DID YOU KNOW
WORLD’S FIRST COMPUTER VIRUS
In 1986 in Lahore, Pakistan, two young brothers wrote heart monitoring medical software for IBM compatible computers. Their software was being illegally pirated. Having no way to stop this, they developed an anti-piracy tool to trace illegal copies of their software and penalize the thieves. It was not designed to destroy data. It did not affect the hard drive, only the disk. It provided the user with the brother’s contact information with a request to contact them to get a “vaccination” for the disk.
The virus inadvertently replaced the disk’s original boot code with a copy of itself. This resulted in any new uninfected disk placed into the drive of an infected computer, having the virus copy itself onto that disk’s boot drive. Once the virus was active in the computer’s RAM, it monitored the drives in the background. This led to over 100,000 computers worldwide becoming infected. It became known as the “Pakistani Flu”.
This was the world’s first computer virus epidemic and jump started the antivirus industry.
THE BIBLE RIOTS OF 1844
In 1844, Philadelphia’s Catholic Bishop attempted to get the city’s public schools to permit Catholic children to read from the Catholic bible rather than the King James bible. This fanned the flames of brewing anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant feeling in the city. Protestants saw this as an attempt by the pope to interfere with American public schools. Tensions rose and violent riots broke out. Catholic churches and over 30 homes were burnt down. The warring parties turned the city into a war zone, firing cannons at each other. Over fifteen people were killed. Martial law had to be declared as the military poured into the city to restore calm.
THE 1943 PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT HOAX
There were allegations that the United States Navy carried out secret experiments aboard the USS Eldridge to test Albert Einstein’s Unified Field Theory. Powerful electromagnetic fields were used in an attempt to make the ship invisible to radar.
The Unified Field Theory is a concept where all four fundamental forces: (electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and gravity) unite.
According to legend, a green fog covered the ship during the experiment and it disappeared. It was supposedly teleported to Norfolk, Virginia, hundreds of miles away. When the ship returned to the Philadelphia Shipyard, the crew suffered from afflictions including having their bodies fused into the ship or being afflicted with acute mental breakdowns. It was claimed some completely disappeared.
In reality, the Navy did conduct degaussing experiments which was a process that used electrical cables wrapped around ships to safeguard them from naval mines which could be magnetically activated. Naval records proved that the USS Eldridge was not even docked at the Philadelphia Shipyard during the timeline in question.
The story started when an oddball former merchant seaman, Carl Meredith Allen reached out to UFO writer Morris K. Jessup, in 1955 making a series of bizarre claims. Allen later admitted it was a hoax. Yet like so many other tales, the story remains an urban legend.
THE PORTUGUESE INVENTED TEMPURA
The well-known Japanese dish, tempura, was actually invented by Portuguese Jesuit priests in the 16th century. This western style of cooking used a thick coating of seasoned flour, sugar and sake and was then deep fried in lard. Prior to this, Japanese cooking was fried by either not being breaded or battered with rice flour.
Peixinhos da Horta was a dish eaten during Lent when Catholics were required to abstain from eating meat. Tempura was derived from the Latin word tempora meaning fasting times. The Japanese, observing this, eventually started to assimilate this style of cooking.
Traditional Japanese buildings were highly flammable being made of wood and paper. Indoor cooking required specialized equipment to prevent fires. The irori was a central sunken hearth. While the kamado was an enclosed earthen stove that was built on the dirt floor workspace called a doma that connected the home to the outside.
By the 17th century, as this style spread to the highly populated capital of Edo, (modern day Tokyo), the danger of fires became a major problem. This led to indoor deep frying being outlawed. Adapting to this, outside food cart sellers started offering tempura. This shifted the way tempura was made. To preserve the delicate taste of the fish, it was prepared with a light unseasoned batter of egg, water and flour, and served with a sauce mixed with grated daikon. Tempura, sushi and soba (buckwheat noodles) became the staple of outdoor food cart culture in Japan.
During the Meiji period (1868-1912), architectural styles changed and it became safe for tempura to be cooked indoors, leading to the opening of tempura restaurants.
