What is a Pingo?

I was playing Words with Friends the other day against my cousin. The word that I played was pin, then she played back pingo! I was in disbelief that such a word existed, so I accused her of making the word up, even though this would require collusion with the makers of Words with Friends and I was was reasonably certain that, a) She didn't know the makers of Words with Friends, b) They wouldn't change a word on her request, even if they knew her, and, c) That she wasn't likely to expend the level of effort and planning required to add this word into the game, just to score a few points. Nevertheless I challenged her to use pingo in a sentence, as I was sure that even if it was an accepted word, she was probably just playing around with letters and didn't know the meaning.

My cousin rose to this challenge and replied with the sentence, "the Eskimo swore as he tripped over the pingo." I had a good laugh as I read this, firstly assuming that she had just made the sentence up for a laugh, but then thought it was a bit obscure to add that it was an Eskimo, so perhaps she had actually looked up the meaning (a thing that I could have done myself instead of challenging her, but it would have been less fun). So I decided to check the meaning as well (at this stage the fun was over and I really needed to know if she was making things up, or had actually checked the definition), sure enough the meaning of the word pingo is, "a hill of soil-covered ice pushed up by hydrostatic pressure in an area of permafrost." So it would be reasonable to assume that Eskimos would see pingos all the time, and understandably might swear as they trip over them.  Obviously my cousin had looked up the definition and came to the same conclusions as myself. So I had to admit that pingo was an acceptable word, however I would still like to point out that my spell checker highlights pingo as a misspelt word, so I am not the only one in disbelief!

Check the definition of pingo yourself at dictionary.com.

What causes more deaths, vending machines or wolves?

I spent many hours during my holidays watching episodes of the West Wing. I love this show and I have picked up a few random facts, that I will share with you over the coming weeks. Today however, the fact that caught my eye happened whilst one of the characters, CJ, was listening to a group of people who were lobbying to have an Animals Only Highway built across the United States of America (USA) and into Canada (this has actually begun construction in real life, and is referred to as Y2Y). The group were using the example of a wolf, called Pluie (this wolf was also a real life wolf who was tracked, and provided inspiration for Y2Y), and in using this example stated that more people in the USA die from vending machines than wolf attacks. This is a statistic that is hard to find on the internet, and reminds me of another statistic which is equally hard to prove, 'that more people are kicked to death each year by donkeys than die in airplane crashes.'

These are two comparisons that are trying to make people think of the big picture, rather than focus on these facts in a small context, however from what I can find (in my 10 minute Google search), there are no statistics gathered around how many, if any, people are kicked to death each year by donkeys, however airplane fatalities are very well documented. Therefore I don't think that this statistic can be supported, although I am sure people will continue to use this comparison. As to the amount of wolf deaths versus that of vending machines, I think we may have a winner! Although I could not find statistics, from sources that were anywhere near credible, around the number of deaths per year by vending machine in the USA, I did find one Australian vending machine website that stated of the 15 injuries by vending machines recorded, only three resulted in death. Now there is not much detail around this statement, so it is my assumption these statistics are from all recorded incidences in Australia. I also found another website which stated that in North America (including Alaska and Canada) in the 100 years of the 20th century 20-30 wolf attacks were recorded and only three resulted in death, all due to rabies. Australia has a much smaller population than the USA, 20 million versus 300 million  so there are around 15 times more people in the USA. So if you calculate that Australia has had three vending machine deaths, you could reasonable multiply this number by 15 to get 45 deaths by vending machines in the USA (I know this is not exact, there are many other factors to consider, but lets just go with it). So based on this, you could reasonably state that more people's deaths are attributed to vending machines in the USA than to wolves!

I sourced many sites, Y2Y, the Yellowstone Insider around wolf attacks, Snopes, around the donkey deaths and SVA vending machines.

