Super Fun Time Happening Yes

a pineapple is neither a pine, nor an apple...?

2008-01-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

So why is called a pineapple if its not an apple and doesn't grow on pine trees?

From Wikipedia:

The name pineapple in English comes from the similarity of the fruit to a pine cone.
The word "pineapple", first recorded in 1398, was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones). When European explorers discovered this tropical fruit, they called them "pineapples" (term first recorded in that sense in 1664) because it resembled what we know as pine cones. The term "pine cone" was first recorded in 1694 to replace the original meaning of "pineapple".[1]

Kind of less interesting than I was hoping. Oh well. Its something that I had been wondering for quite a while now.

Bulgogi and Rice

2008-01-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

A fine tune that only old ville rats would find funny:

come walk with me down to anjung-ri
so many wonderful sites to see
from prostitutes to DVDs
bling bling selling adashis
it's the first of the month and i just got paid
so tell those juicies i'm on my way
i'm wearing the suit that i just had made
it's guaranteed to get me laid
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
it makes me feel nice
bulgogi and rice
and yaki-mandu
going down town to clear mind
because you can spell juicy without uic
chicken on stick makes my stomach turn
I can't wait till the next burger burn
we work real hard and now it's time to play
so all rally up down at IDK
let's kick our boot off and lets have some fun
and celebrate getting off G01
but let me warn you from the very start
don't ever start you night off with a ten man march
cause 20 shots later i'm on the floor
and my wingman draggin me out the door
i don't want to leave but i know i must
gotta catch the drunkbus
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
it makes me feel nice
bulgogi and rice
It's OK
woke up the next morning at revelry
to run 3 miles for my PT
I like to stay strong and i like to stay fit
but nothing kills a hangover like the smell of PIG SHIT
so i show up to work at 9:02
with a half shaved face and reaking of booze
i sober up at half past four
it's almost time to go drink some more
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
it makes me feel nice
bulgogi and rice
and yaki-mandu
i went up[ to Osan for a little change
i saw the same damn juicy with a different name
i bought a fake purse for my lovely wife
i got a air assault piston and a switch blade knive
i had so much fun it's hard to believe
i don't want to go
but i can't wait till leave
so if there is any one thing that you learn from me
it's enjoy yourself but stay away from kimchi
cause it will make you fart
it will make you itch
you'll be puking inside a binjo ditch
they make that stuff by letting it rot
it smells like garbage and tastes like snot
but the best thing to eat
just in case you forgot
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
bulgogi and rice
it makes me feel nice
bulgogi and rice
and yaki-mandu

http://mybeautifulkorea.com/index.php?blog=7&title=bulgogi_and_rice_song&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Orange: Fruit vs. Color - Which came first?

2008-01-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

Are oranges called oranges because they are orange? Or is the color named after the fruit?

The color is named after the fruit.

From Wikipedia:

