Fun Facts - What 4 Hours of Podcasts Recently Taught Us

This weekend Mrs. Shopaholic and I visited friends out of town and got to catch up on our Podcast listening. The road trip was a little scary for us as we experienced brief white outs from blowing snow on the county roads and we slid a couple of times. I ask the Mayor Neustadt to plow your roads!  We also got see the townsfolk of Arthur go to Timmy's on their Ski-doos.   Sights not normally seen by us a city folk.

So, these are some fun facts that are now entered into my brain and likely pushing out something important that now I can't remember.

• Per Freaknomics podcast they asked the question "What's the "Best" Exercise?"  I can save you 20 minutes of listening and answer it is the exercise you willingly do.  Overall the podcast was well done and they utilized a computerized ladies voice asking questions to Stephen Dubner in homage to the movie 'Her.'  The key take away was that 80% of Americans don't meet the basic exercise requirements as set out by American College of Sports Medicine of exercising 30 minutes a day most days of the week.  Economists have measured that walking 30 minutes a day five days a week adds year and a half to your life expectancy.  2 and a half years for exercising at a greater intensity such as jogging or sports.  Per studies done at the University of Chicago and other institutions it has been shown that interval training can lead to greater endurance/strength gains and caloric burn.
• Per another Freakanomics podcast entitled "The Most Dangerous Machine" and it was on death rate of the American driver.  This was a poor choice for in car listening, but it brought up some of the key technical innovations in driving safety.  Also, Ohio City in the State of Ohio was the site of the first recorded car crash in 1891.

  

  Sign Commemorating the First Car Crash

  Apparently approximately 33,000 Americans die a year in vehicle accidents and that you are 3 times more likely to die in rural area then in the city.  I was surprised by the latter, but per the podcast most accidental deaths occur by drivers veering off the road into ditches, trees, pole, etc.  Not by hitting other cars.  Most accidents are caused by driver carelessness or distraction.  So, in reality you are your own worst enemy and it is not the other driver on the road.  A key innovation in driver safety came when a nurse in the early 1900's was sick of treating accident victims and went out and painted the first divided road.  In the early 1950's the seat belt was first introduced in cars, but it took until the 1980's for the majority of people to use them.  Apparently only approximately 91% of Americans use a seat belt or about 1 in 10 do not.  When was the last time you were in a car with someone who didn't put one on?   Who is that 1 in 10?
• Per Stuff the Mom Never Told You podcast entitled "What's the Difference Between Gender and Sex" is that 1 in 2,000 babies are born with a condition that makes the child's gender indeterminate.  The child can be born with severely malformed sex organs or born with a combination of both male and female sexual organs.  These individuals are often labeled as 'transexuals' and Germany (Oct 2013) has been the latest country to recognize legally a third 'other' gender.  Australia and Nepal have previously enshrined in law a third gender.  I know from another podcast 

I hope you enjoyed these 'Fun Facts.  I highly recommend 'Freaknomics Radio' and Mrs. Shopaholic also routinely enjoys 'Stuff Mom Never Told You.'  The latter can be hit or miss for me depending on the topic.  

Fun Facts - Zie Germans

Continuing in my things that I learned today vein.  These are just some facts that I have read recently or came up on a TV episode of QI about the German language and Germany.

German word for Tramp Stamp:

German slang for tramp stamp is Arschgeweih, which translates as ass antlers.  I just found that amusing.

Tramp Stamp Inspector and Antler Aficionado

Playing the Hitler Card:

Have you ever been in a discussion group or a long argument and someone inappropriately brings up the Third Reich? Godwin's Law states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." I have seen this many of times in the comments section of the Globe and Mail with cyber trolls.  On TV Fox news pundits have made a habit of this over the years, particularly Glenn Beck.  Obama suggests properly inflating your tires to save on gas and thus reduce CO2 emissions.  Obama telling us what to do, how dare he!  He's just like Hitler.  The intention of the creator Mike Godwin was to suggest people think a little harder about comparing anything to the Holocaust.

Zugzwang:

Another fun German word to say with no English equivalent is zugzwang.  It's typically used in playing chess and it means to weaken one's position by having to move.  In chess you are required to move and can not pass on your turn.  Often as the game wears on, you will have to move a piece wrecking a defended position.

With German Efficiency, I found a better way to win at Chess.

My 5 Favourite Halloween Songs and a little Halloween Origins Fun Facts

I'm not one for horror or the macabre, but I do try to get in the spirit of Halloween. Yesterday, I went through my musical collection and picked out my favorite songs for Halloween. While listening I looked up some fun facts regarding the origins of Halloween.

My top 5 Favorite Halloween Songs:

1) Joy Division - Dead Souls

Ian Curtis haunting voice and dark lyrics make this my favorite song to listen at Halloween. Probably because I remember fondly seeing The Crow in my early teenage years and the great cover of this song by Nine Inch Nails.

2) Bauhaus - Bela Legosi's Dead 

Peter Murphy also with deep and tortured voice sings a song again with dark lyrics. This is a long song with a slow base line and some truly spooky guitar effects. Music historians consider this song the first gothic rock song (released August 1979) and it is about actor Bela Legosi, who played the first Hollywood Dracula in 1931.

3) Queens of the Stone Age - Burn the Witch

Again some great dark lyrics appropriate for Halloween. This song comes complete with a music video inspired by the Salem Witch Trials.

4) Michael Jackson - Thriller

It is hard not to love this song or the music video directed by John Landis. It has a 152 million views on You Tube and counting.  Watch all 14 minutes of its glory.

  

5) Pink Floyd - Syncopated Pandemonium

This is piece from a larger song called Saucerful of Secrets off of 1970's Atom Heart Mother. With its driving beat, banging piano, guitar effects and staccato notes. This song shows the evolution of the 'organized' cacophony of notes and wall of sounds that Igor Stravinsky revolutionized the world in the early 1900's.   This clip is from their Live at Pompeii art rock concert film which I recommend.  

Some Honorable Mentions:

• Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
• Ramones - Pet Semetary
• Pink Floyd - Careful with that axe Eugene
• Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me

Lastly it is hard not to love Jason Segal and the song he wrote for Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Here he is performing Dracula's Lament.

Origins of Halloween Facts:

• “Halloween” is short for “Hallows’ Eve” or “Hallows’ Evening,” which was the evening before All Hallows’ (sanctified or holy) Day or Hallowmas on November 1. In an effort to convert pagans, the Christian church decided that Hallowmas or All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2) should assimilate sacred pagan holidays that fell on or around October 31.

• Jack o'lanterns were originally carved out of turnips by the Celts to keep away spirits on the Samhain holiday. According to Irish legend, Jack O’Lanterns are named after a stingy man named Jack who, because he tricked the devil several times, was forbidden entrance into both heaven and hell. He was condemned to wander the Earth, waving his lantern to lead people away from their paths.

Turnip Head - Jack O'Lantern

• Samhain was the Gaelic festival that celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of Winter.  It occurrs on October 31st, the midpoint between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Mumming and guising are part of this festival, and involved people going door-to-door in costume (or disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food.

• During the pre-Halloween celebration of Samhain, bonfires were lit to ensure the sun would return after the long, hard winter. Often Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.”
• If you truly don't like Halloween to the point of being fearful about it, than that is called 'samhainophobia.' 

In closing, I leave you with this quote:

"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours." - Yogi Berra

Do you have a favorite Halloween Song?  Tell me? I'm always open to listening to new things?