What Did Van Learn Today? ... Pluviosity

Pluviosity means rainfall. Why not just say "rainfall"?

http://www.wordnik.com/words/pluviosity


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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Philosophy

Discussing philosophical concepts with a work colleague is fun and sometimes challenging.

I have heard that there are two things you should never discuss with people you work with [1] Religion and [2] Politics. Does Philosophy fit into one of those categories?

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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Hayflick Limit

Ever heard of the Hayflick Limit? I hadn't, until I watched a B-movie the other night on the SyFy channel named "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid". The premise of the movie was that they had found this flower in Borneo called a blood orchid that contained a naturally occurring chemical that was able to "work around" the Hayflick Limit. So of course they set out in search of this orchid and - given the nature of the movie - almost everyone in the movie died in the process.


What's the Hayflick Limit you ask?

The Hayflick Limit is a theory that human cells only have the ability to reproduce 40-60 times. Once the limit is reached, cell replication stops. It has been theorized that this is why people die.

So, you can imagine that if a chemical was found in the blood orchid that would work around this limit, there would be a lot of people in the scientific community clamoring to obtain it. It would be marketed as a fountain of youth and would probably be very expensive.



Well, back in reality, there is some serious interest in this theory. The limit is apparently directly linked to telomeres found at the end of our DNA strands. Every time a cell replicates, its associated telomeres are shortened by a fraction. Theoretically once your telomeres reach a certain length, this is what controls the life or death of a cell.

Interestingly, cancer cells have the ability to lengthen telomeres. Cancer cells turn on an enzyme called telomerase which rather than shorten telomeres actually lengthens them - essentially having the effect of making them "immortal". Scientists are now looking into the possibility of using this enzyme to extend life.

It's interesting what you can learn from cheesy movies.

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What Did Van Learn Today? ... Getting good karma is not always welcomed

Whenever I see a praying mantis in distress I usually take the opportunity to help the poor little guy out. At the ballpark one day, I saved one from a couple of curious kids that only wanted to abuse it. I picked it up and dropped it over the fence where they couldn't get to it.

Praying mantises are cute little creatures that are relatively harmless and, in fact, protected by federal law, due their endangered status.


So, yesterday I found one crawling around on the outside of my car. The trouble was that I had already driven away and by the time I saw it, I was getting ready to get on the highway. I said to myself - "self," he is not going to survive at highway speeds. And besides, he was looking in the window at me as if he was asking for help. Anyway, I pulled over as soon as I could and he was still on my window, so I reached out my hand to help him off the car. I'll tell you, I don't think he wanted any help. He jumped off my car quicker than lightning - luckily into the grass and not into traffic.

Karma: +1

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What did Van learn today?

There apparently is a difference between chiggers and jiggers. Jiggers are the ones that burrow into your skin. Chiggers do not, but they do bite. Jiggers are only found in the tropical regions. Chiggers are found in cooler regions - like in the US.


Both blemishes itch.

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What Did Van Learn Today?

I learned that in June of 1942, there was, what we would now call a terrorist attack, in Washington DC, orchestrated by the Nazi party.

Operation Pastorius was a failed plan for sabotage via a series of attacks by Nazi German agents inside the United States. The operation was named by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr, for Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the first organized settlement of Germans in America.

The plan was fairly complex as it involved sabotage on major industrial and economic targets throughout the US, including hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and aluminum plants in Illinois, Tennessee and New York. Two German-American citizens were involved, as well as 6 others who would arrive on shore via two different U-boats.

While there were many failures in the plot, the scheme was ultimately foiled by a would-be defector (George John Dasch), who turned himself in and revealed the whole plan to the authorities.

This operation was ultimately unsuccessful and those involved were executed, or in the case of the two conspirators who cooperated with the authorities, returned to Germany six years later in 1948.

You can read more about this on Wikipedia.

So ... How did I come to be reading about this tidbit of history?

Well, I was looking up the definition of "potter's field". Wikipedia listed the location of where the six executed conspirators were buried as a potter's field. Basically, a potter's field is where deceased persons of a certain class or economic situation, warranting segregation from the general populous, might be interred.

As it turns out, the location where the six conspirators were buried was in Blue Plains, near Ferry Point, on the Anacostia River, in what is now Oxon Hill Farm (an interactive farm - mostly for kids - managed by the National Park Service. One source, dated July 2008, mentions that there is a marker at the burial site (erected by the American Nazi Party), but that it is very difficult to find. That is something I would like to try to find.

Try to learn something new every day.

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For American Distillers, a Whi... (theatlantic.com)

For American Distillers, a Whiskey Crisis Looms on the Horizon
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/07/for-american-distillers-a-whiskey-crisis-looms-on-the-horizon/242699/

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