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Chopsticks

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Chopsticks

Have you mastered the art of chopsticks?

  • Chopsticks are an invention used to handle food, often to move food from a plate to one’s mouth for the purpose of eating, but also moving or stirring food in cooking, and East Asian countries are the main users of the utensil.
  • Chopsticks are usually used in pairs held in a single hand, and they are long and generally a tapered rod shape.
  • The Ancient Chinese are believed to have invented chopsticks, most likely between 2000 and 1100 BC, and were thought to have initially used them mainly in cooking, and it was not until around the 5th century AD when people used the utensil for eating purposes.
  • Typically chopsticks are created out of wood, plastic, bamboo or stainless steel, although other materials such as gold, brass, jade, ivory, porcelain and silver may be used.
  • Chopsticks range from 18 to 40 centimetres (7 to 16 inches) in length, and generally have a flat or pointed end, and the styles and lengths vary depending on the country of origin and their purpose, where the Chinese ones are generally longer and flat on the end, whereas the Japanese ones are usually shorter and have pointed ends.

Chopstick, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Utensil, Invention, Eating, Assortment, Plastic, Wooden, Disposable

  • To hold chopsticks, the bottom stick is laid between the thumb and index finger and rested on the ring finger and is left immobile, while the second is held between the the thumb, index and middle fingers, and pushed in an up-and-down motion to obtain food.
  • ‘Chopsticks’ are also known as ‘zhu’ in Ancient Chinese, though today they are called ‘kuaizi’ in Chinese and ‘hashi’ in Japanese.
  • Chopsticks are often disposable, with the highest user being the nation of Japan, with 24 billion disposed of annually in the country, most of which are imported from China.
  • China manufactures the greatest amount of disposable chopsticks in the world, with roughly 45 billion produced each year, which equates to around 25 million trees, and as such, they have added a tax on the utensils, to discourage their popular use.
  • Due to the repetitive usage requirements of chopsticks, common users of the utensil have a marginally increased likelihood of developing osteoarthritis in the hand.
Bibliography:
Butler S, A Brief History of Chopsticks, 2013, History.com, http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/a-brief-history-of-chopsticks
Chopsticks, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks
Chopsticks, n.d, Asian ArtMall, http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm

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Rhubarb

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Rhubarb

Try to hear past all the rhubarb.

  • Rhubarb is an edible stalk-based vegetable that grows as a perennial, native to Siberia and other parts of central and eastern Asia.
  • The scientific name of rhubarb is Rheum rhabarbarum and it is from the family Polygonaceae, the family of knotweed.
  • Although normally considered a vegetable, rhubarb is sometimes known as a fruit, even leading to a court in the United State’s New York to declare the food a fruit in 1947.
  • Rhubarb is grown both outdoors and indoors successfully, particularly in greenhouses where mild temperatures can be retained all year; and the produce varies in texture, taste and colour depending on where it was grown.
  • The stalks of rhubarb are stereotypically coloured red and they have leaves that are green, although stalks may also be pink, or partially or fully green.
Rhubarb, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Food, Culinary, Vegetable, Fruit, Red, Stalks, Leaves, Green
Rhubarb
Image courtesy of H. Michael Milley/Flickr
  • Commonly rhubarb stalks are cooked by gently boiling them, and the vegetable is often made into sauces or other dishes, as well as added to desserts such as pies and tarts.
  • The texture of rhubarb is quite crisp, and it has a very tart flavour, causing it to often have the addition of sugar to sweeten it.
  • The leaves of a rhubarb plant are toxic due to chemicals they contain, like oxalic acid, which can negatively impact human health upon consumption.
  • For thousands of years, rhubarb has been used medicinally, especially in China, and it has been used for digestive issues, as a laxative, and for numerous other health complaints.
  • Rhubarb is very high in vitamin K, and is high in manganese, potassium, calcium, fibre and vitamin C.
Bibliography:
Rhubarb, 2011, Fresh For Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/rhubarb/rhubarb.html
Rhubarb, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

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Adélie Penguin

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Adélie Penguin

They may not be the emperor, but Adélie penguins sure are fascinating.

