Tidbits of Grand Forks - February 23, 2023

By Janet Spencer

About 40,000 different kinds of beans can be found worldwide, though only about 200 are commercially cultivated. Come along with Tidbits as we eat beans!

BEAN FACTS

• Beans were some of the very first plants cultivated by people worldwide. Evidence suggests that natives of Mexico and Peru were cultivating bean crops as far back as 7,000 BC. Ancient peas unearthed by archaeologists in Thailand were carbon dated to 9,750 BC. Beans were also found in the tombs of the kings of ancient Egypt. The oldest varieties of beans are thought to be fava beans and broad beans.

• The top bean-producing countries are India, Myanmar (Burma), and Brazil. Likewise, the countries that consume the most beans are India, Myanmar, and Brazil.

• The states that produce the most beans are North Dakota (32%), Michigan (17%), and Nebraska (11%). North Dakota has retained its position as the top-ranking producer of dry edible beans in the United States since 1991.

• The most popular dry beans in the U.S. on a per capita basis are pinto, navy, Great Northern, red kidney, and black.

Quiz Bits

Which has a higher percentage of protein: beans or chicken? Has bean consumption been increasing or decreasing in the U.S.? On average, how many pounds of beans do Americans eat per year?

Which bean is eaten more than any other bean in the U.S.? Which common bean is the least eaten bean in the U.S.?

sign on his desk that read, “The Buck Stops Here”? Name the world’s largest desert? Name the classic song that contains these lyrics: “There goes my baby with someone new, She sure looks happy, I sure am blue.”

Which company published its first mail-order catalog in 1872?

SPONSORED BY:

WORD ORIGINS

• “Edamame” is a Japanese word meaning “branch and bean” and denotes soybeans that have been cooked.

• Navy beans were used widely by the U.S. Navy. Great Northern beans were first cultivated widely in North Dakota.

• “Carat” comes from “carob” which is a small Oriental bean. The beans are remarkably uniform in size and therefore became a standard for weighing gemstones.

• “Legume” comes from the Latin verb “legere” meaning “to gather.”

• Lima beans are named after Lima, Peru, where they have been cultivated for some 6,000 years.

• The word “lens” comes from the Latin word for lentil beans “lentes” because they have a similar shape.

• “Garbanzo” comes from the Spanish term for chickpea, “garvance,” which is a compound of “garau” meaning “seed,” and “antzu” meaning “dry.”

• Beans are also known as lentils, legumes, and pulses.

• “Pulse” comes from the Latin word “puls” meaning “thick soup.” Pulse crops are the seeds (beans) of legumes. Although all beans are legumes, not all legumes can be classified as beans.

BAKED BEANS

• Puritans were forbidden from working on the Sabbath, and that included cooking. The local natives showed them how to submerge a bunch of beans in a pot of water, put the pot in a hole, and fill the hole with hot stones. This slow method of cooking meant that the Puritans could put a pot of beans into the hole on Saturday night and eat them for dinner on Sunday night. This is the origin of Boston baked beans, and it’s why Boston is known as Beantown.

Dr. John Fulp, D.C. Dr. Marshal Pederson, D.C.

1.

Which NFL Conference holds the record for most consecutive Super Bowls won?

How many times has the University of North Dakota Men’s hockey team reached the Frozen Four?

What pitcher was born without a right hand and had a 10-season MLB career, and even threw a no-hitter in 1993?

Ten years ago (2013), what percentage of the NBA teams in the league gave up less than 100 pts. per game average?

In 2023, what percentage of teams in the NBA give up less than 100 points per game?

What is the name for the left side of the tennis court for each player?

Who was the first Major League player to pitch a ball over 100 mph?

2.

3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

SPORTS QUIZ

BAKED BEANS (continued):

• Today the official recipe for baked beans starts with white pea beans which are canned in tomato sauce.

• There are approximately 465 beans in a standard can of Heinz baked beans.

• The earliest reference to baked beans was in 1832 in a book called “American Frugal Housewife.”

• The world record for eating six pounds of baked beans is 1 min 48 seconds by Don Lerman of New York.

• The largest pot of baked beans ever created contained almost 1,500 gallons and was cooked up in Macedonia in 2012.

• The longest recorded time for sitting in a bath of cold baked beans is 100 hours by Barry “Captain Beany” Kirk of Britain.

• The 1967 album “The Who Sell Out” by The Who featured on its cover a picture of Roger Daltrey sitting in a tub full of baked beans.

POISONOUS

• In their raw or undercooked form, red kidney beans are highly toxic, because they contain high amounts of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), a carbohydrate-binding protein. PHA causes red blood cells to clump together, leading to symptoms of food poisoning, and can damage the gut. PHA is destroyed by high cooking temperatures, which is why raw dried beans, especially red kidney beans, should be soaked in water for a few hours and then boiled for at least 30 minutes. Cooking them in a crock pot at a lower temperature can be dangerous.

