January 31st: Snowdrops appear

Traditionally, on average, today is the day the first snowdrops appear. They often appear much earlier, though - this photograph was taken in my garden two weeks ago:

10 things you may not know about snowdrops:

1. Snowdrops belong to the Galanthus family. Galanthus derives from the Greek gála "milk", and ánthos "flower". The name snowdrop does not mean 'drop' of snow, it means drop as in eardrop – an old word for an earring. They have also been known as Candlemas Bells or Bulbous Violet.
2. We think of them as native British Flowers, but they were introduced to Britain around sixteenth century, probably from Italy, by monks. This is why they grow so often in old monastery gardens. Some species are found in Russia and the Middle East. The first written record of snowdrops growing wild in Britain dates from 1770, and the first of cultivated garden snowdrops is dated 1597. 
3. Although snowdrops grow happily in the wild, most wild ones would have started off growing in a garden. Large numbers of wild snowdrops are an indication that there would have been a dwelling on that site once.
4. According to legend, the snowdrop became the symbol of hope when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Eve was about to give up hope that the winter would ever end, when an angel appeared. The angel transformed some of the snowflakes into snowdrop flowers, to show that winter does eventually give way to the spring.
5. In some churches on Candlemas Day or the Feast of the Purification (February 2nd), especially in Lady Chapels, the image of the Virgin Mary is taken down and snowdrops spread in its place.
6. Despite this positive image, there are some superstitions attached to snowdrops. It is said to be unlucky to bring them indoors, and in some parts of the country a single snowdrop blooming in the garden is believed to be a sign of an impending disaster. In the West of England, it is believed that snowdrops should not be brought into a house before the first chickens are hatched, or all the eggs will be spoiled.
7. In folklore, the snowdrop is meant to represent 'the passing of sorrow'. Snowdrops, along with carnations, are also the birth flower for those born in January.
8. It was suggested by Andreas Plaitakis and Roger Duvoisin in 1983 that the magical herb moly that appears in Homer's Odyssey is actually snowdrop. Snowdrops contain galantamine, which, as anticholinesterase, could have been an antidote to Circe's poisons.
9. In 2011 a very rare double snowdrop, Galanthus 'EA Bowles', sold for £357 on E-bay - the highest recorded price ever paid for a snowdrop bulb.
10. William Wordsworth was famous for writing about daffodils, but he also wrote poems about snowdrops: 

"I began 
My story early, feeling, as I fear, 
The weakness of a human love for days 
Disowned by memory, ere the birth of spring 
Planting my snowdrops among winter snows."
from The Prelude: Book 1: Childhood and School-time

"... these frail snowdrops that together cling,
And nod their helmets, smitten by the wing
Of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by...” 
On Seeing a Tuft of Snowdrops in a Storm by William Wordsworth.

January 30th: Romeo and Juliet performed for the first time

The first performance of Romeo and Juliet took place in 1595. Here are 10 things you may not know about one of William Shakespeare's most popular plays:

1. Shakespeare did not come up with the actual plot himself. It is based on a poem by Arthur Brooke: The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which itself was a translation of another work, Mariotto and Gianozza by Masuccio Salernitano, published in 1476. In this version the story takes place in Siena, and the author claimed it was a true story.
2. It is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, but some scholars believe it was written in 1591, because Juliet's nurse refers to an earthquake she says occurred 11 years ago. The Dover Straits earthquake took place in 1580, although this was not the only earthquake to occur around this time, so nobody really knows.
3. In Shakespeare's time, there were two editions of the play, which were somewhat different from each other. The first, which appeared in 1597 is 800 lines shorter and contains imperfections. Some scholars think it was a pirated version produced from memory by one of the actors, or that a typesetter did not include Shakespeare's corrections to the first draft. Another version appeared in 1599, and this is the one that is the basis for printed versions of the play today.
4. The play takes place over a time span of four days in mid July. 
5. Juliet is only 13 years old, although her fourteenth birthday is in two weeks. Her birthday is Lammas Eve; so since Lammas is on August 1, her birthday is July 31st. Although that seems terribly young to us, it was not uncommon for nobility in those times to marry very young.
6. One important character in the play is not seen and has no lines. Her name is Rosaline, and she is the one that Romeo is in love with at the beginning of the play. She is not interested, having taken a vow of celibacy. However, she is invited to the Capulets' party, and wanting to get a glimpse of her is the reason Romeo crashes a party held by his family's arch-enemies. It is at this party that he first sees Juliet and falls for her instead.
7. Either Juliet's nurse or Lady Capulet is called Angelica. Juliet's father speaks a line about Angelica getting a feast ready, but it is not clear which of the two he is talking about.
8. Even a play as popular and as classic as this was panned by some critics at the time. The first person to give it a bad review was Samuel Pepys, who wrote in 1662: "it is a play of itself the worst that I ever heard in my life."
9. In Shakespeare's time, all female parts in a play were played by boys. The first woman known to have played the part in a professionally produced play was Mary Sanderson in 1662.
10. The modern day musical West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet. An even more recent version was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Mudlark Production Company in 2010. It was called Such Tweet Sorrow, and was in the form of a series of real time tweets on Twitter.

