McPhaddin Keep – Fount of Knowledge

How do they make mirrors?
There are probably few things more interesting, perplexing, and sometimes disturbing as our own reflections. Since ancient Egypt, when people used shiny metal to bring themselves face to face with their face, we've used mirrors to keep an eye on ourselves. Commercial glass mirrors were first produced in 16th century Venice. It was the Renaissance, when realistic portraits came into vogue and literature and philosophy were suddenly emphasizing the individual. The mirror glass was backed by a mixture of mercury and tin, a method that was used until the 19th century, when a chemically treated silver-ammonia compound replaced it. The backing, supported and protected by the glass, reflects the image.

Why do we call a long shot political candidate a "dark horse"?
What is there about politics that would inspire a four-legged metaphor? Well, many people associate politics with the scent of the stable. And we have all had to listen to politicians who remind one of the southbound end of a northbound horse. But "dark horse" rises above all that. It comes from good breeding and in fact is downright literary. Benjamin Disraeli, the future British Prime Minister, coined it in his 1831 novel, The Young Duke, to describe a horse with dim prospects that emerges from the pack to become a serious challenger. The term was picked up at British tracks, passed into American racing lingo, and from there entered the political lexicon, where it is still trotted out to label a candidate who may surprise everyone at the finish line.

Who started the custom of men wearing tuxedos on formal occasions?
At one time if you told me it was a bunch of penguins that wanted men to look as funny and ridiculous as they do, I would have believed you. But now I can muster some facts to fill in the tail--er, tale--of the tuxedo's origins. When the tuxedo debuted in 1886, black tie and tails had been the accepted formal wear for a century. But that year Pierre Lorillard (from the tobacco family) commissioned a tailor to create something less stiff--preferably tail-less--for a big social occasion where he lived, in Tuxedo Park, New York. But by the big night his enthusiasm for the new suit had tailed off, and he chickened out. However, his son and his friends wore it, and they started a new fad that itself became the standard for formal wear. In the process, they immortalized the name of their hometown.

What the heck is something doing when it "warms the cockles" of your heart?
Some of you may recognize the word cockle as derived from the Old French, coquille, or shell, as in the French scallop dish, Coquille Saint-Jacques. You would know as well that coquille also gave us "the cockles and mussels" that Sweet Molly Malone sold in an old song. Now those who jumped up to raise their hand with that answer, please sit down. That ain't it. These cockles come from the Latin cochleae cordis, the ventricles in your heart. The implication is that something that warms you that internally is really, deeply satisfying.

How much more powerful are today's personal computers compared to the first machines in widespread use?
Compared to users of the first widely used personal computers two decades ago, you are the master of the universe when you press the "on" button. (Crashes? What crashes?) Since the original IBM PC set the standard for computing, let's look at it (the Apple machine of that day had similar specs). Debuting in 1981, the PC plodded along at 4.77 MHz, about a hundred times slower than the slowest business machine today. It's 64K of ram was puny compared to today's 128. It also sported a single 5 1/2 diskette drive holding 160 kilobytes of data. Today's 20-gigabyte hard drive stores 125,000 times as much. Modems, operating at about 300 bits per second and physically attached to the telephone, were optional. Your built-in 56K modem is 186 times as fast. And they didn't have Windows. (Well, some things were faster then!)

How can you tell real pearls from fake ones?
We hold pearls in very high regard, even using the precious little things as a synonym for something that is small and very valuable, as in pearls of wisdom. So it's important to be able to tell the real thing from the wannabes. After all, there's no point in your casting your costume jewelry before swine, is there? The real pearl is a mollusk's concretion, the most essential ingredient of which is aragonite. Not clear enough criteria for you? Ok, check the price – real ones cost more. All right, enough fooling around. Put the "pearl" in your mouth and slosh it softly across your teeth. (Be careful not to swallow it!) Does it feel totally smooth? If it does, it's fake. The real thing feels slightly gritty. You can trust this test because it's used all the time by people whose livelihoods depend on it: professional jewel thieves.

FAST FACTS:
According to the Population Council, people tend to marry people who live near them. Of course, if they lived far away the person wouldn't be a spouse, they'd be a pen-pal.

There really is a disease called the laughing disease, where people literally laugh themselves to death. There is a cure: take the infected person and force them to watch a couple hours of prime time television.

Assuming that each fold neatly overlaps its opposite side, a dollar bill can be folded only 6 times, 7 if put in a vise (although the dollar can only be folded six times, it can be stretched numerous ways).

The amount of play money printed each year for use in the game, Monopoly is more than the amount of real money issued every year by the U.S. government. Of course, Monopoly money is a lot easier to come by.

When christening a ship, instead of using champagne, the Vikings would sacrifice a human being. The custom started when some Vikings tried to break a bottle of champagne and the owner of the ship said, "Over my dead body."

The Vikings also thought the spirits of the murdered person would guide and guard the craft. Come on, if they sacrificed me just to launch a stupid ship, the only place I would guide it would be the bottom of the ocean.

We read the strangest stuff to kids. Grimm's fairy tales, for example, in their original edition, are some of the bloodiest, most brutal stories ever written. Now I've discovered that Sarah Catherine Martin, the British writer who penned "Old Mother Hubbard," was a one-time lover of the future King William IV. What's more, she wrote this immortal nursery rhyme while a guest at the home of the family her brother-in-law to be, a Member of Parliament named John P. Bastard (his real name!). Imagine that, "Old Mother Hubbard" was written by a royal mistress while surrounded by a bunch of Bastards.

There's a formal name for snapping your fingers. It's called a "fillip." I knew filliping had something to do with your fingers, but I thought it only involved one finger.

E is the most frequently used letter in the alphabet. Q is the least. I find that quite quizzical and quirky and you can quote me (not really, I just wanted to help poor Q along there).

Eventually the sun will burn itself out and Earth will freeze over. When that happens, given the 94 million miles from the Earth to the sun and the speed of light, we will have a little over eight minutes before the daylight goes dark and the temperature plunges precipitously. Maybe not enough time to take out the garbage and put your personal papers in order, but surely enough to wolf down one last bowl of nachos and salsa.

Leonardo Di Vinici could draw with one hand while at the same time write with the other. Boy, you'd think if he could do all that he would have been able to paint a couple of eyebrows on Mona Lisa.

According to a professor at the University of Michigan, men are six times more likely than women to be hit by lightening.

It's believed that pirates thought that piercing their ears and wearing earrings improved their eyesight. Then again, they also thought walking the plank was a good form of exercise.