The Town of Odyssey

We thought it'd be good to have a place to store the tidbits we have had, for the record, and also so that members might have a good place to discuss them - so here it is!

History (from newest to oldest):

Friday, July 29
Canada's lowest recorded temperature is as cold as the surface of Mars!

Monday, June 20
McDonald's once tried to sell bubblegum flavored broccoli.

Saturday, June 4
If it matters to you, it matters to the Master
He wants to share the burdens you bear
Whisper peace when your world gets shattered
If it's your deepest joy or your deepest pain
Or you're really needing an answer
If it matters to you, it matters to the Master

Thursday, May 12
President Lyndon Johnson owned an amphibious car.

Friday, April 8
It's impossible to hum while holding your nose.

Friday, March 25
In the 1830s tomato ketchup was sold as a medicine.

Saturday, March 19
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs stuffed in your mailbox? Bill.

Wednesday, March 9
The world's termites outweigh the world's people.

Sunday, March 6
I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122:1 (King James Version)

Tuesday, March 1
The first safe, modern home water heater was developed in the 1880s by Edwin Ruud. Before that, most Americans depended on stove-heated water.

Saturday, February 26
The dining hall will start using regular plates and utensils instead of plastic ones. The cost difference is a wash!

Thursday, February 24
There's peace when I leave it in your hands
Sweet peace when I leave it in your hands
Just leave it there and never pick it up again
There's peace when I leave it in your hands

Monday, February 21
A stenograph is a shorthand keyboard used for real-time transcription. The world record for stenographer typing speed is said to be 360 words per minute!

Sunday, February 20
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him..." - Psalm 37:7a (ESV)

Wednesday, February 16
Not one word of God has changed
Every promise still remains
Who He was, He is today
Not one word of God has changed

Tuesday, February 15
Today (Feb 15th) is National Singles Awareness Day. Adults of all ages celebrate the day as a reminder that you don't need a relationship to celebrate love. You can love yourself, your family, and your friends.

Monday, February 14
Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants, can improve brain function, and even helps heart health.

Sunday, February 13
The SuperBowl was created in 1966 and it was originally called the AFL–NFL World Championship Game until 1969

Friday, February 11
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (King James Version)

Wednesday, February 9
A man sued an airline company after it lost his luggage. Sadly, he lost his case.

Tuesday, February 8
"It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up." - Vince Lombardi

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as the original.

Bren didn't know it when he chose the Lombardi quote, but it was perfect for my situation. I've had a lot of ups and downs lately, and the quote came at just the right time.

As for today's, that's just terrible. I chuckled.

Monday, Feb 14
Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients and antioxidants, can improve brain function, and even helps heart health.

I've heard of the reported health benefits of dark chocolate, but unfortunately I can't stomach the flavor.

Well, there is a reason why a lot of people prefer milk chocolate.

Milk chocolate is still chocolate, so it retains the benefits in proportion to the amount, but you're getting more sugar and other things you probably don't need with it too.

They also say you should try to get chocolate that is not processed with alkali. It is said to remove a sizable percentage of the chocolate's nutrition value.

bookworm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 12:55 pm I've heard of the reported health benefits of dark chocolate, but unfortunately I can't stomach the flavor.

I'm with you, bookworm! I have friends who are like, "Oh, 85% dark chocolate is sooo good," and I'm more like, "There seems to be a hint of something darker than milk chocolate in this so I am rejecting it as revolting."

Catspaw wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 8:01 pm

bookworm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 12:55 pm I've heard of the reported health benefits of dark chocolate, but unfortunately I can't stomach the flavor.

I'm with you, bookworm! I have friends who are like, "Oh, 85% dark chocolate is sooo good," and I'm more like, "There seems to be a hint of something darker than milk chocolate in this so I am rejecting it as revolting."

I feel like these are the same people who voluntarily drink Lacroix and think that going for a run at 5 in the morning is a fun activity.

I genuinely have no idea what you mean to be implying by that remark or how it relates to chocolate consumption. My best guess is it's something about people who have snobbish palates? That's my only experience with people making reference to Lacroix, but I could be misunderstanding that as well since I've never had any.

If that is the case, I want to elaborate on what I said before and say my aversion to dark chocolate isn't a preference, I truly can't consume it the bitterness makes me physically ill. Maybe that wasn't clear from my original post, but that was why I said "can't stomach it" rather than "I don't like it."

I think she was referring to the people who like 85% dark chocolate.

I've found that I can acquire a taste for a lot of things. I had a phase where I started drinking black coffee. It'd be a stretch to say I 'liked' it, but I got to the point where I could appreciate its distinct qualities. (Not to the point where I would have drank black decaf, though!) I appreciate that people can react badly to things, though, beyond their control. One time I attempted to eat something with French dressing, and found myself getting literally nauseous.

