10 Things I Didn't Know Last Week


  1. Some cultures believed that the seventh son in a family was cursed to be a werewolf.
  2. This belief led to the abandonment of so many infants in Argentina that, in 1920, the President decreed himself the godfather of the seventh son of every family.
  3. Samuel Pepys has a blog.
  4. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth.
  5. You can take a boat tour of Buffalo Bayou.
  6. The longest losing streak in Astros history was 11 games in 1995.
  7. Oranges, grapefruit, and lemons are hybrids.
  8. Becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee requires only a $5,000 initial investment.
  9. Kosher and Halal slaughter of animals for food requires that the animal be bled while it is still conscious.
  10. According to the apple-or-coin test, used in the Middle Ages, children should start school when they are mature enough for the delayed gratification and abstract reasoning involved in choosing money over fruit.

Comments

  1. Ben W. BrumfieldJune 2, 2007 at 11:46 PM

    I love Pepys's blog. I've tried reading print versions when I don't have access to it, but it's just not the same. It's annoying to spend five times as long on an entry than if I hadn't read the comments, but it's so much more rewarding.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 3, 2007 at 4:27 PM

    Can you imagine how much later we would START the formal education of chidren if we waited for the concept of delayed gratificiation to kick in?! They would be twenty and just entering the firt grade. Shoot, what am I thinking? I know some that are plenty older than that who haven't mastered it! That would make for a much more leveled education field, though. If every one in the 10th grade were at the same "mental age" it would make my job loads easier! Then I wouldn't have students who don't know until the 10th grade that Iraq is NOT a part of the US, or that there was in fact not an "ocean-thingy" in between the Republic of Texas and the United States of America until we joined them (at which time the thingy must have evaporated?!?) or that there was not a PHYSICAL separation of the USA and CSA! Argh!

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