Project Gutenberg

I have been a fan of Project Gutenberg for years and always looked forward to Michael's regular emails detailing the number of books in the expanding library and progress toward his goal of providing a million free eBooks to the world. Back when devices were rudimentary and no official standard was set for electronic books, he produced pure text book that could be read on any device. He even hand typed the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and the U.S. Constitution. Here is the link to the site which offers digital versions of those documents and over 100,000 free eBooks. LINK

Below is from his obituary.

"Michael Stern Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947. He died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64. His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett. Michael was an Eagle Scout (Urbana Troop 6 and Explorer Post 12), and served in the Army in Korea during the Vietnam era.

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. He often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart's life's work, spanning over 40 years."

Interesting McDonald's Facts

Thirty Three percent of all french fries sold in the US are from McDonald's. It will buy 54 million pounds of fresh apples this year. One in eight working people are work at or have worked at a McDonald's. More than 50,000 students from all over the world have earned a "Bachelor of Hamburgerology" at McDonald's "Hamburger University," in Illinois. China has a wedding package for couples who wish to be married at a McDonald's. It has sold over 100 Billion hamburgers. I could not find out how many of those were bacon burgers. I am getting hungry.

Laughter and Chocolate

We have all heard that laughter is good for the heart and recently there have been studies that dark chocolate is good for you. These two facts have been confirmed again.
more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” “The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so it is very possible that laughing on a regular basis may be useful to incorporate as part of an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease

the second team of researchers, from the University of Cambridge, may add chocolate to that list, as well. Of course, we’ve long known that dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and boasts numerous health benefits, including the ability to help lower blood pressure and even cause a significant increase in insulin sensitivity. But these researchers have an added perk to throw on the laundry list of health benefits -- after conducting a large-scale review on recent evidence (the results were published in the British Medical Journal), these scientists found that regular chocolate consumption (they didn’t differentiate between dark or milk) can slash cardiovascular risk by a third.

That proves it, if you want a healthy heart, start with a good hardy laugh and have chocolate for desert.

Dagwood and Blondie

This week in 1930, Dagwood and Blondie comic strip was created. It was originated by Chic Young (d.1973) and continues with his son, Dean.

They have been in cartoons, TV series, movies, and on radio. The strip featured newspaper man Dagwood Bumstead as the playboy son of a railroad tycoon. He dated Blondie Boopadoop, a flapper. They married had a son, Alexander (Baby Dumpling) and daughter Cookie.

The strip is still running with Herb Woodley, Mr. Dithers, Tootsie, and more. Blondie Bumstead went back to work after the children grew up and works with Herb’s wife, Tootsie in a catering service. Time to sit back, reminisce, and have a piled high Dagwood sandwich.

Colonel Harland Sanders

 He was born September 9, 1890. At 12, he went to work and had many jobs. Finally he operated a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. At forty, he began cooking at the station. His dishes became so popular that he finally had to open a restaurant. It was there that he developed his famous 11 herbs and spices chicken recipe.

In 1935, he was made a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Ruby Laffoon for his contributions to Kentucky cuisine. In 1955 an an interstate highway bypassed Corbin, Kentucky, so he took his chicken recipe on the road to sell it across the country. His deal was to get a nickel for every chicken sold using his recipe. Years later, he sold his interest for two million dollars and stayed on as spokesman until he passed away in 1980.

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, was offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He helped save the restaurant, and revolutionized the fast food industry by simplifying its menu from nearly one hundred items to just basic fried chicken and salads.

Three Keyboard Tips

Sometimes a hitting a few keys is quicker than using the mouse or touchpad. Here are a few of my favorites that I use almost every day.

Hold down the CTRL key and hit F. This will automatically bring up Find. It is useful if you are looking for a specific name or word in a long document or on the web or even in emails.

CTRL and P is useful to print the screen you are looking at. It brings up the print box.

One of my favorites is CTRL Z. It reverses what you have just done. For instance in Word, or in an email, you just deleted something by mistake. Hit CTRL Z and it brings it back.

Red Cross

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with almost 100 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide, which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. It is called a 'movement' and has two major independent organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and coordinates activities between the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In addition, there are 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Thirty Three Islamic states use the Red Crescent symbol.

