound like a great idea. Some people can manage that type of construction and labor while others might prefer the option to have someone else do all the building. That’s where a pre-fabricated greenhouse may come into play. Both are viable options and each have their own merits. As mentioned above, there is a fair amount of work and planning necessary when you choose to build your own greenhouse. However the cost could be significantly less which makes that option pretty attractive to a lot of people. Here are of the pros and cons to each option to help make your decision based on what will work best for you.
Pre-fab – this option requires a smaller time commitment from you because what you see in the catalog or in the store is what you’re going to get. You might have to do some construction if you purchase a DIY kit but you’ll still be saving yourself the time to compute the amount of materials necessary plus doing all the cutting and measuring to get it just right. Often pre-fab greenhouses are very sturdy structures although you will need to consider the quality of the product you’re purchasing; you get what you pay for, after all. The end result will likely be a very professional product which appeals to many people and might be a requirement if you live in a covenanted neighborhood that won’t allow for the more rustic, “homemade” look of a greenhouse you slapped together yourself.
Homemade – this type is a larger time commitment than a pre-fab building but allows you great control over what the structure will look like. How much space you have, the style you prefer, even the materials you use are entirely up to you. Speaking of materials, the cost difference between homemade and pre-fab greenhouses often numbers in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Purchasing materials individually rather than in a kit or already built allows you to shop around for the best bang for your buck. You can also build your greenhouse to withstand any unusual weather conditions your area might endure rather than trusting a company in California to know what Colorado winters are like.
The starter greenhouse
A good way to begin your foray into greenhouses is to try something a little less expensive and less permanent. A lean-to greenhouse is the perfect option. It utilizes the insulated wall of an existing building as the foundation for the whole structure. And it’s just like it sounds; a structure that essentially leans into that one insulated wall and everything else is built up from that.
Framing out the structure using that insulated wall allows you to use whatever materials in whatever amount you can afford to build a greenhouse in a smaller, starter size. You can test the waters of an extended growing season without emptying your wallet to build a new structure. The insulated wall helps keep the temperature warm enough to keep plants growing past their prime growing time. If you plan to build this against your house, which is the typical placement of this type of greenhouse, be advised that not all locations will allow for this type of structure. Do you research to know what’s allowed and what’s not and what you’ll need to pull it off.
Snippetz Has a Growing Curiosity: Homemade Greenhouses
“There’s nothing I like more than picking fresh vegetables then putting them in the dinner you make that night.”
– Patrick Duffy, actor
With the rising cost of foods today, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, more people are turning to gardening as an alternative to buying those items from the store. In Colorado’s harsh winters and often drought-plagued summers, keeping your plants healthy and happy throughout the year can be quite a challenge. It’s far from impossible, though. So what’s the solution to this conundrum? Build a greenhouse! They are climate-controlled, can be customized to fit whatever size space you have available and can be used year-round to allow you to keep an ample supply of your favorite fresh fruits and veggies at hand. Feeling confident that erecting a greenhouse is more complicated than it sounds, Snippetz decided to research some homemade greenhouse options and compiled it all right here, just for you!
The basics
There are two very important elements to any greenhouse: the frame and the covering. The frame must be sturdy enough to hold up the covering and leave enough room inside for the plants to grow. The covering must be transparent enough to allow sunlight in to help the plants grow up solid enough to keep the heat trapped inside.
Knowing what you plan to do with your greenhouse is also a key element when determining how to build your greenhouse. Some people want to extend their growing season of plants that can be easily found in their climate during the growing season. Others wish to grow plants found outside their climate range which can be a bit more difficult. With the right materials, both options are viable.
Getting started
Size, location and materials are essential considerations to make when choosing how to build your greenhouse. Knowing that a small stream tends to form directly along one of your fence lines in hard rainstorms makes that area an easy one to eliminate. Also, taking into consideration weather phenomena like extreme wind or heavy snow is very important when determining what your greenhouse should look like and be made of.
Once you know what you want to grow and how much space you need to grow it, you can begin to assemble the materials necessary to construct your greenhouse. Here are some guidelines for getting the right materials based on what you plan to grow.
For the person who wants to extend the growing season or boost the longevity of their seasonal plants, plastic sheeting should suffice for a covering for your greenhouse. It is the least expensive type of covering and the easiest to use. Light transmission is limited as is heat retention which limits your growing capabilities, especially for plants outside your climate range.
Plexiglass or another hard, clear plastic is a great choice for anyone wanting to not only grow things within their own climate range but even a range out two outside of it. The problem is that the sheets tend to yellow over time and may need replacing but if the frame is sturdy enough, the project isn’t too difficult or expensive and the results of what you can successfully grow are worth the effort.
Fiberglass is another alternative covering that provides maximum strength through a lightweight material. It provides decent light and heat penetration and will allow you to grow plants from most climate zones. This material tends to be more costly which might put it out of the typical do-it-yourself greenhouse builder’s budget.
For the die-hard gardener with a larger budget, tempered glass is by far the best option. It provides the best light penetration and won’t yellow over time. It is definitely heavy and can be more susceptible to breakage, especially during massive hailstorms like the ones that ravaged our area over the past summer. It is more expensive but allows you do grow just about anything you want.
The covering you choose typically determines what framing material you’ll use. For plastic sheeting, just about any frame from wood to aluminum will work. For glass, aluminum is a better, sturdier construction material. Wood works best for plexiglass or fiberglass.
Buy or build? That is the question . . .
Building your own greenhouse may sound like a great idea. Some people can manage that type of construction and labor while others might prefer the option to have someone else do all the building. That’s where a pre-fabricated greenhouse may come into play. Both are viable options and each have their own merits. As mentioned above, there is a fair amount of work and planning necessary when you choose to build your own greenhouse. However the cost could be significantly less which makes that option pretty attractive to a lot of people. Here are of the pros and cons to each option to help make your decision based on what will work best for you.
Pre-fab – this option requires a smaller time commitment from you because what you see in the catalog or in the store is what you’re going to get. You might have to do some construction if you purchase a DIY kit but you’ll still be saving yourself the time to compute the amount of materials necessary plus doing all the cutting and measuring to get it just right. Often pre-fab greenhouses are very sturdy structures although you will need to consider the quality of the product you’re purchasing; you get what you pay for, after all. The end result will likely be a very professional product which appeals to many people and might be a requirement if you live in a covenanted neighborhood that won’t allow for the more rustic, “homemade” look of a greenhouse you slapped together yourself.
Homemade – this type is a larger time commitment than a pre-fab building but allows you great control over what the structure will look like. How much space you have, the style you prefer, even the materials you use are entirely up to you. Speaking of materials, the cost difference between homemade and pre-fab greenhouses often numbers in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Purchasing materials individually rather than in a kit or already built allows you to shop around for the best bang for your buck. You can also build your greenhouse to withstand any unusual weather conditions your area might endure rather than trusting a company in California to know what Colorado winters are like.
The starter greenhouse
A good way to begin your foray into greenhouses is to try something a little less expensive and less permanent. A lean-to greenhouse is the perfect option. It utilizes the insulated wall of an existing building as the foundation for the whole structure. And it’s just like it sounds; a structure that essentially leans into that one insulated wall and everything else is built up from that.
Framing out the structure using that insulated wall allows you to use whatever materials in whatever amount you can afford to build a greenhouse in a smaller, starter size. You can test the waters of an extended growing season without emptying your wallet to build a new structure. The insulated wall helps keep the temperature warm enough to keep plants growing past their prime growing time. If you plan to build this against your house, which is the typical placement of this type of greenhouse, be advised that not all locations will allow for this type of structure. Do you research to know what’s allowed and what’s not and what you’ll need to pull it off.
Issue 637
Use it or Lose it: Snippetz Plays Some Mind Games
“The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use, we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.”
– Carl Saga, scientist
If you’ve tuned in to your favorite show on T.V. lately, you’ve probably seen commercials for brain-training games online that claim to boost your intelligence and help you exercise your brain. As we all know, sometimes commercials stretch the truth a bit to get people to buy their products and it’s safe to say that online brain-training companies are not the exception. But just what exactly do these brain-training sites DO? Can you spend a few minutes each day playing the games they offer and walk away as the next Albert Einstein? Snippetz just had to know: what’s the deal behind all these mind games? So we looked into it to see what we could find . . . and here are the results!
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity may sound like a complicated scientific concept but in reality, it’s fairly simple. It means the brain’s ability to reorganize itself, to reframe a situation or scenario, to think outside the box. It’s the brain’s ability to adapt to changes and make the best of what it has to work with.
For example, if one part of the brain is damaged, another part may take over some of the functions controlled by the damaged portion. By reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons, the brain is able to compensate for portion that’s not pulling its weight, so to speak.
The brain games you find online or perhaps might even watch on the National Geographic Channel television show “Brain Games” bank on the idea of neuroplasticity. By presenting you with scenarios that might require you to think in a way you might not typically think, your brain is forming new connections in order to reach a desired answer as quickly as possible. Thus, you’re “exercising” your brain.
Brain games
So what are some of these brain game sites and what do they claim to do for you? Here are a few for you to ponder:
Lumosity – holds bragging rights as both an online brain-training company and a neuroscience research company based out of San Francisco. The website offers more than 40 games in memory, attention, flexibility, speed of processing and problem solving. The company claims that its brand of brain-training can make you feel “smarter, sharper and brighter.”
Brain Metrix – states it is an educational website that can help you process information more quickly and more efficiently by engaging your brain in a fitness program that is both fun and stimulating. The games are touted as simple but effective and the company claims that they can help you perform multiple tasks at the same time.
Fit Brains – claims to have the highest quality brain-training games on the Internet. The company’s scientific efforts are led by Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist and national leader in “Brain Health.” The games on this site come in several forms, including Uber Brain, the company’s “mental cross-trainer.” The site states that their brand of brain-training is “an effective way to build cognitive reserve and increase brain performance.”
Do brain games really work?
All of the above mentioned brain-training sites claim to be based on scientific evidence that what they provide actually helps your brain. To a degree, this is true but it depends on what your definition of “help” is. For some people, the objective is to make themselves smarter. And the claims made by the online training sites seem to indicate that this is a probable outcome. However, how accurate are those claims?
Research has been done to try to determine the effectiveness of these games on a person’s intelligence level and the results point to some interesting information. Some research has shown a rise in skill level on certain brain-training games over time but those games can’t conclusively determine that a person’s intelligence level has risen. Rather, those people became more adept at the games they were given multiple times at increasingly difficult skill levels. That makes sense since ultimately, practice makes perfect!
Cheater, cheater chicken eater
Another important question is, do the tests really measure intelligence? One game is based on a psychological test called the Stroup test. The test involves identifying the color of a word as quickly as possible. The hitch is that the word is the name of a color that differs from the color in which it’s printed. For example, the word “blue” would show up in red. The brain has trouble because of the conflicting information it receives from what it’s reading and what color it’s seeing.
The Stroup test can be very informative of a person’s processing abilities but a person can cheat to beat it, which naturally doesn’t help measure their processing abilities at all. In fact, I found a way to cheat the test in college. I had already learned about it in another class so when a different psychology teacher asked me to demonstrate the test, I unfocused my eyes so I wasn’t able to read the word, only see the color. I passed the test with flying colors (no pun intended) and dumbfounded my poor professor, who also happened to be in his first year of teaching at the college. I don’t recommend this to anyone else because cheating is bad, but as you can see, there are ways to fool some of the tests that are supposed to measure your intelligence.
The real world is overrated
Regardless of how well or poorly you may do on a test like the Stroup test, how can you apply something like that to a real-world situation? I don’t often find myself confronted with the Stroup test in my everyday dealings. In fact, research has often shown that brain-training is great for getting better at the tests with which you are presented but that there isn’t a significant benefit to a generally healthy adult who embarks on brain-training exercises.
It all comes down to the numbers
Companies like Lumosity, Jungle Memory, Brain Metrix and others have helped create a multi-million dollar industry of brain training. And those people who are literally buying into the idea of increased mental abilities are making it that way. It’s true that some brain-training exercises on some sites are free but some sites require a monetary commitment to gain full access to the games they offer. For example, Lumosity charges $14.95 per month for full access to their site. If you choose a year-long commitment with them, the rate drops to $6.95 per month and a two-year commitment brings the rate down to $4.99 per month. If you want unlimited access for your entire life, you can opt to make a one-time payment of $299.95.
Since there’s no indication that these sites can actually improve your mental capabilities, it might be better to just buy a video game console instead. Why? Research has shown that people who play video games have more short-term memory abilities and increased reasoning skills. And all these years, we thought video games were supposed to rot our brains when we all should’ve been playing them this entire time! Who knew?
Use it or Lose it: Snippetz Plays Some Mind Games
“The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use, we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.”
– Carl Saga, scientist
If you’ve tuned in to your favorite show on T.V. lately, you’ve probably seen commercials for brain-training games online that claim to boost your intelligence and help you exercise your brain. As we all know, sometimes commercials stretch the truth a bit to get people to buy their products and it’s safe to say that online brain-training companies are not the exception. But just what exactly do these brain-training sites DO? Can you spend a few minutes each day playing the games they offer and walk away as the next Albert Einstein? Snippetz just had to know: what’s the deal behind all these mind games? So we looked into it to see what we could find . . . and here are the results!
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity may sound like a complicated scientific concept but in reality, it’s fairly simple. It means the brain’s ability to reorganize itself, to reframe a situation or scenario, to think outside the box. It’s the brain’s ability to adapt to changes and make the best of what it has to work with.
For example, if one part of the brain is damaged, another part may take over some of the functions controlled by the damaged portion. By reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons, the brain is able to compensate for portion that’s not pulling its weight, so to speak.
The brain games you find online or perhaps might even watch on the National Geographic Channel television show “Brain Games” bank on the idea of neuroplasticity. By presenting you with scenarios that might require you to think in a way you might not typically think, your brain is forming new connections in order to reach a desired answer as quickly as possible. Thus, you’re “exercising” your brain.
Brain games
So what are some of these brain game sites and what do they claim to do for you? Here are a few for you to ponder:
Lumosity – holds bragging rights as both an online brain-training company and a neuroscience research company based out of San Francisco. The website offers more than 40 games in memory, attention, flexibility, speed of processing and problem solving. The company claims that its brand of brain-training can make you feel “smarter, sharper and brighter.”
Brain Metrix – states it is an educational website that can help you process information more quickly and more efficiently by engaging your brain in a fitness program that is both fun and stimulating. The games are touted as simple but effective and the company claims that they can help you perform multiple tasks at the same time.
Fit Brains – claims to have the highest quality brain-training games on the Internet. The company’s scientific efforts are led by Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist and national leader in “Brain Health.” The games on this site come in several forms, including Uber Brain, the company’s “mental cross-trainer.” The site states that their brand of brain-training is “an effective way to build cognitive reserve and increase brain performance.”
Do brain games really work?
All of the above mentioned brain-training sites claim to be based on scientific evidence that what they provide actually helps your brain. To a degree, this is true but it depends on what your definition of “help” is. For some people, the objective is to make themselves smarter. And the claims made by the online training sites seem to indicate that this is a probable outcome. However, how accurate are those claims?
Research has been done to try to determine the effectiveness of these games on a person’s intelligence level and the results point to some interesting information. Some research has shown a rise in skill level on certain brain-training games over time but those games can’t conclusively determine that a person’s intelligence level has risen. Rather, those people became more adept at the games they were given multiple times at increasingly difficult skill levels. That makes sense since ultimately, practice makes perfect!
Cheater, cheater chicken eater
Another important question is, do the tests really measure intelligence? One game is based on a psychological test called the Stroup test. The test involves identifying the color of a word as quickly as possible. The hitch is that the word is the name of a color that differs from the color in which it’s printed. For example, the word “blue” would show up in red. The brain has trouble because of the conflicting information it receives from what it’s reading and what color it’s seeing.
The Stroup test can be very informative of a person’s processing abilities but a person can cheat to beat it, which naturally doesn’t help measure their processing abilities at all. In fact, I found a way to cheat the test in college. I had already learned about it in another class so when a different psychology teacher asked me to demonstrate the test, I unfocused my eyes so I wasn’t able to read the word, only see the color. I passed the test with flying colors (no pun intended) and dumbfounded my poor professor, who also happened to be in his first year of teaching at the college. I don’t recommend this to anyone else because cheating is bad, but as you can see, there are ways to fool some of the tests that are supposed to measure your intelligence.
The real world is overrated
Regardless of how well or poorly you may do on a test like the Stroup test, how can you apply something like that to a real-world situation? I don’t often find myself confronted with the Stroup test in my everyday dealings. In fact, research has often shown that brain-training is great for getting better at the tests with which you are presented but that there isn’t a significant benefit to a generally healthy adult who embarks on brain-training exercises.
It all comes down to the numbers
Companies like Lumosity, Jungle Memory, Brain Metrix and others have helped create a multi-million dollar industry of brain training. And those people who are literally buying into the idea of increased mental abilities are making it that way. It’s true that some brain-training exercises on some sites are free but some sites require a monetary commitment to gain full access to the games they offer. For example, Lumosity charges $14.95 per month for full access to their site. If you choose a year-long commitment with them, the rate drops to $6.95 per month and a two-year commitment brings the rate down to $4.99 per month. If you want unlimited access for your entire life, you can opt to make a one-time payment of $299.95.
Since there’s no indication that these sites can actually improve your mental capabilities, it might be better to just buy a video game console instead. Why? Research has shown that people who play video games have more short-term memory abilities and increased reasoning skills. And all these years, we thought video games were supposed to rot our brains when we all should’ve been playing them this entire time! Who knew?
Issue 636
Snippetz Draws Out Some Information on Body Art and Modification
“A lot of my friends have tattoos; I realized that it’s not only just a part of pop culture but a bit of a map on someone’s body which says something about people. A part of their life, like an armor or a crest.”
– Christian Louboutin, French footwear designer
Body modification of one type or another is more common than ever. People boast tattoos and piercings and such methods of personal expression have become almost main stream. While not everyone has jumped on the “body-modding” bandwagon, cultures around the globe have incorporated similar traditions into their everyday practices for literally thousands of years. And naturally, Snippetz became curious. What’s the history of body art and modification? While current trends may appear somewhat abstract or even absurd, ancient societies have long used these trends to indicate wealth, beauty and status. And as always, we’ve compiled some historical information to give you some insight into the practice of body modification.
The Iceman Cometh . . . and he has tattoos
It’s true that for thousands of years, people have permanently marked their bodies with tattoos. This trend is most definitely not a new one. In ancient times, these drawings and designs always had special meaning for the wearer, whether it be to declare their love of another, to show their faith in a religion or even to punish them for a crime they had committed. In fact, the “Iceman” mummy, found in 1991 in the area of the Italian-Austrian border had tattooed dots and small crosses adorning his lower spine and right knee and ankle joints. And he was carbon-dated at being around 5,200 years old.
Why are you tattooed?
As mentioned above, tattoos served as designs denoting status, wealth, religious affiliation and other important criteria. But it is also believed that tattoos functioned in a therapeutic role. This idea is strongly supported by the distribution and pattern of tattoos found on ancient Egyptian women who often had them focused around their abdomen and on top of their thighs and breasts. The pattern often resembled a net and is believed to have served as a permanent amulet to sort of keep everything in during pregnancy and to protect both mother and child during labor and delivery.
The Maori culture of New Zealand practiced the art of tattooing but focused on the head and face since that was considered the most important part of the body. The tattoos were tapped into the skin using chiseled bone and then a soot-based pigment was rubbed into the wounds. Maori women often had tattoos that centered around their mouths and on their chins which they maintained effectively kept their skin from wrinkling, keeping them young-looking much longer. Women of this tribe performed this practice as recently as the 1970s.
Scarification
Certain skin types and tones, especially darker ones, tend not to take the colored ink used in tattoos and thus, a related technique emerged called scarification. In this method, small incisions are made in the skin and the skin is lifted slightly to make space for sand or ash to be placed underneath the skin. Patterns are created in this method and when the wounds have healed, raised scars are left behind.
Henna
A non-permanent form of body art is the art of henna tattooing. These designs are drawn onto the skin using a paste made from the leaves of the henna plant which are dried and crushed. The paste stains the skin leaving behind an orange-brown color. When applied to the palms and soles of the feet, the stain takes on a dark reddish-brown because the skin in these areas is the thickest and contains the most keratin. Henna designs usually last from one to four weeks.
Henna is mostly used for special occasions in Africa, Pakistan, India and other parts of the Middle East. Most popular among the traditional uses is the celebration of the Mehndi (henna) Night which occurs prior to a wedding. The bride, her family and friends gather to plays games, listen to music and dance while the bride receives extensive henna patterns on her hands and feet. The ritual can take hours and often requires the work of multiple henna artists.
One major advantage of receiving the henna tattoos is that the bride doesn’t have to do any housework while the henna stains are visible. Why didn’t I know about this tradition when I got married?
Neck rings
Neck rings are a form of body modification typically found in Southeast Asia. Girls begin wearing these heavy golden coils (they look like individual rings but truly aren’t) as early as five years old. It is often thought that the rings stretch out the woman’s neck but in reality, the rings push down on her collarbones, altering the angle of her shoulders, making her neck appear longer.
The tradition of wearing the neck rings, which can reach a size of twenty turns, is in keeping with the ideal that beauty can be found in an elongated neck. The explorer Marco Polo was the first to describe this neck elongation practice in the 1300s.
Foot binding
Foot binding as a form of body modification dates back to ancient China, most likely to the Song dynasty. The practice involves binding a young girl’s feet to prevent growth so they remain tiny and delicate. The ideal foot size was considered to be about four inches and women who endured this painful practice are said to have “lotus feet.” Foot binding was generally done by the upper class because it was completely impractical for a working-class family to basically disable one of their family members. The practice has essentially died, although there are still a few women left with “lotus feet.”
Nose plugs
This practice can be attributed almost exclusively to the Apatani tribe in the district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Women typically receive facial tattoos and nose plugs when they are very young and are expected to wear the plugs for the rest of their lives. Since the tribe does not keep any written records, it has been hypothesized that the nose plug practice was created in order to make the women unattractive to neighboring tribes. Nose plugs are rapidly losing popularity even though the tradition dates back hundreds of years.
Lip plates
Lip plates are practiced exclusively by the Mursi, Chai and Tirma tribes of Africa although it used to be much more widespread. Beginning at the age of 15 or 16, young women begin stretching out their lower lip with a series of plates that increase in diameter. Most women will endure the practice until their lip has stretched to hold a 12-centimeter plate although some can handle plates even larger than that. While it is speculated that the purpose of the plate is to signify a rite of passage, others believe wearing a large plate is a beauty standard within the tribes.
Body-modding Snippetz
Snippetz Draws Out Some Information on Body Art and Modification
“A lot of my friends have tattoos; I realized that it’s not only just a part of pop culture but a bit of a map on someone’s body which says something about people. A part of their life, like an armor or a crest.”
– Christian Louboutin, French footwear designer
Body modification of one type or another is more common than ever. People boast tattoos and piercings and such methods of personal expression have become almost main stream. While not everyone has jumped on the “body-modding” bandwagon, cultures around the globe have incorporated similar traditions into their everyday practices for literally thousands of years. And naturally, Snippetz became curious. What’s the history of body art and modification? While current trends may appear somewhat abstract or even absurd, ancient societies have long used these trends to indicate wealth, beauty and status. And as always, we’ve compiled some historical information to give you some insight into the practice of body modification.
The Iceman Cometh . . . and he has tattoos
It’s true that for thousands of years, people have permanently marked their bodies with tattoos. This trend is most definitely not a new one. In ancient times, these drawings and designs always had special meaning for the wearer, whether it be to declare their love of another, to show their faith in a religion or even to punish them for a crime they had committed. In fact, the “Iceman” mummy, found in 1991 in the area of the Italian-Austrian border had tattooed dots and small crosses adorning his lower spine and right knee and ankle joints. And he was carbon-dated at being around 5,200 years old.
Why are you tattooed?
As mentioned above, tattoos served as designs denoting status, wealth, religious affiliation and other important criteria. But it is also believed that tattoos functioned in a therapeutic role. This idea is strongly supported by the distribution and pattern of tattoos found on ancient Egyptian women who often had them focused around their abdomen and on top of their thighs and breasts. The pattern often resembled a net and is believed to have served as a permanent amulet to sort of keep everything in during pregnancy and to protect both mother and child during labor and delivery.
The Maori culture of New Zealand practiced the art of tattooing but focused on the head and face since that was considered the most important part of the body. The tattoos were tapped into the skin using chiseled bone and then a soot-based pigment was rubbed into the wounds. Maori women often had tattoos that centered around their mouths and on their chins which they maintained effectively kept their skin from wrinkling, keeping them young-looking much longer. Women of this tribe performed this practice as recently as the 1970s.
Scarification
Certain skin types and tones, especially darker ones, tend not to take the colored ink used in tattoos and thus, a related technique emerged called scarification. In this method, small incisions are made in the skin and the skin is lifted slightly to make space for sand or ash to be placed underneath the skin. Patterns are created in this method and when the wounds have healed, raised scars are left behind.
Henna
A non-permanent form of body art is the art of henna tattooing. These designs are drawn onto the skin using a paste made from the leaves of the henna plant which are dried and crushed. The paste stains the skin leaving behind an orange-brown color. When applied to the palms and soles of the feet, the stain takes on a dark reddish-brown because the skin in these areas is the thickest and contains the most keratin. Henna designs usually last from one to four weeks.
Henna is mostly used for special occasions in Africa, Pakistan, India and other parts of the Middle East. Most popular among the traditional uses is the celebration of the Mehndi (henna) Night which occurs prior to a wedding. The bride, her family and friends gather to plays games, listen to music and dance while the bride receives extensive henna patterns on her hands and feet. The ritual can take hours and often requires the work of multiple henna artists.
One major advantage of receiving the henna tattoos is that the bride doesn’t have to do any housework while the henna stains are visible. Why didn’t I know about this tradition when I got married?
Neck rings
Neck rings are a form of body modification typically found in Southeast Asia. Girls begin wearing these heavy golden coils (they look like individual rings but truly aren’t) as early as five years old. It is often thought that the rings stretch out the woman’s neck but in reality, the rings push down on her collarbones, altering the angle of her shoulders, making her neck appear longer.
The tradition of wearing the neck rings, which can reach a size of twenty turns, is in keeping with the ideal that beauty can be found in an elongated neck. The explorer Marco Polo was the first to describe this neck elongation practice in the 1300s.
Foot binding
Foot binding as a form of body modification dates back to ancient China, most likely to the Song dynasty. The practice involves binding a young girl’s feet to prevent growth so they remain tiny and delicate. The ideal foot size was considered to be about four inches and women who endured this painful practice are said to have “lotus feet.” Foot binding was generally done by the upper class because it was completely impractical for a working-class family to basically disable one of their family members. The practice has essentially died, although there are still a few women left with “lotus feet.”
Nose plugs
This practice can be attributed almost exclusively to the Apatani tribe in the district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Women typically receive facial tattoos and nose plugs when they are very young and are expected to wear the plugs for the rest of their lives. Since the tribe does not keep any written records, it has been hypothesized that the nose plug practice was created in order to make the women unattractive to neighboring tribes. Nose plugs are rapidly losing popularity even though the tradition dates back hundreds of years.
Lip plates
Lip plates are practiced exclusively by the Mursi, Chai and Tirma tribes of Africa although it used to be much more widespread. Beginning at the age of 15 or 16, young women begin stretching out their lower lip with a series of plates that increase in diameter. Most women will endure the practice until their lip has stretched to hold a 12-centimeter plate although some can handle plates even larger than that. While it is speculated that the purpose of the plate is to signify a rite of passage, others believe wearing a large plate is a beauty standard within the tribes.
Body-modding Snippetz
- Henna tattoos are thought to have originated in the deserts of India when people living in the region found out that covering their hands and feet in henna paste helped them to cool off.
- The word “tattoo” is said to have originated from two major sources: the Polynesian word “ta” meaning “striking something” and the Tahitian word “tatau” meaning “to mark something.”
- Some evidence points to the use of henna for temporary tattooing as early as the 7th millennium B.C.
Issue 635
Snippetz Celebrates New Years Around the World
“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”
– Goran Persson, former Swedish prime minister
Everyone has their own traditions when it comes to ringing in the New Year. Some gather with friends and family to eat, drink and watch the ball drop in Times Square. Others sit quietly at home with their loved ones and barely stay awake long enough to watch the fireworks display from the top of Pikes Peak at the stroke of midnight. There’s no right or wrong way to go about it. But what do people in other parts of the world do? Snippetz was curious so naturally, we’re conducting our own celebration investigation and here’s what we found!
Celebration commonalities
Much of what people focus on during their New Year’s celebrations has to do with luck and prosperity. Food plays a huge part in that type of celebration. For example, many people have heard of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day as a way to bring prosperity. Black-eyed peas swell when they are cooked which is said to symbolize prosperity.
In other places like Brazil, lentils are cooked and eaten which is supposed to bring wealth in the coming year.
Other similar celebration traditions include banishing bad spirits in an effort to make room for good spirits to come into your life during the New Year. In Austria, evil spirits are chased away by firing mortars.
And what would a New Year’s celebration be with lots and lots of noise? Just about every celebration involves some sort of noisy merriment, as well it should. For example, in Armenia, it’s customary for children to gather in groups and go around from house to house, singing songs about the New Year to their neighbors.
A world of celebrations
There is literally a world of celebratory traditions out there that people use to ring in the New Year. Here are some of the more interesting ones that may not be in your New Year’s celebration repertoire yet but perhaps you’ll find a new tradition or two to add this year!
Austria – On New Year’s morning, molten lead is poured into a bucket of water to see what shapes, called bleigiessen, the lead makes. A soothsayer interprets what is seen and makes predictions about the upcoming year. A word of warning, however; if the lead takes the shape of an old woman, it is a bad.
Germany – Germans, who perform the same molten lead tradition as the Austrians believe that if the lead takes the shape of a heart or a ring, it means a wedding will take place. If it forms a ship, it signifies a journey. A pig indicates that there will be plenty of food in the upcoming year. They also leave a small bit of food on every plate they eat from on New Year’s Eve until after midnight to ensure they will have a well-stocked refrigerator during the New Year. Carp is especially important to this tradition because it is thought to bring wealth.
Brazil – On New Year’s Eve, the priestesses of one of the local indigenous tribes dress in blue skirts and white flowing blouses to celebrate the goddess of water, Yemanja. They load up a boat with flowers, candles and jewelry and push it out to sea from Rio de Janeiro’s famous Ipanema beach.
Great Britain – After the stroke of midnight signaling the start of the New Year, the first male to visit your house is supposed to bring good luck. Often visitors bring a gift of money, bread or coal to ensure the family will not be without these items in the year to come. Another warning: if the first person is blond, red-haired or a woman, bad luck could be on your way.
Bulgaria – In Western Bulgaria, the Central Balkan Range and some regions of the Danube River, young women perform the rite of Ladouvane on New Year’s Eve. During this rite, the young women of a village put their rings into a cauldron along with oats and barley (symbols of fertility) and fill it with spring water. The rings are then fastened together on a red thread and tied to a punch of perennial plants like ivy or basil. The cauldron is then placed outside and following a ritual dance around it, all the young women have their fortune told.
Cambodia – Because the people of Cambodia us the Indian Calendar, their New Year comes in April and their festivities last for three days. It’s called Chaul Chnam Thmey. During this time, people clean and decorate their houses and set up an altar to Tevada Chnam Thmey who they believe comes down to earth at this time. People also dump water on each other as a blessing. The water is often colored red, pink or yellow to symbolize a colorful future. Another Cambodian tradition that might have to make its way to the United States is where children give their parents and other elder relatives money as a sign of respect. Who’s with me?
Denmark – On New Year’s Eve, it’s tradition to throw old dishes that have been saved throughout the year at the homes of your friends. The more broken dishes you end up with, the more friends you have.
Greece – In Greece, New Year’s Day is also thought to be the day when St. Basil died. St. Basil is one of the forefathers of the Greek Orthodox Church and was said to have been very kind and generous to the poor. In fact, St. Basil’s Day (New Year’s Day) is a more important gift-giving day than Christmas and stories are often told of how St. Basil comes at night and leaves presents for the kids in their shoes. A very important food item on St. Basil’s Day is Vassilopitta (St. Basil’s cake), inside of which is baked a gold or silver coin. The cake is cut into pieces and given out in the following order: St. Basil first, one for the household second and then one for each member of the household starting from the eldest and going to the youngest. Whoever finds the coin in their piece will be lucky in the upcoming year.
Hungary – You’ve likely heard of Jack Frost but you may not have heard of Jack Straw, the effigy that represents evil and misfortune in Hungary. Jack Straw is carried around the village before being burned as a way to burn off the bad luck of the previous year on New Year’s Eve.
Japan – In order to keep out evil spirits, Japanese people hang a rope made of straw across the front of their houses which symbolizes happiness and good luck. Japanese people also make themselves laugh as the New Year begins as a way to bring good luck in the upcoming year.
Of course there are many, many other traditions that help people around the world ring in the New Year. In fact, there are so many that it would be impossible to list all the different kinds here. But hopefully you have gotten a taste of what the rest of the world does in anticipation of the New Year. And hopefully you will find a way to celebrate this time of rebirth and second chances with your family, friends and other loved ones with the knowledge that, no matter how you choose to celebrate it, we at Snippetz wish you a very Happy New Year!
Snippetz Celebrates New Years Around the World
“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.”
– Goran Persson, former Swedish prime minister
Everyone has their own traditions when it comes to ringing in the New Year. Some gather with friends and family to eat, drink and watch the ball drop in Times Square. Others sit quietly at home with their loved ones and barely stay awake long enough to watch the fireworks display from the top of Pikes Peak at the stroke of midnight. There’s no right or wrong way to go about it. But what do people in other parts of the world do? Snippetz was curious so naturally, we’re conducting our own celebration investigation and here’s what we found!
Celebration commonalities
Much of what people focus on during their New Year’s celebrations has to do with luck and prosperity. Food plays a huge part in that type of celebration. For example, many people have heard of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day as a way to bring prosperity. Black-eyed peas swell when they are cooked which is said to symbolize prosperity.
In other places like Brazil, lentils are cooked and eaten which is supposed to bring wealth in the coming year.
Other similar celebration traditions include banishing bad spirits in an effort to make room for good spirits to come into your life during the New Year. In Austria, evil spirits are chased away by firing mortars.
And what would a New Year’s celebration be with lots and lots of noise? Just about every celebration involves some sort of noisy merriment, as well it should. For example, in Armenia, it’s customary for children to gather in groups and go around from house to house, singing songs about the New Year to their neighbors.
A world of celebrations
There is literally a world of celebratory traditions out there that people use to ring in the New Year. Here are some of the more interesting ones that may not be in your New Year’s celebration repertoire yet but perhaps you’ll find a new tradition or two to add this year!
Austria – On New Year’s morning, molten lead is poured into a bucket of water to see what shapes, called bleigiessen, the lead makes. A soothsayer interprets what is seen and makes predictions about the upcoming year. A word of warning, however; if the lead takes the shape of an old woman, it is a bad.
Germany – Germans, who perform the same molten lead tradition as the Austrians believe that if the lead takes the shape of a heart or a ring, it means a wedding will take place. If it forms a ship, it signifies a journey. A pig indicates that there will be plenty of food in the upcoming year. They also leave a small bit of food on every plate they eat from on New Year’s Eve until after midnight to ensure they will have a well-stocked refrigerator during the New Year. Carp is especially important to this tradition because it is thought to bring wealth.
Brazil – On New Year’s Eve, the priestesses of one of the local indigenous tribes dress in blue skirts and white flowing blouses to celebrate the goddess of water, Yemanja. They load up a boat with flowers, candles and jewelry and push it out to sea from Rio de Janeiro’s famous Ipanema beach.
Great Britain – After the stroke of midnight signaling the start of the New Year, the first male to visit your house is supposed to bring good luck. Often visitors bring a gift of money, bread or coal to ensure the family will not be without these items in the year to come. Another warning: if the first person is blond, red-haired or a woman, bad luck could be on your way.
Bulgaria – In Western Bulgaria, the Central Balkan Range and some regions of the Danube River, young women perform the rite of Ladouvane on New Year’s Eve. During this rite, the young women of a village put their rings into a cauldron along with oats and barley (symbols of fertility) and fill it with spring water. The rings are then fastened together on a red thread and tied to a punch of perennial plants like ivy or basil. The cauldron is then placed outside and following a ritual dance around it, all the young women have their fortune told.
Cambodia – Because the people of Cambodia us the Indian Calendar, their New Year comes in April and their festivities last for three days. It’s called Chaul Chnam Thmey. During this time, people clean and decorate their houses and set up an altar to Tevada Chnam Thmey who they believe comes down to earth at this time. People also dump water on each other as a blessing. The water is often colored red, pink or yellow to symbolize a colorful future. Another Cambodian tradition that might have to make its way to the United States is where children give their parents and other elder relatives money as a sign of respect. Who’s with me?
Denmark – On New Year’s Eve, it’s tradition to throw old dishes that have been saved throughout the year at the homes of your friends. The more broken dishes you end up with, the more friends you have.
Greece – In Greece, New Year’s Day is also thought to be the day when St. Basil died. St. Basil is one of the forefathers of the Greek Orthodox Church and was said to have been very kind and generous to the poor. In fact, St. Basil’s Day (New Year’s Day) is a more important gift-giving day than Christmas and stories are often told of how St. Basil comes at night and leaves presents for the kids in their shoes. A very important food item on St. Basil’s Day is Vassilopitta (St. Basil’s cake), inside of which is baked a gold or silver coin. The cake is cut into pieces and given out in the following order: St. Basil first, one for the household second and then one for each member of the household starting from the eldest and going to the youngest. Whoever finds the coin in their piece will be lucky in the upcoming year.
Hungary – You’ve likely heard of Jack Frost but you may not have heard of Jack Straw, the effigy that represents evil and misfortune in Hungary. Jack Straw is carried around the village before being burned as a way to burn off the bad luck of the previous year on New Year’s Eve.
Japan – In order to keep out evil spirits, Japanese people hang a rope made of straw across the front of their houses which symbolizes happiness and good luck. Japanese people also make themselves laugh as the New Year begins as a way to bring good luck in the upcoming year.
Of course there are many, many other traditions that help people around the world ring in the New Year. In fact, there are so many that it would be impossible to list all the different kinds here. But hopefully you have gotten a taste of what the rest of the world does in anticipation of the New Year. And hopefully you will find a way to celebrate this time of rebirth and second chances with your family, friends and other loved ones with the knowledge that, no matter how you choose to celebrate it, we at Snippetz wish you a very Happy New Year!
Issue 634
That's a Wrap! Snippetz Shares Our Favorite Christmas Movies
“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”
– Clark Griswold, The National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer and the holiday season is upon us once again. You’re probably thinking of what you can do to pass the time cooped up in the house. Chances are, you’ve contemplated watching a movie or two. Why not? The nights are perfect for snuggling under a warm blanket with a hot cup of cocoa and watching your favorite Christmas films. With such a variety to choose from, you might find it difficult to narrow it down to just a few. We at Snippetz feel your pain. There are so many great movies out there that celebrate this wonderful holiday, picking our favorites was quite a feat. In fact, we had to narrow the list down to just MY favorites because there was no way we’d all agree! So here are my top Christmas movies of all time, in no particular order because it would be nearly impossible to rank them; that’s how good they are!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
I’m watching this movie as I write this so I’m listing it at the top. How could you possibly NOT include the original animated version, narrated by Boris Karloff? The movie, based on the book by the legendary Dr. Seuss, features the grumpy Grinch who lives high on a mountain above Whoville.
He spends year after year listening to the Whos celebrate Christmas and finally decides he’s had enough. The Grinch turns his poor dog Max into a one-horned “reindeer” and fabricates a lousy excuse for a Santa Claus suit and sets off for the sleeping homes in Whoville to steal Christmas and “keep it from coming.”
He thinks he has succeeded once he’s taken literally everything from each house in Whoville but the Christmas spirit in the townsfolk can’t be dampened and Christmas comes anyway. The Grinch learns that “Christmas doesn’t come from a store;” that it actually means just a little bit more. And in the end, the Grinch surrenders himself to the Christmas spirit. Sheer animated perfection.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Poor Clark Griswold. All he wants is to have the best Christmas light display in the neighborhood and to get his holiday bonus so he can buy his family a swimming pool. But in typical Clark Griswold fashion, nothing happens according to plan.
Not only is the tree Christmas tree he cuts down so massive it engulfs the family’s living room, but Clark’s good-for-nothing brother-in-law shows up in a camper, family in tow, to crash the holiday celebrations. Everything goes wrong, as it typically does for Clark and even though he manages to get his light display to work, he ends up with a “Jelly of the Month” membership from his boss, rather than his holiday bonus.
Everything turns out fine for the Griswolds in the end but not without plenty of chaos including an out-of-control sledding trip and a brief kidnapping. Everyone can feel much happier about their own family holiday mishaps after watching this one.
A Christmas Story
I couldn’t be happier that this one is shown for 24 hours straight during Christmastime! I could watch Ralph plot ways to secure a Red Ryder BB Gun that has “this thing which tells time.” And every time someone tells him he’ll shoot his eye out, I can imagine the devastation he must’ve felt.
The best part about this movie, in my humble opinion, is not so much his struggle to find a way to get what he wants but in watching his dysfunctional family get through the holidays. His dad wins “a major award” in the shape of a ghastly lamp that he insists must take center stage in the family’s front window. His long-suffering mother, who never manages to eat a hot meal, has to practically force-feed her youngest son Randy his food.
And in the end, after all the anticipation and breath-holding, Ralphie gets his BB gun and the holiday season winds down in an extremely relatable manner . . . minus the roast duck for Christmas dinner.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Although the image of a singing skeleton may not say “Christmas” to many people, to me it does. My family went to see this movie in the theater on Christmas Eve the first year it was out. I was 10 and I can still remember being amazed at the creativity and imagination put into making that movie.
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, and his dream to bring his twisted version of Christmas to the world is by far one of the most unique ways to illustrate the holiday season. In fact, it’s become a cult classic so much so that people (like me) watch it year ‘round just to enjoy the fantastic visual effects of Tim Burton’s claymation genius.
The Muppets Christmas Carol
I’m pretty sure Charles Dickens didn’t envision the Muppets playing the characters of his classic “A Christmas Carol” story. But he’s probably glad Jim Hensen made that call. Having a timeless story like that told in a way that is accessible to people of all ages makes important literature remain relevant.
What’s not to love about a grumpy old man being shown his past, present and future Christmases to help him realize what Christmas is truly about? It’s a great learning experience and when the Muppets are thrown in the mix to act as the harbingers of the lesson Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge is to learn, you have the trappings of a great holiday classic.
Elf
Relatively new to the Christmas movie scene is the movie “Elf” starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Will Ferrell. This movie follows the adventures of human who was raised by Santa’s elves at the North Pole. Buddy the Elf thinks he’s an elf but being over six feet tall, he finds it hard to fit into the elf lifestyle. He finds out the truth about himself and sets off on an expedition to find his real father.
The trek takes Buddy to New York where he has to learn to adjust to the cynical, not-so-Christmasy ways of his father and his father’s new family. In the end, Buddy actually convinces his family and all of New York, in fact, that Santa exists and that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”
Naturally, any movie starring Will Ferrell will have its fair share of hilarity and Elf is no exception, which is why it found its way onto my Christmas favorites list.
It’s A Wonderful Life
I am positive a certain friend of mine would disown me if I didn’t include this movie on my list but to be honest, I’ve only seen it once. I wrote about it last year for Snippetz and obviously had to watch it in order to do so. But I have to say, I really liked it.
George Bailey has had to give up his dreams in order to help others around him and he has finally had it. He is determined to commit suicide on Christmas Eve when his guardian angel intervenes to show him what his life has meant to the people of the small town of Bedford Falls. In the end, George realizes that it really is a wonderful life even if things don’t come wrapped up in a nice little package like you’d hope they would.
Other notable Christmas favorites
That's a Wrap! Snippetz Shares Our Favorite Christmas Movies
“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”
– Clark Griswold, The National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer and the holiday season is upon us once again. You’re probably thinking of what you can do to pass the time cooped up in the house. Chances are, you’ve contemplated watching a movie or two. Why not? The nights are perfect for snuggling under a warm blanket with a hot cup of cocoa and watching your favorite Christmas films. With such a variety to choose from, you might find it difficult to narrow it down to just a few. We at Snippetz feel your pain. There are so many great movies out there that celebrate this wonderful holiday, picking our favorites was quite a feat. In fact, we had to narrow the list down to just MY favorites because there was no way we’d all agree! So here are my top Christmas movies of all time, in no particular order because it would be nearly impossible to rank them; that’s how good they are!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
I’m watching this movie as I write this so I’m listing it at the top. How could you possibly NOT include the original animated version, narrated by Boris Karloff? The movie, based on the book by the legendary Dr. Seuss, features the grumpy Grinch who lives high on a mountain above Whoville.
He spends year after year listening to the Whos celebrate Christmas and finally decides he’s had enough. The Grinch turns his poor dog Max into a one-horned “reindeer” and fabricates a lousy excuse for a Santa Claus suit and sets off for the sleeping homes in Whoville to steal Christmas and “keep it from coming.”
He thinks he has succeeded once he’s taken literally everything from each house in Whoville but the Christmas spirit in the townsfolk can’t be dampened and Christmas comes anyway. The Grinch learns that “Christmas doesn’t come from a store;” that it actually means just a little bit more. And in the end, the Grinch surrenders himself to the Christmas spirit. Sheer animated perfection.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Poor Clark Griswold. All he wants is to have the best Christmas light display in the neighborhood and to get his holiday bonus so he can buy his family a swimming pool. But in typical Clark Griswold fashion, nothing happens according to plan.
Not only is the tree Christmas tree he cuts down so massive it engulfs the family’s living room, but Clark’s good-for-nothing brother-in-law shows up in a camper, family in tow, to crash the holiday celebrations. Everything goes wrong, as it typically does for Clark and even though he manages to get his light display to work, he ends up with a “Jelly of the Month” membership from his boss, rather than his holiday bonus.
Everything turns out fine for the Griswolds in the end but not without plenty of chaos including an out-of-control sledding trip and a brief kidnapping. Everyone can feel much happier about their own family holiday mishaps after watching this one.
A Christmas Story
I couldn’t be happier that this one is shown for 24 hours straight during Christmastime! I could watch Ralph plot ways to secure a Red Ryder BB Gun that has “this thing which tells time.” And every time someone tells him he’ll shoot his eye out, I can imagine the devastation he must’ve felt.
The best part about this movie, in my humble opinion, is not so much his struggle to find a way to get what he wants but in watching his dysfunctional family get through the holidays. His dad wins “a major award” in the shape of a ghastly lamp that he insists must take center stage in the family’s front window. His long-suffering mother, who never manages to eat a hot meal, has to practically force-feed her youngest son Randy his food.
And in the end, after all the anticipation and breath-holding, Ralphie gets his BB gun and the holiday season winds down in an extremely relatable manner . . . minus the roast duck for Christmas dinner.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Although the image of a singing skeleton may not say “Christmas” to many people, to me it does. My family went to see this movie in the theater on Christmas Eve the first year it was out. I was 10 and I can still remember being amazed at the creativity and imagination put into making that movie.
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, and his dream to bring his twisted version of Christmas to the world is by far one of the most unique ways to illustrate the holiday season. In fact, it’s become a cult classic so much so that people (like me) watch it year ‘round just to enjoy the fantastic visual effects of Tim Burton’s claymation genius.
The Muppets Christmas Carol
I’m pretty sure Charles Dickens didn’t envision the Muppets playing the characters of his classic “A Christmas Carol” story. But he’s probably glad Jim Hensen made that call. Having a timeless story like that told in a way that is accessible to people of all ages makes important literature remain relevant.
What’s not to love about a grumpy old man being shown his past, present and future Christmases to help him realize what Christmas is truly about? It’s a great learning experience and when the Muppets are thrown in the mix to act as the harbingers of the lesson Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge is to learn, you have the trappings of a great holiday classic.
Elf
Relatively new to the Christmas movie scene is the movie “Elf” starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Will Ferrell. This movie follows the adventures of human who was raised by Santa’s elves at the North Pole. Buddy the Elf thinks he’s an elf but being over six feet tall, he finds it hard to fit into the elf lifestyle. He finds out the truth about himself and sets off on an expedition to find his real father.
The trek takes Buddy to New York where he has to learn to adjust to the cynical, not-so-Christmasy ways of his father and his father’s new family. In the end, Buddy actually convinces his family and all of New York, in fact, that Santa exists and that “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”
Naturally, any movie starring Will Ferrell will have its fair share of hilarity and Elf is no exception, which is why it found its way onto my Christmas favorites list.
It’s A Wonderful Life
I am positive a certain friend of mine would disown me if I didn’t include this movie on my list but to be honest, I’ve only seen it once. I wrote about it last year for Snippetz and obviously had to watch it in order to do so. But I have to say, I really liked it.
George Bailey has had to give up his dreams in order to help others around him and he has finally had it. He is determined to commit suicide on Christmas Eve when his guardian angel intervenes to show him what his life has meant to the people of the small town of Bedford Falls. In the end, George realizes that it really is a wonderful life even if things don’t come wrapped up in a nice little package like you’d hope they would.
Other notable Christmas favorites
- Home Alone
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
- The Santa Clause
- The Nutcracker Ballet
- The Polar Express
Issue 633
Snippetz Sniffs Out Some Truly Mixed Breeds
“Dogs don't rationalize. They don't hold anything against a person. They don't see the outside of a human but the inside of a human”.
– Cesar Millan
Man’s best friend has always been the dog. Their loyalty and unconditional love make them the perfect companion at the end of a long day or lonely week. Maybe you prefer the smaller breeds that fit into your favorite handbag so you can tote them around on all your shopping trips. Or maybe you are drawn to the larger breeds that lounge around all day until the doorbell rings and then they lose their minds barking in an attempt to protect their family from that scary visitor. There are many different breeds that can fit with just about any personality or preference. Many are considered “designer” dogs because they are specifically bred for certain traits. What are some of these so-called designer breeds? Which ones are currently the most popular? Leave it to Snippetz to hunt down these dogs and round them all up in one place just for you!
Goldendoodle
Goldendoodles are a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle and are an extremely popular mixed breed. Over the last 10 years, Goldendoodles have risen in popularity ranking from No.159 to No. 31.
Because Poodles come in a range of sizes, Goldendoodles also fall into three main size-ranges: miniature (15-30 pounds), medium (30-45 pounds) and standard (45-100 pounds or more). Knowing what size Poodle your Goldendoodle was bred from can make it easier to predict the full-grown size of your animal but because they are cross-bred, there is no guarantee that your Goldendoodle will fall into a specific weight range.
Goldendoodles are typically intelligent, friendly and sociable. Their moderate activity level requires that they have ample exercise and playtime each day. Larger Goldendoodles tend to be more active and can actually make great competitors in agility competitions.
Poodles are often touted as being hypoallergenic and because Goldendoodles are their descendants, they are often considered to be more so than some other cross breeds. However, allergies are caused by the animal’s dander, not their fur so while some breeds may cause a milder allergic reaction, there is no guarantee that the dog you purchase is completely hypoallergenic.
Goldendoodles can come in a variety of colors and make great companion dogs. Even though they can be on the larger side of the size spectrum, they should live inside with their people.
Puggle
The Puggle is a cross between a Pug and a Beagle. Since 2002, the breed has risen in popularity ranking from No. 157 to No. 69.
Puggles are full of energy and very playful but are often stubborn and uncooperative. Beagles are often independent and tend to roam, making them hard to contain at times and it’s said that breeding them with Pugs was an effort to dampen their wandering urge. However, Pugs are said to be extremely stubborn at times and coupled with the wide willful streak of the Beagle, Puggles can display the worst of both breeds. More often than not though, Puggles are happy, playful and eager to please.
