Happy Friday

 Happiness is like lightening, it causes smiles to rain down on all who see it.

Every day try to be somebody's rainbow, especially on a Happy Friday!

Origin of NEWS

It does not derive from the four cardinal directions.

The word news can be traced back to late Middle English around the 14th century as a plural for the adjective “new” or “new thing”.  This is a somewhat rare instance of an English adjective becoming a noun when made plural.   Making this leap from “new” to “news” in English is thought to have been influenced by the Old French “nouveau”, meaning “new”.

Before the 14th century, instead of using the word “news”, English speakers typically used the word “tidings”, more or less meaning the “announcement of an event”. This Middle English version started before the 11th century and stems from the Old English term “tidung” meaning “Event, occurrence, or a piece of news.” 

Mouth and Taste Facts

 There are about 9,000 taste buds on the surface of the tongue, in the throat, and on the roof of the mouth. Taste buds contain chemoreceptors that respond to chemicals from food and other substances that are dissolved by the saliva in the mouth.

Our mouths produces 1 liter (1.8 pints) of saliva a day. We each produce about 10,000 gallons of saliva in a lifetime. Saliva is required for taste. Until food is dissolved by saliva, we cannot taste it.

The average American eats 50 tons of food and drinks 50,000 liters (11,000 gallons) of liquid during his life. It also takes food seven seconds to go from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus.

Origin of Broad

Broad, as referring to a woman rather than something with great breadth, has less certain origins. It first popped up being used this way in the early 20th century. Theories as to its origin include simply referencing a woman’s broad hips, or perhaps from the American English “abroadwife,” which was a term for a slave woman, or just a woman who was separated from her husband.

Another popular theory is that it came from a slang term for a ticket, such as a train ticket, a meal ticket, a sporting event admission ticket, etc.  This slang term became common around 1912 and by 1914 “broad” was being used, among other things, to refer to a prostitute, thus a pimp’s “meal ticket”.

“Broad” possibly came to mean “ticket”, from the 18th century practice of sometimes calling playing cards “broads”. This derives from the fact that in the early 20th century, many types of tickets often resembled playing cards. 

This theory is attested in the 1914 work A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang, by Jackson and Hellyer where they define Broad as: Noun, Current among genteel grafters chiefly. A female confederate; a female companion, a woman of loose morals.

When “broad” first showed up as referring to a woman, it generally was used to signify a prostitute or immoral women. This gradually changed somewhat in the century since with “broad” slowly coming to be less used as a derogatory term and more used just to be synonymous with “woman”. One of the earliest instances of this was in the 1932 “Guys and Dolls”, where one characters refers to another as a broad without any negative connotation.

In the cases of “broad” and “slut”, there have also been recent efforts to “take back” the terms and spin them in a more positive light. For instance, in A Dictionary of Words About Women, by Jane Mills, a broad is defined as “a woman who is liberal, tolerant, unconfined, and not limited or narrow in scope.” “Slut”, while still retaining the same modern “loose woman” connotation, has begun to be a label worn proudly in some circles, though not without controversy. 

Laughter

 Study after study has pointed to the health benefits of laughter: Research from Loma Linda University showed that laughing improved the memory of adults in their 60s and 70s. University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers found that hilarious movies improved the function of blood vessels and increased blood flow in a group of 20 thirty-somethings. Other research has shown that laughing can improve immunity, help regulate blood sugar levels, and improve sleep.

Charlie Brown Fun Facts

 Charlie Brown was modeled after Charles Schulz. “We always say that each of the characters represents a piece of our dad,” Craig Schulz, Charles’ son, says in a new book about the production of the new movie, The Art and Making of the Peanuts Movie. “Charlie Brown was his real self, while Snoopy was what he wanted to be.”

There are 17,897 Peanuts comic strips. They ran between 1950 and 2000, each one drawn by Schulz. Schulz died from colon cancer at age 77, the day before the last original strip ran.

Charles Schulz did not choose the name Peanuts (nor did he like it). Charlie Brown first appeared as a character in a comic strip called Li'l Folks, but when Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate about a publishing deal in 1950, the syndication service thought the name was too close to two other comics it ran at the time, and changed it to Peanuts. Schulz never liked the new name; he thought it "made it sound too insignificant."

Iconic Peanuts characters like Lucy and Linus didn’t show up until years into the comic. The Peanuts gang in CGI in The Peanuts Movie (2015). Design by Tyler Carter, Color by Robert MacLenzie. © 2015 Peanuts Worldwide LLC. © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

The first Peanuts strip featured Shermy, Patty (a separate character from Peppermint Patty), and Charlie Brown. It ran in seven newspapers in October 1950.

In the early Peanuts strips, Lucy was younger than Charlie Brown. In her first comic strip in March 1952, Lucy was a toddler. Later, Schulz decided to make her Charlie Brown’s peer. Lucy would later be the character to observe “Happiness is a warm puppy” in an April 1960 strip.

Linus did not speak for the first two years of Peanuts strips. He appeared as Lucy’s security-blanketed younger brother in September 1952, but did not get a line in the comic until 1954.

Franklin’s first appearance in the Peanuts comic was in July 1968. In it, Franklin recovers Charlie Brown’s lost beach ball. At the time, Franklin’s inclusion was seen as controversial, and Schulz received letters complaining about the character.

Snoopy has his own star on the Hollywood walk of fame, right next to Schulz's.

Schroeder loves Beethoven (and his house at 1770 James Street is a nod to the composer’s birth year) but the first piece he played in the strip was Sergei Rachmaninoff’s "Prelude in G Minor."

In most of the Peanuts comics, Marcie has no eyes. Marcie’s glasses mask her eyes throughout most of the original comic, only appearing in rare moments, like a May 1980 strip where Peppermint Patty tries to convince her to wear her glasses on top of her head.

The little red-haired girl is never fully seen in the Peanuts comic strip. The daily strip only showed the object of Charlie Brown’s affections once, in silhouette, in 1998. He did get to meet her in the television special 'It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown', which aired in 1977.

Snoopy has five siblings. Spike was the first Snoopy brother, introduced in 1975 and named after Charles Schulz’s childhood pup. Snoopy’s other siblings include Marbles, Olaf, Andy, and his only sister, Belle.

If you look closely, you will notice that Snoopy’s eyes are on the same side of his nose. It looks natural in the comic, but was a particular challenge to animate in 3D.

Even the U.S. Postal Service loves A Charlie Brown Christmas. In 2015, to mark the 65th anniversary of the comic and the 50th anniversary of the television special, the USPS released Forever Stamps with images like Snoopy ice skating, Linus kneeling with the Christmas tree, and Charlie Brown checking the mail for a Christmas card. The Peanuts gang also got a commemorative stamp from the USPS in 2001.

What's in a Name, Quokka

 The quokka (its name rhymes with mocha) is the happiest animal. They are not only always smiling, but they are also one of the friendliest animals toward humans. Many people outside of Australia had never heard of the quokka, a Muppet-cute marsupial with an irresistible smile.

These social plant-eaters hang out in clans, munch on swamp peppermint and other greens, store fat in their tails for lean times, dig tunnels through vegetation for napping and hiding, and hop like kangaroos, a close relative (along with wallabies).

More Internet Statistics

 Over 80% of internet users use mobile devices to surf the web.

