Dude Awakening Back in the 1800s, the term “dude” originally referred to men who were obsessed with wearing the latest fashion.  It’s likely an abbreviation of “Doodle” in “Yankee Doodle,” a British term that originally made fun of the American “dandies” who always tried to be stylish.--mentalfloss.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Do you know the fun little ditty "Yankee Doodle"? When I was a kid I thought that was a very funny little song. I didn't really know what it meant, but it was great to sing about a feather and macaroni in somebody's hat with my friends. I mean, who doesn't like macaroni? Especially if it's covered in cheese!

Well, as I got older I learned older words and meanings. Older words, as in those that have been around for a couple hundred years. I found out that some of the words or phrases that we use today can have a way different meaning than they did two centuries ago.

Take the word "dude". Today, when we say this, we may be calling a friend or classmate to get their attention. Or, we may be talking about going to a dude ranch. What is a dude ranch? Straight from The Dude Ranchers’ Association, a dude ranch is a vacation destination that hosts guests to share in their Western lifestyle activities. Typically, a dude ranch is an all-inclusive immersive vacation that provides lodging, meals, horseback riding adventures, fishing, hiking, campfire, and much more.

Wikipedia says, Dude is American slang for an individual, typically male.[1] From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous citified person who was visiting a rural location, a "city slicker". In the 1960s, dude evolved to mean any male person, a meaning that slipped into mainstream American slang in the 1970s. Current slang retains at least some use of all three of these common meanings.[2]

The best known of this type is probably Evander Berry Wall, who was dubbed "King of the Dudes" in 1880s New York and maintained a reputation for sartorial splendor all his life. This meaning of the word, though rarely consciously known today, remains occasionally in some American slang, as in the phrase "all duded up" for getting dressed in fancy clothes.[6]

I often think of royalty who dress up very grand especially if they are attending a royal function such as a ball or a state dinner. Others, even in today's world, may dress to impress, especially if they are going for an interview or a fancy function.

This all makes me think of King Solomon. Back in his day, I bet he was the wealthiest, best dressed King Dude of all time. But the Bible tells us of something even more fancy. Matthew 6: 28-33 says, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these'."

If the lilies of the field were even more fancy than King Solomon, can you imagine what heaven will be like?! No one can outshine God's awesome creation!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Shell Cooperation Hermit crabs need shells to survive, but constantly outgrow them.  When it's time to trade up, hermit crabs will often line up in size order, swapping shells so each crab gets one that better fits them. – discovermagazine.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Hermit Crabs are quite interesting characters. Have you ever seen their eyes? The compound eyes are actually on stocks and can turn 360 degrees to watch for predators. I don't know how scientists know this, but apparently the crabs can tell the difference between colors and shades, but not shapes.

They are crustaceans and arthropods. This means that they live mostly in water and have a hard shell, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. They are invertebrates and have exoskeletons. Exoskeletons are a hard outer shell covering the body to protect it and provide support.

But the hermit crab, unlike other crabs, have only a partial exoskeleton and they don't grow the shell they wear. That's why they like to live in discarded shells of other crabs. But they have an interesting problem. They outgrow their borrowed shells fairly often and have to give them up to look for larger ones.

They are very social creatures and often hang out with other crabs. This gives them an excellent opportunity to play musical shells. They watch for the time when the biggest one among them finds a larger empty shell and when it is ready to move into the new one, the rest all line up in order of size. When the largest switches out, so do the rest and everyone is happy again until the next time. Some say they are more likely to change around a full moon.

There are a lot of different kinds of crabs. Some live in saltwater, some in fresh. Some live on land, but close to water. If they lose a limb or an eye, they can often grow it back after a few moltings. It will form a translucent blob at the stump called a jelly leg. When it molts, a new leg forms from the jelly limb. In larger crabs it can take a few molts before the leg is back to full size.

The crabs are scavengers. Those that live in water are bottom feeders. They clean up the floor of the body of water in which they live. That is why it is not good to eat them. They can carry a lot of harmful chemicals like pesticides, PCBs, dioxin and chlordane. These chemicals are concentrated in the mud, and bottom-feeding fish can accumulate them by swallowing mud while feeding.

