Hello, I'm sorry I have missed a lot of posts. Currently I am working, looking for a full time teaching position, doing my masters, and trying to figure out my living situation. So, although this blog is knew it is going to have to go on hold until such a time as I no longer feel overwhelmed. Thank you to anyone who was reading. I hope you learned something fun and interesting. :)

Go topless on the beach

This one is for my little brother who is going on vacation with us and tries not to wear a shirt whenever possible (he learned it from my dad). In the 1920's and 30's it was illegal for men to be shirtless in public. The government officials at the time thought that they had to protect women and children from such an indecent sight. Men disagreed and decided to do it anyway. In 1934, 8 men were fined a dollar each for going topless at Coney Island. This same year the first shirtless man appeared in the movie "It Happened One Night," causing quite a stir. In 1935, New Jersey officials were feeling similarly unhappy. They arrested 42 shirtless men and gained 84$. In 1936, in Winchester, NY, men were finally allowed to go topless, the city rented out swimsuits and realized that the less swimsuit the less money it would cost them, so in the interest of the economy men could now show a little chest. New York was also the first place in the U.S. where it became legal for women to go topless. in 1986, seven topless women were arrested, in 1992 the supreme court took their case and ruled that it was legal for women to go topless in New York. It is legal for men and women to go topless in 33 states but some cities in these states say differently. In Tennessee, Indiana, and Utah it is specifically illegal to show the female breast. The rest of the states have ambiguous laws. Sometimes women are arrested for going topless in places where it is legal and won court cases against the state.

Clark Gable Topless in the 1934 film "It Happened One Night"

Palm trees

Palm trees are a feature of pretty much every tropical vacation you can imagine, every wonder how they got there? Palm trees are particularly well adapted to where they live, the beach. Coconuts not only float they have their own internal water source. If you've ever had coconut water you are drinking baby coconut food. Through out history coconuts have been traveling hundreds of miles across oceans to be transplanted on various beaches. Where, if the climate is right, they sprout roots and voila, palm tree.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palm_trees.jpg

No shirts, no shoes, no service

This one is for my sister. Recently their have been a lot of topless protests by women. These women are not only protesting because they want to go topless all the time, they are protesting the underlying assumptions that brought about these laws, and which they continue to promote. In 1986, it was still illegal to be a topless female in NY. When a number of women in Rochester were arrested for being topless in a park they brought it to court. These women ultimately won the case in the supreme court, who ruled that it is legal for women to go topless in NY. But, what were the arguments in a case that continues to be so relevant. Judge Herman Walz argued against making female toplessness legal saying:
             "The statute's objective is to protect the public from invasions of its sensibilities, and merely reflects current community standards as to what constitutes nudity. The objective itself is not based on stereotyped notions, therefore it is not illegitimate... community standards do not deem the exposure of males' breasts offensive, therefore the state does not have an interest in preventing exposure of males' breasts"
              He is arguing that most of the public wants to be protected so the government is protecting them and since the law is based on protection not sexism its fine. Don't buy it? Neither did the court. With this logic you could make oranges illegal because they offended peoples sensibilities, and we would end up with a very silly country. They appealed that their was no good government reason to distinguish between the genders in this case and the courts agreed, The case went on to the supreme court.
             These laws are made because of the reaction of the viewer not the action of the perpetrator. Reena Glazer Wrote in The Duke Law Journal  in 1993 that when you realize that these laws are to please the viewer and also look at the exception in the statute that exempts topless entertainment a glaring issue starts to  emerge. Things that might turn men on are only allowed to be show when men want to be turned on. In other words men's views of women's bodies are the ones that matter. This inherently objectifies women. Both sides argue that they are fighting objectification. One side says that breasts will make people objectify women, this is like the argument that wearing revealing clothing means women are "asking for it", my boobs don't talk and they certainly didn't "make" anyone do anything. The other sides argues for reevaluating preconceived norms about breasts automatically being sexual because those that are attracted to them say so.
         In 1995 Phoenix Feeley  tested out the NY law on toplessness and was arrested for walking down the street topless. She won the court case and $29,000 from the state. In 2011 she was arrested again in New Jersey where the laws are ambiguous and she served nine days in jail, hunger striking for eight of them and was let go. Gotopless protests have taken place in France, Iran, The U.S. and Canada, many resulting in arrests.

Curacao Liqueur

So you have sensed a theme with my last entry have you? I decided that while I'm on my articles will be themed, having to do with my vacation. So how did a liqueur get named after a place? In the late 1400's when the Spanish colonized Curacao one of their many plans for using the island was to grow their beautiful sweet oranges. Little did they know the oranges had another plan. The climate and soil were not good for the plant, the oranges that grew were evil tasting bitter tiny oranges and were abandoned. Not even the islands burgeoning goat population would touch them. At some point in the 1800's someone figured out that even though the oranges sucked the orange skins contained a lot of sweet oil and that when soaked in alcohol (because if it tastes good, lets face it, someone has soaked it in alcohol) thye made curacao liqueur. This alcohol is naturally clear but the company decided their product needed to look more tropical so it is often colored blue or orange.

If you've been reading my posts you know that I am headed out on vacation. While I am gone I will only be posting every other day, starting tomorrow. Have a wonderful fourth of July!
    -Jes

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pictofigo-Vacation.png

Who started vacations?

I'm headed to Curacao for a week and so I decided to do some research on the history of vacation in the United States. Who was the brilliant person who came up with this concept of sunshine and laziness. Their isn't really an answer to this. The idea evolved over time and highly religious early america had a love hate relationship with the idea. Originally vacation meant the time where teachers and students were not at school. AKA vacating the school. People would take this time to do other things, often work. By the mid 1800's people start noticing that stress is doing bad things to business men. Doctors start proscribing vacations for peoples health, only people with money can really do this though. With the dawn of the automobile and trains people start thinking about taking farther trips for themselves. Trains companies realize that they can get more business by building hotels at one end of their line. Some religious people are still worried about the idleness of vacation at this time and so some christian groups run hotels offering far fewer temptations, no smoking or drinking and so on. As transportation improved and infrastructure arose vacationing evolved into what it is today.

