Surprising Salvia

Posted on July 16, 2024July 15, 2024 by vlaw759

For the first time, I have three salvia (SAL-vee-uh) plants in my yard, chosen by another, planted for their blooms. I wanted to know more. And what I learned at KidsHealth and Australia’s Alcohol and Drug Foundation surprised me!

You may also know salvia as diviner’s sage, magic mint, maria pastora, sally-d, seer’s sage, and shepherdess’s herb.

Please note: what follows is readily available information. I’m absolutely not recommending any particular use of salvia.

Psychedelic Salvia

It’s an herb in the mint family that can cause brief, intense psychedelic experiences. Salvinorin A is the active ingredient in salvia divinorum. Native to the mountains of southern Mexico, salvia has a long history of use by Indigenous shamans there.

Salvinorin A affects opioid receptors in the brain. This differs from other hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and psychedelic mushrooms, which affect the brain’s levels of serotonin. As a psychedelic drug, it can affect all the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time, and emotions. Psychedelics can cause a person to hallucinate, seeing or hearing things that do not exist or appear distorted.

As a drug, salvia comes as fresh green plant leaves, dried shredded leaves, or a liquid extract. Traditionally, users chewed the fresh salvia leaves or drank the extract, but now people take the drug in a variety of ways. A user can also smoke the dried leaves in a bong or mixed with tobacco as a cigarette. For sublingual absorption, a user holds the fresh leaves under the tongue.

Salvia’s effects come on quickly, sometimes in less than a minute. According to anecdotal user reports, when smoked the effects of salvia begin in 15 to 60 seconds and last for about 15 to 90 minutes. When placed under the tongue, the effects begin in around 10 to 20 minutes and last for about 30 to 120 minutes.

Savlia’s Side Effects

Psychoactive drugs affect a person’s mental state and can have varied effects depending on a person’s mood or mindset (often called the ‘set’) and/or the environment they are in (the ‘setting’). Salvia’s effects on the mind can range from mild to intense. They may be frightening, depending on how strong a dose of the drug someone takes.

(Factors affecting the effects of psychedelic drugs is too big a topic to include here, but info is readily available online.)

Common short-term effects include

Hallucinations and changes in visual perception
Uncontrolled laughter
Mood and emotional swings
Difficulty concentrating
Sense of detachment from self and reality (not being able to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s imaginary)
Dizziness and lightheadedness
Lack of coordination
Slurred speech
Amnesia
Loss of energy (higher doses can cause sedation)
Pain relief
Confusion
Delusion
Feelings of impending doom
Increased appreciation of music
Uncontrolled body movements
Anxiety
Restlessness
Increased body temperature
Time distortion

Some studies suggest that, over time, salvia use may contribute to dysphoria, which is characterized by feelings of depression, discontent, and restlessness.

Smoking salvia over a long period of time can lead to breathing trouble and other health problems.

Because the drug has such dramatic psychological effects, it can seriously impair coordination and perceptions of reality; people under its influence expose themselves to a substantial risk of injury or accidental death.

Salvia and the Law

In many areas, salvia is perfectly legal and widely available. Stores sell it as a tincture or tea in some countries, or even as commercially extracted products.

However, salvia is illegal in a number of foreign countries and in many American states. Salvia is a schedule 9 drug. Federal and state laws provide penalties for possessing, using, making, selling, importing or exporting, or driving under the influence of salvia. Possession or use of salvia in states where it is illegal is punishable by fines and jail time.

This last bit gave me an adrenaline rush. But common sense soon surfaced: a garden center wasn’t likely to be selling salvia divinorum. Nevertheless, I felt compelled to find out just what kind of salvia I have. As best I can determine, it is salvia coerulea.

Salvia’s Other Uses

Most salvias are considered non-toxic to people of any age. Many ornamental varieties have a noxious taste, but there are no known toxic qualities when consumed by humans. (In large quantities, salvia can be toxic to dogs, causing symptoms like vomiting, depression, and breathing difficulties.) So, although ornamental salvias are not poisonous, they’re nothing you’d want to put in soup.

The edible salvias are usually referred to as sage, like the Salvia officinalis used to flavor roasted chicken and turkey. In fact, there are several edible varieties that are used in everyday seasonings.

Sage’s leaves are very pungent when raw, which is why most chefs recommend cooking them before eating. However, the flowers are reputed to have a delicate taste that makes a nice garnish in salads or sauces. They are great for the pollinators too!

According to WebMD, sage might help with chemical imbalances in the brain that cause problems with memory and thinking skills. It might also change how the body uses insulin and sugar.

People commonly use sage for memory and thinking skills, high cholesterol, and symptoms of menopause. Some people also use it for pain after surgery or to treat lung cancer, sore throat, sunburn, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.

Bottom Line: Know your salvia and use accordingly!

BETTER KNOW YOUR BODY

Posted on July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 by vlaw759

Everybody has one. But how much do you really know about your body?

Skin

Let’s start with your largest and most visible organ: your skin. You probably aren’t precisely average, but these “average” data will give you an idea of how you compare.

World Body Painting Festival — *Artist: Birgit Linke, Austria*

If you are average, your skin weighs 6-9 or 7.5-22 pounds, depending on your source. According to the NIH Library of Medicine, skin makes up approximately 1/7 of your body weight.
Again, if you are average, you have approximately 21 square feet of skin.
Organ donation can include skin.
The average person has about 300 million skin cells. One square inch of skin has about 19 million cells.
The entire surface of your skin is replaced every month, which put another way means you have about 1,000 different skins in your life!
This skin renewal every 27-28 days involves sloughing off the old cells.
Your skin constantly sheds dead cells, about 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute!
- (That’s nearly 9 lbs. per year. On the low end, other sources say you slough off roughly 1.5 pounds of dead skin a year, equal to about 3 ½ cups of sugar.)

Dead skin comprises about a billion tons of dust in the earth’s atmosphere.
Some sources estimate that more than half of household dust is actually dead skin, others say 70%, but much depends on number of people, pets, etc.
Scar tissue is different from normal skin because it lacks hair and sweat glands.
The color of human skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces. Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin.
Genital skin is darker than other skin: nipples, anus, and genitals are more sensitive to sex hormones acting on melanocytes. The contrast increases during puberty and pregnancy.
Your skin has at least five different types of receptors that respond to pain and touch.
The loose skin on your elbow, known scientifically as olecranal skin or colloquially as the weenus, is basically nature’s Silly Puddy because there are fewer sensory neurons located there. That means you can keep kneading it all day long, and as hard as you want.

When it comes to skin, we tend to notice attractiveness, color, roughness, and wrinkles. But skin is functional as well as ornamental. It keeps everything on the inside from coming out. In addition, it also helps regulate temperature, provides touch and sensation, allows us to move without restriction (not too tight or too loose), heals and regenerates constantly, and much more.

Blood and Heart

Your skin contains more than 11 miles of blood vessels.
Your blood makes up about eight percent of your body weight.
Laid end to end, an adult’s blood vessels could circle Earth’s equator four times!
This includes veins, arteries, and communicating little capillaries that move between both.
Pus is a build-up of white blood cells.
The human heart beats more than three billion times in an average lifespan.
Humans are the only species known to blush.
Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30.
Inside your bones are tiny tubes filled with blood vessels called osteons. They are to bones what rings are to trees. The percentage of large osteons increases with age.
If you live to age 70, your heart will have beat around 2.5 billion times!

Sweat

The body has 2.5 million sweat pores.
A single square inch of skin has up to 300 sweat glands.
Earwax is actually a type of sweat!
There are two different types of sweat glands.
- Eccrine glands secrete salty water when body temperature gets too high.
- Apocrine glands in the armpits (and a few other areas) secrete an oily, opaque substance that gains its characteristic scent from the bacteria in the area.
Sweat caused by mental or emotional distress is released by apocrine glands.
Your body needs time to adapt its sweat production in high temperatures, allowing you to produce sweat more quickly and with less salt and potassium.
When you’re too hot—or you lose your cool—your nerves send signals to open millions of glands, allowing sweat to flow. It pools by your armpits, palms, feet, head, and genitals.
Germs love to swim, so they thrive in sweat. Sweat on its own doesn’t smell bad. It’s the bacteria that mix with it.

Body Products

Your mouth produces about one-two liters of saliva each day!
Babies don’t shed tears until they’re at least one month old.
What we eat directly effects urine and feces. For example, you might notice red or pink after bingeing on beets. Or changes in your urine eating asparagus.
- Note: Although asparagus affects the chemistry of everyone’s urine, some people are able to smell it and others aren’t—whether their own or someone else’s.
You produce about 40,000 liters of spit in your lifetime. Or to put it another way, enough spit to fill around five hundred bathtubs.
The average nose produces about a cupful of nasal mucus every day.
On average, you fart enough in one day to fill a party balloon.
We urinate enough every month to fill a bath!
Every second, you produce 25 million cells.

Brain and Nervous System

Your brain is the fattest organ in the body, approximately 60%. It needs essential fatty acids to perform adequately.
The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body.
Your brain is sometimes more active when you’re asleep than when you’re awake.
Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams.
Information zooms along nerves at about 400k mph!
Everyone is familiar with forgetting, but additionally, our brain re-writes memories each time we think of them, slowly altering or twisting them over time.
Some of the nerves in your skin are connected to muscles instead of the brain, sending signals (through the spinal cord) to react more quickly to heat, pain, etc.

