Did You Know — What period in U.S. history was known as ‘The Great Experiment’?

Well, I seem to have stepped into it once again.

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about the most accurate clock in the world, at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington.

It was there, but now it isn’t – and it hasn’t been for a while.  My good friend John out on the prairie tells me that the National Bureau of Standards is now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the clock was moved to Boulder, Colorado.  Thanks, John!

I’ve been kicking around the idea of taking a vacation.  Seems as if I need one.

For now, enjoy this week’s nonsense!

Did you know …

… at any given moment, the Earth’s surface is 67% cloud covered?  (Which looks gorgeous from space but can be rather dismal down here on the ground.)

… grocery stores in Japan are unable to sell expired meat products?  The design agency To-Genkyo has created a dynamic freshness label for meat products.  The label uses a special ink that changes color based on the amount of ammonia emitted by the meat – as meat gets older, it emits more ammonia.  When the meat is no longer suitable for sale, the bar code becomes totally blacked out, and the package cannot be scanned at the cash register.  (Sounds like a pretty good idea to me!)

… Custer won two Medals of Honor?  No, not the famous General George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876), but his younger brother Captain Thomas Ward Custer (1845-1876).  During the Civil War, Thomas Custer captured a Confederate Regimental flag at Namozine Church on April 3, 1865.  Custer did so after being wounded and thrown from his horse, and he captured a dozen prisoners as well.  That was his first Medal of Honor citation.  Three days later, Captain Custer captured another Confederate regiment’s colors at Saylor’s Creek, jumping off his horse during a charge over the enemy lines.  He was wounded in that maneuver as well, and won his second Medal of Honor.  Custer died along with his famous older brother at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.  Additional trivia note:  George and Thomas were not the only Custer men to die at Little Big Horn.  The youngest brother, Boston Custer (1848-1876), was also killed in the battle, as were several other Custer relatives and friends.

… one of Great Britain’s most able and illustrious admirals was seasick his entire life?  Horatio, Lord Nelson (1758-1805), who led the Royal Navy to victories in wars with France and Spain, suffered from an almost debilitating seasickness.  But rather than using it to shirk his duties, Nelson considered it a way to express “his patriotism, duty and sacrifice,” according to the National Maritime Museum.  By showing his men that he could do his duty even while “green about the gills,” he encouraged others to do the same.  (Leadership, in other words.)

… an unpopular period in U.S. history is known as the “Great Experiment”?  The era of Prohibition, which began in 1919 with the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and ended in 1933 with the 21st Amendment, was a time when it was illegal to make, sell or transport any alcoholic beverages in the country.  Note that it wasn’t illegal to possess them … but how you got them was the problem, since it was against the law to make or sell them.  Prohibition may have been a “good intention” but it led directly to the rise of organized crime in the United States.  (It also led to quite a few ingenious work-arounds, such as the folks who made a concentrated brick of grape juice and advised not to put the reconstituted juice in a dark place for three weeks, else you’d end up with wine, which was against the law.  Sheer genius.)

… a gangster is responsible for “sell-by” dates on milk cartons?  In the 1930s, Chicago mobster Al Capone (1899-1947) was looking for a legitimate business that would fund his opulent lifestyle after Prohibition ended.  The stamping equipment for milk cartons was under his control in the city, and after a relative became sick from drinking milk that had expired, Capone fought to have “sell-by” dates stamped onto milk cartons.  (Heck, even a broken clock is right twice a day.)

… a well-known artist worked very, very slowly?  Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was a very slow painter – so much so that, when he painted still-life work involving fruit, the content would begin to rot before he had time to finish.  Cézanne got around that little difficulty by painting still-lifes of waxed fruit instead.  (Clever, very clever!)

… the “Christmas Truce” of 1914, during World War I, actually happened?  On Christmas Eve, 1914, soldiers of the British and German armies, entrenched about 200 yards from each other, could hear the other groups singing Christmas carols.  The following day, about 2/3 of the troops along the front declared their own truce, coming out to exchange gifts and play makeshift soccer games.  Some of the temporary truces lasted a day, others almost a week.  But one year later, sentries along both sides were ordered to shoot anyone who tried to attempt a second Christmas truce.  (No good deed goes unpunished.)

… a war takes place every year between two churches in Greece?  In the town of Vrontados, two rival church congregations have a kind of “rocket war” each year, the members firing tens of thousands of homemade rockets across town.  The objective of the war is to be the first to hit the other church’s bell tower with a rocket.  Whoever makes the first strike wins the war, and the rockets are put away until the same time next year.  (Now that’s the way to do it, if you have to do it at all.)

Now … you know!