Bet you didn't know: Halloween

85 facts about Queen Elizabeth II

Princess Margaret (front) with her sister Elizabeth (right)
and grandmother Queen Mary (left) @ Wikipedia

1. The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London.

2. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

3. It was not expected that her father would become King, or that she would become Queen.

4. The Princess was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace. She was named after her mother, while her two middle names are those of her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, and paternal grandmother, Queen Mary.

5. The Princess's early years were spent at 145 Piccadilly and at White Lodge in Richmond Park.

6. When she was six years old, her parents took over Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park as their own country home.

7. Princess Elizabeth was educated at home with Princess Margaret, her younger sister.

8. She received tuition from her father, as well as sessions with Henry Marten, the Vice-Provost of Eton. She was also instructed in religion by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

9. Princess Elizabeth also learned French from a number of French and Belgian governesses.

10. Princess Elizabeth enrolled as a Girl Guide when she was eleven, and later became a Sea Ranger.

11. In 1940, at the height of the Blitz, the young Princesses were moved for their safety to Windsor Castle, where they spent most of the war years.

12. The Queen is the first British monarch to have celebrated a Diamond Wedding Anniversary.

13.Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip first met when they attended the wedding of Prince Philip's cousin, Princess Marina of Greece to The Duke of Kent, who was an uncle of Princess Elizabeth, in 1934.

14.The engagement between Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN was announced on the 9th July, 1947. Prince Philip was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. He was created "Duke of Edinburgh" by King George VI on marriage.

15.The platinum and diamond engagement ring was made by the jewellers, Philip Antrobus Ltd, using diamonds from a tiara belonging to Prince Philip's mother.

16. Prince Philip had two stag parties the night before the wedding.

17. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were married in Westminster Abbey on the 20th November, 1947 at 11.30am with 2000 invited guests.

18. The eight bridesmaids were: HRH The Princess Margaret, HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent, Lady Caroline Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Lady Mary Cambridge, Lady Elizabeth Lambart, The Hon. Pamela Mountbatten, The Hon. Margaret Elphinstone, The Hon. Diana Bowes-Lyon.

19.There were two pages: HRH Prince William of Gloucester and HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

20.The Queen's wedding dress was designed by Sir Norman Hartnell.

21.The fabric for the dress was woven at Winterthur Silks Limited, Dunfermline, in the Canmore factory, using silk that had come from Chinese silkworms.

photo credits: The British Monarchy

22..The Queen's Bridal Veil was made of tulle and held by a tiara of diamonds. This tiara (which can also be worn as a necklace) was made for Queen Mary in 1919. It is made from re-used diamonds taken from a necklace/tiara purchased by Queen Victoria from Collingwood and Co. and a wedding present for Queen Mary in 1893.

23. The grave of the Unknown Warrior was the only stone that was not covered by the special carpet in the Abbey. The day after the wedding, Princess Elizabeth followed a Royal tradition started by her mother, of sending her wedding bouquet back to the Abbey to be laid on this grave.

24. The bride's wedding ring was made from a nugget of Welsh gold which came from the Clogau St David's mine near Dolgellau.

25. Around 10,000 telegrams of congratulations were received at Buckingham Palace and the Royal couple received over 2,500 wedding presents from well-wishers around the world.

26. As well as jewellery from their close relatives, including the King and Queen, the couple received many useful items for the kitchen and home, including salt cellars from the Queen, a bookcase from Queen Mary, and a picnic case from Princess Margaret.

27. The "wedding breakfast" (lunch) was held after the marriage ceremony at Westminster Abbey in the Ball Supper-room at Buckingham Palace. The menu was Filet de Sole Mountbatten, Perdreau en Casserole, Bombe Glacee Princess Elizabeth.

28. The couple departed Waterloo station with the Princess's corgi, Susan, for their honeymoon.

29. The newlyweds spent their wedding night at Broadlands in Hampshire, home of Prince Philip's uncle Earl Mountbatten. The second part of the honeymoon was spent on the Balmoral Estate.

30. Early in 1948 the couple leased their first marital home, Windlesham Moor, in Surrey, near Windsor Castle, where they stayed until they moved to Clarence House on July 1949.

31. After marrying Princess Elizabeth, The Duke of Edinburgh continued his naval career, reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in command of the frigate HMS Magpie.

32. Although he was The Queen's husband, The Duke of Edinburgh was not crowned or anointed at the Coronation ceremony in 1953. He was the first subject to pay Homage to Her Majesty, and kiss the newly crowned Queen by stating "I, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, do become your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks. So help me God."

33. Prince Philip has accompanied The Queen on all her Commonwealth tours and State visits, as well as on public engagements in all parts of the UK. The first of these was the Coronation tour of the Commonwealth from November 1953 to May 1954, when the couple visited Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Cocos Islands, Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.

34. The Coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. It was a solemn ceremony conducted by Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury.

35. The Coronation was followed by drives through every part of London, a review of the fleet at Spithead, and visits to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

36. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have four children: Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales (b. 1948), Princess Anne, The Princess Royal (b. 1950), Prince Andrew, The Duke of York (b. 1960), and Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex (b. 1964).

found pic @ Lisa's History Room

37. With the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960, The Queen became the first reigning Sovereign to give birth to a child since Queen Victoria, whose youngest child, Princess Beatrice, was born in 1857.

38. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have eight grandchildren - Peter Phillips (b. 1977), Zara Phillips (b. 1981) Prince William (b. 1982), Prince Harry (b. 1984), Princess Beatrice (b. 1988), Princess Eugenie (b. 1990), Lady Louise Windsor (b. 2003) and James, Viscount Severns (b. 2007) She has one great-grandchild Savannah (b. 2011)

39. The Queen has delivered a Christmas message every year except in 1969, when she decided the royals had been on TV enough after an unprecedented family documentary. Her greeting took the form of a written address.

40. In her 1991 message, the Queen silenced rumours of abdication as she pledged to continue to serve.

41. The Queen issued a writ against The Sun newspaper after it published the full text of her 1992 broadcast two days before transmission. She later accepted an apology and a £200,000 donation to charity.

42. The Queen's grandfather, King George V, delivered the first royal Christmas broadcast live on the radio from Sandringham in 1932.

43. George V was at first unsure about using the relatively untried medium of the wireless, but eventually agreed.

44. There was no Christmas broadcast in 1936 or 1938, and it was the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 that firmly established the tradition.

45. Last year the Queen delivered her address from Hampton Court Palace - the first time the historic building had been used.

46 The speech is written by the Queen and each has a strong religious framework, reflects current issues and often draws on her own experiences.

photo credits: Royal Ascot Blog

48. An animal lover since childhood, The Queen takes a keen and highly knowledgeable interest in horses. 

49. She attends the Derby at Epsom, one of the classic flat races in Britain, and the Summer Race Meeting at Ascot, which has been a Royal occasion since 1911.

50. The Queen's horses won races at Royal Ascot on a number of occasions.

51. Other interests include walking in the countryside and working her Labradors, which were bred at Sandringham.

52. A lesser known interest is Scottish country dancing. Each year during her stay at Balmoral Castle, The Queen gives dances known as Gillies' Balls, for neighbours, estate and Castle staff and members of the local community.

53. The Queen is the only person in Britain who can drive without a licence or a registration number on her car. And she doesn't have a passport.

54. The Queen is patron to more than 600 charities

55. To formally greet the Queen men should perform a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am'.

56. Norman Hartnell, who first worked for the then Princess Elizabeth in the 1940s, produced many of the finest evening dresses in Her Majesty’s wardrobe.

57. Hardy Amies began designing clothes for The Queen in the early 1950s and established his name with the deceptive simplicity of his accomplished tailoring.

58. In the 1970s The Queen awarded her patronage to Ian Thomas, who was an assistant designer to Norman Hartnell before setting up his own salon. Maureen Rose of the same house continued to design for Her Majesty after Ian’s death until the late 80’s.

