What Makes Flamingos Pink?

by Bill McLain

  Coffee is also called “java,” a term coined by American hoboes in the late 19th century. It was derived from the coffee-producing country, Java.

  Some authorities believe the word coffee comes from Caffa, an Abyssinian province. Others believe it’s derived from the old Arabic word qahwah, which means wine. Coffee cherries were used to make wine long before the coffee bean was used to make coffee.

  Whether you call it coffee, Java, or joe, it’s still one of the most popular drinks in the world.

  FACTOIDS

  Malays eat the leaves of the coffee plant because they contain more caffeine than the beans.

  Caffeine is found in chocolate, some sodas (such as Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi) but not others (root beer, ginger ale, Fresca), some pain relievers (Vanquish, Excedrin, and Midol) but not others (aspirin and Tylenol), as well as in some diuretics and cold remedies.

  Coffee is the second most popular beverage in the world. Tea is the most popular.

  In 1732, there was a movement to prevent women from drinking coffee because people thought it would make them sterile. Johann Sebastian Bach poked fun at the movement by composing his “Coffee Cantata,” an ode to coffee. It included the aria “Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee.”

  The flowers of the coffee plant grow in large bouquets and have a faint odor of jasmine.

  In 1906 an English chemist, George Constant Washington, was living in Guatemala. One day he noticed that a powdery condensation had formed on the spot of his silver coffee decanter. After numerous experiments with the substance, he created the first mass-produced instant coffee. (The first soluble instant coffee was invented by chemist Satori Kato of Chicago in 1901.)

  A German coffee importer, Ludwig Roselius, took a batch of coffee beans that had been ruined and gave them to researchers. The researchers perfected a method of removing the caffeine from the beans while retaining the flavor of the coffee. The product was given the name “Sanka,” and was introduced in the United States in 1923.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  The most expensive coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak, which sells for up to $300 a pound. What makes it so expensive?

  A coffee bean is actually the seed of a small red fruit, called a cherry. Each cherry normally has two seeds, which we call coffee beans.

  In Asia, there is a small carnivorous animal called the palm civet. It is also called the toddy cat because it has a fondness for palm juice, which the locals use to make a sweet liquor called toddy.

  It is claimed that the palm civet eats the cherries whole but is unable to digest the seeds. While passing through the rodent’s system, the seeds are partially digested by certain enzymes before they are excreted. Plantation workers collect the seeds and roast them to make Kopi Luwak coffee.

  It makes a very good story and helps keep the price of Kopi Luwak coffee high. The coffee is even extolled by the Indonesia Tourism Promotion Board. However, it’s not what it seems to be. The former head of the Indonesian national zoo said that the entire story is a fake, simply a great sales pitch for selling ordinary coffee at premium prices.

  To date, no one has proved whether the story of the origin of Kopi Luwak is true, yet it is still being sold all over the world at premium prices.

  It’s sad that some people are paying up to $300 a pound for what might be just regular coffee. It’s even stranger that they are willing to pay that amount of money for something they believe was first partially digested by an animal.

  Perhaps it’s all a matter of taste.

  More questions? Try these Web sites.

  CHEESE

  http://www.wgx.com/cheesenet/

  Everything you ever wanted to know about cheese is on this Web site. Start by clicking on “Cheese index.” You can then select any letter of the alphabet to list all cheeses with names beginning with that letter. It also includes a picture of the cheese and lists the country of origin.

  The site also has a history of cheese, describes how cheese is made, and includes a cheese glossary. There is a section with stories and poems about cheese, as well as links to many other sites about cheese.

  If for some reason you can’t find an answer to your cheese question at this site, you can always ask Dr. Cheese. His e-mail address is: drcheese@wgx.com.

  ADULT PEANUT BUTTER LOVER’S CLUB

  http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/

  About three out of every four households in the United States consider peanut butter to be a staple like bread and milk. This Web site is a fan club for peanut butter lovers everywhere. It gives the history of peanut butter, explains how it’s made, and contains other interesting information such as nutritional facts and recipes. There is also a trivia test you can take.

  FIERY FOODS

  http://www.fiery-foods.com/

  There seems to be a growing interest in hot foods such as chili, peppers, and other spicy foods. Click on “Cookin’ with heat” to see numerous tips and techniques for spicy cooking. The three magazines on the site are slanted toward the producer or seller rather than the consumer, so you can skip those.

  You should, however, click on “Hot links” for a great list of hot and spicy food sites. When you do, take a look at “Mark’s remarkable hot links,” which has just about everything you could want when it comes to fiery foods.

  U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA)

  http://www.fda.gov

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) site covers not only food but also cosmetics, drugs, medical devices, and more. If you click on “Foods,” you’ll see a long list of related links. You can scroll down to find a topic that interests you, or you can search on a word by clicking on “Search” at the top of the page. A particularly interesting topic is “Food labeling and nutrition.”

  If you scroll down to the bottom of the home page, you’ll see the “Special information for:” section, which has information specifically for consumers, women, and so on.

