Tidbits of Grand Forks - November 24, 2022

Five, six, seven, eight! This week, Tidbits is counting up the facts on the number eight.

• The Latin word for “eight” is “octo,” a prefix that lends itself to numerous English words. An octosyllable is a word with eight syllables. In poetry, an octonary is a stanza of eight lines. An octahedron is a three-dimensional shape having eight plane faces, while an octagon is a polygon with eight sides, such as a STOP sign.

• In the world of music, there are eight tones in an octave, which is the distance or interval between two pitches with the same letter name, where one has double the frequency of the other. The octatonic scale has eight notes – if you sing them, it’s “do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.” Eight musicians playing or singing together is an octet.

• In meteorology, the amount of clouds in the sky is measured in oktas, determined by the cloud cover at any given location. It’s a measure of how many eighths of the sky are covered, ranging from 0 oktas, a completely clear sky, 1 to 2 oktas for a few clouds, 3 to 4 oktas for broken cover, 5 to 7 for overcast, up to 8 oktas for completely overcast. Oktas only refer to cloud cover and do not account for type or thickness of clouds.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas?”

What are the main colors of Italy’s flag? The main characters in TV’s “Laverne & Shirley” live and work in which city? Who did they work for? Who voices the character Princess Anna in “Frozen”? Which president signed into law a bill that made “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem?

THE NUMBER EIGHT (cont.)

• What does an octopus have – eight arms, legs, or tentacles? Some scientists say it has eight arms and no tentacles, while other marine experts say the octopus has six arms and two legs. They have observed the cephalopods using the two limbs on the rear of their bodies to crawl around the sea floor, pushing themselves over rocks and the sea bed. The other six limbs are for feeding and propulsion through the water. Did you know that the average octopus has 240 little suction cups on its appendages, with the larger ones capable of holding 35 lbs.? The octopus’ body has the ability to re-grow damaged or lost arms.

• In January, 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth to eight babies, the world’s first surviving octuplets. Within days, the media had nicknamed her “Octomom.” The octuplets (conceived through invitro fertilization) joined six other siblings.

• Some folks suffer from an irrational fear of the number eight. That condition is known as octophobia.

• So if “Octo” means eight, why is October the tenth month of the year? The early Roman calendar had just 10 months, with the year starting at the vernal equinox in March. With the last six months of that calendar named using numerical prefixes, Quintilis was the fifth month, Sextilis the sixth, September the seventh, October the eighth, November the ninth, and December the tenth. The Roman calendar was replaced with the Julian calendar, which added two months, January and February, to the beginning, which shifted the other months by two months. The result was that the numerical prefixes no longer match the order, with October moved from the eighth to the tenth month.

THE NUMBER EIGHT (cont.)

• Can you name the eight original reindeer belonging to Santa? They are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. The animals were first identified in the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” (better known as “The Night Before Christmas”) by Clement Clarke Moore. Moore originally penned the story to entertain his young daughters. Rudolph didn’t come along 1939, when the Chicago department store Montgomery Ward commissioned copywriter Robert May to come up with an illustrated coloring book to hand out to children at Christmas. May toyed with naming the reindeer Rollo or Reginald before coming up with Rudolph.

• In China, the number eight is considered a very lucky one, signifying prosperity and fortune. The eighth day of the Chinese New Year is symbolic of the annual gathering of all the gods in heaven. When the Summer Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008, the opening ceremony began on 8/8/08 at 8 minutes and 8 seconds past 8 PM. A resident of China has to pay extra in order for their phone number or license plate to include the number 8.

• You might call it a hashtag when posting in Twitter, a pound sign when using your cell phone keypad, or a number sign when designating numerals, but the official name of that symbol is octothorpe. Some have credited Bell Telephone with the invention of the word around 1971 when planning ahead for its use on touch-tone telephone keypads. It literally translates “eight small villages,” but linquists agree that the “octo” refers to the number of ends of the lines.

• The game of chess is played on a board made up of 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight pattern. Each player has eight pawns.

Who are the only fatherson duo in Major League Baseball history to both hit at least 50 home runs in a single season?

Stamford Bridge is the home stadium of what English Premier League football club?

Between brothers Terry and Bobby Labonte, which had more career NASCAR Cup Series race victories?

