Random Wednesday 5-2-12

Today might be a tad predictable, but in case you didn't know, my birthday was this past monday. And on that day I decided to look into exactly what this day was about. I am going to tell you about April 30 and some of the biggest events to take place on it.

-In modern history, it is the day Hitler took his own life. Good start.

-In ancient history, Romans stopped persecuting Christians due to Emperor Constantine's conversion.

-The Louisiana Purchase was made official and the United States more than doubled in size.

-A Senator died during a speech. His last words were,  "I would rather be a servant in the house of the lord than sit in the seats of the mighty."


Last but not least, here are some famous people I share a birthday with.

-Two of the stars of the hit comedy The Big Bang Theory were born on April 30, on different years of course. Johnny Galecki and Kunal Nayyar, respectively. On a more Hollywood Note, there's Kirsten Dunst.

Fun Times, no? I recommend looking into your own birthday. Just type the month and day into Wikipedia and watch the magic happen.

Random Wednesday 4-25-12

Did you know that every US state except Hawaii, as well as most of Canada and even Mexico, have claimed a Bigfoot Sighting? Guess those feet were made for walking, huh?

Okay, that was corny, I admit. Sasquatch legends are just about everywhere, and we owe it to Native American Mythology, where the word Sasquatch, meaning 'hairy man' comes from. Granted, ape men are hardly the weirdest Native american Monster, There are amphibious cats, snakes with ram's horns, body snatching shamans, and much, much weirder things.

Random Wednesday 4-18-2012

Did you know that...

                 

Tomatoes and Asparagus are considered excellent companion plants? Tomatoes repel Asparagus beetles and asparagus repel several nematodes that can attack tomato roots, both very harmful pests.

Unlike some past random Wednesday entries, this one may actually prove useful for some of you. ;-)

Random Wednesday // 4-11-12

                                                                                              

Did you know that goldfish don't have stomachs?

Random Wednesday 4-4-12

Did you know that acclaimed 20th century novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as creator of the feral child Tarzan, originally worked as a pencil sharpener salesman? He took up writing after reading several old Pulp Fiction magazines and discovering that 'people were paid for writing . . . rot.' He wrote more than seventy novels in his lifetime, and apparently planned on writing even more. I don't know about you, but that's how I plan on going when the day comes.

Random Wednesday 03/28/12

Did you know that until the 19th Century, unicorns were believed to not be fantastical creatures, but to actually exist? For thousands of years it was a completely accepted fact by most sources that the magical creature that only virgins could catch roamed in the deep places of the world. But as society became more modern and the world became more accurately mapped, there  were several holes poked into the belief. But that doesn't mean people still try to milk it for what its worth.

Though now considered highly controversial, it was once not uncommon to alter the horns of newborn hooved animals like cows and goats surgically so as to grow them together in a single horn on the center of the head. The circus used to carry such unicorns en masse, like this photo above.

This skeleton, constructed in the Victorian Era, was deemed convincing enough to reform the harshest of critics. But here's the truth, it was not unheard of in the era, but it was a chimera assembled from the bones of many different animals. Most notably:

The Elasmotherium, an extinct type of rhino that may have directly inspired the unicorn myths

The Narwhal, with its distinct tusk, was the culprit in many unicorn horn lookalikes during the middle ages.

There are types of antelope with long, spiraling horns as well, and when viewed from the side, they bear a striking resemblance. 

And that is another installment of Random Wednesday. 

Random Wednesday 3-21-12

Here's something of a double whammy for you all today. When you think of science fiction, two names typically are among the first to pop in people's heads. They are:

                                                                 Star Wars
                                     
                                       and...

                                Star Trek


Both have become true icons of popular culture, but here's something unusual about them. Two of the most famous lines quoted from the two series are actually not said in the series at all.


Darth Vader never actually said, "Luke, I am your Father." Re-watch The Empire Strikes Back and you'll discover that the line is a bit different. And in Star Trek, one of the most iconic lines spoken by fans, "Beam me up, Scotty," was never actually said in the entire original series the character Scotty was in.

And that, good fellows, is another week of Random Wednesday.