Bog iron

Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite (FeO(OH)). It was discovered during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron.
Iron-bearing groundwater typically emerges as a spring. The iron is oxidized to ferric hydroxide upon encountering the oxic environment of the surface. Bog ore often combines goethite, magnetite and vugs or stained quartz. Oxidation may occur through enzyme catalysis by iron bacteria. It is not clear whether the magnetite precipitates upon first contact with oxygen, then oxidizes to ferric compounds, or whether the ferric compounds are reduced when exposed to anoxic conditions upon burial beneath the sediment surface and reoxidized upon exhumation at the surface.
Iron made from bog ore will often contain residual silicates, which can form a glassy coating that grants some resistance to rusting.

Blue Box

An early phreaking tool, the blue box is an electronic device that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console. It functions by replicating the tones used to switch long-distance calls and using them to route the user's own call, bypassing the normal switching mechanism. The most typical use of a blue box was to place free telephone calls - inversely, the Black Box enabled one to receive calls which were free to the caller. The blue box no longer works in most western nations, as modern switching systems are now digital and no longer use the in-band signaling which the blue box emulates. Instead, signaling occurs on an out-of-band channel which cannot be accessed from the line the caller is using (called Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS)).

The blue box got its name because the first such device confiscated by Bell System security was in a blue plastic case.

Laibach

Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group strongly associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia), Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984. The name "Laibach" is the German name for Slovenia's capital city, Ljubljana.

Laibach is known for their cover versions, which are often used to subvert the original message or intention of the song — a notable example being their version of the song "Live is Life" by Opus, an Austrian arena rock band. Whereas the original is a feel-good pop anthem, Laibach's subversive interpretation twists the melody into a triumphant, rolling military march. Other notable covers include the entirety of the Beatles album Let It Be (1988) — with the exclusion of the title track — and their maxi-single Sympathy for the Devil (1988) which deconstructs the Rolling Stones song of the same name with seven different interpretations of the song.

Some early Laibach albums were pure industrial, with hard industrial percussion, heavy rhythms, and roaring vocals. Later in the mid-80s, the Laibach sound became more richly layered with samples from classical music including from Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The band began their tradition of cover songs in 1987 with the album Opus Dei, where their sound was changed again.

Although primarily a musical group, Laibach has sometimes worked in other media. In their early years, especially before the founding of Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), Laibach produced several works of visual art. A notable example was MB 84 Memorandum (1984) an image of a black cross that served as a way to advertise Laibach's appearances during a period in the 1980s when the government of Yugoslavia banned the name "Laibach". Cross imagery, and variations on the cross are apparent in many Laibach recordings and publications.

Laibach has frequently been accused of both far left and far right political stances due to their use of uniforms and totalitarian-style aesthetics. They were also accused of being members of the neo-nationalism movement, which reincarnates modern ideas of nationalism. The members of Laibach are notorious for rarely stepping out of character. Some releases feature artwork by the Communist and early Dada artist/satirist, John Heartfield. Laibach concerts have sometimes aesthetically appeared as political rallies. When interviewed, they answer in wry manifestos, showing a paradoxical lust for, and condemnation of, authority.

Mike The Headless Chicken

Mike the Headless Chicken (April 1945 – March 1947), also known as Miracle Mike, was a Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been mostly cut off. Thought by many to be a hoax, the bird was taken by his owner to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to establish its authenticity.

On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old cockerel named Mike. The axe missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.


Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, although he could do neither. After the bird did not die, a surprised Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn.

When used to his new and unusual center of mass, Mike could easily get himself to the highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, was less impressive and consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat, leaving him unable to crow at dawn. Mike also spent his time preening and attempting to peck for food with his neck.

Once his fame had been established, Mike began a career of touring sideshows in the company of such other creatures as a two-headed calf. He was also photographed for dozens of magazines and papers, featuring in Time and Life magazines.


