In some cultures, blue roses traditionally signify a mystery, or attaining the impossible, or never ending quest for the impossible. They are believed to be able to grant the owner youth or grant wishes. Historically, this symbolism derives from the rose's meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times.
The color blue is also traditionally associated with royal blood, and thus the blue rose can also denote regal majesty and splendor. In Chinese folklore, the blue rose signifies hope against unattainable love.
Due to the absence in nature of blue roses they have come to symbolize mystery and longing to attain the impossible with some cultures believing that the holder of a blue rose will have his wishes granted. In 2004, researchers used genetic modification to create blue pigmented roses, but they were a bit dark and leaned more to lavender. Recent work using cloned pigments from Irises, along with depressing the production of cyanidin has produced a mauve colored flower, with only trace amounts of cyanidin. Genetically modified blue roses are patented and currently being grown in test batches by Suntory Ltd., Japan
Mar 26, 2011
Five Ways to Find Someone on the Web
There are a dwindling number of sites that provide name or phone number info for free. Seems we all need to make a living. There are a few interesting sites that provide more information about you than you might like to see. One of them is 123people.com. Type in your name and it spits out a host of information, like pictures, addresses, comments you may have posted on the web, facebook and myspace account info, plus much more. Worth a visit.
Scam callers are an increasing problem but there are a few sites to report the information and you can use them to see if anyone else complained about a particular number. One site Identifycallers lets you post comments and read others comments.
Whitepages.com and yellowpages,com offer name to number and number to name lookups for people or businesses, just as the paper versions do.
Addictomatic is another site that offers a wealth of information, mainly from blogs, tweets, YouTube, Yahoo, facebook, etc., but not personal info, such as address, phone.
Scam callers are an increasing problem but there are a few sites to report the information and you can use them to see if anyone else complained about a particular number. One site Identifycallers lets you post comments and read others comments.
Whitepages.com and yellowpages,com offer name to number and number to name lookups for people or businesses, just as the paper versions do.
Addictomatic is another site that offers a wealth of information, mainly from blogs, tweets, YouTube, Yahoo, facebook, etc., but not personal info, such as address, phone.
Kroger's
Barney Kroger used his life’s savings of $372 to open his first store, The Great Western Tea Company, in 1883 in downtown Cincinnati. (Remember A&P, it was the great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. It started in 1869.)
By 1902, Kroger had opened 40 stores and renamed it the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company. Less than 20 years later, the company had grown to more than 5,000 stores nationwide. Kroger’s stores featured bakeries and were among the first to combine meat markets and grocery stores under one roof.
He advertised regularly in newspapers and started a private-label line of goods to sell in his stores, including sauerkraut and pickles made by his mother. Kroger retired in 1928, but the company continued to grow and remained a pioneer in the industry. In 1972, Kroger was reportedly the first grocery retailer to test an electronic scanner. Today, Kroger has sales of more than $70 billion.
By 1902, Kroger had opened 40 stores and renamed it the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company. Less than 20 years later, the company had grown to more than 5,000 stores nationwide. Kroger’s stores featured bakeries and were among the first to combine meat markets and grocery stores under one roof.
He advertised regularly in newspapers and started a private-label line of goods to sell in his stores, including sauerkraut and pickles made by his mother. Kroger retired in 1928, but the company continued to grow and remained a pioneer in the industry. In 1972, Kroger was reportedly the first grocery retailer to test an electronic scanner. Today, Kroger has sales of more than $70 billion.
Laughter as Medicine
The old adage "laughter is the best medicine" has proved its worth among children coping with pain, according medical experts in the US, who found laughter helped children relax, which had a major impact on how they dealt with and accepted pain.
They believe the healing power of humor can reduce pain and stimulate immune function in children with cancer, Aids, or diabetes and in children receiving organ transplants and bone marrow treatments. Their study reinforces practices adopted by UK hospitals, where laughter is used as a tool to make hospital wards a friendlier place.
Dr Margaret Stuber, who led the US research, said, "We think laughter could be used to help children who are undergoing painful procedures or who suffer from pain-expectation anxiety. In the future, patients watching humorous videos could become a standard component of some medical procedures."
They asked 21 children aged eight to 14 to put their hand into cold water and found the whole group tolerated the temperature longer while watching a funny video.
Those who laughed most remembered less of the pain and hormone tests on their saliva showed their stress levels were lower after laughing.
Dr Stuber said: "Rx Laughter's goal is to ease ill children through some of these medical procedures and minimize the traumatic effects that children experience. The US study, Rx Laughter, is a collaboration between the entertainment industry, pediatrics, and psychiatry.
"In some instances laughter may even reduce the amount of anesthesia necessary."
