Nov 27, 2015

Turkey Terms

A few common labels and what they actually mean, which is not much. I hope you are enjoying the leftovers from your premium, young, fresh, free range turkey, with no hormones added.

  • Young: Most commercial turkeys are killed at 16 to 18 weeks, so this is mostly meaningless. The USDA does not define “young” for turkeys and only requires the label of “mature” or “yearling” for turkeys that lived more than a year.
  • Fresh: This means the turkey was never frozen.
  • No Hormones Added: Mostly meaningless as commercial turkeys, and other poultry are not given growth hormones, per USDA rules.
  • Premium: Meaningless as premium has no USDA definition.
  • Free range: Often misleading, as it means the animal was given “access to the outdoors.” In most cases, the animal is still raised in standard, crowded cages.

Immortal Lobster Myth

Photos of lobsters can be found at many sites on the net with captions calling the crustaceans biologically immortal. A 2007 news story that reported that lobsters do not show typical signs of senescence, the process of growing older. The report said that lobsters do not age the way other living creatures do, because they do not lower their reproductive ability, slow their metabolism, or decrease in strength.

It is true that lobsters continue reproducing, and growing until the end. Like most decapod crustaceans, which also include crayfish and shrimp, they have indeterminate growth. That means they do not reach a set size limit in their lifetimes, continuing to grow until they die. Previous research has suggested that the biggest European lobster males in the wild live an average of 31 years, and the females an average of 54 years.

According to the Animal Aging and Longevity Database, other organisms with negligible aging includes: Rougheye rockfish  – 205 years, Painted turtle – 61 years, Blanding's turtle – 77 years, Eastern box turtle – 138 years, and Red sea urchin – 200 years, among others.

Free Friday Fun Commercial

https://www.youtube.com/embed/pfxB5ut-KTs?rel=0

Nov 20, 2015

Happy Friday

If you have only one choice, choose happiness.

I always choose to be happy, especially when celebrating a Happy Friday!

Whats in a Name

A 16-week-old turkey is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a young roaster. A group of turkeys is technically called a “rafter”, though they are often incorrectly referred to as a “gobble” or a “flock.”

Turkeys and Bowling

Late eighteenth and early nineteenth century prizes given out during bowling tournaments were often food items, such as a basket filled with various grocery items, a large ham, etc. Around Thanksgiving in the United States, turkeys became common prizes. At some point, one tournament decided to give away a turkey to people who managed to bowl three strikes in a row. This practice spread and eventually embedded itself in common bowling vernacular, long after giving away actual turkeys stopped.

Back then, bowling three strikes in a row was extremely difficult to do, because they did not have the beautiful lanes we have now. Also, bowling pins were setup by hand and not always uniform, bowling balls were not well balanced, and people running the tournaments would often use tricks to make the pins more difficult to knock down.

Because it is more common to hit three strikes or more in a row today, new names have been developed. Six consecutive strikes is a Wild Turkey and nine consecutive strikes is a Golden Turkey.

Earliest Thanksgiving Celebrations

Scholars agree that the first Plymouth Thanksgiving, which lasted for three days, occurred in the fall of 1621 with 90 Native Americans and 50 white settlers in attendance. It was based on English harvest festivals. The Wampanoag men may have been trying to negotiate a peace agreement. They brought five deer to the feast, which probably also included cod, goose, dried corn, and fruit.

There is no historical record of turkey or pumpkin pie. The first feast was not repeated, so it was not the beginning of a tradition and the colonists did not call the day Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was a religious holiday and they would go to church and thank God for a specific event, such as the winning of a battle. On such a religious day, the types of recreational activities the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians participated in during the 1621 harvest feast, such as dancing, singing secular songs, and playing games would not have been allowed. That feast was a secular celebration, so it never would have been considered a thanksgiving in the colonists minds.

Pilgrims, Colonists, and Puritans

The word pilgrim was never used by the actual people it describes. It is a myth that pilgrims wore only black and white clothing and had buckles on their hats, garments, and shoes.

The Church of England Separatists living in Plymouth during the 1600s were much more colorful than story books portray. Black and white were commonly worn only on Sunday and formal occasions and women typically dressed in red, earthy green, brown, blue, violet, and gray, while men wore clothing in white, beige, black, earthy green, and brown. Buckles did not come into fashion until late in the seventeenth century.

Colonists (pilgrims and puritans) did not live in log cabins. The log cabin did not appear in America until late in the seventeenth century, when it was introduced by Germans and Swedes. Log cabins were virtually unknown in England at the time the Pilgrims arrived in America. Pilgrims lived in wood clapboard houses made from sawed lumber.

Pilgrims and Puritans were two different groups. The Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower and lived in Plymouth. The Puritans, arrived a decade later, settled in Boston, and came to America strictly in search of religious freedom. They did not welcome dissent.

Puritans considered the Pilgrims incurable utopians. While both shared the belief that the Church of England had become corrupt, only the Pilgrims believed it was beyond redemption. They therefore chose the path of Separatism. Puritans held out the hope the church would reform.

Puritans welcomed laughter and upper class dressed in bright colors, but lower classes dressed in dark clothes. The anti-liquor and anti-sex attitudes usually attributed to the Puritans are a nineteenth-century addition to the views of early settlers in New England.

Annual Turkey Pardon

President Truman received two turkeys in December 1948 from the poultry industry and began the tradition of the president receiving turkeys from a business, rather than random folks. However, Truman did not pardon either of them. He said the birds would make for a tasty Christmas dinner.

In 1963, John F. Kennedy was presented with a turkey and remarked, "Let's keep him going." A Washington Post article about the comment was first to use the words "reprieve" and "pardon" to describe the fate of the turkey. So, JFK began the modern turkey pardon tradition.

Origin of Bowl Games

During 1916, the Roses Association decided to sponsor a football tournament between WSU (then called The State College of Washington) and Brown.  This game was held at Tournament Park in Pasadena, as were subsequent annual matches.

Fast-forward five years and they needed a larger stadium to play the game as attendance outgrew that venue. Myron Hunt was commissioned to design a stadium for this purpose which was named Rose Bowl.  The Rose Bowl was modeled after the design of Yale’s stadium, Yale Bowl, which resembled a bowl.  This tournament sponsored by the Roses Association then was named the “Rose Bowl,” after the stadium.

As other universities with football teams saw the money making opportunities and promotional value of these tournament games, they began creating their own 'bowl' games, even though many of these games were not played in bowl shaped stadiums.

The NFL borrowed this terminology when it created the Pro Bowl in 1951. In 1970, the AFL and NFL merged and they created a championship game called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Once the merger was completed two years later, the championship game was re-branded the Super Bowl, using the college naming convention. The third match-up, was named Super Bowl III and also set the tradition of using Roman numerals for the Super Bowl.

Brownie Points

The term originated with the points earned for various achievements by the youngest group of the Girl Scouts, called Brownies. Brownie points are imaginary points earned by someone for doing a good deed, and lost by doing something bad.

The Girl Scout or Girl Guide Brownies took their name from the mythical creature, the brownie. The mythical brownies were known for being kind and helpful and performing household chores while a family slept. The girl-brownies are supposed to emulate this behavior, being quietly helpful without asking for much in return. (Historical Dictionary of American Slang argues that Brownie points, was US army slang from WWII.)

The slang brown-noser, seems to have first popped up around 1939. It is defined in the 1944 edition of American Speech, as: "A person who is always asking and answering questions in class to impress the instructor. Also a person who stays after class to try to insinuate himself into the teacher’s good graces." This hints at the brown-noser / brownie points connection and how the behavior of Brownies might have overlapped with that of brown-nosers. However, it is American military slang and alludes to the practice of 'brown nosing', or 'arse-licking'. The older term brown-nose is used for a person who curries favor to such an extent that his nose seems to be up his superior’s backside.

Holiday and Booze Myths

Drink dark liquor and get a hangover, drink light and you are good all night. Congeners are in alcoholic beverages, mostly as a result of the processes used in fermenting and aging, or are leached from oak barrels. They are toxins such as acetone, histamines, and tannins. Although they are only slightly toxic in the small amounts found in booze, some believe congeners are to blame for typical hangover symptoms. Gin and vodka have the least congeners while bourbon and scotch have the most as dark liquors have more than clear ones in general. However, the biggest determinant of getting hung-over is alcohol intoxication, not dark vs. light drinks.

The old saying: “Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.” People tend to down liquor but sip beer. As such, drinking liquor first might do more damage because of greater speed of drinking. The one truth in this adage is that if you drink much beer before drinking much liquor, you very well could get sick. The truth is that it is more about how much you drink than the order you drink it. If you drink enough, you will probably get sick either way.

Meaning of Emojis

Have you ever wondered what the meaning of a particular emoji is, or how to use it? Here is a LINK to the emojipedia. You can find all those confusing and amusing emoji pictures and you might find that you are likely using some of them to mean something completely different than you intend. Beware bad emoji use can get you in trouble. 

Old Movie Dance Mashup

This will stir some emotion and get your heart pumping. Some of the greatest dancers on the big screen to Mark Ronson-Uptown Funk ft.Bruno Mars. My toes are still tapping. LINK

Nov 13, 2015

Happy Friday

You cannot be satisfied until you do something to be satisfied about.

I am always satisfied when I smile and celebrate a Happy Friday!

Wholistic vs. Holistic

Wholistic emphasizes the organic or functional relation between parts and the whole. Wholistic refers to a philosophy of life.

Holistic is the philosophy that all parts of a thing are interconnected. In medicine, holistic treatment is the treatment of a person as a whole, mind, body and social factors. Related words are holism and holistically. The word holistic is first seen in 1926, holistic medicine appears in 1960. Wholistic and holistic are words that are interchangeable, though holistic is used more often when referring to holistic medicine and wholistic when referring to a philosophy of life.

Holy Mackerel

It is an exclamation of surprise. Holy Mackerel dates back at least 200 years and is one of very many blasphemous oaths with the Holy prefix. Holy Mackerel was almost certainly a reference to Catholics eating fish on Fridays (rather like Holy Cow is a reference to Hindus, and Holy Smoke is a reference to incense burning and funeral pyres. Mackerel was popular because it did not cost much.

Holy Moses was shortened to the rhyming Holy Moley or Holy Moly. The way that words roll off the tongue is significant in how these expressions become widely used and adopted.

Another slang for Catholics of the 19th century was mackerel snatchers. The word Mackerel has historically been a strong fish symbol and fish stereotype.

Anchovy vs. Sardine

Speaking of fish, anchovies and sardines come from two different families, but they do share some traits - both are small, silvery fish that are available fresh, preserved, and canned.

Sardine is an imprecise term for any number of small, silvery saltwater fish related to the herring and found throughout the world. They tend to travel in large schools close to the water's surface and are harvested fresh in the summer.

In the US, sardines are usually canned in oil or sauce, salted or smoked. In Europe, larger sardines are also eaten fresh, roasted in the oven or cooked on the grill either whole or in fillets. The name 'sardine' may be a reference to the Sardinian coast, where pilchards were one of the first fish to be packed in oil. The sardine is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and generally considered to be a brain food.

Anchovy refers to a family of small fish found in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. There is no single “anchovy fish” to be found, but rather a series of aquatic relatives that make them recognizable to us as members of the same fish family. Anchovies are sold flat or rolled, filleted and either salt-cured or oil-packed. The curing process is comparable to that of aged hams in that it is basically the anchovy’s own juices that make it happen, with bacterial fermentation playing a supporting role. For most of human history this salt packing was the way that anchovies were sold.

In Europe, marinated fresh anchovies are eaten frequently, available in restaurants and Spanish, Greek, and Italian groceries. Known mostly for their strong flavor and aroma, anchovies can be soaked in water to remove excess brininess.

What's in a Name, Tank

WWI (1914 - 1918) military war machines were called tanks, because they were originally disguised to resemble water tanks. Tanks with cannons were called male tanks and tanks with machine guns were called female tanks.

'Little Willie' was developed in 1915 by British scientists and inventors, and it was the first World War 1 tank. The British produced over 2,600 tanks during the war, but by the end of the war British Tank Corps had only 8 tanks left.

Space Explosions Myth

There are two popular misconceptions about how explosions work in space. The first is the kind you see in sci-fi movies, a giant explosion when a spaceship blows up, often big enough to destroy other ships with the shock wave. The second, believed by many is that because there is no oxygen in the vacuum of space, explosions are categorically impossible .

