Jul 30, 2009

Did You Know


Anson Williams, Potsie, of Happy Days is the nephew of Dr. Henry Heimlich, creator of the 'Heimlich maneuver'. He sure has aged well.

Respect

This is an example of a word that is not used enough today. When Nelson Mandela was in jail and his lawyer came to see him, he said to the lawyer, "I’m sorry, I have not introduced you to my guard of honor (eight guards).” Mandela identified each of the officers to his lawyer by name. The guards were so stunned that they actually behaved like a guard of honor, each respectfully shaking the lawyer's hand. To get respect, you must give respect.

San Andreas Fault


See the diagonal line that runs through the orchard in this photo? That's the San Andreas Fault - a point where the edges of two tectonic plates meet, producing a visible displacement amongst the rows of trees.

When they were planted years ago, the rows were straight, but as the two land masses moved in opposite directions and rubbed against each other over the years the orchard was split. The top half of the field sits on the pacific plate, the bottom half on the North American plate.

Quotable

Do not forget little kindnesses and do not remember little faults.

Health Insurance Costs

Most of the time you read about the cost of healthcare, the article really means healthcare insurance, not the cost of care. Healthcare insurance costs have gone up 119% from 1999 to 2008, while salaries went up 34% during the same period.

Quotable

The world pays a salary for what you know and wages for what you do.

Vincent van Gogh

On July 29, 1890, Vincent van Gogh died at age 37 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was born in the Netherlands and had a happy childhood, but suffered serious mental problems during his adult life.

He committed himself to an artistic career at age 27, and all of his art was produced during the next decade. A quote of his, "As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed."

While van Gogh’s Christian affiliations resulted in his interest in the suffering of others, when he moved to Arles he ceased painting poor peasants, and instead subjected himself to suffering under the undue strain of painting. Having known early in his life about the suffering many peasants undergo, it is no surprise that when he learned of Buddhism, van Gogh would embrace its ideas of enlightenment through suffering, as he did to Christianity.

Van Gogh was born with a brain lesion that many doctors believe was aggravated by his prolonged use of absinthe, causing his epileptic condition. Dr. Gachet, another of Van Gogh's physicians, was thought to have treated his epilepsy with digitalis. This prescription drug can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots. This may have been one of the reasons why Van Gogh loved this color.

PC Monitor All in One



A few weeks ago, I showed a complete PC on a keyboard with built in monitor. This week we have a monitor PC, but without the keyboard built in.

The Averatec D1005 All in One PC comes with a 22 inch WXGA LCD display, and Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of DDR2 RAM which can be increased to 4GB, a 320GB SATA hard drive and a DVD drive.

On top of that there is Intel X4500HD graphics, 802.11n WiFi, Ethernet, a 2.0 megapixel web camera, 6 x USB 2.0 ports, and a card reader. All this for $799. Hey, maybe this chocolate and graham cracker keyboard might work with it.

To Drink or Not to Drink

That is the question. A study in Scotland of 6,000 working men, aged 35 to 64 from West and Central Scotland were tracked for 28 years, and yielded some interesting results. It didn't say, but it appears that a 'unit' is an ounce. According to the article, twenty one units of alcohol per week is the government’s recommended maximum weekly amount.

The results showed that men drinking over 22 units of alcohol a week had a 20% higher rate of admissions into acute care hospitals than non-drinkers, but low levels of alcohol consumption increased the number of days stayed in the hospital.

Those downing 22 or more weekly units had more admissions for respiratory illness, but they had the lowest rates of admission for coronary heart disease. Non-drinkers had the highest rates of admission for coronary heart disease.

The number of admissions for stroke started with a weekly tally of 15 units, and progressively increased the more weekly units were consumed.

Men drinking 22 or more units a week had more admissions for a mental health problem, but non-drinkers had a higher rate of admissions for mental ill health than those who drank between one and 14 units a week. Kind of reaffirms the old adage - all things in moderation.