Time For Some Crude Talk.

April 17, 2015April 14, 2015 fasab Business, Current Events, Investing $20 per barrel, $200 per barrel, America, barrel, barrels, burned off at the oil wells, China, CNG, collapsing completely, collected, commodity, compressed into tanks, compressed natural gas, crude, Current Events, declined, diesel, domestic oil production, drilling equipment, dumping oil on the black market, fall in income, finance their war, imported oil, investment, Iranians, iraq, ISIL, ISIS, layman's answer, long term, low prices, market glut, natural gas, North America, oil, oil fields, oil industry, oil price, oil price declined, OPEC, OPEC countries, over supply in the market, predictions, pretty good guess, Random, scarce, secondary effects, shale-oil fields in the United States of America, supply is greater than demand, supply of oil, surplus, tar-sands in Canada, Terrorists, the price falls, the price rises, those in the 'know', Thoughts, vast reserves, vehicles

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

It’s not so long ago that I was getting bombarded with emails about how great an investment oil would be.

At that time the predictions by those in the ‘know’, who really know nothing, was that oil would hit $200 per barrel – maybe much, much more!

Well, they almost got the number correct, except that oil actually hit $20 per barrel, not $200. As these things go it was a pretty good guess!!!

So why has the oil price declined and, although it has recovered a bit, why are the predictions for today’s low prices to hold long term?

The simple layman’s answer of course is that the oil price has declined because supply is greater than demand. When there is a surplus of a commodity the price falls and when it is scarce the price rises.

The supply of oil has increased relative to demand for a number of reasons.

The most obvious one is the vast reserves of oil found and now being recovered in the massive shale-oil fields in the United States of America and the tar-sands in Canada that have added more than 5 million barrels per day to domestic oil production since 2008. Able to produce more at home, North America has been able to reduce its demand for imported oil.

The effect of this, of course, is that the OPEC countries have seen their annual revenues fall sharply during the same period. To try to rectify this fall in income, which they need to provide for their own citizens, they have been trying to replace lost revenue from North America by increasing production of their own oil supplies.

In other words, they have created even more over supply in the market, which helps to keep the oil price down.

Then there was the ISIS or ISIL terrorists in Iraq who had taken control of most of the oil fields and were dumping oil on the black market as fast as they could to help finance their war. Recently they’ve lost control of a lot of those oil fields so that part of the equation may no longer be in play to the same extent.

However, if there is a deal ever done with the Iranians and they are able to trade without restriction again, no doubt they will be adding their oil to the market glut which will also help to keep the market over-supplied and the price suppressed.

Then there is the increasing use of compressed natural gas or CNG. This is the natural gas that used to be burned off at the oil wells, but that is now collected, compressed into tanks and used to power vehicles and in drilling equipment, meaning less diesel is purchased.

Despite all these over-supply pressures, the thing that is keeping the oil price from collapsing completely is the continued demand from China. This is a good thing because a long-term collapse in the oil price, whilst it may make life a bit easier financially for many with decreased heating and fuel bills, also has detrimental secondary effects on some parts of the country where the oil industry provides a living for a great many people.

I haven’t had an email about investing in oil for a long time and I don’t expect them to start again soon. Now you know why.

================================

Gullibility test kit – send $19.99 now!

April 16, 2015April 12, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns $20, a matter of time, amusing, an affair, anagram, bad jokes, bed, body, cat, ceiling, Comedy, computer, counting, driving, Einstein, Entertainment, exaggerations, facebook, facebook timeline, funny, Gullibility, gullible, horses, Humor, Humour, joining Facebook, jokes, laptop, million percent, mud flaps, muscles, no life, problems, pun, puns, pussy, remembering, shower, silly jokes, spine, stable relationships, stupid, suicide note, terrified of thunder and lightning, the other way around, theory of relativity, thigh, times like these, upstairs, wife, window cleaner, word play, word plays

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Gullible or not now is your chance to look at this week’s selection of word plays, better known as puns.

As usual they come with choice….

Enjoy or endure!!

I have four problems in life:

counting,

remembering

and counting.

I was driving along the other day,

when a bloke stopped me and said,

“Your back mud flaps have fallen off.”

I said, “Can’t do much about it now,

I’ll just carry on rear guard less.”

Stable relationships

are for horses

My friend told me that after years of doubt,

he is now convinced my wife is having an affair.

“We’ve gone and moved 250 miles away,” he told me.

“And we’ve still got the same window cleaner.”

It’s times like these, when I’m sat

in bed with my computer on my knee,

that I really wish I’d bought a laptop.

I think I may have a shower.

Just checked, yes I do, it’s upstairs.

I just found $20 hanging from my ceiling.

It was a suicide note.

Exaggerations went up

by a million percent last year.

If Einstein hadn’t come up with

the Theory of Relativity,

someone else would have.

It was only a matter of time.

My cat is absolutely terrified

of thunder and lightening.

The pussy.

What part of my body is as long as your thigh,

contains over 120 muscles,

and is an anagram of “pensi”?

No, you’re completely wrong.