Muscles

The word “muscle” comes from Latin term (musculus) meaning “little mouse“, which is what Ancient Romans thought flexed bicep muscles resembled.
Your heart is the only muscle that doesn’t get tired.
Gluteus maximus is the Latin name for the largest muscle in your body, your behind. You have two of them, one for each cheek. These powerful muscles serve as a cushion when you sit down, but when flexed tight, they keep you upright.
Few muscles are as hard-working as the tongue. By day, it twists to form the sounds you speak and pushes around the food you eat. While you sleep, your tongue moves saliva down your throat.
Dentist Stuart Froum coined the term “curious tongue” to describe the reflex most people have to move their tongue to investigate foreign objects in the mouth, including dental drills.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the jaw (masseter).
A healthy jaw can close teeth with a force of up to 200 pounds.

Eyes

Your eyes can get sunburned. The symptoms include headache, eye pain and redness, tearing, blurred vision, twitching, and feeling gritty. Sunglasses can prevent sunburn, and symptoms typically resolve themselves after 48 hours.
Your eye is your fastest muscle. The orbicularis oculi is capable of contracting in less than 1/100th of a second.
A blink typically can last 100-150 milliseconds.
Infants blink only once or twice a minute while adults average between 10 and 20.
Women blink 19 times per minute compared to 11 per minute for men. This may relate to estrogen levels, which can make the cornea more elastic, changing how light waves travel through the eye.
- That’s over ten million times a year!
You blink more when talking and less when you are reading. This is why you get tired eyes when reading.

Only two percent of the population have green eyes. The largest concentration of green-eyed peoples is in Ireland, Scotland, and Northern Europe.
- All races (Asian, African, Caucasian, Pacific Islanders, Arabic, Hispanic, and the indigenous peoples of the Americas) can have green eyes.
All babies are born with blue or brown eyes. Green eyes can take between six months and three years to appear in children.
By three months, our eyes are the same size that they will ever be as the corneas have reached their full width. Human eyes grow rapidly in the womb and for the first three months after birth.

Noses

Our bodies give one nostril a break while the other is active – we just don’t know we do it. We naturally tend to alternate breathing from one nostril then the other, which helps keep the air we breathe moist so as not to irritate our lungs.
Noses and ears do not continue to grow during adulthood. They do change shape, however, due to skin changes and gravity.
Scientists estimate that the nose can recognize a trillion different scents!
Identical twins smell the same. No surprise there!
Researchers at Rockefeller University estimated that humans can detect at least a trillion distinct smells.
In general, females are more sensitive to odors than males.
Your sense of smell is around 10000 times more sensitive than your sense of taste.

GI Tract

As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints.
It takes the body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food.
When meds are to be taken “on an empty stomach” that means an hour before or two hours after eating.
You can’t breathe and swallow simultaneously (though I bet you’ve accidentally tried at some point in your life, likely with painful results).
On average, your intestines are 25 feet long from end to end. Your small intestine is over 20 feet. And while your large intestine is wider around, it’s only about 5 feet in length.
Your intestines are always moving, a continuous wavy motion called peristalsis. Or when vomiting, reverse-peristalsis.
Stomach acid can melt metal—at least certain metals, such as zinc. Digestive juices in the gut contain hydrochloric acid. They rank just below battery acid on the pH scale.

Who Else is in Your Body?

Your skin is home to more than 1,000 species of bacteria.
Your face is host to bugs too tiny to see. Your hairline, eye sockets, and lashes are favorite hiding places. If they get out of control, they can cause skin problems or eye infections.
200 to 500 million different species of call your intestines home and play a crucial role in breaking down and digesting everything you eat.
About 2,400 different germs call the belly button home.
The average person has 67 different species of bacteria in their belly button.

Your Asymmetrical Body

The two sides of your face are not alike. If you take a photo of your face and divide it down the middle, then replicate each half, the faces look different enough for people to judge one face better looking than the other!
One side of your body is bigger than the other, with bigger hand and foot.
Your left lung is about 10 percent smaller than your right one.
It is possible to be “flipped.” Patients with dextrocardia have their heart on the right side of the body and the left lung is slightly larger. Depending on the patient, the liver, appendix, stomach, etc. may also be on the opposite side of the body.

Aging

Every new cell is reproduced from the template of our DNA. Therefore, it’s not surprising that this DNA template gets worn away and errors occur as we age.

But the aging body is beyond the scope here!

Bits and Pieces

All humans share about 99.9% of our DNA with other humans. For comparison, we share 98% with pigs, and 60% with bananas!
Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square meters!
Human teeth are just as strong as shark teeth.
Human teeth are almost as hard as opal. Diamonds have a hardness of 10,teeth are at 5.
You are about 1cm taller in the morning when you first get up than when you go to bed. This is because during the day the soft cartilage between your bones gets squashed and compressed.
You are also lighter when you first get up. During sleep, you exhale water vapor and tiny amounts of carbon as a byproduct of digestion.
Some penises “grow” more than 4 centimeters when aroused. I found nothing about any relationship between this and any aspect of sexual functioning.
Vaginas range from 2.7 to 3.1 inches. When aroused, the depth ranges from 4.3 to 4.7 inches.
Men are more sensitive to caffeine; women are more sensitive to alcohol.
Your fingernails grow three times faster than toenails, explained by the hands having more blood pumping through them. In colder climates, nails grow more slowly.
The smallest bone found in the human body is located in the middle ear. The stapes (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimeters long.
Spread across their lifetime, most people spend an average of one whole year sitting on the toilet.

Bottom Line: Know your body well as a path to taking good care of it!

Playing Games with Words

Posted on June 25, 2024June 25, 2024 by vlaw759

Recently I had a dream that involved seeing how many words I could make from “Texas Hold ‘Em.” That felt so weird that the memory stuck with me. Subsequently I decided to give it a go, and ended up with 78 words using those letters, only those letters, and each letter only as often as it appeared in those words—i.e., words with two e’s were acceptable but two t’s, d’s, etc., weren’t.

That led me to thinking about other word games. As so many do these days, I started my search online. And, as so often is the case, up popped Wikipedia.

Wikipedia defines Word Games as spoken, board, card or video games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties. I couldn’t find any other definitions online.

Most people see word games as a source of entertainment, but they can serve an additional educational purpose. Among the academically best performing children, 35% had parents who encouraged them to play word games. Many young children enjoy playing games such as Hangman, while developing language skills like spelling. ESL teachers often include word games in their classrooms to help students learn to recognize and use English words in context.

Benefits of Word Games

Contrary to the stereotype of young people being the primary demographic for online games, word games attract players of all ages. A 2020 Statista report suggested that people aged 25 to 54 make up nearly 60% of word game players.

And adults can reap benefits of such brain work as well. Researchers have found that adults who regularly solved crossword puzzles, which require familiarity with a larger vocabulary, had better brain function later in life.

Indeed, over time, playing word games improves problem-solving and analytical skills. Often these games require players to think and use other cognitive skills at the same time.

According to a 2024 article in Parade, the reason word games are good for brain health is that they can improve attention, verbal fluency, memory, and processing speed. All these skills can decline with age. One 68-year-long study found a link between playing word games and better cognitive health in old age.

According to a 2022 PBS broadcast, people who have a high need for cognition tend to seek out mental challenges like word game and puzzles. The results cited above are all correlational results, i.e., that is, as game playing habits go up, the positive brain measures go up as well, but maybe the cause, is actually something else, like a high need for cognition that accounts for both.

Depending on the situation, word games can play a soporific role as well. Because they require concentration and lateral thinking, they can distract the player from stress and anxiety. Many require nothing but the player’s mind, making them perfect to play in bed, on a plane, while stuck in a boring meeting, etc. A friend told me she plays an alphabet game when she has trouble falling asleep. I seem to be playing anagrams even after I’ve fallen asleep!

Word Game Categories

(Unless otherwise noted, the following information is from the Wikipedia article.)

Letter Arrangement Games

The goal of a letter arrangement game is to form words out of given letters. In addition to testing vocabulary skills, these games test lateral thinking skills. Scrabble, UpWords, Bananagrams, and Countdown are popular examples of letter arrangement games.

FYI: Around the world, approximately 150 million copies of Scrabble have been sold.

Note: This is where anagrams would fit best, although not mentioned in the article. On the other hand, it involves paper and pencil, so maybe it also fits the following.

Paper and Pencil Games

Paper and pencil game players write down their answers, following the specific constraints laid out in the game rules. Crossword players fill in a grid by following clues or solving riddles. Hangman players try to guess their opponent’s word or phrase before their opponent is able to draw a stick figure hanging from a gallows. Categories, Boggle, and word searches are other popular examples of paper and pencil word games.

Semantic Games

Semantic games focus on the meanings and context of words. Players rely on their shared knowledge of denotation and connotation to combine words in amusing ways. Popular semantic games include Mad Libs, Blankety Blank, and Codenames.

Modern Word Games

Game designers have taken advantage of technological advancements to create non-traditional word games for computers or mobile phones. Many of these newer games take advantage of the technology to include more complex rules.

Codenames, Decrypto, and Anomia all have popular digital formats, allowing players to participate on teams while in different physical locations. Modern audiences also eagerly play word games with mobile formats, such as Letterpress, Words with Friends, and Word Connect.

Technology and Word Games

Since Spelling Bee first aired on the BBC in 1938, the first televised game show, word games have been a constant offering on radio and television. Airing continuously since 1975, Wheel of Fortune is the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States.

The popularity (and relative low cost) of word games has led producers to adapt many word games to fit a radio or television format. Some shows revolve entirely around a word game, while others include elements of popular word games mixed in. Shows like Lingo, Says You!, Task Master, Catchphrase, Family Feud, and Only Connect are among the highest-rated shows on television.