January 29th: W.C. Fields' Birthday

American actor and comedian W.C. Fields was born on this date in 1880. Here are 10 W.C. Fields quips:

1. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.

1. I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
2. The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
3. Start every day off with a smile and get it over with.
4. I like children. If they're properly cooked.
5. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.
6. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
7. It is funnier to bend things than to break them.
8. I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
9. I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.

January 28th: Daisy Day

10 things you may not know about daisies:

1. The word "Daisy" derives from "day's eye", which is a reference to the fact that daisy flowers open in the morning and close at night. The Latin name is Bellis perennis. Bellis is Latin for "pretty" and perennis is Latin for "everlasting". Chaucer called it "eye of the day".
2. Historically, it has also been known by the rather less attractive names "bruisewort" or "woundwort". In Medieval times, the Daisy was commonly known as "Mary's Rose", possibly because it was said that the flowers sprang from the tears of Mary Magdalene, and the flowers were dedicated to her. 
3. The ancients dedicated it to Artemis, the goddess of women.
4. Although the flower of the daisy looks like a single flower, in fact, each one is made up of many flowers. Each petal is a flower, and the yellow centre is made up of many tiny flowers.
5. You can eat them! In fact, they are a good source of Vitamin C. Young leaves, buds and petals can be eaten in salads, added to soups or made into teas.
6. They have also been used historically as medicine for indigestion, coughs, backache, insanity, smallpox, jaundice, skin disease, eye problems and even tumours. King Henry VIII ate daisies to relieve pain from a stomach ulcer. It was also used in Wales in the Middle Ages to test whether a patient would live or die. The patient would be given ground up daisy flowers in wine. If the drink made the patient sick, he would die. If not, he would survive. Assyrians believed that if you crushed daisies and mixed them with oil and put it on your hair, the mixture could turn grey hair dark again.
7. Daisies are found everywhere on Earth except Antarctica.
8. In the language of flowers, daisies are the symbol of innocence, purity and truth. They have also been used as a confession of love when given by one person to another. Medieval knights would go into battle wearing garlands of daisies given to them by their sweethearts. They can also represent secrets, and giving one to another person it could mean passing a secret to them.
9. An ancient Celtic legend says that daisies came from the spirits of children who died at birth. To ease the grief of their parents, God sprinkled the flowers all over the earth.
10. There is an old English saying that spring has not come until you can set your foot on twelve daises.

Picture: Alessandro Zangrilli

January 27th Mad Hatter Tea Party Day/Rabbit Hole Day

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was born on this date in 1832. Here are some things you may not know about the "Alice" stories:

Lewis Carroll

1. The story was born on a five mile rowing trip up the Isis along with Rev. Robinson Duckworth and the three daughters of Henry Liddell, one of whom was called Alice. Alice in particular loved the story so much that she asked Carroll to write it down for her. Three years later he gave her the full written version for Christmas. At this point he was already preparing to publish it.
2. Characters in the story are said to be caricatures of people the children would have known - Dodgson himself is the Dodo (because he stuttered and his name came out sometimes as Dodo-Dodgson), the Duck is Duckworth, the Mad Hatter a local shopkeeper, and the Mock Turtle the children's art teacher.
3. It has been suggested political figures were also used - that Bill the Lizard was a play on Benjamin Disraeli, and that the Queen of Hearts represented Queen Victoria!
4. Some scholars have suggested that there are references to the story relating to the lessons the girls would have been taking - mathematics, French, Latin and history (the playing cards painting the white roses red, for example, is an allusion to the Wars of the Roses).
5. In the English version, Alice thinks the mouse may be French and speaks to it in French. In the French translation, she speaks to the mouse in Italian.
6. The traditional illustration of Alice with long blonde hair is not a representation of Alice Liddell, who had short, dark hair.
7. The Hatter is never referred to in the books as "The Mad Hatter". The phrase "mad as a hatter" already existed (because hat makers worked with mercury, and often suffered from mercury poisoning, which caused neurological damage). The Cheshire Cat does, however, comment that the Hatter and the March Hare are "both mad".
8. The ticket in the Hatter's hat reads 10/6 which refers to the cost of the hat - ten shillings and six pence in old money, the equivalent of 52.5p today.
9. The Cheshire Cat may have been based on a gargoyle or church carving that he came across in his travels. The phrase "grinning like a Cheshire cat" did not originate with Carroll, but is thought to come from the fact that there are a lot of dairy farms in Cheshire and therefore a lot of milk and cream - so the cats there have plenty to smile about!
10. Charles Dodgson was an inventor as well as a writer. One of his inventions was an aid to writing, called a nyctograph, which used a card grid and symbols to allow note-taking in the dark, so he could record any ideas that came to him in the middle of the night without getting out of bed.

