Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that B&M Baked Beans were first sold in 1927? Produced by the Burnham & Morrill Company in Portland, ME, this product took nearly seven years of testing before B&M Brick Oven Baked Beans hit the store shelves. They continue to be made in Portland.

The Burham & Morrill Company has been in business since 1867.

picture from www.americangoodies.nl

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that our Sun will run out of fuel in about 5 billion years? When that happens, the outer layers of the Sun will expand (far enough out to turn the Earth into a barren, lifeless rock) and will then collapse on itself.

Currently, the Sun turns hyrdogen into helium at a rate of about five million tons per second. Holy moly! Eventually, though, like all stars, our life-providing star will run out of fuel. Prior to that happening, however, changes in the Sun’s output will make life on Earth more difficult. In about a million and a half years, the energy output from the Sun will increase by 10%. That may not seem like a lot, but the Earth will have difficulty keeping this extra energy out and life on Earth will be affected.

Read more about this here, if you dare.

Picture from http://discovervedanta.files.wordpress.com

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that W.A. Bean & Sons in Bangor, Maine have been selling quality meats and products for 150 years? Probably best known for the red hot dogs (‘red hots’), W.A. Bean also has pork products, chicken, pepperoni, roast beef and tuna, as well as breads, cheeses, deli meats and rolls, just to name some of their extensive product line.

Want to know how a hot dog is made? Well, okay, maybe not. But if you do, local Bangor newswoman Sharon Pelletier went to W.A. Bean and learned the process back in January 2010 and has the story here. (Note: Link available and working as of this post)

So the next time you’re in Maine, be sure to grab a Beans red hot dog or visit their shop on the Bomarc Road.

Congrats, W.A. Bean on your longevity in business in Maine! Here's hoping you have another 150 to go.

Rock guitarist Gary Hoey on a recent visit to the area enjoying a red hot dog

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that it was 30 years ago today that Mt St Helens, in Washington state, erupted, killing 57 people? The eruption decreased the size of the mountain by 400 meters! The history of this volcano is here.

picture from volcano-pictures.info

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that earthworms serve many more purposes than just being used to bait a fishing hook? They: aerate soil, help create compost, enrich soil with nitrogen. And lots more! Find out how much more here!

photo from www.conservationmagazine.org

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that there are no venomous snakes in Maine? Now you do.

Did You Know Tuesday

Something a little different this week. A video "Did You Know..."!

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know...that today is my birthday? So, some birthday themed videos.

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that it was forty years ago today (April 13, 1970) that NASA’s Apollo 13 almost met its fate when an oxygen tank ruptured, the craft lost power and the three astronauts on-board had to make it back to Earth using a gravitational-slingshot maneuver around the Moon? Commander Jack Lovell, Jack Swiger and Fred Haise were able to move to the command module and make this amazing trajectory happen and were able to return to Earth four days later. The problem was later determined to have been caused by an electrical system problem that caused the pressure in the ship’s oxygen tanks to increase and rupture the tanks. Losing oxygen, the men had little time and their survival appeared doubtful.

l to r: Jim Lovell, Jack Swiger, Fred Haise (photo from www.space.com)

Cancer would take Swiger in 1982, but both Lovell and Haise are still living, as are many of the people who were working on the ground at NASA helping in the process to get these astronauts back to Earth.

This incident was rendered to film by Ron Howard in 1995, Apollo 13. This movie was based on Lovell’s book Lost Moon.

And the actual quote should be: “Houston, we’ve had a problem”

Did You Know Tuesday

While you might think the answer is ‘black fly’, or perhaps even ‘mosquito’, did you know that the Maine State Insect is the honeybee? Adopted to this title in 1975, honeybees are the cornerstone of agriculture and they ensure that the crops are pollinated, especially the blueberry barrens.

Thank you, honeybees!

Honeybee photo from www.maine.gov/agriculture/pi/apiary/

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the great State of Maine celebrated her 190th birthday yesterday? On March 15, 1820, Maine became the 23rd State in the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise. Maine came into the Union as a slave-free state.