All in all crabs are very intriguing creatures. They are also very resourceful. And God has given them a purpose to help clean the earth.

Remember this the next time your cat acts all superior Humans are the only species with chins. –smithsonianmag.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

If our skin keeps our insides in, what do our chins do?  The chin isn’t just the lower part of your face - It’s a specific term for that little piece of bone extending from the jaw. The chin is a major defining part of our face or facial structure. It is part of the lower jaw called the mandible. And apparently no other mammal has a chin like humans do. Even chimpanzees and gorillas, mammals closest to us in frame, lack chins. Instead of pointing forward, their lower jaws slope down and back from their front teeth.

After we are born, our facial features will develop as we grow. For instance, our teeth will start to come in - our top teeth will come from the maxilla, our top jaw; and our bottom teeth will come forth from the upper mandible, our lower jaw. The roots of the teeth will be held firm with the help of our jaw bones and chin.

Throughout our adulthood until middle-age, 40’s - 50’s, our jawlines and chins will come to their fullest size. However, once we become elderly, our chins and jawline may shrink a little with bone loss. And as we begin to lose teeth in our old age, the chin may recede.

You may have heard of the term “double-chin”. A double chin, also called submental fullness, can result from a variety of causes, including hereditary factors, weight, anatomy, and airway positioning. Extra fat under the skin will give the appearance of two chins.

This is a lot of technical information about our chins. But, have you ever heard the term, “Keep your chin up”?  This is a phrase we tell each other when we want to encourage someone who is down. Because usually when we are down or sad, we can go around with our heads drooping and our chins on our chest. 

Well, here is the best reason of all to keep your chin up about chins. Other mammals or animals may not have a chin as we do and there is one very special reason why. I think it is the best reason! And it is found in the Bible.

Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’, and …So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Because we are created in God’s image, we have chins! Feel free to rest your chin in your hand while you contemplate just how amazing that is!!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Why No. 2 is #1 Pencils are numbered by how hard the graphite is inside them, which affects how dark they mark on paper.  No. 1 pencils produce the darkest markings, but are more likely to smudge.  No. 2 pencils strike a balance between hardness and darkness, and are most easily read by machines used for standardized tests. –pencilchina.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

When I was in school I always wondered why I had to use special No. 2 pencils. I could never use my fun, fancy pencils until I got home. If you’re still in school, do you ever wonder that, too?  What’s the big deal anyway? A pencil is a pencil, Right? 

Well, now that I am a little older I realize what the difference is. After you read this, you will too!  And, if you are an artist, you may already know.

What is a pencil anyway?  A classic wood pencil is a piece of cylinder-shaped graphite called lead, wrapped in wood, usually painted yellow on the outside with an eraser on one end. And, usually, it is used for writing or drawing. We always had to get some for school every year.

But as the note above says, pencils are actually made and numbered depending on how hard the lead is inside of them. There are different grades of hardness and, therefore, different numbers. Common pencil grades range from #1, #2, #3 and #4. The higher the number, the harder the lead and the lighter the marking. No. 1 pencils are considered the softest and produce the darkest markings and are better for art that requires darker lines. And if a little shading is required, these will smudge better than the others.

In school, certain tests are given that can be graded by machine.  I remember taking tests every so often that required us to color in the circle or oval representing the correct answer.  We could only use No. 2 pencils when we did this. That was what the automatic grading machine could read best.  If done correctly it could save the teachers lots of time. 

However, before putting each test into the machine to be graded, they had to make sure every little mark other than the answer was erased or it would not grade the test correctly. So, in the end, I wonder just how much time it saves the teachers? Hopefully lots!

Well, today they make all kinds of pencils with cool designs and colors. And who knows what machines they have now to automatically grade tests. I bet they have some that don’t even require pencils. Even so, I don’t think I will ever trade in my trusty No. 2!

Crowning achievement Pineapples aren't typically grown from seeds, but by planting the top of an existing fruit. It usually takes 2-3 years for a new pineapple plant to mature.--outdoorhappens.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

Do you like pineapple? I love it in the summer - it's very refreshing! But I have never tried to grow one.  In Hawaii they have fields and fields of them. They seem to really grow well there. In fact, the Dole Food Company has a plantation on Wahiawa, Oahu, as the climate is very pleasing for the plants to grow.