    83% of mobile users expect a flawless experience whenever they visit a website with any mobile device.
    Up to 70 percent of web traffic comes from mobile devices.
    95.1% of active Facebook traffic comes from mobile devices.
    57% of LinkedIn traffic comes from mobile.
    Mobile devices are responsible for more than 70% of watch time on YouTube.
    90% of Twitter views happen on mobile.
    Google is responsible for 96% of search traffic coming from mobile.
    80% of Alexa’s top-ranked websites are mobile-friendly.

Smile Facts

“In our research we found that when you forcefully practice smiling, it stimulates the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, which releases neurotransmitters to encourage an emotionally positive state,” an artificial cognition expert explains.

“For mental health, this has interesting implications. If we can trick the brain into perceiving stimuli as ‘happy,’ then we can potentially use this mechanism to help boost mental health.” Social smiles use only the mouth muscles. True smiles, known as Duchenne smiles, cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise.

“Spontaneously produced facial expressions of emotion of both congenitally and non-congenitally blind individuals are the same as for sighted individuals in the same emotionally evocative situations.” said study author David Matsumoto, PhD, of San Francisco State University. “We also see that blind athletes manage their expressions in social situations the same way sighted athletes do.”

Seventeen studies provided evidence that blind and sighted spontaneously produce the same pattern of facial expressions, even if some variations can be found, reflecting facial and body movements specific to blindness or differences in intensity and control of emotions in some specific contexts. This suggests that lack of visual experience seems to not have a major impact when this behavior is because blind individuals cannot, from birth or shortly thereafter, see others’ expressions; they cannot learn to produce expressions by modeling.

Results provided evidence that visual experience is not necessary to spontaneously produce adequate facial expressions for basic emotions such as happiness, anger, and fear.

When our brains feel happy, endorphins are produced and neuronal signals are transmitted to your facial muscles to trigger a smile. When our smiling muscles contract, they fire a signal back to the brain, stimulating our reward system, and further increasing our level of happy hormones, or endorphins.

 

Costco Discounts

Ten retailers will price match Costco, and all you need to do is show proof of price, such as the Costco flyer from the mail or the website.

    Kohl’s
    Best Buy
    Fry’s Electronics
    Lowe’s
    Staples
    Petsmart
    Petco
    Sears
    Target
    JCPenney

Ten Interesting Facts

 Finland is the world's happiest country, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report.

McDonald's buys about 2 billion eggs every year for their U.S. restaurants alone.

1 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every day.

Japan has more than 50,000 people who are over 100 years old.

Japan consists of over 6,800 islands.

The key to happiness is spending your money on experiences rather than possessions, according to studies.

By law, only dead people can appear on U.S. currency.

To be legal, prop money for films in the U.S. must be one-sided and less than 75% or more than 150% of the size of a real banknote.

69% of Americans have less than US$1,000 in savings.

California's official state animal, the California grizzly bear, is extinct.

Grapefruit Origin

The grapefruit first appeared after 1693 when Captain Shaddock transported some pomelo seeds to the West Indies and planted them close to some orange trees. The pomelo and orange later cross-pollinated to create the grapefruit. However, the grapefruit was still unknown outside the Caribbean.

Europeans learned of this citrus fruit in 1750 when Reverend Griffith Hughes encountered one. Hughes was so surprised with the discovery that he named the grapefruit “the forbidden fruit.” That was the name until 1814 when John Lunan called it the grapefruit because grapefruits resembled the smaller and unrelated grapes when they were still growing.

The grapefruit reached the United States in 1823 but was mistaken for the pomelo. It was only determined to be a distinct fruit in 1837. However, botanists were still confused about its origin. It wasn’t until 1948 that they discovered it was a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange.

 

IHOP and Real Eggs

Ask for real eggs in your omelet or when you want scrambled eggs. IHOP uses powdered or liquid eggs to make scrambled eggs and omelets, but if you ask for real eggs, they will be happy to make your meal that way instead for no extra charge.

Flu Shot Facts

  It is that time of year again for flu shots. Here are a few interesting facts you may not be aware of. The shots are generally free or cheap at Walmart and various pharmacies. T

The flu virus comes in numerous strains, or types. The strain called H1N1 is now a common type of seasonal flu. The bird flu, also known as H5N1 or H7N9, has made a lot of birds sick, but rarely spreads to humans unless they have handled infected birds.

Each shot contains a tiny bit of dead flu virus. The virus is grown in fertilized chicken eggs, then extracted and deactivated with microscopic amounts of formaldehyde. A chemical called octylphenol ethoxylate pulls out even smaller pieces of virus, which helps reduce the chances of side effects. Gelatin holds the virus together and keeps it stable during shipping, and a preservative called thimerosol keeps the vaccine from going bad on the shelf.

There is no reason to be concerned about any of these chemicals; they are present in such small quantities that your body will barely register them.

You should get a flu shot even if you think you never get the flu. Just because you have never had it before does not mean you are invincible. In addition, even if you never have symptoms, you could be carrying the virus around, exposing everyone else to it.

You need to get a flu shot every year. There are many types of flu. Each year, researchers and public health officials determine which strains seem like they are going to be a threat, and formulate a vaccine that protects against those strains. To stay protected against the latest flu risks, you must keep your shots up to date.

This year's flu shots will protect against three or four strains. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three or four kinds of flu viruses commonly circulate among people today: influenza A (H1N1) viruses, influenza A (H3N2) viruses, and influenza B viruses. The 2020-2021 flu shot has been updated to protect against three virus strains: A/Guangdong-Maonan/SWL1536/2019 (H1N1) pdm09-like virus, A/Hong Kong/2671/2019 (H3N2)-like virus, and B/Washington/02/2019 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

Quadrivalent flu shots, which are designed to protect against four types of flu, will protect against an additional B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like (Yamagata lineage) virus.

The flu shot can't give you the flu. The flu shot is either made with dead (deactivated) flu virus or, in the case of the recombinant flu vaccine, with no actual virus at all. You may have some side effects after getting your shot, but those are usually limited to pain or swelling around the site of the injection. In rare cases, you may have a low-grade fever or mild muscle aches, but these are side effects, and not the flu.

You can get the flu shot if you are allergic to eggs. For a while, doctors were cautioning people with egg allergies to stay away from the flu vaccine, but this seems to have been unnecessary. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology recently stated that “no special precautions are required for the administration of influenza vaccine to egg-allergic patients, no matter how severe the egg allergy.” If you are concerned about an allergic reaction, talk to your doctor. He or she may be able to get you an egg-free flu shot.

Incidentally, If you get the flu, antibiotics will not help. The flu is caused by a virus, not bacteria; antibiotics respond only to bacteria. Antibiotics will not do anything to fight the flu virus.

Origin of Football Huddle

There are a few different stories about how the huddle originated (in 1918 at Oregon State, in 1921 at the University of Illinois, and in 1924 at Lafayette College are a few of them).

It was first used in the 1890s when Paul Hubbard, the quarterback for Gallaudet—a Deaf college in Washington, D.C., which is now a university—had his offense form a tight circle so that they could discuss plays without the other team seeing what they were signing. Another Gallaudet football innovation was the giant drum on the sidelines that would be used for the snap count (the players could feel the vibrations).

 

Approving Political Ads

 Political ads conclude with a disclaimer that the politician being endorsed has sanctioned the spot. Usually, the person will say or be quoted as saying “I approve this message." It is a requirement.

