SCHOOL & BUSINESS CLOSINGS: Tuesday, January 4, 2022
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Storm Center: Monday, Jan. 3, 2022
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MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why Do We “Ring In” The New Year?
As we prepare to “ring in” the New Year with all sorts of revelries, like toasts, kisses, New Year’s resolutions, movie marathons, and more…have you ever wondered why none of those things ring? So why do say we’re going to “ring in” the New Year?
Back when the phrase first originated, it actually involved things that did/do ring: bells. Communities used to say goodbye to the old year & welcome the new year by ringing bells, most often at churches. The tradition sprang from other occasions where bells marked an end, like “passing bells” that tolled when someone died, or ones that celebrated a beginning (such as “wedding bells”).
Long before throngs of revelers first began filling Times Square to watch the ball drop in 1907, celebrants congregated a bit further downtown at Trinity Church on Wall Street, where they really did “ring in” the New Year with a full-blown concert by the church’s official bell ringer, who played hits of the day like ‘Hail Columbia,’ ‘Yankee Doodle’ and selections from the opera “La Fille du Regiment”. The earliest mention of the tradition, according to Trinity Church’s archives, is from the minutes of a meeting in 1801 where congregants agreed to pay eight pounds to “the Persons who rang the Bells on New Year’s Day.” It’s very possible that it could’ve been going on way before then, since the church got its first bell back in 1698.
Basically, ringing bells was, at one time, one of the primary components of the New Year’s holiday. But it’s faded from memory, and now “ring in the New Year” just doesn’t make as much sense to folks who don’t know the term’s history (which could explain why so many people now say “bring in the New Year” instead).
However YOU “ring in the New Year”, be sure to send the Mundane Mysteries you’d like solved to me via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or by emailing [email protected]!
BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning
Wake Up Crew Highlights: December 30, 2021
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Do Camels Really Store Water In Their Humps?
Anyone who’s ever watched a cartoon knows that camels store water in their humps…right? Or do they?
Water isn’t the only scarce desert resource; food is, too. And because of that scarcity, camels consume as much food as they possibly can (when it’s available), storing the excess fat in their humps & drawing from that reserve whenever there’s no food available. Camels can actually survive for several months without eating, sometimes losing up to 40% of their body weight in the process.
So, while a camel’s hump doesn’t actually store water, their humps may help them preserve some of the precious water from elsewhere in their bodies. By confining fat to that one spot (the hump), rather than storing it throughout the body like other mammals, most of a camel’s surface area doesn’t provide insulating heat, which helps keep its body temperature low during the day, as it doesn’t need to sweat. Then, when night falls and the desert gets cold, the heat that’s been insulated in their humps gets dispersed, keeping the camel warm.
As far as staying hydrated, camels don’t so much lock water away in storage but rather they use it as efficiently as possible. Some camels, like Arabian or dromedary camels (which have one hump), as well as Bactrian camels (which have two humps) can guzzle around 30 gallons of water in 13 minutes, thanks in part to their elliptical blood cells, which are optimal for water absorption and blood flow. And because they urinate so infrequently, as well as create feces so dry you can actually burn them, and since their body temperature can rise as high as 106°F before needing to disseminate some of that heat by sweating, camels are genuinely naturally built as water-retaining, dehydration-withstanding beasts.
Got a Mundane Mysteries you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or by email at [email protected]!
BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning
Wake Up Crew Highlights: December 29, 2021
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Is There A Difference Between Pancakes & Flapjacks?
What do you call those fluffy, circular batter cakes, which are pan-fried to a light golden brown & served with syrup (or fruit, Cool Whip, or any number of other scrumptious add-ons)? Are they pancakes..or are they flapjacks? Is there even a difference?
Here in the US, “flapjack” & “pancake” are basically just synonyms for the same exact thing. The same goes for Canada, too. But “flapjack” means something altogether different across the pond, over in the UK. A British flapjack is more of a dessert-style granola bar, comprised of rolled oats, butter, and brown sugar, and sometimes containing syrup, dried fruit, chocolate, and/or nuts. And an English flapjack gets baked in an oven (as opposed to being fried on a griddle), before typically being served in squares or rectangles (versus the round cakes we know & love).
Ever since the word “pancake” first showed up in the 1400s, it’s meant pretty much the same thing that it means today: flat, pan-fried batter. Flapjack, however, evolved a bit over time. It first came about in the 1600s, as some folks started using it as an alternative word for pancake. There were several others, though, who used “flapjack” to refer to a kind of apple turnover or flat tart, and that’s what’s led to the modern-day English version of the baked oat bar. (Flapjack didn’t even show up in print until the 1930s).
Now, while the word “pancake” refers to pan-fried batter both here in North America and over in Britain, English pancakes, themselves, are a tad different. Here in the US, our pancake recipes usually consist of some raising agent (like baking powder), which produces a thicker, fluffier cake. British pancakes, however, don’t have a raising agent, so they’re a lot flatter (more like crêpes).
Either way, whenever you order them you’re going to end up with arguably the best part of breakfast, regardless of where you are & whatever you call them.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or shoot me an email at [email protected]!
BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning
