Summer will soon be here and with it
high temperatures. When it comes to body temperature, anything up
to 102°F is mild and can be treated by drinking plenty of fluids.
To quickly bring down a temperature above that, put an ice pack
under your arm or near your groin. Icing either spot will cool
your body's core. Another remedy is to take a cool, but not cold
bath.
For children, take a pair of cotton socks that are long enough to
cover the child's ankles. Thoroughly wet the socks in cold tap
water. Wring out excess water. Put the socks on the child's feet
and repeat process when the socks dry out.
Jun 13, 2014
Jun 6, 2014
Happy Friday
Smiles are like kisses. You must share to enjoy.
I always share smiles while enjoying a Happy Friday.
I always share smiles while enjoying a Happy Friday.
Happy National Doughnut Day
Every first Friday in June,
doughnut (donut) lovers all rise to celebrate a wonderful circle of
sweet, doughy goodness that has a day set aside for holey honor. The
day was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the men and
women who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I. A
military doctor, Morgan Pett was sent to a military base and, on his
way he stopped at a bakery and picked up 8 dozen doughnuts to give
to the wounded soldiers. During the Second World War, Red Cross
Volunteers also distributed doughnuts.
Three more less well known doughnut holidays are International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day, June 8; National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day, September 14; and Buy A Doughnut Day, October 30.
Stop by your favorite donut shop today as many American doughnut stores offer free doughnuts on National Doughnut Day.
Three more less well known doughnut holidays are International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day, June 8; National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day, September 14; and Buy A Doughnut Day, October 30.
Stop by your favorite donut shop today as many American doughnut stores offer free doughnuts on National Doughnut Day.
More Types of Eggs
There are many more types than the
typical eggs we are used to for breakfast. I found a few to be
interesting.
Shark eggs are strangely shaped eggs sometimes called a mermaid’s purse. These consist of an egg case in a thin capsule made of collagen. They often are square or rectangular with stringy or pointy corner horns, but can come in a variety of odd shapes. Shark eggs can wash up on the beach and are often hand-sized, although the largest recorded was over six feet (2m) long. Female sharks lay fertilized eggs onto the sea floor where they stay until they hatch, not needing any more attention from their mother. Some shark eggs contain several baby sharks which cannibalize each other before hatching to ensure that only the strongest baby survives.
Octopus eggs are soft, translucent and often stuck on overhangs of rock or coral. The females lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time and will stay to guard them against hungry predators until they hatch. This often takes so long that she begins to starve and some octopuses will eat their own arms to survive. Once hatched, they feed on microscopic organisms like plankton until they grow large enough to live on the sea floor as adults.
Fish eggs are released as unfertilized eggs until and the male injects them with sperm. In some species, the male and female might never meet each other. Most have nothing more to do with the eggs and leave them to develop on their own. Millions of soft eggs are laid at once, so hungry predators will usually not destroy all of them before they hatch. Some eggs are laid on secure surfaces like rocks whereas others drift freely in the water, sometimes for up to hundreds of kilometers.
We are familiar with bird and reptile eggs, which are internally fertilized eggs and most are protected until they hatch. Bird egg shells are made from calcium carbonate, which is also the major component of sea shells and pearls. For camouflage, some egg shells are colored or patterned with various other chemicals.
Dinosaur eggs sometimes contain fossilized baby dinosaurs inside. Dinosaur eggs have many shapes, such as elongated spheres, teardrops, and spherical. Some dinosaurs laid many eggs in a nest and protected them while others laid eggs indiscriminately before abandoning them. There are many types of dinosaur eggs, with the largest being over 23 inches (60cm) long and 7.8 inches (20cm) wide.
Sponge, jelly, and coral eggs are similar way to most fish. They do not have males and females. Instead, simple male and female organs both occur on a single creature, which release eggs and sperm into the water. Some reproduce asexually without male and female organs, by simply releasing some of their cells to grow directly into new individuals without needing to be fertilized.
Insect eggs are formed from stored sperm from a single mating, which is also used for subsequent fertilization. Insects will lay many eggs at once, and sometimes construct extravagant nests or nurseries for them. Some eggs are laid in water and the newborn insects spend the first portion of their life aquatically before emerging into the air. Many insects will care for their eggs after they are laid, with some ants and termites even controlling the humidity and pH for them.
Amphibian eggs are often laid in water, surrounded by a gel to keep them all together. When they hatch, the offspring are called ‘tadpoles’ and have gills, but no legs. They swim around like fish, although initially they also lack a mouth and live directly off the yolk left over from their egg by absorbing it through their skin. Eventually, tadpoles grow mouths, legs, lungs, lose their tail, and become fully adult. Some frogs carry their eggs to protect them or if there is not enough water available.