Although it is one of the more acidic fruits, it is packed with great nutrients. It is a great source of antioxidants, with longer lasting antioxidant effects. Also a very good source of fiber, pineapple may aid in digestion, support iron absorption, promote faster healing after injury, help relieve arthritis symptoms, and help support the immune system with essential vitamins and minerals.

There are at least three ways to try to grow a pineapple plant. You can collect seeds from a previous fruit, use the crown top from a previous fruit, or use little plants spawned from the mother plant.

When growing pineapples, remember that their roots do not like to stay wet. In fact, they like similar soil conditions as cacti: well drained and on the dry side, but with an acidic pH of 4.5-6.5. To determine when to water, the soil should be dry and you should check inside the junctions where the leaves meet the plant. If there is water in those little pockets, then skip watering. If there is no water, then water over the top of the plant. Fertilize monthly with a balanced liquid fertilizer (5-5-5, 10-10-10, etc.) mixed according to the manufacturer's directions, and showered over the plant just like a normal watering.

Pineapple plants need ample space, about five feet between plants if growing in-ground or three to five feet in containers. They also grow best in lots of sun (at least 6 hours per day).

If you want to try starting a plant from the crown of an existing pineapple, make sure it is very ripe and either cut off the leafy top part, along with an inch or two of the pineapple's meat, or twist the top off. Remove the lower half dozen or so leaves from the bottom of the green shoot, then set it aside and allow it to "cure," or dry out, for about a week. 

Set the top in a shallow bowl of warm water. Change the water every few days, and observe as roots grow over the next few weeks. Then plant the cured pineapple top in a 10-inch pot filled with a coarse potting mix, and fertilize it with a balanced liquid fertilizer (shower the liquid right over the top). The plant will grow indoors like a tropical houseplant with moderate light and can be moved outdoors in warm weather. 

Remember, it usually takes 2-3 years for a new pineapple plant to mature. Either way, it would be fun to try this together as a family and see what comes of it.

Bitter Trunk When antelopes or giraffes start eating acacia tree leaves, the trees send out signals to keep giraffes from eating too much of them -- making the leaves taste bitter, and alerting nearby trees to do the same.--nature museum.org

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

The Acacia tree is a pretty remarkable tree. Not only are there many kinds, but there are also many types. And these special trees can be used to make all kinds of things! Not only that, they have a unique ability to defend themselves.

The acacia inhabit tropical and subtropical places. Some types make their home in Africa, and others Australia and even Hawaii, and other islands of the Pacific. They can be trees or bushes, over one hundred known species.

Most types of acacia have yellow flowers, some have white, and a couple have red or purple. Each flower has many stamens, which give it a fuzzy appearance. The flowers grow in compact clusters shaped like a ball or a cylinder. 

The acacia that can be found in Africa are favorites among the antelope and giraffe. So much so, that God provided the tree with a way to protect itself from the animals eating too much.  The bark of most acacias is rich in tannin, which is used in tanning leather and in dyes, inks, medicines, and other products. 

Maybe that's why most medicine's don't taste good!!

When the tree is getting stressed from too many animals eating its leaves, it sends out a signal for the leaves to produce more tannin. Not only does this turn the leaves bitter, but its signal can tell other trees downwind to also produce more tannin. In this way a whole grove can help protect itself from over harvesting by animals.

However, the Lord also created the giraffe to be very intelligent and resourceful. They have learned that if they continue to eat upwind, those trees have not yet received the signal to produce more tannin, so their leaves still taste good.

In Australia, some species are called wattle and can bear thorns as well. The more valuable tannin producers are the golden wattle, silver wattle and green wattle types.

Did you know that the acacia tree was even around in Bible times?! It’s mentioned in Exodus 25. The ark of the covenant was created out of acacia wood, as well as some of the other furniture for the sanctuary. That is some well preserved species of tree!

