Jazzsoda's note: I'll be traveling for the holidays from December 12th through the 31st, returning in time for our New Year's Eve cap party. Wishing everyone a set of happy, non-site-breaking holidays! Take it away, KIP!
First and Foremost, On Behalf of all of us Cappers, I would Like to Say to Jazz: A GREAT BIG THANK YOU, JAZZ, FOR ALL OF YOUR CONTINUING EFFORTS TO KEEP HCC ALIVE!!!
HCC gives us a sense of Community and Friendship that is hard to find anywhere. A Zen master once said: One should wake up in the morning and have a Great Big Laugh, which in itself will make your day go so much better! HCC does that for us, all day long, 24 / 7 / 365 days a year. HCC Rules!!!
Well, it’s been a whole year since the last FFUI came out, time seems to slip away as one gets older, and you come down with CRS – Can’t Remember Shit. However, over the last year I have dug up, (literally) more fun facts, and useless information, some of these you might have already heard of, others will probably, and can be filed under “Bullshit, Lies, Fantasy, and Oh, That’s just Kip spouting nonsense again, and so on.” However, I hope you enjoy them.
CAVE PEOPLE
Popular prose has our distant ancestors wearing animal skins, and living in caves. Only now, after may years of being told this, it has been found out that the indigenous people’s of that time only used caves infrequently as shelters, or stopping off points in their nomadic quest for food. As the weather warmed, or cooled, groups of people of that time, (notice I am not using terms such as Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, or plain old caveman/woman), traveled in en masse back and forth to stay in a more or less temperate zone, where food was more abundant. The groups later became tribes with their own communication skills. Food apparently was the main quest of the early time before humans learned to raise and domesticate animals, and become farmers. So groups of these early peoples traveled many hundreds of miles to get enough to eat. Along the way, the more intelligent one’s developed weapons, tools, and ways to make shelters to protect them from the elements.
If they did find a cave, they made use of it, but more of them made shelters of whatever was handy. They were mostly naked, and grew fairly thick hair on their bodies, they copied the ways of the animals they encountered, eating the plants and berries that were consumed by other creatures, and eventually became omnivores when they were really hungry and found a dead animal. It was after this that they began to hunt, knowing in their bodies that the living flesh of other creatures carried a substance (protein) that helped them become stronger, and with this protein, their intelligence grew as it caused their brains to enlarge. It was then they began to develop traps, and more effective weapons to bring down animals, and methods of corralling beasts for later use. From there, tribes grew, and so did villages once they became farmers. Some groups remaining in a rudimentary village, farming the land, and raising food animals, while other’s still continuing to be Nomads, and foraging. The version of people living in caves exclusively for thousands, to millions of years is a misnomer, but is a tidy way to sum up our beginnings.
WORLD WAR 1 MYSTERIES
Some of the strangest occurrences during world war one, were of patrols, whether on foot, or mobile, disappearing into thin air. Plus other occurrences that happened in front of many other people who witnessed them remain unexplained. I will not name the patrol, or people in these vignettes in respect to the families, but will give a general outline of them. It is said that if more than one person witnesses some sort of phenomenon, it is likely that such an occurrence did take place. These are from articles I have read.
During WW1, in France, a patrol of around fifty men were climbing a steep hill near a battlefront. On top of this hill was a strange glowing cloud, the men marched into it and were never seen again. Searchers did not find any clue or dropped equipment from this patrol to explain what happened to them. To this day, no trace has ever been found.
A German submarine in WW1 was reputed to be haunted by a lieutenant who had been killed in an accident with several of the crew while loading a torpedo into the sub. While on patrol in the Atlantic on this submarine, many of the crew were hysterical about having seen the dead lieutenant inside the sub, and out on its deck. The whole crew of this submarine was transferred to another submarine, once they reached their base after the patrol. A fresh new crew was installed, and set out on another patrol. Right away some of the crew began seeing a ghostly figure of an officer in the sub, and on the deck. Once the sub returned from the patrol, an exorcism was performed on the submarine, and it was thought that all was well. Halfway through the next patrol, the same ghostly occurrences started taking place. So, a new crew was installed when the sub returned to its base again. On that patrol, contact was lost with the submarine and it was never heard from again. An American submarine reported seeing this submarine floating on the surface out in the Atlantic Ocean, and was preparing to fire torpedoes at it, when the ‘Haunted’ submarine blew up in a very loud explosion. An investigation afterwards turned up no feasible explanation as to why this happened.
