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> From: KAYG1
> Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 16:10:30 -0800
> To: phaedrus
> Subject: Persimon Bread
> Do you have a good recipe for Persimon Bread. If so I would love to
> have it.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Kayg1 is waiting for your response!
>
>
Dear Kayg1,
We've never tasted this delicacy, but we located the below recipe.
For those who didn't know, persimmon trees are a hardwood tree related to the ebony tree. They grow wild in the southeastern
U.S. They have a fruit that resembles an apricot, with a thin skin like a tomato. Until they are ripe, they are very astringent
(they'll make yer mouth pucker), but once ripe, they are sweet and tasty.
Besides the below recipe, you can also use any recipe for pumpkin or sweet potato bread. Just substitute persimmon pulp for the
punkin' or 'taters...
This recipe, however, is specifically for persimmon bread.
Persimmon Bread
Ingredients :
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
3 tbsp. oil
1 c. milk
2 c. sugar
2 c. persimmon pulp
2 c. raisins
2 c. chopped nuts
Preparation :
Mix flour, spices, salt and soda. Mix oil, milk, sugar and pulp.
Add raisins, nuts and flour mixture alternately. Pour into well
greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes. Can be
frozen
From: Joan
Date sent: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 20:15:52 EDT
Subject: Happy Day Cake
To: phaedrus
> Hi,
>
> Do you have a recipe for "Happy Day Cake" which was a popular cake many
> many years ago? It was featured on the side of the box of Swansdown
> Cake Flour. Thanks for your help.
>
> Joan
>
Hi Joan,
Here you are. See below.
Phaed>
Happy Day Cake
Ingredients :
2 1/2 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. shortening, room temperature
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Preparation :
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir shortening to
soften. Add flour mixture, 3/4 cup of the milk and vanilla. Mix
until all flour is dampened; then beat 2 minutes at medium speed
with an electric mixer. Add eggs and remaining milk. Beat 1
minute longer. Pour into two 9 inch layer pans lined with paper. Bake
at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center
comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans; remove from pans and cool
completely on racks. Frost with any frosting.
> Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 19:29:20 -0500
> From: RM
> To: phaedrus
> Subject: Question
> Hello Uncle Phaedrus,
> I am a freshman in high school. My name is Adrian. My music teacher
> asked an interesting question of all of us one day. He asked, "Why
> does the first violinist in a symphony orchestra sit on the left of the
> audience?" He still has not found a student with the answer yet and
> I was hoping you could help me. Also, I would like to inquire of you,
> if I could, which state has the highest percentage of college graduates?
> If you could answer these questions it would be much obliged.
> Thank You.
> Sincerely,
> Adrian
>
Hello Adrian,
In most orchestras, the positions occupied by each
instrument are fairly standardized. In general, the
string instruments are in front, nearest the conductor, with
violins on his or her left. This allows the violin's sound-holes
to face the audience for greater projection. The violas, cellos
and double basses are to the right, the basses behind the
smaller cellos. The rest of the instruments are positioned
toward the back of the stage.
At the present time, Colorado is the state with the highest percentage of college
graduates.
Phaed
To: Phaedrus
Date sent: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 22:44:57 -0500
Subject: Hi.
From: Marla
Uncle Phaedrus-
How are you?I wanted to say Thank you for answering so many of my
questions in the past.
I have yet another question. I had the understanding that the gene which
determines color blindness is carried by females, but passed on only to
males. My brother is color blind and so is my sisters' son. But, my
brothers' son is not color blind, because his mother does not carry the
gene. My friend stated the other day that, even if the father is color
blind and the mother does not carry the gene, the child has a 50% chance
of receiving the gene from the father??? I am very confused and disagree
with this. What is actually true? And is this the same for hemophiliacs?
Thank you once again.
Marlie
Hello Marlie,
Okay, color-blindness (the same applies to hemophilia):
Assuming your father is not color-blind, and he(X,Y) mated with your
mother, who carried the trait of color-blindness(X^,X), then the
following results were possible:
(X equals normal female chromosome; X^ equals female carrier chromosome
Y equals male chromosome.)
(X,Y) + (X^,X) = (X,X^) or (X,X) or (X^,Y) or (X,Y)
Your sister would then be (X,X^) - a carrier, and your brother would be
(X^,Y) - a color-blind male. Although women carry the trait, women do not
get the defect unless BOTH of their X chromosomes carry the defect. A
color-blind woman would be (X^,X^). The trait is recessive, so if a woman
only has one X chromosome with the trait, the "other X chromosome" wins
out. A man only has one X chromosome, so if he inherits an X chromosome
with the trait, he is stuck with it.
Your sister's son would be in the same situation as your brother - (X^,Y),
since your sister is a carrier. As you can see from the diagram, though,
you and your sister had a 50% chance of being non-carriers if your father
was not color blind. Your brother had a 50% chance of being
non-color-blind. If you want to see the various possibilities, draw
diagrams like the one above using these combinations:
(1)X^,Y + X,X
(2)X^,Y + X^,X
(3)X,Y + X^,X^
(4)X^,Y + X^,X^
If you do, you will see that (1) will produce all normal sons and all
carrier daughters. (2) will produce a 50% chance of a color blind son and a
50% chance of a normal son OR a 50% chance of a color blind daughter and a
50% chance of a carrier daughter with no chance of a non-carrier daughter.