January 26th: Maria von Trapp's birthday

The character of Maria in The Sound of Music was based on a real person - Maria von Trapp, who would have been 109 today. Here are 10 things you may not know about the real Maria von Trapp and her family.

1. Maria von Trapp was born in 1905, on a train bound for Vienna from her mother's home in the Tyrol, Austria.
2. Her maiden name was Kutschera, not Rainer as in the musical's script.
3. Her mother died soon after she was born, and her father when she was 6. Her guardian was violently opposed to the Catholic church, so although she had been baptized, grew up largely without any religious instruction until deciding to enter a convent at 18. Her upbringing was no doubt responsible for her "How do you solve a problem like Maria" behaviour as a novice!
4. Baron Georg von Trapp was a World War I submarine commander, and in real life he had a moustache.
5. Her assignment as governess to the family was meant to last nine months, and then she was expected to return to the convent and take the veil. However, by then, the Baron had proposed marriage, and Maria had to decide between marriage and her religious vocation. She chose marriage, although in her autobiography she reveals that she was really committed to becoming a nun, but her abbess believed it was God's will that she married. She also wrote that she was not in love with the Captain - she liked him, but loved the children more. She only came to love the Captain after they were married.
6. After their escape from Austria, the family went to New York, their passage paid for by their concert manager. They made their home in Stowe, Vermont, because it reminded them of Austria.
7. The Vermont home is now a holiday resort which is still managed by the family. It is possible to stay there on holiday and enjoy such activities as Cross Country Skiing, Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides, History Tours, Yoga, Mountain Biking, Hiking, Bird Watching and Concerts in the meadow.
8. Although the von Trapps were happy to have their story told in The Sound of Music, they asked for the children's names to be changed to protect their privacy. Friedrich, Liesl, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl were, in real life, called Rupert, Agathe, Maria, Werner, Hedwig, Johanna and Martina. Maria had three children of her own, Rosemarie, Eleanor and Johannes, half-siblings to the ones featured in the film.
9. When applying for US citizenship, Maria von Trapp, under oath, stated that her wedding to Georg took place on 26 November 1927 and their first child was born on 8 February 1928 - meaning she would have been pregnant when she married. However, the family dispute this, and in her autobiography, she herself gives the year 1929.
10. After the singing group disbanded in 1957, Maria returned to her religious vocation and became a missionary in the South Pacific, as did three of her children.

25th January: Burns Night

Today is Burns Day, when many people in Scotland, or who come from Scotland, will be celebrating with a Burns Supper. Here are 10 facts about Burns Suppers which the rest of us Sassenachs may not know:

Edinburgh Castle

1. Although Burns suppers are traditionally held on or around the 25th of January, the birth date of Robert Burns, they can be held at any time of year. In fact, the first ones, in the 18th century, were held by friends of the poet on 21 July, the anniversary of his death.
2. Nor are they confined to Scotland. They are increasingly popular elsewhere in the UK, in particular Northern Ireland. There is a strong tradition of them as far afield as Dunedin, New Zealand. Robert Burns' nephew, Thomas Burns, was a founding father of that city.
3. Grace is said before supper, usually the "Selkrk Grace" because Robert Burns himself was said to have used this particular grace at a dinner party given by the Earl of Selkirk,. The words date back to the 17th century and were also known as the Galloway or Covenanters' Grace. It goes as follows: "Some hae meat and canna eat,; And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, And sae let the Lord be thankit."
4. Next is a soup course, normally something Scottish like Cock-a-Leekie.
5. The main event is the main course, which is always a haggis on a large dish. The cook ceremoniously carries the dish in and lays it in front of the host, to the sound of bagpipes, with everyone standing.
6. Someone, more often than not the host, or anyone with Thespian talents who may be present, recites Robert Burns' poem addressing the haggis, the first verse of which goes as follows: Fair fa' your honest, sonsie (cheerful) face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race! Aboon (above) them a' ye tak your place, Painch (stomach), tripe, or thairm (intestine): Weel are ye wordy (worthy) o' a grace As lang's my arm. There are seven further verses singing the praise of haggises.
7. The third verse begins: His knife see rustic Labour dicht (wipe or sharpen), at which point the speaker draws and sharpens a knife. At the next line, An' cut you up wi' ready slicht (skill), he slices the haggis from end to end.
8. At the end of the poem, the host proposes a toast to the haggis (with Scotch whisky, naturally) and everyone tucks in to the haggis, and the neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) which are traditionally served with it. This is followed by a traditional dessert such as whisky trifle, cheese, biscuits and coffee.
9. After the meal, there are speeches. The first will have Burns's life or poetry as its theme. The host will then thank the first speaker. Next, a male guest will give a speech with the theme of his view of women, and propose a toast for the men to drink to the women's health - "Toast to the Lassies". Originally, the purpose of this was to thank the women who had prepared the meal, but in modern times it is light hearted teasing of the women by the men, and will be followed by a "toast to the laddies" in which a female guest gets to reply and to give her own views on men! Songs and poetry by Burns are performed, and it is not uncommon for guests who come from places other than Scotland to be invited to perform traditional pieces from their own culture.
10. The evening closes with the singing of Auld Lang Syne (It's not just for New Year!)