Word War 1:
Circular Allied flying craft harassing the German lines. Circular German flying craft harassing the Allied lines.
Both sides in the trenches in Europe during World War One, gave reports of at one time or another, of the other side sending circular flying craft in diving motions that flew close overhead to harass and cause havoc among their soldiers and encampments. Neither side confessed as to having such machines after the war.
SAINT-GERMAIN
Over the centuries, there have been many accounts written, and folk tailed about the mysterious Saint-Germain, a man who apparently (allegedly) lives forever. He was born in 1640 the illegitimate son of a prince. In 1710 he appeared to people he knew and looked to be only 45 years of age. In 1760 people who knew him in their youth happened upon them and he still appeared to be around the age of 45 years. It was then asked of him by men of knowledge of the time what kept him so young, he replied that he was an alchemist, and practiced the art of alchemy, and discovered a ‘Fountain of Youth’, and professed that he could turn lead into gold, and melt diamonds. He became much sought after, and finally wanted out of the public eye, and so disappeared for a time, not so hard to do in the late 1700’s early 1800’s. In later years, he re-surfaced for a time, and drew much attention to himself with his claims, and was so hounded by the press and people, He became somewhat of a recluse. Moving here and there, assuming new identities, until in 1972 a person who claimed to be Saint-Germain died, or did he? The mystery remains. These are just small parts of the whole story, if you are interested; check out more about this person on the web, or local library.
IT’S ALL IN THE GAME
Board games provide us with both entertainment, and a chance to socialize with others. A lot of the modern board games are versions of games from the past, or based upon actual doings of long ago.
The first board games and pieces that were discovered by archeologists were from an ancient Mesopotamian city known as Ur. They date from 3000 – 2500 BC. It is not known how these games were played, but after being studied by anthropologists, it was suggested that they were close to the modern day game of Parcheesi.
Chess is thought to be an Indian (Hindi) war game that dates back from before the 6th century A.D.; the playing pieces have changed much over the centuries, however, the game’s goal remains the same. The game passed by way of Persia, to the Arabs, and reached Europe in about the 10th century. In China, it is known as: Xiang-qi, and in Japan, it is called Shogi.
In 1975, twice as much Monopoly money was printed as was real money in the United States. One Hundred Million Monopoly games were reportedly sold in its first 50 years.
It is not fully known where the games of Billiards, Snooker, and Pool originated. The first pool-like table games were known to have begun in Roman times. Those consisted of a long rectangular table with polished round stones on it. The players would roll their stones at the opposing side stone’s and try to knock them off of the table, not much unlike the present day game of marbles. Many innovations over the centuries have brought us the modern day games of today. A pool / billiard / snooker ball is made of high impact resin, which acts as an energy transfer when it is struck by another ball, and uses that energy to travel to its destination, or strike another ball transferring the energy to consecutive struck balls, until that force that the original ball contained is depleted. The hard resin balls also make good walking stick heads / grips.
Do you Squop? Tiddlywinks has a unique syntax of its own. The game is now played internationally, and has many millions of fans. The idea of the game is to flick small round flat plastic pieces known as winks into a large central bowl, using a larger flat piece of round plastic called a Squidger, as the launching device, by pressing down on the smaller piece’s edge. Or launching one of your winks over onto the opposing player’s winks so that they cannot be played. This technique is known as ‘Squopping’, almost sounds Klingon. Enthusiastic players have their Squidger specially designed to fit their needs.
TRIFFIDS AND OTHERS.
There are some strange, and interesting plants on this Earth, we all know of the Venus Fly Trap, the Giant Water Lilly, and the Rose plant, which itself, has been cultivated for 5000 years, and is related to the strawberry, But here are a few you may not have heard of;
The first land plants appeared around 400 million years ago. They had forked stems, but no true leaves, flowers, or seeds. Some of these plants still exist today in the form of ferns.
