Fun Summer Facts: Mosquitoes

 

We can't stand them, can we?! There is nothing endearing about them. They buzz around your head at night (especially when you're on holiday) they bite, then it itches. Did you know that it's the female that does all that to you? Did you also know that near the Arctic Circle there are few people, but millions and millions of mosquitoes. Never missing an opportunity to educate ourselves, we thought we'd share some information about our dear friend the mosquito.

Mosquitoes have been around since the Jurassic period. That makes them about 210 million years old. 

There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes.

Only female mosquitoes bite people. Both male and female feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar, but the female also needs the protein in blood to help her eggs develop. Once she's had her fill of blood, she'll rest a couple of days before laying her eggs.

Mosquitoes don't have teeth.  The females “bite” with a long, pointed mouthpart called a proboscis. 

Mosquitoes have 6 legs.

A mosquito can drink up to 3 times its weight in blood, but don't worry since it would take about 1.2 million bites to drain all the blood from your body.

The average mosquito lifespan is less than 2 months.

Males locate the females by the sound of their wings. Females can beat their wings up to 500 times per second, and the males pick out the higher frequency of those beats when seeking a mate.

Mosquitoes can't fly very far or very fast. They often stay within several hundred feet of where they were hatched. 

The top speed for a mosquito is about 1.5 miles/hour or approx. 2.4 km/hour.

The bumps from mosquito bites are caused by saliva. While one tube in the proboscis draws blood, a second pumps in saliva containing a mild painkiller and  an anti-coagulant. Most people have minor allergic reactions to the saliva, causing the area around the bite to swell and itch.  

Choose your wardrobe accordingly! Dark clothing attracts mosquitoes. Remember, they are drawn to heat and darker clothes retain more heat than light-colored clothing.

The 2 main mosquito predators are fish and dragonflies. 

Mosquitoes don't see very well, but they zoom in like a heat-seeking missile

As a result, they can't see you until they are 30 feet (10 meters) away. Even then, they have trouble distinguishing you from any object of similar size and shape: tree stump, 55-gallon drum, etc. When they are 10 feet (3 meters) away they use extremely sensitive thermal receptors on the tip of their antennae to locate blood near the surface of the skin.

Bug zappers are useless against mosquitoes. They are attracted to them, but are rarely killed by them. Studies have shown that less than 1 percent of the insects killed by zappers are mosquitoes or other biting insects. 

DEET is considered the most repellent of repellents.  Endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  DEET doesn't mask the smell of the host or jam the insect's senses - mosquitoes simply don't like it because it smells bad to them. A product containing 10 percent DEET can protect you for up to 90 minutes. Two other repellents, picaridin and lemon-eucalyptus oil, have also proven effective and are now recommended by the CDC. 

Citronella candles and smoking coils repel mosquitoes, but you have to stay in the smoky plume to be protected!

Mosquitoes are attracted by CO (Carbon dioxide) in our breath. They can detect it from great distances. When the female mosquito gets close, she makes a final choice using skin temperature, odor and other chemical or visual factors. If two people are outside together, one will almost always get most of the bites. --> This is one time you don't want to be the better smelling person!
 

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Fun Summer Facts: The Frisbee

Frisbee is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company.

The Frisbie Baking Company (1871-1958) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies that were sold to many New England colleges. Hungry college students soon discovered that the empty pie tins could be tossed and caught, providing endless hours of game and sport. Many colleges have claimed to be the home of 'he who was first to fling.' Yale College has even argued that in 1820, a Yale undergraduate named Elihu Frisbie grabbed a passing collection tray from the chapel and flung it out into the campus, thereby becoming the true inventor of the Frisbie and winning glory for Yale. That tale is unlikely to be true since the words 'Frisbie's Pies' was embossed in all the original pie tins and from the word 'Frisbie' was coined the common name for the toy.

