Moonshine and Popcorn Just Don't Mix

Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, probably the nation's most renowned moonshiner has pleaded guilty to federal charges of producing and selling illegal liquor. Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives put a cork in Sutton's operation after he sold an undercover agent about 300 gallons of untaxed whiskey and agreed to sell another 500 gallons. A subsequent raid on Sutton's property turned up guns, bullets, three 1,000-gallon stills, copper line, more than 800 gallons of moonshine (stashed in a junked school bus) and hundreds of gallons of sour mash and other ingredients.

Popcorn could face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to half a million dollars. Now that a major supply line has been shut down, you may want to purchase his latest video, The Last One, or try to find a copy of his out of print book, Me and My Likker, to learn how to make your very own corn liquor.

Moonshine Trivia:

• Some people claim that moonshine can be tested for purity by putting a little in a spoon and then setting it on fire. It should burn with a blue flame (ethanol). If it burns yellow (methanol), don't drink it. Methanol (also called wood alcohol) is a poison. I don't know if this test is foolproof, so DRINK AT YOUR OWN RISK.
• Moonshine can be tested for strength (referred to as "the bead") by shaking it to form bubbles on the surface. Large bubbles with a short duration indicate higher proof.
• The purity of moonshine is practically limited to 190 proof due to its becoming an azeotrope at 95.6% alcohol by volume (191.2 proof). An azeotrope is a mixture of two or more liquids in such a ratio that its composition cannot be changed by simple distillation because, when an azeotrope is boiled, the resulting vapor has the same ratio of constituents as the original mixture.
  
• Producing moonshine in the United States (even for your own personal consumption) is a federal crime. Periodic attempts to legalize spirit production for personal use have all failed to pass. The most recent attempt was in a bill introduced by U.S. Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan in 2001.
  
• Liquor is one of the most heavily taxed consumer goods in the United States. 32 percent of the purchase price of a bottle of liquor goes to state and federal taxes (three times the tax on wine, and twice that on beer).
  
• Synonyms for Moonshine include Mountain Dew, White Lighting, Corn Liquor, Bootleg, Busthead, Popskull, Rotgut, Bathtub Gin, Panther's Breath, or just simply Shine.

Top 10 Synonyms for “700 Billion Dollars”

1) 700,000 Million Dollars.

2) 1,759 Bridges to Nowhere (at $398 million each).

3) 6,542,056,075 Barrels of Oil (at $107 per barrel).

4) 175,000,000 Gallons of gas (at $4 per Gallon).

5) 3,608 McCain Attempts at the White House (based on McCain’s spending of $195 million on this campaign so far, as of 09/21/08).

6) 233,333 Ralph Nader Attempts at the White House (based on Nader’s spending of $3 million on this campaign so far, as of 09/21/08).

7) 9,763 Wall Street CEO's Annual Compensations (based on Lehman Brothers’ CEO Richard Fuld’s 2007 annual salary package of $71,770,000).

8) 148,462 Golden Parachutes (based on the combined $9.43 million that Fannie Mae executive Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac executive Richard Syron took home after the Feds took over the ruins of their companies).

9) 700 Billion Lee Iacocca 1979 Salaries (when the government bailed out Chrysler, Lee Iacocca's paycheck that year was $1).

10) Just ONE Monstrously Ill-Conceived Government-Run Hedge Fund That Will Buy Up Bad Mortgage-Backed Debts To Bail Out Wall Street Allowing The Rich To Become Richer And ...

It's OK to Eat Poop - No Really, The Government Says It's OK

Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 110.110 allows the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods for human use that present no health hazard". The FDA set these "maximum levels" of "defects" because, in their words, "it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects".

According to the FDA guidelines, "defects" can refer to, but are not limited to, the following examples:

• Copepods and Pus Pockets in Red Fish and Ocean Perch Fillets - The maximum allowable limit is 3% of the fillets examined contain 1 or more copepods accompanied by pus pockets.
• Rodent Hairs in Apple Butter - An average of 4 rodent hairs per 100 grams of apple butter is "acceptable".
• Insect Filth in Peanut Butter - An average of 30 insect fragments PLUS an average of 1 rodent hair per 100 grams is allowed.
• Maggots in Canned Mushrooms - An average of not more than 20 maggots of any size per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid OR an average of not more than 5 maggots 2 mm or longer per 100 grams of drained mushrooms and proportionate liquid.
• Mammalian Excreta in Whole Black Pepper - An average of not more than 1 mg of mammalian excreta is allowed per pound.