Because of their rising popularity rate, Puggles are often bred in puppy mills where the living conditions are poor and the animals are not treated well. It’s important to know where your Puggle comes from to have the best chance of raising a happy, healthy animal.
Both Pugs and Beagles are known for having healthy appetites and are prone to becoming overweight if their food intake isn’t properly managed. Puggles often end up weighing close to 30 pounds rather than the often-anticipated 15-20 pound animal even when their weight is properly managed.
Color-wise, Puggles can greatly vary in their appearance even within the same litter. They make great indoor dogs and should always live with their people inside. It might be tempting to give your Puggle the boot outside on a mild summer night, especially if it tends to snore as many do, but they aren’t equipped to spend their nights outside.
Labradoodle
We know this one might be hard to guess but the Labradoodle is a mix between a Labrador Retriever and Poodle. This breed’s popularity ranking has jumped from no. 117 in 2002 to No. 38.
Wally Conron, the head breeder for the Australian Guide Dog Association in 1989, is credited as the first person to intentionally breed a Labradoodle. Labradoodles were originally bred as an attempt to create a hypoallergenic dog that could be used in service work, such as a guide dog. But as with Goldendoodles, there is no guarantee that a Labradoodle will no cause an allergic reaction.
Just as with the Goldendoodle, Labradoodles come in three size ranges: miniature (15-30 pounds), medium (30-45 pounds) and standard (45-100 pounds or more). And as with the Goldendoodle, there is no way to guarantee the size of the Labradoodle you’ll end up with.
Labradoodles have a moderate activity level and the larger animals tend to be more active than the smaller ones. They are very smart, sociable and learn quickly. As with the previous two breeds, Labradoodles need to live indoors with their people.
Maltipoo
The Maltipoo is a mix between a Maltese and a Miniature or Toy Poodle. Since 2002, the breed has jumped in popularity ranking from No. 116 to No. 48. The breed is small, playful and smart, often remaining puppy-like well into its adult years.
Maltipoos can be very yippy, barking even when it’s not necessary which can be both a blessing and a curse. Their small size, usually weighing only about 10 pounds, might not do much to deter anyone intent on getting inside your house, but the noise can be off-putting to anyone looking to make a stealthy retreat with your valuables.
This breed comes in a variety of colors but typically has a white or cream-colored coat. The texture can either be slightly scruffy like the Maltese or curly like the Poodle.
These dogs are usually good with people and other dogs but their temperament, activity level, size, color, etc. greatly depends on what they have inherited from their parents. Often they do best with older children who know how to handle them gently.
Maltipoos belong inside with their people not only because of their size but because they are very social animals that prefer to have human company.
Other mixed breed Snippetz
We’ve outlined some of the most popular mixed breeds to date but there are more and more combinations being born every day. Here is a sampling of some of the lesser well-known breeds . . . and these are just a few of the combinations that have been successfully bred! If you’re looking for a good laugh, do an Internet search on some of these unusual breeds. If their name doesn’t make you chuckle, their appearance certainly might!
Snippetz Sniffs Out Some Truly Mixed Breeds
“Dogs don't rationalize. They don't hold anything against a person. They don't see the outside of a human but the inside of a human”.
– Cesar Millan
Man’s best friend has always been the dog. Their loyalty and unconditional love make them the perfect companion at the end of a long day or lonely week. Maybe you prefer the smaller breeds that fit into your favorite handbag so you can tote them around on all your shopping trips. Or maybe you are drawn to the larger breeds that lounge around all day until the doorbell rings and then they lose their minds barking in an attempt to protect their family from that scary visitor. There are many different breeds that can fit with just about any personality or preference. Many are considered “designer” dogs because they are specifically bred for certain traits. What are some of these so-called designer breeds? Which ones are currently the most popular? Leave it to Snippetz to hunt down these dogs and round them all up in one place just for you!
Goldendoodle
Goldendoodles are a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle and are an extremely popular mixed breed. Over the last 10 years, Goldendoodles have risen in popularity ranking from No.159 to No. 31.
Because Poodles come in a range of sizes, Goldendoodles also fall into three main size-ranges: miniature (15-30 pounds), medium (30-45 pounds) and standard (45-100 pounds or more). Knowing what size Poodle your Goldendoodle was bred from can make it easier to predict the full-grown size of your animal but because they are cross-bred, there is no guarantee that your Goldendoodle will fall into a specific weight range.
Goldendoodles are typically intelligent, friendly and sociable. Their moderate activity level requires that they have ample exercise and playtime each day. Larger Goldendoodles tend to be more active and can actually make great competitors in agility competitions.
Poodles are often touted as being hypoallergenic and because Goldendoodles are their descendants, they are often considered to be more so than some other cross breeds. However, allergies are caused by the animal’s dander, not their fur so while some breeds may cause a milder allergic reaction, there is no guarantee that the dog you purchase is completely hypoallergenic.
Goldendoodles can come in a variety of colors and make great companion dogs. Even though they can be on the larger side of the size spectrum, they should live inside with their people.
Puggle
The Puggle is a cross between a Pug and a Beagle. Since 2002, the breed has risen in popularity ranking from No. 157 to No. 69.
Puggles are full of energy and very playful but are often stubborn and uncooperative. Beagles are often independent and tend to roam, making them hard to contain at times and it’s said that breeding them with Pugs was an effort to dampen their wandering urge. However, Pugs are said to be extremely stubborn at times and coupled with the wide willful streak of the Beagle, Puggles can display the worst of both breeds. More often than not though, Puggles are happy, playful and eager to please.
Because of their rising popularity rate, Puggles are often bred in puppy mills where the living conditions are poor and the animals are not treated well. It’s important to know where your Puggle comes from to have the best chance of raising a happy, healthy animal.
Both Pugs and Beagles are known for having healthy appetites and are prone to becoming overweight if their food intake isn’t properly managed. Puggles often end up weighing close to 30 pounds rather than the often-anticipated 15-20 pound animal even when their weight is properly managed.
Color-wise, Puggles can greatly vary in their appearance even within the same litter. They make great indoor dogs and should always live with their people inside. It might be tempting to give your Puggle the boot outside on a mild summer night, especially if it tends to snore as many do, but they aren’t equipped to spend their nights outside.
Labradoodle
We know this one might be hard to guess but the Labradoodle is a mix between a Labrador Retriever and Poodle. This breed’s popularity ranking has jumped from no. 117 in 2002 to No. 38.
Wally Conron, the head breeder for the Australian Guide Dog Association in 1989, is credited as the first person to intentionally breed a Labradoodle. Labradoodles were originally bred as an attempt to create a hypoallergenic dog that could be used in service work, such as a guide dog. But as with Goldendoodles, there is no guarantee that a Labradoodle will no cause an allergic reaction.
Just as with the Goldendoodle, Labradoodles come in three size ranges: miniature (15-30 pounds), medium (30-45 pounds) and standard (45-100 pounds or more). And as with the Goldendoodle, there is no way to guarantee the size of the Labradoodle you’ll end up with.
Labradoodles have a moderate activity level and the larger animals tend to be more active than the smaller ones. They are very smart, sociable and learn quickly. As with the previous two breeds, Labradoodles need to live indoors with their people.
Maltipoo
The Maltipoo is a mix between a Maltese and a Miniature or Toy Poodle. Since 2002, the breed has jumped in popularity ranking from No. 116 to No. 48. The breed is small, playful and smart, often remaining puppy-like well into its adult years.
Maltipoos can be very yippy, barking even when it’s not necessary which can be both a blessing and a curse. Their small size, usually weighing only about 10 pounds, might not do much to deter anyone intent on getting inside your house, but the noise can be off-putting to anyone looking to make a stealthy retreat with your valuables.
This breed comes in a variety of colors but typically has a white or cream-colored coat. The texture can either be slightly scruffy like the Maltese or curly like the Poodle.
These dogs are usually good with people and other dogs but their temperament, activity level, size, color, etc. greatly depends on what they have inherited from their parents. Often they do best with older children who know how to handle them gently.
Maltipoos belong inside with their people not only because of their size but because they are very social animals that prefer to have human company.
Other mixed breed Snippetz
We’ve outlined some of the most popular mixed breeds to date but there are more and more combinations being born every day. Here is a sampling of some of the lesser well-known breeds . . . and these are just a few of the combinations that have been successfully bred! If you’re looking for a good laugh, do an Internet search on some of these unusual breeds. If their name doesn’t make you chuckle, their appearance certainly might!
- Saint Bernard + Poodle = Saint Berdoodle
- Scottish Terrier + Poodle = Scoodle
- Miniature Schnauzer + Yorkie = Snorkie
- Dachshund + Shih Tzu = Schweenie
- Chihuahua + Pug = Chug
- Chihuahua + Toy Fox Terrier = Taco Terrier
- Chihuahua + Dachshund = Chiweenie
- Bulldog + Dalmatian = Bullmatian
- Boston Terrier + Pug = Bugg
- Basset + Shar Pei = Ba-Shar
Issue 632
Can You Keep a Secret? Snippetz Spies on Spies!
“I’ve always wanted to be a spy, and frankly I’m a little surprised that British intelligence has never approached me.”
– Elizabeth Hurley, actress in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”
Humans seem to have an obsession with spies. We love the idea of a highly-trained government operative walking around amongst us mere mortals without showing a hint of who they truly are. It’s incredibly intriguing to imagine that the soccer mom who lives next door is actually working for a secret government agency, tracking down terrorists in between cooking dinner and reading bedtime stories. There are plenty of movies and television shows out there that feature spies. Honestly, there are too many to mention them all here. But Snippetz just had to do some undercover work of our own to scrounge up a sampling of these infamous spies . . . and here they are!
James Bond
It would practically be illegal to discuss spies without mentioning the James Bond character. Created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953, Bond was featured in 12 novels and two short-story collections. Following Fleming’s death in 1964, six other authors have written Bond novels or stories to continue the spy’s legacy. Aside from the novels, Bond has been adapted for television, radio, comic strips, video games and the most obvious format, film.
Bond films represent the longest continually-running and second highest grossing film series. The series began in 1962 with Sean Connery playing James Bond in “Dr. No.” Since then, 23 films have been created in the Eon Production Series and two others (the spoof “Casino Royale” in 1967 and “Never Say Never” in 1983) that were independently produced.
The Bond films have featured 13 different actors portraying the spy, who Fleming created as an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. Bond’s code name is 007 and he was created as a Royal Naval Reserve Commander.
Fleming named his character James Bond after a prominent American ornithologist of the same name. He said the name James Bond was “the dullest name I have ever heard.” Fleming wanted his character to have the simplest, dullest, most boring name possible because he liked the juxtaposition of a seemingly ordinary man being used as a deadly weapon by the government.
James Bond Snippetz
Austin Powers
While not exactly the ultra-suave character portrayed in the Bond films, Austin Powers was a spy nonetheless. And the films have become incredibly popular, considering the initial movie was spoof of the spy flicks (like James Bond) from the 1960s.
The films ultimately aim to exaggerate the plots and implausible situations that occur in such movies. The general theme of the movies is that Austin Powers, played by Mike Myers, has to save the world while an evil villain tries to destroy it. The villain in the first two films is Dr. Evil, also played by Mike Myers and is based on the Bond super villain, Blofeld from “You Only Live Twice.”
Even though Powers is not attractive in the conventional sense, doesn’t possess the social grace and charisma of James Bond, and often ends up making a fool of himself in some form or another, he wins out in the end. Just like any good spy should!
Austin Powers Snippetz
24
We’ve looked at a stereotypical spy character from a film series as well as a not-so-stereotypical spy in a film series. Now we turn to a television series whose run began in November 2001 and has recently announced it will return for another 12-episode event season called “24: Live Another Day” debuting in May 2014. That’s right. We’re talking about “24” starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit.
The episodes take place over the course of one hour and to emphasize the real-time flow of events, there is a clock displayed on the screen during the show. Typically, Bauer spends that hour doing everything in his power to save his family (who routinely find themselves in some sort of danger) as well as to save the world from terrorists. It’s a show that truly is a “race against the clock.”
Bauer is portrayed as a loyal agent who frequently puts his needs aside in order to do what he must to save the country and people living within it. Bauer is not above using torture to gather necessary information which sets him aside from the typical spy hero.
24 Snippetz
Other notable spies
Can You Keep a Secret? Snippetz Spies on Spies!
“I’ve always wanted to be a spy, and frankly I’m a little surprised that British intelligence has never approached me.”
– Elizabeth Hurley, actress in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”
Humans seem to have an obsession with spies. We love the idea of a highly-trained government operative walking around amongst us mere mortals without showing a hint of who they truly are. It’s incredibly intriguing to imagine that the soccer mom who lives next door is actually working for a secret government agency, tracking down terrorists in between cooking dinner and reading bedtime stories. There are plenty of movies and television shows out there that feature spies. Honestly, there are too many to mention them all here. But Snippetz just had to do some undercover work of our own to scrounge up a sampling of these infamous spies . . . and here they are!
James Bond
It would practically be illegal to discuss spies without mentioning the James Bond character. Created by writer Ian Fleming in 1953, Bond was featured in 12 novels and two short-story collections. Following Fleming’s death in 1964, six other authors have written Bond novels or stories to continue the spy’s legacy. Aside from the novels, Bond has been adapted for television, radio, comic strips, video games and the most obvious format, film.
Bond films represent the longest continually-running and second highest grossing film series. The series began in 1962 with Sean Connery playing James Bond in “Dr. No.” Since then, 23 films have been created in the Eon Production Series and two others (the spoof “Casino Royale” in 1967 and “Never Say Never” in 1983) that were independently produced.
The Bond films have featured 13 different actors portraying the spy, who Fleming created as an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. Bond’s code name is 007 and he was created as a Royal Naval Reserve Commander.
Fleming named his character James Bond after a prominent American ornithologist of the same name. He said the name James Bond was “the dullest name I have ever heard.” Fleming wanted his character to have the simplest, dullest, most boring name possible because he liked the juxtaposition of a seemingly ordinary man being used as a deadly weapon by the government.
James Bond Snippetz
- George Lazenby, who portrayed Bond in the 1969 film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” got the part after convincing the producers that he was a prominent international actor when, in fact, Lazenby had never acted before.
- Fleming initially outfitted Bond with a Beretta 418 pistol until “Dr. No” was about to be released. A fan wrote Fleming a letter saying the gun was actually a lady’s gun and suggested Bond use a Walther PPK instead. The producers agreed and switched Bond’s weapon.
- Liam Neeson turned down the role of Bond in the 1995 film “Goldeneye.”
- The scuba diving scene in the opening of the1964 film “Goldfinger” is based on actual events, including the part where Sean Connery strips off his wetsuit to reveal a completely dry tuxedo.
- Sean Connery really embraced the role of Bond which was plainly illustrated when he disarmed ex-marine Johnny Stompanato on a movie set. Stompanato was having an affair with Lana Turner who was making a film with Connery. Stompanato became jealous and stormed the movie set with a gun. Connery disarmed him, picked him up and then tossed him out the studio’s back door.
Austin Powers
While not exactly the ultra-suave character portrayed in the Bond films, Austin Powers was a spy nonetheless. And the films have become incredibly popular, considering the initial movie was spoof of the spy flicks (like James Bond) from the 1960s.
The films ultimately aim to exaggerate the plots and implausible situations that occur in such movies. The general theme of the movies is that Austin Powers, played by Mike Myers, has to save the world while an evil villain tries to destroy it. The villain in the first two films is Dr. Evil, also played by Mike Myers and is based on the Bond super villain, Blofeld from “You Only Live Twice.”
Even though Powers is not attractive in the conventional sense, doesn’t possess the social grace and charisma of James Bond, and often ends up making a fool of himself in some form or another, he wins out in the end. Just like any good spy should!
Austin Powers Snippetz
- Jim Carrey was originally intended to play Dr. Evil; he had to pass due to scheduling conflicts while shooting the film “Liar Liar.”
- Dr. Evil has a cohort named Frau Farbissina whose surname is a pun on the Yiddish word “farbissen.” That word means “sullen” or “crippled by bitterness.”
- Dr. Evil’s hairless cat is named Mr. Bigglesworth in the movie but his name is really Ted Nude-Gent.
24
We’ve looked at a stereotypical spy character from a film series as well as a not-so-stereotypical spy in a film series. Now we turn to a television series whose run began in November 2001 and has recently announced it will return for another 12-episode event season called “24: Live Another Day” debuting in May 2014. That’s right. We’re talking about “24” starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit.
The episodes take place over the course of one hour and to emphasize the real-time flow of events, there is a clock displayed on the screen during the show. Typically, Bauer spends that hour doing everything in his power to save his family (who routinely find themselves in some sort of danger) as well as to save the world from terrorists. It’s a show that truly is a “race against the clock.”
Bauer is portrayed as a loyal agent who frequently puts his needs aside in order to do what he must to save the country and people living within it. Bauer is not above using torture to gather necessary information which sets him aside from the typical spy hero.
24 Snippetz
- Jack Bauer is the only character to appear in all eight regular seasons as well as the three event series that followed.
- All cast members of the show are required to have their hair and/or beard trimmed every five days.
- In season five, a cell phone was filmed displaying a valid California phone number which connected callers to one of two cast members: Kim Raver who played Audrey Raines or Carlos Bernard who played Tony Almeida.
- The character Ira Gaines was played by Michael Masse who played in the film “The Crow” with Brandon Lee. He also accidently shot and killed Lee during filming.
- James Morrison, who plays Bill Buchanan, started acting as a circus clown and high wire walker.
- Jack Bauer has died twice and come back to life both times to continue fighting terrorism.
- At last count, there were 67 torture scenes in the first five series of 24.
Other notable spies
- Anne Parillaud as Nikita in “La Femme Nikita”
- Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the “Mission: Impossible” film series
- Robert De Niro as Sam in “Ronin”
- Robert Redford as Joe “The Condor” Turner in “Three Days of the Condor”
- Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in “The Bourne Identity” and subsequent “Bourne” films
- Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in “A Clear and Present Danger”
Issue 631
Snippetz Fondly Remembers the Good Old Days of Shopping
“What has happened to the good old-fashioned travel agent? I want to go to a really posh travel agent and have them organize everything for me. I don’t want to do things on the Internet.”
– Jenny Éclair, comedian
In this day and age of do-it-yourself everything, it does make you wonder what happened to those old-fashioned shops that were the backbone of the American economy for so long. People used to go to a butcher to get their meat rather than the meat aisle in the grocery store. The local drug store not only sold prescriptions and candy but you could sit down at the counter and buy a drink from the soda fountain. The local hardware store was more likely to be a mom and pop business rather than a home improvement chain store. Society has opted to forgo small, locally-run specialty shops in favor of massive superstores that boast inventories that could easily make it the best place to ride out a zombie apocalypse. Most of those small stores are gone but Snippetz hasn’t forgotten them!
Pharmacies and drug stores
The word pharmacy is derived from the root word “pharma,” which was used in similar context as early as the 1400s. Interestingly enough, the original Greek word “pharmakos” is used to describe sorcery or poison. Ominous origins aside, the pharmas of old offered more services than just dolling out medicine. They often provided general medical advice and some services such as surgeries or midwifery.
Rather than remembering a drugstore as a place to get medicine or medicinal advice, you might have memories of sliding up to the counter and asking for a soda from the fountain. Why would a soda fountain be found in a pharmacy?
The term “soda water” was coined in 1798 and the health benefits of the beverage were being touted as well. In 1819, the first soda fountain patent was granted to Samuel Fahnestock and by the 1880s, it was commonplace to see a soda fountain in your local drugstore.
By 1929, 75 percent of American pharmacies and drugstores had soda fountains in them. Their appeal lasted for some time but technology ousted the soda fountain slowly but surely with the advent of drive-in fast food restaurants and bottled versions of the soda fountain drinks. By the 1960s, the fountains were seen less and less often and by the 1970s, not even one third of local pharmacies had soda fountains.
Drugstores and pharmacies also often sold candy and sweets, as well as magazines and cosmetics. The modern drugstore often sells much more. You can find small electronics, a place to print out your photographs, a variety of common grocery store items and toys. The pharmacy is often tucked in the back like an afterthought and there is more often than not absolutely no place to sit, enjoy a drink or snack and shoot the breeze with other customers.
Malt shops
Malt shops were an ice cream and fast food type restaurant that were popular in the 1940s-50s. The term malt comes from malted milk, which was invented in the 1880s by brothers James and William Horlick. Malted milk is made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour and whole milk that is dehydrated and comes in powder form. Its original purpose was for infants or people with illnesses or disabilities to provide a good source of nutrition. The flavor caught on and became very popular when it was mixed with ice cream.
Malt shops first appeared in the early 1900s and were usually found in a drugstore where the soda fountain drinks were also served. Eventually malt shops branched out and became their own entity, including food like sandwiches and hamburgers in order to appeal to a broader range of customers.
By the time jukeboxes showed up on the scene, malt shops were a popular place for teenagers to hang out, have a snack with friends and listen to the latest hits. In the 1950s, cars were a big deal and teenagers would often cruise up to a malt shops to show off their cars while they ate.
Malt shops’ popularity began to fade when the ease of drive-up fast food joints and drive-in movie theaters provided teens a place to stay in their awesome cars while they ate and socialized.
Butcher shops
As with the old version of pharmacies, the old version of the butcher is not what we typically see today. Butcher shops from the past were commonplace and provided families with the meat they used in everyday cooking. Since their target population was families, they often sold more cuts of the cheaper meats, like kidneys rather than the more extravagant cuts you’d probably see in a butcher shop today.
Once meats were prepackaged and placed in the refrigerator aisle at local grocery store, butchery became more of a specialty profession. Shoppers no longer went to them for their everyday needs and the volume of what a butcher was able to sell decreased significantly.
Nowadays butchers mainly provide high-quality, expensive cuts of meat like racks of lamb or prime rib. Because they don’t serve the general population as much, they are often turned to for special occasions which makes it difficult for mom and pop shops (as they often were) to make enough money to stay in business. Maybe one day we’ll all remember how fresh their products were, how much better for us their food really was and how important it is to support local businesses and maybe that will lead to a butcher shop revival . . . just maybe.
Candy and sweet shops
Before the convenience of the convenience store that attracted kids to come spend their money on a relatively small selection of candy, there were candy and sweet shops. These shops were strictly for sweets. You wouldn’t find imitation cheese to pour on stale tortilla chips or a wall lined with every type of cigarette imaginable. Instead, the walls would be lined with such a wide variety of candy that you could get a toothache just looking at it all.
You could load up a bag full of jelly beans or licorice or gum drops and walk out feeling like you hit the jackpot. Lately there has been a rebound in shops like this since it’s become trendy to buy candy in bulk, especially for weddings, birthday parties and baby showers. The majority of these new shops are in larger cities, however.
Travel agencies
Travel agencies trace their origins back to the mid-1700s when banks would provide travel services to their best clients. The first independent travel agency, called Thomas Cook, opened in 1841 and partnered with railroad companies to offer tours and other package travel opportunities to clients.
The oldest travel agency in the United States is Brownell Travel, which began operations in the 1880s. This and other agencies gained in popularity with the advent of commercial aviation in the 1920s.
The intention of a travel agency or agent is to take care of the preparations for a person’s vacation or trip. They handle the hotel reservations, booking the airline tickets and facilitating transportation at your destination, among other things. They do all the research, price and date comparisons and bothersome paperwork associated with traveling.
The Internet has made it significantly easier for a person to plan their own vacation with websites that allow you to bundle airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals and the like. Although the ease of doing so in your underwear is very appealing to some people, others prefer allowing someone else to handle all the dirty work and it’s for reasons such as that that have kept travel agencies in business all this time. It’s clear, however, that they are not nearly as popular as they used to be. Just another sign of the times!
Snippetz Fondly Remembers the Good Old Days of Shopping
“What has happened to the good old-fashioned travel agent? I want to go to a really posh travel agent and have them organize everything for me. I don’t want to do things on the Internet.”
– Jenny Éclair, comedian
In this day and age of do-it-yourself everything, it does make you wonder what happened to those old-fashioned shops that were the backbone of the American economy for so long. People used to go to a butcher to get their meat rather than the meat aisle in the grocery store. The local drug store not only sold prescriptions and candy but you could sit down at the counter and buy a drink from the soda fountain. The local hardware store was more likely to be a mom and pop business rather than a home improvement chain store. Society has opted to forgo small, locally-run specialty shops in favor of massive superstores that boast inventories that could easily make it the best place to ride out a zombie apocalypse. Most of those small stores are gone but Snippetz hasn’t forgotten them!
Pharmacies and drug stores
The word pharmacy is derived from the root word “pharma,” which was used in similar context as early as the 1400s. Interestingly enough, the original Greek word “pharmakos” is used to describe sorcery or poison. Ominous origins aside, the pharmas of old offered more services than just dolling out medicine. They often provided general medical advice and some services such as surgeries or midwifery.
Rather than remembering a drugstore as a place to get medicine or medicinal advice, you might have memories of sliding up to the counter and asking for a soda from the fountain. Why would a soda fountain be found in a pharmacy?
The term “soda water” was coined in 1798 and the health benefits of the beverage were being touted as well. In 1819, the first soda fountain patent was granted to Samuel Fahnestock and by the 1880s, it was commonplace to see a soda fountain in your local drugstore.
By 1929, 75 percent of American pharmacies and drugstores had soda fountains in them. Their appeal lasted for some time but technology ousted the soda fountain slowly but surely with the advent of drive-in fast food restaurants and bottled versions of the soda fountain drinks. By the 1960s, the fountains were seen less and less often and by the 1970s, not even one third of local pharmacies had soda fountains.
Drugstores and pharmacies also often sold candy and sweets, as well as magazines and cosmetics. The modern drugstore often sells much more. You can find small electronics, a place to print out your photographs, a variety of common grocery store items and toys. The pharmacy is often tucked in the back like an afterthought and there is more often than not absolutely no place to sit, enjoy a drink or snack and shoot the breeze with other customers.
Malt shops
Malt shops were an ice cream and fast food type restaurant that were popular in the 1940s-50s. The term malt comes from malted milk, which was invented in the 1880s by brothers James and William Horlick. Malted milk is made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour and whole milk that is dehydrated and comes in powder form. Its original purpose was for infants or people with illnesses or disabilities to provide a good source of nutrition. The flavor caught on and became very popular when it was mixed with ice cream.
Malt shops first appeared in the early 1900s and were usually found in a drugstore where the soda fountain drinks were also served. Eventually malt shops branched out and became their own entity, including food like sandwiches and hamburgers in order to appeal to a broader range of customers.
By the time jukeboxes showed up on the scene, malt shops were a popular place for teenagers to hang out, have a snack with friends and listen to the latest hits. In the 1950s, cars were a big deal and teenagers would often cruise up to a malt shops to show off their cars while they ate.
Malt shops’ popularity began to fade when the ease of drive-up fast food joints and drive-in movie theaters provided teens a place to stay in their awesome cars while they ate and socialized.
Butcher shops
As with the old version of pharmacies, the old version of the butcher is not what we typically see today. Butcher shops from the past were commonplace and provided families with the meat they used in everyday cooking. Since their target population was families, they often sold more cuts of the cheaper meats, like kidneys rather than the more extravagant cuts you’d probably see in a butcher shop today.
Once meats were prepackaged and placed in the refrigerator aisle at local grocery store, butchery became more of a specialty profession. Shoppers no longer went to them for their everyday needs and the volume of what a butcher was able to sell decreased significantly.
Nowadays butchers mainly provide high-quality, expensive cuts of meat like racks of lamb or prime rib. Because they don’t serve the general population as much, they are often turned to for special occasions which makes it difficult for mom and pop shops (as they often were) to make enough money to stay in business. Maybe one day we’ll all remember how fresh their products were, how much better for us their food really was and how important it is to support local businesses and maybe that will lead to a butcher shop revival . . . just maybe.
Candy and sweet shops
Before the convenience of the convenience store that attracted kids to come spend their money on a relatively small selection of candy, there were candy and sweet shops. These shops were strictly for sweets. You wouldn’t find imitation cheese to pour on stale tortilla chips or a wall lined with every type of cigarette imaginable. Instead, the walls would be lined with such a wide variety of candy that you could get a toothache just looking at it all.
You could load up a bag full of jelly beans or licorice or gum drops and walk out feeling like you hit the jackpot. Lately there has been a rebound in shops like this since it’s become trendy to buy candy in bulk, especially for weddings, birthday parties and baby showers. The majority of these new shops are in larger cities, however.
Travel agencies
Travel agencies trace their origins back to the mid-1700s when banks would provide travel services to their best clients. The first independent travel agency, called Thomas Cook, opened in 1841 and partnered with railroad companies to offer tours and other package travel opportunities to clients.
The oldest travel agency in the United States is Brownell Travel, which began operations in the 1880s. This and other agencies gained in popularity with the advent of commercial aviation in the 1920s.
The intention of a travel agency or agent is to take care of the preparations for a person’s vacation or trip. They handle the hotel reservations, booking the airline tickets and facilitating transportation at your destination, among other things. They do all the research, price and date comparisons and bothersome paperwork associated with traveling.
The Internet has made it significantly easier for a person to plan their own vacation with websites that allow you to bundle airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals and the like. Although the ease of doing so in your underwear is very appealing to some people, others prefer allowing someone else to handle all the dirty work and it’s for reasons such as that that have kept travel agencies in business all this time. It’s clear, however, that they are not nearly as popular as they used to be. Just another sign of the times!
Issue 630
It's No Myth; Snippetz Looks to the Past: Greek Mythology
“I think that we need mythology. We need a bedrock of story and legend in order to live our lives coherently.”
– Alan Moore, writer
In the thousands of years before the internet and Google, people created different ways of passing down information. Whether it be information about certain historical events or possibly ancestral information, people have managed to preserve history through stories, epic poems and representational works of art. We can thank the ancient Greek civilization for much of this practice. If it weren’t for ancient Greek mythology, much of our Western culture, heritage and language wouldn’t exist. With thousands of years of historical accounts to sift through, it’s nearly impossible to sum up this topic in one article. But Snippetz has gathered information about some of the key players to give you a glimpse into the world of ancient Greek mythology.
Important historians and writers
While there are many writers who contributed to the vast collection of accounts from ancient Greece, one of the earliest and most important writers of Greek mythology and culture was Homer. His epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey remain key sources for the study of Greek mythology. Homer’s contemporary, Herodotus also provided much insight through his accounts of what took place, called The Histories. His reliability is often debated and Thucydides, yet another ancient Greek historian, wrote that his own accounts were based in fact while Herodotus often embellished the truth for entertainment purposes.
Gods and Goddesses
It’s true that there are many gods and demi-gods that have a place in Greek mythology, but there are only 12 Olympians; gods and goddesses who lived and held thrones on Mount Olympus. Here’s a bit about some of the major gods and goddesses.
Zeus – Zeus is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea. After overthrowing his father, he and his brothers split the universe among themselves; Zeus took the heavens, Poseidon got the sea and Hades took the underworld. While he was married to Hera (who also happened to be his sister) he had several other liaisons and fathered many, many children. From all these offspring, Zeus gave mankind all they would ever need to live in a morally and orderly way.
Zeus was originally thought to be a weather god, which is why he is often depicted with a lightning bolt. He controls thunder, lightning, rain and is often said to bring the thunderstorms.
Poseidon – Brother to Zeus, he is most known for being the God of the Sea. He is also associated with earthquakes and horses and is the God of Fertility, while his sister, Demeter is the fertility goddess. Apparently, Poseidon is a moody god who would take swift revenge in the form of unruly springs, earthquakes, ship wrecks and drownings. He lives on the ocean floor and rides around in a chariot pulled by horses.
Poseidon battled Athena for the city of Athens and in order to gain support from the people there, he threw a spear into the ground and created the spring at the Acropolis. Athena defeated him by supplying the city with the olive tree and named the city Athens, in her own honor.
Apollo – Thought to be one of the most important gods, Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and has a twin sister Artemis. Leto found the floating island of Delos and gave birth to her children there. Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the dragon Python, sent by Hera to hunt Leto to her death. Hera then sent the giant Tityos to kill Leto but Apollo and Artemis joined forces to defeat the giant. During the Trojan War, Apollo sent arrows infected with the plague into a Greek encampment, which angered Achilles. Apollo is credited with Achilles’s death by shooting an arrow through his heel.
He is associated with medicine and healing but conversely is also the God of Plague. Additionally, Apollo is the God of Music, Poetry, Oracles, Sun, Medicine, Light and Knowledge. He is father to Asclepius, Troilus, Aristaeus and Orpheus.
Hera – Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus. She is generally worshiped as the Goddess of Marriage and Birth. Hera is represented as extremely jealous of Zeus’s many affairs, especially of the children which they produced. She put serpents in Heracles’s cradle; she had a hundred-eyed giant guard Io; and she tried to kill Leto to prevent Apollo and Artemis’s birth.
Aphrodite – As the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Physical Pleasure. She was borne from Cronus when he threw his castrated “man parts” into the sea. The ocean began to foam (in Greek, “aphros”) and up came Aphrodite. Zeus saw how irresistible and beautiful she was so to protect her, he married her off to Hephaestus. Aphrodite had several affairs and had children with some of them. Perhaps most notable is her affair with a Trojan named Anchises which resulted in the birth of Aeneas.
Athena – Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, War, the Arts, Industry, Justice and Skill. Her mother Metis is Zeus’s first wife, whom Zeus swallowed due to the fear of Metis giving birth to a son stronger than he. While inside Zeus, Metis made a robe and helmet for Athena. The hammering gave Zeus such an incredible headache that his son Hephaestus offered his help by splitting Zeus’s head open to reveal a fully-grown (and fully clothed in the robe and helmet) Athena.
Athena is often portrayed with the Goddess of Victory, Nike.
Artemis – Artemis is Apollo’s twin. She is the Goddess of the Wilderness, the Hunt and Wild Animals. She is a very contradictory goddess as she protects women during childbirth but her arrows also occasionally kill them during labor. Artemis was said to roam the mountain forests and undisturbed land with her nymphs as she hunted for lions, panthers and stags. The bow and arrow she carries were made by Hephaestus and the Cyclops.
Artemis is said to be responsible for sending Orion and one of her nymphs, Callisto into the sky to remain as constellations. Naturally, Orion became Orion and Callisto became the Great Bear (or the Plough).
Demeter – Demeter is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister to Zeus with whom she had Persephone. She is the Goddess of Fertility and the Earth, most importantly the various grains. Demeter taught mankind how to sow seeds and plough their harvests so they could work the land in one place rather than travel to find food. When Hades abducted Persephone and took her to the underworld, Demeter wandered the earth looking for her. Zeus sent Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back but before she left, Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate. When she ate it, it doomed Persephone to spend one third of each year with her Hades in the underworld. Demeter only lets things grow when she and Persephone are together which explains the dying and rebirth of nature during the seasons.
Demeter is usually portrayed with different fruits of the earth and a torch. The torch is thought to represent her search for Persephone.
The other Olympian Gods and Goddesses are Ares, Dionysus, Hermes and Hephaestus. Sometimes Asclepius, Heracles, Hestia, Persephone and Hades are listed as Olympian Gods and Goddesses but their inclusion varies from version to version.
It's No Myth; Snippetz Looks to the Past: Greek Mythology
“I think that we need mythology. We need a bedrock of story and legend in order to live our lives coherently.”
– Alan Moore, writer
In the thousands of years before the internet and Google, people created different ways of passing down information. Whether it be information about certain historical events or possibly ancestral information, people have managed to preserve history through stories, epic poems and representational works of art. We can thank the ancient Greek civilization for much of this practice. If it weren’t for ancient Greek mythology, much of our Western culture, heritage and language wouldn’t exist. With thousands of years of historical accounts to sift through, it’s nearly impossible to sum up this topic in one article. But Snippetz has gathered information about some of the key players to give you a glimpse into the world of ancient Greek mythology.
Important historians and writers
While there are many writers who contributed to the vast collection of accounts from ancient Greece, one of the earliest and most important writers of Greek mythology and culture was Homer. His epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey remain key sources for the study of Greek mythology. Homer’s contemporary, Herodotus also provided much insight through his accounts of what took place, called The Histories. His reliability is often debated and Thucydides, yet another ancient Greek historian, wrote that his own accounts were based in fact while Herodotus often embellished the truth for entertainment purposes.
Gods and Goddesses
It’s true that there are many gods and demi-gods that have a place in Greek mythology, but there are only 12 Olympians; gods and goddesses who lived and held thrones on Mount Olympus. Here’s a bit about some of the major gods and goddesses.
Zeus – Zeus is the supreme ruler of Mount Olympus and the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea. After overthrowing his father, he and his brothers split the universe among themselves; Zeus took the heavens, Poseidon got the sea and Hades took the underworld. While he was married to Hera (who also happened to be his sister) he had several other liaisons and fathered many, many children. From all these offspring, Zeus gave mankind all they would ever need to live in a morally and orderly way.
Zeus was originally thought to be a weather god, which is why he is often depicted with a lightning bolt. He controls thunder, lightning, rain and is often said to bring the thunderstorms.
Poseidon – Brother to Zeus, he is most known for being the God of the Sea. He is also associated with earthquakes and horses and is the God of Fertility, while his sister, Demeter is the fertility goddess. Apparently, Poseidon is a moody god who would take swift revenge in the form of unruly springs, earthquakes, ship wrecks and drownings. He lives on the ocean floor and rides around in a chariot pulled by horses.
Poseidon battled Athena for the city of Athens and in order to gain support from the people there, he threw a spear into the ground and created the spring at the Acropolis. Athena defeated him by supplying the city with the olive tree and named the city Athens, in her own honor.
Apollo – Thought to be one of the most important gods, Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and has a twin sister Artemis. Leto found the floating island of Delos and gave birth to her children there. Four days after his birth, Apollo killed the dragon Python, sent by Hera to hunt Leto to her death. Hera then sent the giant Tityos to kill Leto but Apollo and Artemis joined forces to defeat the giant. During the Trojan War, Apollo sent arrows infected with the plague into a Greek encampment, which angered Achilles. Apollo is credited with Achilles’s death by shooting an arrow through his heel.
He is associated with medicine and healing but conversely is also the God of Plague. Additionally, Apollo is the God of Music, Poetry, Oracles, Sun, Medicine, Light and Knowledge. He is father to Asclepius, Troilus, Aristaeus and Orpheus.
Hera – Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus. She is generally worshiped as the Goddess of Marriage and Birth. Hera is represented as extremely jealous of Zeus’s many affairs, especially of the children which they produced. She put serpents in Heracles’s cradle; she had a hundred-eyed giant guard Io; and she tried to kill Leto to prevent Apollo and Artemis’s birth.
Aphrodite – As the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Physical Pleasure. She was borne from Cronus when he threw his castrated “man parts” into the sea. The ocean began to foam (in Greek, “aphros”) and up came Aphrodite. Zeus saw how irresistible and beautiful she was so to protect her, he married her off to Hephaestus. Aphrodite had several affairs and had children with some of them. Perhaps most notable is her affair with a Trojan named Anchises which resulted in the birth of Aeneas.
Athena – Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, War, the Arts, Industry, Justice and Skill. Her mother Metis is Zeus’s first wife, whom Zeus swallowed due to the fear of Metis giving birth to a son stronger than he. While inside Zeus, Metis made a robe and helmet for Athena. The hammering gave Zeus such an incredible headache that his son Hephaestus offered his help by splitting Zeus’s head open to reveal a fully-grown (and fully clothed in the robe and helmet) Athena.
Athena is often portrayed with the Goddess of Victory, Nike.
Artemis – Artemis is Apollo’s twin. She is the Goddess of the Wilderness, the Hunt and Wild Animals. She is a very contradictory goddess as she protects women during childbirth but her arrows also occasionally kill them during labor. Artemis was said to roam the mountain forests and undisturbed land with her nymphs as she hunted for lions, panthers and stags. The bow and arrow she carries were made by Hephaestus and the Cyclops.
Artemis is said to be responsible for sending Orion and one of her nymphs, Callisto into the sky to remain as constellations. Naturally, Orion became Orion and Callisto became the Great Bear (or the Plough).
Demeter – Demeter is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister to Zeus with whom she had Persephone. She is the Goddess of Fertility and the Earth, most importantly the various grains. Demeter taught mankind how to sow seeds and plough their harvests so they could work the land in one place rather than travel to find food. When Hades abducted Persephone and took her to the underworld, Demeter wandered the earth looking for her. Zeus sent Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back but before she left, Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate. When she ate it, it doomed Persephone to spend one third of each year with her Hades in the underworld. Demeter only lets things grow when she and Persephone are together which explains the dying and rebirth of nature during the seasons.
Demeter is usually portrayed with different fruits of the earth and a torch. The torch is thought to represent her search for Persephone.
The other Olympian Gods and Goddesses are Ares, Dionysus, Hermes and Hephaestus. Sometimes Asclepius, Heracles, Hestia, Persephone and Hades are listed as Olympian Gods and Goddesses but their inclusion varies from version to version.
Issue 629
Snippetz Wants to Help You and Yours Shop Safely this Holiday Season
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmastime with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.”
– Harlan Miller, writer
‘Tis the season to shop, celebrate, eat and enjoy family and friends. But it’s also the season where many people make rash decisions about how to spend their money and some even become victims of credit card fraud or identity theft. There are ways to avoid unwise spending and safeguarding yourself against thieves when you’re out finding that perfect present. But wouldn’t it ruin the season if you had to go searching for all those safe shopping tips yourself? That’s where Snippetz comes in, of course! We’ve compiled some great ways to shop smart, save money and protect yourself this holiday season.
Make a list
Making a list isn’t just for Santa Claus. It’s a great way to stay focused when you’re out shopping, especially if you plan to hit up any big sale days. Some of the deals are very enticing but if you don’t have a plan of who you’re buying for and how much you can afford to spend, you might end up walking away having spent more for gifts that you can’t necessarily use.
Find good deals before leaving home
Use the internet to find the deals you can truly take advantage of before you go shopping. Not only can you save yourself a sizeable chunk of change by getting a great deal, but you can save yourself a lot of time, energy and gas if you only have to make one stop to get that perfect gift.
When in doubt, buy a gift card
There’s always that one person that you just can’t figure out what to get. Either they have everything they could possibly want or they are so particular, you know you’ll never get the right present . . . ever. Sometimes it’s better just to get them a gift card. That way, they can go get what they want and you don’t have to stress about whether or not they’ve already got what you planned to buy.
This works especially well if you have a teenager or two in your life. Why run the risk of disappointing them when you can offer them the chance to buy exactly what they wanted? And it gives you the perfect excuse to enjoy an afternoon of quality time with them. It’s really a win-win.
Save time, buy online
This option is becoming more and more viable as people learn how frustrating it can be to fight through those holiday crowds at the mall or your favorite retail store. Instead, stay warm and cozy in your pajamas and buy things online when feasible. Many retailers offer free shipping if you purchase a certain amount from them and they can often ship directly to the person you’re buying it for.
Online shopping can be especially tricky, though. This is the most common place for identity theft to occur. To ensure your online shopping safety, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Sign up for emails
Large and small retailers alike will often provide great discounts through coupons. If possible, sign up for their emailing list so they can send you deals and discounts you can use to save big at the register.
Don’t be afraid to ask
Sometimes retailers will program their registers to discount an item the night before the advertised discount day. If you shop after 6:00 p.m. the night before, you might just get lucky on this one. Don’t be too shy to ask about upcoming discounts either. Some stores will let you know ahead of time what their deals will be so you can plan ahead to get there in time.
Shopping local retail stores rather than larger retail chains is a great way to take advantage of discounts that aren’t too widely known. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Maybe the store offers a discount to senior citizens but doesn’t advertise that they do. Sometimes you can even get a small discount off a great item by asking the sales associate if there’s “anything they can do to work with you on the price.” Haggling is popular in many countries around the world and while most Americans don’t engage in that practice, plenty of retailers are willing to offer you a little something back for shopping locally.
Pay with cash
As arcane as this practice may seem, it’s a great way to protect your personal information and stick to a budget. It’s pretty hard to break your budget if you only have a certain amount of money in your wallet. Some retailers, especially local ones, offer discounts for people who pay with cash because they don’t have to pay the merchant fees required on a credit or debit card transaction.
Stress-shopping is a big no-no
It’s been shown that stress affects our rational approach to spending and makes us more likely to spend our money recklessly. It can trick us into thinking that saving a little money on one item means we can spend more money on another unnecessary item. That money didn’t magically appear in your bank account so if you didn’t budget for it and don’t truly need it, don’t buy it.
Some great ways to avoid this type of stressed-out shopping is to shop online, shop early in the year and during extended shopping hours when fewer people are around. Research has shown that the hours of 10 a.m. and noon, Monday through Thursday are the best, least crowded times to shop.
Ask around
It may be tempting to guess what your friends and family may want this year, but it’s much easier to do some subtle recognizance to find out at what stores they personally like to shop. If you know they like a certain local home goods store, go there with them in mind and you’ll probably have more success than digging through a huge superstore’s selection of home goods items.
Follow locally-run discount sites
There are plenty of online sites that offer discounts for local shops at ridiculous prices. LivingSocial.com is one and Groupon.com is another. Sites like these allow you to indicate your specific area and will allow you to purchase great deals for local businesses.
Snippetz Wants to Help You and Yours Shop Safely this Holiday Season
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmastime with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.”
– Harlan Miller, writer
‘Tis the season to shop, celebrate, eat and enjoy family and friends. But it’s also the season where many people make rash decisions about how to spend their money and some even become victims of credit card fraud or identity theft. There are ways to avoid unwise spending and safeguarding yourself against thieves when you’re out finding that perfect present. But wouldn’t it ruin the season if you had to go searching for all those safe shopping tips yourself? That’s where Snippetz comes in, of course! We’ve compiled some great ways to shop smart, save money and protect yourself this holiday season.
Make a list
Making a list isn’t just for Santa Claus. It’s a great way to stay focused when you’re out shopping, especially if you plan to hit up any big sale days. Some of the deals are very enticing but if you don’t have a plan of who you’re buying for and how much you can afford to spend, you might end up walking away having spent more for gifts that you can’t necessarily use.
Find good deals before leaving home
Use the internet to find the deals you can truly take advantage of before you go shopping. Not only can you save yourself a sizeable chunk of change by getting a great deal, but you can save yourself a lot of time, energy and gas if you only have to make one stop to get that perfect gift.
When in doubt, buy a gift card
There’s always that one person that you just can’t figure out what to get. Either they have everything they could possibly want or they are so particular, you know you’ll never get the right present . . . ever. Sometimes it’s better just to get them a gift card. That way, they can go get what they want and you don’t have to stress about whether or not they’ve already got what you planned to buy.
This works especially well if you have a teenager or two in your life. Why run the risk of disappointing them when you can offer them the chance to buy exactly what they wanted? And it gives you the perfect excuse to enjoy an afternoon of quality time with them. It’s really a win-win.
Save time, buy online
This option is becoming more and more viable as people learn how frustrating it can be to fight through those holiday crowds at the mall or your favorite retail store. Instead, stay warm and cozy in your pajamas and buy things online when feasible. Many retailers offer free shipping if you purchase a certain amount from them and they can often ship directly to the person you’re buying it for.
Online shopping can be especially tricky, though. This is the most common place for identity theft to occur. To ensure your online shopping safety, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- If the deal sounds too good to be true, it very likely is. Unless you’ve shopped with that particular retailer before and know you can trust them, it’s wise to exercise caution when taking advantage of “insane” online deals.
- Check to make sure the website offers a safe buy guarantee. Lots of online retailers will allow you to pay with a PayPal account or an online purchasing protection system. These systems guarantee that they won’t share your personal information (including your credit card number) and allow you to dispute any purchase that wasn’t satisfactory.
- If you’re wary of shopping online, buy a prepaid card to use instead of your personal credit or debit card. These cards allow you the same freedom to shop online but aren’t connected in any way to your bank or credit card account and add a great layer of protection when making online purchases.
Sign up for emails
Large and small retailers alike will often provide great discounts through coupons. If possible, sign up for their emailing list so they can send you deals and discounts you can use to save big at the register.
Don’t be afraid to ask
Sometimes retailers will program their registers to discount an item the night before the advertised discount day. If you shop after 6:00 p.m. the night before, you might just get lucky on this one. Don’t be too shy to ask about upcoming discounts either. Some stores will let you know ahead of time what their deals will be so you can plan ahead to get there in time.
Shopping local retail stores rather than larger retail chains is a great way to take advantage of discounts that aren’t too widely known. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Maybe the store offers a discount to senior citizens but doesn’t advertise that they do. Sometimes you can even get a small discount off a great item by asking the sales associate if there’s “anything they can do to work with you on the price.” Haggling is popular in many countries around the world and while most Americans don’t engage in that practice, plenty of retailers are willing to offer you a little something back for shopping locally.
Pay with cash
As arcane as this practice may seem, it’s a great way to protect your personal information and stick to a budget. It’s pretty hard to break your budget if you only have a certain amount of money in your wallet. Some retailers, especially local ones, offer discounts for people who pay with cash because they don’t have to pay the merchant fees required on a credit or debit card transaction.
Stress-shopping is a big no-no
It’s been shown that stress affects our rational approach to spending and makes us more likely to spend our money recklessly. It can trick us into thinking that saving a little money on one item means we can spend more money on another unnecessary item. That money didn’t magically appear in your bank account so if you didn’t budget for it and don’t truly need it, don’t buy it.
Some great ways to avoid this type of stressed-out shopping is to shop online, shop early in the year and during extended shopping hours when fewer people are around. Research has shown that the hours of 10 a.m. and noon, Monday through Thursday are the best, least crowded times to shop.
Ask around
It may be tempting to guess what your friends and family may want this year, but it’s much easier to do some subtle recognizance to find out at what stores they personally like to shop. If you know they like a certain local home goods store, go there with them in mind and you’ll probably have more success than digging through a huge superstore’s selection of home goods items.
Follow locally-run discount sites
There are plenty of online sites that offer discounts for local shops at ridiculous prices. LivingSocial.com is one and Groupon.com is another. Sites like these allow you to indicate your specific area and will allow you to purchase great deals for local businesses.
Issue 628
Snippetz Invites You to Savor Some Traditional Holiday Drinks
“Holidays are about experiences and people and tuning into what you feel like doing at the moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.”
– Evelyn Glennie, Scottish musician
Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, people often gather together to spend time enjoying traditional food and drink. What comes to mind when you think of holiday food? Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie are probably some of the first examples that you think of. What about holiday drinks, ones you can share with the whole family? Eggnog, wassail, apple cider and hot chocolate are a few drinks that typically go hand in hand with the holidays. But what is it about these drinks that connects them to the holidays? Leave it to Snippetz to find out for you!
Eggnog
The origins of this wonderfully creamy holiday beverage are debatable. People have theorized that the “nog” part of eggnog comes from the word “noggin” which is a Middle English term for a small carved wooden mug often used to serve drinks at tables in taverns. The “noggin” is not to be confused with the “tankard” which was used to serve drinks beside the fire.
Others claim that eggnog refers to a drink called “egg and grog.” After some time, the term was eventually shortened to “egg’n’grog” and yet again to eggnog. This drink was a Colonial drink that was often mixed with rum although some think it started out as an English drink mixture of Spanish “Sherry” and milk. That mixture was called “dry sack posset.”
Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that drinking “egg and grog in a noggin” could easily have just been shortened to eggnog. With the ingredients relatively easily to come by and its combination of rich consistency, spicy flavor and alcohol, it stands to reason that this drink would become a favored wintertime drink throughout Colonial America.
One Englishman from 1866 wrote, “Christmas is not properly observed unless you brew egg nogg for all comers; everybody calls on everybody else; and each call is celebrated by a solemn egg-nogging . . . it is made cold and is drunk cold and is to be commended.” Clearly by this time, it had become a social drink one came to expect when visiting friends or relatives during the holidays.