January 24th Hadrian's Wall

The Roman Emperor Hadrian was born on this date in 76 AD. He is famous for building a wall (or at least commanding a few hundred Roman soldiers and labourers to do it for him). Here are 10 things you may not know about Hadrian's Wall.

1. Hadrian's Wall was 80 Roman miles long, that's 73 modern miles or 117.5 km if you are too modern for miles at all! Its width and height varied due to variations in construction materials along its route. East of the River Irthing, the wall was made from squared stone and measured 3 metres (9.8 feet) wide and 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 feet) high. West of the river the wall was made from turf and measured 6 metres (20 feet) wide and 3.5 metres (11 feet) high. The central section measured eight Roman feet wide (7.8 ft or 2.4 m) on a 10-foot (3.0 m) base.
2. The wall extended from Segedunum at Wallsend on the River Tyne to the shore of the Solway Firth, ending a short but unknown distance west of the village of Bowness-on-Solway. Although the wall ended near Bowness-on-Solway, a line of defensive structures called Milefortlets continued on to the village.
3. Hadrian's Wall does not mark the border between England and Scotland. It is entirely in England, and is 110km south of the border in places.
4. The purpose of the wall is commonly believed to be to prevent barbarians from Scotland raiding the edge of the Roman Empire - but scholars now believe that the risks posed by raids from the sparsely populated lands just north of it hardly justified the expense of building the thing. It is more likely, they say, to have been to control the movements of people, and, of course, charge customs duties on any goods passing through the check points.
5. It took six years to build.
6. Today, much of the wall is gone, its stone used for building roads in the eighteenth century, or taken by farmers. A lawyer called John Clayton began buying the land around the site of the wall in order to preserve it, and also carried out excavations. He financed this through managing the working farms on his land. Although his descendants didn't share his enthusiasm, and lost much of the land through gambling after Clayton died, the National Trust eventually began buying the land back and preserving the wall.
7. Hadrian's Wall was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and in 2005 it became part of the transnational "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage Site which also includes sites in Germany.
8. One for Game of Thrones fans. George R.R. Martin, who wrote the novels, has said that Hadrian's Wall was the inspiration for "The Wall". Martin visited Hadrian's Wall, and wondered what it might have been like for the Roman centurion defending it, not knowing what might come from the north, and this inspired him to write "a story about the people guarding the end of the world". Martin's Wall is considerably bigger. In the novels it is described as being approximately 300 miles (480 km) long and 700 ft (210 m) high. It is wide enough on top for a dozen mounted knights to ride abreast.
9. In 2003, the Hadrian's Wall Path, which follows the remains of the wall for much of its route, became the 15th National Trail administered by Natural England. The path is 84 miles long, and although much of it is in remote countryside, the terrain is quite flat and so it is a relatively easy walk if a little muddy in places.
10. After Hadrian died, his wall was largely abandoned, but his successor, Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered another wall 99 miles (160km) north of it, in Scotland, to be built. Less well known than Hadrian's, The Antonine Wall has nevertheless also found its way into works of fiction - as a defence line against zombies in Max Brook's novel World War Z.

(Photo by Mlm42)

January 23rd: Longest domain name anniversary

On this date in 2000 a certain Welsh village claimed the world record for the longest domain name. Most sites on this subject say that the best anyone can do in terms of domain names is tie for first place because 63 characters is the largest legal domain name allowed. Here are 10 of the longest domain names around:

1. www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/
Website for the Welsh village with the longest name in Britain. It means: Saint Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio of the red cave. The website includes a tutorial on how to pronounce the name and lists local attractions and places to stay and eat.

2. www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/

Web page claiming to be the one with the longest name; includes a link to an email from Guinness World Records explaining why it is no longer possible to break this record, and a message from God!