Platypus eggs are an anomaly as platypuses are mammals. They are warm-blooded, have hair, and produce milk. While the egg is still inside a mother, she supplies it with nutrition from her own body, similar to other mammals. Monotreme eggs are small, white, and spherical. They are laid in small numbers and are fastidiously cared for by their mother in her burrow until 4 to 6 months after hatching. Platypuses do not have nipples to produce milk. They sweat milk which their newly-hatched young drink.
Shark eggs are strangely shaped eggs sometimes called a mermaid’s purse. These consist of an egg case in a thin capsule made of collagen. They often are square or rectangular with stringy or pointy corner horns, but can come in a variety of odd shapes. Shark eggs can wash up on the beach and are often hand-sized, although the largest recorded was over six feet (2m) long. Female sharks lay fertilized eggs onto the sea floor where they stay until they hatch, not needing any more attention from their mother. Some shark eggs contain several baby sharks which cannibalize each other before hatching to ensure that only the strongest baby survives.
Octopus eggs are soft, translucent and often stuck on overhangs of rock or coral. The females lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time and will stay to guard them against hungry predators until they hatch. This often takes so long that she begins to starve and some octopuses will eat their own arms to survive. Once hatched, they feed on microscopic organisms like plankton until they grow large enough to live on the sea floor as adults.
Fish eggs are released as unfertilized eggs until and the male injects them with sperm. In some species, the male and female might never meet each other. Most have nothing more to do with the eggs and leave them to develop on their own. Millions of soft eggs are laid at once, so hungry predators will usually not destroy all of them before they hatch. Some eggs are laid on secure surfaces like rocks whereas others drift freely in the water, sometimes for up to hundreds of kilometers.
We are familiar with bird and reptile eggs, which are internally fertilized eggs and most are protected until they hatch. Bird egg shells are made from calcium carbonate, which is also the major component of sea shells and pearls. For camouflage, some egg shells are colored or patterned with various other chemicals.
Dinosaur eggs sometimes contain fossilized baby dinosaurs inside. Dinosaur eggs have many shapes, such as elongated spheres, teardrops, and spherical. Some dinosaurs laid many eggs in a nest and protected them while others laid eggs indiscriminately before abandoning them. There are many types of dinosaur eggs, with the largest being over 23 inches (60cm) long and 7.8 inches (20cm) wide.
Sponge, jelly, and coral eggs are similar way to most fish. They do not have males and females. Instead, simple male and female organs both occur on a single creature, which release eggs and sperm into the water. Some reproduce asexually without male and female organs, by simply releasing some of their cells to grow directly into new individuals without needing to be fertilized.
Insect eggs are formed from stored sperm from a single mating, which is also used for subsequent fertilization. Insects will lay many eggs at once, and sometimes construct extravagant nests or nurseries for them. Some eggs are laid in water and the newborn insects spend the first portion of their life aquatically before emerging into the air. Many insects will care for their eggs after they are laid, with some ants and termites even controlling the humidity and pH for them.
Amphibian eggs are often laid in water, surrounded by a gel to keep them all together. When they hatch, the offspring are called ‘tadpoles’ and have gills, but no legs. They swim around like fish, although initially they also lack a mouth and live directly off the yolk left over from their egg by absorbing it through their skin. Eventually, tadpoles grow mouths, legs, lungs, lose their tail, and become fully adult. Some frogs carry their eggs to protect them or if there is not enough water available.
Platypus eggs are an anomaly as platypuses are mammals. They are warm-blooded, have hair, and produce milk. While the egg is still inside a mother, she supplies it with nutrition from her own body, similar to other mammals. Monotreme eggs are small, white, and spherical. They are laid in small numbers and are fastidiously cared for by their mother in her burrow until 4 to 6 months after hatching. Platypuses do not have nipples to produce milk. They sweat milk which their newly-hatched young drink.
What's in a Name, Jalapeños
While known in its native
Mexico as huachinango or chile gordo, to the rest of the world
Jalapeños get their name from the town of Xalapa or Jalapa.
Wordology, Anti-Proverbs
Also called perverbs (a
contraction of perverse proverbs), thses are permutations of common
proverbs. a known saying that has been modified in a way that makes
it surprising, confounding or otherwise humorous. There are dozens
of ways of altering proverbs, common sayings and phrases. It has
been suggested that the original meaning of the term perverb was to
describe two proverbs that had been spliced together like a sort of
whole-sentence portmanteau. Take the perverb “every dog has a silver
lining,” a combination of “every dog has its day” and “every cloud
has a silver lining.” As with the further examples below, you can
see that the two hybridized proverbs are not random; rather, they
follow a certain format that both have in common:
"Taste makes waist"
“Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like a banana”
"Nothing succeeds like excess."