The original drink consisted of new milk, eggs, some form of alcohol and sugar mixed together. Modern eggnog typically consists of milk, sugar, raw eggs and spices, no alcohol included. For a thicker, richer consistency cream is often used as well as vanilla for flavoring. Eggnog is often served with grated nutmeg on top.
Wassail
The word “wassail” is derived from Old English and literally translates to “be you healthy.” It refers both to drinking wassail, which is served hot and is similar to mulled cider, but also to the act of wassailing. Wassailing is an ancient traditional ceremony from Southern England and involves singing and wassail-drinking to hope for the health of the apple trees and ensure a good apple harvest in the fall. The ceremony also served to scare away any evil spirits lurking around the apple orchards. In certain places, a shotgun is fired into the air to accomplish this task.
While the specifics of each wassailing ceremony vary from one village to the next, the basics of each celebration are generally the same. They typically include a wassail king and queen who lead the procession, often including processional music or singing, from orchard to orchard. The wassail queen then gets the privilege of being lifted into the canopy of the tree in order to place a wassail-soaked piece of toast from an earthen-ware cup called a clayen cup among the boughs. The toast is a gift to the tree spirits and is meant to demonstrate the prosperity of the previous year’s harvest.
The historical recipe for wassail was less like what you’ll find today. It was often made with mulled beer or mead. Today, you’ll probably find wassail is made from mulled cider, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and then topped off with slices of toast.
Apple cider
There is often much confusion about the difference between apple juice and apple cider. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources states, “Apple juice and apple cider are both fruit beverages made from apples but there is a difference between the two. Fresh cider is raw apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp or sediment. Apple juice is juice that has been filtered to remove solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer.”
Because apple cider is not filtered or pasteurized, it is often opaque in appearance due to the particulates still in the juice. Fresh cider is also usually only available during the holidays because of its short shelf life.
Why would apple cider be a popular drink during the holidays? It’s simple. The apple harvest typically occurs in the fall, making the availability of the fruit at its peak just as we are starting to get into holiday mode. Think back to the days before pasteurization. Without it, the cider made after the fall harvest would have to be consumed within a certain period of time or it would go bad. That time just happens to coincide with the holidays.
Apple cider often contains a variety of apple types to give it a balanced taste. Sparkling cider is often made from apple cider by adding carbonation and is a great non-alcoholic alternative to champagne at holiday celebrations.
Apple cider also happens to be the official state beverage of New Hampshire.
Mulled cider
This is sometimes called mulled wine although it can be served with or without alcohol. The term “mulled” refers to a drink that is prepared by combining certain spices with cider (usually apple), wine or other types of juice and heating the mixture before straining out the spices and serving it. The spices are usually cinnamon, cloves, allspice, some part of an orange like the peel and nutmeg. Other recipes sometimes add star anise, peppercorn or cardamom.
Hot Chocolate or Cocoa
As far back as about 2,000 years ago, it is believed that the Mayan culture created the first chocolate drink. This drink was served cold and was created by grinding cocoa seeds into a paste and mixing it with water, cornmeal, chili peppers and other ingredients. The mixture was repeatedly poured from a cup to a pot and back again until a thick froth developed.
Throughout the years, the drink has been changed and tweaked many times. Now it is consumed worldwide and comes in many different variations, including the hot chocolate drink most Americans are accustomed to. The terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa can be used interchangeably since they refer to the same thing.
Modern hot chocolate tastes nothing like the ancient version which was said to be spicy and bitter. By the 1600s, the drink trended towards the sweet variety rather than the previous versions. In 1828, Coenraad Johannes van Houten created cocoa powder using a machine he developed in the Netherlands. The machine separated the greasy cocoa butter from the cacao seeds, leaving behind the more intensely-flavored chocolate powder. Similar to the modern-day instant hot cocoa powder, van Houten’s powder was more easily stirred into milk and water.
While hot cocoa or hot chocolate can be enjoyed any time of the year, most people find themselves seeking it out during the colder fall and winter months, coinciding once again with our traditional holiday season.
Snippetz Invites You to Savor Some Traditional Holiday Drinks
“Holidays are about experiences and people and tuning into what you feel like doing at the moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.”
– Evelyn Glennie, Scottish musician
Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, people often gather together to spend time enjoying traditional food and drink. What comes to mind when you think of holiday food? Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie are probably some of the first examples that you think of. What about holiday drinks, ones you can share with the whole family? Eggnog, wassail, apple cider and hot chocolate are a few drinks that typically go hand in hand with the holidays. But what is it about these drinks that connects them to the holidays? Leave it to Snippetz to find out for you!
Eggnog
The origins of this wonderfully creamy holiday beverage are debatable. People have theorized that the “nog” part of eggnog comes from the word “noggin” which is a Middle English term for a small carved wooden mug often used to serve drinks at tables in taverns. The “noggin” is not to be confused with the “tankard” which was used to serve drinks beside the fire.
Others claim that eggnog refers to a drink called “egg and grog.” After some time, the term was eventually shortened to “egg’n’grog” and yet again to eggnog. This drink was a Colonial drink that was often mixed with rum although some think it started out as an English drink mixture of Spanish “Sherry” and milk. That mixture was called “dry sack posset.”
Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that drinking “egg and grog in a noggin” could easily have just been shortened to eggnog. With the ingredients relatively easily to come by and its combination of rich consistency, spicy flavor and alcohol, it stands to reason that this drink would become a favored wintertime drink throughout Colonial America.
One Englishman from 1866 wrote, “Christmas is not properly observed unless you brew egg nogg for all comers; everybody calls on everybody else; and each call is celebrated by a solemn egg-nogging . . . it is made cold and is drunk cold and is to be commended.” Clearly by this time, it had become a social drink one came to expect when visiting friends or relatives during the holidays.
The original drink consisted of new milk, eggs, some form of alcohol and sugar mixed together. Modern eggnog typically consists of milk, sugar, raw eggs and spices, no alcohol included. For a thicker, richer consistency cream is often used as well as vanilla for flavoring. Eggnog is often served with grated nutmeg on top.
Wassail
The word “wassail” is derived from Old English and literally translates to “be you healthy.” It refers both to drinking wassail, which is served hot and is similar to mulled cider, but also to the act of wassailing. Wassailing is an ancient traditional ceremony from Southern England and involves singing and wassail-drinking to hope for the health of the apple trees and ensure a good apple harvest in the fall. The ceremony also served to scare away any evil spirits lurking around the apple orchards. In certain places, a shotgun is fired into the air to accomplish this task.
While the specifics of each wassailing ceremony vary from one village to the next, the basics of each celebration are generally the same. They typically include a wassail king and queen who lead the procession, often including processional music or singing, from orchard to orchard. The wassail queen then gets the privilege of being lifted into the canopy of the tree in order to place a wassail-soaked piece of toast from an earthen-ware cup called a clayen cup among the boughs. The toast is a gift to the tree spirits and is meant to demonstrate the prosperity of the previous year’s harvest.
The historical recipe for wassail was less like what you’ll find today. It was often made with mulled beer or mead. Today, you’ll probably find wassail is made from mulled cider, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and then topped off with slices of toast.
Apple cider
There is often much confusion about the difference between apple juice and apple cider. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources states, “Apple juice and apple cider are both fruit beverages made from apples but there is a difference between the two. Fresh cider is raw apple juice that has not undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp or sediment. Apple juice is juice that has been filtered to remove solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer.”
Because apple cider is not filtered or pasteurized, it is often opaque in appearance due to the particulates still in the juice. Fresh cider is also usually only available during the holidays because of its short shelf life.
Why would apple cider be a popular drink during the holidays? It’s simple. The apple harvest typically occurs in the fall, making the availability of the fruit at its peak just as we are starting to get into holiday mode. Think back to the days before pasteurization. Without it, the cider made after the fall harvest would have to be consumed within a certain period of time or it would go bad. That time just happens to coincide with the holidays.
Apple cider often contains a variety of apple types to give it a balanced taste. Sparkling cider is often made from apple cider by adding carbonation and is a great non-alcoholic alternative to champagne at holiday celebrations.
Apple cider also happens to be the official state beverage of New Hampshire.
Mulled cider
This is sometimes called mulled wine although it can be served with or without alcohol. The term “mulled” refers to a drink that is prepared by combining certain spices with cider (usually apple), wine or other types of juice and heating the mixture before straining out the spices and serving it. The spices are usually cinnamon, cloves, allspice, some part of an orange like the peel and nutmeg. Other recipes sometimes add star anise, peppercorn or cardamom.
Hot Chocolate or Cocoa
As far back as about 2,000 years ago, it is believed that the Mayan culture created the first chocolate drink. This drink was served cold and was created by grinding cocoa seeds into a paste and mixing it with water, cornmeal, chili peppers and other ingredients. The mixture was repeatedly poured from a cup to a pot and back again until a thick froth developed.
Throughout the years, the drink has been changed and tweaked many times. Now it is consumed worldwide and comes in many different variations, including the hot chocolate drink most Americans are accustomed to. The terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa can be used interchangeably since they refer to the same thing.
Modern hot chocolate tastes nothing like the ancient version which was said to be spicy and bitter. By the 1600s, the drink trended towards the sweet variety rather than the previous versions. In 1828, Coenraad Johannes van Houten created cocoa powder using a machine he developed in the Netherlands. The machine separated the greasy cocoa butter from the cacao seeds, leaving behind the more intensely-flavored chocolate powder. Similar to the modern-day instant hot cocoa powder, van Houten’s powder was more easily stirred into milk and water.
While hot cocoa or hot chocolate can be enjoyed any time of the year, most people find themselves seeking it out during the colder fall and winter months, coinciding once again with our traditional holiday season.
Issue 627
Snippetz Wants You to Enjoy Your Golden Years!
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
– Henry Ford
Getting older can be a scary thing. You can’t do the same things you used to be able to do. Your clothes don’t quite fit the right way anymore. Maybe you’ve looked in the mirror and wondered who in the world that old person looking back at you was. We’ve all been there. But we don’t have to STAY there. It is possible to see all the great things that getting older has brought. You don’t have to worry about disappointing your friends when you decline a late night out on the town. You can spoil your nieces, nephews and grandchildren and send them right back to their parents. There’s a whole host of opportunities out there for people getting into those upper digits. And naturally, Snippetz felt it necessary to make it as easy as possible to gather that information so you don’t have to waste your time looking for it . . . instead, you can get out there and start enjoying everything your golden years have to offer!
There’s help out there!
Remember all those times when you wished you could call your mom or dad and ask them how to handle a particularly sticky situation? How they always seemed to know how to handle everything and you couldn’t wait to get older so you knew how to do all those things by yourself? Well, chances are, you’ve found out that no matter how old you get, you still don’t have all the answers and will occasionally find yourself in need of some help or advice.
There are plenty of businesses out there that can help with certain tasks that you’ve found are more difficult than you anticipated. Find a local healthcare management business that can provide a wide array of assistance opportunities ranging from assisted living and independent living, in-home services like meal preparation, medication reminders, transportation services, and light housekeeping among others.
Maybe your needs are a little different. Perhaps you need some financial help due to decreased income from retirement. The great thing is that there are federal public benefits available for people of a certain age and income to help with the cost of food, housing, health care and supplemental income.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program: This program pays heating and cooling bills, plus some energy-related home repairs for those who qualify. The specific annual income qualifications vary state by state so check with your utility company to find out what the requirements are.
Telephone Assistance: This program helps pay for the cost of basic local telephone services for those who qualify. Low-income older adults are urged to apply but acceptance into certain other programs automatically qualifies you for this one. Call your local phone company for details about the Link Up or Lifeline program.
Colorado Food Assistance Program: This program provides a card similar to a debit card that can be used like cash to pay for food items at most grocery stores for those who qualify. Applicants must be have limited income and resources, especially if you are 60 or older. Contact the Department of Human Services to apply: 303-866-5700 or go to http://aarp.org/quicklink to get the application.
Medicare: This program offers health insurance to help pay for preventive care, doctor visits, hospital stays and prescription drugs for those who qualify. Applicants must be 65 or older or have disabilities or kidney failure. Call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 for assistance or visit http://socialsecurity.gov.
Medicare Savings Programs: Programs of this type help pay for some of the costs of Medicare, including the Part B premium, deductibles and co-payments for those who qualify. How much the program provides for you depends on your income and assets. The program requirements vary state by state; to see if you qualify, call 800-633-4227 for help. To request an application if you do qualify, call 800-362-1504.
Medicare Rx Extra Help: This program pays for the monthly fee and deductible for Medicare prescription drug coverage and can lower those particular co-payments for those who qualify. People who get Medicare and have a total combined savings, investments and real estate (excluding your home) that isn’t worth more than $13,070 for single people or $26,120 for married couples currently living together. The Social Security Administration can help get you the application.
Medicaid: This program provides medical coverage for hospital care, clinical and health center services, doctor care, nurse care, X-ray and lab services, and nursing homes. You must be 65 or older to qualify or have disabilities, few resources or sometimes high medical bills. Income limits exist and vary depending on the size of your family and where you live. Contact the Medicaid office to see if you qualify.
Social Security: This program (while it still exists) provides monthly checks depending on how long you worked, how much money you earned, where you worked and your age when you began getting your benefits. People who are 62 or older, have disabilities, or are the spouse and children of a deceased or disabled worker who paid into the program may qualify. Call the Social Security Administration to see if you qualify.
Supplement Security Income: This program also provides monthly checks for people who qualify. You must be 65 or older or have disabilities and very low income and assets. Call the Social Security Administration for help to apply.
Other ways to get your benefit on!
All this talk about Medicare and Social Security has made us at Snippetz a little hungry . . . and bored. Many businesses will offer a discount to seniors but not all of them will advertise that they do so don’t be afraid to ask! That said, here are just some of the really cool benefits you can get as a senior citizen at local restaurants, stores and the like!
Restaurants
Retail and Clothing stores
Grocery stores
Kroger (King Soopers): 10 percent off on the first Wednesday of the month for 60+ (at participating stores only).
Travel
Entertainment
There are plenty more where those came from so if you’re computer-savvy, just search online for “senior citizen discounts” and you’ll be on your way!
Snippetz Wants You to Enjoy Your Golden Years!
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
– Henry Ford
Getting older can be a scary thing. You can’t do the same things you used to be able to do. Your clothes don’t quite fit the right way anymore. Maybe you’ve looked in the mirror and wondered who in the world that old person looking back at you was. We’ve all been there. But we don’t have to STAY there. It is possible to see all the great things that getting older has brought. You don’t have to worry about disappointing your friends when you decline a late night out on the town. You can spoil your nieces, nephews and grandchildren and send them right back to their parents. There’s a whole host of opportunities out there for people getting into those upper digits. And naturally, Snippetz felt it necessary to make it as easy as possible to gather that information so you don’t have to waste your time looking for it . . . instead, you can get out there and start enjoying everything your golden years have to offer!
There’s help out there!
Remember all those times when you wished you could call your mom or dad and ask them how to handle a particularly sticky situation? How they always seemed to know how to handle everything and you couldn’t wait to get older so you knew how to do all those things by yourself? Well, chances are, you’ve found out that no matter how old you get, you still don’t have all the answers and will occasionally find yourself in need of some help or advice.
There are plenty of businesses out there that can help with certain tasks that you’ve found are more difficult than you anticipated. Find a local healthcare management business that can provide a wide array of assistance opportunities ranging from assisted living and independent living, in-home services like meal preparation, medication reminders, transportation services, and light housekeeping among others.
Maybe your needs are a little different. Perhaps you need some financial help due to decreased income from retirement. The great thing is that there are federal public benefits available for people of a certain age and income to help with the cost of food, housing, health care and supplemental income.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program: This program pays heating and cooling bills, plus some energy-related home repairs for those who qualify. The specific annual income qualifications vary state by state so check with your utility company to find out what the requirements are.
Telephone Assistance: This program helps pay for the cost of basic local telephone services for those who qualify. Low-income older adults are urged to apply but acceptance into certain other programs automatically qualifies you for this one. Call your local phone company for details about the Link Up or Lifeline program.
Colorado Food Assistance Program: This program provides a card similar to a debit card that can be used like cash to pay for food items at most grocery stores for those who qualify. Applicants must be have limited income and resources, especially if you are 60 or older. Contact the Department of Human Services to apply: 303-866-5700 or go to http://aarp.org/quicklink to get the application.
Medicare: This program offers health insurance to help pay for preventive care, doctor visits, hospital stays and prescription drugs for those who qualify. Applicants must be 65 or older or have disabilities or kidney failure. Call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 for assistance or visit http://socialsecurity.gov.
Medicare Savings Programs: Programs of this type help pay for some of the costs of Medicare, including the Part B premium, deductibles and co-payments for those who qualify. How much the program provides for you depends on your income and assets. The program requirements vary state by state; to see if you qualify, call 800-633-4227 for help. To request an application if you do qualify, call 800-362-1504.
Medicare Rx Extra Help: This program pays for the monthly fee and deductible for Medicare prescription drug coverage and can lower those particular co-payments for those who qualify. People who get Medicare and have a total combined savings, investments and real estate (excluding your home) that isn’t worth more than $13,070 for single people or $26,120 for married couples currently living together. The Social Security Administration can help get you the application.
Medicaid: This program provides medical coverage for hospital care, clinical and health center services, doctor care, nurse care, X-ray and lab services, and nursing homes. You must be 65 or older to qualify or have disabilities, few resources or sometimes high medical bills. Income limits exist and vary depending on the size of your family and where you live. Contact the Medicaid office to see if you qualify.
Social Security: This program (while it still exists) provides monthly checks depending on how long you worked, how much money you earned, where you worked and your age when you began getting your benefits. People who are 62 or older, have disabilities, or are the spouse and children of a deceased or disabled worker who paid into the program may qualify. Call the Social Security Administration to see if you qualify.
Supplement Security Income: This program also provides monthly checks for people who qualify. You must be 65 or older or have disabilities and very low income and assets. Call the Social Security Administration for help to apply.
Other ways to get your benefit on!
All this talk about Medicare and Social Security has made us at Snippetz a little hungry . . . and bored. Many businesses will offer a discount to seniors but not all of them will advertise that they do so don’t be afraid to ask! That said, here are just some of the really cool benefits you can get as a senior citizen at local restaurants, stores and the like!
Restaurants
- Golden Corral: 10 percent off for 60+
- Chili’s: 10 percent off for 55+
- Culver’s: 10 percent off for 60+
- IHOP: 10 percent off for 55+
- Village Inn: 10 percent off 60+
Retail and Clothing stores
- Bed Bath and Beyond: 10 percent off mailing club for 55+
- Dress Barn: 10 percent off 55+ (varies by location)
- Ross: 10 percent off every Tuesday for 55+
- Kohl’s: 15 percent off for 60+ on Wednesdays
- Walgreens: 20 percent off Walgreens brands and 15 percent off almost everything else for one day each month for 55+ (day varies by location).
Grocery stores
Kroger (King Soopers): 10 percent off on the first Wednesday of the month for 60+ (at participating stores only).
Travel
- Best Western: 10 percent off for 55+
- Quality Inn: 20-30 percent off for 60+
- American Airlines: various discounts for 65+ (call before booking for discount)
- Southwest Airlines: various discounts for 65+ (call before booking for discount)
Entertainment
- AMC Theaters: up to 30 percent off for 55+
- Bally Total Fitness: up to $100 off memberships for 62+
- U.S. National Parks: $10 lifetime pass; 5 percent off additional services for 62+
- Cinemark/Century Theaters: 35 percent off for 65+
There are plenty more where those came from so if you’re computer-savvy, just search online for “senior citizen discounts” and you’ll be on your way!
Issue 626
Snippetz Scares Up Some Real Haunted Houses
“The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don’t really know what they are or where they are. They’re not very well understood. You don’t know what they want from you. So it’s the kind of thing you don’t even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that’s unknown and mysterious is very scary.”
– Oren Peli, Israeli producer
It’s that time of year again, when the young and old alike yearn to be scared out of their wits. Okay, maybe not. But many people are looking for a good fright and we at Snippetz felt it was our duty to research some local scare-worthy places. We’re not talking your mom-and-pop haunted house set up in your neighbor’s garage. No, we’re talking about REAL haunted houses; ones that don’t require any staging or actors or fake monsters and zombies to frighten those in attendance. We’re talking about places that have prompted legends to be told about them and for ghost-hunters from across the country to visit in the hopes of securing undeniable evidence of paranormal activity . . . of a haunted house!
Fact or Fiction?
Not everyone believes in ghosts; that’s obvious. But one study showed that about one third of all adult Americans do. Another study found that about 23 percent of those adults polled believed they had had a personal experience with a ghost, either having seen or felt one. With such a high number of people being “believers,” it’s no wonder that the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena was formed. And according to the association, there are a few things to look for when trying to determine if a house truly is haunted.
The ASSAP would likely dub your house haunted if you have seen apparitions, feel cold spots in a room, smell any unusual odor, notice any objects have been moved or damaged, or have seen your pet acting agitated or scared.
Lee Family Home
Nestled in the trees of the Black Forest, the Lee family house is located just off Swan Road. Outside appearances of this particular house are most definitely deceiving because while it may look to be just an ordinary house, what lurks inside is far from ordinary.
The origin of the paranormal activity is unknown and there are plenty who say that the previous owner of the house knew all about the strange happenings and kept his mouth shut. Maybe he didn’t want the sale to fall through; maybe he didn’t want to be labeled a wacko. Either way, Steve and Beth Lee signed a lease on the home in May of 1991 and moved with their two boys to the house without knowledge of what they were getting into.
The following year, the family purchased the home and according to Beth Lee, all the problems started shortly thereafter. Lights in the house turned on by themselves or would flash on and off; they could hear what sounded like people stomping across the roof and chains rattling. The family has reported strange shadows and weird lights, and the stench of an unidentifiable chemical that was so strong it burned their throats.
The family set up surveillance cameras to catch the action on tape, especially after their alarm system and motion detectors were triggered with no explanation. The El Paso County Sheriff’s office investigated those alarms over 60 times and came up with no evidence of what set them off.
At least two paranormal investigators have made their way to the house to help determine what exactly is going on at the Lee house. One came to the conclusion that at least 20 different spirits resided in the house, specifically in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Another conclusion came from a Hopi shaman that visited and decided that the house resided on an area known as a “Rainbow Vortex,” a place where our mortal world connects to the next world, whatever that may be. Hundreds of faces have revealed themselves in the master bedroom mirror which has been labeled as the pathway through which these spirits have been able to move.
Hearthstone Inn
The Hearthstone Inn, located on Cascade Avenue in Colorado Springs is actually two separate houses, the Bemis house and the Sumner House that were connected in the early 1900s. The inn is no longer open as the property was foreclosed on several years ago. The structure remains, however and it stands to reason that the paranormal activity reported there when the inn was open continues.
So what was this paranormal activity? Some guests had reported seeing pictures and mirrors lift themselves off the wall and either fly across the room or drop to the floor. Others claimed that drinking glasses had suddenly shattered in their hands. Cold spots had been reported and some believers had even gone as far as to set up cameras to record the orbs and mists that mysteriously appeared throughout the inn.
Perhaps the most interesting occurrences at this haunted house were the repeated reports of the ghost of a little girl running throughout the inn. People claimed to hear her giggling and laughing. Some had even said that she was jumping on the bed they were sleeping in as though it was a trampoline.
The Pioneer Museum
The Pioneer Museum, situated in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, seems an unlikely place for a haunting. But people swear that the ghost of a former manager who was shot by an employee in the 1950s still roams the halls of the museum.
According to the stories about the museum, the manager was accused of cheating that employee out of a paycheck and the employee lost his mind and killed the manager. His former office and surrounding areas are said to be haunted by an upset presence. This presence is reported to make people feel really uncomfortable, like they are not welcome to be there.
One man claimed he saw an apparition of a man wearing an old black coat walking to the stairwell of the museum. He didn’t report any feelings of unease, though and even said the ghost appear to be peacefully going about his routine.
The Broadmoor Hotel
Luxury often comes to mind when you think of this particular hotel in Colorado Springs. Haunted usually doesn’t . . . but maybe it should.
People who have worked at the hotel have come forward with claims that they’ve seen the apparition of a woman wearing a long gown. Others have indicated that ghosts were behind suspicious behavior that occurred during a remodel of the hotel in which each wing was closed off, one at a time in order to complete the renovations.
One guest chronicled her time staying at the hotel and throughout her writings, she tells about her experiences with the paranormal entities that reside within the Broadmoor. She wrote about a ghost appearing in the steam from her shower, T.V.s turning themselves on and off, the chandelier in her room swaying back and forth all on its own, and many other experiences that she attributed to the ghosts of the Broadmoor.
Other Real Haunted Houses
Snippetz Scares Up Some Real Haunted Houses
“The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don’t really know what they are or where they are. They’re not very well understood. You don’t know what they want from you. So it’s the kind of thing you don’t even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that’s unknown and mysterious is very scary.”
– Oren Peli, Israeli producer
It’s that time of year again, when the young and old alike yearn to be scared out of their wits. Okay, maybe not. But many people are looking for a good fright and we at Snippetz felt it was our duty to research some local scare-worthy places. We’re not talking your mom-and-pop haunted house set up in your neighbor’s garage. No, we’re talking about REAL haunted houses; ones that don’t require any staging or actors or fake monsters and zombies to frighten those in attendance. We’re talking about places that have prompted legends to be told about them and for ghost-hunters from across the country to visit in the hopes of securing undeniable evidence of paranormal activity . . . of a haunted house!
Fact or Fiction?
Not everyone believes in ghosts; that’s obvious. But one study showed that about one third of all adult Americans do. Another study found that about 23 percent of those adults polled believed they had had a personal experience with a ghost, either having seen or felt one. With such a high number of people being “believers,” it’s no wonder that the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena was formed. And according to the association, there are a few things to look for when trying to determine if a house truly is haunted.
The ASSAP would likely dub your house haunted if you have seen apparitions, feel cold spots in a room, smell any unusual odor, notice any objects have been moved or damaged, or have seen your pet acting agitated or scared.
Lee Family Home
Nestled in the trees of the Black Forest, the Lee family house is located just off Swan Road. Outside appearances of this particular house are most definitely deceiving because while it may look to be just an ordinary house, what lurks inside is far from ordinary.
The origin of the paranormal activity is unknown and there are plenty who say that the previous owner of the house knew all about the strange happenings and kept his mouth shut. Maybe he didn’t want the sale to fall through; maybe he didn’t want to be labeled a wacko. Either way, Steve and Beth Lee signed a lease on the home in May of 1991 and moved with their two boys to the house without knowledge of what they were getting into.
The following year, the family purchased the home and according to Beth Lee, all the problems started shortly thereafter. Lights in the house turned on by themselves or would flash on and off; they could hear what sounded like people stomping across the roof and chains rattling. The family has reported strange shadows and weird lights, and the stench of an unidentifiable chemical that was so strong it burned their throats.
The family set up surveillance cameras to catch the action on tape, especially after their alarm system and motion detectors were triggered with no explanation. The El Paso County Sheriff’s office investigated those alarms over 60 times and came up with no evidence of what set them off.
At least two paranormal investigators have made their way to the house to help determine what exactly is going on at the Lee house. One came to the conclusion that at least 20 different spirits resided in the house, specifically in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Another conclusion came from a Hopi shaman that visited and decided that the house resided on an area known as a “Rainbow Vortex,” a place where our mortal world connects to the next world, whatever that may be. Hundreds of faces have revealed themselves in the master bedroom mirror which has been labeled as the pathway through which these spirits have been able to move.
Hearthstone Inn
The Hearthstone Inn, located on Cascade Avenue in Colorado Springs is actually two separate houses, the Bemis house and the Sumner House that were connected in the early 1900s. The inn is no longer open as the property was foreclosed on several years ago. The structure remains, however and it stands to reason that the paranormal activity reported there when the inn was open continues.
So what was this paranormal activity? Some guests had reported seeing pictures and mirrors lift themselves off the wall and either fly across the room or drop to the floor. Others claimed that drinking glasses had suddenly shattered in their hands. Cold spots had been reported and some believers had even gone as far as to set up cameras to record the orbs and mists that mysteriously appeared throughout the inn.
Perhaps the most interesting occurrences at this haunted house were the repeated reports of the ghost of a little girl running throughout the inn. People claimed to hear her giggling and laughing. Some had even said that she was jumping on the bed they were sleeping in as though it was a trampoline.
The Pioneer Museum
The Pioneer Museum, situated in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, seems an unlikely place for a haunting. But people swear that the ghost of a former manager who was shot by an employee in the 1950s still roams the halls of the museum.
According to the stories about the museum, the manager was accused of cheating that employee out of a paycheck and the employee lost his mind and killed the manager. His former office and surrounding areas are said to be haunted by an upset presence. This presence is reported to make people feel really uncomfortable, like they are not welcome to be there.
One man claimed he saw an apparition of a man wearing an old black coat walking to the stairwell of the museum. He didn’t report any feelings of unease, though and even said the ghost appear to be peacefully going about his routine.
The Broadmoor Hotel
Luxury often comes to mind when you think of this particular hotel in Colorado Springs. Haunted usually doesn’t . . . but maybe it should.
People who have worked at the hotel have come forward with claims that they’ve seen the apparition of a woman wearing a long gown. Others have indicated that ghosts were behind suspicious behavior that occurred during a remodel of the hotel in which each wing was closed off, one at a time in order to complete the renovations.
One guest chronicled her time staying at the hotel and throughout her writings, she tells about her experiences with the paranormal entities that reside within the Broadmoor. She wrote about a ghost appearing in the steam from her shower, T.V.s turning themselves on and off, the chandelier in her room swaying back and forth all on its own, and many other experiences that she attributed to the ghosts of the Broadmoor.
Other Real Haunted Houses
- The Whaley House in San Diego
- Blickling Hall in Norforlk, England
- Rose Hall in Jamaica
- The White House (during George W. Bush’s presidency, The White House Web Site even had a web page dedicated to the description of the ghost sightings!)
- The Deane House in Alberta, Canada
- The Villisca Ax Murder House in Iowa
- The Monte Cristo Homestead in Australia
- The Lalaurie House in New Orleans
Issue 625
Snippetz Opens the Book on Silly Laws
“If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist and thinks laws in his own case superfluous.”
– Will Durant, historian
Laws help us determine right from wrong and while most laws (and the emphasis here is on MOST) are necessary and appropriate, others simply are not. It make sense to have a speed limit in the highway to help drivers continue on their way safely. But it doesn’t quite make as much sense to prohibit bear wrestling matches in Alabama. And that’s not an exaggerated example . . . that is a real and for-true law. Laws like this are not uncommon. The United States is filled with them. What better way to highlight these interesting, often laughable laws than to fill our humble little magazine with them!
Colorado
It is illegal for someone in Durango to be seen in public wearing clothes that are “unbecoming” of one’s gender.
If you’re a man living in Logan County, make sure not to kiss any woman while she is sleeping, since that is illegal.
Alabama
The law stating that it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time is not unique to Alabama alone; this law occurs in several other states as well.
Also, when going to church make sure not to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter because that is prohibited.
Alaska
Shooting bears in Alaska is legal unless you plan to shoot a photo of one and you have to wake it up to do so.
If you plan on pushing a moose out of a moving airplane, you might want to think twice; it’s illegal.
Arizona
Don’t plan on camel-hunting while in Arizona. It’s against the law.
If you steal soap in Mohave County, plan to spend a lot of time in the shower. A decree declares that you must wash yourself with that stolen soap until it’s used up.
Arkansas
School teachers in Arkansas eliminate their chances of getting a raise if they “bob” their hair.
If you’re waiting in line at a drive-through restaurant, do not stop your car and then restart it because that’s illegal.
California
In Blythe, it is illegal to wear cowboy boots unless you already own at least two cows.
If you ever find yourself on the witness stand in Los Angeles, don’t cry. That’s against the law.
Connecticut
Pickles aren’t pickles in Connecticut unless they bounce.
Beauticians are banned from humming, whistling or singing while working on a customer in Waterbury.
Delaware
Flying over any body of water is illegal unless you are carrying “sufficient supplies of food and drink” aboard your aircraft.
Florida
The state constitution prohibits pregnant pigs from being confined to cages.
If you ride your elephant into town and need to tie it up to a parking meter, you have to pay the parking fee just as you would for parking a vehicle there.
Georgia
Your next picnic in Columbus should not take place in a graveyard. That’s illegal.
In Jonesboro, you are prohibited from saying, “Oh, boy.”
Hawaii
If you think hiding coins in your ear is a good idea, don’t do it in Hawaii because it’s illegal.
Idaho
Make sure you aren’t wearing your grumpy pants when you go out in public in Pocatello because it’s illegal to be out and about without a smile.
Illinois
Always keep at least one dollar in your pocket otherwise you could be arrested for vagrancy.
Don’t plan on sticking around to finish your food in a building that’s on fire in Chicago because that’s illegal.
Indiana
If you have a tendency to kiss people, make sure to shave your moustache before heading to Indiana.
Don’t let someone drag you into “spiteful gossip” or “talking behind a person’s back” because both of those actions are illegal.
Iowa
If you’re a one-armed piano player, be prepared to play for free. It’s illegal for you to accept payment for your services.
Notice to all men: when in Ottumwa, winking at a woman you don’t know is illegal.
Kansas
If a vending machine eats your money in Derby, hitting it is prohibited.
In Russell, musical car horns are banned.
Kentucky
Any woman wishing to purchase a hat must first have her husband’s permission in Owensboro.
If you wish to sell ducklings that you’ve dyed any color, you can only legally sell it if you have six or more for sale all at once.
Louisiana
In Sulphur, it is illegal to be an alcoholic.
If you must bite someone, consider this: biting someone with your natural teeth is just assault, but biting someone with your false teeth is aggravated assault.
Maine
Although it may seem like a great place to garner new business, it is illegal to advertise in cemeteries.
Stepping out of a plane in flight is also illegal so just remain in your seat.
Maryland
Make sure you have both sleeves on your shirt before going to a public park because it’s illegal to be without them in Baltimore.
If you attempt to remove a building by writing on it, you are breaking the law.
Massachusetts
If you head to Massachusetts for a vacation, bring plenty of money and leave your bullets at home because they cannot be used as currency.
Schedule your duel to the death on Sunday and make sure to invite the Governor otherwise your duel is illegal.
Michigan
Don’t plan to put your family dog to sleep by the use of a decompression chamber because it’s against the law.
Minnesota
Driving a truck with dirty tires is considered a public nuisance.
Don’t let your cat “run at larger” otherwise it is the duty of any police officer to kill it.
Mississippi
Be on your best behavior in church in Mississippi otherwise any private citizen can personally arrest you for disturbing a service.
Missouri
In Mole, frightening a baby is a violation of the law.
Unless you have permission from the owner, you may not honk another’s car horn.
Montana
Don’t annoy passersby on sidewalks with a revolving water sprinkler because that’s illegal.
Nebraska
Whale fishing in this land-locked state (and many others, actually) is illegal.
Nevada
In Reno, it is illegal to lie down on the sidewalk.
If you must drive your camel, make sure not to take it on the highway.
New Hampshire
In a tavern, restaurant or café, it is illegal to tap your feet, nod your head or in any way keep time to the music playing.
New Jersey
It is illegal to wear a bullet-proof vest while committing a murder.
Don’t “frown” at a police officer because it’s against the law.
New Mexico
If you happen upon the Mountain View Cemetery, don’t go hunting there.
New York
It’s illegal to greet another person by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers.”
North Carolina
Women must cover their bodies by at least 16 yards of clothing at all times in Charlotte.
North Dakota
Take off your shoes before you lie down and fall asleep otherwise you’re breaking the law.
Ohio
It is illegal to get a fish drunk.
In Toledo, it is illegal to throw a snake at someone else.
Oklahoma
In Hartshorne, it is considered unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.
Making “ugly faces” at dogs could result in a fine or incarceration.
Oregon
There is no whistling underwater while in Portland.
In Hood River, you must get a license to juggle.
Pennsylvania
A cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug. Maybe men should do the sweeping, then.
Don’t sleep outside on top of a refrigerator.
Rhode Island
Zombies beware: biting off another person’s leg is illegal.
South Carolina
If a man promises to marry a woman, the marriage must take place, according to law.
South Dakota
Laying down and falling asleep inside a cheese factory is illegal.
Tennessee
In Oneida, it is forbidden to sine “It Ain’t Goin’ To Rain No Mo’.”
Texas
All criminals must give their victims 24 hour notice to explain the nature of the crime they wish to commit.
Utah
While she is in his presence, a husband is responsible for all criminal activity committed by his wife.
Vermont
Women must obtain written permission from their husbands before they can wear false teeth.
Snippetz Opens the Book on Silly Laws
“If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist and thinks laws in his own case superfluous.”
– Will Durant, historian
Laws help us determine right from wrong and while most laws (and the emphasis here is on MOST) are necessary and appropriate, others simply are not. It make sense to have a speed limit in the highway to help drivers continue on their way safely. But it doesn’t quite make as much sense to prohibit bear wrestling matches in Alabama. And that’s not an exaggerated example . . . that is a real and for-true law. Laws like this are not uncommon. The United States is filled with them. What better way to highlight these interesting, often laughable laws than to fill our humble little magazine with them!
Colorado
It is illegal for someone in Durango to be seen in public wearing clothes that are “unbecoming” of one’s gender.
If you’re a man living in Logan County, make sure not to kiss any woman while she is sleeping, since that is illegal.
Alabama
The law stating that it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time is not unique to Alabama alone; this law occurs in several other states as well.
Also, when going to church make sure not to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter because that is prohibited.
Alaska
Shooting bears in Alaska is legal unless you plan to shoot a photo of one and you have to wake it up to do so.
If you plan on pushing a moose out of a moving airplane, you might want to think twice; it’s illegal.
Arizona
Don’t plan on camel-hunting while in Arizona. It’s against the law.
If you steal soap in Mohave County, plan to spend a lot of time in the shower. A decree declares that you must wash yourself with that stolen soap until it’s used up.
Arkansas
School teachers in Arkansas eliminate their chances of getting a raise if they “bob” their hair.
If you’re waiting in line at a drive-through restaurant, do not stop your car and then restart it because that’s illegal.
California
In Blythe, it is illegal to wear cowboy boots unless you already own at least two cows.
If you ever find yourself on the witness stand in Los Angeles, don’t cry. That’s against the law.
Connecticut
Pickles aren’t pickles in Connecticut unless they bounce.
Beauticians are banned from humming, whistling or singing while working on a customer in Waterbury.
Delaware
Flying over any body of water is illegal unless you are carrying “sufficient supplies of food and drink” aboard your aircraft.
Florida
The state constitution prohibits pregnant pigs from being confined to cages.
If you ride your elephant into town and need to tie it up to a parking meter, you have to pay the parking fee just as you would for parking a vehicle there.
Georgia
Your next picnic in Columbus should not take place in a graveyard. That’s illegal.
In Jonesboro, you are prohibited from saying, “Oh, boy.”
Hawaii
If you think hiding coins in your ear is a good idea, don’t do it in Hawaii because it’s illegal.
Idaho
Make sure you aren’t wearing your grumpy pants when you go out in public in Pocatello because it’s illegal to be out and about without a smile.
Illinois
Always keep at least one dollar in your pocket otherwise you could be arrested for vagrancy.
Don’t plan on sticking around to finish your food in a building that’s on fire in Chicago because that’s illegal.
Indiana
If you have a tendency to kiss people, make sure to shave your moustache before heading to Indiana.
Don’t let someone drag you into “spiteful gossip” or “talking behind a person’s back” because both of those actions are illegal.
Iowa
If you’re a one-armed piano player, be prepared to play for free. It’s illegal for you to accept payment for your services.
Notice to all men: when in Ottumwa, winking at a woman you don’t know is illegal.
Kansas
If a vending machine eats your money in Derby, hitting it is prohibited.
In Russell, musical car horns are banned.
Kentucky
Any woman wishing to purchase a hat must first have her husband’s permission in Owensboro.
If you wish to sell ducklings that you’ve dyed any color, you can only legally sell it if you have six or more for sale all at once.
Louisiana
In Sulphur, it is illegal to be an alcoholic.
If you must bite someone, consider this: biting someone with your natural teeth is just assault, but biting someone with your false teeth is aggravated assault.
Maine
Although it may seem like a great place to garner new business, it is illegal to advertise in cemeteries.
Stepping out of a plane in flight is also illegal so just remain in your seat.
Maryland
Make sure you have both sleeves on your shirt before going to a public park because it’s illegal to be without them in Baltimore.
If you attempt to remove a building by writing on it, you are breaking the law.
Massachusetts
If you head to Massachusetts for a vacation, bring plenty of money and leave your bullets at home because they cannot be used as currency.
Schedule your duel to the death on Sunday and make sure to invite the Governor otherwise your duel is illegal.
Michigan
Don’t plan to put your family dog to sleep by the use of a decompression chamber because it’s against the law.
Minnesota
Driving a truck with dirty tires is considered a public nuisance.
Don’t let your cat “run at larger” otherwise it is the duty of any police officer to kill it.
Mississippi
Be on your best behavior in church in Mississippi otherwise any private citizen can personally arrest you for disturbing a service.
Missouri
In Mole, frightening a baby is a violation of the law.
Unless you have permission from the owner, you may not honk another’s car horn.
Montana
Don’t annoy passersby on sidewalks with a revolving water sprinkler because that’s illegal.
Nebraska
Whale fishing in this land-locked state (and many others, actually) is illegal.
Nevada
In Reno, it is illegal to lie down on the sidewalk.
If you must drive your camel, make sure not to take it on the highway.
New Hampshire
In a tavern, restaurant or café, it is illegal to tap your feet, nod your head or in any way keep time to the music playing.
New Jersey
It is illegal to wear a bullet-proof vest while committing a murder.
Don’t “frown” at a police officer because it’s against the law.
New Mexico
If you happen upon the Mountain View Cemetery, don’t go hunting there.
New York
It’s illegal to greet another person by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers.”
North Carolina
Women must cover their bodies by at least 16 yards of clothing at all times in Charlotte.
North Dakota
Take off your shoes before you lie down and fall asleep otherwise you’re breaking the law.
Ohio
It is illegal to get a fish drunk.
In Toledo, it is illegal to throw a snake at someone else.
Oklahoma
In Hartshorne, it is considered unlawful to put any hypnotized person in a display window.
Making “ugly faces” at dogs could result in a fine or incarceration.
Oregon
There is no whistling underwater while in Portland.
In Hood River, you must get a license to juggle.
Pennsylvania
A cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug. Maybe men should do the sweeping, then.
Don’t sleep outside on top of a refrigerator.
Rhode Island
Zombies beware: biting off another person’s leg is illegal.
South Carolina
If a man promises to marry a woman, the marriage must take place, according to law.
South Dakota
Laying down and falling asleep inside a cheese factory is illegal.
Tennessee
In Oneida, it is forbidden to sine “It Ain’t Goin’ To Rain No Mo’.”
Texas
All criminals must give their victims 24 hour notice to explain the nature of the crime they wish to commit.
Utah
While she is in his presence, a husband is responsible for all criminal activity committed by his wife.
Vermont
Women must obtain written permission from their husbands before they can wear false teeth.
Issue 624
Snippetz Discovers Beauty Isn't Just Skin Deep: Beauty Pageants
“For me, it went beyond being a beauty queen. For me, it was about being the 20-year-old girl from India on an international platform . . .”
– Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, actress and former beauty pageant contestant
It’s a tough world out there. Competition is a fact of life and there really is no way to escape it. So instead of trying to avoid competing or backing down when faced with a challenge of that sort why not hit it head-on and groom yourself to be a great competitor? Parents who introduce their children to the world of beauty pageantry at a young age often use that as their reasoning behind their decision. Maybe they have the right idea. Maybe there’s more to beauty pageants than meets the eye. Could it be possible that beauty pageants can give a person a leg up by teaching them how to compete, both in their appearance and their intelligence? Snippetz decided to take a look to see what’s really behind these pageants . . . and to uncover some events that prove these seemingly perfect people are just like us ordinary folks!
History of pageantry
The modern tradition of beauty pageants traces its history back to 1921 in Atlantic City,N.J. In an attempt to beef up tourism past the typical Labor Day summer cut-off point, hotel owners in the area decided to hold a pageant. Included in the pageantry was a “National Beauty Tournament” that declared it was going to find “the most beautiful bathing beauty in America.”
Eight brave women chose to participate in the competition but only one, Margaret Gorman who was the holder of the Miss Washington D.C. title, would walk away the winner. Herb Test, a local reporter, said that he would pronounce the winner to be “Miss America.” Little did he know that his made-up title would become the major pageant it is today.
The Miss America pageant became an annual event in Atlantic City after that first “bathing beauty” search and by 1923, participation had grown to 70 contestants. During 1929, 1930 and 1931, the pageant was put on hold because of the Great Depression but was started up again in 1932, although it was not the grand spectacle it had been previously.
By 1935, the pageant, and in fact the whole nation, had fallen for the idea that was Hollywood. Glamour, fame and money were at the forefront of many peoples’ minds, including the women who competed for the Miss America title. Lenora Slaughter took over directorship of the pageant and helped coordinate Hollywood screen tests for the winners of the subsequent pageants. Film producers flocked to the contests in search of the next big movie star.
The pageant evolved over the years and in 1938, a talent portion was added, requiring each contestant to show some skill or another. By 1945, the idea that a scholarship should be awarded to the winner, probably in an attempt to appeal to the more intellectual women who might choose to participate, came to fruition and Bess Myerson received the first one. Myerson was Miss New York when she entered the contest and came away as Miss America and with a $5000 scholarship.
Three years later, Slaughter made another bold move and proclaimed that winners would no longer be crowned in their bathing suits but rather in evening gowns. Apparently, this didn’t sit well with the media or the American public who bemoaned the idea but Slaughter stuck to her guns and from that year on, all winners wore their formal gowns at their crowning.
The Miss World pageant was spawned from the Miss America pageant in 1951 and boasted the slogan “Beauty with a Purpose.” The slogan remains today and to add credence to the phrase, the pageant is linked with many charities worldwide. This aspect helped develop pageants into what they are today, which is a competition not only about beauty but also about brains, finance, business and (obviously) show business.
How is a beauty pageant about brains?
While no one can guarantee what a judge is actually judging during the pageant, there are many in the industry that support the claim that the more involved a contestant is in philanthropic endeavors, the better her chances of winning are. Many contestants have their hand in several different charities, whether it is for the good feeling they get from helping out a cause or for their own strategic planning on how to snag the crown is really anyone’s guess.
Industry experts also claim that the process of learning how to speak in front of large crowds, how to exhibit poise and grace, how to be interviewed and answer questions off the cuff is a valuable experience. No doubt, learning how to interview properly can be a big advantage in the business world but it’s unlikely you’d come across some of the Miss America interview questions at an actual job interview.
Do beauty pageants really benefit the children who participate?
The first child beauty pageant, “Little Miss America” was held in 1961 in New Jersey. Since then, there has been a marked increase in the amount of beauty pageants held just for these little beauty queens in the making.
Perhaps you’ve stumbled across a T.V. show called “Toddlers and Tiaras,” produced by TLC. If so, you might be skeptical about how a beauty pageant geared towards very young girls, sometimes not even able to walk yet, could possibly be for their benefit. Well, many parents of pageant contestants swear that it has helped their child overcome stage fright or shyness. Others boast that it has helped their child develop better communication skills. Still others claim that it has taught their child how to be a gracious winner and a good loser.
After seeing the show, those claims might seem less than reliable but parents continue to spend thousands of dollars to have their child participate. There has to be something good coming from it, right?
Funny pageant names
While some people take pageants extremely seriously, there exists a lighter side to these competitions. Here are a few of the more interesting pageants out there.
Beauty Pageant Snippetz
Snippetz Discovers Beauty Isn't Just Skin Deep: Beauty Pageants
“For me, it went beyond being a beauty queen. For me, it was about being the 20-year-old girl from India on an international platform . . .”
– Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, actress and former beauty pageant contestant
It’s a tough world out there. Competition is a fact of life and there really is no way to escape it. So instead of trying to avoid competing or backing down when faced with a challenge of that sort why not hit it head-on and groom yourself to be a great competitor? Parents who introduce their children to the world of beauty pageantry at a young age often use that as their reasoning behind their decision. Maybe they have the right idea. Maybe there’s more to beauty pageants than meets the eye. Could it be possible that beauty pageants can give a person a leg up by teaching them how to compete, both in their appearance and their intelligence? Snippetz decided to take a look to see what’s really behind these pageants . . . and to uncover some events that prove these seemingly perfect people are just like us ordinary folks!
History of pageantry
The modern tradition of beauty pageants traces its history back to 1921 in Atlantic City,N.J. In an attempt to beef up tourism past the typical Labor Day summer cut-off point, hotel owners in the area decided to hold a pageant. Included in the pageantry was a “National Beauty Tournament” that declared it was going to find “the most beautiful bathing beauty in America.”
Eight brave women chose to participate in the competition but only one, Margaret Gorman who was the holder of the Miss Washington D.C. title, would walk away the winner. Herb Test, a local reporter, said that he would pronounce the winner to be “Miss America.” Little did he know that his made-up title would become the major pageant it is today.
The Miss America pageant became an annual event in Atlantic City after that first “bathing beauty” search and by 1923, participation had grown to 70 contestants. During 1929, 1930 and 1931, the pageant was put on hold because of the Great Depression but was started up again in 1932, although it was not the grand spectacle it had been previously.
By 1935, the pageant, and in fact the whole nation, had fallen for the idea that was Hollywood. Glamour, fame and money were at the forefront of many peoples’ minds, including the women who competed for the Miss America title. Lenora Slaughter took over directorship of the pageant and helped coordinate Hollywood screen tests for the winners of the subsequent pageants. Film producers flocked to the contests in search of the next big movie star.
The pageant evolved over the years and in 1938, a talent portion was added, requiring each contestant to show some skill or another. By 1945, the idea that a scholarship should be awarded to the winner, probably in an attempt to appeal to the more intellectual women who might choose to participate, came to fruition and Bess Myerson received the first one. Myerson was Miss New York when she entered the contest and came away as Miss America and with a $5000 scholarship.
Three years later, Slaughter made another bold move and proclaimed that winners would no longer be crowned in their bathing suits but rather in evening gowns. Apparently, this didn’t sit well with the media or the American public who bemoaned the idea but Slaughter stuck to her guns and from that year on, all winners wore their formal gowns at their crowning.
The Miss World pageant was spawned from the Miss America pageant in 1951 and boasted the slogan “Beauty with a Purpose.” The slogan remains today and to add credence to the phrase, the pageant is linked with many charities worldwide. This aspect helped develop pageants into what they are today, which is a competition not only about beauty but also about brains, finance, business and (obviously) show business.
How is a beauty pageant about brains?
While no one can guarantee what a judge is actually judging during the pageant, there are many in the industry that support the claim that the more involved a contestant is in philanthropic endeavors, the better her chances of winning are. Many contestants have their hand in several different charities, whether it is for the good feeling they get from helping out a cause or for their own strategic planning on how to snag the crown is really anyone’s guess.
Industry experts also claim that the process of learning how to speak in front of large crowds, how to exhibit poise and grace, how to be interviewed and answer questions off the cuff is a valuable experience. No doubt, learning how to interview properly can be a big advantage in the business world but it’s unlikely you’d come across some of the Miss America interview questions at an actual job interview.
Do beauty pageants really benefit the children who participate?
The first child beauty pageant, “Little Miss America” was held in 1961 in New Jersey. Since then, there has been a marked increase in the amount of beauty pageants held just for these little beauty queens in the making.