3. www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/ 
an e-mail service. Claims that at no cost you can have the world's longest email address, but warns that some email software won't be able to cope with it, and neither will humans having to type it in. Also, people might just think your e-mail address is a joke....

4. http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/

A web site dedicated to listing the longest of everything. If you want to know what is the longest conga line, escalator, moustache, roller coaster, wedding dress train or just about anything else you can think of, this is the place to find out!

5. The owners of the above site found that a URL of 263 characters was possible:

http://www.thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/wearejustdoingthistobestupidnowsincethiscangoonforeverandeverandeverbutitstilllookskindaneatinthebrowsereventhoughitsabigwasteoftimeandenergyandhasnorealpointbutwehadtodoitanyways.html - which is their info page about the longest URL.

6. www.iamtheproudownerofthelongestlongestlongestdomainnameinthisworld.com

A site which exists purely to boast that it is the longest domain name on the Internet.

7. www.thisisthelongesteuropeandomainnameallovertheworldandnowitismine.eu

A website in German with links to two other long ones:

8. 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.eu/

A German website about pi.

9. http://www.arbeitsgemeinschaft-private-krankenversicherung.info/

A German health insurance firm.

10. http://www.thepersonwithanewideaisacrank-untiltheideasucceeds-by-marktwain.com/

Has a picture of Mark Twain and his quotation written out properly.

January 22nd Champagnes of France Day

Coincides with the feast day of St Vincent, patron saint of champagne makers. 10 things you may not know about champagne:

1.   The title "champagne" is reserved purely for sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France. In addition, production must follow specific regulations in order for the finished wine to qualify as Champagne.

2.   Three types of grapes are used to produce champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Although the latter two varieties are usually associated with red wine, the method of pressing and lack of contact with the skins during fermentation produces a white wine from these grapes.

3.   Dom Pérignon, contrary to popular belief, did not invent champagne, although he played a significant role in developing it. The first champagnes in France were discovered by accident. It was known as le vin du diable (the devil's wine) because in the early days, the bottles were apt to explode. In the 18th century, workers in the wine cellars had to wear iron masks to protect themselves from exploding bottles. It was not unknown for one bursting bottle to set others off around it, and up to 90% of the wine could be lost that way. Dom Pérignon's original mission was to find out how to get rid of the bubbles so that the bottles wouldn't explode. Technical developments in glass making eventually made it possible to produce bottles that could stand the internal pressure and not burst.

4.   If you have ever wondered what the wire contraption which holds the cork in an unopened champagne bottle is called, wonder no more. It is called a muselet, derived from the French word museler, to muzzle.

5.   Champagne may be fermented in a standard sized bottle, or a magnum (1.5 litre) bottle. The larger sizes such as the Jeroboam (3 litres) up to the Melchizedek (30 litres) are filled with champagne which has already fermented in smaller bottles.

6.   Champagne is usually served in flute shaped glasses, but occasionally in wider, shallower glasses called champagne coupes. It is sometimes claimed that the coupe was modelled on the shape of Marie Antoinette's breast, but since this type of glass was used for sparkling wines nearly 100 years before her time, it is almost certainly a myth.

7.   When a ship is launched, a bottle of champagne is smashed on the hull of the ship. It is considered bad luck if the bottle does not break.

8.   In 2009, a bottle of 1825 Perrier-Jouët Champagne, officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest bottle of champagne in the world, was opened at a ceremony attended by 12 of the world's top wine tasters. The contents were drinkable, and the tasters detected notes of truffles and caramel.

9.   Marilyn Monroe was reputed to have taken a bath in 350 bottles of Champagne.

10.  Alfred Hitchcock's 1928 silent film Champagne begins and ends with a shot through the bottom of a Champagne glass.

(photo: Jon Sullivan)

January 21st: Squirrel Appreciation Day

Squirrel Appreciation Day was founded in 2001 by Christy Hargrove, an animal rehabilitator from North Carolina. She suggests celebrating by putting some food out for neighbourhood squirrels (see points 4 and 6) or, if you are one of those people who think they are pests and should not be encouraged to come into people's gardens, you can instead learn something new about them by reading my 10 things you may not know about squirrels!