  JUNK FOOD MECCA

  http://www.whpress.com/mecca/

  This site lists most junk foods. Just click on the name of a junk food and you’ll see the logo of the manufacturer. Click on the logo to go to that Web site. For example, if you go to the Moon Pie Web site, you’ll learn the history of the Moon Pie, where the name came from, how they are made, and any collectibles and gifts you can buy.

  7

  The Human Body

  Is it true that we use only 10 percent of our brain at any given time? (Some people use a lot less than that.)

  Almost everyone has heard the statement “We only use 10 percent of our brain.” Yet virtually no scientist in the world would agree with the statement, because it’s an outright myth. We use all of our brain.

  Why do so many people believe this myth? Probably because of the fascinating potential it offers. If we are only using 10 percent of our brain, then if we could learn to use the other 90 percent we might possibly perform super feats of memory, have superior intellect, control our bodily functions, and even move objects by just thinking about them. It’s an appealing myth.

  No one has been able to track down the origin of this myth. Some think it’s a misquote of Albert Einstein. Others think it might have started because of a statement William James made in 1908: “We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources.” Still others think it might have been misconstrued from the valid statement “We only understand how 10 percent of our brain functions.”

  Let’s examine the consequences of using only 10 percent of our brain at any time. First, why should such a large brain have evolved at all? Nature is efficient. If we are only using 90 percent of it, why make it so large? Scientists believe that all healthy brain cells participate in the brain’s function.

  Second, maladies such as Parkinson’s disease and strokes have a devastating effect even though they damage only a tiny part of the brain. If we are using only a portion of our brain, then this sm
all amount of brain damage should not cause a major problem.

  FACTOIDS

  The brain has roughly 100 billion brain cells.

  There is no scientific evidence that older people can’t learn new things. It may sometimes takes them a little longer, but they retain the new information as well as younger people.

  Your brain has enough storage capacity to record 10 million books.

  Growing old does not mean you will lose your memory. Current brain research indicates that if you keep your brain active, you will remain mentally sharp regardless of aging.

  A signal from one brain neuron to another travels at about 200 mph.

  Many scientists believe that the brain is the most complex structure in the known universe.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  A subject that often comes up in discussions of the brain is the phenomenal intelligence of “idiot savants.” The phrase is a combination of the word “idiot” coupled with the French word savant, meaning “clever” or “learned.” Today, the term has been replaced by the more appropriate “autistic savant.”

  A typical autistic savant may have an IQ of around 25, and may not be able to read or write, yet can perform amazing mental feats such as quoting the census of 5,000 U.S. cities, including the number of hotels in each city and the number of rooms in each hotel.

  Some autistic savants excel in art. One drew such beautiful pictures that they were compared to Rembrandt’s. Yet she lost her ability to draw once she learned to speak.

  Another autistic savant was put in an institution because he could not care for himself. Although he had a very low IQ (50 to 80), he could easily translate among 16 different languages.

  No one knows why autistic individuals, of whom there are numerous examples, have such incredible abilities. Perhaps one of the most fascinating examples is that of Blind Tom, known as the “Marvelous Musical Prodigy.”

  In 1862 Blind Tom seemed to be just a normal African-American boy of thirteen, except he was blind. He had never been educated in any way. In fact, until he was five or six years old he couldn’t talk and could barely walk. Yet he had a capacity for music that few people possessed.

  Blind Tom could play three musical pieces at once. While singing “Dixie,” he would play the “Fisher’s Hornpipe” on the piano with one hand while simultaneously playing “Yankee Doodle” with the other hand. He would also play many songs with his back to the piano and his hands inverted. His original compositions were called “picturesque, sublime, and a true embodiment of musical genius.” In 1869 Mark Twain wrote an article about Blind Tom.

  Perhaps we should not look down on those less intelligent than ourselves. It is quite possible that they may have a genius that we do not recognize or that they may offer the world something we cannot.

  Is it true that a full moon makes people act strangely? (Lunatics or werewolves?)

  It is a common belief that the full moon causes people to act strangely and that during a full moon there are more violence, suicides, accidents, aggression, and depression. The purported cause is sometimes called the “lunar effect” or the “Transylvania effect.”

  The words “lunacy” and “lunatic” come from the Latin word for moon, or luna. Based on this, some people argue that it has been known for centuries that a full moon has a strange effect on people.

  In spite of these beliefs and other folklore and tradition, modern scientific studies have proven that there is no correlation between a full moon and unusual human behavior. Scientists have studied violence, crime, birth of infants, major disasters, kidnappings, alcoholism, sleep walking, depression, psychosis, suicides, hospital emergency room admissions, drug overdose cases, and accidents. In all of the studies, a full moon had no effect on any of these incidents. In fact, in many cases, such as suicide and drug overdose, there were fewer cases during a full moon than during a new moon.