*Ukranian Wordle, using the Ukranian alphabet*

Wordle was the most frequently downloaded game of the year after it was launched in January 2022. Its player base grew to tens of millions worldwide. Players claim it involves a lot of strategy as well as a broad vocabulary.

As of 2022, the annual number of word games app downloads is 1.42 billion. And nearly half of Americans believe that playing word games is a productive way to spend time. With 78.03% of word games app revenue generated in the U.S. ($1.74 billion) players are everywhere! And there are games for virtually every taste, so choose your poison.

Many of these games allow the player to select the language of play. This makes those games an ideal method of practicing vocabulary for people learning a new language. Playing June’s Journey or Drops is a lot more fun than memorizing Spanish flash cards.

To Play Alone or Together?

Several word games suit both sociable and loner players. Games like Scrabble virtually always involve multiple players. Many online games are played alone but players can get comparative stats for others who use the app. Still other games—such as anagrams—can be done informally and alone, but can also be made competitive when multiple people start with the same prompt and there is a time limit.

*Comic by Ben Orlin, MathWithBadDrawings*

Texas Hold ‘Em was so enjoyable that I did other anagrams:

Encyclopedia (102)
Thanksgiving Day (87)
Echo chamber (61)
Cat on a hot tin roof (88)
Valentine’s Day (104)
Vegetables (99)
Writing life (a puny 57)
Plant watering (135)
Orthopedic surgeon (135)

Let me know if/when you beat my numbers!

Bottom Line: Games are everywhere, they may be good for your brain, and they seem to pose no threats. So go for it!

LICENSE TO DRIVE

Posted on June 11, 2024June 10, 2024 by vlaw759

There’s nothing like a road trip to make me notice license plates even more than usual. I recently spent twelve days in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and, not surprisingly, their iconic plates were everywhere.

A local confirmed what I had heard before, that lower numbered plates are more prestigious, and that license plate numbers can be bequeathed, bought, or sold. In order to retain ownership of a license plate, before completing the sale or finalizing the trade of a vehicle, the owner must bring the title to the DMV. The fee to retain a plate is $35. There is a $20 fee to take the plate out of retention.

As I looked into Delaware plates, I learned a lot about other states as well.

History of License Plates

*Maybe charioteers marked the license number on the horse!*

License plates, also known as vehicle registration plates and license tags, must be displayed on every car and truck on the road in the United States these days. But identifying vehicles is far from a recent development.

The earliest references to vehicle registration and possibly license plates date back to ancient Rome at the time of Julius Caesar (102 – 44 B.C.). There are references to the licensing of chariots, but whether a number was marked on the chariot itself or onto an attachment to the vehicle is not known.

What may have happened during the intervening centuries is a mystery. However, there must have been developments in Victorian England in the 1880s. In The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try unsuccessfully to catch a public Hansom cab. Holmes, however, got close enough to the cab to spot its license number, which became a major clue in cracking the case.

Early American Vehicles

*1894 New York horseless carriage registration*

Delaware first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1905. Registrants provided their own license plates until 1909, when the state began to issue plates.

However, as of April 25, 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates on cars. The first New York plates were homemade, displaying the owner’s initials without any numbers. These first license plates were typically handcrafted of leather or metal (iron) and were meant to denote ownership via the initials.

California required license plates the next year.

Massachusetts was the first state to actually issue plates, beginning in 1903. The first such plate, featuring just the number “1,” was issued to Frederick Tudor, who was working with the highway commission. One of his relatives still holds an active registration on the 1 plate.

These early Massachusetts license plates were made of iron and covered in porcelain enamel. The background was cobalt blue and the number was white. Along the top of the plate, also in white, were the words: “MASS. AUTOMOBILE REGISTER.” The size of the plate was not constant, growing wider as the plate number reached into the tens, hundreds, and thousands.

Massachusetts was the first to issue license plates, but by 1918, all 48 of the contiguous United States were issuing license plate. Although territories at the time, Alaska and Hawaii began issuing plates in 1921 and 1922, respectively.

Variations Among States

*Washington DC plates carry an additional message*

Although the first license plates were meant to be semi-permanent, by the 1920s, states had begun mandating renewal for personal vehicle registration. Individual states tried various methods for creating the plates. The front typically contained registration numbers in large, centered digits while smaller lettering on one side dictated the abbreviated state name and a two- or four-digit year the registration was valid during. States often varied plate color from one year to the next to make it easier for police to identify expired registrations.

*1951 Tennessee plate shaped like the state*

Since 1957, most types of North American plates have been a standard size, six by twelve inches. Prior to that, different sizes and shapes were common. Most were rectangular, but some plates used oval, square, round, and triangular shapes as well. For a number of years, Kansas and Tennessee cut their plates to match the shape of the state itself.

Delaware was the last state to adapt to the 1957 changeover to standard-size 6″x 12″ license plates, and remains the only state with [historic] non-standard size plates in current use.

The majority of Delaware’s black porcelain plates in use today are reproduction copies of the original series one style. In 1986 Delaware’s Division of Motor Vehicles legalized the manufacture of accurate replicas due to popular demand. There is only one company actively supplying the demand for these plates, the Delaware Historic Plate Company. Delaware is the only state that allows the private manufacture of legal license plates, and the only state to have retained the famous (among license plate aficionados) porcelain plates in the modern era.

License Plates Today

The modern Delaware style of reflective gold on blue was first introduced in 1958. Delaware DMV added “THE FIRST STATE” slogan four years later.

The style of Delaware’s license plate has not changed much in about 50 years. The black onyx and heritage gold colored Centennial License Plate [2005] was a celebration of 100 years of state-issued license plates.

In the U.S., each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles issues vehicle registration plates. The only plates issued by the federal government are for their federal vehicle fleet or for cars owned by foreign diplomats.

*License plate issued by Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota*

Note: some Indigenous groups in America also issue their own registrations to members, but many states now offer a special registration.

New Mexico is the only state that specifies “USA” on its license plates, in order to avoid confusion with the country of Mexico, which it borders.

Initially, license plates were issued in pairs. During WWII, due to material shortages, most states dropped the requirement for a front plate. As of 2023, the “Rugged Nineteen” states still require only one plate:

Alabama	Arizona
Arkansas	Delaware
Florida	Georgia
Indiana	Kansas
Kentucky	Louisiana
Michigan	Mississippi
New Mexico	North Dakota
Oklahoma	Pennsylvania
South Carolina	Tennessee
West Virginia

Modern Standards

Even today, there’s no nation-wide standard for how many letters/numbers are on a license plate. Some states have six-character plates, some have seven-character plates and yet others have eight-character plates.

As of 2023, the four oldest plate designs in use – each with slight to moderate cosmetic changes since inception – are those of Delaware (in production since 1959), Colorado (since 1960, continuously since 1978), the District of Columbia (since 1975, and Minnesota (since 1978).

It’s been many years since all of a state’s license plates looked alike. Today, the 50 states and the District of Columbia offer 8331 different vehicle license plate designs.

Jon Keegan, an investigative data reporter, has published a complete list of all license plate designs in the US. He found that Maryland has the most plate designs of any state: 989, nearly twice as many as runner-up Texas (476). Hawaii has the fewest, with just 14. You can discover more intriguing tidbits from Keegan’s survey and search the database for yourself here.

License plates in Delaware feature up to seven characters. Prefixes indicate the type of vehicle or organization they represent. The state originally used the letter C only for trucks and vans. However, they introduced “CL” when they started to run out of numbers.

The number of possible license plate numbers depends on the format of the license plate. If the plate consists of 6 digits and letters, then there are 2,176,782,336 possible license plate numbers. If the plate consists of 7 digits and letters, then there are 78,364,164,096 possible license plate numbers.

Vanity License Plates

Virginia offers 333 basic plate designs. Drivers can personalize most of these designs for an additional fee. Vanity plates such as HRD TME, GR8 BOD, etc., are common. In fact, one out of every ten personalized license plates in the United States is registered to a Virginia driver. Perhaps this high take-up of vanity plates is due to the fact that a personalized plate in Virginia costs just $10 more than a randomly-assigned number.

Look, too, for vanity in New Hampshire, Illinois, Nevada and Montana, but car and truck owners in Virginia are the vainest of them all.

In Delaware, the DMV will no longer accept or process new vanity plate requests. The DMV has already stopped processing all pending vanity license plate requests as of Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Existing vanity license plates that have been issued prior to the Court’s decision currently remain eligible for renewal.

Government Plates

Politicians and elected officials have long had access to colorful, special, low-numbered plates. In Virginia, if you see a regular license plate that is 1, that is the Governor’s official car. The Lt. Gov. is 1A, the Attorney General A1, the Governor’s unofficial car is A, and prior Governors are 2, 3, 4, etc.

In Delaware, 1 is for the Governor, 2 for the Lt. Governor, and 3 for the State Attorney General.

In fact, in most states the No. 1 plate is assigned to the Governor’s limousine, while No. 2 is provided to the Lieutenant Governor.

North Dakota has a unique approach to providing low numbers to their elected officials. The North Dakota Governor gets plates No. 1 and 5, while the state’s senior U.S. Senator receives plate No. 2. The junior U.S. Senator from North Dakota gets plate No. 3, and the lone at-large Congressman can drive a car with plate No. 4. The Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota receives plate No. 6. However, officials who don’t want to attract attention—for whatever reason—will choose not to display such identifiable license plates. Such special plates are very sought after by collectors.