1. Squirrels belong to family of small or medium-size rodents. The family includes chipmunks, marmots, woodchucks, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs as well as tree and ground squirrels.
2. The word "squirrel" comes from Anglo-Norman which itself derives from the Latin word sciurus, meaning shadow-tailed.
3. The smallest species of squirrel is the African pygmy squirrel which is 7–10 cm long and weighs and just 10g. The largest is the Alpine marmot, which is 53–73 cm long and weighs from 5 to 8 kg. 
4. Squirrels cannot digest cellulose, so they eat a wide variety of plants, including nuts, seeds, fruit, fungi, and green leaves. Some species of squirrel will eat insects, eggs, small birds, young Snakes, and smaller rodents when there is a shortage of other food. Squirrels cannot vomit.
5. Some squirrels are white, not because they are albinos, but because of a recessive gene found in grey squirrels in North America. Olney, Illinois, has the world's largest known white squirrel colony, so the town claims to be the white squirrel capital of the world. The squirrels have the right of way on all streets in the town, and running one down results in a $500 fine. The squirrels are so much a part of the culture of the town that the logo of the local police force features one.
6. Not all squirrels hibernate in winter. Some species of ground squirrels do, but tree squirrels don't. However, they may not leave their nests for days in very cold weather, and although usually solitary, will huddle together with other adult squirrels for warmth. 
7. They do bury nuts, though. Before they bury a nut, they will lick it so that it carries their scent and is easier for them to find again later.
8. The collective name for a group of squirrels is a Scurry.
9. A squirrel's brain is about the size of a Walnut. 
10. Squirrels can control the flow of Blood to their tails. This is useful to them for two reasons - it helps regulate the squirrel's body heat (a squirrel's sweat glands are in its feet - so in hot weather they may leave little wet footprints on paths), and helps them defend themselves against predators which hunt by heat detection.

January 20th: Penguin Awareness Day

Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds. 

Today's picture is one of my holiday snaps - this one was seen rock hopping and jumping in the water in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. Apologies for the grainyness but it was necessary to zoom in quite a bit in order to see him properly!

To celebrate Penguin Awareness Day here are 10 things you may not know about penguins:

1. All penguin species are native to the Southern Hemisphere, but they don't all live in very cold places. One species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.
2. The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) which is 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall on average and weighs 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin or Fairy Penguin(Eudyptula minor), which is only 40 cm tall (16 in) and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). 
3. Some prehistoric species of penguin were as tall or as heavy as an adult human.
4. There is some dispute about the origin of the word "Penguin" which was first used in the 16th century as a synonym for the Great Auk - when European explorers first saw penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they named them after the auk, because they were similar, even though the two species are not related. Some say it comes from pingouin, the French word for "auk". Others say it is derived  from the Welsh word pen, meaning "head" and gwyn, meaning "white". Still others suggest it comes from the Latin pinguis which means "fat". In Dutch an alternative word for penguin translates as “fat-goose”.
5. Within the penguins' plumage there is a layer of air. This has two functions: maintaining buoyancy, and insulation in cold water.
6. Penguins can drink salt water because their supra-orbital gland filters excess salt from the bloodstream.
7. A penguin can swim at about 15MPH.
8. As an April Fools day joke, on April 1, 2008 the BBC released a short film of penguins in flight migrating to the South American rainforest.
9. Popular cartoon representations of penguins and Polar Bears together on Christmas cards and the like are completely wrong. Polar bears live in the Arctic in the Northern Hemisphere and penguins only live in the southern hemisphere. The only place they could possibly ever meet is in a zoo!
10. There is an urban myth that if a plane flies over a penguin colony the birds look up at the plane and watch it until they topple over and cannot get up again. Someone has even claimed to be employed by the military to go round picking the fallen penguins up after a flyover! Recent research has shown that penguins may wobble a little, or waddle away in fright when a plane passes, but they don't fall over. And the Penguin Picker-Upper? Turned out to be a con artist.

January 19th Popcorn Day

It's popcorn day so here are 10 things you may not know about your cinema snack:

