Jul 15, 2017

Hoopla

Hoopla is a service that works with libraries to offer patrons an enormous selection of digital products, such as TV, Movies, Music, Comics, Ebooks, and Audio books for free and with no ads or commercials. You can download an app from Amazon, Apple, Google, etc. It has a free sign up, but you must also have a valid library card. Nice way to add to your entertainment without breaking the bank.

These days libraries have grown up and offer much more than dusty books. Last time I visited my local branch, I picked up a free prescription card that covers prescriptions not covered by insurance. Saved over $30 vs. using my insurance on one script a few weeks ago. You do know where your local library is don't you? It is likely the place where you go vote.

Solar Eclipse

Next week Friday is when we in the US will experience the first total solar eclipse in 99 years. Check your local area for the times.

Texas Obscenity Law, or Not

The Obscene Device Law is a Texas statute dealing with obscenity. In 1973, the Texas Legislature passed Section 43.21 of the Texas Penal Code which, in part, prohibited the sale or promotion of "Obscene device[s] mean[ing] a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs."

In an appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the statute on February 12, 2008, by a vote of 2–1, holding that "the statute has provisions that violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution".

On November 4, 2008, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel released a two-page document dated October 29, 2008, in which he stated that the Texas Attorney General's Office notified him that they would not file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court.

The following month, on November 13, Yeakel filed a "joint status report" that noted the parties had come to an agreement. "Texas Penal Code §§ 43.23, to the extent that it applies to “obscene devices” as defined in Texas Penal Code § 43.21(a)(7), is declared to be facially unconstitutional and unenforceable throughout the State of Texas," the report read.

Robot Flipper

This week a robot burger flipper "Flippy"was installed at CaliBurger in California. Cali Group partnered with Miso Robotics to develop the burger robot. Flippy uses the latest machine learning software to locate and identify what is in front of it and learn from experience.

It has one arm with six axes to give it a wide range of motion and allow it to perform multiple functions. There is an assortment of detachable tools the bot can use to help it cook, including tongs, scrapers, and spatulas, and a pneumatic pump lets it swap one tool for another, rather than a human having to change it out. The plan is to install a Flippy in each of its 50 restaurants.

Another Search Tip

If you are looking up someone's name, it helps to either type in the "at" sign, as in @tomshubnell or use quote marks, as in "tom shubnell". This narrows down your results, because with no qualifier, your search will yield everything that has either tom or shubnell in it. Either of these qualifiers force it to look for specifically those two names together.

Jul 7, 2017

Happy Friday

"If you want to understand the meaning of happiness, you must see it as a reward and not as a goal." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupérys

I think it is rewarding to celebrate every Happy Friday!

Australia is Moving

Australia's adjusted national GPS coordinates  were recalculated and adjusted to keep pace with changing navigation technology. The continent moves north by seven centimeters (2.76 inches) every year due to its position on the world's fastest moving continental tectonic plate, according to Geoscience Australia. The country's coordinates were off by 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) due to years of natural shifting.

Satellite navigation systems on smartphones align with digital map information and autonomous vehicles could show you are in the middle of the road or you are in another lane. The Geocentric Datum of Australia, the nation's local coordinate system, was last updated during 1994.

Incidentally, the Indian Subcontinent in the past was moving towards Asia at a speed of about 6 inches per year. When they collided, the Himalayas came into being. They are still growing, but since then, India is only pushing into Asia proper at about 2 inches per year. 

Coral Bleaching

Newsmedia has been hyping the coral bleaching going on as a disaster, but it does not seem as dire as we are led to believe. The way it works is that coral polyps live as a symbiote with algae, which photosynthesize and produce carbohydrates for the polyps. When temperatures get too high, the algae starts to produce free oxygen radicals (which is harmful). The polyps have no choice but to expel the algae, which are responsible for the coral color, and to lose an important food source. This is known as coral bleaching.

Corals do not die from coral bleaching, but they are significantly weakened. Corals do recover from bleaching. They die out, then slowly grow back. Centuries do not mean much for a coral colony that exists for millennia.

Starbucks Sizes

A Venti iced size (24 ounces) at Starbucks is equal to two Tall (12 ounces). If you buy a Venti and split it with a friend you can save over a dollar each.

Incidentally, Short [8 fl. oz.], Tall [12 fl. oz.], Grande [16 fl. oz.], Venti Hot [20 fl. oz.], Venti Cold [24 fl. oz.] and Trenta Cold [31 fl. oz.]

3D Pancake Printer

Now I have seen it all. Amazon is selling "PancakeBot PNKB01BK 3D Food Printer." It is a 3D printer, with computer smarts that includes a grill and makes pancakes in any shape you can design. Oh, it costs $299. That is a bunch of dough to spend.


