Wordology, Lemniscate

In geometry, the lemniscate of Bernoulli is a plane curve defined from two given points. It is also generally called the infinity symbol.

Lemniscate comes from a Latin word lēmniscātus that means decorated with, or hanging ribbons – an origin that's reflected in the symbol's shape. It is pronounced Lemm nis kit.

Did You Know?

Center-cut bacon has only 25 calories per slice. . . and usually causes human faces to break into a smile.

Knife Tips

I hesitated to add these tips as most seemed obvious, but after talking to a few friends, decided they are worth mentioning. These tips are for cutting knives, not table knives. Most people have their favorite few knives used for almost all cutting tasks. Two things cause the most damage to knives, moisture and improper use.

• Keep it dry. After using your knife, rinse and dry to keep rust from beginning to form (yes, even on stainless).
• Don't put good knives in the dishwasher, wash and dry by hand.
• Do not let knives air dry.
• Store in a way that the blades of knifes do not touch anything which could dull them.
• Use food knives for food only. Keep other knives for other purposes.
  
• Sharpen twice a year. Use a wet sharpening stone or a honing steel (instrument for repairing cutting edge.)
• Use wood cutting board to reduce blade dulling. (Keep peroxide handy in a spray bottle and spray the board after rinsing, to prevent germs.)

What's in a Name, Richter Scale

The Richter Magnitude Scale, often shortened to Richter scale, was developed to assign a single number to quantify the energy that is released during an earthquake. It was developed in 1935 by Charles Francis Richter in partnership with Beno Gutenberg, both from the California Institute of Technology. The scale was intended to be used only in a particular study area in California.

The scale is a base-10 logarithmic scale. The magnitude is defined as the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitude of waves measured by a seismograph to an arbitrary small amplitude. An earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0.

Since the 1970s, the use of the Richter scale has mostly been replaced by the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS) in many countries. However, the Richter scale is still widely used in Russia and other European countries. The MMS was developed in the 1970s to succeed Richter magnitude scale. Even though the formulae are different, the new scale retains the continuum of magnitude values defined by the older one.

The MMS is now the scale used to estimate magnitudes for all modern large earthquakes by the US Geological Survey. Earthquake measurements under the Moment Magnitude Scale in the United States are still usually erroneously referred to as being quoted on the Richter scale by the general public and the media, due to their familiarity with the old Richter scale name vs. the newer MMS.

Great San Francisco Earthquake

On this day, April 18 in 1906 at 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale struck San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it toppled numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.

By April 23, most fires were extinguished, and authorities commenced the task of rebuilding the devastated city. It was estimated that 3,000 people died as a result. Almost 30,000 buildings were destroyed, including most of the city's homes and nearly all the central business district.

Boston Marathon History and Facts

Next Monday, April 21, 2014 the Boston Marathon will be held. In the 2013 marathon, over 23,000 runners participated. Lelisa Desisa won the men's division with a time of 2:10:22. Rita Jeptoo won the women's division with a time of 2:26:25. More than $800,000 of prize money was awarded.

On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York won the first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10. (During the past 117 years, winners have shaved 45 minutes off his original time.)

The Boston Marathon was created by Boston Athletic Association member and inaugural U.S. Olympic team manager John Graham, who was inspired by the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens the year before, 1896. A measured distance of 24.5 miles from the Irvington Oval in Boston to Metcalf's Mill in Ashland was eventually selected. Fifteen runners started the race but only ten finished.

The marathon's distance was changed in 1908 in accordance with Olympic standards to its current length of 26 miles 385 yards.

The Boston Marathon was originally held on Patriot's Day, April 19, a regional holiday that commemorates the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In 1969, Patriots Day was officially moved to the third Monday in April and the race has been held on that Monday ever since.

Women were not allowed to enter the Boston race officially until 1972, but Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb couldn't wait: In 1966, she became the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon, but had to hide in the bushes near the start until the race began. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, who had registered as "K. V. Switzer", was the first woman to run with a race number. Switzer finished even though officials tried to physically remove her from the race after she was identified as a woman.

In 1975, the Boston Marathon became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division competition. Bob Hall won it in two hours, 58 minutes.

Easter Bunny

Today’s Easter Bunny grew out of religious practices in pre-Christian Germany. Eostra, a goddess of fertility and spring, was associated with the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproductive rate. The legend was subsequently merged with the Christian celebration of Christ’s rebirth.

Easter Coincidence

Easter Sunday, April 20. Observed in all Western Christian churches, Easter commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox (fixed at March 21) and is therefore celebrated between March 22 and April 25 inclusive. This date was fixed by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.

Orthodox Easter (Pascha), Sun., April 20. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar when calculating Easter, rather than the more contemporary Gregorian calendar. For this reason, Orthodox Easter generally falls on a different date than the Western Christian Easter, except this year the days coincide.

Happy Friday

Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the smiling soil.

I always unlock my smile to paint a Happy Friday!

