March 13 - 26, 2018
Issue 00339
The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read®
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by Janet Spencer Throughout history, humans have come up with all sorts of ways of measuring things. Here are some lesser-known facts about units of measure. HORSES, REINDEER, and DOGS • James Watt, who invented the steam engine, originated the measurement of horsepower. Horsepower is equal to a horse at walking speed, equal to about 750 watts. When a horse is sprinting, it’s generating up to 15 horsepower. A human being can generate about 0.1 horsepower, while a small engine can create 10 horsepower, and a jet engine comes in at about 1,000 horsepower. Europeans call horsepower “pferdestarke” which is German for “horse strength.” • A Finnish measurement known as “poronkusema” is the distance a reindeer can walk without having to urinate. If you’re a Finnish reindeer herder, this is important, because a reindeer has to stop walking in order to pee. The phrase comes from the Finnish words “poron” meaning “reindeer” and “kusema” meaning “peed by.” It’s equal to about 4.5 miles, or 7.5 km. • Another Finnish measurement is the “peninkulma” defined as the distance a dog can be heard barking, from the words “penin” meaning “dog” and “kuuluma” meaning “to be heard.” It equals 6.5 miles (10.5 km). • A peninkulma is equal to about ten versts. A verst is equal to 500 sazhen. A sazhen is defined by the Russian language as the distance between the tips of the outstretched arms of an adult human. • The distance between the tips of the outstretched arms of an adult human is also called a fathom, from the German word “fadum” meaning “embracing arms” which has
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now been standardized at six feet (1.8m) and was typically used by sailors to measure the depth of the ocean. When it became necessary to bury someone at sea, the body needed to be sunk to a depth of at least six fathoms, leading to the phrase “to deep six” something by disposing of it. The word fathom in the sense of being unable to understand something: “I can’t fathom that” refers to the word’s original meaning of “embrace” as in, “I can’t wrap my mind around that.” • A “morgen” was defined as the amount of land that one ox and one man could till in a day. “Morgen” is German and Dutch for “morning.” The morgen was an official measurement in South Africa until the 1970s due to Dutch influence. • The morgen is similar to the acre, which is the area of land a yoke of oxen can plow in a day with a wooden plow. It comes from the Latin “ager” meaning “field.” The acre begat the furlong, which is the distance an ox can plow before needing to rest. It comes from
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the Old English “furh” meaning “furrow” and “lang” meaning “long.” Turning a team of oxen around while they were dragging a heavy plow was a difficult task, so furrows were made as long as possible, and the oxen were given a chance to rest before turning around and plowing in the opposite direction. The furlong became standardized at 660 feet (201m). • The Romans noted that a two-step pace of a marching man was about five feet. One thousand paces, or 5,000 feet, became the mile, called “milia passuum” meaning “1,000 paces.” However, farms in England were measured in furlongs, which equaled 660 feet. In 1575, England’s Queen Elizabeth I proclaimed the mile should be 5,280 feet, so it could easily be divided into 8 furlongs. Today the furlong is rarely used outside of horseracing, and the mile is rarely used outside the U.S., Myanmar, and Liberia. • A league is the distance a person can walk in an hour, 3.5 miles. In Jules Verne’s book “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” Captain Nemo would have travelled about 70,000 miles under the
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ocean, far enough to circumnavigate the Earth nearly three times. • A mile is an arbitrary measurement, but a nautical mile is a precise measurement based on the circumference of Earth. If you cut the Earth in half at the equator and pick up one of the halves, the equator forms a circle. That circle is divided into 360 equal parts, called degrees. Each degree is divided into 60 smaller parts, called minutes. A nautical mile is one of these minutes. The nautical mile is a standardized unit of measure used by all nations for air and sea travel. It equals 1.1508 miles (1.852 km). • If you are traveling at one nautical mile per hour, you are travelling at the speed of one knot. Why is it called a knot? To tell speed, a ship would carry a line wound on a reel. A chip of wood on the end of the line was allowed to drag in the water behind the ship, causing the line to unreel. The line was knotted at intervals of 47’3” and the line was allowed to drag for exactly 28 seconds. (47’3” are to 1.1508 miles what 28 seconds are to one hour.) If the line unwound to the fifth knot in 28 seconds, the ship was moving at 5 knots per hour. • Before cardboard boxes were invented, goods were shipped in barrels. Barrels were very practical because they could be stacked on top of each other, and could be easily moved around simply by rolling them down a skid. There were all kinds of different barrels, made out of all kinds of different materials, made in standard sizes.
