On/Off The Wagon? Which is the bad one?

This is one of the hardest for me to remember, silly as that may seem.  I never ever use it because I never feel sure that I would use it correctly.

Real quick:

On the wagon:  you have stopped doing something. (usually drinking alcohol, but anything fun really.)
Off the wagon:  you have begun doing this thing again.

BUT....if you add the word "band" it's opposite, pretty much.

On the bandwagon:  you have started doing something (that other people are doing)
Off the bandwagon:  you have stopped doing something (that other people are doing)

Oh, Phrase Finder:  On the wagon' was coined in the USA around the turn of the 20th century. The phrase began as 'on the water-cart', migrated to 'on the water-wagon' and finally to 'on the wagon'.

Suggested explanations of the origin of 'on the wagon' focus on actual wagons that were used to transport people; for example, condemned prisoners who had taken their last drink in this life and were transported to the gallows by wagon. Another story has it that Evangeline Booth, the US Salvation Army National Commander, toured the Bowery slums in a wagon picking up drunks and delivering them to sobriety.

(That's not actually the true origin but it's close and it's pretty funny.)




And what about that bandwagon?

The word bandwagon was coined in the USA in the mid 19th century, simply as the name for the wagon that carried a circus band. Phineas T. Barnum, the great showman and circus owner, used the term in 1855 in his unambiguously named autobiography The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself, 1855:

"At Vicksburg we sold all our land conveyances excepting four horses and the 'band wagon'."

 And jumping on it?

Circus workers were skilled at attracting the public with the razzmatazz of a parade through town, complete with highly decorated bandwagons. In the late 19th century, politicians picked up on this form of attracting a crowd and began using bandwagons when campaigning for office.

The transition from the literal 'jumping on a bandwagon', in order to show one's alliance to a politician, to the figurative use we know now was complete by the 1890s. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt made a clear-cut reference to the practice in his Letters, 1899 (published 1951):

"When I once became sure of one majority they tumbled over each other to get aboard the band wagon."

And as an extra:

two teenage boys, a.k.a. The Josh + Joe Experience play the Green Day song Off The Wagon, with no lyrics, in a bedroom....or a rec room, or something.
 

Cracking One's Sternum. Really?

Recently a friend told me that since she's been doing Bikram yoga regularly her sternum has popped a couple of times....and that it is crazy.  This revelation led me to realize that I apparently don't know what a sternum is.  To the extent that I thought I knew, I imagined it to be a solid piece of bone and not something capable of "cracking".  So.....what the hell?

 

It turns out I do know what a sternum is.  Or, at least, pretty much.  It is actually a big 'ol piece of bone in the middle of your chest. It isn't jointed in any way.  For some reason that makes me feel a lot better.  I don't want my heart parts cover to be jointed.  I want a solid wall of defense.  However I found out via Wikipedia that it is connected to your ribs by cartilage (which i guess connects with some kind of joint but a different kind....some non-standard joint) and is connected to your clavicles by joints.  So I think that what is popping are those joints, which sounds heinous.  There seem to be about equal opinions on the internets about whether it's totally awesome and okay or whether you should immediately take your cracky sternum to a chiropractor.  That's really neither here nor there, i just wanted to know if it was possbile.  And I guess it is....kind of.  There was a lot of stuff about it on yoga forums but also lots of stuff out there in the internet about it happening when people stretch in the morning and stuff like that.  So, basically it's a stretching thing.  The lesson here?  Never stretch anything, if you can help it.

Wikipedia tells you about your sternum and shows you diagrams.

Sternums cracking on a bike forum.  The tenth post down is kind of the only one that sounds remotely informed.

And here is a pretty awesome video of a guy doing some kind of thing with his body.  Seems like it might get some stuff to crack.  Also, he yells at you to giggle a couple of times and then giggles maniacly himself.  It's worth waiting for.

What in the heck is a Door Mouse?

First of all, a door mouse is a dormouse.  That's good to know.