The World’s tallest flower ‘Puya Raimondii’ which grows in the Andean mountains, starts out at 15 to 25 feet high, when the seed pod breaks open, the seedling grows to that height in a matter of days. (Not to be confused with a Century plant), it may take up to 150 years to reach its full height of 30 to 60 feet. Just before it dies, its bloom spews out 8000 seeds to the winds, which carry them to other peaks, and the process of growth if the seedlings survive, begins again.
THE CORPSE FLOWER
We had one of these critters in our yard at one time. They smell like something had died and was rotting. It looks like a big dark purple tulip, sort of, and produces a smell of rotting flesh, which lures flies into its bloom, and their doom. It has a sticky liquid on its petals that traps the flies, and then they are digested through the plant’s secretions. It is related to the ‘Pitcher Plant’ which has similar attributes. It also gets pollinated by the flies that land on it. It is kind of a win-win situation for the plant.
THE PITCHER PLANT
There are many forms of this plant, from small tea cup size, to washtub size, and beyond. It is similar to the corpse flower in that it attracts the flies with an odor from its bloom, which contains a cup like vessel inside the bloom, which holds a liquid that is pleasing to flies, and other insects. Once the insects stick their heads, or proboscis into the liquid, it entraps them, and draws them into it. The liquid itself is actually the plant’s digesting enzyme, and consumes the insect much like stomach acid assimilates food in our stomachs.
PARSNIP PLEASE
A Parsnip is a root plant, and to some is very tasty. The root of the parsnip keeps growing down until it reaches bedrock, or some hard strata it cannot penetrate. Parsnip roots have been found down at the depth of 200 feet or better.
TREE OR HYDRAULIC PUMP?
A tree is a hydraulic masterpiece; it can bring water from the ground up to great heights without any moving parts. A medium sized oak tree can bring up to 140 gallons of water per day from the ground into its upper reaches to supply its needs. Other trees pump up similar quantities of water for their own requirements. A tree’s ‘Pump’ is powered by the sun, as the water molecules in the tree’s leaves, or needles are evaporated, other water molecules move up in the sapwood to take their place, in a process known as osmosis. The tubes that the water molecules move up in the sapwood are so tiny, that the effect is more like how blotting paper works, than the way a group of pipes would perform.
The shedding of leaves each year in the fall is a survival mechanism of the deciduous trees that helps them to survive the cold season. The trees are unable to draw snow or ice up into their tissues, and since the leaves require more water than the rest of the tree, they are discarded until conditions become more favorable to grow new leaves. Coniferous trees like the Evergreens can survive the winter without shedding their greenery, because their needles require less water, and are also covered with a micro-thin glossy layer of sap that acts like a plastic cover which prevents escape of moisture.
ALLIGATOR LIZARD LEGENDS
Urban Legends come in many forms, and tales, a lot of what is in this FFUI #15 could be considered just that. But, you never know for sure.
One of the more popular legends is that of the pet alligators, which were a big fad in the big cities of the east in the 60’s and 70’s; of either getting flushed down the toilet, or escaping into the sewers, and then growing into monstrous size, and coming out of manholes attacking unaware people as they walked down dark avenues late at night. There is one incident in 1935 that may have sparked this legend. A 7 foot alligator was captured in a city sewer according to a newspaper article, and was killed when it tried to attack its captors. How it got there and survived is anyone’s guess.
The Vanishing Hitchhiker.
The stage is set, along a usually lonely road, a driver, usually at night, sees someone thumbing a ride on the side of the road. They pick them up, and drive along, sometimes; the hitchhiker gives directions, but usually says very little, and then vanishes when they drive by a cemetery, or some significant area or place. Usually is the key word, we know very little about the world around us, much less about what we call the supernatural. So, for things we cannot explain, we build up a happening, and have variations of the incident as the tale is passed on and told by other people, but usually the events have a common ground. Not all of them though, some are no doubt valid occurrences, and if they are experienced by more than one person, then chances are whatever it was, really did happen. Many things could have caused the drivers to think they had picked someone up, fatigue, boredom, stress etc. Or, possibly they did pick someone up, and then left them off, and then as they drove along after letting the person off, looked over into the passenger seat and the hitchhiker was gone, the driver not remembering having let them off.