During 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was passed, along with the Stand By Your Ad provision. The Act, which was backed by then-senators John McCain and Russell D. Feingold, was intended to further legitimize campaign contributions by banning large corporate donations.

Stand By Your Ad mandates that anyone running for federal office stamp “I approve this message” as part of their campaign commercials. The goal was to curb muckraking, where candidates would lob insults and accusations at one another. With Stand By Your Ad, lawmakers were hoping political candidates would think twice before engaging in dirty tactics and then attempting to deny any involvement.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is very specific about how that disclaimer should appear. According to the FEC, the written statement must come at the end of the ad, appear for at least four seconds, be readable against a contrasting background, and occupy at least 4 percent of the vertical picture height. The candidate will typically identify themselves and say the message aloud.

If the message was not approved by a candidate, then the spot will typically name the entity that is responsible—a political committee, group, or person. There is also usually language about who financed the commercial.

Negative campaign ads made up 29 percent of political persuasion spots in 2000, and that number rose to 64 percent in 2012. In the week before the 2016 presidential election, 92 percent of ads were characterized as negative.

One possible reason: By stamping a negative message with “I approve,” candidates might actually be perceived as more credible by voters, as they are showing that they are willing to stand behind what viewers infer to be truthful statements.

In a study of 2,000 people using both real and fictional ads, researchers found that “I approve this message” did not change their perception of positive ads or personal attack ads, but did increase their confidence in politicians using policy-based attack ads.

Laughter and Smiles

Find a mirror and observe your face for a while. Look very carefully at your face. It is said that the face is a reflection of the mind. Is your face shining or gloomy? Is it tense or relaxed? Is it joyful or irritated? Or is it more or less blank?

Smile at yourself in the mirror. Watch your smile. Does your smile look natural and comfortable? Is your facial expression too hard to express a big smile because of tension?

Relax your shoulders and close your eyes. Then smile gently and feel your brain. Can you feel your face and brain become relaxed with your smiling? Soon you will feel the same comfort in your heart, as there is an energy line that connects your heart to your brain.

Now laugh intensely, shaking your whole body. First, make your face laugh, then your chest, your belly button, your knees, and finally your toes. When you are laughing, every energy center in your body is wide open, from the top of your brain to the bottom of your feet. Now you will be brimming over with energy.

Incidentally, we are 30 times more likely to laugh if we are with others. Laughing makes us more productive and seem more competent at work. Simpler jokes are considered funnier than complex ones. Laughter helps deal with stress. Even smiling helps.

 

Equinox

 Sept. 22: Happy Equinox! At 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT), autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere while the Southern Hemisphere will have its first day of spring. It happens two times a year, Vernal & Autumnal, spring and fall.

"Equinox" literally means "equal night", giving the impression that the night and day on the equinox are exactly the same length; 12 hours each - about equal almost everywhere on Earth.

Incidentally, the biggest difference between the equinox and the solstice is that a solstice is the point during the Earth's orbit around the sun at which the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator, while during an equinox, it is at the closest distance from the equator.

Birthday Cake Origin

The ancient Egyptians are actually credited with “inventing” the celebration of birthdays. They believed that when pharaohs were crowned gods it represented their “birth” as a god and the day needed to be celebrated.

Ancient Greeks borrowed the tradition and decided it would be even better with the addition of a sweet treat. They made moon-shaped pies to honor Artemis, goddess of the moon, and added lit candles to make the cakes shine like the moon. That is where we get birthday candles tradition from.

Since the ingredients to make a cake were expensive, the tradition did not become popular until around the Industrial Revolution when the ingredients started to become more plentiful.

Cholesterol Level Myths

Setting targets for ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol levels to ward off heart disease and death in those at risk might seem intuitive, but decades of research have failed to show any consistent benefit for this approach, reveals an analysis of the available data, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs are now prescribed to millions of people around the world in line with clinical guidelines.

Those with poor cardiovascular health; those with LDL cholesterol levels of 190 mg/dl or higher; adults with diabetes; and those whose estimated risk is 7.5% or more over the next 10 years, based on various contributory factors, such as age and family history, are all considered to be at moderate to high risk of future cardiovascular disease.

Although lowering LDL cholesterol is an established part of preventive treatment, the approach has never been properly validated, say the researchers. They systematically reviewed all published clinical trials comparing treatment with one of three types of cholesterol lowering drugs (statins; ezetimibe; PCSK9) with usual care or dummy drugs (placebos) for a period of at least a year in at-risk patients.

Each of the 35 included trials was categorized according to whether it met the LDL cholesterol reduction target outlined in the 2018 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines.

The researchers then calculated the number of people who would need to be treated in order to prevent one ‘event’, such as a heart attack/stroke, or death, and the reduction in absolute risk in each study that reported significantly positive results.

Their analysis showed that over three quarters of all the trials reported no positive impact on risk of death and nearly half reported no positive impact on risk of future cardiovascular disease.

And the amount of LDL cholesterol reduction achieved did not correspond to the size of the resulting benefits, with even very small changes in LDL cholesterol sometimes associated with larger reductions in risk of death or cardiovascular ‘events,’ and vice versa.

Thirteen of the clinical trials met the LDL cholesterol reduction target, but only 1 reported a positive impact on risk of death; 5 reported a reduction in the risk of ‘events’.

Among the 22 trials that did not meet the LDL lowering target, four reported a positive impact on risk of death while 14 reported a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events. This level of inconsistency was evident for all three types of drugs.

 

More McDonald's Facts

 McDonald’s first drive-through opened in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The restaurant was located near a military base, and soldiers were not allowed to leave their cars while wearing fatigues.

There are almost more than one-and-half times more McDonald’s locations than hospitals in the United States.

The four McNugget shapes have names; boot, bone, ball, and bell.

McDonald's food is served to more than 70 million people every day, with more than 75 burgers sold every second.

A franchisee is responsible for all the costs of running the restaurant while also paying McDonald’s for rent (up to an average of 10.7 percent of their sales), a $45,000 franchisee fee, and a monthly service fee equal to 4 percent of gross sales.

Add an egg to any burger. Decide what kind of egg you want ( round McMuffin egg, folded eggs, scrambled eggs or scrambled egg whites). You will most likely have to pay somewhere between $1.19 and $1.59 for the egg.

Windex Facts

 

Windex Facts - Things to never clean with Windex - Leather, “Do not use Windex on leather furniture; its alcohol content can cause permanent discoloration.”

Plexiglass, “I often see homeowners make this big mistake: they clean their art pieces framed in plexiglass with original Windex,” says Maria Brophy, owner of Brophy Art Gallery in San Clemente, California. “Windex with ammonia will ruin the plexiglass.”

Shower doors, “In my experience, Windex does not work well on soap scum buildup on a glass shower door.”

Stainless steel, “I don’t recommend using Windex on stainless steel appliances,” says Carol Smith, owner of Toronto-based Hireamaid. “Their finishes and how they interact with Windex can vary."

TV or computer screens, “Monitors can be damaged by the chemicals in original Windex because they can warp plastics, including the tint on your flat panel screen.”

Copper, “The alcohol contained in Windex will affect the patina of the copper and could cause permanent discoloration."

Granite or marble, “Windex should not be used on granite or marble kitchen tops. Cleaners like Windex can etch or dull the surfaces of natural stone.”

Laminate countertop or glass top stove, It’s important to note that original Windex offers no disinfecting or cleaning properties."