"When marriage is outlawed, only outlaws will have in-laws."
“The road to hell is the spice of life.”
"If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to tweet about it, did it really happen."
Anti-proverbs can take other forms beyond this type of splicing, as in “a penny saved is a penny taxed” and “slaughter is the best medicine.”
"Taste makes waist"
“Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like a banana”
"Nothing succeeds like excess."
"When marriage is outlawed, only outlaws will have in-laws."
“The road to hell is the spice of life.”
"If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to tweet about it, did it really happen."
Anti-proverbs can take other forms beyond this type of splicing, as in “a penny saved is a penny taxed” and “slaughter is the best medicine.”
Super Spices
Very interesting that many spices, which have
been around for years are only recently 'discovered' to have
beneficial health properties. Here are a few.
Cayenne pepper has been used as a healing spice for hundreds of years. Capsaicin, which gives the spice its kick, can boost metabolism, helping to burn extra calories, and increase enzyme production. It is thought to act as an anti-inflammatory and is so powerful that capsaicin can be found as the active ingredient in both over the counter and prescription ointments for arthritis and muscle pain. It can be used to stop nosebleeds by mixing one half teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a glass of warm water and drink it. Cayenne has the ability to ease upset stomach, ulcers, sore throats, spasmodic and irritating coughs, and diarrhea. It can ease the digestive tract by increasing gastric juices. It is also good to put out in the yard to keep away squirrels and rabbits.
Cinnamon benefits, which I have written about before, continue to be added to. According the American Diabetes Association, regular consumption of between one and six grams of cinnamon helps reduce blood glucose, triglyceride and total cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It can also help manage short-term spikes in blood sugar. That makes it good to add to high carbohydrate foods such as oatmeal and rice pudding, which tend to spike blood sugar levels. It also contains strong antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties making it an excellent addition when trying to fight a cold. Try sprinkling some in your coffee or even using it in a face mask combined with a little coconut oil to help fight acne. Sprinkle some on cookies or doughnuts for an extra beneficial kick.
Clove is usually the spice we think of to kill pain and sooth toothaches. Gently bite on a whole clove to release the oils and move them around to a sore tooth. Clove tea can help reduce, or even prevent, colds while also working as a natural expectorant to get rid of excess phlegm. Cloves used to be put in cigarettes, but are now outlawed in the US. Cloves stuck in oranges have been long used to add a pleasant odor to a room and are often used for decorative aromatherapy. In Chinese medicine, cloves are considered acrid, warm, and aromatic, entering the kidney, spleen, and stomach and their ability to warm the middle, also to treat hiccoughs. Other findings concluded that cloves can also boost insulin function in the body.
Curcumin was first isolated a few hundred years ago and numerous therapeutic activities have been assigned to turmeric for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including those of the skin, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal systems, aches, pains, wounds, sprains, and liver disorders. Extensive recent research has proven that most of these activities are due to curcumin. Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and other chronic illnesses. Turmeric is the name of the spice we use that is derived from the plant Curcuma longa, is a gold-colored spice is commonly used in India for health care, for the preservation of food, and as a yellow dye for textiles.
Ginger is best known to help soothe a queasy stomach and help reduce pain and inflammation. It is also useful for arthritis, migraines, or menstrual cramps. It might also help reduce pain. Fresh ginger is more potent than the powdered variety and can be added to herbal teas, baked goods, and added to fruit or vegetable juices.
Cayenne pepper has been used as a healing spice for hundreds of years. Capsaicin, which gives the spice its kick, can boost metabolism, helping to burn extra calories, and increase enzyme production. It is thought to act as an anti-inflammatory and is so powerful that capsaicin can be found as the active ingredient in both over the counter and prescription ointments for arthritis and muscle pain. It can be used to stop nosebleeds by mixing one half teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a glass of warm water and drink it. Cayenne has the ability to ease upset stomach, ulcers, sore throats, spasmodic and irritating coughs, and diarrhea. It can ease the digestive tract by increasing gastric juices. It is also good to put out in the yard to keep away squirrels and rabbits.
Cinnamon benefits, which I have written about before, continue to be added to. According the American Diabetes Association, regular consumption of between one and six grams of cinnamon helps reduce blood glucose, triglyceride and total cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It can also help manage short-term spikes in blood sugar. That makes it good to add to high carbohydrate foods such as oatmeal and rice pudding, which tend to spike blood sugar levels. It also contains strong antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties making it an excellent addition when trying to fight a cold. Try sprinkling some in your coffee or even using it in a face mask combined with a little coconut oil to help fight acne. Sprinkle some on cookies or doughnuts for an extra beneficial kick.
Clove is usually the spice we think of to kill pain and sooth toothaches. Gently bite on a whole clove to release the oils and move them around to a sore tooth. Clove tea can help reduce, or even prevent, colds while also working as a natural expectorant to get rid of excess phlegm. Cloves used to be put in cigarettes, but are now outlawed in the US. Cloves stuck in oranges have been long used to add a pleasant odor to a room and are often used for decorative aromatherapy. In Chinese medicine, cloves are considered acrid, warm, and aromatic, entering the kidney, spleen, and stomach and their ability to warm the middle, also to treat hiccoughs. Other findings concluded that cloves can also boost insulin function in the body.
Curcumin was first isolated a few hundred years ago and numerous therapeutic activities have been assigned to turmeric for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including those of the skin, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal systems, aches, pains, wounds, sprains, and liver disorders. Extensive recent research has proven that most of these activities are due to curcumin. Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and other chronic illnesses. Turmeric is the name of the spice we use that is derived from the plant Curcuma longa, is a gold-colored spice is commonly used in India for health care, for the preservation of food, and as a yellow dye for textiles.
Ginger is best known to help soothe a queasy stomach and help reduce pain and inflammation. It is also useful for arthritis, migraines, or menstrual cramps. It might also help reduce pain. Fresh ginger is more potent than the powdered variety and can be added to herbal teas, baked goods, and added to fruit or vegetable juices.
German Beer
Food website Chefkoch.de claimed at a rate of
one per day, trying every German beer would take more than 13 years.
Trying Bavaria’s 4,000 types would take almost 11 years.
May 30, 2014
Happy Friday
The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness.
I never fail to catch it on a Happy Friday!
I never fail to catch it on a Happy Friday!
Laughter Studies
We all know laughing is good for
you, and now, here are some studies that prove it. Laughing in the
face of tragedy seems to shield a person from its effects. A 2013
review of studies found that among elderly patients, laughter
significantly alleviated the symptoms of depression. Another study,
published early this year, found that firefighters who used humor as
a coping strategy were somewhat protected from PTSD. Laughing also
seems to ease more-quotidian anxieties. One group of researchers
found that watching an episode of Friends was as effective at
improving a person’s mood as listening to music or exercising, and
more effective than resting.
Laughter even seems to have a buffering effect against physical pain. A 2012 study found that subjects who were shown a funny video displayed higher pain thresholds than those who saw a serious documentary. In another study, postsurgical patients requested less pain medication after watching a funny movie.
Other literature identifies even more specific health benefits: laughing reduced arterial-wall stiffness, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Women undergoing in-vitro fertilization were sixteen percent more likely to get pregnant when entertained by a clown. A clown improved lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A study of Norwegians found that having a sense of humor correlated with a high probability of surviving into retirement. Not new news, but always good to get reinforcement.
------------------
Laughter even seems to have a buffering effect against physical pain. A 2012 study found that subjects who were shown a funny video displayed higher pain thresholds than those who saw a serious documentary. In another study, postsurgical patients requested less pain medication after watching a funny movie.
Other literature identifies even more specific health benefits: laughing reduced arterial-wall stiffness, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Women undergoing in-vitro fertilization were sixteen percent more likely to get pregnant when entertained by a clown. A clown improved lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A study of Norwegians found that having a sense of humor correlated with a high probability of surviving into retirement. Not new news, but always good to get reinforcement.
------------------
Fresh vs. Frozen
In two recent studies from Britain,
researchers purchased a half dozen different kinds of fruit and
vegetables, all of which came in two varieties: fresh and frozen.
After buying them and then having them chill out in either a fridge
or freezer for three days, researchers conducted 40 tests to compare
their nutritional content.
Turns out the frozen varieties were richer in health-boosting vitamins and antioxidants. In fact, frozen broccoli had four times more beta-carotene than its fresh counterpart, while frozen carrots had three times more lutein and double the beta-carotene as well as greater levels of vitamin C and polyphenols. Raspberries and peas performed about the same, whether they were fresh or frozen.
