Speaking of Ice

When you are making your favorite summer drinks for the pool party, make it ahead of time and freeze some of it in trays or small containers. Put the drink-ice in just before taking that pitcher outside. That way, when the ice melts in the drink, it does not dilute it.

Better Marriage Blanket

I can't even make this stuff up. Here is a blanket that is billed to make your marriage better. LINK There go all those cheesy fart jokes.

Speaking of Marriage

Here is a great video of a marriage ceremony guaranteed to make you laugh. LINK

Sausage vs. Steak

A recent study suggests that eating processed meat such as sausages increases the likelihood of heart disease, while red meat does not seem to be as harmful.

A Harvard University team which looked at studies involving over one million people found just 50g of processed meat a day also raised the risk of diabetes, but there was no such risk from eating even twice as much meat, such as beef, lamb, or pork, even though the two forms of meat have a similar fat content.

The researchers speculated that given the similar quantities of cholesterol and saturated fats, the difference may be explained by the salt and preservatives added to processed meats. This is defined as any meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting and includes bacon, sausages, salami and other luncheon meats.

The team from Harvard School of Public Health looked at 20 studies involving more than one million participants from 10 countries. On average, each equivalent of a sausage or a couple of rashers of bacon was associated with a 42% higher chance of developing coronary heart disease and a 19% higher risk of diabetes.
   
Go for lean cuts and aim to cook from scratch using healthier cooking methods like grilling or baking.

"Although cause-and-effect cannot be proven by these types of long-term observational studies, all of these studies adjusted for other risk factors," said Renata Micha, lead author. I love the disclaimer - the results of these studies can't be proven. Hmmm. Maybe I will put a bit less salt on my bacon and sausage, just in case. . .

Song Stuck in Your Head

I am sure you have had a song in your head for hours, but can't remember the title, or artist. There are a few web sites that can help. Midomi lets you sing or hum the song into your computer or phone mike and it gives you the name and artist. It also plays a clip of the song, just to verify. The best part is that it is free. Wow, there is something that Google doesn't do.

How Tall is. . .

Jeff Flanagan challenged me to find the height of an actor, and I got carried away. Although there is some discussion on the web, with varying heights (especially for the shortest actors), and I did a bunch of digging and these are the best estimates I can find. The  heights listed are without shoe lifts, which many of the men wear. 

Michael 'Sylvester' Gardenzio Stallone 5'7, Halle Berry 5'5, Gary Coleman 4'8, Tom Cruise 5'7, Dame Judi Dench 5'1, Nicole Kidman 5'10, Carlos Ray 'Chuck' Norris 5'9 (born 1940), Angelina Jolie 5'7, Dustin Hoffman 5'5, Mel Gibson 5'8, Salma Hayek 5'1, Walter 'Bruce' Willis 5'11, Mike Meyers 5'6, Jack Nicholson 5'9, Regis Philbin 5'4, John Travolta 6'0, Ray Van Damme 5'8, Tina Turner 5'4, Rene Zellweger, 5'4 Jon Stewart 5'7, Dolly Parton 5'0. That is the tall and short of it.

What is the Althing

Iceland, whose parliament, the Althing was formed by the Vikings in 930, is the oldest democracy still in operation.

Email Photo Frame

Pandigital came out with a $149 Photo Mail Frame in February that gives you a dedicated e-mail address to send images to. They go from your e-mail account to the Pandigital server, which then routes them to the frame via AT&T's cellular network and onto the picture frame.

There is room for 300 images. When the frame gets full, you can delete images.

Bacon Roses

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? It would if it was bacon.

Famous Drummers

This is for the oldies in the bunch. In the summer of 1969, the New York Post Office received a letter with no address other than "The World's Greatest Drummer."

With no return address, the sorter wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, a former drummer worked in that post office. He found Gene Krupa's address and forwarded the letter to him.

Krupa read the envelope and thought, "This isn't for me" and forwarded it to Max Roach. Roach thought, "Somebody must have made a mistake" and forwarded it to Buddy Rich, renown for his incredible ego. Grinning from ear to ear, he ripped open the envelope and it began, "Dear Ringo. . ."

Lost Cursor

Have you ever been looking at a page on the screen and forgot where the cursor was. Here is a trick, hit the CTRL (Control) key on the right or left bottom row of your keyboard and a big circle shows up where the cursor is. If it doesn't work, go to the control panel, click on mouse, then mouse pointer options, then click on the box that says "show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key'.

Top Nine Uses for Coffee Filters

Clean windows and mirrors, because they are lint-free and leave windows sparkling.

Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.

If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods, like tacos.

Keep in the bathroom for razor nick fixers or strips for waxed eyebrows.

Prevent a popsicle from dripping, poke a hole as needed in a coffee filter.

Put a few in a plate to soak up grease from fried bacon, french fries, chicken fingers, etc.

Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale to weigh.

How Many Emails

Did you know that everyday 247 billion emails are sent. By 2013 it will reach 507 billion emails sent every day. Gee, I hope my Friday Thoughts don't get lost in the pile.

How Much Weight Can You Lift

In the heaviest dead lift recorded, British weightlifter Andy Bolton lifted 457.5 kilograms (1,008 pounds) from the floor to his thigh.

What is the maximum weight a human could ever lift? Todd Schroeder at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles thinks we are already close to the maximum. "If you look over time at the records for maximal lifts, they have crept up but are starting to plateau," he says. "Today's weightlifters, including those that use steroids, are near the limit of human potential."

It is the muscles that set the limit. When something does give way, it is usually the muscle fibers that tear, often near the tendon. It is control of the muscles that gives weightlifters their advantage. The body has natural inhibitory mechanisms designed to keep us from hurting ourselves by trying to lift too much. These work by controlling how many muscle fibers are activated at any one time. Weightlifters learn to suppress these signals, enabling them to use a larger fraction of the muscle's potential in lifting.

The key to success is training and genetics plays a role. Short limbs favor strength and some people have more muscle fibers than others.