OFFBEAT INFO

THE NEFF ZONE -- BY JIM NEFF

CADILLAC NEWS -- JANUARY 18, 2025

When discussing the affairs of the day, it's fun to be the person who colors a bit outside of the lines. Having offbeat information at your disposal allows you to chuckle while others just scratch their heads. 

For example, when you walk out the door in the morning you probably don't think much about the knob you twist to open the door. But did you know that before 1878 doors were knob free? “The process of entering and exiting a room was revolutionized when a self-taught 16-year-old inventor named Osbourn Dorsey received a patent for a doorknob with an internal door-latching mechanism. This was a massive improvement to existing doorknobs, which lacked internal latches and didn’t stay in place as well.”

The new knobs were not an immediate hit. “It took several more years for most people to embrace Dorsey’s upgraded doorknobs and begin having them installed in their homes.” Now there are an estimated forty billion doors in the world. (https://interestingfacts.com/fact/modern-doorknobs-invented-in-1878/)

You might open a door to head out for your daily walk. If you want to avoid looking at your phone as you walk, a new app could help. It is designed to help you cut down on your screen time and count your steps. “Steppin combines these two ideas to help users do both at the same time to bridge the gap between physical and mental health.” 

Here's how it works. “Steppin blocks your social media apps unless you walk a certain number of steps each day. You unlock time on your most-used social media platforms by achieving daily step goals. The app lets you decide how many steps it takes to earn one minute of screen time.” It's available on IOS with Android coming soon. (https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/14/kayak-founder-returns-with-steppin-an-app-that-locks-you-out-of-social-media-until-you-go-for-a-walk/)

If you're taking that walk in Florida you may want to wear a helmet. “As residents across the Gulf Coast and Southeast experience significant drops in temperatures, experts say there's a chance iguanas could drop from trees. These cold-blooded reptiles become immobile and can lose their grip on branches when temperatures drop below their tolerance threshold.”

Come to think of it, even a helmet may not protect you. “When fully grown, iguanas can be up to five feet long and weigh up to twenty-five pounds. Such large lizards falling from trees can cause injury to unaware humans who don't normally prepare for raining reptiles.” (https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/falling-iguana-alert-amid-cold-temperatures-in-florida/1730875)

To avoid iguana bombardment, you may want to exercise out in the open in one spot. The Hula Hoop is perfect for this. However, if you've never mastered the skill,  there's an explanation. “It turns out there’s a science-backed reason why this seemingly simple motion is so dang difficult for some people. Apparently, keeping the plastic tube in the air has more to do with your body shape than your movements, and people with pear and hourglass figures have a clear advantage.”

Researchers used mini robots to calculate this. “Keeping the hoops from falling for a significant period of time required two attributes: Hips, or a sloping surface, to push the hoop up, and a curvy waist for stability. On the flip side, all trials with a cylindrical body failed to suspend the hoop.” 

Still, even those of us who are cylindrical can benefit by keeping the hoop going for a short time. “The activity is a great way to burn calories, get your heart rate up, and strengthen your core.” (https://nicenews.com/health-and-wellness/hula-hooping-easier-body-shapes/)

Personal odometers can come into play when it comes to physical activity, Good news, though, for the more experienced among us who went to school in a bygone era. “If you can read cursive, the National Archives would like a word. Or a few million. More than two-hundred years worth of U.S. documents need transcribing (or at least classifying) and the vast majority from the Revolutionary War era are handwritten in cursive – requiring people who know the flowing, looped form of penmanship. Reading cursive is a superpower.” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/12/national-archives-needs-citizen-archivists-cursive/77493951007/)

Why? “American’s skill with this connected form of script has been slowly waning for decades. Schoolchildren were once taught impeccable copperplate handwriting and penmanship was something they were graded on.” 

Now you can be a Citizen Archivist. To volunteer, all that’s required is to sign up online and then launch in. There's no application. You just pick a record that hasn't been done and read the instructions. It's easy to do for a half hour a day or a week.” Go to: https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/get-started-transcribing. 

Finally, it's always entertaining to play a game of semi-trivia. The name of this game might be: “What would $20 buy when you were growing up?” (https://historyfacts.com/us-history/article/what-20-could-buy-you-through-history/)

For instance, in the 1950s it would finance a holiday meal. “According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, it cost just under $7 for a meal that included a 16-pound turkey, potatoes, stuffing, dinner rolls, cranberries, and pumpkin pie throughout the entirety of the 1950s. As another example, $20 could buy 400 cans of Coca-Cola.”

Are you a music lover? “In 1980, $20 could snag you two tickets to see some of the top acts of the day, including Peter Gabriel, Bob Seger, or the Grateful Dead. Today, meanwhile,  it might be able to get you a drink at big arena shows.” 

FYI, tickets to the Detroit Lions playoff game could set you back between $600-$1000 each. Brewski prices at Ford Field are between $11.49 and $16.00. Go Lions! 

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Read Neff Zone columns online at CadillacNews.com and NeffZone.com/cadillacnews.