Happy Birthday, Maine!

image from www.merriam-webster.com/maps

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the largest mammal on planet Earth is the blue whale? These majestic sea creatures can grow as long as 110 feet in length and can weigh upwards of 200 tons! It’s heart is also the largest of any animal, weighing nearly 1,300 pounds in an adult.

The blue whale was put on the endangered species list in 1966 after years and years of the whaling industry hunting them to near extinction. The species has rebounded thanks to these protections.

The diet of a blue whale consists of small, marine creatures called krill, which they strain from the ocean water using natural sieves in their mouths. An adult blue whale will consume nearly 40 million krill in one day.

photo from www.freewebs.com

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that Pluto was discovered by an American by the name of Clyde Tombaugh? He was working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ when he discovered the planet on February 18, 1930.

Pluto’s status as a planet was taken away in 2006 when there were objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt (the belt of debris circling the edge of the solar system made up of the remnants from the formation of our star system) that were larger than Pluto, and thus the former planet was re-dubbed as a planetoid by the International Astronomical Union.

photo from http://inklake.typepad.com

Tombaugh was the only American to have discovered one of the planetary bodies in our system, so the demotion of Pluto was a bit of bummer in that sense.

Currently, the New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto. Launched in 2006, the craft will take nine years to make the journey and is already past its halfway point of the voyage. It travels more than 750,000 miles a day. This is the first spacecraft that has been sent to study Pluto. It’s location can be tracked here as it begins to near the orbit of Uranus on its way to a 2015 rendezvous with Pluto. Also, it should be noted that NASA included some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes within the craft, so he is on his way to the object he discovered. Clyde passed in 1997.

Did You Know Tuesdays

Did you know it was on this date, February 23, in 1945, that the iconic photograph of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the flag on Mount Suribachi in Japan was taken? It was the fifth day after the start of the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The picture, taken by photographer Lewis R Lowery, was actually of the second, larger flag that was raised. The five Marines were Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes. The Navy Corpsman (HM) was John Bradley and I single him out because I was once a Navy Corpsman. An interview with HM Bradley regarding that day during the War can be found here. (I'm not sure when the interview was conducted, but it's pretty interesting.)

photo from freeinfosociety.com

A big hearty THANK YOU to all of the troops wherever you are.

Did You Know Tuesdays

Did you know that the Maine tidal coastline is 3,478 miles long? The nooks and crannies of the numerous inlets and coves makes this great state's coastline longer than even California's (3,427 miles)!

map from www.maine.gov

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the naturally-occurring coldest place in the known universe is the Boomerang Nebula, located 5,000 light years from Earth? In 1993, it’s temperature was recorded by scientists as 1 K(elvin), which is -272.15 Celcius, or -457.87 F. Brrrrrr.

Picture by the Hubble Heritage Team, via apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071228.html

Did You Know Tuesdays

Did you know that the sixth, and final, season of Lost begins tonight? Yup, that's all I got for you.

And my episode wrap-ups will begin again this week.

PS I love Lost.

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the C.W. Post company is credited with offering the first coupon for a nation-wide product? In the late 1890s, a coupon offering 1cent off of Grape Nuts cereal was offered by the company as part of a nationwide promotion.

photo from http://farm3.static.flickr.com

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that it was twelve years ago today that Sonny Bono died as result of a skiing accident? While he started off in music (half of Sonny and Cher), he later went into politics and became mayor of Palm Springs, CA from 1988 - 1992.

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the State of Maine is the only state in the United States to have ever declared war on another country? That’s right, it happened around 1837 when the border between New Brunswick and Quebec and Maine were in dispute following the War of 1812. Maine declared war on Canada because of a border incident that arose from the borders not being fixed/permanent. Both sides massed troops, but there never was a conflict that arose during the Aroostook War, as it is known, between 1837-1842 as the borders were fixed according to the Webster-Ashburn Treaty of 1842. Since then, no other state has ever declared war on a country, leaving Maine as the only one that has ever done this.