Things That Make You Go Hmmm

In the vastness of space we are a unique little green and blue marble, traveling around a hot star, within a solar system, within a galaxy, within a universe. We have such a unique journey. Our planet is located in a Goldilocks zone which is a zone around a star having temperatures and other conditions that can support life on planets. We are extremely lucky. While there are many other planets that exist in other Goldilocks zones of other far off distant solar systems and galaxies, we are still the only known place that has life.

So how fast is the Earth traveling?

Saturday mornings - You'd get up early, pour yourself the biggest bowl of your favorite sugary cereal, and turn your TV on to some of your favorite animated adventures until noon. But what happened? None of the big networks have Saturday morning cartoons anymore. Where did they go? And why? From the 1960’s through the early 90’s Saturday morning cartoons, a colloquial term many would use to describe what was just a normal part of our weekend routine. 

Saturday Morning Cartoon, Saturday Morning Cartoons, 1980's cartoons, 80's cartoons, 80's nostalgia, cartoons, morning cartoons, favorite cartoons. 

We have all heard a “Picture is worth 1,000 words''. Sometimes multiple ideas can be conveyed by a single still image. Photography has been around since the 1820’s. When compared to our history of human existence that is not very long. But for 200 years we have enjoyed still pictures that have now evolved into some of the most advanced technology. We have instant film, high megapixel lenses, speedy fast shutter speed, interchangeable lenses, and small enough to fit into a pants pocket which is just a few of the modern day luxuries with photography.

When we see photography from the earlier days during the 1800’s we always notice how nobody is smiling. Seeing old black and white photos of our long lost relatives or historic figures. There've been a few theories as to why we don’t see happier humans during those times. Some believe poor dental hygiene or bad teeth was the cause of lack of smiles. Another theory is that due to the length of exposure time people would be in comfortable poses so they could stay still long enough to get the picture. But most experts actually believe the real reason people weren’t smiling was photography took guidance from pre-existing customs in paintings. Many associated smiles in paintings with madness, lewdness and loudness.

When we smile for real it’s capturing a moment. We are able to capture these moments more easily now. Moments of happiness, greif, beauty and despair. There’s usually context behind a smile. Capturing a parent and a child playing, a bride walk down an isle, a firefighter tired from fighting a fire. Back in the beginning of taking a photograph those moments may have not been as easy to capture. In the 1850’s and 60’s photography became more popular and cameras were becoming more advanced that the exposure times took only a few seconds. Which would make capturing those moments a bit easier.

According to experts at the National Library of Wales, the first smile ever photographed was in 1853. The photograph is called “Willy” and It features a young man with close-cropped hair, wearing a nice collared shirt and jacket. He is looking at something off to his right that is amusing him, and the photograph captured just a little smile from him.

Capturing moments, that’s what photography comes down to. Moments of joy, happiness, sadness, and beauty. We can capture far off distance planets and the vast spaces of the universe all the way to the smallest of particles found on our own planet. Andy Warhol said it perfectly,  "The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do”.

Cats, the tiny felines of our house bound worlds. The “only on my terms” miniture murder mittens that we love and adore. They hunt pests for us, they show us love, fear and cleverness. They are some of the laziest animals (sleeping up to 70% of their life while cleaning themselves 15% of the day) and yet they are adorable, okay maybe only to some of us.

Cats don’t use their meows to talk to other cats. They actually use their voices to communicate with us. They can also jump up to 8 feet high. No wonder they have 9 lives. They also only sweat through their paws, ew gross. Cats have 3 eyelids, their noises are as unique as a human's fingerprint, and they have 5x better hearing than humans do. Cats share 95% of their DNA with tigers. Which to some of us, is actually pretty scary. Alright we know you get it, cats are pretty cool animals.

So how long have cats been domesticated? In usual feline form, cats waited before jumping into our domesticated home lives. According to recent studies, cats lived alongside us humans before being domesticated. Ancestors of today's cats spread from southeast Asia to Europe around 4400 B.C. They believed cats started spending time around farming communities in the fertile crescent 8000 years ago. They believe at that point cats became a type of pest control for the humans which became a great partnership.