Grout, Want the grout in your kitchen or bathroom to be white and bright? Do not reach for Windex—it will not lighten up the lining between your tiles.

Bathtubs, Bathtubs, showers, and toilets are other areas you will want to scrub down and disinfect and not with the original Windex.

National Monte Cristo Day, September 17

National Monte Cristo Day recognizes the indulgent and delicious sandwich. A Monte Cristo is a fried ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese sandwich. The French sandwich called the croque-monsieur inspired the Monte Cristo. However, the sandwich goes by other names, too.

Bennigan’s founded National Monte Cristo Day in June of 2015 to celebrate a delicious sandwich loved across the country. The restaurant is renowned across the globe for its World Famous Monte Cristo.

While the Monte Cristo is typically a savory sandwich, sometimes powdered sugar and jam preserves sweeten it. To achieve the crispy outer coating, chefs dip the prepared sandwich in an egg batter. Then they either pan-fry or deep-fry the sandwich to perfection.

Some like to serve a grilled version. Another version may be served open-faced and heated under a grill or broiler. Monte Cristo is one of my all time favorite sandwiches.

Movie Theater Popcorn

The secret ingredient is in almost every bucket of movie theater popcorn. Manufactured by Gold Medal, Flavacol is the “secret sauce” most movie theaters use in order to produce that popcorn flavor only found in cinemas, stadiums, etc.

Flavacol is a butter-flavored, popcorn seasoning salt made of extra fine salt flakes. The product is made of four ingredients: salt, artificial butter flavor, and Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. The latter are what give movie theater-style popcorn that signature yellow color.

As MTV explains, “Flavacol is used by theaters when cooking the popcorn, not as a topping; it is basically salt with other stuff to give the popcorn that movie theater flavor and color.” It gets added during popping to give popcorn the yellow buttery color. It is essentially just a super-fine salt with some coloring agents. Flavacol contains a proprietary diacetyl-free butter flavoring.

I get mine on Amazon and it is good, but very salty. You can also use in on top of popped popcorn. Start easy, little goes a long way.

 

Dr. Pepper

If you want a drink to go with popcorn, Dr. Pepper is great. It is actually a blend of 23 flavors. All the flavors mixed together supposedly make up the smell of how a pharmacy smelled.

The shelf life of Dr. Pepper depends on the container the soda is in. In glass or cans it is about nine months, and in plastic bottles is about three months. A lot of this depends on how long you had the Dr Pepper, and if it has been opened or not.

The 23 flavors are cola, cherry, licorice, amaretto (almond, vanilla, blackberry, apricot, blackberry, caramel, pepper, anise, sarsaparilla, ginger, molasses, lemon, plum, orange, nutmeg, cardamom, all spice, coriander juniper, birch and prickly ash.

These flavors combined made up the smell of the pharmacy where Dr Pepper was created. Charles Alderton created Dr Pepper in 1885. He worked at a drugstore in Waco, Texas and wanted to recreate the smell from his pharmacy, because he liked how it smelled so much. He successfully recreated the smell of his pharmacy which ended up becoming the smell of Dr Pepper. People say there are still places you can buy the original Dr Pepper made with real cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, but supposedly it does not taste as good as people have reported. They say it tastes strange and does not taste like the Dr Pepper we all love today.

Not only can Dr. Pepper be served cold but it can also be be served hot. Serving Dr. Pepper warm was created as a winter time drink. To make this drink you will need: Dr. Pepper, a lemon, a mug and a saucepan. First you pour the soda into the saucepan and heat it to 180 degrees. Once the soda is heated up you pour it into a mug that has a slice of them lemon in it to give it flavor.

 

Origin Teddy Bear

November 16, 1902, after President Teddy Roosevelt refuses to kill a tied-up bear during a hunting trip, Washington Post political cartoonist Clifford Berryman satirized the event by drawing a cute fuzzy teddy bear. Morris Michtom and his wife soon decided to create a stuffed bear as a children's toy, calling it "Teddy's Bear."

Tootsie Roll Facts

Tootsie Rolls were included in soldiers field rations during World War II to give American troops “quick energy.” They could also hold up under changing weather conditions.

In 1950, U.S. and United Nations troops in Korea put out a call for Tootsie Rolls, a code name for mortar shells. When they opened the airdropped box, they discovered they were actually sent Tootsie Roll candies. Luckily, they turned out to be pretty useful. Because of its malleable consistency, they used it to patch up holes in vehicles and equipment, and it was one of few foods soldiers could easily eat in cold temperatures.

 

Origin of Pop

Soda was patented in the United States in 1809. It created bubbles by mixing water, bicarbonate of soda and an acid to make what was called "soda water."

The word "pop" was added in the mid-nineteenth century and supposedly reflects the popping sound that is made when a carbonated beverage is opened.

The original sparkling waters were naturally bubbly spring waters.  The most notable of these may be Seltzer water from Germany. Generic carbonated water, particularly the kind made at home with what is now referred to as a soda siphon, became commonly known as Seltzer even though it had no connection to the German origins.

Inventors from several countries tried to imitate natural sparkling waters by adding bubbles to still water. Various techniques were invented using different chemical and mechanical methods.

Since then, the simpler technique of combining water with pressurized carbon dioxide gas has come to predominate the commercial market. Despite the fact that sodium bicarbonate is no longer used in their manufacture, the term "soda" has remained attached to the name for drinks made from carbonated water.

 

NBC Chime Origin

The three notes that identify NBC are G, E, C, which represent the original owner, General Electric Corporation.

More Myths Debunked

When a person is livid, they are ashen (pale) not red.

Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize, not for his theory of relativity, but for his less well known work on the photoelectric effect of light.

Most black bears are black, but they also come in white, brown, cinnamon, and blue, depending on where in the world they are found.

Julius Caesar didn’t really say, “You too, Brutus?” when he was assassinated. This is a quote from Shakespeare, written 1,600 years after Caesar’s death. According to Roman historians, the real quote is, “Kai su, teknon?” (“You too, child?”). By “child,” he was referring to Brutus. So paraphrased, his last words were, “You too, Brutus?”

US ship captains may not perform weddings on board unless they are a priest, rabbi, minister, etc.

Black boxes in planes are not black, they are orange. This is to help investigators locate it by sight, if necessary after a crash. The name was chosen entirely for humor reasons.

The glow surrounding the head of a saint in religious imagery is more technically known as a nimbus or gloriole.

 

Gigantic Barnacle Facts

 There are more than 1,000 known species of barnacles spread out in virtually all marine habitats. They are actually crustaceans, related to lobsters, crabs, and shrimp. They typically live for between 5 and 10 years, but some of the larger species are known to be much older.

Barnacle cement, the substance they use to glue themselves in place, is one of the strongest known natural adhesives. It is stronger even than epoxy cement and does not readily dissolve.

Barnacles have evolved some of the longest penises, relative to body size, of any creature. Barnacle penises can stretch to up to eight times the length of their bodies.

Most barnacles are hermaphrodites that may act as either a male or a female. They can't self-fertilize, so they need to find a partner. They are aided by chemosensory bristles that allow barnacles acting as males to detect the chemical signals given out by barnacles acting as females. Once the male barnacle "sniffs out" a receptive partner, it uses its long, stretchy penis to reach out and mate with her.

Alcohol and Prostate

 A study shows men who drink four or more glasses of red wine per week have a nearly 50% lower risk of prostate cancer than non-drinkers. In addition, researchers found that red wine's protective effects appear to be even stronger against the most dangerous and aggressive forms of prostate cancer.