• A genetic disease called favism results from a genetic deficiency. Victims have red blood cells that are so sensitive to oxidants found in fava beans that any contact with fava beans, no matter how casual or brief, will bring on a severe allergic reaction resulting in anemia, shock and sometimes death.

...continued

Joe Martin Owner

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BEAN FACTS (continued):

• Fava beans contain L-dopa, the precursor to dopamine, an essential neurotransmitter.

• In the movie “Silence of the Lambs,” Hannibal Lector said, “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.” Hannibal Lector would have been treated with psychiatric drugs called monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The three things you can’t eat with those are liver, beans, and wine. Hannibal is making a joke referencing the fact that he's not taking his meds.

THE MUSICAL FRUIT

• Beans contain raffinose, a type of carbohydrate that’s poorly digested by the body. Bacteria in the large intestine break down raffinose, resulting in gas and bloating.

• Beans do not cause gas if they have been zapped with low intensity gamma rays prior to being cooked.

• A product called Beano is well known for suppressing flatulence. The main ingredient is an enzyme extracted from a particular strain of a common mold which suppresses the creation of methane inside the human intestinal tract.

• If you eat beans regularly, you will have less flatulence from them.

• “Flatulence” comes from the Latin root word “flatus” meaning “blowing wind.”

IT’S A FACT

• Legumes are important to farmers because they enrich the soil with nitrogen, which is essential for all plant growth. No other plants can produce nitrogen. Legumes don’t actually fix nitrogen in the soil, but they host a species of bacteria called Rhizobia in nodules on their roots, and these bacteria convert nitrogen in the air into nitrogen in the soil. Outside of these bacteria, the only force powerful enough to do that is a bolt of lightning.

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by Freddy Groves

$30 Million for Homeless Veterans Grants

The Department of Veterans Affairs is gearing up to award $30 million to organizations to hire case managers across the country to support homeless veterans for two years beginning this October. Those 150 case managers will assist with searching for and obtaining permanent housing and troubleshooting any barriers to keeping that housing.

Those barriers to finding and keeping housing can range from having a poor credit history, to being behind in rent, to having legal problems and more.

The VA goes by the Housing First philosophy: The veteran needs the stability of housing before taking additional steps to improve quality of life. Once the veteran is in permanent housing, the rest of the work starts -- job training, mental health care, education assistance, medical care ... whatever it takes to keep them in their home. The Housing First model was tested early on, and the results were promising: In a test of the first 177 homeless veterans, the program reduced the waiting time for housing placement from 235 days to 35.

If you're a homeless veteran or know someone who is, call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET (877-424-3838) or see www.va.gov/homeless. If you know that you're likely to be homeless soon, don't wait until the last minute. Reach out for help now. There are resources to help you with health care, employment, housing and much more. You can also go to your closest VA medical center. While you're there, ask about Community Resource and Referral Centers (CRRCs) and their list of contacts who have the resources to help.

If your community group works to assist homeless veterans, take a look at the Housing First information at www.va.gov/HOMELESS/nchav/resources/housing-programs/housing-first.asp.

Applications for the Case Management Grants must be received by May 4, 2023. See the notice in the Federal Register at https://tinyurl.com/27x3djay.

If you have questions, contact the Grant and Per Diem Program at GPDGrants@va.gov.

by Lucie Winbourne

• Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a playing card company.

• Garbage collectors in Turkey have filled their own library entirely from books thrown away by residents. Originally destined for landfills, around 6,000 tomes are now safely housed on shelves, waiting to be reread -- or discovered -- by the public.

• Gray cats are frequently the result of a diluted black fur gene.

• The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things is a museum in Lucas, Kansas, created by Erika Nelson. It consists of miniatures created from photos of the world's largest objects.

• On May 9, 1945, reports that Nazi Germany had surrendered to the USSR triggered a 22-hour celebration that caused the country to temporarily run out of vodka!

• An Arizona man didn't realize he was a big winner at a Las Vegas slot machine because its lights and buzzers never went on. Fortunately, an investigation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board resulted in a happy ending and the bestowal of the gentleman's $230,000.

• Not only can you be right-handed or left-handed, you can be right or left eared and eyed.

• "Tartle" is a Scottish word referring to the feeling of hesitation or panic you experience when unable to recall another person's name.

• Though heavy metal music originated in the U.S. and the U.K., Finland has the most metal bands per capita, with Sweden and Norway tying for second place and Iceland coming in third.

• There's a name for three consecutive strikes in bowling: a turkey or sizzling turkey. Any additional strike after that is called a bagger.