The correct answer is my spine.

According to my facebook timeline,

I had no life before joining Facebook in 2012.

I believe it to be the other way around.

=================================

Watch This Space!

April 15, 2015April 14, 2015 fasab Current Events America, camouflaged as space junk, China, Chinese, commemorates, Current Events, detected, disable them, disguised-as-junk, electronic systems, EU, fact, facts, group of satellites, headline grabbing, hide your spies, information, junk, objects orbiting planet Earth, only looks like it, orbiting the Earth, publicized, recent record for snooping, Russia, Russian government, Russian telecommunications, shoot them down, signals, silent running, Space Day, space junk, space shuttle flights, spy satellites, spying, Thoughts, US, voyage into space, watch this space, Yuri Gagarin

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Have you ever wondered what all those space shuttle flights were about? Not the headline grabbing ones, but all the others. Everybody is at it, the US, Russia, China, the EU….

That’s the ones we know about. There have been many others that are never publicized.

And then there is the question of what happens to whatever it is they put up there when they have served whatever purpose they were originally sent up there to do. They call that bit “space junk”. Except sometimes it isn’t junk at all. It only looks like it.

For example, the Russian government says it recently detected a group of satellites that are spying on Russia while orbiting the Earth camouflaged as “space junk”.

They made the announcement rather appropriately on April 12, which ever since 1961 is known as “Space Day”, when Russia commemorates Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering voyage into outer space.

There wasn’t so much junk about in his day. Now it is estimated that there are 100,000 objects orbiting planet Earth on any given day. So plenty of cover to hide your spies.

Apparently these ‘disguised-as-junk’ spy satellites are designed to collect signals from Russian telecommunications and other electronic systems.

So far the Russians aren’t saying who these junk satellites belonged to, or whether it had tried, or was going to try, to shoot them down or disable them.

It would be rather appropriate given the name ‘junk’ if they turned out to be Chinese, but with America’s recent record for snooping on the whole world you’d find it hard to rule them out of the silent running.

Watch this space!

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A Few Of Today’s Facts Really Stink.

April 14, 2015April 12, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual "o" sound in French, access tunnels, airplanes, amphibious four-wheel drive off-roader, arms get shorter, Aztecs, bad job, Beckton Gas Works, bike, Boeing 747 mounted with an anti-missile defense system, Breath Odor Evaluator, Dog Breath Sniffer, dogs, East London, education, Entertainment, Europeans, excrement, experimented, fact, facts, Finland, focusing ability, fourteenth century, Full Metal Jacket, general population, German Wehrmacht, get older, highway 8, hit by a truck, immune system function, information, inhabitants, Jeffires Tubes, kidneys, lens in the eyes, London, lungs, major battle scenes, medieval London, Mexica, mint and toothpaste companies, most numerous amphibious car in history, National Institutes of Health, need glasses, NIH, prop master, reading, reproduction and support for the heart, Sherborne Lane, Shiteburn Lane, shoot down enemy missiles, smelling bad breath, Stanley Kubrick, star trek, stink, supplements with vitamin A, sweet potato baked in the skin, Swimming Car, The Enterprise, TV series, twin brother, Type 166, US Air Force, Vietnam, Vision, vitamin A, Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, Waffen-SS, Walter M Jeffries, WWII, YAL-1 Airborne Laser

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Sorry, but today a few of the facts really do stink.

But you might find them interesting nonetheless.

I hope so anyway.

So here they are.

Enjoy.

There are 13 ways to spell

the “o” sound in French.

Oh?

In the TV series Star Trek,

The Enterprise’s often seen access tunnels

that they called ‘Jeffries Tubes’

were named after original series

prop master Walter M Jeffries.

Vitamin A is important for vision,

the immune system function,

reproduction and support for the

heart, lungs and kidneys.

According to National Institutes of Health (NIH),

around 28%–37% of the general population

take supplements with vitamin A,

however,

just one sweet potato baked in the skin

has 28,058 international units (IU) of

vitamin A per serving,

which is 561% of the daily recommended value.

In 2002, a man was hit by a truck in Finland

as he was trying to cross highway 8 on his bike.

2 hours later his twin brother was also hit by a truck

while trying to cross highway 8 on his bike.

They died within 1.5 km of each other, 2 hours apart.

The US Air Force once experimented with a

Boeing 747 mounted with an anti-missile defense system

that they hoped could track and shoot down

enemy missiles from hundreds of miles away.

Technically called the YAL-1 Airborne Laser

the project was eventually cancelled.

The Aztecs are the Aztecs at all.

The name Aztec was actually made up by Europeans,

the name they called themselves was the ‘Mexica’.

It is estimated that the inhabitants

of medieval London, both human and animal,

produced fifty tons of excrement a day.

As a matter of fact, during the fourteenth century,

Sherborne Lane in East London was so disgusting

that it was officially known as Shiteburn Lane.

The reason around 99% of the population

tend to need glasses, especially for reading,

as they get older is not because

their arms get shorter, but because

the lens in the eyes slowly loses

its focusing ability with age.