Drinking alcohol, even more than six drinks a week does not make the symptoms of an enlarged prostate any worse. In fact, men who drink more than is otherwise good for them have fewer prostate symptoms and better sexual function than teetotalers. A low-carb/high-fat diet slows the growth of prostate tumor cells. As with all studies, one isolated cause does not equal a silver bullet.

Generations Explained

The only recognized generation (from the census bureau) is the baby boomers. All others are made up by the media and roughly overlap. Attached is a chart, including the next generation To Be Determined.

Greatest Generation - These are the people who fought and died in World War II for our freedom, which we appreciate. Tom Brokaw made the name up.

Baby Boomers - This is the agreed-upon generation that falls within DiPrete’s punctuated time frame.

Generation X - George Masnick, of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, puts this generation in the time frame of 1965 to 1984.

Generation Y - Masnick addresses this group too, putting it “anywhere from the mid-1970s when the oldest were born to the mid-2000s when the youngest were.” Mostly Generation Y is a made-up generation.

Millennials - In October 2004, the researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss called Millennials “the next great generation.” They define the group as “those born in 1982 and approximately the 20 years thereafter.” In 2012, they affixed the end point as 2004.

TBD - Children in the past 10+ years lack a designation. They are not Millennials.

 

Roosters on Weather Vanes

Originally, people tied strings or cloth to the tops of buildings so that they could see which way the wind was blowing. Later, banners became a popular ornament, and that is where we get the “vane” in weathervane; an Old English word that meant “banner” or “flag.” They all served the same purpose, which was to turn and point in the direction of the wind.

The components of a weathervane are the vane, the mast, and the directionals, which display the four points of the compass — North, South, East, and West. The vane usually resembles an arrow shape (with the rooster on top), which rotates freely and points in the direction the wind is coming from while the directionals remain stationary.  So if the rooster and arrow are pointing north, that means the winds are coming from the north, and is referred to as “a North wind.”

In the biblical passages describing these events, it was said that Peter would deny Jesus three times “before the rooster crowed.” Because of this, the rooster became known to Christians as the symbol of St. Peter. Sometime between 590 and 604 A.D., Pope Gregory I, took this a step farther, declaring that the rooster, emblem of St. Peter, was the most suitable symbol for Christianity. It is thought that this declaration led to the first roosters appearing on top of weathervanes.

In the 9th century, Pope Nicholas made the rooster official. His decree was that all churches must display the rooster on their steeples or domes as a symbol of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus. In accordance with the decree, churches started using weathervanes with the rooster.

As centuries went by, the rule about placing roosters atop churches went by the wayside, but roosters stayed on weathervanes. European settlers brought weathervanes wherever they traveled, including to the New World. Now you will find weathervanes — mostly with roosters, but sometimes with other symbols — topping buildings throughout the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

Fig Newton Origin

 Until the late 19th century, many physicians believed that most illnesses were related to digestion problems, and recommended a daily intake of biscuits and fruit. Fig rolls were the ideal solution to this advice. They were a locally produced and handmade product until a Philadelphia baker and fig lover, Charles Roser, invented and patented a machine in 1891 which inserted fig paste into a thick pastry dough. F.A. Kennedy Steam Bakery in Cambridge, MA, is where the Fig Newton, named after the nearby town of Newton was first conceived and produced in 1891.

The Kennedy Biscuit Company had become associated with the New York Biscuit Company, and the two merged to form Nabisco, after which, the fig rolls were trademarked as "Fig Newtons". Since 2012, the "Fig" has been dropped from the product name. They are now just named "Newtons."

Eating Before Exercise

 A new study has finally solved the dilemma of whether to eat before or after you exercise. Researchers at the Universities of Bath, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Stirling analyzed the energy expenditure of twelve healthy physically active men between the ages of 20 and 26. Each of the men completed three different trials: eating a breakfast of oats and milk and then resting (no exercise), eating the same breakfast two hours before cycling for 60 minutes, and skipping breakfast completely before doing the same 60 minutes of exercise.

The study revealed that when the men skipped breakfast, they had a greater calorie deficit throughout the day of about 150 calories on average, implying that fasting before exercise is the best for weight loss.

The study’s authors concluded, “These results suggest that for healthy young men a short-term energy deficit may be more easily attained if breakfast is omitted before exercise.”  When you work out on an empty stomach, your body does not have readily accessible energy from food so it draws from other sources, like stored body fat, which makes your exercise more effective at burning fat and helping you lose weight.

Additionally, exercising in a fasted state keeps your insulin levels low, allowing your body to produce more growth hormone which also burns fat. “When insulin is elevated, as is the case after you eat, your body will be in a state of wanting to store fat, not burn it,” Phoenyx Austin, MD, a certified Sports Medicine Specialist, explained to MindBodyGreen. “It doesn’t matter if you exercise like a mad man after a meal, you won’t be able to burn body fat until insulin levels drop, which can typically take two-to-three hours, if not longer.

Veg Fact

According to a poll of 11,000 Americans, 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans return to eating meat.

Walmart Free Drive-in Theaters

Walmart is transforming some of its store parking lots into a free drive-in movie experience from now through October as a way to let customers still have a movie-going experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The campaign will span across 160 supercenter store parking lots in states like Texas, Utah, Florida, Nevada, and many Midwestern and Southern states. The pop up events are completely free, but you must claim tickets in advance at TheWalmartDrivein.com since there are no tickets available upon entry. Gates open at 6:00 pm and the film begins at 7:30 pm. No late entry is allowed.

Walmart will show classic films like Wonder Woman (2017), Spy Kids (2001), Space Jam (1996), Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018), Ghostbusters (1984), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Black Panther (2018), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Friday Night Lights (2004). Bring your own popcorn.

Why Barns Are Red

 According to The Farmers’ Almanac and LiveScience, there is a very practical reason why farmers have traditionally painted their barns red, simple economics.

Most of America’s early farmers did not have money they could spend on paint to cover their barns. In fact, many of them could not even afford to paint their houses. Still, they needed to protect their barns from the elements so they experimented with various concoctions until they found one that worked.

Once it was developed and proven to work, word quickly spread that a proper mixture of skimmed milk, lime, and ferrous oxide (rust) to kill fungi and as an extra sealant, and linseed oil would protect barn wood from rotting due to moisture. Luckily, those ingredients were in abundant supply on most farms of the day so they were available even to the poorest farmers. Incidentally, many houses in Sweden are red for the same reason.

Happy Friday

 If you are happy, it is not just for you. It is what you exude to others.

Always exude your happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!

National Senior Citizens Day

National Senior Citizens Day, August 21. Today we celebrate the people who are part of the fastest-growing demographic in the world. According to the traditional definition, a senior citizen is anyone older than 60 years of age, but this seems relatively young in today’s society. 

When it comes to new technologies, adults above the age of 55 represent 65% of all “early adopters.” This demographic is also the most politically engaged segment of the population. Almost 80% of all senior citizens vote in a presidential election, while the overall voter turnout is usually about 50%.

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the first National Senior Citizens Day in 1988. In his explanation he wrote that, “Older citizens are reinforcing their historical roles as leaders and as links with our patrimony and sense of purpose as individuals and as a Nation.”

