Oregon Rainy Day Woman

Monday, November 7, 2022

Creme de la Yuck

Today's post is another of the either love it or hate it items,this time it's Cadbury's Creme Egg which was first trotted out in 1971 as an Easter treat but are mostly available year round now. The outer part of the egg is obviously chocolate but what is that center about? The center has been called fondant in advertisements but what does that mean? Slimy? Sorry,that's my take and I must be in the minority on that thought since they sell over 500 million Creme Eggs a year. Fondant is sugar,milk,glucose syrup,cocoa butter,inverted sugar syrup,dried whey (no whey!),vegetable fats and dried egg whites. I guess the egg white qualifies it to be called a creme egg but still leaves me wondering what makes the egg yolk color?

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Time Part Two

Yesterday we left off with Franklin fooling the French about time change,that old prankster! That brings us to George Hudson,a postal worker in New Zealand and part time entomologist who spent his after work hours hunting bugs. He became frustrated when the early darkness hindered his bug hunting and submitted a proposal in 1895 for a two hour shift forward in October and a two hour shift back in March. Seven years later a British builder, William Willett brought an idea to maximize daylight hours to Parliament and though there was some support it was ultimately rejected. In 1916 with the war proving to be costly the German government implemented Daylight Saving Time to conserve coal and energy. Within weeks other countries followed suit with the US adopting the idea in 1918. Now you know the rest of the story!

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Is Time on Your Side?

It's that time of year again that people either love or hate,the changing of the clocks. Daylight Saving Time (DST) started out as a joke by a man known for his wit among many other things,Benjamin Franklin. In 1784 Franklin wrote a letter to the "Journal de Paris"suggesting that by waking up with the sun the people of Paris could save an immense sum of money by using sunshine instead of candles for their lighting needs. What everyone failed to realize was he wasn't serious the article was satirical,he went on to also suggest:

There should be a tax implemented for every window with a shutter designed to keep out the sunlight.
Guards should be posted at candle shops to limit the number of candles that families can buy.
Guards should also stop all coaches in the streets after sunset.
When the sun rises, every bell in every church should ring to wake up the city so that no daylight is wasted. For heavy sleepers, cannons should also be fired in the streets.

Franklin might have been kidding, but his concept was solid. More than a century later, a real DST was proposed. Stay tuned for the rest of the story tomorrow!

Friday, November 4, 2022

Water,Water Everywhere

Considering the same water has been around for the last five billion years water should be ranked as King of Recycling or at least some sort of title,but the bad news is the way it is recycled...if you guessed being consumed then returning as urine you would be correct! There is an actual formula to show how to figure it out but the bottom line is every drop of water has already been urine at least 10 times,and not just human urine but also animal and fish not to mention that the suggested 10 times is a very conservative estimate and the more likely ratio is around 25 times. Here's to your health,drink up!

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Poor Little Pinky

These little guys look like something out of a fairy tale or maybe a dream but they are real live animals at least so far. The Pink Fairy Armadillo lives in Argentina and is the smallest member of the armadillo family,it is also endangered due to habitat loss and domestic dogs and cats. The pink color is from blood vessels under the shell which isn't attached in the same way as other armadillos but by a thin membrane along the spine. It can also change colors as it thermoregulates,making it pink to lose heat or a paler or white color when it wants to retain heat. Their diet is insects and snails and it will resort to plants if nothing else is available making it one of the good guys but unfortunately their days may be numbered.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

You Don't Say

How often do you think quotes are misquoted or assigned to the wrong person? The answer is fairly often,for instance Mark Twain is known for many memorable quotes but they weren't all his. "Everybody talks about the weather,but nobody does anything about it." was not Twain,he did say this about weather,"I reverently believe that the Maker who made us makes everything in New England but the weather. I don't know who makes that,but I think it must be raw apprentices in the weather-clerk's factory who experiment and learn how,in New England,for board and clothes,and then are promoted to make weather for countries that require a good article and will take their custom elsewhere if they don't get it." Another non-Twain quote is,"Be careful about reading health books. You might die of a misprint." They all sound like Twain even after knowing they aren't all his!