Translated as the “Swimming Car”,

the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen is an

amphibious four-wheel drive off-roader,

used extensively by the German Wehrmacht

and the Waffen-SS during WWII.

The Type 166 is the most numerous and

mass-produced amphibious car in history.

Think you have a bad job?

It could be worse.

You could be a Breath Odor Evaluator.

These are people hired by mint and

toothpaste companies to keep smelling

bad breath until the minty freshness appears.

But these people have it made

compared to Dog Breath Sniffers,

who do the same job, only for dogs.

Phew!!!

Stanley Kubrick hated traveling and

was a little afraid of airplanes.

For that reason,

even though set mostly in Vietnam,

Full Metal Jacket was fully shot in London.

The abandoned Beckton Gas Works that were used

to shoot the major battle scenes are still there today.

======================================

Pioneers, People And Places – It’s Quiz Day!

April 13, 2015April 12, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests 20th century, Action Man, African tribe, art form, balls, bird, britain, campaigned to have the vote, capital, Capital of the Alps, Chemical Element, city, color, constant, creature, early pioneer, education, Edvard Grieg compose the instrumental music, Empire State, Entertainment, Falkland Islands, Fe, fishing dispute, flowers, flying all day without flapping its wings, general knowledge, Geography, Henrik Ibsen play, history, Iceland, information, inoculating against smallpox, Julia Margaret Cameron, laburnum tree, letter, medicine, nicknamed, People, phonetic alphabet, physics, pioneered, Pioneers, places, propulsion, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, quizzes, rhombus, rock Salmon, rock-eel, science, Scotland’s oldest university, serval, ship, sides, small shark, snooker table, SS Archimedes, start of play, symbol, test, tests, United States, US state, vaccination, women, world’s first

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Welcome to another week and another fasab quiz.

Today is the usual random mixture of questions, including as the title suggests, some about pioneers, people and places.

If you get stuck you can find the answers as usual waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

. quiz 8

Q. 1: Which US state is nick-named the ‘Empire State’ ?

Q. 2: What sort of creature is a ‘serval’ ?

Q. 3: What city is known as the ‘Capital of the Alps’ ?

Q. 4: What African tribe represents a letter in the phonetic alphabet?

Q. 5: What color are the flowers of the laburnum tree?

a) red b) yellow c) blue d) cream

Q. 6: Which chemical element has the symbol ‘Fe’ ?

Q. 7: What is the only bird capable of flying all day without flapping its wings?

Q. 8: How many sides does a rhombus have?

Q. 9: Which small shark is also known as a ‘rock-eel’ or ‘rock Salmon’ ?

Q. 10: What is the capital of the Falkland Islands?

Q. 11: How many balls are on a snooker table at the start of play?

Q. 12: In physics, what letter is used to represent the constant that is equal to “9.80665 metres per second squared” ?

Q. 13: Who was the United States’ ‘Action Man’ ?

Q. 14: What name was given to the women who campaigned to have the vote in the first two decades of the 20th century?

Q. 15: What was the fishing dispute between Britain and Iceland during the 1960s and 1970s popularly known as?

Q. 16: Founded in 1413, what is Scotland’s oldest university?

Q. 17: Who pioneered vaccination as a means of inoculating against smallpox?

Q. 18: SS Archimedes was an appropriately named ship which was the world’s first to use what form of propulsion?

Q. 19: Julia Margaret Cameron was an early pioneer of which art form?

Q. 20: For which Henrik Ibsen play, first performed in 1876, did Edvard Grieg compose the instrumental music?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: Which US state is nick-named the ‘Empire State’ ?

A. 1: New York.

Q. 2: What sort of creature is a ‘serval’ ?

A. 2: A Wildcat.

Q. 3: What city is known as the ‘Capital of the Alps’ ?

A. 3: Grenoble.

Q. 4: What African tribe represents a letter in the phonetic alphabet?

A. 4: Zulu, representing the letter ‘Z’.

Q. 5: What color are the flowers of the laburnum tree?

a) red b) yellow c) blue d) cream

A. 5: The correct answer is b) yellow.

Q. 6: Which chemical element has the symbol ‘Fe’ ?

A. 6: Iron.

Q. 7: What is the only bird capable of flying all day without flapping its wings?

A. 7: The Albatross.

Q. 8: How many sides does a rhombus have?

A. 8: A rhombus has 4 sides.

Q. 9: Which small shark is also known as a ‘rock-eel’ or ‘rock Salmon’ ?

A. 9: Dogfish.

Q. 10: What is the capital of the Falkland Islands?

A. 10: Port Stanley.

Q. 11: How many balls are on a snooker table at the start of play?

A. 11: 22. (15 reds, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 brown, 1 blue, 1 pink, 1 black and the cue ball.)

