Until the early 1930s, the only day of rest in America was typically the Sabbath (for Christians Sunday, for Jews Saturday).  During the Depression there was a demand for “sharing the work,” which resulted in codes of fair competition, which created the 40-hour, 5-day work week.  These codes were adopted in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933.  This act was later deemed unconstitutional, but the practice remained.  In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act renewed the 40-hour week’s basis in law by stipulating that hours worked in excess of 40 were to be compensated at one and one-half times the normal rate.

Now I finally understand the lyrics of that one song…  “Everybody’s working for the weekend (thanks to the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, which, although unconstitutional, created the weekend that we are working for)!”

It’s in parentheses because only the background singers sing it.

The Rump Parliament was the name of the English Parliament after it took over the Long Parliament on December 6, 1648.  Among many things, the puritanical Rump Parliament sought to abolish the celebration of Christmas.   It’s just like a Christmas movie! 

Except people died. 

And of course something called the “Rump” Parliament would be miserable.  This is just what you would expect from a “Rump” Parliament.

The Rastafari movement is a monotheistic new religious movement that was started from Christian culture in Jamaica back in the 1930s.  Its adherents worship Haile Selassi I of Ethiopia, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as a God incarnate.   

I know I’ve personally always worshiped this particular emperor of Ethiopia, so it’s cool to know I’m not alone.

The wireless communication device, Bluetooth, is named after King Harald I of Denmark, the 10th century king whose epithet was “Bluetooth.”  He was famous for uniting several Danish tribes.  This unity is the goal for Bluetooth.  Not uniting Danish tribes, but uniting people across the world with technology.

I have a Bluetooth.  But I don’t look cool with it.  Bluetooths (Blueteeth?) only work if you’re a bald, black guy.

In the 17th century, there was a game very similar to “jacks” called “dibstones.”  However, back then, the players used sheep’s knuckles instead of those little metal trinkets.

Apparently sheep had hands in the 17th century.

The Liberty Bell isn’t all that American.  In fact, it was cast in England.

Like the Harry Potter movies.

In one game in 1957, Phillies center fielder Richie Ashburn managed to hit the same fan twice with different foul balls.  The first foul ball broke the woman’s nose.  Once play resumed, he hit her with another foul ball as she was being carried off on a stretcher.

To me, that’s cooler than the Babe calling his shot.

In the early 1800s, the Fugate family (better known as the “Blue” Fugates) lived in the hills of Kentucky… and many of them were blue.  Some of the family members possessed a hereditary genetic error called methemoglobinemia, which causes the blood to have reduced oxygen levels.  With lower oxygen levels, arterial blood that is typically red is instead brown.  In Caucasians, brown blood gives the skin a bluish hue.

I doubt the Fugates, though blue, even make it into the top 10 freakiest hereditary mutations to come out of the hills of Kentucky.

The earth is about 4.6 billion years old.  The oldest known fossils are approximately 3.5 billion years old.  Homo sapiens have existed for about 100,000 years. 

Yet, 2012 is the end of it all.  We are quite special.

I hope my fossil will last a few billion years.  If I ever die, I want someone to tape a bunch of animal bones to my bones, so when I’m fossilized I will totally freak out the future civilizations!

I tried to make it sound less morbid by emphasizing if I die. 

Christopher Columbus never set foot in North America.  The closest he got was the Bahamas.

Happy Columbus Day to the Bahamas!

They idiom, “to take it with a grain of salt,” comes from Pliny’s Naturalis Historia in 77 AD.  He gives a description of an antidote for a certain poison.  Here’s the quote translated from Latin:

“After the defeat of that mighty monarch, Mithridates, Gnaeus Pompeius found in his private cabinet a recipe for an antidote in his own handwriting; it was to the following effect: Take two dried walnuts, two figs, and twenty leaves of rue; pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt; if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day.”

It suggests that the bad effects can be tempered by taking a grain of salt.

I wish we would say, “take it with twenty leaves of rue,” instead.

The prescription symbol R_x   originated in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation of the Late Latin verb recipe, which was the command form of recipere (“to take”).  

There are also some nutty theories about the symbol being connected to Egyptian mythology and symbology, specifically the Eye of Horus.  We should take these theories with a grain of salt, as we can infer that these theorists spend a lot of time around prescription pills.

The word “scapegoat” is rooted in mistranslations.  Originally, Greek writers mistranslated the Hebrew word ‘azazel (likely the proper name of a demon in Hebrew mythology, perhaps related to Canaanite deity Aziz).  Instead, the Greek translators read it as ‘ezozel (“the goat that departs”).  This was then translated into Latin as basically “emissary goat” and eventually “(e)scape goat.”

I blame the Greeks.  We should all blame the Greeks for messing up the word scapegoat.

Samuel Wilson was a meat-packer in Troy, New York during the War of 1812.  Saying meat-packer makes me laugh.  Anyway, large amounts of meat were being sent to the soldiers.  Elbert Anderson, a contractor for the government, oversaw this process.  Before the meat could be shipped, it had to be inspected.  Enter Samuel Wilson, who was nicknamed “Uncle Sam” by his fellow meat-packers.  After it passed inspection, the provisions were marked with E.A.-U.S., as Elbert Anderson of the United States government approved the meat.  However, the workers didn’t know what E.A.-U.S. stood for, so they joked that it must stand for “Uncle Sam.”  To this day, the U.S. government has been personified by Uncle Sam.

It’s amazing how a little joke told by a bunch of meat-packers came to represent our country.

Uncle Sam “the Meat-Packer” sounds like an uncle that isn’t allowed at family events.

When Pepsi was first introduced in New Bern, North Carolina in 1898, it was called “Brad’s Drink”  (apparently named after Caleb Bradham, who owned the pharmacy where he sold Brad’s Drink).

I really don’t want a Brad’s Drink.  It sounds gross.