Internet Cookies

Unlike the tasty morsels of real cookies, internet cookies are dropped in your computer from almost every site that you visit.

Sometimes there are good cookies, like those that let you log in to sites without always typing your password, but usually the cookies track where you have been so the web owner knows you have been there before. Anyone with a bit of coding knowledge can look at all your cookies and track where you have gone on the web.

I find cookies to be an invasion of my privacy, and luckily there is a way to get rid of those pesky space hogs on my disk. If you use Internet Explorer, go to the top line and click on 'Tools' then click on 'Internet Options', then click on 'Browsing History'. You are then shown options to delete temporary files, history, cookies, etc. Click on the boxes next to those items you wish to delete and click 'delete'. You may be surprised that it will take a few minutes if you have never deleted the files before. If you use Firefox, go to 'Tools', 'Options', 'Privacy' to do the same thing.

Both Internet Explorer and Firefox, also have a check box option to 'Delete browsing history on exit' and it will clean out your cookies and history each time you exit the program. This does not clean up all the temporary files, but it does help preserve your privacy. It's like cleaning your computer and protecting your privacy at the same time.

Undiet Food

I would love to have some bacon and fries on a stick. Yumm!

I Know What You Are Thinking

Intel Corp. has introduced software that analyzes functional MRI scans to determine what parts of a person's brain are being activated as he or she thinks. it has 90 percent accuracy in guesses about which of two words a person was thinking about. Eventually, the technology could help the severely physically disabled to communicate.

The system works best when a person is first scanned while thinking of dozens of different concrete nouns - words like "bear" or "hammer." When test subjects are then asked to pick one of two new terms and think about it, the software uses the earlier results as a baseline to determine what the person is thinking. Very cool stuff.

Glowing Toilet Paper

The first packaged toilet paper was the 1857 invention of American, Joseph Gayetty and called Gayetty's Medicated Paper. In 1880, the British Perforated Paper Company created a paper product to be used for wiping after using the toilet that came in boxes of small pre-cut squares. In 1879, the Scott Paper Company began selling the first toilet paper on a roll, however, toilet paper in roll form did not become common until 1907. In 1942, St. Andrew's Paper Mill in Great Britain introduced the first two-ply toilet paper.

Now you can buy the person who has everything a roll of glowing toilet paper. It is just the thing for hunting in the woods, when the power goes out, or when you don't want to turn on the lights. It costs about eight dollars a roll. Sorry, it is not on my Christmas list.

Soap Dispenser

This has to be the grossest invention in quite some time. It oozes green goo soap when you press the nose. Sorry, but it just struck me funny when I saw it. Kind of goes with the glowing toilet paper.

Weather

According to the US Department of State -
"Energy use for heating and cooling is directly responsive to weather variation. The AEO forecast of CO 2 emissions assumes 30-year average values for population-weighted heating and cooling degree-days. Unlike other sources of uncertainty, for which deviations between assumed and actual trends may follow a persistent course over time, the effect of weather on energy use and emissions in any particular year is largely independent from year to year."   I get it, the weather will either be the same or different and that is certainly not an uncertainty.

A Hundred Years Ago

1910 Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture.
Georges Claude displayed the first neon lamp to the public on December 11, 1910, in Paris.
Fifty years ago, 1960 - The halogen lamp invented.

LED Umbrella

Here is a cool idea, an umbrella with an LED handle. Think of dark and rainy nights and this offers some light as well as protection from the elements.


They are only $24.99 at thinkgeek.com and come in red and blue, with 3 AAA batteries included.

Electronic Undies

True - The rollout of the world's first electronic underpants has been announced in Australia. They are designed for the elderly and infirm and will be used in aged care homes across New South Wales to monitor incontinence.

"We developed the system to provide greater comfort and dignity to the elderly while aiming to significantly lower costs for aged care facilities." The company said its underpants have a disposable element, similar to a regular incontinence pad, and include a detachable transmitter that relays readings from the pad's sensor strip over a wireless network to a central computer via text message or over the institution's paging system.

More than 90 per cent of Australians living in elderly care facilities are believed to suffer from incontinence - a problem that currently requires staff to carry out frequent manual checks throughout the day.

Interesting Fact

Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% - Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.

First Automatic Dishwasher

In 1850, Joel Houghton patented the first automatic dishwasher a wooden machine with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes. It wasn't much, but it was the first patent. In 1886, Josephine Cochran invented the first practical dishwasher. It was also hand operated. Dishwashers did not become household items until the 1950s.

Bacon Cheddar Chips

Here is an interesting twist, potato chips on the outside and bacon with cheddar on the inside. Salty, crunchy, cheesy, and smoky, what more can a person want.

Butterz are hand formed and the bacon and cheddar are coated with an actual potato chip wrapped around. In fact, it’s a thick potato chip batter, like Pringles. They also have other flavors made by B More Nutz in Baltimore and are available online.

Hack My Car

More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control lat month, after a hacker used a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Police arrested a 20-year-old former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off and allegedly sought revenge.

“We started having a rash of up to a hundred customers at one time complaining. Some customers complained of the horns going off in the middle of the night. The only option they had was to remove the battery.”

The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. The system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle. Honk if you love technology. Who says there is no big brother.

Remote Beer Opener

Here is one of those, 'I wonder who thought of that' inventions. It is actually available on the web for $25. A nine function universal remote control with built in beer opener. Hmmm.