Interesting Things with JC #328: "The Great Valley Museum" encourages action toward learning about, enjoying, and maintaining our natural history and environment. It also opens minds and touches hearts. Located on Blue Gum Ave, in Modesto California inside the Modesto Junior College…and their planetarium is amazing!

Interesting Things with JC #327: "The Sites Reservoir" The California Department of Water Resources intends to construct the $5.2-billion off-stream Sites Reservoir west of Colusa in the Sacramento Valley of northern California, presenting an untapped opportunity to store significant amounts of water generated by stormwater and flood flows. Further strengthening the backbone of this world renown agricultural region.

Interesting Things with JC #326: "Great Valley Farming & Drought" Almond growers are worried about how this may impact the quality of their product over the coming years because the Sacramento Valley has also been affected hard. The Valley is laid out such that water may move from one area to the next, like a series of stairs. As a result, water is utilized very effectively, with almost all of it going toward sustaining life, whether it be plant or animal production. Retaining water during rainy years to help during drought, creating more water storage, such as the proposed Sites Reservoir, could be critically helpful.

Interesting Things with JC #325: "The Great Valley of California" is a 20,000-square-mile structural depression that is one of the world's most notable. The Valley is approximately 50 miles wide and 400 miles long, stretching northwest from the Tehachapi Mountains to Redding. More than 250 different crops, worth an estimated $17 billion, are grown here annually.

Interesting Things with JC #324: "Catching Grapes" - It's not easy to catch grapes in your mouth, but today we look at the world record holder who caught a grape over a distance of 108 meters, as well as holders of other impressive grape catching world records!

Interesting things with JC #323: "The Statue of Liberty" - On July 4, 1884, a ceremony in Paris saw the Statue of Liberty given to Levi Morton, the American ambassador to France who would later become vice president. The finished statue, which stood 151 feet 1 inch (46 meters) tall and weighed 225 tons, was delivered to New York City in pieces in 1885. On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the statue, fully assembled on Bedloe's Island in New York harbor.

Interesting Things with JC #322: "Fireworks" - The moment when fireworks were discovered is unclear though. One set of sources claims that they were discovered 2000 years ago, while another dates the discovery to the Song dynasty's ninth century (960-1279). Lets dig into how fireworks work, their history, and learn about the largest firework ever!

Interesting Things with JC #321: "Steens Mountain" Wilderness has grown to more than 170,200 acres since it was proclaimed by the US Congress in 2000. The Bureau of Land Management is in charge of overseeing all of this wilderness, which is situated in Oregon. It’s the largest physical feature in the northern part of the Great Basin.

Interesting Things #320: "Anaheim Peppers" - These peppers have the name of the US city of Anaheim, California. They were first grown by a farmer called Emilio Ortega in New Mexico. In 1894, he brought the peppers to Anaheim, California, where he started to grow them for profit. The pepper continues to enjoy widespread popularity and they also go by the names of California chile and Magdalena.

Interesting Things with JC #319: "The Tunguska Event" - June 30th 1908, a mysterious blast shook the eastern part of Siberia. The impact devastated an estimated 80 million trees in a radial pattern from the blast zone, generating energy equivalent to nearly 185 Hiroshima bombs.

Interesting Things with JC #318: "Cotton Candy" - When a dentist by the name of William Morrison and a confectioner by the name of John C. Wharton teamed up, cotton candy as we know it today was invented for the first time in 1897. Together, they built a device that spun heated sugar across a screen to give candy the familiar floss-like texture.

Interesting Things with JC #317: "In Bavaria, Beer is Food" - Bavarians view beer not as a drink but as liquid bread, and they honor the food as their national beverage. Here, the average person drinks around 150 liters of beer per year, that's just about 40 gallons!!

Interesting Things with JC #316: "Pink Flamingos" - Don Featherstone of Union Products in Massachusetts first produced the well-known pink plastic flamingo in 1957. He received the Nobel Art Prize in 1996 for his creation. Parks officials in Buffalo, N.Y., reclaimed a Guinness World Records title by assembling a line of 4,280 plastic garden flamingos June 22, 2022.

Interesting Things with JC #315: "Butter Rum" tastes similar to butterscotch, but with a little more flavor. Interestingly, At its peak, colonials allegedly consumed more than five gallons of rum per person per year, paying only shillings per gallon!

Interesting Things with JC #314: "USS Pueblo" - North Korea captured the USS Pueblo, an unarmed US Navy intelligence vessel, in international waters on January 23, 1968 and held the 83-person crew hostage for 11 months. Thank you to Ricky Baez for today’s episode.

Interesting Things with JC #313: "Laminar Flow & the Reynolds Number" - Laminar flow, also known as streamline flow, is layered and smooth. The blood coursing through our veins would be one illustration of this. The Reynolds Number can be defined in a variety of circumstances where a fluid is moving.

Interesting Things with JC #312: "General Charles G. Boyd" was a highly decorated combat pilot and United States Air Force Four-Star General. He is the only Vietnam Era prisoner of war to achieve the four-star rank.

Interesting Things with JC #311: "Self Closing Drawer Slides" include a stationary housing, a slider, and a latch. While the housing is coupled to a cabinet or drawer, dampers are used to slow the movement of the drawer, while engaging a latch towards closure.

Interesting Things with JC #310: "Gondar" is located just north of Lake Tana and Addis Ababa, nestled in the foothills of the Semien Mountains. The University of Gondar is here and it’s the oldest medical school in all of Ethiopia. Let’s journey through the deep and rich history of Gondar, Ethiopia..

Interesting Things with JC #309: "Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen" was the first African-American United States Marine Corps aviator and the first African-American Marine Corps General.