What Pro Football Hall of Famer served as head coach of the Los Angeles/ Oakland Raiders from 1989-94 and again in 2006?

The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of what quadren nial sports tournament? What was the first host country to be eliminated in the first round of Cup play? (Hint: It hap pened in 2010)

THE NUMBER EIGHT (cont.)

• In the game of pool, there are 15 colored balls – 7 solid, 7 striped, and the black 8-ball. When racking the balls for a game, the 8-ball should always be located at the center of the rack, two rows from the top and two rows from the bottom of the triangular rack. A player forfeits the game if his/her cue ball hits the 8-ball first. After the player has pocketed all of his/her colored balls, the player must call which pocket the 8-ball will be going in. If the 8-ball goes into any other pocket other than that one, the opposing player wins. In addition, even if the 8-ball does go into the called pocket, if the cue ball is also pocketed, the player loses to the opponent.

• In 1948, Albert Carter received a patent for a new toy known as the magic eight-ball, a sphere used for fortune-telling or seeking advice. Fashioned after the eight-ball in a game of billiards, Carter was inspired to create the ball based on a spirit-writing device used by his mother, who was a clairvoyant. Mattel began producing the toy in 1950. Any one of 20 different answers can appear in the window on the bottom of the ball. Ten are affirmative, including “it is certain,” “without a doubt,” “you may rely on it,” and “outlook good.” Five are negative, such as “don’t count on it,” “my sources say no,” and “very doubtful,” while five are non-committal answers, including “better not tell you now” and “concentrate and ask again.” The magic eight-ball is still manufactured to this day.

Beso Blaze Lucy Mary

Simba

Griffin

Joey Skelly

Amber

Gravy

Dusk

by Lucie Winbourne

• If you've ever worried about damaging your cellphone by accidentally sitting on it, you'll be glad to know that Samsung built a robotic posterior to test the durability of its smartphones. It can repeatedly exert up to 220 pounds of pressure to simulate the act of a human sitting on their device.

• More than 200 artificial languages have been created for use in books, TV and movies.

• Our 50-star U.S. flag was designed by Robert Heft, a 17-year-old student in Lancaster, Ohio. He made it for a high school history project and received a B- from his teacher for lack of originality.

• NASA astronaut Leland Melvin sneaked his two rescue dogs, Jake and Scout, into Houston's Johnson Space Center for his official -- and unique -photoshoot.

• In 2013, developers of a skyscraper in London, nicknamed the "Walkie-Talkie" due to its shape, realized that some design changes were seriously and immediately in order. The building reflected the sun onto the street below for two hours a day, with a beam so hot it melted parts of a Jaguar XJ parked nearby.

• Some beaches on the Japanese islands of Taketomi, Hatoma and Iriomote have star-shaped sand.

• Since the summer of 2020, so many orca whales have launched attacks on boats off the coast of Spain and Portugal that sailors have been advised to stay in port at night.

• Actor Mike Meyers originally gave the character of Shrek a thick Canadian accent but decided, after animation had begun, that a Scottish one would better suit the character. The film had to be re-animated and cost over $4 million, or around 10% of its overall budget. ***

Thought for the Day: "Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say yes."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Financial Solutions for the

SPACESUITS

Nice outfit! How about these Tidbits facts about the suit worn by astronauts in space?

• The primary purpose of a spacesuit is to provide a stable pressurized environment for the normal function of an astronaut’s body. It gives them oxygen to breathe, and protection from radiation, along with space dust that flies at incredible speed. Specialized gold-lined visors shield the eyes from bright sunlight. The suit protects the astronauts from the wide variety of temperatures in space which can vary from -250 degrees F to as hot as 275 degrees F.

• Materials used in the construction of a spacesuit include Ortho-fabric, which is a combination of a flame-resistant material found in firefighter suits, Gore-Tex, a waterproof, breathable fabric, and Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests. Aluminized mylar, urethane-coated nylon, stainless steel, and nylon spandex also contribute to the composition.

• The spacesuit weighs about 280 lbs., which would be a huge burden for an astronaut to pack around on Earth, but the lack of gravity in space makes the task a little easier. Several helpers assist in getting an astronaut dressed, a process that takes 45 minutes.