KFC to be served on Japan Airlines flights

I was reading an article the other day on The Age website about the new cuisine to be served on Japan Airlines. I have flown with a few different airlines, such as Thai Airways, Malaysian Airlines and British Airways, and often on board these flights some of the meals served is from that country's local cuisine. So to hear the Japan airlines, which I assumed would serve something local like Sushi, is to start serving on the flights for Christmas Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), was quite a surprise. I would have thought that American Airlines would be the first airline to serve a fast food product on board their flights.

I read further into the article to discover why Japan Airlines would take such an interesting move with their choice of in-flight cuisine, and I discovered that there is actually an interesting explanation. Apparently in the 1970s, over Christmas, many expatriates in Japan would purchase KFC chicken for their Christmas dinner, as it was the closest thing they could find to a Christmas turkey in Japan. So sales of KFC would dramatically increase around December 25th each year. This lead to a tradition of having KFC for Christmas, which was picked up by the younger Japanese locals, making the tradition even more widespread in Japan, than just the expatriate community. It is in honour of this tradition that Japan Airlines has decided to serve KFC on their flights over the Christmas holiday period this year.

If you are interested in reading the original article, check out The Age website.

Nikola Tesla (Part 2)

Last week I started telling you about an inventor named Nikola Tesla, and I told you about an incredible invention he discovered. Now if you remember last week I said that he invented the Alternating Current (AC) electrical system, the first hydro-electric generator at Niagara Falls, X-rays and Radio. Although all of these inventions are still in operation or being used in some way today, the incredible invention that I am about to tell you about was never completed, but would have revolutionised the way in which we use electricity. Basically Nikola discovered a way to magnify electrical energy and to distribute the power wirelessly around the world. Imagine a world where you no longer had power lines connected to every home and the cost of delivering power to a large city would be the same as to deliver power to a shack in the middle of the desert. This is the invention that Nikola Tesla discovered, and not only did he discover it, but he started to build a tower in Long Island (New York State, in the United States of America) between 1901 and 1905. The foundations of this tower still exist today, however the tower was never completed.

Why do you suppose the tower was never complete? It was because the financier of the project realised that there would be no way to measure people's usage of power from the tower, so he could not charge them properly. J. Pierpont Morgan was the financier and his comment regarding the tower and his withdrawal of funding was, "If anyone can draw on the power, where do we put the meter?" So instead of creating a tower that could distribute electricity wirelessly around the globe, we have instead invested billions of dollars in cables being run all around the globe to deliver electricity, which has damaged our environment and I would say cost many more billions in repairs and maintenance just because with this method we are able to measure how much power is used and therefore charge people who use the most power. I think in the long run he would have made millions more distributing power wirelessly regardless of inability to measure people's usage.

If you would like to read more about Nikola Tesla, have a look at his biography on the Tesla Society website, or the original website I viewed to learn about Nikola, The Oat Meal. Learn more about wireless electricity transfer on ncoic.com.

Nikola Tesla (Part 1)

A while ago my friend sent me a website link about a man called Nikola Tesla, he was a Serbian-American inventor who lived from 1856 - 1943. The website outlined many of the great inventions that were attributed to Nikola Tesla, who by the end of his life had registered over 700 patents worldwide. The invention that interested me most was that of the Alternating Current (AC) electrical system. The reason that I find this interesting is because in school I always learnt that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and modern day electricity, however this is in fact incorrect. Thomas Edison developed a light bulb based on other men's inventions and his Direct Current (DC) electrical system which powered this light bulb was weak and inefficient. It was Nikola Tesla who reinvented this system and created the AC electrical system, which is the system that is used to power all the nations around the world today, so in fact Nikola Tesla is actually the inventor of modern day electricity, not Edison. Tesla, after inventing the AC system, went on to develop the first Hydro-electric plant at Niagara Falls.