Perhaps you’ve stumbled across a T.V. show called “Toddlers and Tiaras,” produced by TLC. If so, you might be skeptical about how a beauty pageant geared towards very young girls, sometimes not even able to walk yet, could possibly be for their benefit. Well, many parents of pageant contestants swear that it has helped their child overcome stage fright or shyness. Others boast that it has helped their child develop better communication skills. Still others claim that it has taught their child how to be a gracious winner and a good loser.
After seeing the show, those claims might seem less than reliable but parents continue to spend thousands of dollars to have their child participate. There has to be something good coming from it, right?
Funny pageant names
While some people take pageants extremely seriously, there exists a lighter side to these competitions. Here are a few of the more interesting pageants out there.
- Miss Rural Electrification
- Miss Snake Charmer
- Miss Landmine
- Miss Beautiful Morals
- Miss Zombie NYC
- Miss Smoked Meat
- Miss Mosquito Legs
- Mr. and Miss Scratch Ankle
Beauty Pageant Snippetz
- What would a story about beauty pageants be if we didn’t at least touch on some of the more humorous incidents at these events? It would be awful, that’s what. So here are a few that will hopefully bring a smile to your face.
- Two contestants in the 1958 Miss America pageant made an interesting revelation while chatting backstage during the event. They found out they were both dating the same military cadet. Girlfriend number one, Miss Iowa announced, “I think he has two very lovely ex-girlfriends,” to which girlfriend number two, Miss California said, “She said it very well.”
- California, Florida and New York hold the most pageants each year and every year, that total number is on a rising trend, regardless of the fact that national pageants can cost up to $800 to enter.
- The “Miss World,” “Miss Earth,” “Miss Universe,” and “Miss International” pageants are considered the “Big Four” of beauty pageants. Does it seem redundant to anyone else that three of the four are basically different words for the same thing?
- One of the most incoherent interview answers ever given by a contestant was Miss Teen South Carolina’s answer to why she thinks one-fifth of American’s can’t located the United States on a map. Lauren Caitlin Upton answered (and this is a direct quote), “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, in South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.” Oh dear. Perhaps Miss Teen South Carolina should have spent more time brushing up on her interviewing skills.
Issue 623
Snippetz Chews on the Concept of Hybrid Foods
“Man seeks to change the foods available in nature to suit his tastes, thereby putting an end to the very essence of life contained in them.”
– Sai Baba, Indian leader
Apples and oranges are great sources of vitamins and minerals. But they’re boring. Or so it would seem by the amount of new, hybrid foods humans have developed over the years. The motivation behind these hybrid foods can vary but the outcome is basically the same: the creation of a new food that cannot be found in nature. The vast majority of hybrid foods are fruits. So why would the creation of a new fruit, one that is made by intentionally combining two naturally-created fruits, possibly be seen as a negative? Isn’t a fruit . . . a fruit? Research has shown that there are drawbacks to messing with nature and Snippetz has the facts to keep you informed!
How is a hybrid food created?
A hybrid food is created when two similar species of plant are cross-pollinated. Each plant has the ability to pollinate other plants as well as the ability to be pollinated itself. In cross-pollination, similar plants are used to pollinate each other, sometimes resulting in a completely new plant. This hybridization occurs naturally in the wild and sometimes leads to the creation of a new, superior “parent” plant; one that is stronger, heartier and more able to withstand the elements. However, there’s no guarantee that the newly-created plant will be better than its predecessors. The same goes for any foods created by humans rather than nature.
Why mess with a good thing?
We all know the importance of fruits and vegetables to maintaining our health. And if they’re so important then wouldn’t it stand to reason that any improvement to these fruits and vegetables that would make them easier to eat would be a good thing, right? For example, seedless grapes. Such a wonderful idea . . . in theory that is. No more spitting out seeds or swallowing them as you attempt to enjoy your grapes. Nope. That’s been taken care of. But the problem with these new and improved fruits and vegetables is that they are missing vital nutrients. Often they are unnaturally high in sugar content, part of the reason why people enjoy them so much. They are also often missing the minerals that fruits found in nature contain. People begin to develop mineral deficiencies. In order to combat the increased sugar content of the hybrid foods, our bodies pull those minerals we are missing from our bones into our bloodstream.
That in itself poses a problem because those minerals are essential to proper bone health. But the liver and pancreas can’t properly deal with this new sugar so instead of being processed and used in the correct manner, the excess minerals and hybrid sugar are simply dumped into the urine. Basically, eating too many hybrid fruits and vegetables causes you to lose essential minerals every time you use the restroom.
Everything in moderation
Now don’t let all this talk about hybrid foods keep you from eating fruits and vegetables. Even hybrid ones are better than none at all. The key is to eat them in moderation, just like everything else. Mixing hybrid foods with different types of fats like avocados, nuts, or olives can lessen the negative effects those hybrid foods have on your system. Eating more leafy greens can also help your body process these foods more easily. One more thing to remember: hybrid grains and legumes are fine to eat as long as they aren’t cooked. When eaten raw these foods are more easily digested and their nutrients can be drawn out for use by the body.
Hybrid versus GMO
Often hybridization and genetically modified organisms (in this instance, foods) are confused with one another. But they are certainly different and here’s why. Hybrid foods are those that are cross-pollinated as they possibly could be in nature. Take an apple tree and a grape vine. These are both plants and if the conditions were right, they could possibly pollinate each other and create a new type of plant, bearing a new type of fruit.
GMOs on the other hand, are foods that contain genetic material from another organism that they could never possibly contain in nature. For example, placing the genetic material from a strain of bacteria inside a kernel of corn. Not too appetizing, is it? And yet, this particular combination is an actual GMO experiment that has been tested.
GMOs are being widely protested across the globe because the insertion of genetic material from chemicals has been used to create foods that are bigger than normal. But many companies don’t want to indicate what chemicals they are using. GMO labeling initiatives have begun in several states as a way to hold companies accountable for what they put into our food and increase the transparency of what we are eating.
Common hybrid foods
Above was just a sampling of the hybrid fruits out there because there are just too many to list them all and their qualities so here’s a short list of some other common ones you’re likely to find in the grocery store: cantaloupe, watermelon, carrots, corn, cashews, oats and rice.
Less common hybrid foods
Snippetz Chews on the Concept of Hybrid Foods
“Man seeks to change the foods available in nature to suit his tastes, thereby putting an end to the very essence of life contained in them.”
– Sai Baba, Indian leader
Apples and oranges are great sources of vitamins and minerals. But they’re boring. Or so it would seem by the amount of new, hybrid foods humans have developed over the years. The motivation behind these hybrid foods can vary but the outcome is basically the same: the creation of a new food that cannot be found in nature. The vast majority of hybrid foods are fruits. So why would the creation of a new fruit, one that is made by intentionally combining two naturally-created fruits, possibly be seen as a negative? Isn’t a fruit . . . a fruit? Research has shown that there are drawbacks to messing with nature and Snippetz has the facts to keep you informed!
How is a hybrid food created?
A hybrid food is created when two similar species of plant are cross-pollinated. Each plant has the ability to pollinate other plants as well as the ability to be pollinated itself. In cross-pollination, similar plants are used to pollinate each other, sometimes resulting in a completely new plant. This hybridization occurs naturally in the wild and sometimes leads to the creation of a new, superior “parent” plant; one that is stronger, heartier and more able to withstand the elements. However, there’s no guarantee that the newly-created plant will be better than its predecessors. The same goes for any foods created by humans rather than nature.
Why mess with a good thing?
We all know the importance of fruits and vegetables to maintaining our health. And if they’re so important then wouldn’t it stand to reason that any improvement to these fruits and vegetables that would make them easier to eat would be a good thing, right? For example, seedless grapes. Such a wonderful idea . . . in theory that is. No more spitting out seeds or swallowing them as you attempt to enjoy your grapes. Nope. That’s been taken care of. But the problem with these new and improved fruits and vegetables is that they are missing vital nutrients. Often they are unnaturally high in sugar content, part of the reason why people enjoy them so much. They are also often missing the minerals that fruits found in nature contain. People begin to develop mineral deficiencies. In order to combat the increased sugar content of the hybrid foods, our bodies pull those minerals we are missing from our bones into our bloodstream.
That in itself poses a problem because those minerals are essential to proper bone health. But the liver and pancreas can’t properly deal with this new sugar so instead of being processed and used in the correct manner, the excess minerals and hybrid sugar are simply dumped into the urine. Basically, eating too many hybrid fruits and vegetables causes you to lose essential minerals every time you use the restroom.
Everything in moderation
Now don’t let all this talk about hybrid foods keep you from eating fruits and vegetables. Even hybrid ones are better than none at all. The key is to eat them in moderation, just like everything else. Mixing hybrid foods with different types of fats like avocados, nuts, or olives can lessen the negative effects those hybrid foods have on your system. Eating more leafy greens can also help your body process these foods more easily. One more thing to remember: hybrid grains and legumes are fine to eat as long as they aren’t cooked. When eaten raw these foods are more easily digested and their nutrients can be drawn out for use by the body.
Hybrid versus GMO
Often hybridization and genetically modified organisms (in this instance, foods) are confused with one another. But they are certainly different and here’s why. Hybrid foods are those that are cross-pollinated as they possibly could be in nature. Take an apple tree and a grape vine. These are both plants and if the conditions were right, they could possibly pollinate each other and create a new type of plant, bearing a new type of fruit.
GMOs on the other hand, are foods that contain genetic material from another organism that they could never possibly contain in nature. For example, placing the genetic material from a strain of bacteria inside a kernel of corn. Not too appetizing, is it? And yet, this particular combination is an actual GMO experiment that has been tested.
GMOs are being widely protested across the globe because the insertion of genetic material from chemicals has been used to create foods that are bigger than normal. But many companies don’t want to indicate what chemicals they are using. GMO labeling initiatives have begun in several states as a way to hold companies accountable for what they put into our food and increase the transparency of what we are eating.
Common hybrid foods
- Grapple – using the example above of the apple tree and grape vine, this fruit is a cross between an apple and a grape. It looks like an apple but the flesh is crisper and sweeter and tastes like a grape.
- Fairchild tangerine – the Fairchild tangerine fruit is a cross between the Clementine tangelos and Orlando tangelos. In China, the stem and tree of this fruit is considered lucky and thought to bring good fortune and prosperity. It also has some natural antiseptic properties.
- Boysenberry – a boysenberry is a cross between a blackberry, loganberry and raspberry. It’s bigger than the berries from which it is derived. The antioxidant level of boysenberries is relatively high and can help reduce weight and lower cholesterol.
- Ugli fruit – don’t judge this poor fruit by its name. This hybrid fruit, a cross between a grapefruit, an orange and a tangerine, is a great source of vitamin C, vitamin B and helps protect against kidney stone formation. Its appearance is a little strange with greenish-yellow thick wrinkly skin but the flesh of the ugli fruit is sweet. It grows to a size just a hair bigger than a grapefruit.
- Pluot – the pluot is a cross between a plum and an apricot. It was developed fairly recently in 1990 by Floyd Zaiger. This fruit ranges in color from pink to red and is about the size of a plum. Pluots are much sweeter than either the plum or the apricot. There are nearly 25 different varieties of pluot available for purchase.
- Grapefruit – that’s right. The grapefruit is actually a hybrid of the pummelo and the sweet orange. Interesting how a hybrid can go on to create another hybrid, right? Grapefruits are typically yellowish-orange and the flesh inside is usually white, pink or red. This fruit provides a rich source of potassium, thiamin, vitamin A, vitamin B6 and fiber. It can supposedly help dissolve inorganic calcium.
Above was just a sampling of the hybrid fruits out there because there are just too many to list them all and their qualities so here’s a short list of some other common ones you’re likely to find in the grocery store: cantaloupe, watermelon, carrots, corn, cashews, oats and rice.
Less common hybrid foods
- Doughscuit – this is a cross between a donut and a biscuit and was created at Endgrain restaurant in Chicago. Both of the varieties they offer are filled with crème fraîche, making them a yummy alternative to both the biscuit and the donut.
- Dannoli – a dannoli is a cross between a donut and a cannoli, brought to you by a company called Psycho Donuts in San Jose, Calif. It’s basically a tube-shaped donut that is fried and filled with pastry cream and chocolate chips. Then the whole shebang is rolled in crushed cannoli pieces.
- Ramen Burger – this interesting hybrid food was created by Khizo Shimamoto at the Smorgasburg food festival in Brooklyn, NY. It’s a hamburger placed between two “buns” made of ramen noodles. The noodles are served in a dry disk that is lightly toasted on the outside and, thanks to a secret sauce, become slightly soft in the middle which diners have said gives it a bread-like texture.
Issue 622
Snippetz Really Falls for Colorful Colorado!
“The coming and going of the seasons give us more than the spring-times, summers, autumns and winters of our lives. It reflects the coming and going of the circumstances of our lives like the glassy surface of a pond that shows our faces radiant with joy or contorted with pain.”
– Gary Zukav, author
The beauty of the changing seasons is undeniable, especially in a place as spectacular as Colorado. Winter is a quiet time with softly drifting snow and jack rabbits hopping through the bleach-white fields. The spring brings a lovely display of budding trees with pink and white and purples flowers on display. Summer gives us bright green grass and trees hanging heavy with various fruits. But fall brings an explosion of color across the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and out onto the plains to the east. Trees burst in bright reds, deep oranges and sunny yellows. While the trees in the city are a great starting place to enjoy the fall colors, there are certain spots across the state that provide exceptional viewing opportunities. Snippetz has ‘em all right here so read on and get moving . . . the leaves won’t stick around for long!
WHY DO THE LEAVES CHANGE COLOR?
There are three key variables that prompt the change of color in the leaves during the fall: leaf pigments, weather, and length of days and nights.
LEAF PIGMENTS
Three categories of pigments lend a contributing hand in the changing colors of the leaves.
Chlorophyll – this is the pigment responsible for the leaves’ green color. Using chlorophyll, plants can convert sunlight into sugars for their food. Chlorophyll hides the carotenoids and anthocyanins that are responsible for the autumnal colors like yellow, orange and red.
Carotenoids – these gives leaves their yellow, orange and brown colors. When the nights get longer and the days get shorter, the production of chlorophyll slows down and eventually stops completely. What are left are the carotenoids and the anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins – these give leaves the red, purple and blue colors. As mentioned above, these pigments are hidden by the bright green chlorophyll during the long, sunny summer days.
WEATHER
How brightly the colors in the leaves appear depends greatly on the weather. Lower temperatures break down chlorophyll and as long as the temperature doesn’t dip below the freezing level, carotenoids and anthocyanins are formed. Bright sunshine will also break down chlorophyll and increases carotenoid and anthocyanin production. The combination of bright, sunny, dry days and cold dry nights produces the most vivid array of fall leaf colors.
LENGTH OF DAYS AND NIGHTS
As the length of the days shortens and the nights get longer, the timeframe in which a leaf can produce chlorophyll is reduced. When the chlorophyll is broken down during the bright but shorter days, the leaf doesn’t have enough time before the cooler night to replace the chlorophyll that’s been broken down. With no chlorophyll to mask the carotenoids and anthocyanins, they finally get to show off their different hues!
WHICH TREES DISPLAY WHICH COLORS?
Red oaks, red maples and sumac produce anthocyanins in great quantities and provide the best display of bright reds and purples. If those are the colors you enjoy, those are the trees you need to seek.
Conversely, birch, hickory, cottonwood and aspen trees produce an abundance of carotenoids and display the brightest golds and yellows.
You’ve probably noticed small groups of trees that have turned yellow long before the others around them. The reason is most likely due to the aspen tree. Aspens typically reproduce by sprouting a new tree from the root of an existing tree, making a genetically identical tree. These small clones will change color at the same time as the original tree but due to subtle differences in the genetic makeup of the different groups of aspen trees, each group will change in its own time.
WHERE ARE THE BEST VIEWING PLACES?
Get ready to pack a lunch and head to some of the following places to truly enjoy the splendor that fall brings to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Before you head out, make sure to check with the United States Forest Service for up-to-date road closures due to recent flooding. Also, be sure to check the website http://www.fs.usda.gov to find out when these areas will be in peak color since this will vary from year to year.
Maroon Bells – located southwest of Aspen, Maroon Bells is a set of 14ers in the Elk Mountains separated by about one third of a mile. The peaks, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, can be seen from the Maroon Bells Scenic Area but the area is only accessible by bus. Several exceptions exist but if you plan to head here to see the changing leaves, make sure to check the website http://stayaspensnowmass.com for information on when you can go and what you may need to pay, just to be on the safe side.
Kebler Pass – boasting one of the largest aspen groves in the world, Kebler Pass is located west of Crested Butte on Gunnison County Road 12. The 30-mile gravel road peaks at the 10,007-foot summit of Kebler Pass. Continuing along the road on Ohio Pass to Gunnison rounds out the trip.
Dallas Divide and Lizard Head Pass – driving along Colorado Highway 145 between Telluride and Dolores, you’ll go over the Dallas Divide and summit Lizard Head Pass. If you want a more aerial view of the change leaves, stop off in Telluride and take a free gondola ride from downtown to Mountain Village.
Grand Mesa – this flat-topped mountain, which is actually the world’s largest, is located between the towns of Mesa to the north and Cedaredge to the south. Taking Colorado Highway 65 from Cedaredge to Interstate 70 provides the best viewing of this scenic location.
La Veta Pass – following U.S. 160 west from Highway 50, you’ll find yourself going through La Veta Pass, which peaks at more than 9,400 feet. This pass is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and provides excellent viewing of the Spanish Peaks and the changing leaves in the San Luis Valley.
MAKE IT A FAMILY AFFAIR!
If you have children, especially young ones, taking a 3 hour drive with no pit stop to get all the pent up energy out is probably not high on your list of fun things to do this fall. But there are some great ideas for how to take in the autumn colors and include your family, too. Here’s a couple to consider.
The Oh My God Road – this road is less than an hour’s drive from downtown Denver, located between Idaho Springs and Central City. It provides a fun trip over winding roads, between abandoned houses and hoist frames, remnants of the Colorado gold rush. Ghost towns and cemeteries make for a good informal history lesson, as well as inspiration for Halloween!
Mueller State Park – just a quick 45-minute drive from Colorado Springs, Mueller State Park provides excellent, family-friendly hiking trails, opportunities to see wildlife and prime fall color viewing. It also gives an impressive view of the back side of Pikes Peak, something many of us don’t get to see as often as we might like!
Georgetown Loop Railroad – less than an hour from Denver, this historic railroad provides a blast from the past by touring through old mining areas and Victorian villages. The train runs on weekends and holidays through mid-October so get going quick before the railroad closes up for the season.
Snippetz Really Falls for Colorful Colorado!
“The coming and going of the seasons give us more than the spring-times, summers, autumns and winters of our lives. It reflects the coming and going of the circumstances of our lives like the glassy surface of a pond that shows our faces radiant with joy or contorted with pain.”
– Gary Zukav, author
The beauty of the changing seasons is undeniable, especially in a place as spectacular as Colorado. Winter is a quiet time with softly drifting snow and jack rabbits hopping through the bleach-white fields. The spring brings a lovely display of budding trees with pink and white and purples flowers on display. Summer gives us bright green grass and trees hanging heavy with various fruits. But fall brings an explosion of color across the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and out onto the plains to the east. Trees burst in bright reds, deep oranges and sunny yellows. While the trees in the city are a great starting place to enjoy the fall colors, there are certain spots across the state that provide exceptional viewing opportunities. Snippetz has ‘em all right here so read on and get moving . . . the leaves won’t stick around for long!
WHY DO THE LEAVES CHANGE COLOR?
There are three key variables that prompt the change of color in the leaves during the fall: leaf pigments, weather, and length of days and nights.
LEAF PIGMENTS
Three categories of pigments lend a contributing hand in the changing colors of the leaves.
Chlorophyll – this is the pigment responsible for the leaves’ green color. Using chlorophyll, plants can convert sunlight into sugars for their food. Chlorophyll hides the carotenoids and anthocyanins that are responsible for the autumnal colors like yellow, orange and red.
Carotenoids – these gives leaves their yellow, orange and brown colors. When the nights get longer and the days get shorter, the production of chlorophyll slows down and eventually stops completely. What are left are the carotenoids and the anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins – these give leaves the red, purple and blue colors. As mentioned above, these pigments are hidden by the bright green chlorophyll during the long, sunny summer days.
WEATHER
How brightly the colors in the leaves appear depends greatly on the weather. Lower temperatures break down chlorophyll and as long as the temperature doesn’t dip below the freezing level, carotenoids and anthocyanins are formed. Bright sunshine will also break down chlorophyll and increases carotenoid and anthocyanin production. The combination of bright, sunny, dry days and cold dry nights produces the most vivid array of fall leaf colors.
LENGTH OF DAYS AND NIGHTS
As the length of the days shortens and the nights get longer, the timeframe in which a leaf can produce chlorophyll is reduced. When the chlorophyll is broken down during the bright but shorter days, the leaf doesn’t have enough time before the cooler night to replace the chlorophyll that’s been broken down. With no chlorophyll to mask the carotenoids and anthocyanins, they finally get to show off their different hues!
WHICH TREES DISPLAY WHICH COLORS?
Red oaks, red maples and sumac produce anthocyanins in great quantities and provide the best display of bright reds and purples. If those are the colors you enjoy, those are the trees you need to seek.
Conversely, birch, hickory, cottonwood and aspen trees produce an abundance of carotenoids and display the brightest golds and yellows.
You’ve probably noticed small groups of trees that have turned yellow long before the others around them. The reason is most likely due to the aspen tree. Aspens typically reproduce by sprouting a new tree from the root of an existing tree, making a genetically identical tree. These small clones will change color at the same time as the original tree but due to subtle differences in the genetic makeup of the different groups of aspen trees, each group will change in its own time.
WHERE ARE THE BEST VIEWING PLACES?
Get ready to pack a lunch and head to some of the following places to truly enjoy the splendor that fall brings to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Before you head out, make sure to check with the United States Forest Service for up-to-date road closures due to recent flooding. Also, be sure to check the website http://www.fs.usda.gov to find out when these areas will be in peak color since this will vary from year to year.
Maroon Bells – located southwest of Aspen, Maroon Bells is a set of 14ers in the Elk Mountains separated by about one third of a mile. The peaks, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, can be seen from the Maroon Bells Scenic Area but the area is only accessible by bus. Several exceptions exist but if you plan to head here to see the changing leaves, make sure to check the website http://stayaspensnowmass.com for information on when you can go and what you may need to pay, just to be on the safe side.
Kebler Pass – boasting one of the largest aspen groves in the world, Kebler Pass is located west of Crested Butte on Gunnison County Road 12. The 30-mile gravel road peaks at the 10,007-foot summit of Kebler Pass. Continuing along the road on Ohio Pass to Gunnison rounds out the trip.
Dallas Divide and Lizard Head Pass – driving along Colorado Highway 145 between Telluride and Dolores, you’ll go over the Dallas Divide and summit Lizard Head Pass. If you want a more aerial view of the change leaves, stop off in Telluride and take a free gondola ride from downtown to Mountain Village.
Grand Mesa – this flat-topped mountain, which is actually the world’s largest, is located between the towns of Mesa to the north and Cedaredge to the south. Taking Colorado Highway 65 from Cedaredge to Interstate 70 provides the best viewing of this scenic location.
La Veta Pass – following U.S. 160 west from Highway 50, you’ll find yourself going through La Veta Pass, which peaks at more than 9,400 feet. This pass is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and provides excellent viewing of the Spanish Peaks and the changing leaves in the San Luis Valley.
MAKE IT A FAMILY AFFAIR!
If you have children, especially young ones, taking a 3 hour drive with no pit stop to get all the pent up energy out is probably not high on your list of fun things to do this fall. But there are some great ideas for how to take in the autumn colors and include your family, too. Here’s a couple to consider.
The Oh My God Road – this road is less than an hour’s drive from downtown Denver, located between Idaho Springs and Central City. It provides a fun trip over winding roads, between abandoned houses and hoist frames, remnants of the Colorado gold rush. Ghost towns and cemeteries make for a good informal history lesson, as well as inspiration for Halloween!
Mueller State Park – just a quick 45-minute drive from Colorado Springs, Mueller State Park provides excellent, family-friendly hiking trails, opportunities to see wildlife and prime fall color viewing. It also gives an impressive view of the back side of Pikes Peak, something many of us don’t get to see as often as we might like!
Georgetown Loop Railroad – less than an hour from Denver, this historic railroad provides a blast from the past by touring through old mining areas and Victorian villages. The train runs on weekends and holidays through mid-October so get going quick before the railroad closes up for the season.
Issue 621
In a Manner of Speaking, Snippetz Takes a Look Into Speech
“If we can hit that bull’s-eye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards…Checkmate.” – Futurama character Zapp Brannigan
Have you ever heard someone say something that made sense at the time but when you looked back and thought about what they had actually said to you, it made no sense whatsoever? People use phrases and terms that others often understand with no trouble. The interesting part is when those phrases or terms have nothing to do with what you were talking about. For example, the phrase “chomping at the bit” means to be impatient. But instead of just saying impatient, we make a reference to a horse that is chewing or biting its bit because it doesn’t want to wait to get moving. These types of coined phrases, colloquialisms, idioms, etc are used all the time and many of us never question how they came to be a regular part of our everyday language. Leave it to your trusty neighborhood Snippetz to find out the origins of these interesting figures of speech!
Idioms, colloquialisms and mixed metaphors, oh my!
Understanding the difference between these different figures of speech is definitely important. So here’s a little bit about each.
Where did THAT come from?
So now that we know more about these figures of speech, let’s take a look at some of the more common ones to determine where in the world they came from.
Idioms:
“Break the ice” – this phrase means to relax a tense or formal atmosphere or social situation. But why that particular phrase? Well, the ice refers to the metaphorical ice on a river or lake in early spring. By breaking the ice, boats would be allowed to pass, thus commencing the season’s activity after the cold winter months. The expression has been linked to the start of something (like a conversation) for about 400 years and was used in general speech by at least 1823.
“Let the cat out of the bag” – the current meaning of this phrase is to disclose a secret. But why? One theory suggests that merchants selling piglets in bags at the market would substitute cats to trick the buyer. Piglets were obviously more valuable and getting money for one’s piglets without actually selling them was a pretty smart scam. But if the buyer decided to open the bag to make sure they were getting what they thought they had purchased and out came a cat, that particular scheme was disclosed. Therefore, letting the cat out of the bag would uncover the secret that the buyer was being tricked.
This form of fraudulent selling practice has been recorded as early as 1530. The first know usage of the phrase in print was in 1760 in an edition of the London Magazine.
Neologisms:
“Close, but no cigar” – this phrase means whatever expected outcome someone had hoped for was almost achieved but that their efforts were not rewarded. While there is no definitive proof of the specific origin of this phrase, theories indicate that it dates back to when fairground stalls in the U.S. gave out cigars as prizes.
The phrase is thought to date from the mid-1900s and the first recorded usage in print is from the script of the 1935 film version of Annie Oakley.
“To a T” – this phrase means exactly, properly or precisely. The phrase is said to be a derivative of the phrase “to a tittle.” What’s a tittle? Well, it’s a small stroke or point in writing or printing. Basically, whatever is being done “to a tittle” is being done to the smallest, most precise point. The “to a tittle” phrase was used in by 1607 and possibly earlier. The “to a T” phrase was first used in 1693.
“Southpaw” – this slang term refers to a left-handed person, often a baseball pitcher of boxer. One theory of the term’s origin is based on the times when baseball diamonds were traditionally oriented with home place to the west. With the pitcher facing home plate, his right hand would be on the north side of his body and his left hand would be on the south side. So if he pitched with his left hand, he would technically be pitching with his “south paw.”
Similies:
“As mad as a hatter” – if you’ve seen or read “Alice in Wonderland,” you know all about the Mad Hatter. But why was he mad? He wasn’t angry mad, but insane mad. The reason can be traced back before Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole and to real live hat makers, who used mercury in the manufacturing of felt hats. Such high levels of exposure could lead to mercury poisoning, the side effects of which included insanity. One of the earliest references dates back to 1817.
“As happy as a clam” – the meaning of this phrase is simply to be happy. What’s with the clam, though? Are clams happy? The theory is that this phrase is a shortened version of the longer phrase “Happy as a clam at high water.” Predators would be much less likely to notice clams during high tide than when the tide is out, so it’s assumed clams would be happier then.
The phrase originated in the United States in the early 1800s. The earliest written account was from a frontier memoir called “The Harpe’s Head – A Legend of Kentucky, 1833.”
Colloquialisms:
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat” – this phrase does not actually mean you have found several ways to skin a cat. It just means that there is more than one way to achieve a specific outcome. The earliest example of this phrase used in print is from a short story called “The Money Diggers,” written in 1840.
“Graveyard shift” – this phrase means a shift worked overnight. While you might assume it has to do with working in a graveyard, it simply means a shift that takes place in the middle of the night. Things are typically quiet, somewhat lonely, as you could imagine a graveyard to be. The earliest known usage of this term in print was from a U.S. newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune from June 1897.
Famous mixed metaphors:
“Brilliant sunshine rained down on Fort Collins” – Rush Limbaugh
“Dirty laundry is coming home to roost” – Ray Romano
“Frankly, we don’t know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon.” – Dan Rather
“I’ve been up and down so many times that I feel as if I’m a revolving door.” – Cher
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice for all.” – Johnny Cochran
In a Manner of Speaking, Snippetz Takes a Look Into Speech
“If we can hit that bull’s-eye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards…Checkmate.” – Futurama character Zapp Brannigan
Have you ever heard someone say something that made sense at the time but when you looked back and thought about what they had actually said to you, it made no sense whatsoever? People use phrases and terms that others often understand with no trouble. The interesting part is when those phrases or terms have nothing to do with what you were talking about. For example, the phrase “chomping at the bit” means to be impatient. But instead of just saying impatient, we make a reference to a horse that is chewing or biting its bit because it doesn’t want to wait to get moving. These types of coined phrases, colloquialisms, idioms, etc are used all the time and many of us never question how they came to be a regular part of our everyday language. Leave it to your trusty neighborhood Snippetz to find out the origins of these interesting figures of speech!
Idioms, colloquialisms and mixed metaphors, oh my!
Understanding the difference between these different figures of speech is definitely important. So here’s a little bit about each.
- Mixed metaphor – a figure of speech that describes something by asserting that it is the same as another unrelated thing. A mixed metaphor is a combination of images that do not work well together. Take the title of this article, for example. Records and cats have nothing to do with each other and therefore make up a mixed metaphor.
- Idiom – an expression that isn’t meant to be taken literally. For example: “it’s raining cats and dogs” does not literally mean that cats and dogs are falling from the sky.
- Colloquialism – a word or phrase that is not formal or literary and often used in ordinary or familiar conversation. For example: “I wasn’t born yesterday” does mean that you literally were not born the day before the current one but usually the speaker uses it to mean “you can’t fool me.”
- Neologism – a newly invented word or phrase, sometimes from mixing or combining words. For example: Mixing “smoke” and “fog” gives you “smog.” Or mixing “Brad Pitt” and “Angelina Jolie” gives you “Brangelina.”
- Similie – compares two things through the use of “like,” “as,” etc.
Where did THAT come from?
So now that we know more about these figures of speech, let’s take a look at some of the more common ones to determine where in the world they came from.
Idioms:
“Break the ice” – this phrase means to relax a tense or formal atmosphere or social situation. But why that particular phrase? Well, the ice refers to the metaphorical ice on a river or lake in early spring. By breaking the ice, boats would be allowed to pass, thus commencing the season’s activity after the cold winter months. The expression has been linked to the start of something (like a conversation) for about 400 years and was used in general speech by at least 1823.
“Let the cat out of the bag” – the current meaning of this phrase is to disclose a secret. But why? One theory suggests that merchants selling piglets in bags at the market would substitute cats to trick the buyer. Piglets were obviously more valuable and getting money for one’s piglets without actually selling them was a pretty smart scam. But if the buyer decided to open the bag to make sure they were getting what they thought they had purchased and out came a cat, that particular scheme was disclosed. Therefore, letting the cat out of the bag would uncover the secret that the buyer was being tricked.
This form of fraudulent selling practice has been recorded as early as 1530. The first know usage of the phrase in print was in 1760 in an edition of the London Magazine.
Neologisms:
“Close, but no cigar” – this phrase means whatever expected outcome someone had hoped for was almost achieved but that their efforts were not rewarded. While there is no definitive proof of the specific origin of this phrase, theories indicate that it dates back to when fairground stalls in the U.S. gave out cigars as prizes.
The phrase is thought to date from the mid-1900s and the first recorded usage in print is from the script of the 1935 film version of Annie Oakley.
“To a T” – this phrase means exactly, properly or precisely. The phrase is said to be a derivative of the phrase “to a tittle.” What’s a tittle? Well, it’s a small stroke or point in writing or printing. Basically, whatever is being done “to a tittle” is being done to the smallest, most precise point. The “to a tittle” phrase was used in by 1607 and possibly earlier. The “to a T” phrase was first used in 1693.
“Southpaw” – this slang term refers to a left-handed person, often a baseball pitcher of boxer. One theory of the term’s origin is based on the times when baseball diamonds were traditionally oriented with home place to the west. With the pitcher facing home plate, his right hand would be on the north side of his body and his left hand would be on the south side. So if he pitched with his left hand, he would technically be pitching with his “south paw.”
Similies:
“As mad as a hatter” – if you’ve seen or read “Alice in Wonderland,” you know all about the Mad Hatter. But why was he mad? He wasn’t angry mad, but insane mad. The reason can be traced back before Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole and to real live hat makers, who used mercury in the manufacturing of felt hats. Such high levels of exposure could lead to mercury poisoning, the side effects of which included insanity. One of the earliest references dates back to 1817.
“As happy as a clam” – the meaning of this phrase is simply to be happy. What’s with the clam, though? Are clams happy? The theory is that this phrase is a shortened version of the longer phrase “Happy as a clam at high water.” Predators would be much less likely to notice clams during high tide than when the tide is out, so it’s assumed clams would be happier then.
The phrase originated in the United States in the early 1800s. The earliest written account was from a frontier memoir called “The Harpe’s Head – A Legend of Kentucky, 1833.”
Colloquialisms:
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat” – this phrase does not actually mean you have found several ways to skin a cat. It just means that there is more than one way to achieve a specific outcome. The earliest example of this phrase used in print is from a short story called “The Money Diggers,” written in 1840.
“Graveyard shift” – this phrase means a shift worked overnight. While you might assume it has to do with working in a graveyard, it simply means a shift that takes place in the middle of the night. Things are typically quiet, somewhat lonely, as you could imagine a graveyard to be. The earliest known usage of this term in print was from a U.S. newspaper, The Salt Lake Tribune from June 1897.
Famous mixed metaphors:
“Brilliant sunshine rained down on Fort Collins” – Rush Limbaugh
“Dirty laundry is coming home to roost” – Ray Romano
“Frankly, we don’t know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon.” – Dan Rather
“I’ve been up and down so many times that I feel as if I’m a revolving door.” – Cher
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice for all.” – Johnny Cochran
Issue 620
Snippetz Suggests You Are Getting Sleepy…. The World of Hypnosis
“Think twice before you speak because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
– Napoleon Hill, author
When you think of hypnosis, words like “trance” or “deep sleep” might come to mind. You might picture a man dangling a pocket watch in front of your face, slowly swinging it back and forth. You might hear his words telling you to keep your eyes on the watch and that you are beginning to feel very tired. So tired, in fact that your eyes can’t stay open and you drift into a semi-conscious state that allows your “hypnotist” to command you to walk around squawking like a chicken. Or perhaps you’ve actually used hypnotism to lose weight, stop smoking or stop biting your nails. Whatever your thoughts about or experiences with hypnotism may be, Snippetz decided we would do some digging to help shed some light on hypnosis!
History of hypnosis
Hypnotism has been around for a very long time, like thousands of years long. However, the idea of actually studying hypnosis to find out what it really is, what is really going on, didn’t emerge until the late 1700s.
Austrian physician Franz Mesmer is the man to thank for bringing to light the original theories behind hypnosis. Initially, Mesmer thought that hypnosis was a mysterious, mystical force that flowed from the hypnotist into the person they are attempting to hypnotize. He termed this “animal magnetism.” Obviously, that’s not quite the same understanding we have of that term today. Anyway, the bottom line behind his animal magnetism theory was that the power of hypnosis belonged to the hypnotist and was a force that was inflicted upon someone.
While the original idea that something mystical was behind hypnosis was quickly debunked by his critics, Mesmer’s name is still strongly associated with hypnosis. In fact, hypnosis was originally termed mesmerism, after the man himself. We even continue to use “mesmerize” in modern speech.
The terms “hypnotism” and “hypnosis” didn’t appear until about 1841 when a Scottish surgeon named James Braid created them, using the Greek word “hypnos” which means “to sleep” as the root of those words. His reason? He believed this trance-like state to be an altered form of sleep.
What is hypnosis?
Having put the earlier ideas about hynosis behind them, psychiatrists have come to theorize that the exercises often utilized by a hypnotist to relax and focus their subject actually help to quiet the conscious mind. They believe that with the conscious side of the brain temporarily subdued, the subconscious mind takes over. By doing so, hypnosis allows the hypnotist and the subject, who is still aware of what is going on, to bypass the conscious mind and access the subconscious directly.
With unrestricted access to the subconscious mind, the hypnotist has access to all five senses as well as emotional feelings which are all regulated and controlled there. Subjects have reported tasting food that the hypnotist suggests they taste or feeling happy at the request of their hypnotist.
Additionally, this complete access to the subconscious mind may allow subjects to gain access to experiences or events in their lives that they have completely blocked out or forgotten. Sometimes hypnotism has been used to recover some of these more painful memories but because the subject is extremely vulnerable and suggestible in this state, reporting false memories is a strong possibility.
While in this relaxed and focused state, hypnotists often report that their subjects are a lot like children. They become more playful and fanciful, whole-heartedly embracing the suggestions made by their hypnotist.
Proof of hypnotism
Scientific research strongly supports the theory that hypnotism alters the subject’s form of consciousness and the most compelling evidence comes from electroencephalographs or EEGs. EEGs measure electrical activity in the brain and research has shown that the brain produces different waves depending on the subject’s mental state.
Subjects have undergone EEGs simultaneously with hypnotism and the results of the studies have shown that the lower frequency waves, those associated with dreaming and sleep, posted a significant increase while the higher frequency waves, those associated with full wakefulness, posted a marked decrease.
Hypnotic subjects have also shown a decrease in activity in the left hemisphere of the brain, the side most neurologists believe to be the logical, deductive, reasoning side of the brain. Conversely, the right hemisphere shows an increase in activity. This side is often believed to control imagination and creativity. These results support the claim that subjects become more child-like and open to, shall we say, bizarre suggestions.
The “must-haves” of hypnotism
While specific methods vary, certain must-haves exist in order for hypnotism to actually work.
Hypnotic techniques
Fixed-gaze induction or eye fixation – this is the pocket watch technique mentioned above. The ultimate goal is to get the subject to focus so intently on a particular object that they tune out all other distractions. The hypnotist tries to relax the subject by talking in a low, soothing voice. This technique has largely gone out of use because the majority of the population isn’t susceptible to it.
Rapid – this technique is intended to overload the mind with abrupt, firm commands. The idea is that the subject will eventually succumb to the commands and give over control of their conscious mind. That’s assuming the hypnotist is convincing and forceful enough. This is still the most common technique used by stage hypnotists because their subjects are often so anxious about being on stage in front of an audience that they are at an increased susceptibility to these commands.
Progressive relaxation and imagery – this technique is intended to ease the subject into full hypnosis through slow, soothing speech and gradual relaxation and focus. Self-hypnosis training most often uses this technique, as do most psychiatrists.
Loss of balance – this technique employs slow, rhythmic rocking that creates a loss of equilibrium. Picture a parent rocking their child to sleep. This could technically be termed hypnosis . . . bet you never thought of yourself as a hypnotist!
Ultimately, the ideal hypnotist is not someone with some hidden power to unlock the mysteries of your brain but rather someone with enough authority and charisma to convince you to do as they say.
Hypnosis for behavioral modification
The most common use of behavioral modification hypnosis is habit-control hypnosis. This technique requires the hypnotist to focus in on one particular habit that is considered to be embedded in the subject’s subconscious. Examples include smoking and overeating. The idea is that the hypnotist is able to reverse or reprogram the subject’s subconscious mind to eliminate the unwanted behavior.
Reprogramming could include a suggestion that the particular behavior in question will cause an unwanted side effect, like the suggestion that smoking will cause nausea. Or the hypnotist could help increase the subject’s will power by suggesting that the unwanted behavior isn’t needed so the subject won’t succumb to the temptation.
Behavior modification hypnosis reports relatively successful results. Here are some of the more impressive statistics:
Snippetz Suggests You Are Getting Sleepy…. The World of Hypnosis
“Think twice before you speak because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
– Napoleon Hill, author
When you think of hypnosis, words like “trance” or “deep sleep” might come to mind. You might picture a man dangling a pocket watch in front of your face, slowly swinging it back and forth. You might hear his words telling you to keep your eyes on the watch and that you are beginning to feel very tired. So tired, in fact that your eyes can’t stay open and you drift into a semi-conscious state that allows your “hypnotist” to command you to walk around squawking like a chicken. Or perhaps you’ve actually used hypnotism to lose weight, stop smoking or stop biting your nails. Whatever your thoughts about or experiences with hypnotism may be, Snippetz decided we would do some digging to help shed some light on hypnosis!
History of hypnosis
Hypnotism has been around for a very long time, like thousands of years long. However, the idea of actually studying hypnosis to find out what it really is, what is really going on, didn’t emerge until the late 1700s.
Austrian physician Franz Mesmer is the man to thank for bringing to light the original theories behind hypnosis. Initially, Mesmer thought that hypnosis was a mysterious, mystical force that flowed from the hypnotist into the person they are attempting to hypnotize. He termed this “animal magnetism.” Obviously, that’s not quite the same understanding we have of that term today. Anyway, the bottom line behind his animal magnetism theory was that the power of hypnosis belonged to the hypnotist and was a force that was inflicted upon someone.
While the original idea that something mystical was behind hypnosis was quickly debunked by his critics, Mesmer’s name is still strongly associated with hypnosis. In fact, hypnosis was originally termed mesmerism, after the man himself. We even continue to use “mesmerize” in modern speech.
The terms “hypnotism” and “hypnosis” didn’t appear until about 1841 when a Scottish surgeon named James Braid created them, using the Greek word “hypnos” which means “to sleep” as the root of those words. His reason? He believed this trance-like state to be an altered form of sleep.
What is hypnosis?
Having put the earlier ideas about hynosis behind them, psychiatrists have come to theorize that the exercises often utilized by a hypnotist to relax and focus their subject actually help to quiet the conscious mind. They believe that with the conscious side of the brain temporarily subdued, the subconscious mind takes over. By doing so, hypnosis allows the hypnotist and the subject, who is still aware of what is going on, to bypass the conscious mind and access the subconscious directly.
With unrestricted access to the subconscious mind, the hypnotist has access to all five senses as well as emotional feelings which are all regulated and controlled there. Subjects have reported tasting food that the hypnotist suggests they taste or feeling happy at the request of their hypnotist.
Additionally, this complete access to the subconscious mind may allow subjects to gain access to experiences or events in their lives that they have completely blocked out or forgotten. Sometimes hypnotism has been used to recover some of these more painful memories but because the subject is extremely vulnerable and suggestible in this state, reporting false memories is a strong possibility.
While in this relaxed and focused state, hypnotists often report that their subjects are a lot like children. They become more playful and fanciful, whole-heartedly embracing the suggestions made by their hypnotist.
Proof of hypnotism
Scientific research strongly supports the theory that hypnotism alters the subject’s form of consciousness and the most compelling evidence comes from electroencephalographs or EEGs. EEGs measure electrical activity in the brain and research has shown that the brain produces different waves depending on the subject’s mental state.
Subjects have undergone EEGs simultaneously with hypnotism and the results of the studies have shown that the lower frequency waves, those associated with dreaming and sleep, posted a significant increase while the higher frequency waves, those associated with full wakefulness, posted a marked decrease.
Hypnotic subjects have also shown a decrease in activity in the left hemisphere of the brain, the side most neurologists believe to be the logical, deductive, reasoning side of the brain. Conversely, the right hemisphere shows an increase in activity. This side is often believed to control imagination and creativity. These results support the claim that subjects become more child-like and open to, shall we say, bizarre suggestions.
The “must-haves” of hypnotism
While specific methods vary, certain must-haves exist in order for hypnotism to actually work.
- The subject must want to be hypnotized.
- The subject must believe that they can be hypnotized.
- The subject must eventually feel comfortable and relaxed.
Hypnotic techniques
Fixed-gaze induction or eye fixation – this is the pocket watch technique mentioned above. The ultimate goal is to get the subject to focus so intently on a particular object that they tune out all other distractions. The hypnotist tries to relax the subject by talking in a low, soothing voice. This technique has largely gone out of use because the majority of the population isn’t susceptible to it.
Rapid – this technique is intended to overload the mind with abrupt, firm commands. The idea is that the subject will eventually succumb to the commands and give over control of their conscious mind. That’s assuming the hypnotist is convincing and forceful enough. This is still the most common technique used by stage hypnotists because their subjects are often so anxious about being on stage in front of an audience that they are at an increased susceptibility to these commands.
Progressive relaxation and imagery – this technique is intended to ease the subject into full hypnosis through slow, soothing speech and gradual relaxation and focus. Self-hypnosis training most often uses this technique, as do most psychiatrists.
Loss of balance – this technique employs slow, rhythmic rocking that creates a loss of equilibrium. Picture a parent rocking their child to sleep. This could technically be termed hypnosis . . . bet you never thought of yourself as a hypnotist!
Ultimately, the ideal hypnotist is not someone with some hidden power to unlock the mysteries of your brain but rather someone with enough authority and charisma to convince you to do as they say.
Hypnosis for behavioral modification
The most common use of behavioral modification hypnosis is habit-control hypnosis. This technique requires the hypnotist to focus in on one particular habit that is considered to be embedded in the subject’s subconscious. Examples include smoking and overeating. The idea is that the hypnotist is able to reverse or reprogram the subject’s subconscious mind to eliminate the unwanted behavior.
Reprogramming could include a suggestion that the particular behavior in question will cause an unwanted side effect, like the suggestion that smoking will cause nausea. Or the hypnotist could help increase the subject’s will power by suggesting that the unwanted behavior isn’t needed so the subject won’t succumb to the temptation.
Behavior modification hypnosis reports relatively successful results. Here are some of the more impressive statistics:
- Over 90 percent of smoking subjects reported stopping the habit with the use of hypnosis.
- About 87 percent of tobacco-using subjects reported stopping the habit with the use of hypnosis.
- Subjects who have undergone hypnosis to control their smoking habit are twice as likely to stay smoke-free when evaluated two years later.
- One study showed that hypnosis was three times as effective as the nicotine patch and 15 times as effective as good old willpower to overcome a smoking habit.
- Another study claims that hypnosis is over 30 times more effective for weight loss than those who didn’t participate in hypnosis.
- Subjects who received hypnosis lost more weight than 90 percent of the subjects who didn’t receive hypnosis and were able to maintain the weight loss for up to two years after hypnotic treatments had ended.
- Traditional weight loss approaches can be twice as effective when coupled with hypnosis.
- Hypnosis reduces the intensity and frequency of migraines.
Issue 619
Snippetz Toils in the Soil Down on the Farm
“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchen, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.”
– Joel Salatin, author
It’s pretty safe to say that farming and agriculture are the backbone of this nation. They have sustained generations of families as they built their lives and this country. Although the tradition has lasted the test of time, farming now looks very different from the way it did in the early years of the United States’ history. How has it changed? What has stayed the same? More importantly, what has farming contributed to our way of life? In a word, lots. But Snippetz would never leave you hanging with such a simple explanation. Read on to discover more about farming and how its impact has affected every one of us!
FARMING INFORMATION
There are four main types of farms: crop, hay, livestock and mixed.
Crop – this type of farm is for growing crops only. Many include a variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
Hay – this type of farm is for growing grass and legumes only. These crops are usually grown, harvested and sold to livestock owners, although it is sometimes exported for sale overseas.
Livestock – this type of farm is for raising and caring for animals such as cattle, chickens and pigs. Often livestock farms involve breeding operations to maintain the herd, while sales are frequent as well to make sure not to overload the farm with animals.
Mixed – this type of farming involved two or more types of farming located on one farm. The most common pairing is livestock and crop or hay production and usually consists of cattle and grain as their main focus.
THE HISTORY OF FARMING
Farming in Europe in the Middle Ages was back-breaking work, as it still can be today. Most farmers did not own the land they worked. Instead, they worked the land for the person who owned it, acting as serfs. The land owner, in turn, provided protection and the opportunity for the farmer to use a portion of the land to farm for his family’s needs.
Naturally, these early farmers didn’t have access to tractors and often didn’t even own a single ox to help perform the work that would have taken several strong men to complete. Oxen were often shared among farmers within a village in order to get through the plowing, seeding and harvesting times.
By utilizing the available oxen, farmers were able to strap large metal-tipped ploughs to the “beasts of burden” to turn the soil and create rows in which seeds could be sewed. Harrows, which were dragged across the soil and pushed the dirt back over the seeds that had been planted, were the other essential tool of the early farmer.
Farming generally had two times of the year in which the land produced crops. The spring brought crops including barley, oats, peas and beans. The fall brought crops to include wheat and rye. Using crop rotation, something still in use in farming today, farmers were able to plant different crops on the same field during different years. Doing so allowed the soil to retain certain nutrients that were needed for one crop while using other nutrients needed to support another.
FARMING IN THE U.S.A.
Since the early settlers in the U.S.A. had emigrated from Europe, the crops they used were the same as those used across the Atlantic, with one main difference. The settlers learned about corn and how to grow it from the natives they encountered when they took over the land.
The livelihood of roughly 90 percent of the early settler population was agricultural. While most farms were small and intended strictly for the use of the family that owned and worked it, some farmers realized the potential profit in exporting their agricultural products.
To speed up production, farmers began thinking more innovatively. Tools such as the sickle and scythe were effective but really only served one purpose: to cut hay, wheat and barley during harvest time. But in the 1750s, tools like the cradle scythe, a wooden tool with fingers that arranged the stalks of grain which essentially tripled the amount of work a single farmer could do in one day, became popular and helped farmers work their fields more quickly and effectively.
Compliments of a huge increase in European population in the mid-1700s, farmers in America were able to make a great living by exporting their farming products, like wheat and barley. In fact, by 1770, a bushel of wheat cost as much as twice what it had cost in 1720. About the same time, flaxseed also became popular, as did corn and both products were exported for international use overseas.
Cotton was also increasing in popularity, especially in the region from North Carolina arcing through to Texas, where the climate was ideal for cotton-growing. Recognizing the importance of this crop and seeking to simplify its harvesting, Eli Whitney developed a machine called the cotton gin, which separated seeds, hulls and other unwanted materials from the cotton after it had been picked. He obtained a patent for his invention on March 14, 1794 and by the 1800s, in part thanks to Whitney’s machine, cotton had become a main crop in the southern states and the use of slaves to harvest the cotton had become commonplace.
THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862
Since settlers had first set foot on this continent, disputes of property boundaries and claims to plots of land had been an issue. Figuring out how the federal government would distribute these pieces of land was also a major concern. The Land Ordinance of 1785 standardized the size of the plots the government owned into six-mile square territories called townships. These townships were then divided into 36 one-square mile (or 640 acre) sections. Selling this land at $1 per acre for each 640-acre plot was thought to be a great source of revenue for the government.
After years of rewrites, revisions and flat out vetoes by the government, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862 on May 20 of that year. The law basically said that any U.S. citizen could file an application and lay claim to 160 acres of government land. Over the course of the next five years, the homesteaders had to live on and improve the plot of land by building a 12-by-14 dwelling (the actual units of measurement were no specified and created confusion and conflict) and growing crops. Having done so, the homesteader could then file for the deed of title to the land by submitting the appropriate paperwork. Unbeknownst to the people of that time, this particular act served to spread farming across the continent like a virus spreads across the Internet.