The reality is somewhere in the middle. The latter misconception is predicated on the idea of setting fires in a literal vacuum, wherein you are in the vacuum of space and trying to flick a lighter on. That would not work, but if an explosion were to occur inside a spaceship, the oxygen inside could briefly mix with other gases and form the necessary chemical reactions for a fire. Depending on the gas concentrations, it could even be large enough to blow up a ship. Since there is no pressure in space, the explosion would dissipate in a matter of milliseconds once it hit the vacuum. If you blinked, you’d miss it. There would also be no shock wave, which is the deadliest part of an explosion in the Earth’s atmosphere. 

Carotenoids

They are yellow, orange, and red pigments in plants. The most common carotenoids in a Western diet are alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene. Each of these carotenoids carries a distinct set of actions, benefits and originating fruits and vegetables. There are more than 600 carotenoids.

Carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe, mangos, spinach, kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, and oranges are among the fruits and vegetables in which carotenoids can be found.

In order to be properly absorbed, carotenoids should be consumed with a fat. Carotenoids are associated with antioxidant activity, eye health, immune system activity, intercellular communication, and reduced risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.

The body can convert alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin into vitamin A (retinol), which is associated with anti-aging and immune system function. Lutein and zeaxanthin are the only carotenoids found in the retina and are associated with lower risks of macular degeneration.

Manga vs. Anime

Manga is a Japanese style of graphic novels and comic books that is aimed at adults as well as children. In manga, the characters have oversized eyes and the drawings are often in black and white. Manga stories are told in serial form. Manga style descends from Japanese aesthetics, though many see the influence of American comic books brought into Japan during after World War II. Katsushika Hokusai coined the term manga in 1814 to describe a free-flowing, quirky style.  Manga style has been popular since 1984 and literally means involuntary pictures.

Anime is a Japanese style of animation for television and film, often based on previously published manga. Anime appears in Japan in 1985 as the Japanese word for animation, taken from the French verb, animé. So, manga is printed material and anime is video material.

Seventeen More Banana Facts

Here are a few more facts about why bananas, nature's wonder fruit, are so good for us.

  1. Bananas contain tryptophan which turns into serotonin after consumption.
  2. The boost in serotonin is an effective and natural way to reduce the effects of depression.
  3. Potassium in bananas greatly reduces the likelihood of getting muscle cramps.
  4. Bananas are a great source of calcium.
  5. Bananas have been known to reduce the prevalence of menstrual cramps.
  6. Bananas are high in vitamin B, promoting the production of white blood cells.
  7. Bananas contain a healthy amount of iron.
  8. The FDA says bananas can help lower blood pressure.
  9. Bananas contain pectin, which is a great digestion aid.
  10. Bananas are natural antacids and can calm heartburn.
  11. Bananas are one of the only foods that can combat the pain of stomach ulcers.
  12. Bananas are known to be natural protection against kidney disease and brittle bones.
  13. Bananas are high in antioxidants.
  14. Bananas can normalize blood sugar levels between meals.
  15. Rub the inside of a banana peel on a bug bite for quick itch relief.
  16. If you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, bananas can reduce the effects due to their high level of tryptophan.
  17. To quit smoking, help curb the withdrawals with the high levels of vitamins, potassium, and magnesium in bananas.
    (Make banana ice cream. Peel two bananas and put in freezer for an hour. Take out, slice, put in blender with two tablespoons peanut butter, or some chocolate chips, or bacon - blend, scoop, enjoy.)

Oct 30, 2015

Happy Friday

“When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.” ~ Evelyn Waugh

I never place limitations on enjoying a Happy Friday!

Daylight Saving

Finally the US catches up with the rest of the world. In the US, 2am Sunday morning, November 1. Remember to "fall back." Also, replace your smoke and fire detector batteries.

Keeping Pumpkins Fresh

It is that time of year again and we all know pumpkins can turn mushy after a few days.

Here are a few hacks to keep it fresh longer. After your pumpkin has been carved, rinse it out with water to get rid of excess strings and gunk. Take a large bucket or tub and fill it with a few gallons of water.
Stir in three teaspoons of bleach, dunk in the pumpkin. Be sure to hold it down as it will try to float. Let it sit in the solution for two minutes, remove and let dry.

Spray the whole thing, inside and out with WD40 to keep it fresh and shiny.

If you want to spend a bit more, you can now buy a product, Pumpkin Fresh to spray the whole thing. Of course, you need to apply daily.

Vaseline or any oil you might have in your kitchen applied to the inside and cut edges will keep it fresh, but are all a bit messy.

Boat Truck

Very cool video of special boat truck. Surprise ending, two minutes. LINK

Helpful Happiness Hack

At the end of the day just before you go to bed, write down something good that happened to you, or something that made you happy, or made you smile that day. Put the note where you will find it in the morning as you are getting ready. It also helps if you look in the mirror and smile when you read the note in the morning.

Do this for seven days and you will be at least 20% happier - and it will last for another week, even if you stop doing it.

If you want to stay happy, date the notes and save them. You will be amazed when you go back and look at them, the smallest things keep you happiest the longest.

Cara Mia

Gomez (Bubeleh) Addams' pet name, 'cara mia' for Morticia means 'my beloved'. It is also the title of a song made popular by Jay and Americans. This 2011 update to a 1965 hit from Jay Black, 73 years young then and still making people happy after all these years. LINK

Lasgna vs. Lasagne

North American English speakers use lasagna. English speakers from outside North America usually use lasagne. The word comes from Italian, of course. In that language, lasagna is the singular noun and lasagne is the plural, but this does not carry over into the words’ treatment in English. Both the plural and the singular forms are usually treated as mass nouns, taking singular verbs.

Beer Benefits and Sexual Performance

Moderate beer drinking decreases risk of heart disease by 31 percent (the same as wine). A study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology also found that moderate consumption of beer reduces the risk of developing kidney stones by 41 percent, and is one of the few plant sources of vitamin B12.

It makes you last longer. The phytoestrogens in beer can help delay premature ejaculation.

Dark brews can help get you in the mood better, because they increase both red blood cells and overall circulation. Dark contains more iron than pale beers.

Beer increases stamina and is good for heart health.

Guinness is great for stomach issues, low in calories and alcohol content, and is rich in vitamins, minerals, and probiotics. It contains only 128 calories and 11 grams of carbohydrates per serving.

50 Shades of Green beer is like green juice and Viagra combined. It is specifically engineered to enhance performance. It contains ginseng, ginkgo biloba, and damiana to achieve increased sexual desire, blood flow, and nerve stimulation. Gives a whole new meaning to 'Bottoms up!'

Grammagrams

A Grammagram is a word, made of letter sounds which are pronounced aloud. Great way to code things. Here are a few interesting ones:
DEVIOUS - DVS (say each letter quickly D V S)
EFFENDI - FND
ENEMY - NME
ENVIOUS - NVS
ESCAPEE - SKP
ODIOUS - ODS
OPIUM - OPM
TEDIOUS - TDS
EXCELLENCY - XLNC

Weather Patterns

As we begin another change of season, the weather changes dramatically from day to day. Seems like many of us check the weather to see what to wear, should we take an umbrella, etc. The Weather Company owns the fourth-most used mobile app in the U.S., and their cloud handles 26 billion requests a day.

IBM just made a bid to buy the digital assets for a few billion dollars and will feed the info into Watson for even more analysis.  IBM said, "Weather is probably the single largest swing factor in business performance - it impacts 1/3 of the world's GDP and in the US alone; weather is responsible for about half a trillion dollars in impact." Next spring we might see a battle between Punxsutawney Phil and Watson.

Oct 23, 2015

Happy Friday

"Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness." Frank Tyger

I am free to do what I like and I like smiling and celebrating a Happy Friday!

Daylight Saving

"Daylight Savings Time" is incorrect, but is commonly used, especially in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Officially, it is Daylight Saving Time.

The US and Great Britain used DST during World War I and II and reverted to standard time during peace years. It was not until the energy crisis of the 1970s that Daylight Saving Time was made permanent in many areas.

The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 was signed into law on August 8, 2005. Among other things, the Energy Policy Act extended the Daylight Saving Time period by starting DST several weeks earlier (second Sunday in March) and ending it one week later (first Sunday in November).

- Countries and territories which do not observe DST    161, including China
- Countries and territories where at least one location observes DST    79
- Countries and territories where all locations observe DST some part of the year    68
- Countries and territories where many, but not all locations observe DST part of the year    11, including United States
- Countries and territories where at least one location observes DST all year    2

The majority, including Europe end DST on Sunday Oct 25. In the US, it ends 2am Sunday, November 1. Some other countries end it on other dates, such as: March 8, March 22, April 5, April 25, April 26, January 18, February 22, September 22, September 26, October 23, October 30, and November 8. Must be interesting for the global airlines to change the flight times almost monthly for beginning and ending DST.

On 31 October 2007 in a Press Release, Western Power researched and reported DST caused "a 0.6% increase in electricity consumption in Washington's main grid". It also stated that "The daylight saving research showed slightly less power was used on days when the temperature went below 30 degrees, and slightly more power when the temperatures went above 30 degrees."

National Greasy Foods Day

Only in America do we celebrate greasy foods day. It is on Oct. 25. This might be a good day to try something different, like a breakfast dog, with a hotdog topped with a fried egg, bacon, hash browns, and cheese, wrapped in bacon. Time to think outside the box and go crazy for grease. If time change and greasy foods are not enough, October 25 is also Mother-in-Law day.

Visual Puzzle

This one is more simple than meets the eye, but is very interesting about 4 minute video. LINK

Vitamin C Myth

Thought it might be worth replaying this one as this is the beginning of the cold and flu season.

Hundreds of studies have now concluded that vitamin C does not treat the common cold. The results of many studies of various types, involving hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have all arrived at the same conclusion - vitamin C has no effect to prevent or cure colds or cancer.

The FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association, the Center for Human Nutrition at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services do not recommend supplemental vitamin C for the prevention or treatment of colds. Vitamin C does have other benefits and the studies did not say vitamin C is bad for you, it just does not provide the cancer and common cold remedies claimed.

Social Media Explained

Social media is now an essential part of doing business. That does not mean you need to be on every social media platform to get results. Ideally, with one or two focused networks, your message can reach your target audience in no time.
The question is which ones to use and how to maximize your visibility.

If you are clear about your social media goals, it will not be a challenge to determine which channels would work best for your business. Thing to keep in mind when you are deciding - Where are your customers? Before you think of creating your business profile on a site, you need to think: Are my customers here? There is much variation in the demographics of social networks and you need to find out where your customers are so you can reach them effectively.

According to a Pew survey in 2015:

  • Facebook has wide, global usage, but fewer young people are staying active.
  • Instagram is a favorite among teens and young adults.
  • Twitter is home to many information junkies and tech savvy people.
  • LinkedIn has higher income, educated professionals.
  • Pinterest has a user base which is 80% female dominated, most of whom have a higher income background.
  • Google+ is a network with a predominantly older male user base.
  • Vine is also a youth oriented platform.
  • YouTube has an equal number of men and women, but men are more active users with wider preferences.
Instagram — art, food, retail, lifestyle
Twitter — news, gossip, tech updates
LinkedIn — B2B, recruitment agencies
Pinterest — Retail, DIY, culinary skills, art
YouTube — Luxury products, DIY, Home improvement, music,
Google+ — SEO, IT

Sushi vs. Sashimi

Sushi means 'sour rice' and does not always feature fish.
Sashimi means 'raw' - but is not just fish.

Background Sounds

This simple site provides some ambient sounds to soothe your soul as you scramble around the internet. There are also apps for iPhone and Android to take the sound with you. It has birds, rain, waves, fire, thunder, and more. Now you can think pleasant thoughts with pleasant sounds in the background to keep you company as you do your work or surf the net. Alas, there was no bacon sizzle sound. LINK

Scientific Proof Isn't

There is no such thing as scientific proof. Scientific evidence is evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis.


Proof is incompatible with science which, by its nature should be provisional and self-correcting. Karl Popper (generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science in the 20th century) once wrote that "In the empirical sciences, which alone can furnish us with information about the world we live in, proofs do not occur, if we mean by 'proof' an argument which establishes once and for ever the truth of a theory." Only Math has proofs.

