THE MENACE OF THE SUPERHEATING MICROWAVE

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If water is heated uniformly in a perfectly smooth container way past the normal boiling temperature, it may still not boil. Boiling requires a nucleation point, like a particle of dust or a scratch or other imperfection in the container around which the bubbles will form. You may have observed when you boil water in a pan over a burner that most of the bubbles come from a particular point on the pan. Even in a smooth container, water will generally boil when cooked on top of a stove, as it is not uniformly heated and the hot water rising from the bottom of the pan causes currents that break the surface tension of the water and create nucleation points on the surface. 

Water which is heated past the boiling point of 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) but is not boiling is called superheated. If you are foolish enough to be carrying a container of superheated water and you jostle it even slightly or you place a spoon or a coffee crystal in it, the water will explode into steam on the spot and violently spatter your body and face. Such an encounter can easily result in third-degree burns and, of course, blindness if the eyes are involved.

Liquid heated in a smooth vessel in a microwave oven could well achieve superheated status. To avoid this, keep a non-metallic object, such as a wooden popsicle stick, in the container during the heating. This will provide a nucleation point so that normal boiling can proceed.

HOW MARK TWAIN CHEATED AT POOL

Mark Twain was extremely fond of cats and always had several in his household throughout his life. In fact, when he had to move to New Hampshire on a project for two months, he rented four felines from a neighbor for the duration. 

His family members knew that if they had to interrupt him at work to solve a problem or grant a request, they should always carry a household kitten with them to soften Twain up.

Twain trained one of his cats (or, more likely, the cat trained Twain) to hunker down hidden in one of the pockets on his pool table prior to Twain shooting a game with a guest. When the guest would try to sink a ball into the pocket, the cat would bat it away with his paw. 

HITLER'S MESSERSCHMITT BLUNDER

Public domain USAF Museum Wikimedia Commons

The first practical jet airplane was the German Me-262, which was placed into service in 1944. As a fighter aircraft, it was light years ahead of all of its competitors and was absolutely lethal against heavy bombers, such as B-17s and B-24s, which had virtually no defense against it due to its high speed and powerful 30 mm cannons and/or rockets. In fact, United States Army Air Force General Carl Spaatz in September of 1944 was considering abandoning all bombing raids over Germany due to the threat posed by this new Messerschmitt. Such a decision could have had a profound negative effect on the prosecution of the war.

American fighter pilots, including ace Chuck Yeager, quickly learned that the only chance they had to destroy an Me-262 was to hover near a German airstrip and nail the jets when they were either on the ground or when they were at a reduced speed during takeoffs and landings. 

Unfortunately for the Germans, and fortunately for the rest of the world, Hitler decreed that only one out of every fifty Me-262s could be employed as a fighter. The rest had to be used as bombers, a role for which they were not nearly as well-suited. As a result, only very few of them ever had an opportunity to wreak havoc on Allied aircraft.

Several years ago, the visionary group Legend Flyers manufactured four or five new Me-262s for enthusiasts (very wealthy enthusiasts, as the price per plane probably exceeded $2 million by a wide margin). These were very close duplicates of the WWII product except for the elimination of the swastika on the tail and the substitution of more reliable landing gear and General Electric J-85 jet engines in place of those based on the original German design.

A few of the original 1,400+ Me-262s which were built by the Nazis still survive in museums.

INDIANA JONES--WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

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Roy Chapman Andrews (1884-1960) was a famed paleontologist, explorer, and naturalist. While in the employ of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, he led numerous expeditions in the 1920s to Mongolia and China, where he discovered fossils of several new mammal and dinosaur species (including Protoceratops and Velociraptor) as well as the first known fossilized dinosaur eggs. Andrews eventually became the Director of the museum.

He was proficient with firearms and needed to be, as his expeditions were conducted under hazardous conditions and often featured encounters with hostile Mongolian brigands. His descriptions of his adventures led to the stereotyping use of "Outer Mongolia" in cartoons and other examples of pop culture as a synonym for an extraordinarily remote area of the earth.

Many film experts believe that Andrews was the inspiration for Indiana Jones, although this rumor has never been officially confirmed by George Lucas. Andrews certainly was the prototype for other similar explorers in various adventure movies of the 1930s and 1940s.