Collecting License Plates

Serious U.S. license plate collectors consider the 1921 Alaska plate to be the holy grail of license plates and perhaps the rarest of all U.S. license plates. As recently as 2008, just four were known to exist, with their worth being somewhere around $60,000 each at the time.

But for dollar value? In 2008, someone bought the No. 6 Delaware license plate at auction for $675,000. In 2018, Butch Emmert auctioned off the No. 20 tag for $410,000.

For Delawarians, there may be no status symbol greater than the coveted low-digit license plate. Not just anyone can buy these rare Delaware plates, though. You have to be a Delaware resident with a Delaware driver’s license.

Although the biggest draw is low numbers, Delaware complicates the situation by starting some tags with letters: C for commercial, PC for passenger car, T for trailer, MC for motorcycle, RT for recreational trailer, and RV for recreational vehicle.

Bottom Line: Even something as mundane as a license plate has history. What might you learn about your own?

DOWN IN THE DIRT

Posted on May 21, 2024May 21, 2024 by vlaw759

“God made dirt, and dirt don’t hurt.” So chant young children when they don’t want to take a bath. And mostly, that’s true.

As it turns out, the average person ingests about 100 milligrams of dirt every single day. Overall, that equates to roughly six pounds of dirt in an average lifespan! This is mostly unintentional.

Eating Dirt Intentionally

*Woman selling geophagic clay in Zambia (Jcaravanos)*

On the other hand, some people crave dirt. It’s a form of the disorder pica (the strong urge to eat items that aren’t food). Geophagia is the official term for craving and eating dirt, including earth, soil, or clay. Eating dirt may relieve gastrointestinal pain for some people, but it can also cause health problems such as anemia and lead poisoning.

Eating dirt is not a recent phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination. Archaeologists have found evidence that our ancestors ate dirt at least 2 million year ago, back when Homo sapiens was still Homo habilis. Hippocrates wrote about the practice more than 2 thousand years ago.

If a pregnant woman feels the desire to eat earth or charcoal and then eats them, the child will show signs of these things.
Hippocrates. Oevres Complètes d’Hippocrate, Vol. 8, Little E, transl. Paris: Baillière, 1839: 487

Children sometimes choose to eat dirt, and it has also been linked to pregnancy cravings and nutrient deficiencies. ‌ If you have iron deficiency anemia, you may feel an urge to eat dirt. While soil does contain minerals and nutrients, it’s not a safe way to get them into your body. Overall, dirt eating happens more often in places where there is famine and poverty.

In fact, exposure to a diverse range of microorganisms, including those found in soil and on farm animals, can actually have significant benefits on your gut microbiome, supporting digestive and immune health.

Cooking With Dirt

Despite headlines claiming desperately hungry people in Haiti eat “galette” out of necessity, these mud cakes actually play a different role in traditional medicine. Due to their mineral content, some people traditionally recommended these mud cookies as a dietary supplement for pregnant women and children. A small minority of Haitians believe they contain calcium (which can act as an antacid and provide nutritional benefits), but doctors warn this can also cause tooth decay, constipation, and worse.

To make sour dirt, spread soil on a cookie sheet, season with vinegar or your choice of flavorings, and then bake in a wood-burning oven for an hour or smoke in the chimney. After preparation, the dirt tastes sour with an acidic taste, crunchy, and smooth; reputedly, it melts in the mouth like chocolate. (I haven’t tried it and do not recommend it.)

The Many Uses of Kaolin

Dr. Sera Young, a research scientist at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, published Craving Earth, which documents more than 2,000 years of human consumption of clay, starch, and chalk worldwide. In the United States, there is a Southern tradition of eating white dirt, largely a function of geography. “White dirt” is actually a soft, chalky clay.

The southeastern North American coastline is especially rich in minerals. Chuck Reese wrote an article about the southern history of eating white dirt in The Bitter Southerner. “One of the most valuable of those mineral resources, historically, was kaolin. Look at the list of its uses, and you’ll see why:

“Ceramics
“Toothpaste
“As a light-diffusing material in light bulbs
“Cosmetics
“As a gloss modifier in paint
“As a reinforcing element in rubber
“In adhesives that modify the rheology, or relative solidity, of soft solids such as muds and mortars
“As an organic insect repellent in agriculture
“As a whitewash in traditional masonry structures in Nepal
“As an indicator in radiological dating
“As an absorbent in water-treatment systems
“And of course, there is its most human use: Kaolin soothes the upset stomach. Didn’t your mama ever give you Kaopectate?” (Chuck Reese, Bitter Southerner)

“It’s pretty clear in the medical community that this [eating dirt] is not necessarily a deadly idea, but it’s not a good idea,” Adam Forrester says.

Chuck Reese adds, “People who eat white dirt are mostly, but not entirely, African-American. They are mostly, but not entirely, women. And mostly, women eat it when they are entirely pregnant.”

Benefits of Getting Dirty

Studies using mice have found healthy bacteria that live in the soil increase serotonin levels and reduce anxiety. But mice are pretty different from humans.

There’s a safer way. “Putting your hands in the soil releases ‘feel good’ chemicals in the brain and grounds the nervous system,” Hannah Brents, LICSW, of Safe Talk Therapy in Boston, told Psycom.

Actually, there are many benefits of gardening and spending time outdoors.

While tending a garden, you perform functional movement that mimics whole body exercise, burns calories, improves balance, increases strength, and increases flexibility. You’ll enjoy an improved diet if you grow your own vegetables and herbs.
Studies have shown that spending time outdoors reduces heart rate and muscle tension. Sunlight lowers blood pressure and increases vitamin D levels. In addition, people tend to breathe deeper when outside, which helps to clear out the lungs, improves digestion, improves immune response, and increases oxygen levels in the blood.
Exercise in nearly all forms is good for you. It’s been shown to lighten mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety. Routines of gardening and exercise provide structure to our days and are linked to improved mental health.
Gardening and spending time outdoors brings people together and strengthens social connections. They bring together people with diverse backgrounds who share preferred activities. Social connections help lower stress, improve resilience, and provide support during difficult times in life. A strong sense of belonging lowers your risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide.

*Sankofa Community Development Cooperation, New Orleans*

Dirt Comes in Many Flavors

As you no doubt inferred from the above discussion of white dirt, there are many types of dirt. If you are a gardening nerd, you probably already know one type of dirt from another. For the rest of us:

Sandy soil is light, warm, dry and tends to be acidic and low in nutrients. It has a high proportion of sand and little clay (clay weighs more than sand).
Clay soil is a heavy soil type that benefits from high nutrients. Clay soils remain wet and cold in winter and dry out in summer.
Silt soil is a light and moisture retentive soil type with a high fertility rating.
Peat soil is high in organic matter and retains a large amount of moisture.
Chalk soil can be either light or heavy but always highly alkaline due to the calcium carbonate (lime) within its structure.
Loam soil is a mixture of sand, silt, and clay combined to avoid the negative effects of each type.
Black dirt typically contains iron and other chemicals, which is what gives it the brown/black color.

And then there are other distinctions known to gardeners: fill dirt, top soil, potting soil…

Dirty Danger

But when it comes to dirt, whether you are playing in it, eating it, or working with it, beware: there are many soil born diseases and illnesses. People with compromised immune systems, whether due to a congenital condition, following an organ transplant, or certain medication, must avoid gardening or soil contact for this reason. In addition to tetanus, anthrax, and botulism, soil bacteria may cause diseases in the gastrointestinal tract, infections in open wounds, skin lesions, and respiratory tract disruptions. Non-responsive, overwhelming, or chronic pneumonia may be connected to dirt as well. Typically, the growth of disease-producing microorganisms is favored by particular soil characteristics and may involve complex life cycles including amoebae or animal hosts. Infection may come from direct inoculation, ingestion of contaminated food, or inhalation.

Because there are so many benefits of getting close to dirt, do it! Just take appropriate cautions and use protective gear as needed.

Bottom Line: Getting down and dirty can be a beautiful thing!

For the Love of Turtles

Posted on May 7, 2024May 7, 2024 by vlaw759

This blog has nothing to do with anything except that I really like Eastern Box Turtles. I hope you enjoy it.

If I were a box turtle, I could eat nearly anything, never have to build a shelter, would be nearly impervious to predators, could live virtually anywhere in the eastern half of the U.S., and live up to 100 years! Plus, I’d be beloved across time and cultures.

Researching Turtles

I first paid attention to them when I was a summer research assistant during graduate school. The professor I was working for eschewed buying lab animals. Instead, he had his graduate students do things like trap dump rats. One spring, he had his students collect box turtles from roadsides and fields for a class project. I worked for him the following summer.

The brick animal holding building near the river was old, dim, and dank. I worked in the basement where the box turtles lived in a huge terrarium. We fed them lettuce, blueberries, and raw hamburger.

Turtle Speed Runs

I set up a T-maze, which looks just like it sounds. As I recall, the stem as well as each arm was two feet long. One arm led to food; the other arm led to a drop-off into a big box of shredded paper. I measured several things:

How long it took each turtle to traverse the maze;
How many times the turtle looked left and then right at the choice point before choosing a direction—i.e., (for science nerds) the VTE’s or vicarious trials-and-errors;
Whether the turtle made the right choice or not;
How many trials it took before the turtle consistently made the right choice.

It was a l-o-n-g summer of l-o-n-g workdays. Sometimes, a single trial for a single turtle took more than an hour.

Research Results

The hypothesis being tested was that the more VTE’s, the fewer trials to learn. Not supported.