Q. 12: In physics, what letter is used to represent the constant that is equal to “9.80665 metres per second squared” ?

A. 12: It is the letter ‘G’ (constant is Earth’s gravity pull, the acceleration of free fall)

Q. 13: Who was the United States’ ‘Action Man’ ?

A. 13: He was called ‘G.I. Joe’.

Q. 14: What name was given to the women who campaigned to have the vote in the first two decades of the 20th century?

A. 14: They were known as ‘Suffragettes’.

Q. 15: What was the fishing dispute between Britain and Iceland during the 1960s and 1970s popularly known as?

A. 15: It was known as ‘The Cod War’.

Q. 16: Founded in 1413, what is Scotland’s oldest university?

A. 16: It is the University of St Andrews.

Q. 17: Who pioneered vaccination as a means of inoculating against smallpox?

A. 17: Edward Jenner.

Q. 18: SS Archimedes was an appropriately named ship which was the world’s first to use what form of propulsion?

A. 18: A Screw Propeller.

Q. 19: Julia Margaret Cameron was an early pioneer of which art form?

A. 19: Photography.

Q. 20: For which Henrik Ibsen play, first performed in 1876, did Edvard Grieg compose the instrumental music?

A. 20: Peer Gynt.

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Whatever Happened To Right And Wrong?

April 11, 2015April 10, 2015 fasab Current Events, Politics, Rants Afghanistan, America, analysis, angst, arrogance, benefits, bombing, concern, Current Events, deal, democracy, depressingly predictable, facts, faults, gall, if he's fer it I'm agin it, Iran deal, Iran's nuclear facilities, Iranians, iraq, knee-jerk reaction, logically weighed up, mentality, never do it again, no consequences, Obama, obsessed, parties, political parties, politicians, politics, pompous, Rants, reasons, Republican Party, Republican Senator, right and wrong, Self-delusion, Sen Cotton, sit back, take their medicine, Tom Cotton, U.S. military campaign, wise up, write the headlines

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

A bit of politics today.

The Iran deal – if there in fact is one, nobody seems certain – is causing a lot of angst within the Republican Party. Maybe they know the reason for their concern, but somehow I doubt it.

Don’t worry I’m not going to go into a big analysis of the deal, not yet anyway. As I said, no one is sure that anything has really been agreed.

But the details of the deal aside, what this and many other happenings over the past few years has clearly highlighted is that political parties – and not only in America – have become obsessed with the “if he’s fer it, I’m agin it” mentality.

The facts don’t count.

The reasons don’t matter.

The benefits are never logically weighed up.

Nor are the faults.

It is always just a knee-jerk reaction with no analysis whatsoever. You could write the headlines even before the event it is all so depressingly predictable.

And these pompous parties and politicians have the gall to call it ‘democracy’ and to try to foist it on other parts of the world that don’t want it and haven’t asked for it.

Somehow we have deteriorated to the point where a country full of politicians who don’t know what’s best for their own people, now think they know what is best for everyone else. Self-delusion, arrogance, call it what you like, there are many words that could be applied to describe it, none of them very complimentary.

An example is Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who has clearly learned nothing from what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, because he now boasts that a U.S. military campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities would only take “several days” of bombing.

Apparently in his head there would be no consequences. The Iranians will just sit back and take their medicine then wise up and never do it again.

On the other hand, of course, if Obama was against a deal with Iran I bet you Sen Cotton would be all for it.

That’s the real depth of his analysis, and there are (too) many others like him.

Whatever happened to right and wrong?

==========================================

I Love Grandfather Clocks. Big Time!

April 9, 2015April 5, 2015 fasab comedy, Humour, Language, Puns amusing, bad jokes, baker, ballpark figures, baseball stadiums, basin, Braille, breaking a pencil, broke up with me, buy another one, calling, Comedy, cross words, doorstep, dot, Entertainment, fat people, Finland, flan base, flat-bottomed boat, funny, ghost-shaped laxative tablets, girlfriend, hit an all time low, Humor, Humour, job, jokes, knock at the door, midget, obsession, pointless, pun, punched, puns, puzzles, record, river, scare the crap out of me, selling watches, silly jokes, sink in, sore throat, steal, stupid, take a punt, toastmaster, vinyl cleaning machine, word play, word plays, write, wrongs

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

And I love puns as well.

So brace yourselves for another selection of word plays.

Enjoy or endure!!

It pains me to say it,

but I have a sore throat

There was a knock at the door this morning,

so I opened it and there was a basin on the doorstep.

I thought, “I’d better let this sink in.”

For the record I bought

a vinyl cleaning machine

Having just punched a midget selling watches,

I know I’ve hit an all time low.

Are there any fat people in Finland?

Have you ever wondered what the

word for ‘dot’ looks like in braille?

My girlfriend broke up with me

because of my obsession with puzzles.

There were a lot of cross words

I can’t undo wrongs.

But I can write them.

A friend dared me to steal a

flat-bottomed boat from the river.

I thought, “Why not. I’ll take a punt.”

Everyone loved the baker.

He had a massive flan base.

I don’t regard being a toastmaster a job,

it’s more a calling.

The ten largest baseball stadiums hold

between 46,000 – 56,000 people.

Just some ballpark figures for you.

My girlfriend asked me what I’d do with my life if I lost her.

I said it would be like breaking a pencil.

She said, “Do you mean it would be pointless?”