He was also a renowned author, and I can still recall the joy I experienced when I was seven years old and discovered his seminal work All About Dinosaurs at the public library in the small town in which I was raised.

HOW PLYMOUTH CARS GOT THEIR NAME

Christine

The Plymouth automobile was not named after Plymouth Rock or even Plymouth, England when it was introduced in 1928. Chrysler executives instead had been inspired by Plymouth Binding Twine, a product of the Plymouth Cordage Company. Plymouth Binding Twine was used by farm households all over the country and was renowned for economy, simplicity (as opposed to those complicated kinds of twines), durability, and reliability--all virtues which Chrysler wanted associated with its new brand of car. It was several decades later that Chrysler stuffed huge Hemi engines inside certain models of Plymouths and transformed them into racing vehicles, police interceptors, and highly-collectible muscle cars, although basic-level economy family cars remained the bread-and-butter of the line until its demise in 2001.

A red 1958 Plymouth Fury served as the antagonist in the book and movie version of Stephen King's Christine. All-in-all, it is one of the better stories about coping with a demonically-possessed Plymouth. I too once owned a Plymouth of evil--a 1975 Gran Fury. It was not one of Chrysler's shining moments. Perhaps its most loathsome feature, at least on my vehicle, was an automatic choke which shut the car down dead sixty seconds after starting, regardless if it was idling in the driveway, approaching the middle of an intersection, or crossing railroad tracks. On the other hand, my dad's '60 Plymouth Sport Suburban wagon with tail fins to rival those of Boeing 747s ran like a Swiss watch.

THE DREADFUL PENNY DREADFUL

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"Penny dreadfuls" were cheap pamphlets published for about eighty years in England after they were introduced around 1830. They were serialized adventure stories, often very sensational or lurid in nature, which were designed originally to appeal to adults who could not afford to buy real books. However, eventually the audience was primarily composed of teenagers. These publications filled the niche occupied by comic books today and were condemned by the same types of do-gooders who vilified the horror-type comic books of the 1950s.

Due to their cheap price, low quality of paper, perceived lack of worth, and paper drives in two World Wars, few examples of the earlier editions survive today.

For more information about penny dreadfuls as well as the TV series named after them, please see this article in The Guardian.

ESTABLISHING TITLE THROUGH BEATEN BOYS

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In medieval England, prior to the existence of formal legal descriptions and written deeds, land was conveyed from one person to another through an elaborate ceremony. A very important part of the ritual was when the buyer and seller would each provide at least one young boy who would be marched around the perimeter of the parcel while being flogged. The theory was that the lads would be so traumatized by the event that they would remember every detail of the transaction and the boundaries of the tract for the rest of their lives. They could thus testify as competent witnesses to the conveyance should any dispute arise years or even decades later.

PROJECT SUPERPRESSURE

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In the early 1950s, universities and chemical companies were engaged in the industrial Holy Grail quest of creating artificial diamonds--a product which would have numerous industrial applications and would bring vast fortunes to whomever first unlocked the process. In 1953, chemist H. Tracy Hall (on the right in the above photo) joined the diamond research team at General Electric for Project "Superpressure." GE was purchasing a $125,000 press in the hope that it could be used to make diamonds. Hall requested, but was refused, $1,000 and time in the lab to repair and retrofit an older and much cheaper alternative device which would use a different method to create the necessary intense heat and high pressures required to achieve the same goal.

Hall completed his device on his own time and at his own expense and tested it the GE labs during Christmas vacation in 1954. It worked, while the $125,000 press did not. 

GE, as a result of Hall's accomplishment, proudly announced that it had made the first industrial diamonds and eagerly awaited for the profits to come pouring in. GE gave Hall a $25 savings bond (which had a purchase price of $12.50) as the reward for his efforts.

For further information on Mr. Hall, please click here.

THE BAEDEKER BOMBINGS

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Baedeker was a German publishing company renowned for producing for many decades highly informative travel guides, primarily for European destinations. Places of interest were rated from one to three stars, with three stars being the most desirable.

