Flight Attendants

We rode to the airport in a shuttle with flight crews heading in for their flights.  I found out that while flight crews get a per diem of about $1.90 per hour while they are on duty, they only get salary pay for the flight. So while they are boarding us and getting us situated, they are making less than $2.00/hr.  Of course, there are many other benefits that offset this.  I just had no clue that they did not get regular salary for all hours they work for a flight.

Gordian Knot

So, it's been almost 4 years since there was any News to Suz.  Well, not really, as there is News to Suz daily.  I've just been incredibly lazy.

Today's news is the Gordian Knot.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

The Gordian knot is a knot that gave its name to a proverbial term for a problem solvable only by bold action. In 333 bc, Alexander the Great, on his march through Anatolia, reached Gordium, the capital of Phrygia. There he was shown the chariot of the ancient founder of the city, Gordius, with its yoke lashed to the pole by means of an intricate knot with its end hidden. According to tradition, this knot was to be untied only by the future conqueror of Asia. In the popular account, probably invented as appropriate to an impetuous warrior, Alexander sliced through the knot with his sword, but, in earlier versions, he found the ends either by cutting into the knot or by drawing out the pole. The phrase “cutting the Gordian knot” has thus come to denote a bold solution to a complicated problem.

Salmon vs Trout

We got together for dad's birthday today and when I walked in kitchen where my sister, who is the most amazing cook, was getting the fish ready.  Both looked to me as if they were salmon, but she told me one was actually steelhead trout.  She assured me that the trout tasted like salmon but not as fishy, but I wasn't quite ready to buy it.  As we sat down to her marvelous plank-grilled fish, I decided to try the trout, and sure enough, I couldn't tell the difference.


Curious, I came back to the hotel and looked up steelhead trout:

and pacific salmon:

According to the Fisheries Service at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center:

The steelhead is a rainbow trout that migrates to sea as a juvenile and returns to fresh water as an adult to spawn. Unlike the Pacific salmon, the steelhead trout does not always die following spawning and may spawn more than once and return to the sea after each spawning.

Go figure - I like trout! (at least the ones that taste like salmon)

Ziggurats

So - it's been about a year and a half since my last post.  Is it because nothing is news to me?  Nope -- just lazy.  But today while working on use cases for my current project, I learned a new word so I figured that it's a good time to start adding to my list again.

Ziggurat:  a multi-storied temple tower from ancient Mesopotamia.

The most famous ziggurat is the Tower of Babel mentioned in the book of Genesis.

Ziggurats

Soan Papdi

Soan Papdi is an Indian dessert dish made for the Hindu celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights. Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil and is observed symbolically by lighting lamps and setting off fireworks. It is also observed using a number of dessert dishes, including soan papdi.

Cardinal and Ordinal Directions

It's not that I haven't learned anything new, I just keep forgetting to post about it...

Cardinal Directions - North, South, East, West
Ordinal Directions - Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, Southeast

Continents

While conventional thinking says there are 7 continents (what I was taught in school), I learned today, that other schools of thought give the number as low as 4.

The 7 I learned about growing up are: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Australia (or Oceania), and Antarctica.

Some combine Europe and Asia into Eurasia, bringing the number down to 6.

Others consider just 5: Eurasia, Australia (or Oceania), Africa, Antarctica, and the Americas.

The ones who only count 4 include: Eurafrasia, the Americas, Antarctica, and Oceania