Well, I never knew that! Share your interesting info...

[Nibsey]

Next topic: people often view witch burnings as something of the middle ages. However, it didn't happen so much back then. It didn't really start as we know it until the 15th-17th century. Before that time the officials of the church mostly shrugged about such issues and went like 'oh, silly superstitions'.

Funny enough I've just finished correcting 100 exam scripts on this very topic  They had 10 questions to choose from and nearly every student chose the witch question. While there were various reasons why it happened when it happened, the simplistic answer is the publishing of malleus maleficarum in 1486 (at least in Europe).

[Cami]

Domestic violence between married couples was not viewed with a blind eye by the judicial system in the past the way we all assume. At least not in the purview of my research project.

I did a large reseach project on the divorce files of the state of Wisconsin from the 1840s to 1930s. The vast majority of all divorces were granted to the woman due to domestic violence. While I did not examine every case file, I examined a very large sample and in NONE of those cases was the woman's request for dissolution on the grounds of cruelty denied. In fact, the divorce was very much a pro forma judgment when those grounds were used.

So when we think of the "bad old days" when women were forced by strict marriage/divorce laws to stay in abusive marriages, that was not true (at least in the state of Wisconsin).

The case files were fascinating. Some women would leave the man after one incident. Other women would stay for decades until some precipitating event finally inspired them to  leave. What's also interesting is that the testimonies indicate that the women almost universally had the emotional and financial support of their families in their decision to leave an abusive husband.  Some day I hope to write a book on particularly remarkable case of a fairly wealthy farm family in which the husband was what we would today call a sexual predator whose father and brothers had been incarcerated in a mental institution at various times for "sexual depravity" but he somehow managed to avoid prosecution.

[Spring Water on Sundays]

Canola oil comes from canola seeds - duh. But what are canola seeds?

As it turns out, the canola seed is not anything that would have ever existed without the intervention of man-made science and tinkering. What happened was that some agricultural scientists were trying to develop a new cooking oil. They started out using mustard seeds, but found them to be too acidic. So, through selective breeding and various modifications to the mustard seeds, those scientists "invented" the canola seed.

In fact, "canola" isn't even a proper word - it stands for Canada Oil Low Acidity: CAN(ada) O(il) L(ow) A(cidity).

(I just learned this a couple of weeks ago)

[sunnygirl]

Cheddar cheese did not start out orange, and the orange color is added.

Beginning in the 12th century, the cheese made in the village of Cheddar was very popular and had a pale yellow color when mature due to the diet of the cows. Only the cheese made in the Cheddar region could be called by that name. Other cheesemakers noticed the success of the cheese, and began to dye their cheeses to compete with Cheddar cheese.

But cheddar cheese isn't orange 

That's what I was going to say.  Ladyknight, is it possible you are thinking of Red Leicester cheese?

In the US, what is marketed as Cheddar cheese is orange, or at least a dark yellow. The white cheddar sold is the same product, without color additives.

And this is my 1000th post!

I find that really interesting. I've never seen American cheddar, and now I really want to try some to see if it tastes like real cheddar.

[alkira6]

Cheddar cheese did not start out orange, and the orange color is added.

Beginning in the 12th century, the cheese made in the village of Cheddar was very popular and had a pale yellow color when mature due to the diet of the cows. Only the cheese made in the Cheddar region could be called by that name. Other cheesemakers noticed the success of the cheese, and began to dye their cheeses to compete with Cheddar cheese.

But cheddar cheese isn't orange 

That's what I was going to say.  Ladyknight, is it possible you are thinking of Red Leicester cheese?

In the US, what is marketed as Cheddar cheese is orange, or at least a dark yellow. The white cheddar sold is the same product, without color additives.

And this is my 1000th post!

I find that really interesting. I've never seen American cheddar, and now I really want to try some to see if it tastes like real cheddar.

It doesn't taste the same to me. There is a more mellow/aftertaste that comes along with the colored stuff. I much prefer the white or undyed cheddar cheese.  Also, the "sharp" cheddar is actually sharp when it's undyed - the dyed cheese all tastes the same to me.

[Kariachi]

The proper term for the lack of a sense of smell is Anosmia, and as of 2000 it affected less than 1% of Americans.

Most people with anosmia develop it following a head injury or illness, with fewer developing it due to exposure to toxins, and only 1% due through aging. This often leads to severe depression and similar mental illnesses.

Some people may develop anosmia due to nasal polyps. This cause is relatively easy to treat.

Around 2% of anosmia 'sufferers' are born with the affliction. Unlike people lacking other senses, Anosmiacs often don't realize they lack the sense until around or past puberty. Many state that they felt they would 'learn how to smell' as time went on.