In honor of National Senior Citizens Day, spend time with your favorite relatives or make a commitment to volunteer at a retirement home. If you are a senior citizen yourself, share a few drinks and snacks with friends. Also, check for special promotions and giveaways at your favorite restaurants and shops.

Happy National Waffle Day Aug 24

 National Waffle Day commemorates the anniversary of the first waffle iron patent issued. On August 24, 1869, Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York received his patent for the waffle iron. Celebrate by savoring your favorite kind of waffle.

For longer than anyone can remember, waffles have been a sweet, toasty breakfast treat and a staple inside America’s freezers, restaurants, and recipe books. Maybe you enjoy waffles the old-fashioned way, with butter and maple syrup, or perhaps you like them decked out with chocolate chips, whipped cream, strawberries, and other decadent toppings. Or perhaps you have moved on to concepts like waffle sandwiches, waffle crepes, waffle pizzas, or chicken and waffles.

Food historians trace the waffle’s DNA back to ancient Greece, when cooks roasted flat cakes between two metal plates attached to a long wooden handle. Obelios, as the cakes were called, were not particularly sweet or decadent, but their design evolved over time as people began customizing the plates. In Medieval Europe, the Catholic Church made a large, unleavened wafer as a sort of companion to the communion wafer. These oublies (or “wafers,” derived from the Greek term) were typically made using grain flour and water, and would depict Biblical scenes, crosses, and other religious icons. They were often served after meals as a symbolic final blessing.

In the early 18th century, the English added a second "f" to form the word we know today: waffles. It wasn’t until waffles came to America, courtesy of the Dutch, that they were finally paired with maple syrup, a popular liquid sweetener that was cheaper and more widely available than granulated sugar, which had to be imported. As early as the 1740s, colonists in New Jersey and New York were having parties known as "wafel frolics." Thomas Jefferson, who loved waffles so much that he brought four waffle irons that he bought in Amsterdam, regularly served waffles at Monticello along with other shockingly modern foods like ice cream, French fries, and macaroni and cheese.

A few decades later, three brothers from California would revolutionize the waffle industry and breakfasts everywhere. In 1932, Frank, Anthony, and Samuel Dorsa started a food manufacturing company in their parents’ basement in San Jose. Their first breakthrough, Eggo Mayonnaise, so named because it used "100 percent fresh ranch eggs," became a local success, as did a waffle batter they sold to consumers and restaurants. The brothers also developed one of the first dry waffle mixes, which required just milk to create a rich, thick batter. The Dorsas were so successful that after just a few years they moved out of their parents’ basement and into an old potato chip factory, where they expanded into other categories like chips, noodles, and pretzel sticks.

Banana Facts

A banana plant only produces one bunch of bananas in its lifetime. Banana plants take about nine months to grow up and produce banana berry, and once the bananas have been harvested, the plant dies.

Bananas reproduce by suckers, which are small plants that grow at the root of the parent plant. Each stem grows 9 to 12 hands, which means that a single banana plant can produce up to 240 bananas.

Bananas are berries. Berry is actually a botanical term, not a common English one. Blackberries, mulberries, and raspberries are not berries, but bananas, pumpkins, avocados, and cucumbers are. 

Upload vs. Download Speed

 Internet speed tests let you find out how fast your connection is. These numbers are used in pricing your internet monthly fees. There are two numbers, “upload speed” and “download speed.” The download speed is how fast information comes to your connected device from the internet. Upload speed is how fast information goes from your connected device to the internet. Your download speed will always be higher. 

The speeds are shared by all your devices, so if you have two computers and three TVs that share, things could slow down. If you are streaming video, it is recommended to have at least 8 mbps for multiple devices watching HD content. If you are watching 4K content, you will need 25 mbps for one device or 40 mbps for multiple devices.

WD-40 For Bugs

For insect spray, it works equally well on roaches and squeaky hinges. Yellow jackets and other wasp's favorite places to build nests is under eaves. Spray some WD-40 under all the eaves of your house. It will block the wasps from building their nests there. 

Grapefruit Origin

The grapefruit first appeared after 1693 when Captain Shaddock transported some pomelo (non-hybrid, citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia) seeds to the West Indies and planted them close to some orange trees. The pomelo and orange later cross-pollinated to create the grapefruit.

Europeans learned of this citrus fruit in 1750 when Reverend Griffith Hughes encountered one. Hughes was so surprised with the discovery that he named the grapefruit “the forbidden fruit.” That was the name until 1814 when John Lunan called it the grapefruit, because grapefruits resembled the smaller and unrelated grapes when they were still growing.

The grapefruit reached the United States in 1823, but was mistaken for the pomelo. It was only determined to be a distinct fruit in 1837. However, botanists were still confused about its origin. It wasn’t until 1948 that they discovered it was a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange. 

Happy Friday

“Unhappy is he who depends on success to be happy,” ~Alex Dias Ribeiro

If you are happy, you are already a success, especially on a Happy Friday! 

August 8: National Happiness Happens Day

 Created by the Secret Society of Happy People in 1999 as Admit You’re Happy Day, this unofficial holiday encourages people to be open about their happiness and to share it with others. The holiday is based on the premise that happiness is unlimited and contagious and that sharing one's happiness and can bring a lot of joy in other people's lives. In 2000, the Society expanded the celebration of happiness and declared August as Happiness Happens Month.

Do something nice for yourself - after all, happiness starts at home. Make someone else happy by doing something nice for them. It can be something as simple as giving up your seat on the bus to someone else or a more elaborate gesture like volunteering your time and money to a charity of your choice. Studies have found that volunteering doesn't only help people bring joy in their lives, but can also help them live longer.

Participate in a HappyThon - a social media campaign run by the Secret Society of Happy People that encourages people to send happy, joyful, and uplifting messages to people around the world.

Incidentally, In 2012, the United Nations (UN) declared March 20 to be observed as the International Day of Happiness

August 9: National Book Lovers Day

 For most book lovers, every day is a day to celebrate reading. Many of my books will make you happy and you can extend Happiness day. Today is the day to exalt book lovers of all shapes, sizes, covers, and word counts. Diphthongs are not allowed while social distancing is observed.

Top 5 Reasons to Laugh

Having a good laugh makes your brain release endorphins and really does change your mood for the better.

By gently exercising the body, through the laughter and the breathing and the gentle movements one performs while going through the routine.

It helps to prevent you from getting sick as well as helping to improve a number of conditions, like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, depression, arthritis, allergies, asthma, bronchitis, back ache, fibromyalgia, headaches, cancer, and many more.

Laughter creates a positive energy which helps you to connect with people and attract friends.

It creates a positive mental state which is beneficial when times are rough.

Research is ongoing regarding the potential health benefits of laughter. Still to be proven is if the sense of humor and positive attitude behind laughter are also helpful.

When we laugh, we increase our pulse rate and blood pressure, and the effects may be similar to exercise. Researchers have estimated that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes burns 50 calories. Other studies suggest laughter improves blood flow, immune responses, and blood sugar levels.

Research looking at the connection between mind and body suggests that repeated doses of laughter, and even anticipation of laughter, can lead to positive physical changes.

In a paper presented at the American Physiological Society, they found that the hormones beta-endorphins (which elevate mood) and human growth hormone (which builds immunity) increased by 27% and 87 % respectively in patients exposed to "mirthful laughter."

Another study found that laughter reduced three key stress hormones; cortisol, epinephrine, and dopac -- by 38 percent to 70 percent. Significantly high levels of those three hormones have long been linked to compromised immune systems.