Mike was on display to the public for an admission cost of 25 cents. At the height of his popularity, the chicken earned US$4,500 per month ($48,000 in 2010 dollars) and was valued at $10,000. Olsen's success resulted in a wave of copycat chicken beheadings, but no other chicken lived for more than a day or two. 

 In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix on a stopover while traveling back home from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of the night. As the Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, they were unable to save Mike. Lloyd Olsen claimed that he had sold the bird off, resulting in stories of Mike still touring the country as late as 1949. Other sources say that the chicken's severed trachea could not take in enough air properly to be able to breathe; and therefore choked to death in the motel.

Beast of Dean

The Beast of Dean, also given the colloquial name Moose-Pig, is a cryptid that is reported to live, or to have once lived, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. It is said to resemble a wild boar (Sus scrofa), but abnormally large in size. In 1802, tired by being harassed by the mysterious giant boar which, reputedly, was large enough to have felled trees and crushed hedges and fences, farmers from the village of Parkend undertook an expedition to capture and kill the creature, but found nothing. It should be remembered that at that time wild boar were extinct in Britain.

Maserati Tipo 61

The Maserati Tipo 61 (commonly referred to as the Maserati Birdcage) is sports racing cars of the early 1960s. The car was produced between 1959 and 1961 by Maserati for racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic. It used an intricate tubular space frame chassis, containing about 200 chro-moly steel tubes between 10 and 15 mm thick welded together, hence the nickname "Birdcage". This method of construction provided a more rigid and, at the same time, lighter (weighing just 36 kg.) chassis than other sports cars of the time. By recessing the windscreen base into the bodywork, Maserati was able to reduce the effect of new Le Mans rules demanding a tall windscreen. The Camoradi team became famous racing the Tipo 61's but, despite being faster around the track than other cars, the Birdcage was unreliable and often retired from races due to problems with the gearbox.

The Tipo 61 never won Le Mans due to reliability issues.

Culligan

Culligan is an international water purification company headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. Culligan specializes in water softeners, water filtration systems and bottled water for residential and office applications.

Culligan was founded by Emmett Culligan in a blacksmith shop in Northbrook, Illinois. He perforated the bottom of a coffee can and used greensand to make his own water filter. Upon running water through his device, he discovered that the filter also behaved as a water softener. By 1938, the first Culligan franchised dealership opened in Wheaton, Illinois, followed by another in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Culligan is best known for a famous television and radio ad featuring an all-American housewife yelling out the slogan “Hey, Culligan man!” in a sultry tone. The campaign was originally created in 1959 for radio by Dallas Williams Productions of Los Angeles. Filmmaker Dan Bessie directed and animated the award-winning "Hey Culligan Man!" soft water commercials for 15 years. Variations of “Hey Culligan Man” ads would continue to air for over three decades.

In 2004, Entrepreneur Magazine named Culligan the number one franchise in its industry. The company currently has over 800 dealers in the United States and Canada and sells its products in more than 90 countries. Culligan is privately held by the investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

PayDay

PayDay is a candy bar consisting of peanuts around a center of caramel, currently produced by The Hershey Company.

PayDay was first introduced in 1932 by Frank Martoccio. Martoccio founded the F.A. Martoccio Macaroni Company, and also later served as head of the Hollywood Candy Company. Hollywood also produced the ZERO bar. Hollywood moved to Centralia, Illinois, in 1938. In 1967, the Martoccio family sold Hollywood Brands to Consolidated Foods, which later became Sara Lee. Fire destroyed the Centralia plant in 1980. Production of the PayDay bar continued with help from the L.S. Heath and Sons Company until a new facility could be constructed. In 1988, Hollywood Brands was acquired by the Leaf Candy Company, then later became part of The Hershey Company in 1996.

There have been several variations on the PayDay bar. They include the Honey-Roasted limited edition in 2003, the PAYDAY PRO, a high protein energy bar in 2005, and the PayDay Chocolatey Avalanche, a chocolate-covered version, in 2007.

Pilsner

A Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the city of Pilsen, Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, where it was developed in the 19th century and where the original Pilsner Urquell beer is produced today.

Until the mid-1840s, most Bohemian beers were top-fermented, dark and cloudy. The taste and standards of quality often varied widely, and in 1838, consumers dumped whole barrels to show their dissatisfaction. The officials of Pilsen founded a city owned brewery in 1839, called Bürger Brauerei (Citizens' Brewery - now Plzeňský Prazdroj), brewing beer according to the Bavarian style of brewing. Bavarian brewers had begun experiments with the storage (German: 'Lager') of beer in cool caves using bottom-fermenting yeasts, which improved the beer's clarity, flavour, and shelf-life. Most of this research benefited from the knowledge already expounded on in a book (printed in German since 1794, in Czech since 1801), written by František Ondřej Poupě (1753–1805) from Brno.

The Bürger Brauerei recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll (1813 – 1887) who, using new techniques and the newly available paler malts, presented his first batch of modern pilsener on 5 October 1842. The combination of pale colour from the new malts, Pilsen's remarkably soft water, Saaz noble hops from nearby Žatec (Saaz in German) and Bavarian-style lagering produced a clear, golden beer which was regarded as a sensation.

Improving transport and communications also meant that this new beer was soon available throughout Central Europe, and the Pilsner Brauart style of brewing was soon widely imitated. In 1859, “Pilsner Bier” was registered as a brand name at the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Pilsen. In 1898, the Pilsner Urquell trade mark was created to put emphasis on being the original brewery.

The introduction to Germany of modern refrigeration by Carl von Linde in the late 19th century removed the need for caves in which to store the beer and thus allowed the brewing of bottom-fermenting beer in many places which had been unable to do so before.^[3] However, even until recently the Pilsner Urquell brewery still fermented its beer using open barrels in the cellars underneath their brewery. This technology was changed in 1993 with the use of large cylindrical tanks; however, small samples are still brewed in a traditional way for taste comparisons. Pilsner also has the unique claim to being "the world's first golden beer".

A modern pilsener has a very light, clear colour from pale to golden yellow, and a distinct hop aroma and flavour. Czech pilseners tend toward a lighter flavour (good examples being Pilsner Urquell and Staropramen), while those in a German style can be more bitter (particularly in the north, e.g. Jever) or even "earthy" in flavour. Distinctive examples of German pilseners are Aktienbrauerei Kaufbeuren Jubiläums Pils, Augustiner Pils, Beck's, Bitburger, Flensburger Pilsener Fürstenberg, Henninger's Kaiser Pilsner, Holsten, König Pilsner, Königsbacher Pilsener, Krombacher, Külmbacher, Radeberger, Schwelm's Schwelmer Pils, Veltins, Warsteiner, Würzburger Hofbrau, and Wernesgrüner. On the other hand, Dutch (Amstel, Grolsch, Heineken) and Belgian pilseners (Jupiler, Stella Artois) have a slight sweet taste. Pilseners are identified by their participation in categories like "European-Style Pilsener" at the World Beer Cup or other similar competitions.

BFG 9000

The BFG 9000 is a futuristic weapon found in the video game series Doom. The BFG 9000 is a huge, solid metal gun that fires balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the games, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy in the vicinity with a single hit. Quake II and Quake III Arena pay homage to the BFG 9000 with a pair of similar weapons both called the BFG10K, although the Quake III Arena version acts more like a rapid-fire plasma launcher than a single shot mass destruction device.
UGO.com ranked the BFG 9000 at number two on their Top 50 Video Game Weapons of All Time list. In the article they noted the strategic effect of the weapon, stating "It was marvelous and complex, and we should not hesitate to put this weapon down in history as one of the best." X-Play ranked it number one on their Top 10 Badass Weapons list, stating that while "not as fancy as the gravity gun", it was the first weapon that "really made us swoon". IGN editor Tom McNamara listed the BFG as one of the ten best weapons in video games, placing it at number ten.^[3] Machinima.com named it number one on their list of Top Ten Video Game Weapons, stating "Do you really need a reason why this tops the list?"