ENGLAND’S SMALLEST POLICE STATION
In London on the corner of Trafalgar Square sits England’s smallest police station. It was built in the late 1920s into the base of a lamp post. At the time, Trafalgar Square was a hotbed of political protests and riots. A need developed for the police to have a way to monitor the crowds without agitating the protesters. To accomplish this, the city took an existing lamp post and carved out its granite base, creating the country’s tiniest police station.
Narrow vertical windows were cut out to allow a police officer to observe activity in the square. Inside the lamp post, a room four feet in diameter was fashioned with a telephone line to Scotland Yard and a stool. When the officer picked up the phone for backup, the light fixture at the top of the post would automatically start flashing, letting all police in the area know backup was needed. For the single officer sitting alone inside as a light flashed at the top, alerting an unruly crowd that reinforcements were on the way, must have been terrifying.
The police station was closed in the 1970s, after the introduction of two-way radios.
Today, the lamp post police station is being used by the Westminster Council cleaning crews to store their supplies.
THE MADAGASCAR POPULATION DESCENDS FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA
Madagascar is an island in the Indian Ocean. It is separated from the southeastern coast of Africa by the Mozambique Channel. The island’s population descends from the peoples of Southeast Asia. Traveling 4,000 miles on the open seas between the 5th to 10th centuries, seafarers from Borneo crossed the Indian Ocean to settle in Madagascar. Studies have shown language links and DNA from the Borneo population. Bantu speaking people from East Africa arrived later in Madagascar.
The mixing of the two cultures created the Malagasy population. The Malagasy language is part of the Austronesian language group, matching the Southeast Bornean language of Ma’anyan in structure and vocabulary. Modern DNA testing has revealed that the population is a mixture of Southeast Asian and East African.
It points to a primary founding group of only 30 Southeast Asian women. The outrigger canoes, wet-rice paddy cultivation and musical instruments of Madagascar come from Southeast Asian tradition. They are not part of the African culture.
BOOKSHELVES THAT CONVERT INTO COFFINS
A Maine woodworker, disgusted with the high price of funerals, invented furniture that converts into coffins. His bookcases function as any normal bookcase but will transform into a coffin when the shelves are removed and handles are attached. He also designs beds and chest of drawers that are just as simple to transform into a coffin. This provides an inexpensive option to commercially built coffins for a fraction of the cost.
He hosts a website, lectures and holds workshops to teach people how to build their own coffin, in addition to selling his designs. Many people are afraid to face the inevitable and find this concept creepy, but millions of dollars a year would be saved if this idea caught on.
THE WORD “NERD” WAS INVENTED BY DR. SEUSS
In his 1950 children’s book, “If I Ran the Zoo”, Dr. Seuss created a creature for an imaginary zoo. He named the grumpy thing “NERD”. It was quickly embraced by students in the 1950s to describe a socially awkward, brainiac.
You would think he also invented the term “grinch” but no. It was thought up in 1892 by Rudyard Kipling in the story, “The Lament of the Border Cattle Thief”.
Which other authors coined words which we commonly use today? A few include Freelance (Sir Walter Scott), Pandemonium (John Milton), Workaholic (Wayne E. Oates), Assassination, Eyesore, Bedazzled (William Shakespeare), Butterfingers (Charles Dickens), Banana Republic (O. Henry), Chintzy (George Elliot), Shotgun Wedding (Sinclair Lewis), Feminist (Alexandre Dumas), Scaredy-Cat (Dorothy Parker) and Aviator (Jules Verne).
LINCOLN LOGS WERE DESIGNED BY THE SON OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
Lincoln Logs are an iconic children’s construction toy, beloved by generations. They are miniature hexagon shaped notched logs that are used to erect buildings. John Lloyd Wright, an architect and son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, invented Lincoln Logs in 1916. He was influenced by the earthquake-proof Imperial Hotel in Tokyo his father was designing. The hotel was devised with interlocking timber beams. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Imperial Hotel was one of the few structures left standing.
After having a fight with his father over salary, he left Japan and came back to the United States. Using the hotel’s simple design as inspiration, he created the toy. In addition to the logs, the sets included doors, windows, chimneys and roofs to complete the buildings. They were constructed of redwood until the 1970s when they started to be manufactured from plastic. The manufacturer was inundated with loud protests from consumers who rejected the plastic and lamented the loss of the charming rustic toy. The company quickly went back to using wood.