However, over some weeks, we noticed aberrant behavior. For example, we saw several instances of males mounting males or turtles eating newly-laid eggs. So, we wrote a paper about the effects of crowding on eastern box turtles. As far as I know, that paper never saw the light of day.

But I learned a great deal about Eastern Box Turtles that summer, starting with how to “sex” them, quick and easy: bright red eyes distinguish males from the brown-eyed females. In addition, male box turtles’ heads and shells are often more brightly and distinctively colored than females. The underside of female box turtle shells are flat; males are concave. There’s more, but not as obvious.

Subsequently, I’ve picked up a lot of interesting (to me) information. For example, the temperature of the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings; eggs incubated at 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit are more likely to be males, and those incubated above 82 degrees Fahrenheit are more likely to be females.

Turtles Gone Wild!

Periodically, I see eastern box turtles in my backyard. Once I saw two on the bank, mating. Never before, and not since!

*Eastern box turtle shell patterns are very similar to the fall foliage of tulip poplars, which grow throughout turtles’ natural habitat.*

Eastern box turtles live in a wide variety of habitats including forests, forest edges, meadows, and rural or suburban backyards. Depending on the habitat quality, Eastern box turtles can have a home range between 2 and 13 acres. If their habitat provides enough food, water, shelter, and occasional contact with other box turtles, they have all they need and rarely leave their home range.

Box turtles will always go back to where they are most familiar with their surroundings. Researchers call this adaptation homing behavior. Home ranges often overlap regardless of age or sex.

Actually, you shouldn’t disturb turtles in the wild. (Little did we know when embarking on the turtle project all those years ago!) Don’t disturb, pick up, or move a box turtle unless it has a visible injury or is in imminent danger. If you find a turtle in the road, move it to the other side in the direction it was going. Don’t attempt to relocate it. Turtles have small home territories and should be left where they are found.

Behavior

Courting turtles in my backyard — *Turtle courtship in my backyard*

Turtles typically show no antagonism toward each other. While aggression between individuals is uncommon, competing males will spar each other. This involves biting at each other’s shells.

Box turtles reach sexual maturity around age five. Mating season generally starts in the spring and continues through fall. After rain, males become more active in their search for females. Males may mate with more than one female or the same female several times. Females can store sperm for up to four years. They lay fertilized eggs at will, so they don’t mate every year. A female could lay fertile eggs up to four years after a successful mating!

In the wild, eastern box turtles walk energetically with their heads upright. They may walk about 55 yards in one day. A homing instinct helps them find their way back home. Box turtles generally live for 25-35 years but have been known to survive to over 100! They grow to only about 4 inches by six inches.

If you do need to pick one up, hold it like a sandwich with both hands.

And they like to be scratched with a stiff brush!

Diet

Eastern box turtles are omnivores, and in the wild eat whatever is available: a variety of plants, fruits, insects, fish, small amphibians, eggs, and even animal carrion. They can even eat mushrooms that are toxic to humans!

Younger box turtles grow very rapidly and tend to be preferentially carnivorous (for the needed energy). Younger turtles tend to be more carnivorous than adults, hunting in ponds and streams for food. After five to six years, they move onto the land and shift to a more herbivorous diet.

Anatomy of Turtles

Box turtles have great eyesight for recognizing food surroundings, and potential danger. Not only can they tell the difference between ripe and unripe fruit, but they can also identify other individual box turtles based on the colors and patterns on their shells and bodies.

The underside of its shell (its plastron) is dark brown and hinged, which allows them to almost completely shut their shell. When threatened, the box turtle can pull its head and legs into its shell and wait for the danger to pass. Very few predators can effectively prey upon adult box turtles because of this technique.

Its shell is also unique in that it can regenerate. In one reported case, the carapace of a badly burned box turtle completely regenerated.

Wonderful as they are, box turtles are not good pets. They don’t like to be petted or handled, and without special lights they are prone to bone and other health problems. Also, most turtles carry salmonella infection asymptomatically, in that they do not show signs of illness, but can pass it on, which can be an issue for children, especially.

Symbolic Turtles

*Palm leaves woven into a turtle shape to make a ketupat penyu, an amulet providing protection in traditional Malay medicine*

However, you can still have turtles around you! Turtle jewelry is easily found, and very variable. Just ask me! Besides the turtle image itself, the power of the metal and stones may be protective, too.

*From the Great Peace of Montreal, the mark of the Turtle Clan, which Tourengouenon signed for Senecas*

Besides appealing to me generally, I like the symbolism of turtles. Many Native American cultures believe turtles to have a strong and ancient understanding of the world they hold upon their shell. The Chippewa, Menominee, Huron-Wyandot, Abenaki, Shawnee, Lenape, and Iroquois tribes all have Turtle Clans. In other tribes, turtles represent healing, wisdom, spirituality, health, safety, longevity, protection, and fertility.

Many cultures associate turtles with water. Some concentrate upon the fertility that this connection can suggest.

In addition, some cultures view the turtle as a symbol of spiritual rebirth and transformation. The turtle has the ability to submerge underwater and then resurface, representing renewal and spiritual protection.

Wise Turtles

*Cambodian bas-relief showing Samudra manthan-Vishnu and his turtle Avatar Kurma*

Around the world the tortoise and/or turtle can be seen as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, and is able to defend itself on its own. According to Yoruba foklore, the trickster Alabahun is a tortoise who performs heroic deeds. In other traditions, turtles signify water, the moon, the Earth, time, immortality, and fertility.

The turtle is one of the Four Fabulous Animals of Chinese mythology, the ruler of the North. Seen in ways similar to those of Chinese tradition, the Japanese turtle spirit minogame (蓑亀) represented longevity, support, and good luck. Although they don’t have Eastern box turtles in China and Japan, they do have the Yellow-margined Box Turtle (Cuora flavomarginata).

Strong Turtles

*Turtles are still popular subjects for tattoos in Polynesia*

Turtles in Oceania tend to be more representative of strength. According to Tahitian legend, the tortoise is the shadow of the gods and the lord of the oceans. Polynesian warriors would tattoo the symbol of the war god Tu on themselves, often in the form of a huge turtle.

Sometimes, a turtle’s strength and perseverance is marked on its shell. A folktale from the Amazon tells the story of how the turtle broke its shell when falling from the sky in an attempt to reach the King of Heaven. In Cherokee legend, the patterns on a turtle’s shell serve as a reminder of when the gods took pity on a turtle with a broken shell.

All in all, turtles are considered to be symbols of good luck because they embody positive qualities that are associated with prosperity, longevity, and perseverance.

Bottom Line: May turtles live long and prosper!

SO RUDE

Posted on April 30, 2024May 3, 2024 by vlaw759

I think the best of people, always—until proven wrong. Maybe that’s why I believe that virtually all rudeness is unintended. If I’m right, why do so many people, so often, behave rudely?

Rudeness can take many forms. It is generally defined as a display of disrespect, a breaking of social norms or expectations, a breach of etiquette, or ignoring “accepted” behavior. It can also mean someone behaving inconsiderately or aggressively.

People are not always aware of how their words or actions are perceived by others, and they may not intend to be rude.

THE DIMENSIONS OF RUDE

As with any other behavior, there are two dimensions to rudeness: intentional or unintentional, acts of omission and commission. In this blog, I’m dealing with unintentional acts of commission or omission.

By that I mean unintentional rudeness caused by something you did and rudeness resulting from something you failed to do. Either way, you didn’t mean to offend anyone, but offend them you did. It’s the perception of the other person that determines whether a statement or action is rude.

ACTING RUDELY (COMMISSION)

People like to feel that they matter. When they tell a story, or have a conversation, they like to feel that you care about it, and you’re interested in it. Most offense comes when you don’t show interest in their lives, or don’t show interest in what they’re saying.

*Some conversation partners make it abundantly clear when they’re not interested.*

Interrupting in the middle of their stories
Showing visible signs of boredom or distraction
Abruptly changing the subject
Finishing someone else’s story when talking to a third person
Making a joke or interjecting your own comments
Finishing someone else’s sentences
Otherwise drawing attention to yourself and away from the speaker
Walking away while the other person is still talking
Scanning the room when you are supposed to be listening
Checking your cell phone or smart watch (no matter how surreptitious you think you’re being)
Actually taking a call when you are supposed to be playing bridge, participating in a book discussion, or whatever

Then there are occasions when you are rude by inattention, like getting into a checkout line without noticing that someone else was in line a step or two back.

*Rudeness may be the lesser offense in some situations.*

Perhaps you’ve taken a seat where someone else was sitting when that person intended to resume the seat.

Consider a time when you had a cold, allergies, or similar symptoms. You coughed, sneezed, etc. You may have wanted to be friendly by shaking hands when leaving, but offering a germy hand is actually rude.

Avoid Being Rude by Commission

Many people behave these ways. To avoid being seen as rude, at least act like you care. Listen to people. Let them speak. Act like you care about what they’re saying. Give them positive feedback, like a smile, or nodding your head. This may seem fake, but it is social intelligence, which separates popular people from unpopular people. Popular people often understand how to make other people feel good, and most of all, they care enough to do it

RUDE BY OMISSION

*Just because you didn’t intend to cause a car accident doesn’t mean you won’t be hit.*

Your cell phone rings at an inappropriate time—e.g., during a play, concert, lecture, because you failed to turn it off. You didn’t intend to be disruptive, but unintentional rudeness is still rudeness. And, unfortunately, it is very easy to commit.

Not responding promptly to an e-mail, text, or voice message. This kind of passivity is rude! (Note: promptness is a social construct and can vary widely. See below.)

