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There are Three Stanley Cups
Congratulations to the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks for winning their first cup since 1961 last night.
For those who don’t know, the Stanley Cup is the National Hockey League’s playoff trophy. 30 franchised teams from Canada and the United States compete from October to June for the honor of having the players, coaches, managers and staff names engraved in the cup.
There are six historic bands (“rings”) at the top of the cup where names were engraved between 1893 and 1927. Then there are five main bands on the body of the cup where more recent names have been engraved. The historic bands never change, but the oldest of the five main bands is retired when a new ring is added to make room for new names.
The retired rings are displayed in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto Canada and the cup itself is always accompanied by a minimum of one Hockey Hall of Fame representative.
After winning the Stanley Cup, the team captain will be presented with the cup. It is a tradition for the players to skate a lap around the rink with the cup held above their head. This tradition was started by Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings in 1950. He did it to give the fans a better look at the trophy.
After the winning game, there is usually a home-town parade. Each winning player is also allowed to spend an entire day with the cup. Players have baptized their children with the cup, swam in their pool with the cup and even fed their dogs from the cup.
Rings removed (retired) from Stanley Cup
There are three Stanley Cups in total. The original “cup” resembles a large bowl and is mounted to a wooden stand. It no longer has bands at the bottom and was retired after its first 71 years of service — it remains on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Then there are two nearly identical cups. One is the official cup and bears the official seal on the bottom, the other is a replica and remains on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame when the official cup (“Authenticated Cup”) is elsewhere.
The easiest way to spot the real cup is to look at the 1984 Edmonton Oilers engraving. Basil Pocklington’s name has been crossed out with X’s. He is the father of Peter Pocklington, the Oiler’s owner at the time and his name was added in error. The NHL claims Peter added his father’s name to the engraving list and they failed to validate that list. Peter claims it was the engraver’s error and the list with his father’s name on it was a list of people who should receive miniature replicas.
The full size replica cup does not contain Basil’s name at all.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Sources: Wikipedia (Stanley Cup, Peter Pocklington, NHL)
Photos: Colby Cosh (cc), Vidiot (cc)
Diesel Fuel Nozzles Don’t Fit in Standard Fuel Cars
Diesel cars are not popular in North America. But, diesel engines are fairly popular in pickup trucks and are becoming more popular in North American cars.
Although they have a limited history in America, foreign car manufacturers sell many diesel models in Europe.
Diesel engines are generally very efficient and that behind their new found demand. As diesel becomes more popular, you will likely see more diesel pumps.
This is good if you have a diesel car, potentially bad if you don’t. Diesel pumps present a slight risk to your standard gasoline vehicle — you do not want to put diesel fuel in a car that uses standard unleaded fuel.
Standard engines use spark plugs to burn the fuel, diesel engines use pressure and heat to cause a reaction in diesel fuel. That means standard engines will not burn diesel fuel. If you inadvertently put diesel in an unleaded car, the engine will stop very quickly. It’s not usually a total loss, the fuel system will have to be cleaned, filters will need to be changed and the whole process can cost as much as $600.
But, there is an easy way to avoid this costly mistake. First, diesel fuel dispensers are usually clearly marked with text and with a special color handle (the color varies by station).
Second, the nozzle on the end of a diesel fuel pump is slightly larger than a standard fuel nozzle. That means it won’t fit in your car’s gas hole, at least not that way you’re used to a pump nozzle fitting. If you notice that the nozzle isn’t going as far in as it usually does, check the pump, you might be holding a diesel trigger.
This same principle was used in the 80s when we transitioned from leaded to unleaded fuel. Leaded fuel nozzles wouldn’t not fit in unleaded gas holes.
Checkout some other gas related Broken Secrets:
- The gas arrow
- Locking the gas pump trigger (be careful)
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Sources: Answer Bag, WTSP, Dixon Nozzles (PDF)
Photo: teachernz (cc)
How to Make Your Grass Greener
Look outside. Every lawn on your street is a different shade of green. That’s because everybody cuts, waters and fertilizes differently, not to mention the half dozen varieties of common grasses that they may have.
I’ve never been that guy with the greenest lawn, so I asked my lawn specialist friend Mike how to make my lawn greener.
He told me the most important factor was how short I cut it. He said, “the longer you leave it, the better. Set your mower on its highest setting.” I was hesitant because I always cut my grass short and I liked the way that looked.
But, longer grass traps more moisture and reduces the sunlight that gets to the roots, which can burn the grass and dry it out.
Grass reacts to the sun like your skin does. Too much sun without protection will burn it. When you have/had a full head of hair, you don’t put sunscreen on top of your head because your hair protects your skin. The same goes for long grass, it provides shade for the roots and soil.
Long grass also develops a deeper root system which makes the grass more fit for dry and less fertile soil.
I followed Mike’s advice and my grass still looks neatly trimmed, it’s also the greenest grass I’ve ever had. But, there are other reasons why your grass turns brown or yellow. (more…)
How to Buy the Right Shoes for Your Feet
Considering how much time you spend wearing shoes, how much time have you spent understanding what’s unique about your feet?
Unless you’re an avid runner or maybe work at a shoe store, you probably don’t know how to buy shoes that compliment your feet and the way you use them. It can be hard enough to find a shoe that looks good, fits on your foot and feels comfortable, but it takes even more to find a pair that fits your arch and the angle of your ankles. But there is a way.
Even if you don’t run, you can still benefit from buying the right running (or walking) shoes — especially if you spend a lot of time on your feet at work or at play.
For example, the only “running” I do is running errands, but I often wear running shoes because they’re comfortable and lightweight. With the right shoes, there is less stress on your feet, ankles, knees and hips.
When you walk, the heel of your foot will touch the ground first and as you roll your foot forward, your weight will be transferred to the front of your foot. Depending on the angle of your foot, you may be putting more weight on the inside or outside of your foot. Doing that hundreds or thousands of times a day can lead to pain and discomfort in your feet and other parts of your body.
If your hips, knees or ankles produce external rotation, you will be more likely to angle your feet as you walk (known as pronation of the foot). Your shoes can compensate for natural irregularities or make them worse and that’s why it’s important to get the right shoes.
Good shoe stores will help determine your arch type and level of pronation. Once you know your arch type and pronation, there are different shoes that will suit you. A local running shop is a good place to start, they’re generally the most knowledgeable retailers of shoes. Some websites with good fitting advice are: Road Runner Sports, Zappos, Dick’s and New Balance.
One way to determine your arch type is by standing (to put weight on your feet), then sliding your index finger under your arch. If you get your finger up to 1/2 an inch under your foot then you’ve got a low arch. 1/2 inch to 1 inch is a medium arch. More than an inch is a high arch.
The other way to determine arch type is the paper bag test. You wet your feet and stand on a paper bag. Looking at your wet footprint and the size of the gap left by your arch, you can tell if you have a low, medium or high arch. This way is pretty common, but it’s a bit more subjective than the index finger method.
To determine your pronation (ankle roll), you’ll need the help of a friend. They will stand behind you to see how your ankles behave as you walk. If your ankles stay very straight, then you have neutral pronation. If they roll slightly inward or outward then you’re considered an under-pronator. If they roll inward excessively, then you’re an over-pronator.
Another way to determine pronation is to put a used pair of your running shoes on a flat surface and see if the shoes tilt inward towards each other, or tilt outward, away from each other.
Shoes are divided into three categories for different feet type: stability, motion control and neutral. Stability shoes are for under-pronators. Motion control shoes are for severe over-pronators and perhaps obviously, neutral shoes are for neutral pronation.
Most online retailers categorize shoes into these groups. A good shoe store will be able to tell you which shoes are your type as well.
The other approach to running footwear is: barefoot. There is a popular book on running called Born to Run which suggests that we are literally born to run in our bare feet and the best runners in the world come from tribes of barefoot runners who run well into old age without injury.
For now, I think I’ll stick with my runners.
Thanks to Kristen for suggesting this secret!
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Sources: Wikipedia (Foot type), New Balance (Running Gait), Zappos, Dick’s
Photo: Jason Alley (cc)
The Three Plants That Will Improve Your Home Air
Spring is here and the garden centers are open. It’s time to get some plants, especially for inside your home.
Indoor plants are really important. There are chemicals in and on almost everything you buy. If your air is not replenished with fresh air, it can be mildly toxic. But, with the right mix of plants, your air can be cleaned and oxygenated around the clock.
