MULLET OVER BY JAMES K. WHITE | JUNE 10, 2015
Twinkie black market crashed
Only one hit song has made it all the way to #1 in two different years. That would be Chubby Checker’s classic The Twist (1960 & 1962).When was the last time that you looked at the flowing way that Coca Cola is written on most Coke products? That version of the brand name is a copy of the handwriting of a bookkeeper named Frank Robinson. The script Coca Cola was copyrighted and trademarked in 1893.
It was after a deadly 1883 tornado in Rochester, Minnesota that three brothers recognized a need and combined efforts to establish a hospital and health center. The brothers’ last name was Mayo, so the hospital/health center evolved into the world famous Mayo Clinic.
Perhaps we should feed our antagonists lots of cake and sweet wines? More than one scientific study indicates that when healthy rats eat less, they live longer.
The smallest state between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean is Arkansas. The Ozark State is our nation’s 27th largest in land area and 33rd largest in terms of population. Arkansas joined the union on June 15, 1836.
Remember that a concave mirror produces an image that is larger than the object appears with normal vision.
Once upon a time in Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska the temperature dropped to minus 79.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a record low for the United States. Wow, talk about a three dog night … meanwhile back in Arizona, the Grand Canyon is in excess of two hundred miles long and as much as eight miles wide from rim to rim.
Angelo Roncalli became Pope John XXIII. He purportedly chose “John” as his name because John was his father’s name. Before Angelo, there had not been a Pope John in more than 500 years. Not all Pope Johns had pleasant endings. Pope John VIII was beaten to death with a hammer in the year 882.
The Greeks were apparently the first to toast each other with wine or other beverages, but it was the Romans who named the gesture from their custom of dropping a piece of burnt bread into a glass to offset the acid taste of some wines.
Coffee has an interesting history. I will share an Ethiopian legend. Long ago, a goat herder named Kaldi noticed that his animals appeared to be “frisky” after eating a peculiar berry, so naturally Kaldi tried the berries and he, too, felt frisky. He informed a local abbot of the berries’ effects. The abbot immediately recognized the effects as the work of the devil and threw the berries into a nearby fire for destruction. Some nearby observant monks thought that the burning berries smelled great and rescued what they could. Later the monks began to drink a “berry brew” for special occasions – like mornings. That’s the legend, sort of.
Well, if your name is John, you might be wary of those carrying hammers for no apparent reason and … have a great week.
James White is a retired mathematics teacher who enjoys sharing fascinating trivia. He can be reached at [email protected].
