Happy Soul Food Friday and World Wildlife Week!
This week, if you think Education is Expensive, try Ignorance!
NEWS IQ: The Overall Results will Surprise YOU!
Amazingly, the majority of us really don’t know what’s going on.
It’s astonishing that so many people got less than half right. The results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn’t have a clue, and that’s pretty scary.
There are no tricks — just a simple test to see if you are current on your information. Test your knowledge with 13 questions: Click here: Test Your News IQ – Pew Research Center
These Pictures will give You a Real Education: 18 Finalists From The World Photography Awards With The Power To Leave You Awestruck
The World Photography Organization has just announced its shortlist for the 2015 Sony World Photography Awards. A record number of images (173,444) were submitted by professional and amateur photographers from 171 countries this past year in the hopes of making the cut. The winners will be announced on April 23rd, but until then…
http://news.distractify.com/pinar/2015-sony-world-photo-shortlist/
Prepare for the End of College: Here is What Free Higher Ed Looks Like
A thoughtful perspective…
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=3&islist=true&id=13&d=03-03-2015
Debunking some Myths of Public Higher Education: Another viewpoint
Sadly, half this country can’t afford to send their kids to university!
Contrary to public perception, the median income in CA is lower than that of the whole country
State support continues to decline. For example, the UC system is getting $460MM less from the state of California than in 2007
Therefore, today UC students pay 49% of the cost of their education- the first time their contribution has surpassed that from the state
Staying with this representative example, locally, 60% of UC San Diego undergraduates need financial assistance to attend college
UC San Diego provides $90MM in financial aid and the average Student Debt is $21,650
Public Higher Education is still a good investment!
The 20 year net gain in income by a UC San Diego graduate v. a high school grad is $549,700!
In Washington Monthly rankings for Positive Impact on the Nation, the Top 4 out of 5 were UC schools and UCSD has consistently ranked #1
UC San Diego is ranked 6th in the nation for public universities with the “happiest” freshmen
Thanks to the individuals and organizations that provide the scholarships that change lives:
https://vimeo.com/user16212450/review/118637185/b85feb745b
Using Popular Culture- The Oscars- To Educate on Critical Topics like Wage Equality, Feeling Persecuted or Different, Affirming Civil Rights TODAY, etc.
Way to use the media spotlight to talk about more than gowns and crowns!
Some Lighter Fare: NOW THIS IS A REAL EDUCATION
Where did “Piss Poor” come from? Interesting history.
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot.
And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery…
If you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor”.
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot…
They “didn’t have a pot to piss in”.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because
the water temperature Isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500’s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,
And they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell,
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!”
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals
(mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof..
Hence the saying, “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings
Could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection..
That’s how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, “Dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing..
As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, It would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme:
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..”
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.”
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status..
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
And guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey.
The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days..
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom; holding a wake.”
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be,
saved by the bell” or was “considered a dead ringer.”
And that’s the (purported) truth.
Now, whoever said history was boring!!!
So get out there and educate someone!
Thanks this week go to Thanks this week go to Larry H, Edu-tainers and Enter-cationalists everywhere!
Pay it Forward please!
Love,
Neville
“There are two educations: the one that teaches how to make a living
and the other that teaches how to live”
—Anthony DeMello
WHAT IF…you can learn more from mistakes than successes?
Happy Soul Food Friday! 