Tag Archives: food

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:
* A chicken’s first eggs have a harder shell than usual. (Courtesy: ZS)

* The recidivism rate for a anti-aggressive driving course in VA is 0.04 percent, up from 0.0 percent in the mid-2000s. (Courtesy: AVH).

* A box of Edison wax cylinders were discovered and identified recently, including the only known recording of Bismark. (Courtesy: NYT and Ron Cowen)

* There is a series of endurance races for sub-$500 cars called the 24 Hours of LeMONS. I am considering making it my follow up to the Jason at the Derby demolition-derby adventure. (Courtesy: AJ)

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:
* Polo is a fun and fairly simple game, which is not to say it is simple to play. (Courtesy: Great Meadow Foundation)

* The Soviet Union denied requests for garlic experts to traverse the old Silk Road to collect garlic samples, because the areas commonly included missile bases. Beginning in 1989, though, requests were approved, and this opening up is a major source of “new” (i.e., rediscovered) garlic types. (Courtesy: The Valley Table)

* Vibrators were the fifth domestic appliance to be electrified. (Courtesy: NYer)

Things I Learned this Week

Among the things I learned this week:

* Despite the Beastie Boys’ suggestion, Jamaica is not a significant producer of mangoes. (Courtesy: FAOSTAT, nicely displayed on Mongabay.com, and University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences)

* Physiocracy. (Courtesy: Car Talk reference; Wikipedia)

* “Package store” is Northern slang for liquor store. (Courtesy: HD)

* Bitrates of various streaming services:
– Spotify: Vorbis 160kbps with some at 320kbps if a Premium subscriber
– Amazon Cloud Player: MP3 at the rate the file was saved
– Pandora: AAC 64kbps and up to 192kbps, depending on subscription
– Google Music: play back at the quality of the file, except for FLAC, which is played back as mp3 320kpbs

* Lord of the Rings is “fundamentally religious and Catholic work”, according to Tolkien. (Courtesy: Wikipedia and follow up readings).