I said, “No, I’d just go out and buy another one.”

I’ve just bought some ghost-shaped laxative tablets.

They scare the crap out of me.

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Forty-Four Mouth-Watering Facts About Curry.

April 8, 2015April 6, 2015 fasab Factoids 1700BC, A Poem To Curry, Afghanistan, Asian countries, Assam, Babylon, balti, Balti Houses, bananas, Bangladesh, Bhut Jolokia Chilli Pepper, Big Jim, Biryani, Blackpool, blood clots, boost bone health, britain, british army, British government employees, Burma, Cancer Research UK Scotland, cardamom, Chicken Naga, chicken tikka masala, chili, chili peppers, chilli, chilli peppers, China, Chinese food, Chinese restaurants, coconut milk, combat heart attacks, coriander, Cornwall, cumin, curries, curry, curry Powder, curry style dishes, deer, delicacy, delicious, Dhansak, diets, Dopiaza, ease pain and inflammation, East Indian Trading Co, education, English administrators, Entertainment, Europe, extends blood coagulation times, fact, facts, Fiji, first commercial curry powder, food, foods, fresh cilantro, fried green peppers, Ghost Chilli, Ghost Pepper, Goa, Hannah Glasse’s The Art Of Cookery, health benefits, health warning, Hindustani Coffee House, hot, hot sauces, hottest pepper in the world, increase the liver’s ability to remove toxins from the body, India, Indian restaurants, Indonesia, information, Jali Indian Restaurant, Japan, karahi, kari, karil, Kitchen Melodies, Korma, lychees, Madras, Malaysia, Maldives, Manipur, masaman, Massala, measurement of the pungency, meat in a spicy sauce, medium, Mesopotamia, mild, most popular spice in the world, mouth watering, Mumbai, naan bread, Naga Jolokia, Naga pepper seeds, Nagaland, New Mexico, North Curry, Nottingham Trent University, Pakistan, Panang, Phall, Philippines, poppadum, Portman Square, Portuguese dish, Portuguese traders, prevention of cancer, protect the immune system from bacterial infections, protection against heart disease, red pepper, reduce Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, regional variations, rice, Rogan Josh, sauces, sautéed vegetables, scientists, Scoville scale, Somerset, spice, spices, spicy foods, spicy heat, squirrels, Sri Lanka, St Andrews University, strokes, sweet basil, tablets, Tamil, tasty, Thai curry, Thailand, Tim Stobbs, turmeric, United States, Vietnam, Vindaloo, West Curry, western belief, Western Europe, wife's grave, William Makepeace Thackeray

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I’ve done ‘peanut butter‘ and ‘chocolate‘ and ‘coffee‘ in other posts. Today it is another fasab food favorite, the curry.

A curry, properly made, has to be one of the most delicious foods in the world.

I have spent many happy evenings with friends enjoying this delicacy in one form or another. Personally I like it with some naan bread or sometimes with rice. Either way is socially acceptable and extremely tasty.

Mouth watering already?

Very good, let’s get straight to the facts.

Enjoy.

The word curry comes from a Tamil word ‘kari’ or ‘karil’, meaning spices or sautéd vegetables.

The meaning changed when Portuguese traders used it for the sauces with which rice was served.

Essentially, the term curry was invented by the English administrators of the East Indian Trading Co. and later continued by British government employees.

The British army in India further changed the meaning as its liking for hot sauces introduced the modern idea of curries being hot.

Surprisingly, the term ‘curry’ isn’t used very much in India. There are many types of curry-style dishes, which have their own characteristic regional variations.

Curry Powder is a mix of spices, rather than a spice in its own right. It usually consists of turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cumin, sweet basil, and red pepper.

Some of the most common types of curry are ‘Korma’, ‘Massala’, ‘Dhansak’, ‘Phall’, ‘Rogan Josh’, ‘Dopiaza’, ‘Madras’ and ‘Vindaloo’.

Curry is said to have a number of valuable health benefits, including the prevention of cancer, protection against heart disease, reducing Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, easing pain and inflammation, boosting bone health, protecting the immune system from bacterial infections, and increasing the liver’s ability to remove toxins from the body.

In addition to being an established and firm favorite in Britain. and increasing popular throughout Europe and the United States, curry forms a major element of the diets of several Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and Fiji.

Chili (or Chilli) is the most popular spice in the world and can help combat heart attacks and strokes and extends blood coagulation times preventing harmful blood clots.

Contrary to common western belief, curries are not always ‘hot’, they can be mild, medium and hot.

The earliest known curry was made in Mesopotamia in around 1700 BC, the recipe for meat in a spicy sauce appearing on tablets found near Babylon.

The Scoville scale is the measurement of the pungency (spicy heat) of chili peppers or other spicy foods.

The ‘Bhut Jolokia Chilli Pepper’ (also known as the ‘Naga Jolokia’), is the hottest pepper in the world, accompanied with its own health warning! This pepper is also known as the ‘Ghost Chilli’ or ‘Ghost Pepper’, and is grown in the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.

The first commercial curry powder appeared in about 1780.

