Snip net

YOU can pick up amazing amount of information as you cruise the cyber superhighway on the Net (or more often than not, spluttering and chugging along, courtesy DoT). Of course the Internet is full of stuff, and it is often not possible to verify every bit of information that you see, at the same time you really can’t discount it also. Here are some bits for your consumption:

The history of beer

It was the accepted practice in Babylonia 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon". I have also heard that it was believed that if the groom drank mead for an entire moon it would enhance the chances of his wife bearing a male heir. The bride, however, had to abstain from drinking any alcohol at all.

Before thermometers were invented, brewers would dip a thumb or finger into the mix to find the right temperature for adding yeast. Too cold, and the yeast wouldn’t grow. Too hot, and the yeast would die. This thumb in the beer is where we get the phrase "rule of thumb".

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in Old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It’s where we get the phrase "mind your P’s and Q’s".

After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle often without armour or even shirts. In fact, the term "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.

In 1740 Admiral Vernon of the British fleet decided to water down the navy’s rum. Needless to say, the sailors weren’t too pleased and called Admiral Vernon, Old Grog, after the stiff wool grogram coats he wore. The term "grog" soon began to mean the watered down drink itself. When you were drunk on this grog, you were "groggy," a word still in use today.

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle," is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Sparking the plug-and-play car

There was a time when the sole purpose of the car was to get you from point A to point B, but that quaint time has passed, says Wired. It’s the information age, after all, and like your PC, your car should be a rolling info-pod, continually serving up news, entertainment, advertising, and advice.

And since the well-wired dashboard could become multibillion dollar real estate, car companies are preparing to fill all that time behind the wheel, estimated at 12 per cent of the average American’s waking hours.

"The car is becoming just another information appliance," said Brian McCalley, development manager for Motorola’s driver information systems unit.

— Compiled by Roopinder Singh