  If scientists have proven there is no correlation between a full moon and strange behavior, why do so many people still believe it is true? You often hear people say, “Just ask an emergency room nurse, or a bartender, or a police dispatcher and they’ll tell you it’s true.”

  Psychologists think that we believe in lunar madness because of folklore and tradition, the media, misconceptions, and selective memory. For example, we might remember some bizarre event that occurred during a full moon, yet forget that the same event also happened at other times.

  We must also realize that if two events occur simultaneously, it doesn’t mean that one event has caused the other. If it’s raining outside and a football quarterback throws three touchdown passes in one game, it doesn’t mean that the rain caused him to complete the passes, any more than making three touchdowns caused it to rain. Just because something happens during the full moon doesn’t mean the full moon caused it.

  FACTOIDS

  There are countless legends about humans who changed into wolves during a full moon. These people were called “werewolves” from the Old English wer, meaning “man,” and wulf, meaning “wolf.” Do such beings exist?

  There is a mental disorder called lycanthropy (derived from the Greek words lycos, meaning “wolf,” and anthropos, meaning “man”). A person suffering from lycanthropy believes that he is a wolf or some other animal. The person’s behavior may change until it resembles that of an animal, but the person is still just a human with a delusion.

  Some individuals have a disease in which abnormal genetic traits cause a great amount of hair to grow all over their bodies. The disease also causes dramatic receding of the gum line so that the person appears to have fangs.

  Ergot, a parasitic fungus, often grows on rye and other cereal grasses. If rye flour contains ergot, it will be present in bread made from the flour. An outbreak of ergot poisoning occurred in France in 1955. People who were affected hallucinated and said they were “attacked by horrible beasts and terrified of the dark.” Perhaps a similar outbreak in the Middle Ages fostered the werewolf legends.

  All of the scientific evidence points to the fact that true werewolves don’t exist. However, to be on the safe side, it wouldn’t hurt to keep a wreath of garlic and a silver bullet by our beds. They will protect you against both werewolves and vampires.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Was the moon once populated by furry, winged batlike humans? Today we’d laugh at such an idea, but in 1835 people believed it was true.

  The eminent British astronomer Sir John Herschel traveled to South Africa to test a new telescope. In August 1835, the New York Sun ran a series of articles stating that Herschel had discovered life on the moon, including pygmy bison, beavers that walked on two legs, and the furry batlike humans.

  By the time the fourth installment had appeared, the New York Sun boasted the largest circulation of any newspaper in the world.

  It was all a hoax perpetrated by a British journalist who was trying to make a name for himself in the United States by boosting the circulation of the floundering New York Sun.

  When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, rumors circulated that the event was nothing more than a deception contrived by the U.S. government. Some time after the walk on the moon, the movie Capricorn One showed how such a hoax could be created.

  They say that history repeats itself, but that’s not always true. It’s doubtful that furry batlike people walked on the moon, but it’s a fact that Neil Armstrong did.

  What makes your fingers and toes become pruney after you have been in the bathtub for a while? (Are you shrinking or expanding?)

  A thick, tough layer of skin (in Latin, stratum corneum) covers the tips of your fingers, your toes, and the soles of your feet.

  If you sit in a bathtub for a long period of time, or soak in a swimming pool or hot tub, your skin absorbs water and expands. Unlike the skin on the rest of your body, the skin on your fingers and toes has no place to expand, so it just buckles. This causes the skin to wrinkle, which gives it the “pruney” effect.

  FACTOIDS

  Not only did King
Louis XIV of France never bathe but he never washed his feet either.

  A typical drinking straw holds about one and a half teaspoons of water. To fill up the average 34-gallon bathtub, you would need the equivalent of 17,000 drinking straws.

  Benjamin Franklin bathed regularly in a copper bathtub he imported from France. It was shaped like a shoe and hand-filled by a bucket.

  In 1851 the first bathtub was installed in the White House.

  During Prohibition, bootleggers made alcoholic drinks from alcohol, glycerin, and juniper juice. Because they used bottles or jugs that were too tall to be filled from a sink faucet, they filled the bottles under the bathtub faucet. Thus, the illegal concoction was dubbed “bathtub gin.”

  Queen Elizabeth I of England was thought to be overly meticulous, because she bathed as often as once a month.

  In 1917 H. L. Mencken wrote an article explaining that the very first American bathtub was installed in the White House by President Millard Fillmore, who faced substantial public, medical, and legal opposition because of it. Although Mencken later admitted the whole story was a fake, it survived for almost 40 years. In fact, President Truman used the story in a speech in 1952.

  Many states hold bathtub races. Contestants race in bathtubs equipped with outboard motors.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Bathing was intended not only to keep people clean but also was involved in religious and magic rituals. Bathing was an ablution to remove the invisible stains acquired by touching the dead, committing crimes, or touching a diseased person.

  Although homes in the Indus valley of Pakistan were equipped with bathrooms as early as 3000 B.C., the use of baths as a means of keeping clean was introduced much later by the ancient Romans.