In 1948, a Los Angeles building inspector named Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the Frisbie that could fly further and with better accuracy than a tin pie plate. Morrison's father was also an inventor, who invented the automotive sealed-beam headlight. Another interesting tidbit was that Morrison had just returned to America after World War II, where he had been a prisoner in the infamous Stalag 13. His partnership with Warren Franscioni, who was also a war veteran, ended before their product had achieved any real success.

Morrison (after his split with Franscioni) produced a plastic Frisbie called the Pluto Platter, to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs with the American public. The Pluto Platter has become the basic design for all Frisbies. The outer third of the Frisbie disc is called the 'Morrison Slope', listed in the patent. Rich Knerr and A.K. 'Spud' Melin were the owners of a new toy company called 'Wham-O'. Knerr and Melin also marketed the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle. They pair first saw Morrison's Pluto Platter in late 1955. They liked what they saw and convinced Morrison to sell them the rights to his design. With a deal signed, Wham-O began production (1/13/1957) of more Pluto Platters. The next year, the original Frisbie Baking Company shut down and coincidentally Fred Morrison was awarded a patent (Design patent 183,626) for his flying disc. Morrison received over one million dollars in royalties for his invention.

Frisbee golf

The word 'Frisbee' is pronounced the same as the word 'Frisbie'. Rich Knerr (Wham-O) was in search of a catchy new name to help increase sales, after hearing about the original use of the terms 'Frisbie' and 'Frisbie-ing'. He borrowed from the two words to create the registered trademark Frisbee ®. Sales soared for the toy, due to Wham-O's clever marketing of Frisbee playing as a new sport. In 1964, the first professional model went on sale. Ed Headrick was the inventor at Wham-O who patented Wham-O's designs for the modern frisbee (U.S. patent 3,359,678). Ed Headrick's frisbee with its band of raised ridges called the Rings of Headrick had stablized flight as opposed to the wobbly flight of its predecessor the Pluto Platter.

In 1967, high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a recognized sport that is a cross between football, soccer and basketball. Ten years later, a form of Frisbee golf was introduced, complete with professional playing courses and associations.

Random Frisbee facts:

In 1968, the U.S. Navy spent almost $400,000 to study Frisbees in wind tunnels, following their flights with computers and cameras, and building a special Frisbee-launching machine on top of a Utah cliff to test a prototype flare launcher.

Today the fifty year old Frisbee® is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, only one of at least sixty manufacturers of flying discs. Wham-O sold over one hundred million units before the selling the toy to Mattel.

Ed Headrick, owner of the Disc Golf Association, Inc.® founded the game of Disc Golf in 1976. The sport is played by an estimated two million recreational players in the United States.

More than approximately 200 million Frisbees have been purchased in the last 50 years, more than baseballs, footballs, and basketballs combined.

In Lake Linden, Michigan you will find The International Frisbee Hall of Fame.

Wham-O went on to market the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball, the Water Wiggle, and other toys, but Frisbee remained its most profitable product.   

Flying discs made before 1964 are considered antiques by collectors. 

The world group marathon record for Frisbee play is 1,198 hours – nearly 45 days! The record for continual play with two people is 126 hours. 

By 1970, Frisbee discs had become so popular on college campuses that some schools began offering flying disc courses to students. 

The first intercollegiate game of Ultimate was played in 1972 between Princeton and Rutgers. Rutgers won by the same two–goal margin as it did when it beat Princeton on the same field in the first college football game 103 years before.

The granddaddy of all FRISBEE sports is Guts, usually played with five players to a side. The name "Guts" came from an alleged pastime of Princeton students who tossed a six–inch circular saw blade instead of the plastic FRISBEE disc now used. 

There are more than 700 Disc Golf courses in the U.S. These courses are permanent installations, usually located in a public park, where players actually "drive" and "putt" with specially styled discs. 

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is located in Sweden. There are 26 member countries. 