The Railroad Act followed six months later and by May of 1869, a transcontinental railroad was built. The promise of land and freedom lured many immigrants and other adventurous and ambitious people to the west to claim their piece of the U.S.
By and large, family farms, albeit a loose term, are the most prolific type of farm in the country today. Residential or “lifestyle” farms, described as small farm whose operators report a major occupation other than farming, account for over 36 percent of the total farms in the country. Less than one percent of the U.S. population actually claims farming as their occupation.
COLORADO FARMING
August is typically the beginning of the Colorado’s harvests. So what are some of these local crops we as Coloradans can enjoy fresh from the farm?
Rocky Ford Melons – located in southeastern Colorado, Rocky Ford produces watermelons as well as cantaloupes, which are often considered the town’s most popular product. Rocky Ford is also considered one of the nation’s premier melon-growing towns.
Palisade Peaches – located on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, Palisade is not only a renowned producer of peaches but is also considered to be the heart of Colorado wine country.
Pueblo Green Chiles – located roughly 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs, Pueblo is the place to go for green chiles. This particular type of chile can’t be grown anywhere else so whether you like mild, medium or hot, Pueblo’s the only place to get these chiles.
Olathe Sweet Corn – located near the western boundary of the Black Canyon in the Gunnison National Park, Olathe produces sweet corn unlike any other. And Colorado grocery stores and farmers’ markets are the prime place to get your hands on this local crop.
Snippetz Toils in the Soil Down on the Farm
“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchen, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.”
– Joel Salatin, author
It’s pretty safe to say that farming and agriculture are the backbone of this nation. They have sustained generations of families as they built their lives and this country. Although the tradition has lasted the test of time, farming now looks very different from the way it did in the early years of the United States’ history. How has it changed? What has stayed the same? More importantly, what has farming contributed to our way of life? In a word, lots. But Snippetz would never leave you hanging with such a simple explanation. Read on to discover more about farming and how its impact has affected every one of us!
FARMING INFORMATION
There are four main types of farms: crop, hay, livestock and mixed.
Crop – this type of farm is for growing crops only. Many include a variety of fruits, vegetables and grains.
Hay – this type of farm is for growing grass and legumes only. These crops are usually grown, harvested and sold to livestock owners, although it is sometimes exported for sale overseas.
Livestock – this type of farm is for raising and caring for animals such as cattle, chickens and pigs. Often livestock farms involve breeding operations to maintain the herd, while sales are frequent as well to make sure not to overload the farm with animals.
Mixed – this type of farming involved two or more types of farming located on one farm. The most common pairing is livestock and crop or hay production and usually consists of cattle and grain as their main focus.
THE HISTORY OF FARMING
Farming in Europe in the Middle Ages was back-breaking work, as it still can be today. Most farmers did not own the land they worked. Instead, they worked the land for the person who owned it, acting as serfs. The land owner, in turn, provided protection and the opportunity for the farmer to use a portion of the land to farm for his family’s needs.
Naturally, these early farmers didn’t have access to tractors and often didn’t even own a single ox to help perform the work that would have taken several strong men to complete. Oxen were often shared among farmers within a village in order to get through the plowing, seeding and harvesting times.
By utilizing the available oxen, farmers were able to strap large metal-tipped ploughs to the “beasts of burden” to turn the soil and create rows in which seeds could be sewed. Harrows, which were dragged across the soil and pushed the dirt back over the seeds that had been planted, were the other essential tool of the early farmer.
Farming generally had two times of the year in which the land produced crops. The spring brought crops including barley, oats, peas and beans. The fall brought crops to include wheat and rye. Using crop rotation, something still in use in farming today, farmers were able to plant different crops on the same field during different years. Doing so allowed the soil to retain certain nutrients that were needed for one crop while using other nutrients needed to support another.
FARMING IN THE U.S.A.
Since the early settlers in the U.S.A. had emigrated from Europe, the crops they used were the same as those used across the Atlantic, with one main difference. The settlers learned about corn and how to grow it from the natives they encountered when they took over the land.
The livelihood of roughly 90 percent of the early settler population was agricultural. While most farms were small and intended strictly for the use of the family that owned and worked it, some farmers realized the potential profit in exporting their agricultural products.
To speed up production, farmers began thinking more innovatively. Tools such as the sickle and scythe were effective but really only served one purpose: to cut hay, wheat and barley during harvest time. But in the 1750s, tools like the cradle scythe, a wooden tool with fingers that arranged the stalks of grain which essentially tripled the amount of work a single farmer could do in one day, became popular and helped farmers work their fields more quickly and effectively.
Compliments of a huge increase in European population in the mid-1700s, farmers in America were able to make a great living by exporting their farming products, like wheat and barley. In fact, by 1770, a bushel of wheat cost as much as twice what it had cost in 1720. About the same time, flaxseed also became popular, as did corn and both products were exported for international use overseas.
Cotton was also increasing in popularity, especially in the region from North Carolina arcing through to Texas, where the climate was ideal for cotton-growing. Recognizing the importance of this crop and seeking to simplify its harvesting, Eli Whitney developed a machine called the cotton gin, which separated seeds, hulls and other unwanted materials from the cotton after it had been picked. He obtained a patent for his invention on March 14, 1794 and by the 1800s, in part thanks to Whitney’s machine, cotton had become a main crop in the southern states and the use of slaves to harvest the cotton had become commonplace.
THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862
Since settlers had first set foot on this continent, disputes of property boundaries and claims to plots of land had been an issue. Figuring out how the federal government would distribute these pieces of land was also a major concern. The Land Ordinance of 1785 standardized the size of the plots the government owned into six-mile square territories called townships. These townships were then divided into 36 one-square mile (or 640 acre) sections. Selling this land at $1 per acre for each 640-acre plot was thought to be a great source of revenue for the government.
After years of rewrites, revisions and flat out vetoes by the government, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862 on May 20 of that year. The law basically said that any U.S. citizen could file an application and lay claim to 160 acres of government land. Over the course of the next five years, the homesteaders had to live on and improve the plot of land by building a 12-by-14 dwelling (the actual units of measurement were no specified and created confusion and conflict) and growing crops. Having done so, the homesteader could then file for the deed of title to the land by submitting the appropriate paperwork. Unbeknownst to the people of that time, this particular act served to spread farming across the continent like a virus spreads across the Internet.
The Railroad Act followed six months later and by May of 1869, a transcontinental railroad was built. The promise of land and freedom lured many immigrants and other adventurous and ambitious people to the west to claim their piece of the U.S.
By and large, family farms, albeit a loose term, are the most prolific type of farm in the country today. Residential or “lifestyle” farms, described as small farm whose operators report a major occupation other than farming, account for over 36 percent of the total farms in the country. Less than one percent of the U.S. population actually claims farming as their occupation.
COLORADO FARMING
August is typically the beginning of the Colorado’s harvests. So what are some of these local crops we as Coloradans can enjoy fresh from the farm?
Rocky Ford Melons – located in southeastern Colorado, Rocky Ford produces watermelons as well as cantaloupes, which are often considered the town’s most popular product. Rocky Ford is also considered one of the nation’s premier melon-growing towns.
Palisade Peaches – located on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, Palisade is not only a renowned producer of peaches but is also considered to be the heart of Colorado wine country.
Pueblo Green Chiles – located roughly 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs, Pueblo is the place to go for green chiles. This particular type of chile can’t be grown anywhere else so whether you like mild, medium or hot, Pueblo’s the only place to get these chiles.
Olathe Sweet Corn – located near the western boundary of the Black Canyon in the Gunnison National Park, Olathe produces sweet corn unlike any other. And Colorado grocery stores and farmers’ markets are the prime place to get your hands on this local crop.
Issue 618
Misery Loves Company: Snippetz Investigates the Art of Complaining
“I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.”
– Jane Wagner, comedian
Believe it or not, there is actually a right way and a wrong way to complain. For all you parents out there who have had to endure night after night of your child or children complaining about the dinner you’ve served or that they have “nothing” to wear for school the next day, this might not sound likely at all. There is no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to complaining; no complaining is good complaining. But in the business world or even as a consumer, there are definite do’s and don’ts when it comes to lodging a complaint. The way to correct way to complain in a restaurant is not the same as the correct way to complain about your boss. So how do you know what to do in each situation to be heard and find a speedy resolution to the problem? Leave it to Snippetz to lay it all out for you!
HOW DO WE COMPLAIN?
There are really just two basic types of complaints: instrumental and expressive.
Instrumental complaints are useful in that they are intended to achieve a certain goal. Let’s say you order soup at your favorite restaurant and there’s a fly in it. If you complained to the server at the restaurant about the fly, it’s probably because you want something to be done about it. You probably want the server to solve the problem of your soup being inedible by bringing you a fresh bowl, sans fly. That’s the goal.
In expressive complaining, there isn’t really a goal in mind. The complainer is typically just trying to explain how they are feeling, often called venting. Complaining that your jeans are too tight is one example. There isn’t really a goal in mind when you complain about the jeans; you’re just venting about something that’s bothering you. And usually, you feel better after you’ve vented.
It’s this second type of complaining that can become a bit of a nuisance when someone does it all the time. While it can be helpful to vent to create a bond, connection or feeling of camaraderie with others who can empathize with how you feel, overusing expressive complaining can often do just the opposite. It can create a rift between people by highlighting the negative a bit too much. People are often turned off by this type of interaction if it happens more than necessary.
WHY DO WE COMPLAIN?
Why we complain obviously has a lot to do with what’s going on around us. Whether or not we realize we are complaining, it happens every day and there are several main reasons why we do.
Reason #1: To “break the ice” – this is what you are doing when you complain about the weather to a complete stranger as you wait in line for your coffee at the local coffee shop.
Reason #2: To avoid taking action – this is what you are doing when you complain about how hungry you are to your mom and she tells you to get a snack but you just complain more about how there’s nothing to eat when the pantry is full.
Reason #3: To control others – this is what you are doing when you complain to your friend about how much you dislike someone else in the attempt to sway their opinion of said person and side with you.
Reason #4: To demonstrate superiority – this is what you are doing when you complain about the driver ahead of you who failed to use their turn signal because you are implying that you are a better driver who always uses your turn signal.
Reason #5: To excuse anticipated poor performance or behavior – this is what you are doing when you storm into your office complaining about how awful the traffic was on your commute as a way to justify being late.
Reason #6: To be funny – this is what you are doing when you complain about how you were so tired when you woke up that you tripped getting into the shower and cracked your head on the wall.
While these types of complaining are often considered the most common, there’s also the situation in which a complaint is completely necessary. Two very popular examples are while dining at a restaurant or when a product or service doesn’t meet your expectations. So how do you effectively handle a situation like that? Read on!
HOW TO COMPLAIN IN A RESTAURANT
We’ve all heard the horror stories about what can happen to your food if you complain about it while dining out. But people typically have a higher work ethic than that and will honestly try to satisfy their customers rather than exact some covert type of revenge on them. But complaining effectively can go a long way to determining what type of response you’ll get.
HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Outside of the food service industry, there are times when a product or service just isn’t up to snuff. That’s where the often-frustrating world of customer service representatives comes into play. Here are a few ideas for how to deal with these reps effectively.
COMPLAINING SNIPPETZ
Misery Loves Company: Snippetz Investigates the Art of Complaining
“I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.”
– Jane Wagner, comedian
Believe it or not, there is actually a right way and a wrong way to complain. For all you parents out there who have had to endure night after night of your child or children complaining about the dinner you’ve served or that they have “nothing” to wear for school the next day, this might not sound likely at all. There is no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to complaining; no complaining is good complaining. But in the business world or even as a consumer, there are definite do’s and don’ts when it comes to lodging a complaint. The way to correct way to complain in a restaurant is not the same as the correct way to complain about your boss. So how do you know what to do in each situation to be heard and find a speedy resolution to the problem? Leave it to Snippetz to lay it all out for you!
HOW DO WE COMPLAIN?
There are really just two basic types of complaints: instrumental and expressive.
Instrumental complaints are useful in that they are intended to achieve a certain goal. Let’s say you order soup at your favorite restaurant and there’s a fly in it. If you complained to the server at the restaurant about the fly, it’s probably because you want something to be done about it. You probably want the server to solve the problem of your soup being inedible by bringing you a fresh bowl, sans fly. That’s the goal.
In expressive complaining, there isn’t really a goal in mind. The complainer is typically just trying to explain how they are feeling, often called venting. Complaining that your jeans are too tight is one example. There isn’t really a goal in mind when you complain about the jeans; you’re just venting about something that’s bothering you. And usually, you feel better after you’ve vented.
It’s this second type of complaining that can become a bit of a nuisance when someone does it all the time. While it can be helpful to vent to create a bond, connection or feeling of camaraderie with others who can empathize with how you feel, overusing expressive complaining can often do just the opposite. It can create a rift between people by highlighting the negative a bit too much. People are often turned off by this type of interaction if it happens more than necessary.
WHY DO WE COMPLAIN?
Why we complain obviously has a lot to do with what’s going on around us. Whether or not we realize we are complaining, it happens every day and there are several main reasons why we do.
Reason #1: To “break the ice” – this is what you are doing when you complain about the weather to a complete stranger as you wait in line for your coffee at the local coffee shop.
Reason #2: To avoid taking action – this is what you are doing when you complain about how hungry you are to your mom and she tells you to get a snack but you just complain more about how there’s nothing to eat when the pantry is full.
Reason #3: To control others – this is what you are doing when you complain to your friend about how much you dislike someone else in the attempt to sway their opinion of said person and side with you.
Reason #4: To demonstrate superiority – this is what you are doing when you complain about the driver ahead of you who failed to use their turn signal because you are implying that you are a better driver who always uses your turn signal.
Reason #5: To excuse anticipated poor performance or behavior – this is what you are doing when you storm into your office complaining about how awful the traffic was on your commute as a way to justify being late.
Reason #6: To be funny – this is what you are doing when you complain about how you were so tired when you woke up that you tripped getting into the shower and cracked your head on the wall.
While these types of complaining are often considered the most common, there’s also the situation in which a complaint is completely necessary. Two very popular examples are while dining at a restaurant or when a product or service doesn’t meet your expectations. So how do you effectively handle a situation like that? Read on!
HOW TO COMPLAIN IN A RESTAURANT
We’ve all heard the horror stories about what can happen to your food if you complain about it while dining out. But people typically have a higher work ethic than that and will honestly try to satisfy their customers rather than exact some covert type of revenge on them. But complaining effectively can go a long way to determining what type of response you’ll get.
- Be clear, concise and calm. If you have a legitimate complaint such as your food was not hot when it should’ve been or the meal you were served wasn’t the one you ordered, it’s important to clearly, calmly and concisely explain the situation. Understand that mistakes happen and that it probably wasn’t done purposefully to frustrate or annoy you, and give the restaurant a chance to make it right.
- Understand what you’re ordering. If you aren’t clear on what you’re ordering, ask questions. Granted, it’s sometimes hard to know when to ask a question but if you are served something that wasn’t what you were expecting, don’t complain about the food. You ordered it, after all. But explaining the situation in a clear, concise and calm manner might just get you another meal that is more to your liking.
- Speak up! If you’re mostly done with your meal, it’s not wise to complain about it then. If it doesn’t meet your standards, say something right away. Restaurants probably won’t take your complaint seriously if you’ve licked your plate clean!
HOW TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Outside of the food service industry, there are times when a product or service just isn’t up to snuff. That’s where the often-frustrating world of customer service representatives comes into play. Here are a few ideas for how to deal with these reps effectively.
- State your argument. Simply explain the problem, don’t come out swinging. The whole clear, concise and calm thing is very important in this step as well. The customer service rep is no more responsible for the issue than your dog is.
- Offer a solution. If you go into the conversation with a solution in mind, it makes the rep’s job much easier because they know what you want and then can work within their abilities to make that happen.
- Be respectful. We’ve all heard the phrase, “You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” In most instances, that’s true. The rep you’re speaking to is the person who holds the resolution in the palm of their hands. If you want things solved quickly and satisfactorily, play nice.
- Stay calm. Freaking out on the customer service rep might result in their termination of the conversation and then you’re still in the same boat as you were before you attempted to negotiate a resolution.
- Only escalate if absolutely necessary. Sometimes you just can’t get anything accomplished with the customer service rep. In that instance, go over their head to a manager or supervisor . . . but don’t lose your cool! Follow the same steps as you did with the rep or you might just be wasting your time hoping for a resolution.
COMPLAINING SNIPPETZ
- The average person complains somewhere between 15-30 times each day.
- The best question to ask when complaining about a product or service is, “What would you do if you were in my situation?” Often, the person dealing with your complaint will give you a clue about how to achieve your desired result.
- When possible, complaining in person (in an effective manner) will often get better results than complaining via email or phone call.
Issue 617
Snippetz is Fairly Excited: We're Off to the Fair!
“If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair, because five minutes at the fair and you’ll be going, ‘You know, we’re alright. We are dang near royalty.’”
– Jeff Foxworthy, comedian
If you close your eyes and imagine you are at a fair, what’s one of the first things you think of? Maybe it’s the flashing lights of the games and vendors along the midway. Or maybe you imagine the slightly queasy feeling you get when you’ve just gotten off that creaky rollercoaster. Or perhaps it’s the strange combination of smells that you can only find at a fair. Cooking meats like hotdogs and hamburgers mingle with the sweet smell of funnel cakes and cotton candy, all topped off with the pungent smell of livestock. There’s truly nothing like it in the world. And at first glance, the idea of mixing rides, games, food and animals in one place might seem a little strange. After all, the smell of goat doesn’t typically make you hungry for a big meal of random fair food. Regardless of all that, fairs have been around for centuries and have become so popular that just about every state has their own fair which is held place annually. And as usual, Snippetz has rounded up some information to satiate your hunger for state fair facts!
HISTORY OF THE FAIR
Fairs have traditionally be a place of gathering where people can display, sell or trade their goods and display their animals. Sometimes, as is the case in modern fairs, entertainment such as games was included.
In the Middle Ages, fairs were typically a form of temporary marketplace for travelers, both local and international, could come together to participate in trade. Because this type of venue offered access to large amounts of people gathered in one place, vendors could make a decent profit off the sale of their wares in a relatively short amount of time. And fair-goers could be assured of a large variety of products to peruse. Sometimes fairs were held for just a day, while at other times, they lasted for 10 weeks or more.
As fairs gained in popularity, rather than cropping up in random places, cities and towns began dedicating spaces specifically for fairs. The timing of these more regularly-occurring fairs was often in conjunction with a special religious occasion, in particular the anniversary of the dedication of a church. Churchyards were the prime place for these fairs to set up and were often held annually on the feast day of the patron saint to whom that particular church was dedicated.
A PIE-POWDER COURT?
As you can probably imagine, in the early days of the fair, many people would be gathered in a relatively small area. And naturally, things had the potential to get out of hand. In order to “keep the peace,” officials were chosen to handle dole out discipline when necessary. These officials were clumped together into a make-shift court, called the pie-powder court. The name comes from an Old French term literally meaning “dusty feet.” The pie-powder court would see to the adjudication of any infraction or dispute that arose within the fairgrounds.
FROM STATE TO STATE FAIR
While fairs have been around for quite some time, state fairs in particular have been around since the 1800s. State fairs as larger versions of regular fairs or county fairs and include livestock and agriculture competitions as well as recreational activities like games and rides. Most competitors at state fairs are the winners of their local county fair in their respective category.
State fairs are significantly larger than their local counterparts, sometimes admitting more than one million fair-goers over the one or two-week period in which they are held. The first state fair in the United States was held in Syracuse, NY in 1841 and has been held annually ever since.
At last count, there are about 80 different state fairs. That doesn’t quite match up with the 50 states but there’s a good reason for the discrepancy. Several states hold more than one state fair, usually at different times and in different locations. For example, Georgia holds four state fairs annually, one in Macon in the spring, one in Atlanta in the fall, one titled the “Georgia National Fair” in Perry, and one titled the “North Georgia State Fair” in Marietta.
Texas is another state that hosts more than one state fair. The State Fair of Texas held in Dallas holds the record for the largest number of people in attendance each year. The estimate is 3,000,000 people.
YOU ATE WHAT?!
What would a state fair be without some unusual sights, sounds and yes, foods. It’s become quite the custom in state fairs around the country to bring a wide variety of tasty treats for fair-goers to enjoy. But lately, the trend has been to create something unique, maybe even a bit strange but delicious nonetheless. Here are a few of the more interesting creations from across the nation.
Chicken-fried bacon – as the winner of the Best Taste at the 2008 Big Tex Choice Awards, this dish is a clear indicator of our country’s recent obsession with all things bacon.
Fried butter balls – yep, that’s right. This treat is simply butter dipped in batter and then tossed in a deep-fryer. The Montana State Fair proudly boasts this selection.
Pickle pop – have you ever had a craving for something cold, tangy and . . . pickle-y? Well, head to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson where pickle juice is frozen and served as a popsicle.
Fried pickle on a stick – speaking of pickles, what better way to enjoy one than to shove it onto a stick and deep fry it. If you’ve ever had deep-fried pickle slices, you’ll understand the importance of this creation.
Deep-fried Twinkies – we all know that Twinkies aren’t exactly the picture of health food but the folks at the Indiana State Fair decided to kick it up a notch and freeze the snack before giving a dip in a deep-fryer so it doesn’t melt away in the hot oil.
Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich – the name says it all . . . this treat is simply a sliced Krispy Kreme doughnut containing a fried chicken patty and a slice of Swiss cheese. Thanks, California for that lovely invention.
Krispy Kreme hamburgers – not to be outdone by California, the Alabama State Fair has introduced a hamburger that defies all laws of physics. Well, not really but it does contain 67 grams of fat. Ugh. This dish contains a quarter-pound hamburger, bacon, cheese and not one but two Krispy Kreme doughnuts serving as the bun.
Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick – the Minnesota State Fair has come up with the perfect solution for all those fair-goers who crave something a little more substantial but just can’t take the time to sit down for a meal. Enter the spaghetti and meatballs on a stick treat, in which spaghetti is mixed into a meatball and then the whole thing is cooked, battered, fried (of course) and shoved onto a stick before taking a quick roll in some marinara sauce.
Mealworm-covered caramel apples – so far, this treat has only appeared once at the Arizona Exposition and State Fair. Since it is just what it sounds like, there’s probably a good reason for that!
Fried beer – yep, once again, you read that correctly. The Texas State Fair has found a way to fry beer by injecting it into a nugget of pretzel dough and then tossing it in the deep-dryer. Just what will they think of next?
STATE FAIR SNIPPETZ
Snippetz is Fairly Excited: We're Off to the Fair!
“If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair, because five minutes at the fair and you’ll be going, ‘You know, we’re alright. We are dang near royalty.’”
– Jeff Foxworthy, comedian
If you close your eyes and imagine you are at a fair, what’s one of the first things you think of? Maybe it’s the flashing lights of the games and vendors along the midway. Or maybe you imagine the slightly queasy feeling you get when you’ve just gotten off that creaky rollercoaster. Or perhaps it’s the strange combination of smells that you can only find at a fair. Cooking meats like hotdogs and hamburgers mingle with the sweet smell of funnel cakes and cotton candy, all topped off with the pungent smell of livestock. There’s truly nothing like it in the world. And at first glance, the idea of mixing rides, games, food and animals in one place might seem a little strange. After all, the smell of goat doesn’t typically make you hungry for a big meal of random fair food. Regardless of all that, fairs have been around for centuries and have become so popular that just about every state has their own fair which is held place annually. And as usual, Snippetz has rounded up some information to satiate your hunger for state fair facts!
HISTORY OF THE FAIR
Fairs have traditionally be a place of gathering where people can display, sell or trade their goods and display their animals. Sometimes, as is the case in modern fairs, entertainment such as games was included.
In the Middle Ages, fairs were typically a form of temporary marketplace for travelers, both local and international, could come together to participate in trade. Because this type of venue offered access to large amounts of people gathered in one place, vendors could make a decent profit off the sale of their wares in a relatively short amount of time. And fair-goers could be assured of a large variety of products to peruse. Sometimes fairs were held for just a day, while at other times, they lasted for 10 weeks or more.
As fairs gained in popularity, rather than cropping up in random places, cities and towns began dedicating spaces specifically for fairs. The timing of these more regularly-occurring fairs was often in conjunction with a special religious occasion, in particular the anniversary of the dedication of a church. Churchyards were the prime place for these fairs to set up and were often held annually on the feast day of the patron saint to whom that particular church was dedicated.
A PIE-POWDER COURT?
As you can probably imagine, in the early days of the fair, many people would be gathered in a relatively small area. And naturally, things had the potential to get out of hand. In order to “keep the peace,” officials were chosen to handle dole out discipline when necessary. These officials were clumped together into a make-shift court, called the pie-powder court. The name comes from an Old French term literally meaning “dusty feet.” The pie-powder court would see to the adjudication of any infraction or dispute that arose within the fairgrounds.
FROM STATE TO STATE FAIR
While fairs have been around for quite some time, state fairs in particular have been around since the 1800s. State fairs as larger versions of regular fairs or county fairs and include livestock and agriculture competitions as well as recreational activities like games and rides. Most competitors at state fairs are the winners of their local county fair in their respective category.
State fairs are significantly larger than their local counterparts, sometimes admitting more than one million fair-goers over the one or two-week period in which they are held. The first state fair in the United States was held in Syracuse, NY in 1841 and has been held annually ever since.
At last count, there are about 80 different state fairs. That doesn’t quite match up with the 50 states but there’s a good reason for the discrepancy. Several states hold more than one state fair, usually at different times and in different locations. For example, Georgia holds four state fairs annually, one in Macon in the spring, one in Atlanta in the fall, one titled the “Georgia National Fair” in Perry, and one titled the “North Georgia State Fair” in Marietta.
Texas is another state that hosts more than one state fair. The State Fair of Texas held in Dallas holds the record for the largest number of people in attendance each year. The estimate is 3,000,000 people.
YOU ATE WHAT?!
What would a state fair be without some unusual sights, sounds and yes, foods. It’s become quite the custom in state fairs around the country to bring a wide variety of tasty treats for fair-goers to enjoy. But lately, the trend has been to create something unique, maybe even a bit strange but delicious nonetheless. Here are a few of the more interesting creations from across the nation.
Chicken-fried bacon – as the winner of the Best Taste at the 2008 Big Tex Choice Awards, this dish is a clear indicator of our country’s recent obsession with all things bacon.
Fried butter balls – yep, that’s right. This treat is simply butter dipped in batter and then tossed in a deep-fryer. The Montana State Fair proudly boasts this selection.
Pickle pop – have you ever had a craving for something cold, tangy and . . . pickle-y? Well, head to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson where pickle juice is frozen and served as a popsicle.
Fried pickle on a stick – speaking of pickles, what better way to enjoy one than to shove it onto a stick and deep fry it. If you’ve ever had deep-fried pickle slices, you’ll understand the importance of this creation.
Deep-fried Twinkies – we all know that Twinkies aren’t exactly the picture of health food but the folks at the Indiana State Fair decided to kick it up a notch and freeze the snack before giving a dip in a deep-fryer so it doesn’t melt away in the hot oil.
Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich – the name says it all . . . this treat is simply a sliced Krispy Kreme doughnut containing a fried chicken patty and a slice of Swiss cheese. Thanks, California for that lovely invention.
Krispy Kreme hamburgers – not to be outdone by California, the Alabama State Fair has introduced a hamburger that defies all laws of physics. Well, not really but it does contain 67 grams of fat. Ugh. This dish contains a quarter-pound hamburger, bacon, cheese and not one but two Krispy Kreme doughnuts serving as the bun.
Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick – the Minnesota State Fair has come up with the perfect solution for all those fair-goers who crave something a little more substantial but just can’t take the time to sit down for a meal. Enter the spaghetti and meatballs on a stick treat, in which spaghetti is mixed into a meatball and then the whole thing is cooked, battered, fried (of course) and shoved onto a stick before taking a quick roll in some marinara sauce.
Mealworm-covered caramel apples – so far, this treat has only appeared once at the Arizona Exposition and State Fair. Since it is just what it sounds like, there’s probably a good reason for that!
Fried beer – yep, once again, you read that correctly. The Texas State Fair has found a way to fry beer by injecting it into a nugget of pretzel dough and then tossing it in the deep-dryer. Just what will they think of next?
STATE FAIR SNIPPETZ
- Cotton candy was originally called “Fairy Floss” when it was invented in 1897 by William Morris and John C. Wharton from Nashville, Tenn.
- Several exotic animals have debuted as snack items at various state fairs in the U.S. including alligator, kangaroo, python and scorpion.
- The Iowa State Fair has featured an exhibition of life-size butter sculptures of cows since 1911.
- While there is dispute over which state fair can stake claim to the invention of the corn dog, it’s certain that the food was created somewhere between 1938 and 1942 at either the Texas State Fair or the Minnesota State Fair.
Issue 616
Snippetz Watches the Sky: Alien Sightings
“It was the darndest thing I’ve ever seen. It was big. It was very bright. It changed colors and was about the size of the moon. We watched it for 10 minutes but none of us could figure out what it was. One thing’s for sure, I’ll never make fun of people who say they’ve seen unidentified objects in the sky.”
– President Jimmy Carter
Have you ever looked up into the night sky to ponder the meaning of life, only to have your revelry interrupted by a flash of light that streaked across the sky? Or maybe you were driving with your family and saw something hovering over a huge cornfield in Kansas that looked like nothing you’d ever seen before. If you haven’t had a first-hand experience of this kind, you’ve probably heard stories about people who say they have. It’s hard to deny that our country has a particular fascination with the idea of visitors from outer space. If you’re into the conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, a military base located in a remote part of Nevada, or you’re a “E.T.” buff who can quote every line from the movie, you’re in good company; millions of people are “alien obsessed.” So Snippetz decided to take a peek into the mystery surrounding these alien sightings!
What is a U.F.O.?
The acronym “U.F.O.” stands for “unidentified flying object.” That’s not very specific but the bottom line is that whatever object people are reporting to have seen is unidentifiable and usually is attributed to some sort of alien life form. And these sightings occur pretty frequently. The National U.F.O. Reporting Center is located in a former underground nuclear bunker in Harrington, Wash. According to its records, an estimated 5,000 new U.F.O. sightings are reported each year and their records contain as many as 70,000 total reported sightings from as far back as the 1950s.
While the Reporting Center may have records from over 50 years ago, that doesn’t mean sightings hadn’t occurred until then. In fact, there are some well-recorded accounts that go back as far as the 1560s.
Nuremberg, Germany – 1561
Reported two different German broadsheets (what amounted to newspapers in that century) was an account shown of several strange objects in the sky. Hans Glasser was an eyewitness to the event and just so happened to be a professional illustrator as well. He depicted the sighting through an engraving which showed the objects ranging from huge globe-like shapes to massive cigar-shaped ones. They appeared to be battling each other. Part of the engraving showed two of the U.F.O.s (since they really are unidentifiable) having smashed into the ground with smoke spiraling up from the wreckage.
Along with the engraving, Glasser included a description of what he saw. He said he and many other men and women witnessed the objects fly back and forth, seeming to fight amongst themselves for over an hour. Once they had apparently run out of steam, Glasser claims they all fell from the sky, crashed to the ground and burned to ashes.
Massachusetts – 1639
Colonial governor John Winthrop made an entry in his journal that described the account of James Everall. Winthrop wrote that Everall saw a great light in the night over the Muddy River, more formally known as the Charles River. Winthrop made sure to state that Everall was a sober, discreet man so as not to confuse his sighting with that of any drunken hallucinations reported around that time.
According to Winthrop, Everall said the “great light” was about nine feet long and flew up and down the length of the river for up to three hours. The object supposedly contracted and took on the shape of a pig, a rather unusual shape for a U.F.O. but who are we to judge, really? Anyway, Winthrop goes on to say that a variety of other credible witnesses also saw the same light in about the same place. Naturally, no one could explain it and although the sighting was attributed to “some operation of the devil” by James Savage, who edited the journal in 1835, others firmly believe it was a genuine U.F.O sighting.
Delaware – 1860
On Friday, July 13, 1860 (yes, we know . . . Friday the 13th, how cliché) Wilmington, Del. in nearly its entirety was awash with a pale blue light. Supposedly, people began noticing a massive object, estimated at about 200 feet long flying about 100 feet above the ground. An account printed in the Wilmington Tribune even stated that the object sparkled in the manner of a rocket.
Even stranger still, the object seemed to have brought along reinforcements because people claimed a pitch-black cloud could be seen flying in front of it. And they also claimed that tagging along about 100 feet behind the principle object were three glowing red balls. Once the object turned south over the Delaware River, a fourth ball apparently joined the parade and the caravan flew around for a while before heading east and disappearing from sight.
Washington State – 1947
Pilot and businessman Kenneth Arnold was flying his small two-seater plane near Mt. Rainier on June 24, 1947 when he supposedly saw nine U.F.O.s flying nearby. He said the objects looked like pie plates, sort of saucer-like and that they moved erratically. When he gave his report to a newspaper reporter, the writer changed Arnold’s description to that of a “flying saucer” and thus, the first flying saucer sighting was recorded into the pages of history.
Arnold claimed to have had the objects in his sight for up to three minutes. In 1977, Arnold attended an international conference on U.F.O.s in Chicago and added more descriptive language to his previous statement about his sighting. He said the objects were moving at a speed of around 1,700 miles per hour and that they were shiny and appeared to be pulsating. He added that the objects “seemed to be alive in the center, to have the ability to change their density.”
And the icing on this otherworldly cake of alien sightings . . .
North Carolina – 2008
Compliments of the Reporting Center we mentioned above, we have a record of a sighting reported on Feb. 20, 2008. The report indicates that a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot was spending a peaceful evening on his front porch watching the lunar eclipse. The 47-year-old claimed that out of nowhere, a bright round object appeared. He stated that the object, which he said flew in a straight line in what looked like a straight line toward Earth, was very obviously not “a naturally formed object.” He claimed the light then crossed directly in front of the moon which, by that time had been fully eclipsed. He then said the light shot off to the right of the moon and disappeared. In his report, the event only lasted about five seconds.
The former pilot made sure to clarify that he had 20/12 and 20/15 vision in his eyes, was not a “U.F.O. nut” and that based on his experience, the object was making intelligent turns, almost as if it were purposefully flying around the moon. He added that it was moving extremely fast.
As you can imagine, it’s difficult to verify these claims of U.F.O sightings but supposedly one study was done that indicated at least one-third of the Earth’s population believes in the existence of aliens and their U.F.O.s. It definitely makes you wonder . . . are we alone?
Snippetz Watches the Sky: Alien Sightings
“It was the darndest thing I’ve ever seen. It was big. It was very bright. It changed colors and was about the size of the moon. We watched it for 10 minutes but none of us could figure out what it was. One thing’s for sure, I’ll never make fun of people who say they’ve seen unidentified objects in the sky.”
– President Jimmy Carter
Have you ever looked up into the night sky to ponder the meaning of life, only to have your revelry interrupted by a flash of light that streaked across the sky? Or maybe you were driving with your family and saw something hovering over a huge cornfield in Kansas that looked like nothing you’d ever seen before. If you haven’t had a first-hand experience of this kind, you’ve probably heard stories about people who say they have. It’s hard to deny that our country has a particular fascination with the idea of visitors from outer space. If you’re into the conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, a military base located in a remote part of Nevada, or you’re a “E.T.” buff who can quote every line from the movie, you’re in good company; millions of people are “alien obsessed.” So Snippetz decided to take a peek into the mystery surrounding these alien sightings!
What is a U.F.O.?
The acronym “U.F.O.” stands for “unidentified flying object.” That’s not very specific but the bottom line is that whatever object people are reporting to have seen is unidentifiable and usually is attributed to some sort of alien life form. And these sightings occur pretty frequently. The National U.F.O. Reporting Center is located in a former underground nuclear bunker in Harrington, Wash. According to its records, an estimated 5,000 new U.F.O. sightings are reported each year and their records contain as many as 70,000 total reported sightings from as far back as the 1950s.
While the Reporting Center may have records from over 50 years ago, that doesn’t mean sightings hadn’t occurred until then. In fact, there are some well-recorded accounts that go back as far as the 1560s.
Nuremberg, Germany – 1561
Reported two different German broadsheets (what amounted to newspapers in that century) was an account shown of several strange objects in the sky. Hans Glasser was an eyewitness to the event and just so happened to be a professional illustrator as well. He depicted the sighting through an engraving which showed the objects ranging from huge globe-like shapes to massive cigar-shaped ones. They appeared to be battling each other. Part of the engraving showed two of the U.F.O.s (since they really are unidentifiable) having smashed into the ground with smoke spiraling up from the wreckage.
Along with the engraving, Glasser included a description of what he saw. He said he and many other men and women witnessed the objects fly back and forth, seeming to fight amongst themselves for over an hour. Once they had apparently run out of steam, Glasser claims they all fell from the sky, crashed to the ground and burned to ashes.
Massachusetts – 1639
Colonial governor John Winthrop made an entry in his journal that described the account of James Everall. Winthrop wrote that Everall saw a great light in the night over the Muddy River, more formally known as the Charles River. Winthrop made sure to state that Everall was a sober, discreet man so as not to confuse his sighting with that of any drunken hallucinations reported around that time.
According to Winthrop, Everall said the “great light” was about nine feet long and flew up and down the length of the river for up to three hours. The object supposedly contracted and took on the shape of a pig, a rather unusual shape for a U.F.O. but who are we to judge, really? Anyway, Winthrop goes on to say that a variety of other credible witnesses also saw the same light in about the same place. Naturally, no one could explain it and although the sighting was attributed to “some operation of the devil” by James Savage, who edited the journal in 1835, others firmly believe it was a genuine U.F.O sighting.
Delaware – 1860
On Friday, July 13, 1860 (yes, we know . . . Friday the 13th, how cliché) Wilmington, Del. in nearly its entirety was awash with a pale blue light. Supposedly, people began noticing a massive object, estimated at about 200 feet long flying about 100 feet above the ground. An account printed in the Wilmington Tribune even stated that the object sparkled in the manner of a rocket.
Even stranger still, the object seemed to have brought along reinforcements because people claimed a pitch-black cloud could be seen flying in front of it. And they also claimed that tagging along about 100 feet behind the principle object were three glowing red balls. Once the object turned south over the Delaware River, a fourth ball apparently joined the parade and the caravan flew around for a while before heading east and disappearing from sight.
Washington State – 1947
Pilot and businessman Kenneth Arnold was flying his small two-seater plane near Mt. Rainier on June 24, 1947 when he supposedly saw nine U.F.O.s flying nearby. He said the objects looked like pie plates, sort of saucer-like and that they moved erratically. When he gave his report to a newspaper reporter, the writer changed Arnold’s description to that of a “flying saucer” and thus, the first flying saucer sighting was recorded into the pages of history.
Arnold claimed to have had the objects in his sight for up to three minutes. In 1977, Arnold attended an international conference on U.F.O.s in Chicago and added more descriptive language to his previous statement about his sighting. He said the objects were moving at a speed of around 1,700 miles per hour and that they were shiny and appeared to be pulsating. He added that the objects “seemed to be alive in the center, to have the ability to change their density.”
And the icing on this otherworldly cake of alien sightings . . .
North Carolina – 2008
Compliments of the Reporting Center we mentioned above, we have a record of a sighting reported on Feb. 20, 2008. The report indicates that a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot was spending a peaceful evening on his front porch watching the lunar eclipse. The 47-year-old claimed that out of nowhere, a bright round object appeared. He stated that the object, which he said flew in a straight line in what looked like a straight line toward Earth, was very obviously not “a naturally formed object.” He claimed the light then crossed directly in front of the moon which, by that time had been fully eclipsed. He then said the light shot off to the right of the moon and disappeared. In his report, the event only lasted about five seconds.
The former pilot made sure to clarify that he had 20/12 and 20/15 vision in his eyes, was not a “U.F.O. nut” and that based on his experience, the object was making intelligent turns, almost as if it were purposefully flying around the moon. He added that it was moving extremely fast.
As you can imagine, it’s difficult to verify these claims of U.F.O sightings but supposedly one study was done that indicated at least one-third of the Earth’s population believes in the existence of aliens and their U.F.O.s. It definitely makes you wonder . . . are we alone?
Issue 615
Snippetz Soars With The Eagles!
“As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill.”
– Helen Keller
Other than being the inspiration for Philadelphia’s team in the National Football League or the name of the band who sang “Hotel California,” eagles have long been a symbol of strength and freedom for our country. As you probably well know, the bald eagle is the national emblem of the United States. When the decision was made back in 1782, not everyone was for the bird, however. So what’s the big deal about eagles? Why would some people see it in such a good light while others openly insulted the poor birds? Well, just leave it to Snippetz to do some digging and find out all about these controversial birds.
Eagle Facts
Eagles are large, strong birds of prey and are closely related to hawks. Eagles are usually larger with longer wings and typically fly faster and more directly at their prey than their smaller counterpart.
Eagles have a large, hooked beak and long, sharp talons which are particularly useful for tearing into the flesh of their prey. The type of prey depends on the size and strength of the eagle in question; some prefer fish while others go after other birds, snakes, or small animals.
Two main groups of eagles exist: land eagles and sea eagles. Land eagles are identifiable by their leg feathers that grow all the way down to their toes, while sea eagles’ leg feathers stop halfway down their leg.
Most eagles typically build their nests in tall trees or on the face of high cliffs. Their nests are called eyries and are home to the eagles’ eggs until the babies hatch. Often, only one of the chicks lives because the two will participate in an ultimate display of sibling rivalry: a fight to the death. Usually, if the babies are male and female, the female wins since the female is said to be larger in all identified species of eagles.
Eagles’ eyesight is extremely good (hence the term “eagle eye” for someone with great eyesight) and is mainly due to the fact that they have very large pupils, making for much less diffraction or scattering of the light coming into the eye. It’s said they can see up to 3.6 times better than the average human can see. They also see five basic colors while humans see variations of just three.
The smallest species of eagle identified is the South Nicobar Serpent Eagle, weighing in at one pound and measuring 16 inches. The largest eagle species is harder to determine because some are very large in wingspan or body size, while others are just heavier. The heaviest eagle is the Steller’s Sea Eagle which weighs 15 pounds. The Philippine Eagle is the longest in total length, measuring three feet, three inches. The eagle with the longest wingspan is the White-tailed Eagle whose wings measure seven feet, two inches from wingtip to wingtip.
What did Benjamin Franklin have against the bald eagle?
It’s said that Franklin was seriously disturbed by the selection of the bald eagle as the nation emblem of the U.S.A. because he felt that the bald eagle was not of good moral character and doesn’t make his living honestly. It’s true that bald often waits around for another eagle to catch something, then swoops in and steals it. In that respect, Franklin may be right.
Franklin also called the bald eagle lazy because they can often be seen perched atop a tree, waiting for something worthwhile to happen. Again, that may be true. Bald eagles will typically ignore annoyances by smaller birds without using its large size to chase them away. In fact, bald eagles sometimes flee from larger mobs of these smaller birds and Franklin, of course, recognized this and claimed that the bald eagle lacked courage.
However, Franklin must not have spent too much time studying these eagles, especially when they were attempting to defend their territory or to attract a mate. It’s said that bald eagles will put on some serious aerial performances that include swooping down on each other at break-neck speeds and mid-air fights where they locks talons with each other and grapple as they spiral to the ground in a free-fall.
So if Franklin didn’t think the bald eagle fit the bill for the national emblem, then what bird did? He felt the turkey was more suitable bird. Not only was it native to the Americas, he also claimed that turkeys wouldn’t hesitate to attack British soldiers wearing their red coats who had come to invade their land.
Why was the bald eagle chosen?
Supposedly, at an early battle of the Revolutionary War, the noise of the men fighting had awoken some bald eagles that were sleeping peacefully. Apparently, the eagles didn’t much like the skirmish and flew circles over the battle, screeching the whole time. It’s said the American soldiers took these shrieks as a symbol of freedom and used it as motivation to continue fighting.
Whether or not that incident factored in on June 20, 1782 when the bald eagle was chosen as the national emblem or not is debatable. But nevertheless, the bird was chosen and its long life, great strength and stately looks have graced the backs of our coins and The Great Seal of the U.S. that occupies the floor of The Oval Office in The White House.
Eagle Snippetz
Snippetz Soars With The Eagles!
“As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill.”
– Helen Keller
Other than being the inspiration for Philadelphia’s team in the National Football League or the name of the band who sang “Hotel California,” eagles have long been a symbol of strength and freedom for our country. As you probably well know, the bald eagle is the national emblem of the United States. When the decision was made back in 1782, not everyone was for the bird, however. So what’s the big deal about eagles? Why would some people see it in such a good light while others openly insulted the poor birds? Well, just leave it to Snippetz to do some digging and find out all about these controversial birds.
Eagle Facts
Eagles are large, strong birds of prey and are closely related to hawks. Eagles are usually larger with longer wings and typically fly faster and more directly at their prey than their smaller counterpart.
Eagles have a large, hooked beak and long, sharp talons which are particularly useful for tearing into the flesh of their prey. The type of prey depends on the size and strength of the eagle in question; some prefer fish while others go after other birds, snakes, or small animals.
Two main groups of eagles exist: land eagles and sea eagles. Land eagles are identifiable by their leg feathers that grow all the way down to their toes, while sea eagles’ leg feathers stop halfway down their leg.
Most eagles typically build their nests in tall trees or on the face of high cliffs. Their nests are called eyries and are home to the eagles’ eggs until the babies hatch. Often, only one of the chicks lives because the two will participate in an ultimate display of sibling rivalry: a fight to the death. Usually, if the babies are male and female, the female wins since the female is said to be larger in all identified species of eagles.
Eagles’ eyesight is extremely good (hence the term “eagle eye” for someone with great eyesight) and is mainly due to the fact that they have very large pupils, making for much less diffraction or scattering of the light coming into the eye. It’s said they can see up to 3.6 times better than the average human can see. They also see five basic colors while humans see variations of just three.
The smallest species of eagle identified is the South Nicobar Serpent Eagle, weighing in at one pound and measuring 16 inches. The largest eagle species is harder to determine because some are very large in wingspan or body size, while others are just heavier. The heaviest eagle is the Steller’s Sea Eagle which weighs 15 pounds. The Philippine Eagle is the longest in total length, measuring three feet, three inches. The eagle with the longest wingspan is the White-tailed Eagle whose wings measure seven feet, two inches from wingtip to wingtip.
What did Benjamin Franklin have against the bald eagle?
It’s said that Franklin was seriously disturbed by the selection of the bald eagle as the nation emblem of the U.S.A. because he felt that the bald eagle was not of good moral character and doesn’t make his living honestly. It’s true that bald often waits around for another eagle to catch something, then swoops in and steals it. In that respect, Franklin may be right.
Franklin also called the bald eagle lazy because they can often be seen perched atop a tree, waiting for something worthwhile to happen. Again, that may be true. Bald eagles will typically ignore annoyances by smaller birds without using its large size to chase them away. In fact, bald eagles sometimes flee from larger mobs of these smaller birds and Franklin, of course, recognized this and claimed that the bald eagle lacked courage.
However, Franklin must not have spent too much time studying these eagles, especially when they were attempting to defend their territory or to attract a mate. It’s said that bald eagles will put on some serious aerial performances that include swooping down on each other at break-neck speeds and mid-air fights where they locks talons with each other and grapple as they spiral to the ground in a free-fall.
So if Franklin didn’t think the bald eagle fit the bill for the national emblem, then what bird did? He felt the turkey was more suitable bird. Not only was it native to the Americas, he also claimed that turkeys wouldn’t hesitate to attack British soldiers wearing their red coats who had come to invade their land.
Why was the bald eagle chosen?
Supposedly, at an early battle of the Revolutionary War, the noise of the men fighting had awoken some bald eagles that were sleeping peacefully. Apparently, the eagles didn’t much like the skirmish and flew circles over the battle, screeching the whole time. It’s said the American soldiers took these shrieks as a symbol of freedom and used it as motivation to continue fighting.
Whether or not that incident factored in on June 20, 1782 when the bald eagle was chosen as the national emblem or not is debatable. But nevertheless, the bird was chosen and its long life, great strength and stately looks have graced the backs of our coins and The Great Seal of the U.S. that occupies the floor of The Oval Office in The White House.
Eagle Snippetz
- An eagle’s nest found in Maryland was said to have weighed close to 3,000 pounds.
- About 7,000 feathers grace each and every eagle.
- The force of a strike from an eagle’s talon is twice as powerful as that of a bullet shot from a rifle.
- Golden eagles in Greece eat turtles and apparently the best way to break through that touch shell is to drop the poor things from way up high onto rocks so the shell splits open.
- The Harpy eagle is named after the harpy in Greek mythology because of its large size. It can weigh more than 10 pounds and has been referred to as the “flying monster.”
- The Harpy eagle and Philippine eagle, both with massive wingspans of up to seven feet are able to carry off prey as large as sloths, monkeys and deer.
- The bald eagle is big enough and strong enough to kill other birds like geese and it’s said they can also kill jackrabbits.
- Both sides of the Great Seal have been displayed on the back side of the one-dollar bill since 1935.
- Eagles appear in Greek mythology as the patron animal of Zeus, who supposedly transformed into an eagle to abduct Ganymede to serve as a cup-bearer in Olympus.
- In the Hindu religion, Garuda is portrayed as having the body of a man, red wings and an eagle’s beak with a crown on his head to top it all off. Supposedly, Garuda was so gigantic that he blocked out the sun.
Issue 614
Snippetz Asks, "What Will Your Legacy Be?"
“When you’ve told someone that you’ve left them a legacy, the only decent thing to do is to die at once.”
– Samuel Butler, British poet
We all have an idea of what we want our legacy to be. Perhaps it’s kind acts you’ve done that will keep your memory alive. Or maybe you’d like to be able to leave your children and grandchildren with enough worldly goods to ensure they live comfortably for a very long time. There’s no sure-fire way to guarantee that your legacy will turn out as you’ve hoped. Ideally, we would all be able to bequeath our families with plenty of money to take away their financial worries AND be remembered for the plethora of good deeds we performed that made the world a better place. The likelihood of that happening is slim to none. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try, right? Plenty of people have made a positive mark on the world before they bowed out. Others, well, maybe their mark wasn’t exactly positive. It could’ve been the complete opposite. But you can always count on Snippetz to round up some good stories about people who left a legacy.
What exactly is a legacy?
Most people probably know how to use “legacy” in a sentence but it’s a bit harder to define it in precise terms. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as a gift by will especially of money or other personal property, or something transmitted or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. So let’s take a look at some famous people who left a legacy that left a mark on the world.
Adolf Hitler
(Ok, this is probably not who you expected to see in this article, but bear with us.)
Clearly, Hitler’s legacy is NOT a good one. His role in the mass murder of millions of people during World War II still haunts the history books and is an extremely disturbing example of how warped one person’s views of the rest of mankind truly can be. So what is his legacy? Besides demonstrating how not to treat your fellow human beings, he also has living descendants. His legacy is the DNA he donated to each of them.
However, it’s unlikely that any of them will be admitting it any time soon. In fact, three of his descendants who can say they share Hitler’s blood are said to have changed their last name to Stuart-Houston, live in Long Island, New York and supposedly have been told by the American government that they are not, under any circumstances, ever to have children. The rest are said to live in Austria and potentially don’t even know they are Hitler’s descendants. It’s probably not the type of information a family likes to share around the dinner table…
Queen Mary I
As you might remember from our “Obsession with Royalty” article we published on April 8 of this year, we took a look at King Henry VIII of England. King Henry VIII had a pretty tough time conceiving a male heir with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. He did manage to sire a daughter, Mary. Mary ascended to the throne after King Edward VI died and abruptly turned the country on its head by violently thrusting it back to Catholicism.
Mary’s father separated from the Catholic Church when he demanded an annulment from Catherine of Aragon so he could pursue Anne Boleyn. At that time, the country became a Protestant nation, which apparently didn’t suit Queen Mary I. She executed Protestants left and right, simply for going against her Catholic beliefs. This behavior earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary,” which frightened hundreds more Protestants who fled the country, not to return until the queen had died.
Again, Queen Mary I’s legacy isn’t exactly a great one, but her memory lives on not only as the former Queen of England, but also as “Bloody Mary,” the ghost who will supposedly appear in the mirror of a darkened room if you say her name and spin around three times.
Ernest Hemingway
Arguably one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, Hemingway wrote such novels as “The Sun Also Rises,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who either hasn’t heard of or read at least one of his novels or short stories.
Hemingway served on the Italian Front during World War I and his experiences had a profound influence on his style and the themes about which he chose to write. Those same themes (said to be love, war, wilderness and loss) have carried down to modern-day high school English classrooms where teachers often use his work as a point of study.
Hemingway left his family plenty of money (supposedly to the tune of $7.5 million), which can be classified as a legacy but he also left the world his books, which are of much more import than any amount of money could ever be. His writing style, which he called “the iceberg theory: the facts float above the water; the supporting structure and symbolism operate out of sight” is used in both positive and negative ways to either support or criticize such a style.
Mother Teresa
Officially named “The Blessed Teresa of Calcutta,” Mother Teresa is another household name, which proves her legacy, in part. She left home at 18 to join a missionary and took her vows as a nun in 1931 at nearly 21 years old, although it’s said that she had made up her mind to commit herself to a life of religion by 12 years old.
After a number of years teaching, Mother Teresa said she got “the call within the call” and decided to leave the convent where she lived so she could serve the poor people of Calcutta by living among them. Mother Teresa was given permission to start the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 with just 13 members but by 1997, more than 4,000 sisters were members. The Missionaries of Charity ran orphanages, AIDS hospices, cared for the disabled, the poor, flood victims, and those affected by epidemics and famine, among other charitable services.
Mother Teresa received awards and praise for her work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She has her own day on Oct. 19 in Albania. Mother Teresa Women’s University is located in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa opened its doors in 2009 in Skopje (her hometown) located in the Republic of Macedonia.
It’s clear that Mother Teresa’s legacy extends beyond the good she did but to the good deeds she inspired in others. She is so highly-regarded that, even though she has long since passed, having died in 1997, the Holy See has begun the process of beatification, which is the third step toward possibly being declared a saint.
More Notable Legacies
It would be nearly impossible to name every person that has left a legacy, good or bad, but here are a few of the more recognizable people:
Snippetz Asks, "What Will Your Legacy Be?"
“When you’ve told someone that you’ve left them a legacy, the only decent thing to do is to die at once.”
– Samuel Butler, British poet
We all have an idea of what we want our legacy to be. Perhaps it’s kind acts you’ve done that will keep your memory alive. Or maybe you’d like to be able to leave your children and grandchildren with enough worldly goods to ensure they live comfortably for a very long time. There’s no sure-fire way to guarantee that your legacy will turn out as you’ve hoped. Ideally, we would all be able to bequeath our families with plenty of money to take away their financial worries AND be remembered for the plethora of good deeds we performed that made the world a better place. The likelihood of that happening is slim to none. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try, right? Plenty of people have made a positive mark on the world before they bowed out. Others, well, maybe their mark wasn’t exactly positive. It could’ve been the complete opposite. But you can always count on Snippetz to round up some good stories about people who left a legacy.
What exactly is a legacy?
Most people probably know how to use “legacy” in a sentence but it’s a bit harder to define it in precise terms. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as a gift by will especially of money or other personal property, or something transmitted or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. So let’s take a look at some famous people who left a legacy that left a mark on the world.
Adolf Hitler
(Ok, this is probably not who you expected to see in this article, but bear with us.)
Clearly, Hitler’s legacy is NOT a good one. His role in the mass murder of millions of people during World War II still haunts the history books and is an extremely disturbing example of how warped one person’s views of the rest of mankind truly can be. So what is his legacy? Besides demonstrating how not to treat your fellow human beings, he also has living descendants. His legacy is the DNA he donated to each of them.
However, it’s unlikely that any of them will be admitting it any time soon. In fact, three of his descendants who can say they share Hitler’s blood are said to have changed their last name to Stuart-Houston, live in Long Island, New York and supposedly have been told by the American government that they are not, under any circumstances, ever to have children. The rest are said to live in Austria and potentially don’t even know they are Hitler’s descendants. It’s probably not the type of information a family likes to share around the dinner table…
Queen Mary I
As you might remember from our “Obsession with Royalty” article we published on April 8 of this year, we took a look at King Henry VIII of England. King Henry VIII had a pretty tough time conceiving a male heir with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. He did manage to sire a daughter, Mary. Mary ascended to the throne after King Edward VI died and abruptly turned the country on its head by violently thrusting it back to Catholicism.
Mary’s father separated from the Catholic Church when he demanded an annulment from Catherine of Aragon so he could pursue Anne Boleyn. At that time, the country became a Protestant nation, which apparently didn’t suit Queen Mary I. She executed Protestants left and right, simply for going against her Catholic beliefs. This behavior earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary,” which frightened hundreds more Protestants who fled the country, not to return until the queen had died.
Again, Queen Mary I’s legacy isn’t exactly a great one, but her memory lives on not only as the former Queen of England, but also as “Bloody Mary,” the ghost who will supposedly appear in the mirror of a darkened room if you say her name and spin around three times.
Ernest Hemingway
Arguably one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, Hemingway wrote such novels as “The Sun Also Rises,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who either hasn’t heard of or read at least one of his novels or short stories.
Hemingway served on the Italian Front during World War I and his experiences had a profound influence on his style and the themes about which he chose to write. Those same themes (said to be love, war, wilderness and loss) have carried down to modern-day high school English classrooms where teachers often use his work as a point of study.
Hemingway left his family plenty of money (supposedly to the tune of $7.5 million), which can be classified as a legacy but he also left the world his books, which are of much more import than any amount of money could ever be. His writing style, which he called “the iceberg theory: the facts float above the water; the supporting structure and symbolism operate out of sight” is used in both positive and negative ways to either support or criticize such a style.
Mother Teresa
Officially named “The Blessed Teresa of Calcutta,” Mother Teresa is another household name, which proves her legacy, in part. She left home at 18 to join a missionary and took her vows as a nun in 1931 at nearly 21 years old, although it’s said that she had made up her mind to commit herself to a life of religion by 12 years old.
After a number of years teaching, Mother Teresa said she got “the call within the call” and decided to leave the convent where she lived so she could serve the poor people of Calcutta by living among them. Mother Teresa was given permission to start the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 with just 13 members but by 1997, more than 4,000 sisters were members. The Missionaries of Charity ran orphanages, AIDS hospices, cared for the disabled, the poor, flood victims, and those affected by epidemics and famine, among other charitable services.
Mother Teresa received awards and praise for her work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She has her own day on Oct. 19 in Albania. Mother Teresa Women’s University is located in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa opened its doors in 2009 in Skopje (her hometown) located in the Republic of Macedonia.
It’s clear that Mother Teresa’s legacy extends beyond the good she did but to the good deeds she inspired in others. She is so highly-regarded that, even though she has long since passed, having died in 1997, the Holy See has begun the process of beatification, which is the third step toward possibly being declared a saint.
More Notable Legacies
It would be nearly impossible to name every person that has left a legacy, good or bad, but here are a few of the more recognizable people:
- Albert Einstein – physicist and developer of the Theory of Relativity (E = mc2) which has been declared the world’s most famous equation.
- Mahatma Gandhi – leader of the push for India’s independence from British rule, he employed non-violent civil disobedience to demonstrate his beliefs and ultimately get his point across.
- Martin Luther King Jr. – author of the famous “I have a dream” speech, he fearlessly led civil rights movements for racial equality through non-violence.
- Billie Jean King – female tennis player who defied perceptions of female athletes by winning 39 Grand Slam 695 tennis matches and defeating hot shot male tennis player Bobby Briggs in a tennis match.
Issue 613
Uncovering the Past: Snippetz Traces The History of Genealogy
“Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
– Mark Twain
Think back to high school. Did you have to put together a family tree for a class assignment? Many of us did and may not have had the same resources available to us back then that kids have today. How much easier would it have been to just type in your name and start following the prompts a website or software package instructs you to follow. The true study of genealogy isn’t about taking the easy way to find your ancestors. It’s about uncovering the past and seeking answers to questions like, “Who am I?” or, “Where does my family come from?” As always, you can trust Snippetz to provide answers to some of the questions you may have about genealogy itself.
What Is Genealogy?
The word “genealogy” comes from the Greek words “genea” and “logos,” translating to “generation knowledge.” Pretty self-explanatory. At the root of most genealogical studies is determining the location of one’s ancestors and key life events. In a fairly young country like the United States, people have literally come from every part of the globe; whether to make a new life, escape from an old one or simply because they had no choice in the matter. That creates a bit of a kink in knowing what happened to the generations before you.
Another Reality TV Topic
And where would we be if a few celebrities didn’t partake in the family history hunt? Television shows like “Who Do You Think You Are?” which premiered on NBC in 2010, follow celebrities like actress Sarah Jessica Parker and ex-pro football player Emmitt Smith as they trace their family history across the country and sometimes around the globe.
Although NBC cancelled the series in 2012 after airing three seasons, TLC picked up the fourth season which is set to air in July 2013. The celebrities slated to join the search are Christina Applegate, Jim Parsons and Zooey Deschanel, to name a few.
The First Family Tree?
You might be wondering where the idea of a “family tree” came from. Well, it’s said that the first image of a tree used to illustrate a family came from one created in medieval times called the Tree of Jesse. Supposedly, the Tree of Jesse depicted the genealogy of Jesus Christ based on what the Bible attributes to Isaiah’s prophecy.
The world’s longest family tree includes more than 80 generations and includes more than 2 million people. It was created by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and educator who lived from 551 to 479 BC. His tree shows that he is a descendant of King Tang who lived from 1675 to 1646 BC.
In September 2009, the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee spearheaded an international effort to retrace Confucius’s steps and revise the tree if needed. The most recent edition of that family tree is said to contain 1.3 million members currently living all over the world.
Another important family tree is called the Lurie lineage. This extremely old and large family tree, which is said to contain Sigmund Freud and Hezekiah among others, can be traced back to King David who was born in 1037 BC and possibly even further.
Historical Importance
In past centuries, knowing your family history was extremely important. Proving that your family had a better “pedigree” than someone else’s could be the difference between getting married to a powerful viscount and getting pawned off on someone who just really wants the dowry.
There are other things to consider as well. For instance, in medieval times, particularly in Europe, there was a doctrine called Divine Right. This idea emerged after the Protestant Reformation as a way to justify the absolute power and authority given to the king, both in spiritual and political matters. The Divine Right claims that the right to rule was bestowed on someone directly from God. To question the authority of the king was seen as akin to questioning the will of God. It’s likely not a huge surprise to find out that several kings of the time strongly supported the idea. King James I of England, who also ruled as King James VI of Scotland was one proponent, as was Louis XVI of France. However, by the late 1600s, the idea didn’t hold as much appeal and by the late 1600s, England had abandoned the doctrine entirely.
If Divine Right had held up through modern times, the ability to prove that you are descended from the king whom God bestowed absolute power upon would be significant. Tracing the bloodline of such a king could ultimately settle any debate regarding who should be the ruler, especially if you consider that these kings said God had given them the power.
Practical Applications
Of course, that previous example was a “what if,” so what exactly would someone in modern times use a family tree for other than for personal interest? For starters, knowing your family history could help determine a family’s health history. In cases of inherited diseases, family health histories are very important to help determine the likelihood of inheriting or passing a disease on to the next generation.
In some countries like England, Scotland and Ireland, names are determined in large part to the child’s ancestors’ names. Here’s how: If the child is the couple’s first son, he is usually named after his paternal grandfather. The couple’s second son is usually named after his maternal grandfather. Their third son would be named after his father and the fourth would be named after his father’s oldest brother.
Girls aren’t left out of this naming pattern. The couple’s first daughter is often named after her maternal grandmother; the second daughter is named after her paternal grandmother; the third is named after her mother and the fourth is named after her mother’s oldest sister.
How To Build The Tree
Thanks to websites like Ancestry.com or Genealogy.com, the average person with a little bit of knowledge about their family and access to a computer and the Internet can perform their own genealogical search.
Start with the present and work backwards from the most recent to the earliest material you have. The basic information you need to start your family tree is as many of the following criteria for each person as possible: resident or birth place names, occupations, family names, first names and dates. That will be pretty easy to identify for yourself so just follow those same criteria as you backtrack through your family.
Collecting first-hand accounts or stories, family documents and records is the best place to start compiling a family tree. Census results can be helpful but can also be misleading so consider other sources when possible. Some chat rooms or message boards online offer a place to find information about a particular surname and could be a good place to begin the search. Websites such as FamilySearch.com offer products like a publicly-editable, lineage-linked database that pulls information from three collections of genealogical information, giving you the ability to cast a large net when looking for specific information.
Fun Facts About Genealogy
Uncovering the Past: Snippetz Traces The History of Genealogy
“Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
– Mark Twain
Think back to high school. Did you have to put together a family tree for a class assignment? Many of us did and may not have had the same resources available to us back then that kids have today. How much easier would it have been to just type in your name and start following the prompts a website or software package instructs you to follow. The true study of genealogy isn’t about taking the easy way to find your ancestors. It’s about uncovering the past and seeking answers to questions like, “Who am I?” or, “Where does my family come from?” As always, you can trust Snippetz to provide answers to some of the questions you may have about genealogy itself.
What Is Genealogy?
The word “genealogy” comes from the Greek words “genea” and “logos,” translating to “generation knowledge.” Pretty self-explanatory. At the root of most genealogical studies is determining the location of one’s ancestors and key life events. In a fairly young country like the United States, people have literally come from every part of the globe; whether to make a new life, escape from an old one or simply because they had no choice in the matter. That creates a bit of a kink in knowing what happened to the generations before you.
Another Reality TV Topic
And where would we be if a few celebrities didn’t partake in the family history hunt? Television shows like “Who Do You Think You Are?” which premiered on NBC in 2010, follow celebrities like actress Sarah Jessica Parker and ex-pro football player Emmitt Smith as they trace their family history across the country and sometimes around the globe.
Although NBC cancelled the series in 2012 after airing three seasons, TLC picked up the fourth season which is set to air in July 2013. The celebrities slated to join the search are Christina Applegate, Jim Parsons and Zooey Deschanel, to name a few.
The First Family Tree?
You might be wondering where the idea of a “family tree” came from. Well, it’s said that the first image of a tree used to illustrate a family came from one created in medieval times called the Tree of Jesse. Supposedly, the Tree of Jesse depicted the genealogy of Jesus Christ based on what the Bible attributes to Isaiah’s prophecy.
The world’s longest family tree includes more than 80 generations and includes more than 2 million people. It was created by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher and educator who lived from 551 to 479 BC. His tree shows that he is a descendant of King Tang who lived from 1675 to 1646 BC.
In September 2009, the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee spearheaded an international effort to retrace Confucius’s steps and revise the tree if needed. The most recent edition of that family tree is said to contain 1.3 million members currently living all over the world.
Another important family tree is called the Lurie lineage. This extremely old and large family tree, which is said to contain Sigmund Freud and Hezekiah among others, can be traced back to King David who was born in 1037 BC and possibly even further.
Historical Importance
In past centuries, knowing your family history was extremely important. Proving that your family had a better “pedigree” than someone else’s could be the difference between getting married to a powerful viscount and getting pawned off on someone who just really wants the dowry.
There are other things to consider as well. For instance, in medieval times, particularly in Europe, there was a doctrine called Divine Right. This idea emerged after the Protestant Reformation as a way to justify the absolute power and authority given to the king, both in spiritual and political matters. The Divine Right claims that the right to rule was bestowed on someone directly from God. To question the authority of the king was seen as akin to questioning the will of God. It’s likely not a huge surprise to find out that several kings of the time strongly supported the idea. King James I of England, who also ruled as King James VI of Scotland was one proponent, as was Louis XVI of France. However, by the late 1600s, the idea didn’t hold as much appeal and by the late 1600s, England had abandoned the doctrine entirely.
If Divine Right had held up through modern times, the ability to prove that you are descended from the king whom God bestowed absolute power upon would be significant. Tracing the bloodline of such a king could ultimately settle any debate regarding who should be the ruler, especially if you consider that these kings said God had given them the power.
Practical Applications
Of course, that previous example was a “what if,” so what exactly would someone in modern times use a family tree for other than for personal interest? For starters, knowing your family history could help determine a family’s health history. In cases of inherited diseases, family health histories are very important to help determine the likelihood of inheriting or passing a disease on to the next generation.
In some countries like England, Scotland and Ireland, names are determined in large part to the child’s ancestors’ names. Here’s how: If the child is the couple’s first son, he is usually named after his paternal grandfather. The couple’s second son is usually named after his maternal grandfather. Their third son would be named after his father and the fourth would be named after his father’s oldest brother.
Girls aren’t left out of this naming pattern. The couple’s first daughter is often named after her maternal grandmother; the second daughter is named after her paternal grandmother; the third is named after her mother and the fourth is named after her mother’s oldest sister.
How To Build The Tree
Thanks to websites like Ancestry.com or Genealogy.com, the average person with a little bit of knowledge about their family and access to a computer and the Internet can perform their own genealogical search.
Start with the present and work backwards from the most recent to the earliest material you have. The basic information you need to start your family tree is as many of the following criteria for each person as possible: resident or birth place names, occupations, family names, first names and dates. That will be pretty easy to identify for yourself so just follow those same criteria as you backtrack through your family.
Collecting first-hand accounts or stories, family documents and records is the best place to start compiling a family tree. Census results can be helpful but can also be misleading so consider other sources when possible. Some chat rooms or message boards online offer a place to find information about a particular surname and could be a good place to begin the search. Websites such as FamilySearch.com offer products like a publicly-editable, lineage-linked database that pulls information from three collections of genealogical information, giving you the ability to cast a large net when looking for specific information.
Fun Facts About Genealogy
- The world’s largest library dedicated to genealogical research is called the Family History Library. It is located in Salt Lake City, Utah and is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
- In the 1841 census return in the United Kingdom, anyone listed as being older than 15 years had their true age rounded down to the next lower multiple of five years.
- The Mandate of Heaven is essentially the Chinese and East Asian equivalent of the Divine Right. The key difference is that the Mandate of Heaven can be revoked if Heaven felt the ruler was abusing his privileges and could transfer the Mandate to someone else.
Issue 612
Snippetz Proclaims Love is Grand: Famous Couples
“Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.”
- Heraclitus
Long before Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, before Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, even before Prince William and Kate Middleton, there were famous couples that captured our attention. What makes them so interesting? Is it because they represent a fantasy that we each wish we could fulfill? Maybe the media has a hand in making their lives seem so much more appealing than our own. Or perhaps it has more to do with our morbid curiosity about when these relationships will crash and burn…and how bad the fallout from such a breakup will be. Whatever the true motivation behind our obsession with famous couples, we can’t deny the attraction!
Antony and Cleopatra
This couple needs no introduction. Antony and Cleopatra’s love affair is well-known and is even echoed in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” And why wouldn’t their story be intriguing? Cleopatra VII was the last Pharaoh of Egypt and Marc Antony was a Roman general. She was very smart, said to have been very beautiful and devoted to her faith. Naturally, Antony fell for her. But there were a couple of obstacles he would need to dodge in order to have her all to himself.
First off, she was married to her younger brother Ptolemy, which was customary for the time. She was also the mistress of Julius Caesar, another Roman general. But apparently Antony’s skills far surpassed those of either of Cleopatra’s other men and even though it became the talk of the town in Rome, the couple married in 36 B.C.
Using their combined skillsets, the couple planned to take over Rome. Roman general Octavian wasn’t about to let that happen and in 31 B.C., he divided and conquered the couple during the battle of Actium. Now here’s the Shakespearean part: Antony was told that Cleopatra was dead so he fell on his sword, killing himself. Cleopatra, who was not in fact dead, found out about Antony’s suicide and pestered a poisonous snake (an asp to be precise) to bite her, resulting in her death as well.
King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
You might assume that anyone in line for the role of King of England would be ecstatic about the power and control he would wield. But not King Edward VIII. It’s said that even from a very young age, he came to despise all the pomp and circumstance surrounding his royal status. That’s not to say that his title didn’t land him several different love interests, albeit married ones.
Prince Edward, as he was titled before he inherited the throne, maintained relationships with two other married women before meeting Simpson. He met Mrs. Winifred “Freda” Dudley Ward in 1918 when he was 23. She had already been married for five years but that didn’t matter to either she or the Prince. They had a 16-year affair.
He also had a rather long affair with Viscountess Thelma Furness. It was actually at her party that the prince met Simpson and her husband, Ernest. Although Prince Edward and Wallis’s affair didn’t begin immediately upon their meeting, it was only four short months later that she became a VIP guest at his parties.
By 1934, both Freda and Thelma were cut from Prince Edward’s life as he focused his attention on Simpson. But let’s not forget that she was a Mrs., not a Ms. with one divorce already to her name. In 1916, she married Lt. Earl Winfield “Win” Spencer but filed for a divorce after Win became increasingly abusive. Her divorce was granted in 1927 and in July 1928, Wallis married Ernest Simpson.
Prince Edward became King Edward VIII at five minutes to midnight on Jan. 20, 1936. When faced with an ultimatum of either ending his affair with Simpson or give up his throne in order to keep his government happy, King Edward VIII chose to abdicate. On Dec. 10, 1936, King Edward VIII signed the abdication papers and his brother Albert took the throne as King George VI instead. Edward was given the title of Duke and after Simpson’s divorce was finalized, he married her on June 3, 1937.
Bonnie and Clyde
The true story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow rivals many of today’s action movies. There were shoot-outs and fast driving and jail breaks and (of course) a love story mixed in for good measure. But their story doesn’t end with “… and they lived happily ever after.”
The pair met in January 1930 and things were far from perfect. Bonnie was married to Roy Thornton who was in prison serving a five-year sentence for robbery. Clyde had already been in trouble with the authorities for stealing. Those crimes caught up to him just a few weeks after meeting Bonnie and he was sentenced to two years in prison. But the crafty Bonnie smuggled a gun in and Clyde used it to escape.
After a week of freedom, Clyde was once again put in jail but this time it was a 14-year term he was to spend at the Eastham Prison Farm near Weldon, Texas. Hoping to earn a transfer from Eastham, he convinced another inmate to chop off some of his toes. His two missing toes didn’t earn Clyde a transfer but he was released early and on Feb. 2, 1932, he was a free man yet again.
Everyone began feeling desperate thanks to the Great Depression that settled over the country, so Bonnie and Clyde resorted to robbery to get money to survive. While Bonnie was in jail for her part in a robbery of a hardware store, Clyde and Raymond Hamilton (an on-again off-again member of the Barrow Gang) attempted another robbery in April 1932. Although the crime was supposed to be quick and easy, Clyde and Hamilton hit a snag and the store’s owner, John Bucher, was shot and killed.
This marked the start of the couple’s two-year crime spree spanning five states, that involved kidnapping, robbery, auto theft and an alleged 13 murders. They often lived out of one of the many vehicles they stole in order not to be recognized. Their crimes earned them a notorious reputation and ultimately death in a massive police ambush in Louisiana on May 23, 1934.
Johnny and June Carter Cash
It was 1961and June Carter Cash, already an established country singer/musician as a member of the Carter Sisters band (the other members were her sisters Helen and Anita) began to work with Johnny Cash.
Cash’s career was taking off and right beside him was June Carter. He must have realized what a keeper she was because Cash proposed to her onstage at a concert in London, Ontario and the pair was married in 1968.
The couple performed together for the next two decades, although Cash’s career was clearly the more successful of the two during that time. June Carter Cash staged a comeback in 1999 and proved herself to be a musical force not to be reckoned with.
Their marriage lasted 31 years and saw plenty of trials and tribulations including Cash’s addiction to and recovery from amphetamines. Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003 and Cash died just four months later. Their love story prompted the movie “Walk the Line” in 2005.
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
Well-renowned artists in their own rights, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo met when Kahlo was an art student, hoping to garner advice from the muralist who was 20 years her senior. The pair fell in love and married in 1929.
While their marriage and divorce in 1939 and then remarriage in 1940 was extremely tumultuous, their love was undeniable and only served to bring notoriety to both Rivera and Kahlo as important artists of the time.
Other noteworthy couples
Snippetz Proclaims Love is Grand: Famous Couples
“Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.”
- Heraclitus
Long before Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, before Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, even before Prince William and Kate Middleton, there were famous couples that captured our attention. What makes them so interesting? Is it because they represent a fantasy that we each wish we could fulfill? Maybe the media has a hand in making their lives seem so much more appealing than our own. Or perhaps it has more to do with our morbid curiosity about when these relationships will crash and burn…and how bad the fallout from such a breakup will be. Whatever the true motivation behind our obsession with famous couples, we can’t deny the attraction!
Antony and Cleopatra
This couple needs no introduction. Antony and Cleopatra’s love affair is well-known and is even echoed in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” And why wouldn’t their story be intriguing? Cleopatra VII was the last Pharaoh of Egypt and Marc Antony was a Roman general. She was very smart, said to have been very beautiful and devoted to her faith. Naturally, Antony fell for her. But there were a couple of obstacles he would need to dodge in order to have her all to himself.
First off, she was married to her younger brother Ptolemy, which was customary for the time. She was also the mistress of Julius Caesar, another Roman general. But apparently Antony’s skills far surpassed those of either of Cleopatra’s other men and even though it became the talk of the town in Rome, the couple married in 36 B.C.
Using their combined skillsets, the couple planned to take over Rome. Roman general Octavian wasn’t about to let that happen and in 31 B.C., he divided and conquered the couple during the battle of Actium. Now here’s the Shakespearean part: Antony was told that Cleopatra was dead so he fell on his sword, killing himself. Cleopatra, who was not in fact dead, found out about Antony’s suicide and pestered a poisonous snake (an asp to be precise) to bite her, resulting in her death as well.
King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
You might assume that anyone in line for the role of King of England would be ecstatic about the power and control he would wield. But not King Edward VIII. It’s said that even from a very young age, he came to despise all the pomp and circumstance surrounding his royal status. That’s not to say that his title didn’t land him several different love interests, albeit married ones.
Prince Edward, as he was titled before he inherited the throne, maintained relationships with two other married women before meeting Simpson. He met Mrs. Winifred “Freda” Dudley Ward in 1918 when he was 23. She had already been married for five years but that didn’t matter to either she or the Prince. They had a 16-year affair.
He also had a rather long affair with Viscountess Thelma Furness. It was actually at her party that the prince met Simpson and her husband, Ernest. Although Prince Edward and Wallis’s affair didn’t begin immediately upon their meeting, it was only four short months later that she became a VIP guest at his parties.
By 1934, both Freda and Thelma were cut from Prince Edward’s life as he focused his attention on Simpson. But let’s not forget that she was a Mrs., not a Ms. with one divorce already to her name. In 1916, she married Lt. Earl Winfield “Win” Spencer but filed for a divorce after Win became increasingly abusive. Her divorce was granted in 1927 and in July 1928, Wallis married Ernest Simpson.
Prince Edward became King Edward VIII at five minutes to midnight on Jan. 20, 1936. When faced with an ultimatum of either ending his affair with Simpson or give up his throne in order to keep his government happy, King Edward VIII chose to abdicate. On Dec. 10, 1936, King Edward VIII signed the abdication papers and his brother Albert took the throne as King George VI instead. Edward was given the title of Duke and after Simpson’s divorce was finalized, he married her on June 3, 1937.
Bonnie and Clyde
The true story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow rivals many of today’s action movies. There were shoot-outs and fast driving and jail breaks and (of course) a love story mixed in for good measure. But their story doesn’t end with “… and they lived happily ever after.”
The pair met in January 1930 and things were far from perfect. Bonnie was married to Roy Thornton who was in prison serving a five-year sentence for robbery. Clyde had already been in trouble with the authorities for stealing. Those crimes caught up to him just a few weeks after meeting Bonnie and he was sentenced to two years in prison. But the crafty Bonnie smuggled a gun in and Clyde used it to escape.
After a week of freedom, Clyde was once again put in jail but this time it was a 14-year term he was to spend at the Eastham Prison Farm near Weldon, Texas. Hoping to earn a transfer from Eastham, he convinced another inmate to chop off some of his toes. His two missing toes didn’t earn Clyde a transfer but he was released early and on Feb. 2, 1932, he was a free man yet again.
Everyone began feeling desperate thanks to the Great Depression that settled over the country, so Bonnie and Clyde resorted to robbery to get money to survive. While Bonnie was in jail for her part in a robbery of a hardware store, Clyde and Raymond Hamilton (an on-again off-again member of the Barrow Gang) attempted another robbery in April 1932. Although the crime was supposed to be quick and easy, Clyde and Hamilton hit a snag and the store’s owner, John Bucher, was shot and killed.
This marked the start of the couple’s two-year crime spree spanning five states, that involved kidnapping, robbery, auto theft and an alleged 13 murders. They often lived out of one of the many vehicles they stole in order not to be recognized. Their crimes earned them a notorious reputation and ultimately death in a massive police ambush in Louisiana on May 23, 1934.
Johnny and June Carter Cash
It was 1961and June Carter Cash, already an established country singer/musician as a member of the Carter Sisters band (the other members were her sisters Helen and Anita) began to work with Johnny Cash.
Cash’s career was taking off and right beside him was June Carter. He must have realized what a keeper she was because Cash proposed to her onstage at a concert in London, Ontario and the pair was married in 1968.
The couple performed together for the next two decades, although Cash’s career was clearly the more successful of the two during that time. June Carter Cash staged a comeback in 1999 and proved herself to be a musical force not to be reckoned with.
Their marriage lasted 31 years and saw plenty of trials and tribulations including Cash’s addiction to and recovery from amphetamines. Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003 and Cash died just four months later. Their love story prompted the movie “Walk the Line” in 2005.
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
Well-renowned artists in their own rights, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo met when Kahlo was an art student, hoping to garner advice from the muralist who was 20 years her senior. The pair fell in love and married in 1929.
While their marriage and divorce in 1939 and then remarriage in 1940 was extremely tumultuous, their love was undeniable and only served to bring notoriety to both Rivera and Kahlo as important artists of the time.
Other noteworthy couples
- Cliff and Claire Huxtable – the fictitious couple starring in “The Cosby Show” were by far one of the most successful television couples, maintaining great careers and raising five kids…and debuting some amazing sweaters.
- Homer and Marge Simpson – the cartoon couple appearing in “The Simpsons,” the pair is an exaggerated stereotype of the typical American family but with a contract to complete 559 episodes (at last count), they struck a memorable cord with children and adults alike.
Issue 611
Snippetz Says "We Left Our Hearts in San Francisco!"
“San Francisco has long been a leader in the arts, nurturing generations of painters, sculptors, poets, novelists, playwrights, film-makers, and performing artists and innovators of every kind.” – Gavin Newsom, politician
It’s the birthplace of Rice-A-Roni. Its Cable Car is world-renowned. It boasts the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. It’s no wonder people have written about the city for decades. But it can’t be all about the rice or the transportation or the prisons. There’s got to be something more about the city that has drawn the artists and painters to its streets for inspiration. And naturally, Snippetz just had to find out what that something is. So read on and discover the hidden (and sometimes not-so-hidden) treasurers the City by the Bay has to offer.
A Few Stats
If you assumed that San Francisco is just a city in California, you’d be wrong. San Francisco is officially the City and County of San Francisco (as of 1856), the only city also to be a county in the entire state. This particular city/county measures about 46.9 square miles of land and has a population density of about 17,620 per square mile. That might not sound too impressive but it is the most densely-populated city in the state and the only other city in the U.S. that outdoes it in population density in New York City.
History of San Francisco
When Don Gaspar de Portolà led a Spanish exploration party that landed him in what would eventually be San Francisco in 1769, the area was already inhabited by the Yeluma group of the Ohlone people. Seven years later, the Spanish returned and established a fort at the Golden Gate (the span of water that separates San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean) and a few miles away, they built the Mission St. Francis of Assisi.
The entire territory of California north of the Baja Peninsula, including San Francisco declared independence from Spain in 1821 and was quickly swept under Mexican rule. In 1835 however, an Englishman named William Richardson built a homestead near current-day Portsmouth Square and teamed up with Alcalde Francisco de Haro to begin creating a town they called Yerba Buena. American settlers flocked to the new town and on July 9, 1846 during the Mexican-American War, Capt. John B. Montgomery claimed Yerba Buena for the United States, two days after Commodore John D. Sloat claimed the California territory for the U.S. as well. On Jan. 30, 1847, Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco.
The Gold Rush
When James Marshall struck it rich mining for gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, the word spread fast. Although his partner John Sutter tried to keep the discovery quiet, he was unsuccessful and over the next seven years, about 300,000 people made their way to California to seek out their own fortune. With San Francisco being a main port and depot for the California coast, it also became an entryway for gold miners, resulting in a population increase of the city from 1,000 to 25,000 over that first year, 1849. These hopeful gold miners became known as the 49ers.
(You probably aren’t surprised to know that San Francisco’s National Football League team, the 49ers happens to be named after those optimistic prospectors).
Back to the point. With all the new work suddenly to be had in the area, the city saw a huge influx of laborers from China. Many were eventually deported but San Francisco’s Chinese population had already laid down a solid foundation and it quickly became the largest Chinese settlement outside of Asia. In fact, San Francisco’s Chinatown remains the largest of its kind in North America.
The Earth Quakes Under the City
In the predawn hours of April 18, 1906, an earthquake estimated to have measured a 7.8 on the Richter scale shook the city to the ground. The San Andreas Fault had slipped more than 10 feet. The devastation was incredible with about 75 percent of the city destroyed by the quake and subsequent fires that are said to have burned for four days. About 3,000 people were killed and another 250,000 were left homeless.
The city made a remarkable comeback and nine years later the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held there. The exposition was an opulent world’s fair, showcasing “palaces” dedicated to things such as fine arts, horticulture, social economy, food products and education to name a few.
The Golden Gate Gets a Bridge
Probably one of San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks is the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge represents the only road connecting the San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County across the bay.
Joseph Strauss, the engineer responsible for the bridge’s design had little knowledge and understanding of the cable-suspension design that was deemed the most logical. He oversaw the overall design and construction of the bridge but it was Leon Moisseiff who actually conceptualized the bridge that was eventually built.
Construction on the bridge began on Jan. 5, 1933, costing more than $35 million by the time it was completed in April, 1937. The project came it at an unbelievable $1.3 million under budget when completed. The completed bridge spans 8,981 feet and had the world’s longest suspension bridge main span at 4,200 feet until 1964 when New York’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was built to connect Staten Island and Brooklyn; it spanned 4,260 feet. The Golden Gate Bridge sits 746 feet above the water and the weight of the roadway portion of the bridge is hung from two main cables, each containing 27,572 strands of wire measuring in at 80,000 miles of wire in total. It took about 1.2 million rivets to complete the bridge.
Opening celebrations for the bridge began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for a week.
San Francisco Snippetz
Snippetz Says "We Left Our Hearts in San Francisco!"
“San Francisco has long been a leader in the arts, nurturing generations of painters, sculptors, poets, novelists, playwrights, film-makers, and performing artists and innovators of every kind.” – Gavin Newsom, politician
It’s the birthplace of Rice-A-Roni. Its Cable Car is world-renowned. It boasts the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. It’s no wonder people have written about the city for decades. But it can’t be all about the rice or the transportation or the prisons. There’s got to be something more about the city that has drawn the artists and painters to its streets for inspiration. And naturally, Snippetz just had to find out what that something is. So read on and discover the hidden (and sometimes not-so-hidden) treasurers the City by the Bay has to offer.
A Few Stats
If you assumed that San Francisco is just a city in California, you’d be wrong. San Francisco is officially the City and County of San Francisco (as of 1856), the only city also to be a county in the entire state. This particular city/county measures about 46.9 square miles of land and has a population density of about 17,620 per square mile. That might not sound too impressive but it is the most densely-populated city in the state and the only other city in the U.S. that outdoes it in population density in New York City.
History of San Francisco
When Don Gaspar de Portolà led a Spanish exploration party that landed him in what would eventually be San Francisco in 1769, the area was already inhabited by the Yeluma group of the Ohlone people. Seven years later, the Spanish returned and established a fort at the Golden Gate (the span of water that separates San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean) and a few miles away, they built the Mission St. Francis of Assisi.
The entire territory of California north of the Baja Peninsula, including San Francisco declared independence from Spain in 1821 and was quickly swept under Mexican rule. In 1835 however, an Englishman named William Richardson built a homestead near current-day Portsmouth Square and teamed up with Alcalde Francisco de Haro to begin creating a town they called Yerba Buena. American settlers flocked to the new town and on July 9, 1846 during the Mexican-American War, Capt. John B. Montgomery claimed Yerba Buena for the United States, two days after Commodore John D. Sloat claimed the California territory for the U.S. as well. On Jan. 30, 1847, Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco.
The Gold Rush
When James Marshall struck it rich mining for gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, the word spread fast. Although his partner John Sutter tried to keep the discovery quiet, he was unsuccessful and over the next seven years, about 300,000 people made their way to California to seek out their own fortune. With San Francisco being a main port and depot for the California coast, it also became an entryway for gold miners, resulting in a population increase of the city from 1,000 to 25,000 over that first year, 1849. These hopeful gold miners became known as the 49ers.
(You probably aren’t surprised to know that San Francisco’s National Football League team, the 49ers happens to be named after those optimistic prospectors).
Back to the point. With all the new work suddenly to be had in the area, the city saw a huge influx of laborers from China. Many were eventually deported but San Francisco’s Chinese population had already laid down a solid foundation and it quickly became the largest Chinese settlement outside of Asia. In fact, San Francisco’s Chinatown remains the largest of its kind in North America.
The Earth Quakes Under the City
In the predawn hours of April 18, 1906, an earthquake estimated to have measured a 7.8 on the Richter scale shook the city to the ground. The San Andreas Fault had slipped more than 10 feet. The devastation was incredible with about 75 percent of the city destroyed by the quake and subsequent fires that are said to have burned for four days. About 3,000 people were killed and another 250,000 were left homeless.
The city made a remarkable comeback and nine years later the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held there. The exposition was an opulent world’s fair, showcasing “palaces” dedicated to things such as fine arts, horticulture, social economy, food products and education to name a few.
The Golden Gate Gets a Bridge
Probably one of San Francisco’s most recognizable landmarks is the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge represents the only road connecting the San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County across the bay.
Joseph Strauss, the engineer responsible for the bridge’s design had little knowledge and understanding of the cable-suspension design that was deemed the most logical. He oversaw the overall design and construction of the bridge but it was Leon Moisseiff who actually conceptualized the bridge that was eventually built.
Construction on the bridge began on Jan. 5, 1933, costing more than $35 million by the time it was completed in April, 1937. The project came it at an unbelievable $1.3 million under budget when completed. The completed bridge spans 8,981 feet and had the world’s longest suspension bridge main span at 4,200 feet until 1964 when New York’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was built to connect Staten Island and Brooklyn; it spanned 4,260 feet. The Golden Gate Bridge sits 746 feet above the water and the weight of the roadway portion of the bridge is hung from two main cables, each containing 27,572 strands of wire measuring in at 80,000 miles of wire in total. It took about 1.2 million rivets to complete the bridge.
Opening celebrations for the bridge began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for a week.
San Francisco Snippetz
- The Gold Rush had more to offer the nation than gold. The miners needed tough clothing that was durable and would offer some protection. With that in mind, denim jeans were invented in San Francisco.
- The Golden Gate Bridge is always being painted. By the time it’s been painted from one end to the other, it’s time to go back to the beginning and start all over.
- The first coffee shop to open its doors in the city is Caffe Trieste in 1956 and now there are over 300.
- Speaking of coffee, San Francisco Chronicle writer Stanton Delaplane brought over Irish coffee after having it in Shannon International Airport in Ireland in 1952. He worked with the Buena Vista Café to entice them to start serving it.
- The stock market crash of 1929 shut down more than 14,000 banks by 1933. Not one single bank in San Francisco failed.
- It is illegal to walk down the streets of San Francisco if you are “ugly.” It’s also illegal to beat a rug to clean it outside of your house or apartment. And make sure you don’t walk an elephant down Market Street without a leash or use unwashed underwear to wipe your windshield because those activities are also illegal.
- As the only moving National Historic Monument in the world, the Cable Car was built in 1873 and an estimated 9.7 million people make use of it each year.
- The fortune cookie was invented at the Japanese Tea Garden by Makato Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant in 1914.
- There’s a rumor that bike sharing will become a viable transportation business/option for commuters in the city as of August 2013. The start-up plan includes 500 bikes that will be available in the downtown San Francisco area.
Issue 610
Put Another Shrimp on the Bar-Be! Snippetz Investigates this Lip-Smacking Method of Cooking
“I don’t know why men like to barbecue so much. Maybe it’s the only thing they can cook. Or maybe they’re just closet pyromaniacs.”
– Cecelia Ahern, author of “P.S. I Love You”
Close your eyes and think back to those summers from your childhood. You probably remember swimming with friends. Maybe you went to camp or just lazed around the house on those long, hot days. Now think about the food you ate. You probably spent an evening or two gathered around the grill as the mouth-watering ribs or steaks or chicken breasts were cooked to perfection. The tangy yet sweet sauce that was slathered over your meat of choice probably got all over your face, too. It’s okay to admit it; we’re all friends here. Barbecue truly has a place in just about everyone’s fondest summer memories. But when did it become such a mainstay in American summer cuisine? Snippetz takes a look back at the history of barbecue so read on…unless you get too hungry and have to rush out to Broken Bones BBQ, in which case, hurry back!
Origins of the Barbecue
The word “barbecue” itself is said to be traceable back to the 1600s on the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. It comes from the Taino word “barbacòa,” which the native Arawak Indians used to refer to a frame made of wooden sticks constructed over a fire that was used to dry meat.
Although the original term described the frame on which meat was dried, it eventually became to mean the process itself. And from there it morphed into both a noun and a verb, usually referring to a method of cooking rather than drying meat. The construction of the barbecue changed over time as well and included roasting an animal whole on a spit over a bed of hot coals.
Often, true barbecuing is a slow process, requiring the meat to be cooked for a long time at a low temperature. It’s said that in America in the late 1800s, Western cattle drivers used the barbecue cooking method to tenderize the tough, stringy meat they had available. Brisket was usually one of them, as was pork butt, pork ribs, goat and venison.
Pork was so often used in American barbecue because pigs were in high number in the American South (thanks to Spanish explorers who brought them over and couldn’t quite keep a lid on the population growth), which is where barbecue in the United States originated. Naturally, the possibility to cook a huge amount of food all at once, as well as the incredible flavors developed through the slow-cooking process, swept the nation and soon everyone was indulging in a variety of barbecuing methods and styles.
American Barbecue Styles
Now that barbecuing has become a nationwide favorite, different geographic areas have developed their own methods and styles. There are four main styles of barbecue found in the U.S.
International Barbecue Styles
Barbecuing for the Win
The world’s largest pork barbecue competition is the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in, where else, Memphis. The contest started in 1978 and had 26 teams but by 1979, the number grew to 50. By 1980, it had 80 teams and by 1981, it boasted 180 teams in participation. Currently, more than 250 teams compete and the attendance estimate is at least 100,000 people.
The original idea for the competition came from Rodney Baber and his co-worker Jack Powell in 1977. Baber was the chairman of the Memphis in May events committee for that year and Powell was the state’s reigning chili cook-off champion.
Bessie Louise Cathey won the first WCBCC and received $500. She paid $12 to enter. Today, prizes can range from $300 to $10,000 and entry fees cost from $700 to $2,600. The event includes not only the main competition but also several smaller ones including Hot Wings, Sauce and Anything But (where contestants can cook “Anything But Pork”).
Barbecue Snippetz
Put Another Shrimp on the Bar-Be! Snippetz Investigates this Lip-Smacking Method of Cooking
“I don’t know why men like to barbecue so much. Maybe it’s the only thing they can cook. Or maybe they’re just closet pyromaniacs.”
– Cecelia Ahern, author of “P.S. I Love You”
Close your eyes and think back to those summers from your childhood. You probably remember swimming with friends. Maybe you went to camp or just lazed around the house on those long, hot days. Now think about the food you ate. You probably spent an evening or two gathered around the grill as the mouth-watering ribs or steaks or chicken breasts were cooked to perfection. The tangy yet sweet sauce that was slathered over your meat of choice probably got all over your face, too. It’s okay to admit it; we’re all friends here. Barbecue truly has a place in just about everyone’s fondest summer memories. But when did it become such a mainstay in American summer cuisine? Snippetz takes a look back at the history of barbecue so read on…unless you get too hungry and have to rush out to Broken Bones BBQ, in which case, hurry back!
Origins of the Barbecue
The word “barbecue” itself is said to be traceable back to the 1600s on the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. It comes from the Taino word “barbacòa,” which the native Arawak Indians used to refer to a frame made of wooden sticks constructed over a fire that was used to dry meat.
Although the original term described the frame on which meat was dried, it eventually became to mean the process itself. And from there it morphed into both a noun and a verb, usually referring to a method of cooking rather than drying meat. The construction of the barbecue changed over time as well and included roasting an animal whole on a spit over a bed of hot coals.
Often, true barbecuing is a slow process, requiring the meat to be cooked for a long time at a low temperature. It’s said that in America in the late 1800s, Western cattle drivers used the barbecue cooking method to tenderize the tough, stringy meat they had available. Brisket was usually one of them, as was pork butt, pork ribs, goat and venison.
Pork was so often used in American barbecue because pigs were in high number in the American South (thanks to Spanish explorers who brought them over and couldn’t quite keep a lid on the population growth), which is where barbecue in the United States originated. Naturally, the possibility to cook a huge amount of food all at once, as well as the incredible flavors developed through the slow-cooking process, swept the nation and soon everyone was indulging in a variety of barbecuing methods and styles.
American Barbecue Styles
Now that barbecuing has become a nationwide favorite, different geographic areas have developed their own methods and styles. There are four main styles of barbecue found in the U.S.
- North Carolina – barbecuing highlights a whole hog, smoked to perfection in a pit. It’s often served with a vinegar-based or mustard-based sauce. The sauce is typically thin, tangy and peppery.
- Kansas City – barbecuing highlights pork ribs, pork and chicken cooked in a dry rub of various spices and lots of brown sugar. Some rubs are meant to be combined with other ingredients like ketchup, vinegar, molasses or brown sugar to create a sauce that fits your specific taste requirements. Kansas City barbecue can also include a thick tomato-based sauce usually containing a lot of sugar to bring out the sweetness. Cooking must be done slowly at a low temperature to prevent charring the sugar.
- Memphis – barbecuing highlights pork ribs or butt with spicy, tangy sauces, usually served on the side for dipping or pouring over the meat. Memphis barbecue can often include dry rubs, however, they are much more savory than Kansas City’s versions.
- Texas – depending on what part of Texas, barbecuing highlights either pulled-pork (eastern Texas), beef brisket or beef ribs cooked cowboy-style using mesquite wood (western Texas). The sauces are often thin but full of bold flavors like cumin, onion, hot sauce and various types of ground chilies. Rubs are usually dry mustard and chili powder-based.
International Barbecue Styles
- Mongolian – it’s actually not Mongolian or barbecue…it’s a type of stir-fry developed in Taiwan.
- Korean – barbecuing highlights cooking thin beef or pork slices and serving it up with rice.
- Argentina – barbecuing highlights marinade-free meat cooked slowly in a smokeless pit, which is called “asado.”
- South Africa – barbecuing (called braai) highlights kebabs, marinated chicken, pork and lamb chops, as well as fish and Rock Lobster in the coastal areas.
- Jamaica – barbecuing highlights jerk chicken as a popular flavor profile.
- Hong Kong – barbecuing highlights pork meat marinated in honey and soy sauce, then cooked in long, narrow strips.
Barbecuing for the Win
The world’s largest pork barbecue competition is the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in, where else, Memphis. The contest started in 1978 and had 26 teams but by 1979, the number grew to 50. By 1980, it had 80 teams and by 1981, it boasted 180 teams in participation. Currently, more than 250 teams compete and the attendance estimate is at least 100,000 people.
The original idea for the competition came from Rodney Baber and his co-worker Jack Powell in 1977. Baber was the chairman of the Memphis in May events committee for that year and Powell was the state’s reigning chili cook-off champion.
Bessie Louise Cathey won the first WCBCC and received $500. She paid $12 to enter. Today, prizes can range from $300 to $10,000 and entry fees cost from $700 to $2,600. The event includes not only the main competition but also several smaller ones including Hot Wings, Sauce and Anything But (where contestants can cook “Anything But Pork”).
Barbecue Snippetz
- Thomas Jefferson began the tradition of hosting barbecues at the White House.
- On Sept. 12, 2001, the annual White House barbecue was cancelled due to the attacks on the World Trade Center so 700 pounds of beef tenderloin intended for the gathering was given instead to rescue workers who had traveled to Washington D.C.
- July 4 is the most popular holiday for barbecuing with Memorial Day coming in second and Labor Day rounding out the top three.
- The most popular foods for grilling (but perhaps not necessarily true barbecuing) are hamburgers, steak, hot dogs and chicken.
- The most popular barbecue sauce flavors are hickory, mesquite, honey, and spicy-hot.
- Somewhere a rumor was started that Henry Ford and Thomas Edison developed the first charcoal briquette in 1920 but Ellsworth B. A. Zwoyer actually invented and patented them in 1897.
- While barbecuing, the most popular utensils to get the job done are long-handled tongs, forks, long-handled spatulas and grill cleaning brushes.
- The most popular dishes to grill besides meat are corn, potatoes and other vegetables in general.
- In South Africa, a popular sauce used in barbecuing is monkeygland sauce. The sauce doesn’t actually include monkeys in any way. It’s actually made of chopped onion, garlic and ginger, soy sauce, fruit chutney, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and wine.
- A special event at the WCBCC, called the “Ms. Piggie” involves teams dressing up as pigs and going on stage to perform songs or skits.
Issue 609
Up, Up and Away! Snippetz Explores the Explores the Exciting World of Hot Air Travel
“Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death.”
– Alexander Chase
Have you ever woken up to the sound of your dog barking like crazy and cowering on your back porch as it stares at what the poor creature must assume is a massive, floating, hissing ball coming to invade its territory? If you have, then you understand the wonder that is a hot air balloon. And you probably haven’t given it much thought. The colors and patterns are wonderful, of course, and the idea of riding along so peacefully is enticing as well. But hot air balloons today are somewhat run-of-the-mill, what with the annual Balloon Classic at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs and all. Those balloons are years, centuries in fact, of hard work, developing technology as well as a passion and persistence to fly. Yes, it’s true. Long before the Wright brothers took to the sky, man developed the ability to fly using hot air. And as always, Snippetz is here to satisfy your curiosity about hot air travel!
“And At Last I See the Light…”
Long before man decided to give flying a try, the Chinese military had been using hot air to float paper lanterns, called Kongming lanterns, as a way to signal troops in various areas. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Tangled,” then you know what we mean; if you haven’t seen it, you should. Anyway, these lanterns can be traced back as far as somewhere between 220 and 280 AD.
Hot Air Balloon Components
Typically, hot air balloons have three main components: a bag (called the envelope), a basket (often made of wicker) and a source of heat (usually an open flame). The heated air fills the envelope and since hot air rises, the hot air helps make all the components of the vessel buoyant and up everything goes.
