ON ICE & ELECTRICITY " As any bartender will tell you, a cocktail flung back and forth over ice inside a shaker inside a shaker gets cold very fast. "The amount of energy you get from melting ice is phenomenal," Arnold* told me. Calculator in hand, he explained that if you shake three and a half ounces of tempered ice for 12 seconds, you'll generate about 2,000 watts of power on average. This amount is roughly the maximum load that can be safely drawn from a typical American hom*e's electric outlet. "There's no real other way to...extract that much heat from something as quickly," Arnold said.
* see Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail, by food scientist Dave Arnold
Amy Brady. "Shake, Chill, Froth, Dilute, Disdard" in Scientific American (July/August 2023) ** THE MIGRATION OF BUTTERFLIES & THE SPIRITS OF DEAD WARRIORS
“In pre-Columbian times, this migration involved even more butterflies than the mind-boggling one billion that fly to central Mexico today and the insects may have once overwintered much closer to cities such as Teotihuacan and the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan in forests that no longer exist. ‘Observing so many monarch butterflies every year at the same time may have been the basis for the idea of the return of dead warriors to the world of the living,’ says (JESPER) Nielsen* “The monarchs arrive from the north, and in traditions in central Mexico, that cardinal direction is associated with death.”
*Jesper Nielsen is a Mesoamericanist at the University of Copenhagen.
Eric A. Powell. “Mexico’s Butterfly Warriors” in Archaeology (November/December 2022) ** HUMMINGBIRDS & CARLA BANK, THE WIFE OF ISHMAEL REED
“When Bank mentioned that a hummingbird frequented the garden, I wondered aloud why the Aztecs had chosen the bird as an emblem of their war god, Reed answered instantly. “They go right for the eyes.”
Julian Lucas. “I Ain’t Mean Enough” in The New Yorker (July 26, 2021) ** THE ADVANTAGES OF SMALL HORSES
“There are many advantages to smaller horses (Around the World: England, March/April 2022),. Faster mounting and dismounting are important in battle and much easier on a small steed. Better clearance while charging throughmwoods is of prime concern when chasing or being chased. Small horses also live longer, and finally, you’ll take a shorter fall. Thanks for your fine publication.”
Christi S. Driggs Tucson, AZ “ From Our Readers” in Letters. Archaeology (May/June 2022) **
ON CRICKET & GOLF
“Contrary to what its detractors say, cricket is not an inherently snobbish game, as Mr. Blunden is careful to point out. Since it needs about twenty-five people to make up a game it necessarily leads to a good deal of social mixing. The inherently snobbish game is golf, which causes whole stretches of countryside to be turned into carefully guarded class preserves.” George Orwell
**
THE SECRET MEANING OF SNEEZES
“Michael Scot, a 13th century astrologer, claimed that it is possible to foretell the business future by an accurate interpretation of sneezes. ‘After a contract has been drawn up, if you sneeze once, the contract will be kept, but id you sneeze three times it will be broken. To make your business venture successful, sneeze twice or four times, then stand up and walk about.’”
Philip Ward A Dictionary of Common Fallacies (Boston: The Atlantic Press, 1978)
** SALT & BAD LUCK
“During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci strengthened the association between spilled salt and misfortune by depicting Judas with a saltcellar knocked over next to him in his painting “The Last Supper.”
From INTERESTING FACTS website **
ON THE HAIRCUT KNOWN AS THE D.A.
The ducktail, sometimes known as a D.A. (short for “duck’s”... behind), was the swept-back coiffure choice for disaffected young men of the 1950s. The hairstyle was the brainchild of Philadelphian barber Joseph Cirello, who would eventually move to Hollywood to give the “D.A.” to everyone from Elvis to James Dean. Source: Google News https://www.historyquiz.com/quiz/60e87a6e727bed00095896cc?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6413e10c816737929b888715 **
"The little piece of magennta-coated paper featured in this
catalogue is, for its size and weight, the most valuable
single onject in the world. It is the British Guiana 'One
Cent' postage stamp issued in 1856 during an emergency
shortage of regular stamps and is now estimated to be
worth from twenty to fifty million times its original cost.
No one has ever been able to suggest any other object in
the history of the world which has had this great an
increment in value."
from the 371st sale catalogue of Rarities of the World.
Robert A. Siegel Auctions.
**
Who owns the rarest stamp in the world?World's rarest stamps - The Postal Museum
The stamp was last sold at Sotheby's in
New York for $8.3 million. The auction
winner was the stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons.
**
FROM THE CLASS LISTINGS FOR PHILLIPS' UNIVERSITY
The Early Films of Walt Disney (3 credits)
At last, a real Mickey Mouse course!
PhillipsMiscellany 