Spick and Span

So I have always wondered what the phrase spick and span meant exactly and where it came from!?

The dictionary definition for spick and span is: Immaculately clean, spotless, Brand-new, fresh

spick: a side of bacon, a floret of lavender, a nail or spike, a thatching spar.

span: the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, a measure of butter, a fetter or chain, a chip of wood

It's a very old phrase it was used in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes, 1579 That's a long time ago!!

One possible understanding of the phrase is spick is a variant of spike or nail In the 16th century nails were made of iron and therefore tarnished quickly new nails then would have been associated with cleanliness. Span comes from that chips of wood have the same fresh, sharp-edged qualities

there isn't much information on this phrase online so dumb

but hope this makes sense and you find it as interesting as i did!

Useless Information

Here is some useless information!


Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses

The “spot” on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.

315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled

There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos

The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand

The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries

A snail can sleep for 3 years.

One in every 9000 people is an albino

In every episode of “Seinfeld” there is a Superman picture or reference somewhere.

Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

The average chocolate bar has 8 insects’ legs melted into it

If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.

Hiccups

A hiccup is a spasm of the diaphragm the sound is made by the air rushing across your vocal chords.

The main cause for hiccups is eating to fast although no one really knows exactly what causes it here is a list of some possible causes

Carbonated beverages
Lack of water
Eating too fast
Being hungry for a while
Taking a cold drink while eating a hot meal
Burping
Eating very hot or spicy food
Laughing vigorously
Coughing
Drinking alcoholic beverages in excess
Crying out loud (sobbing causes air to enter the stomach)
Some smoking situations where abnormal inhalation can occur (in tobacco or other smoke like cannabis, perhaps triggered by precursors to coughing)
Electrolyte imbalance
Talking for too long
Clearing the throat
Use of some of the stronger opiate/opioid painkillers such as heroin, morphine, methadone and oxycodone
Lack of vitamins
Overstretching of the neck
Laryngitis
Heartburn (gastroesophageal reflux)
Sensation that there is food in the esophagus
Irritation of the eardrum (which is innervated by the vagus nerve)
Pressure to the phrenic nerve
Chemotherapy
General anesthesia
Surgery
Bloating
Tumor
Infection
Diabetes

Charles Osborn had hiccups for 68 years and is in the World Record books for it.

There are many many ways people think to get rid of hiccups here are some ideas...

1.) burp

2.) hold your breath

3.) have someone scare you

4.) Put your fingers in your ears

5.) Drink warm water

6.) (and totally gross i know but interesting) rectal massage

These websites have tons of ideas:

http://video.about.com/fatherhood/How-to-Cure-Hiccups.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Cure-Hiccups

http://www.ehow.com/video_1956_rid-hiccups.html

http://health.howstuffworks.com/13-techniques-to-cure-the-hiccups.htm

http://www.musanim.com/mam/hiccup.htm

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

Random Statistics (places)

Top rated areas in America:

10. New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
9. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA
8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
7. Madison, WI
6. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
4. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
3. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL
2. Austin-Round Rock, TX
1. Denver-Aurora, CO

Top places with snow:

Driggs, ID
Fairplay, CO
Flagstaff, AZ
Jackson Hole, WY
Lake Placid, NY
Leelanau Peninsula, MI
McCall, ID
Pagosa Springs, CO
Palmer-Wasilla, AK
Petoskey-Harbor Springs, MI
Sandpoint-Lake Pend Oreille, ID
St. Jay-Northeast Kingdom, VT
Sullivan County, NY
Traverse City, MI
Woodstock, VT

Top Desert Places:

Henderson, NV
Kingman, AZ
Lake Havasu City, AZ
Pahrump Valley, NV
Palm Springs-Coachella Valley, CA
Scottsdale, AZ
St. George-Zion, UT
Tucson, AZ
Victorville-Apple Valley, CA
Wickenburg, AZ
Yuma, AZ

Top peaceful places:

Berkeley Springs, WV
Brown County, IN
Charles Town-Shepherdstown, WV
Fairplay, CO
Leelanau Peninsula, MI
Monadnock Region, NH
Northern Neck, VA
Oxford, MS
San Juan Islands, WA
Whidbey Island, WA

Top Affordable Places:

Bay St. Louis-Pass Christian, MS
Charleston, SC
Conway, AR
Fairhope-Gulf Shores, AL
Fayetteville, AR
Georgetown, TX
Madison, MS
Maryville, TN
McAllen-Alamo, TX
Rio Rancho, NM
Wimberley, TX

Top Places With High Rent:

Carmel-Pebble Beach, CA
East End Long Island, NY
Jackson Hole, WY
Key West, FL
Laguna Beach-Dana Point, CA
Martha's Vineyard, MA
Maui, HI
Morro Bay-Cambria, CA
Placer County, CA
San Juan Islands, WA
Santa Barbara, CA
Sedona, AZ

Top drepressive cities: (based on seasonal affective disorder)

Bellingham, WA
Binghamton, NY
Bremerton-Silverdale, WA
Charleston, WV
Eugene-Springfield, OR
Johnstown, PA
Morgantown, WV
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA
Olympia, WA
Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
Tacoma, WA
Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH
Williamsport, PA
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA

Top Livability:

1. Pittsburgh, PA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Seattle, WA
4. Portland, OR
5. Philadelphia, PA
6. Rochester, NY
7. Washington, DC
8. San Jose - Sunnyvale, CA
9. Boston, MA
10. Madison, WI

http://placesrated.expertchoice.com/

Random Statistics (Religion)

Spiritual Gifts People claim to have:


Most Common:

teaching (9%)
service (8%)
faith (7%)
encouragement (4%)
healing (4%)
knowledge (4%)
tongues (3%)
leadership(2%)

in Evangelicals:

teaching (28%)
service (12%)
encouragement (10%)
administration (7%)

in non-evangelical:

faith (10%)
hospitality (3%)

do not know their gift (15%)
those who say they don’t have one (28%)
those who claimed gifts that are not biblical (20%)


In 2006 48% of all adults agreed strongly that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings compared with 42% in 2002 and 35% in 1991.

