Category: 2009

11.20.09 Squashed

November 20, 2009 Mike Keeler
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It’s the great pumpkin shortage, Charlie Brown! The town of Morton, Illinois is without question the pumpkin capital of the world.  Morton grows more pumpkins than any other place in the world.  Each September, the local Chamber of Commerce proudly rolls out the Morton pumpkin festival, which draws approximately 60,000…
2009

11.13.09 Friday the 13th

November 13, 2009 Mike Keeler
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Attention paraskevidekatriaphobiacs: it’s worse than you think… The Gregorian calendar was first rolled out in 1582, and was fully adopted by Europe in 1752.  In order to make the calendar align almost perfectly with the orbit of the earth around the sun, the Gregorian calendar uses 400-year cycles, each cycle…
2009

10.30.09 Candy Classic

October 30, 2009 Mike Keeler
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It’s hard work making a simple icon. Imagine you’re a factory worker in Cincinnati way back in 1880.  It’s mid-summer, there’s no air conditioning, and the temperature inside the plant is well over 100 degrees. You’re dressed in a heavy leather apron.  You’re handed a 45-pound pail of boiling hot…
2009

10.16.09 Word!

October 16, 2009 Mike Keeler
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Today is both National Boss Day AND World Dictionary Day!  And so with serendipity comes etymology. The Middle English word for “lump” is “boce.”  From that we get “boss,” or protuberance. It’s common on plants and animals, and also in architecture meaning “stud” or ornamental projection.  There’s a boss which…
2009

7.31.09 Rock With the Animals

July 3, 2009 Mike Keeler
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The quickSilver staff is headed out this weekend to the All Points West music festival.  Our plan is to dance around like monkeys. Here’s why:  researchers at the University of Kyushu Japan have reported that chimpanzees, like humans, have an innate appreciation of music.  Using an orphaned chimp named Sakura…
2009