Nov 28, 2014

Happy Friday

Happiness does not make us grateful, being grateful makes us happy.

I am grateful to be able to share with you a Happy Friday!

Twelve Turkey Facts

Here are a few tidbits to digest along with your turkey leftovers. Turkeys have been roaming North and South America for over 10-million years.

Over short flights, a wild turkey can top out at about 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). Domestic turkeys cannot fly because they are too heavy.

The largest turkey on record weighed 86 pounds.

Turkeys (and many birds) ingest small stones that go into a part of their stomachs called the gizzard, which helps the turkey break down food. This process is necessary because turkeys, like all birds, don't have teeth.

Turkeys have two stomachs: the glandular stomach that softens the food with gastric juices and the gizzard that grinds it up for the intestines or the first stomach, if needed.

The feces of male turkeys are J-shaped, and also straighter and larger than a female's, which look more spiral shaped.

There is a festival honoring turkeys, the Eldon, Missouri Turkey Festival which is held each October. It includes a turkey egg toss, turkey calling seminars and a 5-K turkey trot.

Wild turkeys prefer to sleep in trees, because their eyesight is so poor.

The tops of male turkeys are not only colorful, but highly variable. Males normally have almost no feathers on their heads, but when it comes time to breed, the colors can change between red, white, and blue.

Male turkeys gobble, female turkeys do not gobble, they make a clicking noise.

Mature turkeys have about 3,500 feathers at maturity.

The red bumps on a turkey's head are called caruncles.

Laughing Exercise

Laughing 100 times is equivalent to 15 minutes of exercise on a stationary bicycle.

Snurfing and Snowboards

Sherman Poppen from Muskegon, Michigan took two 36-inch skis that had a little leather strap over the top of them that kids could slide their shoes into. He added a couple of cross pieces across them about five of six inches apart. The cross pieces were actually molding so you could put your feet up against it. His wife called it the 'snurfer'.

He kept improving the design, patented it as a "surf-type snow ski," and sold it to Brunswick. By 1970, almost a million of the boards had been sold.

Jake Burton Carpenter had a competing product he called the 'Burton Board'. Carpenter's Burton Snowboards would go on to become one of the largest snowboard brands in the world.

Snowboarders might be riding "snurfboards" today, if Poppen hadn't been so possessive of his trademark. When he got started and Burton was calling his board Snurfboards, and his was a Snurfer. He did not like his name being used so he hired an attorney to protect his trademark. The sport became snowboarding because Carpenter could not use the word Snurfer or Snurf.

More Egg Facts

Eggs contain very little saturated fat (1.5 grams per large egg) and no trans fat. A medium egg contains about 63 calories and a large about 74 calories.
The nutrients in eggs can play a role in weight management, muscle strength, healthy pregnancy, brain function, eye health, and more.

Egg yolks are a great source of choline, an essential nutrient. Two eggs provide about 250 milligrams of choline. Choline also aids the brain function by maintaining the structure of brain cell membranes, and is a key component of the neuro-transmitter that helps relay messages from the brain through nerves to the muscles.

Lutein and zeaxanthin, two antioxidants found in egg yolks, help prevent macular degeneration, a leading cause of age-related blindness and may even reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Eggs have the highest nutritional quality protein of all food sources. Protein is a source of energy, but its main role in the body is growth and repair. It helps in the formation of muscles, hair, nails, skin and organs, such as the heart, kidneys and liver.

Vitamins and minerals in eggs include:
Biotin - helps cell metabolism and the utilization of fats, proteins and carbohydrates
Calcium - for building and maintain bones and teeth
Cephalin - a phosphorus-containing lipid found in tissues
Folate - for growth
Iodine - to ensure proper function of the thyroid gland
Iron - to produce hemoglobin, which carries oxygen around our bodies maintenance of healthy cells
Lecithin - contains acetylcholine which has been proven to help brain function
Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5 ) - releases energy from our food for our body to use
Phosphorous - helps build strong bones and teeth
Selenium - antioxidant that protects our body and immune system
Thiamine - to turn carbohydrates into energy our body can use
Vitamin A (retinal) - for growth and eye health
Vitamin B12 (riboflavin) - for brain and nervous system functions and blood formation
Vitamin D - important in bone health.
Vitamin E - antioxidant to protect our bodies against disease
Zinc - helps in growth, wound healing, blood formation and maintenance of tissues.


Eliminating eggs from your diet because you are concerned about cholesterol is of no value and you lose the dietary benefits. Harvard Medical School and Mayo clinic agree that even though yolks contain cholesterol, very little of it actually makes it into your bloodstream, where it matters.

Pig Squeals

Experts have determined that the average pig squeals at a level of 100-115 decibels. A jet’s engine only reaches about 112 decibels at takeoff. Bacon does not squeal, it sizzles.

XPRIZE Blood Test Prize

On November 10, 2014, the XPRIZE Foundation announced the winner of the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, the global competition aimed at accelerating the availability of hardware sensors and software sensing technology as a means to smarter digital health solutions.

The winning device, called the Reusable Handheld Electrolyte and Lab Technology for Humans (rHEALTH) system, can potentially run hundreds or even thousands of lab tests using a single drop of blood, and those tests, in turn, can be used to diagnose a range of diseases.

Along with a number of distinguished awards, the $525,000 grand prize was presented to Eugene Chan, founder and CEO of the device’s maker, DNA Medicine Institute (DMI), at Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine conference.

The rHEALTH system reacts to a sample of blood, about 1,500 times less than is usually required, with a series of nanostrips. These strips are a bit like pH test strips, but they are on the scale of blood cells. The system reacts to the blood sample with tens of thousands of nanostrips, each running a different test, then shines a laser on them in rapid succession.

The whole process yields results in about two minutes and currently runs about 22 lab tests, ranging from vitamin D to HIV.

Turquoise Tidbits

The bridle of many horses is decorated with turquoise. This stems from an early European superstition, which continues today, that the wearer of turquoise could never suffer a broken bone, because the turquoise itself would shatter and prevent the accident.

In Europe, this lucky stone was set into horses’ bridles to keep the horse from stumbling and falling, protecting the horse and rider. Decorating the bridles with turquoise has continued through the years.

Monosodium Glutamate Facts

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has been used to enhance the flavor of food for more than 100 years. It was originally synthesized by Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 after he realized that the Japanese broth called dashi (a basic stock made with seaweed and dried fish) had a meaty flavor that had not yet been identified. He called this flavor umami, which can be translated as "delicious taste" and set about synthesizing the main source of it. The basic sensory function of MSG is attributed to its ability to enhance savory taste-active compounds when added in the proper concentration

MSG, which first hit the market in 1909, is today created by bacterial fermentation in a process similar to that used in making yogurt.

Monosodium glutamate added to foods produces a flavoring similar to the glutamate that occurs naturally in foods. It acts as a flavor enhancer and adds a fifth taste, called umami, which is best described as a savory, broth-like or meaty taste.

In the European Union, monosodium glutamate is classified as a food additive (E621) and regulations are in place to determine how and when it can be added to foods. Typically, monosodium glutamate is added to savory prepared and processed foods such as frozen foods, spice mixes, canned and dry soups, salad dressings and meat or fish-based products. In some countries, it is used as a table-top seasoning.

Scientific studies have not shown any direct link between monosodium glutamate and adverse reactions in humans. The US Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its generally recognized as safe (GRAS) designation. While a popular belief holds that large doses of MSG can cause headaches and other feelings of discomfort, in controlled studies scientists have been unable to consistently trigger reactions. MSG has been used for more than 100 years to season food, with a number of studies conducted on its safety. International and national bodies governing food additives currently consider MSG safe for human consumption as a flavor enhancer.

MSG contains about one third of the sodium of table salt and is used in smaller amounts.

Children metabolize glutamate in the same way that adults do and monosodium glutamate is safe for children. In fact, human breast milk contains ten times more glutamate than cow’s milk.

When added to food, MSG provides an umami-rich flavor boost that regular table salt doesn't, even though MSG contains sixty percent less sodium than table salt, and many people cook with it regularly (it is sold under the brand name Accent). While it doesn't have much of a flavor on its own, when added to other foods it blends, balances, and rounds out the other flavors that are present.

MSG does not occur naturally in whole foods, so you do not have to worry about it in fruits and vegetables.

The human body also produces glutamate and it plays an essential role in normal body functioning.

Free Friday Happy Dance


Nov 21, 2014

Happy Friday

Laughing is the best and easiest calorie burner.

I plan to burn a bunch of calories laughing and enjoying a Happy Friday!

Alascattalo Day

November 21, 2014 is Alascattalo Day. It is described as a day to honor humor in general and Alaskan humor in particular. The day is named after 'alascattalo', said to be the genetic cross between a moose and a walrus. It has been celebrated in Anchorage for over 25 years.

A mild-mannered moose named Morris met a witty walrus named Wanabelle.  It was love at first sight, and soon the moose and the walrus were wed in the church down the way. Within sixty weeks, Morris and Wannabelle welcomed into the world a wee little weeble who made their love complete, and the first Alascattalo was born.

White Meat, Dark Meat

White meat is white because of the chicken's lack of exercise. White muscle is suitable only for short, ineffectual bursts of activity such as, for chickens, flying.

Dark meat, which avian myologists (bird muscle scientists) refer to as "red muscle," is used for sustained activity, mainly walking. The dark color comes from a chemical compound in the muscle called myoglobin, which plays a key role in oxygen transport. That's why the chicken's leg meat and thigh meat are dark and its breast meat (primary flight muscles) is white.

Other birds, such as ducks and geese, have red muscle (dark meat) throughout.

Holiday Home Hacks

Remove permanent marker by using toothpaste on it.
A Lint roller is perfect to dust your lampshades with.
Use bread, or a damp paper towel, or play-doh to pick up broken glass or spilled glitter.
Cut a grapefruit and add salt to clean stubborn tub dirt before company arrives.
Wrap your light strings around a hangar to keep them from getting all tangled.
Make a Christmas tree from jello shots to keep the fun going. You can use orange jello for Thanksgiving.


Compulsions, Obsessions, Anal, and OCD

The holidays are the time many people meticulously clean the house and fastidiously prepare large tasty meals. Both of these activities can seem obsessive or compulsive, but neither is considered medically significant. However, for some, these obsessions and compulsions last all year.

Anal retentive (anal) is used to describe a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others, and potentially to the detriment of the anal-retentive person. Traits include orderliness, stubbornness, a compulsion for control, as well as a generalized interest in collecting, possessing, and retaining objects. Those who are anal can take pleasure in organizing and re-organizing, in keeping things neat and in their proper place.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) people can have obsessions, compulsions, or both. OCD is a mental illness. Usually the person has a feeling that they are staving off unspecified doom, such as "Something terrible will happen if I don't wash my hands exactly seven times and tap my toes in rhythm." The acts of those who have OCD may appear paranoid and potentially psychotic. However, people with OCD generally recognize their obsessions and compulsions as irrational and may become further distressed by this realization. Those who have OCD suffer extreme distress from a disruption in their routine.

Obsessions are intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry. If the obsession is with a certain activity, performing it, or thinking about performing it later does not relieve the stress, pressure, or obsession. We all have things that distract us from our daily businesses, but those with true obsessions try to make them go away with no success.

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors that a person must perform, such as checking to make sure the front door is locked, organizing items in groups of arbitrary size, or keeping things in a specific order or position. Compulsions are aimed at reducing the associated anxiety. Most often these rituals become not just a part of daily life, but the person feels that they must repeat them every day in order to keep something horrible from happening.