• During a spacecraft’s launch and landing, astronauts wear orange spacesuits. These suits can be worn only inside the craft. In the case of an emergency landing at sea, the bright “International Orange” suits are easy for rescuers to spot. Outside of the pressurized module, astronauts wear white spacesuits, which reflect the heat in space and allow the suit’s cooling and heating system to operate more effectively.

• A backpack on the back of the suit holds oxygen along with a fan that moves the oxygen through the spacesuit. It also removes the carbon dioxide the astronauts have breathed out. A tool connected to the back of the suit contains several small thruster jets. Known as a SAFER, it provides the means for an astronaut to fly back to the station in the event he/she were to drift away.

• Astronauts wear another garment under their spacesuit, which covers everything except the head, hands, and feet. Tubes are woven into this article of clothing, through which water flows to keep the space traveler cool.

• The first person to wear a spacesuit was soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who, as the first human to travel to outer space, wore the SK-1 suit aboard the Vostok 1 in April, 1961. The following month, American astronaut Alan Shepard wore the Mercury suit, manufactured by the B.F. Goodrich Company.

• In 1984, Bruce McCandless’ spacesuit was equipped with a jetpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit. While previous spacewalks required a tether to keep the astronaut attached to the spacecraft, during a Challenger mission, McCandless became the first person to perform an untethered spacewalk.

• In 1974, the price of one spacesuit ranged between $15 million and $22 million, about $83 million to $122 million in today’s money. The majority of the cost was for the backpack, life support system, and control panel. NASA still reuses the spacesuits that were made in 1974. After shuttle flights and space station missions, the suits are returned to Johnson Space Center for post-flight processing and preparation for re-use.

• NASA’s plans are for another moon mission in 2024, and new spacesuits must be manufactured for the lunar landing and other missions to follow. The cost of one of the new spacesuits is estimated at $1 billion.

by Matilda Charles

Scammers: More Dangerous Than Ever

To those of us who wander the internet: beware. The scammers, thieves and troublemakers have kicked things up a notch or two, and frankly it's getting a bit dangerous.

By dangerous, I mean when it comes to the safety of our personal information and money. These scammers will do nearly anything to get it.

You might come home to a voicemail message that asks you to call back. The scammers might pretend to be your bank or another company you know. They'll ask you to verify your account number to identify yourself. Don't do it. If the message comes to you in a text message, don't click that link.

If you've applied for a job, a scammer will ask for upfront fees or personal information.

You might get a call from a scammer pretending to be your insurance company or Medicare. They'll claim they need to verify your card number.

A scammer will pretend to be from your local town office and say that you haven't paid your property taxes and that you could be arrested if you don't send them money.

If you've tried to get rental assistance, a scammer might call to ask for your personal information as well as an upfront fee.

If there is a life event or occurrence, there is sure to be a scam involved somehow. The Federal Trade Commission scam alert webpage lists several right now: fake hurricane relief, fake Geek Squad invoices, fake student load aid, fake winter prep assistance, fake internet and cable offers ... and so much more.

If you're in the market for a new or additional cellphone, it could be the first step in foiling some of those scammers. How? By not giving the new number out to anyone but trusted family and friends.

Remember: Your name, number and email address are for sale out there. There are websites around the world that do nothing but collect this information ... and sell it to scammers. Do everything you can to stay off those lists.

• On Nov. 28, 1967, England's National Hunt Committee, following the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, canceled all horse racing in the country due to new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

• On Nov. 29, 1972, Atari released the table tennisthemed arcade video game Pong. While originally designed as a training exercise by creator Allan Alcorn, Atari's founders were pleased enough by its quality to manufacture it. The first commercially successful video game, it would prove instrumental in launching that industry.

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On Nov. 30, 1982, Michael Jackson released his sixth solo studio album, "Thriller." Earning a record 12 Grammy nominations and ultimately becoming the best-selling record album in music history, the title song's video is the only one to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress

• On Dec. 1, 1891, our beloved sport of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, after he was asked by his boss to create an indoor game that would help athletes stay in shape during cold weather. Peach baskets served as the hoops, along with a soccer-style ball, and each time a point was scored, the game was paused so the janitor could fetch a ladder to retrieve the ball.

