Oct 29, 2011

Happy Friday

Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet.

I have made it past Monday and am enjoying the sweetness of a Happy Friday!

Birthdays Revisited

I was reminded that last week, when I listed the famous people born on October 18, in Friday Thoughts, I missed at least one. Bill MacFarlane, a friend, business associate, and regular reader. Today Mac is even older than he was last week.

Fluffernutter

I was reading a quote from Joe Biden, “So all this stuff is like so much Fluffernutter out there.” Since I had not heard the term, went to see what he meant.

A fluffernutter is a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow creme. Its name comes from the common use of "Marshmallow Fluff" brand marshmallow creme. It is popular in the Northeastern United States, where Joe is from, and has been proposed as the official Massachusetts state sandwich.

It is made by spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread then spreading an equal amount of some kind of marshmallow (small, large or cream) on another slice, and combining them together to form a sandwich. "Fluffernutter" is a registered trademark of Durkee-Mower Inc., the maker of "Marshmallow Fluff" brand marshmallow creme.

Second Hand TV

Speaking of fluffernutter, some researchers are warning about the dangers of watching TV when very young children are nearby. Recent findings suggest that even casual exposure to TV can harm child development and undermine parent-child interactions.

One study said parents are distracted by TV the same way preschoolers are. Another recent study found that children who watched a short cartoon showed a reduced ability to delay gratification and poorer working memory.  I have some language for them, secondhand science is harmful to real science.

Internet is Growing

If you ate a doughnut a second for the rest of your life you would not grow as fast as the internet. There was more data transmitted over the Internet in 2010 than the entire history of the Internet through 2009.

There are currently 4 billion connected devices around the world, Intel expects that number to increase to 15 billion by 2015 and 50 billion by 2020.

Wow -  48 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded each minute, 200 million tweets sent per day and 7.5 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month. Also, think about the billions of spams sent each day and billions of emails.

It used to be that the internet added the equivalent of the entire Library of Congress every fifteen minutes and now it does so in less than half that time, and 24 hours a day. I like to think I am doing my share by adding these postings, just to keep the world from taking itself too seriously.

Say Cheese

The Center for Retail Research claims that cheese is the world's most frequently stolen food and it has been labeled a "high risk food." There is growing interest in the more expensive cheese such as Parmesan. Next in line as most stolen are fresh meat, chocolate, alcohol, seafood, and infant formula.

Overall, retail 'shrinkage', which includes theft is up to $119 billion in 2011, up 6.6% since 2010. 35.9% of retailers reported that actual and attempted shoplifting rose last year and 24% had higher employee theft. Shoplifters are highest in the Asia pacific and Europe. Organized crime theft is highest in the US.

Almost four percent of the world's cheese supply ends up stolen, putting cheese on top of the list. Shoplifting rates as a whole are going up, because of the current economic situation. Now we can say with certainty that shoplifting is a cheesy crime.

SIRI

The new voice application for the iPhone that was just announced is very cool, but do you remember that Feb 26, 2010 Friday Thoughts, I told you it was coming. Wow, what a long gestation. Also, Android phones have had voice response for a long time.

Oct 26, 2011

Canned Food Day

Darn, I missed it a few days ago. We eat what we can and what we can’t we can. Nicolas Appert probably didn't say that, but he did invent the canning process. I know Campbell's likes him.

He was born in Chalons-Sur-Marne, France and was destined to become a great chef and confectioner -- and chemist and inventor. In 1809 the French government awarded Appert with twelve thousand francs for his contribution to the world.

Nicolas Appert had, in his search to preserve food, invented a process of heating foods and sealing them in airtight containers. In 1812 he was bestowed with the title, Benefactor of Humanity. We still use his methods of food preservation today!

Also, can't forget another invention of Appert’s: the bouillon cube.

Rubic's Cube

Just a quick video of a computer, powered by a phone solves a Rubic's cube in just over 5 seconds.It beat the human record of 5.65 seconds. LINK  I love technology.