59. Between 1988 and 1996, Her Majesty’s dresses were designed by John Anderson. His business partner Karl Ludwig Rehse took over the mantle after his death in 1988 and the Queen still wears his designs today.

photo creits: The British Monarchy

60. Stewart Parvin, the youngest of Her Majesty’s designers, trained at Edinburgh College of Art. He began to design for The Queen in 2000 and continues to do so.

61. Angela Kelly is Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser to The Queen. Her role includes designing for The Queen, which she has done since 2002. Angela and her team try and use both old and new fabrics when designing. Some of the material they incorporate has been given to Her Majesty many years ago, some dates from when she was Princess Elizabeth.

62. The Queen celebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday on 21 April and her official birthday on a Saturday in June.

63. The Queen usually spends her actual birthday privately, but the occasion is marked publicly by gun salutes in central London at midday.

64. In 2006, Her Majesty celebrated her 80th Birthday in 2006 with a walkabout in the streets outside of Windsor Castle to meet well-wishers.

65. On her official birthday, Her Majesty is joined by other members of the Royal Family at the spectacular Trooping the Colour parade which moves between Buckingham Palace, The Mall and Horseguards’ Parade.

66. Queen Elizabeth II is the fortieth monarch since William the Conqueror.

67. She has visited Australia 15 times, Canada 23 times, Jamaica six times and New Zealand ten times.

68. She has sent around 100,000 telegrams to centenarians in the UK and the Commonwealth.

69. The Queen has launched 23 ships and met five astronauts at Buckingham Palace.

70. She first flew in an aeroplane in July 1945.

71. She is the only British monarch in history properly trained to change a spark plug.

72. On Victory in Europe Day she and her sister slipped into the crowd to celebrate.

73. She collected clothing coupons for her wedding dress.

74. The Queen has a bank account at Coutts & Co.

75. The Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2002, including visiting 70 cities and towns around the UK.

76. Tony Blair was the first prime minister to be born during her reign, which has already seen nine prime ministers.

77. The Queen has sat through 91 state banquets and posed for 139 official portraits.

78. Technically The Queen still owns the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters around the UK which are recognised as 'Fishes Royal'.

79. The Queen introduced a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi", when one of the corgis mated with a dachshund named Pipkin.

80. The Queen is the first British monarch to see three of her children divorce.

81. She demoted a footman for feeding her corgis whisky.

photo credits: The Telegraph

82. The Queen has nine Royal thrones - One at the House of Lords, two at Westminster Abbey, and six in the throne room at Buckingham Palace.

83. She is a Patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. 

84. There have been six Archbishops of Canterbury during the Queen's reign

85. The Queen is 5ft 4 inches or 160cm tall.

Sources: The British Monarchy official website & The Telegraph

Serralves

I have lived for almost 18 years in the street of Serralves, therefore my childhood is strongly attached to those amazing gardens, where we could play and enjoy ourselves. By that time, we used to call it "Quinta do Conde de Vizela", which was not totally accurate, but it was good enough for people in the neighbourhood!

The history of Serralves House dates back to the start of the 1920s, after Carlos Alberto Cabral, 2^nd Count of Vizelainherited the family’s summer residence. As a cultivated and well-travelled man, he was attracted to modernity and cosmopolitan living – aspects that did not rest easily with the social and cultural climate of the city of Porto, and which were partly due to the French and English education he received during his childhood.

In 1925, in order to acquire furniture for the new house, he travelled with the architect, José Marques da Silva to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. The modernity of the event fascinated him and he established contacts there with the famous decorator, Émile Jacques Ruhlmann.

Various people were involved in building the House, but its authorship may be attributed, with a certain degree of care, to Charles Siclis, who played a decisive role in the project’s global design and José Marques da Silva who developed, altered and executed the building.