Tuesday, Feb 15
Today (Feb 15th) is National Singles Awareness Day. Adults of all ages celebrate the day as a reminder that you don't need a relationship to celebrate love. You can love yourself, your family, and your friends

At least now we can quit seeing all the lovey dovey posts everywhere. Although, seeing my coworkers get their flowers delivered today was kinda cool.

bookworm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:52 pm I genuinely have no idea what you mean to be implying by that remark or how it relates to chocolate consumption. My best guess is it's something about people who have snobbish palates? That's my only experience with people making reference to Lacroix, but I could be misunderstanding that as well since I've never had any.

If that is the case, I want to elaborate on what I said before and say my aversion to dark chocolate isn't a preference, I truly can't consume it the bitterness makes me physically ill. Maybe that wasn't clear from my original post, but that was why I said "can't stomach it" rather than "I don't like it."

Sorry, having reread my comment I see the reason for confusion. Bob was correct that I was making reference to people who like extra dark chocolate, not to you and Catspaw.
It was basically a joke that they enjoy many thing that I consider extremely unpleasant. (For instance -based on the smell and taste- I am convinced that Lacroix is just perfume marketed as a beverage. It smells pretty good, but tastes like carbonated sadness with a splash of rejection.)

bookworm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:52 pm If that is the case, I want to elaborate on what I said before and say my aversion to dark chocolate isn't a preference, I truly can't consume it the bitterness makes me physically ill. Maybe that wasn't clear from my original post, but that was why I said "can't stomach it" rather than "I don't like it."

My bad - I'm the one who was the first to assume that you meant that you disliked dark chocolate, probably because that's the way I feel and I like it when people agree with me.

*heads to bed to get up for her 5 a.m. run*

Bob wrote: ↑Tue Feb 08, 2022 3:03 am
Wednesday, Feb 16
Not one word of God has changed
Every promise still remains
Who He was, He is today
Not one word of God has changed

This is a new favorite song of mine by The Collingsworth Family.

I'm a fairly quick typist, but I'm nowhere near stenographic speeds. I've thought sometimes it might be nice to learn stenography to increase my WPM, but it requires fairly special equipment, and I'm not sure how well it works with regular computers. Besides, there aren't that many cases, aside from actual transcription, where it is helpful to have that high a WPM. I certainly don't think of words to write on my own at that rate of speed (I can't even keep up with my WPM on a regular keyboard, for that matter).

The fastest stenographer is said to be Mark Kislingbury, who set that 360 WPM record.

On a QWERTY keyboard, Sean Wrona is said to be one of the world's fastest typists, and his peak is 256 WPM (his average speed is considerably lower, although still objectively very fast; he says it's about 175).

-- March 1st, 2022, 1:02 pm --

Our water heater has been on the fritz, so this rather obscure subject has been on my mind lately. At least it works well enough to take a quick shower. If it was out altogether, in this winter weather, I'm not sure what we'd do.

Bob wrote: ↑Mon Feb 21, 2022 1:59 pmOur water heater has been on the fritz, so this rather obscure subject has been on my mind lately. At least it works well enough to take a quick shower. If it was out altogether, in this winter weather, I'm not sure what we'd do.

Ours went out completely last year (not during cold weather, thankfully); we discovered that the heating element had corroded and burst. Only had to replace that, not the whole thing which was very fortunate. Relatively quick turnaround on getting it working again, but we were without hot water for a number of days which was not fun.

There's a really cool(not literally) method to heat a small house using a little water heater. It's called radiant floor heating. Basically, when you're building a small house, you can lay small plastic PEX pipes under a concrete floor and use the hot water to heat the whole house. We put one in when we built a small house for my grandparents to live in and it's awesome. Their house is well insulated so they can lose power and the house stays warm for about three days. It's been going on strong for about five years now. Here's an article with a little info about them. https://www.thisoldhouse.com/heating-co ... or-heating

You have to build one right though, my crazy neighbor (the same one I mentioned in the well drilling thread) built a DIY one for his shop building, using a massive wood furnace(at least 5 foot long by 6 foot tall, what I picture in my mind for the fiery furnace Bible story) to heat the water. Long story short, his pipes froze and he had to heat his shop with a regular wood stove.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122:1 (King James Version)

This is one of the four songs of ascent written by David. There are fifteen in total, and ten of them are anonymous. I wonder what the stories are behind some of the bards and poets and songwriters who wrote these anonymous Psalms.

-- March 9th, 2022, 11:04 am --

The world's termites outweigh the world's people.

Aliens: Earthlings, what is your most dominate species?
Termites: We are!

I can't get my head around how that's even possible. Of course they outnumber people by a ton, but by so much that the weight adds up that high? Crazy!

TheDinosaurPlanet wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 1:34 pm

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122:1 (King James Version)

This is one of the four songs of ascent written by David. There are fifteen in total, and ten of them are anonymous. I wonder what the stories are behind some of the bards and poets and songwriters who wrote these anonymous Psalms.

I thought it was fitting for a Sunday.

"The world's termites outweigh the world's people." That is a terrifying thought!