Keeping it cool

I'm not sure why our generation has gone refrigerator crazy, we seem to think it makes everything last longer, but it doesn't. Putting some things in the refrigerator is flat out detrimental to their health. I'm not suggesting you do any of these things based on my meager experience but their is always more research that you can do. So, how did people survive before refrigerators?

Eggs
 Working at a living history museum I learned that eggs do not need to be refrigerated. Of all things I would think eggs do, but nature has provided for them so when their is a baby chick growing in side they wont go bad, duh, makes sense or their wouldn't be any chicks. Eggs have a substance called bloom on them that helps protect them for any bacteria or nastyness getting inside of the shell so unwashed eggs will last well out of the fridge I think we kept ours for about two weeks. Washed eggs that you have bought from the store are more questionable. They have been washed really good to get rid of the bacteria but sitting on your counter the could acquire more, they could acquire more in your refrigerator if it isn't clean but the temperature will make the bacteria grow more slowly.

Butter
Unless it is hot enough to melt your butter flat out you don't need to refrigerate it. We have kept better on my counter at home for my entire life and I have never seen it go bad. We keep the sticks we aren't using in the freezer and the stick we are on the counter in a butter dish to keep out the fuzzes and bacteria. Margarine will last forever but in a lot of cases it will puddlize at a lower temperature than butter.

Hard Cheese
Here is another dairy product you don't need to refrigerate, in fact, as long as the skin has been left on it is pretty hard to do anything to a good hard cheese. The skin of cheese was not for eating, unless you had to. The skin was to protect the yummy part from the everything else. We stored our cheese on a board in a cheese closet and while we kept our house clean at the museum dust gets everywhere. I have never seen this happen but if you have a true hard cheese and you get a moldy spot supposedly you can cut it off and the rest of the cheese will not have been effected.

Bread
Keeping bread in your refrigerator will make it stale. Bread starts to dehydrate as soon as you take it out of the oven and the refrigerator only speeds this up to six times faster.

Onions and Garlic
These two vegetables do not approve of moisture, it makes them get yucky. You have probably noticed that most of your produce from the store is a bit damp. Storing these in a drawer in the fridge together is not good for your onions and garlic, they would prefer to be left out where there is good circulation at room temperature.

Fire cats go!

A warfare manual by the siege warfare professional Franz Helm from around 1530 includes a curious illustration of a cat carrying fire. The manual suggests that when left with no other options, capture a pigeon or cat from the local area, and strap a bomb or fire to its back in a container. The idea was that the freaked out animal would run home and light the city on fire. However cats being contrary as they are, would probably run under your ammunition wagon or snuggle onto your commanders lap. Which is probably why we don't have any record of fire cats used in battle.

Ridiculous yet dignified: Graduation regalia

Graduation regalia began in the 1100 and 1200's  when universitys began to form up across Europe. The only job at this time that required a degree was the Clergy. So the regalia was modeled after the typical robes of the clergy which made up a large section of scholars. From the mid 1300's onward colleges many colleges began regulating what their students could and could not wear, gowns became even more standardized. It was not until the late 1800's and only in the United States that specific cut, color, and details were standardized by most colleges to indicate very specific things such as area of study. The caps, also called mortarboards because they resemble the boards masons hold mortar on came into the picture in the 1400's. In many colleges it was against the rule to wear hats so instead students took up caps and mortarboards, originally mortarboards were only for doctorate students and signified their position as a teacher.

Your turn to hold down the castle, I mean fort

La Crete Fort was built by the English on Jersey an island off the coast of France to try and keep Napoleon from invading. Ironically it still ended up with a french name meaning "the ridge". During World War II the area was captured by the Nazi's and used for military operations. Now a days the fort is used to defend peoples privacy, on vacation. If you want to go live in a fort, or a castle which this basically looks like, this is your spot. You can stay here for seven days in peak season for only about 1600 dollars which is about half of most other comparably sized castles in the UK and on the European coast.

Grand Central Station backwards?

The ceiling of grand central station is beautiful. It was painted in 1913, replaced in the 1930s and  refurbished in the 1990s to represent the constellations in the night sky. Except backwards, except for Orion who appears as he would from earth. While human stupidity never ceases to amaze me, I don't think you could paint several hundred feet of prestigious ceiling, with consultants, and no one would notice the entire thing is backwards, then again, I could be wrong. Some people also suggest that it was painted this way as occult symbolism, this also seems unlikely to me. Their are much more reasonable explanations however. It is possible that the artist based his drawing on a faulty Colombian astronomy chart where Orion was drawn backwards, and so when he flipped the entire thing, on purpose, Orion ended up the correct way while everyone else was the way the artist wanted.  The artist may have been inspired by renaissance artists who painted the constellations "from above" so that a person got the view the gods would see when looking down from the heavens. The "mistake" was promptly noticed by an amateur astronomer as soon as the mural went up, but as a testament to the artist and history of Grand Central's terminal the art has been left "backwards"

Eating scientists

In highschool science one of the first things they teach us is NEVER EVER PUT YOUR SCIENCE EXPIREMENT IN YOUR MOUTH! Well apparently this is one of those cases of do as I say not as i do because scientists have put some pretty weird stuff in their mouths over the years.

