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.