Why we should call recharging a battery "revolting" it. A battery (first named by Benjamin Franklin in 1748) is a device that produces electricity from a chemical reaction. In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the Voltaic pile, the first "wet cell battery" that produced a reliable, steady current of electricity. -- the inventors.org

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine. 

Most of us have learned in school that Benjamin Franklin discovered the connection between lightning and electricity. He did this by experimenting with a metal key tied to a kite in a thunderstorm. (Don't try this at home!) Some mistakenly believe that he discovered electricity, but this is not the case. Electricity was well known way before the illustrious inventor. And if the kite had been actually struck by lightning, there is a good chance that Franklin would have been killed by the charge. 

So, what actually happened? Well according to history, the metal key picked up the static energy in the air around it and that is what the inventor was feeling from the key.

Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents and inventions. He was the first to use the term "battery" when he experimented with a bunch of charged glass plates. And then came Alessandro Volta, who invented the Voltaic pile, the first "wet cell battery" we read about above, that produced a reliable, steady electrical current.

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist and chemist who was a pioneer of electricity and power and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. According to Britannica, what is known as the voltaic pile or the voltaic column, Volta’s battery consisted of alternating disks of zinc and silver (or copper and pewter) separated by paper or cloth soaked either in salt water or sodium hydroxide...a simple and reliable source of electric current that did not need to be recharged.

Now, I don't know about you, but I use a lot of batteries for all kinds of things. Why? Because batteries hold a charge of electrical power that make things work for quite a while. And today, there's all kinds and sizes of batteries - thanks to the folks like Benjamin Franklin and Alessandro Volta, who studied these things and who carefully devised different means of a stored and steady current of electricity!

Did you know that a potato can help conduct electricity?! Here is a fun experiment you can try. Click on the Potato Fun with a Parent button below. Be sure to ask your Mom and Dad to help you. What the potato does is simply help conduct electricity by acting as what’s called a salt-bridge between the two metals, allowing the electron current to move freely across the wire to create electricity. 

Numerous fruits rich in electrolytes like bananas and strawberries can also form this chemical reaction. They're basically nature’s version of battery acid. If you try this experiment, have your Mom and Dad be sure to send us pictures. We'd love to see them!

"But now...speak to the earth, and it will teach you;...the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing." Job 12:7-10

Seal of survival Found just 800 miles from the South Pole, Weddell seals live farther south than any other mammal. They spend winters under the ice, periodically coming out through blowholes and cracks to breathe. –animalia.bio

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Seals are cute creatures. The pups especially.  How can you not love their cute, little faces!  It’s fun to see them at zoos. They are always laying around, mostly basking in the sun or swimming when we spot them. But at zoos, they get fed and don’t have to do much more than that.

But, as with all untamed creatures in the wild, they are exactly that - wild, and can be unpredictable. They are predatory. This means they hunt and kill to obtain food to survive. They also have to stay on guard and when needed, fight off other predators.

The special seal we will be reading about today is called a Weddell seal.  The earliest discovery of these seals that we know of is by Captain James Weddell in 1823 when he was on an expedition to the South Pole and studied them.

The Weddell is a rather tubby animal that weighs up to 900 pounds, with a length of about 10 feet. These seals have gray coats and lighter undersides. Their entire bodies are marked with light gray splotches. Their small heads have large eyes that help them hunt prey in dark, icy waters. Fish make up the bulk of their diet. They also eat a fair amount of squid and krill. Their favored food is the large Antarctic cod, which can weigh 154 pounds.

These seals are special because they dwell the farthest south in the Antarctic of any other seal. They usually don’t migrate. They stay within sight of land and don’t usually travel too far from the place they were born. Because they are great divers and can hold their breath for upwards to 90 minutes, they spend most of their time in the water. 

Winter time will find them under the fast-ice - ice that is held fast (attached) to the coastline. They come up only to breathe through the holes they create in the ice. They can create these air holes by using their very sharp lower teeth to cut through the ice. Eventually their teeth wear down because of this, so when they are older it is harder for them to hunt. Even so, they can live about 30 years.