In 1920, Wright received a patent for the toy, named after the late President, who was born in a log cabin. In 1999, Lincoln Logs were inducted into The National Toy Hall of Fame.
THE FIRST TIME A TEMPORARY INSANITY PLEA WAS USED IN AMERICA
In 1859, United States Congressman Daniel Sickles was acquitted of murder after his defense team argued temporary insanity. This was the first time in the United States that this defense was used in a criminal case.
Sickles killed the United States Attorney for Washington D.C., Philip Barton Key II, after he discovered that Key was having an affair with his wife. His attorneys claimed that Sickles had a temporary loss of reason over the shock of his wife’s behavior. A secondary defense used in the case was the unwritten law that a husband has the right to defend his honor. The jury agreed and after a short deliberation found Sickles not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.
At the time, Sickles was a prominent Congressman from New York and a close friend of the victim, the son of Francis Scott Key. The murder happened on a Sunday afternoon outside Lafayette Park in view of the White House. Sickles learned of the affair after receiving an anonymous letter. Although by that time, it was well known in Washington society.
After collecting evidence of the affair, he confronted his wife and she provided him with a written confession. Key, having not heard from her for days, walked past the Sickles home and signaled Teresa Sickles with his handkerchief. He was unaware she had confessed. Sickles, who lived across from the park, saw this, ran out of his house, found Key and shot him dead.
His attorneys stressed the sanctity of the American family and the rights of a betrayed husband. It took the jury only an hour to find Sickles not guilty. Spectators cheered and later 1,500 people attended Sickles victory party. There were, however, many people who objected to him getting away with murder, particularly when he and his wife got back together three months later. He lost his political career and when he died in 1914, he was remembered as the first person to escape a murder conviction with a plea of temporary insanity.
BOTH JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON DIED ON THE SAME DAY
John Adams, the 2nd president of the United States and Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States, both died on July 4, 1826. This was the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams was 90 years old. Jefferson was 83 years.
As he lay dying/ that evening in Massachusetts, Adams last words were, “Thomas Jefferson still survives”. He was unaware that Jefferson had passed away earlier that day, just past noon at Monticello. Their close friendship dissolved when they became bitter political rivals. In old age they reconciled, becoming good friends once again.
DID THE CIVIL WAR START IN ONE MAN’S BACKYARD AND END IN HIS PARLOR
The first major battle of the Civil War occurred in July of 1861. Known as the First Battle of Bull Run, it took place in Manasses, Virginia. Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard had taken over Wilmer McLean’s farm as the Confederate headquarters. McLean was a retired Virginia Militia officer who would come to profit greatly from running sugar through the Union blockage, selling to both the North and South. As they sat down to dinner, a cannonball shot through the window and landed in the kitchen fireplace.
Soon after, McLean grew tired of the war in his backyard and decided to move 120 miles away to the village of Clover Hill, Virginia. The name of the village was then changed to Appomattox Court House (yes that was the name of the village, it was not actually a courthouse) after it became the county seat. McLean apparently did not move far enough away from the war, for on April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant negotiated the South’s surrender in McLean’s parlor.
Although it is said that the war started in McLean’s backyard and ended in his parlor, this is not true. Fighting actually started earlier and ended later. Beauregard ordered the bombardment of Fort Sumner days before the First Battle of Bull Run. The Battle of Palmito Ranch in Brownsville, Texas is actually considered the last skirmish of the war occurring on May 12, 1865.
THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION OF AUSTRALIA DECLINED 93% AFTER ENGLISH COLONIZATION
It has long been believed that when the English arrived in Australia in 1788, the Indigenous population, made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait’s people, was around 250,00 people. This was based on census data which was collected long after the population was devastated by smallpox and violence inflicted on the native population by the English.
New research published by Australian Geographic places the Indigenous population seven times higher than previous estimates at around 2.22 million people. It is now believed that in a period of just 73 years, (between 1788 and 1861), the Indigenous population declined 93% to just 155,000 people. The people have proven to be resilient and have increased to over one million and continue to grow.