What is the Difference Between a Blimp and 16,500 Condoms?

Obviously - One is a Goodyear and the other is a GREAT year.

Recently, the scientific base in Antarctica received a shipment of 16,500 condoms (apparently, a year's supply) for the 125 scientists stationed there. That works out to a whopping 264 condoms per couple. Apparently there is not a whole lot of scientific research going on down there.

Trivia of Note:

• There are currently three GZ-20A size Goodyear blimps in service: the Spirit of Goodyear based in Akron, Ohio; the Spirit of Innovation based in Pompano Beach, Florida; and the Spirit of America based near Los Angeles.
• Each Goodyear blimp is 192 feet long, 55 feet in diameter, and 59.5 feet high, with 202,700 cubic feet of helium and a gross weight of 12,840 lbs.
• There are 7,560 custom made high brightness LED's (light emitting diodes) on the side of each of the Goodyear blimps.
• Goodyear has owned as many as eight blimps at a time since its first commercial ship, the Pilgrim, flew in 1925.
• Goodyear blimps are made of polyester fabric coated with neoprene rubber. They look shiny and metallic from a distance, but they are actually soft and flexible. Condoms are usually made of latex or polyurethane (and are also soft and flexible).
• There is also now a female condom, or vaginal sheath, which is used by a woman and which fits inside her vagina.

Unfortunately Ford Does Not Offer a Lawn Mowing Attachment For the Explorer

According to Environmental Elements ECO Mowers, "the average gasoline powered mower tested by the EPA emits in 1 hour of operation the same amount of hydrocarbons that a 1992 Ford Explorer emits over 23,600 miles".

If you don't want to risk the neighbors calling the city code enforcement goons to come and strong arm you into cutting your waist-high weeds BUT you also don't want to contribute unduly to the extinction of polar bears, you may want to consider purchasing a manual-powered or electric lawn mower (at least until Ford comes out with a grass cutting attachment for the Explorer).

Trivia of Note:

• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 7% of all summertime emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) in southeastern Wisconsin are produced by lawn and garden equipment.
• Because electric power plant emissions are strictly regulated and controlled, a typical electric lawn mower produces less than one percent of the smog-contributing carbon monoxide that a gas mower puts out and 1/9000th of the hydrocarbons.
• In Britain, about 70% of lawn mowers sold are electric.

How Much Would You Pay For This Car?

On May 17, Chris Evans, a British television and radio personality, purchased a 1961 Ferrari California Spyder for $10,894,900, the highest price ever paid for a vintage automobile at auction. The previous record was set in 1990 when Sotheby's sold a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO for $10,756,000.

One of the previous owners of the record-breaking black convertible was the tough-guy actor James Coburn, who purchased the car in 1964 shortly after completing The Great Escape and sold the car in 1987. If you will remember, this is the same model of car that was destroyed by Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) and Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck) in the 80's classic movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Don't worry, only the close-up detail shots in the movie were filmed with an actual Ferrari. The car launched backwards through Cameron's garage was only a modified MG sports car with a Mustang V8. Incidentally, the car parked next to the "Ferrari" in the garage is an MG model TC.

Other Movie Ferraris:

• The always-debonair David Niven, cruising around in his Ferrari 250 GT, in the original Pink Panther.
• Christie Brinkley, at her supermodel best, and her 308, stealing all the attention in National Lampoon's Vacation.
• A blind Al Pacino running from the police in a Mondial Cabriolet, as part of his Oscar-winning performance in The Scent of a Woman.
• Raul Julia in a Daytona spyder, declaring, "Franco is ready. The race can begin." in Gumball Rally.

Cheap Chinese Products May Not Be The Only Source of Lead in Your Diet

The United States may have succeeded in getting the lead out of our gasoline but, in addition to your kids' toys, lunchboxes, and sippy cups, your red lipstick may also be of the fully-leaded variety.

In a report released in October 2007, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups, said it tested 33 lipsticks from a variety of brands and that one-third of those contained lead levels higher than 0.1 parts per million.