Their are a lot of stories of people sampling mammoth, but as far as I can tell none of them have been confirmed officially, however in the 80's some scientists at the University of Alaska, specifically Dr. Guthrie decided to sample their 36,000 year old bison. Of coarse they ate "extra" neck meat, that wouldn't show when they displayed the ice preserved find. Apparently the meat was "well aged but still a little tough, and it gave the stew a strong 'Pleistocene' aroma"p258  What did the Pleistocene smell like?

Some geologists lick rocks, they say that you can tell the difference between different types of sediment with your taste that you can not tell apart by sight. Mole from Atlantis anyone?

Marine biologist Win Watson, a big proponent of eating what you study brought home some bio luminescent jelly fish to show his family. He left them out and the dog ate them creating glowing dog throw up. 

The polite 40's way to say shut up

During World War II women were pulled into the work world through necessity. Much of the popular culture of the time period, advertising, music, and movies attempted to convince women to join the war effort through working. Although much of this popular culture became well known, only one song hit the top 100's charts that even mentioned women working. The song is called "Milkman Keep Those Bottles Quiet" By Ella Mae Morse. The song talks about her working on bombers and riveting for the war effort and when she comes home the milk man is clinking around, and basically she says shut up in a classy 40's lady way.

Milkman, Keep those bottles quiet
Cant use that jive on my milk diet
So milkman, keep those bottles quiet

Been Jumpin on the swing shift, all night
Turnin out my quota all right
Now i'm beat right down to the sod
gotta catch myself some righteous nod

Milkman stop that grade A riot
Cut it out if you cant lullaby it
Oh, milkman keep those bottles quiet

Been knocking out a fast tank, all day
working on a bomber okay
boy you blast my wig with those clinks
And I gotta catch my forty winks

Now noise of the riviter rocks, don't mind it
cause the man with the whiskers has a lot behind it
but I can't keep punchin' with the victory crew
when you're making me punchy with that bottled moo

I wanna give my all if I'm guna give it
But I gotta get my shuteye if I'm guna rivet
So bail out bud, with that milk barrage
cus its unpatriotic, its sabatage

Been knocking out a fast tank, all day
boy you blast my wig with those clinks
And I gotta catch my forty winks

So milkman keep those bottles quiet

Ooooh, milkman keep those bottles quiet
Ooooh, milkman keep those bottles quiet

Quiet!

There's a fish in my Ketchup!

Ketchup was originally a form of fish sauce. The recipe evolved to be made with many things from berries to mushrooms and eventually tomatoes. I learned about a recipe called Ketchup soup when I was tricked into eating it while working at a museum. The soup was fish based not tomato. I couldn't find the actual recipe but I found something similar from the 1840's. Mace you ask? in my food? Mace is an ingredient that comes from the outer shell of nutmeg. It tastes somewhere between cinnamon and pepper.

Anchovy Catchup

Ingredients

• 24 anchovies
• 10 shalots or very small onions, cut fine
• 1 handful of scraped horseradish
• 1/4 ounce of mace
• 1 lemon, cut into slices
• 12 cloves
• 12 pepper-corns
• 1 pint of red wine
• 1 quart of white wine
• 1 pint of water
• 1/2 pint of anchovy liquor

Instructions

Bone anchovies, and then chop them. Put to them the shalots and horseradish, with mace. Add lemon, cloves, and pepper-corns. Then mix together red wine, white wine, water and anchovy liquor. Put the other ingredients into the liquid, and boil it slowly till reduced to a quart. Then strain it, and when cold put it into small bottles, securing the corks with leather.

Source

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches (1840).

I found this recipe on an amazing historical food blog called Vintage Recipes you can check it out here http://www.vintagerecipes.net/recipes/sauces_spreads/ketchups/

Your neighborhood beer drinking mamals

If any of you have ever left a beer outside and seen your neighborhood wild life lumber over and lap it up you probably know of skunks secret love for alcohol. But I'm lying, this is not a literal phrase. Though I have seen a cat lick up almost an entire bottle of wine and proceed to sort of role down the attic stairs.

Why do we say drunk as a skunk? Probably because drunk only rhymes with 16 other frequently used English words and the only other one that makes sense is monk, and that saying already exists. Also people don't like it when you make fun of religious figures. Another possible reason, it sounds better than stinking drunk and has the same connotation.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KOAK_Midsummer_2011_Le_Pew.JPG

How did Humpty Dumpty get on the wall anyways?

The nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty was first recorded by Lewis Caroll for his book "Alice Through The Looking Glass. In the 1500's Humpty Dumpty was a not very nice nick name used to refer to overweight people. It only makes sense that in his book for children a heavy person might be imagined as an egg. So who was Humpty Dumpty? Is this just nonsense? This is another one of those mysteries that is lost to history, but their are some fun theories.

Humpty Dumpty might be Charles I, calling him "large" could be a way of poking fun at an unpopular king. He was deposed by the Puritan, Oliver Cromwell and fell from power. Those still loyal to him could not restore his power and he was executed in 1649.

The theory I like best is that Humpty Dumpty might be a cannon. During the second British Civil war Colchester was suring up its defenses. One of the churches referred to as "St. Mary's by the Wall" had a tower and was well placed for defense of said wall. Many cities at this time were walled against attack. So the men of the town managed to lug a gigantic cannon ( as all canons were at the time) to the top of the church tower. This is our mysterious Humpty Dumpty, the very chubby cannon. During the assault on Colchester the cannon was fired into the enemy's lines, naturally causing the enemy to fire back. The tower was very damaged causing the cannon to fall from the roof. The cannon was very damaged, as things are wont to be when they fall three stories and could not be returned to working order. Later Colcheseter was forced to surrender and open their gates

First Female Serial Killer?

