Markipedia 2010-002

So last weekend there was a rash of fact research generated at our Fan Facts club meeting  as well as the  Facts Club field trip to Virginia wine country to see how wine is manuFACTured. Here goes:

* Rampion… is is like Aurugula?  Not really. Both are in the Eudicots , but Rampion (a local German form of Phyteuma)  is of the family Asterids, while Arugula is Rosids. Yeah my eyes just glazed over too… I have no idea what this means.

 * Is Rampion realted to Rapunzel– Yes, Rampion is what the mom craved in the Rapunzel story.

* Horace Mann…  (May 4, 1796 – August 2, 1859) was an American education reformer, and a member of the Massachusetts Congress during the 1830s. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education since its creation, he was elected to the US House of Representatives. Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

*GEICO — literalyl means government employees insurance company… was founded in 1936…. by a retired government employee who went into business for himself on the premise that government employees were less risky to insure than the general population.

* That sixth grade kid singing Lady Gaga — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is&feature=related

* Martin Luther and Drinking Songs — There is lots of internet disagreement, but the tune in question is A Mighty Fortress is our God.

* “Hammering” Hank Greenburg was a jewish Detroit Tiger and one of the first JEwish sports superstars.

* Vince Lombardi was a legendary NFL football coach in the 1960s, mostly coaching the Green Bay Packers. Many attribute to him the saying “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”

* VCU #21 — I don’t know whose jersey this was, but the only retured VCU jerseys hanging in Seigel center rafters are for Eric Maynor (#3), Kendrick Warren (#23), Gerald Henderson (#22) and Calvin Duncan (#No. 5) . source: RTD, March 2009

* Razhel: If your mother only knew — This guy does the whole song via beatbox — youtube wowza!

* Where are they now: Rockapella? —  apparently they are still together. One of their members recently left, and they replaced him after a nationwide search. As of January 2010, they are recording a new album. their website: Rockapella.com of course

* radiohead acapella — yeah these people sound swedish or something http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6oD9FO_T-U

* ringtone uploader for your phone… couldn’t find this one… 777?

* Who built stonehenge?  — I don’t know… I was always told  it was the druids, but bascially nobody knows and there was actually a variety of things built there over time, some of which preceded druid times.

* Machine Speak — would be a good name for a song on the Robots and Lazers album.

* what are tannins? They are a botanical defense against other animals and plants … and may regulate growth… the funnest fact of all is that the word tannin is related to oaks in the sense that , like, tannenbaum refers to a big tree.

* Soda Ash and citric acid  — are used to clean out the tartrates that build up in vats of wine.  So, basically they make one of those science fair volcanoes with an acid and a base.