Feb 22, 2013

Internet and Devices

This year there will be more mobile devices in the world than people, according to Cisco's annual report. At the same time, many of the world's population do not yet have Internet access.

This year more people in the world will be getting Internet access for the first time.

Today's Internet is out of space as it only planned for a maximum of 4 billion addresses. A brand new Internet opened in June 2012 after a decade of work. It is called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Eventually, all the new devices and websites will only work on IPv6 and all the old ones will need to convert. IPV6 is able to handle in excess of 340 trillion addresses.

Below is where you can test to see if your computer can connect. It takes a few seconds. Do not worry if you cannot connect, it will be at least more than five years before your equipment will be required to change. When you upgrade your equipment, it will be compatible. (you can test it here).

Mice and Cheese Myth Debunked

Mice do not really like cheese and they will even actively shy away from certain types of cheese.

According to Dr. David Holmes of Manchester Metropolitan University who recently did a study on whether mice liked cheese or not, while hungry mice will pretty much eat anything (even cardboard), most types of mice strongly prefer grains, fruits, and sweet things. Certain types of mice will also eat insects and other small animals.

Basically, they like to eat what they have been accustomed to eating since before humans started making cheese around 10,000 years ago.

Many mice also like peanut butter and sweet chocolate. Interesting to know that mouse urine glows under florescent light.

Feb 19, 2013

Four Common Masculine and Feminine Words

Fiancé vs. fiancée. The former is a male engaged to be married; the latter is a woman engaged to be married.

Blonde refers to a woman with yellow hair and blond refers to a male with yellow hair.

Brunet refers to a man’s hair color and brunette refers to a woman’s hair color.

In education, female is professor emerita and male is professor emeritus.

Feb 15, 2013

Fingernail and Toenail Facts

Fingernails grow about 3.5 mm per month and toenails grow about 1.6 mm per month on average. The exact rate at which your nails grow depends on several factors, such as age, sex, diet, exercise, etc. Nails also grow faster in summer when it is warmer. Fingernails can be seen on babies after the tenth week of pregnancy.

Nails consist of many different parts. The visible part is known as the nail plate and below that is the nail bed. The white, half-moon shaped part at the base is called the lunula or distal matrix. The tissue over the top of the matrix is called the cuticle, and the soft tissue directly over the cuticle, is called the eponychium.

Ninety percent of nail growth comes from the matrix. Pressure within the matrix forces dead karatinized cells out. Speed of growth is caused be blood supply and it seems the increased activity of our fingers vs. our toes causes more blood supply to our fingers which leads to faster growth.

The longest fingernails ever recorded on a women belonged to Lee Redmond of Las Vegas. After growing for 30 years, they measured a combined length of 28 feet 4.5 inches. Unfortunately, she lost her fingernails in a car accident in February 2009.

Clean trimmed nails are more noticeable to the beholder than the owner.

Texas Sized Hoax

During the oil boom of 1919, Wichita Falls, Texas, was desperate for office space. Developer J.D. McMahon offered to build a 480″ highrise downtown.

Investors loved his offer and poured in the money. The building turned out to be four stories tall. The disgruntled investors double-checked the blueprints and discovered the problem. McMahon had promised a building 480 inches (40 feet) tall, not 480 feet. He delivered on his promise and by the time of their discovery, he was long gone with the rest of the money.

Good Penmanship Saves Lives

Poor penmanship is responsible for up to 61 percent of medication errors and more than 1.5 million patient injuries per year, according to a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.

Electronic scripts go a long way in reducing these errors. Until all orders are electronic you might want to ask the doc to tell you the name and print it so you do not become a bad statistic.

Laughter is Natural

Laughing is extremely difficult to control consciously. Most people cannot laugh on command.

Laughter almost always occurs during pauses at the end of phrases. It requires the coordination of many muscles throughout the body. A good hardy laugh is like a full body workout. It gives your diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles a workout.

If you want an easy way to trim a few pounds, watch a funny movie or share a good joke with friends. If you need some new material, try some of my humor books.

Here is another good way to burn calories. When you kiss someone for a minute, you both burn about 2.6 calories. According to that math, that is about 156 calories an hour. I am available for testing the theory.