1. Popcorn is made from kernels of a variety of maize called Zea Mays Everta. Of all the five types of maize, it is the only one that will pop. Because the hulls are moisture proof, when the corn is heated, the water inside becomes highly pressurised steam. When it reaches about 180 degrees Centigrade, explodes with the pop which gives the snack its name. The force created by this mini explosion can propel the popcorn up to 3 feet in the air. The starch and moisture turn to an airy foam, which as it cools turns into the puffy stuff we call popcorn. Flakes of popcorn can be either mushroom shaped, ie more or less spherical, or butterfly shaped, irregular in shape. The latter are more tender to eat, but more fragile, so the mushroom shapes tend to be used when the popcorn has to be packaged and stored. Usually, one cob of corn produces a mixture of the two, although strains have been developed which exclusively produce either one or the other.
2. Pieces of corn which do not pop, thought to be caused by the hull being damaged, or there being insufficient moisture inside to build up enough pressure, are called “old maids”. Up to 2% “old maids” is acceptable in good quality popcorn. 13.5% moisture is thought to be the optimal content which produces the least amount of old maids. The technical term for the amount of corn in a batch which pops is “popability”.
3. Popcorn is quite an ancient foodstuff – there is evidence that it was eaten in Peru as long ago as 4700 BC, and in New Mexico in 3600 BC, where ears of it were found in a cave. Native Americans would make it by holding the whole cob over a fire. It became popular during the great depression of the 1930s, because it was cheap to make or buy; later, when sugar was rationed during World War II, Americans ate it instead of candy.
4. Ridgway, Illinois; Valparaiso, Indiana; Van Buren, Indiana; Schaller, Iowa; Marion, Ohio; and North Loup, Nebraska all claim to be the popcorn capital of the world. Marion has the largest popcorn festival in the world, held in late summer. The largest popcorn museum is also close by. Nebraska and Indiana are the states where popping corn is primarily grown, although Texas has been producing it too in recent times.
5. Popcorn can be made at home – I remember my American cousins making it in a frying pan with a plate on top, when they came to visit. Making it to sell requires a more sophisticated and reliable mechanism, however. A Chicago man named Charles Cretors invented the first commercial popcorn making machine in 1885. Two parts of lard to one part clarified butter and some salt was added to the corn. A fired boiler created the heat and also steam to drive an engine to agitate the corn so it would pop evenly and could also be used to keep the popped corn warm; and while he was at it, Cretors added a mechanical clown called the Toasty Roasty Man, and a whistle, which helped attract customers to his stand. In China, popcorn is sometimes made by pouring corn into a cast iron pot and heating it while turning. When it reaches the right temperature and pressure the cannister is opened and all the corn kernels pop at once. In 1945, Perry Spencer observed that corn would pop when exposed to microwaves, which led to the development of microwave ovens, so it could be said that popping corn was what microwave ovens were made for!
6. There are a number of world records associated with popcorn. The world's largest popcorn ball was unveiled in October 2006 in Lake Forest, Illinois. It weighed 3,415 pounds (1,549 kg), measured 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter, and had a circumference of 24.6 ft (7.5 m). The largest box of popcorn ever was 52.59m³ (1857 ft³) in volume was filled in just under two hours at an event outside Avenue Mall in Osijek, Croatia, on 16 April 2011. The largest tub of Popcorn ever was made and filled on 9th November 2000 in Leicester Square in London. The tub of popcorn was 3.6 metres high x 3.3 metres wide. There are also records relating to eating lots of popcorn very quickly or catching it in the mouth. Perhaps the best known popcorn record is the 70s number one hit by Hot Butter.
7. Popcorn is best known as the nibble of choice when watching a film in a cinema and many people associate the smell of popcorn with cinema-going. In the US, 17 million quarts of the stuff is consumed each year, enough to fill the Empire State Building 18 times. 
8. It can be eaten as a breakfast cereal, too, and as a party snack. The most common flavours are salt or caramel, but there are other variations. Sweet and salt, wasabi, chocolate, cheese and curry flavours are not unknown. In 2013 it was announced that wine flavoured popcorn was now available, but didn't come cheap at $35 for a gallon tin. You'd be better off, opined the Daily Mail, buying regular popcorn and dipping it in your drink.
9. Without any additives, it is a very healthy snack, containing fibre, vitamins, protein and iron, and pure, naked popcorn won't give you cancer; but the flavouring and additives, largely sugar and fats, can often make it much less healthy.
10. There are other uses for popcorn as well as eating it. In some parts it is threaded onto string to make Christmas decorations, and has been used as a biodegradable packing material, in place of polystyrene. The disadvantage of this is that, being a foodstuff, it can attract animals which regard it as a tasty snack.

Photo by msgohan.

18th January: Pooh Day - A.A. Milne's birthday

The Original Winnie the Pooh toys, by Spictacular

A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie The Pooh, was born on this date in 1882. Pooh Day is to celebrate his birthday. So in honour of Pooh Day, here are 10 Winnie the Pooh quotes:

1. Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump bump on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.  It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.
2. When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
3. You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.
4. If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.
5. Eeyore was saying to himself, “This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it.
6. A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.
7. When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.
8. I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart for so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.
9. Poetry and Hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you.
10. If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.

January 17th: Al Capone's birthday

Famous mobster Al Capone was born on this day in 1899. Here are 10 things you may not know about him.