• A barrel isn’t just a container; it’s a unit of measure, equal to 32 gallons, or 1/8 of a ton. With a capacity of 32 gallons, a barrel is a medium-sized cask. A barrel is half the size of a hogshead, a cask that holds 64 gallons. A hogshead is half the size of the butt. A butt is half the size of the largest cask, called a tun, or ton. • On the other end of the scale, a cask that is half the size of a barrel is called a kilderkin. Half a kilderkin is a firkin, holding just 8 gallons. Half of a firkin is a pin. Half of a pin is a gallon. The word “kilderkin” is Dutch meaning “small cask.” The word “firkin” is from the Dutch word meaning “one-fourth.” • The term “hogshead” may have originated with a particular brand depicting the head of an ox, that looked a bit too much like the head of a pig. “Butt” comes from the French “botte” meaning “pipe.” A “buttload” is a real measurement, equaling 126 gallons. The word “gallon” comes from the Latin “galus” meaning “a measure of wine.” • A “gallop” is an informal measurement used in cooking, equaling the amount of liquid necessary to leave a gallon milk jug before it literally makes the sound “gallop.” • A slug is a unit of mass, equal to a mass that is accelerated by one foot per second when a force of one pound is exerted against it. A slug is equal to twelve blobs, with a blob being the unit of mass that is accelerated by one inch when a force of one pound is exerted against it. Fabulous Food
TWINKIES
• Continental Bakeries made a variety of items under the Hostess brand in the 1920s and 1930s. One of them was a strawberry shortcake. The problem was that strawberries were a seasonal item, available only a few months of the year. The rest of the year, the equipment used to make the cakes sat idle. • While delivering a load of strawberry cakes to a vendor one day, company vice-president James Deware decided what he needed was a product that would use this equipment all year. Finally he hit on banana cream cakes because bananas were available year-round. He called them Little Shortcake Fingers, and a nickel bought a package of two.
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NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE An early English system for measuring grains used the “measure-full.” Eight measures equaled a peck, and 16 pecks equaled a “hlot.” Eventually the “hlot” became “a lot” so when you say you have “a lot” of peaches, you’re talking about 16 pecks!
• Later he saw a billboard advertising Twinkle Toe Shoes, and he adopted that name for the product: Twinkies. Originally the cakes were made with eggs, milk, and butter, which gave them a shelf life of only a day or two. The recipe was reformulated, and airtight cellophane packaging helped retain freshness. Today, the typical Twinkie can last 45 days before going stale. • During World War II, a banana shortage led to the need to re-vamp the recipe once again, and the familiar vanilla-flavored snack cake was born. Vanilla turned out to be a far more popular flavor than banana, but banana Twinkies were * “To make sure I’m drinking water throughout the day, I use a permanent marker to designate levels on my large reusable water cup. I labeled them 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. That’s for a big one that sits on my desk at work. I have another for at home. This way I am not trying to play catch up later in the day.” -- A.L. in Oklahoma * Three ways to save money on water-heater bills: 1) Set your temperature gauge to a lower setting. 2) Install a timer so that it’s not heating water when you aren’t there to use it. 3) Add an insulating cover to keep heat from escaping. * Game changer: “When dunking a sandwich cookie (e.g. Oreos), jab a fork into the filling. Then you can dunk the whole thing or part of it without getting your fingers all milky -- or your milk all ‘fingery.’” -- A.J. in Florida * When you microwave leftovers on a flat plate, be sure to spread them out for even heating. The classic ring of food is best -- leaving the center of the plate empty. Slice already-cooked potatoes, and cover with a moistened paper towel. * Need to light a pillar candle inside a hurricane glass? Use a stick of spaghetti! The pasta stick lights easily, and it’s long enough to give you the reach you need. It burns evenly, too. * “If you like to save money by buying large packs of meat -- say, ground beef or chicken tenderloins -- here’s a great tip for storing them: Fill quartsize freezer bags, making sure to get out as much air as possible. Then stack flat on top of a pizza box in the freezer.” -- T.L. in Missouri Send your tips to Now Here’s a Tip, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803. (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.