Free Friday Smile


Oct 16, 2015

Happy Friday

Happiness cannot be accumulated, but it can be divided.

I always try to share a slice of happiness while enjoying a Happy Friday!

Most Important Crops

The order varies by study, but these are generally agreed to as the top ten crops harvested, not by revenue. Cannabis is the top revenue producing crop and sugar cane is the most popular.


They are, in order, Corn, Wheat, Rice, Potatoes, Cassava, Soybeans, Sweet potatoes, Sorghum, Yams, and Plantains.

National Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Week

It is celebrated Oct 20-26. Pharmacists are the unsung heroes of the medical system. They keep doctors honest, and patients as well as possible. They are the last stop before a patient ingests something that can do great good or grave harm.

Laser Razor

Here is a new invention that has been a long time coming. It was a kickstarter campaign and garnered US $4 million. The goal was $160,000. If it makes it, a whole industry will change forever, just like it did when Gillette came up with the disposable razor blade. This one is non-disposable and requires a battery to operate.

Kickstarter has suspended funding because it is, “in violation of our rule requiring working prototypes of physical products that are offered as rewards.” Should be fun to watch for the next round. See for yourself at LINK.

Email Study Results

A recent study by USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers found that speed of email responses depend on a variety of factors including age, platform, volume, and timing.

The paper, "Evolutions of Conversations in the Age of Email Overload," was presented at the World Wide Web Conference. The paper is the largest study of email to date, measuring how the volume of incoming email affects behaviors of recipients and the length of time it takes them to reply to emails. The study was conducted in accordance with privacy standards: individuals opted in to the study, the data was anonymized, and the emails were not read by humans.

The researchers said ninety percent of people respond within a day or two of receiving an email to which they plan to respond. Half of responders will respond in just under an hour.

Age is also an indicator for email response time. Younger people reply faster, but write shorter replies. Teens were the quickest, with an email response time average of 13 minutes. Young adults aged 20-35 years responded on average of 16 minutes of receiving an email. 35 to 50 years tended to respond in 24 minutes, on average. Those over 51 years of age, on average took 47 minutes to respond.

Women typically respond four minutes longer than an email response from a man. The platform also plays a critical role: If someone is working from a laptop, on average it will take them almost twice as long to respond than if using a mobile phone.

Emails with only five words are the most common. More than half the email replies are less than 43 words, and only 30 percent of emails are longer than 100 words.

Younger users can cope with the increased email load more than older email users. When younger users become more overloaded they tend to send shorter and faster replies to cope with the increased load. On the other hand, older people respond to an increased load of emails by replying to a smaller fraction of emails.

It is no surprise that people are more active on email during the day than at night. Emails on weekends get shorter replies than weekdays. If you want a longer and perhaps more thoughtful reply, email someone in the morning. The researchers found that emails sent in the morning tend to get longer replies than those in the afternoon.

Wine is Better than Exercise

A recent study found that a glass of red wine is the equivalent to an hour at the gym. Also, drinking red wine could help burn fat, says another study.

The health benefits of red wine have been well documented. Studies have revealed that those who drink a glass of red wine a day are less likely to develop dementia or cancer, that it is good for your heart, it is anti-aging and can regulate blood sugar.

Research conducted by the University of Alberta in Canada has found that health benefits in resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, are similar to those we get from exercise.  Resveratrol was seen to improve physical performance, heart function and muscle strength in the same way as they are improved after a gym session. Other sources of resveratrol are blueberries, peanut butter, red grapes, and dark chocolate.

Segway Causes Segway

In 2010, Jimi Heselden, the mufti-millionaire owner of the company that makes Segway motorized scooters died in an accident while riding one of his vehicles.

He was riding a rugged country version of the two-wheeled Segway when he lost control of the machine as he traveled along a bridleway close to his estate near Boston Spa, West Yorkshire. He was found dead in a river after plunging 80 feet over a limestone cliff. The Segway was found in the river near his body, indicating that he was still riding the scooter when he drove over the cliff.

Segways are banned on British roads for safety reasons, but are legal on private land. Heselden bought the Segway company nine months earlier and planned to further develop the machine.