In Britain Indian food now surpasses Chinese food in popularity, with Indian restaurants outnumbering Chinese restaurants by two to one.

The word ‘balti’ means bucket. Balti is more a style of cooking than one particular curry.

In specialist ‘Balti Houses’ the balti is a meal in itself which contains both meat and vegetables and is eaten straight from the karahi using curled up pieces of naan bread. In standard Indian restaurants the balti is more of a stir-fried curry containing plenty of fried green peppers and fresh cilantro (also known as coriander).

South Indian food is more spicy than North Indian food.

The first curry recipe in English appeared in Hannah Glasse’s ‘The Art Of Cookery’ in 1747.

The world’s biggest ever curry was a 13 tonne Biryani, including 187lb of chilies and 6600lb of rice. It took 60 chefs to make in New Delhi in June 2008. And required three cranes to move the container and a 3ft high furnace to cook it!

In Western Europe and the U K, curry powders available contain more turmeric than anything else, and tend to be toned down to palates used to bland food.

The tallest poppadom stack in the world stands at a massive 282 poppadoms. The record was set by a chef from the Jali Indian Restaurant in Blackpool.

In 2008, Bath and North East Somerset Council advised a man to sprinkle curry powder on his wife’s grave to keep squirrels and deer away.

Tim Stobbs, aged 42 years, currently holds the world record for munching an impressive 15 poppadoms in 5 minutes! The annual World Championships, in aid of Cancer Research UK Scotland, is held every year at St Andrews University.

There are about 10,000 Indian restaurants serving curry in the UK, the vast majority of which are run by people from Bangladesh, not India.

To make a ‘hot’ curry mild, just add some coconut milk.

The word ‘masala’ means spice mix.

In 1846, William Makepeace Thackeray wrote ‘A Poem To Curry’, as part of his Kitchen Melodies.

Britain’s first curry house, called the Hindustani Coffee House and located in London’s Portman Square, opened in 1809. Now there are more curry houses in London, England than in Mumbai, India.

Chili can help combat heart attacks and strokes.

One of the hottest curry dishes ever made is known as the Bit Spicy 3 Chili Phall which is even hotter than the infamous ‘Chicken Naga’, made with a high volume of Naga pepper seeds. More than 100 times hotter than jalapeño peppers!

People crave a curry because the spices arouse and stimulate the taste buds.

Vindaloo was originally a Portuguese dish which took its name from the two main ingredients which were ‘vinho’, wine/wine vinegar, and ‘alhos’, garlic. Over time it was spiced up, hotted up and otherwise changed by the indigenous peoples of the ex-Portuguese colony of Goa.

The ‘Big Jim’, a large chili hailing from New Mexico, currently holds the world record for the largest chili ever grown. This plant frequently produces chilies that are over a foot in length, which is hugely impressive considering that the plant itself never grows more than two feet!

The town of North Curry is in Somerset while West Curry is in Cornwall.

Madras and pathia are both hot and sour dishes. Kashmiri a more subtle and creamy dish usually made with lychees or bananas – or both.

Scientists at Nottingham Trent University have discovered that people begin to crave for a curry because the spices arouse and stimulate the taste buds.

One in seven curries sold in the UK is a chicken tikka masala, making it the most popular Indian restaurant dish in the UK. It is thought to have originated in Britain after an enterprising Indian chef had the idea of adding a tomato and onion paste to the grilled chicken to satisfy the British preference for food that isn’t dry.

The largest naan bread ever made was a whopping 2.75m in diameter and contained meat dumplings – the equivalent of 167 normal sized naan breads. The bread took over ten hours to finish and required twelve chefs, 30kg mutton, 125kg flour, 16kg onion and 90kg of water to cook it.

Southeastern Asian cultures have always mixed a number of spices to flavor their dishes, usually according to recipes handed down from generation to generation.

A common way to categorize Thai curry is by the color of the curry paste used to make the curry dish. Green and red curry paste are the most typical. Yellow and sour curries (also sometimes known as orange curry, gaeng sohm) are also well known. Each has its own particular combination of herbs and spices to make up the curry paste that makes it unique.

‘Panang’ and ‘masaman’ curry are probably the most popular Thai curries in the West, because of their rich tastes.

Finally, if you are eating a curry which is just too hot for you, don’t drink water, that only makes it hotter!

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Disappearing Beaches And Dead Fish – It’s Fact Day.