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given another run when the movie “King Kong” was released in 2005. • In 2012, Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Twinkie sales for the year were down almost 20% from a year earlier. Hostess said customers had migrated to healthier foods. A few months later, Hostess was purchased by Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co for $410 million and Twinkies returned to store shelves by July of 2013. Apollo subsequently sold Hostess for $2.3 billion. • Twinkies have been used as an ingredient in other dishes. Hostess published two recipe compilation books, most recently in 2015 for the snack cake’s 85th anniversary • A deep-fried Twinkie, popular at state fairs and ball parks, involves freezing the Twinkie, dipping it into batter, and deep-frying it. • A scene from the 1989 film “UHF” shows “Weird Al” Yankovic’s favorite food, the Twinkie Wiener Sandwich: Split a Twinkie like a hot dog bun. Add a hot dog, cover it in Easy Cheese, and dip in milk before eating. Yankovic has stated that he has switched to using tofu hot dogs since becoming a vegetarian. • When Dan White killed San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978, his lawyers argued he had been suffering from depression, as evidenced by his failure to maintain his previously healthy diet, preferring sugary treats such as Twinkies instead. This became known as the “Twinkie defense.” White served five years in prison for the two murders. • The Twinkies eaten in the movie “Zombieland” were not real Twinkies. Being a vegan and rawfoodist, Woody Harrelson would not eat real Twinkies. Rather, the “Twinkies” he was shown
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MADE UP MEASUREMENTS
eating were made from cornmeal and were vegan-safe. • When the Clinton White House was assembling the National Millennium Time Capsule in 1999, long lists of possible items were mulled over. In the end, the capsule included icons like the works of William Faulkner and a recording of Louis Armstrong. The capsule very nearly included a Twinkie, which would have been over a century past its “best-by” date when the capsule is opened in 2100. At the last minute, staff pulled the Twinkie from the capsule over
• In Homer’s book “The Iliad,” Helena of Troy is married to a Greek king but runs off with her Trojan lover. The men of Greece are so upset at the loss of their beautiful queen that they launch their entire fleet of ships to go bring her home, starting the Trojan war. In the year 1592, an English playwright named Christopher Marlowe wrote a play called “Doctor Faustus.” In the play, the character Faustus calls upon the mythological Helen of Troy, and writes her a love poem, in which appears the line: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?” Some centuries later, a unit of measure, perhaps proposed by Isaac Azimov, was based upon the face that launched a thousand ships: the milliHelen. A milliHelen is defined as the amount of beauty needed to launch a single ship. Its corollary is the microHelen, which is a woman who is capable of launching 1/1000th of a ship, or a model ship in 1/1000th scale. A woman possessing a nanoHelen of beauty is only capable of launching a dinghy. • Artist Andy Warhol once declared that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. This begat the Warhol unit of fame, coined by writer Cullen Murphy: one Warhol equals 15 minutes of fame, but a kilowarhol equals 15,000 minutes (10.42 days, equivalent to “nine-day wonder”) and a megawarhol is equivalent to 15 million minutes (28.5 years). The “Warhol worm” is a term applied to any potential computer virus capable of infecting the entire Internet in 15 minutes. • The corollary to the New York minute is the New York second (“the shortest unit of time in the multiverse”) defined as the period of time between the traffic lights turning green and the cab behind you honking. • As a humorous tribute to Carl Sagan and his association with the catchphrase “billions and billions” a “sagan” has been defined as a large quantity of anything. • Physicist Paul Dirac was known for his precise yet taciturn nature. His colleagues in Cambridge jokingly defined a unit of a “dirac” which equalled one word per hour. • The Harvard Bridge over the Charles River in Massachusetts is long. People who cross the bridge during bad weather keep their head down, and look only at the pavement. In 1958, a fraternity at MIT decided something should be done to help students know how much farther they had to go. They decided the pavement should be marked off, and the unit of measurement should be one of their pledges. The shortest pledge was chosen. His name was Oliver Smoot and he was 5’7” tall. One evening Smoot and some other pledges showed up on the bridge. They laid him end over end all the way across the bridge, painting Smoot marks every 5 feet, 7 inches. They found that the bridge was 364.4 Smoots long, plus one ear. The fraternity maintains the Smoot marks, re-painting them every year as they began to fade. Police still refer to the Smoot marks when calling for tow trucks or filling out accident reports. • In 1982, John Lloyd and Douglas Adams wrote a humorous book called, “The Meaning of Liff.” The book purported to list the meanings of the odd names of towns throughout the United Kingdom. The Scottish town of Liff supposedly meant “A book, the contents of which are totally belied by its cover.” The town name of Plymouth really means, “To relate an amusing story to someone without remembering that it was they who told it to you in the first place” and
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the meaning of the town name Shoeburyness is “The vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat that is still warm from somebody else’s bottom.” The Isle of Sheppey was named for the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque, equal to just under one mile.
This soup is one you can start in the morning and leave on the stove all day long for lunch, afternoon snack or a quick dinner after coming in from a cold March day.
In a large soup pot, combine uncooked chicken, cabbage, celery, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, chicken broth, thyme, black pepper and lemon juice or vinegar. Bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for one hour. Makes 8 (1 1/2 cup) servings. TIP: Lean beef roast and beef broth can be used in place of chicken breast and chicken broth. * Each serving equals: 114 calories, 2g fat, 15g protein, 9g carbs, 98mg sodium, 48mg calcium, 2g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 2 Meat, 2 Vegetable; Carb Choices: 1 1/2. (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.
When Your Cat Cares a Little Too Much DEAR PAW’S CORNER: I had animals all my life until my wife and dog died seven years ago. I got a cat two years ago when a neighbor moved. Last year, another neighbor gave us her cat after having a baby. The two cats -- both fixed females -- got along fine from start. What’s curious is, one jumps up on my bed every night and walks up to my face. When I put my hand out to pat her, she starts licking my arm, wrist to elbow, with her sandpaper tongue! Seems she is checking that I have not deserted her! Do I taste that good? What’s so tempting about my arm? -- Dr. William H., Central Falls, Rhode Island DEAR DR. WILLIAM: You may taste pretty good to your cat, but I think you’re on the right track when you say she seems to be checking that you have not deserted her. Many experts believe that cats groom their housemates -- both felines and humans -- as a way of showing they accept you as family, that they trust you and that they are caring for you. Sometimes excessive licking is a sign that a cat wants more attention. It can also be a sign of anxiety or stress. However, that seems unlikely since your cat does this routinely and seems calm. So the only question that remains is: Does it annoy you? If so, try gently redirecting the cat from your arm, maybe to snuggle against your shoulder. If it’s really annoying or she doesn’t stop after a few redirects, get up and walk away for a few minutes. She may eventually get the message.
Anytime Soup
16 ounces skinned and boned uncooked chicken breast, cut into 36 pieces 3 cups shredded green cabbage 1 1/2 cups chopped celery 1 cup chopped carrots 5 cups diced fresh tomatoes 1 minced garlic clove 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 2 (14-ounce) cans Swanson Lower Sodium Fat Free Chicken Broth 1 teaspoon dried thyme (optional) 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons lemon juice or 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
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Send your pet care tips, questions or comments to ask@pawscorner.com. (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.