Thought for the Day: "Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." -- Steve

Jobs

OUT OF THIS WORLD

SPACE FACTOIDS

• Nearly every star ever spotted has at least one planet. About 20% of the stars that are about the same size as our Sun have an Earth-size planet circling in the “Goldilocks” zone capable of sustaining life.

• Light takes 1.3 seconds to travel from Earth to the Moon. However, communicating with people on the Moon also takes 1.3 seconds because information travels at the speed of light.

• Information takes about 7 minutes to travel to and from Mars.

• Nothing that has any mass can travel at the speed of light.

• The Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 lightyears wide. The neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, is approximately 2.5 million lightyears away.

• It costs between $2,300 and $6,800 per pound to launch stuff into orbit. This is the main reason behind the fact that we don’t have space hotels and moon bases.

• One of the largest stars known is called UY Scuti. Its radius is around 1,700 times larger than the radius of the Sun. To put that in perspective, nearly 5 billion of our Suns could fit inside UY Scuti.

• An Apollo mission to the Moon retrieved a camera that had been left there for several years. When it was examined back on Earth, scientists found it was crawling with Earth-bacteria, which had been on it when it left Earth, and had survived all the years on the Moon. It had not been sterilized before going to the Moon because everyone thought that no bacteria could survive on the Moon. Now NASA sterilizes every inch of every spacecraft.

• Venus probably looked a lot like Earth about 2 billion years ago.

• The weight of the atmosphere on Venus is equal to being about half a mile underwater on Earth. The average temperature on Venus is around 860 F. It’s so hot that metals melt and turn to gas, rising up in the atmosphere, where they cool down and fall as metal snow.

• Galileo was among the first to see many moons circling Jupiter. His observations led him to believe that the Sun did not in fact circle Earth, but that Earth circled the Sun. This angered the Pope, who forced him to retract the statement, and Galileo subsequently spent the rest of his life under house arrest for his blasphemy.

• One of Jupiter’s moons called Europa sports fabulous geysers that shoot water 120 miles high.

• The term “UFO” was coined by the U.S. Air Force in the 1940s and denotes anything seen in the sky that cannot be easily explained.

• The space probe Voyager 2, launched in 1977 and travelling at 35,000 mph has travelled 4.4 billion miles since leaving Earth. A light-day is just over 16 billion miles. So Voyager 2 has travelled about a quarter of a light-day so far, or around 6 lighthours. At this rate it will have travelled one lightday by around the year 2157.

• The breathable part of our atmosphere (roughly 2 miles worth) is all that separates us from suffocation and death in space. In the grand scope of things, 2 miles is a sliver of nothing.

• Only 24 men have made it past low earth orbit. Only 12 managed to walk on the Moon. All of them were from the United States

• Jupiter has been dubbed the “vacuum cleaner of the solar system” because its gravitational force eats up asteroids or comets that are nearby, stopping them from colliding with Earth.

Word Spiral Answer: ABOLITION

Matilda Charles

Are There Recalled Foods in Your Freezer?

How many food items in your freezer, refrigerator or kitchen cabinet are on recall lists?

I spotted a food recall alert on the news, but I only heard part of the announcement. On to the internet I went, looking for the information. And sure enough, for the first time ever, I actually had a recalled food item. It was a bit unnerving to realize that I hadn't been reading all the recall alerts I get in my email inbox.

While looking for more sites that provide alerts, I came across one I hadn't known about: FoodManufacturing.com. Just in the past few weeks, they've put out alerts for a certain soup because of an error on the label, several brands of Vienna sausages, hot chocolate K-cups (it might contain peanut products), a pot roast meal, sprouts, frozen chicken entrees, popcorn, frozen manicotti, diced beef ... and more.

To look at their list, go to the site and click on the "Recalls/Alerts" tab.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service arm of the Department of Agriculture issues alerts as well at www.fsis. usda.gov/recalls. Note the advanced search feature on the left side of the screen where you can filter by cause, risk level, states and more.

Food Safety (www.foodsafety.gov) provides information on the safe handling and storage of food.

Recalls.gov is another good site for recall notices. Click on the "Food" tab to see your online choices.

And what should I do with that recalled product I found in my freezer? I'm going to take it back to the store for a refund, of course.

On a sad note, did you see the Consumer Reports research on the amount of lead and cadmium in our favorite dark chocolate bars? Go to ConsumerReports.org and put "Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate" in the search box.

Gordon Smith, Owner Petersburg, ND

SERVICE BITS

Service

• On Feb. 27, 1693, England's first women's magazine, The Ladies Mercury, debuted. With a print run of just four weeks, each single-sheet, double-sided issue consisted of an advice column addressing "all the most nice and curious questions concerning love, marriage, behavior, dress and humor of the female sex, whether virgins, wives or widows."