Nikola Tesla can also be credited with many other modern day inventions which have in fact been credited to other people. Wilhelm Rontgen is credited with inventing the X-Ray, however at the same time that he discovered this, Nikola Tesla was also experimenting with the same X-Ray technology. Although Wilhelm won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901 for this discovery, it was actually discovered by Nikola prior to his experiments, however Nikola never attempted to claim priority for this invention. Guglielmo Marconi won the Nobel Prize in 1909 for his invention of the Radio, however in 1943 the United States Supreme Court ruled that Guglielmo's most important patent was invalid and recognised that Nikola's earlier discoveries regarding radio were more significant and recognised him as the inventor of Radio. This article highlights only a few, although there were many others, of Nikola's significant contributions to electrical science. In particular, there is one more incredible invention that I would like to highlight  however I do not have the space to include it in this blog. To learn what invention he discovered that was so incredible, you will have to check out my blog early next week.

Normally I include further references about a topic, in this case you will find the articles regarding Nikola Tesla on next week's blog, however to learn more about the invention of the light bulb, check out the UnMuseum website.

Waltzing Matilda definition

I was looking at the fact of the month on my desktop calendar and for November it said that the meaning of 'Waltzing Matilda' in German was 'carrying a backpack'. So in fact the tune would go, 'carrying a backpack, carrying a backpack, you'll come a carrying a backpack with me.' I thought this was very interesting, butI didn't quite believe it, so I did a little Google research. It turns out that the phrase 'Waltzing Matilda' was thought to have originated with the German immigrants in Australia and was derived from the German language. However although the definition could be loosely translated to mean 'carrying a backpack', that is a much too simplified definition of the phrase.The definition that I discovered on a few different sites, was that Waltzing was derived from the German term Auf der walz, which means to travel whilst working or learning a trade. The term Matilda has Teutonic origins and means Mighty Battle Maiden. This term was applied to camp followers of armies and a Matilda came to be known as someone who 'keeps you warm at night'. Eventually Matilda was applied to other things that kept you warm at night, such as a coat or blanket. 

So the phrase Waltzing Matilda actually means to travel whilst looking for work and carrying something to keep you warm at night. I can see why Banjo used the phrase Waltzing Matilda in his song, as the full definition would have really thrown out verses. Sing it with me, 'Traveling whilst looking for work and carrying something to keep you warm at night, traveling whilst looking for work and carrying something to keep you warm at night, you'll come a traveling whilst looking for work and carrying something to keep you warm at night with me'. Quite a mouthful, and it really doesn't have the same ring to it as Waltzing Matilda. I can also see why my desktop calendar shortened this definition, although they left out totally the part about traveling whilst looking for work, and I really don't consider that a backpack would keep you warm at night. So to say Waltzing Matilda means 'carrying a backpack' is an incredibly loose translation, but I can see that it would fit better on a desktop calendar than the real definition.

Thailand is a Monarchy

I will admit that I have traveled to many different countries and only upon arriving do I learn what form the political system of that country takes. My recent trip to Thailand was no different, upon arrival in Bangkok and after a checking out some of the sights, I noticed that there was a picture of a man in many different places around the city. I have noticed in my travels that countries which have an elected head of state don't tend to have pictures of the country leader strewn about, generally because they change so regularly that nobody forms a strong enough attachment to any of them that they start to hang pictures of them in the streets. So after seeing all of these pictures I wondered who the person was, I assumed that he was their king, however I wanted to be sure, so did a little Google research and also looked in my guidebook.

I discovered that Thailand is actually a constitutional monarchy, and that this king (I was right they were pictures of the king), Bhumibol Adulyadej, is the longest serving head of state in history, and Thailand's longest reigning monarch. His reign  has lasted over 66 of the 84 years of his life. During his reign there has been 15 coups, 16 different constitutions and 27 changes of Prime Minister. In order to survive that long as the head of state in a county which has had so many different forms of government during his reign, from military regimes to more democratic government systems, he must be a remarkable man. After learning all this information it didn't surprise me that the king was revered and that Bangkok had so many pictures of him hanging in different places around the city. 

If you would like to read more about King Bhumibol, check out Wikipedia.