Feb 4, 2010

Ikea

Each year, Ikea sends out 180 million catalogs. That means there are more of them printed annually than bibles.

Feb 3, 2010

Bacon Tuxedo

Here is something for the man who has everything. You can also get it as a puzzle.

Ethics

"Looking for an ethic in Congress is as foolish as looking for a virgin in a bordello.” Wesley Pruden, retired editor-in-chief of “The Washington Times”

Hugs

No moving parts, no batteries.
No monthly payments and no fees;
Inflation proof, non-taxable,
In fact, it's quite relaxable;
It can't be be stolen, won't pollute,
One size fits all, do not dilute.
It uses little energy,
But yields results enormously,
Relieves your tension and your stress
Invigorates your happiness;
Combats depression, makes you beam,
And elevates your self esteem!
Your circulation it corrects
Without unpleasant side effects
It is, I think, the perfect drug:
May I prescribe, my friend,....the hug!
(and of course fully returnable!) 

Thoughts

Words fall like dew upon a thought and produce that which makes millions think.

The Day the Music Died

Feb 3 1959, Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens had their swan song in Clear Lake, Iowa. Been there and it is a beautiful lake in the middle of miles of cornfields. There is a super steak joint at the edge of the lake with pick-your-own and they grill each to order.

A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died. Don McLean

Feb 2, 2010

Happy Palindrome Day

Feb 1, 2010 is officially a palindrome day.


A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction. The word "palindrome" was coined from Greek roots palin "again" and dromos "way, direction") by English writer Ben Jonson in the 1600s. Huh!

Feb 1, 2010

Hug

A hug is a handshake from the heart.

How many Faces?

How perceptive are you? How many faces can you see in this tree?
 



There are 10 faces.

English Genealogy

Do you have ancestors from England, Scotland, or Wales? If so, there is a site that allows you to look them up by simply entering their last name. It shows births and marriages. You can find the records for free, but there is a subscription if you want more details. It also has a free 14 day trial to get all the info you want. LINK

Jan 29, 2010

Web Viewing Tip

Here is a tip that I use all the time. When viewing a web page that has small print, hold down the CTRL (control) key and move your scroll button on your mouse forward. It increases the size of print for easier viewing. It is temporary and only lasts for the page you are viewing. Moving your scroll button back reduces the size of print. It works in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Robot Maids

South Korean scientists have developed a walking robot maid which can recognize people, turn on microwave ovens, washing machines, and toasters, and also pick up sandwiches, cups, and whatever else it senses as objects.

Mahru-Z has a human-like body including a rotating head, arms, legs and six fingers plus three-dimensional vision to recognize chores that need to be tackled. Below is a picture of the old and new models.

"The most distinctive strength of Mahru-Z is its visual ability to observe objects, recognize the tasks needed to be completed, and execute them," said You Bum-Jae, head of the cognitive robot center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.

The institute took two years to develop Mahru-Z, which is 4.3 feet tall and weighs 121 pounds.

It could also work with an earlier maid robot called Marhu-M which moves on wheels, since both can be remotely controlled through a computer server. Don't look for this in the mail order catalogs soon.

Older Brains and Remembering

A new study has found promising evidence that the older brain's weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information may actually give aging adults a memory advantage over their younger counterparts.

Other research has already shown that aging is associated with a decreased ability to tune out irrelevant information. The current study showed that older brains are less likely to suppress irrelevant information than younger brains and can link the relevant and irrelevant pieces of information together to use this knowledge for subsequent memory tasks.

The older adults showed a 30% advantage over younger adults in their memory. Because this type of knowledge is thought to play a critical role in real world decision-making, older adults may be the wiser decision-makers compared to younger adults because they picked up so much more information. I knew that.

Conversations

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses.