How Many Delorean Cars Were Made?

Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
~Marty McFly

No one knows for sure. 8500-9200 is the generally accepted number range of actual Deloreans produced. DeLoreans were made for 1 1/2  years (mid 1981 to the end of 1982).

I've Been Through the Vineyards with a Moth with No Name

Heard it through the grapevine
~Proverb, Song Lyric, Common Saying

An unnamed moth first discovered in Italy in 2006 has been eating it's way through the Chardonnay leaves in vineyards. It is not an unknown species, it is just one that has no name. It is quite common in North America (I've never seen one!) and is of the leafminer moth species.

Using already existing information, entomologists were able, by examining the moth's genetic code, to identify the type of insect it is, and to confirm that it is an unnamed moth. It is now being called Antispila oinophylla - not to be confused with Antispila ampelopsifoliella (a leafmining moth that feeds on Virginia Creeper). The taste this moth has for grape leaves is what distinguishes it from other moths. It exhibits a preference for Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Muscat grape leaves.

Abstract of the study:  Antispila oinophylla new species (Lepidoptera, Heliozelidae), a new North American grapevine leafminer invading Italian vineyards: taxonomy, DNA barcodes and life cycle

Note: Leafminers are a little studied species of moth.

Something else I learned: The phrase "through the grapevine" originated with the telegraph system invented by Samuel Morse. The system required  telegraph wire to be installed. The wires were held in place above the ground by poles placed at regular intervals. The wires and poles resembled the method used to train grape vines, thus the telegraph lines became known as "the grapevine."

Interdental Fricatives in American Dialect

Interdental: Describes a sound which is articulated by placing the tongue between the teeth. Examples of interdental sounds are as in thick and as in this.


Fricative: Describes a sound which is articulated with almost a complete closure, but with just enough of an opening to create turbulence in the airflow. Examples of fricative sounds are /f/ as in fat, /v/ as in vat, /s/ as in sip, /z/ as in zip, and /S/ as in ship.

In English dialects worldwide (Cockney, African-American, Cajun, and southern US) and English spoken as a second language, a typical interdental fricative pattern would involve onset stopping (this~dis) and coda place change (teeth~teef). Located at the beginning of a word, the interdental fricative th is pronounced t (thin/tin).  Located in the middle or at the end of  word, the interdental fricative th is pronounded f or v (bath/baf/bavs, bother/bovver).

The sound of speech comes from breathing - we shape our tongues and mouths in the appropriate fashion to make the sounds we wish to convey (speech). The sound we make is release with breath through the nose or mouth, if the sound is voiced or voiceless (e.g., the th in "thigh" is voiceless, in "thy" it is voiced). Interdental fricatives are the result of how we interpret the way to make these sounds.

Learn about Phonology .

Note: I wish I had grown up to be a phonologist. I wonder if it's too late to change careers again? 

Something else I learned: Interdental fricatives are common in Newfoundland.

Threading a New Sewing Machine

So much fabric, so little time! Or, sew much fabric!
~Unknown

As ye sew, so shall ye rip.
~Unknown

It may seem that threading one sewing machine is much like threading another. While true in principle, the reality is a bit different. Especially if you consider I've not sat at a sewing machine for 10 years, and the last time I did I was using an antique Singer machine. When I say antique I mean built in 1928. My olde Singer was a very basic machine.

I got a new machine over the weekend. It is also a Singer, so there is at least that similarity. I picked up the antique machine a few years back and it is what I learned to sew on. It was the only machine I've ever used, until now.

You can imagine my consternation:

After a few trials and errors, I managed to get it threaded and working! I only had to rethread it twice, and troubleshoot the tension a few times.  If there is one thing I love on my new machine that was absent from my old one - it is the automatic needle threader! What a genius invention!

Note: I became a professional and a prize winning seamstress using my old Singer.

A story on the side: I purchased my new sewing machine at one of the large discount retail stores (NOT Walmart). The cashier was an older gentleman - late 60s, probably. He was amazed and delighted by the sewing machine. "A sewing machine!" he exclaimed. "I didn't know anyone still sewed! Oh! And It's a Singer!" It made me smile.

Presidents Day Myth

Celebrate presidents day the way our forefathers intended: buy a mattress!
~Unattributed

Holidays designated by Congress are Federal holidays, not National holidays. A national holiday would bind all 50 states. Federal holidays apply only to federal employees and the District of Columbia.

As far as President's day... well, there is actually no such official thing, federally or otherwise. Until 1968 there were 2 presidential holidays in February, George Washington's birthday on the 22nd and Abraham Lincoln's on the 12th. Lincoln's was never a federally designated holiday, but some states did treat it as a legal holiday.

1968 was the year of the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill at which tie Washington's "birthday" became the third Monday in February. The federal holiday is still legally known as Washington's birthday. There have been attempts to make the holiday an official observance of all US presidents, but so far that has not occurred.



Note: My son has the preceding Friday and the Monday holiday off, and the four days is called "Great Americans Weekend."

Something else I learned: George Washington's false teeth were made of hippopotamus ivory, not wood.

Interracial Marriage Since Loving vs Virginia

Mr. Cohen, tell the Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can't live with her in Virginia.
~Richard Loving

15% of marriages in the US in 2010 were of mixed race couples. Mixed race marriages were largely illegal in the United States until the mid 20th century. In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman and white man got married in Washington DC. They were from Virginia, but it was illegal for them to be married in their home state. In 1959 they were sentenced to a year in jail, but were given a suspended sentence on condition they leave the state.



They moved to DC, but in 1963 they filed to have the judgement vacated on 14th amendment grounds because they wanted to return home to Virginia. After a long and rocky road, their case came before the Supreme Court in 1967. The court decided in favor of the Lovings, thereby striking down the anti-miscegnation laws still on the books in 16 remaining states.

Today, 80 to 90 percent of people under age 30 find interracial marriages acceptable. 30 percent of people over 65 find interracial marriages not acceptable. There was no information about people between 30 and 65 available for review.

Interracial marriages have more than tripled in the last 30 years.A  very good article containing the statistics regarding interracial marriage in the US in the last 30 years. From the article:

• The proportion of mixed race couples, regardless of the date of marriage, stood at a record rate of 8.4 percent in 2010, compared with 3.3 percent in 1980.
• Only 11 percent of Americans believe mixed marriages are negative, and 44 percent think they make no difference.
• Fifteen percent of all US marriages were among mixed race couples in 2010, up from 6.7 percent in 1980

After Loving vs Virginia - South Carolina kept it's unenforceable anti-miscegnation law untouched until 1998. Alabama moved into the 20th century at the birth of the 21st removing the ban on interracial marriage in 2000.

Note: Michigan never had anti-miscegnation laws.

Something else I learned: Maryland codified the first anti-miscegenation statue in 1661 (it was a colony then, not a state).