Not responding/acknowledging what you consider a distant event but others see otherwise. For example, not sending a card (or check) when your sister’s stepdaughter’s stepson graduates from high school.

Not sending holiday greetings.

Not welcoming/admiring someone’s pet or plant, art or outfit, or the arrival of his/her twelfth great-grandchild.

Avoid Being Rude by Omission

*It helps to signal that you’re actively listening: make eye contact, ignore distractions, maintain alert posture, keep ears up, wag tail…*

The secret to not being rude by omission again lies in making other people feel like they matter. This can often be as simple as paying attention to what others see as important. If a friend mentions their pet lizard frequently, constantly sends photos of their garden, or voices worries about an upcoming medical appointment, they probably see those things as fairly significant. Acknowledging or asking about something subjectively important goes a long way toward establishing yourself as a polite person.

If someone sends you holiday greetings, send a message in response. If someone has done you a favor, thank them. Keep in mind that, if someone has to remind you about a message they sent or question they asked, perhaps they’re sending you a gentle message that they’d prefer more prompt responses from you.

SOURCES OF UNINTENTIONAL RUDENESS

*Invading personal space may not be a choice.*

Many things beyond our control can cause us to be rude unintentionally.

Mental health issues, such as anxiety
Substance use/abuse
Low self-esteem or insecurity
Lack of social skills
Being distracted because of:
- Stress
- Pressure
- Frustration
- Any source of unhappiness
Physical limitations such as low-vision or deafness
Not considering or understanding the impact of one’s words or behavior, including tone of voice, facial expression, and other such paraverbal “language.”

SUBJECTIVELY UNDERSTOOD RUDENESS

*It may be perfectly fine to smoke somewhere else.*

There can be cultural differences to consider as well. For example, in Japan, something as seemingly innocent as laughing with your mouth open is a no-no. In many areas of the Middle East, showing someone the soles of your feet is an insult. So, it’s important to be aware of these possibilities, especially if you are in a culturally diverse situation or setting.

And then there are sub-cultural differences. For example, among ladies of a certain age and upbringing, not sending hand-written thank-you notes is rude. But among teens or college students, a text saying “Thanks a bunch” is likely considered acceptable and sufficient.

Other behaviors particularly prone to sub-cultural differences or expectations include:

*Sometimes, rudeness is just a matter of translation.*

Arriving late, and how late
Cursing
Slurping food
Wearing clothes that are inappropriate or offensive
Taking a call
Expressing religious or political opinions
Talking about finances
Interrupting
Directly criticizing someone else’s appearance
Finishing or not finishing food on your plate
Accepting or not accepting displays of hospitality
Talking about health/illness
Smoking
Talking about people who aren’t present

The best way to avoid being unintentionally rude is observing the current situation and picking up on social cues.

DEALING WITH RUDE PEOPLE

When trying to decrease rudeness around you, start by being a good role model. Don’t ignore it, because it won’t go away. Deal directly (but privately) with the culprit, perhaps by asking what the person intended; then follow-up with “When you xxx, it makes others feel yyy.”

*When in doubt, it’s always best to hire a sky-writer.*

Whether to apologize after realizing you’ve been rude is a personal decision. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, the relationship,

You can try moving on, ignoring the offense but making efforts not to repeat it.
You may need to acknowledge the offense with a simple, “Sorry; I’ll try to do better in the future.”
For a more serious offense, you may need to offer a written mea culpa, with or without a peace token.

However, if you’re dealing with petty people, people who take offense just for the sake of being offended, don’t reward that behavior!

HOW TO STOP BEING UNINTENTIONALLY RUDE

If you frequently feel you’ve been rude—or people have told you you are—and it is truly unintentional, consider whether there is a pattern to your rudeness.

Does it typically happen around particular people or family members?
Are particular topics the trigger?
Is it job related?
Have you had enough sleep?
Are you rude when you already feel angry or hungry or irritable?

Finding patterns may help you find a root cause and deal with it.

In addition, my advice would be to be present. Pay attention to people and what they are saying. Look for social or situational cues. Avoid simultaneously trying to solve some other problem on your mind.

Finally, assume other peoples’ rudeness is unintentional and don’t take offense if you can manage that.

INTENTIONAL RUDENESS

*Just because it’s funny doesn’t mean it’s not also rude.*

This isn’t something I’ve taken up here. But in my opinion, those behaviors might better go by a different name. “Rudeness” can be a way to display power within a family, social or work setting. Or it could be an attempt to get your own way on something. Or maybe you could be trying simply to provoke a reaction.

This is closely related to bullying.

Then there is “mean” behavior which aims to hurt or deprecate someone.

Alternatively, being deliberately offensive can be a way of discouraging future interactions.

Bottom Line: Rudeness is everywhere. In my opinion, it’s usually unintentional. My rule of thumb: If small children do not die, it isn’t really important. Chill.

BUTTERFLIES HELPING HUMANS

Posted on April 9, 2024April 8, 2024 by vlaw759

Humans have seen butterflies as deeply symbolic for at least as long as they’ve been making art. In poetry, paintings, music, dance, and fiction, the butterfly signifies the human spirit. They symbolize hope, eternity, and rebirth. But beyond their metaphorical significance, butterflies inspire humans in many other ways.

Butterfly Eyes

Butterflies will always win a staring competition. They have two compound eyes, containing up to 17,000 mini eyes, each with its own lens, a single rod, and up to three cones. Where humans have cones (photo-receptors) for three colors, butterflies have photo-receptors for up to nine colors, one of which is ultra-violet. But what they don’t have is eyelids; hence, they’d always win.

Butterflies eyesight has inspired technology developments potentially beneficial to us all. Professor Doekele Stavenga teaches evolutionary biophysics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. “The optical principles evolved in nature have inspired improvements of LEDs, for instance, and colour discrimination processing,” says Stavenga.

Butterflies perceive a spectrum of light beyond human capabilities. This extraordinary vision has inspired scientists to develop multispectral surgical cameras. These cameras, mirroring the butterfly’s sight, help surgeons see more than ever before, making surgeries safer and more precise.

Butterfly Wings

“Only some [butterfly wings] are really transparent. … Morphos (and many others) are structurally coloured, due to optical multilayer reflections,” explains Stavenga.

In 2015, a group of researchers revealed the science behind transparent butterfly wings. Nano-structured pillars of random heights cover each wing surface. Scientists found that the extreme irregularity of these pillars barely reflect any light.

Scientists studying these phenomena in butterflies can apply that understanding to developing new smartphone screens.

Butterflies don’t flap their wings to fly, only to take off. They have “cymbal wings” that “clap.” The distinctive wing clap collects a pocket of air and use it to fly. “Just before the clap, it seems like these wings bend, form like a pocket shape. And then that collapses and they push out again, creating a jet of air, basically,” says Professor Per Henningsson at Lund University in Sweden.

“The shape and flexibility of butterfly wings could be really key to small micro vehicles or drones, that need to be really lightweight and efficient,” Henningsson says.

Butterfly Wing Inventions

The Key Program for International S&T Cooperation Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, and the National Key Research and Development program have been funding research into the energy capabilities of butterfly wings. They recently published four elements of progress achieved by studying butterflies.

By employing the different properties of butterfly wings, featured researches have successfully fabricated thermal, medical, and vapor sensors, anti-counterfeit security devices, photocatalysts, photovoltaic systems, triboelectric nanogenerators and energy storage systems.

More research is necessary but researchers suggest that the applications should extend to photothermal imaging and therapy in cancer treatment and management. The good performance recorded by medical sensors for health monitoring and photothermal capabilities of butterfly-wing-inspired materials will aid in the detection, imaging, therapy, and monitoring of terminal diseases.

Similarly, photothermal materials inspired by butterfly wings can gain interest in the emerging stealth technologies research for modern-day warfare and scientific research technologies, such as rockets.

Lastly, butterfly wings have exhibited numerous and diverse properties that enable them to respond effectively to external stimuli.

Butterfly Behavior

Butterflies (and moths to a lesser extent) serve as part of a group of ‘model’ organisms that researchers use to investigate many areas of biological research, including such diverse fields as navigation, pest control, embryology, mimicry, evolution, genetics, population dynamics, and biodiversity conservation.

New research on butterflies is proving that these insects are capable of an astonishing range of clever behaviors. They can thwart attacks or outwit competitors. Their abilities range from learning lessons to navigating long distances. “They don’t have a lot of gray matter in their brains, maybe just a cubic millimeter,” says Georgetown University biologist Martha Weiss, “but with it they can do everything they need to do.”

A lot of research concludes that abundance of butterflies is often an indication that an ecosystem is thriving. For one thing, butterflies are an important link in a food chain, as predators and prey. Both adult butterflies and caterpillars are an important source of food for other animals such as bats and birds.

Butterfly Migration

Monarch butterflies have a longer lifespan than most and will take flight from their native USA and Canada habitats to the warmer climate of Mexico for winter. Some migrating monarch butterflies travel over 4800km (2983 mi) to reach their warm winter home.

Butterflies only flutter on takeoff. Long-distance migrants like monarchs will save energy by holding their wings in a flat “V” and gliding. “When they’re migrating, monarchs will fly a few feet off the ground in the morning until they hit a thermal rising off some barren earth or asphalt. Then they’ll rise like a hawk.” So says Orley Taylor, a University of Kansas ecologist and director of Monarch Watch, a mark-and-recapture program. Monarchs can ride a thermal to 5,000 feet.

