Hot Trivia

Pound for pound, the human body produces 5 times more heat than the sun. The production of heat from the sun averages only 2 calories per pound of its mass daily, while the typical human body generates 10 calories per pound of mass each day.

A Name is Just A Name?

Former Good Morning, America cohost Joan Lunden’s birth name was Joan Blunden.

Material for "Says You"

Winning "hands down" in horse racing means never once having to use the whip on the animal.


It's neat to learn origins of phrases and words. This one especially! I have mixed feelings about horse racing. If treated well and trained properly, it can be like running track for people. If not, it is abusive. What's your opinion on it?

Mr. Looper!

When Sesame Street’s Big Bird visited the Nixon White House as a guest of First Lady Patricia Nixon, the Secret Service’s radio frequency got mixed up with Big Bird’s microphone frequency—so the Secret Service was picking up Big Bird’s lines in their earpieces.

This is Just Weird

In zoos, ostriches are often unable to be sexually aroused unless they’re being observed by human beings—which makes them total exhibitionists.

My Day

I went to the monthly meeting of the local Democratic Party for the first time in many years. We signed a resolution to let Congressman John Tanner know that we do not like his voting record, especially on health care reform and that we will support other Democratic candidates now.

Then I went to lunch at Lugo's with a friend I met while knitting. We enjoyed the food and the visit. Afterwards I went to the Grand Opening of Yarn Frenzy. There were lots of people there who bought things and others who got interested in learning to knit. I'm making the transition from social knitter to functional knitter they said. I'll show you my next creations when I finish them.

How was your day? What did you do?

Trip!!

I'm so excited!! Tina is going to the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Conference in Philadelphia next weekend, and I'm going to tag along with her. I bought my plane ticket last week and can stay in her hotel room at no extra cost to the county. They're paying for her to attend the conference. I'll be on my own to explore since the Courtyard Marriott Downtown is near so many neat places. We're leaving here Thursday morning and will get back Sunday evening. Tina and I will have time to do some things together while she is not in sessions.

Here's the exciting part! I emailed to see if Maddie would be in town while I'm there, and the answer is YES! I'll have a wonderful tour guide Saturday and am hoping that David will get to ride the train down from NYC. That would be wonderful to get to meet David, Maddie, and the Boy Toy! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Maddie already mentioned the Naked Chocolate Cafe, which I'd already googled because I remember his mentioning it on his blog and want to be in chocolate heaven.

I'm really looking forward to this trip! I've checked online and am also looking forward to hearing about places to go and things to see.


Instead of a DDBW, this will be an "Auntie Flame And Nephews" weekend (AFAN) and will involve chocolate.

Beanie Baby Trivia

The man behind the Beanie Babies phenomenon of the late 1990s is still quite a mystery. Ty Warner has shunned interviews, and the company’s financial records and phone number are hard to find. Reports in 1999 identified Warner as a billionaire and the richest toy maker in the world. He purchased New York’s Four Seasons luxury hotel for $275 million.


Mother has a collection of these, and my grandson Brendan plays with them every time we go there. He loves them and knows all their names.

CMA's

Since I don't follow country music regularly, I watch the awards shows to know who they are. I like awards shows anyway and watch most of them. The local news has had pieces on it all week since it's held in Nashville again. It's better when it's in Nashville.


Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are hosting it and are doing a good job. They started off making fun of Kanye West by singing a parody of "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" with a line in it about cowboys being too polite to interrupt. It was funny and worked. Carrie told Brad he smelled really good and went on about it. He said he was wearing MacGraw. Faith Hill was cracking up and so was Tim. Then Carrie said she had on Faith Hill Parfum.


Hey, did you know Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish has had three country music hits in a row!! He was on the awards show and is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year. I had no idea about that until this week. What about you, Howard? Did you know this? He just won Best New Artist of the Year. Well, yes, new country artist. He's been around the music block more than a few times.

Btw, it's called country music, not country and western music. I've had this conversation with Charlie many times and believe he's finally caught on. I'm still working on getting him to say "jeans" instead of "denims" and am making progress.