With as little as these three plants, you can have this perfect mix:
- Areca palm – (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens)
- Snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue – (Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Laurentii’)
- Golden pothos or Devil’s ivy – (Scindapsus aures or Epipremnum aureum)
The “Areca Palm” removes CO2 and converts it into oxygen during the day. The “Snake Plant” converts CO2 into oxygen at night. The “Golden pothos” removes formaldehyde and other chemicals from your air.
Using these plants has shown significant oxygen level improvements in real world situations. Having these plants in your home can increase blood oxygen levels by 1% in 10 hours. They can reduce headaches, eye irritation, asthma and other respiratory problems.
These three plants are just a few of the many plants that are considered Air Filtering Plants. NASA has identified a number of similar plants in it’s Clean Air Study — an attempt to understand natural ways to purify air in closed spaces, on earth and beyond.
Read about the other plants or watch Kamal Meattle’s talk at TED for more info.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Photo: Leto A (cc)
Sources: TED, Air Filtering Plants
Sarcastic Secret: How to Make Ice
Unless you’ve got hired help or a fancy fridge, there is no ice fairy who magically creates the ice in your freezer. That said, there is a fairy ice cube tray.
Anyway, if you leave less than three cubes, then you have to make more ice — that’s the ice cube rule. Fear not, it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- Go to the sink and fill the tray with cold water
- Place the tray on a flat surface inside the freezer
- Wait
Anybody can make ice; there is no reason why the ice cube tray should be empty. Forward this to the guilty party in your home, maybe they’ll get the hint.
PS – If you don’t want foggy ice, check out this secret: Use Hot Water to Make Crystal Clear Ice.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Exhaust Fans Help Cool Your Home During Summer
The upper floor of your home is likely the warmest place in your home. It’s not usually a big deal in the winter, but it can be very uncomfortable in the summer. It happens because hot air rises.
The ceiling of your upper floor also has the most insulation of any place in your home. It’s there because hot air rises — in the winter, you don’t want to lose that heat. It’s the same reason you put a hat on your head in the winter.
In the summer, that thick insulation in your attic is doing the same thing it does in the winter, trapping that heat on your upper floor. If you have a central heating/cooling system, it should suck hot air from the upper floor and mix it with cooler air. But, it’s not always running and it can’t always keep up with the hot air that is produced inside your home, from people, electronics and appliances.
A good solution is to run the ceiling exhaust fan in a central bathroom on the upper floor during the hottest hours of the day. To help, you can get an automatic timer control light switch; these can be used to run the fan and have it automatically shutoff after a certain amount of time — this might also be useful after somebody uses the toilet.
In some regions, it is even part of the building code that an on/off switch for the upper floor hallway bathroom fan is placed next to the thermostat on the main floor. It’s there so you can turn on the exhaust fan when you turn on the air conditioner (there is also a switch in the bathroom to control it from there). This is not a widespread building code, but it’s worth having a look beside your thermostat. If you’ve got a light switch there that doesn’t do anything, try it again and listen for the hallway fan.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
You Can’t Grow Hemp in the US But You Can Import It
Hemp is a plant with a long and interesting history, especially in the United States.
Farmers cannot freely grow hemp in the US, but many companies import hemp products for resale, mostly from Canada and the UK.
The problem is that hemp is from the same plant family (genus) as marijuana. But hemp is not a drug, it is a raw material that is used much like cotton. We all know that cotton is great, we use it for making: t-shirts, socks, denim for blue-jeans, fishnets, coffee filters, paper and many other things. Considering everything we use it for, it’s a miracle plant.
But, cotton has some limitations. It can only be grown in areas that get a lot of sunshine, have consistent rainfall and long frost-free periods. Cotton also requires a lot of pesticides: 50% of the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.
Imagine a plant with all the benefits of cotton, but it has even stronger fibers, could be grown anywhere in the country and doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides.
That plant is called hemp.
At the risk of sounding like a huge hippie, hemp is a perfect plant. Frankly, I am not a hippie — I only own one hemp product: hemp protein powder.