Out of sight of humans, butterflies on their way to their usual wintering grounds in Mexico each fall migrate in such dense concentrations that they show up on radar. Despite flying 2,000 miles on paper-thin wings, their mastery of low-powered flight means they arrive barely winded. “A lot of monarchs arrive in remarkable condition,” says Taylor. “They look like they just hatched.”

Butterfly Food

Whether they migrate or not, butterflies are important pollinators. We think of honey bees as great pollinators, and they are, but they confine themselves to a much smaller range than even stay-at-home butterflies.

Nectar is an important component of a butterfly’s diet. Technically, butterflies can’t eat anything and instead drink all their nutrients. Proteins and minerals gained during the caterpillar’s diet of plants and ants are stored for the butterfly. It’s essential for metamorphosis and sustaining the butterflies through to reproduction.

Thanks to the effort of their crawling caterpillar stage, butterflies are free to get their sugar-fix of instant energy from nectar. You might see butterflies drinking from wet soil or puddles. Gulping up muddy water helps butterflies regulate their temperature and increases their salt supply. People have even found butterflies lapping up the salty tears of turtles. And they will suck up blood if the opportunity arises!

Butterfly Habitat

Like rats, the only continent butterflies can’t be found is Antarctica due to its sub-zero climate.

Because of their sensitivity to environmental changes, butterflies make an ideal specimen for scientists how climate change influences biodiversity. As the planet warms, researchers in Scandinavia have noticed that these beautiful insects have gradually altered their range, expanding northwards. Researchers in Sweden and Finland have discovered an astonishing 64% increase in average provincial species richness, expanding from 46 to 70 species per province.

Butterflies are aesthetically pleasing and few species cause any damage to commercial plants. They are a diverse group of insects containing around 20,000 different species. North America is home to more than 700 of these species. Each type has various behavioral and structural adaptations that allow them to survive in various environments.

Microgravity during a space flight creates almost weightless conditions. Still, astronauts were able to observe metamorphosis of the Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies in space. With a little difficulty, the butterflies managed to emerge. However, they had some trouble navigating. They bumped into the sides of their habitat and struggled to fully expand and dry their wings as quickly as they would here on Earth.

Butterfly Anatomy

Butterflies have taste buds across their wings, feet, and antennae as well as their proboscis.

Butterflies are day insects and “sleep” hanging upside-down from leaves. Hanging on leaves actually protect them from rain and any early morning birds.

Butterflies with ‘warning colors’ like the orange and black of the monarch and the long-winged tiger and zebra butterflies are less concerned with hiding while they rest. These colors indicate to predators that they will be poisonous to eat. Some butterflies have evolved to store the toxins from the milkweed they eat as caterpillars.

Although their habitats range all over the world, butterflies have a fleeting life, with an average lifespan of around three to four weeks. However, it varies across species. In 2009, scientists did a large-scale study and found that butterflies’ lives span from a few days to almost a year.

Bottom line: Butterflies deserve their symbolism. In literature and art, butterflies signify hope, love, and the soul’s eternal nature. In science, butterflies symbolize (and inspire) advances in research and technology.

PEEVED?

Posted on April 2, 2024April 2, 2024 by vlaw759

Today? Yesterday? Every day? Tax Day? If any of the pet peeves that follow tick you off, you’re not alone!

Table Manners

Open mouthed chewers
Slurping
Loud chewers
Slathering food with salt/ hot sauce/ketchup before even tasting it
Cracking gum
People talking with a full mouth
Chewing gum/cracking
Spitting
Talking about what you are eating
Demanding everyone wait and take 500 Instagram photos before eating

Phone Etiquette

*Interrupting training with the shogun to answer your phone*

Taking phone calls in public
Being on their phone too much
Facetiming without headphones
Staring at their phone rather than watching where they walk
Texting during a meal
Ending a call without saying good-bye
Ignoring an in-person companion in favor of a phone screen
Using speech-to-text in public
Constantly filming in public rather than engaging

All Around the House

*Leaving overflowing ashtrays on every table and counter*

Leaving the toilet seat up
Singing (badly) in the shower
Leaving empty containers in the fridge
Not replacing the toilet paper
Leaving lights or ceiling fans on
Being loud when someone in the house is trying to sleep
Leaving dirty dishes on counters or in sinks next to the dishwasher
Wearing shoes in the house
Leaving cupboard doors and drawers half open
Not closing bottles or other containers completely
Opening a new container before the old one is empty
Using things without permission, e.g. clothes, accessories, car
Not putting things away (clothes, sandwich-fixings, etc.)
Failing to throw away empty containers
Playing music or watching TV with the volume turned way up

Speaking Politely

*Shouting everything they say through a megaphone*

Interrupting
Finishing another’s sentences
Talking over one’s conversation partner
Talking too loudly
Turning the topic of every conversation back to oneself
Talking during a movie
Gratuitous swearing
Stopping the conversation to correct someone’s grammar
Talking to someone who is trying to read
Using LOL or OMG during a face-to-face conversation
Constantly talking about a particular obsession (health/diet/exes/etc.)
Saying “like” instead of “said” (I’m like, “Duh!”)
Treating every conversation like a monologue or performance

Any Time, Any Place

*Walking three-abreast and blocking the entire sidewalk*

Being habitually late
Self-entitled people
Attempting to control everyone and everything
The silent treatment
Encroaching on others’ space, particularly in crowded areas
Clicking a pen
Repetitive tapping
Cracking knuckles
Nose-picking
Mean-spirited gossip
Knee bouncing
Cutting in line
Littering
Unsolicited advice/recommendations
Constant throat clearing/coughing/sniffing
Passing gas or belching
Clipping nails in public

Does it Have to Take All Kinds?

*People who leave their shopping carts in the middle of the parking lot*

Particular family member(s)
Particular friend/acquaintance/neighbor
Surly servers/salespeople/cashiers
Dog owners who don’t train or pick up after their pet
People who cut in line
Grumpy people venting their bad mood on servers/salespeople/cashiers
Bad drivers
One uppers
Know-it-alls
Strangers (or friends) encroaching on your personal space
People who randomly command you to smile
Strangers calling you Honey or Sweetie
Standing up the minute a plane gets to the gate

Common Pet Peeves

A survey of 544 people conducted by Survey Monkey listed these top fifteen pet peeves at home and at work.

*Bedmates who hog the entire bed and all the blankets despite being tiny and having their own fur coat*

Leaving common spaces messy (63%)
Colleagues complain about their work and/or specific colleagues (53%)
Manager doesn’t give you credit when it’s deserved (50%)
Neglecting to take out the trash (45%)
Bedmate takes too much of the blanket (39%)
Colleagues show up late to meetings (33%)
Colleagues fail to recognize your contributions (31%)
Talking loudly over the phone (30%)
When a bedmate moves around too much (29%)
Taking food without asking for permission (24%)
Cooking something that smells unpleasant (22%)
Bedmate wakes you up early in the morning (22%)
Bedmate is on their phone or computer late at night (22%)
Playing music loudly (22%)
Occupying the kitchen for a long period of time (20%)

The results indicate that younger people (18-29) and older people (45-60) differ in their peevishness. Which group is more often peeved varied depending on the item.

More Specific Pet Peeves

A similar survey reported on PromoInfoTools found a lot of overlap with Survey Monkey, though some seem to be distinctive. (I’ve shortened or edited some of the answers for the sake of brevity.)

*Drivers who don’t use their turn signal*

Crunching! Especially on the phone.
People tailgating
People being hypocrites
When people don’t believe what I’m saying is true
People not showing up on time for appointments
People using items and then not putting them back where they found them
Being late for anything
When people do not take responsibility for their actions
When people take what is said at face value and jump to conclusions and judgements without doing their own research for the truth
People not putting their shopping cart back
Feeling unappreciated
Correcting or “cleaning up after” someone else’s mistake(s) or sloppy work
When someone interrupts me when I’m talking to interject what they want to share
When my time is wasted. Take my money, or my material items, but not my time.
People who categorize people by income, position held, school jocks and nerds, etc. We are all human and deserve to be treated as such, not by our categories.

*Garbage not emptied when full in kitchen or bathroom(s)*

Inconsiderate people
Roadside trash and the people who throw it out their windows
Wasting water
When people don’t make eye contact or acknowledge you when your paths cross
Being lied to and the person thinking they are getting one up on me
Lack of customer service
Being told someone will call back but they never do
Lack of communication
People hitting “reply all” on an e-mail when it should be directed to a specific person
Traffic
When the waiter interrupts my conversation to ask if I want more water
People who don’t get to work on time. It’s disrespectful to your coworkers!
People who can’t “stay in their lane” – Do your job, I’ll do mine
Lack of basic manners! Using please and thank you is all I ask
Toilet seat and/or cover left up when not in use
Discrimination of all types, racial trauma, micro-aggressions, bigotry. Internalized and systemic racism affect us all.
Robocalls!

More Specific Pet Peeves

More people are interested in pet peeves than I ever imagined! If you are interested in a particular category of pet peeves, there’s probably a survey for that. For example…

Forbes: Survey: The Biggest Pet Peeves Of American Dog Owners

Zety: List of 28 Common Office Pet Peeves

Cmmonline: Survey Reveals Americans’ Restroom Pet Peeves

Bottom Line: Pet peeves are everywhere! It’s important to note: something that’s a minor annoyance—or not at all annoying—for one person is especially irritating for another. Ask yourself if your pet peeves are worth the emotional toll they take. If so, find out how to deal with them. That advice is also available online!

BASKETBALL

Posted on March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 by vlaw759

I enjoy watching athletes in a variety of sports, and basketball is one of my favorites. In honor of March Madness, I started looking into what goes on off the court. Some of the elements that make basketball so entertaining are relatively recent developments, but many have been around since the very beginning.