According to the description - There is a proprietary batter dispensing system to draw your perfect customized pancake every time. Software is included to trace any image on your computer. Non-stick electric griddle with removable probe is included and a BPA-free batter dispenser. Quick start Guide and Recipe Book are also included. Disclaimer - I have no financial interest in this, nor do I have any interest in buying one. However, I do think it is a fun and innovative use of technology.

Streaming vs. Casting

These terms are used when discussing getting information from devices to your TV. Streaming is video-delivery sent over the internet to your computer or smart TV. It also may refer to Internet Protocol television (IPTV) also called just Internet TV. It includes Live TV, time shifted replays of live TV, and video on demand, such as movies. IPTV is delivered over a closed, proprietary network, accessed via a specific internet service provider. It is different from OTT (see below), which is open and delivered by providers over the top of any internet service.

Casting refers to the delivery of audio, video, or other media types from a users mobile device or PC to a Television or connected TV device. For mobile devices, such as smartphones, mirroring means casting uses your bandwidth allocation and costs money each time you use it. Video uses an extremely high amount of bandwidth and if you do not have unlimited use, your monthly phone bill could be enormous. Mirroring takes the display from a sender devices and replicates that on a receiving device. Casting without mirroring means that after you cast the video to your TV, you can use the phone as normal, because it hands off the original signal to the TV.

Bottom line, streaming goes directly to a device and casting sends a stream from one device to another.

OTA vs. OTT

The often used abbreviations can be confusing. Think of OTA (Over The Air) as using a TV antenna, where the signal comes into your antenna, literally over the air from satellite or huge broadcast antenna at a TV or radio station, vs. on a cable.
Think of  OTT (Over The Top) as directly accessing the internet via a physical cable (such as the one that goes into your modem/router LINK). WiFi also gets its input from that cable. It refers to audio, video, and other media transmitted via the Internet without cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems controlling content. No TV tuner or receiver is necessary.

OTT devices which support streaming include Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and FireTV, etc. OTT services include video on demand services like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Sky Go, BBC iPlayer, etc.

Bottom line, OTA uses the air outside of your house to receive signals and OTT uses cables outside of your house to receive signals. They both use cables from the wall to devices inside the house.

Wordology, Empty Calories

Many people associate alcohol calories with empty calories. They think empty calories are less fattening than regular calories. Empty calories are empty because they have no vitamins, minerals, or nutrients associated with them.


Alcohol calories are treated differently in the body than food calories. Alcohol calories get used for energy like any other calorie. However, alcohol is treated as a toxin by the body, and is given first priority for metabolism, so food calories must wait to be burned until after the liver deals with the alcohol calories. Food calories are stored as fat until used after the alcohol calories are used and that (simplified) is why alcoholics suffer from liver cirrhosis, or fatty liver, which is deadly.

Calorie Defined

The official definition of calorie is: A measurement of energy- the amount of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure. Calories in food are actually measured in kilocalories, so 1,000 actual calories for every 1 Calorie listed on food packages. Europe uses the actual kilocalories or kilojoules.

During the 1880s, Wilbur O. Atwater decided to determine how much energy different types of foods contained. He decided to treat different foods just like coal and burn them to ash in a furnace and measure how much heat (or calories) each one produced. He gave a numerical value to the calories produced by each food. He measured nine calories per gram from high-fat foods, and about four calories per gram from carbohydrates and proteins. We still use this system, to an extent.

During 2003, a US university team of nutritionists tested two slimming diets with the same number of calories on a group of overweight women. One diet was very low-fat and relatively high in carbohydrate. The other was high in fat, but low in carbohydrate. The low-fat dieters lost 3.9kg (almost 9lb), but the high-fat dieters lost more than twice as much weight at 8.5kg (almost 19lb).
The calories are the same, but the body reacts differently when it uses them. Maybe it is time to rethink how we count calories.
Calories listed on food labels are only an approximation. The US FDA allows food manufacturers to look at their ingredients and determine how many grams of fat, carbohydrates, and protein they contain, and then assume that each gram of protein and carbohydrates gives 4 kilocalories, each gram of fat gives 9, etc. Then they subtract 4 kilocalories for every gram of fiber, and that is the official, government sanctioned calorie measurement.
In addition to the above, different bodies deal with Calories differently. Genetic conditions, illnesses, and other factors can cause foods to be metabolized differently by some people vs. others. A 100 Calorie snack for you, might only be an 80 Calorie snack for someone else.

Bottom line, since Calories are an approximation, ingesting a few hundred more or less on any given day is not going to make much difference on your weight.