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Other games related to the flying disc:

Crosbee Disc dog Disc golf Dodge disc Durango boot Double disc court

Flutterguts Freestyle Fricket (a.k.a. disc cricket, cups, Suzy sticks, crispy wickets) Friskee Goaltimate

Guts Hot box Kan-jam Polish horseshoes Schtick Ultimate

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Ultimate frisbee

Fun Summer Facts: Popsicles

In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a mixture of powdered soda, water, and a stirring stick in a cup on his porch. It was a cold night, and Epperson awoke the next morning to find a frozen pop. He called it the "Epsicle."

It was a hit with his friends at school, and later with his own kids. They constantly called for "Pop's 'sicle." So in 1923, Epperson changed the name and applied for a patent. In 1925, Frank Epperson sold his famous Popsicle® to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. Good Humor now owns the rights to the Popsicle.

Random Popscicle facts:

Popscile ice sticks are made of birch.

The Twin Popsicle was invented during the Great Depression, so two children could share just one ice pop for a nickel.

Two billion Popsicle ice pop are sold annually.

The very first "ice cream man" sold Popsicle ice pops from a horse drawn-carriage in Nebraska.

During World War II, the Eighth Air Force Unit chose Popsicle ice pops as a symbol of American life.

Cherry is the #1 Popsicle ice pop flavour.

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Popsicle stick crafts can be a lot of fun. It is the perfect excuse to have to eat a lot of popsicles! So, get eating and start crafting! Many suitable summertime crafts out there, or save the sticks for other season craft ideas. 

Click on the image to find out how to make the craft.

Avocado Popsicles

Recipe care of A Cup of Jo blog, adapted from the book Paletas by Fany Gerson.


1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 small ripe avocados
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise. Remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a bowl, along with the cooled syrup and salt. Mash and stir until smooth. (You can also do this in a blender, but we just stirred by hand.) Add the lime juice and stir just until combined.

Divide the mixture among your popsicle molds, snap on the lid and freeze until solid, about 5 hours.

Fun Summer Facts: Watermelon

Most closely related to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash. It's made of 92% water and is a fantastic source of Vitamin C. 

Although the interior is typically pink, it is possible to find other coloured flesh: orange, red, and yellow.  There are more than 1200 varieties of the fruit, ranging from 2 pounds to 200 pounds.


In the Vienamese culture, watermelon seeds are consumed during the Vietnamese New Year's holiday, Tết, as a snack.


Fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL started a tradition of hollowing out a watermelon and wearing it as a makeshift football helmet (the color of the Roughriders is green). During the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary (between theMontreal Alouettes and the Roughriders), thousands of watermelons had to be imported to Calgary supermarkets to prevent a shortage being caused by Rider fans.


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Ever tried watermelon logs with fruit filled rectangles? Or how about Kung Pao Watermleon Shrimp? Check out the  National Watermelon Promotion Board for a large selection   of recipes involving watermelon.






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CHOOSING THE RIGHT WATERMELON:

1. LOOK – Your watermelon should be firm, symmetrical and free of major bruises or scars. Some minor scratches are okay, however. After all, the purpose of that thick rind is to protect the delicious contents inside. Ripe watermelons should also be dark green in color.

2. LIFT – The ripest watermelons have the most water. And since watermelons are 92 percent water, your watermelon should be relatively heavy for its size.

3. TURN – Turn your watermelon over and check out its bottom, which should have a creamy yellow spot (also called “the ground spot”). This is where the watermelon sat on the ground while it soaked up the sun at the farm. If this spot is white or greenish, your watermelon may have been picked too soon and might not be as ripe as it should be.

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SQUARE WATERMELONS

Farmers in Japan started to grow square watermelons due to lack of space in their refrigerators. The square shape allows them to stack and store the fruit more easily. Farmers insert the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

The square boxes are the exact dimensions of Japanese refrigerators, allowing full-grown watermelons to fit conveniently and precisely onto refrigerator shelves.