One thing about driving at night is that it can cause a person to slip into a semi-hypnotic state, with all of the different colored lights flowing by, the flashing of other cars headlights, even the whine of the car’s tires on the road, are all factors that can cause a mildly induced hypnosis state in the driver. Now, I am not saying that these people who had the encounters with the hitchhikers were in any of these states of mind or physical conditions, I was not there, and do not know the full circumstances of what took place. What I am saying is that in some of the cases, the lights and sounds of the car, and other cars with their lights and noises passing by, could have contributed to a condition that caused the driver’s mind to invent and project a persona into the vehicle. Experiments have been conducted with flashing colored lights and monotone sounds on test subjects, and the test subjects reported after a medium amount of time, of seeing, and hearing other people, and things that were not in the room with them. We experience almost these same conditions as in the experiments, the flashing lights, colors going by, and a monotone noise from the tires, while driving in a car at night, and sometimes during the day. So, the next time you are driving at night, or daytime, and see a hitchhiker, it could be you out there. To the people who really have had a supernatural experience with one of these hitchhiker-manifestations, I applaud your courage for coming forth with your story. The supernatural is a part of our Science and Universe we do not fully understand …….yet.
LIGHT ‘EM UP.
The Dendera Light:
How did the Egyptian’s, and other cultures provide light into their stone buildings with their many above, and underground passages without using torches, or candle power. Evidence suggests that there are no soot marks on the ceilings of these structures, which a torch, or some kind of flame to make light would have left on the ceiling. In the Hathor temple, in the Dendera temple complex, in Egypt, there is a wall with a stone relief carving of what appears to be human figures standing next to long cylindrical glass tubes with a glowing light inside of them, supported by what appears to be electrical insulators. This carving / relief was made thousands of years before the modern electric light bulb was invented. The power for these lights, if that is what they are, could have come from a rudimentary galvanic cell, which uses citric acid, copper, and zinc to make an electrical current. What appear to be porcelain batteries have been found in many tombs in that region. Some solid gold statues of that ancient time, are rumored to be lead on the inside, with a gold anodized covering, which would require a fairly strong electric current to make the anodizing process take effect. Scientists, skeptics, and enthusiasts, of these ancient artifacts, and carvings argue constantly of their origin, and purpose. One thing is for certain; you can make a battery out of a lemon or a lime to light up a small light bulb, or an LED, so why couldn’t the ancient people do the same?
Nearly all of the Earth’s energy comes directly or indirectly from the Sun; even wind is driven by the sun’s heat. The energy from coal and oil was originally collected by plants from sunlight millions of years ago. The Sun’s total energy output is the equivalent of 3.8 sextillion or 3,800,000,000,000,000,000,000 megawatts of electricity, 1 megawatt = 1 million watts. The Earth only intercepts about 1.2,000,000,000 % of this energy, about 1.9 billion megawatts. Only 1 percent of this intercepted energy would be enough to supply all human energy needs if it were harvested with the technology we have today.
CHRISTMAS WAYS OF THE WORLD.
In India, Evergreen trees are almost non-existent, so they use banana or mango trees to decorate for Santa to leave presents under.
To see a spider on Christmas Morning in the Ukraine is a sign of good luck, especially if the spider has built a web on your tree.
In the Philippines, Children leave their shoes on windowsills, instead of socks by the fireplace, so that the Three Kings will leave gifts in them as they pass through houses on Christmas Eve.
In Norway, all brooms are hidden away on Christmas Eve so that witches can not appear and find them and fly away with them.
Germans hide a pickle in the Christmas tree, and the first child to find it on Christmas morning, receives a small gift.
In Latvia, a group of Mummers travel from house to house, knocking on doors, and the house owner is expected to give them a gift to receive a blessing.
In Japan, sponge cakes with all kinds of sweets and chocolate are consumed during the month of December, and fried chicken replaces turkey or ham as the big bird on Christmas day in a lot of households.
