Today's Dippit!

Quote

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity." 

George Eliot

Joke

How do we know that the ocean is friendly?

It waves!

Fun Fact

There's a device that creates energy from snowfall.

It's pretty darn impressive that scientists have been able to harness energy from the sun, wind, and water, providing us with all kinds of alternative sources of power. And now they've managed to create energy from snowfall. According to a 2019 study in the journal Nano Energy, engineers and chemists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a device made of silicone that can harness a charge from static electricity.

"Snow is positively charged and gives up electrons, while silicone is negatively charged and accepts the electrons,"  IFL Science explains. "So, as the snow lands on the silicone, a charge is produced and then captured." Think of it like the spark of energy you create when you rub a balloon against your hair.

Reading Fact

Readers have higher incomes

History Fact

Germany uncover 2,000 tons of unexploded bombs every year.

Over the course of WWII, the Allied armies dropped roughly 2.7 million tons of bombs over Nazi-occupied Europe. Half of that which landed on Germany.

Before any construction work can begin in Germany, the ground must undergo extensive surveys to look for unexploded ordinance.

Sometimes bombs are discovered naturally. One example was from 2011:

45,000 people were evacuated from their homes when a drought revealed a 4,000-pound “blockbuster” bomb lying on the bed of the River Rhine in the middle of Koblenz.

Movie/TV Trivia

The carpet in The Shining and the second floor of Sid’s house in Toy Story are almost identical. 

Movie/TV Quote

"I drink your milkshake."

There Will Be Blood (2007)

The fervor around "I drink your milkshake" was immediate following the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's oil man epic There Will Be Blood. It was almost instantly canonized, though it's not the actual kicker of the film: That would be Daniel Plainview's plaintive "I'm finished." But the milkshake line comes during the furious climax, featuring an unhinged, bellowing Daniel Day-Lewis spewing mind-blowing anger while facing off against Paul Dano's sniffling preacher Eli Sunday. Daniel, raging, lays waste to Eli, first verbally, then beats him to death with a bowling pin. It's early capitalism gone awry, cutthroat instincts turned deadly. After he says he'll drink Eli's milkshake, Daniel slurps viciously, a disgusting period on a memorable threat. Anderson admitted that he cribbed the "milkshake" line from congressional hearings on the Teapot Dome Scandal involving Edward Doheny, an oil tycoon who served as inspiration for Plainview and the Upton Sinclair novel on which Anderson was riffing. The story goes that New Mexico Senator Albert Fall, accused and ultimately convicted of taking bribes, said during the 1924 hearings, "Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I'll end up drinking your milkshake." Anderson told USA Today at the time: "I just took this insane concept and used it."

Despite the line's current status, it wasn't a given that audiences would be on board for the analogy. The film's editor Dylan Tichenor recently told Vanity Fair: "The milkshake line -- I think everyone cocked their head and laughed when they read it, like, 'What?'" But it's the "what?" of it that makes it outstanding, combined with the specific historical weirdness. Anderson's writing has always been rooted in comedy even when the larger narrative is geared toward high tragedy. And, of course, it would be absolutely nothing without the full muscle of Day-Lewis skills behind it. Before There Will Be Blood, milkshakes were happily nostalgic treats. After, they were forever emblems of a man who has lost his mind.

Conversation Starter

What’s the most fun project you’ve ever worked on?

Writing Prompt

What Extreme Sports Interest You Most?