NorthGeek

Email of the Day: Life in the 1500's

Got this as an email today, seemed pretty interesting, although I didn’t finish reading it. Some of us have actual work to do, DAD.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so 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 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 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 entranceway. Hence the saying a ‘thresh hold.’

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 ‘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 day s and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of 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.’

How to get kicked out of a baseball game at Fenway

This dude is the man. He clearly threw back a bit too much of grandpa’s old cough medicine. Enjoy!

Why is Qik so great for Blackberry video streaming? Ontario drivers parking!

Today I was presented with a wonderful opportunity to make fun of Ontario drivers. Granted, Quebec drivers get our fair share of criticism, but does anyone have proof like this? The video below demonstrates a driver from Ontario, along with his (or her) assistant, getting out of a not-so-tight parking spot. They were there for a solid 25-30 minutes – no joke.

Oh, but my point: why is Qik so great? Many reasons – for starters, it’s a fairly light application. It streams video “live” as you are recording it, and it gives you the option to add a title and description right from your device. The Qik website (qik.com) is also a great video sharing site, in my opinion. But maybe the best feature of all, which was recently released in a software update, is the ability to upload previously recorded videos to the Qik website. Great stuff all around – I highly recommend it!

Enjoy the video!

Is it true that you can't fix stupid?

I had this video sent to me in an email recently, and the subject of the email was: “You Can’t Fix Stupid”. Catchy, but false. I know plenty of people that used to be stupid but have brightened up significantly, mainly from reading blogs like NorthGeek… This might be hard to believe, but I was once stupid… Can you find me in the video?

[kaltura-widget wid=”wj5stvgfuo” width=”410″ height=”364″ type=”whiteblue” addPermission=”3″ editPermission=”3″ /]

Something inspiring about modern dance

This video came to me from Canadian online marketing guru Darren Barefoot, claiming it would be “the most beautiful piece of modern dance you’ll see this year.” It’s actually from 6 years ago, from a project this Montreal-based dance company, La La La Human Steps, undertook to capture dance on film. Or more importantly, to show something very new by interlacing these two media as is rarely done. Dance is often a live performance art, but this camera did not just capture a performance, but showed it in a very new way by mixing up the camera angles and using great dolly and rotating shots.

In any case, 6 years later, it just goes to show that modern dance could still slowly gain mainstream attention and not be considered too esoteric or contrived. Here’s the piece, Amelia (Amazon link to buy the DVD):

But don’t stop there. Modern dance has been progressive for years. I was resistant and forced to watch this David Parsons piece as a 13 year old sports nut, and was still able to be moved. Here’s the 1 minute excerpt version of this totally creative piece called Caught from over 20 years ago. This blew me away and will you too:

Here’s the full version. If you make it to 3:20, you won’t be able to stop:

Just this week I watched a beautiful video installation done by my friends at Caste Projects for a designer’s seasonal collection as part of Vancouver Fashion Week, and shown at the raucous and upside-down after-party. Similar effect but no relation… this begs to see lots more connection between dance and fashion (just like dance and film, above).

Mieka Pauley live in studio at SXSW 2006

This is one hell of a breathtaking live in studio performance by Mieka Pauley, one of my once-upon-a-time fellow Boston musicians. I’ll let the video speak for itself:

Fox Racing Shox: So many adjustments!

A quick look at the Fox Racing suspension products on my Ellsworth Epiphany. A couple things to note – the shock is actually a Float R, not an RP23. Also, I refer to all products as “Fox Racing Shox” when in reality I’m showing a fork and a shock… Sound good? Well then, on with the show!

Also, a post-ride reaction:

8 affordable wines that "bring the thunder"

This past weekend, I tasted a lot of wine at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. The event was called 25 under $25, which means I was bound to get sloshed by 6 in the afternoon, but more importantly, I could trial lots of reasonably priced wines that I would buy on a daily basis.  Sure you could buy great wines for $100 a bottle, but c’mon, isn’t it more fun finding wines that “bring the thunder” ie. taste great and don’t break the bank. (Thanks Gary Vaynerchuck.)

My criteria for a great wine aren’t based on whether you smell berries or tobacco. Really, enjoying wine isn’t about showing off your “refined” palate. Great wine means it’s not too bitter, too alcoholic tasting, doesn’t taste like dogfood, and has depth. Depth just means you can smell and taste flavours other than the grape. This makes the wine much more memorable and unique. I’d take a wine with a story to tell any day over grape juice.

Here are my favourites, which you can buy at British Columbia liquor stores, and likely elsewhere:

• d’Arenberg The Footbolt Shiraz 2006, Australia, 506931 $24. This winery makes great wines, and the Shiraz are my favourites. Shiraz tastes spicy to me. d’Arenberg also makes the great Stump Jump. They have the signature diagonal red stripe on the label.
• Castaña Monastrell 2006, Spain, 731620 $12. Nice dark colour, and rich flavours.
• Evans & Tate Margaret River Shiraz, Australia $20. Another excellent Aussie Shiraz. Reminds me of my first winery tour in Australia years ago.
• Kettle Valley Winery Pinot Noir, BC 556407 $24. First BC Pinot I really like. Living in Vancouver, there are so many BC wines to discover. I love Pinots. They’re delicate and very deep with flavour. I’m looking forward to finding a lot more great BC wines.
• Beringer Founders Estate Merlot 2006, US 634255 $20. Big Beringer makes a fine Merlot.
• Brancott Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008, New Zealand 129528 $17. Just like Kim Crawford and Oyster Bay, another great white from the area. Sweet but not overpowering
• De Bortoli dB Traminer Riesling 2008 Australia 952580. This is a sweeter white, not oaky like lots of Chardonnays. Oaky means tastes like wood. Not my style.

Now get out and find yourself some wines with a story.

Mr. Totally Awesome 2009: My Ellsworth Epiphany

‘Nuff said. Enjoy! Sorry about the dark video, I’m no pro with my MacBook…

How to take a nap at work…and yes, Qik has audio