After the October 1, 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, there were some claims that it was the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. This isn’t surprising, since 58 people were killed and another 489 wounded. In the minds of the media, it displaced the 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting (49 killed and 58 wounded) as the worst shooting.
People have been using cosmetics to decorate and enhance their eyes since at least 10,000 BC. Egyptians used powdered malachite, a green copper ore, and ground galena, a gray-black lead sulfide, as an eye shadow on their upper and lower lids and kohl eyeliner (made from a paste of powdered antimony, burnt almonds, black oxide of copper, and brown clay ocher).
The earliest books in the Old Testament are the Pentateuch. These are the first books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and are attributed to Moses but appear to come from four different sources.
All corn, or maize, is genetically modified. It began 6,000 to 10,000 years ago as a wild grass called teosinte. It was nothing like the tasty ears of corn we enjoy now, the seeds were hard and small with only about 5 to 12 seeds.
It looks more like something you would take a string trimmer to than it does an important food crop, doesn’t it?
Early Mesoamericans (people who lived in what is now Mexico and Central America, before Europeans came) bred the plants over thousands of years to get plants that were closer to what we think of as corn.
Modern corn needs people as much as people need it. If an apple falls off an apple tree, the fruit will rot and the seeds will have a chance of sprouting. If a corn cob full of corn falls off the plant the seeds are too tightly wrapped to be able to sprout. Even if it was shucked first, there are too many tightly spaced seeds. It would not have the room it needs to grow.
Corn growers realized they could breed together several varieties of corn and create hybrids that combined the most desirable qualities of the ancestor varieties. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “About 95 percent of our corn acreage now is planted to hybrid corn. We produce at least 20 percent more corn on 25 percent fewer acres than in 1930, when seed of hybrid corn became available in quantity to American farmers.”
Hybridization let us develop corn that was more vigorous, disease resistant, had shorter growing periods, and was sweeter. New seeds had to be bought each year since you cannot grow the same plant from the seeds of a hybrid. The plants from its seeds will revert back to the parent varieties.
Corn that had been genetically modified in a lab was first made commercially available in 1996 by Monsanto. There have been several genetically engineered modifications to corn:
Corn and other plant hybridization helped feed the world for a while, but to keep growing we need to continue to develop genetically engineered plants that provide more food, use less resources, and are more environmentally friendly.
Learn more about teosinte from the University of Wisconsin and the history of maize (corn) from History.com
NYT article about the history of corn
Find out the myths and truth about GMO corn from NPR
Read a post at the Skeptical Raptor’s Blog with lots of links to learn about GMO science vs. anti-GMO fear mongers.
The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by Congress on December 18, 1917 and ratified on January 16, 1919. A ban on the sale and production of alcoholic beverages went into effect one year later on January 20, 1920.
Section 1.
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2.
The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
The temperance movement – people against the consumption of alcohol – had been growing in the U.S. since the 1820s pushed by a renewed interest in religion. It became a social justice cause for women, and as they acquired the vote, they were able to increase the political pressure to ban liquor.
The final straw may have been the anti-German sentiment brought about by World War I. Many of the United States’ breweries were owned by German-Americans and were viewed as unAmerican. Trying to deflect the temperance movement from shutting them down, the breweries attacked distilleries and hard liquor, and promoted beer as a healthful drink.
Even during Prohibition you could buy and consume alcohol, if you had a doctor’s prescription for it. (Not unlike medical marijuana in some states today.) A prescription would let you buy up to one pint every ten days. A Chicago drugstore (Walgreen’s) with 20 stores in 1920 grew with the help of prescribed alcohol and had over 525 locations by the end of Prohibition. This is why there are liquor sales in drugstores today, even in states that don’t allow hard liquor to be sold in stores other than liquor stores. (The laws vary from state to state on whether beer, wine, or liquor can be sold in grocery or convenience stores.)
It was repealed by the 21st Amendment which was passed on February 20, 1933 and ratified on December 5, 1933.
Section 1.
The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 2.
The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
Section 3.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
John 2:1 – 11 describes the first miracle:
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Weddings were followed by feasts which could last for several days. It was a point of pride in Middle Eastern cultures then, as it is now, for the host to be able to provide plentiful food and wine for their guests. Running out of wine while the party is still going strong would have brought dishonor on the family even if it wasn’t due to their poor planning or lack of funds. Maybe they had enough before, but then Jesus decided to invite his disciple bros. Not a problem, a few more are always welcome.
Mary decides to state what is obviously obvious.* “They have no wine.” He might tease her a bit, but he’ll still provide the wine to make his mom happy. She’s confident that he can do something about the lack of wine. Does this mean she knows he can perform miracles? The Koran (3:49) says:
And (make him) a messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, that I determine for you out of dust the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird with Allah’s permission, and I heal the blind and the leprous, and bring the dead to life with Allah’s permission; and I inform you of what you should eat and what you should store in your houses. Surely there is a sign in this for you, if you are believers.
But this story is originally from the Gospel of Thomas, written about 140 AD. It is not a part of the official Christian canon and earlier miracles would conflict with the statement that the miracle of the wine was “the first of his signs”.
*Dads tell dad jokes, moms state the obvious. Parents act like parents no matter the place or time. What would be a dad joke in Jesus’s case? The platypus?
30 minutes after the party started, duh. Unless you’re one of those people who have a drink to before ordering the pizza just to “get in mood to party” and still haven’t food four or five drinks later. Don’t be that person. Be the one who orders on time while you can still speak coherently to the person taking the order.
Now, while you’re waiting for your pizza to arrive, you can tell them these interesting pizza facts.
In 1889 an Italian chef who was known for his pizzas went to the palace to make some pies for King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. The Margherita pizza was named after her. I don’t know if that counts as delivery since he was only delivering himself and not the pizzas.
The Splendid Table has a recipe for a Margherita Pizza so you can try making your own,
While an Italian chef was making pizza for the palace, Americans were using portable ovens to bring fresh pizza to the streets. (Still the late 1880s.) This is still not quite like what we think of as delivery, it’s more like food trucks (NTTAWWT).
It wasn’t until the 1960s that real pizza delivery to homes was made available. We had pizzas since forever and cars and phones for a few decades. There needed to be one more thing – a strong desire by the customers to eat pizza without having to get up off the couch. This finally came in the form of marijuana.
There’s one more piece to our story – a delivery to a home away from home. Pizza Hut, working with Russian scientists, sent a pizza to the International Space Station in 2001. It was a 6″ sausage pizza and the delivery from Earth to low orbit space took about 2 days.
Find more here – What’s Cooking America: History of Pizza