119th anniversary of the first documented ice cream sundae
A message to the fine folks at Google: You don’t have to greenlight every idea for a Doodle that comes along. Birthdays of famous figures from history we can get behind — we’ve been known to dabble in that a bit ourselves — but celebrating the invention of the term “ice cream sundae?” What?I could kind of understand if they were celebrating the anniversary of the invention of the sundae itself, but they’re not, because nobody knows when that was. There’s some dispute over when and where the term was invented (though there is general agreement that at first it was “sunday” instead), but Ithaca, New York has the only claim with any sort of documented evidence, in the form of the first known printed mention of the term, in an 1893 newspaper ad. Even though all that proves is that the term was invented at some point not too long before the ad was printed, Google has chosen to respect local lore that holds that the term was invented on April 3, 1892 by Chester Platt and John Scott at a pharmacy/soda fountain owned by Platt, in Ithaca.So, OK, that might be of some interest to linguistic historians, or to the folks in Ithaca and the other places that lay claim to inventing the term “ice cream sundae,” but does anyone else really care? I’m much more interested in actual ice cream sundaes than the term — as Shakespeare might have written if he’d ever had one, that which we call an “ice cream sundae” by any other name would still taste as sweet. And despite what some people might have you believe, the dish was not invented in Ithaca, or anywhere else, in 1892.
How do I know? Well, there is plenty of evidence that Thomas Jefferson enjoyed ice cream, both at home in Monticello and in the White House. And there is evidence (though less available online than I’d expected) that he enjoyed it with maple syrup on top, meaning that the sundae as a dish was invented long before 1892.
Some people seem to think Google’s primary motivation in running today’s Doodle is that the upcoming update to the Android OS is nicknamed “ice cream.” Even if so, they’re really reaching for this one.
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Hey guys, sorry I haven't been checking in, I have been super busy. But no worries, I am back. :)
Japanese nuclear plant continues its radioactive spill into ocean
For a second day, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were unable to plug a leak of radioactive water. Meanwhile, Japan's prime minister says it will take months to resolve the problems at the plant.
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Reporting from Tokyo and Los Angeles—
Workers at theFukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant failed for a second day to stem the flow of radioactive water into the ocean as plastic injected into the leak Sunday failed to form a plug.Workers had discovered an 8-inch crack in a concrete channel at the lower levels of reactor No. 2 where radioactive water had been accumulating after it had been sprayed onto the reactor to cool it. The crack was spewing the contaminated water into the ocean, which may explain the high levels of radioactivity detected offshore near the plant.
On Saturday, workers attempted to pump concrete into the crack to seal it, but the concrete would not set before it was washed away by the flow of seawater.
On Sunday, engineers attempted to plug the leak with a mixture of sawdust, shredded paper and a polymer or plastic that expanded to 500 times its normal size when exposed to water. They had then hoped to pour concrete on top of the polymer to form a permanent seal, but the polymer did not form a plug either, and as of Sunday night, water was continuing to flow into the ocean.
Radiation levels in the water are an estimated 1,000 millisieverts per hour, a high but not immediately lethal dose.
On Monday, engineers plan to begin injecting nitrogen gas into reactors Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in an attempt to prevent possible explosions from the buildup of hydrogen gas. The nonflammable nitrogen would dilute both oxygen levels and any hydrogen that accumulated from deterioration of the uranium fuel cladding. The zirconium cladding on the fuel rods becomes oxidized when it is exposed to hot water, releasing hydrogen gas.
Explosions at the three reactors in the first four days after the magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake and the accompanying tsunami badly damaged the reactor buildings and destroyed the cooling pumps that provided water to the reactors.
An aide to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and a spokesman for the country's nuclear safety agency both said Sunday that they expected it would take months to resolve the situation at the power plant. "It would take a few months until we get things under control and have a better idea about the future," Hidehiko Nishiyama of the safety agency said in a news conference.
Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday that they had retrieved two bodies from the power plant last Wednesday. The men had rushed into the control room during the earthquake and were killed in the tsunami that followed.
The announcement of their recovery was not made until Sunday so that the families could be notified first.
A search by Japanese and U.S. military authorities on Sunday led to the discovery of 70 more bodies of people who died in the tsunami, bringing the official death total to 12,087, with more than 15,500 still missing or unaccounted for.
and the entertainment:
Charlie Sheen will learn tonight whether or not his departure from "Two and a Half Men" was a good career turn or a disaster as he performs his second show -- this time in Chicago.
A rep for Vividseats.com tells TMZ with the rest of the tour already not selling well -- they have between 200-300 seats available per show -- tonight's performance could send the rest of the tour into a tailspin.
And staffers at several ticket agencies tell us there has been a rapid rise in the number of people trying to unload their tickets since last night's disastrous performance.
Either way, we'll be there and we will tell you how it all goes down ... as it happens.
A rep for Vividseats.com tells TMZ with the rest of the tour already not selling well -- they have between 200-300 seats available per show -- tonight's performance could send the rest of the tour into a tailspin.
And staffers at several ticket agencies tell us there has been a rapid rise in the number of people trying to unload their tickets since last night's disastrous performance.
Either way, we'll be there and we will tell you how it all goes down ... as it happens.
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