In 1942, Hitler launched a series of bombing raids against several picturesque towns in England with little military importance, but with high cultural significance, such as Exeter, York, and Bath, based solely on the fact that they had received a Baedeker three-star rating. These bombings were known, appropriately enough, as "The Baedeker Raids."

This was not the first contribution of the Baedeker Company to the Third Reich. In 1938, German troops used commercial Baedeker guide books to assist them in the invasion of Austria, as they did not have suitable official maps for that purpose.

Due to peculiarities in the manufacturing process, most Baedeker guides decomposed prematurely with the passage of time. Copies in good condition are highly prized by book collectors.

"REVENGE OF THE NERDS" DUNG BEETLE STYLE

As with humans, there are different phenotypes for certain species of male dung beetles.

You have the big, burly, jock Arnold Schwarzenegger he-man (or he-beetle) stereotype. He can easily be recognized by the fact that he is horny--both figuratively and literally. Arnold has no problem picking up women. When he does, he proudly digs a tunnel for his gal, furnishes it with a big ball of poop, and manfully guards the entrance with his horn.

There is also the Leonard Hofstadter physically inept, but freakishly intelligent, nerd stereotype dung beetle. Leonard does not have a horn and would not fair well at all in a direct confrontation with Arnold. Leonard has trouble convincing girl dung beetles to go home with him. In order to slake his bodily lusts, Leonard surreptitiously digs a tunnel of his own that intersects underground with Arnold's tunnel. While Arnold is still on sentry duty, Leonard is downstairs servicing Arnold's girlfriend and creating a whole new generation of nerd dung beetles. Of course, if Arnold does catch him, Leonard is, so to speak, in deep doo-doo.

For more insight on the sexual escapades of dung beetles, check out the Natural History Magazine website.

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THE ELUSIVE RAT KING

A "rat king" occurs when the tails of several rats become stuck together through knotting, blood, ice, dirt, or sticky unsavory organic substances and the bunch of rodents grows together as one unit. The most famous one, illustrated here, was found in 1828 and is currently located in the Mauritianum Museum in Altenburg, Germany. It features 32 rats.

Finds are rare, with the last known one occurring in Estonia in 2005. Part of the scarcity may be due to the displacement in the 1700s of the black rat (Rattus rattus) by the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus). For some reason, rat kings are more likely to be produced in black rat colonies. There are also reports of mouse kings (even other than the one in The Nutcracker ballet) and squirrel kings.

Many superstitious peasants in the Middle Ages considered it an unfavorable omen to find a rat king in a house. Others merely regarded it as yecchy.

[GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)
 or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)],
 via Wikimedia Commons

WHIPPING BOYS

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A "whipping boy" is not merely an expression but actually refers to a position held by, appropriately enough, a boy who was whipped. 

The position of "whipping boy" arose around the 15th century in the monarchy in England. Because of the divine nature of royalty, the only person who could physically punish a misbehaving prince during that era was the boy's father. However, kings were often out doing stuff like beheading wives or fighting the French and were thus frequently not available to handle the discipline of their children. 

The whipping boy was a child of the same age as the prince who would be whipped in place of the prince by a palace employee. The prince, in theory, would feel guilt and remorse and would not repeat the offense which led to the punishment.

While being a whipping boy for a sociopath prince who did not feel guilt or remorse could be a real buzzkill, most whipping boys actually had it pretty good. They were often the only companion of a similar age a prince had and would be BFF with the prince. In most cases, a prince would in fact feel great remorse over getting his only true friend in trouble. 

In short, whipping boys usually had all of the luxury of growing up living like a prince, would often be rewarded with great wealth and estates by the prince when the prince and he achieved adulthood, and would always have the ear of the king once the prince inherited the throne. It generally was worth a few lashes, especially since all boys at that time (except princes) were beaten anyway, regardless of their stations in life.

THE DEADLY TRI-STATE TORNADO

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The Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925, was the most destructive twister known in American history. This F5 tornado started in Missouri, tore across southern Illinois, and finally dissipated in Indiana. It killed at least 695 persons, mostly in southern Illinois. Another 100 died in other tornadoes spawned by the same storm system. The small community of Murphysboro, Illinois, by itself had 234 fatalities.  The tornado destroyed, among other things, nine schools (many of the fatalities were school children) and over 15,000 homes. 