The Judds just came out to present an award. K. T. Oslin cracked me up one time calling them Nairobi and Wyoming. I don't know what kind of makeup Wynona has on but she's too bronze and almost orange like Michael Kors but with that flaming bright hard-to-describe sort of burgundy neon orange hair and pink lipstick. Yep, as bad as it sounds. Naomi looked frumpy and not in good health. She looked healthy on Can You Duet when she was a judge and mentor.


Sugarland won Duo of the Year. They were surprised since this is the last time Brooks and Dunn perform together. The hosts sang a version of "DIVORCE" to them at the beginning of the show. I like Sugarland.


Nicole Kidman is sitting on the front row with her husband Keith Urban who is nominated for Entertainer of the Year. I hope he gets it. I'm not that big a fan of Taylor Swift who is the youngest ever to be nominated for it. She's really popular with teenagers, but her singing doesn't do much for me. Have I mentioned that I hate Twilight which is also popular with teenage girls. LOL

Hmm, Keith has big feet. Did you notice that?

Brad Paisley won Male Vocalist of the Year. Crap! Taylor Swift won Entertainer of the Year.



Good show and lots of fun!

It Works!

Target has Tim Tams, which are Australian cookies, in their stores from October until March. Pepperidge Farms makes the ones sold here, and of course I bought some. They're supposed to be the same cookie, but I'm not sure they are exactly. I need some more from Australia to be sure. Those are made by Arnott, and both companies are owned by Campbell Soup Company. I found that I can order the original ones on Amazon without paying the expensive shipping cost that I did when I ordered them online from Australia. The variety isn't available here that there is there, but at least they have some of them.

Pseudonymph from Rad Mamblings on my blog list sent me my first ones and got me hooked! I just ate those but didn't try the Tim Tam Slam. That I did this afternoon and wow!! I bit off opposite corners of the Tim Tam and then sucked coffee into it. It will hold together for you to pop it in your mouth quickly and enjoy heavenly melty mocha taste wonderment!

It goes by many names: the Tim Tam Slam, the Tim Tam Bomb, the Tim Tam Suck, the Tim Tam Explosion.

Whatever you decide call it, your coffee break will never be the same.

Tim Tams are the creation of Arnott’s -- an Australian biscuit (cookie) company now substantially owned by Campbell’s Soup Company.

The biscuit (remember, we call ‘cookies’ biscuits) is a delightful construction of a chocolate biscuit with a chocolate cream center all of which is then covered in chocolate.

The Tim Tam Slam is an Australian coffee break ritual.

The method is simple:

1. First, have your hot coffee/ tea/ chocolate ready in front of you.
2. Then bite off each end of the Tim Tam.
3. Next, place one bitten end of the Tim Tam in your mouth and dip the other bitten end in the hot drink.
4. Now suck. Use the Tim Tam as a straw. As the hot drink is pulled through the biscuit, the structure of the biscuit and cream collapses.
5. Once you sense the drink on your tongue, pop the whole Tim Tam in your mouth before it explodes!

This was the invention of bored or creative Australians playing with their food. It was, though, gratefully adopted by Arnott’s in their advertising campaigns. I have no idea why Arnott’s chose the name "Tim Tam Suck" over the other two. To me, "Tim Tam Suck" sounds like the title of a complaint letter than a sensual assault-by-chocolate.

The only complaint they are ever likely to hear is that there are only 11 biscuits per packet. It’s just mean. Eleven is a prime number. Someone is always going to be short a Tim Tam. That’s why when I go Tim Tam shopping, I always get two.

Thank You to Our Veterans

Little Joe Trivia

Before starring on Bonanza or Little House on the Prairie, Michael Landon worked as an operator for a machine that sealed hot cans of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.

Government & Dolly Again

I emailed my senators and congressman about health care and marriage equality for all the good it will do. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker are the Republican TN Senators. John Tanner is the Congressman from our district and is a Blue Dog Democrat. I felt dirty just going to Corker's web page. He's like political porn. Lamar Explanation Point is not quite as bad. I call him that because his bumper stickers had "Lamar!" on them.