Redhead Facts

Redheads, when compared to blondes or brunettes are more than twice as likely to avoid going to the dentist. The same genetic variant that explains their hair also makes them more resistant to local anesthesia, such as Novocaine and they might need as much as twenty percent more as reported in Journal of the American Dental Association.

Researchers report that, on average redheads are also more sensitive to heat and cold and three times more susceptible to skin cancer than the rest of us.

Other disorders, all backed by studies, that disproportionately affect redheads include: Parkinson’s disease, Endometriosis, and Tourette’s syndrome.

At a recent seminar on hair color and health, Scottish researcher Jonathan Rees reported that throughout history the “ginger gene” may have “played a big role” in protecting many redheads from rickets (soft, weak bones triggered by vitamin D deficiency).

Unlike blondes and brunettes, their natural red hair retains its original color longer than any other hair color, although eventually it tends to turn blond, and ultimately white. On average, redheads have thicker hair, but fewer strands (about 90,000), compared to blondes (110,000) or brunettes (140,000).

The world’s highest rate of redheads is found in Scotland, where an estimated 13 percent of Scots, about 650,000 people have red hair compared to 4 percent of Europeans and less than 2 percent of the global population, according to STV News. In the US, there are an estimated 6 million redheads. Unrelated hairy fact - The leaders of Russia have been alternately bald then hairy since 1881 through the first Putin leadership.

Fred Astaire Bonus

Speaking of Ginger, this YouTube shows the how the dance scene where Fred dances up the walls and on the ceiling is done. Interesting Hollywood magic explained. LINK - and a bonus with Fred, his ladies, and the Bee Gees song LINK .

Feb 12, 2013

Blood Type Defined

Blood consists of red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma (the goop in which everything sits). Antigens and various proteins float in the plasma and on red blood cells. An antigen is any substance that causes the immune system to produce antibodies to fight intruders.

The ABO grouping system refers to genetically-determined individual differences in the presence of two antigens (A and B), which stimulate the production of different antibodies. Type-O blood has both the antibodies produced in type-A and type-B, whereas type-AB has neither.

In 2004 researchers from University College London proposed that the presence of certain bacteria and intracellular viruses may have put evolutionary pressure on certain antigen-producing genetic mutations. In populations where viruses prevailed, gene O dominated. Those with bacteria-heavy environments found themselves more likely to have A or B type.

The major blood groups were not known until the early 1900s. Before then blood transfusions sometimes were fatal, because the different blood groups are incompatible. In 1940, experiments on Rhesus monkeys revealed additional antigen factors now known as positive or negative "Rh factors." This led to the types "O positive" or "AB negative." Since then, hundreds of other less-significant antigen differences have been identified, most of which do not lead to transfusion problems.

Wordology, Breaking the Ice

Originally this phrase literally meant to break ice, like ice breaker ships that would make a path for other ships to follow.

During the late 17th century, the phrase took on the current meaning of forging a path through an awkward silence or awkward social situation.

About this time, ice-breaker also became common. It is a mechanism, such as a party game to break up socially awkward situations and to get people talking.

Sperm Study

Here is another of those studies that makes us wonder who thinks up this stuff. The British Journal of Sports Medicine, looked at the lifestyles of 189 healthy men between the ages of 18 and 22, during a three-month period to establish a link between environmental factors and semen quality. Its finding - men who watch more than 20 hours of television a week risk halving their sperm count.

It said, while regular, vigorous exercise was shown to boost sperm count, excessive television-watching can counteract the positive effects of physical activity and can have a major impact on a man’s ability to reproduce.

Another study by researchers at the University of Sheffield and Manchester compared the lifestyles of 939 men with poor sperm quality with 1,310 men with normal sperm quality. It found “little evidence” that a high BMI, excessive alcohol consumption or recreational drugs were contributing factors to sperm quality. It also found that wearing boxer shorts rather than tighter underwear was linked to higher sperm levels. There was even evidence that high levels of physical activity might have a detrimental effect on quality and quantity.

Dr George Chavarro from the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School at Public Health, senior author of the recent study said, “In general, very little is known about what influences sperm count.”  Too bad for us their fathers didn't watch more TV.

Describing Brains

This five minute video is a humorous look at the differences between male and female brains. A fun diversion. LINK

Feb 8, 2013

Happy Friday

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

I have learned to live for a Happy Friday and hope for another next week.