Sunday, July 27, 2008

more corrections

  • While I was correct that crudo means raw, cenote doesn't mean well; it is derived from a Mayan word for cenote.
  • The Empire State Building is struck by lightning about 100 times per year.
  • Roses were often planted in vineyards to indicate rot, mildew, or other problems on the rose petals before they show on the grape vines.
  • The underground lunch room is in Carlsbad, not Yellowstone.
  • It was North Dakota that wanted to (still wants to?) remove the direction from its name.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

just trying to keep up with my mouth...

  • Bactrian camels have two humps.
  • Polydactyly occurs in about .2% of births, not 5%, which is a little ridiculous, I suppose.
  • On the other hand, breast cancer is more disturbingly common than I thought.
  • Dad bought a Rav-4, which, while slightly ridiculous for a commuter car, is less ridiculous than a Pilot. It is smaller and gets better gas milage.
  • The primary source of sweetness in most fortified wines comes from the grapes in the wine, not from the fortifier; adding the brandy (or whatever) kills off the yeast in the wine, leaving more of the sugars from the grapes.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

corrections, stale

  • There are over 12,400 wild Cheetahs still around in Africa. The current theory is that their lack of genetic diversity traces back to the last ice age.
  • Gas taxes are usually priced per gallon, not computed as a sales tax. So, the percent burden of gas tax has decreased with the cost of gas. However, some states apply sales tax to gasoline sales, and 'pay at the pump' fees to credit card companies are usually a percentage of the sale cost.

Monday, May 19, 2008

corrections: method acting and coloring problems

  • 'On the Waterfront' came out in 1954, three years after 'Streetcar'.
  • 'The Method' was taught by Strasberg and derived from Stanislavski's 'System'.
  • A region surrounded by a single country is an enclave. East Pakistan would have been an exclave, but not an enclave.
  • As such, neither would Pt. Robert's be considered an enclave, although wikipedia describes it as a 'pene-exclave'.
  • Speaking of which, Wikipedia has a great list of four-country border sets, which demonstrate the need for four coloring the globe. It includes at least one exclave, which is sort of cheating.

Monday, April 28, 2008

short corrections; I need to take better notes

  • Apple stock is up about 3,000% since I bought it, not 40,000%, which is an overstatement. It is up about 1,000% since I sold it.
  • DCA is in Virginia. There was some dispute about it at the time, but the territory counts as part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but is under control of the US congress.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

corrections

  • The Rosenbergs were from New York.
  • The integral of sqrt(x)dx is (2 * x ^ (3/2))/3 + C

Monday, February 11, 2008

I do not want to be incorrect

  • Do not want comes from a bad translation of a Star Wars movie.
  • Only two people have died on 'Mission: Space'.
  • Dude originally meant 'fastidious man or dandy', evolved to mean 'city slicker' or fresh cowboy, thus 'dude ranch'.

Monday, December 31, 2007

burning bubble wrap

It appears that burning pure polyethylene shouldn't be too dangerous - i.e. it will not produce dioxin. However, I am not certain that bubble wrap is only polyethylene; Kristin might know better.

Friday, December 28, 2007

cutting boards

Okay, so there does not seem to be consensus on the best cutting board for preventing contamination. Glass is easiest to clean, but for both plastic and wood, you probably should be using a separate cutting board for your raw meats than everything else. Alton Brown puts a red tag on his meat cutting boards to tell the difference. For reference, I looked at the wikipedia page, an FDA pamphlet, and another site which is less formal.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

various corrections

  • Salads are one of the oldest foods; there is evidence that Egyptians ate raw salads.
  • A mile is 1609 meters, not 'about 1300'.
  • The hippocampus controls episodic memory, among other things. I was probably thinking of the amygdala, which regulates fear response - and creates picky eaters. However, as far as pain localization goes, that is, to some degree, subjective.
  • The RFID thing is a 'security thread', which glows (perhaps color-coded to the note?) when placed under UV light.
  • Donna Hay is from Australia; Ina Garten is from the US.
  • According to Capers Jones 48% of million+ lines-of-code projects fail, and 65% of 10-million lines of code projects fail. However, it is safe to assume that many of the 'successful' projects were delivered with highly reduced or altered features.
  • The IU is defined on a per-substance basis.