Bottom line - If you must get things done perfectly and meticulous, you might be anal, but if you must get things done perfectly and meticulous or you will be continuously and seriously agitated and upset, you could have OCD.

World Headlines

There is a wonderful headline site to get all the news in the world on one page. You can compare what different countries say about the same topic. It shows no pictures, has no ads, and shows just headlines. You can get the world news update in minutes, then waste the rest of the day answering email. http://www.veryquiet.com/news.php

Bitter, Sweet, and Salty

Salty and sweet are distinct tastes which our taste buds are usually able to detect. However, if you add salt to some foods, they do not taste salty, but become sweeter tasting. This is because salt is not just a taste, it is also a taste enhancer.

Bitter and sweet cancel each other out to some degree. Think of adding sugar to naturally bitter coffee and you get the idea. It cancels/masks the bitterness. Some people add a bit of salt to the grounds before making coffee, for the same reason.

Pineapples are sweet, but also have some bitterness to them. If you neutralize the bitterness, it should taste sweeter. Adding salt can do this. When salt mixes with the pineapple, the salt splits up into sodium and chloride ions. The chloride is tasteless and our tongues ignore it. The sodium bonds with the acids in the pineapple and forms a similarly tasteless salt, but the bitterness effectively disappears. What remains is the sweetness of the pineapple. Add a little bit of salt to your fresh pineapple and enjoy the enhanced sweetness. It also works with watermelon, oranges, grapefruit, dark chocolate and other foods that are both bitter and sweet. Perhaps this is one reason why it is said that bacon is the food that makes other foods taste better. My father always salted apples before eating and usually paired with extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Adding salt works less well with canned or other processed fruits as many are already artificially sweetened.

Genius Study Results


Sleep Calories

Many variables that go into the calorie-burning equation, such as age, sex, weight, metabolism, diet, and physical and nonphysical daily habits. The two most important factors in determining how many calories you burn while sleeping are weight and number of hours slept. On average, a person burns between 0.4 and 0.5 calories per pound, per hour. For example, a 100 lb. person burns 40-50 calories per hour. In eight hours of sleep, this person will burn approximately 360 calories.

A pound of muscle burns fifty calories a day on average and a pound of fat burns nine calories. A leaner, more muscular person is going to burn up to five times more calories per pound.

If you weigh 160 pounds, you burn 69 calories per hour while sleeping, the FitWatch website calculates up to 552 calories burned during eight hours of sleep. A 120-pound person burns about 51 calories per hour sleeping, or 408 for eight hours; a 200-pound person burns 86 calories per hour, or 868 for eight hours of sleep.

Fifteen minutes of laughter a day will burn ten to forty calories, depending on a person’s weight and the intensity of the laughter.  A study by Loma Linda University found that laughing raises the levels of immunoglobulins, which ward of disease, by fourteen percent. Laughter also has other benefits, including increased pain tolerance, relief of emotional stress and a workout for the muscles of the diaphragm, abdomen, back, and shoulders.

Free Friday Laugh


Nov 14, 2014

Happy Friday

"By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property." Voltaire

We can all appreciate the excellence of another Happy Friday!

Wordology, Handicap

The word handicap is known to originate from the old English trading game Hand-in-cap. The game was based on trading possessions, and proceedings would take place with the help of an umpire. The umpire had a responsibility to decide if the items were valued the same, and if not, he had to decide what the difference was. The two players then put the money in a cap. They had to place their hands in the cap and subsequently remove them either holding money or not, to show if they had accepted the terms of the deal.

Other uses for the word handicap include a condition that markedly restricts a person’s ability to function physically, mentally, or socially. The word also means a disadvantage imposed on a superior competitor in sports such as golf, horse racing, and competitive sailing in order to make the chance of winning more equal.

