Acorns: Food or Folly

Question:  Can Humans Eat Acorns?

Background:

It's last fall in the the Northern Hemisphere and squirrels, red, brown and funny ones with banded tails, are scampering around bloated and fat, ready for the winter.  Since these lovable critters seem to eat nothing but acorns, it seems that maybe humanity is wasting itself running back and forth to McDonalds when we could be eating the pounds of yummy acorns right out of our yards.  Only one problem:  Are acorns edible?

So What's the Answer:

We did a little poking around and found that not only are acorns edible, they probably pre-date grains as a source of flour.  Early Northern European cultures gathered, cooked and ground acorns as flour.   There are two catches:

Catch 1:

Acorns are very high in tannic acid, the acid used to soften leather, and simply cracking them open and eating them is nasty tasting and bad for you.  In order to make acorns edible, you have to boil them not once but twice.  The acid boils out (save that water for your leather working projects) then you can toast, roast or grind your acorns into whatever form you would like.

Catch 2:

The squirrels seem to have a corner on the whole acorn market and pissing off squirrels is a bad idea.  To understand why we here at the Dumb Facts Exploratory Committee (DFEC) live in mortal fear of squirrels, please watch this short, educational video we found online in which a fun, cuddly squirrel tears the punk ass out of a snake:



Conclusion:

While acorns may be a fun and archaic food source, we choose to view them as the rightful bounty of our noble squirrel overlords.   (Hey, he really tore that snake up okay?)

Sources:

Sources?  We don't need no stinking sources!  We are the source!

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Pantie Quilt Part II

Question:

Did a Missouri man make a quilt out of Women's Panties?


Background:

Earlier this morning, we at the Obscure Question Research and Investigation Centre (OQRIC) posted a note about Frank Zappa's bizarre underclothes quilt.  Several quick eyed readers reported to us that Mr. Zappa is not alone in his quest for the linens made of ladies secret lovelies.

In our eternal quest for answers to obscure questions, we jumped straight to Google to see if it could be true.


So What's the Answer?


OMG!  This man:

Louis Garret, or "Shovelhead" as the tattoo on his forehead points out, from the town of Louisiana, Missouri did in fact make a quilt out of 58 pairs of ladies panties donated to him by "friends and co-workers."

We here at the Joint Commission for Obscure Questions (JCOQ) would just like to point out that tear tattoos, in modern terms usually mean you've killed someone, but in someone of Mr. Garret's age probably represent years in prison.  One tear for every five years.  Honestly, even without the facial tattoos, we're really not going to give this guy our underwear.  

Mr. Garrett also mentioned in an interview with local television, that he got the idea while dressing his mannequins.  This begs the question, in what town is this a news story and not a stalker report?

Got a question, send us an email at obscure questions@yahoo.com or just leave a comment.  We love comments.   Also +1 us would you?  We need the press.

Sources:

Sources?  We don't need no stinking sources!   We are the source!

Frank Zappa's Dirty Panty Quilt

Question:

Did Frank Zappa really have a quilt made out of used panties?


Background:

During his "Tinseltown Rebellion" tour in 1981, Frank Zappa, rock music legend and authentic weirdo, starting asking women in the audience to throw their underwear at him.  He is reported to have said;

"Laides, if you give me your panties, I promise I'll never wash them again."

Being that it was a Frank Zappa concert, there were plenty of women in the crowd ready to flood the stage with slightly used unmentionables.  Zappa's bassist, apparently unimpressed, started taking ice tongs on stage in case he needed to move anyone's underthings.  Zappa, on the other hand, would twirl favored panties on his finger, hang them from his guitar etc.

We here here at the Institute for Obscure Question Research (IOQR) could not be more grossed out!

By the end of the tour, Zappa had collected hundreds of used undergarments of all shapes and sizes but what to do with them.