Mice and rat populations were attracted to the crops which in turn attracted the cats as rodents being their natural prey. Scientists and historians believe this is the first encounters humans and cats had with each other. And they believe humans allowed cats to domesticate themselves.

Cats are pretty unique. They tolerate us as humans and even other types of domesticated pets we bring in our homes like dogs. And cats differ from dogs on how they were domesticated. Specifically because dogs were domesticated to perform specific tasks because of traits they possess unlike cats. And although some may not agree, with over 74 million cats domesticated living in U.S. homes cats are pretty popular house pet. Now if they only looked at us like our dogs do.

Question: When was the first synthesizer used?

Music has been around for most of humanity. It’s gone through so many changes and rebirths. There are so many styles and instruments it’s amazing to think of how many different types of tones and sounds you can create. And if we bring in the synthesizer those possibilities become even more infinite.

A lot of us remember the 1980’s and the use of the synthesizers in modern music. So many genres grew from that 1 instrument. There was new wave, synth pop, electronic, post-punk, and glam rock just to name a few. And so many artists based their sound around a synthesizer at the time. But were the 80’s when the first synthesizer used?

Let's take a step back for a minute. A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals through methods of subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, or frequency modulation synthesis. In a simpler way it’s a circuit that generates a tone which is controlled and altered by an input. The first synthesizer came about in 1956 by the company RCA. They created the RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer Mark I. But this synthesizer was still limited to what it could do. And it didn’t look like the synths we recognise today with a keyboard attached.

It wasn’t until 1964 when Bob Moog and Herbert Deutsch created a voltage-controlled oscillator and amplifier module with a keyboard. And in 1967 they would name it a synthesizer. Also in 1967 was the first year a commercial recording album would use a synthesizer. It was The Monkees on their Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd album. Mickey Dolenz bought one of the first Moog synthesizers and used it for the album.

Synthesizers are still evolving today. They come in different price ranges, and also in different formats. You can buy ones that fit in your pocket, ones that are completely digital in music software programs, or even similar to the styles of the early years. They are some of the most fun ways to learn about sounds and music. So if you want to tap into a strange realm of noises grab yourself a synth and explore.

It’s good to shed some tears. We experience heartbreak, a death of a loved one, or some other type of tragedy and we lose it. We know a lot of animals show emotions just like we humans do. They can get angry, upset, or happy. They may just show it differently. But are humans the only mammals that cry tears?

Question: Is human blood blue or red in the body? 

Blood. A lot of us get scared when we see it. Whether a tiny scratch or severe flesh wound it can stop us dead in our tracks and panic. Most of us have heard your blood is blue in the body before it hits oxygen, but is it?

Question: Who was the first woman to serve in the american military? In our history of the world there have been brave women who were leaders or served in ranking positions and fought in battles, conflicts and wars. Have a quick listen for some cool history on women and the military.

Question: When did packaged cake mixes get introduced and sold? There is nothing better than licking and tasting the raw mix of brownies, cookies or cake batter straight from the mixing bowl. Come take a listen to this episode to find out when we did get the easy way to baking. Thanks for listening! We are now on YouTube as well. Feel free to watch and listen to this episode there as well. 

Question: Are we in an ice age? Hollywood has a way of bringing some of our craziest ideas to big screen reality. We picture something straight out of the movies. Okay so is it possible that we are in an ice age? Take a listen to find out.

The space race of the 20th century brought some incredible achievements and advancements within the space community. One of those being satellites. So have 2 satellites ever collided?

Question: Does our heart actually stop when we sneeze? We have all heard this growing up and some other crazy things about our bodies.

As kids growing up a lot of us dreamed of being a professional athlete. We would play from the morning hours when the sun would come up until we had to go home at night for dinner. We played the game because we loved it. We didn’t really think about the massive salary or the logistics of being a pro athlete. So the question is when did professional athletes start getting paid large salaries?

McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Taco Bell are some of the most known fast food brands not only nationwide in the United States but world wide. But were any of these the actual first fast food restaurant? Thanks for listening.

So the question I was left asking myself was what’s the first voice audio recording ever made? But on top of that, what was the first commercially sold music recording ever made? These questions always fascinated me. Come take a listen and find out.