The building – that should be viewed as a collective work – was only concluded in 1944, with a considerable delay due to the difficulties caused by the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. It is considered to be the most notable example of an Art Deco building in Portugal, even though it was finally completed well after the end of the golden years of this style. The building is far more audacious than any other buildings in the context of Portuguese architecture at the time.

Accompanied by Blanche Daubin, with whom he was to marry in the early 1950s, the Count finally moved to the house in 1944. However he only lived there for a short period oftime. Due to financial difficulties, he ultimately sold it and the rest of the property to Delfim Ferreira, Count of Riba d’Ave, before moving to the top two floors of a building in Porto. However the sale agreement involved a key restriction - no transformations could be made to the property. In 1986, it was sold by Delfim Ferreira’s heirs to the Portuguese State.

Nowadays, the Serralves Foundation is a European cultural institution serving the national community, whose mission is to raise the general public's awareness concerning contemporary art and the environment. The Foundation pursues its mission via the Museum of Contemporary Art as a multi-disciplinary centre, the Park as a natural heritage site ideally suited for environmental education and entertainment activities and the Auditorium as a centre for reflection and debate on issues facing contemporary society. 

Next weekend, Serralves is promoting for the 9^th time a huge free-entrance festival - Serralves em Festa - and offering 40 hours of non-stop activities, with more than 240 events of theatre, puppets, exhibitions, guided visits, contemporary circus, photography, dance, cinema, music, performance and workshops -with activities for all ages.

found pic @ 9.ª Edição Serralves em Festa

Here you can check how last year's edition was amazing! Besides all the cultural events, the unique gardens, the landscape, the lake and the green all around you are incredible... Don't miss this opportunity!

The History of English in 10 minutes

A Short History of Blogging

The Word

The first use of the term weblog in relation to the delivery of content on a website comes from the delivery of a paper titled “Exploiting the World-Wide Web for Electronic Meeting Document Analysis and Management” by Raikundalia & Rees, two lecturers from Bond University, Australia made to a conference on August 14, 1995. The paper discussed the use of:" (...) a Web browser access to various meeting document information, such as minutes, tabled documents, reports and document indexes. Applications are being developed to take standard electronic meeting log files, postprocess them in a variety of ways, and generate a series of indexes and summary files. These files are formatted in HTML and exploit hyperlinks to the full in order to relate the different types of information." Although the paper is aimed at the recording of electronic meetings, the processes described reflect strongly on what blogs evolved into. Popular use of the term weblog as we know it today cam from Jorn Barger of the weblog Robot Wisdom (robotwisdom.com) in December 1997. 

The concept 

The origins of modern blogging are often as argued about as what blogging is.Many point to blogs as websites or webpages that provided links and comments to other pages, and its is from this basis that modern blogs emerged. Tim Berners-Lee, father of the World Wide Web, first posted a web page in 1992 at CERN that kept a list of all new web sites as they come online. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) started a What’s New list of sites in June 1993. Notably the site provided entries sorts by date and the What’s New links included commentary. This service was eventually taken over by Netscape in what became on of the more popular web sites of its time. In January 1994, Justin Hall launches Justin’s Home Page which would later become Links from the Underground. The site included links to and reviews of other sites. Notably on 10 January 1996, Hall commences writing an online journal with dated daily entries, although each daily post is linked by through an index page. In February 1996, Dave Winer writes a weblog that chronicles the 24 Hours of Democracy Project. In April, Winer launches a news page for users of Frontier Software, that goes onto became Scripting News in 1997, one of the oldest weblogs remaining on the net today. After Jorn Barger introduced the term weblog into popular use in December 1997, blogging as we now know it continued to develop. In early 1999 Peter Merholz coins the term blog after announcing he was going to pronounce web blogs as “wee-blog”, that was then shortened to blog. At this stage, a list maintened by Jesse James Garrett recorded that there were 23 known weblogs in existence. As blogging started to grow in 1999, the first portal dedicated to listing blogs was launched, Brigitte Eaton launched the Eatonweb Portal. Eaton evaluated all submissions by a simple assessment that the site consist of dated entries, one of the criteria we use to day in identifying a blog. In May 1999, Scott Rosenberg at Salon.com writes one of the first media articles on the emergence of weblogs and refers to the growing number of “Web Journalists”. In August 1999, Pyra Labs, today owned by Google, launches the free Blogger blogging service, that for the first time provides an easy set of tools for anyone to set up a blog. Other services launched around the same time include Pitas and Groksoup, neither of which capture the imagination of bloggers in the same way as Blogger did. Over the following 12 months, blogs explode, new companies and tools enter the market. The rest... is still being written!