So What's the Answer:

In 1982 Zappa commissioned the making of a quilt, featuring himself as the King of Spade, composed entirely of the still unwashed underpants.  It's now on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Frank Zappa, all American Weirdo.

Got a question?  Drop us a line at obscurequestions@yahoo.com or just post a comment.  We love comments.

Sources:

Sources?  We don't need no stinking sources!  We are the source!

A Bare Bodkin? What's That?

Question:

What is a "bare Bodkin?"

The Background:

In William Shakespreare's "Hamlet" during Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" speech, Hamlet says:

"When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?"

We know, from Mrs. Scott's 10 grade English class that Hamlet is talking about killing himself.  So, "his quietus make" means to kill himself but with what?  A bare bodkin?  Really?

So What's the Answer:

Most people agree that a bodkin is a small knife or dagger similar to a poniard.  We at the Organisation for the Investigation of Life's Most Important and Obscure Questions (OILMIOQ) wish to point out that a Bodkin is also a long hat pin or blunt needle used for threading ribbon.  It would come as no surprise to us to learn that what Shakespreare was pointing out was pointing out that people are really very easy to kill.  Who doesn't have an old aunt who died in an unfortunate hat pin accident?  What a great Christmas story that is!

So, a bare bodkin is a pointy thing, possibly a dagger or sewing implement, that Hamlet could have used on himself in the first hour of the play thus saving us all a great deal of torment in Mrs. Scott's English class.

Got a question?  Drop us a line at obscurequestions@yahoo.com or just post a comment.  We love comments.

Sources:

Sources?  We don't need no stinking sources!  We are the source!

Moon Brain: Why Do We Always See the Same Side of The Moon?

The Question:

Why do we always see the same side of the moon?



The Background:

Remember the man in the moon?  Ever wondered what the back of his head looks like?  Ever wonder why no one except a couple of Apollo Astronauts have ever seen the "dark side" of the moon?

It can be a little hard to wrap your head around the fact that the same side of the moon always faces the Earth.  Try it like this.  Look up at the moon.  Imagine that the side of the moon that you are looking at were to come crashing straight down into you and through the Earth. When it pushed its way out the other side, the folks in China would see the back side of the moon as it flew back up into space right?  Right.  Only that's not what happens.  Folks in China see the same side of the moon we do.    Observe this picture of the full moon rising over the National Stadium in China:

It's the same side of the moon!   WTF?!!

So What's the Answer?

The answer to this question comes in two parts.  

First, the moon is turning at exactly the same rate it orbits the Earth.  Weird huh?  But it makes sense if you think about it.  In order your you and me, on opposite sides of the planet, to see the same side of the moon, it must be turning at exactly the same rate that it is orbiting the Earth.  You can do this with your fingers.  Hold a finger on one hand still.  Now spin a finger from the other hand around it slowly, turning it so that the same side is always facing the first finger.    That's what the moon is doing.  

The orbital period for the moon is roughly 27.321583 days.  Roughly.

The moon rotates on its axis roughly once every 27.321583 days as well.

How trippy is that?  Even weirder is why.

It turns out that the gravitational drag between two spheres will eventually slow their rotation so that their rotation matches their orbital periods.  This weird force is called tidal locking.  When the moon first formed, it did spin but the drag of gravity has slowed it till it always shows us the same side.  Since the moon is not a perfect sphere, the heaviest part of the moon settled toward us.  If you turned your bike over, put a weight on the back wheel, and then spun the wheel, when it slowed the weight would settle toward the Earth right?  Same thing happened to the moon.

Tidal locking with the moon has slowed the Earth too but the Earth is much more massive so we still spin once every 24  hours...Roughly.

We see the same side of the moon at all times because tidal locking has pulled the heaviest side toward us and it now spins at exactly the right speed to keep the heaviest side toward us.  

Sources: 

We don't need no stinking sources!  We are the source.

Got a question?  Drop us a line at obscurequestions@yahoo.com or just leave a comment.  We'll find the answer for you.  We do this because we rock.