NO one is quite sure as to the cause of Congenital Anosmia, but it is believed to be the result of a hereditary gene malfunction. This is supported by claims by some Anosmiacs of learning of more Anosmiacs in their families once they themselves admitted to having the affliction.

Anosmiacs sometimes use the term 'Olfies' to refer to people with a sense of smell, while the term 'Headbanger' is used to refer to other Anosmiacs that lost their sense of smell due to an accident.

Several spell-checks don't register Anosmia as a word.

[Hmmmmm]

Cheddar cheese did not start out orange, and the orange color is added.

Beginning in the 12th century, the cheese made in the village of Cheddar was very popular and had a pale yellow color when mature due to the diet of the cows. Only the cheese made in the Cheddar region could be called by that name. Other cheesemakers noticed the success of the cheese, and began to dye their cheeses to compete with Cheddar cheese.

But cheddar cheese isn't orange 

That's what I was going to say.  Ladyknight, is it possible you are thinking of Red Leicester cheese?

In the US, what is marketed as Cheddar cheese is orange, or at least a dark yellow. The white cheddar sold is the same product, without color additives.

And this is my 1000th post!

I find that really interesting. I've never seen American cheddar, and now I really want to try some to see if it tastes like real cheddar.

American style cheddar is not going to the same if you just get a commercially available grocery store brand.  These normally come in mild, medium, sharp or extra sharp.  The texture is going to be a lot smoother than an English cheddar andanything other than the sharp or extra sharp is going to be extremely mild.  To get the yellow color, annato seed is used traditionally.  There are some small cheese producer who do make cheddars closer to an English style. 

[jayhawk]

Great. Now I want some cheese.

[Bethczar]

Random fact: One of the first recorded uses of the word "baseball" in print in English is by Jane Austen, in Northanger Abbey. Somewhere in the first chapter, Catherine, the tomboyish heroine, plays "base ball" instead of sitting nicely and sewing. (You can check this in the OED.)

Just not the author you tend to think of first in relation to sports.

Jane Austen was also one of the first to use "doorbell", although I can't remember which book it was in.

We all have unique tongue prints. I wonder who decided to research that, though. 

[Tea Drinker]

An adult human can live quite normally with only one third of one kidney. I found this out when as a student nurse, in my Pediatric clinical rotation, I had to counsel the parents of a three-year-old who had been born with one atrophied kidney and was going for surgery to have it removed. Odd coincidence, the mother of the little one was someone I had worked with prior to going into Nursing.

My dad's cousin was 53 when he had to go in for some abdominal surgery....and learned for the first time that he only had one kidney!  Apparently, he was born with only one kidney but it was never discovered because he was healthy all those years and never had a reason for the doctors to find it.

One of my grandfather's kidneys atrophied, with no symptoms, sometime after his 70th birthday. At 95, he went to the hospital for something and, after doing whatever exams, found only one, when he'd had two twenty-five years earlier. (I don't know what they were checking on when he was 70.)

[sunnygirl]

And unique ear prints.

I always wondered what 'sharp' cheese was. Sounds like it's what we (in the UK) would call 'mature.'

[Outdoor Girl]

^^  My Mom, too.  Way back in the late 70's when cat scans were just coming into being, she went into hospital with severe pain.  And got a scan when the only people getting them were people who they suspected had cancer.  Scan was inconclusive so they did exploratory surgery and discovered that her left kidney was just a shell.  They figured that the pain was one last hurrah from the dead kidney.  They removed the shell while they were in there.

Funny story:  Shortly after Mom got home after her surgery, she had occasion to make bread.  She was kneading by hand and discovered that one of the suture lines was right at the height of the counter so she got Dad to do the kneading.  And since he was stronger, the bread was better kneaded and was lighter and generally just better.  So he was permanently conscripted until Mom got a food processor.

[Lady Snowdon]

One of the common signs of depression is anhedonia - the inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities. 

[jpcher]

Upper case and Lower case letters . . . do you know where those terms come from?


Way back in the olden days when printed material was hand-set with individual letters, the majority of the letters used were small (as opposed to capital letters.)

The typesetter's desk was arranged with the small letters in one "case" (a lower level drawer) so that they would be more convenient to reach. The capital letters were in a different "case" (on a higher level or upper drawer, harder to reach.)

[oz diva]

A former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, was in the Guiness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.

I don't care what party he is. I would totally vote for that guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5mBShX9fdU

There ya go. Now you can see it! 

Worth noting that he's 81 in this clip... and it's quite a few years since he led the country.  Still a proud Australian though... hand him a beer, call out "One for the country" and he sculls it without hesitation

The drink in the original post was a 'yard of ale' he skulled it while he was a Rhodes Scholar. I did vote for him.