HE AIN’T HEAVY…HE’S MY BROTHER.
-The Hollies-

The coconut crab grows over 3 feet long and is not only the largest land crab but is the largest arthropod, the group that includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans.

Honey bees have five eyes: two compound eyes that help them see around themselves simultaneously, and three simple eyes that are positioned on the top of their heads that help with their orientation.

Shark teeth are coated with fluoride which acts like toothpaste and keeps the shark’s mouth healthy and clean.

There is a subspecies of butterflies known as the “8998 butterfly.” It’s named this way for its markings, which uncannily resemble the number ’89’ on one wing and the number ’98’ on the other.

Potoos are a type of bird that uses body posture to camouflage themselves to look like a part of a tree stump.

 

Dr Pepper is a carbonated beverage that was created in the 1880s in Waco, Texas by Charles Alderton. It was first served in 1885 and first marketed in the U.S. in 1904. Dr Pepper is marketed as having a unique flavor, and includes variations that are made without high fructose corn syrup, or a diet version. When Dr Pepper was served in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition it was made with 23 flavors. The formula for Dr Pepper is a secret, with the actual recipe being kept in two halves in different banks in Dallas, Texas. At one point it was rumored to contain prune juice but the company states this is not true.

With its signature fizzy, sweet, cherry-cola zing, Dr Pepper has long been a Southern-favorite soda. First created over 130 years ago in Waco, Texas, by a pharmacist to serve at his drugstore counter, it’s officially the nation’s oldest major soft drink. (Yes, even including Coca-Cola.) And while we still get to enjoy each of the 23 mystery flavors in the modern-day can, the original recipe made with pure cane sugar is where Southerners’ hearts really lie—served in an iced-down glass bottle, of course. 

When taking a glance back at the original glass bottles containing the caffeinated refresher, not many people actually notice the distinct trio of numbers that surround the vintage Dr Pepper logo: 10, 2, and 4. Typically, there are more important tasks in mind than dissecting the packaging, like cracking the bottle open and taking a big ‘ole sip, for example. But the origin of its iconic numbers remains elusive, unless you’re privy to the storied history of the Texas soda. You’re not? Here’s the scoop. 

The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas, walks visitors through the fascinating history and tradition of the original Dr Pepper brand, including the obscure numbers 10, 2, and 4 on the glass bottles. Turns out, Dr Pepper’s first slogan was indeed, “Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4!” Does it make total sense to us now? Not really, but at the time, it won an ad campaign request put out by the brand after research in the 1920s showed that folks generally suffer from a sugar low around 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. Hence the need for a sugary, bubbly beverage like Dr Pepper to get you going again.

 The next time you have little complaints, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500’s.

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They used to use urine to tan animal skins.  Families would all pee in a pot, then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.  If you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor”.  But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot – they “didn’t have a pot to piss in”, and were the lowest of the low.

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Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

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Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”

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Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs..”

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With the thatched roofs there was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

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The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, “Dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed across the entrance-way to keep the thresh in. Hence: a thresh hold (“threshold”).

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(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)

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In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”

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Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat”.

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Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

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Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the “upper crust”.

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Cups made of lead were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination of the lead leached out by the alcohol would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a “wake”.

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England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through a hole in the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the “graveyard shift”) to listen for the bell. Thus, someone could be “saved by the bell” or was considered a “dead ringer”.

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And that’s the truth! Now, whoever said History was boring?

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Nine Words Women Use — Definitions for men

 (1)  Fine:   This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right, and you need to shut up. This means your facts may be right, but you are still wrong.

(2)  Five Minutes:   If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3)  Nothing:   This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4)  Go Ahead:   This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh:   This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing.   (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That’s Okay:   This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks:   A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’.. That will bring on a ‘whatever’).

(8) Whatever:   Is a woman’s way of saying…Go to Hell…

(9) Don’t worry about it, I got it:   Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’   (For the woman’s response refer to #3).