Sometimes the most interesting stories are the ones we may never know that truth of.  Lavinia Fisher was purportedly the first convicted female serial killer in the United States, however, she was actually arrested on the charge of highway robbery. The story goes that Lavinia and her husband ran a hotel in about six miles outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Lavinia and her husband would quiz the people staying in their hotel to find out of they had money, or were expected anywhere. Lavinia would give the unwary travelers a sedative in their tea. Depending on the story they would either stab the sleeping visitor or drop them through a trap door under the bed. One night a John Peeples became suspicious of the questioning. He really did not like tea but the hostess was generous so he dumped it when she wasnt looking. When he went to bed he decided to watch the door from his chair in case they tried anything. He woke up to hearing the bed fall through the trap door, high tailed it out the window, and alerted the authorities. Fortunately or unfortunately their is no proof of almost any of this. Lavinia and her husband lived or at least met at some place with the same name as the hotel in their story. They were part of a gang and they assaulted a man named John Peeples at that place. Lavinia assaulted atleast one man choking him and smashing his head into a window. She was hanged for highway robbery as part of the gang in 1820. Just before being hanged it is reported that Lavinia yelled to the crowd "If any of you have a message for the devil, tell me now - for I will be meeting him soon" but the truth of these words, along with many other parts of the story are lost to history.

Quotes from people born on June 14th

I love quotes, and their are lots of good ones. But how to choose? I decided to narrow it down to quotes from people born on this day in history.

 "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." -Harriet Beecher Stowe
 "Before the war is ended, the war party assumes the divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly" - Robert M. La Follette
 "Excessive reservations and paralyzing despondency have not helped the sciences to advance nor are they helping them to advance , but a healthy optimism that cheerfully searches for new ways to understand, as it is convinced that it will be possible to find them." -Alois Alzheimer
 "I believe that true art is universal in its appeal" John McCormack
 "time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way" Yasunari Kawabata
 "Lucidity is the wound closest to the sun." Rene Char
 "I do not wear my emotions on my sleeve. I was once described by my own son Stephen as an emotional ostrich." Pierre Salinger
 "Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war" -Donald trump

Kitty War Hero

 

Simon was smuggled on board the HMS Amethyst by a 17 year old sailor who found the sick hungry cat in Hong Kong. The cat quickly made himself both useful and lovable presenting rats to beloved sailors and sleeping in the captains hat. The ship changed hands and the new captain loved Simon as well. As the ship took its first mission up the Yangtze river it was attacked by communists, in 1949, during the "Yangtze Incident." A cannon shot through the captains quarters killing the captain and injuring Simon badly. Simon was repaired by the ships doctors, but not expected to live the night. Simon recovered and was handed over to a third captain who was indifferent to his charm. The recovering Simon again made himself useful, killing off the rat infestation and raising morale. Simon is the only cat to have been rewarded the Dickin Medal, an award to honor valorous animals. He also received the blue cross, the Amythest Campaign Medal, and was given the rank "Able Seacat" created especially for him. Entering the U.K., Simon had to go through quarantine like all animals do. He died of a complication that was a result of a virus contractced through his war wounds

Listen children and you shall here, of the midnight ride of Sybil Ludington

                Sybil Ludington, was the daughter of Abigail and Henry Ludington. She was born in 1761 and became the eldest of 12 children. Her father was originally a loyalist. In Sybil's young life he fought for the king, but the cry of no taxation without representation got inside his head and in 1775 he broke his bonds with the Royal army and was recruited by George Washington as Colonel of the Seventh Militia of Dutchess County, New York, earning him the hatred of other loyalists. General How placed a huge bounty of 300 guineas on his head (its hard to equate $ to guineas but if we make the rough estimate that 1 guinea = $1.75 that's about $528 1776 money which is about $13,900 in 2014 money when you account for inflation) so a lot of people wanted to kill him. He was also in charge of a very important tract of land, called the Hudson Highlands. The area contained dense forest where Native Americans and also bandits lived, The bandits were taking advantage of wartime chaos to harass unprotected towns, the militia lived in spread out farm houses. The Hudson high lands were the most direct route from Long Island Sound to Connecticut and if captured would split the colonies in two. Sybil lived on the edge of this territory in what is now Kent, New York.
                 By 1775, Sybil had eight brothers and sisters whom she helped her mother care for. When she managed to find a spare moment she would be out riding her horse star who she had trained from a colt. Sybil knew her fathers life was in danger and came up with a plan. One night about 50 men planned to capture Sybil's father and take him for the reward. Sybil was on watch and saw them coming from behind the mill. She woke her 14 year old sister Rebecca and they roused the other children. The children lit all of the candles in the house and marched back and fourth with muskets, throwing shadows on the windows. Sybil shot a single shot out of the window into the night and deterred the would be kidnappers.
                In 1777 her father returned home after months of fighting. The farmers in the area had been allowed to return and plant in order to feed their families. On April 5th Sybil turned 16, 21 days later, just after she put her siblings to bed their was a knock on the door. Sybil listened as an exhausted terrified rider reported to her father that the British were burning Danbury, Connecticut and coming this way. Sybil's father ordered the man to ride on and alert the militia, the man could not or would not ride on. Accounts vary as to whether Sybil spoke up or was asked by her father but either way she said she would do it. She knew her father could not leave his militia men and their was no one else. The trip would take Sybil 40 miles through dense forest filled with bandits, British, and dangerous animals through the pouring rain, armed only with a stick. She rode up to doors and pounded with her stick calling:
                                  "The British are burning Danbury - Muster at Ludingtons!"
She his from the scouting British soldiers behind trees. According to some accounts when she reached caramel they rang the church bells to alert people faster. A man from the town offered to see her home but instead she sent him east to alert another town and continued on her ride. Her ride started at 11 pm and ended when she returned home at dawn. They were too late to save Danbury but they did drive the British back out of the Hudson Highlands and into long Island sound. Sybil was congratulated by George Washington, she had mustered over 400 men, she is remembered in a monument in Caramel, New York.