12% of born again Christians disagree that "the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings." (2006)

A majority of both women (74%) and men (62%) believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings. (2006)

71% of those who attended high school or less believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings compared with 52% of those who have graduated from college. (2006)

59% of adults living in the South strongly affirm that the bible is accurate in all of its teachings versus 50% of those in the Midwest, 42% in the West and 37% in the Northeast. (2006)

Blacks (82%) are the group most likely to believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings compared with 68% of whites, 62% of Hispanics, and 39% of Asians. (2006)


A strong majority of Republicans (78%) believe that the bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings, while 69% of Democrats believe in the bible's accuracy. (2006)


Bible Reading During A Typical Week By Year 1988- 36%; 1991- 45%; 1992- 47%; 1993- 34%; 1994- 37%; 1995-31% ; 1996 34% 1997-36%; 1999- 34%; 2000- 40%; 2001 - 37% 2002-42%; 2004-44%; 2005-45%; 2006-47%

96% of evangelical Christians have read the Bible in the past seven days. (2006)

Women (51%) are more likely than are men (42%) to have read the Bible in the past week. (2006) Women 2004-49%; 2002-46%; 2000- 46%; 1997-38%; 1993-40%; Men 2004-38%; 2002-37%; 2000-35%; 1997-34%; 1993-28%

Nearly seven out of ten born again Christians (67%) have read the Bible in the past week, compared to 35% of those who adhere to a non-Christian faith. (2006)


62% of Protestants have read the Bible in the past week versus 28% of Catholics (29%) (2006)

Blacks (66%) are the ethnic group most likely to have read the Bible in the past week, follwed by whites (45%), Hispanics (41%) and Asians (20%). (2006)

Bible reading by adults during the week by region-Northeast 38%; West 42%; Midwest 45%; South 57%. (2006)

The percent of adults in California, Oregon, and Washington that read the Bible during the past week (other than while at church), has risen from 29% in 1994 to 42% in 2006.


http://www.barna.org/

Jaywalking?

So Brittney asked me to research jaywalking and why it is called jaywalking! i was always curious on that one too so i figured it would be a good one! so i did some research

The definition of jaywalking is: to cross a street carelessly or in an illegal manner so as to be endangered by traffic

I found a few different reasons that it was called jaywalking is "jay" refers to a foolish rural person—a rube—unfamiliar with city ways A ‘jay’ was a hayseed, out of place in the city; a jaywalker was someone who did not know how to walk in a city. Originally the term applied as much or more to pedestrians who obstructed the path of other pedestrians—by failing, for example, to keep to the right on the sidewalk.

There were multiple attempts to stop jaywalking from happening one of my favorites was:

in Detroit in 1922, where the Packard Motor Car Company exploited the new fashion for monuments to traffic fatalities. Packard built an oversize imitation tombstone that closely resembled the monument to the innocent child victims of accidents in Baltimore. But Packard’s tombstone redirected blame to the victims. It was marked ‘Erected to the Memory of Mr. J. Walker: He Stepped from the Curb Without Looking.’

So random information: while i was in traffic school my instructor (a retired highway patrol) said that it is considered jaywalking if you walk across a street between 2 controlled intersections. meaning that if there is a street between to intersections with traffic lights or a cop directing traffic it is not considered jaywalking to walk across the street and where between them. However if there is only 2 streets with controlled intersections it is illegal to walk across the street anywhere between the intersections. if there is a non controlled intersection between the 2 controlled intersections if you walk just outside of the crosswalk you are within legal rights to do that while walking in the crosswalk against a red would be illegal.

So now you know how to cheat the system! :) but just because it isn't against the law does not mean that you should do it or that it is safe so be careful!

Here are a couple of the sites that i have found on the subject of jaywalking:

http://www.honolulupd.org/traffic/jaywalking.htm

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaywalking

http://westnorth.com/2009/02/01/a-history-of-jaywalking/

Random Web Sites!

Some random websites for your enjoyment!!


http://animalsthatarenotrodents.com/

http://www.gullible.info/

http://www.phobialist.com/

http://www.barcodeart.com/art/yourself/yourself.html

ketchup vs catsup

ok so when i was in Jr high my friends and i were in Ralph's across the street from school we noticed on one of the aisles the little sign over it that tells you what is on the aisle said catsup ok whatever no problem but on the other side of the sign it said ketchup so that started a debate! what was the correct spelling of the word??

so today i was reading my nutrition book and in one place it spells it one way and another place it spells it a different way if you look on bottles some spell it one way others spell it the other so what's the difference they all taste pretty much the same

so i thought this would be a great thing to look up so i did!

after tons and tons of websites i have found nothing! all i found was that it is merely a difference in spelling so crazy! i guess some countries spell it one way while others spell it another way so i guess my answer will never truly be answered!
So when i tried to spell check this it turned up Catsup is spelled wrong what the heck how does this make any sense???

but while researching all of this i found some other random stuff like google images ketchup art there are some crazy pictures there or watermelon carvings oh my gosh crazy!

oh and did you know that 60% of Americans eat out for lunch at least once a week and 25% of Americans eat out for lunch 5 or more days a week! crazy huh??