...Pets Act Like Kids.

Dogs and cats have been with us for a long time now. We domesticated them 1000s of years ago after realizing how we mutually benefit from each other. Dogs have great hearing but we see better and having a big warm animal next to you in a cave during winter was pretty nice too. During all this time our furry little friends figured out a thing or two as well.

This isn't what it looks like

One of the cool things (I think) about dogs is their ability to follow and interpret our body language. When we point at something they look at where we are pointing. Even looking to the left or right with our eyes will send a dog's head turning. These are called ostensive cues. Dogs would even go against what we would expect based on these cues. During a recent study a group of control dogs were left alone with two plates of food. One plate had more and tastier food on it than the other. On their own the dogs would chose the bigger plate. Next, humans would enter the room and show a preference to the smaller plate. They ate from it, smiled, and acted as though they liked it better than the bigger plate. After, dogs would chose the smaller plate.

It doesn't work the other way around.

Where dogs are easily fooled, cats try and fool us. Researchers studied many recordings of different purrs cats make and found a particular type of purr. This purr communicates an urgency and a certain unpleasantness to it that annoys the owner. The owner would do anything to make it stop, usually by feeding the cat or paying more attention to it. Cat owners are more susceptible to it than non- cat owners suggesting its something and owner learns from the cat.

No surprises that the cat is the manipulator.

Kids do both as well. Before kids can communicate verbally they use both ostensive cues and crying. We often say body language makes up 70% of all communication, maybe this is because we learn this first. And anyone who has had kids can tell you they can distinguish between a cry for food and a cry because they need changing.

And that is what I learned today.

...Acting Could Kill You.

Only if you lived in the mid-18th century though. Something we often take for granted are all the ways we have to entertain ourselves. Besides sitting around with a pint, there are computers (games, internet, etc), phones, books (not many people could read in the 1850s), PlayStations, iPods/Pads, sports, and others I'm sure. In 1849, there was the theatre. In New York City the theatre was the place to be. People from all classes and backgrounds would go and was the only public forum available. Actors became huge stars and amassed quite the following. Fights often broke out and arguments were usually settled with giant rotten fruit fights. On May 10th, 1849 a riot broke that resulted in 25 dead and dozens more hurt. Today it's known as the Astor Place Riot.

Quelling riots since 1982

As it is today, Shakespeare was the man. Every show performed was one of his plays. Poor miners working in the middle of the Arizona desert would sit around and do his plays from memory. In New York two Shakespearean actors formed a bitter rivalry with each other and the audience took sides. Edwin Forrest became the leading American actor (supported by those who identified themselves as Natives and the working Irish, who just hated anything the British liked) and Charles Macready was a British actor (adored by the upper class New Yorkers who still saw themselves of British decent). The upper class population were tired of sitting themselves in the same space as the working class and opened up their own theatre, The Astor Place, where Macready performed. As expected, the working class didn't appreciate this and would crash the Macready performances. One day things just got so out of hand the city police and militia were called in.

To be or not to be cool

If you've seen Gangs Of New York you'll know where this goes next. The authorities shot into the crowd killing about 25 (one being a small child). This might seem extreme but you must remember that this was all they had. The two actors became symbols for cultural and class divide among the citizens. For once there was something the differing classes could unite around. The actors themselves hated each other but had no intention for this to happen. Macready was on his way out of the country when the riots broke. American playwrights started to become popular shortly after.

The 11th Hamlet.

And that is what I learned today.

...What Tantalum Is.

Tantalum is an element which you can probably tell by looking at its name. Its a transition metal with atomic number 73. One version of its isotopes is the rarest in the entire universe. It makes up about 1-2 parts per million of the Earth's crust and is mined primarily in Australia. There is a mine in Brazil that accounts for 20% of the world's supply. Future resources are being looked at in other countries, mainly northern ones, as ice melts more of it becomes economically viable. It has had a negative impact as well. During the Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since WWII, it was used to fund government and rebel factions. The mining in Congo also had another effect. People mining the metal often shot and killed endangered animals, such as gorillas, for food.

Maybe we can save the bears by having them mine?

It is becoming a very important metal. It's a tough material and is used in armour busting shells and medical replacements (like a hip replacement), It is very, very good at conducting electricity and avoiding corrosion. It is used heavily in computers, dvd players, and video game consoles (all item's popularity is on the rise). It is also used to make surface acoustic wave filters which helps improve sound quality. Currently it runs about $300/lb and is expected to increase as we all want and use more and smaller electronics.

In my day we used to use iron.

And that is what I learned today. 

...About Gaudi.

Antoni Gaudi was and early 20th century Spanish architect. Two of his main loves were nature and religion and his work reflected this. Having studied geometry he noticed the relationship between nature and math. Fractals, cones, and hyperbolic paraboloid are all examples. Gaudi often admired tree trunks and skeletons being both functional and eye pleasing. No matter what the intended purpose of the building, it was still designed with heavy religious tones. Revered today, he was seen as a controversial figure while alive. His designs often broke laws and building codes and when against the typical designs of the day. 7 of his works are UNESCO World Heritage sites (all in Barcelona). He was pretty much the first to use trencadis, making mosaics with broken pieces of ceramics (tiles and dinner plates). He hated sketching his designs, preferring to build scale models and following them during construction.