Famous Inventions by Women

A Shaker community in Massachusetts had a woman named Tabitha Babbitt who worked as a weaver. She would regularly witness the men cutting the wood with a pit saw (a two-handled saw that needed two individuals to operate). Although the saw needed to be pulled in two directions to cut the wood, there was only cutting going on when the saw was being pulled in a forward direction making the backward motion useless. In 1810 Babbitt developed her own draft of a saw that was circular in shape and would eventually be commonly used in saw mills. She attached the blade to her own spinning wheel in order to make every movement count toward cutting results.

Admiral Grace Murray Hopper joined the military during 1943 and was stationed at Harvard University where she was employed using IBM’s Harvard Mark I computer, which was the first large-scale computer in the US. She was the third individual programming the machine and she wrote a handbook of operations that led the way for many that would follow her. During the 1950s, the Admiral came out with the compiler, which converted English instructions into a computer code. This meant that computer code could be developed by programmers with less errors and complications. Hopper then created the Flow-Matic, which was utilized to program the UNIVAC I and II computers. Hopper had also been overseeing the advancements of Common Business-Oriented Language or (COBOL), which was one of the very first computer languages. She went on to obtain various awards for her work and even had a US warship named after her. Heard her speak one time and she used a length of wire 11.8 inches long as a prop. She described how light traveled that distance in one nanosecond.

Leather Stain Removing

If you have an oil stain on your favorite leather handbag, coat the stain with baby powder and let it stand overnight. By morning, the stain should be gone. If a bit still remains, repeat the process until the stain is completely gone. Also, add a few drops of vinegar in a bowl of water and scrub for water stains on leather shoes or boots.

Origin of Scotch Eggs

Scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, dipped in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried. According to food historian Alan Davidson, the Scotch egg originated in India and was brought back by returning soldiers of the British Empire.

It is a descendent of the Indian dish nargisi kofta, which consists of eggs covered in minced lamb and cooked in curried tomatoes.

The first written reference to Scotch eggs, with the recommendation that they be eaten hot with gravy, was in the Cook And Housewife’s Manual in 1910.

Bacon and the N Words

Most discussions of eggs are followed by bacon and vice versa. Nitrates and nitrites may be unhealthy for your body, but what most nutritionists fail to tell you is that you can easily avoid nitrates and nitrites by simply not burning, charring, or over cooking your bacon or by baking your bacon in the oven.

By including some dairy and citrus with a bacon meal, the vitamins A, D and E work to effectively prevent conversion of “nitrates and nitrites into nitrosamines in the stomach, rendering them harmless to the body. Yea!
#bacon

Intel Wearable Awards

Intel’s Make It Wearable is a global initiative to inspire ideas and fuel innovation that will evolve personal computing in exciting new ways.

The Development track focuses on concepts that are both excitingly innovative and feasible to execute. They also demonstrate innovative solutions, creative implementation, technical feasibility, intelligent business planning, and potential for long-term success.

Intel is on a mission to identify and support wearable products and/or technology that can go to market in near future. This track features 3 rounds. All submissions are evaluated in round 1 (idea proposal submission), forty advance to round 2, ten advance to round 3, and three winners are chosen. Semifinalists and finalists gain expert support and education aimed at evolving their proposals into fully developed designs and business plans.

Nixie, the Selfie-Taking Drone, won. It is a wristband that unfolds into a remote-controlled flyable camera, and the winner of the US $500,000 prize. Each of the second through tenth place winners took home US $50,000.

In second place was Open Bionics' 3D printed, functioning prosthetic robotic hand.

Third place was won by Team Proglove's "smart glove" for production and manufacturing. It is a sensor-based "smart glove" that can boost productivity for manufacturing jobs. With an embedded Intel Edison module, and an on-board display, ProGlove allows wearers to scan, sense, and record activities.

Six Fruit Spreads

Jelly, jam and preserves are all made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. The difference between them comes in the form that the fruit takes. Pectin is an indigestible carbohydrate. It is found in the cell walls of most fruit. When heated with sugar in water, it gels, giving jam, jelly, and preserves their thickness.

