Tin Foil

Almost no one uses real tin foil these days. The stuff we all call “tin foil” is actually aluminum foil. Originally foil was made of tin, but it gave a tin flavor to whatever it touched. It was heavier than modern aluminum foil.

Aluminum foil began to surpass tin foil after World War II, but it had been available since 1910 when it was first produced by “Dr. Lauber, Neher & Cie.” a Swiss company. Its first use in the US was as a wrapper on Life Savers candy in 1913.
Tin foil was also used to fill cavities in teeth before the 20th century.

Another Food Myth Debunked

Never Use Wooden Cutting Boards with Meat. This comes from the thought that using a wooden cutting board will result in tiny scratches and cuts from your knife, and if you use that cutting board with meat, especially raw meat, that all those meat juices will settle into the tiny cuts in the board and cause germs. The solution proposed is to use plastic cutting boards, which can be dishwashed and sanitized, and therefore must be safer.

There is much research that disputes this myth. One of the most famous studies was conducted by Dean O. Cliver, Ph.D of the UC-Davis Food Safety Laboratory. His research points out that there is no significant antibacterial benefit from using a plastic cutting board over a wood one. He notes that even if you apply bacteria to a wooden cutting board, its natural properties cause the bacteria to pass through the top layer of the wood and settle inside, where they are very difficult to bring out unless you split the board open.

Although the bacteria that disappeared from the wood surfaces are found alive inside the wood for some time, they do not multiply and gradually die. They can be detected only by splitting or gouging the wood or by forcing water completely through from one surface to the other. If a sharp knife is used to cut into the work surfaces after used plastic or wood has been contaminated with bacteria and cleaned manually, more bacteria are recovered from a used plastic surface than from a used wood surface.

Dr. Cliver's study tested 10 different hardwoods and 4 different plastic polymers. It found, if you want a plastic cutting board, anti-bacterial property is no reason to buy one. If you want a wooden cutting board, bacterial infection should not scare you away.

Bottom line: It is more important that you properly clean and disinfect whatever board you buy, regardless of what it is made of. Cutting boards touted as being coated or made with anti-microbial chemicals or materials are mostly not.

Microsoft Suit

Microsoft threatened to sue a high school student named Mike Rowe for registering MikeRoweSoft.com. It claimed that it was copyright infringement because it sounded phonetically the same as Microsoft. The student was a part-time web designer and thought it would be funny to add Soft at the end of his name.

When Microsoft found out about the domain, it asked him to give up the domain and offered to give him $10 to cover the registration expenses. He counter offered with $10,000, because he was upset at Microsoft's offer. Microsoft accused him of being a cybersquatter.

The case resulted in a PR loss for Microsoft, as the media portrayed it negatively. In the end, Microsoft flew Mike to its headquarters, gave him training as a developer, and an Xbox in exchange for the domain.

Wordology Cryptomnesia

The emergence in the mind of previously learned information that is treated as a new, original idea is cryptomnesia. A fragment of a song or a line of poetry comes to you, for instance, that you think you have invented, until someone else informs you it was Seeger or Lennon. The act of remembering, without knowing that is what you are doing.

It was first used by the nineteenth-century psychologist Théodore Flournoy, who studied mediums, psychics, and others. The ability to generate vivid recollections of past lives under hypnotic regression is, perhaps facilitated by cryptomnesia. From Greek kryptos, “hidden,” + mnesia, “memory.”

Smile for Your Health

Researchers have found what we always knew. Smiling is good for you. A smile slows down your heart and reduces stress. These results follows research that proved the act of smiling can make you feel happier.

Other studies indicate even a polite smile may be beneficial. Frowning also may have a health effect. Preventing people from frowning, such as with the use of Botox can help alleviate depression, according to another study.

A study published in the journal Psychological Science found that people who smiled after engaging in stress-inducing tasks showed a greater reduction in heart rate than people who maintained a neutral facial expression. "We saw a steeper decline in heart rate and a faster physiological stress recovery when they were smiling, even though the participants were not aware they were making facial expressions," according to Sarah Pressman, co-author of the study and an assistant psychology professor at UC Irvine.

Pressman is currently researching how smiling affects certain stress hormones, such as cortisol, and oxytocin. "We've already seen it with heart rate; we are hoping to see it with these other stress levels in the body," she says.

Ten More Interesting Facts About Humans

1. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court.
2. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph.
3. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water.
4. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day.
   
5. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, and dirt. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.
6. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, revealing the baby’s true eye color.
7. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
8. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.
9. Women are born and remain better smellers than men.
10. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents.

Origin of the Coffee Break

Pan American Coffee Bureau's 1952 advertising campaign for making this widely acceptable.

