08 March 27: Origami
More news from space: Japanese scientists and origami masters, headed by Shinji Suzuki, are aiming to launch a paper airplane from space to see if it can make it back to Earth.
08 March 26: Boomerang
In an unprecedented experiment, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back.
08 March 25: Di
Princess Diana's funeral was viewed by an estimated 2.5 billion people around the world.
08 March 21: SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW, Inc.) has produced the internationally-recognized Music and Media Conference & Festival in Austin, TX since 1987.
08 March 18: Settlement
$1.7 billion: Estimated amount of the world's largest-ever divorce settlement, between financier Rupert Murdoch and his wife of 32 years, in 2000.
08 March 17: Bleaching
‘The linguistic community applies the term ‘semantic bleaching’ to refer to a word that through high frequency of usage has lost its original meaning or intent’ (e.g., ‘indie’).
08 March 16: PET
The first complete personal computer was the Commodore PET introduced in January 1977.
08 March 15: Caricatures
The front entrance of Toronto's Old City Hall is adorned with caricatures of late 19th century city councillors. Carver Arthur Tennison also included a stone carving of the building's architect, E.J. Lennox.
08 March 14: Laced
Four Danish prison guards have been treated for poisoning after eating a drug-laced cake baked by prisoners.
08 March 12: Peahens
A new 7-year study questions the notion that female peahens prefer a male peacock with a gorgeous train, reporting that females in a feral population of Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) showed no such preference.
08 March 11: Spit
Astronauts can’t spit after they brush their teeth, so they swallow the (edible) foam, spit and everything else.
08 March 10: Vikings
‘Vikings dressed with more finesse than we previously gave them credit for, a new study out of Sweden finds; vivid colours, flowing silk ribbons, and glittering bits of mirrors all contributed to their glamorous wardrobe. The men were particularly vain, while the women dressed quite provocatively.’
08 March 8: Bunny
Puck Bunny – ‘a female ice hockey fan, often one whose interest in the sport is primarily motivated by sexual attraction to the players.’
[Puck Bunny accessories are available on sites like this or this.]
[Puck Bunny accessories are available on sites like this or this.]
08 March 7: Gold
Lam Sai Wing, chairman of Hang Fung, has a 24-karat gold toilet in his Hong Kong jewellery shop.
08 March 6: Language
According to the Oxford dictionary, ‘eye language’ is ‘the process of communication by the expression of the eyes.’
08 March 5: Degree
Percentage of immigrants who arrived in Canada before 2001 with a university degree: 28; percentage of recent immigrants with a university degree: 51.
08 March 4: Kissing
‘A recent University at Albany, NY, study that looks at kissing showed men expect lip-locking to lead to sex about half the time; and women only about one-third of the time.’
08 March 3: Shui
‘A McDonald’s fast-food outlet near Los Angeles has been redesigned along the principles of feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of creating harmonious relationships, in part to reflect the population make-up of the Hacienda Heights community.’
08 March 2: Casanova
Legendary Italian lover Giacomo Casanova courted his romantic interests with a cup of chocolate instead of champagne.
08 March 1: Thermablade
A selection of professional hockey players from different NHL teams will soon be hitting the ice with new battery-powered, heated hockey skates designed to cut the ice with better speed, precision, and control. The Thermablade, a new product manufactured and sold out of Quebec, is made without a boot and is designed instead to be used to replace the blades of existing hockey skates. The invention of an Alberta native, Tory Weber’s idea that a warm blade would cut across ice better than a cold one has attracted a large number of investors, including Hockey Legend Wayne Gretzky and is expected to be officially accepted by the NHL after just two weeks of in-game testing.
Full story and pictures here.
Full story and pictures here.
08 February 28: Candies
In 2007, ‘sales of Halloween themed candies led the way with a 4.8% increase in chocolate Halloween themed candies and an 8.7% increase in non-chocolate themed candies. This trend, which started in 2005, shows retailers focused on packaging decorated with Halloween themes such as witches and goblins...’
08 February 27: Savage
In 1991, Dan Savage was living in Madison, Wisconsin, working as a manager at a local video store that specialized in independent film titles. There he befriended Tim Keck, co-founder of The Onion, who announced he was moving to Seattle to help start an alternative weekly newspaper, The Stranger. Savage ‘made the offhand comment that forever altered [his] life: ‘Make sure your paper has an advice column—everybody claims to hate 'em, but everybody seems to read 'em.’
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