Historical
For the Love of Mustard!
Origin Mustard is believed to be the very first condiment that humans ever put on food. Stretching back to ancient Egypt, mustard seeds were found in the tombs of many pharaohs. Romans would grind the spicy seeds into a spreadable paste that went with many meals. French monks would mix the ground seeds with a ‘must’ such as unfermented wine, inspiring the word mustard. Which stems from the Latin mustum ardens, roughly translating to ‘burning wine.’ King Louis XI refused to travel without mustard, keeping a pot with him at all times to ensure he would never have to face a meal without it.
By M.R. Cameo5 years ago in FYI
Cracking the Ginger Gene
Red Hair. It has been mystified, vilified and sometimes revered over the centuries. It's rarity and charm almost always makes people turn around and catch another glimpse of someone with red hair passing by. They say red haired people only make up about 2% of the population, which makes me lucky, because I have two red haired sons. Many people forget that although rare, there are many different shades of red from many different places on our planet. Being red haired doesn't necessarily mean the lightest shade of pale skin. My oldest son has deep brown eyes and copper colored hair with skin that tans easily. My youngest has strawberry red hair with light brown eyes and slightly lighter skin that burns easier in the sun. There are black people, east Asian, southeast Asian, and Middle eastern, Mediterranean people with red hair. Very often, people see my children and tell us they also had red hair when they were young or that they know someone who has a child with red hair when neither parent does. They always ask us where the red hair comes from.
By Isabelle Dumais5 years ago in FYI
The mystery behind milk in Canada
Canadians have heard many jokes and stereotypes about our beloved country, like our bills look like Monopoly money, and we say 'aboot' instead of 'about' (which we don't). Every Canadian is born with hockey skates, and the list goes on.
By Rachelle Baird5 years ago in FYI
How Immunization Won the Revolutionary War
Living through a pandemic has been a strange and difficult affair for everyone, especially for those who have been lost to us, those who have lost loved ones, and those still dealing with long-term affects of Covid. Thankfully, we can see a light at the end of this dark tunnel with the introduction of vaccines. I am currently a stay-at-home mom, but worked as a registered nurse for several years beforehand. Something I keep hearing when it comes to fears about the new vaccines concerns how quickly they were made. These fears can be put to rest when faced with the fact that vaccines have been studied and made for well over a century and while this particular vaccine is new, the creation of vaccines is not. It is not my purpose to persuade anyone, however, but to delve into how inoculation, an earlier form of immunization, came to be such a necessary practice and how it actually helped America gain its independence.
By Rebecca James5 years ago in FYI
The Greatest Discovery You’ve Never Heard About
You're excavating ancient pyramids and open a tomb sealed shut for the past 2,000 years. Amongst the normal treasures you might expect to find; jewelry, trinkets, ceremonial regalia, you also find a computer. Wait. What? A computer? Yes, a computer. What would you think?
By Adrian Naum5 years ago in FYI
The History of Vaccination
Following the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the frantic state of the world irrupted into a chaos that was unimaginable to most, consisting of panic and a wild spread of misinformation. Individuals in science and the medical field are no stranger to fabrication, constantly dealing with and debunking the information spread by Doctors with a PhD from Mark Zuckerburg himself. Upon the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, many questions and commentaries started to rise, including the Great Debate about what vaccines are and from where they come. Lucky for me (and you, my dear reader), a particular pocket of my brain has been reserved specifically for this moment, as my fascination for history and science has been planted together to sprout into a gorgeous vine and deliciously prolific flower of vaccination information.
By Kailey McLennan5 years ago in FYI
Conversation with a Ghost
Conversation with a Ghost T he RMS Titanic sank in the early morning of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship's time) on Sunday, 14 April 1912. Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 (ship's time; 05:18 GMT) on Monday, 15 April, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime marine disasters in history. (Wikipedia)
By Robert Taylor5 years ago in FYI
Fun facts about April
April is the 4th month on our calendar is the season of spring. Hibernating small animals are waking up at this time and there are 2 celebrations that often but don’t always take place in this month. Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox on March 21. It can arrive in late March or early to mid April. Passover is determined by the Jewish lunar calendar and like Easter can show up in either the second or 3rd month of the year. In the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers it was in the month of April when the birds, bees, and barnyard animals began coming to life as the snow on the mountain melted.
By Cheryl E Preston5 years ago in FYI
The Great History of Quarantine
The year 2020 was no a usual year by any means. The pandemic changed the way of life for most people around the world. It's no surprise that "Coronavirus" was among the top global searches on Google in 2020. The word was searched 60 million times a month in the year. One more word which was equally synonymous with the pandemic was "Quarantine." It features among the Top 10 searched keywords in the United States and has formed part of our daily vocabulary.
By Kavi Kamat5 years ago in FYI
