Ambient Sound

When thinking of nothing, there is a site that does no more than provide ambient sound. The idea is that you can be more productive if there is commotion going on around you. LINK

Choluteca Bridge

The Choluteca Bridge was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers with such design strength, it could withstand the worst of hurricanes that affected the area. When Hurricane Mitch came in 1998, it destroyed 150 Honduran bridges, but not the Choluteca Bridge.

However, the storm rerouted the Choluteca River. So now, the Choluteca Bridge is still standing, but useless. Hmmm

Ten Weird Fast Foods

Here are a few weird fast food menu items from around the world.
1. Pork and seaweed doughnut (Dunkin' Donuts China)
2. Darth Vader burger (Quick, France) all black bun
3. Kimchi croquettes (Dunkin' Donuts Korea) made with real kimchi
4. Bacon Potato Pie (McDonald’s Japan) mashed potatoes and bacon deep-fried in the familiar apple pie shell Mmmm!
5. Shrimp burger (McDonald’s Japan) fried shrimp patty
6. Chicken Nugget burger (Burger King, Poland) ground chicken with curry sauce
7. Coffee Jelly Frappuccino (Starbucks, Japan) a regular Starbucks Frappuccino (frozen coffee drink) with coffee jelly, made from actual brewed coffee.
8. Cheese and marmite panini (Starbucks UK) Marmite is a brown, sticky spread made from yeast byproduct.
9. Tuna Pie (Jollibee, Phillipines) the tuna, pie comes stuffed with cooked tuna and vegetables
10. Winter double king pizza (Pizza Hut, Japan) a pizza topped with mayonnaise, king crab, shrimp, beef, broccoli, onion, corn, egg, and potato and a removable crust made of fried, mayonnaise-stuffed shrimp that look like little pigs in blankets.
Jollibees is a chicken and burger franchise like McDonalds. It is also in a number of states including California, New York, and Nevada. Mascot is Jolly bee.

Oysters Alive

Did you know that most oysters are served while still living? Oysters are generally served live because they deteriorate much faster than most other animals when dead. When their shells are cracked open, they can survive for a significant amount of time.

It is only when the flesh is actually separated from the shells that they begin to die; this is why oysters are almost always sucked directly out of their shells.

Bloody Good Story

When James Harrison had chest surgery at age 13, he resolved to begin donating blood to help others in need. When he did so, doctors realized that he carries a rare immune globulin that can prevent unborn babies from suffering attacks by their mothers’ antibodies, a condition known as Rhesus disease.

In the 59 years since this was discovered, Harrison has given blood more than 1,000 times, an average of once every three weeks for five decades, and his donations have saved an estimated 2.4 million babies. Harrison holds a spot in Guinness World Records. He calls this, “The only record that I hope is broken".

Canada Facts

Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the world's longest land border. It has ten provinces and three territories located in the northern part of North America. It extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, northward into the Arctic Ocean (just south of Greenland), and borders on the south with The US. Its capital is Ottawa and its population of about 35 million is about one tenth the size of the US population. The top five largest countries in order are: Russia, Canada, China, United States, Brazil.

The current Canadian flag is less than fifty years old. On December 15, 1964 the Canadian Parliament voted to accept the current maple leaf design. The official flag was hoisted for the first time February 15, 1965. Two years later, Canada celebrated its 100th anniversary and used the occasion to promote the new flag.

The maple leaf design by George Stanley and John Matheson is based on the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada. February 15 is now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

Canada is a federal state governed as a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. However, Canada has complete sovereignty as an independent country and the Queen's role as monarch of Canada is separate from her role as the British monarch or the monarch of any of the other Commonwealth realms.

The Canada Act of 1982, among other provisions formally ended the British parliament having power to pass laws extending to Canada at its own request.

In 1958, a US high school student, Bob Heft designed the current US flag for a class project and received a B- grade. He also designed a flag with 51 stars, just in case. The current US flag has been used since July 4, 1960.

Air Force One

Air Force One is not a single plane. There are a number of planes that are outfitted the same way and they are housed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The second official presidential plane used, in 1945 was named the 'Sacred Cow', although presidents had used other special planes since 1933.

In March 2012, President Obama took the British Prime Minister David Cameron to a basketball game in Ohio aboard Air Force One.

The planes are only designated as Air Force One when the president is on board.

A VC-9C that was once used as Air Force One and Air Force Two (vice president) went on auction sale in June with an opening bid of $50,000.