Distraction therapy
Hospitals in the UK have recognized the power of laughter and some use "clown doctors" to go into children's wards and inject a bit of fun. The team of 10 clown doctors visit about 30,000 children and their families every year at hospitals in London, Manchester and Cambridge.
Humorous videos, especially cartoons, are already used in anesthetic rooms at Manchester Children's Hospital. They have found the videos help the children relax before going into the operating room. Go ahead and have a great laugh today. it's good for you.
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They believe the healing power of humor can reduce pain and stimulate immune function in children with cancer, Aids, or diabetes and in children receiving organ transplants and bone marrow treatments. Their study reinforces practices adopted by UK hospitals, where laughter is used as a tool to make hospital wards a friendlier place.
Dr Margaret Stuber, who led the US research, said, "We think laughter could be used to help children who are undergoing painful procedures or who suffer from pain-expectation anxiety. In the future, patients watching humorous videos could become a standard component of some medical procedures."
They asked 21 children aged eight to 14 to put their hand into cold water and found the whole group tolerated the temperature longer while watching a funny video.
Those who laughed most remembered less of the pain and hormone tests on their saliva showed their stress levels were lower after laughing.
Dr Stuber said: "Rx Laughter's goal is to ease ill children through some of these medical procedures and minimize the traumatic effects that children experience. The US study, Rx Laughter, is a collaboration between the entertainment industry, pediatrics, and psychiatry.
"In some instances laughter may even reduce the amount of anesthesia necessary."
Distraction therapy
Hospitals in the UK have recognized the power of laughter and some use "clown doctors" to go into children's wards and inject a bit of fun. The team of 10 clown doctors visit about 30,000 children and their families every year at hospitals in London, Manchester and Cambridge.
Humorous videos, especially cartoons, are already used in anesthetic rooms at Manchester Children's Hospital. They have found the videos help the children relax before going into the operating room. Go ahead and have a great laugh today. it's good for you.
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Penicillin
Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming's desk was often littered with small glass dishes filled with bacteria cultures scraped from boils, abscesses, and infections. Fleming allowed the cultures to sit around for weeks, hoping something interesting would turn up.
One day, he decided to clean the bacteria-filled dishes and dumped them into a tub of disinfectant. He soon noticed a dish in the tub, which was still above the surface of the water and cleaning agent. As he did, Fleming suddenly saw a dab of fungus on one side of the dish, which had killed the bacteria. The fungus turned out to be a rare strain of penicillium that had drifted onto the dish from an open window.
Fleming began testing the fungus and found that it killed deadly bacteria, yet was harmless to human tissue. However, he was unable to produce it in any significant quantity and didn’t believe it would be effective in treating disease, but he wrote up the findings in a paper he presented to the scientific community. A decade later, another team of scientists followed up on his lead. Using more sophisticated techniques, they were able to successfully produce one of the most life-saving drugs in modern medicine.
One day, he decided to clean the bacteria-filled dishes and dumped them into a tub of disinfectant. He soon noticed a dish in the tub, which was still above the surface of the water and cleaning agent. As he did, Fleming suddenly saw a dab of fungus on one side of the dish, which had killed the bacteria. The fungus turned out to be a rare strain of penicillium that had drifted onto the dish from an open window.
Fleming began testing the fungus and found that it killed deadly bacteria, yet was harmless to human tissue. However, he was unable to produce it in any significant quantity and didn’t believe it would be effective in treating disease, but he wrote up the findings in a paper he presented to the scientific community. A decade later, another team of scientists followed up on his lead. Using more sophisticated techniques, they were able to successfully produce one of the most life-saving drugs in modern medicine.
Mar 22, 2011
Wayback Machine
If you are interested in what a particular web site used to look like, you can use the Wayback Machine website to help. It shows a calendar and you pick the date you wish to see what the site looked like. I mentioned this last year, but thought it was worth mentioning again.
Some get around it and the pages are no longer available. For instance, I was looking up some info from the Obama campaign where he answered questions that were sent in. The pages have all been replaced with a page that sends you to the whitehouse.gov site. LINK Seems the answers from back then might not be the same today and we might be confused. However, I did manage to find a way to the original site by another means.
Some get around it and the pages are no longer available. For instance, I was looking up some info from the Obama campaign where he answered questions that were sent in. The pages have all been replaced with a page that sends you to the whitehouse.gov site. LINK Seems the answers from back then might not be the same today and we might be confused. However, I did manage to find a way to the original site by another means.
Sortie and Sally
The papers have been mentioning that the military has been making many sorties over Libya. A sortie is an offensive military mission. The term was used originally to mean an attack from a fortress, but now most commonly used to describe a single mission by a single military aircraft. it can also be called a sally, which is an action to burst forth (sally forth). Sortie was first used in the 1700s and comes from the French, sortir, to go out.