The first disaster relief provided by the American Red Cross benefited thousands of fire victims of the Michigan Great Fire of 1881. The fire raged for three days, scorching over a million acres. 282 people died in the blaze, which burned much of the thumb area of Michigan.

The American Association for the Relief of Misery on the Battlefields was a result of the International Red Cross and the forerunner of the American Association of the Red Cross. Clara Barton was instrumental in establishing the American Red Cross chapter in September 1881.

Seven Unique Uses for Nail Polish

Dab a bit of clear nail polish on the screws on the side of your glasses to keep the screw from getting loose. Also good to put on cupboard door screws to tighten them up.
Dip the end of shoelaces in some to keep them from raveling.
Put on labels to smudgeproof them.
Put different colors on keys to distinguish. Also put a dot of the same color on door locks to match.
Cover costume jewelry to keep it from losing its luster.
Use it as a band aid for small cuts. It is close to what hospitals use instead of stitches.

Waffle Bacon

According to some people, waffle irons make the best bacon. They point out that  in a pan, the fat and meat shrink and cook at different rates. The waffle iron pulls away bacon grease in its nooks and notches. You can easily pour it off or leave a thin layer of bacony goodness on for seriously delectable home-style waffles. Mmmmm!

Happy Friday

Where there is life, there is hope. Where there are hopes, there are dreams. Where there are dreams there are goals. Where there are goals there is action.

I hope and dream to act on my goal of having a Happy Friday!

Happy Pheidippides Day

Legend has it that, on this day in the year 490 B.C., a trained runner by the name of Pheidippides (or Phidippides or Philippides) of Athens, was dispatched to seek help against the invading Persian army. He ran for two days and two nights to the city of Sparta, about 125 miles away. Because of a religious festival, he could not get the needed help until after the next full moon, so he ran back without reinforcements.

Fortunately, they won the battle against the Persians at Marathon. After the battle and victory, Pheidippides ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to carry the news of the victory. His last words before he collapsed and died, were something like, "We have won."

In honor of Pheidippides, the 26-mile marathon became part of the Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896. Seventeen runners began, but only nine finished the race. Hamilton Ontario’s 30k Around the Bay Road Race is the oldest long-distance race in North America. It was first run in 1894 – two years before the first Olympics and three years before Boston.

At the Olympic games in London in 1908, King Edward VII asked to have the race begin near Queen Victoria’s statue at Windsor Castle. The revised distance of 26 miles to the stadium, plus a 385-yard lap of the track was established. This is the distance each race honors today.

Unknown Phone Numbers

Have you ever received a call from a number you do not recognize? Usually these are companies trying to sell you something. There is a place to look up the number to see if it is a scam. Also, if your phone has the feature, you can block the number. One place to look is at this LINK. It is a web site where you can look up these numbers to see if others are receiving calls.

You can also report the number. You do not need to leave your name or phone number. I received a call from 505-506-1046 and found it was a scam from a company based in Albuquerque, with Indian operators trying to sell credit card interest rate reductions. Worth the few minutes it takes to rid the airwaves of pushy sellers.

Hot Dog Chips

7-Eleven, has produced a new product - Big Bite Hot Dog Flavored Potato Chips. They are ketchup, mustard, and relish spiced chips. 

Others have been making hot dog chips for a while, Like Shearer's rippled hot dog chips, and Humpty Dumpty that are loaded hot dog with onions and relish flavors. Even Snyder's of Hanover produces hot dog chips. Go ahead, be daring.

Salt is Good

Salt is good for us. According to the Salt Institute, there are more than 14,000 uses for salt, including flavoring food, like potato chips.

If you have an overflow of soap suds, sprinkle salt on top of the suds and they disappear.

Take a zippered plastic bag, place some salt in the bag along with dirty artificial flowers and shake. The flowers are clean when the salt begins to turn dark.

Rub dampened salt on bee stings and mosquito bites.

If you drop an egg on the floor, just sprinkle enough salt to cover the mess and let sit for about 20 minutes and sweep it up..

Salt will smother a kitchen grease fire if you have enough of it. (A large dampened towel works better).

Fresh cut flowers last longer with a pinch of salt in the water.

If you run out of toothpaste, brush your teeth with equal parts baking soda and salt.

Weeds and grass in sidewalk cracks can be killed with a little salt and warm water.

Gargling with warm salt water is good after dental work and also soothes a sore throat.