Orange derives from Sanskrit nāraṅgaḥ "orange tree", with borrowings through Persian nārang, Arabic nāranj, Spanish naranja, Late Latin arangia, Italian arancia or arancio, and Old French orenge, in chronological order. The first appearance in English dates from the 14th century. The name of the colour is largely derived from the fruit, first appearing in this sense in the 16th century.
The Emperor Baber, in his memoirs, mentions the "naranj" as one of the kinds of Citrus he found in India. ... He says little about the Indian oranges, but a good deal about those of Central Asia, and the N.W. frontier of India. He adds that in the latter part it is called narank. The kinds he alludes to are evidently sweet oranges of some sort (vide Baber's memoirs, Appendix No. 1(a)) Risso, in his monograph, gives "narandj" as the Arabic Synonym of the Citrus Bigaradia, the Seville orange, and Alphonse de Candolle credits the Arabs with having transported the bitter orange from Western India to Persia, Arabia, Syria, Northern Africa, and Spain. The Arab physicians are known to have used it in their pharmaceutical preparations. The Arab name naranj may or may not have been derived from nagrung, the supposed Sanskrit name for orange. Actually, the color orange came before the fruit because you cannot not call the tree orange unless orange already existed as a color.
—Bonavia, 1888[1]
Multiple sources conjecture that the Sanskrit word itself derives from an unknown Dravidian source, based on the historical spread of oranges through the world (cf. Tamil 'nram', Tulu 'nregi').
According to another source[citation needed], the name 'Orange' come from Tamil word 'Aru'('Or') meaning 'Six' + 'Anju' ('ange') meaning 'five'. The fruit typically has 11 pieces inside which when you cut into half has 6('Aru') pieces in one half and 5('five') pieces on the other.
There is disagreement as to whether the Old French borrowed the Italian melarancio (with mela "fruit", i.e. melarancio "fruit of the orange tree") as pume orenge (with pume "fruit") (deMause, 1998), or whether it borrowed Arabic nāranj, with no intermediate step (AHD, 2000). In any case, the initial n was lost before the word entered English.
The French shift from arenge to orenge may have been influenced by the French word or (gold) — in reference to the colour of oranges — or by the name of Orange, France, a major distribution point of oranges to northern regions. The name of the village did not derive from the word: in Old Provençal, it was known as Aurenja, with the initial sound later shifting (McPhee, 1975) (the original Roman name of the village was Arausio and came from a Celtic water god). The village name and fruit name thus converged coincidentally, one becoming associated with the other (conflation).
Later, the sovereign principality of Orange was the property of the House of Orange (later House of Orange-Nassau), which adopted both fruit and colour (already associated with the principality) as its symbols. Many things were in turn named after this royal House, which is the present ruling monarchy of the Netherlands.
In Dutch the fruit is known as Sinaasappel or Appelsien (both derived from "Chinese apples"), and words similar to Appelsien are found in a number of Germanic, Slavic, and Ural-Altaic languages. A few other Slavic languages use words derived from Latin "Pomum aurantium", which similarly meant "Golden apples" -- as did the Ancient Greek term, Chrisomilia. The modern Hebrew "Tapuah Zahav" means "Golden Apple" and is usually shortened to "Tapuz". Modern Greek, and many languages of the Middle East -- from Ethiopia to Azerbaijan to Romania -- use words derived from the country name "Portugal", at one time the major source of imported oranges in the Middle East. See this comprehensive discussion about the etymology of the word "Orange" in various languages.

Manila City vs. Manila Envelope

2008-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

Today I was wondering to myself if manila envelopes were named for the city.

Here is the answer:

The ubiquitous and sturdy office folders owe their name to manila hemp or abaca, a type of fiber that comes from a relative of the banana plant. Commonly used for ropes, paper products, and coarse fabrics, manila hemp is indigenous to the Philippines and gets its name from the country's capital.
Abaca was first introduced in the West in the early 1800s and was primarily used for cordage. Until stronger synthetic fibers were invented, abaca was the primary source for marine ropes because of its strength, water-resistant properties, and lightness.
Today, those same qualities make it the perfect ingredient for durable paper products like currency notes, high-quality writing paper, and of course, the stack of folders sitting on your desk.

http://ask.yahoo.com/20031110.html

Astronaut Carving In Temple

2008-01-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

From IndianPad via the Fortean Times:

Inside the splendid Ieronimus Cathedral, built by Episcope de Salamanca in 1102 A.D., among the fascinating carvings of mythical animals and saints, we find – NASA Astronaut…Maybe they entered some time portal while on the Moon, and ended up scaring medieval builders in Spain? Probably just a modern addition by the mischievous restoration team.

http://www.indianpad.com/story/167698

Scooter

2008-01-08T12:12:00.001-08:00

Here is my cat.

Ken Kramer's About San Diego

2008-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ken Kramer's "About San Diego" is one of the coolest shows on TV. I learn the coolest stuff when I watch the show. For example, Cowles mountain was named after a guy named Cowles who founded a small town called Cowlestown. He died, and his wife married a new man and re-named the city after her new husband, who's last name was Santee. Cowles mountain is named after Cowles. Most people pronounce the mountain "Cow-ls" but he pronounced his name like "Coals".

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/aboutsandiego/index.html

The show is fun and interesting. I love it.

Turtles Never Die Of Old Age

2008-01-07T14:37:00.001-08:00

From "The Gullibility Test" at themuseumofhoaxes.com:

CLAIM: Turtles never die of old age.