Both of these people were very brave and important to the founding of our country, here are some of their differences.

	Paul Revere	Sybil Ludington
Age at time of ride	40	16
Miles	12-14	about 40
Where	streets, some of them lit	Through the forests and fields of the Hudson Highlands in the rain
how long	two hours 11pm- 1am	Nine hours 9pm- dawn(around 6 am)
captured?	yes	no

War Pigeons in World War II

By World War II communications were greatly improved but pigeons were still used to supplement other types of communication. They were used in emergencies and also when a person was too close to the enemy lines and did not want to be detected. 

Mary of Exeter was a racing pigeon gone war pigeon during WWII. She was injured repeatedly taking a gun shot wound, attack by a hawk, and shrapnel wound, recovering each time. The pigeon recieved 22 stiches and a leather collar. She lived another 10 years.

Paddy the Irish pigeon was the first Pigeon to deliver news of the successful D-day. it took him four hours and five minutes to fly the 230 miles across the English channel (thats about 57.5 miles per hour for four hours strait)

In 1942, Winkie was thrown free of her cage on a crashed and sinking bomber plane. She flew 129 miles to Scotland. Her plane was located and the crew saved from the small cold dingy they had been huddling in. These men threw a feast for Winkie and her owner.

Born in 1943, G.I. Joe sent messages for the Americans during WWII. The British were trying to capture Colvi Vecchia, the Germans unexpectedly fell back and the British entered the city with little resistance. Their were plans for the Americans to bomb the town later that day, and all communications failed. The city that was scheduled to be bombed was now filled with British soldiers. G.I. Joe was sent out in a final attempt to call off the bombing, he flew the 25 miles back to base, and arrived just in time to stop the planes from taking off. He saved more than 100 soldiers from friendly fire.

G.I.Joe

War Pigeons in World War I

During WWI,  before two way radios were available, messages were often sent by wired transmitter. However, when going into enemy territory, or covering rough terrain, lines could not be laid and in came the very important carrier pigeon.  Pigeons were transported in backpacks and even in tanks. and they carried their messages in tiny metal tubes tied to their leg or were fitted with cameras to spy on the enemy. War pigeons led very dangerous lives, the enemy often attempted to shoot them down in order to intercept and stop messages. Despite this the birds were highly effective and went on thousands of missions.

"The Mocker" was born in 1917, he took 52 trips before being wounded. On his final trip he lost his left eye and part of his head, but he made it anyway. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guere. He died at the ripe old age of 20 (15 is a good age for a captive pigeon), and was the last of the pigeon war heroes to die.

In 1918 American forces were trapped in a small depression surrounded by Germans hiding in a ravine. They sent many pigeons to call for help but the 500 men were quickly falling under German fire, and only 200 men were left by the second day. When the Americans arrived that afternoon they began shelling the area where they thought the Germans were, little did they know they were dropping them right on their own people. The Major sent out their last carrier pigeon, Cher Ami, telling them to stop. As the remaining troops watched Cher Ami climb the Germans tried their hardest to shoot him down. Somehow the little bird escaped and flew 25 miles in 25 minutes and delivered his message. 

    "we are along the road parallel to 276.3" "our artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us" "for Heaven's sake, stop it."

 Cher Ami saved 194 lives and was awarded the Croix de Guere. He had been shot through the chest and through the leg, the mesage capsule was hanging by a few ligaments. He died a year later

In 1918, President Wilson the Pigeon was experienced at sending messages about artillery locations from tanks. When his unit came under attack he flew 25 miles in 25 minutes and where he delivered the call for backup. His left leg was completely shot off and he had a huge wound in his chest.

Kaiser was  born in 1917, a German pigeon captured by American Forces, Kaiser was a pigeon POW. Kaiser was enlisted in the carrier pigeon breeding program, he had more than 100 children who participated in both world wars. He lived to 33, he is the oldest pigeon on record and the only pigeon who participated in both world wars.

The phases of the 30 years war

The thirty years war went through four phases. I have previously discussed the Defenestration of Prague  you can see it here. This happened during the Bohemian Phase. The second is the Danish phase. The third phase was the Swedish phase, many of the mercenaries hired in this phase were Scottish. The last phase was the french phase. The last major battle of the war took place in Lens, France. The French were outnumbered but won the battle due to their superior cavalry.

Into the box

Imagine sleeping in a room the size of your bed, with a much lower ceiling. At one time box beds were one of the best sleeping options in Britain. Sleeping in essentially a large cabinet with holes carved for air the beds conserved body heat in the winter, offered privacy in one roomed homes, and kept unwanted chickens and children out of  your bed. Sometimes these box beds would be in a bunk bed style where the nimbler young people slept upstairs.

swimming in the buff

Until the mid 1800's men swum pretty much entirely in the buff. Their were a few countries such as japan where men wore bottoms to swim, but places like England men swam naked. In the mid 1800s swim trunks that looked similar to the ones worn today appeared, though slightly shorter. Despite the new swim clothes men bathed naked in London right into the beginning of the 1900s when swimming in coed  groups was popularized. Swimsuits were originally made out of stretched wool, because it absorbed less water than many other fabrics. For a short time some swimsuits were made out of rubber and then nylon took over in the late 1930s. In the early 1900s men wore swimsuits that went all the way from elbow to knee, these suits lost their arms first and then the top began to shrink back down, completely disappearing and leaving men with swim short that they started with. With the fabric shortage during WWI and II trunks got even shorter In the mid 1950's modern swimsuit fabrics were introduced to the market. In the 1960s the Australian company Speedo created the smallest of all, the brand became a synechdoche for all swim bottoms of this style. The hippies revived swim suits that had tops and tried pretty much everything. In the 1990's board shorts were popularized. Loose and long these are still the prefered style for men in the U.S.A

1860's painting of mens swimwear, Frédéric Bazille’s Summer Scene 1869, Oil on canvas Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1880s swimwear

men in 1910

1920s

We all scream for waffles!