Most single tornadoes dissipate before they go five miles on the ground; reports of tornadoes with longer paths are usually found afterwards to have been based on a series of twisters.  The Tri-State Tornado appears to have been a legitimate single tornado which traveled 234 miles.  The funnel was so wide that most observors did not even recognize it as a tornado but thought it a bank of fog instead.

Looting and theft from the dead were rampart afterwards, much to the shame of decent Midwestern citizens.

For additional information on this disaster, please click here.

NAZI GERMANY'S ONLY DECLARATION OF WAR

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Nazi Germany declared war officially on only one nation--the United States. This declaration was issued on December 11, 1941--four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and over two years after World War II started on September 1, 1939. Germany's mutual defense treaty with Japan did not obligate Germany to declare war against America. The treaty required Germany to assist Japan only if Japan had been attacked--not when Japan was the aggressor.

Hitler was actually an admirer of the USA with its vast areas for living space and its massive industrial base. He believed that America normally was comprised of a Nordic master race largely in proper control of its "undesirable" minorities through racial segregation, eugenics laws, and Indian reservations. On the the other hand, he was convinced that this vision of a "pure" America had been corrupted by Roosevelt and his "Jewish ruling elite" (which is fairly ironic, considering that the Roosevelt administration was actually rather anti-Semitic).

Hitler also realized that America's entry into WWI was a pivotal element in the defeat of Germany, and he had no real desire to repeat the same scenario.

Why then did Hitler declare war on the United States? Many theories abound, but one factor certainly was the fact that Roosevelt was already clearly supporting the Allies in the ongoing conflict in numerous ways, including sending millions of tons of materials through Lend-Lease and engaging German warships on the oceans. A formal declaration of war meant that the Germans were free to turn their U-boat wolfpacks loose on the Atlantic seaboard to disrupt totally the movement of supplies to Europe--a tactic which came dangerously close to succeeding. An additional popular theory is that Hitler naively believed that the Japanese would quickly defeat the Americans and would then open a second front against the Soviet Union in the Far East. Finally, there is simply the issue of Hitler's ego. If there was ultimately going to be war between American and Germany anyway, Hitler did not want Roosevelt to beat him to declaring it.

Hitler himself set forth in detail his purported justifications for taking on the USA.

Many historians believe that Hitler originally had no territorial ambitions against the continental United States and that had America practiced strict non-interventionism, der Führer would have been content merely with sharing the Eastern Hemisphere with his Japanese and Italian allies (at least for a while).

THE GROOM OF THE STOOL

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One of the most coveted positions in medieval times was that of "Groom of the Stool."  The lucky individual selected for the job had the privilege of administering enemas to the king when needed, of wiping the royal buttocks after a No. 2, of disposing of the royal bodily waste, and, in general, of making sure that the king's rear end was squeaky clean. The king could not be expected to perform these tasks on his own.

Being appointed Groom of the Stool was in fact considered a very prestigious honor.  Only the hands of a very high nobleman could be allowed to touch the kingly posterior.  The person so selected would always become a close confidant of the regent.

However, as Henry Norris--a former Groom of the Stool to Henry the VIII--unfortunately discovered, being a confidant of the king and the cleaner of his butt nonetheless does not give you license to have sexual relations with the king's mistress.

THE RACIST PUCKLE GUN

Photograph courtesy of Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Puckle gun was invented by a British lawyer named, coincidentally, James Puckle, who patented it in 1718. It was essentially a 125 caliber eleven-shot flintlock revolver with a three-foot long barrel. The gun was mounted on a tripod and discharged by turning a crank. During one demonstration, it fired an impressive 63 shots over 7 minutes, which was machine-gun speed in an era where the best musketeer was able to shoot only three rounds per minute. Puckle believed that the weapon would be especially effective when used on the deck of a warship to repel boarders.