According to Mark Pendergrast's book, Uncommon Grounds: the History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, PACB's $2 million dollar annual advertising budget created this daily routine:

The bureau launched a radio, newspaper and magazine campaign with the theme, 'Give Yourself a Coffee-Break--And Get What Coffee Gives to You.'  The bureau gave a name and official sanction to a practice that had begun during the war in defense plants, when time off for coffee gave workers a needed moment of relaxation along with a caffeine jolt. 

'Within a very short space,' Charles Lindsay, the manager of the bureau, wrote in late 1952, 'the coffee-break had been so thoroughly publicized that the phrase had become a part of our language."

After the campaign, 80% of polled firms introduced coffee breaks.

A Junk Food Diet Works

Junk food is commonly associated with a coffee break and this junk food diet works. Nutritionist Mark Haub went on a junk food diet to determine if he could eat almost nothing but junk food and still lose weight. His theory was that weight loss is primarily tied to calorie intake, rather than what type of food you eat. He stuck to an 1,800 calorie per day diet of mostly Twinkies, Donuts, Doritos, Oreos, and sugary cereals. He also drank a protein shake and took a multivitamin.

During the two months of his diet, his body mass index dropped from 28.8 to 24.9 and he lost 27 pounds, dropping from 201 pounds to 174 pounds.

In addition to his weight loss, bad cholesterol levels dropped 20% over his normal healthy diet and his good cholesterol levels increased by 20%. He even dropped 39% on his bad fat levels, including triglycerides. This does debunk a number of other "fad" diet claims and proves it is volume that counts when trying to lose weight.

Famous Last Words

I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis. Said by Humphrey Bogart

Dammit. Don’t you dare ask God to help me. Said by Joan Crawford to her housekeeper who began to pray aloud.

Hey, fellas! How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? ‘French Fries’! Said by James French, a convicted murderer sentenced to the electric chair to members of the press who were to witness his execution.

Happy Friday

Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.

I always imagine, then practice having a Happy Friday!

Forty Six States of America

Although it is a technicality, there are actually just forty six states. Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are all officially Commonwealths. This grants them no special constitutional powers; they simply chose the word to describe themselves at the end of the war of independence. Virginia, named after the ‘Virgin’ Queen Elizabeth I, was one of the original 13 states (hence the 13 stripes on the flag) and the first of the states to declare itself a Commonwealth, in 1776. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts followed suit shortly afterwards, and Kentucky, which was formally a county of Virginia, became a Commonwealth in 1792.

Texas Trivia

The Republic of Texas was an independent sovereign nation in North America, which existed after gaining independence from Mexico March 2, 1836 and lasted until February 19, 1846. It was bordered by the nation of Mexico to the southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, the two US states of Louisiana and Arkansas to the east and northeast, and the United States territories encompassing the current US states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico to the north and west.

In 1839, Texas became the first nation in the world to enact a homestead exemption under which a person's primary residence could not be seized by creditors.

On March 1, 1845, US President John Tyler signed a bill that would authorize the United States to annex the Republic of Texas on December 29, 1845. On October 13, 1845, a large majority of voters in the Republic approved both the American offer and the proposed constitution. As part of the Compromise of 1850 Texas dropped claims to territory which included parts of present-day Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming. On February 19, 1846, power was permanently transferred from the Republic of Texas to the State of Texas.

John Tyler, born in 1790, has two living grandsons: Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., born in 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler, born in 1928. He also fathered 15 children, more than any president in history. Thanks to Mike McCormick for the trivia addition.

The compromise also stated that up to four additional states could be created from Texas' territory with the consent of the State of Texas. In addition, Texas did not have to surrender its public lands to the federal government. It did not cede any public lands within its current boundaries. The land in Texas owned by the federal government was subsequently purchased by it. This means Texas has control over oil reserves and control over offshore oil reserves that run out to 9 nautical miles.

Benefits of Peanut Butter

According to the US National Peanut Board, the average American eats about three pounds of peanut butter each year. Peanut butter is a great source of unsaturated fats and vegetarian protein. Over 80 percent of the fats found in peanut butter are unsaturated, with 50 percent being monounsaturated fats that can help cut bad cholesterol (LDL).

Peanuts contain B vitamins, potassium, and resveratrol a powerful antioxidant known to have cancer fighting properties. Check the amount of carbohydrates on the nutrition label, because less fat sometimes comes with not-so-healthy trade-offs, such as added salt and sugar. Instead of that PB&J, spread some peanut butter on apple slices for a great taste and fiber boost.

Novel Uses for Sugar

Healers in Africa have been putting crushed sugar cane on wounds for generations. Moses Murandu is a nurse who grew up watching his father use the remedy in Africa and was surprised to find that doctors in England didn't use it. He started a study to research the idea and tested it on patients with bed sores, leg ulcers, and amputations before dressing the wounds. They found that sugar can reduce pain and kill bacteria that slow healing. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it naturally absorbs water, which bacteria needs to survive. Sugar is also much cheaper than modern antibiotics. The next time you cut yourself, give it a sprinkle of sugar before putting on a band-aid.