Category: Omnibit

Sardinians make a cheese called casu marzu by heating sheep’s milk then letting it sit for three weeks to curdle. They cut off the crust so flies can enter then leave it in a hut for a few months so the eggs can hatch into maggots which eat the rotting cheese and then excrete what they have eaten back into the cheese giving it a soft texture and rich flavor. Oh, before consuming, make sure the maggots are alive, else the cheese has gone bad. You can only get this delicacy on the black market as the European Union has banned it.

Casu marzu William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-20-20

The Turks don’t call Greece, Greece. They call it Yunanistan. It comes from the Sanskrit yavana which comes from Ionia which was an ancient land in what is now Turkey that was ruled by Greeks.

Of course, Greece doesn’t call itself Greece either. The official name of the country is the Hellenic Republic.

Those who call Greece, Greece get the word from the Romans who called the land Graecia.

Yunanistan William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-19-20

Jamaicans love akee. It is said to be delicious.

Don’t look for it in the supermarket, though. The Food and Drug Administration bans its importation. The fruit that can cause coma or death if eaten before fully ripe.

And the seeds of the akee are always poisonous.

The scientific name, blighia sapida, honors Captain William Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Bligh brought the plant to Jamaica from Africa as food for slaves.

Jamaicans love akee William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-18-20

Lincoln Washington Descendants — There are no living direct descendants of either Abraham Lincoln or George Washington.

The last undisputed descendant of Honest Abe was his great-grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckworth who had three marriages which produced one son but (cough) during a divorce and after his vasectomy. Beckworth denied the paternity and this was upheld by the courts. Beckworth died in 1985 at the age of 81.

While G.W. had two step children from Martha’s first marriage, he never had any of his own as smallpox likely rendered him sterile.

Lincoln Washington Descendants William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-17-20

Cape Horn, the very tip of South America where the Atlantic meets Pacific and what clipper ships braved in days of yore, is not named for the pointy things on the heads of bulls and bisons but for the town of Hoorn in Holland.

That was the home of navigator and merchant Willem Cornelisz Schouten, who was part of an enterprise in 1615 to find a route to the Pacific not controlled by the Dutch East India Company.

Yes Anthony, it was Schouten not Sir Francis Drake who made the discovery.

Hoorn William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-14-20

The oldest known valentine was from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, Bonne. Charles wrote it while imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

It reads:

My very gentle Valentine,

Since for me you were born too soon,

And I for you was born too late.

God forgives him who has estranged

Me from you for the whole year.

I am already sick of love,

My very gentle Valentine.

Charles never saw Bonne again. She died about 10 years before he gained his freedom in 1440.

Oldest Known Valentine William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-14-20

Plaid vs Tartan? So that pushy salesman is wearing a plaid suit? Probably be more accurate to refer to it as tartan as the Scots used”plaid” to refer to the mantle (or covering garment) and tartan to refer to the pattern.

Plaid vs Tartan William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-13-20

English can certainly confuse the English. They call the Alces alces an “elk” when we know it is a moose. What is an elk is the Cervus canadensis.

Alces alces William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-12-20

Hákarl makes you go yum? In Iceland it is a national dish but we English speakers call it fermented shark and consider it the worst tasting food in the world. It literally smells like a cleaning product.

Worst tasting food William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-11-20

Charles Lindbergh dedicated Philadelphia International Airport in Delaware County, Pa. Actually he dedicated it as Philadelphia Municipal Airport. It was in 1927. He flew in to do it on the Spirit of Saint Louis.

Charles Lindbergh dedicated Philadelphia International William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 2-10-20