Weekend Open Thread

… the insignia of rank of a U.S. Army captain was once proposed to be three gold bars? Prior to World War I, officers in the Army wore their rank on cloth and bullion shoulder straps. A second lieutenant had a plain strap, a first lieutenant had one gold bar at each end, and a captain had two gold bars. During World War I, however, officers wore more basic field uniforms without the shoulder straps, and second lieutenants were being mistaken for regular privates due to a lack of specific insignia. The decision was made in 1917 to make a second lieutenant’s insignia the gold bar, with two gold bars for first lieutenants, and three gold bars for captains. However, that change was going to cost a lot of money to implement in designing new production machinery for the metal bars, so they kept the gold bar for second lieutenants, and the first lieutenant’s bar became silver. Captains then got two silver bars. (And the respect that those bars earn, I suppose.)

… you may suffer from gelotophobia? If you do, you have a fear of being laughed at. By the way, there’s no name for the fear of being laughed with – probably because nobody is afraid of being laughed with. (If you’ve ever met me, you know I definitely don’t suffer from it.)

… years before he became President, Lyndon Johnson had a business deal with another Chief Executive? While still a senator from Texas, Johnson (1908-1973) also owned a Muzak™ franchise in Austin. Johnson sold easy listening background music to President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) to be played in the White House. (That Lyndon, always lookin’ for a buck.)

… cashews are not nuts? They are actually drupe seeds. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, a nut is actually a dry fruit with a hard shell surrounding a single seed. But cashews are the seeds of cashew apples, fleshy fruits which are classified as drupes. (So don’t be druped by the advertising.)

… emotions can run rather strangely during battle? Take, for example, the case of Henry Paget (1768-1854), First Marquess of Anglesey, who was leading a charge of heavy cavalry against French forces during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. During the battle, Paget had a portion of his leg blown off by a cannonball. When it happened, he shouted to his commanding officer, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley, 1769-1852), “By God, sir, I’ve lost my leg!” Wellington’s reply was a calm, “By God, sir, so you have!” (That British stiff upper lip, you know.)

… the Victorian era had some pretty interesting terms for people who cheated on their significant others? Those who were caught doing so were said to have been “carrying tackle” or “being on a left-handed honeymoon.” (Left-handed honeymoon?)

… a group of British women wanted to do away with coffee? In 1674, the Women’s Petition Against Coffee claimed that the brew was turning British men into “useless corpses.” Mental Floss tell us that the group proposed a ban on coffee for anyone under the age of sixty. (Heck, ladies, we’re all “useless corpses” on Monday mornings, at least until we have our coffee.)

Now … you know!

This is oddly entertaining!

https://youtu.be/wi53TfeqgWM