Something of Interest – Page 17 – Random stuff I find interesting.

A.M. & P.M. What do they stand for?

Post author By Dave
Post date November 13, 2006
1 Comment on A.M. & P.M. What do they stand for?

My son asked me the other day what a.m. and p.m. mean. Of course I could tell him what they mean, but what do those letters stand for. Turn’s out they’re Latin of course! My first guess for p.m. was close, “post meridian” but couldn’t come up with the a.m. A.M. is ante meridiem (a.m., from Latin, literally “before midday”) and post meridiem (p.m., “after midday”).

link icon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock

Other great time related info courtesy of the US government
link icon http://time.gov/exhibits.html

Entertainment Media

Sean Connery passed on Matrix, Lord of the Rings roles

Post author By Dave
Post date November 7, 2006
No Comments on Sean Connery passed on Matrix, Lord of the Rings roles

While watching the special features of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” Connery made the comment that he was originally offered roles in “The Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings” but turned them down because he didn’t understand the script. After regretting those decisions he chose to do “League” despite not understanding the project.

link icon http://www.notstarring.com/actors/connery-sean

buy icon The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Widescreen Edition)

Internet Media Technology

Personalized Internet Radio

Post author By Dave
Post date November 6, 2006
No Comments on Personalized Internet Radio

On this site, you suggest a favorite song or artist, and it builds a radio station based on the style of music. You can help refine the station to your liking by giving a thumbs up or down to selected music it plays. Very smart.

link icon http://pandora.com/

BTW, it’s free.

Internet Random Thoughts Science

Diet Coke and Mentos guys again

Post author By Dave
Post date November 5, 2006
No Comments on Diet Coke and Mentos guys again

Those guys that put together the Mentos / Diet Coke explosion extravaganza have got another experiment. This time it’s the Domino Effect. Check it out.

Books Government History

Donald Rumsfeld’s resume

Regardless of your opinion of Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, he has a very impressive resume.

Attended Princeton on a Navy ROTC scholarship.
Navy pilot and flight instructor
Two and a half terms in Congress
Nixon’s cabinet
Ambassador to NATO
Secretary of Defense under Ford
CEO of a several of Fortune 500 companies

Gleaned from Bob Woodward’s book “State of Denial”

http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/rumsfeld.html

wikipedia entry

Everyday Things History Humanities

“Close, but no cigar” origin

Post author By Dave
Post date November 3, 2006
No Comments on “Close, but no cigar” origin

I was wondering about the origin of some of these sayings we use everyday. And the fact that, at least in the US, they are universally known. For example this jewel, “Close, but no cigar” I suspected had some origin at a carnival, but this site traces when the phrase was actually recorded in print or media. Seems we can thank screen writers for this one, which would make it’s ubiquity understandable.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/close-but-no-cigar.html

Here’s another site that discusses word origins.

http://www.word-detective.com/

Everyday Things Science SOI Blog

Vast empty space in the microverse!

Post author By Dave
Post date October 30, 2006
No Comments on Vast empty space in the microverse!

UPDATE: see this post for an update

I stumbled on this page one day that shows a scale model of an atom. It demonstrates the vast amount of empty space between the proton the electron that spins around it. By making the electron one pixel in size, that makes the proton 1,000 pixels wide and the space between it 50,000,000 pixels wide. If your monitor displays 72 pixels to the inch, then that works out to eleven miles – making it possibly the widest web page you’ll ever see!

See it for yourself!

http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/

History Uncategorized

Restaurants appear to be a modern enterprise.

Post author By Dave
Post date October 26, 2006
No Comments on Restaurants appear to be a modern enterprise.

While dining out last night my 5 year old son asked where the first restaurant was, which made me wonder about where the restaurant concept originated. From what I’ve gleaned, it appears to have originated in France around the late 1700s, which makes since since ‘restaurant’ is French word. The Wikipedia entry also credits 13th century China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant

Internet Media

Sesame Street’s Bert poses with Osama bin Laden

Post author By Dave
Post date October 25, 2006
1 Comment on Sesame Street’s Bert poses with Osama bin Laden

Okay, this isn’t a new item, but I saw someone’s avatar of “Evil Bert” that reminded me of this story. As a running joke, a San Francisco artist attempted to prove the muppet Bert was “evil” by inserting him into photographs with notorious people and infamous historical scenes. One of these doctored photos ended up in a Pro bin Laden poster in Bangladesh.

Bert in osama poster

The story detailed
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/bert.htm

History Sports

Morten Anderson, oldest player in NFL

Post author By Dave
Post date October 24, 2006
No Comments on Morten Anderson, oldest player in NFL

This past weekend, I was able to watch my Atlanta Falcons play on television. There was old Morten Anderson at 46, the oldest player in the NFL, kicking it with the best of them. In fact he was playing in the NFL before many of his teammates were born. He’s stated he want to break the record for being the oldest player in the NFL, he’ll have to make it to Dec 2008 to accomplish that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Andersen