Source: The Blog Herald

Photo credit: Annie Mole via photo pin cc

The British Library

The British Library website allows you to explore 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 3 million sound recordings (so important to work Phonetics), and much more. Find what you need - in the arts and humanities, sciences, or almost any subject. Its resources are huge but I have to highlight one of them: the incredible Timeline of English Literature and Language and of World events, where we can find information from Beowulf up to the XXI century. It's a great online resource for ELT.

A Brief History of Online Education

The internet has given us many gifts throughout the years - from music and video game codes to not so G-rated material. Therefore, it is no surprise that e-learning has made such a big splash in the web world. Within the past ten years, online education and internet training has provided many people with a new incentive to learn.

During the early 80's, e-training was just starting to become a potential creation. Companies and educational institutes were strictly hiring instructors to train their students. This was because computers were only beginning to grow, therefore making it difficult to come up with any other plan. These instructors were great at the time because it allowed training to be very hands on, especially since students were able to interact with their classmates and visually see the lessons. However, the problem with having just instructors was that there was a lot of blank time in between. Students were not being able to learn the material on their own time, thus difficulty set in when training with hoards of other people.

Online Education

Luckily, as the computer industry started to expand, e-training was becoming a reality. For the next ten years, multimedia was at everyone's fingertips. Companies were just starting to use PowerPoint; a program that allowed people to create visually enhanced presentations. Video games and other multimedia programs were also popping up, thus resulting in a technology overhaul. As these advances continued, online education was only a step away.

The first type of online education was in the mid 1990's. This was when the internet was a great success, and multimedia was being taken to another level. The first few e-training companies dedicated their services to mainly businesses who did not want to hire trainers. Although the online education courses were great for new employees who needed training, it was only the beginning of an uphill process. Education online was very slow, as pictures were small and the entire course was text based. Nevertheless, it was beginning to catch the eye of many.

As the 1990's quickly ended, the millennium marked an entirely new period for technology. E-learning was finally on the map as online education courses were now very popular at colleges and businesses. Great streaming media, online video access, and fast web site servers made it possible for online education to make quite a splash. Students were also now able to learn from their homes during their own time, since working a job and going to school was quite a difficult task.

Today, online education has come a long way. Instructors are now being hired to solely teach online, which usually consists of being filmed for lesson videos. Companies are also hiring these online education programs, since a training session can not only be quick, but also be accessed at any time of the day or night. For many, it is a great opportunity because it gives us all more knowledge. We not only are able to get college degrees through this type of e-learning, but we also can have a life, without having to stay at the office overnight just to learn some material.

A Brief History of Online Education

National Geographic Teaching Resources

The new National Geographic site has improved even more its Education section. Now there are tabs for Teachers, Informal Educators, Families, Students and Kids. You will find lots of Teaching Resources about current world events and also News, Media, Mapping, Geo-Literature and a special section on how to bring NG's rich media into your classroom.
They are now paying a special attention to the tragic sinking of the Titanic, which happened 100 years ago, on April 15th, taking the lives of more than 1500 passengers and crew. You can access interactive maps and a precise timeline, watch videos and photo galleries and download posters and documents, for example, this one - 10 Cool Things About Titanic. Go ahead and check the amazing quality of these materials!

