Which carol? Let's start with rudolph.Well actually, the book came first. There's a book?Yes. Written by Robert May in 1939, the book was originally a part of an advertising campaign for Montgomery Ward. After the book became a hit, May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, created the classic carol, and Gene Autry recorded the song in 1949. The classic stop-motion film was released in 1964 as a TV special, and since has become a holiday favorite. Well, What about Frosty?Frosty's song came first and was originally recorded by Gene Autry a year after Rudolph. After this song was also a success, it too inspired an animation short by Rankin/Bass Productions. However, since Santa plays a role in the movie, the final line was changed to “I'll be back on Christmas day” as opposed to the original “I'll be back again someday”. And SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN?I think you know the answer to this one: the song. This one was also picked up by Rankin/Bass Productions and made into a short stop-motion animated classic. Wait, do they just Make movies out oF any old holiday song?Sure seems like it. They are also the masterminds behind The Little Drummer Boy and Here Come Peter Cottontail (which isn’t a Christmas movie, but it’s another traditional holiday song so I’m going with it). So, Which came first: The carol or the movie?Usually the carol, but occasionally the weird, unheard of book pops up. Either way, you can bet that it’ll be made into an animated short that's played in living rooms across the country for years to come. Curious? Here's some more information!
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To celebrate somebody’s birthday! Yeah, but why do we sing? Couldn't we just eat cake and give presents?See, back in the day, there were limited sources of entertainment, so the rich turned to minstrels and troubadours. Even before them came chants and songs at times of celebration in many cultures. It’s just what we do. What are MINSTRELs and trubadours?A Medieval source of entertainment. They could be hired out or would travel around, singing songs and performing for money. ok, but why “Happy Birthday to you”?Probably because it’s someone’s birthday. I mEan, were there no alterNATIVES? THE SONG'S KINDA BORING.This I cannot refute. Unfortunately, the only person who gets top-ten hits written for their birthday is Jesus, and that’s because approximately 2.3 billion people believe he’s the Messiah. Two sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill, wrote the song for the rest of us. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?Well, they were kindergarten teachers and wrote songs for their students. One of these songs was called “Good Morning to All.” The lyrics were simple: Good morning to you; good morning to you – good morning, good morning, good morning to all. WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH “Happy Birthday to You”?Sing “Good Morning to All” to the tune of the birthday song. GOT IT. SO WAS THE BIRTHDAY VERSION ALSO WRITTEN FOR THEIR STUDENTS?There's not really a consensus on that one. Some people think one of the sisters made it up at a party, while others think it came from the children playing around with the words. Either way, it’s short, simple, and catchy tune soon made it a hit among the populous. And now it's used by everyone?As of 2015, yes. Wait, What?Well, here's the thing. See the government has this lovely thing called copyright law, which protects people from getting their ideas stolen. Musical artists use this to ensure no one makes thousands on the song they spent a lot of time working on. Warner/Chappell, the publishing arm of Warner Music, claimed to have ownership of the song since 1988 when it bought Birch Tree Group, the publisher of the Hill sisters' book, “Song Stories for the Kindergarten.” In publishing their book, Birch Tree Group had claimed the rights to the song since 1935. That's right; these companies have been collecting money off “Happy Birthday to You” for 80 years. In 2013, a lawsuit was filled against Warner/Chappell by many artists and filmmakers who wanted the company to return the fees collected for use of the song and turn it over to the public domain so it would be free to all. Warner/Chappell lost this battle towards the end of 2015 and ended up returning $14 million in February of 2016. So, WHY DO WE SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY?We sing Happy Birthday because singing is a traditional human form of celebration, and two kindergarten teachers came up with a simple yet catchy tune that became so popular it would be used by companies in the future to rake in the big bucks. curious? Here's some more iNfo!