More on Sally and Sally forth - Sally ports" were a feature of castles and fortresses, a closely-guarded opening in the wall of a castle designed to mount quick attacks on whatever enemy army might be besieging the castle. A "sally," from the Latin "salire" meaning "to jump," was originally a sudden rush out of a besieged position, a lightning attack designed to surprise the enemy. The troops would sortie from the Sally Port. A good soldier does not sally slowly.
More on Sally and Sally forth - Sally ports" were a feature of castles and fortresses, a closely-guarded opening in the wall of a castle designed to mount quick attacks on whatever enemy army might be besieging the castle. A "sally," from the Latin "salire" meaning "to jump," was originally a sudden rush out of a besieged position, a lightning attack designed to surprise the enemy. The troops would sortie from the Sally Port. A good soldier does not sally slowly.
Sally Forth Comics
There were two comic strips named Sally Forth. Sally Forth was a syndicated comic strip from the sixties and seventies about a voluptuous female soldier, targeted at overseas US servicemen. A second, unrelated strip, started in the eighties (and still being produced) was about a sarcastic, American, middle-class mother at home and work. Her name was a takeoff to describe her adventures.
Dirty Dishes
A change in dishwasher detergents that became final in 2010 may cause some changes in your kitchen. The new formulas lack phosphates, chemicals that are bad for the environment, but good for cleaning. Check the package and try something new for a change. Your old cleaner may not have been reformulated to replace the cleaning power of the old ingredients. Does your old cleaner seem as effective as it used to? Do you seem to use more to get those dirty dishes clean?
Consumer Reports, in September 2010, generally scored tablets and packets higher than cheaper powders and gels, but it said new products are still evolving. Rinse aids help, and are often combined with detergents in the newer products. If you spot spots, it's time to change.
Consumer Reports, in September 2010, generally scored tablets and packets higher than cheaper powders and gels, but it said new products are still evolving. Rinse aids help, and are often combined with detergents in the newer products. If you spot spots, it's time to change.
Mar 18, 2011
Voice Mail
Do you remember answering machines? They were a precursor to voice mail systems of today. In 1986, Scott Jones and Greg Carr started Boston Technologies, and began working on a system where you could dial a number and find out stock information. One good idea led to another and the pair thought they could provide people with built in voice mail.
Until 1988, all phone companies besides AT&T were legally banned from providing voice mail. When the ruling was reversed, the pair approached several telecom companies and got financial backing. Within 3 months, their ideas were realized. Voice mail is slowing in popularity with some age groups due to text messaging, but is still a staple of the telecommunications industry. I don't think voice mail will be replaced for a while.
Until 1988, all phone companies besides AT&T were legally banned from providing voice mail. When the ruling was reversed, the pair approached several telecom companies and got financial backing. Within 3 months, their ideas were realized. Voice mail is slowing in popularity with some age groups due to text messaging, but is still a staple of the telecommunications industry. I don't think voice mail will be replaced for a while.
Iodine and Nuclear Fallout
There has been a run on iodine pills in Hawaii, Finland, and some European countries where people are expecting trips to Japan or are worried about Nuclear fallout.
Iodine may be used in radioiodine-contamination emergencies, such as nuclear accidents, to "block" the thyroid's uptake of radioiodine.
Potassium iodide was approved in 1982 by the US FDA to protect the thyroid glands from radioactive iodine from accidents or fission emergencies. In the event of an accident or attack at a nuclear power plant, or fallout from a nuclear bomb, volatile fission product radionuclides may be released, of which 131I is one of the most common by-products and a particularly dangerous one due to thyroid gland concentration of it and this may lead to thyroid cancer. By saturating the body with a source of stable iodide prior to exposure, inhaled or ingested 131I tends to be excreted.
Potassium iodide’s value as a radiation protective (thyroid blocking) agent was demonstrated at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident when Soviet authorities distributed it in a 30 km zone around the plant. The purpose was to protect residents from radioactive iodine, a highly carcinogenic material found in nuclear reactors which had been released by the damaged reactor.
Potassium iodide cannot protect against any other causes of radiation poisoning, nor can it provide any degree of protection against dirty bombs that produce radionuclides other than isotopes of iodine. Also, using common table salt is not an effective substitute. Even with that, salt supplies have been almost completely depleted in stores around Japan.
Iodine may be used in radioiodine-contamination emergencies, such as nuclear accidents, to "block" the thyroid's uptake of radioiodine.
