Flying the Philipines Flag Fact

The flag of the Philippines has three stars, the Sun, and two stripes. One stripe is blue and the other is red.

Which stripe is on top is dependent on whether the nation is at war. As stated by law, “the flag, if flown from a flagpole, shall have its blue field on top in time of peace and the red field on top in time of war."

On July 5

Born 1709: Etienne de Silhouette, French minister of finance and outline portrait artist

Born 1810: P.T. Barnum American showman who formed the Barnum and Bailey Circus

Salvation Army founded this day 1865 by William Booth in London

1979: President Carter delivered his "malaise" speech in which he lamented what he called a "crisis of confidence" in America.

Drying Clean Hands

There are different ways of drying your hands in public places: paper towels, continuous-loop towels and warm-air dryers.

Washing the hands, and then using paper towels or continuous-loop cotton towels reduced the bacterial count by about 45 to 60 per cent, but washing, and then using a warm-air dryer actually increased the bacterial count by an average of 255 per cent.

The bacteria are already inside the warm-air dryers, due to the warm moist environment. Every warm-air dryer they tested had high bacterial counts on the air inlet and 97 per cent had them on the outlet nozzle surfaces as well. In most cases it doesn't matter, because our immune systems are resilient enough to keep the numbers of these bacteria low and the majority of these bugs are fairly harmless.

With a towel (paper or cloth) you can apply some decent mechanical friction to your hands. This is an important part of the hand-cleaning process. A towel soaks up the water, and the bacteria end up in the bin. You can dry 90 per cent of the surface area of your hand within 10 seconds with a towel. A warm-air dryer cannot dry your hands within 10 seconds. On average, it takes 50 seconds to dry 90 per cent of your hands.

Jet-air dryers have come on the market in the last few years. They blast air at enormous speed. If you can apply some mechanical friction, and rub your hands together, you can dry 90 per cent of your hands within 10 seconds. If the jet-air dryer has a good intake filter, it will stop the bacteria that are already floating in the bathroom air from getting sucked in and blown around. Warm-air dryers were not installed to improve hygiene, but to cut costs.

Not so Sandy Deserts

Believe it or not, most of the Earth’s deserts are not composed entirely of sand. Much, about 85% of them, are rocks and gravel. The largest, the Sahara, fills about 1/3 of Africa and still growing, which would nearly fill the continental United States.

Happy Friday

"Life is a quarry, out of which we are to mold and chisel and complete a character."

Each week I strive to mold and chisel a Happy Friday!

Wordology, Booze

As we approach the July 4 Holiday, I thought a bit of drinking history might be interesting. The first references to the word “booze” meaning “alcoholic drink” in English appeared around the 14th century, though it was originally spelled 'bouse'. The spelling, as it is today, didn't appear until around the 17th century.

The word 'booze' appears to have Germanic origins, though which specific word it came from is still a little bit of a mystery. The three main words often cited are more or less all cousins of each other and are very similar in meaning and spelling. One of the words came from the Old High German 'bausen', which meant “bulge or billow”. This was a cousin of the Dutch word 'búsen', which meant “to drink excessively” or “to get drunk”. The Old Dutch language also has a similar word 'buise', which translates to “drinking vessel”.

It is thought that the word “bouse” in English, which later became “booze”, has its origins in one or more of those three words, with most scholars leaning towards it coming from the Dutch word 'búsen'.

The origin of the word “booze” does not come from E. C. Booz, a 19th century distiller in the United States.

Archeological evidence suggest that the earliest known purposefully fermented drink, beer, was made around 10,000 BC.

Native American tribes had numerous forms of alcoholic beverages they brewed, long before the “white man” came to the Americas.

The Greek followers of Dionysus believed intoxication brought them closer to their god. Some current imbibers still believe this.

Nothing Festival

The annual Teluride, CO Nothing Festival is being held in mid-July. Here are the exciting activities for the locals in addition to eating and drinking too much.

Sunrises and sunsets as normal.
Gravity continues to be in effect.
The earth’s rotation will be increased to add a few thrills.
The laws of physics will be on display.
Duct Tape Seminar: How to defeat weapons of mass destruction for under $10.
How we use old Volkswagens.
Sense of humor search. Am sure a fun time will be had by all.

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.