Read Online When Do Fish Sleep? by David Feldman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: David Feldman
Tags: Reference, Curiosities & Wonders
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counting paper money is not insignificant.
The vending machine industry lusts after the resuscitation of the silver dollar. Frustrated by the unpopularity of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, trade groups are now pushing for a new gold-colored dollar with a portrait of Christopher Columbus on the obverse. The Treasury supports the proposal, for although coins are more expensive to manufacture than bills, they last much longer in circulation. Walter Reed points out that no other industrialized nation has an equivalent of a one dollar bill in paper currency anymore. The Canadians were the last to fall, with the Looney dollar, the same size as the ill-fated Susan B. Anthony, replacing their dollar bill.
Why Is a Blue Ribbon Used to Designate First Prize?
Most sources we contacted give credit to the English for introducing the blue ribbon. In 1348, King Edward III of England established the Order of the Garter, now considered one of the highest orders in the world. Ribbons had traditionally been used as a badge of knighthood. Members of the Order of the Garter were distinguished by wearing their dark blue ribbon on their hip.
A second theory presented by S. G. Yasinitsky, of the Orders and Medals Society of America, was new to us:
Another version of the blue ribbon as meaning the highest achievement may have originated among British soldiers who practiced abstinence by belonging to the various army abstinence groups, especially in India, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Their basic badge for the first six years’ total abstinence was a medal worn on a blue ribbon. Hence a ‘blue ribbon unit’ was one which was comprised of all men who were sporting a blue ribbon in their buttonhole to denote their sobriety. ‘Blue ribbon panel’ and ‘blue ribbon selection’ followed this, I’m sure.
Yasinitsky and others have speculated that our ribbon color schemes might have had an astronomical basis. Blue, the highest award, represented the sky and the heavens, the highest point possible. Red (second prize) represented the sun, which was high up in the sky. Yellow (third prize) represented the stars, once thought to be lower than the sun. Yasinitsky mentions that runners-up in fairs and festivals are often given green ribbons as consolation prizes. The green color probably represents the lowly grass on the ground.
What Is the “Cottage” in Cottage Cheese?
Food historians speculate that cottage cheese was probably the first cheese. And it was undoubtedly made by accident. Some anonymous nomad was probably carrying milk on a camel in the desert and at the end of the day found lumps rather than liquid. And much to the nomad’s surprise, the lumps tasted pretty good.
According to the United Dairy Industry Association, cottage cheese was made in the home all over Europe as far back as the Middle Ages. “It was called ‘cottage’ because farmers made the cheese in their own cottages to utilize the milk remaining after the cream had been skimmed from it for buttermaking.”
Submitted by Mrs. K. E. Kirtley of Eureka, California .
Why Are There So Many Ads for the Yellow Pages in the Yellow Pages?
Yellow Pages publishers are smart enough to realize that if you’ve got a copy of their directory in your grubby hands, you already are convinced of the efficacy of their medium. So why must they pummel us with promotional ads? Phone companies make profits from their directories by selling advertising space—you would think they’d rather have a local plumber buy a small display ad than toot their own horns.
The simple purpose of the promotional ads is to fill space between paid ads. Kenneth Hudnall, executive director of the National Yellow Pages Agency Association, explains why there is a need for filler:
Mechanically, the composition of the Yellow Pages is quite involved. For a variety of reasons there will be small bits of space left at the bottom of a
The vending machine industry lusts after the resuscitation of the silver dollar. Frustrated by the unpopularity of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, trade groups are now pushing for a new gold-colored dollar with a portrait of Christopher Columbus on the obverse. The Treasury supports the proposal, for although coins are more expensive to manufacture than bills, they last much longer in circulation. Walter Reed points out that no other industrialized nation has an equivalent of a one dollar bill in paper currency anymore. The Canadians were the last to fall, with the Looney dollar, the same size as the ill-fated Susan B. Anthony, replacing their dollar bill.
Why Is a Blue Ribbon Used to Designate First Prize?
Most sources we contacted give credit to the English for introducing the blue ribbon. In 1348, King Edward III of England established the Order of the Garter, now considered one of the highest orders in the world. Ribbons had traditionally been used as a badge of knighthood. Members of the Order of the Garter were distinguished by wearing their dark blue ribbon on their hip.
A second theory presented by S. G. Yasinitsky, of the Orders and Medals Society of America, was new to us:
Another version of the blue ribbon as meaning the highest achievement may have originated among British soldiers who practiced abstinence by belonging to the various army abstinence groups, especially in India, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Their basic badge for the first six years’ total abstinence was a medal worn on a blue ribbon. Hence a ‘blue ribbon unit’ was one which was comprised of all men who were sporting a blue ribbon in their buttonhole to denote their sobriety. ‘Blue ribbon panel’ and ‘blue ribbon selection’ followed this, I’m sure.
Yasinitsky and others have speculated that our ribbon color schemes might have had an astronomical basis. Blue, the highest award, represented the sky and the heavens, the highest point possible. Red (second prize) represented the sun, which was high up in the sky. Yellow (third prize) represented the stars, once thought to be lower than the sun. Yasinitsky mentions that runners-up in fairs and festivals are often given green ribbons as consolation prizes. The green color probably represents the lowly grass on the ground.
What Is the “Cottage” in Cottage Cheese?
Food historians speculate that cottage cheese was probably the first cheese. And it was undoubtedly made by accident. Some anonymous nomad was probably carrying milk on a camel in the desert and at the end of the day found lumps rather than liquid. And much to the nomad’s surprise, the lumps tasted pretty good.
According to the United Dairy Industry Association, cottage cheese was made in the home all over Europe as far back as the Middle Ages. “It was called ‘cottage’ because farmers made the cheese in their own cottages to utilize the milk remaining after the cream had been skimmed from it for buttermaking.”
Submitted by Mrs. K. E. Kirtley of Eureka, California .
Why Are There So Many Ads for the Yellow Pages in the Yellow Pages?
Yellow Pages publishers are smart enough to realize that if you’ve got a copy of their directory in your grubby hands, you already are convinced of the efficacy of their medium. So why must they pummel us with promotional ads? Phone companies make profits from their directories by selling advertising space—you would think they’d rather have a local plumber buy a small display ad than toot their own horns.
The simple purpose of the promotional ads is to fill space between paid ads. Kenneth Hudnall, executive director of the National Yellow Pages Agency Association, explains why there is a need for filler:
Mechanically, the composition of the Yellow Pages is quite involved. For a variety of reasons there will be small bits of space left at the bottom of a
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