B-Ball History

*James Naismith with the peach basket and soccer ball from his early game*

Basketball began in 1891, invented by James Naismith, a 31-year-old graduate student and instructor at Springfield College. Luther Gulick (then the College’s physical education superintendent, today renowned as the father of physical education and recreation in the United States) charged Naismith to come up with a new game. The goal was to create an indoor activity that college students could play during the long New England winters. The bonus was that it’s a less injury-prone sport than football. Students quickly adopted the new pastime, and it’s grown in popularity since.

Naismith’s creation was an amalgamation of many games of the time, including American rugby (passing), English rugby (the jump ball), lacrosse (use of a goal), soccer (the shape and size of the ball), and something called duck on a rock, a game Naismith had played with his childhood friends in Bennie’s Corners, Ontario. Duck on a rock used a ball and a goal that players could not rush. The goal also could not be slammed through, thus necessitating “a goal with a horizontal opening high enough so that the ball would have to be tossed into it, rather than being thrown.”

The First Game

Naismith nailed two peach baskets to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, one at each end. An assistant stood at each end of the balcony to collect the ball from the basket and put it back into play. It wasn’t until a few years later that someone thought to cut the bottoms out of those peach baskets so the ball could fall loose. (I’ve abbreviated this history of basketball from the Springfield College website.)

*James Naismith with the 1899 University of Kansas basketball team*

The first game ended in a brawl. “One boy was knocked out. Several of them had black eyes and one had a dislocated shoulder,” Naismith said. “After that first match, I was afraid they’d kill each other, but they kept nagging me to let them play again so I made up some more rules.” (Quoted from a National Geographic article on the history of basketball.

Early Rules

On January 15, 1892, the Springfield College school newspaper, The Triangle, published the original basketball rules.

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.

2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands (never with the fist).

3. A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man who catches the ball when running at a good speed if he tries to stop.

4. The ball must be held in or between the hands; the arms or body must not be used for holding it.

5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of this rule by any player shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.

6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violation of Rules 3,4, and such as described in Rule 5.

7. If either side makes three consecutive fouls, it shall count a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the mean time making a foul).

8. A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal.

9. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field of play by the person first touching it. In case of a dispute, the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds; if he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on that side.

10. The umpire shall be judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.

11. The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made, and keep account of the goals with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.

12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves, with five minutes’ rest between.

13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner. In case of a draw, the game may, by agreement of the captains, be continued until another goal is made.

*First draft of James Naismith’s rules for “Basket Ball”*

Changes

The website HoopTactics chronicled the major changes in basketball since those earliest years. Here are the areas of change, in chronological order. You can look them up. Virtually everything has changed!

The gender, nationality, race, location, and equipment of these college basketball players have all changed from that first Springfield game.
(from the 2015 World University Games, held in South Korea, USA playing Canada)

Team size
Substitutions
Baskets
Backboards
Balls
Scoring
Timing
Shot clock
Fouls
Free throws
Passing, not changed from original Rules 1 & 2
Dribbling
Out of bounds
Midcourt line
Three-second area
Free throw lanes
Center jump
Goal tending
Offensive basket interference
Dunking—“Alcindor Rule”
Game coaching

Note: These changes apply to men’s basketball, and vary somewhat by level: high school, college, professional, international.

Women’s Basketball

Women have been playing basketball almost from the very beginning. However, the road to the WNBA’s creation has not been an easy one.

Senda Berenson, a gymnastic instructor, at Smith College, Northampton, MA, introduced women’s basketball in 1893. She proposed changes to Naismith’s rules for several reasons. The original rules encouraged what many saw as unsportsman-like conduct, including violent fouls and “star playing.” (from Senda Berenson, “The Significance of Basketball for Women.” Spalding’s Official Basket Ball Guide for Women: 1901-1901 (1901)) Berenson’s changes attempted to curb this behavior and to encourage a uniform set of rules to allow for intercollegiate tournaments.

Women originally played with three zones sections with two players stationary in each section. In 1938, the three court sections where reduced to two, with two stationary guards, two stationary forwards, and two “rovers” who could move around the entire court. For decades, people commonly referred to this system as women’s half-court basketball, six-on-six basketball, or basquette.

*1903 official rules for women’s basketball*
*(from Vintage Basketball)*

Early organizers of collegiate women’s sports also had to confront society’s expectations of women. They had to adjust their play style to be allowed to play at all. Social mores of the time also forbade male spectators at practice and games.

Early discussions among female athletes and coaches illustrate the extremely difficult position they faced when trying to promote women’s basketball. As historian Mercedes Townsend writes, “[T]hese women largely focused on navigating through the social ideals and expectations that defined womanhood and, in turn, affected popular opinion on women’s participation in sports.” In a time when women were increasingly organizing and protesting for more economic, political, and social participation, many saw basketball as a useful tool for gender equity. “Proponents of women’s basketball considered the sport an important opportunity to showcase both the physical and intellectual ability of women, and to further validate the growing opportunities for women in the country.”

The University of California at Berkley and Stanford University played the first intercollegiate women’s game in 1896. Two teams in Illinois played the first known interscholastic women’s high school basketball game that same year.

*University of California at Berkeley Women’s Basketball Team of 1899*

The Amateur Athletic Union conducted the first ever women’s national championship in 1936. The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) held the first women’s world championship in 1969. In 1971 women were (finally) allowed to play full court. Louisiana Tech won the first NCAA championship in 1982. In 1995, Oklahoma was the last state to switch from court sections to full court play in high school games.

Perhaps the most important event to occur in women’s basketball, as well as all women’s sports, was the enactment of Title IX in 1972, equalizing men’s and women’s sports. Today, women’s teams play basketball with the same enthusiasm and intensity as men’s teams.

Just the Facts

The following ten basketball facts come from the Basketball Museum of Illinois:

*Michael Jordan reportedly wore his college basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform for every game as a good luck talisman.*

Michael Jordan wasn’t always great. In his sophomore year, Jordan tried out for his school’s team. He has often spoken about not seeing his name on the team list and bursting into tears. Instead of dwelling on it, though, he used the fact his name was not there to push himself harder.
In 1949, the NBL and BAA leagues merged, changing their name to the National Basketball Association. While the NBA describes it as an “expansion,” the two groups combined to create a 17-team league across several cities.
Organized basketball first recorded a dunk in 1936, performed by a Texan named Joe Fortenberry. In the ’60s, the NBA banned dunking in games altogether, though they rescinded this rule in 1976.
It wasn’t until 1966 that any NBA team hired a black coach. The Boston Celtics hired Bill Russell, a well-known professional player, to lead their team.
In 1976, women’s basketball became an Olympic sport. In 1978, America started the Women’s Basketball League. That league collapsed in 1981. Starting in 1996, women play in the WNBA.

*Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues (5’3″) with Manute Bol (7’7″)*

Over approximately 16,000 games against the Harlem Globetrotters, the Washington Generals have only ever won 4 games.
The three-point line didn’t exist before 1979. For decades, it moved back and forth in test games before ending at its current location of 23 feet, 9 inches from the basket.
As of now, the tallest NBA player ever is Gheorghe Mureșan at 7-foot-7. He played from 1993 to 2000 and scored 3,020 points for two teams, starting with the Washington Bullets/Wizards and New Jersey Nets.
- [My addition: Yasutaka Okayama, 7’8” is the tallest player ever drafter for the NBA, but he never played in the NBA,]
At 5’3” Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues is the shortest NBA player. He played for four different teams during his 14- season NBA career.
Jameson Curry signed a ten-day contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. The coach finally subbed him in as a game was about to end. He played 3.9 seconds, the record for shortest time played. The team released him from the contract shortly thereafter.

*None of the rules really apply for the Harlem Globetrotters.*

Basketball Fun

And then there are these fun facts from across the web:

*Lisa Leslie at the 2008 Summer Olympics*

Players in the first basketball game played with a soccer ball rather than a basketball.
During the inaugural game between the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty on June 21, 1997, basketball legend Lisa Leslie made history by scoring the first basket in the WNBA.
The WNBA started with 8 teams and expanded to 12. The NBA has 30 teams.
The Harlem Globetrotters, famous for their entertaining tricks and stunts, have been around since 1926.
In basketball, players can make shots worth different numbers of points – one point for a free throw, two points for a regular field goal, and three points for a shot made beyond the three-point line.
The highest-scoring NBA game ever took place on December 13, 1983. The Detroit Pistons defeated the Denver Nuggets by a score of 186-184! Was anyone playing defense?

*With specially designed chairs and a few adaptations to the rules, wheelchair basketball has been popular since its creation in 1944.*

The average NBA player runs 2-3 miles per game!
In recent years, the WNBA has become a leading advocate for social justice, with players and teams using their platforms to champion important causes and promote meaningful change. It is a beacon of diversity, equality, and athleticism, showcasing the immense potential of women in sports.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics marked the 30th anniversary of basketball’s debut as an official Olympic sport.
Wilt Chamberlain currently holds the single game point record. He scored 100 points in a single game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in 1962.
In 2015, Stephen Curry became the first of the NBA players to make 400 three-pointers in one season.
Stephen Curry has been an NBA All-Star ten times, 2014-2024.

Male athletes in basketball (as well as golf, soccer, baseball, and tennis) were still earning anywhere from15% to nearly 100% more than females in 2023. Well, this one isn’t such a fun fact!

Bottom Line: Basketball is more complex and interesting than most viewers realize.