We’ve been watching pigs on big and small screens for decades. Let’s focus on some of these famous swine. • “Babe the Pig,” the story of a pig raised by sheepdogs on an English farm, was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1995, including a nomination for actor James Cromwell, in the role of Farmer Hoggett. That was unusual, considering Cromwell had just 16 lines totaling 171 words of spoken dialogue. Yet he received more screen time in “Babe” than in any of his previous films. There were 56 animal trainers involved in the production to handle 970 […]
October 2022
Venus
– OUT OF THIS WORLD – It’s time to tune in to these facts about Venus, the third smallest planet in the solar system. • Up until 1610, astronomers believed that the planet Venus orbited the Earth. After developing an improved telescope, the Italian scientist Galileo studied Venus, the brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, and observed that the planet went through a series of phases, which led him to the knowledge of its orbit around the Sun. • During daylight hours, the Sun is the only object brighter than Venus, yet Venus can be visible […]
TIDBITS® Passes on Facts about Pigs
by Kathy Wolfe October is National Pork Month, the perfect time for Tidbits to delve into the source of pork … pigs! • Pigs are one of the oldest domesticated animals, as long ago as 6,000 years. There are hundreds of different varieties of domesticated pigs. A typical domesticated pig that has avoided the slaughterhouse lives 15 to 18 years, but some live as long as 20 years. • It’s estimated there are as many as two billion pigs in the world on any given day. It doesn’t take long to produce a litter of piglets. The gestation period is […]
The Sound of Silence
• “The Sound of Silence” is a song released in 1964 that became a smash hit worldwide, making it to the top 10 list in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. But the song had a humble beginning before it kick-started the careers of Simon & Garfunkel. • Simon and Garfunkel met in elementary school in Queens, New York, in 1953, where they learned to harmonize. Simon began tinkering with songwriting. The two lived only three blocks from each other and attended the same schools, where they appeared in school plays, sang for school dances, and […]
James Webb
– OUT OF THIS WORLD – • The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is named after James Webb, but who was James Webb? Short answer, he was the second administrator of NASA and oversaw NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the end of the Johnson administration, watching over each one of the critical first crewed missions: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. • James Webb was born in 1906 in North Carolina. He became a Marine Corps pilot at a young age. Then he got a law degree. Next he worked his way up the ladder of a company […]
TIDBITS® Eats Chicken Eggs
by Janet Spencer • The word “yolk” derives from an Old English word for “yellow”. Therefore, there’s the “egg white” and the “egg yellow.” Come along with Tidbits as we eat eggs! EGG FACTS • Both the egg white and egg yolk contain 3 grams of protein each. While a single yolk contains 3 grams of protein and has 60 calories, a single egg white provides 3 grams of protein with just 15 calories. • Eggshells are porous, allowing air to move through them. As eggs age, they take in air and develop an air pocket. In general, you […]
Grandma Moses
Folk artist Grandma Moses embarked on a new career at age 76, and soon became world-famous. Follow the facts on this incredible senior citizen. • Anna Mary Robertson’s life started out simply on a New York state farm the year before the Civil War began. With 10 children in the family, it became necessary for Anna, at age 12, to move in with a wealthy neighboring family as a live-in housekeeper. For the next 15 years, she kept house, cooked, and sewed for various families. At 27, she met and married the hired man from the farm where she worked, […]
Clouds
– OUT OF THIS WORLD – After reading these facts, the next time it’s “partly cloudy,” you might have a little more knowledge! • Studies indicate that 67% of Earth is covered by clouds at any given time. • It might look like a giant marshmallow, but a cloud is really a mass of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. They form when water vapor condenses in the air. There are three necessary items for clouds to form – moisture, condensation, and temperature. • Clouds are classified according to their shape and their height in […]
TIDBITS® Honors Notable Old Folks
by Kathy Wolfe Who you calling old? Not these remarkable people, that’s for sure! In observation of the International Day of the Elderly on October 1, Tidbits pays its respects to the accomplishments of those dubbed “elderly” by society. • Poland-born virtuoso pianist Artur Rubenstein’s accomplishments began at a young age and continued for over 90 years. At age two, he demonstrated perfect pitch, and by age four, he was considered a child prodigy. His concert debut was at age 7, performing Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. At 13, he was performing with the Berlin Philharmonic, and had his first performance […]
ESP in Birds
• Dunlins are sandpiper-type shorebirds that flock together. When flying, they coordinate their movements with precision, moving together in a single instant. Using high-tech photography, their movements were slowed down so researchers could understand how the flocks managed to move as one. • Analysis showed that the movement was not simultaneous, but instead started from an individual bird, or a few birds together. The initial movement could originate anywhere within the flock, radiating outward in rapid waves. Researchers found that the movement took an average of 15 milliseconds to move from one bird to the next. • In the lab, […]