| Eat Your Food | Former European Currencies | You Don’t See Too Many of These Anymore | Nice Work If You Can Get It | Happy Birthday, January Baby |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
What are pimentos? Pimentos come from a variety of mild, sweet chili peppers
called cherry peppers.
Green olives are often stuffed with this type of pepper.
|
What is the franc? The French West Indies
in the Caribbean also used the franc but have switched to the euro.
This was the official pre-euro currency of
France. |
What is the payphone (or phone booth)? You may not see them or use them, but
they’re still functioning in the United States and Canada, particularly in remote locations. Canada still has 55,000 operational pay phones, and the United States has around 500,000, though it’s difficult to locate one.
You used to find these on every street corner, but the cell phone has rendered them
obsolete. |
Who is Bill Gates? He scored 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs, and then attended
Harvard and dropped out. According to Time magazine, “The Harvard Crimson called him ‘Harvard's most successful dropout.’”
At 15 years of age, he partnered with Paul Allen and eventually built Microsoft into
the largest software company in the world. |
Who is Paul Revere? He was a master silversmith and later an
engraver and dentist before his service in the Revolutionary War. His ride to Lexington is immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Born New Year’s Day, 1735, this patriot alerted the Minutemen the
British were coming in his “midnight ride.” |
|
What is artichoke? According to Emily
Post, “Artichokes are always eaten with the fingers; a leaf at a time is pulled off and the edible end dipped in the sauce, and then bitten off.” Once you’ve eaten the meat from the large leaves, use a knife to remove the remaining leaves and choke. Then cut the heart into small pieces before eating.
People often eat this vegetable by
scraping the leaves between their front teeth. |
What is the peseta? The peseta replaced the peso in the 19th century.
This was the official pre-euro currency of
Spain. |
What is an answering machine?
Today we have voice mail, but in the past, we used these devices to record phone
messages when we missed a call. |
Who is Mark Cuban?
Sell a start-up company to Yahoo for $6 billion dollars, and you, too, could buy the
Dallas Mavericks and star on Shark Tank like this cocky entrepreneur. |
Who is Sir Isaac Newton? He’s been called the most important scientist
in history. The other law you might remember is “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Born January 4, 1643, he discovered laws of motion based on the
universal law of gravity. One law you might remember concerns inertia: “A stationary body will stay stationary unless an external force is applied to it.” |
|
What is horseradish? In North America, we dunk sushi into a mixture of soy
sauce and wasabi. In Japan, you never mix the two in polite society. Instead, you dip one side of the sushi into the wasabi and the other side into the soy sauce.
Wasabi is a Japanese condiment that is similar to this condiment, often served with
prime rib in the United States |
What is the mark?
This was the official pre-euro currency of Germany.
|
What is the Walkman?
Before the smartphone, we played music on iPods. Before digital music, we listened
to CDs on the Sony Discman, and before the Discman, we listened to cassettes on this Sony personal player. |
Who is Mike Ditka? Today, he enjoys golf and owns Mike’s Grille in the Tremont
Hotel in Chicago, among other things.
He is one of two player-coaches to win the Super Bowl as a player and a coach. He
won as a Dallas player in 1972, a Dallas assistant coach in 1977, and as Chicago head coach in 1986. |
Who is Kate Middleton? She’s married to Prince William, future king of England.
Born January 9, 1982, she’s also the known as Her Royal Highness the Duchess of
Cambridge. |
|
What is tomato? Did you know a 19th-century U.S. Supreme Court decision
declared the tomato a vegetable? There was no import tax on fruit, and the decision allowed the government to impose a 10-percent vegetable import tax on tomatoes. Scientifically, though, the tomato is classified as a fruit.
If you eat a Roma, cherry, or beefsteak variety, you are eating this summer
vegetable. |
What is the Irish pound? (You may accept pound.)
This was the official pre-euro currency of Ireland.
|
What are phone books? Some phone books in North America contained blue
pages with government phone numbers in addition to their white and yellow pages.
Today, we don’t see too many of these thick books with white pages in the front and
yellow pages in the back. |
Who is Queen Elizabeth II? Buckingham
Palace is her main home, and she often vacations at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The Telegraph reports she is rearranging her calendar to spend more time at Windsor and Balmoral, with Buckingham Palace possibly becoming her “third home” in the future.
Today, she reigns over what is left of the
British Empire. |
Who is Naomi Judd? Naomi and Wynonna’s act is known as the Judds.
Born January 11, 1946, this country music singer and mother of Ashley performs in
a duo with her other daughter, Wynonna. |
|
What is Rice Krispies?
When you were a child, you probably ate this breakfast cereal that snapped,
crackled, and popped. |
What is the drachma?
This was the official pre-euro currency of Greece.
|
What is the transistor radio? The year was 1954, and the transistor was the
beginning of the end of families gathered around the radio to listen to their favorite shows together. That Christmas, the first transistor radios sold for $50.
This 1950s radio replaced the vacuum-tube radio and was the first portable music
device. |
Who is Elizabeth Taylor? She married Richard Burton twice. At age 12, her
starring role in National Velvet made her a star.
This violet-eyed, Academy Award–winning actress began her acting career at the
age of 10 and married eight times, twice to the same man. |
Who is Jack Nicklaus? In 2005, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Today, he designs golf courses.
Born January 21, 1940, this golf legend won six Masters Tournaments and is
nicknamed “The Golden Bear.” |
Support Us on Ko-fi