Online Education: A Brief History

When the educational process takes place in an environment other than a live classroom, it is known as distance education. The idea of distance education can be traced by to the advent of the printing press. From the very earliest days of printing, it became possible to develop a learning method whereby the student learned at his own pace and without the aid of an instructor. The self help manual is one of the earliest examples of distance learning.

As each new technological advance was made, the possibilities of its adaptation for distance learning were explored. When radios came into common use, the possibilities of giving instruction via this medium were investigated. Television was a major advance that was used in distance training. The development of closed circuit television networks made it possible for classrooms to be spread out over great distances with the instructor in one location, and the students in another. The drawback to this method was that it still required the student to be actually present at the time the class was being held. It did not free him of that restraint.

Online Education

It was the introduction of computers, and the wide spread growth of the internet that brought us to the current golden age of distance learning. Online education actually began with the introduction of the "Computer Assisted Learning Center" (CALC) in 1982 in Rindge, New Hampshire. This was the first actual online school in the United States although a similar program was being tested in Norway at around the same time. In was not until 1994-1995 when the internet became more widespread and available to the public from small and local internet service providers that online education really began to explode.

The first stage was the introduction of individual classes online. They were intended to supplement on campus classes and not replace them. There was a bit of reluctance in the educational establishment to change the traditional methods, and this reluctance still exists to some extend. It is fast fading, however, as the advantages of online education became apparent. Before long, you could find a complete degree program online. This was followed by online degree colleges. At the present time, online education opportunities increase with each passing day, and the status of online degrees and how they are received by employers is improving constantly as the internet becomes more integrated into daily life.

Online Education: A Brief History

Online Education History

Internet has provided us with many wonderful gifts – from video games to music and a lot more. Today, we can get all the information in the world with the help of internet. The online education or e-learning is the latest addition which internet has brought in front of us. These virtual classrooms on the internet have opened plenty of opportunities for students around the world.

There is absolutely no doubt that e-learning has given new incentive and hope to learn. However, you must be surprised to know that the concept of e-learning started in the early 1980’s. During that time educational institutes and companies hired qualified instructors for training their students. It proved quite expensive but there was not much option left as computers were still at a nascent stage. But the mode of instruction proved great as it allowed hands on training.

The fact that students could see the lessons and interact with other pupils made it all the more special. However, the factor of ‘blank time’ proved as a real problem for the students in the 80’s. These students were unable to study the materials on their leisure time.

Fortunately, with the growth of computer industry things started to look a lot brighter. E-training and e-learning soon became a reality. Multimedia was the next big thing! Companies started to utilize PowerPoint slide shows; a program which made people to produce creative presentations. This sophisticated technology gave new dimension to e-learning.

The first serious form of any online education in the world was experienced during 1990’s. It was the time when both multimedia and internet were at their prime. E-learning companies at that time devoted their services primarily to businesses which were not that keen to hire professional trainers. The online form of education and training proved a great success for the new employees. The training provided them the foundation and at the same time prepared them for the upcoming challenges. However, the growth of education online moved at an extremely slow pace. This was mainly because of text based course content. In the absence of charts, diagrams, and pictures, learning became boring and dull. Nevertheless, the concept still managed to generate a good amount of interest among the people. The positive response gave birth to fresh online course content. And soon upgraded online study materials were available for various courses. The growth continued slowly and steadily for a good period of time and nowadays you can even do an online MBA from the comfort of your home.

The UK universities have given a whole new dimension to the concept of online MBA . Moreover, the value provided by their course content has been recognized by the professionals all over the world. Their management courses are designed and tailor made keeping in mind the practical aspect of learning. Students find learning fun and easy in the presence of virtual campus and online chat sessions. They also get the opportunity to solve all their doubts and queries with the help of various online tools.