ANSWER: TRUE. Turtles exhibit what is known as 'negligible senescence.' In other words, unlike humans, they do not continue to age once their bodies reach maturity. In theory, they might be able to live forever, though in practice this would never happen. Injury, predation, or disease eventually kill them. But turtles have been known to live beyond 150 years without exhibiting any signs of old age. Fish and amphibians also share this enviable characteristic.

That seems kind of impossible to me, but I'll take their word for it.

The Museum Of Hoaxes

2008-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
The museum of hoaxes is a GREAT way to kill some time. Full of bizarre information. The site is run by a fellow San Diegan.
I just picked up his book, "Elephants On Acid" which is about strange experiments and a fun read.

Give The Gift Of Real Hustlers

2008-01-07T10:01:00.001-08:00

Got a grea Christmas present from my friend Anna.

1 bottle of this:

Hunid Racks:

The Energy Drink for the Real Hustlers.

Respect The Name. Respect The Game.

Fish only have a 3-second memory?

2008-01-02T10:25:00.001-08:00

I always thought that was true, but apparently fish can remember up to 3 months (From The Fortean Times):

The myth
Goldfish have a three-second (or seven-second) memory span.

The "truth"
Keeping a fish in a small bowl is clearly an act of monstrous cruelty, and so a myth has arisen which allows pet owners to feel less guilty: that fish - in most versions, specifically goldfish - can't remember anything which happened more than a few seconds ago, and therefore never get bored with their tiny homes. (The precise number of seconds varies, but is generally seven or three - as usual in matters mythconceptional).

Ichthyologists have known for a long time that this isn't true, and in 2003 Dr Phil Gee, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, published research which blew it out of the water. Fish have a memory span of at least three months, and can distinguish between different shapes, colours and sounds.

In the Plymouth experiments, goldfish were trained to press a lever to gain a food reward; when the lever was fixed to work only for an hour a day, the fish soon learned to activate it at the correct time. A number of studies have shown that farmed fish can easily be trained to feed at particular times and places, in response to an audible signal.

WOLF BOY!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

From dailymail.co.uk:

'Werewolf boy' - who snarls and bites - on the run from police after escaping Moscow clinic

Russian police are hunting a "werewolf boy" - who snarls and bites - after he escaped from a Moscow clinic just a day after being rescued from the wild.
Doctors expressed shock saying he was found living with a pack of wolves in a remote forest in the Kaluga region of central Russia.

He's clearly dangerous to other people," said a police spokesman yesterday.
"He's got typical wolf-like habits and behaviour.

"He has very strong and sharp teeth, which could really endanger someone if he bites."
The boy looks about ten - but after tests conducted by Moscow medics, they believe he maybe much older.

They are puzzled because he appears intelligent but does not seem to speak Russian or any other language. It is suspected he has been running wild for many years.

Such cases are not uncommon in Russia where there have been regular reports of 'Mowgli' children abandoned by their parents who are cared for by animals.

The boy moves around with his legs half bent, said Tvoi Den newspaper. "He was running with wolves and searching for food with them."

Villagers found this "wild creature" in a lair made of leaves and sticks in freezing temperatures and told the police who named him Lyokha, though his real identity is not known.

"He's dirty, hungry, and looked to have had a hard time," said the police spokesman. "We brought him to a clinic in Moscow.

"It was simply unbelievable. He doesn't react when we call to him." Medics gave him clothes and said that he sprang down the corridor, bursting into his room and devouring his food like an animal.

His nails on his feet were like claws.

After 24 hours he had evaded security men at the clinic and escaped. He is now believed to be on the loose in Moscow region.

"We didn't even manage to complete the proper medical checks. We only succeeded in giving him a shower, cutting his nails and took some blood and other tests," said a doctor.

"It's quite possible he is a dangerous with psychological problems but also a source of viruses and infections."

__________________________

Wolf Boys Are Awesome.

Word Origin - Chowder

2008-01-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

So I got myself a Word Origins day calendar for my desk at work. Today's word was "chowder".

"The French-speaking inhabitants of what was once called Lower Canada liked to eat hot stews to ward off the winter cold, and the cooked the stews in cast-iron pots called chaudieres. When neighboring English-speaking New Englanders received the term, the pronounced it "chowder". It's been a regional specialty ever since."

I love this kind of stuff.

Martin Van Buren, OK ESL

2007-12-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Van Buren was the first President who did not experience the American Revolution firsthand. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as a first language, having grown up speaking Dutch.

On February 21, 1807, he married Hannah Hoes, a maternal cousin. Hannah died in 1819, before her husband became President (and, therefore, never became First Lady of the United States).

During Van Buren's presidential campaign of 1840 supporters popularized his nickname "Old Kinderhook," which was abbreviated as "OK." "OK Clubs" were set up. It is possible that this helped popularize "OK" .

Update to the Lost Mission of San Ysabel

2007-12-27T14:35:00.001-08:00

http://books.google.com/books?id=35WQOduN1F4C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=the+%22lost+mission%22+of+baja+california&source=web&ots=EJ_CLRZE7a&sig=s2lgOc-hanK4d4oE21EXJFqKng0#PPA37,M1

Scroll down to "The Legend Of The Lost Mission".

I suppose that answers that question.....

You can kill a lot of time at the library of congress

2007-12-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

This section:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

"American Memory"

Has a ton of cool stuff in it. Sheet music, maps, old movies, tons of scans....

Here are panoramic photos of san diego:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query

(not sure if that link will work)

Here is an example of a panoramic photo of downtown san diego from 5th and E st (taken in 1914)

To see the full size, click here:

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a02000/6a02200/6a02295r.jpg

Tons of stuff to see here...

A Thomas Edison cartoon movie from 1900

2007-12-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/animp/1592.mpg

CREATED/PUBLISHEDUnited States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1900.

SUMMARYFrom Edison films catalog: Upon a large sheet of white paper a cartoonist is seen at work rapidly sketching the portrait of an elderly gentleman of most comical feature and expression. After completing the likeness the artist rapidly draws on the paper a clever sketch of a bottle of wine and a goblet, and then, to the surprise of all, actually removes them from the paper on which they were drawn and pours actual wine out of the bottle into a real glass. Surprising effects quickly follow after this; and the numerous changes of expression which flit over the face in the sketch cause a vast amount of amusement and at the same time give a splendid illustration of the caricaturist's art. 100 feet. 15.00.

NOTESCopyright: Thomas A. Edison; 16Nov1900; D21656.
Performer: J. Stuart Blackton.
Camera, Albert E. Smith.
Duration: 1:26 at 18 fps.

Filmed ca. September to early November 1900, on Vitagraph's rooftop studio in New York, New York.

Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Library of Congress video collection, v. 3, Origins of American animation, 1900-1921; McIntire, J. Silent animated films at the Library of Congress, 1995; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, 1997, p. 641; Niver, K.R. Early motion pictures, 1985; Edison films catalog, no. 105, July 1901, p. 81 [MI].
Digital file includes a piano score composed and performed by Philip Carli.

A detailed history of Camp Humphreys, Korea

2007-12-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.kalaniosullivan.com/OsanAB/USFKCampHumphreys.html

A pretty cool history of the Hump, from its days as a Japanese airfield, to the present day expansion controversies. Lots of cool photos of the ville from the '70s.

Tales Of Buried Treasure In San Diego

2007-12-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/millslandmarks/landmark.htm

This page has a list of all of the Historical Markers in San Diego County. I think it would be cool to go visit every one and take a picture. But a lot of them are out in the desert.

This one mentions buried treasure!