I thanked Alexander because he co-sponsored a bill to prevent blasting the tops off of East Tennessee mountains which sounds like a good bill to me. HERE is a good article by Dave Cooper about the coal companies boycotting Dollywood and Tennessee travel in Huffington Post. And here is an excerpt from "Dollywood Boycott Falls Flat":

When it comes to entertainers, there is probably no American singer more wholesome, cheerful and relentlessly upbeat as country music star Dolly Parton. Raised in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee, Ms. Parton is the public face of Smoky Mountain tourism, exemplified by the popular Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

And she's also a genuinely nice person. So why on earth would anyone want to boycott Dollywood?

Because Dolly lives in Tennessee, and Tennessee loves its mountains.

You see, Tennesseans don't want to see their mountains -- and their billion-dollar tourism economy -- destroyed. So Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has introduced legislation in the Senate that would prevent coal companies from blasting the tops off of Appalachian Mountains and dumping the debris into mountain streams, a hideous mining method called "mountaintop removal" that is, unfortunately, widespread in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.

Sen. Alexander's bill, The "Appalachia Restoration Act" (S. 696) doesn't sit well with certain coal companies such as Coal Mac, a division of St. Louis-based coal giant Arch Coal. In a July 6 letter, Coal Mac HR Manager Richard Phillips advised the Pigeon Forge Chamber of Commerce that Coal Mac's Virginia and Kentucky sister companies were canceling their annual company picnic at Dollywood.

Roger Horton, front man for a West Virginia group called Citizens for Coal has also asked its members to boycott Tennessee travel.

In response to the boycott, The Kentucky Chapter of the Sierra Club is calling on its members to visit Tennessee. Kentucky Sierra Club chairman Joey Shadowen said the organization supports Alexander's legislation, and encourages its members to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other Tennessee tourist sites.

Hey West Virginia miners: Leave Dolly alone. Just be quiet and go to your Ted Nugent "Friends of Coal" concert.

We Know!

Cats have amazing hearing ability. A cat’s ear has 30 muscles that control the outer ear (by comparison, human ears only have 6 muscles). These muscles rotate 180 degrees, so the cat can hear in all directions without moving its head.

Interesting Trivia

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has the most mini-golf courses per area in the United States. At last count, there were 47 in a 60-mile radius.

Dolly Trivia

Reportedly, country singer Dolly Parton has her breasts insured for $600,000.

Seeing in the Dark Trivia

It takes the human eyes an hour to adapt completely to seeing in the dark. Once adapted, however, the eyes are about 100,000 times more sensitive to light than they are in bright sunlight.

Dodger Trivia

The Brooklyn Dodgers (who later became the Los Angeles Dodgers) did not get their name because of their sporting ability. The term dodger was a shortened form of the term trolley dodgers, which was first used to describe Brooklynites for their ability to avoid being hit by trolley cars.

TMI Trivia

When it’s hot and you need to cool down, little muscles at the base of each hair relax. Your hair becomes relaxed. Your sweat glands pump out body heat in sweat. Your blood vessels get big to take more heat to the skin in order to get rid of it. But when it’s cold, the arrector muscle pulls the hair up. The duct to the sweat glands gets small to conserve heat. Our blood vessels also get small to save heat.

Book

I can't stop reading this novel by Cathy Lamb The Last Time I Was Me. I love that title! She writes such quirky characters. This one says what she thinks, which I wish I'd do a little more. She goes too far, but it makes the novel more interesting. Here is a synopsis. The novel keeps me interested and makes me want to live in Oregon.


Cathy Lamb wrote Julia's Chocolates, which also made me want to live in Oregon and made me want the recipes for those chocolates she made! There were some Ya-Ya women in that one, and who doesn't want to keep reading about a runaway bride who throws her wedding dress up a tree and leaves it on a limb while she drives off across country to escape her abusive fiance? She writes empowering books for women.