Showing posts with label Trivia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trivia. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Kansas Trivia - Wierd Law
The El Dorado Times published a special section of its paper to celebrate Kansas Day called Kansas Facts and Trivia. Among the 50 entries, was this jewel: "At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas." The law was repealed, probably due to its un-Americanism. But, why was it enacted? Could it have been the cherry purist's lobby? or the ice cream crowd's equivalent. Was it a public health issue involving ice cream made with un-pasteurized milk? Whatever the reason, it's a good example of what legislatures do. We have an offender "branding" law on the books today that is every bit as goofy as this wierd law.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Again, Kansas Trivia
"Kansas won the award for the most beautiful license plate for the wheat plate design issued in 1981." The El Dorado Times, January 29, 2009, Page 1B.
First, let's do something about this awkwardly worded sentence. How about changing it to: Kansas won the most beautiful license plate award for its 1981 wheat design. There, that's better: 12 words versus 18 words. Now, let's learn more about this feat, thanks to the Internet.
A Web page containing the History of Kansas License Plates is provided by the Kansas Department of Revenue which issues our car tags. There is no mention of a 1981 award for the Kansas license plate design. If such an award was made, you would think the Department of Revenue would know about it. There are several possible reasons for this ommission: (1)they refer to the 1981 plate as displaying wheat "stocks" and the 1995 plate as displaying wheat "stalks", which indicates fallibility, (2) they don't respect the party giving the award as a legitimate judge of license plate quality, or (3) they aren't up on Kansas trivia for Web page purposes. Regarding reason (1) above, a Wichita State University student or alumnus would probably prefer wheat "shock", but technically a shock of grain refers to sheaves stacked upright in the field. My guess is that the 1981 plate reference to a "stock" is a misplaced homonym. But, I digress.
I found that Kansas won first place in a license plate design contest in the United States and Canada with its depiction of the buffalo -- the iconic symbol of the Great Plains -- in 1995, by virtue of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association Inc. voting the state's "Home on the Range" personalized vehicle license plate the best in those countries, according to Michael Naughton, president of ALPCA. Naughton presented the award to Carmen Alldritt, director of vehicles at the Kansas Department of Revenue. ALPCA has about 3,000 members from the U.S. and 19 other countries. The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, founded 1954, is an organization dedicated to the promotion of license plate collecting and research, the exchange of information and plates, as well as all fraternal benefits of sharing a common hobby interest with others throughout the world. It has issued awards for the best plates in North America since 1970.
In Wikipedia's ALPCA site there is a table showing Plate of the Year Award winners since it was first made in 1970. Kansas is shown as winning the award in 1980, the first year of a plate design showing gold wheat stalks on a blue background, and again in 1994 when the wheat design was used again. So, the trivia statement at the top of this post is not untrue. It is merely in error. Let's change that sentence to read, "Kansas won the most beautiful license plate award for its 1980 wheat design." Somebody tell DOR.
First, let's do something about this awkwardly worded sentence. How about changing it to: Kansas won the most beautiful license plate award for its 1981 wheat design. There, that's better: 12 words versus 18 words. Now, let's learn more about this feat, thanks to the Internet.
A Web page containing the History of Kansas License Plates is provided by the Kansas Department of Revenue which issues our car tags. There is no mention of a 1981 award for the Kansas license plate design. If such an award was made, you would think the Department of Revenue would know about it. There are several possible reasons for this ommission: (1)they refer to the 1981 plate as displaying wheat "stocks" and the 1995 plate as displaying wheat "stalks", which indicates fallibility, (2) they don't respect the party giving the award as a legitimate judge of license plate quality, or (3) they aren't up on Kansas trivia for Web page purposes. Regarding reason (1) above, a Wichita State University student or alumnus would probably prefer wheat "shock", but technically a shock of grain refers to sheaves stacked upright in the field. My guess is that the 1981 plate reference to a "stock" is a misplaced homonym. But, I digress.
I found that Kansas won first place in a license plate design contest in the United States and Canada with its depiction of the buffalo -- the iconic symbol of the Great Plains -- in 1995, by virtue of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association Inc. voting the state's "Home on the Range" personalized vehicle license plate the best in those countries, according to Michael Naughton, president of ALPCA. Naughton presented the award to Carmen Alldritt, director of vehicles at the Kansas Department of Revenue. ALPCA has about 3,000 members from the U.S. and 19 other countries. The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, founded 1954, is an organization dedicated to the promotion of license plate collecting and research, the exchange of information and plates, as well as all fraternal benefits of sharing a common hobby interest with others throughout the world. It has issued awards for the best plates in North America since 1970.
In Wikipedia's ALPCA site there is a table showing Plate of the Year Award winners since it was first made in 1970. Kansas is shown as winning the award in 1980, the first year of a plate design showing gold wheat stalks on a blue background, and again in 1994 when the wheat design was used again. So, the trivia statement at the top of this post is not untrue. It is merely in error. Let's change that sentence to read, "Kansas won the most beautiful license plate award for its 1980 wheat design." Somebody tell DOR.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Still More Kansas Trivia
"South of Ashland, the Rock Island Bridge is the longest of its kind. It measures 1,200 feet long and is 100 feet above the Cimarron River."