WATERMELON CARVINGS

Talented people around the world are doing amazing things with watermelons. It is unreal to think that these carvings are made from watermelons. The details and precision are amazing.

Take a look below at some samples of watermelon art.

   

Summer has arrived

Source: National Geographic

The summer solstice is a result of the Earth's north-south axis being tilted 23.4 degrees relative to the sun. The tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet.

Yesterday, June 21st, the North Pole was tipped more toward the sun than on any other day of 2011. The opposite holds true for the Southern Hemisphere, where  the winter solstice, is the shortest day of the year.

As a result, at high noon on the first day of summer, the sun appears at its highest point in the sky—its most directly overhead position—in the Northern Hemisphere.

That doesn't mean the sun will be exactly overhead at noon for everyone, said Cornel University astronomer James Bell.

It depends on the viewer's latitude—the sun will shine down directly overhead at noon only along the Tropic of Cancer, an imaginary line that circles the Earth at about the latitude of Cuba.

"It's still at a low angle if you're up in Alaska," Bell explained.

The above multiple-exposure photo shows the figure 8 path of the sun over the course of the entire year, this is known as an analemma. Photographs are made by taking a picture of the sun from the same place at the same time of day once or twice a week, generating 30 to 50 frames.This one in ancient Delphi, was made in Greece in 2001.

No matter where you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the path of the sun across the sky—which rises in the lead-up to the first day of summer, then begins descending over the rest of the summer—seems not to change for the few days before and after the summer solstice. (See pictures of the sun's path across the sky—an entire year in a single frame.)

In reality, the sun's position is still changing, but at a slower rate.

Summer Solstice Wobbles Around the Calendar

While the June solstice generally occurs on the same day every year, the date can change from year to year. For example, in 2008, the summer solstice occurred on June 20.

This date shifting is a result of the discrepancy between a human calendar year—which is usually counted as 365 days—and an astronomical year, which is about 365.24 days.

Our leap year system—which adds an extra day to the calendar every four years—ensures our calendars are accurate, but it also causes the solstice date to flop around a bit.

Solstice Is Longest Day of the Year—Not Hottest

On the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight than on any other day of the year, but that doesn't mean the first day of summer is also the hottest day of summer.

Earth's oceans and atmosphere act like heat sinks, absorbing and reradiating the sun's rays over time. So even though the planet is absorbing lots of sunlight on the summer solstice, it takes several weeks to release it. As a result, the hottest days of summer usually occur in July or August.

"If you think about turning up an oven—it takes it a long time to heat up," explained Robert Howell, an astronomer at the University of Wyoming. "And after you turn it off, it takes a while for it to cool down. It's the same with the Earth."

First Day of Summer Sparked Ancient Celebrations

The summer solstice is recognized and often celebrated in many cultures around the world, in both the past and present.

The ancient Egyptians, for example, built the Great Pyramids so that the sun, when viewed from the Sphinx, sets precisely between two of the Pyramids on the summer solstice.

The Inca of South America celebrated the summer solstice with a ceremony called Inti Raymi, which included food offerings and sacrifices of animals and maybe even people. (See a picture of an Inca summer solstice festival.)

Recently, archaeologists discovered the remains of an astronomical observatory in a long-buried Maya city in Guatemala in which the buildings were designed to align with the sun during the solstices. During such times, the city's populace gathered at the observatory to watch as their king appeared to command the heavens.

Summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.

And perhaps most famously, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom has been associated with the winter and summer solstices for about 5,000 years.

Observers in the center of the standing stones can still watch the summer solstice sun rise over the Heel Stone, which stands just outside Stonehenge's stone circles. (Read about pagans' campaign to enter Stonehenge on the summer solstice and other sacred days.)

This year modern-day Druids will gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice for the first time as members of an officially recognized religion in the U.K., following a controversial vote by the national Charity Commission for England and Wales last fall.