The lacy teardrop pattern known as paisley is Indian in origin, but its name derives from a town in southern Scotland.
Paisley was a major site for the manufacture of printed cotton and wool in the 19th Century, according to the Paisley Museum in Scotland. Resembling a large comma, paisley is one of the most recognized patterns in the world. The pattern can be traced back more than 2,000 years.
The Moon actually could escape Earth’s gravity just before the Sun become red giant. This is so because the Moon is moving away from Earth at the rate of 1.5″ per year. In 4.5 billion years the Moon will have moved away from Earth by over 106k miles, and it might, just might escape the then much weaker Earth’s gravitational field, and if it does, it will not get out of the solar system because neither Moon nor Earth have the escape velocity to do that. This is why they both orbit the Sun.
A manned twin propeller turbo charged airplane reached an amazing altitude of 60,897 feet Aug 4 1995. The unofficial jet powered plane reached 120,800 ft on Dec. 6th 1963 in a Lockheed F-104. The SR-71 acheived over 100,000 for 2nd place.
The ship named the Prelude is to be launched in 2017 and it will become the worlds longest ship at 1601 ft. It is owned by Shell oil and will be used as a tanker. The USS Enterprise (carrier) is 1122 feet long, but it is far heavier than the Prelude. A football field is 360 feet.
A football team (USA) can score points in the following ways:
Touchdowns
A touchdown is worth six points — the ultimate goal. A team scores a touchdown when an offensive player carrying the ball, or a defensive player who has obtained the ball from the other team after recovering a fumble or intercepting a pass, advances from anywhere on the field and breaks the plane of his opponents’ goal line with the ball. The ball just has to cross the line.
A team is also awarded a touchdown when any player who’s inbounds catches or recovers a loose ball behind his opponents’ goal line. This sort of touchdown can occur on a kickoff, a punt, or a fumble.
Extra points and two-point conversions
A try for an extra point is attempted during the scrimmage down that’s awarded after a touchdown. The extra point is successful when the kicker kicks the ball between the uprights of the goalpost and above the crossbar, provided that the ball was snapped 2 yards away from the opponents’ goal line (or 3 yards away in high school or college). Teams should almost always make their extra point attempts — especially above the high school level — because the kick is a fairly easy one.
When a team is feeling particularly confident — or desperate — it might instead attempt a two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown. The offense gets the ball on the 2-yard line (the 3-yard line in high school and college) and must advance the ball across the goal line as if scoring a touchdown.
Field goals
A field goal, often the consolation prize for an offense that stalls within its opponent’s 30-yard line, is worth three points. A team scores a field goal when a kicker boots the ball entirely through the uprights of the goalpost without touching either the ground or any of his teammates.
Safeties
A safety is worth two points. The important factor in a safety is impetus, which is the action of an offensive player that gives the ball momentum. A safety is awarded to the defending team if it sends the ball into its opponent’s end zone and the ball becomes dead without changing possession. This occurs when a quarterback, running back, or receiver is tackled with the ball in his own end zone or goes out of bounds behind the goal line. A safety also is awarded when the offensive team commits a penalty that would otherwise require it to have the ball marked in its own end zone.
A safety is also awarded when a blocked punt goes out of the kicking team’s end zone. And if the punt receiver muffs the ball and then, when trying to retrieve the ball, forces or illegally kicks it into the end zone (creating new impetus) and it goes out of the end zone, the defensive team is given a safety. If a muffed ball is kicked or forced into the end zone and then recovered there by a member of the receiving team, the defensive team is awarded a safety.
Heres another:Cashews
Ever wonder where cashews come from?
You might think they grow inside a shell like any other nut, but their true origins are far more bizarre.
First of all, cashews are not actually nuts, but rather “fruits” from the cashew tree, a large evergreen tree that thrives in tropical climates. The tree produces red flowers, which in turn produce yellow and red oval structures resembling apples. These so-called cashew apples are very juicy and pulpy, and their juice is often added to tropical fruit drinks.
However, cashew apples are not actually fruits in a scientific sense; the real fruit of the cashew tree is the kidney-shaped formation growing at the end. This part of the “fruit” (also called drupes), is harvested and becomes what we know as a cashew nut. In their raw form, the outer layer of the fruit contains multiple toxins including anacardic acid, a powerful skin irritant similar to the toxin found in poison ivy that must be removed prior to eating.
Roasting the cashew destroys the toxins, but roasting must be performed carefully outdoors because the smoke can irritate the lungs, sometimes to a life-threatening degree. When they are roasted, cashews change from their natural greenish-gray color to the light brown nut sold in stores.
Next time you crack open a tin of cashews, take a moment to appreciate the long journey those little c-shaped nuts took from that tree to your table!