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40 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | January 2017 | Did You Know? By Micki Rosen, resident of Four Seasons Beaumont DID YOU KNOW THAT JAN. 28 IS KAZOO DAY? This distinctively American musical instrument was designed in 1840 and brought to the world as the "Down South Submarine" in 1852 during the Georgia State Fair, by Alabama Vest and Thaddeus Von Clegg, a German-American clockmaker. Nearly 60 years later the commercial production of this device started. Rather than having any particular keys or tuning devices, the music of the kazoo is created by humming into the instrument, and actually heralds back to earlier instruments based on this kind of vibration. Believe it or not, there is a history of instruments that function by altering the voice of the musician. DID YOU KNOW THAT JAN. 21 IS INTERNATIONAL SWEATPANTS DAY? If you know how it feels to just want to spend the day lounging around comfortably in your sweats, this is a day you should celebrate! The first pair of sweatpants was introduced in the 1920s by Emile Camuset, the founder of Le Coq Sportif. The first sweatpants to be made were simple knitted gray jersey pants that allowed athletes to stretch and run comfortably. Traditionally sweatpants have been ash gray in color, but over the years companies like Nike have put considerable effort into making them more attractive while at the same time remaining just as comfortable as the original ones. DID YOU KNOW THAT JAN. 19 IS POPCORN DAY? Popcorn is a worldwide phenomenon that is enjoyed every day of the year. The original corn was derived from a small grass with kernels not unlike that of wheat. Careful selection and generations of breeding resulted in what we think of today as the corn plant. When settlers came to the New World from the Old Country, they discovered this amazing crop. Somewhere along the line it was realized that certain corn kernels, when subjected to heat, will pop and reveal their soft fluffy endosperm in a cloud around their shell. Before long it was discovered to be a light and delicious treat, and further cultivation led to the popcorn we have today. DID YOU KNOW THAT JAN. 7 IS BOBBLEHEAD DAY? Bobbleheads first came onto the scene over 100 years ago, being comprised of a simple doll with a head attached by a spring, creating that signature bobblehead action. The first of these toys was thought to have been created in the mid- 1800s, when plaster cats with bobbing heads were all the rage. In the 1920s the bobblehead came to sports, but they were all identical. In the 1930s the love of these died off, only to be reborn in the 1960s when they started producing custom faces representing the most popular players of the time. Since then the bobblehead craze has never really died down, growing in popularity and design over the ages. DID YOU KNOW THAT JAN. 3 IS DRINKING STRAW DAY? Can you imagine drinking a milkshake without a straw? Or how anyone would manage a juice box? I think we can all agree that drinking straws have changed our lives enough to deserve their own holiday. The first straws man ever used were made by the Sumerians, and were probably most often used for drinking beer, which at that time contained many solid byproducts of the fermentation process. Thousands of years later, in the 1800s, the rye grass straw became popular because it was cheap and soft. Unfortunately, it also had the tendency to turn to mush in liquid. One day, while drinking a mint julep, inventor Marvin C. Stone became especially frustrated by the straw's shortcomings, as the flavor of the rye mixed with that of his drink, giving it a grassy taste. He then patented the modern drinking straw in 1888. The first straw Stone made was just paper wound around a pencil to make a thin tube, and he then slid the pencil out and applied glue between the strips. Stone later further refined his invention by building a machine that would coat the outside of the paper with wax to hold it together, so the glue wouldn't dissolve in the bourbon he liked to drink.

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