Jam is a thick mixture of pulp or crushed fruit, pectin, and sugar that is boiled gently and quickly until the fruit is soft and has an organic shape. It spreads easily and can form a blob. In addition to being a spread, jams are also good for fillings. Jam tastes much like the original fresh fruit.

Jelly is made from sugar, pectin, acid, and fruit juice and is a clear spread that is firm enough to hold its shape. Jellies can also be made from ingredients other than fruit, such as herbs, tea, wine, liqueurs, flowers, and vegetables. Unlike a jam's fresh flavor of the original fruit, a jelly's flavor is that of the fruit after several hours of cooking.

Marmalade is a spread made from the peel and pulp of fruit. Marmalade is cooked for a long time, has no pectin, and is used as spreads and glazes. It is a balanced combination of clear jelly with pieces of fruit suspended in it. This fruit may or may not be citrus. Marmalade, like jelly, does not taste of fresh fruit, though the pieces of whole fruit maintain much of the original brightness of flavor.

Preserves are spreads that have chunks of fruit in a syrup or jam. It is a broad category that includes jam, jelly, and marmalade, as well as pickles, chutneys, and any other canned food. Basically, food which lasts longer than it would on its own is considered a preserve.

Fruit butter is a smooth and creamy spread that is created by slow-cooking fruit and sugar until it reaches the right consistency. These types of spreads are sometimes translucent and often opaque. Fruit butters are best used as a spread or filling. It is a variety of jelly and is whipped or cooked down until it becomes extremely thick

Conserves are basically a jam, made with dried fruits and nuts and cooked. They have a very thick and chunky texture. Conserves work very well as a spread and as a condiment for meats and cheeses.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, jam and preserves are considered the same thing. Generally a fruit spread is a preserve if the fruit chunks are somewhat large and it is called a jam if the chunks are relatively small and mashed.

Jams and jellies are sweeter and have about half the calories of butter or margarine and unlike butter and margarine, contain zero fat.

Using Vocal Cords

Your vocal cords are an instrument that you use every day. The human vocal range extends from the depth of whispering to shouting. In between are talking, laughing, crying, humming, singing, and more. The entire vocal range is both attenuated and enhanced by emotions. For instance, it is not necessary to see a person speaking with fear, or happiness to notice the differences in tone and inflection.

One often underused quality of voice is silence. Most of us are familiar with the ‘the silence was deafening’. If you can't improve the silence, don't waste your time exercising your vocal cords.

World Toilet Day

Not a joke. United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, along with a coalition from Singapore, introduced a resolution to declare November 19th the first 'World Toilet Day'. The resolution was co-sponsored and adopted by 122 countries at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. On July 24, 2013, World Toilet Day became an official UN day.

Since its inception in 2001, World Toilet Day is celebrated globally by NGOs, UN agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations and the international community.

19 November is a special day for the World Toilet Organization. It was founded on 19 November 2001. World Toilet Day was established with the aim to draw global attention to the sanitation crisis. The organization’s approach of mixing humor with serious facts resonated with people around the world.

A clean and safe toilet ensures health, dignity and well-being, yet 40% of the world’s population does not have access to toilets. Over two billion people do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets or latrines, with dramatic consequences on human health, dignity and security, the environment, and social and economic development.

Free Friday Quote


Nov 7, 2014

Happy Friday

If it does not make you happy, do not do it.

I am always happy while celebrating a Happy Friday!

National Kindness Day

Next Thursday, November 13 is World Kindness Day. Please be extra kind that day.

Saggy Pants

Have often wondered where the style of some youth began with wearing pants sagging much below the waist. Many US towns have banned wearing in public trousers that are slung so low as to expose the wearer’s underwear.

This saggy trend appears to have originated in US jails where the combination of a prison diet and vigorous sports leads to a slimmer waist. As prisoners are required to wear the trousers they were issued with at the beginning of their sentences, and because belts are usually banned for various reasons, this led to inadvertent sagging. The 'fashion statement' spread beyond the prison walls and has become a sought-after look among America’s disaffected youth.