Saw one of these in the backyard today.

I came across him while reading about the Sagrada Familia which is a church located in Barcelona. Building started in 1882 and it is still incomplete. Construction relies mainly on private donations (causing work to stop when there is no money), has been interrupted many times due to war, and parts of it keep having to be rebuilt from vandalism or arson. In fact, the half way point of construction only happend in 2010 and the completion date isn't until 2028. The outside looks skeletal and the inside was designed to look like a forest. Pillars are meant to be tree trunks and the ceiling like leaves that allows light to shine through from the stained glass windows. Barcelona is on my list of the next 3 places to see partly because of this building.

I can see it taking awhile.

And that is what I learned today. 

...How to Fire Guns.

We were trying to figure something out to do for my brother's 30th birthday. I had found out about a target range north of Toronto that you can use without having to have a gun licence a few years ago. It became of of those things that you always talk about doing but never end up doing it. So the upcoming birthday was a good excuse to try. Its a pretty good deal, you pay about $40 to use the facility and pay for any ammo after that (about $15 for 25 rounds, on average).

This would've been cheaper.

We decided to try a handgun (Beretta 92FS), a rifle (AR-15) with a red dot sight, and a shotgun (Remmington 12ga). They also had a long range rifle (sniper rifle, really) I wanted to try but it was out of service. Everything I expected about shooting was wrong. It was way louder than I thought, the recoil was more than I thought, reload was easier than I thought, and aiming was very tough. Having said that I did get the most points on the target. It was a very 'Zen' like experience. I've heard people do it to get their mind off things and it does. Once you get that first shot off that's all you focus on and you realize you have an actual gun in your hand. Its an awesome experience and you should try it.

This also would have been cheaper but way less fun.

And that is what I learned today.

...You Can Blame The Swiss for Your Credit Card Debt.

I find it hard to fathom how people used to communicate centuries ago. Everyone you talked to was within walking distance but every now and then you had to talk to someone outside of that zone. A son may have had to move away in order to settle on new land and you may have needed to get a hold of him. This was often done by letter and up until the early 1900s, when the phone was invented, this was always the case. There was no post office or system set up by the government and most mail carrying was done by private business. If you lived in London and needed to send a letter to Manchester, you either found someone who was going anyway (a sailor on a merchant ship were good) or a person who did that as an occupation. You never paid up front for the service as quite often people would take the money and just throw out the letter. So, often the recipient paid for the letter, but this proved difficult as well. If the receiver didn't have the money or didn't want to pay, the letter didn't get delivered and whatever you had to say to that person was lost.

Things used to be quiter for Santa.

The Swiss were one of the first places to standardize mail routes in the country and set up postal stations in certain cities. The routes and carriers were now reliable but the payment was still an issue. Postal Orders were invented to solve this problem. Postal Stations sort of worked like banks as well. A sender would pay for the letter delivery up front, a certificate saying he did so was created, and sent along with the letter. The other end verified the payment and delivered the letter to whoever it was meant for. Boom, your Mother's Day card was received and you didn't get yelled at. This eventually paved the way for postal stamps and the Swiss were early adopters of this as well.

I swear I sent it Mom...

The idea spread and it made its way to the new colonies of the Americas. Post delivery was a bit more dangerous in these times. Postal companies often and actively sought orphans for delivering mail since it was pretty much the only job they could get and anyone with families avoided that type of work (the mortality rate was very high). The Pony Express was started to make this type of work easier. Riders would ride full tilt and push their horse almost to death from running so fast. When they reached a waypoint the rider would switch horses and continue riding within seconds, or, the letters were passed between two riders in motion just like an olympic relay race is done today. Seeing the profit in this, and the fact it was now a reliable money maker due to the Swiss inovations, two men by the names of Henry Wells & William Fargo started American Express.

Wish they would have stuck to making chocolate and clocks

And that is what I learned today. 

OTHER THINGS I LEARNED:
-The 1933 movie of Alice in Wonderland will give you nightmares.

...Art is Expensive.

'The Scream' just sold at auction for just under $120 million. Its the highest ever price paid for a piece of art at auction. The weird thing about this is, I get it. I'd pay that much if I had the money. I often say that if I ever won the lottery I would buy an issue of Detective Comics #27. For those of you who don't know that's Batman's first appearence and roughly sells for a cool million.

I'd spend a million to punch Joel.

There are four versions of 'The Scream' each painted/created in a different manner. The one sold at auction was made in 1895 and was done with pastel by Edvard Munch. The painting has been stolen many times over the last 100 years or so. One of the more interesting thefts happend during the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. The cat burglers used the Olympics as a diversion and even left a note thanking the museum for its lack of security. The thieves were eventually caught, tried, and convicted without the painting being recovered. They were released on a technicallity eventually. The British agents that helped the Norwegian authorities entered the country under false identities, which is illegal, which also voided their participation. The painting was obviously recovered but the Norwegian police have never said how.  

I look at this every christmas.

And that is what I learned today.