%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
Items to fit into your overhead compartment |
|
Carrion Luggage  Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem. This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it. It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans. It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier." I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination. |
| When I was a kid, I mean a really young kid, after the dinosaur hunt but before the dinosaur meat feast, long before there was a Google or a Wikipedia, I had to rely on my parents for answers to life's important questions. Like, "Why's it called a vanilla envelope? Is it because you lick it?" Well, my parents set me straight on the spelling, and even told me what Manila was (Dad, as a sailor, had been there). But it took until I found this article from Mental Floss to help me finally get closure on this subject. (Closure? Because it's an envelope? No? Yes? Tough crowd.) The days of getting important documents in the mail instead of a PDF may be waning, but there’s still plenty of mileage left in the Manila envelope. The oversized, heavy-duty enclosures can send and store everything from contracts to insurance policies to incriminating blackmail. Ah, yes, the Official Packaging of Compromising Photos. But why are they called “Manila” envelopes? Does the name refer to the Philippines? And if so, how did that come about? Betting colonialism was involved. American stationery companies were experiencing supply shortages in the 1830s. Cotton and linen rags, which were used to produce paper pulp, were growing scarce. To keep production up, papermakers turned to the Manila rope typically found on ships. Oh, thanks. That's helpful. Manila envelopes from Manila rope. In contrast to cotton and linen, Manila rope was derived from Manila hemp—an extremely strong and durable material sourced from Manila, or abacá, plants native to the Philippines (hence it being named after the country’s capital, Manila). Now, see? That's helpful, and I'm not being sarcastic this time. Manila rope that was too frayed to remain in use could be recycled rather than discarded, making it a thrifty resource. This rope walks into a bar and sits down. Bartender goes, "Sorry, we don't serve ropes here." So the rope sighs and walks out. He ties himself into an overhand knot and musses up one of his ends, then heads back into the bar. "Say," says the bartender, "Aren't you that rope who I kicked out a few minutes ago?" "No, I'm a frayed knot." Despite Manila fibers being their main component, it took a while for the term Manila envelope to catch on. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first use of the phrase in print in 1889, when printer Barnum and Co. professed to “make a specialty of large Manilla [sic] … envelopes.” One wonders what they were called before then. Exporting Manila hemp should have been lucrative for the Philippines. Instead, colonialism got in the way. Hey, look, I was right. Okay, I cheated. But I was still right. Manila was phased out of most paper manufacturing over time, with wood pulp growing both more readily available and far less expensive. No. Let's not gloss over the demonization of the hemp plant in general, regardless of THC content. If we'd kept on making paper from weeds instead of trees, maybe we'd be in less of a mess right now. But no, timber companies had a better lobby, and hemp became an early casualty of the War on Drugs. Or at least the run-up to it. So that's the origin story, signed, sealed, and delivered in a golden-brown package. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
