The Warlike Origins of 'Going Dutch'

"Going Dutch" (sometimes written with lower-case dutch) is a term that indicates that each person participating in a paid activity covers their own expenses, rather than any one person in the group defraying the cost for the entire group. The term stems from restaurant dining etiquette in the Western world where each person pays for their meal. It is also called Dutch date, Dutch treat (the oldest form, a pejorative) and doing Dutch.

But where did the phrase come from? One suggestion is that the phrase "going Dutch" originates from the concept of a Dutch door, with an upper and lower half that can be opened independently. The Oxford English Dictionary connects "go Dutch" and "Dutch treat" to other phrases which have "an opprobrious or derisive application, largely due to the rivalry and enmity between the English and Dutch in the 17th century", the period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

This week, a look at what makes "Going Dutch" fighting words.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust (French novelist, 1871 - 1922)  

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Why Are Bananas Berries, But Strawberries Aren't

Tomatoes and avocados are fruits, as most people know. Yet more often than not they're found alongside vegetables in culinary uses. The the plant world is full of strange cases of counter-intuitive classification.

Botanists define a fruit as the portion of a flowering plant that develops from the ovary. It contains the seeds, protecting them and facilitating dispersal. (The definition of a vegetable is a little fuzzier: any edible part of a plant that isn't a fruit.) Subcategories within the fruit family – citrus, berry, stonefruit or drupe (peaches, apricots), and pome (apples, pears) – are determined by which parts of the flower/ovary give rise to the skin, flesh and seeds.

Strawberries and raspberries aren't really berries in the botanical sense. They are derived from a single flower with more than one ovary, making them an aggregate fruit. True berries are simple fruits stemming from one flower with one ovary and typically have several seeds. Tomatoes fall into this group, as do pomegranates, kiwis and – believe it or not – bananas. (Their seeds are so tiny it's easy to forget they're there.)

This week, a look at what makes a berry a berry...and why some berries aren't berries.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov (US science fiction novelist & scholar, 1920 - 1992) 

   Why Are Bananas Berries, But Strawberries Aren't by fredwine on Scribd

The Anti-Waiter Sentiment That Made Automat Restaurants Go Mainstream

It all sounds so futuristic: a restaurant without waiters, without workers behind the counter, without any visible employees whatsoever, where you simply feed your money into a glass-enclosed kiosk, remove a steaming plate of freshly made food, and carry it to your table. Forward into the past, specifically the early 20th century, to a time when automats served hundreds of thousands of urban customers every day.

This week, a look at the anti-waiter aentiment that made Automat restaurants go mainstream.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it." - Lyndon B. Johnson (36th president of US, 1908 - 1973)

   The Anti-Waiter Sentiment That Made Automat Restaurants Go Mainstream by fredwine on Scribd

Touring the Abandoned Atlantic City Sites That Inspired the Monopoly Board

Monopoly. It seems like a wonderful idea when it is first brought out of storage, but inevitably the game it wearily packed back into the box with little enthusiasm. It can be plodding, tedious and argument-inducing. It is simplistic, dull and far too reliant on chance. While we know the locations on the board, what we hardly ever consider when playing the game is that it is based on an Atlantic City that no longer exists.

This week, we take a tour of the abandoned Atlantic City sites that inspired the Monopoly Board.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Sometimes old things need to go away. That way, we have room for the new things that come into our lives." - Randy K. Milholland (Something Positive webcomic, 1975 - )

   Touring the Abandoned Atlantic City Sites That Inspired the Monopoly Board by fredwine on Scribd

Why Do We Sleep Under The Blankets?

Linus van Pelt had it right. Blankets are a security thing.

This week, a look at why we sleep under the blankets.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Actions have consequences...first rule of life. And the second rule is this - you are the only one responsible for your own actions." - Holly Lisle (American writer of fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance and romantic suspense novels, 1960 - )

Why Do We Sleep Under the B... by on Scribd

Science of Handwashing

In 1846, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis worked in a hospital in Vienna where maternity patients were dying at an alarming rate. He compared the statistics between the hospital and a clinic staffed only by midwives and found the hospital had five times as many deaths in their maternity ward. Using the scientific method, he eliminated variables one at a time and eventually discovered those dying had been treated by student physicians who worked on cadavers during an anatomy class before beginning their rounds in the maternity ward.

Handwashing was an unrecognized hygienic practice at the time and pathogenic bacteria from the cadavers regularly were transmitted to the mothers via the students' hands. In an experiment considered quaint at best by his colleagues, Semmelweis insisted that his students wash their hands before treating the mothers; deaths on the maternity ward fell five-fold.

Unfortunately, Semmelweis’s ideas were not accepted by all of his colleagues. Indeed, many were outraged at the suggestion that they were the cause of their patients’ miserable deaths. Consequently, Semmelweis met with enormous resistance and criticism. It was decades before the medical profession was ready to accept his discovery.

This week, a look at the science of handwashing.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "They say dreams are the windows of the soul – take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts." - Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

   Science of Handwashing by fredwine on Scribd

Are You There God? I’d Like to Sue You

We are a litigious society. See below if you doubt that statement.

 

This week, a look at those who have tried to sue God.

 

TTFN, Fred.

 

Quote of the week: "They say that blood is thicker than water. Maybe that's why we battle our own with more energy and gusto than we would ever expend on strangers." - David Assael, Northern Exposure, Family Feud, 1993

Are You There God? I’d Like to Sue You by fredwine on Scribd