This reminds me of Revelation 4:11 which says, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sweet treat Date honey, AKA silan, isn't made by bees -- it's a Middle Eastern syrup made by boiling and mashing dates. It's added to any dish that might otherwise have honey or another syrup. --purewow.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Do you have a sweet tooth? A lot of people do. This doesn't mean that one tooth is sweeter than another. It means that people who have a sweet tooth like things that are sweet. Many people have their favorite dessert or candy. Some people like cake while some only like pie. But all of these things have one thing in common, they all contain some type of sweetener.

Now, I've had honey, and I've had maple syrup, but I have never had date honey - or as they call it in the Middle East, silan date syrup. Have you? It sounds yummy if you like dates. Dates are very sweet and taste great by themselves or in cookie bars or granola.

Strictly speaking, silan date syrup is a very sweet syrup made from boiled and mashed dates. This substance can be used as a substitute for honey or maple syrup in recipes. But the best thing about this natural sweetener is that each serving of date syrup contains amounts of magnesium, potassium, amino acids, antioxidants and other trace minerals.

All these nutritional benefits are so much better for us than standard cane sugar. In fact, a tablespoon of date syrup contains more than twice the potassium, calcium, and magnesium levels of maple syrup or honey, with up to 10 times the antioxidants. Another site states date syrup contains several phytonutrient antioxidants that are shown to have antibacterial properties.

There are different kinds of dates. Two of the most popular are Medjool and Deglet Noor. The Medjool dates tend to be larger, softer and easier to work with in recipe preparation than the Deglet Noor, and require less boiling time because they are not as hard.

The dates come from the date palm tree, which can grow to about 100 feet tall. Leaves on the date palm only appear at the very top of the tree in a crown. Date palms can take 4 to 8 years after planting before they will bear fruit, and start producing viable yields for commercial harvest between 7 to 10 years. Mature date palms can produce 70-140 kilograms (150-300 pounds) of dates per harvest season.

Another cool thing about the date and the date palm tree is that these have been around for hundreds of years. In fact, Jesus probably ate this very fruit when he was growing up here on earth. Now that's sweet!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Wordsmith Willie William Shakespeare is credited with inventing over 400 words - including bedroom, chopped, courtship, lackluster, shudder and unreal. -- sparknotes.com

You read it first in this week’s The Factory in Guide magazine.

Words! Words can be really fun! Apparently William Shakespeare thought so, too, as he used a lot of them in his poems and plays. And, when there wasn't one that really worked for him, he created new ones. In fact, new words are being created everyday. If you ever play the game Scrabble, and use the dictionary that goes with the game, you can see how often new words are added every year and how often the game's dictionary is updated. According to one estimate, a new word is created every 98 minutes (approximately 14.7 new words per day) and hundreds of words are added to English dictionaries each year.

Do you have any favorite words? Some are just fun to say, and even more fun to spell. The word plethora, for example, means overabundance. There are a plethora of words in the dictionary. Or superfluity, also means overabundance or in excess. Then there are the words shenanigans, brouhaha, monkeyshine and tomfoolery. These words all mean trouble or funny business. They definitely give you the feeling that mischief is right around the corner!

If you like to write poetry, words are very important. Sometimes a poem just isn't complete unless it has just the right words here and there, in order to carry just the right meaning. In Shakespeare's day, which was from 1564 - 1616, often the words that he created were single words that he brought together to create a word with a different flavor or meaning, like bedroom or lackluster. Or, he would take a noun and use it as an adjective. I wonder how he would feel about the word "mindblower" today? Or the adjective mind-blowing? I think he would like those.

There is a game that my friends used to play. One person would choose a word from the dictionary, and everyone playing had to write a definition for it. The person that chose the word would also write the actual meaning and then collect all the other people's definitions. All the definitions would be read and people had to guess which was the correct meaning. The person to guess five correct definitions first was the winner. Some of the definitions people write can be really funny. It is a very entertaining game. But it is also a learning game, too, as we learned about many words we had never known before. And it definitely came in handy when playing Scrabble!

The books of Psalms and Proverbs in the Bible quite often read like poetry. They can be very uplifting and meaningful, as well. There are many promises of reassurance for us in these books, to increase our faith. Why not try reading some today?! And you might just find a word or two that you never knew before!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.