Potassium iodide was approved in 1982 by the US FDA to protect the thyroid glands from radioactive iodine from accidents or fission emergencies. In the event of an accident or attack at a nuclear power plant, or fallout from a nuclear bomb, volatile fission product radionuclides may be released, of which 131I is one of the most common by-products and a particularly dangerous one due to thyroid gland concentration of it and this may lead to thyroid cancer. By saturating the body with a source of stable iodide prior to exposure, inhaled or ingested 131I tends to be excreted.
Potassium iodide’s value as a radiation protective (thyroid blocking) agent was demonstrated at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident when Soviet authorities distributed it in a 30 km zone around the plant. The purpose was to protect residents from radioactive iodine, a highly carcinogenic material found in nuclear reactors which had been released by the damaged reactor.
Potassium iodide cannot protect against any other causes of radiation poisoning, nor can it provide any degree of protection against dirty bombs that produce radionuclides other than isotopes of iodine. Also, using common table salt is not an effective substitute. Even with that, salt supplies have been almost completely depleted in stores around Japan.
Corn Flakes
They were also the first to add a goodies in the cereal box to boost sales, a Funny Jungleland Moving Picture Booklet was first in the early 1900s. Battle Creek is still home to Kellogg and hosts a major Balloon Festival every year. I'll bet you didn't know the name of the corn flake mascot, since 1959, is Cornelius (Corny) Rooster.
Exabytes
From bites to bytes - Last year, manufacturers shipped 5.1 exabytes of storage devices. An exabyte is a quintillion bytes, or a thousand trillion. Below are some more interesting tidbits about exabytes and the internet.
* In 2004, global monthly Internet traffic passed 1 exabyte for the first time and six years later, it is estimated at 21 exabytes per month, or 252 exabytes per year.
* Mobile data traffic is growing faster than non-mobile traffic, has tripled each year for the past three years, and is projected to rise another 26-fold to about 75 exabytes per year by 2015. (The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate over 20 percent of mobile data traffic,)
* Non-mobile internet traffic has averaged 151% growth each year since 1997.
* By 2013, annual global internet traffic will reach two-thirds of a zettabyte or 667 exabytes.
* Global mobile data traffic will reach over two exabytes per month by 2013.
* It is estimated that there was 988 exabytes of data created last year, 2010. That is over 18 million times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written.
* In 2004, global monthly Internet traffic passed 1 exabyte for the first time and six years later, it is estimated at 21 exabytes per month, or 252 exabytes per year.
* Mobile data traffic is growing faster than non-mobile traffic, has tripled each year for the past three years, and is projected to rise another 26-fold to about 75 exabytes per year by 2015. (The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate over 20 percent of mobile data traffic,)
* Non-mobile internet traffic has averaged 151% growth each year since 1997.
* By 2013, annual global internet traffic will reach two-thirds of a zettabyte or 667 exabytes.
* Global mobile data traffic will reach over two exabytes per month by 2013.
* It is estimated that there was 988 exabytes of data created last year, 2010. That is over 18 million times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written.
Bytes in Perspective
Below is the sequence of names for describing digital information - Think of a byte as a letter or number, such as 1 or T. A kilobyte is exactly1,024 bytes, but common usage rounds it to a thousand. One page of text is about one kilobyte.
Here are some more comparisons to give you a sense of scale - A terabyte is roughly a trillion bytes and our national debt is measured in trillions of dollars. One terabyte can hold about 3.6 million images or about 300 hours of good quality video. A terabyte can hold 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten terabytes can hold the total printed collection of the Library of Congress. We are adding about a terabyte of information to the internet roughly every minute of every day.
kilobyte (kB) 103
megabyte (MB) 106
gigabyte (GB) 109
terabyte (TB) 1012
petabyte (PB) 1015
exabyte (EB) 1018
zettabyte (ZB) 1021
yottabyte 1024
There are more names going up to ten to the 63rd power, but only those above have so far been approved. I have a friend who is so old, he remembers plain old bytes, now we have moved from Kilobytes to Exabytes. Hope to be around for the Yottabyte revolution.
Here are some more comparisons to give you a sense of scale - A terabyte is roughly a trillion bytes and our national debt is measured in trillions of dollars. One terabyte can hold about 3.6 million images or about 300 hours of good quality video. A terabyte can hold 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten terabytes can hold the total printed collection of the Library of Congress. We are adding about a terabyte of information to the internet roughly every minute of every day.
kilobyte (kB) 103
megabyte (MB) 106
gigabyte (GB) 109
terabyte (TB) 1012
petabyte (PB) 1015
exabyte (EB) 1018
zettabyte (ZB) 1021
yottabyte 1024
There are more names going up to ten to the 63rd power, but only those above have so far been approved. I have a friend who is so old, he remembers plain old bytes, now we have moved from Kilobytes to Exabytes. Hope to be around for the Yottabyte revolution.
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