Seven Spring Facts

The vernal (spring) equinox (‘equal night’) is the day when the center of the Sun is visible for exactly 12 hours. That is not the same as the ‘equilux’ (equal light) when there are 12 hours of daylight from the Sun’s first appearance and its going down. Australia and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere begin the first day of autumn at the same time and there is a movement to call this event the March Equinox or Northward Equinox to avoid a North Hemisphere bias.

Astronomically, spring officially begins on the spring equinox.

The spring and autumn equinoxes are the only days when the Sun rises directly due east and sets due west in the northern hemisphere.

The reason there is more daylight during the spring is the earth’s axis tilts toward the sun at this time of year.

We have used the word ‘spring’ for the season since the 16th century. Before that spring was used for centuries to apply to the source of a river and the spring season was known as Lent or Lenten.

The Slatina spring in Slovenia is alleged to have been discovered by the mythological winged horse Pegasus.

The earliest known use of the term ‘spring-cleaning’ was in 1857. 

Charlie Chaplin, Composer

Last week was listening to one of my favorite singers, Judith Durham, singing This is My Song, and found the composer was Charlie Chaplin, the movie comedian. He composed many tunes for his movies, including Smile, covered by Nat King Cole. The lyrics of both are especially tender. He was the only known person who wrote, directed, acted, and scored a motion picture.

Earth Day Predictions

April 22, 2014 we celebrate Earth Day again. I thought it might be interesting to review some of the predictions from past Earth Days.

On the first Earth Day in 1970, here are some profound predictions that were made. “We have about five more years at the outside to do something.” Kenneth Watt, ecologist

"Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions. By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter

“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” George Wald, Harvard Biologist

"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich

By 1995 "... somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct." Sen. Gaylord Nelson

"By 1975 some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." Paul Ehrlich

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Earth Day 2013 - NOAA State of the Climate Report - "All of those things indicate that the climate system as a whole is continuing to warm up – and warm up faster as we go along.” Climatologist

“It’s hard to read the report and not be led to the conclusion that the task of reducing carbon emissions is now more urgent than ever.” another Climatologist

"Sea level rising an average of 3.2mm per year" (0.125984 inches).

"The climate system is not quite so simple as people thought." Danish environmental analyst Bjorn Lomborg

At least these folks are consistent with their predictions, in spite of a few facts, such as the earth is not over-populated, with very few countries producing enough children to replace themselves. In addition, we are not running out of resources. History has proven that Punxsutawney Phil has been more accurate in his predictions than the "human expert climate predictors."

Google Compare

Here is another great feature of Google that might help improve your health and decrease your waistline. Google has a nutrition comparison feature that allows you to compare two types of food for nutritional values.

If you want to compare the calories, nutrients, and other values of apples and oranges, type in "compare apples oranges" without the quotes. You will see photos and a chart revealing calories, sodium, vitamins, minerals, etc. It also lists other normal results, like web sites, etc. I also tried "compare banana potato" and found there is only twelve calories difference between them. Very interesting and useful tool.

Top Ten Fruit Savers

Keep broccoli, and celery, and lettuce their crispest by wrapping them in tin foil before storing them in the refrigerator. Celery will stay crisp for four weeks or more, lettuce heads up to six weeks, and broccoli up to seven weeks.

To store carrots, cut off the greens and place them in a plastic bag before sticking them in your crisper drawer. Carrots will keep for up to two weeks. BTW - Carrots do not improve your eyesight and will not help you see better at night.

Cherries should be refrigerated in a plastic bag, but not washed until ready to eat, because moisture hastens mold where stems meets the fruit.

In warm weather, avocados will ripen fast, but don’t store avocados in the refrigerator unless they are cut, otherwise the cold will turn them black inside. To keep them at their most palatable state, spritz a bit of lemon or lime juice, or another acidic agent, and place in an air-tight container or tightly covered clear plastic wrap.

Apples  are a year-round delight, but some the most flavorful kinds (e.g. Gala, Ginger Gold, Pink Lady) make their appearance during the summer. During the warmer months, apples should be stored in the fridge, while in the fall; they can be stored on the counter. When storing apples in the fridge, drape a damp paper towel over the container of apples instead of a top. Do not put them in a drawer or air-tight container. Both the cold temperature and the moisture will help them stay their freshest for up to several weeks.

What's a summer BBQ without some grilled corn? When storing corn, keep the husks on, but cut away the shank (this part of the grain is a magnet for worms). Put your corn in a plastic bag and place it in your refrigerator's crisper. The corn will remain at its freshest for two days. While the corn will start to dry out after day two, but will still remain edible.

Melons will keeps for about 10 days in the cold temperature, but are most flavorful at room temperature. Take your melon out of the fridge and allow it to warm for about 30 minutes before serving.

Peaches and nectarines should be bought firm, but stored at room temperature once you have them home. Do not put them in the fridge before they are ripe, as chilling them before that will result in fruit that is mealy and flavorless. They should keep for a few days before they begin to lose their flavor.