(3) will produce all color blind sons and all carrier daughters. (4) will
produce all color blind sons and all color blind daughters.
Thankfully, because of the relatively low occurrence of the gene, only
about 8% of males are color-blind, and less than 1% of females are color
blind. For a daughter to be born color blind, both parents must be color
blind, or her father must be color blind, her mother must be a carrier,
and she must have had bad luck at fertilization time.
Now, as for your friend's statement that:
"even if the father is color blind and the mother does not carry the gene,
the child has a 50% chance of receiving the gene from the father".
The statement is true. A boy isn't going to inherit the gene from his
father, but EVERY girl born to a color-blind man will inherit the gene.
So, assuming a 50% chance that the "child" will be a girl, then that makes
a 50% chance that the child will have the gene.
Unc
> From: TYRODAC
> Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 11:25:02 EST
> To: phaedrus
> Subject: alot of questions
> Dear Unc,
>
> First of all we would like to know the correct way to pronounce your
> name "phaedrus" and also the word "celtic" having to do with irish
> music??
>
> Next, who invented the t.v.? what year? and etc????
>
> last of all, what are "branch bundles" (having to do with the heart)?
>
> thanks,
> TyTy
>
>
Dear TyTy,
Well, lessee:
1) "Phaedrus", the great 5th century B.C. Greek philosopher, of whom Uncle Phaedrus, the 21st century know-it-all,
is a namesake, pronounced his name like: "fedras". That's with a short "e".
2) "Celtic", according to The American Heritage Dictionary, may be correctly pronounced two ways: like "Keltic" or
like "Seltic" ("Boston Celtics"). Either way is correct. Nobody wins that bet, eh?
3) The invention of the television set took many steps and involves a lot of controversy. Here's the way we see it:
a. The first device for transmitting pictures electronically was
based on motorized spinning disks and was invented by Dr. Paul Nipkow of
Berlin, Germany. He received a patent for it in 1884.
b. In 1917, a brighter neon lamp was invented, which was used by two
people to improve on Nipkow's system of rotating disks: Charles
Francis Jenkins in the U.S. and John Logie Baird in England, both
during the 1920's.
c. However, rotating disks were a dead end. "Gilligan's Island" would
never make it on such a system. In 1908, a British electrical engineer
named A. Campbell Swinton designed a completely electronic TV system
that used a cathode ray tube (CRT), that had been invented by the
British physicist William Crookes in the mid-19th century, to convert
the picture to an electronic signal, and a CRT-based oscilloscope
invented by Karl F. Braun of the University of Strasbourg for a
receiver. Thing was, he never built one. He just designed it on paper.
d. This brings us to the unsung hero of television, Philo T.
Farnsworth. By 1927, Farnsworth, a nerd to put even Bill Gates to
shame, invented a working, completely electronic TV system in secret
laboratories in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and he immediately applied
for a patent.
However, the evil empire, in the guise of David Sarnoff of RCA, saw
Philo as competition to be vanquished. First Sarnoff tried to buy out
Philo, then, when that failed, he tried to discredit Philo. Why?
Because RCA had a Russian immigrant named Vladimir K. Zworykin working
on a similar system. He had filed for a patent on a crude tv camera in
1923, but it had not been granted yet, and his employers at the time,
Westinghouse, had not been impressed. He tried again with an improved
camera in 1929, but Westinghouse was still not interested. However, RCA's
Sarnoff WAS interested, and he hired Zworykin away from Westinghouse and
invested in his ideas for a TV system. Meanwhile, in 1930, Philo T.
Farnsworth was awarded his patent for his TV camera. Sarnoff was alarmed,
and he first sent Zworykin, and then went himself, to look at Philo's
device. Publicly, RCA pooh-poohed Philo's camera, but secretly, RCA's
lawyers began a ten-year campaign to either buy out Philo or wear him
down. Why? because Philo's camera was similar to, but better in some ways,
than Zworykin's, and Philo got his patent first. Philo refused to sell
out, wanting royalties instead. In 1938, RCA gave up and Philo got his
royalty contract.
Meanwhile, Zworykin had improved the system enough so that, in 1933,
he was able to transmit a picture of Mickey Mouse four miles to a
nine-inch picture tube.
But RCA was slow about getting a commercial system ready and Germany
was the first country, in 1935, to have a regular broadcast service. EMI in
England followed closely, with a much-improved 405-line
"high-definition" system in 1936.
Finally, in 1939, RCA began "experimental" broadcasts to a few hundred
homes. But the standard of 525 lines per frame and thirty frames per
second was not established until 1941. Real, commercial broadcast TV
in the U.S. did not get started until after WWII, beginning in 1946 or
so.
So, who invented TV as we know it? The courts said Philo T. Farnsworth
did, in "Farnsworth v. Zworykin" in 1932 and in several appeals
by RCA. Philo won 'em all. (See "They All Laughed" by Ira Flatow)
4) Branch bundles: There is a group(bundle) of fibers in the heart muscle
that conducts electrical impulses (atrioventricular impulses). These fibers
are called the "bundle of His", and they split into two "branches", one going
to each ventricle of the heart. If one branch of this "bundle of His" fails
to properly conduct the electrical impulses that stimulate heartbeats, then
the ventricles of the heart can get out of rhythm with each other. One ventricle
may beat slightly before the other one. This is called "bundle branch block".
One treatment for this is to have a pacemaker installed.
- Unc
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