Many people claim to have invented the ice cream cone. The idea for an ice cream cone like food had been around since the 1700s but the form we know today was probably popularized at the 1904 worlds fair. At least five people at the St. Louis fair claim to have come up with the idea at the fair, many of them later became the heads of ice cream cone companies, and also reprted that the idea was shared among the vendors at the fair. Many of the men who claimed invention were from the middle east. The cone was made from zalabia, not waffles, in these stories, a pizzelle like wafer. An American man and his brother also claim to have begun the fad when they saw a lady wrap ice cream in a waffle so she could eat it in a more dainty way than licking it out of a glass. They then began molding waffles on cone shaped tool used with tent ropes.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiswaffeln_2008_PD_1.JPG

Squirrels worst nightmare

Annie Oakley began shooting at the age eight, practicing with a loaded rifle from the house on an unfortunate squirrel who happened to be on the front fence. She cleanly disappeared the squirrels head saving the meat for squirrel stew. As she grew older news of her skills traveled and a local man set up a thanksgiving competition between her and a traveling professional marksman. The young Annie won the competition by one pigeon. Annie and the marksman stayed in contact and were later married. Together they joined the wild west show, becoming one of the favorite acts. Oakley would shoot a cigarette out of her husbands mouth or a dime out of his fingers. Her most famous act became shooting holes in playing cards. Although Annie was an amazing shot, a skill considered very manly, she enjoyed being feminine and dressing in dresses.

Basic rights: What can the police search?

Before you read these this is one of the most important facts: do not be charged with obstruction of justice, you can not challenge an officer on the street. Do not threaten a police officer or threaten to file a complaint. Just write down everything that happens and file a complaint later.

Can the police look in your car?
If a police officer asks to look inside your car, you can refuse to let them search your car. However, if the police think your car contains evidence of a crime they can search it without your consent.

Can the police search your phone?

United States V. Wurie 2013

Court of appeals held that police can not search without a warrant except in specific circumstances where the police officers safety is in jeopardy or their is a chance evidence might be erased/destroyed.

this case is still being debated

Riley v. California 2014

The California Supreme court said that police can search a cellphone without a warrant if the phone is "immediately associated with person." meaning the person who got arrested. 

Do you have to let the police in your house?
Not unless they have a warrant. You have the right to ask them politely to hold the warrant up to the window or slide it under the door so you can read it.

Learn more:
https://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform-immigrants-rights-racial-justice/know-your-rights-what-do-if-you#5

The original sky door: Make the bad men fly

Defenestrate is a word I would like to use in my every day life. It is a verb meaning to throw out a window, most often referring to a person. I have only ever heard this word twice. Once when learning about the Defenestrations of Prague, and one in reference to a spell in dungeons and dragons. Of course if anyone is going to pick up on an amazing obscure vocabulary word it is going to be those guys. So how does a word like this come to exists? It appears to have been created specifically for the second Defenestration of Prague as a historic event. The Emperor had guaranteed the protestants of Bohemia freedom to practice their religion. When two protestant church constructions were shut down by Roman Catholic officials the people were upset. The men who were set by the Emperor to protect protestant rights called a meeting in Prague. The two men found responsible for stopping construction were tried and found guilty of defying the emperors law, and along with their secretary were ejected from the third story window of Hradčany castle where the meeting was held. After falling 70 feet all three men survived. The Catholics claimed the virgin Mary and the Angels rescued them and the Protestants claimed it was because they landed in a pile of horse poo. This took place in 1618 and was involved in the beginning of the 30 years war. The first know written account including this word is from 1620 in a collection of letter. The Latin routes make sense, conveying the words meaning perfectly, de-- down from, fenestra-- window.

 Hradčany castle in Prague, site of second Defenestration of Prague
 DigitalExtropyCreative Commons Attribution 3.0

Peeing on Plants

Ancient Egyptians in the 1350s were the first to record a pregnancy test that had a basis in science. A papyrus from the time describes how an expectant woman could pee on a barley and wheat seed over a series of days and if it grew then the woman was pregnant. It is possible that higher levels of estrogen in the urine of pregnant women encouraged plant growth. In 1963, a study was done to test this method. the study found that about 70 percent of the time pregnant women's urine caused plants to show growth while men's and non pregnant women's urine did not. If you are interested in the study you can find it here.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1034829/?page=2

Trial by combat: Dog Vs. Maquer

In early 1400s France it was acceptable to have trial by combat. Presided over by  royalty, the idea was that God would let the innocent live. In this same time period and man named Montdidier and his gentle greyhound lived happily together, until someone murdered Montdidier, buried him, and left a very unhappy Greyhound to his own devices. The hungry, lonely dog journeyed to London and sought out Montdidiers friend Ardilliers. Ardilliers finding it strange that the dog would show up alone payed a visit to Montdidier, and the dog lead Ardilliers to the grave site. The dog dug at the site until Ardilliers got the idea and exhumed the body of his friend. When the dog later saw Maquer, his masters killer, he attacked him. Each time the dog saw this man he would attack with a vengeance, which was strange for a dog that had always been so well tempered. The dogs attacks made Ardilliers suspicious and so he brought the matter before the king. The king ordered a trial by combat, Dog Vs. Maquer, mono a mono. When the dog attacked Maquer couldn't stand it and admitted to murder, leading to his hanging.

