Facts!Ok, so

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Facts!Ok, so

Facts!

Ok, so I was watching the news and they were doing a story on Michigan Facts. Some of them are really interesting. Here they are...

-Michigan means Great Waters and it is a Chippewa word.

-Michigan is surrounded by 4/5 of the Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie.

-The Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula are connected by the Mackinac Bridge.

-People who live in the Upper Peninsula are called Yoopers and people in Lower Michigan are called Trolls!

-Yoopers take up only 3% of Michigan's population!

-The first pop ever created (Ginger Ale) was in Detroit, MI.

- Henry Ford and Thomas Jefferson lived in Michigan for part of their lives.

- In Michigan, no matter where you are, you are 85 miles or less away from a Great Lake.

-In Michigan, no matter where you are, you are 6 miles or less away from water including lakes, streams, rivers...

Those are some of the most interesting facts I heard. If you have any interesting facts about your state or province, please share! 

 

Would that be Vernor's Ginger Ale? When I was little, we'd always get it when we went to visit my grandmother in Michigan, and it was such a special treat! "Deliciously different!" Since then, I've seen it in other states, but I think Michigan was where it started. Do you know it?

Admin 1

submitted by Teresa, age 13, Michigan
(January 6, 2013 - 12:45 pm)

Why does this thread refuse to go up?

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 13, 2013 - 9:34 am)

*Uses the Force on the thread*

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 13, 2013 - 9:34 am)

TOP

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 17, 2013 - 6:50 am)

Lol, yeah, I knew that.  They also used to (and I think they just brought them back) have people climbing the Matterhorn to make it seem more realistic.  And mermaids swimming in the Submarine Lagoon (Disneyland).  Wouldn't those just be the  COOLEST jobs?

submitted by Melody, age 14, The Axiom
(July 17, 2013 - 11:16 am)

There was an article in the New York Times a couple weeks ago about this park in Florida where people dress up as mermaids and perform underwater.  It was really cool to read about all these people whose identities are practically mermaids.  It was called The Last Mermaid Show or something like that, if you want to find it. 

 

I saw something about that on TV. To be a mermaid, you have to be able to hold your breath for at least 4 minutes! I think synchronized swimmers do that, too. I'm in awe!

Admin

submitted by Gollum
(July 18, 2013 - 4:48 pm)

Here's the Smellitzer article, taken from a Now I Know email by Dan Lewis (Admin, you can delete the exterior links).

Walk
around most of the Disney theme parks and you'll eventually end up on
"Main Street, U.S.A.," a feature in Disneyland, Walt Disney World's
Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park in Paris, and Hong Kong
Disneyland. Main Street U.S.A. -- regardless of its actual location --
features restaurants, costumed characters, and a few shops here and
there. Some of the shops sell snacks like cookies or candy or other
goodies, and for the shopkeepers (okay, for the Disney corporation),
it's their goal for you, the tourist, to walk into their stores and buy
yourself something to nibble on. They're very tempting, the snacks --
you can almost smell them as you walk by the stores.

That's how they get you.


It's not an accident, either. Disney uses something called a "Smellitzer"
-- think Howitzer, but for aromas -- across their theme parks.
Technically called "Scent-Emitting Systems" on the 1984 patent
application,
the device literally blows odors of Disney's choosing toward park
guests in strategic locations.There are a variety of reports from Disney
fan sites detailing what the authors believe to be the use of the
machines.

The applications of the Smellitzer and similar technology aren't limited to selling you snacks, either. The University of Central Florida was using them in war games.
Specifically, Jacki Morie, a researcher at the school's Institute for
Simulation and Training had created something called a "Scent Collar,"
emitting smells of trees and metal, as appropriate, in simulated events.
The Collar, in the words of Popular Science, transformed an
experience which was akin to a "fancy videogame" to something "more [. .
.] like a real place." Which is kind of strange, because Morie got her
idea from fantasy land -- she used to have an office at Disney World,
and her experiences with the Smellitzers probably inspired that idea. 

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 17, 2013 - 7:02 pm)

That's pretty cool!

submitted by Melody, age 14, The Axiom
(July 18, 2013 - 1:10 pm)

Another one, a funny one from Latin class: E pluribus unum is the motto of the United States and means "out of many, one." So inspiring! Yay, America!...

...except, it's a line from a poem. And it originally was referring to a salad.

submitted by WritingWarrior
(July 20, 2013 - 1:58 pm)