1. Al Capone's full name was Alphonse Gabriel Capone. He also had a couple of nicknames: "Scarface" (which he hated) which came about after he was slashed in the face by Frank Gallucio, whose sister he had inadvertently insulted. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face saying the injuries were war wounds. His close friends and family called him "Snorky", a term for a sharp dresser.
2. His father was a barber and his mother a seamstress, and the family had emigrated to the US from Italy. One of his brothers, James Capone, changed his name to Richard Hart and became a Prohibition agent in Homer, Nebraska.
3. When another brother, Frank, was killed by the police, Capone ordered that all the speakeasies in Cicero be closed for the day as a mark of respect.
4. He did well at school, but was expelled at 14 for hitting a female teacher in the face.
5. His favourite drink was Templeton Rye Whiskey from Iowa.
6. "There is some good in the worst of us," said Martin Luther King Jr. Al Capone is an example of this. Despite his fearsome reputation as a gangster and killer, there are stories of his charitable acts, too. In 1929, during the Great Depression, he opened the first soup kitchen in America. A sign over the door of the soup kitchen read: "Free Soup, Coffee and Doughnuts for the Unemployed." The soup kitchen fed 3,000 people a day. Capone himself would help serve the meals there, as well as financing it. Soon, the idea spread and there were soup kitchens all over the US. Another of his charitable acts was providing milk for schools when their milk budget was slashed. Because members of his family had once been made ill by drinking milk that had gone off, he insisted that use by dates were printed on the milk he supplied, so he is said to have been responsible for "use by" dates appearing on cartons of milk.
7. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a blue pinstriped suit and tilted fedora is based on photos of Capone.
8. 15 actors have played him on screen including Rod Steiger, William Forsythe and Robert De Niro.
9. Al Capone is the only real-life character ever to appear in any of Hergé's Tintin adventures, in Tintin in America.
10. Although it is widely believed that the first and only time Capone was arrested and sent to prison was for tax evasion in 1931, but he did have a criminal record before this. He had already served short sentences of less than a year for contempt of court and for carrying concealed weapons.

January 16th: Prohibition Day

Today is the anniversary of the start of prohibition in the US in 1920. So here are 10 quotations about the demon drink:

1. My doctor told me to watch my drinking, so now I do it in front of the mirror. Rodney Dangerfield
2. What whisky will not cure, there is no cure for. Irish Proverb
3. In the little moment that remains between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne. Paul Claudel
4. In victory, you deserve champagne. In defeat, you need it. Napoleon Bonaparte
5. Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. Ernest Hemingway
6. Alcohol is the anaesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. George Bernard Shaw
7. There are better things than alcohol. But alcohol makes up for not having them. Terry Pratchett
8. So you went to the hospital about your alcoholism problem. That must have taken a lot of bottle. Judy Finnegan
9. Wine is bottled poetry. Robert Louis Stephenson
10. When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. Henny Youngman

January 15th: Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Jr was born on this date in 1929. Here are 10 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotations:

1. If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
2. If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.
3. Only in the darkness can you see the stars.
4. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
5. Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.
6. Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?
7. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.
8. If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
9. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
10. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.

January 14th: Mallard Day

Mallard day is celebrated in All Souls' college, Oxford on January 14. It commemorates the finding of a large mallard duck stuck in a drain while digging the foundations for the college in 1437. The celebrations include singing a special song dedicated to the duck.

1. Latin name: Anas platyrhynchos; "Mallard" comes from the old French word malart meaning "wild drake".
2. The female lays more than half her body weight in eggs in a clutch of 8–13 eggs, which are incubated for 27–28 days. The ducklings can swim as soon as they hatch, but they imprint on their mother, and so stay close to her while they learn about the best places to find food.
3. When adult mallards pair up with mates, one or more drakes usually find themselves left out, and they are randy little so and sos! The unpaired males are likely to force any female to mate with them if she appears to be alone, even if she already has a brood of ducklings with her. They will also gang rape female ducks of other species (with which they can produce fertile offspring). There have been observations of the males copulating with each other, and even with the corpses of dead ducks.
4. There is evidence that the Mallard was domesticated in ancient Egypt and its domestication may have pre-dated that of the chicken.
5. In Florida, it is illegal to keep a Mallard Duck as a pet. This is to prevent hybridisation with the native Mottled Duck.
6. Since 1933, the Peabody Hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee has maintained a tradition of keeping one Mallard drake and four Mallard hens, called The Peabody Ducks. The Mallards are provided by a local farmer and there is a new team of Mallards every three months.
7. On hatching, ducklings are yellow on the underside and face with streaks by the eyes; their backs and the tops of their heads are black with yellow spots. Its legs and bill are also black. After about a month, the duckling's plumage changes to look like the adult female. After two months, the sexes become distinguishable: males have yellow bills, reddish breast feathers and a curled tail feather (drake feather); the females' bills are black and orange, and the breast feathers brown. Over the next few months, the plumage of the males changes to its characteristic colours including its bottle-green head. Both male and female Mallards have iridescent purple blue speculum feathers edged with white.
8. A group of Mallards may be called a battling, lute, sord, doppling, or daggle.
9. Average life expectancy is 3 years, but they have been known to live long as 29 years.
10. Most species of domestic duck are descended from Mallards.

If you like mallards, or ducks in general, you can see more of them at Duck of the Day courtesy of the University of York.