Laughter promotes all kinds of good endorphins, which helps reduce pain and promotes deep breathing.

In another study, they found that the same anticipation of mirthful laughter reduced the levels of three detrimental stress hormones. Cortisol, adrenaline, and dopac, were reduced 39, 70, and 38%, respectively.

A group of 20 high-risk diabetic patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia were divided into two groups: Group C (control) and Group L (laughter). Both groups were started on standard medications for diabetes and Group L viewed self-selected humor for 30 minutes in addition to the standard therapies.

The patients in the laughter group had lower epinephrine and norepinephrine levels by the second month, suggesting lower stress levels. They also increased HDL (good) cholesterol and had lower levels of inflammation.

At the end of one year, the laughter group HDL cholesterol had risen by 26 percent, and only 3 percent in the Group Control. Harmful C-reactive proteins decreased 66% in the laughter group vs. 26% for the control group.

The study suggests that the addition of an adjunct therapeutic laughter prescription to standard diabetes care may lower stress and inflammatory response and increase "good" cholesterol levels. The authors conclude that laughter may thus lower the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. 

Salty Milk

Add a pinch of salt to a gallon of milk  and it will make it last a bit longer. Store bought or fresh, it does not matter. Something about the salt preserves the milk and keeps it from spoiling as quickly.

Cold vs. Warm Milk

 In the United States, milk is sold and stored cold, but America is a bit of an outlier.

It comes down to different pasteurization methods. In the US and Canada, milk manufacturers make use of high-temperature short-time pasteurization, or HTST. Able to kill bacteria in large batches, HTST is efficient, but results in milk that expires relatively quickly - about seven to 10 days after opening. That is because the temperature used (about 161°F for 15 seconds) is enough to kill most bacteria, but some will proliferate if the milk hangs around long enough.

In Europe and other parts of the world, another technique called ultra-heat-treated pasteurization, or UHT, is used. Milk is exposed to higher temperatures of 284°F for three seconds, decimating virtually all the bacteria and making it shelf-stable for about six months if left unopened. Once opened, it has to be refrigerated. Because it is “cooked” at high heat and burns off some of the sugar, UHT milk also has a slightly different flavor.  

Pasteurization is named after Louis Pasteur, a French scientist in the 1860s who realized heating beer could kill bacteria. Decades later, German agricultural chemist Franz von Soxhlet applied the principle of high heat to milk, since dairy products had a nasty habit of harboring contaminants that could cause diphtheria or tuberculosis. HTST and UHT methods followed, and Europe picked up on the promise of UHT producing milk that would not spoil quickly.

The idea of purchasing milk in the middle of a grocery store, unrefrigerated, is something that does not fit with US food storage habits. While UHT milk is still sold in the US, it is primarily for portable cartons thrown in lunchboxes or for people who want to have milk on hand for a backpack.

Trip Insurance

Take photos before leaving for a trips to show proof that the oven dials all show off and the thermostat is turned off (or at least down or up depending on season. Also take a picture of the locked door and any other thing you may worry about as soon as you get in the car to go to the airport. The interesting thing is that you most likely will never look at the pictures, because you have the peace of mind knowing you took the picture. Also don't forget to take a picture of where you parked your car at the airport. Also:
Clean out the fridge,
Refrigerate produce,
Take out the trash,
Wipe down surfaces,
Make the bed and change the sheets,
Water plants and move them to cool areas, or setup a self watering system,
Stock up on ready made meals and coffee,
Hold your mail or ask a neighbor to get it,
Raise, lower, or turn off thermostats,

Toss fresh flowers. 

Labyrinth vs. Maze

 A maze is a complex branching puzzle that includes choices of path and direction, may have multiple entrances and exits, and dead ends. Mazes can be constructed with varying levels of difficulty and complexity.

A labyrinth has only a single non-branching path, which leads to the center then back out the same way, with only one entry/exit point.

Happy Friday

To be draped in happiness is to dress for kings.

Dress well, especially on a Royal Happy Friday!

Good Egg vs. Bad Egg

Most foods are easy to determine if they are good or bad by smell, touch, color, etc. Eggs are not so obvious. However there is a quick and easy way to tell if eggs are good or bad. Fill a cup or bowl with cold water and place eggs in. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on their sides, they are very fresh. If they are a few weeks old, but still good to eat, they will stand on one end at the bottom of the bowl. If they float to the surface, they are no longer fresh enough to eat. Incidentally, those that stand up are best for hard boiling. The extra air in the older eggs will help the peel come off easier after hard boiling.

Wordology, Lake vs. Pond

A pond is shallow enough that light penetrates all the way to the bottom. Although there is no set size for either, most geographers agree that when a body of freshwater is bigger than 12 acres, it is a lake. Smaller than that, it is a pond.

Rats and Monkeys Laugh

It may sound strange, but several scientists have elicited "tickle-induced vocalizations" from primates. Penny Paterson, president of the Gorilla Foundation says that Koko, the gorilla famous for her sign language abilities, even had a special "ho, ho," for visitors she liked. And rats apparently have very ticklish necks. When Bowling Green State University scientist Jaak Panksepp and his graduate students tickled baby rats' napes, the rodents emitted high-frequency chirps that Panksepp interpreted as laughter.

Robert Levinson, psychology professor at the University of California Berkeley, invited couples into his lab and asked each partner to discuss something that irritated him or her about the other partner. The couples who tackled the stressful situation with laughter not only felt better in the moment, but had higher levels of relationship satisfaction and stayed together longer than couples who did not crack a smile.

When you see people laughing, you just can't help but smile. That is because your brain makes it nearly impossible not to. That is the result of research from the lab of Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at University College London. When she monitored subjects' brains while she played laughing sounds, she found that the premotor cortical region of the brain, which prepares the muscles in the face to move, was activated.

Incidentally, 10 to 15 minutes of laughing a day can burn up to 40 calories, according to a Vanderbilt University study. Researchers determined that the increase in heart rate and oxygen consumption during these funny moments boosted the burn.

Pardon my Tartle

We have all been there: You run into someone and you go to introduce them to whoever you are with and you can't remember their name.


There happens to be a Scottish term for this awkward hesitation. So if you (unfortunately) ever find yourself in that situation you can say, "Pardon my tartle!"

Free Photos

Access a million high-quality photos, for free. Graphic designers and artists are constantly on the hunt for high quality images, but few of the biggest stock photo platforms are free to use.

That is what makes Unsplash different. Unlike competitors, Unsplash’s library is made up of 100% community contributions.

Reddit

Reddit has now surpassed Facebook and is now the third-most-popular internet destination for users in the United States, according to rankings published by Amazon subsidiary Alexa, a website that tracks and analyzes web traffic. Despite its recent controversial site redesign, this means that Reddit now trails only Google and YouTube, but ranks ahead of Facebook and Amazon.

While Reddit still does not attract the same amount of traffic as Google or YouTube, the good news for the site is that users spend more time browsing the site, averaging 15 minutes and 10 seconds every day, The Next Web reported. Reddit also outranks the top five sites on the list with more daily page views per visitors. Rounding out the top 10 sites are Wikipedia, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, and Netflix.

Man Made Fruit

The tangelo is a man-made hybrid of the tangerine and the pomelo. In fact, that is where the tangelo got its name. However, it is common for people to confuse the tangelo with the tangerine, mandarin, and orange.