What this trivia tidbit doesn't tell you is (1) what kind of bridge it is, (2) what type of traffic it carries, (3) where it really is, and the name of the bridge. The answers are (1) steel deck truss, (2) rail traffic (For those who have never heard of the Rock Island Railroad, it's a pretty good road.), (3) Seward County along side US Highway 54 about 11 miles northeast of Liberal in Southwest Kansas, and (4) Samson of the Cimarron. It is nowhere near Ashland. Some cub reporter or intern must have done the research for the trivia sheet the El Dorado Times paid money for. They should get part of their money back.
Now, do you have the full picture? Probably not, because to see the bridge immediately tells you that it is something special. It's a beast of a bridge on concrete pylons and seems to go on forever. It's the type of bridge that, if you're a photographer, you pull over and take a picture of it. For a look at the bridge and some more facts, click here.
What this trivia tidbit doesn't tell you is (1) what kind of bridge it is, (2) what type of traffic it carries, (3) where it really is, and the name of the bridge. The answers are (1) steel deck truss, (2) rail traffic (For those who have never heard of the Rock Island Railroad, it's a pretty good road.), (3) Seward County along side US Highway 54 about 11 miles northeast of Liberal in Southwest Kansas, and (4) Samson of the Cimarron. It is nowhere near Ashland. Some cub reporter or intern must have done the research for the trivia sheet the El Dorado Times paid money for. They should get part of their money back.
Now, do you have the full picture? Probably not, because to see the bridge immediately tells you that it is something special. It's a beast of a bridge on concrete pylons and seems to go on forever. It's the type of bridge that, if you're a photographer, you pull over and take a picture of it. For a look at the bridge and some more facts, click here.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Kansas Facts and Trivia
The El Dorado Times published a special section of its paper to celebrate Kansas Day. Besides "Kansas Facts and Trivia", the special profiled the other 49 states with such interesting facts as the state's capital, governor, name origin, bird, flower, motto, nickname, songm population, famous residents and what or who the state is the home of. Well. I guess it might be interesting, if you are bored with everything else that demands your attention. For example, did you know that the state motto of New York is "Excelsior", which is kind of Latin for higher or the best and not the packing material as we frequently think. The first Kansas fact is: A ball of twine in Cawker City measures over 38' in circumference and weighs more than 16,750 pounds and is still growing.
I have actually seen it. It's housed in a structure located on the highway through town. All I have to say is that's a lot of string. According to a web site called Round America:
"There isn't anything much in Cawker City except the World's Largest Ball of Twine, so I had no problem driving right up to it on the main street through town. This sucker is BIG. It's housed in a very nice open-sided building where you can walk right up to it and smell it and touch it. Frank Stoeber started the ball of twine on his farm in 1953. By 1957, it weighed 5,000 pounds, stood 8 feet high, and had 1,175,180 feet of twine on it. Stoeber gave the ball to Cawker City in 1961 before his death in 1974. When I visited in 2003, it weighed 17,578 pounds (that's almost 9 TONS). It has a 40-foot circumference, and it consists of over 7,019,145 feet of sisal twine. If stretched out, it would extend 1,325 MILES. Like I said, this baby is BIG."
It's interesting that whoever supplied the El Dorado Times with the trivia list needs to update the facts as to weight and circumference. Well, I guess they covered themselves when they said, "...it was still growing." The above report is now over 5 years old, so I guess I better make another trip to Cawker City to measure its circumference and make a new estimate of its weight. I'll bet the folks in Cawker feel like they're a prisoner to this monster ball of sisal twine that isn't as round as it used to be. Pretty soon it will look more like a haystack than a ball and they'll have to start calling it a stack of twine to advertise truthfully. The big question is how long this foolishness can go on and how will it end.
I have actually seen it. It's housed in a structure located on the highway through town. All I have to say is that's a lot of string. According to a web site called Round America:
"There isn't anything much in Cawker City except the World's Largest Ball of Twine, so I had no problem driving right up to it on the main street through town. This sucker is BIG. It's housed in a very nice open-sided building where you can walk right up to it and smell it and touch it. Frank Stoeber started the ball of twine on his farm in 1953. By 1957, it weighed 5,000 pounds, stood 8 feet high, and had 1,175,180 feet of twine on it. Stoeber gave the ball to Cawker City in 1961 before his death in 1974. When I visited in 2003, it weighed 17,578 pounds (that's almost 9 TONS). It has a 40-foot circumference, and it consists of over 7,019,145 feet of sisal twine. If stretched out, it would extend 1,325 MILES. Like I said, this baby is BIG."
It's interesting that whoever supplied the El Dorado Times with the trivia list needs to update the facts as to weight and circumference. Well, I guess they covered themselves when they said, "...it was still growing." The above report is now over 5 years old, so I guess I better make another trip to Cawker City to measure its circumference and make a new estimate of its weight. I'll bet the folks in Cawker feel like they're a prisoner to this monster ball of sisal twine that isn't as round as it used to be. Pretty soon it will look more like a haystack than a ball and they'll have to start calling it a stack of twine to advertise truthfully. The big question is how long this foolishness can go on and how will it end.
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