October 31, 2011

The word qur'an means reading/reciting.

October 30, 2011

While watching Bones this afternoon I learned that the tradition of bringing someone a gift while they are in the hospital or ill comes from the tradition of making a sacrifice to a god. The gift became a replacement, but signifies that the giver wishes for the god to be with the receiver and improve his/her health.

October 29, 2011

As I was reading my Hood River News, which I get about a week late, I learned that there is going to be an increase in Bridge toll on the Hood River/White Salmon bridge. Starting January 1, 2012, it will increase by about 33%, from $0.75 to $1.00.

October 28, 2001

Today I learned that old people don't drink enough water.

October 27, 2011

A couple days ago I heard someone mention alchemy, and I didn't know what that was. The word came up again while I was reading Prince Caspian today on my radio show (Lewis, Latin, and Licorice Sticks). So, I decided to look it up! Alchemy is essentially the medieval science of trying to turn base metals into gold, it also has to do with trying to prolong life. Today I also learned that non troppo means not too/not too much in Italian.

October 26, 2011

Today in Chorale, I learned that the text in Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, written by Heinrich Schütz, the Virgin Mary's song of praise. I also just discovered that Word does not have the 'u' with umlaut (with two dots over it) in its symbol bank. 

October 25, 2011

The graph of arctan(x) asymptotes at y=π/2 and y= -π/2. 

October 24, 2011

Today I learned that Bill Gates is the 20th richest person of all time. The richest man of all time was John D. Rockefeller. I also learned that an ox-hide ingot of copper is neither ox-hide or oxide, but is, in fact, a slab of copper shaped like an ox-hide.