Wikipedia says: Dormice are small for rodents, with a body length of between 6 and 19 cm (2.4 and 7.5 in), and weighing between 15 and 200 g (0.53 and 7.1 oz). They are generally mouse-like in appearance, but with furred, rather than scaly, tails. They are largely but not exclusively arboreal animals, and are agile and well adapted to climbing. Most species are nocturnal. Dormice have an excellent sense of hearing, and signal each other with a range of different vocalisations.
and
One of the most notable characteristics of those dormice that live in temperate zones is hiberbation. Dormice can hibernate six months out of the year, or even longer if the weather remains sufficiently cool, sometimes waking for brief periods to eat food they had previously stored nearby. During the summer, they accumulate fat in their bodies, to nourish them through the hibernation period.
and...Ack!
The edible species was considered a delicacy in ancient Rome, either as a savoury appetizer or as a dessert (dipped in honey and poppy seeds). The Romans had a special kind of enclosure known as glirarium used to rear dormice for the table. Dormice to this day are eaten in Slovenia.  Dormouse fat was used by the Elizabethans to induce sleep. 
(a really large number of pictures of dormice i found on flickr were labeled edible.  that sucks.)


This website has a lot of information on them and also diagrams and also really cute pictures.

Also, Alice In Wonderland.
Also, Jefferson Airplane.
Also, Beatrix Potter has story called Ginger and Pickles featuring some sleepy dormice.

Also, A.A. Milne:

The Dormouse and The Doctor

There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And all the day long he'd a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

A Doctor came hurrying round, and he said:
"Tut-tut, I am sorry to find you in bed.
Just say 'Ninety-nine' while I look at your chest....
Don't you find that chrysanthemums answer the best?"

The Dormouse looked round at the view and replied
(When he'd said "Ninety-nine") that he'd tried and he'd tried,
And much the most answering things that he knew
Were geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

The Doctor stood frowning and shaking his head,
And he took up his shiny silk hat as he said:
"What the patient requires is a change," and he went
To see some chrysanthemum people in Kent.

The Dormouse lay there, and he gazed at the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue),
And he knew there was nothing he wanted instead
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red).

The Doctor came back and, to show what he meant,
He had brought some chrysanthemum cuttings from Kent.
"Now these," he remarked, "give a much better view
Than geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

They took out their spades and they dug up the bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),
And they planted chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
"And now," said the Doctor, "we'll soon have you right."

The Dormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh:
"I suppose all these people know better than I.
It was silly, perhaps, but I did like the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

The Doctor came round and examined his chest,
And ordered him Nourishment, Tonics, and Rest.
"How very effective," he said, as he shook
The thermometer, "all these chrysanthemums look!"

The Dormouse turned over to shut out the sight
Of the endless chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
"How lovely," he thought, "to be back in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red.)"

The Doctor said, "Tut! It's another attack!"
And ordered him Milk and Massage-of-the-back,
And Freedom-from-worry and Drives-in-a-car,
And murmured, "How sweet your chrysanthemums are!"

The Dormouse lay there with his paws to his eyes,
And imagined himself such a pleasant surprise:
"I'll pretend the chrysanthemums turn to a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)!"

The Doctor next morning was rubbing his hands,
And saying, "There's nobody quite understands
These cases as I do! The cure has begun!
How fresh the chrysanthemums look in the sun!"

The Dormouse lay happy, his eyes were so tight
He could see no chrysanthemums, yellow or white.
And all that he felt at the back of his head
Were delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red).

And that is the reason (Aunt Emily said)
If a Dormouse gets in a chrysanthemum bed,
You will find (so Aunt Emily says) that he lies
Fast asleep on his front with his paws to his eyes.


So basically a dormouse is a tiny, very shy, very sleep little rodent that people sometimes eat.  It seems like if you ask most people to tell you what they know about dormice they'll tell you that they are very very very sleepy. Which is cute.  They don't actually fall asleep in mid sentence....but only because they can't talk.

Underwater Photography.

I have never really understood how this works.  I guess i assumed that you had to have one of those big Jacques Cousteau cameras on wheels (they look like little hotdog carts).  Turns out, that's not true.  Of course.

 

Here is a really complete guide to basically all things underwater photography:

Underwater Photography Guide

And then there's this rundown, which is better suited to my attention span, courtesy of Photo.net:
Underwater Photography: a primer

And here are some underwater housings for different sorts of cameras:
Underwater Camera Housings

And here is just one of several AWESOME underwater photography groups on Flickr:
Underwater Portraiture Group

If you'd prefer not to have to read all of that it basically goes like this:

* buy a waterproof camera and then use it.

OR

* buy a waterproof housing for whatever kind of camera you like to use.  it seems like the more expensive the camera the more expensive the housing will be but pretty much all of them come with a guarantee to the effect that they will replace your camera if the housing doesn't protect it.

* go underwater

* take pictures, remembering that light is refracted differently and stuff like depth of field is going to be pretty crazy.