April 7, 2015April 5, 2015 fasab Factoids, Unusual 19th century Ireland, abstaining, Alexander Rukshin, almonds, animal rights group, antioxidant, ATBIP, Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, awards, bacteria, Baghdad, banned, beach, body, brain, British land agent, buying, Caribbean location, Caribbean Sea, Charles Cunningham Boycott, Chevrolet C/K, Chevrolet Silverado, coastal town, conger-cuddling, Constantinople, Cornwall, country, daily recommended value, dead eel, dealing, deaths, destroyed, disappeared, Disney, disrespectful to the dead fish, dog, dog’s Victoria Cross, drink, dry roasted almonds, education, England, Entertainment, eyes, fact, factoid, factoids, facts, fasab facts, Father of All Bombs, first book bought on Amazon, Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought, FOAB, freak tide, General Motors, German city, Hamburg, hazelnuts, heroic act, high tide, immune system, information, inner city, kill, leeward coast, local bureaucrats, local community, London, Lyme Regis, main island, married, Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, medieval period, Mickey & Minnie Mouse, MOAB, money, most powerful weapon, nicknamed, Nuts, official languages, optic nerve, organization, original state, ostracized, Paris, peanuts, person, pickup truck, Pirates of the Caribbean, police reports, political or social protest, Porthleven, property, re-deposited, reconstruct, rescuing people from the sea, residents, Russi Taylor, Russian-made, sand volume, sensitive, sharks, Silverados, snack, snakes, South Africa, St Vincent, Swansea Jack, synonymous, terrier dog, tradition, trivia, UK, using, vending machines, viruses, Vitamin E, Wales, Wallilabou Anchorage, Wallilabou Bay, Wayne Allwine, weapon, West Dorset

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Two of the facts today do indeed relate to disappearing beaches and dead fish.

Rather surprisingly though, the two facts are not related.

Find out for yourself below.

And enjoy.

The optic nerve,

which connects the eyes to the brain,

is too sensitive to successfully reconstruct.

The most powerful conventional (non-nuclear) weapon

in the world is the

Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP),

nicknamed “Father of All Bombs” or “FOAB’,

a Russian-made air-delivered/land-activated

thermobaric weapon whose destructive power,

according to Russian deputy chief of the general staff

Alexander Rukshin was such that,

“all that is alive merely evaporates.”

The bomb is reportedly four times as powerful as the

US military’s Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb or “MOAB”

mentioned in last week’s fasab facts.

South Africa has eleven official languages,

the highest number of any country in the world.

Swansea Jack was a black retriever dog from Wales

with a big heart and lots of courage that became

famous in the 1930s for rescuing people from the sea.

He saved twenty-seven people and won many

awards for his heroic acts.

Swansea Jack is the only dog to have been

awarded two bronze medals

(‘the canine Victoria Cross’)

by the National Canine Defence League

(now known as Dogs Trust).

Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant in the body

and supports the immune system in

fighting off bacteria and viruses.

Almonds, as well as other nuts like peanuts

and hazelnuts are high sources of vitamin E.

One ounce of dry roasted almonds

contains 6.8 mg of vitamin A,

which is 34% of the daily recommended value.

The first book bought on Amazon was called

‘Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies:

Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.’

Charles Cunningham Boycott was a British

land agent living in 19th century Ireland,

who was ostracized by his local community after

he refused his tenants´ demands for reduction in rates.

His name lives on and is synonymous with acts of

political or social protest by voluntarily abstaining from

using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country.

At Porthleven in Cornwall (UK) the entire sand

volume mysteriously disappeared due to a freak tide,

but after a second high tide a few hours later,

the entire sand volume was re-deposited on the beach,

returning it to its original state.

A case of now you don’t see it, now you do!

(David Copperfield was not around at the time.)

The Chevrolet Silverado is a mega-selling full-size

and heavy-duty pickup truck manufactured

by General Motors and introduced in 1999

as the successor to the long-running Chevrolet C/K line.

In 2014 Cheverolet sold 529,755 Silverados,

or almost 1 every minute.

During the medieval period, London and Paris

each had no more than forty thousand residents.

In contrast cities, such as Constantinople and Baghdad,

had about a million people each.

The voices of Mickey & Minnie Mouse,

Wayne Allwine & Russi Taylor,

married each other in real life, too.

Vending machines kill more people per year

than sharks and snakes combined.

According to the available police reports

the deaths usually happen when the vending machine

steals somebody’s snack, drink, or money,

and they decide to hit it a bit too hard causing

the vending machine to fall on them.

In the German city of Hamburg in 1842,

about a quarter of the inner city was destroyed

and an estimated twenty thousand lost their property.

Surprisingly only fifty-one people lost their lives.

In Lyme Regis, a little coastal town

in West Dorset, England,

slapping people with a dead eel is prohibited.

There had been a tradition known as

“the conger-cuddling”, in which people swung

dead eels at each other but in 2006,

the game was banned by local bureaucrats not

because it might have injured the people taking

part in this activity but because

– wait for it –

an animal rights group claimed

it was disrespectful to the dead fish.

Wallilabou Anchorage, situated at Wallilabou Bay

on the west or leeward coast of the main island

of St Vincent on the Caribbean Sea,

was the principal Caribbean location for

Disney’s 2003 blockbuster ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

It is still home to many of the props,

including replicas of cannons.

Many fans visit it annually.

===============================

Land Yourself A Lot Of Points In Today’s Quiz!