TURNING SEAFOOD WASTE INTO BATTERY FLUID
Each year, the seafood industry discards thousands of tons of crab, lobster and shrimp shells, which pile up in landfills. Scientists have now found that a substance within the shells called chitin can be turned into battery fluid. Through a chemical deacetylation process, the chitin is treated with an alkaline solution, such as sodium hydroxide, at high heat. This turns the solid material into a biodegradable gel electrolyte called chitosan. The gel becomes the vehicle which allows a charge to move between the two ends of a battery when paired with a zinc metal anode.
Using chitosan in the medium at an extreme density of 50 milliamperes per square centimeter was found to perform 1,000 cycles at 99.7% efficiency. Neither lithium nor aqueous batteries could match this output; both steadily degrade or short circuit when performing under the same conditions. While standard batteries take hundreds of years to break down, two thirds of the chitosan battery biodegrades after five months. Another plus is while lithium- ion batteries are highly flammable; chitosan is non-flammable and non-combustible (OSHA) and it does not have to be drilled or quarried.
THE KNOCKER-UPPERS
At the start of the Industrial Revolution, people had to find a way to wake up for their early shift at the factory. Being late meant losing pay or worse, getting fired. It was a time when alarm clocks were not only too expensive for the working class but not particularly dependable. So, the knocker-uppers came into existence, as human alarm clocks. These workers had the job of waking people up and became a critical part of the Industrial Revolution, in England, Ireland and the Netherlands. They went from house to house at the crack of dawn waking people up.
They used long poles with a knob at the end to tap on upstairs bedroom windows or pea shooters which would shoot dried peas at the glass. Some used batons or hammers to bang on bedroom windows. Some knocker-uppers would make sure the person had woken up. Others just knocked a few times and left for the next house. The job only paid a pittance and was usually carried out by old men or pregnant women. Sometimes police officers added this duty to early morning shifts for extra income.
In the mid-20th century, alarm clocks started to be mass produced, making them affordable to workers and the reliability improved as well, replacing the job of the knocker-uppers.
THOMAS JEFFERSON INTRODUCED MAC & CHEESE TO AMERICA
Macaroni and cheese was introduced to America by Thomas Jefferson. In the 1780s, he fell in love with pasta while living in Paris. When he returned to the United States, he brought a pasta machine with him. James Hemings, Jefferson’s enslaved cook, received training in France from culinary masters. Once back in America, he modified the traditional rustic pasta and cheese recipe by replacing it with a layered mixture of pasta, butter, milk and hard cheese. It was served at state dinners and became a popular dish among the wealthy.
In the American South, enslaved cooks revised Hemings’ recipe by adding sharper cheeses and more butter, making it an indispensable African American staple.
In 1937, during the Depression, Kraft started to manufacture boxed shelf-stable macaroni and cheese at 19 cent a box. It became an instant success due to its low cost.
During the Second World War, when wartime rationing limited the availability of milk and dairy, boxed macaroni and cheese was a cheap substitute, making it a mainstay in American kitchens, where it remains so today.
THE DOG THAT LOVED TRAINS
In a small town in Tuscany, Italy named Campiglia Marittima, a dog disembarked from a freight train in 1953. The stationmaster’s daughter, Mirna, begged her father to keep the animal. Elvio Bartettani agreed with great hesitation. They named him Lampo, an Italian word for lightning. It was prohibited for train employees to adopt dogs, but Lampo was special. He was a loyal, loving friend who followed Bartettani around everywhere. Lampo loved trains. He would hop on a train and visit nearby towns, always returning home. He came to learn the train routes and schedules. Each day, Mirna took a train to school with Lampo always accompanying her. Once she was safe at school, he would take the train home.
Over time, Lampo became more and more ambitious, traveling around the Italian railroad system, sometimes as far as one hundred miles away, but would always return by evening.
One fateful day, Lampo got stuck in a train door. The event was witnessed by a train inspector. He demanded that either Bartettani get rid of Lampo or lose his job. Heartbroken, Bartettani arranged for Lampo to be taken by train far to the south. The dog was then taken a great distance from a train station and left in a remote, secluded field. Five months later, Lampo returned home, sick and without most of his hair. After returning, he was nursed back to health and became the train station’s mascot. Sadly, he was hit by a freight train in 1961 and died. By that time, Lampo had become a celebrity. Many mourned his death. A statue was built in the Campiglia Marittima station in his honor.
Have a thought about any of these? Drop me an email at Calliope@TheSatisfiedThinkoholic.com