One Christmas dinner I was invited to years ago, held a funny surprise; while I was in my 20’s and a bachelor, I was invited over to some friend’s house for Christmas dinner. There were around 12 people attending the dinner, so the host and hostess had bought one of the largest turkeys I had ever seen, as I remember it was something like 26 pounds. All of the foods in big dishes were placed on the table, and then... as everyone was seated, here comes the host with the turkey. It was placed on the table with much ceremony, and several speeches of Thanks, Blessings, and Toasts were made. Then came the moment of truth … The host began to carve the turkey, and the hostess all of a sudden, reaches into the turkey’s cavity and pulls out a small roasted bird of some sort .. “OH MY GOD, IT WAS PREGNANT!!!” She screamed. Just about all of us stared in horror at the small bird, until we realized that they had roasted a Cornish game hen ahead of time, and placed it inside the turkey. We all had a big laugh, and the meal was excellent.
A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY
Christmas time is a time for family, friends, and renewed acquaintances, once in awhile though; the holiday season provides some unexpected enchantment.
One Christmas season, a married couple was driving from their home to some relatives over 500 miles away. They decided to take a shortcut through some low mountains which would cut the mileage down to less than 200 miles. The snow was flying, and temperatures were dropping, and Christmas songs were on the radio, and in the air. While going through a low mountain pass, and down the other side, the weather worsened to where they could not see ten feet in front of them, the snow was around 2-4 feet deep in places, and getting deeper. Just off to the right of the road, they happened to notice some lights, which appeared to be a house. There was a snow covered driveway which they pulled into, and got out of the car and went up to the door to ask if they could seek shelter until the storm abated. After knocking on the door, it opened, and an Elderly gentleman invited them in, the room was warm, and decorated up for Christmas, a big tree and all. The smells of rich food cooking wafted into the room from the kitchen were quite enticing. An Elderly woman also in the room invited them to take off their coats and join them for supper.
The meal was a feast of turkey, roast beef, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, candied yams, gravy, stuffing, and all the food that goes with a holiday meal, especially a pumpkin pie with heaps of homemade whipped cream. After the meal, they visited with the elderly couple, who really did not offer too much conversation, but were interested in the couple’s stories. They had a few holiday drinks with them in the living room with the Christmas decorations. There was a woodstove that provided heat, and with conversation, and the warmth and the food taking effect, both of them became drowsy, and fell asleep on the couch. When they woke up, it was almost daylight, and the storm had gone away, apparently the elderly couple had retired to bed. So, the couple left some money on the table, with their address and phone number, then got into their car and left. The driving was rather hazardous, but a snow plow had come through in the night and cleared the road enough for travel. They stayed with their relatives until after Christmas, and had to take the longer way home due to another storm making it impossible to go back they way they had come over the mountain pass.
The next summer, the couple decided to drive that road to the other side of the mountain pass to find their benefactors of that night and Thank them some more. When they arrived at the house, it was mostly fallen in, and had not been occupied in many years. They thought they had the wrong address, and searched all up and down the mountain highway, until they came to a house with some people out in their yard. They stopped and asked the people about the house in question. They were told that an elderly couple had lived there years ago, and all of a sudden had disappeared, leaving no trace of where they had gone, even after a search for them had been conducted, no trace was ever found of them. The couple, after hearing this, went to a local library and tried to look up anything about the elderly couple, through newspaper microfilm, and computer records and could find nothing. This is in itself another urban legend that changes with the times, and places, though all legends are said to have an origin in truth. I am thinking they met Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.
I would also like to give a great big thank you to my wife, Amorosa, for helping me put together this latest Fun Facts, Useless information package. She inspired, gave technical advice, made funny faces at some of the vignettes, and encouraged me.
This wraps up FFUI # 15, As always, I write this disclaimer that the above stories, tales, lies, fantasies, and whatever else one makes of them are presented for entertainment purposes only. There are no monies, payments, or selling of any kind transacted in any way, shape, or form in the FFUI series to anyone, or business, or Monkeys. Any resemblance to anyone or anything is purely unintentional, and coincidental.
Here is Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Very Happy New Year. FFUI #16 is in the making.
KIP
Good Job.. Nicely done.. Nicely funny... Still, I don't care what you say...
ReplyDeleteI'll never like Parsnips