Massacre

Boston is chock full of history! One of the nice things about visiting the city is that they have a path called the Freedom Trail, where tourists can follow a red path to all of the historical sites in Boston and Cambridge. The one that interested me the most was the story of the Boston Massacre - mainly because it sounds like a good story and it costs about $17 to hear it! So, I took the frugal option and decided to look it up here. Today's question is: what was the Boston Massacre and how many people died?

A: The Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770 during a clash between the British and American colonists. In the late 1760's tensions were beginning to arise around the growing British presence and the enforcement of the Townshend Acts - a law created to increase revenue by increasing duties on common imports instead of taxing income. The Townshend Acts were extremely unpopular amongst colonialists and gave way to a number of protests. On the evening of March 5, a boisterous gang began to form outside of the Custom House and British troops fired into the crowd, killing three civilians and wounding 11 others. A total of five men died from the incident. The British captain, Thomas Preston, and his men were tried for murder; Preston and six of his men were acquitted, while two others were found guilty of manslaughter, punished, and discharged from the army.

Sources:

Boston Massacre Historical Society

Wikipedia: Boston Massacre

Smoot

364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear

~ The Harvard Bridge

While crossing the Harvard bridge from Cambridge to Boston, my companion and I came across a little plaque informing us that the bridge was 364.4 smoots +/- 1 ear in length. As the story goes, in October 1958, Oliver Reed Smoot and his fraternity brothers from MIT used Ollie's body to measure the length of the Harvard bridge. This left me in awe - as well as wondering the answer to today's question: how long is a smoot?

A: According to Google's calculator, 1 smoot is the equivalent of 1.7018 meters (approximately 5 feet 7 inches) which was Oliver's height at the time of measurement.

Source:

Google Calculator: 1 smoot in meters

Beantown

Me on the Harvard Bridge

I survived the long drive to Massachusetts! Boston is absolutely beautiful this time of year; there is a warm breeze that drifts across the Charles River Basin and the trees have begun to bloom with gorgeous little blossoms. My mate and I walked along The Freedom Trail, where we learned a bit about American history and wandered freely just seeing the sites. One of the things that really stood out for me, was that everywhere I turned, things were considered to be "the best in Beantown". What a curious name... Today's question is: why is Boston called Beantown?

A:

I suppose the answer should have been obvious; Boston is known as Beantown because of its baked beans. Boston was a part of the triangular trade, where sugar cane was shipped from the Caribbean to Boston to be made into rum, which was then exported to Western Africa in return for slaves who were sent to the West Indies to grow more sugar cane. As molasses - being a by product of refining sugar cane - was in such abundance, Bostonians produced baked beans that were slowly cooked in molasses. Apparently, Boston baked beans are somewhat of a rarity now; there are no companies in the city that produce them and very few restaurants serve them.

Source:

Boston Online

This Tiny Girl

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

- Nature Boy

The last two days have been quite emotional, but one of my strengths is my ability to compartmentalize things. I have to put this issue into a box and will channel my energy into my upcoming performance at the Great Boston Burlesque Expo. As a returning champion, I want to wow the crowd with something that is slow, sensual and spectacular - which is very different from my usual numbers. Li'l Relly is best known for comedic burlesque, but for this event the performance is a titillating representation of the Hans Christian Andersen story, Thumbelina. Therefore, today's question is: what is the story of Thumbelina?

A:

A woman is desperate to have a child and buys enchanted barleycorn from a fairy. Once planted, a tiny girl, Thumbelina (Tommelise), emerges from its flower. One night, Thumbelina, asleep in her walnut-shell cradle, is carried off by a toad who wants the miniature maiden as a bride for her son. With the help of friendly fish and a butterfly, Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, and drifts on a lily pad until captured by a stag-beetle. The insect discards her when his friends reject her company. Thumbelina tries to protect herself from the elements, but when winter comes, she is in desperate straits. She is finally given shelter by an old fieldmouse and tends her dwelling in gratitude. The mouse suggests Thumbelina marry her neighbor, a mole, but Thumbelina finds the prospect repulsive. She escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land with a swallow she nursed back to health during the winter. In a sunny field of flowers, Thumbelina meets a tiny flower-fairy prince just her size and to her liking, and they wed. She receives a pair of wings to accompany her husband on his travels from flower to flower.

Source:

Hans Christian Andersen: Little Tiny or Thumbelina

Wikipedia: Thumbelina

Chicken Butt for the Soul

This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.
(500) Days of Summer

It's done. I have used nearly all of my coping mechanisms.

• 
  
  Cry - Check


• 
  
  Sing - Check


• 
  
  Nap - Check


• 
  
  Watch (500)Days of Summer or Annie Hall - Check


• 
  
  Cook - Check
  

The last point is crucial. I love food. If food tastes good, I do a little dance in my seat. Food soothes my soul and during times when I am in need of soul soothing, there are two dishes that I make - roast chicken or armies of cupcakes.

