Pin Money

Today's blog started out from looking up cartwheel hats,which turned out to be wide brimmed hats as the name implies. They were fairly interesting on their own,but what caught my attention more than the hats were the hatpins. I have always wondered exactly how they worked as obviously you wouldn't jam them into your head. I never really found an answer to how they were used other than they went through the hair,so either the hair was ratted or maybe braided and the pin stuck through that is my guess.
I was surprised that the length of the hatpins was from 6-12 inches,depending on the size of the hat it was to hold in place.
Around the 1820's to keep up with demand England started importing hatpins from France. Parliament passed an act restricting the sale of pins to two days a year,January 1st and 2nd. Ladies saved their money all year to be able to spend it on pins. This is thought to be a source of the term "pin money".
Laws were passed in 1908 in America which limited the length of hatpins as there was concern they might be used as weapons. Sounds kind of like the start of TSA!

Roll Your Own

No,nothing to do with smoking! I have heard many times mention of gunpowder tea,but had never really known what it was until it came up in a story on my Kindle. Kindles allow you to instantly see the meaning of words by simply putting your finger on the word,a box pops up with the definition,a very helpful feature.
Gunpowder tea is a form of green Chinese tea in which each leaf has been rolled into a small round pellet. It is believed to take its English name from the fact that the tea resembles blackpowder grains.
The tea leaves are withered,steamed,rolled,and then dried. Although the leaves were formerly rolled by hand,most today are rolled by machines. Rolling renders the leaves less susceptible to breakage and allows them to retain more of their flavor and aroma.
When buying gunpowder tea look for shiny pellets which indicate the tea is relatively fresh. Pellet size is associated with quality,larger pellets being a mark of lower quality.

Chewing Gum Ban

I read about this awhile ago and meant to look into it further but it slipped my mind and only recently resurfaced to my attention. I had remembered it taking place in Japan,when in fact it was Singapore. The ban was enacted in 1992 and revised in 2004 and 2010. It bans the import and sale of chewing gum in Singapore. Since 2004 only gum of therapeutic value is allowed.
This law was created because people disposed of gum by sticking it under tables and chairs. I have often wondered why people do things like that with gum,it isn't illegal most places in the world and yet people seem to want to hide it in unpleasant places. I am also continually surprised at the amount of gum I see on sidewalks,which can be nasty if stepped on in warm weather.
A proposal for this ban was brought to the Prime Minister as early as 1983,but no action was taken as a ban was thought too drastic. Chewing gum was causing serious maintenance problems in public housing,with vandals disposing of it in mailboxes,inside keyholes and on elevator buttons. Gum left on floors and pavement in public areas increased cleaning costs and damaged equipment. When vandals began sticking gum on door sensors of MRT trains,preventing the doors from functioning properly and causing disruption of service,the ban was decided on.

Bigots,Hypocrites and Zealots

People don't realize that because I talk my fair share that I also listen,and often what I hear is appalling. It makes me wonder if the speakers are thinking about what they are saying or if they are so deluded,so sanctimonious that they believe what they are saying is fact,and how can those same people who profess their religion rail against things that God himself created,such as tobacco and alcohol? Talking about a drunk in the gutter as if that person is below their station and the smell of smokers being so repulsive. Whatever happened to "Judge not,lest ye be judged"? And do those same sensory glands that can detect a vile smoker also include the ability to sniff out a child molester? Would those same people, as they go about their pious lives know Jesus Christ if they saw him in a gutter? Attending a church service doesn't exclude a person from needing to be compassionate nor does it give the right to persecute their fellow man. Do they think that by  regular attendance at their place of worship automatically makes them God's right hand man? I know there are exceptions to most every rule but it has been my experience that the regular church goers are some of the worst Christians I have ever known. I will climb down from my soap box now and include a few appropriate quotes in conclusion of today's blog.
"The hands that help are far better than lips that pray."  (Robert Green Ingersoll)
"If God objected to (people with various handicaps),he ought not have created such people." (also Ingersoll)
"I like your Christ,I do not like your Christians,your Christians are so unlike your Christ." (Mohandas Gandhi)
"The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad." (Friederich Nietzsche)
"Without religion,we'd have good people doing good things,and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things,that takes religion." (Stephen Weinburg)

Sumo Stew

I know my mind works in rather mysterious ways,but for some reason I started wondering what sumo wrestlers ate or shall I say trained? for lack of a better word? I thought it would be interesting to look into,so now it is time to share in case any of you would also like to know.
Chankonabe is a Japanese stew (or one pot dish),is the base of the sumo wrestlers weight gain diet. It contains chicken broth soup base with sake to add flavor. Chankonabe also contains large quantities of protein sources,chicken quartered and skin left on,fried fish made into balls,tofu or sometimes beef and vegetables. While reasonably healthy,it is protein rich and served in mass quantities with beer and rice to increase caloric intake. It is traditionally served according to seniority,with the junior wrestlers getting whatever is left.
Chankonabe served at sumo tournaments is made exclusively with chicken,the idea being to stay on two legs like a chicken,not on all four.
Sumo is a simple sport,if you force your opponent to the ground or rice straw that surrounds the 15 foot ring you win. If any part of your body other than the soles of your feet touches the floor you lose. Because bouts are generally over in a few seconds,size matters.

Ignorance

In my meanderings today I came across something that made me feel at least slightly ignorant. I have always known that there are many types of fruits and vegetables,apples,pears,oranges,onions and the list goes on. For some reason I never considered that there was more than one type of lemon. Shame on me!
Eurekas and Lisbons are the most common types of lemons found in stores as the Meyer lemons are more difficult to ship because of their thinner skin.
The Meyer lemon was originally found in China by Frank Meyer in 1908. Meyer was employed by the Department of Agriculture as a plant hunter. It is believed that the Meyer lemon is a hybrid between the lemon and mandarin orange. It is a very hardy plant and bears fruit for several months.
If you like the tang of lemons,but not the pucker Meyer lemons are for you,even their peel is slightly sweet.

Competition

We got to talking about competition the other morning while we were working out and everyone else seemed to think that you were either competitive with others or with yourself,I didn't argue the point because I am both...to the extreme. I don't really intend to be, it just kind of takes on a life of it's own. I am going to go with the thought that it is a basic survival instinct that allowed us to compete for our food back in the day when that kind of thing was necessary. I have been playing a game called Qwiz Show on Facebook and even though they give you at least 6 games a day to play you can also click on a cube for extra games and every game that you come in first out of 10 players you get an extra free game. Today I started out with 11 games and I am thinking to myself that I will never have time to play them all,but once I start playing I can help but try my best to win. I also enjoy looking at the thumbnail pictures of the other players and with some of them trying to figure out what the picture is of. In one game there was a player named Lamar and my cat named Lamar was curled up by my feet,so I had to keep him posted on how he was doing...he came in 3rd while I finished 10th,seems I didn't know the wager question and bet it all only to lose,oh well at least I burned off a game that way. I think I still have 8? remaining games to play today,according to them I have won over 2 million dollars and my IQ is 194,which I think is just slightly smarter than my shoe. I don't think they can judge with any accuracy a persons IQ from a trivia game but it is part of the charm of the whole thing. I doubt once my regular trivia game starts back up that I will have time to play this one at all but I like to think that the mental activity keeps the old brain from atrophying.