make a list of 43 things i know very little about, and then learn at least 3 things about each of them

I guess it’s only appropriate to learn a few nuggets of knowledge about 43 Things for entry #43.

1. 43 Things won the Webby Award for the best social networking website in 2005.

2. 43 Things was launched on January 1, 2005 – but 43 days prior to the launch a text based interface was online saying, “43 days till the new year. What do you want to do with your life?”

3. Launched by prominent blogger “Erik Benson”, Maktub keyboardist Daniel Spils, and former Amazon.com and Microsoft executive Josh Petersen. (As found on Wikipedia)

http://www.archive.org/ – In case you’ve never been there.

1. A a non-profit organization, started in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, the Internet Archive is an online library and archive of the web and other multimedia resources.

2. AS of 2006 the Wayback Machine (snapshots of past websites and content) contained nearly 2 Petabytes (roughly that’s 2,097,152 Gigabytes) of data and is said to be growing at nearly 20 Terabytes (roughly 20,480 Gigabytes) a month.

3. The Moving Image Collection (section of the Internet Archive) contains a September 11th Television Archive. This contains footage from the world’s major television networks about the suicide attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Since I’m in the comic strip mindset right now I might as well learn a bit about one of the most popular and influential of them all…

1. Fought in Europe in World War II with the US 20th Armored Division achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant.

2. For roughly two years he had a sports-oriented comic strip called It’s Only a Game.

3. His comic strip Peanuts was the result of showing the best panels of his previous strip Li’l Folks to the United Feature Syndicate.

Hands down my favorite comic of all time. But besides what I read in the comic strip I know little else about it.

1. The title of the strip came from a poster for his brother’s band, the Fuzzy Sprouts.

2. First published in September 1999. It was run in 75 newspapers and now runs in over 200 newspapers worldwide.

3. Satchel is based on Darby Conley’s childhood pet Patch. Bucky is based on a friend of Conley’s Siamese cat.

I can’t think of one Pluto without thinking of the other. So why not dive deeper into the Disney character?

1. One of the few Disney characters who is not anthropomorphized (giving human traits to a non-human being).

2. He was named after the (dwarf) planet Pluto (I always assumed this but never 100% sure).

3. For his first on screen appearance he had no name (or was never called by a name). In his next appearance he was referred to as Rover. It wasn’t until the cartoon “The Moose Hunt” that he was first called Pluto the Pup.

I still feel bad that Pluto’s only considered a dwarf planet now. Poor lil’ fella. So let’s learn a bit about it.

1. Designated as 134340 Pluto by the International Astronomical Union.

2. Pluto has three known moons: Charon, Nix and Hydra. Although Charon and Pluto are often treated as a binary system.

3. 11 year old, Venetia Burney, was the first to suggest the name Pluto. Basically she mentioned the name to her grandfather, Falconer Madan, who passed the suggestion along to Professor Herbert Hall Turner who passed it along to some American colleagues.

Love their stories, but what do I really know about these two? Not a lot. So let’s learn!

1. The two German academics, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were linguists.

2. The linguistic law, Grimm’s law, is named after Jacob Grimm.

3. Besides the popular Grimm’s Fairy Tales collection, the brothers worked on “Deutsches Worterbook” – a 16 volume German historical dictionary.

I had to wear this things since high school, you would think I’d know a little bit more about them other than, “They help me see clearly.”

1. The first wearable eye glasses were invented by Salvino D’Armate in Italy around 1284.

2. Modern glasses that are held in place with temples passing over the ears were not invented until around 1727.

3. Prior to modern glasses (#2 above), the glasses had to be held in place by the hand. Or some other fancy rig – ribbon over the head, held in place with a hat.

Let’s learn a few tips, shall we?

1. Street photography is less about the equipment you use and more about how you interact with the people and your surroundings.

2. Shyness as a photographer could hinder your shots. Be bold about what you’re doing and don’t be afraid to get that shot (something I need to pound into my head).

3. It’s all about observation. Not just how you see things, but knowing your subject and, if human, respecting their personal space.

1. Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. His ancestors William Hathorne persecuted the Quakers and John Hathorne oversaw the Salem Witch Trials. It is said that Nathaniel may have added the ‘w’ to his surname after he learned this.

2. His uncle is said to have paid for his Bowdoin College education.

3. Died in his sleep, buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts.