Fudge

Fudge is a type of confectionery which is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at 240 °F (116 °C), and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. Fruits, nuts, and candies are sometimes added.

Origins

American-style fudge (containing chocolate) is found in a letter written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She wrote that her schoolmate's cousin made fudge in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1886 and sold it for 40 cents a pound. Hartridge obtained the fudge recipe and, in 1888, made 30 lb (14 kg) of fudge for the Vassar College Senior Auction. This Vassar fudge recipe became quite popular at the school for years to come.

Word of this popular confectionery spread to other women's colleges. For example, Wellesley College and Smith College have their own versions of a fudge recipe dating from the late 19th or early 20th century.

In the late 19th century, shops on Mackinac Island in Michigan began to produce similar products for summer vacationers. Fudge is still produced in some of the original shops on Mackinac Island and the surrounding area. Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream, a vanilla ice cream with chunks of fudge blended in, is also very common in this region and across the United States.

Hot Fudge

Hot Fudge (also known as The Hot Fudge Show) is an American children's television series that was produced in Detroit by WXYZ-TV and distributed by the Lexington Broadcast Services Company. Originally airing only in Detroit beginning in 1974, the show grew in popularity and was syndicated nationally from 1976 to 1980.

Overview

Featuring music, songs, and sketches with live actors and puppets (known as the "Mits"), the show was originally hosted by Arte Johnson. The duo of the bearded musician Larry (Larry Santos) and green fuzzy puppet Seymour (voiced by producer Bob Elnicky) took over after the first season.

Glenn Denver, a puppet parody of John Denver, released an album titled Glenn Denver Sings Country Songs from the Hot Fudge T.V. Show. Three other Hot Fudge albums were released; The Electric Fuzz's Rock 'N Roll from the Hot Fudge T.V. Show, Larry and Seymour Sing Songs from the Hot Fudge T.V. Show, and Hooray For Friendship and 9 Other Hits from the Hot Fudge T.V. Show, Plus Nine More. All of the albums have been released on CD.

Spinning wheel

A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibres. Spinning wheels appeared in China, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff. Spinning machinery, such as the spinning jenny and spinning frame, displaced the spinning wheel during the Industrial Revolution.

History

The earliest clear illustrations of the spinning wheel come from Baghdad (drawn in 1234), China (c. 1270) and Europe (c. 1280), and there is evidence that spinning wheels had already come into use in both China and the Islamic world during the eleventh century. According to Irfan Habib, the spinning wheel was introduced into India from Iran in the thirteenth century. In France the spindle and distaff were not displaced until the mid 18th century.

The spinning wheel replaced the earlier method of hand spinning with a spindle. The first stage in mechanizing the process was mounting the spindle horizontally so it could be rotated by a cord encircling a large, hand-driven wheel. The great wheel is an example of this type, where the fibre is held in the left hand and the wheel slowly turned with the right. Holding the fibre at a slight angle to the spindle produced the necessary twist. The spun yarn was then wound onto the spindle by moving it so as to form a right angle with the spindle. This type of wheel, while known in Europe by the 14th century, was not in general use until later. The construction of the Great Wheel made it very good at creating long drawn soft fuzzy wools, but very difficult to create the strong smooth yarns needed to create warp for weaving. Spinning wheels ultimately did not develop the capability to spin a variety of yarns until the beginning of the 19th century and the mechanization of spinning.

Throbber

A throbber is an animated graphical control element used to show that a computer program is performing an action in the background (such as downloading content, conducting intensive calculations or communicating with an external device). In contrast to a progress bar, a throbber does not convey how much of the action has been completed.

Typical characteristics

Usually the throbber is found on the right side of a program's toolbar or menu bar. The form the throbber takes varies, but it is common for it to be the logo of the program it is part of. Most of the time the throbber is a still image (known as its resting frame), but when the program is performing an action the throbber begins to animate in a loop to let the user know that the program is busy and has not frozen. Once the action is complete, the throbber returns to its resting frame. Normally, it is possible for the user to continue interacting with the program while the throbber is animating (one such possibility may be to press a stop button to cancel the action that the program is doing). Clicking on the throbber itself might perform some specific action (for example go to the program's website, pause or cancel the background action).

Spinning wheel (disambiguation)

A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn. It may also refer to: