This fortified wine is named for the Anglican version of its
town of origin, Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. Like champagne,
sherry is a Protected Designation of Origin, and only wine from that
area of Spain can be labeled sherry in Europe.
May 30, 2014
Taming Odor Tips
Leave bar soap in the package and rest
it somewhere out of sight. Hide an extra bar near your kitchen
garbage can. Soap also lasts longer when it is dried. Open the your
new soap bars and place them in closets, under the bed, in your
armoire, in clothes drawers, or any place else you want to smell
fresh, but not overpowering. Since it does not pick up odors, you
can use it to shower after it becomes a bit hard.
Cat litter is good for eliminating cat odors, but can also be used to reduce other odors. Use cat litter in closets to reduce odors or put some in a coffee filter and stick in smelly shoes. If you have cats, be careful, as they might use the litter for their own purpose.
Put a large bowl of vinegar in a smelly room, such as the kitchen to eliminate unwanted odors. Put out a large bowl when you leave for work and when you arrive home at the end of the day, you will be surprised how well it works. Vinegar also works for wood furniture. Mix a 50-50 solution with water and wipe down the wooden furniture with a damp (not wet) cloth of the mixture.
I put used dryer sheets in clothes drawers and the pantry. They work for months. You can also put them in shoes to make them fresh. It is a good way to get a second use. They also work well in gym bags and luggage.
Baking soda is great to unstink a clothes hamper. Sprinkle on top of clothes. When ready, toss clothes into washer as usual. The baking soda also helps clean the clothes during washing. In fact, baking soda can replace detergent for washing clothes. Baking soda is also good for carpet stains or furniture odor. Sprinkle on, wait a while, then vacuum. Do not leave on for too long, or it may tend to bleach the fabric.
Coffee is the favorite of airlines to unstink airplane restrooms. Leave a dish of fresh, ground, unused coffee on a table and within hours the room smells better. If you travel, those little room packets of coffee are perfect to use in your bag with dirty laundry and at home for room odors.
Cat litter is good for eliminating cat odors, but can also be used to reduce other odors. Use cat litter in closets to reduce odors or put some in a coffee filter and stick in smelly shoes. If you have cats, be careful, as they might use the litter for their own purpose.
Put a large bowl of vinegar in a smelly room, such as the kitchen to eliminate unwanted odors. Put out a large bowl when you leave for work and when you arrive home at the end of the day, you will be surprised how well it works. Vinegar also works for wood furniture. Mix a 50-50 solution with water and wipe down the wooden furniture with a damp (not wet) cloth of the mixture.
I put used dryer sheets in clothes drawers and the pantry. They work for months. You can also put them in shoes to make them fresh. It is a good way to get a second use. They also work well in gym bags and luggage.
Baking soda is great to unstink a clothes hamper. Sprinkle on top of clothes. When ready, toss clothes into washer as usual. The baking soda also helps clean the clothes during washing. In fact, baking soda can replace detergent for washing clothes. Baking soda is also good for carpet stains or furniture odor. Sprinkle on, wait a while, then vacuum. Do not leave on for too long, or it may tend to bleach the fabric.
Coffee is the favorite of airlines to unstink airplane restrooms. Leave a dish of fresh, ground, unused coffee on a table and within hours the room smells better. If you travel, those little room packets of coffee are perfect to use in your bag with dirty laundry and at home for room odors.
Eye Goop
Other names include; eye crusties, eye gunk,
sleepy dust, sleepy boogers, eye discharge, eye goop, eye crud, eye
jelly, eye crust, eye bogeys, eye boogers, eye-sand, sleepy dirt,
eye sand.
It is a type of 'rheum', which is the name for discharge from your nose, mouth, or eyes during sleep. More specifically, eye rheum is known as gound. Gound is made up of a mixture of dust, blood cells, skin cells, etc., mixed with mucus secreted by the conjunctiva, as well as an oily substance from the meibomian glands (named after German, Heinrich Meibom).
The meibomian glands are a type of sebaceous gland that line the rim of the eyelids with about fifty on the top and twenty five on the bottom of each eye. They secrete an oily substance called meibum that performs a variety of functions including: helps seal your eyes in an air tight fashion when they are closed; prevents tears from spilling onto your cheeks; and helps keep tears that coat your eyes from evaporating. It is this oily substance that is one of the primary components in gound, mixed with mucin from the conjunctiva and various foreign particles in your eye.
Normally, when you are awake, the gound is naturally washed away via tears and the blinking motion. As you sleep, the meibomian secretions and other components of the gound tend to gather in the corners of your eyes, as well as along your eye lines and dries out. Sleepy eyes suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.
It is a type of 'rheum', which is the name for discharge from your nose, mouth, or eyes during sleep. More specifically, eye rheum is known as gound. Gound is made up of a mixture of dust, blood cells, skin cells, etc., mixed with mucus secreted by the conjunctiva, as well as an oily substance from the meibomian glands (named after German, Heinrich Meibom).
The meibomian glands are a type of sebaceous gland that line the rim of the eyelids with about fifty on the top and twenty five on the bottom of each eye. They secrete an oily substance called meibum that performs a variety of functions including: helps seal your eyes in an air tight fashion when they are closed; prevents tears from spilling onto your cheeks; and helps keep tears that coat your eyes from evaporating. It is this oily substance that is one of the primary components in gound, mixed with mucin from the conjunctiva and various foreign particles in your eye.
Normally, when you are awake, the gound is naturally washed away via tears and the blinking motion. As you sleep, the meibomian secretions and other components of the gound tend to gather in the corners of your eyes, as well as along your eye lines and dries out. Sleepy eyes suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.
Orange
The
color orange may have been named for the fruit, but the irony is
that oranges usually are not the color orange. The color orange
wasn’t defined until 1542, when it was cobbled together from words
that had previously been used to refer to the fruit. Its first
form was the Arabic word naranj and the Persian narang, which were
both derived from a Sanskrit word, naranga.
Most oranges that come from their native tropical countries are not orange. In their natural, ripe state, in the warmer countries where they are grown, the outside of the orange is full of chlorophyll, making it green. In colder areas, the chlorophyll is killed by the cold weather, and similar to the leaves on a deciduous tree, the orange color of the flesh inside emerges through the green.
It is actually the green oranges that are ripe, and those that turn orange are on their way from their peak ripeness. Many people in the United States and Europe think of green fruit as being unripe, so some orange crops are turned orange unnaturally, exposed to flash freezing or ethylene gas to eliminate the chlorophyll in the skins.
Most oranges that come from their native tropical countries are not orange. In their natural, ripe state, in the warmer countries where they are grown, the outside of the orange is full of chlorophyll, making it green. In colder areas, the chlorophyll is killed by the cold weather, and similar to the leaves on a deciduous tree, the orange color of the flesh inside emerges through the green.
It is actually the green oranges that are ripe, and those that turn orange are on their way from their peak ripeness. Many people in the United States and Europe think of green fruit as being unripe, so some orange crops are turned orange unnaturally, exposed to flash freezing or ethylene gas to eliminate the chlorophyll in the skins.
Eight Interesting Body Facts
More germs are transferred
shaking hands than kissing.
The aorta, the largest artery in the body, is almost the diameter of a garden hose.
Capillaries are so small that it takes ten of them to equal the thickness of a human hair.
Your body has about 6 quarts (5.6 Liters) of blood. It circulates through the body three times every minute.
The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during an average lifetime.
The human body can function without a brain (although not long).
Humans are the only primates that do not have pigment in the palms of their hands
A mans testicles manufacture 10 million new sperm cells each day, enough to repopulate the entire planet in 6 months.
The aorta, the largest artery in the body, is almost the diameter of a garden hose.
Capillaries are so small that it takes ten of them to equal the thickness of a human hair.
Your body has about 6 quarts (5.6 Liters) of blood. It circulates through the body three times every minute.
The heart pumps about 1 million barrels of blood during an average lifetime.
The human body can function without a brain (although not long).
Humans are the only primates that do not have pigment in the palms of their hands
A mans testicles manufacture 10 million new sperm cells each day, enough to repopulate the entire planet in 6 months.
May 23, 2014
Happy Friday
One of life's greatest inventions is the bed. At night, it erases
the sins of yesterday and in the morning it presents a clean slate.
On Friday it introduces us to a Happy Friday!
On Friday it introduces us to a Happy Friday!
Chopsticks Facts
Chopsticks were created about 5,000 years
ago in China. The earliest versions were used for cooking and were
most likely made from twigs. They began being used as table
implements about 500 AD.
The table knife’s decline in popularity in these regions at this time can also be attributed to the teachings of Confucius, who was a vegetarian. He believed that knives were not appropriate to eat with. Confucius supposedly said, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen and he allows no knives on his table."
Chopsticks later migrated to Japan and Korea. One distinct difference between Japanese and Chinese chopsticks was that the former were made from a single piece of bamboo that were joined at the base.
While the early chopsticks were more often than not made of some cheap material, such as bamboo, later silver chopsticks were sometimes used during Chinese dynastic times in order to prevent food poisoning. It changes color if touched by garlic, onion, or rotten eggs, which release hydrogen sulfide that reacts with the silver causing it to change color.
The table knife’s decline in popularity in these regions at this time can also be attributed to the teachings of Confucius, who was a vegetarian. He believed that knives were not appropriate to eat with. Confucius supposedly said, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen and he allows no knives on his table."
Chopsticks later migrated to Japan and Korea. One distinct difference between Japanese and Chinese chopsticks was that the former were made from a single piece of bamboo that were joined at the base.
While the early chopsticks were more often than not made of some cheap material, such as bamboo, later silver chopsticks were sometimes used during Chinese dynastic times in order to prevent food poisoning. It changes color if touched by garlic, onion, or rotten eggs, which release hydrogen sulfide that reacts with the silver causing it to change color.
Summer Tip
Put pineapple chunks or grapes on skewers and
freeze for a tasty and refreshing summer treat.
Color Me Yellow
Yellow is the
color of gold, butter, and ripe lemons. In the spectrum of
visible light, and in the traditional color wheel used by
painters, yellow is found between green and orange. Yellow is
commonly associated with gold, wealth, sunshine, reason,
happiness, optimism, and pleasure, but also with envy, jealousy
and betrayal. It plays an important part in Asian culture,
particularly in China, where it is the color of happiness,
glory, and wisdom. In China, there are five directions of the
compass; north, south, east, west, and the middle, each with a
symbolic color. Yellow signifies the middle. China is called the
Middle Kingdom; the palace of the Emperor was considered to be
in the exact center of the world.
In Egypt and Burma, yellow signifies mourning.
In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
In India, yellow is the symbol for a merchant or farmer.
In tenth-century France, the doors of traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
Hindus in India wear yellow to celebrate the festival of spring.
If someone is said to have a “yellow streak,” that person is considered a coward.
In Japan during the War of Dynasty in 1357, each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage.
A yellow ribbon is a sign of support for soldiers at the front.
Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
In the Middle Ages, actors portraying the dead wore yellow.
To holistic healers, yellow is the color of peace.
Yellow has good visibility and is often used as a color of warning. It is also a symbol for quarantine, an area marked off because of danger.
The Beatles had a song Yellow Submarine
“Yellow journalism” refers to irresponsible and alarmist reporting.
In Egypt and Burma, yellow signifies mourning.
In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
In India, yellow is the symbol for a merchant or farmer.
In tenth-century France, the doors of traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
Hindus in India wear yellow to celebrate the festival of spring.
If someone is said to have a “yellow streak,” that person is considered a coward.
In Japan during the War of Dynasty in 1357, each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage.
A yellow ribbon is a sign of support for soldiers at the front.
Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
In the Middle Ages, actors portraying the dead wore yellow.
To holistic healers, yellow is the color of peace.
Yellow has good visibility and is often used as a color of warning. It is also a symbol for quarantine, an area marked off because of danger.
The Beatles had a song Yellow Submarine
“Yellow journalism” refers to irresponsible and alarmist reporting.
Brand Names
Many words we use are really patented or trade
marked names owned by specific companies. Here are a few of names
that have become more-or-less generic, but are still owned.
Breathalyzer, Bubble Wrap, ChapStick, Crock Pot, Dumpster, Jacuzzi, Jet Ski, Kleenex, Ouija Board, Ping Pong, Popsicle, Rollerblade, Seeing Eye Dog, Styrofoam, Taser, Velcro, Zamboni
Breathalyzer, Bubble Wrap, ChapStick, Crock Pot, Dumpster, Jacuzzi, Jet Ski, Kleenex, Ouija Board, Ping Pong, Popsicle, Rollerblade, Seeing Eye Dog, Styrofoam, Taser, Velcro, Zamboni
Calcium Facts
Calcium is essential for human, plant, and animal nutrition. Animals skeletons get their rigidity primarily from calcium phosphate. The eggs of birds and shells of mollusks are comprised of calcium carbonate. Calcium is used as a reducing agent when preparing metals from their compounds; as a reagent in purification of inert gases; to fix atmospheric nitrogen; as a scavenger and decarbonizer in metallurgy; and for making alloys. Calcium compounds are used in making lime, bricks, cement, cheese, glass, paint, paper, sugar, glazes, as well as many others, including fireworks.
Calcium isn't found free in nature, but it can be purified into a soft silvery-white alkaline earth metal. Though calcium has been known for thousands of years, it was not purified as an element until 1808 by Sir Humphrey Davy from England.The element name "calcium" comes from the Latin word "calcis" meaning "lime". It is the 5th most abundant element in the Earth's crust at a level of about 3% in the oceans and soil.
Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption by the human body. It is converted to a hormone which causes intestinal proteins responsible for calcium absorption to be produced.
Calcium is the main component of teeth and bones and is the fifth most abundant element in the human body. Approximately one third of the mass of the human body is calcium after all water is removed.
The top three countries that produce calcium are China, United States, and India.
Calcium isn't found free in nature, but it can be purified into a soft silvery-white alkaline earth metal. Though calcium has been known for thousands of years, it was not purified as an element until 1808 by Sir Humphrey Davy from England.The element name "calcium" comes from the Latin word "calcis" meaning "lime". It is the 5th most abundant element in the Earth's crust at a level of about 3% in the oceans and soil.
Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption by the human body. It is converted to a hormone which causes intestinal proteins responsible for calcium absorption to be produced.
Calcium is the main component of teeth and bones and is the fifth most abundant element in the human body. Approximately one third of the mass of the human body is calcium after all water is removed.
The top three countries that produce calcium are China, United States, and India.
Wordology, Seminar
From the mid-15 century, "plot where
plants are raised from seeds," from Latin seminarium "plant nursery,
seed plot," figuratively, "breeding ground," from seminarius of
seed, from semen (genitive seminis). It is also a school for
training priests and commonly used for any school (especially
academies for young ladies) from 1580s to 1930s. Also commonly
used today to describe where business people go to waste time and
money.
Microwave and Plastic Myth Debunked
The dangers of plastic
in microwaves appears to have originated with a TV station in
Honolulu that ran a segment in 2002 featuring Dr. Edward Fujimoto,
who explained how microwaving plastic wrap and containers can
release potentially deadly toxins into our food. A short news
segment from Hawaii that few actually saw became huge when someone
made it into an email that went viral.
The email claimed to be a media release from Johns Hopkins University, has the common urge to "pass this on to your family and friends" as do most untrue or politically incorrect emails. Johns Hopkins has formally debunked the email as originating from it.
Scientists do admit that it is possible heating plastic in a microwave might leach some substances into foods, but nowhere near the amount that would cause harm.
Another myth about chemicals in plastic water bottles getting into our bodies, while a boon for the metal water bottle industry, scientists say that cold temperatures actually inhibit the ability of chemicals to leak out of plastics.
The email claimed to be a media release from Johns Hopkins University, has the common urge to "pass this on to your family and friends" as do most untrue or politically incorrect emails. Johns Hopkins has formally debunked the email as originating from it.
Scientists do admit that it is possible heating plastic in a microwave might leach some substances into foods, but nowhere near the amount that would cause harm.
Another myth about chemicals in plastic water bottles getting into our bodies, while a boon for the metal water bottle industry, scientists say that cold temperatures actually inhibit the ability of chemicals to leak out of plastics.
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