Don’t Be An Alarmist
Sunday
The first siren, consisting of air forced through a disc with evenly-spaced holes spun to produce the noise, was developed in the late 18th Century by philosopher and physicist John Robison. The device was further modified for steam-powered use in lighthouses.
Monday
Despite being bombed by German zeppelins in WWI, British government officials debated the deployment of an air raid siren system, but finally had one developed and in frequent use during the nightly German bombings of WWII.
Tuesday
The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed alarm functions on water clocks, and ancient Chinese had candle clocks performing the same function.
Wednesday
Early mechanical alarm clocks were developed as early as the 15th and possibly even 13th centuries. In the more modern era, American inventor Levi Hutchins developed a smaller household alarm clock in 1787 which could only ring at 4am, following Levi’s firm rule to always rise before the sun and pray. Sixty years later, Frenchman Antoine Redier patented the first adjustable alarm clock.
Thursday
The first fire alarm which wasn’t simply people relaying fire information was a telegraph-based electric system developed for Boston in 1852. It was successful, though it depended on people staying in or near burning buildings long enough to operate the crank and alert the local fire department.
Friday
The United States and Canada use the multiple alarm fire (two-alarm fire, three-alarm fire, etc.) to indicate how many firefighting units and how much equipment should be sent to fight the blaze. The higher the number, the more people and equipment needed.
Saturday
The original sirens belonged to Greek myth. These half-bird, half-woman creatures sang a song so beautiful that sailors were lured near, only to have their ships destroyed and lives lost.
A Most En-Titled Individual
Among the many books named for Shakespeare lines:
Sunday
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” –Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1
Monday
Band of Brothers by Steven E. Ambrose
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother” –Henry V, Act IV, Scene III
Tuesday
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. –Hamlet, Act V, Scene I
Wednesday
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
“Oh, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in ’t!” –Tempest, Act V, Scene I
Thursday
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, and with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste.” – Sonnet 30
Friday
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” –Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II
Saturday
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” –Macbeth, Act V, Scene V
Let the Facts Flow
Sunday
Every continent except Antarctica has a “continental divide,” often a mountain range, which separates the direction water flows by rivers and streams into larger water bodies. From this divide, additional hydrological divides often further distribute the water into lakes, seas, and oceans.
Monday
While most of the world’s rivers flow southward, there are some very notable exceptions, including the mighty Nile, the world’s longest.
Tuesday
Certain river crossings are famously irrevocable. In mythology, the recently dead are carried across Hell’s River Styx by the ferryman Charon. Julius Caesar, crossing the Rubicon River toward Rome with his army in a forbidden act which he knew would spark a civil war, declared “the die is cast” as he crossed.
Wednesday
As long, defined lines, rivers are a natural choice for political borders. One 2020 study found that rivers constitute 23% of all national borders, 17% of state and provincial borders and 12% of county borders.
Thursday
The original poem “Over the River and Through the Woods” involved a trip to grandfather’s house, not grandmother’s, and came from an author working to rebuild her career after she was shunned for writing a 1833 book strongly condemning American slavery.
Friday
Some rivers run underground naturally, but a surprising number are intentionally buried, typically because they are in the way of urban development. Some of these rivers, buried decades or centuries ago, are now being brought back to the surface.
Saturday
The first European to discover the Amazon River in 1541 named it for the female warriors of Greek myth because the indigenous groups which confronted and battled him along the river included women.
Use Your Noodle
Sunday
The term “noodles” is not quite the same as “pasta.” Noodles can be made from a variety of grains and are generally long and thin, but only pasta comes from durum wheat and can be many shapes.
Monday
Although you may only know a handful of pasta shapes, the dough which pasta comes from is so versatile that there are at least 600.
Tuesday
Noodle dishes have traced back to ancient China, but these were rice or millet-based, and hence unlikely to be the predecessor of durum-based pasta known throughout the Mediterranean.
Wednesday
“Pasta” translates to “paste” or “dough,” which is what the individual shapes are cut from.
Thursday
Thomas Jefferson fell in love with pasta, all of which he called “macaroni,” during a trip to Naples, and thereafter imported much of it to the US for himself and friends. He did much to popularize it in the US, and the country’s first pasta factory later opened in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Friday
Italy is both the world’s largest pasta exporter and per capita consumer.
Saturday
Spaghetti was the topic of the most famous April Fool’s Day Joke in broadcast history. The 2.5-minute hoax BBC broadcast showed a Swiss family plucking spaghetti off the family “spaghetti tree” and reported that it was a good harvest after a mild winter and with the “spaghetti weevil” gone. An uncommon dish in England at the time, many viewers believed this was indeed how spaghetti was produced.
