Avalon Ball 2010 Saturday Morning/Afternoon (Page Three)

Did You Know? - A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news, information, and advertising. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world (including 1456 in the U.S.) selling 395 million copies a day (55 million in the U.S)

Did You Know? - The "birth" of the croissant itself - that is, its adaptation from the plainer form of kipferl, before its subsequent evolution (to a puff pastry) - can be dated with some precision to at latest 1839 (some say 1838), when an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, founded a Viennese Bakery ("Boulangerie Viennoise") at 92, rue de Richelieu in Paris.

Did You Know? - According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and named Portus Delphini, or Port of the Dolphin, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf.

The village is mentioned in a diploma from 986 by Adelaide of Italy, which assigned it to the nearby Abbey of San Fruttoso di Capodimonte. In 1171, together with the neighbouring Santa Margherita Ligure, it was included in Rapallo's commune jurisdiction. After 1229 it was part of the Republic of Genoa. The town's natural harbour supported a fleet of fishing boats, but was somewhat too cramped to provide more than a temporary safe haven for the growing merchant marine of the Republic of Genoa.

In 1409 Portofino was sold to the Republic of Florence by Charles VI of France, but when the latter was ousted from Genoa the Florentine gave it back. In the 15th century it was a fief of families such as the Fieschi, Spinola, Adorno and Doria.

In 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, from 1861, of the unified Kingdom of Italy.

Did You Know? - The phrase means potatoes fried in the French sense of the verb "to cook", which can mean either sautéing or deep-grease frying. While its French origin, frire, unambiguously means deep-frying, frites being its past participle is used with a plural feminine substantive, as in pommes de terre frites ("deep-fried potatoes"). Thomas Jefferson at a White House dinner in 1802 served "potatoes served in the French manner". In the early 20th century, the term "French fried" was being used for foods such as onion rings or chicken, apart from potatoes.

Did You Know? - Tabasco sauce was invented in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny, a Maryland-born former banker who had moved to Louisiana around 1840. Initially McIlhenny used discarded cologne bottles to distribute his sauce to family and friends, and in 1868 when he started to sell to the public he ordered thousands of new "cologne bottles" from a New Orleans glassworks.

It was in these that the sauce was first commercially distributed, sharing till today a striking similarity to contemporary packaging for 4711 brand cologne. On his death in 1890, McIlhenny was succeeded by his eldest son, John Avery McIlhenny, who expanded and modernized the business, but resigned after a few years to join Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders volunteer cavalry regiment.

Did You Know? - Electric golf cars have been used since at least 1951. Merle Williams of Long Beach, California was an early innovator of the electric golf car.[citation needed] He started with knowledge gained from production of electric cars due to World War II gasoline rationing. In 1951 his Marketeer Company began production of an electric golf car in Redlands, California. Cushman began production in 1955, Club Car in 1958, Taylor-Dunn in 1961, and Harley-Davidson in 1963.

Did You Know? - Sequins are disk-shaped beads used for decorative purposes. They are available in a wide variety of colors and geometrical shapes. Sequins are commonly used on clothing, jewelry, bags and other accessories. Large sequins, fastened only at the top, have been used on billboards and other signage, particularly prior to the development of lighted and neon signs. Signs made with sequins were called schmaltz, as were the sequins themselves in that context.

Did You Know? - "Fore!" is shouted as a warning during a golf game when it appears possible that a golf ball may hit other players or spectators. The mention of the term in an 1881 British Golf Museum indicates that the term was in use at least as early as that period.

The term means "look ahead", and it is believed to come from the military "beware before", which was shouted when a battery fired behind friendly troops.

Other possible origins include the term being derived from the term "fore-caddy", a caddy waiting down range from the golfer to find where the ball lands. These caddies were often warned about oncoming golf balls by a shout "fore!"

Did You Know? - In psychology, relaxation is the emotional state of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety, or fear.

Did You Know? - This move (called poetry in motion) sees one wrestler either place his opponent or Irish whip his opponent into the turnbuckle. The same wrestler then gets down on all fours and their partner runs from the opposite side of the ring/opposite turnbuckle, leap off his partner's back, and perform an aided splash/calf kick/heel kick/leg lariat/dropkick or in some rare instances, a leg drop on the opponent. (You can substitute golfer in place of a wrestler).

Did You Know? - Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players (golfers), using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either nine or 18 holes.

Did You Know? - The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and request for negotiation. It is also used to symbolize surrender, since it is often the weaker military party which requests negotiation. A white flag signifies to all that an approaching negotiator is unarmed, with an intent to surrender or a desire to communicate. Persons carrying or waving a white flag are not to be fired upon, nor are they allowed to open fire. The use of the flag to surrender is included in the Geneva Conventions.

The first mention of the usage of white flags to surrender is made during the Eastern Han dynasty (A.D 25–220). In the Roman Empire, the historian Cornelius Tacitus mentions a white flag of surrender in A.D. 109. Before that time, Roman armies would surrender by holding their shields above their heads. The white flag was widely used in the Middle Ages in Western Europe to indicate an intent to surrender. The color white was used generally to indicate a person was exempt from combat; heralds bore white wands, prisoners or hostages captured in battle would attach a piece of white paper to their hat or helmet, and garrisons that had surrendered and been promised safe passage to safety would carry white batons

Did You Know? - Motion sickness or kinetosis, also known as Travel Sickness, is a condition in which a disagreement exists between visually perceived movement and the vestibular system's sense of movement. Depending on the cause it can also be referred to as seasickness, car sickness, simulation sickness, airsickness, or space sickness.

Dizziness, fatigue, and nausea are the most common symptoms of motion sickness. Sopite syndrome in which a person feels fatigue or tiredness is also associated with motion sickness. Nausea in Greek means seasickness (naus means ship). If the motion causing nausea is not resolved, the sufferer will frequently vomit. Unlike ordinary sickness, vomiting in motion sickness tends not to relieve the nausea.

Did You Know? - Santa Catalina Island has served as the location for the filming of over 500 motion pictures, documentaries, television programs and commercials for the past 90 years. Approximately 300 motion pictures have been filmed on the Island and, interestingly, 135 of the films were produced between 1912 and 1928, the Silent Film Era. During the 16 years of silent film production, many notable directors and actors frequented the Island and produced many classic films, such as Treasure Island (1918), Male and Female (1919), Ten Commandments (1923), Ben Hur (1925), Old Ironsides (1926) and The Black Pirate (1926) to name a few.

Did You Know? - One may wonder why so many production companies flocked to the Island during this period and the answer is quite simple. The Island's unique natural beauty and accessibility were the major factors. Production crews and sets could be sent to the Island by barge and the vast, untouched mountains and beaches could be transformed into almost any place in the world, from a South Seas paradise to the American frontier. Today, it is much more convenient to fly a production staff and actors to Tahiti to film a scene. But during the age of silent film, Santa Catalina Island was as close as you could get to Tahiti or any other part of the world, including - as in the case of the classic Old Ironsides - the coast of North Africa.