  • Adélie penguins are a common species of medium-sized penguin native to Antarctica and nearby islands in the Southern Ocean.
  • The scientific name of an Adélie penguin is Pygoscelis adeliae and it is from the family Spheniscidae, the family of penguins.
  • The height of Adélie penguins is usually between 40 to 75 centimetres  (16 to 30 inches), and they generally weigh between 3 to 6 kilograms (6.6 to 13.2 pounds)
  • The feathers on the back half of Adélie penguins is black, as is all of the head, while the front half is coloured white except for the head, and there is a white line encircling the eyes.
  • The diet of Adélie penguins consists primarily of krill, squid, and fish such as silverfish, and they are preyed on by orcas and leopard seals, as well as birds known as ‘skuas’, and they have an average lifespan of ten to twenty years.
Adélie Penguin, Animal, Bird, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Antarctica
Adélie Penguin
Image courtesy of Christopher Michel/Flickr
  • Adélie penguins are found on ice shelves in the winter where they hunt for their food; and they live in large colonies and breed in the spring and summer months on land where there is no ice.
  • Female Adélie penguins typically lay two eggs in a rock nest, that are incubated by both the female and her life long male partner, and while one sits on the eggs or looks after the young, the other is absent searching for food for up to ten to twelve days at a time.
  • Adélie penguins can travel distances of roughly 13,000 kilometres (8078 miles) or greater each year, to and from the breeding grounds in the south, to hunting grounds further north.
  • Adélie penguins can swim at speeds of 72 kilometres per hour (45 miles per hour), and they can reach depths of up to 175 metres (574 feet) in water.
  • Food eaten by Adélie penguins is not chewed, but swallowed, due to the teeth-like protrusions found inside their mouth that are designed to grip onto the food, and the penguins are able to eat up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of food in a single day.
Bibliography:
Adélie Penguin, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/birds/adelie-penguin/
Adélie Penguin, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A9lie_penguin
Adelie Penguin, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/adelie-penguin/

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Trivial Pursuit

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Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit is the mightiest contest over the most trivial of things.

  • Trivial Pursuit is a board game that involves traversing across a board with a wheel shaped playing area, to fill six wedge shaped sections of a playing piece that is shaped as a wheel, by correctly answering trivia questions.
  • Trivial Pursuit has six categories in the original game, known as the ‘Genus’ edition, that are listed in order as follows: Geography, Entertainment, History, Art & Literature, Science & Nature, Sports & Leisure, and are marked as blue, pink, yellow, brown, green and orange respectively.
  • In the game of Trivial Pursuit, a player must land on all six squares that feature a wedge, and correctly answer a relevant trivia question to obtain the appropriate colour wedge, to eventually win the game.
  • Trivial Pursuit was jointly created by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, Canadian newspaper editors, over a game of Scrabble, in late 1979.
  • After two years of research, collaboration and design, the Trivial Pursuit game was placed on the market in late 1981, and although it was unprofitable at first, it quickly became a popular game.

Trivial Pursuit, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Pursuit, Board, Cards, Pregame

  • In 1984, the sale of 20 million Trivia Pursuit games declared the game a major success, and by 2014, people from all over the world had purchased over 100 million copies.
  • Two to six players can play Trivial Pursuit at one time, although more players can participate by playing the game in teams.
  • An abundance of versions of Trivial Pursuit have been released since the original edition, often appealing to specific interests, some of which are solely cards of questions, although it is thought that some of the more recent editions have much less challenging questions than the original trivia cards.
  • The creators of Trivial Pursuit were taken to court by Fred Worth in 1984, on the belief that they had breached the copyright of Worth’s published trivia books, which had indeed been used among the resources, although the case was lost by Worth due to the judge ruling that trivia was unable to be copyrighted.
  • Some versions of Trivial Pursuit have questions suitable for younger players, while the age recommendation for the original Genus edition is fifteen and above.
Bibliography:
The Highschool Dropout Who Co-created Trivial Pursuit, 2014, Today I Found Out,  http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/09/brief-history-trivial-pursuit/
Rees J, Why was Trivial Pursuit, the last great family game, so special?, 2010, Daily Mail Australia, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1283588/Why-Trivial-Pursuit-great-family-game-special.html
Trivial Pursuit, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivial_Pursuit

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Kaieteur Falls

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Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur Falls is beautiful isolated in the rainforests of South America.

