You Learn Something New Every Day

[ls99]

British subjects with televisions pay 145.50 punds in currency, about US $235.- per year for the prvillege of watching TV in the Queendom.

BBC gets all of that, about 3.6 Billion pounds per year. Roughly US $5.6 Billion. Not a bad chunk of change.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I'm watching the Packers-Vikings game on "Sunday Night Football." On the opening play, the guy ran a kick-off 109 yards for a touchdown. It matched the NFL record, which had also been set in the same stadium--the Metrodome--in 2007. The earlier play that had set the NFL record was based upon a missed field goal attempt.

What I learned tonight is that if you try to kick a field goal and miss, but the ball remains in play (here, it was about to land in the end-zone and not out of bounds as they usually do), an opposing team member can be in the end-zone, catch the ball, and run it back down the field for a TD. I knew about blocked field goals, etc., that kept the ball in play, but I didn't know a guy could run into the end-zone to catch a missed field goal attempt and then try to run it back down the field.

I don't remember ever seeing an opposing team member going back into the end-zone to try to catch a missed field goal. Why did that happen in this 2007 game? Because, as we know, if you miss a field goal, the other team gets the ball "on downs" from the line of scrimmage. Trying to catch the ball in the end-zone and running it back down the field, only to get tackled most likely, would probably result in a lousier field position than just getting the ball on downs, I would think.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

British subjects with televisions pay 145.50 punds in currency, about US $235.- per year for the prvillege of watching TV in the Queendom.

BBC gets all of that, about 3.6 Billion pounds per year. Roughly US $5.6 Billion. Not a bad chunk of change.

Is that just basic TV? Over and above, like, DirecTV? And how does the Queen collect it? How does she know you have a TV and try to collect if you're just getting stations "over the air"?

 

[ls99]

Is that just basic TV? Over and above, like, DirecTV? And how does the Queen collect it? How does she know you have a TV and try to collect if you're just getting stations "over the air"?

AFIK that is for over the air TV. It is trivial to identify TV sets presence via over the air emissions thereof. They have mobile units for just that putpose.

 

[Alan]

Is that just basic TV? Over and above, like, DirecTV? And how does the Queen collect it? How does she know you have a TV and try to collect if you're just getting stations "over the air"?

It has nothing to with the Queen, it is how public broadcasting is funded in the UK. 2/3rds of European countries and 1/2 of Asia and African countries also use TV licenses to fund public broadcasting.

You buy a TV licence each year just like you buy a licence for each car you own (also known as a road tax), through the appropriate agency that manages it.

 

[Pleeplus]

Which explains in part the alarming dumbing down of Mericans...

Or American's enhanced "looking skills"

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I learned today that if I visit this ER Web site on my local library's computer, links to YouTube videos show as these big images, but on my home PC they are just these smallish green icons with white font. What I didn't learn is how to adjust the settings on my home PC to see those large images.

 

[citrine]

Other than humans, dogs are the only animals who know where something is hidden when you point to it. ...or so DW tells me. She said that they demonstrated this on the program she was watching with a chimpanzee versus the dog. A treat was hidden under one of several cups. The human just had to glance towards the correct cup and the dog would flip it over to claim its treat. With the chimp, the human could enthusiastically point to the cup with the treat but the chimp invariably looked under the wrong one.

Our cats have that down pat...maybe they were dogs in a past life

 

[Alan]

Our cats have that down pat...maybe they were dogs in a past life

Maybe they were. We had cats for over 16 years but I could never play hide the treat with them like I could with our dogs. They did used to go walking with me to the entertainment of the neighbors. I would walk most evenings and they would follow me for a while then hide in bushes until I came back and run out to meet me. In their later years one of them used to sometimes miss me on my return and when I got in the house and found she was not there I used to have go walking down the street calling her name, as she never hid in the same place twice.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hottest Peppers of the World

I just found out the names of the 3 hottest peppers of the world.

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion 2.0M SHU
Bhut Jolokia 1.6M SHU
Carolina Reaper 1.474M SHU​

The Bhut Jolokia is also known as the "Ghost Chili", which I learned from a post by MooreBonds here. The number after each pepper is its Scoville Heat Unit rating. For a point of reference, the rating of some common peppers is shown below.

Serrano 5K-2.3K SHU
Jalapeno 2.5K-8K SHU
Habanero 100K-350K SHU​

Compared to the Habanero, which when I tried in the past I could only cut a tiny morsel out of it to use in a sauce, the 3 super hot peppers above have lethal potential. They should be sold only after the shopper signs a legal waiver form.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Interesting that one of the top three is grown in South Carolina, I didn't know we could get them that hot here.