To add to the confusion, there are different varieties of tangelos and all are not necessarily created from tangerines and pomelos. One common variant, the Minneola tangelo, is a hybrid of the tangerine and Duncan grapefruit. Another variant was created by crossing a mandarin with a pomelo, which technically makes it an orange.

The tangelo is believed to have first appeared in the forests of Southeast Asia 3,500 years ago when insects cross-pollinated the mandarin with a fruit that is closely related to the grapefruit. However, today’s tangelos are the result of a selective breeding program that started in the 1800s.

At the forefront of the tangelo project was the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which created the popular Minneola tangelo sold across the United States. The USDA released the seeds of the Minneola tangelo in 1931. It is named after the city of Minneola, Florida.

Unclaimed Luggage

Over 99.9% of domestic airline’s checked bags are picked up at the carousel. After airlines conduct an extensive three month tracing process there are still a small percentage of bags left unclaimed.
Unclaimed Baggage buys orphaned bags and gives them a second life by selling, donating, and recycling their contents.
Unclaimed Baggage has purchasing agreements for unclaimed items with all domestic airlines and other travel and transportation companies. With five decades of experience processing large volumes of one-of-a-kind items, we maximize each item’s potential for a second life.

Fun and unusual finds, including amazing jewelry at good prices LINK.

Sealioning

This is a common, subtle harassment which consists of pursuing people with persistent requests for evidence or repeated questions, while feigning ignorance, sincerity, and politeness. It may take the form bad-faith invitations to engage in debate, often trying to incite in order to play victim. It may take the form of "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate."

The troll feigns ignorance and politeness, so that if the target is provoked into making an angry response, the troll can then act as the aggrieved party.

Happy Friday

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." ~Joseph Addison

I always enjoy a threefer, especially on a Happy Friday!

Wordology, Ultracrepidarianism

It is the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one's knowledge. We all know people who have knowledge in one thing or another and attempt to translate that to things they have little no knowledge about.

The term ultracrepidarian was first publicly recorded in 1819 by the essayist William Hazlitt in an open Letter to William Gifford, the editor of the Quarterly Review, "You have been well called an Ultra-Crepidarian critic."

It may come from a famous Greek artist, to a shoemaker who presumed to criticize his painting. It can be taken to mean that a shoemaker ought not to judge beyond his own soles. Critics should only comment on things they know something about. The saying remains popular in several languages, as in a cobbler should stick to his shoes.

Herbs vs. Spices

Herbs and spices all come from plants, they do not all come from the same parts of plants. Herbs are the leaves of a plant—things like parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and others.

A seasoning harvested from any other part of the plant—including the roots, bark, seeds, rhizomes, bulbs, buds, etc.—is considered a spice. Cinnamon sticks are really bits of bark from trees in the Cinnamomum genus, while cloves are dried flower buds from the clove tree.
Some plants boast an herb and a spice. The leaves of the Coriandrum sativum plant are widely known as cilantro, which is definitely an herb. The seeds usually called coriander, are a spice, but cilantro and coriander are both common names for the whole plant, and cilantro is just the Spanish word for coriander. Dill is another example. Dill weed refers to dill leaves (the herb), while dill seed, which is actually not a seed, but the tiny, brown fruit of the dill plant is a spice.

According to Merriam-Webster, the botanical definition of herb is “a seed-producing annual, biennial, or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue, but dies down at the end of the growing season.” Botanically speaking, herbs are whole plants that do not have wooden parts like trees and bushes. The entire cumin plant, for instance, whose seeds are ground into a spice, is technically an herb.

TV Categories

Are you confused about the subtle differences between mystery and drama. The shows presented on TV streaming show much overlap as shows are included in both categories. It means even the producers are not sure of the differences.

“Mystery” refers to an intellectual process where there is a puzzle that needs to be solved. “Suspense” refers to an emotional process where there is an unknown situation, event, or threat that produces anxiety and fear and needs to be resolved.

"Drama" is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue. It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front of audience on the stage. A drama is a story or situation which usually presents some sort of conflict. An example of drama is a break-up caused by the boyfriend cheating with the girlfriend's best friend.

Wordology, Peladophobia

It is the fear of bald people. It's also the fear of becoming bald, which means it is most frequently suffered by balding people who are turning into the thing they fear the most.

More Statue of Liberty Facts

According to designer Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculpture’s true title is “Liberty Enlightening the World.
Bartholdi’s mother, Charlotte, who is rumored to be the model for Liberty’s massive copper visage. (Bartholdi’s wife posed for the arms and torso.)

The island where she stands was called Bedloe’s Island (after an early Dutch settler) until 1956, when it was renamed Liberty Island by an act of Congress. Liberty Island and Ellis Island are two separate islands in the New York Harbor.
Ellis Island became known as the gateway to New York for millions of immigrants, who passed through the inspection station on the island between 1892 and 1954. Ellis Island is now home to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which also includes the American Family Immigration History Center, also Oyster beds, a smallpox quarantine station, a Scottish Earl’s summer estate, a recruitment center, and now a National Park and museum. 
The Lady stands on a pedestal, and the pedestal stands on a disused granite fort in the shape of an 11-pointed star. Fort Wood, completed in 1811, once held 77 mounted guns and a garrison of 350 U.S. Army troops to protect New York harbor. Today it holds a museum.

Miss America vs. Miss USA

Both Miss America and Miss USA emphasize good looks and figures. Both also promote themselves as a forum for young women to better themselves, earn scholarships, make lasting friendships, become leaders, give back to their communities, and beyond through charitable partnerships. Both pageants now feature contenders from all 50 states plus a representative from the District of Columbia.

Neither is to be confused with Miss World America, Miss U.S. International, or Miss Earth United States.

Both national pageants require entrants to participate and win local and state competitions before they move on to the national stage. For Miss America, the national show is the end of the line and the winner then travels around the country for her “year of service” according to the pageant’s official site. But if you take the top spot at Miss USA, you are sent to represent America at that year’s Miss Universe pageant where you take on the top contenders from around the world.

The older pageant also places more emphasis on tangible skills. The talent portion of a contestant’s performance is crucial when it comes to voting on a victor at Miss America, it makes up 35 percent of their overall score, versus Miss USA, which does not take talent into consideration when crowning their beauty queen.

The winner of the Miss America pageant collects a $50,000 scholarship. The Miss America Organization’s Public Relations Coordinator Chelsea Mineur told Bustle in 2017 that no one goes home empty-handed. Every contestant receives a scholarship, ranging from $3,000 for last place finishers to $25,000 for the first runner-up. Miss America will travel around the country, which is covered by the company, making appearances, doing speaking engagements, performing charity work, and serving as the National Ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network.

The woman who is crowned as Miss USA will instantly move into a luxury apartment in New York City. The winner will live there rent free for her entire reign as Miss USA. In addition to a new living situation, Miss USA 2018 received a year-long salary. All of her living expenses will be covered for her whole reign. She will be making promotional appearances around the country and the internationally, which is both a duty and a perk of the acquiring the title. The winner also gets to be styled by the official Miss Universe Organization fashion stylist. She also gets her annual wardrobe covered. The average salary for miss USA jobs is $63,132.

Aside from everything that comes with being Miss USA, the winner will have an opportunity to move on to the next level of competition: the Miss Universe pageant. If Miss USA ends up winning the Miss Universe title, there will be even more personal perks and opportunities to give back to the community, but on a global scale.