Before you panic and trash all of your lipsticks and/or start kissing only bare-lipped ladies, consider the fact that 0.1 parts per million is the "safe" federal limit for lead in candy. Even so, you may want to consider limiting your intake of L'Oreal Colour Riche True Red which clocked in at a whopping 0.65 ppm.

As we very well know, lead is a proven neurotoxin that can cause learning, language and behavioral disabilities. This may partially explain Miss Teen South Carolina's mental meltdown during the 2007 Miss Teen USA competition.

Trivia of Note:

• According to a news blurb in Playboy Magazine, the average woman will ingest about four pounds of lipstick in her lifetime - YUM!
• In ancient Egypt, ferrous oxide was used to color lipstick which smelled like rust - More YUM!
• The first recorded evidence of lipstick use dates back to the Sumerian city of Ur around 2000 B.C.
• The first modern lipstick with a metal "bullet" case was produced in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1915 by the Scovil Manufacturing company.

When In China - You May Want to Stay Out of Your Car

Today the Xinhua News Agency in China confirmed once again that Chinese roads are the deadliest in the world. Chinese government statistics reported nearly 82,000 road deaths last year and, with 5.1 traffic deaths for every 10,000 motor vehicles, China has topped the list for the 11th consecutive year.

Private car ownership in China has soared along with the country's economic boom and inexperienced drivers, overloaded vehicles, reckless driving, and poor road conditions are common and frequently contribute to fatal crashes. Apparently, another contributing fator in the high number of fatalities is the ability of Chinese cars to sef-destruct during a crash as demonstrated by the crash test video of a new Chinese-built Cherry automobile.

Trivia of Note:

• The world average is two deaths per 10,000 vehicles.
• The most current U.S. government statistics report about 1.7 fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles in 2006.
• In 1899 the first US automobile fatality occurred when Henry H. Bliss, age 68, was struck and killed by an electric-powered taxicab as he stepped from a streetcar at Central Park West and 74th Street in New York City.
• In 1952 the US recorded its one millionth traffic fatality and in 1995 recorded its three millionth traffic fatality.

Japanese Warship Will Not be Named in Barack Obama's Honor

Actually, Barack, or anyone else for that matter, should not be too terribly upset to learn that the chances of having a Japaneses warship named after them is even less than winning the lottery. In fact the chance is exactly ZERO as Japanese warships have never been named after individual people.

Japan's Maritime Defense Force (Japan no longer has a "Navy" as it was abolished in 1947 following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes.) newest vessel is the helicopter-carrying destroyer Hyuga shown above. Hyuga is named for a province near the southwest tip of Japan.

Trivia of Note:

• The original Hyuga was completed in 1918 as a battleship but was later converted to an aircraft carrier after the Japan's devastating losses at Midway. Because the flight deck was so short, the 22 aircraft on Hyuga had to be launched by catapult and could not return to the ship to land. The aircraft were forced to land on either a normal carrier or at land-based runways.
• During World War II, there were fifty-six submarines larger than 3,000 tons in the entire world. Fifty-two of these were Japanese.
• Japan does not assign names to its submarines.
• Japanese ship names are often followed by the word maru (丸, meaning "circle"). Warships were first named with this convention in the 16th century. A common interpretation is that ships were thought of as floating castles, and that the word maru refers to the defensive "circles" that protect castles. For the past few centuries, however, only commercial and private vessels bore the maru suffix and the naming convention has come to symbolize a blessing of good hope that will allow the ship to leave port, travel the world, and then to complete the circle by returning safely home.
• Obama may in fact be more perplexed to learn that there are two US warships named USS John S. McCain. USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer that was commissioned in 1994 and is homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. The ship is named after John S. McCain, Jr. and John S. McCain Sr., both Admirals in the United States Navy and the father and grandfather of Senator John S. McCain III. The first USS John S. McCain was commissioned as a destroyer-leader in 1953 and later converted to a destroyer. She was named solely for the elder McCain.

Hollywood Strikes Back Against Christian Content Before Turning Other Cheek

The Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) film-ratings were instituted on November 1, 1968, after complaints by conservative religious groups regarding the sexual, violent, and profanity content of films in American theaters.

In an apparent counter attack, the MPAA struck back by instituting a policy of using statements of faith or religious content as a consideration to increase a film's rating to PG or even higher. A recent controversy was triggered when the MPAA established a PG rating for Sony Provident Film's Facing the Giants in which a coach assures a player that "following Jesus Christ is a decision that everyone makes for himself, but, if he accepts Christ, it will change his life."

