Pathetic plea for interaction

[beetiger]

Tell me something I don't already know.

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

The Japanese bamboo flute, or shakuhachi, is called this because it measures a (traditional Japanese) foot. A foot worth of solid bamboo is a pretty effective club; and apparently this happened often enough that the Tokugawa regime banned one-piece flutes, creating by neccessity a new version of an old folk instrument.

Similarly, Polish noblemen used to be banned from carrying around swords publically. Since nobody would harsh on a nobleman carrying around a cane, heavy hammers came into vogue as walking sticks. Until there were enough fatalities in barfights for the hammers to become prohibited, rather.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Modern Americans just thwack their enemies with a saxophone.

[tikvah.livejournal.com]

I was interviewed by the same modeling agency that Vanessa Williams had been working for when she made the pictures that ultimately had her tossed from Miss America.

Luckily, my dad and I had misgivings (since I was not quite eighteen for the interview, a parent had to accompany me), and I passed on the offer. :)

[fferret.livejournal.com]

You can make a nice sauce for pork, lamb, chicken or veal by melting grape jelly (Concrd grape works nicely,) over low heat, then stirring in yellow mustard to taste, usually 4-5 tablespoons for a jar of jelly. Do not use jam! This is called Hampton sauce, and was taught to me by Tullio Cominetto, chef, gourmet, and father of a teen-age best friend.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Is it jam or jelly that has little bits of fruit in it?

[fferret.livejournal.com]

Jam, I believe. Jelly is fruit gelatin, so it has no pulp.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

I may try this with apple jelly. I expect to have a lot fo apple jelly come late September or so. I hope you all like apple jelly.

[rowyn]

Land-dwelling mammals evolved from water-dwelling animals. Later, dolphins, whales, and other sea-dwelling mammals evolved from land-dwelling mammals.

And later still, elephants evolved from sea-dwelling mammals.

Apparently, it's hard for critters to make up their mind where they want to live. :)

[foxcutter.livejournal.com]

I would say "What I'm thinking right now" but I don't know myself.

How about this:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are REALLY good frozen!

[ahiruko.livejournal.com]

The most valuable Star Trek action figure in the current Playmates line is the first-series Deanna Troi. The rumor is that the figure is scarce because, upon seeing it, Marina Sirtis demanded that the figure be recalled and resculpted because the breasts weren't large enough.

This is unproven, but when a Troi figure was later re-leased it looked like she was smuggling honeydew melons, so there may be some truth to it.

This is also not the only time something like this has happened.

[akycha.livejournal.com]

--If you make a hollandaise sauce in the traditional manner (egg yolks, butter, lemon, whatever secret ingredients you fancy) and then drop one whole egg into it, (and beat frantically) it will be lovely and smooth. Then, if you refrigerate the leftovers in butter (or candy) molds, they will set up, like butter. The molded hollandaise looks lovely dropped on hot vegetables, but melts rather thin.

(You can thicken it up again if you reheat it with another egg, if you prefer, but it is more fun and unusual to mold it.)

--Some theorists of feline behavior say that the "me" syllable (of "meow" and related utterances) is a possessive. This is why cats usually meow at people and not at each other, I am told. (I think about one of my cats who is in the habit of exclaiming "me!" at me and am rather amused.)

--Despite its lurid title, Malinowski's The Sexual Life of Savages is a stultifying, unspeakably boring book.

--Ashwood is apparently easier to carve then cherry. Cherrywood deepens in color over time, though, even when exposed to direct sunlight.

--I have run out of trivia.

Other Rose

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

Molding Hollandaise is a food trick that I never learned! I will have to try this someday.

Re: Random bits of info:

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

- Dill pickle and strawberry jam sandwiches are surprisingly good.

Despite supposed pregnancy cravings, this still sounds really awful to me.

3 things about home

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

The bane of gardeners around here is actually the fancy edible french snail. It was imported as a money making venture, and they are fine if you keep them in captivity for a while on clean food before eating them.
For a time, parts of San Francisco had roofs coated in gold. Talk about literal golden gates. Then they figured it out and added a reclaimer to the mint. This was a huge relief to the gentleman who was in trouble for embezzeling. He did several things, including living in the house a friend now owns. I know one of those several things was stealing/importing grape vines but I don't know if I should curse him for the snails.
We don't know the actual name of local tribes, but evidently they used moitys. Which, incidently, I have no idea how to pronounce. And I bet they would have loved the snails.

Finally

[mike-kenshin.livejournal.com]

That they (LJ staff) finally got off their collective arse and fixed my account.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

Australians pay much higher prices for their books (even published in Australia) due to the smaller distribution network.

[eetmewithtoast.livejournal.com]

fishoutawata can spout trivia at you (particularly of a historical flavour) for days!

But I'm too short-memoried, alas.

I will tell you this: I own 78 My Little Ponies, and each one has its own personality quirks and temperament, as well as individual magical abilities. At least a third of them are documented in a notebook. Judging from the handwriting, I'd guess I wrote most of that notebook when I was 9 or 10.

Also, I was once particularly obsessed with unicorns. My friends convinced me that they had a robot unicorn (with wings) that one of their fathers had brought back from Japan. They could ride on it and it could fly and everything. I was so envious . . .

[lediva.livejournal.com]

Small blue hand mirrors can secretly sneak inside printers and try to destroy them.

Granted, I didn't know this until earlier tonight... (look here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/lediva/36828.html) for more info)