• On March 5, 1774, John Hancock delivered the fourth annual Massacre Day speech, commemorating the Boston Massacre in which British soldiers killed five men in a crowd on King Street. Hancock's oration and denunciation of the presence of British troops in Boston increased his standing as a leading patriot.

• On March 1, 1869, U.S. postage stamps featuring scenes were issued for the first time. The pictorials included a post horse and rider, a locomotive, a shield, an eagle and a ship, and the Adriatic Sea. Prior to that time, the stamps had only depicted portraits of dead statesmen.

• On March 4, 1960, actress-comedienne Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Cuban-American singer and bandleader Desi Arnaz, citing his drinking and infidelity, after 14 years of marriage. The couple most memorably earned a place in American hearts as Ricky and Lucy Ricardo on their 1950s TV sitcom "I Love Lucy."

• On March 2, 1962, Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, the most ever by an NBA player in a single game, in a match with the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with a final winning score for the Warriors of 169-147. Six decades later, Chamberlain's record still remains unbroken.

• On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King's severe beating at the hands of Los Angeles police officers was captured on an amateur video taken by bystander George Holliday from a nearby balcony, which later led to riots when the officers were acquitted. King had been stopped and arrested for driving while intoxicated on the interstate.

• The hoopoe is a colorful bird found in Africa and parts of Asia. When it lays an egg, it covers the shell with a bacteria-laden fluid secreted from a gland under its tail. The bacteria release antibiotics which stop other more dangerous microbes from infiltrating the eggshell and infecting the chicks inside.

• The eggs of a typical hummingbird are the size of a kidney bean or smaller.

• Cuckoos are famous for laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, forcing the adoptive parents to raise the imposter chicks. But a bird called the blackcap is able to tell a cuckoo’s egg from its own eggs, and consistently throws the intruding eggs out of the nest

• The Australian mallee fowl buries its eggs in sand. When the chicks hatch, they have to struggle out from under a mound of sand after breaking out of their egg.

• An average bird egg the size of a chicken egg can have around 17,000 pores.

• The mature yolk of an ostrich egg is the biggest single cell found in nature.

• Ostrich eggs weigh around 3 lbs., which was a factor leading to the decimation of their numbers, because the eggs are tasty and very nutritious. The giant eggs are the largest of any living bird, although they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird.

• The kiwi of New Zealand lays the largest egg relative to body weight. A single egg, which takes 4 to 5 days to be laid, weighs about a pound. The mother only weighs about 4 lbs. herself. After she lays the egg, the male takes over incubation, guarding the egg for the next 10 weeks.

• The eggshell serves as a calcium supply for the growing embryo. As the embryo matures, the shell slowly becomes thinner and the hatchling has an easier time breaking through.

• A bird called the rainbow pitta is native to Australia. It’s a strikingly beautiful bird with brightly colored plumage. It builds its footballshaped nest in the forest with a bird-size hole for an entrance. But the eggs are often eaten by snakes, which are able to smell the eggs from a distance. To protect against this, the pitta collects wallaby dung. Wallabies are marsupials related to the kangaroo. The pitta knows that with a pile of poop at the doorstep, snakes are unable to smell the eggs inside.

• Ovenbirds mix clay with straw, cow patties, and plant debris to make nests that look like little adobe huts. Each nest has two rooms, an entryway and a nesting chamber, which are arranged so that a human hand- or any other predator- is unable to reach the eggs.

• Cowbird eggs have been found in nests of more than 220 other species.

• The eggs of cavity-nesting birds are often plain, but eggs that are laid in more open areas are often marked to help with camouflage.

• Cassowary eggs have the thickest shells, which can be up to one-quarter of an inch thick.

• Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

• Duck eggs are higher in fat and better for baking than chicken eggs.

• The largest known bird egg belongs to the extinct elephant bird. Its eggs were about the size of an American football, or about 11 inches long. The bird was driven to extinction in the 1700s.

• The size of a bird’s egg is relative to the size of its yolk. And, of course, the size of the yolk is relative to the size of the species.

Quiz Answers

1. 2. 3.

4.

5. 6.

Beans Increasing 12 lbs. Pinto bean Lima bean Harry Truman

7. 8. 9.

Antarctica “Bye Bye Love,” by The Everly Brothers in 1957. Montgomery Ward

Sports Answers

1.

2.

3.

NFC won 13 straight (1984-1996); Longest streak by AFC is 5. 22 times. Jim Abbott

4. 5. 6. 7.

60% 0% Ad court Nolan Ryan 100.8 mph (9-7-74)

Snow fort is missing. 2. Sign is missing. 3. Cap differs. 4. Snowball stack is smaller.

5. Picture is missing. 6. Pendant is missing.