While it is true that foods gradually lose nutrients as they move through the supply chain, that chain is far longer for fresh produce. Fruits and vegetables are regularly held in storage for up to a month before you ever see them. Plus, according to study author Graham Bonwick Ph.D., a professor of applied biology at the University of Chester, once they hit your refrigerator the nutritional loss escalates. It is probably due to the plant's continuing metabolic activity and how cells react to oxygen and exposure to artificial dark-light cycles.
A recent study from Rice University and the University of California at Davis found that the fluorescent lights of supermarkets and the constant darkness of your refrigerator affects fruit and vegetable circadian clocks so that they excrete fewer glucosinolates, compounds with cancer-fighting properties.
"Produce's degradation reactions are very much slowed by lowering the temperature to freezing levels," Bonwick says. "Furthermore, when you freeze produce, the water present in the cells of the food is locked up as ice, slowing or preventing these processes that require the presence of free water." Since produce in the freezer section was frozen solid almost immediately after being picked, it is preserved at its nutritional peak.
Turns out the frozen varieties were richer in health-boosting vitamins and antioxidants. In fact, frozen broccoli had four times more beta-carotene than its fresh counterpart, while frozen carrots had three times more lutein and double the beta-carotene as well as greater levels of vitamin C and polyphenols. Raspberries and peas performed about the same, whether they were fresh or frozen.
While it is true that foods gradually lose nutrients as they move through the supply chain, that chain is far longer for fresh produce. Fruits and vegetables are regularly held in storage for up to a month before you ever see them. Plus, according to study author Graham Bonwick Ph.D., a professor of applied biology at the University of Chester, once they hit your refrigerator the nutritional loss escalates. It is probably due to the plant's continuing metabolic activity and how cells react to oxygen and exposure to artificial dark-light cycles.
A recent study from Rice University and the University of California at Davis found that the fluorescent lights of supermarkets and the constant darkness of your refrigerator affects fruit and vegetable circadian clocks so that they excrete fewer glucosinolates, compounds with cancer-fighting properties.
"Produce's degradation reactions are very much slowed by lowering the temperature to freezing levels," Bonwick says. "Furthermore, when you freeze produce, the water present in the cells of the food is locked up as ice, slowing or preventing these processes that require the presence of free water." Since produce in the freezer section was frozen solid almost immediately after being picked, it is preserved at its nutritional peak.
German Inventions
Although it has now been replaced by the
Celsius temperature scale in almost all countries except for USA and
Belize, Fahrenheit (in which water's freezing point is 32 degrees
and boiling point is 212) was the world standard until relatively
recently. It was invented by German physicist Daniel Gabriel
Fahrenheit in 1724.
Aspirin, made from willow bark was developed by Felix Hoffmann in August 1897 for pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and although a US company claimed a patent for the drug after World War One, 12,000 of the 50,000 tons of Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) produced each year are still made by Bayer.
After using blotting paper from her children’s school books to remove unwanted coffee grounds, Dresden housewife Melitta Bentz had the idea to patent her invention in 1908. She then founded a company selling over a thousand coffee filters by the next year.
German clock manufacturer Junghans Uhren Gmbh developed a watch that automatically adjusts itself to an atomic clock using radio signals. It was invented in 1990 and will remain accurate to the second for at least a million years.
The first true working car was invented by Germans Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in 1886, 22 years before the Model T Ford went into production in the USA.
The first true accordion was invented by a German, Christian Friedrich Buschmann. In 1822 he attached bellows to a portable keyboard with vibrating reeds and called it a "hand-aeoline".
In 1977 after nine years of development, German inventors Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Göttrup created the first card with a built in programmable microprocessor, the ancestor of the chip and PIN cards in our wallets today.
Aspirin, made from willow bark was developed by Felix Hoffmann in August 1897 for pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and although a US company claimed a patent for the drug after World War One, 12,000 of the 50,000 tons of Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) produced each year are still made by Bayer.
After using blotting paper from her children’s school books to remove unwanted coffee grounds, Dresden housewife Melitta Bentz had the idea to patent her invention in 1908. She then founded a company selling over a thousand coffee filters by the next year.
German clock manufacturer Junghans Uhren Gmbh developed a watch that automatically adjusts itself to an atomic clock using radio signals. It was invented in 1990 and will remain accurate to the second for at least a million years.
The first true working car was invented by Germans Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in 1886, 22 years before the Model T Ford went into production in the USA.
The first true accordion was invented by a German, Christian Friedrich Buschmann. In 1822 he attached bellows to a portable keyboard with vibrating reeds and called it a "hand-aeoline".
In 1977 after nine years of development, German inventors Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Göttrup created the first card with a built in programmable microprocessor, the ancestor of the chip and PIN cards in our wallets today.
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