I have never told anyone why these two things hold such magical powers, but, my dear readers (all 2 of you), I will dispense the rationale here:

Chicken - The first time my ex-husband left me, I experienced the five stages of grief within the first hour. I was an emotional wreck. I was in the anger phase while I was preparing my dinner - a whole chicken. I dressed the chicken with a concoction of herbs, lemon rind and olive oil and out of anger, I stuffed the lemon up that poor chicken's ass.... but somehow I felt instantly better. Since then, whenever I have not been feeling myself, I go out and buy the necessary ingredients to recreate this recipe. (Sometimes, my former roommate could sense my impending mood and, bless her little cotton socks, would bring home a chicken and a lemon!)

Cupcakes - Now, you know that things are really bad when I bake armies of cupcakes... the honeyed infantry is usually deployed when the chicken doesn't do it's duty. Cupcakes are always a long process, where I get an opportunity to work things out in my head. Even if I turn a problem over and over and end up in the same place that I started, I take comfort that mixing flour with butter, eggs, sugar, milk, bicarbonate of soda and an assortment of flavourings will always produce pleasant results.

Last night, there was chicken to be had. As I am only one person, the leftover chicken usually gets turned into sandwiches, pastas and soup. I have read that, in addition to soothing the soul, chicken soup can help to minimize the effects of a cold. Today's question is: are there medicinal properties to chicken soup?

A: In 2000, Dr. Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska, studied the medicinal properties of chicken soup. Using his wife's homemade recipe and numerous store bought brands, lab tests indicated that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. Dr. Rennard theorizes that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms.

There are no plans to further the study of chicken soup, which led many scientists to conclude that chicken soup is "folk medicine". However Dr. Rennard says that we cannot discount the "TLC" (tender, loving care) factor. "If you know somebody prepared soup for you by hand, that might have an effect."

None of the chicken soup research is conclusive, and it’s not known whether the changes measured in the laboratory really have a meaningful effect on people with cold symptoms. However, at the very least, chicken soup with vegetables contains lots of healthy nutrients and increases hydration.

I wonder what science has to say about the medicinal properties of stuffing a lemon up a chicken's butt?

Sources:

CNN.com - Health: Chicken Soup is Medicine, US Scientists Confirm

New York Times: The Science of Chicken Soup

Wikipedia: Chicken Soup

Summer's Eve

I get by with a little help from my friends.

- The Beatles

My friends are hilarious! Every one of them is always curious about my love life, so I dispensed my most recent story on them. The story was met with a number of responses:

~ What a DOUCHE!
~ Douche bag!
~ Such is the way of the duchenarian.
~ You don't have time for that type of douchebagery.
~ Leave Douchey McDouche for someone else.


As you see, there is a common theme. However, an Australian friend stated that he was unfamiliar with the term, and one of the senders of the above said she didn't know what the literal definition was either. I'm a little shocked that this word is so frequently used in North American culture, but not everyone actually knows what it means. So, today's question is (I can't believe I'm actually writing about this... where is quality control?!): what is a douche bag?

A:

Okay, let me start off with how I explained it to my young Strayan friend.


Douche Bag: Colloquially, it is interchangeable with the word 'Jerk', 'dirt bag', etc.
Douche Bag: Literally, it's a device used to internally cleanse a vagina. Similar to an enema, but for lady-bits.



Let's see if I did a good job.


The Online Slang Dictionary defines it as:
1. A derogatory term, used most often to describe males; "jerk"

2. An excessively self-obsessed person, usually male.

3. A person who intentionally acts like a jerk to appear cool or to show off.

According to Dictionary.com, a douche bag is:

A small syringe having detachable nozzles for fluid injections, used chiefly for vaginal lavage and for enemas.

So, my explanation was pretty accurate! I don't know if I should be proud or a little embarrassed. (?)

PS. The name of this blog post is not a random one, it is in reference to a well known brand of douche - look it up.

*A special thank you to Bearded Eric of Eric Makes Masks for giving me permission to use his photo, and for the record, is definitely NOT a douche.

Foolish Games

I am two fools, I know,/For loving, and for saying so/

- The Tripple Fool

by John Donne

I have expressed this sentiment many times in the last 24 hours: I feel like a fool.

I feel foolish for misreading the signs and mistaking lust for love. I feel foolish that I did not immediately recognise that I was hanging my hopes on a pipe dream. I feel foolish for putting myself in this position. I feel that I should be put in the corner and made to wear the dunce cap - I have obviously not learned anything about relationships, romantic or otherwise, in the last couple of years.

Enough with the self-loathing. Today's question is: what is the origin of the word fool?



A: The word is Old French, originating in the 13th century meaning "madman" or "insane person" or in Vulgar Latin used with a sense of "windbag, empty-headed person". In the 14th century it was used to descibe a court jester, whether that be a professional entertainer or an amusing lunatic that was put on the payroll.

Ah, these foolish games...

Sources:
Dictionary.com - Fool
Online Etymology Dictionary