Happy Friday

The clever understand your words. The wise understand your silence.

It is both clever and wise to have a Happy Friday. . . and scripturient to write about it!

Quantum Computing Explained

Today's computers rely on electrons to deliver information in binary bits, or yes/no, 1/0, on/off.

Laws of quantum physics allow bits to be in multiple states simultaneously so it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today's most powerful supercomputers.

Quantum bits, or Qubits are more versatile than standard bits because they can exist in three states instead of two. Current computers represent things as a one or zero, but a quantum computer can render a qubit as representing a one, a zero, or every fraction between one and zero at the same time.

An interesting thing about qubits is that by just looking at one, it changes its state, so scientists had to devise a way to look without the qubit knowing it was being looked at. (Long story, but fascinating)

A 30-qubit quantum computer is approximately as powerful as a 10 teraflop computer. It can solve 10 trillion floating point operations every second vs. an average computer, which performs about seven gigaflops (seven billion) per second. Quantum computers process multiple calculations at once vs. current computers, which process one at a time.

Google and NASA have a 512-qubit quantum computer housed in a 10 foot black cabinet, but do not expect to buy one for your home in the near future. The NASA Ames machine may be upgraded to a 2,048 qubit chip in the next year or two. There are 25.4 million nanometers in one inch and fingernails grow one nanometer every second.

Gorilla Glass

Most of us know that Gorilla Glass is used as part of a touch-screen for hand-held phones and tablet computers. It was chosen because it is lightweight, durable, resistant to scratches, and tends to crack, rather than shatter when stressed, as Annie, a friend of mine recently found out.

Gorilla Glass, which is made by Corning is currently estimated to be in use by over a billion and a half devices and still growing. Corning makes the glass using a propriety chemical process that causes more than the normal number of ions to be introduced into the glass.

Now Corning has a deal with at least one car manufacturer to begin using the glass for windshields, likely as early as next year. The beauty of this glass is that it would cut down on the weight of the vehicle. It would also promote better gas mileage and better noise suppression.

Corning is working on another glass with unique properties, microbiological glass, which can kill bacteria on contact. Another exciting glass it is also working on is called Willow Glass, which is a bendable type of glass that is about as thin as a dollar bill. Bendable screens have been touted for use in foldable tablets for the past few years. Samsung has one in the lab now, but I do not know if the screen is glass or plastic.

What's in a Name, Crayola

Crayola means “oily chalk.” The name combines “craie” (French for “chalk”) and “ola” (short for “oleaginous,” or “oily”).

Exploding Phone Myth Debunked

As long as we are discussing cell phones, might as well dispel another myth. A popular myth hanging around since at least 1999 is that explosions in gas stations have been caused by cellphone use. Emails were purported to have been sent by Shell Oil and others, but this was proved false.

There never has been a documented case of a cellphone causing an explosion at a gas station, no one has been able to prove that it is even possible in scientific testing. The American Petroleum Institute said, "We can find no evidence of someone using a cellphone causing any kind of accident, no matter how small, at a gas station anywhere in the world." Mythbusters TV program tried and could not find a way to make it happen.

Police and firefighters often assume a connection between the two to be valid, but have never followed up with proof. The city of Cicero, Illinois (with no evidence to back it up) has made the use of cellphones at gas stations illegal. So, is it possible, yes it is possible, but it has not happened yet with over five billion phones in use.

Get Free Directions

Many people do not know that most email programs and contact lists on PCs and smart phones what the symbol next to the address is used for.

The purpose of this icon is to give you a map and/or directions. Simply click on the icon and your device will ask if you wish to see a map and/or to get directions. Very informative and great help if you need quick directions. Also, on your smart phone, you can save the map for offline use, in case you are in an area without GPS coverage.

Sugarloaf

Sugar used to be refined into what was called a sugarloaf, a tall cone shape with a rounded top. People have been making sugarloaves since at least the 12th Century.  Raw sugar was refined by a series of boiling and filtering processes. When, at the final boiling it was considered ready for granulation it was poured into a large number of inverted conical molds. The popularity of sugarloaves declined as new processes were invented making it easier to refine and be sold as the small cubes and granulated sugar we are familiar with.

Pieces were cut from it by hand using sugar nips, pliers-like cutters. Typically, the bigger the sugarloaf, the lower the grade of sugar.

Portuguese explorers who discovered Rio de Janeiro in 1502 named Sugarloaf Mountain, due to its resemblance to a sugarloaf cone.