April 6, 2015April 2, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests 3 laws of motion, a bet, baby elephant, Battle of Little Bighorn, centigrade, Chemical Element, circumnavigation of the world, city is known, continent, Council of Clermont, countries, diet, doom, education, egg yolk, Entertainment, Fahrenheit, famous, first holder, gas, general knowledge, Geography, global warming, history, information, invented, John Flamsteed, Koala bear, land, launched, legs, located, mixed and bound, most common transplant operation, motoring aid, Name, nature, New Zealand, paint, Percy Shaw, physicist, Pope Urban II, questions, quiz, quizzes, Reform Club, responsible, Ross and Weddell Seas, science, Seventh Cavalry, shore, smallest bone in the body, splitting the atom, symbol, tarantula, technique, test, tests, The City of Lilies, theory of gravity, wild giant panda, Zn

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, there is the opportunity to land yourself with a lot of points in today’s quiz, but some of the questions are quite difficult too so don’t be over confidant.

However, don’t worry, if you get stuck you can always find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: How many legs has a tarantula?

Q. 2: ‘Zn’ is the symbol of which chemical element?

Q. 3: What name is given to a baby elephant?

Q. 4: What is the smallest bone in the body and where is it located? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 5: What is the fahrenheit equivalent of 20 degrees centigrade?

Q. 6: What city is known as ‘The City of Lilies’ ?

Q. 7: Who was famous for his theory of gravity and 3 laws of motion?

Q. 8: What is the most common transplant operation?

Q. 9: What is the major element of the diet of the Koala bear?

Q. 10: And in a related question, what is the major element of the diet of the wild giant panda?

Q. 11: Which gas is responsible for global warming?

Q. 12: The Ross and Weddell Seas are to be found off the shore of which continent?

Q. 13: Now for a mega-point question. Listed below (in alphabetical order) are ten countries ending in the word ‘land’. A point for each one you can name correctly.

_ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D _

_ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ L A N D

Q. 14: Who led the Seventh Cavalry to its doom at the Battle of Little Bighorn?

Q. 15: John Flamsteed was the first holder of which far-sighted post, created in 1675?

Q. 16: What term is given to the technique where paint is mixed and bound with egg yolk?

Q. 17: What was launched by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095?

Q. 18: Who went on a circumnavigation of the world from the Reform Club as the result of a bet?

Q. 19: Which New Zealand-born physicist is credited with splitting the atom?

Q. 20: Which motoring aid was invented by Percy Shaw?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: How many legs has a tarantula?

A. 1: Eight.

Q. 2: ‘Zn’ is the symbol of which chemical element?

A. 2: Zinc.

Q. 3: What name is given to a baby elephant?

A. 3: A baby elephant is called a ‘Calf’.

Q. 4: What is the smallest bone in the body and where is it located? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 4: It is called the ‘Stirrup’ and it is located in the ear.

Q. 5: What is the fahrenheit equivalent of 20 degrees centigrade?

A. 5: 20 degrees centigrade is 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

Q. 6: What city is known as ‘The City of Lilies’ ?

A. 6: Florence.

Q. 7: Who was famous for his theory of gravity and 3 laws of motion?

A. 7: Sir Isaac Newton.

Q. 8: What is the most common transplant operation?

A. 8: The Bone graft.

Q. 9: What is the major element of the diet of the Koala bear?

A. 9: Eucalyptus leaves.

Q. 10: And in a related question, what is the major element of the diet of the wild giant panda?

A. 10: A wild giant panda’s diet is almost exclusively (99 percent) bamboo.

Q. 11: Which gas is responsible for global warming?

A. 11: Carbon dioxide.

Q. 12: The Ross and Weddell Seas are to be found off the shore of which continent?

A. 12: Antarctica.

Q. 13: Now for a mega-point question. Listed below (in alphabetical order) are ten countries ending in the word ‘land’. A point for each one you can name correctly.

_ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D _

_ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ L A N D

_ _ _ _ L A N D

A. 13: The correct answers are:

FINLAND

ICELAND

IRELAND

NORTHERN IRELAND

NEW ZEALAND

THE NETHERLANDS

POLAND

SWAZILAND

SWITZERLAND

THAILAND.

Q. 14: Who led the Seventh Cavalry to its doom at the Battle of Little Bighorn?

A. 14: Lt-Col George Armstrong Custer.

Q. 15: John Flamsteed was the first holder of which far-sighted post, created in 1675?

A. 15: He was the first Astronomer Royal.

Q. 16: What term is given to the technique where paint is mixed and bound with egg yolk?

A. 16: It is known as ‘Tempera’.

Q. 17: What was launched by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095?

A. 17: The First Crusade.

Q. 18: Who went on a circumnavigation of the world from the Reform Club as the result of a bet?

A. 18: Phileas Fogg and his servant Passepartout (you get the point for naming Phileas Fogg correctly AND two posssible bonus points if you also knew the name of his servant. (From Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days).

Q. 19: Which New Zealand-born physicist is credited with splitting the atom?

A. 19: Sir Ernest Rutherford.

Q. 20: Which motoring aid was invented by Percy Shaw?

A. 20: He invented the reflectors known as ‘Cats eyes’, getting his inspiration when he saw a light reflecting off a cat’s eyes as it walked towards him. (British comedian Ken Dodd said that if the cat had been walking away from him he would probably have invented the pencil sharpener!)

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