NUMBER 369 SANTA YSABEL MISSION SITE

Slightly over a mile north of the town of Santa Ysabel, on State Highway 79, is the site of the chapel of the Santa Ysabel Asistencia of the San Diego Mission, established in 1818 by Father Fernando Martin. A brush hut thrown up in that year as a temporary chapel was replaced a few years later by a substantial adobe building. For years after the rest of the church had disappeared one of the mud walls remained and, in spring, was used to form one end of an improvised chapel of brush and reeds, where mass was said for the Indians. The mission bells, said to be the oldest in California, hung the year round on a wooden frame of logs, to call the faithful to worship at that one time. The bells have since been stolen. At Santa Ysabel Kearny's command stopped the night before going into action at San Pasquale The church, then owned by an English rancher, gave the soldiers shelter from the rain. Some say that wine they were served here contributed to their defeat. There are many tales of buried treasure at Santa Ysabel, partly because of confusion with the mythical Mission Santa Ysabel of Lower California, where the Jesuits were supposed to have secreted a fabulous treasure. There are also stories of a cache left here by a miser. The present chapel stands just to the south of the historic site.

Location: On State Hwy 79 (P.M. 21.8), 1.4 mi N of Santa Ysabel

OK, so wait a second... So where is this Santa Ysabel of Lower California then? I want to go to the one with all the buried treasure and get rich! Well, the above says that THAT Santa Ysabel is "mythical". Huh? I'm assuming that Lower California means Baja California. But google doesn't turn up anything about that. Did the maker of the Landmark sign make the whole thing up? Or was it just a legend passed around by word of mouth?

The widipedia entry on the mission does talk about the "missing bells" though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ysabel_Asistencia

But hold on - a google search of "santa ysabel baja treasure" turns up this page:

http://www.google.com/search?q=santa+ysabel+baja+treasure&hl=en

The "Lost Mission" of Baja California

Peter Gerhard

Western Folklore, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 97-106

doi:10.2307/1497117

This article consists of 10 page(s).

Unfortunately, you have to be some kind of authorized user to see beyond the first page. And with a first sentence like "Most People are intrigued by stories of buried treasure, and the ranchers of baja california are no exception." how could I not want to see more?

Why are these Jstor people hiding buried treasure from me??

William Henry Harrison

2007-12-20T13:45:00.000-08:00

From Widipedia:

When Harrison took office in 1841 at the age of 68, he was the oldest man to become President - a record that stood for 140 years, until Ronald Reagan became President in 1981 at the age of 69. Harrison died thirty-one days into his term — the briefest presidency in the history of the office. He was also the first U.S. President to die while in office.

How did he die? The oath of office killed him.

He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841, an extremely cold and wet day. [2] Nevertheless, he faced the weather without his overcoat and delivered the longest inaugural address in American history. At 8,424 words, it took nearly two hours to read (even after his friend and fellow Whig, Daniel Webster, had edited it for length). He then rode through the streets in the inaugural parade, and later caught a cold, which then developed into pneumonia and pleurisy.

Pretty shitty way to go. But his grandson got to give it another shot:

Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison of Ohio, became the 23rd president in 1889, making them the only grandparent-grandchild pair of presidents to date. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain. Understanding his grandfather's mistakes, he asked his outgoing predecessor (and later his successor), Grover Cleveland, to hold an umbrella above his head, since he also delivered a long inaugural address.

Sometimes its better to just call in sick.

Idaho, you so crazy

2007-12-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

"When a name was being selected for new territory, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing suggested 'Idaho,' which he claimed was a Native American term meaning 'gem of the mountains'. It was later revealed Willing had made up the name himself, and the original Idaho territory was re-named Colorado because of it. Eventually the controversy was forgotten, and modern-day Idaho was given the made-up name when the Idaho Territory was formally created in 1863."

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/did_idaho_get_its_name_as_a_result_of_a_hoax/

and then de moines:

Even if Idaho did get its name from a hoax, Des Moines can lay claim to a funnier name origin. The Peoria indians told the first white settlers that the tribe living in that area (their rivals) was named the Moingoana, which became the root of Des Moines. But it turns out that Moingoana was really the Peoria word for "shitfaces".

Get Your Darts Right

2007-12-20T10:02:00.001-08:00

What the helsinki?

2007-12-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

Where's my prettey toney post at?

Where BEa Aurthur At?

Oh there she is. Studying Supreme Mathematics In those dream eyes. The God Boa.

EDIT:

Nevermind. I guess this shit takes a minute.

The World According To Pretty Toney

2007-12-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

I want this. Bad.

The Title Is The Titliest Titgeist

2007-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Harder than a chinese spelling bee.