J. Wootton, 1738, A Grey Spotted Hound

Pink is more decisive and better for boys

For a very long time both boys and girls were dressed the same up until about six or seven years old. They wore white and they wore gowns. This was practical for a lot of reasons but mainly because you can bleach white clothing and babies are very messy little creatures. Gender norms are constantly being redefined and marketing departments like to take advantage of this. When colored baby clothing became widely available stores and magazines began giving suggestions for how you should dress which sex baby. In 1918,an article in Earnshaw's Infants' Department, suggested that, "The generally accepted rule is pink for boys, and blue for girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." Their were all kinds of suggestions about who should wear what color and eventually, just because, pink became the color for girls and blue for boys. Blue versus pink didn't matter so much to marketing companies, the differentiation did. Companies could now sell pink and blue furniture, when a couple had a girl baby they would buy all pink furniture and when they had a boy a year later they had to buy all new accessories, making for more sales.

Cheerleading practice: no girls allowed!

Cheer leading began in the late 1800s as a males only activity. The young men attending sports games yelled organized cheers from the bleachers. A few years later a Princeton graduate moved to the university of Minnesota and started organized cheering there. Princeton announced three official cheer leaders in 1987, they were all men. Eventually an area of the bleachers was designated for cheer leaders. Women began joining cheer leading in the 1920s. During World War I and II, when large numbers of men were away at war, women became the primary cheer leaders. When men returned from war, their was a push to ban women from cheer leading at many schools. People argues that it was too masculine of a sport for women and promoted male qualities such as a loud voice and harsh language. The women were not daunted and continued to participate in cheer leading. Because of the feminine stereotype cheer leading had been changed from masculine and gallant to cute and feminine so many men left the sport. Throughout the rest of the 20th century cheer leading became progressively more dance oriented and in the 1980s ever more dangerous elements of gymnastics were incorporated.

What can I blow up >:) Fireworks Laws

Fireworks season is coming up and you may be wondering what can you blow up on your street without spending a night in jail. This blog post is only about consumer fireworks. The federal regulations involve how much explosives are used in the firework and are rather complicated. This website gives a basic description: https://www.atf.gov/publications/factsheets/factsheet-fireworks.html
Within the federal regulations states and towns make their own laws. In green states on the map above, if your area does not have any additional laws, all of the federally legal consumer fireworks are legal without local approval. Which means if you have them you don't have to ask to light them off on your own property. In blue states, if your local area doesn't have any additional regulations, you can light off more than half of the types of federally legal consumer fireworks without asking permission. In yellow states you need to ask permission to light off more than half of the types of consumer fireworks that are federally legal. In the red states you may not light off any fireworks without getting approval from your local area and possibly the state. Fireworks include pretty much anything that is supposed to combust, but they have been conveniently been grouped into categories:
Bottle Rockets
Sky Rockets
Roman Candles
firecrackers
sparklers (that's right, if you live in a red state every child has probably broken this law)
smoke and punk (this includes snakes and smoke bombs)
Fountains
Missiles
Novelties Crackle and Strobe
Parachutes
Wheels and Spinner
Sky Flyers
Display Shells
Aerial Items (cakes)
Laws change constantly so their might be and probably are errors in this list, on top of this I have not included areas smaller than states which often make their own regulations. My map is based off of this website: http://www.usfireworks.biz/legal/legal.htm the best thing you can do is look up your state and towns specific laws, Connecticut's are very clear, sparklers, fountains, and nothing else. http://www.ct.gov/despp/lib/despp/public_information_files/brochures/tipsfireworks.pdf

How macho are your high heels?

I have met very few men who would be caught dead wearing heels, even if they are willing many profess the improbability of being able to walk in them at all without practice. Heel's started off with functionality in mind, but they weren't for walking. Small heels on the back of one's shoe were perfect for staying steady in stirrups. These heels made it much easier to stand and shoot a bow from horseback. European men and a few women adopted these heels for multiple reasons, they made one taller, they were a fad, but most of all they were not functional. The ability to wear frivolous footwear conveyed  status. In fact one of the men most well known for his stylish high heels was King Louis XIV. He was so obsessed with the shoes as a status symbol that he made it a law that only nobility could wear red heeled high heels. The shoes were completely impractical in the muddy streets of the time period. Women adopted high heels more popularly in the 1630s when they began adding masculine elements to their clothing.

I say what I want? school edition

Students often “cleverly” counter teachers attempts to stop inappropriate comments with “it’s a free country” I can say what I want. Can you really? The answer is no, here is a progression of court cases where you can watch freedom of speech being limited in schools. If you aren’t interested in what happened and just want to know student’s rights read the bold print.

The Bill of Rights: Amendment I

“Congress shall make no law respecting … or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble…”

1969, Tinker v. Des Moines

The Supreme Court tells us in Tinker vs. Des Moines, students do not "shed their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse door."  But, school administrators can restrict student’s speech for educational reasons.

In 1969 a small number of students and their parents decided to wear black armbands for the holiday season to demonstrate their disapproval of the Vietnam War. The school heard about this and was afraid that it would cause disturbance, the school made a rule that anyone wearing an armband would be suspended until they came to school without the armband.  Five students were suspended. Schoolwork was not disrupted. Wearing the armbands did not interfere with other student’s rights.

The Court decided that the First Amendment protected the right of the high school students to wear black armbands in a public high school, as a form of protest and “symbolic speech”.  The Court ruled that school administrators could, only prohibit this form of free speech, if they could show that it would cause a serious disruption of the student’s education.

Bethel School District v. Fraser, 1983

High school student Matthew Fraser, a student at Bethel High School in Pierce County, Washington, made a speech nominating a fellow student for student government. Around 600 high school students attended. During the speech, Fraser referred to his candidate using sexual innuendoes.

Two teachers, who knew about the speech before told him that the speech was "inappropriate and that he probably should not deliver it," and that his delivery of the speech might have "severe consequences." Fraser admitted to purposely giving a speech with sexual innuendo and was suspended for three days.

The final decision by the Supreme Court sided with the school. “The process of educating our youth for citizenship in public schools is not confined to books, the curriculum, and the civics class; schools must teach by example the shared values of a civilized social order.” Teachers and older students are role models and must teach by example. Students using vulgar and lewd speech undermine the educational role of public schools so schools may make rules against students using this type of language.

Hazelwood School District V. Kuhlmeier, 1988

The principal of a high school removed two pages of a high school newspaper written by a journalism class before it went to print. The first page contained a story about three pregnant girls who had attended the high school. Even though their names had been changed the principle was afraid they might be identified from the story and that the content may have been inappropriate for the younger students at the school. The second page contained an article about how divorce affected students, one of the students accused her father of not spending enough time with her family among other things, the principal thought that the father should have been allowed a response. It was too close to the end of the school year to make revisions so the pages were removed.

            The students sued the school, the Court ruled in favor of the school. The school could restrict the content because: the newspaper was a supervised learning experience for journalism students not a public forum; including this content in school sanctioned publications might make it seem like the students opinion was the schools opinion; and the articles might have violated other students or parents rights.

Morse v. Frederick, 2007

The Olympic torch was scheduled to pass by Juneau- Douglas High School (JDHS) during school hours. The principal allowed teachers to take students to stand along the road in front of the school to see the torch pass. Frederick, a high school student had not shown up for classes that day, he showed up at the event and stood across the street from the school with his friends. When the camera crews and the torch passed by he unfurled a 14-foot banner with the help of some of his friends. The banner read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” which the principal interpreted as encouraging illegal drug use. The students were asked to hand over the sign which all of them except for Frederick did.  Frederick said that the banner was not a political statement about the legalization of marijuana, and the student could not come up with any explanations for his phrase other than referring to marijuana. Frederick was suspended for 8 days.

The court decided in favor of the school. Schools have the right to discipline students who present messages that conflict with stated anti-drug policies; even without evidence of disruption of school activities.

Some states have additional state laws limiting or protecting students rights, and your student hand book gives even more limitations or protection, while it is debatable if the school handbook is a “legally binding contract” you can get kicked out of private schools and punished in public school for not obeying school rules. If you feel like your schools rules are in conflict with the Supreme Court check out this website. http://www.splc.org/

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/studentspeech.htm

What was an explosion?

The word explosion comes from the Latin explosio— the act of driving off by clapping. (this only makes me think that Monty Python must have known this) The first recorded use of the word in English takes place in the Glossographia in 1665; the word is defined as meaning “ a casting off or rejecting, a hissing a thing out.” The definitions of scorn or driving away with a loud noise are the only usages until the mid 1700s. The first time explosion is used to refer to something blowing up is in 1762 when the definition changed to,  “The action of ‘going off’ with a loud noise under the influence of suddenly developed internal energy; an instance of this; also used of electric discharges. Of a boiler, bomb, gun, etc.: The action of suddenly bursting or flying in pieces from a similar cause.” Oxford English Dictionary and Miriam Webster

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AIM-9_explodes_F-89_ground_target_1979.jpeg

Where did Memorial Day come from?

The origins of Memorial Day are a little hazy, more than 20 places claim the original Memorial Day occurred in their area. They all agree that is was to honor the fallen from the civil war. In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress declared Waterloo, New York, held the original Memorial Day on May 5^th 1866. (Notice that would have made it the centennial)  Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was to honor Civil War soldiers by decorating their graves. Some places in the South used the day to honor confederate soldiers specifically, or held a separate day just for them, but it was more widely used to honor soldiers from both sides. Virginia still calls the last Monday in May “Confederate Memorial Day”. Some time after World War I the day was extended to honor soldiers from all wars. In 1971, the day was declared as a national holiday. Why the last Monday in May? Many people suspect this date was chosen because flowers would be blooming all over the United States. In 2000, congress created an act encouraging all Americans “to pause at 3:00 pm on Memorial Day and hold a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.”

http://www.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp?utm_source=3birds&utm_medium=Web&utm_campaign=AUBURNVW_Fun+Facts+About+Memorial+Day

Fruity mixed drinks are for risk takers only

One of the earliest definitions of a cocktail as an alcoholic drink appeared in the May 13, 1806, edition of The Balance and Colombian Repository, where the editor answered the question "what is a cocktail?"" a Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” The fruity mixed drinks we are more familiar with today began developing during prohibition. During prohibition lower quality alcohols were available. Moonshine that could literally make you go blind, or kill you, sometimes made it into the speakeasies. People started adding fruit juice, honey, sugar, or whatever else they could think of to cover up the taste of some pretty raunchy alcohols. The sweeter taste also made it easier to throw back quickly if your speakeasy got busted.  The harsher the alcohol = the fruitier your drink had to be to cover it up. It makes sense that only the real risk takers would be willing to drink the fruitiest mixed drinks.

Capri pants are for "manly men"

Sonja de Lennart purportedly invented capri pants in 1948. These pants are worn largely by women, but are also sported by men in many countries. While often seen viewed as “feminine,” lumberjacks sported pants that cut off between the ankles and knees much earlier than the recognized invention of Capri’s. A 1916 edition of field and stream mentions “stagged” pants as the lumberjack norm. The article defines these as “Trousers amputated somewhere between the instep and knee.” They are cut off in order to avoid dragging through brush and mud. In addition, if a branch catches up a person’s pant leg, without hemmed bottoms the pants will tear instead of dragging the lumberjack down with the branch. 


http://www.richwooders.com/industries/logging/richwood-lumberjacks.htm