I learned this weekend that if you put a marshmallow in the microwave for 20 seconds, it puffs up to 4 times the size, and makes a really fast s'more! Good use for the leftovers from our camping trip.

 

[imoldernu]

I learned that:
A child born today as an American Citizen will inherit, as a share of America's Assets, a total of:
$333,000
and a liability of:
$1,102,000

 

[ls99]

Today I learned that all the good restaurants within 20 miles are closed on Tuesdays.

 

[NW-Bound]

Interesting that one of the top three is grown in South Carolina, I didn't know we could get them that hot here...

Your post made me do a bit more research, and I found this: So God Made the World's Hottest Pepper - Nicholas Hunt - The Atlantic.

Here's what the devil looks like:

From the above article and others, I learned that:

1) Some of these fiery record pepper producing plants were crossbreeds that required meticulous cultivation over several generations of plant.

2) Pepper leaves are edible, and used in Filipino, Korean, and Japanese cuisines. This edibility is true of all species of Capsicum.

3) There is chilihead subculture. I was reminded of a show on FoodTV some years ago, when they showed a club where pepper enthusiasts met periodically to exchange fiery dishes. Some members were shown popping down habanero like M&M. Good Lord!

4) England and Australia are two other chilihead hotbeds besides the US. All English-speaking nations. How 'bout other Asian countries?

 

[Sarah in SC]

I read that same article and I had no idea there was such fierce combat over the proprietary seeds and "stability" of outcrosses. They all sounded a bit more than kooky to me, to be honest.

 

[NW-Bound]

Claim to fame often leads to commercial success. It's about money besides fame.

 

[NW-Bound]

I learned that:
A child born today as an American Citizen will inherit, as a share of America's Assets, a total of:
$333,000
and a liability of:
$1,102,000

Assuming that your numbers are correct, and that the asset number above is everything, including assets of all billionaires in this nation, then if we confiscate the property of everyone, ourselves included, we still do not raise enough to pay for the liability.

But, but the other number, that liability, that's what we are projecting to spend in the future, and it is not cast in stone. So we need to reduce it, and at the same time find a way to generate more revenue from the assets to pay for the expenses.

Just seizing that asset, which also stops the revenue stream from it, is not going to solve our problem. Your number already shows that is way too little.

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Assuming that your numbers are correct, and that the asset number above is everything, including assets of all billionaires in this nation, then if we confiscate the property of everyone, ourselves included, we still do not raise enough to pay for the liability.

But, but the other number, that liability, that's what we are projecting to spend in the future, and it is not cast in stone. So we need to reduce it, and at the same time find a way to generate more revenue from the assets to pay for the expenses.

Just seizing that asset, which also stops the revenue stream from it, is not going to solve our problem. Your number already shows that is way too little.

I learned that the net worth of all us households and nonprofit organizations is 74 trillion dollars: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/z1r-5.pdf

 

[Walt34]

Some members were shown popping down habanero like M&M. Good Lord!

I used to win bar beer bets doing that with ones from a brine(?) jar at the bar. One at a time though, not like M&Ms.

Ever notice that free beer always tastes better?

 

[MichaelB]

I used to win bar beer bets doing that with ones from a brine(?) jar at the bar. One at a time though, not like M&Ms.

Ever notice that free beer always tastes better?

My college days we would go for late night dinner, sometimes had jalapeño eating contests. Loser was the first to eat or drink anything other than full sized peppers, and had to pay for dinner. I was a flat broke college student and never lost. Well, that is, I never paid dinner for anyone else. Next day was a different story.

 

[MRG]

Grew Habeneros a few years. Folks that eat them talk about the sweet fruity taste. Its true, after enough exposure your taste buds don't feel the fire so much(some legends suggest you burn them). My findings were that my taste got used to them.

The rest of my digestive system never did!

MRG

 

[NW-Bound]

I thought I was a pepper hothead, but that's relative to people around me.

At megacorp, for Friday we used to go to a Buffalo hot wing place. One week, by consensus we ordered several plates of their hottest grade. Washing it down with pitchers of beer was not too tough. Suffering the day later was something else!

But anyway, I will be on the lookout for a dish that incorporates some pepper plant leaves. Wonder what that tastes like. I should go out to the backyard to see if my wife still has that pepper plant in the corner.