The gun was equipped with two interchangeable cylinders. One cylinder contained normal round bullets to be used against a Christian adversary. The other had square bullets to be used against Muslim Turks, as the square shot would be more damaging and would show the Turks "the benefits of Christian civilisation." One can only imagine the frustration of the gunner if he encountered a multi-ethnic foe, such as on a pirate ship, and had to constantly switch cylinders to match the target. Ironically, the Turks would have been better off with the gunner using the square shot, as those non-spherical bullets just rattled down the barrel and were totally inaccurate with unpredictable flight patterns.

Puckle was only able to sell a few of the guns and was unable to peddle any to the British Admiralty. There is no record of a Puckle gun seeing actual use in combat. 

THE DULLES VERSION OF THE BATPHONE

John Foster Dulles, who was the Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, liked to unwind on Duck Island, which was a remote spot on Lake Ontario without phones or electricity. As a precaution, he had made arrangements for his office to call CBS if he was needed in the event of an international crisis. If Dulles heard on his transistor radio the phrase on World News Roundup "[T]his story is of special interest to Secretary of State Dulles...", he knew that he had to take a boat or plane back to the mainland immediately so that he could get to a telephone.

WHERE NIKE GOT ITS SLOGAN

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Murderer Gary Gilmore was killed by a Utah firing squad on January 17, 1977.  He was the first person officially put to death in the United States after a ten-year moratorium on executions which ended when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment in 1976.

Gilmore affirmatively sought to have the sentence carried out as soon as possible and stymied all attempts by his lawyers to contest the penalty.  According to executive Lan Wieden of the Wieden+Kennedy ad agency, Gilmore's last words of "Let's do it" were the inspiration for the Nike advertising slogan of "Just do it."

SNAKE ISLAND

One of the more interesting places to visit is Ilha da Queimada Grande, a 106 acre island off of the coast of Brazil. It is often called "Snake Island" in deference to the population of golden lancehead vipers thereon--a reptile found nowhere else in the world, although the deadly jararaca is related and probably was a distant ancestor. "Population" is perhaps too mild a word. "Writhing carpet" or "sea" of serpents would probably be more appropriate, with some observers claiming a density of one snake per square yard of the island. Even if this figure turns out to be exaggerated, there is no doubt that the island contains the highest concentration of dangerous reptiles in the world.

The island had originally been part of the mainland millions of years ago but eventually became separated and isolated. When it did so, there were no natural enemies of the snakes left on it, so they multiplied profusely. Normally, an unchecked population of critters will run out of food and thus limit its numbers by starvation. In this case, however, a constantly replenishing source of migratory birds keeps a huge quantity of the reptiles happy and well-nourished.

However, as previously noted in "Rattlesnake Lunchtime Rituals" in Henry's Daily Factoids, venomous snakes have trouble catching birds, as a bitten fowl can often fly a considerable distance before the venom takes effect. This problem, from the snake's point of view, is exacerbated when the encounter takes place on a small island, as the prey will probably be fleeing over the ocean before it succumbs. Evolution solved this dilemma for the golden lancehead vipers by making their venom extra-toxic so that the birds collapse immediately and cannot make it off of the isle. As a result, these vipers' poison is three to five times more powerful than that of any reptile on the mainland and can literally dissolve human flesh almost instantly.

Fans of Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom will recall the crunching sounds from the scene where the good guys had to pass through a tunnel whose floor was covered with a layer of live bugs and insects. In addition to the snakes, Ilha da Queimada Grande is overrun with cockroaches, and anyone passing through the woods will produce the same audible effects as they tread upon the 100-acre rug of bug.

While I mentioned that the isle would be an interesting place to visit, such a trip is unlikely for all but a few. The Brazilian government bans anybody from entering the island except for specially selected scientific sorties by folks with things like "Ph.D" in their titles. There once was a lighthouse keeper and his family living there, but, purportedly, an unfortunate event involving the local reptilian fauna motivated the conversion of the lighthouse to an automated one in the 1920s.

Ironically, despite their high local population and successful lifestyle, the golden lancehead viper is one of the most endangered snakes in the world. Because of their concentrated numbers in such a small area, it would take only one really bad forest fire or epidemic to wipe out the entire species. In addition, their numbers have been decreasing due to reptile smugglers who realize that a single one of the vipers can fetch $30,000 on the black market to pet collectors or pharmaceutical laboratories. Furthermore, because of their limited geographical range, the snakes are subject to intense interbreeding and lack of genetic diversity. This situation results often in sterile progeny as well increased chances of susceptibility to diseases.

For further information on the island and its intriguing inhabitants, please see this article at the Smithsonian website. For a half-hour program extolling the virtues of this tropical paradise, click here.

Photo by Nayeryouakim from Wikimedia Commons

DEFENDING YOUR HOME AGAINST NOSFERATU

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The Sesame Street vampire, Count von Count, is obsessed with, well, counting things. This trait of the character is actually based upon genuine vampire folklore.

For millenia, the accepted method for guarding one's home against the undead was to scatter quantities of mustard seeds around the perimeter. As described in Matthew 17:20, mustard seeds are incredibly small, and there could be hundreds if not thousands of them in a single handful. It was believed that a marauding vampire would have a compulsion to pick up and count each seed and would spend so much time distracted by this task that he would not have an opportunity to ply his trade before the night was over. 

Another recognized technique was to encircle the house with fishing nets, and the vampire would while away the hours counting the holes in the netting. One would think, however, that the mustard seed approach would be far more time-consuming and thus a much better method of slowing the blood-sucker down.

WHY MACARTHUR GOT HIS FEET WET

One of the most iconic series of photographs of World War II was shot on October 20, 1944, showing General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore at Leyte to honor his pledge to return to the Philippines.  Although there is a landing craft in the background of the pictures, the general actually was transported to the beach in a whaleboat which is not visible in the photos. The whaleboat grounded itself in the shallow water several hundred yards from the beach, and MacArthur sent orders to the beachmaster* to secure a landing craft so that MacArthur could be transported ashore without getting his tootsies damp. The beachmaster had better things to do, and an infuriated MacArthur finally had to walk through the surf to get to dry land. The only thing which saved the beachmaster from a permanent transfer to the Aleutian Islands was MacArthur's inspection of the photos and his realization of how dramatic he looked striding through the water with grim determination.

*The beachmaster is the individual at an amphibious assault who directs the arrival of the invading troops and the removal of the wounded and dead. This guy is the first one on the beach during the invasion. The job has its moments of stress, even when not dealing with prima donna four-star generals. Beachmasters are informally known as "the traffic cops in Hell."

KHRUSHCHEV'S EXCELLENT RETORT

In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev, as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, commenced the process of de-Stalinization. De-Stalinization was the systematic eradication of the policies and personality cult of Joseph Stalin, who died in 1953. One small example of the process was the renaming of "Stalingrad" to "Volgograd."

During one speech of Khrushchev when he was discussing the program, an anonymous person in the crowd shouted out the question, "Why didn't you, when you were an official in Stalin's government, oppose Stalin when Stalin was in power instead of waiting until after his death before attacking his policies?" Khrushchev in a bellicose tone demanded that the heckler step forward and identify himself. When the heckler failed to do so, Khrushchev smirked and smugly stated, "Now you know why."

For more information on Khrushchev, go to the History Channel website.

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THE ANDERSON HOUSE

"Ginger" and delighted guest at the Anderson House

The Anderson House is a fifty-plus room rustic hotel built in 1856 in the sleepy Mississippi River town of Wabasha, Minnesota. Besides being haunted, it was also notorious as a cathouse.

I mean literally a cathouse. One of the most outstanding features of the hotel was its supply of felines. Subject to availability, each guest could request a mellow and affectionate cat for company, and the hotel staff would deliver the animal, along with food, water, toys, and kitty litter, to the customer's room. Due to the popularity of this feature, smart guests reserved a cat in advance. A clowder of the creatures was maintained in a comfortably-furnished glassed-in kitty dormitory, and a guest could view the stock there to select a particular four-pawed companion for his overnight stay. 

Anderson House cat dormitory

Feline-free facilities were also available for ailurophobes or guests who were allergic to cat dander.

The Anderson House provided the inspiration for a 1990 children's book Blumpoe the Grumpoe Meets Arnold the Cat, which features a grumpy old curmudgeon who is befriended by a black-and-white cat at the hotel.

