Interesting (to Christine) Trivia

• When pitching a fastball, 109 mph is the limit of human speed.
• A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
• The 1972 summer Munich games: the dachshund "Waldi", was the first officially-named Olympic mascot.
• In bookbinding: "remboîtage" means that the codex and binding of a book have no original connection
  (I think, therefore, this means that most Treasure Bindings are remboîtage")
• "Omphalos" from Greek for navel, hence "omphaloskepsis" staring at one's navel.
• The natural habitat of the chicken is the forest.
• The Muses are:
  • Calliope (Chief of the muses and muse of epic or heroic poetry)
  • Clio (muse of history)
  • Erato (muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics, and marriage songs)
  • Euterpe (muse of music and lyric poetry)
  • Melpomene (muse of tragedy)
  • Polyhymnia (muse of sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing and rhetoric)
  • Terpsichore (muse of dance)
  • Thalia (muse of comedy and bucolic poetry)
  • Urania (muse of astronomy)
• The story of King Arthur was first introduced by Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain" in the Middle Ages and was very popular.
• "Teflon" (PTFE) i.e. "non-stick" cookware is toxic to birds at normal cooking temperatures. Bird owners should NOT use "Teflon" pans.
• The earliest surviving complete bible in Latin is "Codex Amiatinus," housed in Florence.
• "Shell" gold is called that because it was originally sold in mussel shells. It's powdered gold mixed with a binding agent and used in illuminating.
• Deltiology: the studying and collecting of postcards.
• In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Arizona was "almost lush" with grass. Ranching made it the desert that it is today.
• William Scoville invented a scale for rating the heat of peppers in 1912. The heat units are called "Scoville units." They aren't exact. They were meant to be a sort of field guide.
• "Ferruginous" means rust colored
• In Dutch, "scrimshaw" means to waste one's time
• It takes 2 1/2 lbs. of grapes to make 1 bottle of wine
• Books printed before 1501 are called "incunabula"

Since 11/5/06