  • Kaieteur Falls is a waterfall located in the Essequibo area in Guyana, located in northern South America, and it is part of the Kaieteur National Park.
  • Kaieteur Falls has a drop of 226 metres (741 feet) in height, and a width up to 113 metres (370 feet).
  • In early 1870, geologist and explorer Charles Brown of Britain, was the first European to see Kaieteur Falls, and he discovered the feature while surveying the area.
  • Kaieteur Falls is not easily accessible, as it is located in a remote part of the Guyana rainforest, and as such, visitors are required to travel in a plane to the nearby airstrip and walk into the area.
  • The name ‘Kaieteur Falls’ comes from term ‘Kaieteur ‘ meaning ‘old-man’ in the local tribal language, which is said to have originated from the legend of an old man venturing over the falls in a purposeful or forced manner.
Kaieteur Falls, Place, Trivia, Random Facts, Water, Waterfall,
Kaieteur Falls
Image courtesy of Soren Riise/Flickr
  • The cliff of Kaieteur Falls is said to be made of conglomerate rock and sandstone, and it is part of the Guiana Highlands, which is part of the Guiana Shield.
  • Kaieteur Falls is fed by Potaro River, which eventually runs into the Essequibo River, that flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
  • The water of Kaieteur Falls is a muddy or coffee brown colour, and the water flows into the large gorge situated below.
  • Due to the inaccessible nature of Kaieteur Falls, it has remained an unspoilt environment, and while efforts have been made to have the site listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of 2015, it had been unsuccessful.
  • Roughly 651 cubic metres (23,000 cubic feet) of water rush over the edge of Kaieteur Falls each second, and the sheer volume of water, combined with the waterfall’s height and width, makes it one of the largest falls on earth.
Bibliography:
Kaieteur Falls, 2015, BeautifulWorld, http://www.beautifulworld.com/south-america/guyana/kaieteur-falls
Kaieteur Falls, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaieteur_Falls
Kaieteur Falls, n.d, World of Waterfalls, http://www.world-of-waterfalls.com/latin-america-kaieteur-falls.html

 

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Raspberry

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Raspberry

The raspberry is fit for the royals… and the commoners!

  • Raspberries are a berry grown for culinary use, and while the berry is primarily eaten, the leaves of the plant are occasionally used in herbal tea.
  • The genus name for the raspberry plant, along with other berries, is Rubus, from the family Rosaceae, the family of roses, and while there are more than 200 species, those commonly grown for commercial use are generally a red berry from the species Rubus idaeus, or sometimes the black coloured berry from Rubus occidentalis.
  • Russia was the largest producer of raspberries in 2011, with a total of 127,000 tonnes (140,000 tons), which equated to 26% of the total world production, closely followed by Poland.
  • The berry colour of a raspberry can be red, purple, black and yellow, depending on the species and variety, while the plant’s leaves are green.
  • Typically, raspberries are small with a length of 1.5 to 2 centimetres (0.6 to 0.8 inches) and they generally weigh 3 to 5 grams (0.1 to 0.2 ounces).
Raspberry, Food, Fruit, Berry, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Culinary, Red, Pile
Raspberry
Image courtesy of K Kendall/Flickr
  • Raspberries originated as a wild berry, and they are native across Asia, America, Australia and Europe.
  • The raspberry was cultivated as early as the 300s AD, although wild berries are still commonly eaten.
  • A raspberry has a shape that is roughly cylindrical, with a central core that is hollow once picked, and each berry has roughly 100 tiny sections known as drupelets.
  • The sweet-tasting raspberry can be eaten dried, pureed, juiced or raw, and are popularly added to baked goods, desserts and fruit salads.
  • Raspberries are very high in vitamin C, manganese and fibre, are a good source of vitamin K, and they contain many other vitamins and minerals.
Bibliography:
Raspberries, 2015, The World’s Healthiest Foods, http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=39
Raspberry, 2011, Fresh For Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/raspberry/raspberry.html
Raspberry, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry

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