After some soul searching, Joan Graves, the chairman of the MPAA's ratings board advised that religious content would no longer be considered in establishing a film's rating. She also clarified that the PG rating had nothing to do with its religious content in the first place and was actually based on a conversation in the film referring to infertility.

Trivia of Note:

• The "X" or "XXX ratings were never officially sanctioned or trademarked by the MPAA. The X rating is often self-applied by pornographers for business reasons and has become the de facto designation for pornography.
• The first, widely-distributed PG-13 movie was Red Dawn (1984), followed by Dreamscape(1984), and The Flamingo Kid (1984), although The Flamingo Kid was the first film rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

USS Buttercup Sinks in Virginia - Navy Confirms Terrorists Are Not to Blame

The USS Buttercup sank today after taking on water due to a simulated missile strike. Yes, you did read that right - a simulated missile strike.

The USS Buttercup holds the distinguished title of the ship credited with the most sinkings. Unfortunately, the sinkings are her own. Located at the Norfolk Naval Station Center for Naval Engineering, the USS Buttercup serves as the Navy's training simulator that recreates a sinking ship. Realistic down to the smoke and emergency lighting the simulator can even be made to list as water pours in.

Roused from your bunk, the only thing that may alert you to the fact that this is not a real disaster is the sudden rush of cold chlorinated water. This simulator is low-sodium in order to minimize the maintenance required to keep the Buttercup in ship shape.

The Navy is tight-lipped as to whether duct tape is aboard during the training exercises. As we all know, "loose lips sink ships".

Recipe for Failure - Do Not Use Duct Tape on Ducts

Duct tape was created by Permacel in 1942 as a waterproof sealing tape for ammunition boxes. Permacel, then a division of Johnson & Johnson developed a tape with a fabric backing for strength and a tacky rubber-based adhesive to seal out water. Apparently, soldiers began referring to the tape as "duck tape" due to its waterproof properties. Another explanation for its early name is the fact that cotton duck fabric was used for the tape's backing layer.

As housing construction boomed following the war, additional civilian uses for duct tape were quickly discovered. One of its most popular uses was connecting heating and air conditioning duct work and soon the color was changed from army green to a more appropriate silver-gray. The term duct tape quickly followed.

Later, research was conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Environmental Energy Technologies Division to determine which sealants and tapes provide an effective and durable duct-sealing solution. Ironically, common duct tape fared extremely poorly becoming brittle and failing to maintain an airtight seal when subjected to realistic test conditions. In fact, most state building codes now prohibit the use of any fabric-based tape with rubber adhesive to be used on ducts.

Nevertheless, duct tape has became one of the most versatile household tools as demonstrated in Eskimo Tailor's 2003 The Duck Tape Song and The Hickory Nuts' 2007 smash hit Duct Tape (Folks can buy their very own copy of The Hickory Nuts' CD entitled Boxin' Possum which includes the entire Duct Tape song by contacting Steve Gale at Gale's Chimney Rock Shop in Chimney Rock Village, NC. Call 828-625-4126 and order yours today!!)

Pioneering the Latest Trend - Sending WMD's to Our Cosmic Neighbors

On March 2, 1972, NASA launched Pioneer 10, the first man made object to leave the solar system. The spacecraft's purpose was to investigate Jupiter, which it passed on December 3, 1973.

Following the Jupiter flyby, Pioneer 10 continued a trajectory that exited our solar system in June of 1983 by crossing the orbit of Neptune. Ordinarily Pluto is the outermost planet, but because of its lopsided path around the sun, Pluto was inside the orbit of Neptune at that time.

Power for the spacecraft was obtained by four SNAP-19 radioisotope thermonuclear generators containing Plutonium-238 with a half-life of 87.7 years. Hopefully, this "alien" probe will bypass any of our yet undiscovered neighbors. A radioactive Pioneer 10 crashing into some other intelligent life form's preschool somewhere far from our home planet could very well precipitate an unwelcome visit.

Blue Tigers Spotted in South Carolina

The South Carolina Senate has approved a proposal to name indigo as the official South Carolina state color. Indigo was one of South Carolina's first cash crops and was an important export during the entire colonial period but its commercial cultivation in the state ceased following the Civil War.

The leaves and flowers of the indigo plant were once the primary source of indigo, a deep blue dye used to color cloth. A member of the pulse family, indigo was grown chiefly in India, hence its name. In modern times, indigo production has disappeared as chemical dyes have replaced plant-based colorants.

It is difficult to understand why a state that is as politically red as they come has adopted blue as their official color. Republicans control the Legislature and all but one of the state's top political offices. In fact, South Carolina voters haven't backed a Democratic Party nominee for president since Jimmy Carter.

Instead of selecting a color based on a product that no longer offers economic benefits to the state, why not choose Clemson orange. Clemson University continues to add value and prestige and would be a much more logical choice. Besides, it would certainly add some cheer to those Clemson Tigers that are feeling somewhat blue over this unintended snub.

What if the Third Little Pig Had Built His House Out of Cement Blocks?

The term cement block is a misnomer. Cement is an ingredient of concrete. The ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Standard Specification C 90-95 states that a concrete masonry unit is to be manufactured by forming a mixture containing portland cement, water, and mineral aggregates with or without the inclusion of other constituents such as air-entraining agents, coloring pigments, and water repellents.

While most engineers and building construction professionals refer to them as concrete masonry units, or more commonly by the TLA CMU, the correct layman's term is concrete block.

More importantly, a house made from blocks of cement instead of concrete would not be structurally sound and would not withstand normal loading and environmental stresses much less the destructive power of a malevolent wolf. If the third Little Pig had in fact constructed his house of cement, he very well might not be with us today and would therefore be unable to share the story of his incredible ordeal.

Oh, if you are wondering what a "TLA" is - It is the acronym for Three Letter Acronym.

Maybe Chicken Little Does Have Something to Fear

Pilgrim's Pride, the largest chicken processor in the US and the second largest in Mexico, employs 55,000 US workers that kill, pluck, and process 44 million chickens per week at their 37 US factories. The result is almost 9 billion pounds of "product" per year.

Some of this product may very well find its way onto your dinner plate via a very indirect route as Pilgrim's Pride also provides ranchers with cattle feed. According to a Wikipedia entry, this supply of cattle feed has been criticized because of the alleged use of "inedible" chicken parts being used for protein content. In order to profit from all parts of the bird, this is a common practice in the poultry industry and is known as "protein conversion".

Protein conversion uses industrial processes to convert inedible parts of the animal, such as keratin in feathers and skin into digestible protein to be used for livestock and pet food (and perhaps, I surmise, chicken nuggets).

Why 1998 May Add Value to Your VIN

Beginning today, no car can be legally exported from the United States into Mexico unless its born-on date is 1998. Until today, Mexico allowed the import of cars 10 to 15 years old. According to a MSN posting, "cars newer than that were banned from imports as unwelcome competition for Mexican car dealers, and anything more than 15 years old was seen as a potential environmental and safety hazard".

Personally, I take offense to the last part of that rational as I am currently driving a 1986 Toyota pickup known as the Bessemer Falcon (but referred to as the Dump Truck or the Free Truck by other family members). No word on if Mexico allows the import of classic or antique vehicles.

On the Golden Gate - Please Stay in Your Car

According to the Washington Post over 1,300 people have jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge in suicide attempts since it was completed 71 years ago. With a 98% "success" rate, the bridge holds the unofficial title of "the most lethal suicide site in America if not the world".

Last year an average of one person every ten days died leaping from the structure. An interesting side note is that over the last 10 years only one person has died due to a head-on collision on the bridge.

pHirst Post

Congratulations - You have stumbled on the first post of a brand new USELESS but (possibly) interesting and enlightening forum of TRIVIAL INFORMATION.

I plan to post trivial tidbits of information and interesting quotes that I encounter such as:

David Boudanis explains on page 262 of his book Electric Universe, How Electricity Switched on the Modern World (Three Rivers Press, 2005) what is meant by "pH":

When we talk about the "pH" of a solution that's simply short-hand for counting the electrically powerful ions inside it. In a glass of water there's one bare hydrogen ion on the loose for about every 10,000,000 ordinary molecules, which is why water's pH is said to be seven - the number of zeros in 10,000,000. The hydrochloric acid in our stomach has one hydrogen ion for about every hundred water molecules, and so has a pH of about 2.