The envelope of modern hot air balloons is typically made from nylon fabric while the material closest to the flame put out by the burner is made from a fire resistant material. The difference between hot air balloons and balloons that use helium is that the bottom of the envelope on a hot air balloon is not sealed. Initially, the envelope is filled with cool air from a fan then the burner (usually fueled by propane) heats the air to finish the inflation process.
French brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier are attributed with developing the first hot air balloon in Annonay Ardeche, France. Their test flight was unmanned and was set aloft on June 4, 1783. That flight lasted 10 minutes.
A Sheep, a Duck and a Rooster Make History
The first hot air balloon to carry passengers was launched on Sept. 19, 1783. The balloon, called “Aerostat Reveillon,” was manned (and we use that term very loosely) by a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The balloon’s creator, scientist Pilatre de Rozier, sent the farm animals into the sky beneath his hot air balloon, which stayed aloft for a whopping 15 minutes. But on that fateful day, man realized the possibility of air travel had become a reality.
Not To Be Outdone...
But of course, the animals couldn’t have all the fun so Etienne Mongolfier took a turn with the hot air balloon on Oct. 15, 1783. His flight was tethered, as was the subsequent flight of de Rozier, who took his own tethered flight later that same day. De Rozier’s flight took him 80 feet into the air, which was as far as the men dared to make the tether.
On Nov. 21, 1783, de Rozier and Marquis Franҫois d’Arlandes secured the privilege of taking the first untethered flight to carry human passengers. It’s said that originally King Louis XVI had decided to use condemned criminals as the first test pilots but was convinced otherwise. The brothers stayed aloft for 20 minutes.
A new hot air travel record was set in 1785 when a Frenchman named Jean Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries, joined together as a team to attempt a trip across the English Channel. Their flight was successful; however, de Rozier’s attempt later that same year was not. He was killed when the two balloons he was using, one filled with hydrogen and one filled with hot air, exploded just half an hour after taking to the air.
Other Forms of Hot Air Travel
Thermal airships operate using the same principle of heating air within the balloon to create lift. The first recorded public flight of a thermal airship was in January 1973 by Don Cameron in a ship he called the Cameron D-96. It’s said that Cameron spent three years developing his ship.
The typical design of a thermal airship is similar to a hot air balloon except that the thermal airship’s envelope is pressurized and the burner is mounted inside the envelope. The high pressure within the balloon prevents denting when traveling at high speeds. Thermal airships also make use of a propeller on the tail end of the ship, allowing for increased speed resulting in improved steering capabilities.
Smoke balloons were a popular attraction in traveling fairs in the late 1800s to early 1900s. This method involved the balloonist attaching himself to a parachute and to the balloon. Assistants would help the balloonist position his attached balloon over a fire pit. The air inside the balloon would increase in temperature and as long as the balloon hadn’t caught fire, the assistants would let go and the balloon, et al., would shoot into the air. When the balloon got as high as it would go, the balloonist would detach himself from it and use the parachute to safely return to the ground.
More Hot Air Travel Snippetz
Up, Up and Away! Snippetz Explores the Explores the Exciting World of Hot Air Travel
“Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death.”
– Alexander Chase
Have you ever woken up to the sound of your dog barking like crazy and cowering on your back porch as it stares at what the poor creature must assume is a massive, floating, hissing ball coming to invade its territory? If you have, then you understand the wonder that is a hot air balloon. And you probably haven’t given it much thought. The colors and patterns are wonderful, of course, and the idea of riding along so peacefully is enticing as well. But hot air balloons today are somewhat run-of-the-mill, what with the annual Balloon Classic at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs and all. Those balloons are years, centuries in fact, of hard work, developing technology as well as a passion and persistence to fly. Yes, it’s true. Long before the Wright brothers took to the sky, man developed the ability to fly using hot air. And as always, Snippetz is here to satisfy your curiosity about hot air travel!
“And At Last I See the Light…”
Long before man decided to give flying a try, the Chinese military had been using hot air to float paper lanterns, called Kongming lanterns, as a way to signal troops in various areas. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Tangled,” then you know what we mean; if you haven’t seen it, you should. Anyway, these lanterns can be traced back as far as somewhere between 220 and 280 AD.
Hot Air Balloon Components
Typically, hot air balloons have three main components: a bag (called the envelope), a basket (often made of wicker) and a source of heat (usually an open flame). The heated air fills the envelope and since hot air rises, the hot air helps make all the components of the vessel buoyant and up everything goes.
The envelope of modern hot air balloons is typically made from nylon fabric while the material closest to the flame put out by the burner is made from a fire resistant material. The difference between hot air balloons and balloons that use helium is that the bottom of the envelope on a hot air balloon is not sealed. Initially, the envelope is filled with cool air from a fan then the burner (usually fueled by propane) heats the air to finish the inflation process.
French brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier are attributed with developing the first hot air balloon in Annonay Ardeche, France. Their test flight was unmanned and was set aloft on June 4, 1783. That flight lasted 10 minutes.
A Sheep, a Duck and a Rooster Make History
The first hot air balloon to carry passengers was launched on Sept. 19, 1783. The balloon, called “Aerostat Reveillon,” was manned (and we use that term very loosely) by a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The balloon’s creator, scientist Pilatre de Rozier, sent the farm animals into the sky beneath his hot air balloon, which stayed aloft for a whopping 15 minutes. But on that fateful day, man realized the possibility of air travel had become a reality.
Not To Be Outdone...
But of course, the animals couldn’t have all the fun so Etienne Mongolfier took a turn with the hot air balloon on Oct. 15, 1783. His flight was tethered, as was the subsequent flight of de Rozier, who took his own tethered flight later that same day. De Rozier’s flight took him 80 feet into the air, which was as far as the men dared to make the tether.
On Nov. 21, 1783, de Rozier and Marquis Franҫois d’Arlandes secured the privilege of taking the first untethered flight to carry human passengers. It’s said that originally King Louis XVI had decided to use condemned criminals as the first test pilots but was convinced otherwise. The brothers stayed aloft for 20 minutes.
A new hot air travel record was set in 1785 when a Frenchman named Jean Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries, joined together as a team to attempt a trip across the English Channel. Their flight was successful; however, de Rozier’s attempt later that same year was not. He was killed when the two balloons he was using, one filled with hydrogen and one filled with hot air, exploded just half an hour after taking to the air.
Other Forms of Hot Air Travel
Thermal airships operate using the same principle of heating air within the balloon to create lift. The first recorded public flight of a thermal airship was in January 1973 by Don Cameron in a ship he called the Cameron D-96. It’s said that Cameron spent three years developing his ship.
The typical design of a thermal airship is similar to a hot air balloon except that the thermal airship’s envelope is pressurized and the burner is mounted inside the envelope. The high pressure within the balloon prevents denting when traveling at high speeds. Thermal airships also make use of a propeller on the tail end of the ship, allowing for increased speed resulting in improved steering capabilities.
Smoke balloons were a popular attraction in traveling fairs in the late 1800s to early 1900s. This method involved the balloonist attaching himself to a parachute and to the balloon. Assistants would help the balloonist position his attached balloon over a fire pit. The air inside the balloon would increase in temperature and as long as the balloon hadn’t caught fire, the assistants would let go and the balloon, et al., would shoot into the air. When the balloon got as high as it would go, the balloonist would detach himself from it and use the parachute to safely return to the ground.
More Hot Air Travel Snippetz
- The Montgolfier brothers didn’t have access to propane in 1783, so to provide the necessary heat for their hot air balloon, they burned straw, manure and other flammable materials in an attached fire pit.
- The deadliest hot air balloon accident in the world’s history occurred on Feb. 26, 2013, in Luxor, Egypt when a balloon carrying tourists caught fire and crashed to the ground, killing 19 of the 21 passengers on board.
- If the maximum heat of 250 degrees Fahrenheit is used to heat the air in the envelope, the fabric can withstand somewhere between 400 and 500 hours of flight before needing replacement.
- On Jan. 7, 1793, President George Washington was in attendance at the first hot air balloon flight in North America, piloted by Jean Pierre Blanchard.
- Per Lindstrand from Sweden and Richard Branson from the United Kingdom piloted the longest balloon flight on Jan. 15, 1991. They flew from Japan to Northern Canada on the Virgin Pacific Flyer.
- A balloon that typically makes a yearly appearance at the Balloon Classic in Colorado Springs ranks as the largest hot air balloon, coming in at 166 feet tall.
- Hot air balloons cannot fly in the rain. Not for safety reasons but because the heat from inside the balloon can cause the rainwater on the outside of the balloon to boil, destroying the fabric.
Issue 608
Snippetz Takes a Serious Look at Wildfire Mitigation
It’s no secret that Colorado has seen more than its fair share of fires in recent years. One year ago, residents fled the Waldo Canyon fire as it ripped across the face of the foothills we’ve come to know and love. Homes were destroyed, lives were lost and others were turned upside down in a matter of minutes. With the Black Forest fire still smoldering and the memories of last June still fresh in our minds, we at Snippetz decided now was the time to tackle the wildfire topic. What can be done to prevent such destructive and devastating events? Is there something more we should be doing to take care of our homes and property to avoid such tragedies? If they can’t be avoided, can we at least lessen or slow down the impact? Read on and find out some crucial tips to safeguarding yourself, your family, your property and your community.
What is Wildfire Mitigation?
Wildfire mitigation is a process by which you take certain precautionary actions to minimize or prevent the devastating effects of a wildfire on or around your property. Think of it like brushing your teeth; take the time to do it and your twice-yearly dentist appointments can often be a breeze. But skip out on those simple preventive steps and you could wind up in an extremely unpleasant situation.
When we speak in terms of mitigation, there are different approaches you can take, both of which can be highly important. For instance, some mitigation techniques call for modifying the area within your property so that your house, barn, garage, workshop, etc. are at a lower risk of being harmed. Other techniques require modification of the structure or moving it completely. Obviously that isn’t practical in every instance but it can provide just enough protection from the fire so that the structure doesn’t have to depend on fire suppression services or resources.
Mitigation Techniques
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of wildfire mitigation techniques, it is extremely important to remember: there is NO guarantee that any of these mitigation techniques will work.
So what are these techniques? Here are some to start you off on the right foot:
Naturally, this is by no means a complete list of mitigation techniques but it is a good jumping off point to safeguarding your house.
Unusual MitigationTechniques
Beyond the standard mitigation techniques, some areas at increased risk of wildfires have come up with creative ways to handle wildfire mitigation. Take the Oakland Hills area of Oakland, Calif. In 2010, the Oakland City Council approved $1.75 million to bring in a herd of goats to graze on the vegetation to reduce the wildfire risk. Now THAT is money well-spent.
Unbelievable Blazes
Snippetz Takes a Serious Look at Wildfire Mitigation
It’s no secret that Colorado has seen more than its fair share of fires in recent years. One year ago, residents fled the Waldo Canyon fire as it ripped across the face of the foothills we’ve come to know and love. Homes were destroyed, lives were lost and others were turned upside down in a matter of minutes. With the Black Forest fire still smoldering and the memories of last June still fresh in our minds, we at Snippetz decided now was the time to tackle the wildfire topic. What can be done to prevent such destructive and devastating events? Is there something more we should be doing to take care of our homes and property to avoid such tragedies? If they can’t be avoided, can we at least lessen or slow down the impact? Read on and find out some crucial tips to safeguarding yourself, your family, your property and your community.
What is Wildfire Mitigation?
Wildfire mitigation is a process by which you take certain precautionary actions to minimize or prevent the devastating effects of a wildfire on or around your property. Think of it like brushing your teeth; take the time to do it and your twice-yearly dentist appointments can often be a breeze. But skip out on those simple preventive steps and you could wind up in an extremely unpleasant situation.
When we speak in terms of mitigation, there are different approaches you can take, both of which can be highly important. For instance, some mitigation techniques call for modifying the area within your property so that your house, barn, garage, workshop, etc. are at a lower risk of being harmed. Other techniques require modification of the structure or moving it completely. Obviously that isn’t practical in every instance but it can provide just enough protection from the fire so that the structure doesn’t have to depend on fire suppression services or resources.
Mitigation Techniques
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of wildfire mitigation techniques, it is extremely important to remember: there is NO guarantee that any of these mitigation techniques will work.
So what are these techniques? Here are some to start you off on the right foot:
- Smaller plants are better – when planting close to your house or other permanent structure, the smaller plants are usually the best. As we saw in the Black Forest fire, larger trees, especially dry or dead ones, tend to radiate a lot of heat and provide prime places for fire to jump from place to place.
- Keep plants away from siding – if a plant is touching the siding of your structure, it can easily spread the flames in a vertical fashion and set your structure on fire rather quickly.
- Don’t attach your fence to your house – this is particularly important if both your house and your fence are made of combustible material. The fence is a perfect fuel source for a fire and the spread to your house or structure is so much easier when the two are connected.
- Clean out the dead stuff – clear out pine needles, trash, debris, leaves, dead plants, etc. from around your property. These materials are prime tinder for a fire. Don’t forget to get the stuff from under your deck. If that material lights up, your deck could ignite as well.
- Replace old windows – installing dual-pane windows can protect the interior of your house or structure. The outer pane helps protect the inner pane, allowing for a more gradual adjustment to the increased heat from the fire and lessening the chances that the inner pane will crack. Once a window has broken, it’s an open invitation for the fire to come on in and do its worst.
- Replace decayed wood on your house – this seems like a no-brainer but there are certain areas that you might not consider. For example, the wood around your windows is a perfect place for a fire to gain access to the inside of your house. Your deck is also a great place for a fire to feast, so replacing your old rotting one with a new composite deck is ideal. If composite materials aren’t feasible, get professional help with the construction so that the boards aren’t too far apart. This can allow a fire to spread from the bottom of the deck boards to the top more easily.
- Keep your gutters clear – flying debris and embers can be extremely harmful, even if you have installed a fire-resistant roof (which is also an important mitigation step). They could potentially land on old, dried out leaves and other dead materials stuck in your gutters and flare up.
- Trim the fat – in this case, we’re referring to the vegetation and trees around your house, not literally the fat. In many places where houses are located in forested areas, codes are put in place to enforce what that should look like. It’s best to become familiar with what is required in your area. One good rule to follow is that no part of a tree should be closer than six feet to your house or structure. If you MUST have trees (and many of us must), keeping them well-groomed and at the edge of your property can serve as a wind block, helping prevent debris from getting to your house.
Naturally, this is by no means a complete list of mitigation techniques but it is a good jumping off point to safeguarding your house.
Unusual MitigationTechniques
Beyond the standard mitigation techniques, some areas at increased risk of wildfires have come up with creative ways to handle wildfire mitigation. Take the Oakland Hills area of Oakland, Calif. In 2010, the Oakland City Council approved $1.75 million to bring in a herd of goats to graze on the vegetation to reduce the wildfire risk. Now THAT is money well-spent.
Unbelievable Blazes
- Oakland Firestorm of 1991 – fanned by the seasonal “Diablo winds,” this brush fire destroyed 1,520 acres and took out more than 3,500 houses, apartments and condominiums. Estimated cost: $1.5 billion
- Yellowstone National Park, 1988 – this fire burned more than 2 million acres and took about 25,000 firefighters to finally get under control.
- Miramichi Fire, 1825 – this forest fire spread across more than 3 million acres of New Brunswick, Canada and parts of Maine. It claimed at least 160 lives.
- The Great Fire of 1910 – often referred to as the “Big Burn,” this fire burned more than 3 million acres in Idaho, Montana and Washington. It claimed 87 lives, 78 of which were firefighters.
- The Great Fires of 1871 – consisting of The Great Chicago Fire, The Great Michigan Fire, The Great Peshtigo Fire and the Port Huron Fire, this series of blazes occurred all in the same week. The most devastating: The Great Peshtigo Fire which claimed more than 1,500 lives.
- The Great Hinckley Fire of 1894 – this fire broke out in Minnesota and scorched more than 200,000 acres and left at least 418 people dead. This fire is remarkable for two reasons; one, the firestorm is said to have lasted only about four hours, and two, it took the life of Thomas P. “Boston” Corbett. Corbett is famous for killing John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
Issue 607
Snippetz Examines the Power of Advertising: Marketing 101
“It takes more than capital to swing business. You've got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by - Advertising, Initiative and Dynamics.”
- Isaac Asimov
It’s been said that if a product is as good as it claims to be, advertising is unnecessary. That may be true, but don’t tell that to anyone in the multi-billion dollar advertising industry. Surely, we wouldn’t know what brand of deodorant to buy, what presidential candidate to vote for or how to lose 10 pounds in 10 days if it weren’t for advertisements. In an age where people like to think of themselves as in control of their lives and able to make decisions all by themselves, somehow or another, these advertisements manage to persuade us day in and day out. So much so, that ad spots during certain sporting events in the United States that include the words “Super” and “Bowl” have a going rate of up to $3 million for 30 seconds. How did this whole advertising thing even begin in the first place? You can count on Snippetz to find out!
In the Beginning…
Advertising has definitely changed since its inception. In the 1700s, ads were usually a brief description of some product or good that someone was selling. It was like Craigslist for the colonial times.
In the 1800s, ads were often used to announce slave-buying opportunities. Others were soliciting help to find runaway slaves. Ads typically didn’t contain illustrations of any kind. Most ads in newspapers were never wider than a single column and the typeface was very basic, rarely trending towards “fancy.” Magazines usually didn’t print ads in the beginning or middle of the publication but rather were designated to the last pages.
A major deviation from the typical ad design was the ads within the “healthcare” industry. Since healthcare in the middle to late 1800s was not well-developed, everyone and their mother was able to come up with a potion or elixir that would cure a variety of ailments. In order to grab the readers’ attention, their ads were often larger than normal, making outrageous claims about what their product could do and sometimes even contained color.
With the advent of mass production, manufacturers turned to advertising to catch the attention of audiences nationwide. By about 1920, department stores like Macy’s in New York and Sears Roebuck saw the success of such campaigns and began using advertising to hit their target audiences as well. Sears catered more to the rural population and adjusted their advertisements to appeal to those types of people, while Macy’s highlighted items that people living in the larger, fast-paced cities might need.
How Do They Do It?
Advertising techniques have evolved over time, bringing with them new and unique ways to convince the average consumer that their product is superior to their competitors.’ So how exactly do they do that? Well, here are a few tricks the ad guys use.
Have you ever wondered why the soda in that commercial always looks so good? For starters, the ice cubes are often made of acrylic to withstand the heat of the photography lights so they stay nice and…well, icy. To give it that incredibly bubbly look, detergent is added and diluted with water so the light can filter through the drink better.
The food in a typical advertisement is often “styled” so it appears more appetizing than reality could possibly produce. Take a roasted chicken, for instance. The skin is often pulled tight and sewn up and the cavity is stuffed with wet paper towels which helps keep the chicken plump but also produces steam, giving it that nice, freshly-cooked look. After spending a few minutes in the oven to crisp the skin, the chicken is then painted a golden brown to create the perfectly-roasted appearance.
The next time you see an ad for a watch, take note of where the hands are pointing. Often, they are set to display the time 10:10. Why? When the hands point to this time, they frame the name of the watch brand and also make a smiley face. Who could resist a watch with a smiley face?
It’s no secret that toy makers target kids with their advertisements. But did you know that those particular ads are consciously created to try to create a “nag factor?” These ads inundate children’s channels, encouraging kids to by certain products so they will become more popular. The outcome is that, on average, kids will nag their parents to buy the product about nine times until they finally wear their parents down.
Another tactic used by advertisers who target kids is to use child actors that are older than the target audience for that particular product. For example, if a toy is recommended for five-year-old kids, the actors in the ad might be as old as eight. Why? The idea is that the image of an older child playing with that toy will entice younger children to want to be like them and what better way to achieve that than by getting that super-cool toy?
Advertisers will often use certain emotions or themes to help sell their products. The most common psychological themes used to motivate consumers to buy a product include self-preservation, sex, self-esteem, authority, imitation and fear.
The Future of Advertisement
Recently, a new kind of advertisement has emerged called “viral advertising.” This type makes use of blogs, emails, social media or other forms of digital information-sharing to spread the word about and promote a product. Perhaps this represents the next stage in advertising evolution…
Marketing Snippetz
Snippetz Examines the Power of Advertising: Marketing 101
“It takes more than capital to swing business. You've got to have the A. I. D. degree to get by - Advertising, Initiative and Dynamics.”
- Isaac Asimov
It’s been said that if a product is as good as it claims to be, advertising is unnecessary. That may be true, but don’t tell that to anyone in the multi-billion dollar advertising industry. Surely, we wouldn’t know what brand of deodorant to buy, what presidential candidate to vote for or how to lose 10 pounds in 10 days if it weren’t for advertisements. In an age where people like to think of themselves as in control of their lives and able to make decisions all by themselves, somehow or another, these advertisements manage to persuade us day in and day out. So much so, that ad spots during certain sporting events in the United States that include the words “Super” and “Bowl” have a going rate of up to $3 million for 30 seconds. How did this whole advertising thing even begin in the first place? You can count on Snippetz to find out!
In the Beginning…
Advertising has definitely changed since its inception. In the 1700s, ads were usually a brief description of some product or good that someone was selling. It was like Craigslist for the colonial times.
In the 1800s, ads were often used to announce slave-buying opportunities. Others were soliciting help to find runaway slaves. Ads typically didn’t contain illustrations of any kind. Most ads in newspapers were never wider than a single column and the typeface was very basic, rarely trending towards “fancy.” Magazines usually didn’t print ads in the beginning or middle of the publication but rather were designated to the last pages.
A major deviation from the typical ad design was the ads within the “healthcare” industry. Since healthcare in the middle to late 1800s was not well-developed, everyone and their mother was able to come up with a potion or elixir that would cure a variety of ailments. In order to grab the readers’ attention, their ads were often larger than normal, making outrageous claims about what their product could do and sometimes even contained color.
With the advent of mass production, manufacturers turned to advertising to catch the attention of audiences nationwide. By about 1920, department stores like Macy’s in New York and Sears Roebuck saw the success of such campaigns and began using advertising to hit their target audiences as well. Sears catered more to the rural population and adjusted their advertisements to appeal to those types of people, while Macy’s highlighted items that people living in the larger, fast-paced cities might need.
How Do They Do It?
Advertising techniques have evolved over time, bringing with them new and unique ways to convince the average consumer that their product is superior to their competitors.’ So how exactly do they do that? Well, here are a few tricks the ad guys use.
Have you ever wondered why the soda in that commercial always looks so good? For starters, the ice cubes are often made of acrylic to withstand the heat of the photography lights so they stay nice and…well, icy. To give it that incredibly bubbly look, detergent is added and diluted with water so the light can filter through the drink better.
The food in a typical advertisement is often “styled” so it appears more appetizing than reality could possibly produce. Take a roasted chicken, for instance. The skin is often pulled tight and sewn up and the cavity is stuffed with wet paper towels which helps keep the chicken plump but also produces steam, giving it that nice, freshly-cooked look. After spending a few minutes in the oven to crisp the skin, the chicken is then painted a golden brown to create the perfectly-roasted appearance.
The next time you see an ad for a watch, take note of where the hands are pointing. Often, they are set to display the time 10:10. Why? When the hands point to this time, they frame the name of the watch brand and also make a smiley face. Who could resist a watch with a smiley face?
It’s no secret that toy makers target kids with their advertisements. But did you know that those particular ads are consciously created to try to create a “nag factor?” These ads inundate children’s channels, encouraging kids to by certain products so they will become more popular. The outcome is that, on average, kids will nag their parents to buy the product about nine times until they finally wear their parents down.
Another tactic used by advertisers who target kids is to use child actors that are older than the target audience for that particular product. For example, if a toy is recommended for five-year-old kids, the actors in the ad might be as old as eight. Why? The idea is that the image of an older child playing with that toy will entice younger children to want to be like them and what better way to achieve that than by getting that super-cool toy?
Advertisers will often use certain emotions or themes to help sell their products. The most common psychological themes used to motivate consumers to buy a product include self-preservation, sex, self-esteem, authority, imitation and fear.
The Future of Advertisement
Recently, a new kind of advertisement has emerged called “viral advertising.” This type makes use of blogs, emails, social media or other forms of digital information-sharing to spread the word about and promote a product. Perhaps this represents the next stage in advertising evolution…
Marketing Snippetz
- An estate in Oyster Bay, Long Island was advertised in the Boston News Letter in 1704 and earned the title of the first paid ad in the U.S.
- Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine was the first publication of its kind to run an ad for a magazine in 1742.
- The standard billboard was created in 1900 in America. Now streets and highways are littered with them.
- As reported in the American Psychological Association, children under the age of eight can’t understand that a commercial or advertisement is meant to sell or persuade so they regard them as truthful, accurate and unbiased.
- It’s estimated that the average American child watches over 100 television commercials each day.
- Arguably the most successful advertisement of modern times was the “Think Small” ad created by Doyle Dane Bernbach for Volkswagen in the late 1950s. The ad managed to successfully introduce and sell a vehicle that was originally created for Adolf Hitler to the post-war U.S.
- Food marketers make up the largest group of advertisers.
- The Mars candy company declined to let M&Ms be used in the movie “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial” because they thought the ET character was too ugly. Reese’s Pieces accepted and once the film was released, Reese’s Pieces sales jumped up by 65 percent.
- The world’s three largest advertising companies are Interpublic, WPP and Omnicom Group – all in New York and operating worldwide.
- The anticipated U.S Internet advertising revenue for 2013 is $42 billion, more than 500 percent higher than the revenue posted for the year 2000.
Issue 606
Snippetz Says, Sometimes Bigger Really is Better!
“Size counts. That’s all.”
– Gina Gershon
For some people, size isn’t just something to consider; it’s the only thing. When we dine out, not only are we typically served food in portions that are larger than the recommended size, but we even have options to “supersize” those meals. We have TVs that measure 90 inches from one corner diagonally to the other. We have not only king size beds, but California kings which are bigger, and Alaska kings which are even bigger than that. And let’s not forget those magnificent wine glasses that can hold an entire bottle of wine. So in keeping the mentality that bigger is better, we at Snippetz have compiled a wonderful list full of the world’s largest things.
World’s Largest Spider
Let’s jump right in with the creepiest thing on our list…the world’s largest spider. While most people have probably heard urban legends about spiders so large that they attack and eat camels from the inside out, those truly are just urban legends. The fact is, the largest spider, when considering its leg span, is the giant huntsman spider found in Laos.
The giant huntsman has a leg span of up to 12 inches, and a body length of almost 2 full inches. The species was discovered in 2001 and is thought to be primarily a cave dweller. Given its size, you would think a species like this wouldn’t have remained undiscovered for quite so long. In fact even the World Wide Fund for Nature commented on that exact situation…and said, “Some of these species really have no business being recently discovered.”
World’s Largest Rope Swing
While at the outset this particular “world’s largest” might sound like a barrel of fun, and it likely is, but it isn’t without its share of tragedy. It all began with a new fad called “pendulum” swinging and it truly is not for the faint of heart.
Pendulum swinging has recently taken the Moab, Utah area by storm. It involves climbing to ridiculous heights on natural structures like Corona Arch in Moab, then jumping from them and swinging along while tethered to climbing ropes. The rope swing isn’t a stationary fixture; anyone wanting to try it has to rig up their own swing but recently viral videos have circulated touting Corona Arch as the highest place from which to swing.
The 110-foot-tall sandstone arch has attracted people for a few years but recently was the site of a devastating event. A young Utah man miscalculated the length of the rope he needed in order to safely complete the jump and hit the ground, dying instantly. Commercial trips to attempt this particular stunt have been banned, although private climbers can still get away with it if they choose.
World’s Largest Tree
Most people have heard of the giant sequoia tree in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, Calif. named General Sherman. For many years, it was thought to be the largest tree in the world. But in fact, there are two trees that can take the title away from the General: Hyperion and Del Norte Titan. For different reasons, each of these trees can be considered the largest tree in the world.
Hyperion is located in the Redwood National Forest in California and measures a staggering 379 feet 4 inches. It towers 10 feet higher than the next tallest tree, the Stratosphere Giant located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, also in California.
Del Norte Titan, while not the tallest, is the largest tree by volume, based on a single-stem measurement. Located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in (surprise!) California, Del Norte Titan contains an estimated 37,000 cubic feet of wood and measured at least 23.7 feet in diameter at about 4.5 feet above the ground. One expert described the tree as having a mass “equivalent to 15 adult blue whales” and that if the entire tree were cut into planks 12 feet long and one inch thick and then all the planks were laid end to end, the line would top out at over 100 miles.
World’s Largest Dog
It’s probably no surprise that the largest dog in the world happens to be a Great Dane. They are said to be a cross between the English mastiff and the Irish Wolfhound. Originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, these massive dogs are unusual in that they continue to grow longer than most other breeds (as if they need to).
It might come as a shock, however, to find out that the previous world record holder, Giant George, was dethroned this year by Zeus who came in a 7 feet, 4 inches. That might sound intimidating but overall, the breed is considered to be a “gentle giant” and typically don’t display a high level of aggression.
World’s Largest Coin
Located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the Big Nickel is a 30-foot replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel. It was built through the cooperative efforts of Ted Szilva and Bruno Callavo and was constructed of stainless steel panels.
Szilva got the idea when he read about a contest in the Sudbury Star, which asked the citizens of Sudbury to offer up suggestions of how the City of Sudbury could celebrate the Canadian Centennial in 1963. His idea was rejected because the sponsors, the Sudbury Canada Centennial Committee, didn’t feel it was useful.
Szilva continued working on his idea and eventually pulled it off. The Big Nickel was revealed on July 27, 1964.
World’s Largest Sheep
The Big Merino, which stands over 49 feet tall, is the world’s largest sheep. And no, it is not a real live sheep. Located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, the Big Merino is home to a gift shop and a wool display. If you feel so inclined, you can also climb to the top of the Big Merino and look through its eyes to peek at the local scenery.
The Big Merino was opened on Sept. 20, 1985 but was relocated in 2007. Apparently, patronage of the Big Merino dropped off significantly when a highway was built that allowed travelers to bypass the massive ruminant so the entire structure was moved closer to the highway.
World’s largest collection of the world’s smallest version of the world’s largest things
First off, say that three times fast. Good, now on to the task at hand. In Lucas, Kan., there is a traveling roadside museum that has dubbed itself the “World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Version of World’s Largest Things.” We’ll call it the WLCoWSVoWLT for short.
The name literally says it all. This traveling museum was created by artist Erika Nelson and includes miniature versions of things such as the World’s Largest Ball of Video Tape, the World’s Largest Ball of Twine and the World’s Largest Frying Pan. It’s comforting to know that there is a place where you can find the world’s largest of anything, all in one place.
Other “World’s Largest” Titles
Snippetz Says, Sometimes Bigger Really is Better!
“Size counts. That’s all.”
– Gina Gershon
For some people, size isn’t just something to consider; it’s the only thing. When we dine out, not only are we typically served food in portions that are larger than the recommended size, but we even have options to “supersize” those meals. We have TVs that measure 90 inches from one corner diagonally to the other. We have not only king size beds, but California kings which are bigger, and Alaska kings which are even bigger than that. And let’s not forget those magnificent wine glasses that can hold an entire bottle of wine. So in keeping the mentality that bigger is better, we at Snippetz have compiled a wonderful list full of the world’s largest things.
World’s Largest Spider
Let’s jump right in with the creepiest thing on our list…the world’s largest spider. While most people have probably heard urban legends about spiders so large that they attack and eat camels from the inside out, those truly are just urban legends. The fact is, the largest spider, when considering its leg span, is the giant huntsman spider found in Laos.
The giant huntsman has a leg span of up to 12 inches, and a body length of almost 2 full inches. The species was discovered in 2001 and is thought to be primarily a cave dweller. Given its size, you would think a species like this wouldn’t have remained undiscovered for quite so long. In fact even the World Wide Fund for Nature commented on that exact situation…and said, “Some of these species really have no business being recently discovered.”
World’s Largest Rope Swing
While at the outset this particular “world’s largest” might sound like a barrel of fun, and it likely is, but it isn’t without its share of tragedy. It all began with a new fad called “pendulum” swinging and it truly is not for the faint of heart.
Pendulum swinging has recently taken the Moab, Utah area by storm. It involves climbing to ridiculous heights on natural structures like Corona Arch in Moab, then jumping from them and swinging along while tethered to climbing ropes. The rope swing isn’t a stationary fixture; anyone wanting to try it has to rig up their own swing but recently viral videos have circulated touting Corona Arch as the highest place from which to swing.
The 110-foot-tall sandstone arch has attracted people for a few years but recently was the site of a devastating event. A young Utah man miscalculated the length of the rope he needed in order to safely complete the jump and hit the ground, dying instantly. Commercial trips to attempt this particular stunt have been banned, although private climbers can still get away with it if they choose.
World’s Largest Tree
Most people have heard of the giant sequoia tree in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, Calif. named General Sherman. For many years, it was thought to be the largest tree in the world. But in fact, there are two trees that can take the title away from the General: Hyperion and Del Norte Titan. For different reasons, each of these trees can be considered the largest tree in the world.
Hyperion is located in the Redwood National Forest in California and measures a staggering 379 feet 4 inches. It towers 10 feet higher than the next tallest tree, the Stratosphere Giant located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, also in California.
Del Norte Titan, while not the tallest, is the largest tree by volume, based on a single-stem measurement. Located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in (surprise!) California, Del Norte Titan contains an estimated 37,000 cubic feet of wood and measured at least 23.7 feet in diameter at about 4.5 feet above the ground. One expert described the tree as having a mass “equivalent to 15 adult blue whales” and that if the entire tree were cut into planks 12 feet long and one inch thick and then all the planks were laid end to end, the line would top out at over 100 miles.
World’s Largest Dog
It’s probably no surprise that the largest dog in the world happens to be a Great Dane. They are said to be a cross between the English mastiff and the Irish Wolfhound. Originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, these massive dogs are unusual in that they continue to grow longer than most other breeds (as if they need to).
It might come as a shock, however, to find out that the previous world record holder, Giant George, was dethroned this year by Zeus who came in a 7 feet, 4 inches. That might sound intimidating but overall, the breed is considered to be a “gentle giant” and typically don’t display a high level of aggression.
World’s Largest Coin
Located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the Big Nickel is a 30-foot replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel. It was built through the cooperative efforts of Ted Szilva and Bruno Callavo and was constructed of stainless steel panels.
Szilva got the idea when he read about a contest in the Sudbury Star, which asked the citizens of Sudbury to offer up suggestions of how the City of Sudbury could celebrate the Canadian Centennial in 1963. His idea was rejected because the sponsors, the Sudbury Canada Centennial Committee, didn’t feel it was useful.
Szilva continued working on his idea and eventually pulled it off. The Big Nickel was revealed on July 27, 1964.
World’s Largest Sheep
The Big Merino, which stands over 49 feet tall, is the world’s largest sheep. And no, it is not a real live sheep. Located in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, the Big Merino is home to a gift shop and a wool display. If you feel so inclined, you can also climb to the top of the Big Merino and look through its eyes to peek at the local scenery.
The Big Merino was opened on Sept. 20, 1985 but was relocated in 2007. Apparently, patronage of the Big Merino dropped off significantly when a highway was built that allowed travelers to bypass the massive ruminant so the entire structure was moved closer to the highway.
World’s largest collection of the world’s smallest version of the world’s largest things
First off, say that three times fast. Good, now on to the task at hand. In Lucas, Kan., there is a traveling roadside museum that has dubbed itself the “World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Version of World’s Largest Things.” We’ll call it the WLCoWSVoWLT for short.
The name literally says it all. This traveling museum was created by artist Erika Nelson and includes miniature versions of things such as the World’s Largest Ball of Video Tape, the World’s Largest Ball of Twine and the World’s Largest Frying Pan. It’s comforting to know that there is a place where you can find the world’s largest of anything, all in one place.
Other “World’s Largest” Titles
- World’s largest popcorn ball, located in Sac City, Iowa
- World’s largest hairball located in Garden City, Kan.
- World’s largest lugnut located in Lansing, Mich.
- World’s largest pistachio located in Alamogordo, N.M.
- World’s largest blade of grass located in Vacy, New South Wales, Australia
- World’s largest piggy bank located in Coleman, Alberta, Canada
Issue 605
Snippetz Gets It's Kicks With The World Cup
“Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you.”
– Henry J. Kaiser
Fast-paced athletics at its finest. That’s what you can expect from the World Cup soccer tournament. But you can also expect theatrics that could rival any Broadway play and unruly crowds that have literally killed each other in their excitement or frustration. As a worldwide competition, this event garners a lot of attention from countries on every continent (minus Antarctica for obvious reasons). How did such a massive competition come to be? Snippetz has got your covered. Read on to find out the scoop behind the World Cup!
FIFA…What?
First off, it’s important to note that the World Cup is formally called the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup or the FIFA World Cup. Why is that important? There are many other types of World Cup tournaments, ranging from baseball and softball tournaments to canoe slalom and boxing. In all, there are about 62 different World Cup competitions; however, the FIFA World Cup is arguably the most popular World Cup tournament. And it’s also important to remember that in just about every other country besides the United States, soccer is called football. That explains the football part of FIFA. In the interest of alleviating any confusion between American football and football everywhere else, we’ll just call it soccer from here on.
History of the World Cup
International soccer dates back to 1872, when Scotland played England in Glasgow. About 12 years later, the first international tournament was held in the United Kingdom, called the British Home Championship. By the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympic Games, soccer matches were held purely for demonstration and entertainment; no teams were awarded medals.
By 1904, the world realized how popular soccer was becoming and FIFA was formed. The idea was to create a place outside of the Olympics where international soccer matches could be held and the first FIFA tournament was held in Switzerland in 1906. It’s said, however, that FIFA’s initial tournament was a complete flop.
Soccer made an official debut as a competition sport in the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in London. England’s national amateur soccer team won the gold medal in both that Olympic Games and the one in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sandwiched in between these two major competitions was a tournament organized by Sir Thomas Lipton in 1909. It was called the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament and was held in Turin, Italy. This tournament differed from all others because individual soccer clubs, one from each country, competed rather than amateur players mashed together on a team. The World Cup would come to be defined by this format, setting it apart from other international (and eventually intercontinental) competitions.
Other Noteworthy Dates
Where in the World is the World Cup?
At the outset, the World Cup tournament awarded the winning team with a trophy, originally known as the World Cup. In 1946, the trophy was renamed after the FIFA president, Jules Rimet. In 1970, after Brazil claimed its third tournament title, it was decided that the team could keep the trophy permanently. Apparently, someone other than the Brazilian team members felt the trophy was valuable because in 1983, it was stolen. Gone for good, the trophy is presumed to have been melted down by the culprits.
But that wasn’t the first time thieves stole the World Cup. The trophy was stolen in 1966 right before the World Cup tournament was to begin. It was housed in a display case in a stamp exhibition in London and even though it was under 24-hour surveillance, the crooks managed to make off with it. This time, however, the trophy was recovered, thanks to David Corbett and his dog Pickles. Pickles and his owner were on a walk through London when Pickles became intensely interested in a package wrapped in newspaper. The package turned out to be the World Cup.
Goooooaaaaallll….d!
With Brazil hanging on to the Jules Rimet Trophy, a new trophy has to be commissioned to give to the winners of the subsequent tournaments. Fifty-three different ideas were presented for approval and the FIFA committee charged with making the decision finally settled on a design submitted by Silvio Gazzaniga from Italy. Measuring 14.2 inches tall, the trophy is crafted of solid 18 carat gold and weighs in at 13.6 pounds. The trophy is given to the winning team for that particular tournament and is handed over to the winning team from the last World Cup tournament. The previous winners get a gold-plated replica trophy which they keep…perhaps FIFA learned its lesson after the highly valuable Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen…twice.
Meeting All the Qualifications
The world is broken up into six FIFA continental zones: Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe. Qualifying tournaments help narrow down the field of teams hoping to participate in the World Cup tournament. Tournaments frequently start in each zone as early as almost three years before the actual World Cup tournament.
Starting in 1938, the hosting nation of the previous World Cup tournament was automatically granted a spot in the final qualifying tournament for the following World Cup tournament. Defending champions were also given a spot. That privilege was revoked in 2006 so each team, no matter whether they won or hosted the last World Cup tournament or not, had to qualify just like any other team.
More World Cup Snippetz
Snippetz Gets It's Kicks With The World Cup
“Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you.”
– Henry J. Kaiser
Fast-paced athletics at its finest. That’s what you can expect from the World Cup soccer tournament. But you can also expect theatrics that could rival any Broadway play and unruly crowds that have literally killed each other in their excitement or frustration. As a worldwide competition, this event garners a lot of attention from countries on every continent (minus Antarctica for obvious reasons). How did such a massive competition come to be? Snippetz has got your covered. Read on to find out the scoop behind the World Cup!
FIFA…What?
First off, it’s important to note that the World Cup is formally called the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup or the FIFA World Cup. Why is that important? There are many other types of World Cup tournaments, ranging from baseball and softball tournaments to canoe slalom and boxing. In all, there are about 62 different World Cup competitions; however, the FIFA World Cup is arguably the most popular World Cup tournament. And it’s also important to remember that in just about every other country besides the United States, soccer is called football. That explains the football part of FIFA. In the interest of alleviating any confusion between American football and football everywhere else, we’ll just call it soccer from here on.
History of the World Cup
International soccer dates back to 1872, when Scotland played England in Glasgow. About 12 years later, the first international tournament was held in the United Kingdom, called the British Home Championship. By the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympic Games, soccer matches were held purely for demonstration and entertainment; no teams were awarded medals.
By 1904, the world realized how popular soccer was becoming and FIFA was formed. The idea was to create a place outside of the Olympics where international soccer matches could be held and the first FIFA tournament was held in Switzerland in 1906. It’s said, however, that FIFA’s initial tournament was a complete flop.
Soccer made an official debut as a competition sport in the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in London. England’s national amateur soccer team won the gold medal in both that Olympic Games and the one in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sandwiched in between these two major competitions was a tournament organized by Sir Thomas Lipton in 1909. It was called the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament and was held in Turin, Italy. This tournament differed from all others because individual soccer clubs, one from each country, competed rather than amateur players mashed together on a team. The World Cup would come to be defined by this format, setting it apart from other international (and eventually intercontinental) competitions.
Other Noteworthy Dates
- 1914 – FIFA officially recognizes the Olympic Games as a championship competition for amateur soccer teams worldwide and takes over handling the details of the event.
- 1920 – Soccer becomes an intercontinental competition at the Summer Olympics by including teams from Egypt and 13 European teams; Belgium won the gold medal.
- 1924 and 1928 – Soccer tournaments at both Olympic Games were won by Uruguay and represented the first two open world championship competitions.
- July 13, 1930 – The first two games of the inaugural World Cup were played simultaneously; Uruguay went on to win the entire tournament to secure the title as the first World Cup champions in history.
Where in the World is the World Cup?
At the outset, the World Cup tournament awarded the winning team with a trophy, originally known as the World Cup. In 1946, the trophy was renamed after the FIFA president, Jules Rimet. In 1970, after Brazil claimed its third tournament title, it was decided that the team could keep the trophy permanently. Apparently, someone other than the Brazilian team members felt the trophy was valuable because in 1983, it was stolen. Gone for good, the trophy is presumed to have been melted down by the culprits.
But that wasn’t the first time thieves stole the World Cup. The trophy was stolen in 1966 right before the World Cup tournament was to begin. It was housed in a display case in a stamp exhibition in London and even though it was under 24-hour surveillance, the crooks managed to make off with it. This time, however, the trophy was recovered, thanks to David Corbett and his dog Pickles. Pickles and his owner were on a walk through London when Pickles became intensely interested in a package wrapped in newspaper. The package turned out to be the World Cup.
Goooooaaaaallll….d!
With Brazil hanging on to the Jules Rimet Trophy, a new trophy has to be commissioned to give to the winners of the subsequent tournaments. Fifty-three different ideas were presented for approval and the FIFA committee charged with making the decision finally settled on a design submitted by Silvio Gazzaniga from Italy. Measuring 14.2 inches tall, the trophy is crafted of solid 18 carat gold and weighs in at 13.6 pounds. The trophy is given to the winning team for that particular tournament and is handed over to the winning team from the last World Cup tournament. The previous winners get a gold-plated replica trophy which they keep…perhaps FIFA learned its lesson after the highly valuable Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen…twice.
Meeting All the Qualifications
The world is broken up into six FIFA continental zones: Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe. Qualifying tournaments help narrow down the field of teams hoping to participate in the World Cup tournament. Tournaments frequently start in each zone as early as almost three years before the actual World Cup tournament.
Starting in 1938, the hosting nation of the previous World Cup tournament was automatically granted a spot in the final qualifying tournament for the following World Cup tournament. Defending champions were also given a spot. That privilege was revoked in 2006 so each team, no matter whether they won or hosted the last World Cup tournament or not, had to qualify just like any other team.
More World Cup Snippetz
- Thirty-two teams representing 32 countries currently compete in the World Cup tournament, which takes place over the course of about one month.
- The 2014 tournament is set to take place in Brazil.
- Since World Cup Willie made his debut in 1966, each FIFA World Cup has had its own mascot or logo.
- In 1950, India’s team qualified for the World Cup tournament which was set to be played in Brazil, but the team chose to withdraw. The Indian team always played barefoot and FIFA required that all players must wear shoes.
- Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal during the World Cup finals and was also imprisoned by Nazis during World War II.
- Following a huge upset by Uruguay against the Brazilian home team in 1950, two die-hard Brazilian soccer fans jumped to their death from the stands.
- In 1978, Johan Cruyff from Holland was a no-show for the finals of the World Cup tournament. After lying about his motivation for 30 years, Cruyff finally admitted that “Someone had a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied my wife up in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona.”
- Arguably, Austria’s greatest soccer player ever, Matthias Sindelar was offered a position on the German team for the 1938 World Cup finals since his home country had been annexed by the Nazis. He declined the offer and one year later, he was found dead in his bed alongside his girlfriend, having suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. No one knows for sure if he was killed, committed suicide, or if the tragedy was simply an accident.
Issue 604
Take A Ride with Snippetz: We’re Off to the Amusement Park!
“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.”
– Herodotus
Whether it’s a traveling carnival with creaky old rides and fat-laden treats or stationary amusement parks packed with thrill-seekers standing in line for hours to feel an adrenaline rush, there’s no denying that people all over the world love amusement parks. And not just ones with fast rides either. So what is it about a theme park that keeps people coming back again and again? Perhaps it’s the fact that you are literally entering another world when you walk through the gates. Gone are thoughts about bills, work, deadlines and arguments with your spouse. There’s only the feel of the wind as it rushes past your face and the way your stomach feels like it drops to your feet on that first big roller coaster hill. With so much excitement at your fingertips, it’s no wonder amusement parks are so popular. And of course, Snippetz has to check out what all the fuss is about.
“The Best Amusement Park in the World”
Since 1998, at the birth of Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards, Cedar Point amusement park and resort in Sandusky, Ohio has been voted the “Best Amusement Park in the World.” In addition, the park was awarded the “Best Steel Roller Coaster in the World” award for its coaster, Millennium Force, for the past two years. But that’s not all. Cedar Point rounded out its winning streak by being awarded the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World.”
It’s not just the roller coasters that bring people back year after year and earn this park such high esteem. Thanks to additions such as Luminosity, a light show held just after sundown, and Dinosaurs Alive!, an attraction set in pre-historic times touting 50 life-size animatronic dinosaurs, the park brings in enthusiasts for all sorts of reasons.
And Cedar Point doesn’t seem to be slowing its “roll” down by any means. In fact, in May of this year, the park is set to reveal its newest world-record-breaking roller coaster called the GateKeeper. This coaster runs over 4,100 feet long, making it the longest “winged” roller coaster in the world. So what is a winged coaster? The seats of the coaster are set to either side of the track so the there is nothing above or below the riders. And then there’s the 164-foot drop. It might be best to ride this roller coaster prior to eating lunch…
World’s Largest Indoor Theme Park
When you think of Abu Dhabi, you probably don’t think about theme parks. But you should because Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the largest indoor theme park in the world to date, is located there. And yes, it is just as it sounds: all about Ferraris.
It took three years to build the massive 256,000 square foot structure that houses more than 20 different rides and attractions, including the Formula Rosso. This particular ride is the fastest roller coaster in the world, topping out at almost 150 miles per hour, pulling 4.8 Gs (basically almost five times the force of gravity) in the process. Finishing off with a 156-foot climb before coming to a stop, this ride is pretty intense…riders are required to wear safety goggles.
Disney Theme Parks
A discussion about amusement parks wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t include the Disney theme parks. With 11 parks, resorts and cruise lines around the world, Disney parks are arguably the most universally-known parks. The most recent addition to the list is the Shanghai Disney Resort, which is currently still under construction. The expected open date is December, 2015.
Within each resort complex lie multiple parks to provide a wide variety of entertainment opportunities for guests. Disneyland Paris has Golf Disneyland park; Tokyo Disney Resort has Tokyo DisneySea; and Walt Disney World Resort has the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon to name a few.
With such a multitude of parks and adventures to choose from, it seems nearly impossible to single out any one particular ride. But let’s just say that a certain contributing writer had a nasty experience on the Big Thunder Mountain Train ride at Disneyland when she was five. She has since recovered from her trauma.
Other Noteworthy Amusement Parks
Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park – speaking of Disneyland, this amusement park seems very familiar. In fact, just about every Disney character can be found at this park although they go by names like “Duck” for Donald Duck or “Elephant Ride” for the Dumbo ride. The costumes the characters wear is remarkably similar (well, actually almost identical) to the costumes the Disney characters wear. When the Walt Disney Company opened Hong Kong Disneyland, the wanna-be theme park suffered a big hit to their patronage. The solution? A new slogan reading “Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan.” Well played.
Diggerland – located in the United Kingdom, this amusement park features modified excavation equipment. That’s right. Back hoes, mini loaders and the like. Under strict supervision, Diggerland-goers get to drive and operate construction equipment, uncovering buried boulders, pushing around piles of dirt. Sounds like a 4-year-old boy’s dream come true. If you find yourself headed to Diggerland, make sure to catch the “Dancing Diggers,” a 30-minute show composed entirely of diggers of different sorts, which dance (somehow), perform stunts and even do comedy.
Seagaia Ocean Dome – located in Miyazaki, Japan, this theme park is the world’s largest indoor water park. Sounds great, right? Complete with a beach, a fully-functioning volcano that erupts hourly and a retractable roof that can be closed in inclement weather, what’s not to love about this park? Perhaps the price…$50 each. It wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t located less than 1,000 feet from an actual ocean. This park has been closed and reopened several times, perhaps due to the steep price and Mother Nature’s stiff competition.
Suoi Tien Cultural Amusement Park – never before has good old fashioned amusement park fun been merged with religion in such a beautiful manner…or perhaps, at all. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this park has all the rides and attractions you would expect from a typical amusement park. But thrown in just for fun are plenty of Buddhist attractions as well. For example, you could take a boat ride that takes you through the 12 torments of hell, with the use of animatronic depictions. Or if that isn’t quite your speed, you could always relax by the crocodile pond and feed them with meat hooked onto a fishing pole. What’s not to love?
Bon Bon Land – if you were to guess what this amusement park was all about, you’d probably be wrong. Located in Denmark, Bon Bon Land’s concept is of a candy maker whose candy animal characters populate his fantasy world. So far so good. But the characters aren’t exactly cute. They’re more like dysentery sufferers. One of the park’s most popular rides is called the “Hundeprutterutchebane,” meaning Dog-Fart-Coaster. Riders are literally treated to fart sounds throughout the duration of the ride. Everywhere you look, an animal is vomiting or passing gas or performing some other bodily function that would be better handled in the restroom. Yet the park is still in operation today…don’t you all rush to book your trips, now.
Take A Ride with Snippetz: We’re Off to the Amusement Park!
