Razzmatazlady

Category: Fun Facts

  • Earth Day

    Tibetan Prayer Flags in the Sonoran Desert

    Today is Earth Day. It’s a day to be as kind to the earth as we possibly can. On purpose.
    Of course, we should be as kind to the earth as we possibly can every day, but we usually aren’t.
    The closest that I get, probably, is that I am aware of when I’m not being kind to the earth and I have the decency to feel guilty. And I actually have made a few good habits that help.
    I took this photo of the prayer flags while we were housesitting in the Tucson area. Why do I have a picture of Tibetan Prayer Flags in this post? Well, here’s a bit of information about them from Wikipedia:
    Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom.
    There are five of them and they’re each a different color representing the five elements of the earth. Blue symbolizes the sky or space, White is the air or wind, Red (symbolizing fire), Green sympolizes water and Yellow is the color of the earth.

    Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.
    What better symbol could there be for Earth Day. I think they’re just beautiful.

  • More Silliness

    I read an article about the literal meanings of some food-realted words and decided that it would be fun to list some of them.

    Like “Taco” means plug or wad. How silly is that?

    And “chimichanga ” means trinket.

    Anyway, I was searching for more information and came across these gems from the Professional Chefs’ Association:

    Ever wonder what animals are in a box of animal crackers? 1 lion, 1 buffalo, 2 sheep, 2 monkeys, 2 tigers, 3 rhinos, 3 rhinos, 5 bears , 6 gorillas

    And how about this one about doughnuts:

    In the beginning, doughnuts were made of raised dough and a nut was baked into the center…That is how the word”doughnut” came about!

    And five will get you ten that you did not know that In 1919, a molasses flood killed 21 people in the north end of Boston. WHAT??????

    Speaking of “five will get you ten”, do you know where that phrase came from?
    Bet you don’t (wink)! It’s actually betting parlance. Betting 5 (dollars, pounds, matchsticks) will get you (win for you) 10 (dollars, etc.) In other words, even odds.

    It’s 32 degrees right now and is supposed to reach 49, today. Maybe we’ll get rid of most of this “silly” snow…

  • Some Good Quotes and an Interesting Fact Or Two

    We’re moving Jen into a new apartment this morning so I imagine that we’ll be busy with that over the weekend. Probably won’t do much “computing”.

    But just so you know my little brain is still plugging away, here are some interesting factoids from Reference.com that I dug up. They have nothing to do with each other – they’re just interesting, I think.

    It takes 3650 peanuts to fill a 5-pound container of peanut butter. Half of all edible peanuts consumed in the US are used to make peanut butter.

    On February 22, 1980 at the XIII Olympic Winter Games, the United States Olympic hockey team beat the defending champion Soviet hockey team 4-3 in an incredible upset victory that became known as “The Miracle on Ice”. They went on to defeat Finland for the gold medal.

    And a couple of good Dave Barry quotes about the great outdoors:

    “Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.” (My sentiments, exactly)

    “It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”

    “The ultimate camping trip was the Lewis and Clark expedition.”

    So there you have it – my blogpost for the day!

  • Fat Tuesday

    Here’s the real skinny on Mardi Gras.

    Many people think that Mardi Gras is a period of time preceding Fat Tuesday. But it’s not. Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday are one and the same!

    Yes, indeed. It’s true. Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French. Actually Mardi is Tuesday and Gras is Fat so speaking literally you would say Tuesday Fat – ha!

    Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.

    It’s the final day of Carnival (pronounced car-ni-vahl) which begins 12 days after Christmas (Twelfth Night) and lasts exactly 47 days.

    Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday is the 47th day!

    Mardi Gras is celebrated all over the world. In the United States the place to be, of course, is New Orleans, Louisiana. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Venice, Italy are the cities most famous for their celebrations outside of North America.

    Here’s a fun little fact. On Bourbon street in New Orleans, store owners coat poles and columns with vaseline to keep wild and rowdy revelers from climbing them (and perhaps falling).

    So there you go! Happy Fat Tuesday!