Probably on a vine. I MEAN, AREN'T PLANTS SUPPOSED TO MAKE SEEDS?Yes, seeds are fruiting plants' means of reproduction. SO HOW ARE SEEDLESS FRUITS POSSIBLE?Well, the classic seedless fruit is the navel orange, so let’s start there. For those of you who need a refresher on basic plant biology, most fruits come from flowering plants. In a flower, there are two distinct reproductive organs: the pistil (female) and the stamen (male). When pollen, or plant sperm, lands on the tip of the pistil, or the stigma, the plant has been fertilized and can start producing seeds through fruit. This is why pollination is so important: without it, so many plants we depend upon wold cease to exist. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ORANGES?See, navel oranges will not reproduce with pollen that is genetically similar. The solution? A grove of trees that are quite literally clones. In fact, to our knowledge, there has only been one naturally occurring navel orange tree, which was created by genetic mutation. The tree, found in Brazil during the mid-1800s, was of great interest due to its sweet taste and seedlessness. The USDA then had two or three trees shipped to California, and the rest is history. Wait, IF THEY'RE SEEDLESS, HOW DO WE MAKE CLONES?Through a process called bud grafting. Basically, the top buds of one plant grow in the roots of another. It sounds weird, but it works. So, is that how seeDless watermelons grow?Alas, oranges do not give us the full story. In order to find this, we must turn to bananas. Bananas Don't have seeds?Not the kind we typically eat. (And if you think those little black specs down the center of your banana are real seeds, I have some news for you. This is what bananas with reproductive seeds look like. I highly doubt you can buy that at your local chain grocery store.) So how do we grow bananas then?Our favorite type of banana is the Cavendish. It has mutated to become a triploid. What in the world is a triploid?OK, time for some more basic biology. So, when most living things reproduce, they recieve two sets of genes: one from the “mother” and the other from the “father.” However, triploids have three sets of genes. That can't be natural.It is. While uncommon, Triploidy is a mutation that can even be found in humans. However, in the case of the commercial banana, you are not entirely wrong. Cavendish banana seeds originate from when a diploid banana, with two sets of genes, was crossed over with a tetraploid banana, which has four sets of genes. Since during reproduction the number of chromosomes is split in half, the modern banana now has three chromosomes, which makes it impossible to reproduce, rendering the banana sterile. But bananas are cloNes, too, right?Right. So Are Watermelons clones?Not exactly. You see, seedless watermelons are triploids as well. However, this was achieved by humans creating a tetraploid watermelon from the original diploid, and then mating the tetraploid with the diploid. However, cloning watermelons is not necessarily something we can do, so cross breeding is our main source of seedless watermelon seeds. So, how do seedless WATERMELONS GROW?Seedless watermelons are based on the idea that seedless fruits are better, which was introduced by the navel orange, and the use of triploids to render fruits sterile, which came from the Cavendish banana. However, despite these two fruits being reproduced with cloning technology, the seedless watermelon has yet to come this far. curiOus? Here's some more information:
Um, probably because your skin is being ripped open. yes, but why Are they so much more painful than a normal cut or scrape?Because paper cuts usually occur on fingers, which have a lot of pain receptors. This makes getting a cut on your finger the equivalent of getting one on your face. So, why do we have so many pain receptors on out fingers?It’s one way we protect ourselves. Think about it: our fingers are used to do pretty much everything, from opening doors to typing. It makes sense that they should be sensitive to anything hot or sharp. But paper isn't sharp.Wrong. One quick glance at a piece of paper magnified at 100x shows that the edge of a piece of paper isn’t as smooth as it appears. But that’s only half the problem. See, a knife, while sharper than a piece of paper, is straight and sturdy and therefore only performs one, quick slice. The flimsyness of paper means it doesn’t perform a clean cut, but rather flexes a little, causing microscopic damage to the skin. ThEn why don't paper cuts bleed evEry time? Because, as I stated earlier, our fingers are full of pain receptors, and paper isn’t as sharp as a knife. How do those relate to anything?Patience, grasshopper. I’m getting there. Let’s start with the dullness of paper. Paper is just not sharp enough to draw blood. It cannot go that deep into the skin. This means that the normal blood clotting and scabbing that helps close and protect wounds doesn’t occur. Furthermore, on the second point, this leaves your pain receptors exposed to the outside world so, unless you quickly cover them, it will be painful. is there ANYTHING i can do to make it less painful?Unfortunately, scientists can’t exactly conduct studies on paper cuts as no one willingly wants to subject themselves to such pain. However, the best solution is to immediately seal the cuts as best you can, be it with a bandage, Vasaline, or even Super Glue. This will prevent the pain receptors from being exposed. So, why do paper cuts hurt so much?Paper cuts hurt because our fingers are sensitive to pain, paper is both rough and flexible, and paper cuts are shallow enough to leave pain receptors susceptible to the outside world. curious? Here's some more information!
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