“If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.”
– Herodotus
Whether it’s a traveling carnival with creaky old rides and fat-laden treats or stationary amusement parks packed with thrill-seekers standing in line for hours to feel an adrenaline rush, there’s no denying that people all over the world love amusement parks. And not just ones with fast rides either. So what is it about a theme park that keeps people coming back again and again? Perhaps it’s the fact that you are literally entering another world when you walk through the gates. Gone are thoughts about bills, work, deadlines and arguments with your spouse. There’s only the feel of the wind as it rushes past your face and the way your stomach feels like it drops to your feet on that first big roller coaster hill. With so much excitement at your fingertips, it’s no wonder amusement parks are so popular. And of course, Snippetz has to check out what all the fuss is about.
“The Best Amusement Park in the World”
Since 1998, at the birth of Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards, Cedar Point amusement park and resort in Sandusky, Ohio has been voted the “Best Amusement Park in the World.” In addition, the park was awarded the “Best Steel Roller Coaster in the World” award for its coaster, Millennium Force, for the past two years. But that’s not all. Cedar Point rounded out its winning streak by being awarded the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World.”
It’s not just the roller coasters that bring people back year after year and earn this park such high esteem. Thanks to additions such as Luminosity, a light show held just after sundown, and Dinosaurs Alive!, an attraction set in pre-historic times touting 50 life-size animatronic dinosaurs, the park brings in enthusiasts for all sorts of reasons.
And Cedar Point doesn’t seem to be slowing its “roll” down by any means. In fact, in May of this year, the park is set to reveal its newest world-record-breaking roller coaster called the GateKeeper. This coaster runs over 4,100 feet long, making it the longest “winged” roller coaster in the world. So what is a winged coaster? The seats of the coaster are set to either side of the track so the there is nothing above or below the riders. And then there’s the 164-foot drop. It might be best to ride this roller coaster prior to eating lunch…
World’s Largest Indoor Theme Park
When you think of Abu Dhabi, you probably don’t think about theme parks. But you should because Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the largest indoor theme park in the world to date, is located there. And yes, it is just as it sounds: all about Ferraris.
It took three years to build the massive 256,000 square foot structure that houses more than 20 different rides and attractions, including the Formula Rosso. This particular ride is the fastest roller coaster in the world, topping out at almost 150 miles per hour, pulling 4.8 Gs (basically almost five times the force of gravity) in the process. Finishing off with a 156-foot climb before coming to a stop, this ride is pretty intense…riders are required to wear safety goggles.
Disney Theme Parks
A discussion about amusement parks wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t include the Disney theme parks. With 11 parks, resorts and cruise lines around the world, Disney parks are arguably the most universally-known parks. The most recent addition to the list is the Shanghai Disney Resort, which is currently still under construction. The expected open date is December, 2015.
Within each resort complex lie multiple parks to provide a wide variety of entertainment opportunities for guests. Disneyland Paris has Golf Disneyland park; Tokyo Disney Resort has Tokyo DisneySea; and Walt Disney World Resort has the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Blizzard Beach and Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon to name a few.
With such a multitude of parks and adventures to choose from, it seems nearly impossible to single out any one particular ride. But let’s just say that a certain contributing writer had a nasty experience on the Big Thunder Mountain Train ride at Disneyland when she was five. She has since recovered from her trauma.
Other Noteworthy Amusement Parks
Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park – speaking of Disneyland, this amusement park seems very familiar. In fact, just about every Disney character can be found at this park although they go by names like “Duck” for Donald Duck or “Elephant Ride” for the Dumbo ride. The costumes the characters wear is remarkably similar (well, actually almost identical) to the costumes the Disney characters wear. When the Walt Disney Company opened Hong Kong Disneyland, the wanna-be theme park suffered a big hit to their patronage. The solution? A new slogan reading “Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan.” Well played.
Diggerland – located in the United Kingdom, this amusement park features modified excavation equipment. That’s right. Back hoes, mini loaders and the like. Under strict supervision, Diggerland-goers get to drive and operate construction equipment, uncovering buried boulders, pushing around piles of dirt. Sounds like a 4-year-old boy’s dream come true. If you find yourself headed to Diggerland, make sure to catch the “Dancing Diggers,” a 30-minute show composed entirely of diggers of different sorts, which dance (somehow), perform stunts and even do comedy.
Seagaia Ocean Dome – located in Miyazaki, Japan, this theme park is the world’s largest indoor water park. Sounds great, right? Complete with a beach, a fully-functioning volcano that erupts hourly and a retractable roof that can be closed in inclement weather, what’s not to love about this park? Perhaps the price…$50 each. It wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t located less than 1,000 feet from an actual ocean. This park has been closed and reopened several times, perhaps due to the steep price and Mother Nature’s stiff competition.
Suoi Tien Cultural Amusement Park – never before has good old fashioned amusement park fun been merged with religion in such a beautiful manner…or perhaps, at all. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this park has all the rides and attractions you would expect from a typical amusement park. But thrown in just for fun are plenty of Buddhist attractions as well. For example, you could take a boat ride that takes you through the 12 torments of hell, with the use of animatronic depictions. Or if that isn’t quite your speed, you could always relax by the crocodile pond and feed them with meat hooked onto a fishing pole. What’s not to love?
Bon Bon Land – if you were to guess what this amusement park was all about, you’d probably be wrong. Located in Denmark, Bon Bon Land’s concept is of a candy maker whose candy animal characters populate his fantasy world. So far so good. But the characters aren’t exactly cute. They’re more like dysentery sufferers. One of the park’s most popular rides is called the “Hundeprutterutchebane,” meaning Dog-Fart-Coaster. Riders are literally treated to fart sounds throughout the duration of the ride. Everywhere you look, an animal is vomiting or passing gas or performing some other bodily function that would be better handled in the restroom. Yet the park is still in operation today…don’t you all rush to book your trips, now.
Issue 603
Snippetz Says Here Comes The Bride: Wedding Season has Arrived!
“Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.”
– William Shakespeare
It’s supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. You are starting a life with that special someone, expressing your love for each other and vowing to stay together through good times and bad. But what does it take to make that big day perfect? And better yet, what does it cost? In the grand scheme of things, does planning and stressing out for months over picking the right color of the flowers that will be on the guests’ tables really make the day better? There’s no guarantee that your marriage will be successful, no matter how much or how little money you pump into the festivities. Nevertheless, Snippetz had to take a glimpse into the world of weddings to find out what some people are willing to go through for the sake of pulling off that perfect day…even if it all falls just a bit short.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
As of October 2012, the average wedding cost $28,082. Really?! That’s a decent down payment on a house! With reception food costs averaging over $4,000, it’s enough to make anyone consider rounding up some family to pitch in and work out a potluck-type affair. Gifts for the bride and groom’s parents average $148. Did you even know you were supposed to buy gifts for the parents? Hair services cost about $71. Flowers and decorations cost about $1,800. A DJ costs about $748 but a live band could cost you about $1,751. Invitations, save the date cards, place cards, etc. altogether could cost about $800 total.
Naturally, all those costs vary depending on where your nuptials take place. For a wedding set in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas) the average wedding costs about $65,824; West Virginia’s average wedding costs about $14,203.
So how long does it take for the bride and groom to actually take the plunge once they have gotten engaged? The averages, yet again, vary depending on your location. New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania top the charts with the longest engagements at about 16 months, while couples from Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi have the shortest average engagements at an average of 12 months.
Now here’s a shocker for you: The states with the smallest number of wedding guests are (drumroll please) Hawaii and Nevada! Both average less than 80 guests. Perhaps gamblers who happen to wander in off the streets and Elvis impersonators don’t count as guests. The prize for the largest average number of guests goes to Iowa with 215.
Wedding “Do’s”
Weddings are no exception to the changing trends. So what’s in? For starters, brides and grooms…aw, who are we kidding? The brides really get the final say in the wedding details. And flowers are just one of those details that changes with the times. This year, the fresh-picked, natural, under-stated look is in. Gone are the mile-high centerpieces of years past, inhibiting conversation and tempting anyone with a mischievous streak to knock them over.
Another “do” is incorporating “green.” And by that, we mean recycled or tree-free papers used for invitations. And what about seeds or organic snacks instead of the traditional wedding favors? Looks like pastel mints and miniature bottles of bubbles are on their way out. Sad.
In the age of iPods, it seems logical that couples are choosing to personalize their reception music using playlists straight from their personal electronic devices. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a DJ who is just going to play the same cliché wedding songs over and over when you can just push “Play” and get your dance on?
Wedding “Don’ts”
It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the trends but there are some wedding “don’ts” that aren’t likely to change anytime soon. For example, it’s a major no-no to marry someone whom you have already married and divorced once before…and who has taken out a restraining order on you. Timothy Cole didn’t get the memo. He was arrested during his wedding in New York when police arrived after receiving reports that he was arguing with one of the guests. When police realized who was involved, they arrested Cole and charged him with first-degree criminal contempt for being too close to his bride, otherwise known as the woman he wasn’t to come within 300 feet of.
Don’t play Russian roulette at your reception. In 2010, a couple who married in Astrakhan, Russia had a guest who thought it would be fun to show how dangerous he could be by pretending to shoot himself in the head after a friend supposedly emptied the pistol’s chamber of all the bullets. Perhaps the unsuspecting man should’ve checked the chamber himself because with one squeeze of the trigger, he shot a rubber bullet into his temple.
Don’t say “I don’t.” At least, not if you’re getting married in Styr, Austria. Apparently, that’s what Tina Albrecht did when the official asked her that all-important question. She said it was a joke and immediately corrected herself, but according to Austrian law, if either party replies in the negative to said question, the wedding must be cancelled and can’t be rescheduled for 10 weeks. The law is intended to prevent forced marriages but it would appear it also serves as a great deterrent for anyone with a slightly warped sense of humor.
Don’t set your wedding location on fire. Just don’t, unless you’re like Tatsuhiko Kawata of Japan. This particular groom really did not want to go through with his wedding so he set the resort hotel on fire. He was quoted as saying, “I thought if I set a fire, I wouldn’t have to go through with the wedding.” And why was he so hesitant? Well, Mr. Kawata already had a Mrs. Kawata. That’s definitely a good reason not to get married. It certainly won’t solve the problem he likely had to face, though, when he called his wife to have her bail him out of jail for committing arson at his own wedding.
Don’t throw your bouquet at an airplane. Here’s why: The bouquet could get sucked into the plane’s engine, causing it to explode. Bride Isidoro Pensieri of Italy hired a microlight plane to fly past the crowd at their wedding so she could throw the bouquet to the eager single ladies in the crowd. And guess what happened to her bouquet? You guessed it. The plane crashed into a hostel and Pensieri had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for multiple fractures.
Don’t choose a random person to fill in as your best man. Why? He might decide to rob your DJ. In 2009, Nadia Clay and Terrance Simmons were happily celebrating at their reception when their best man, Johnny Smith, decided to pull a gun on DJ Kendrick Shepherd. Smith stole an expensive crystal decanter full of liquor and took off, but not before shooting a couple rounds into the air for effect. Perhaps it would’ve been better just to promote another groomsman to fill in as the best man if he was out of commission.
They Said It Wouldn’t Last… And It Didn’t!
Snippetz Says Here Comes The Bride: Wedding Season has Arrived!
“Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.”
– William Shakespeare
It’s supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. You are starting a life with that special someone, expressing your love for each other and vowing to stay together through good times and bad. But what does it take to make that big day perfect? And better yet, what does it cost? In the grand scheme of things, does planning and stressing out for months over picking the right color of the flowers that will be on the guests’ tables really make the day better? There’s no guarantee that your marriage will be successful, no matter how much or how little money you pump into the festivities. Nevertheless, Snippetz had to take a glimpse into the world of weddings to find out what some people are willing to go through for the sake of pulling off that perfect day…even if it all falls just a bit short.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
As of October 2012, the average wedding cost $28,082. Really?! That’s a decent down payment on a house! With reception food costs averaging over $4,000, it’s enough to make anyone consider rounding up some family to pitch in and work out a potluck-type affair. Gifts for the bride and groom’s parents average $148. Did you even know you were supposed to buy gifts for the parents? Hair services cost about $71. Flowers and decorations cost about $1,800. A DJ costs about $748 but a live band could cost you about $1,751. Invitations, save the date cards, place cards, etc. altogether could cost about $800 total.
Naturally, all those costs vary depending on where your nuptials take place. For a wedding set in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas) the average wedding costs about $65,824; West Virginia’s average wedding costs about $14,203.
So how long does it take for the bride and groom to actually take the plunge once they have gotten engaged? The averages, yet again, vary depending on your location. New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania top the charts with the longest engagements at about 16 months, while couples from Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi have the shortest average engagements at an average of 12 months.
Now here’s a shocker for you: The states with the smallest number of wedding guests are (drumroll please) Hawaii and Nevada! Both average less than 80 guests. Perhaps gamblers who happen to wander in off the streets and Elvis impersonators don’t count as guests. The prize for the largest average number of guests goes to Iowa with 215.
Wedding “Do’s”
Weddings are no exception to the changing trends. So what’s in? For starters, brides and grooms…aw, who are we kidding? The brides really get the final say in the wedding details. And flowers are just one of those details that changes with the times. This year, the fresh-picked, natural, under-stated look is in. Gone are the mile-high centerpieces of years past, inhibiting conversation and tempting anyone with a mischievous streak to knock them over.
Another “do” is incorporating “green.” And by that, we mean recycled or tree-free papers used for invitations. And what about seeds or organic snacks instead of the traditional wedding favors? Looks like pastel mints and miniature bottles of bubbles are on their way out. Sad.
In the age of iPods, it seems logical that couples are choosing to personalize their reception music using playlists straight from their personal electronic devices. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a DJ who is just going to play the same cliché wedding songs over and over when you can just push “Play” and get your dance on?
Wedding “Don’ts”
It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the trends but there are some wedding “don’ts” that aren’t likely to change anytime soon. For example, it’s a major no-no to marry someone whom you have already married and divorced once before…and who has taken out a restraining order on you. Timothy Cole didn’t get the memo. He was arrested during his wedding in New York when police arrived after receiving reports that he was arguing with one of the guests. When police realized who was involved, they arrested Cole and charged him with first-degree criminal contempt for being too close to his bride, otherwise known as the woman he wasn’t to come within 300 feet of.
Don’t play Russian roulette at your reception. In 2010, a couple who married in Astrakhan, Russia had a guest who thought it would be fun to show how dangerous he could be by pretending to shoot himself in the head after a friend supposedly emptied the pistol’s chamber of all the bullets. Perhaps the unsuspecting man should’ve checked the chamber himself because with one squeeze of the trigger, he shot a rubber bullet into his temple.
Don’t say “I don’t.” At least, not if you’re getting married in Styr, Austria. Apparently, that’s what Tina Albrecht did when the official asked her that all-important question. She said it was a joke and immediately corrected herself, but according to Austrian law, if either party replies in the negative to said question, the wedding must be cancelled and can’t be rescheduled for 10 weeks. The law is intended to prevent forced marriages but it would appear it also serves as a great deterrent for anyone with a slightly warped sense of humor.
Don’t set your wedding location on fire. Just don’t, unless you’re like Tatsuhiko Kawata of Japan. This particular groom really did not want to go through with his wedding so he set the resort hotel on fire. He was quoted as saying, “I thought if I set a fire, I wouldn’t have to go through with the wedding.” And why was he so hesitant? Well, Mr. Kawata already had a Mrs. Kawata. That’s definitely a good reason not to get married. It certainly won’t solve the problem he likely had to face, though, when he called his wife to have her bail him out of jail for committing arson at his own wedding.
Don’t throw your bouquet at an airplane. Here’s why: The bouquet could get sucked into the plane’s engine, causing it to explode. Bride Isidoro Pensieri of Italy hired a microlight plane to fly past the crowd at their wedding so she could throw the bouquet to the eager single ladies in the crowd. And guess what happened to her bouquet? You guessed it. The plane crashed into a hostel and Pensieri had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for multiple fractures.
Don’t choose a random person to fill in as your best man. Why? He might decide to rob your DJ. In 2009, Nadia Clay and Terrance Simmons were happily celebrating at their reception when their best man, Johnny Smith, decided to pull a gun on DJ Kendrick Shepherd. Smith stole an expensive crystal decanter full of liquor and took off, but not before shooting a couple rounds into the air for effect. Perhaps it would’ve been better just to promote another groomsman to fill in as the best man if he was out of commission.
They Said It Wouldn’t Last… And It Didn’t!
- Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge tied the knot in a Las Vegas drive-thru wedding but figured out within 3 hours and they should have never done so. Result was divorce in 18 days.
- Britney Spears and Jason Alexander: annulled 55 hours after their Las Vegas wedding
- Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman: annulled 9 days after their Las Vegas wedding
- Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds: fortunately, their 2-week marriage in French Polynesia in 2008 was not legally binding so they didn’t go through with their planned nuptials after returning to the U.S.
- Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas: divorced after 29 days after their 3-hour engagement in 1994 (very efficient)
- Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries: annulled after 72 days and a purported $10 million price tag on the wedding
- Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney: 4 months after they wed in the U.S. Virgin Islands (at least it wasn’t Las Vegas)
Issue 602
Snippetz is Green about Spring Cleaning!
by Mona Sullivan
Whether you want to reduce chemicals in your home because of the toxic load it is having on your health or you care about our ecosystem, there are many safe alternatives to using standard household cleaners. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on environmentally friendly cleaning products either. Chances are you already have most of the ingredients needed for cleaning your home right in the kitchen or laundry room. You will be amazed at how enjoyable it is to clean your home without inhaling all those toxic fumes.
First, Get Some Basics
All you need for cleaning and disinfecting your home is borax, baking soda, liquid dish soap, vinegar, lemon and olive oil. These items coupled with some proper utensils such as spray bottles, rags (cut from 100% cotton old t-shirts), sponges, bucket and mop with a terry cloth cover, are all that you need to make your house shine.
There are a few things to remember before putting together your own cleaning products. First, spray bottles have a tendency to clog if using minerals in them such as borax and baking soda. Dissolve minerals completely with very hot water. Secondly, always take into consideration whether the water in your home is hard or soft. Hard water requires more soap for sudsing and more minerals for cleaning. Soft water has a low mineral content, requiring less soap and minerals. Vinegar and lemon juice are good acids for cleaning mineral buildup, so add more of these to your recipes if you have hard water. Thirdly, make sure that you wash your rags separately from the rest of your laundry and do not use any type of fabric softener in the washer or dryer.
Mirror, Mirror
Cleaning mirrors and glass without leaving streaks is usually a nightmare for most people. Bathroom mirrors can be cleaned with straight water from the sink. Wet a rag, wipe the entire mirror making sure to get off any stuck-on toothpaste or hairspray and dry completely with a clean rag. When drying, it’s important to make sure you are using a completely dry rag at the end of the wiping. This helps to buff out any streaks you may see. Looking at the mirror from different angles and going over with a dry rag again will help to remove streaking. You will be surprised at how many mirrors clean up quite well with just plain water. If you prefer to use a glass cleaner out of a spray bottle, a really good recipe is to mix 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 2 cups water and 1/4 teaspoon liquid dish soap.
It’s a Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It
Bathrooms can be one of the most difficult places to clean in the house. Not many people enjoy cleaning bathrooms due to the mineral buildup, soap scum, mold, mildew and germs. Let’s face it, unless you squeegee the tile and glass after every shower, you are bound to get mineral deposits, especially if you have hard water. For those of you who refuse to squeegee or your partner refuses, there is hope on eliminating most buildup. For a good scouring paste, mix 1/3 cup baking soda, 1/3 cup borax with 1 teaspoon dish soap; then add tiny amounts of water until you have a paste. Scoop this mixture onto a “Dobie” or cellulose sponge and scrub. Rinse thoroughly with water and a sponge or rag, as the paste will leave a residue. This paste is very effective on sinks and countertops as well. You will be impressed at how your faucets will shine. Showers/tubs made out of fiberglass scratch very easily, and it is recommended that a Dobie sponge or soft cloth be used for this application.
Toilets are a beast all in themselves. Those plastic brushes just do not get up under the rim. The only cleaning tool that can get every nook and cranny of your toilet is the good old-fashioned hand. So slap a pair of gloves on and go to it. Borax is a great disinfectant! Take ½ cup of borax and mix it with 1/8 cup water and 5 drops of dish soap. Using one paper towel, dip into the mixture and apply to the toilet starting at the tank top, moving downward until you have covered the entire outside including the seat, finishing off with putting the remaining mixture into the bowel and rubbing it in entirely under the rim, not leaving one area untouched. Throw away the paper towel and get two new ones and start wiping dry the entire toilet and seat. While flushing the toilet, swish the paper towel in the bowl to get rid of any residue. Leaving the borax in your toilet overnight will help get rid of stains as well as disinfect. Make sure you close the lid if you have a pet who likes to drink out of the toilet. You can also dump a bucket of water down the toilet to get rid of all the water before you start to clean. This will allow the borax mixture to cover more surface area inside the bowl.
By using borax in the bathroom, it helps prevent mold and mildew from forming. However, once mold gets into the caulking of your shower, the only way to get rid of it is by replacing the caulk. A great cleaner for the bathroom floor is to add 1/2 cup borax with a few drops of dish soap to a bucket (2 gallons) of hot water. Before you start washing the floor, go around the bathroom and wash the towel racks and toilet paper holder with this solution and wipe dry.
A Bit More Than The Feather Treatment
Wood furniture care can be a bit tricky depending on the type of wood and finish. For a general dusting, mix 1/2 teaspoon olive oil with a 1/4 cup lemon juice. Dab a soft rag into the solution and dust, polish and shine your wooden furniture. You can reuse this rag over and over again.
Don’t Touch That Chicken!
Everyone is always worried about bacteria in the kitchen. Mix 1 teaspoon borax, 3 tablespoons vinegar with 2 cups very hot tap water in a spray bottle. Spray down counters and wipe dry. Always remember that borax is a disinfectant and is much safer for you and the environment than bleach. For an all-purpose floor cleaner for the kitchen, mix 1 cup vinegar to one pail hot water with a couple of drops of dish soap. A great mop to use is called “ShMop.” It has a rectangular flat surface in which you put a terry cloth cover over. Dunk the terry cloth cover in your bucket of floor cleaner, ring out well, put on mop and away you go. It is a very efficient and effective way to clean all your flooring. The best feature about this mop is that it does not leave a lot of standing water on your floor and it dries extremely fast. Your hardwood floors will love you for it.
Benefits For All
We live in a time of conveniences. We want everything done quickly. However, we don’t think about the effect all those conveniences have on our life or the ecosystem of our planet. Using less chemicals and more natural cleaners means we may have to work a little harder. However, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. If we all began using one homemade non-toxic product, our environment would be greatly improved. Implementing inexpensive ingredients to clean our homes is not only a safer method but it makes sense economically as well. Challenge yourself to find a better way to help clean up our environment, our bodies and our pocketbooks!
Snippetz is Green about Spring Cleaning!
by Mona Sullivan
Whether you want to reduce chemicals in your home because of the toxic load it is having on your health or you care about our ecosystem, there are many safe alternatives to using standard household cleaners. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on environmentally friendly cleaning products either. Chances are you already have most of the ingredients needed for cleaning your home right in the kitchen or laundry room. You will be amazed at how enjoyable it is to clean your home without inhaling all those toxic fumes.
First, Get Some Basics
All you need for cleaning and disinfecting your home is borax, baking soda, liquid dish soap, vinegar, lemon and olive oil. These items coupled with some proper utensils such as spray bottles, rags (cut from 100% cotton old t-shirts), sponges, bucket and mop with a terry cloth cover, are all that you need to make your house shine.
There are a few things to remember before putting together your own cleaning products. First, spray bottles have a tendency to clog if using minerals in them such as borax and baking soda. Dissolve minerals completely with very hot water. Secondly, always take into consideration whether the water in your home is hard or soft. Hard water requires more soap for sudsing and more minerals for cleaning. Soft water has a low mineral content, requiring less soap and minerals. Vinegar and lemon juice are good acids for cleaning mineral buildup, so add more of these to your recipes if you have hard water. Thirdly, make sure that you wash your rags separately from the rest of your laundry and do not use any type of fabric softener in the washer or dryer.
Mirror, Mirror
Cleaning mirrors and glass without leaving streaks is usually a nightmare for most people. Bathroom mirrors can be cleaned with straight water from the sink. Wet a rag, wipe the entire mirror making sure to get off any stuck-on toothpaste or hairspray and dry completely with a clean rag. When drying, it’s important to make sure you are using a completely dry rag at the end of the wiping. This helps to buff out any streaks you may see. Looking at the mirror from different angles and going over with a dry rag again will help to remove streaking. You will be surprised at how many mirrors clean up quite well with just plain water. If you prefer to use a glass cleaner out of a spray bottle, a really good recipe is to mix 3 tablespoons white vinegar, 2 cups water and 1/4 teaspoon liquid dish soap.
It’s a Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It
Bathrooms can be one of the most difficult places to clean in the house. Not many people enjoy cleaning bathrooms due to the mineral buildup, soap scum, mold, mildew and germs. Let’s face it, unless you squeegee the tile and glass after every shower, you are bound to get mineral deposits, especially if you have hard water. For those of you who refuse to squeegee or your partner refuses, there is hope on eliminating most buildup. For a good scouring paste, mix 1/3 cup baking soda, 1/3 cup borax with 1 teaspoon dish soap; then add tiny amounts of water until you have a paste. Scoop this mixture onto a “Dobie” or cellulose sponge and scrub. Rinse thoroughly with water and a sponge or rag, as the paste will leave a residue. This paste is very effective on sinks and countertops as well. You will be impressed at how your faucets will shine. Showers/tubs made out of fiberglass scratch very easily, and it is recommended that a Dobie sponge or soft cloth be used for this application.
Toilets are a beast all in themselves. Those plastic brushes just do not get up under the rim. The only cleaning tool that can get every nook and cranny of your toilet is the good old-fashioned hand. So slap a pair of gloves on and go to it. Borax is a great disinfectant! Take ½ cup of borax and mix it with 1/8 cup water and 5 drops of dish soap. Using one paper towel, dip into the mixture and apply to the toilet starting at the tank top, moving downward until you have covered the entire outside including the seat, finishing off with putting the remaining mixture into the bowel and rubbing it in entirely under the rim, not leaving one area untouched. Throw away the paper towel and get two new ones and start wiping dry the entire toilet and seat. While flushing the toilet, swish the paper towel in the bowl to get rid of any residue. Leaving the borax in your toilet overnight will help get rid of stains as well as disinfect. Make sure you close the lid if you have a pet who likes to drink out of the toilet. You can also dump a bucket of water down the toilet to get rid of all the water before you start to clean. This will allow the borax mixture to cover more surface area inside the bowl.
By using borax in the bathroom, it helps prevent mold and mildew from forming. However, once mold gets into the caulking of your shower, the only way to get rid of it is by replacing the caulk. A great cleaner for the bathroom floor is to add 1/2 cup borax with a few drops of dish soap to a bucket (2 gallons) of hot water. Before you start washing the floor, go around the bathroom and wash the towel racks and toilet paper holder with this solution and wipe dry.
A Bit More Than The Feather Treatment
Wood furniture care can be a bit tricky depending on the type of wood and finish. For a general dusting, mix 1/2 teaspoon olive oil with a 1/4 cup lemon juice. Dab a soft rag into the solution and dust, polish and shine your wooden furniture. You can reuse this rag over and over again.
Don’t Touch That Chicken!
Everyone is always worried about bacteria in the kitchen. Mix 1 teaspoon borax, 3 tablespoons vinegar with 2 cups very hot tap water in a spray bottle. Spray down counters and wipe dry. Always remember that borax is a disinfectant and is much safer for you and the environment than bleach. For an all-purpose floor cleaner for the kitchen, mix 1 cup vinegar to one pail hot water with a couple of drops of dish soap. A great mop to use is called “ShMop.” It has a rectangular flat surface in which you put a terry cloth cover over. Dunk the terry cloth cover in your bucket of floor cleaner, ring out well, put on mop and away you go. It is a very efficient and effective way to clean all your flooring. The best feature about this mop is that it does not leave a lot of standing water on your floor and it dries extremely fast. Your hardwood floors will love you for it.
Benefits For All
We live in a time of conveniences. We want everything done quickly. However, we don’t think about the effect all those conveniences have on our life or the ecosystem of our planet. Using less chemicals and more natural cleaners means we may have to work a little harder. However, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. If we all began using one homemade non-toxic product, our environment would be greatly improved. Implementing inexpensive ingredients to clean our homes is not only a safer method but it makes sense economically as well. Challenge yourself to find a better way to help clean up our environment, our bodies and our pocketbooks!
Issue 601
Think You've Seen It All? Guess Again! Snippetz Has a Few Unusual Museum Ideas for You!
“If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day.”
– John Archibald Wheeler
Summer is right around the corner and many people are making plans to get out of town on a vacation. But where to go? Anyone could go to exotic places like the Louvre in Paris or the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. or perhaps something local like the Pioneers Museum in Colorado Springs. Why waste your vacation going to the same old museums? This year, consider something a little more…out there. As always, Snippetz has compiled a list of some pretty interesting places. On a scale of one to awesome, these places are awesome. So enjoy perusing our list, dear friends and maybe one of these unusual locations will tickle your fancy and inspire a vacation to rival all other vacations!
Avanos Hair Museum
Avanos, Turkey is an area more commonly known for its earthenware pottery made from mud from the Red River. However, the Avanos Hair Museum has created a new point of interest for the town. And just how does one come into possession of over 16,000 samples of hair from women across the globe?
It’s said that owner Chez Galip, a well-known potter, built the museum underneath his pottery shop roughly 30 years ago when a female friend had to leave Avanos. Galip was very distraught at her impending departure so his friend cut a piece of her hair off as a memento by which he could remember her. In the years that followed, other women who visited his shop heard the story and decided to add their locks to his collection, along with their complete address. The hair samples completely cover the walls, ceiling and any other surface besides that floor inside the cave below the workshop. If you are afflicted with chaetophobia, the fear of hair, this museum should not be on your must-see list of museums.
But why does each sample contain an address? Well, every year in June and December, the first customer to enter Galip’s shop is taken down to the Hair Museum to choose 10 samples off the wall. The women who donated those samples receive a week-long all-expenses-paid trip to Cappadocia, Turkey. They are also invited to participate in Galip’s pottery workshops, free of charge. It’s said that this is his way of thanking all the women who have contributed to his hair museum over the years, which has helped bring customers into his pottery shop.
There is no charge to visit the Hair Museum but women are provided the means to leave their own hair sample, should they choose to do so.
The Dog Collar Museum
In the Gatehouse of Leeds Castle in Kent, England, canine accessories is the name of the game. The Dog Collar Museum features over 100 different and unique collars and other neckwear, dating from as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries.
The location of the museum is significant considering the last person to own the estate was Lady Baillie. Still unclear on the significance? Well, born Olive Cecilia Paget in the United States in 1899, Lady Baillie became owner of Leeds Castle following her marriage and subsequent divorce to Arthur Wilson Filmer, with whom she purchased the estate in the late 1920s. It’s said that Lady Baillie was a great dog lover, described as always having several dogs at any given time.
One of the most popular pieces in the museum is one of the oldest: a collar adorned with spikes, intended to protect the wearer from other animals. Is it wrong to assume that this is where modern day punk rockers got their sense of style? Punk rock did originate in England, after all. Way to go Dog Collar Museum!
British Lawnmower Museum
In keeping with our European theme, we move on to the British Lawnmower Museum, located in Southport, Merseyside, England. This museum highlights the history of this device from the last 200 years and even has a lawnmower owned by Prince Charles and Princess Diana on display.
The first modern lawnmower is attributed to Edwin Beard Budding who designed a machine to trim the hems of Guardmen’s uniforms back in 1830. Apparently, his machine doubled as a lawnmower. Also included in the more than 300 lawnmowers in the museum’s collection are the patent and blueprints for a lawnmower dating back to 1799.
The collection ranges from the world’s most expensive lawnmower, a commercial grade mower costing about $90,000 to the world’s smallest lawnmower, measuring less than five centimeters high. And let’s not forget the first solar-powered robot lawnmower.
Thank you, Britain, for keeping the lawnmower’s history alive.
The SPAM® Museum
Leave it to Americans to build a museum devoted entirely to a manufactured meat product. Located in Austin, Minn., the 16,500 square foot museum is known by several different names: The Guggenham, Porkopolis, or M.O.M.A (Museum Of Meat-Themed Awesomeness).
Initially introduced by the Hormel Foods Corporation in 1937, SPAM® is canned, precooked spiced ham. The name is actually just a shortened version of spiced ham. Since its inception, several different offshoots of the original flavor have been debuted: Hot & Spicy with Tabasco, Jalapeño, Garlic, Bacon and spreadable to name a few.
Besides a variety of different SPAM®- specific historical facts included in the more than 400-item collection, visitors can replenish their SPAM® supply at the SPAM® store.
The Washington Banana Museum
If meat-themed awesomeness isn’t quite your cup of tea, perhaps The Washington Banana Museum is. Located in Auburn, Wash., the museum boasts close to 4,000 banana-related items. Ann Mitchell Lovell runs the museum and also proudly advertises the online version of the museum for those banana lovers that can’t make the journey to her museum in person.
Lovell’s knowledge of the banana is somewhat staggering. It makes sense since the average American is said to eat about 150 bananas per year, while she claims to average 365. If it weren’t for the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, she might not have ever been able to enjoy this particular fruit. The banana was introduced to the average American citizen at this exposition, alongside such lesser-known items like Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
Not to be forgotten is the 1944 song by Louis Prima, Jack Zero and Ben Jaffe called, “Please No Squeeza da Banana,” clearly illustrating the banana’s importance in America at the time.
Other Museums of Note
Think You've Seen It All? Guess Again! Snippetz Has a Few Unusual Museum Ideas for You!
“If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day.”
– John Archibald Wheeler
Summer is right around the corner and many people are making plans to get out of town on a vacation. But where to go? Anyone could go to exotic places like the Louvre in Paris or the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. or perhaps something local like the Pioneers Museum in Colorado Springs. Why waste your vacation going to the same old museums? This year, consider something a little more…out there. As always, Snippetz has compiled a list of some pretty interesting places. On a scale of one to awesome, these places are awesome. So enjoy perusing our list, dear friends and maybe one of these unusual locations will tickle your fancy and inspire a vacation to rival all other vacations!
Avanos Hair Museum
Avanos, Turkey is an area more commonly known for its earthenware pottery made from mud from the Red River. However, the Avanos Hair Museum has created a new point of interest for the town. And just how does one come into possession of over 16,000 samples of hair from women across the globe?
It’s said that owner Chez Galip, a well-known potter, built the museum underneath his pottery shop roughly 30 years ago when a female friend had to leave Avanos. Galip was very distraught at her impending departure so his friend cut a piece of her hair off as a memento by which he could remember her. In the years that followed, other women who visited his shop heard the story and decided to add their locks to his collection, along with their complete address. The hair samples completely cover the walls, ceiling and any other surface besides that floor inside the cave below the workshop. If you are afflicted with chaetophobia, the fear of hair, this museum should not be on your must-see list of museums.
But why does each sample contain an address? Well, every year in June and December, the first customer to enter Galip’s shop is taken down to the Hair Museum to choose 10 samples off the wall. The women who donated those samples receive a week-long all-expenses-paid trip to Cappadocia, Turkey. They are also invited to participate in Galip’s pottery workshops, free of charge. It’s said that this is his way of thanking all the women who have contributed to his hair museum over the years, which has helped bring customers into his pottery shop.
There is no charge to visit the Hair Museum but women are provided the means to leave their own hair sample, should they choose to do so.
The Dog Collar Museum
In the Gatehouse of Leeds Castle in Kent, England, canine accessories is the name of the game. The Dog Collar Museum features over 100 different and unique collars and other neckwear, dating from as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries.
The location of the museum is significant considering the last person to own the estate was Lady Baillie. Still unclear on the significance? Well, born Olive Cecilia Paget in the United States in 1899, Lady Baillie became owner of Leeds Castle following her marriage and subsequent divorce to Arthur Wilson Filmer, with whom she purchased the estate in the late 1920s. It’s said that Lady Baillie was a great dog lover, described as always having several dogs at any given time.
One of the most popular pieces in the museum is one of the oldest: a collar adorned with spikes, intended to protect the wearer from other animals. Is it wrong to assume that this is where modern day punk rockers got their sense of style? Punk rock did originate in England, after all. Way to go Dog Collar Museum!
British Lawnmower Museum
In keeping with our European theme, we move on to the British Lawnmower Museum, located in Southport, Merseyside, England. This museum highlights the history of this device from the last 200 years and even has a lawnmower owned by Prince Charles and Princess Diana on display.
The first modern lawnmower is attributed to Edwin Beard Budding who designed a machine to trim the hems of Guardmen’s uniforms back in 1830. Apparently, his machine doubled as a lawnmower. Also included in the more than 300 lawnmowers in the museum’s collection are the patent and blueprints for a lawnmower dating back to 1799.
The collection ranges from the world’s most expensive lawnmower, a commercial grade mower costing about $90,000 to the world’s smallest lawnmower, measuring less than five centimeters high. And let’s not forget the first solar-powered robot lawnmower.
Thank you, Britain, for keeping the lawnmower’s history alive.
The SPAM® Museum
Leave it to Americans to build a museum devoted entirely to a manufactured meat product. Located in Austin, Minn., the 16,500 square foot museum is known by several different names: The Guggenham, Porkopolis, or M.O.M.A (Museum Of Meat-Themed Awesomeness).
Initially introduced by the Hormel Foods Corporation in 1937, SPAM® is canned, precooked spiced ham. The name is actually just a shortened version of spiced ham. Since its inception, several different offshoots of the original flavor have been debuted: Hot & Spicy with Tabasco, Jalapeño, Garlic, Bacon and spreadable to name a few.
Besides a variety of different SPAM®- specific historical facts included in the more than 400-item collection, visitors can replenish their SPAM® supply at the SPAM® store.
The Washington Banana Museum
If meat-themed awesomeness isn’t quite your cup of tea, perhaps The Washington Banana Museum is. Located in Auburn, Wash., the museum boasts close to 4,000 banana-related items. Ann Mitchell Lovell runs the museum and also proudly advertises the online version of the museum for those banana lovers that can’t make the journey to her museum in person.
Lovell’s knowledge of the banana is somewhat staggering. It makes sense since the average American is said to eat about 150 bananas per year, while she claims to average 365. If it weren’t for the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, she might not have ever been able to enjoy this particular fruit. The banana was introduced to the average American citizen at this exposition, alongside such lesser-known items like Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
Not to be forgotten is the 1944 song by Louis Prima, Jack Zero and Ben Jaffe called, “Please No Squeeza da Banana,” clearly illustrating the banana’s importance in America at the time.
Other Museums of Note
- The Mustard Museum – located in Middleton, Wisc., it displays a collection of more than 5,300 mustards from more than 60 countries.
- Siriraj Medical Museum – located in Thailand and more commonly known as the Museum of Death, it displays items such as the museum founder’s skeleton, severed and mutilated arms and legs, and the mummified body of the famous cannibal Si Ouey.
- Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum – located in Japan, it displays a massive statue of the instant ramen noodle creator Momofuku Ando standing atop a cup of instant ramen and provides a kitchen for visitors to make their own ramen meal.
- Beijing Tap Water Museum – located in China, it displays 130 items ranging from vintage water coupons from the first tap water company in the city of Beijing to “real” taps.
- Museum of Crutches – located in Naphthalan, Azerbaijan, this museum is said to contain crutches from people who came to the city injured and sick, bathed in the local oils and left completely cured.
- The Garbage Museum – located in Stratford, Conn., this museum has a Trash-o-saurus made from a ton of trash (literally).
Issue 600
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Snippetz Delves Into The Magical World of Dr. Seuss
“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cell. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
– Dr. Seuss
Tonight, before they go to bed, millions of children all over the world will listen to a story about a fox in socks or perhaps a tree-loving creature called the Lorax. Or maybe they’ll hear about Yertle the Turtle. The man responsible for such fantastical stories is Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Arguably one of the most influential and creative writers of the 20th century, Dr. Seuss had the incredible ability to create worlds within worlds that have entertained the young and old alike. So how does the childless son of Bavarian immigrants become a global children’s literature icon? That’s where Snippetz comes in; we’ve done the hard work for you so read on and get to know a little more about Dr. Seuss!
You say potato, I say potahto…
First off, let’s set the record straight. The name “Seuss” was the writer’s middle name and his mother’s maiden name. But all this time, people have been pronouncing it incorrectly. It’s actually pronounced “zoice,” as in voice with a z. Dr. Seuss used his name in several different variations over the course of his life, including Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, Theo LeSieg (which is Geisel spelled backwards) T. Seuss, and Seuss. Obviously, the one that stuck was his faux-doctoral title which he adopted in 1927 and then shortened to just Dr. Seuss in 1928. When his work became popular, the mispronunciation was never corrected and Dr. Zoice became Dr. Soose.
Not your ordinary doctor
Born on Mar. 2, 1904, in Springfield Mass., Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel had a relatively run-of-the-mill upbringing. He graduated high school in 1921 and went to Dartmouth College. Geisel began writing and drawing for the school’s humor magazine called the “Jack-O-Lantern” and worked his way up to editor-in-chief.
Everything seemed to be going well for the young writer/artist. But this was the time of Prohibition and the future Dr. Seuss wasn’t above the law. When he got caught drinking gin in his dorm room with nine other friends, the dean of students, Craven Laycock, banned Geisel from participating in any extracurricular activities including the “Jack-O-Lantern.” Not to be so easily dismissed, he continued to write and submit cartoon drawings for the magazine under the name “Seuss.”
Geisel graduated from Dartmouth in 1925 and headed to Oxford where he intended to study for a Doctorate of Philosophy in English. It’s said that although Geisel sincerely attempted to take his studies seriously, his notebooks were often filled more with drawings and sketches than with notes from the lectures.
Apparently, his doodlings caught the eye of a fellow classmate, Helen Palmer who is said to have commented, “You’re crazy to be a professor. What you really want to do is draw. That’s a very fine flying cow!” Geisel agreed and dropped out of Oxford.
By 1927, Palmer had finished her Master of Arts degree and moved with Geisel to the United States where the couple married. In a small apartment in New York, Geisel worked on his cartoons, hoping to make a living for himself and his new bride. A year went by without much success. Then, in 1928, officially drawing cartoons under the name Dr. Seuss, he submitted a cartoon to Judge magazine which referenced an insecticide called Flit. The cartoon was of a knight who said, “Darn it all, another dragon. And just after I’d sprayed the whole castle with Flit!”
Piggybacking off the initial cartoon, Dr. Seuss created an entire campaign for Flit, incorporating the phrase, “Quick, Henry, the Flit!” This campaign marked the first major ad campaign based on humorous cartoons, wrote Robert Cahn in his 1957 Dr. Seuss profile.
And with that, Dr. Seuss began his 30-year career writing and drawing advertisements. His achievements included ads for NBC, General Electric and Holly Sugar among others.
Introducing the new Dr. Seuss
It wasn’t until 1936 when Dr. Seuss was on a trans-Atlantic boat ride back from Europe that he was able to put together a children’s story that pleased publishers. The text in “And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” was his way of entertaining himself while on the trip; he put together the entire story to coincide with the rhythms of the ship’s engines. The Mulberry Street he wrote about was actually a street that was just a few blocks away from where Dr. Seuss grew up in Springfield, Mass.
Although Dr. Seuss has been less than forthcoming with the exact number of publishers that initially rejected his new book, the general consensus is that the number is somewhere between 20 and 29. It’s said that Dr. Seuss was literally about to throw the book away as he wandered down Madison Avenue when a former classmate, who just happened to have been promoted to juvenile editor of Vanguard Press, bumped into him. Mike McClintock immediately took Dr. Seuss and his book to the Vanguard offices where he drafted a contract for the book.
By 1941, Dr. Seuss had written and published four children’s books and was working on his fifth. But with the onset of World War II, Dr. Seuss set his sights on a different type of writing. He began writing and drawing political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM. Dr. Seuss spent 21 months in that position, where he developed a strong political point of view.
Dr. Seuss made his opinions most obvious in several stories that he wrote after WWII ended. In 1958, he wrote “Yertle the Turtle,” the inspiration for which he supposedly took from Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Having experienced some racial prejudice while he was in college, Dr. Seuss also had strong feelings about discrimination, which he illustrated in 1961 in “The Sneetches.” It is said that those experiences, in addition to the anti-Semitism that raged during the war, helped him create a world where “Sneetches are Sneetches / And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.”
He picked up on the political theme when he wrote “The Butter Battle Book” which it is said shows his concern about President Ronald Reagan’s contribution to the progression of the nuclear arms race.
Leaving a legacy…
By 1960, he and his wife, along with Phyllis Cerf founded Beginner Books, a division of Random House. Through this company, Dr. Seuss published “Green Eggs and Ham,” his best-selling title to date. In total, Dr. Seuss published 46 children’s books over the course of his lifetime. He has been called America’s best-known reading teacher, although it’s said that Dr. Seuss didn’t intend to teach children to read through his books; he wanted them to think. He said, “Children’s reading and children’s thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.”
Dr. Seuss died on Sept. 24, 1991 at the age of 87 after succumbing to throat cancer. He left behind his second wife, Audrey and her two adult children Lark and Lea.
Seuss Snippetz
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Snippetz Delves Into The Magical World of Dr. Seuss
“I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cell. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
– Dr. Seuss
Tonight, before they go to bed, millions of children all over the world will listen to a story about a fox in socks or perhaps a tree-loving creature called the Lorax. Or maybe they’ll hear about Yertle the Turtle. The man responsible for such fantastical stories is Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Arguably one of the most influential and creative writers of the 20th century, Dr. Seuss had the incredible ability to create worlds within worlds that have entertained the young and old alike. So how does the childless son of Bavarian immigrants become a global children’s literature icon? That’s where Snippetz comes in; we’ve done the hard work for you so read on and get to know a little more about Dr. Seuss!
You say potato, I say potahto…
First off, let’s set the record straight. The name “Seuss” was the writer’s middle name and his mother’s maiden name. But all this time, people have been pronouncing it incorrectly. It’s actually pronounced “zoice,” as in voice with a z. Dr. Seuss used his name in several different variations over the course of his life, including Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, Theo LeSieg (which is Geisel spelled backwards) T. Seuss, and Seuss. Obviously, the one that stuck was his faux-doctoral title which he adopted in 1927 and then shortened to just Dr. Seuss in 1928. When his work became popular, the mispronunciation was never corrected and Dr. Zoice became Dr. Soose.
Not your ordinary doctor
Born on Mar. 2, 1904, in Springfield Mass., Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel had a relatively run-of-the-mill upbringing. He graduated high school in 1921 and went to Dartmouth College. Geisel began writing and drawing for the school’s humor magazine called the “Jack-O-Lantern” and worked his way up to editor-in-chief.
Everything seemed to be going well for the young writer/artist. But this was the time of Prohibition and the future Dr. Seuss wasn’t above the law. When he got caught drinking gin in his dorm room with nine other friends, the dean of students, Craven Laycock, banned Geisel from participating in any extracurricular activities including the “Jack-O-Lantern.” Not to be so easily dismissed, he continued to write and submit cartoon drawings for the magazine under the name “Seuss.”
Geisel graduated from Dartmouth in 1925 and headed to Oxford where he intended to study for a Doctorate of Philosophy in English. It’s said that although Geisel sincerely attempted to take his studies seriously, his notebooks were often filled more with drawings and sketches than with notes from the lectures.
Apparently, his doodlings caught the eye of a fellow classmate, Helen Palmer who is said to have commented, “You’re crazy to be a professor. What you really want to do is draw. That’s a very fine flying cow!” Geisel agreed and dropped out of Oxford.
By 1927, Palmer had finished her Master of Arts degree and moved with Geisel to the United States where the couple married. In a small apartment in New York, Geisel worked on his cartoons, hoping to make a living for himself and his new bride. A year went by without much success. Then, in 1928, officially drawing cartoons under the name Dr. Seuss, he submitted a cartoon to Judge magazine which referenced an insecticide called Flit. The cartoon was of a knight who said, “Darn it all, another dragon. And just after I’d sprayed the whole castle with Flit!”
Piggybacking off the initial cartoon, Dr. Seuss created an entire campaign for Flit, incorporating the phrase, “Quick, Henry, the Flit!” This campaign marked the first major ad campaign based on humorous cartoons, wrote Robert Cahn in his 1957 Dr. Seuss profile.
And with that, Dr. Seuss began his 30-year career writing and drawing advertisements. His achievements included ads for NBC, General Electric and Holly Sugar among others.
Introducing the new Dr. Seuss
It wasn’t until 1936 when Dr. Seuss was on a trans-Atlantic boat ride back from Europe that he was able to put together a children’s story that pleased publishers. The text in “And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street” was his way of entertaining himself while on the trip; he put together the entire story to coincide with the rhythms of the ship’s engines. The Mulberry Street he wrote about was actually a street that was just a few blocks away from where Dr. Seuss grew up in Springfield, Mass.
Although Dr. Seuss has been less than forthcoming with the exact number of publishers that initially rejected his new book, the general consensus is that the number is somewhere between 20 and 29. It’s said that Dr. Seuss was literally about to throw the book away as he wandered down Madison Avenue when a former classmate, who just happened to have been promoted to juvenile editor of Vanguard Press, bumped into him. Mike McClintock immediately took Dr. Seuss and his book to the Vanguard offices where he drafted a contract for the book.
By 1941, Dr. Seuss had written and published four children’s books and was working on his fifth. But with the onset of World War II, Dr. Seuss set his sights on a different type of writing. He began writing and drawing political cartoons for the New York newspaper PM. Dr. Seuss spent 21 months in that position, where he developed a strong political point of view.
Dr. Seuss made his opinions most obvious in several stories that he wrote after WWII ended. In 1958, he wrote “Yertle the Turtle,” the inspiration for which he supposedly took from Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Having experienced some racial prejudice while he was in college, Dr. Seuss also had strong feelings about discrimination, which he illustrated in 1961 in “The Sneetches.” It is said that those experiences, in addition to the anti-Semitism that raged during the war, helped him create a world where “Sneetches are Sneetches / And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.”
He picked up on the political theme when he wrote “The Butter Battle Book” which it is said shows his concern about President Ronald Reagan’s contribution to the progression of the nuclear arms race.
Leaving a legacy…
By 1960, he and his wife, along with Phyllis Cerf founded Beginner Books, a division of Random House. Through this company, Dr. Seuss published “Green Eggs and Ham,” his best-selling title to date. In total, Dr. Seuss published 46 children’s books over the course of his lifetime. He has been called America’s best-known reading teacher, although it’s said that Dr. Seuss didn’t intend to teach children to read through his books; he wanted them to think. He said, “Children’s reading and children’s thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on earth.”
Dr. Seuss died on Sept. 24, 1991 at the age of 87 after succumbing to throat cancer. He left behind his second wife, Audrey and her two adult children Lark and Lea.
Seuss Snippetz
- Dr. Seuss once claimed that the ideas for his stories came from a town called Uber Gletch, located 2,000 feet above Gletch in Switzerland. He said he went there every Aug. 4 to get his cuckoo clock repaired and while it was being fixed, he talked to people in the town who gave him story ideas.
- “Nerd” first appeared in Dr. Seuss’s “If I Ran the Zoo.”
- In 1939, Dr. Seuss went into business with Ralph Warren to invent an Infantograph, which claimed it could show what a couple’s children would look like. It didn’t work.
- Dr. Seuss wrote several books for adults, including “The Seven Lady Godivas” in 1939, which included illustrations of nude people.
- During WWII, Dr. Seuss wrote “Design for Death” a documentary about Japanese culture that won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Bringing You The Facts, You Never Knew, You Needed To Know!