Horsepower and Watts

Although he was not first to use the horsepower name, James Watt was the first to apply specific measurement to it. During the 1780s, after making a vastly superior steam engine to the common Newcomen steam engine, Watt was looking for a way to market his invention, advertising the fact that his engine was superior and used about 75% less fuel than a similarly powered Newcomen.

He came up with a new unit of measurement that those in need of his engine understood, horse power, referring to powerful draft horses. He calculated how much power a typical draft horse could generate and figured out a typical draft horse could do about 32,400 foot-pounds of work per minute and maintain that power rate for a full workday. He then rounded up, going with 33,000 foot-pounds per minute for 1 horsepower. By overestimating what a horse could do he made sure that his product would always over deliver what he said when trying to get people to buy it.

Watt’s engine was revolutionary and played a huge role in the Industrial Revolution. His unit of measure of an engine’s power became popular. Today the SI unit of power, the Watt, which was named in homage to James Watt, has widely come to replace horsepower in most applications.

Bacon Elevator

Bacon is an effective mood elevator. Bacon makes us feel happy, satisfied, and blissful, which greatly reduces stress and effectively relieves the negative effects of frustration.

Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and Subs

The Grinder arose in New England and was likely named after the dockworkers whose jobs involved much noisy grinding to repair and refurbish the ships. However, some attribute the name to the amount of chewing and grinding it takes to work through the crusty Italian bread and tough meats on the typical sandwich.

The Hero can contain an infinite number of combinations of meats, cheeses, condiments, vegetables and pickled things. Many believe the Hero Sandwich was named by food columnist, Clementine Paddleworth in the 1930s relating to the Submarine sandwich, when she noted, “You had to be a hero to eat it.” The Oxford English Dictionary credits the naming to armored car guards.

Hoagie is what the folks in Philadelphia call it. Most claim that the name came originally from Al De Palma who thought that a person “had to be a hog” to eat such a large sandwich. When he opened his own sandwich place during the Great Depression, Al called his big subs 'hoggies'. It is assumed that the strong Philadelphia accent changed the pronunciation, and eventually, the spelling.

The Submarine sandwich originated in several different Italian American communities in the Northeastern United States from the late 19th century. So, all Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and many other regional names for these great sandwiches are Subs and all Subs are sandwiches, but not all sandwiches are Subs.

Five Fun Facts

We eat pizza from the inside out.
Denver International Airport is larger than Manhattan.
There are more life forms living on your skin than there people living on earth.
The craters named Beer on Mars and the Moon were named for German astronomer Wilhelm Beer, not the drink.
Russia considered beer as a soft drink and not alcohol until 2011.

3D Printed Prosthetic Hand

Hayley Fraser, a five-year-old girl from Scotland, recently became the first child in the United Kingdom to be outfitted with a prosthetic limb made using 3D printing technology.

She was born without fingers on her left hand. Her parents, David and Zania Fraser, went online to try and help their daughter who had been turned down by the National Health System. They came across the website of E-nable, a group of volunteers in the United States who design and build prosthetics for children. They made a cast of their daughter's hand and sent it to the group. Professor Flood used the model to print out properly-sized prosthetic components using a 3D printer.

Now, Hayley can manipulate her prosthetic hand's artificial tendons, joints, and fingers by flexing and rotating her wrist. She can hold her teddy, peel a banana, and even paint her nails. Her new bright pink bionic hand was inspired by the movie Ironman.

Sad Presidential Fact

Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died in the same house on the same day, Valentine’s Day 1884. His wife had just given birth to their daughter Alice, and the pregnancy had hidden her kidney disease. He held her for two hours, had to be torn away to see his mother die of typhoid fever, then returned to his wife, who died in his arms.

Find a Hometown Paper

Many of us move quite far from home and every now and then might be curious about what is going on at the place or places we left. I find it fascinating how different places report the 'same' news, or at least their slant on the same news.
LINK

Free Frdiday Smile