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by Samantha Weaver * It was French poet, journalist and novelist Anatole France who made the following sage observation: “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” * If you’re planning a trip to North Carolina in June, try to make it to the small town of Spivey’s Corner for the annual Hollerin’ Contest. If you’d like to participate but are worried about straining your vocal cords, you can always enter the conch-blowing contest instead of one of the ones that involves actual yelling. * You might be surprised to learn that famed British author Aldous Huxley, best-known for his dystopian novel “Brave New World,” was a consultant on Disney’s 1951 animated film version of “Alice in Wonderland.” * After the vows have been said in a traditional Korean wedding, the groom formally introduces his new wife to his parents. The bride’s father-in-law then pelts the bride with red dates, which is supposed to ensure fertility. * Jazz musician Glenn Miller was the recipient of the first gold record ever awarded, for the big-band hit “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” * You might be surprised at some of the seemingly innocuous things that arouse passions in a group of people. Take the venerable 1960s television show “Mr. Ed,” for example. Evidently an evangelist named Jim Brown took issue with the show’s theme song, claiming that when played backward, the tune contains the message “the source is Satan” and “someone sang this song for Satan.” His preaching on the subject was so persuasive that members of a church in Ironton, Ohio, made a bonfire of recordings of the song. Thought for the Day: “Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as a blazing meteor when it descends to earth, is only a stone.” -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
SPECIALITY SHARPENING All your sharpening needs, and for your convenience, drop off and pickup at Vernon’s Water Store. 180, 4400 - 32 St (250)308-4866
BOOK WAREHOUSE #35, Alpine Centre, 100 Kal Lake Road OPEN on WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS and SATURDAYS 9 AM TO 1 PM Quality used books & more, most priced $1 or less Supporting Special Olympics, Vernon & other local charities Phone : 250-541-1646 for more info. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Spring has sprung in the Gift Shop, new colorful and pretty things arriving daily. Check us out for lovely items to celebrate Easter, clothing and accessories, purses and hats and pretty jewelry.
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Made from scratch goodness that speaks for itself 2090 Norris Ave, Lumby BC 250-547-8877 anaspizzalumby.com
BUYING GUNS OLD TIME SENIOR CITIZEN, WITH LIFE-TIME HOBBY OF SHOOTING, WILL PAY CASH FOR YOUR GUNS, INCLUDING ESTATES 250-832-2982 (Salmon Arm)
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Opening a new in business in 2018 or looking to increase your existing business and clientalÉ Why not join the Chamber of Commerce. Membership with the Lumby & District Chamber of Commerce can increase your marketing and networking capacities. Join our organization and watch your business grow. Looking for more details don’t hesitate to contact the Chamber office. 250.547.2300 or email lumbychamber@shaw.ca.
Save the Date!! Community Excellence Awards April 28, 2018 Nomination forms are available on our website, face book page and at our office. Recognize a deserving business today!
Why Join the Chamber? Extensive research shows that when consumers know that an organization is a member of the chamber of commerce, they are 49% more likely to think favorably of it and 80% more likely to purchase goods or services from that organization in the future!
For information on GVCC membership contact Dan Proulx at membership@vernonchamber.ca 250-545-0771
®
A jiffy is a unit of time, equal to the time it takes light to travel one centimeter in a vacuum. A moment is also a real measure of time, originating in medieval times when sundials were the only method of telling time. The day was divided into 24 hours, and each hour was divided into either four “puncta” (equaling 15 minutes) or ten “minuta” (six minutes) or 40 “momenta” (about 90 seconds.)
1. The cubit is one of the oldest known measurements. It’s the length of the forearm from elbow to fingertip. 2. The unit of 200 paces called a “stade” gave us our “stadium.” 3. A tuffet was originally used to measure corn. 4. A carat is based on the weight of a carob seed. 5. The cord, a measurement of wood (4 ft. high, 4 ft. wide, and 8 ft. long) is not recognized as a legal measurement by the U.S. Government.
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1. A single second is the duration of 92,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. 2. A fortnight is 14 days or two weeks; short for “fourteen nights.”
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