Swine and Mankind

Nancy and I have been enjoying some locally-produced, hazelnut-finished, red wattle pork. We purchased it from Heritage Farms Northwest. The oil in the hazelnuts results in a pork fat that’s significantly softer than other pork, indicating a lower saturated fat content. The red wattle is a relatively rare breed of hog, and definitely NOT a producer of “the other white meat.” Last Sunday we enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs with some diced grilled pork chop (including the thick layer of fat, of course!) and caramelized onions. Very rich. This one meal carried us both until well past our usual dinner time. Each of us finally ate something later that evening, more because we felt it was time than feeling all that hungry. Fat satisfies. Fat “sticks to your ribs.” Carbohydrates do not satisfy. The sensation of hunger returns more quickly on carbohydrate-based diets than on fat-based ones. Swine have been the source of dietary fat and protein for some time.

Archaeological evidence indicates that swine were first domesticated about 9000 BCE in the East Indies and southeastern Asia. Swine have been especially amenable to human selection. Many different breeds have been developed over the years. Interestingly, pigs can change back just as easily. When given the opportunity, pigs promptly revert within only a few generations to a wild or feral state in which they acquire the body form and characteristics of their wild progenitors many generations removed.

Swine were introduced to North America by Hernando De Soto in 1539. Their importance to the subsequent history of this continent (and the rest of the world) is hard to over-state. Beginning with their unforeseeable role as a vector for zoonotic diseases (diseases transmissible from animals to humans) that decimated the native American population, continuing through their subsequent role in sustaining the mostly-rural population of the developing nation, and ultimately forming the foundation of Midwestern US agriculture. And the pig’s importance is not limited to North America, which is home to less than 12% of the world’s hogs.

“World distribution of swine, by major areas. (Based on estimates from the FAO Production Yearbook, FAO/UN, Rome, Italy, 1994, pp. 192-194, Table 90).” From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

When one compares the modern pig with its ancestor, the European wild boar, it is obvious how much “gentic manipulation” has taken place! Not through some high-tech approach, obviously, but by a long process of selecting for desirable traits and against negative ones. Disposition would be an obvious criteria!

The European wild boar. From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

But body structure and the degree of “finish” or fat would be others. Through the 19th century, lard-type hogs were favored because of the value of lard. This is reflected in the type of animal that was preferred in the livestock show-rings of that era.

“A Poland China gilt of the chuffy type. Small, refined animals of this type dominated the American show-ring from 1890-1919.” From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

But tastes changed and soon a taller animal was preferred. Fashion is fickle in the breed ring as well as on the designers' runways. It's interesting to note that this trend precedes the low-fat-is-the-healthy-diet message of the last half of the 20th century. Data from 1929 indicated that one average hog carcass provided enough meat for two people for a year, but enough for three people for a year. This over-production of lard was a significant problem, depressing hog prices.

“A Poland China boar pig of the rangy type. Long legged, weak loined, “cat hammed” animals of this type dominated the American show-ring from 1915-1925.” From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

Today’s animal has been selected to produce a maximum of lean meat with even less fat, in part as a response to the market’s demands (which, of coarse, is responding the “conventional wisdom” that animal fat is bad for us).

“1994 World Expo top placing Poland China boar.” From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

For anyone who doubts that genetics can make some constitutionally lean and others constitutionally heavy, look at the differences that genetics can play in the leanness of swine.

“Breeding made the difference! The hogs received the same ration and were slaughtered at the same weight. Not the difference in the amount of lean meat, with the hog on the left being superior.” From Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker.

Consider the implications for humans! Some of us, due to our genetic inheritance, will tend to be leaner than others. Biology isn't fair. And an impaired metabolism may mean that we will carry more fat than if we had not incurred this metabolic damage. What we need to understand is what we must do to be as lean as we're capable of being.

Finally, I’ve heard that these lean hogs have to be raised in confinement with some degree of climate control because their lack of fat makes them susceptible to heat and cold. If we're going to raise livestock, we need to be aware of the conditions the various breeds were selected for.We'll need to choose breeds that match our conditions and management goals.

Next posts:
Lard, Glorious Lard! (the uses and benefits of lard)
Try, Try Again (rendering lard at home)

Reference
Ensminger, M.E. and R.O. Parker. 1997. Swine Science. Interstate Publishers, Inc.