Hemp as a food source is one example of why it’s so perfect. The seeds contain all of the essential fatty acids and essential amino acids required for a human to be healthy. It also contains a lot of fiber, another essential part of the human diet.
When used as a textile, hemp is stronger and more mildew resistant than cotton. For that reason, hemp is an excellent material for making canvas boat sails, and it was used for that exact purpose by Christopher Columbus. (more…)
A Secret Government Spaceship is Circling the Earth
The US government recently launched a secret space plane called the X-37B. You’ve probably never heard about it and that’s because nobody is really talking about it.
We do know that the X-37B was launched on April 22, 2010. It was originally a NASA project in 1999, but was transferred to the department of defense in 2004. It looks very similar the space shuttle, but it’s unmanned and about a quarter of the size. It also operates very similar to the space shuttle, it is launched by powerful rockets and it lands like an airplane. It has a small cargo bay, about the size of a pickup truck bed.
For safety and security, a little over 14000 space objects are cataloged and tracked. The objects include satellites, debris and rocket bodies. Tracking these objects reduces the chance of a collision between them. In fact, there are a few public websites that let you view this information, some will even plot satellites on a map so you can try to spot them when they’re over your area. The location and orbit of the X-37B spacecraft has not been announced by the government.
However, a group of amateur astronomers and sky watchers believe they have enough sightings to identify the craft and it’s orbit. The space plane has been tough to spot since it seems to be operating in a low orbit, similar to the height of military spy satellites. There are a lot of satellites in the sky, 75 military satellites plus 15 search and rescue; 37 gps and 19 Navy navigation satellites. Then, there are thousands of other satellites for communications, science and entertainment uses.
China and Iran are both on edge about what this space plane is capable of. According to China, it may signal the start of a space arms race.
Experts believe the X-37B is just another spy plane, except it can stay in the air for 270 days before returning for fuel. The sky watchers who are tracking the space plane have seen it over Iraq and Afghanistan and believe it is currently testing surveillance equipment. Because it can return to earth and be redeployed very quickly, it’s likely that it will serve a number of different roles as needed.
As for the name, it’s just a test plane series number. For example, the X-24A was the model of the plane used in 1963 to test the re-entry heat-shields that would end up on the bottom of modern day space shuttles.
When the X-37B does return to earth, it will land on a runway in California. If it veers too far off course, it will self destruct. Seriously.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
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Michelangelo Hid Images in Sistine Chapel Paintings
The most amazing work of art I’ve ever seen is David by Michelangelo. At 17 feet tall, bulging veins and muscles render an immaculate representation of human anatomy and the flaccid pose captures the mood before his fight with Goliath.
There is no doubt, Michelangelo’s understanding of anatomy is incredible, but not surprising. His art education included dissecting cadavers while studying at the church of Santo Spirito. This is not a well known fact since he tried to hide his anatomist roots, destroying nearly all of his anatomic notes and drawings.
Maybe cadavers are harder to come by these days, but that’s not part of the art curriculum at most modern schools. That privilege is usually reserved for medical students, which is why it’s no surprise that three medical journals have published findings of hidden anatomic references in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings.
It took four years (1508-1512) for Michelangelo to paint the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The last four panels he painted include the suggested anatomic representations.
In the forth panel, Dr Frank Meshberger suggests the similarity between the red cloth surrounding god and the image of a human brain (Journal of the American Medical Association, October 1990).
The brain-like shape is highlighted
In the third panel, Dr Garabed Eknoyan likens the wrap surrounding god to a human kidney, as reported in Kidney International in 2000. According to Eknoyan, Michelangelo was interested in the kidney function since he suffered from kidney stones during his adult life and mentioned it in letters and poems.
Do you see a Kidney shape?
Finally, in the first panel (image below), Ian Suk and Rafael Tamargo, report in the journal Neurosurgery (May 2010) that the neck details do not accurately represent a goiter, as previously believed. They argue that goiters typically occur lower in the neck and Michelangelo would not have made such an inaccurate representation given his demonstrated accuracy of anatomic details in all of his other paintings. Secondly, they believed as a deeply religious man, he would not depict god with this deformity. Most convincingly, they say the painting accurately details a ventral view (from below) of a brainstem, cerebellum, temporal lobes and optic chiasm. (more…)
Broken Secrets 