• On Dec. 2, 2020, the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs removed cannabis from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty, which included such highly addictive substances as heroin, opium, morphine, methadone and cocaine, although the U.N. still considers cannabis a controlled substance.

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On Dec. 3, 1926, mystery novel maven Agatha Christie pulled a disappearing act from her home in Surrey, England. She rematerialized nearly two weeks later at a hotel in the spa town of Harrogate, where journalist Ritchie Calder found her using her husband's mistress's surname as a notable pseudonym.

"Q" FOODS

Tidbits has drawn up quite a few quick facts about these foods all beginning with “Q.”

• Mix up some seasoned ground fish or meat with vegetables and eggs, form into a dumpling, and poach it, and you will have a quenelle. The dumplings are served with a crayfish sauce or a cream sauce.

• A quahog is an edible hard-shell clam. The whiteshelled American quahog is found off North America’s Atlantic coast from Canada to Florida. The 5-inch-long clams are especially abundant around New Jersey, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island. Rhode Island supplies 25% of the annual commercial quahog catch in the U.S. It’s that state’s official shellfish. The ocean quahog clam is a larger deepwater clam, up to 8” in diameter, with a mahogany brown shell. Pieces of quahog clam shells are often polished and used to make jewelry.

• The Owl and the Pussy Cat, who “went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat” in the famous poem by Edward Lear, “dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon.” Quince is a golden yellow fruit, one of the earliest known fruits. In Greek mythology, quince was the “golden apple” given to Aphrodite. It’s a symbol of love and happiness, frequently shared at wedding banquets. It’s a very hard-skinned, extremely tart fruit, similar in appearance to a pear, but inedible when raw. They’re most often made into jams and marmalades, but can be served stewed or baked. Just what is a “runcible spoon?” “Runcible” was a nonsense word created by Lear and used in some of his other verse – a runcible cat, a runcible goose, a runcible cat, and a runcible wall.

Lots of folks enjoy eating the American quail, also known as a bobwhite or partridge. The bird has about 2 ounces of lean breast meat with a sweet nutty flavor. Many countries deem quail eggs a delicacy. They are smallest eggs commercially marketed.

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To the physicist, a quark is a group of particles that form the basic components of matter. Quarks combine to form hadrons, the constituents of atomic nuclei. But to a chef, quark is a fresh dairy product -- a tart, soft, white cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk, warming soured milk until it curdles. Its taste and texture resemble a cross between yogurt and cottage cheese.

• Although we frequently think of quiche as a French dish, the English were making this pastry in the 14th century, the Italians in the 13th century, and the Germans in the 1700s. It’s a pastry crust filled with beaten eggs, cream, and pieces of meat, cheese, seafood, or vegetables. The common Quiche Lorraine contains bacon and Gruyere cheese, while Quiche Nicoise’s ingredients include anchovies, olives, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. The word “quiche” comes from the German word “kuchen,” translating “tart.” A record-breaking quiche was concocted by French chef Alain Marcotullio in 1997, using 127 quarts of milk, 1,928 eggs, 156 lbs. of bacon, 134 lbs. of butter, and 140 lbs. of flour. It required over 18 hours of baking before 125 people joined in its consumption. In 1982, humorist Bruce Feirstein’s satirical book “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche” was published, claiming that men who ate quiche were “wimpy,” resulting in a drastic reduction in consumption of the pastry. Feirstein’s book was on the best seller list for 55 weeks, selling upwards of 1.6 million copies.

• Quinoa has been grown in South America’s Andes Mountains for thousands of years. Although some call it a grain, botanically, it’s not a grain, but rather the fruit of an herb plant. Quinoa is considered a “superfood” nutritionally, because it contains eight essential amino acids, and is rich in B vitamins, Vitamin A, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. Because it’s not a grain, it’s the perfect choice for those who are gluten-intolerant.

Quiz Answers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Martin van Buren, from 1837 – 1841. Oxygen T, U, and V Eight maids a-milking Austin

Green, white and red. Milwaukee; Shotz Brewery Kristen Bell Herbert Hoover

Sports Answers

6. 7. 8. 9. 1. 2. 3.

Cecil and Prince Fielder. Chelsea F.C. Terry, with 22; Bobby had 21.

4. 5. 6.

Art Shell The Rugby World Cup South Africa