Did You Know...

I was told today that pirates (arrgh) didn't wear eye patches because they had been blinded in one eye. Rather, the patch, when it was removed, gave them night vision in that eye, for when they had to go below deck where it was dark or when they had to do battle at night.

has someone been watching the History Channel pirate shows?

Saw that this morning.... very interesting show.

I didn't know that RJB.

did you know:

The common meaning of curfew is a designated hour at which adolescents are required to be home in the evening by order of their parents or when all citizens or military personnel are required to retreat indoors by order of the state. But it is derived from the French covrefeu spoken in the middle ages, which was the signal to bank a fire for the evening and further means "cover the fire". The root feu itself is derived from the Latin focus which means "hearth".

Walter de la Mare, however, uses it in a poem in another manner as he talks about "...when the curfew bird has flown..."

JPB, I no longer watch the History Channel. I just look for Setanta to inform me.

Did you know that there was a (rather modest) monument to the victims of Soviet repression in St. Petersburg - and that it's located on the Robespierre (!) embankment? Ha! History's ironies.

Did you know that in the 1840s the Chocktaw tribe of American Indians took up a collection and sent money to Ireland for relief of victims of the potato famine? Just heard that on the radio (NPR) today.

When entertainers travel around there will of course be contracts signed regarding places, dates and money. But there will also be "riders" or amendments put in to cover something or the other.
This came up today when Andy, an employee of mine who is in a mid to upper tier Goth band was talking about their upcoming tour which will involve something like 30 shows in 40 nights.
The riders involve things like food to be provided in the club, secure storage area for equipment, lodging, etc.

But did you know that one rider is the Socks and Underwear Rider? Every 5 or 6 gigs, a club must give them with a week's supply of new socks and underwear in sizes and brands specified.
The idea is that with the amount of traveling they do in a van, they don't have time to do laundry or go shopping.

(150 words)

But do they get to choose what kind of underwear?

I mean, imagine you're the rock star and a groupie goes home to the hotel with you, she strips you down and you're wearing these old-men's tightie whiteys..

As noted in my post, Nimh, the band gets to specify sizes and brands. By the way, Andy's band is featuired on the cover of some Norwegian mag covering his kind of music. I will try to find it.

And I 'll bet it should be Norwedgian mag.

No, Norwegian is fine..

(The magazine is called, I am told, Rimfrost).

So there was this study done involving folks from the US and Mexico to find out whether women talked more then men. The results turned out to be statistically inconclusive. But what struck me was the number of words that the "average" person utters a day. Any guesses?

As an outlandish guess I'd say ......ummm.....16,000 words per day?

The low amongst the sample of 300 folks was 700 words uttered. 16,000? Spare my ears.

Y'know, John, I heard that story on NPR. I heard all the statistics being mentioned. But, for me, numbers are in one ear and out the other. Somewhere in the recesses of my subconscious I must know the average number of words. But I can't consciously remember it now.

Merry Andrew: Y'know, John, I heard that story on NPR. I heard all the statistics being mentioned. But, for me, numbers are in one ear and out the other. Somewhere in the recesses of my subconscious I must know the average number of words. But I can't consciously remember it now.


Thank god for this common benefit.

16,000 words a day was thw number cited in the NPR report. which seems very hiigh to me, unless the sample included S., who worked for me. She never stopped talking and drove everyone else bonkers.
Do the math: 14 hours of being awake a day x 60 minutes an hour x 60 seconds a minute = 50,400 seconds a day. Divided by 16,000 words = 1 word every 3 plus seconds!

From today's Chicago Tribune (page 8)

My younger brother is in a U.S. Air Force band based in Germany (Don't get me started on why in the hell we are spending millions of dollars on military bands).

Anyway, they played a concert last night celebrating something like the USAF's 60th year of existence. Something like that. Whatever.

He got to meet with Gail Halverson (a guy), who was known as the Berlin Candy Bomber. Back in 1948, he flew flights to the blockaded city of Berlin and he noticed kids pearched on a hill nearby, watching.
So on subsequent flights he would divert his plane and drop candy. Hence the name, the Berlin Candy Bomber.
The story got picked up and was used as a propaganda thing.

Mr Halverson is now something like 87. The Berlin Candy Bomber.

A friend of mine is a guitar tech with numerous european bands, and he told me he gets his dirty laundry done by local hands(i.e. crew provided by the venue or local promoter). gotta ask him about the socks rider!

Thanks, bigdice, for the confirmation. I don't make this stuff up.