Sep 30, 2016

Happy Friday

Life's greatest achievements came from lack of experience.

Each week I experience a new and wonderful Happy Friday!

Ten Things You Never Knew the Name of

Agraffe: the wired cage that holds the cork in a bottle of champagne.
Barm: the foam on a beer.
Columella nasi: the space between your nostrils.
Griffonage: unreadable handwriting.
Ideolocator: a “you are here” sign.
Keeper: the loop on a belt that keeps the end in place after it has passed through the buckle.
Obelus: the division sign (÷).
Phloem bundles: those long stringy things you see when peeling a banana.
Punt: the bottom of a wine bottle.
Rasceta: the lines on the inside of your wrist.

Social Media Facts

A surge of new technologies and social media innovations is altering the media landscape and changing the way people behave.

Over one million books are published worldwide every year. A Google Book Search scanner can digitize 1,000 pages every hour. Americans have access to: 1,000,000,000,000 web pages, 10,500 radio stations, 5,500 magazines, and well over 200 cable TV networks.


There are 240,000,000 TVs in the US. More than 2,000,000 of them are in bathrooms.
Newspaper circulation is down 7 million over the last twenty five years, but in the last five years, unique readers of online newspapers are up over 30 million.

Traditional advertising is in steep decline while digital advertising is growing rapidly. More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last 2 months than if ABC, NBC, CBS had been airing new content 24/7/365 since 1948 (when ABC started broadcasting).


The number of unique visitors Myspace, YouTube, and Facebook receive every month, collectively is over 250 million. None of these sites existed 6 years ago. Wikipedia launched in 2001 and now features over 13 million articles in more than 200 languages.

Broker vs. Realtor vs. Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent is a real estate professional who has taken and passed all required real estate classes and passed the real estate licensing exam in the state in which he or she intends to work. It is the most encompassing of the titles, since it is the starting point for most real estate professionals. Agents are also referred to as real estate associates.

A realtor is a real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of Realtors. To become a member, a real estate agent has to agree to abide by the association's standards and uphold the code of ethics.

A real estate broker has continued his or her education past the real estate agent level and passed the real estate broker license. Real estate brokers can work as independent real estate agents or have other agents working for them.

The biggest distinction between the three is that a broker can work on his or her own, while an agent or associate has to work under a licensed broker. A hybrid position, referred to as a real estate associate broker, is an agent who is working toward achieving a broker's license. Associate brokers have to work under a licensed broker, but may share in the brokerage profits above and beyond the usual agent commission.

Madrid Crosswalks

Here is a great idea. The crosswalks are livened up to promote awareness for both drivers and pedestrians.

There are a variety of colors and designs on different roads.

Irene Triplett

When the US Civil War ended in 1865, the US government promised a monthly stipend to the wives and children of Yankee soldiers. Now, 151 years later, and Irene Triplett is still receiving her Civil War pension.

During the 1920s, Mose Triplett – a Confederate soldier who had defected to the Union in 1862, married Irene’s mother, Elida. Irene was born to Mose Triplett and his second wife, Elida, in 1930. Mose, whose first wife Mary died in the 1920s, fathered five children with Elida, who was 50 years younger than he was. Mose died in 1938.

During 2013, after breaking her hip, Irene, the last child moved into a Wilkesboro skilled-nursing facility. She still collects $73.13 each month from her father's military pension.

Incidentally, about 15 children of veterans from the Spanish-American War of 1898 also still receive benefits.

One Minute


Wordology, ASMR

This is becoming an advertisers dream way to soft sell. YouTube is littered with hundreds of thousands of ASMR videos. Bob Ross, the late painter is, to some, the epitome of ASMR as his soft spoken, almost whispering way of describing brush strokes and the feeling evoked by his art. It is both auditory and visually stimulating in an almost sensuous manner.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is described as a "euphoric experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine, precipitating relaxation." It comes from hearing soft voices and sensual sounds, such as tapping objects with fingernails. Think of it as the opposite of scratching nails on a chalkboard.


Too much ASMR can have the opposite effect for me, but a bit is a welcome change from the in-your-face 'buy me in the next ten minutes or else'.

I do not usually like ads, but here is one with George Hamilton doing a soft spoken, almost whisper as Colonel Sanders for KFC. The ad is pure ASMR and uses pocket squares as the tag, with him eating chicken tossed in between. Two minutes and interesting to watch. LINK  You might also like to see the queen of ASMR and her GentleWhispering chanel. LINK

Robots are Coming

Many industries are feeling the influx of robots. Changes are coming faster than in the past. There were only 1,000 robot-assisted surgeries performed in 2000. By 2014, that number was 570,000.

Only 10% of worldwide manufacturing tasks are automated right now. That is expected to increase to 25% to 45% during the next 10 years as robots get much cheaper, smarter, faster, and easier to use.

Some companies, like China's Foxconn are investing in robots that can put together the tiny parts in Apple's iPhone.

Three Smartphone Photo Tips

Use a flashlight from a different phone to light your subject from an angle will result in a better image than relying on your smartphone camera’s flash. You will achieve a more crisp picture.

You can optimize your smartphone camera’s ability to focus and meter light by tapping on the screen before you shoot. Tap a dark spot in the shot to make the image brighter or tap a bright spot on the screen to darken it a bit.

Shoot in landscape mode and your photos will look better on the Web or your PC screen.

Sep 23, 2016

Happy Friday

I am floating in a ocean of my own happiness.

And enjoying a swimmingly grand Happy Friday!

Top Ten Musician Sales

Amazing to see how many sales some of the new musicians are making vs. legends in the business. Units equals: sales of albums, singles, and music videos.

Mariah Carey — 131.9 million units
Led Zeppelin — 139.3 million units
Garth Brooks — 145 million units
Taylor Swift — 146.8 million units
Elton John — 166.9 million units
Madonna — 170 million units
Michael Jackson — 181.1 million units
Rihanna — 197.7 million units
Elvis Presley — 210.8 million units
The Beatles — 269.5 million units


Others of note: Celine Dion 123.7 million, Bruce Springsteen 100.2 million, Rolling Stones 95.3 million, Justin Bieber 88.9 million, Aerosmith 84.1 million, Bee Gees 67.3 million, Prince 63.7 million.

World Population Fact

If you are over 45 years old, the world population has doubled within your lifetime.

Ultrasound vs. Sonogram

A sonogram is the image generated during ultrasonography, which is a diagnostic imaging technique that uses ultrasound to visualize anything inside the body.

Ultrasound is sound with a frequency above the range audible to humans, about 20 kHz. Both words are used to refer to the ultrasonography procedure.


When ultrasound waves are sent into the human body some of them bounce back when they hit tissues of differing density. The time it takes the reflected ultrasound waves to return to the machine is translated into an image of the internal organ, or of a fetus. This image is called a sonogram.

Ultrasound is used in industry to measure the purity or uniformity of liquid, to measure the depth of water, and to search for underwater objects such as submarines. Whales and dolphins use ultrasound to communicate.