- First off, in my last post I forgot to mention that I found a great recipe for Chunky Monkey Baked Oatmeal.
2. I learned that John Deere did not invent or sell tractors, but did invent a steel plow.
3. Manhattanhenge is “is an event during which the setting sun or the rising sun is aligned with the east–west streets of the main street grid of Manhattan, New York City.” (Wikipedia)
4. “Paris syndrome” is a form of culture shock resulting from the idealization of Paris, especially by Japanese tourists. It can manifest as delusions, feelings of persecution, or psychosomatic symptoms like vomiting. Isn’t that wild?
5. The Schmidt sting pain index is a scale of the relative pain of different wasp and bee stings.
6. Mishipeshu is a mythical underwater panther found in some Native American mythology (especially among the Anishinaabe).
7. Eckankar is a religious movement founded in 1965 and now headquartered in Minnesota.
8. The first four chapters of Lamentations are written as acrostics using the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
9. An iatrochemist was “someone who applied the knowledge and procedures developed by the alchemists to the cure of diseases rather than to the production of gold.” (The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin D. Wiker)
10. Giant Indian squirrels are large multi-coloured tree-dwelling squirrels. The colours are so surprising it’s hard to believe they’re real!
11. I just learned the term “vocal fry” and found this brief video explanation.
12. Fiori di Sicilia is a food flavouring that blends citrus and vanilla. Andrew found some on sale and to me it smells just like a Creamsicle! I’m excited to bake with it when the weather isn’t so hot.
13. Well, the day has come that I can borrow my daughter’s clothes, or at least her rain coat which fit nicely.
14. I like spiced chai but have come to the realization that I do not like tea that is cinnamon-flavoured without the other spices. (“Know yourself better,” as Gretchen Rubin would say.)
15. Here’s a useful tip: to delete an attachment without deleting an email, forward the email to yourself without the attachment and then delete the original email.
16. Finally, an aha moment: I don’t know much music theory, but I’ve heard that modern composers use a lot of dissonance and I always thought, why purposely make music sound wrong? Well, Billy Joel demonstrates the effect of dissonance in “And So It Goes,” which is such a great song.