Unfortunately, the economic crisis shut down the Anderson House in 2009, and the resident cats were distributed to new homes. The hotel has since re-opened under different management, but lamentably, felines are no longer provided.

And, to my credit, please note my scrupulous eschewing of atrocious puns in this feature, such as stating something like "it was the purrfect place to spend a night."

Roster for July 8, 2008

THE ELEGANT CONTINENTAL MARK II

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If asked what has always been the top of the line flagship automotive division of Ford Motor Company, most folks would instantly say "Lincoln." However, for a brief period of time, that role was usurped by the establishment of the Continental Division of Ford, which was intended to create automobiles far more luxurious and sophisticated than the cheaper relics to be offered by Lincoln. The Continental Division produced the highly distinguished Continental Mark II in 1956 and briefly in 1957. 

The Continental Mark II was a hand built masterpiece and cost over $10,000--the price of two Cadillacs of that era. It was a two-door hardtop with tasteful European styling coupled with an eggshell grill similar to that of the 1955 Thunderbird. The two and a half ton body was painted with multiple coats of hand-sanded lacquer and then polished to an extraordinary shine. Each engine and transmission was blueprinted with individually inspected and fitted components, and each vehicle was extensively test-driven before being approved for sale. Despite the high price of the automobile, Ford still lost $1,000 on every sale, but it did so gladly for the favorable publicity that the product engendered. 

Only 3,000 were manufactured, and most of these ended up in the possession of movie stars or high-level corporate executives. Some of the proud owners included Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, and the Shah of Iran. About 1,500 Continental Mark IIs still exist in the hands of extremely lucky collectors.

Finally, it is understandable why many folks mistakenly believe that the Mark II was a Lincoln product. For one thing, it was distributed through Lincoln dealers. In addition, in 1948, Lincoln had its own model called a "Lincoln Continental Mark I," and in later years, Lincoln again adopted the Continental name and gunsight hood ornament for other Lincoln products.

To see a Mark II in action, click on the following video by Rides with Chuck.

WHY IOWANS SHOULD RUN THE COUNTRY

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In Iowa in 1910, as in most places at the time, the utility of the recently-introduced automobile was severely hampered by the deplorable mud roads which were the norm. Instead of expecting Washington to cure the problem, ten thousand farmers organized a massive voluntary road building effort and turned out across the state at 9:00 one morning. They completed a 380-mile paved highway from the east border of the state to the west in one hour. However, it took the rest of the day before they were able to finish installing all of the signs so that the road was ready to use.

STAR FRUIT--THE DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE OF THE PRODUCE COUNTER

When I was a youth, I never saw or even heard of star fruit. It was native to Sri Lanka (back then it was called "Ceylon") and the Spice Islands, while bananas and pineapples were about the only tropical fruit which could be found in my small-town grocery store. However, the fact that star fruit is now also grown in Florida and Hawaii coupled with modern efficient means of transportation means that it is becoming ubiquitous and can frequently be obtained at your local supermarket.

Unlike pretentiously titled fruit such as kumquats or pomegranates, the origin of the name of star fruit is pretty obvious. Slicing the body of the fruit transversely yields cross-section pieces which are shaped like five-pointed stars. This feature makes the cheerful yellow-green star fruit slices a festive visual addition for salads and desserts. The fruit also has a flavor which can be either sweet or tart and which many people find delightful and similar to a blend of lemon with pineapple. Star fruit is also low in calories and rich in fiber, antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium, and B-complex vitamins.

In short, star fruit would be a good addition to the diet of any healthy individual.

Yet, star fruit also has a dark, evil side. It contains the deadly neurotoxin caramboxin. People with good-functioning kidneys eliminate the caramboxin before it does any harm and are not affected adversely (at least, not as far as anyone knows at this time) by its brief presence in the body. In individuals with kidney disease, however, the poison sticks around and can prove to be fatal.

To learn more about our foe caramboxin, go to the Phys.org website.

The bottom line is, if you are in good health with happy kidneys, go ahead and enjoy the occasional star fruit. Just be sure not to feed it to any guest who is in dialysis or otherwise has impaired renal function.

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