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Happy Friday

Life is like a kite, the higher it goes, the softer the wind.

I am always high on having a Happy Friday!

Robot Reporters

Quarterly business earnings reports are dull and boring to read. That makes them ripe for automation. The Associated Press has been using an automated system since last year to write its stories and few readers noticed. AP implemented the system six months ago. It now publishes 3,000 such stories every quarter and that number is poised to grow.

AP says the automated system is now logging in fewer errors than the human-produced equivalents from years past. Of the estimated 3,000 such reports each quarter, about one hundred will have an added human touch, either by updating the original story or doing a separate follow-up piece.

The giveaway is that there is no byline and at the end of the article we see, "This story was generated by Automated Insights." The Wordsmith platform also generates millions of articles per week for other companies, such as Allstate, Comcast, and Yahoo, whose fantasy football reports are automated.

Four Vaccine Myths Debunked

They cause autism: The origin of the myth was from a study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Most of Dr. Andrew Wakefield's co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers. The same year, the Institute of Medicine reviewed evidence from the US, Denmark, Sweden, and the UK and found no connection between vaccines and autism. Around 2010, another British medical journal concluded Wakefield's study misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of his study.

The Lancet retracted Wakefield's paper in 2010 and he lost his medical license.

They contain poison: The cause was from a preservative and Thimerosal is no longer used in vaccines. In 2001, the FDA stopped issuing licenses for children's vaccines containing it. The preservative has been used for decades and still is in adult vaccines. There have been many studies and none of them show a correlation with autism or other serious side effects, the FDA says.

Doctors and insurance companies promote vaccinations to drive profits: Some insurers pay the cost of vaccinations to prevent paying more later, when a patient gets sick. A 2009 study found that up to a third of doctors actually lose money when giving vaccines.

The diseases they help prevent are long gone: One example of this effect is before the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, there were between 3 to 4 million cases a year, resulting in 400 to 500 US deaths. Measles vaccination in the US has reduced the rate of infection in the population by 99% when compared to times when no vaccine was available. Measles has been on an uptick this year, because so many children have not been vaccinated against it.

Rhino Sex

Not much is known about certain rhino ovulation cycles, but it has been confirmed that some do not have set mating seasons and may become sexually active two times per year. Most seem to mate in the summer and fall seasons, likely due to the availability of food.

Female rhinos put on weight and become irritable if they do not reproduce, according to a study. Experts also discovered that, although they are ready and willing to copulate, they show no outward signs, so males do not realize that they are in heat.

Researchers at Chester Zoo teamed up with Manchester and Liverpool universities to carry out the first comprehensive study into reproduction among black rhinos. They performed hormone analysis on animals from eleven European zoos. A total of 9,743 samples were analyzed by Chester Zoo’s wildlife endocrinology laboratory. Dr Katie Edwards, from the University of Liverpool, who led the research, said females that had never bred were found to be heavier than those that had. Non-breeding females were also found to have “unpredictable” temperaments. The results were published in the Journal of General and Comparative Endocrinology.

The male Rhinoceros is ready for mating between the ages of 7 and 8 years old. However, if there are other males to compete with, it can be much older before it is able to find females that are receptive to advances. The bigger and stronger males are the ones that have the best success when it comes to mating. For females mating can begin from the ages of 5 and 6.

It is common for fierce fights to occur between males and females, because the male will not take no for an answer when it comes to mating. The male usually does get his way and then will leave after mating.

The fact that the mother carries the young in her body for more than one year and she may keep it with her for several years is a problem when it comes to increasing their numbers. The females may take three years to mate again.

Bee Fact

Honey bees, a very small minority of bee species die after stinging, because their stingers have barbs at the ends and get lodged into their target. When the bees fly off, they are basically ripping themselves in half. Most other species of bees have a smooth stinger that can go in and out of the target with no problems.

More Drinking Terminology

Bootleg comes from the late 19th century smugglers' practice of concealing bottles in their boots. In football, "bootleg" means the quarterback fakes a hand-off and runs while concealing the ball, ostensibly on his leg.

Touching glasses, as in toasting, comes from ancient Greeks, who clanked their cups in order to purposefully spill some alcohol, which was an offering to the gods. It also follows a medieval custom of clinking goblets together in order to frighten the demons out of the spirits, because it sounded like church bells.

Shot glasses serve two functions: to measure liquor for a cocktail or to consume straight liquor in a quick manner. The first printed use of the term “shot glass” occurred in the 1940s in a news story discussing ways to regulate the size of a shot of liquor in the restaurants and bars of New York City, US. Before it was called a shot glass, it was referred to as a jigger or pony. A jigger is a measuring glass of varying volume, while pony means one US liquid ounce.

The cocktail glass pre-dates the drink for which it is named. It was developed as a way to keep chilled drinks from being warmed by a drinker’s hands. During the early 20th century the martini glass, which is wider and less rounded, became distinct from the cocktail glass.

The earliest reference to a corkscrew was in 1681 where it was called a 'steel worm used for the drawing of corks out of bottles'. The term 'steel worm' was derived by gunsmiths, who had crafted similar tools by the same name for cleaning the barrel of a musket.

Blotto and blackout are British slang from the early 1900s. To blot can mean both to soak up a liquid and to erase something, which is what happens to your memory when you blackout.

Three sheets to the wind comes from sailing terminology. If all three sheets (on a three-sail rig) are released and allowed to go slack, the sail will flap about sloppily, the boat will lose speed, and control. Another theory comes from the Dutch windmill industry. The mills generally had four blades that were just frames. When a miller wanted to grind grain he would put material over the frames of the blades, so that the wind would propel them. If the miller only put three sheets on before it started spinning, it would be lopsided. As the unbalanced blades spun it would cause the entire mill to sway back and forth, much like a drunken person.

The first documented use of hangover or hang-over was in 1894, and it meant a survival or a thing left over from before. The term was also associated with the 1929 US stock market crash often written about as if it were a hangover from the wild 1920s.

The verbal short form of '86' to mean to dismiss or quash, to bar entry or further service to, and even to kill. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first verifiable use of 86 for 'refuse service' dates to a 1944 book about John Barrymore, a movie star of the 1920s and infamous for his drinking. "There was a bar in the Belasco building, but Barrymore was known there as an 'eighty-six'. An 'eighty-six', in the language of western dispensers, means do not serve him." There are many other theories, but this seems to be the most accepted.

Send Money in Gmail

If you are in the US or UK, you can exchange money with friends and family quickly and safely using Google Wallet. You can also do this directly from Gmail.

If it is your first time sending, receiving, or requesting money, you may need to verify your identity. Once you verify your identity, any money someone sends to you will automatically go into your Wallet Balance.

Receiving money, and transferring it to your bank account, is always free no matter which payment source the sender uses. Sending money is also free using a bank account or debit card, but has a 2.9% fee if you use a credit card. Most transactions are completed within 2 business days or less.

Wordology, By Hook or By Crook

This was first used during the 14th century, it refers to peasants pulling down branches for firewood using either a bill-hook (long handle saw with curved blade) or a shepherd’s crook (walking staff with curved handle). It is an old phrase that describes any means possible, but it has no relation to criminals.