Google has a handy feature that allows you to
set up a countdown timer. Type in set timer x minutes or hours and
it will show a countdown clock. You can continue to surf and an
alarm will sound when the time has expired. Handy if you want to
limit your activities to a fixed time.
Type "google.com sky" without the quotes, to look around the sky the
same way you look at a map of the earth. It shows objects in the
sky, such as stars, constellations, planets, the Earth's moon, and
galaxies.
Aug 15, 2014
Cat Scan Origin
The Beatles were indirectly responsible for
funding the development of the CT (CAT) scanner. Their record label,
EMI, also operated a computer research facility that once employed
Godfrey Hounsfield, who had been developing X-ray computerized
tomography (CT) in the late '60s. Researchers and radiologists claim
that EMI invested the profits they earned from the Beatles' music
into Hounsfield's technology, allowing for the invention of a
commercial CT scanner (then known as an EMI scanner) by the early
1970s.
Social Security Checks
A friend asked me when Social
Security checks are mailed, so it sent me to the dot gov site to
find out some details. If you were born on the: 1 – 10th of the
month, your Social Security check is deposited on the 2nd Wednesday
of each month
11 – 20th of the month, your Social Security check is deposited on the 3rd Wednesday of each month
21 – 31st of the month, your Social Security check is deposited on the 4th Wednesday of each month.
However, if you started receiving benefits before 1997, or you get SS and SSI payments, then your Social Security check is paid on the third day of the month.
If the day your Social Security check is supposed to be deposited is a holiday, it is deposited the day before. Very simple formula for very complicated system.
11 – 20th of the month, your Social Security check is deposited on the 3rd Wednesday of each month
21 – 31st of the month, your Social Security check is deposited on the 4th Wednesday of each month.
However, if you started receiving benefits before 1997, or you get SS and SSI payments, then your Social Security check is paid on the third day of the month.
If the day your Social Security check is supposed to be deposited is a holiday, it is deposited the day before. Very simple formula for very complicated system.
Youtube Tips
If you are annoyed by the ads when you watch
YouTube videos or songs, change "youtube" in the URL to
"youtubeskip" (do not use the quote marks) to skip the ads.
To repeat videos or songs without hitting the replay button, type "youtuberepeat" in place of "youtube" in the URL (also without the quotes).
To control volume after you click on a video or song, use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. You can use the keyboard spacebar to pause or play. Also use the left and right arrows for rewind and fast forward.
If you can not seem to get enough of an artist or group, type http://www.youtube.com/disco and it serves up a page where you can search and you can string together a personal playlist. I am listening to ABBA now.
To repeat videos or songs without hitting the replay button, type "youtuberepeat" in place of "youtube" in the URL (also without the quotes).
To control volume after you click on a video or song, use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard. You can use the keyboard spacebar to pause or play. Also use the left and right arrows for rewind and fast forward.
If you can not seem to get enough of an artist or group, type http://www.youtube.com/disco and it serves up a page where you can search and you can string together a personal playlist. I am listening to ABBA now.
Bacon Fueled Motorcycle
Hormel created a motorcycle that is
fueled by bacon grease and is sending it on a journey from Minnesota
to the San Diego Bacon Fest just in time for International Bacon
Day, August 30, 2014. Should be some interesting exhaust fumes
coming from the bike.
Aug 8, 2014
Happy Friday
The difference between the optimist and pessimist is that the optimist never uses the snooze button.
I do not even wait for the alarm, especially when waking up to a Happy Friday!
What's in a Name
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing
was named “Kumo,” during development, but Microsoft went with
Bing after focus groups said it reminded them of “the moment of
discovery.”
Yelp - The “yel” in “Yelp” comes from “yellow,” and the “p” comes from “pages.” The business listings and ratings site is like an Internet version of the Yellow Pages.
Twitter - It is a microblogging site and users’ posts cannot exceed 140 characters. Those short messages reminded company founders of birds chirping or twittering. Individual posts are known as tweets and the logo is a bird.
Wikipedia - “Wiki” is Hawaiian for “quick,” and “pedia” comes from “encyclopedia.” It is a quick encyclopedia added to and edited by almost anyone.
The Onion - It began as a college newspaper, and founders Tim Keck and Chris Johnson had so little money they ate onion sandwiches. While planning the paper, Keck’s uncle saw them eating onion sandwiches and reportedly said, “You should call the newspaper The Onion.”
Skype - The video phone via Internet service got its name from a shortening of the phrase “sky peer-to-peer,” as users connect person-to-person via the cloud (Internet).
Etsy - Rob Kalin, founder of the marketplace where users buy and sell vintage and handmade goods, wanted a nonsense word, but as he was watching an Italian film, he noticed characters often said “etsi”, which means “oh, yes.”
Pinterest - The name is a combination of “pin” and “interest,” which reflects how the site functions. It is a social network where users share pictures of things they find interesting by “pinning” them on their pin board.
Yelp - The “yel” in “Yelp” comes from “yellow,” and the “p” comes from “pages.” The business listings and ratings site is like an Internet version of the Yellow Pages.
Twitter - It is a microblogging site and users’ posts cannot exceed 140 characters. Those short messages reminded company founders of birds chirping or twittering. Individual posts are known as tweets and the logo is a bird.
Wikipedia - “Wiki” is Hawaiian for “quick,” and “pedia” comes from “encyclopedia.” It is a quick encyclopedia added to and edited by almost anyone.
The Onion - It began as a college newspaper, and founders Tim Keck and Chris Johnson had so little money they ate onion sandwiches. While planning the paper, Keck’s uncle saw them eating onion sandwiches and reportedly said, “You should call the newspaper The Onion.”
Skype - The video phone via Internet service got its name from a shortening of the phrase “sky peer-to-peer,” as users connect person-to-person via the cloud (Internet).
Etsy - Rob Kalin, founder of the marketplace where users buy and sell vintage and handmade goods, wanted a nonsense word, but as he was watching an Italian film, he noticed characters often said “etsi”, which means “oh, yes.”
Pinterest - The name is a combination of “pin” and “interest,” which reflects how the site functions. It is a social network where users share pictures of things they find interesting by “pinning” them on their pin board.
Lonliness vs. Being Alone
Being lonely increases
the risk of everything from heart attacks to dementia, depression
and death. People who are satisfied with their social lives sleep
better, age more slowly, and respond better to vaccines. Those who
have rich social lives and warm relationships do not get as sick and
they live longer. A person can be lonely in a crowd or be alone and
not be lonely.
Research shows, our bodies have evolved so that in situations of perceived social isolation, they trigger branches of the immune system involved in wound healing and bacterial infection. Differences relate most strongly to how lonely people think they are. Ending loneliness is not about spending more time with people, but about our attitude to others. Changing this attitude reduces loneliness more effectively than giving people more opportunities for interaction.
Meditation is typically done while a person is alone and there is evidence that meditation boosts the immune response in vaccine recipients and people with cancer, protects against a relapse in major depression, soothes skin conditions, and even slows the progression of HIV. As with social interaction, meditation works largely by influencing stress response pathways. People who meditate have lower cortisol levels.
In a study of fifty people with advanced lung cancer, those judged by their doctors to have high “spiritual faith” responded better to chemotherapy and survived longer. More than forty percent were still alive after three years, compared with less than ten percent of those judged to have little faith.
Some think that what matters is having a sense of purpose in life. Having an idea of why you are here and what is important increases your sense of control over events. Spending more time doing what you love, whether it is gardening or volunteer work has a similar effect on health. Bottom line, loneliness is more of an attitude than a state of physical being. You have the power to be happy, alone or with others.
Research shows, our bodies have evolved so that in situations of perceived social isolation, they trigger branches of the immune system involved in wound healing and bacterial infection. Differences relate most strongly to how lonely people think they are. Ending loneliness is not about spending more time with people, but about our attitude to others. Changing this attitude reduces loneliness more effectively than giving people more opportunities for interaction.
Meditation is typically done while a person is alone and there is evidence that meditation boosts the immune response in vaccine recipients and people with cancer, protects against a relapse in major depression, soothes skin conditions, and even slows the progression of HIV. As with social interaction, meditation works largely by influencing stress response pathways. People who meditate have lower cortisol levels.
In a study of fifty people with advanced lung cancer, those judged by their doctors to have high “spiritual faith” responded better to chemotherapy and survived longer. More than forty percent were still alive after three years, compared with less than ten percent of those judged to have little faith.
Some think that what matters is having a sense of purpose in life. Having an idea of why you are here and what is important increases your sense of control over events. Spending more time doing what you love, whether it is gardening or volunteer work has a similar effect on health. Bottom line, loneliness is more of an attitude than a state of physical being. You have the power to be happy, alone or with others.
Attitude Changers
Here are some ideas to perk up your
attitude.
Asking people to list three things they are grateful for in life or three events that have gone well during the past week can significantly increase their level of happiness for about a month.
People become much happier after the smallest acts of kindness.
Adding plants to an office results in a fifteen percent boost in the number of creative ideas and helps produce more original solutions to problems.
Lightly touching someone on their upper arm makes them far more likely to agree to a request. In one study, the touch produced a twenty percent increase in the number of people who accepted an invitation to dance in a nightclub and a ten percent increase in those who would give their telephone number to a stranger on the street.
Praising a child’s effort rather than their ability encourages them to try.
Visualizing taking steps required to achieve a goal is more effective than dreaming about the goal.
Asking people to list three things they are grateful for in life or three events that have gone well during the past week can significantly increase their level of happiness for about a month.
People become much happier after the smallest acts of kindness.
Adding plants to an office results in a fifteen percent boost in the number of creative ideas and helps produce more original solutions to problems.
Lightly touching someone on their upper arm makes them far more likely to agree to a request. In one study, the touch produced a twenty percent increase in the number of people who accepted an invitation to dance in a nightclub and a ten percent increase in those who would give their telephone number to a stranger on the street.
Praising a child’s effort rather than their ability encourages them to try.
Visualizing taking steps required to achieve a goal is more effective than dreaming about the goal.
Tricorder Xprize
Qualcomm started a global competition in
2012 that will award ten million US dollars to revolutionize digital
healthcare. The idea is to stimulate innovation and integration of
precision diagnostic technologies, helping consumers make their own
reliable health diagnoses anywhere, anytime.
The device it is seeking will be a tool capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of fifteen diseases. Metrics for health could include such elements as blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. Ultimately, this tool will collect large volumes of data from ongoing measurement of health states through a combination of wireless sensors, imaging technologies, and portable, non-invasive laboratory replacements. The only stated limit on form is that the mass of its components together must be no greater than five pounds. The name comes from the medical device used in Star Trek.
This week, August 4 is the qualifying round for review and selection of the ten finalist teams. The final award will be held in January 2016.
The device it is seeking will be a tool capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of fifteen diseases. Metrics for health could include such elements as blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. Ultimately, this tool will collect large volumes of data from ongoing measurement of health states through a combination of wireless sensors, imaging technologies, and portable, non-invasive laboratory replacements. The only stated limit on form is that the mass of its components together must be no greater than five pounds. The name comes from the medical device used in Star Trek.
This week, August 4 is the qualifying round for review and selection of the ten finalist teams. The final award will be held in January 2016.
Gluten Free Finally Defined
The FDA finally passed a rule
about what it means to be 'gluten free'. "A gluten-free claim means
the food contains less than 20 parts per million of gluten, the
protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye."
The three million, roughly .008% of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease are at risk of nutritional deficiencies, infertility, and intestinal cancer if they do not follow a strict gluten-free diet.
The rules do not apply to restaurants, although the FDA was urging them to comply. The agency also warned consumers that some products labeled gluten-free that do not meet the new standards may still be on the shelves.
Last year, gluten-free products accounted for more than $10.5 billion in sales in what has become an overblown fad for many people, for which gluten free may be more harmful to them.
The three million, roughly .008% of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease are at risk of nutritional deficiencies, infertility, and intestinal cancer if they do not follow a strict gluten-free diet.
The rules do not apply to restaurants, although the FDA was urging them to comply. The agency also warned consumers that some products labeled gluten-free that do not meet the new standards may still be on the shelves.
Last year, gluten-free products accounted for more than $10.5 billion in sales in what has become an overblown fad for many people, for which gluten free may be more harmful to them.
Do Not Call
Go to the website https://www.donotcall.gov/
and enter your landline or cell number. There is an e-mail
verification and you are done. You can also call 888-382-1222 from
any phone you want on the list. Your number stays on the list until
you ask for it to be removed or you give up the number.
If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to work at the Do Not Call Registry or Federal Trade Commission and they offer to sign you up if you provide some personal information, do not respond. This is always a scam.
The Do Not Call list keeps you off of for-profit business call lists, but it can take up to 31 days before it goes into effect. If you receive an unexpected sales call after you registered your number, and you have been on the list for 31 days, you may file a complaint. Go to the donotcall.gov site above or call 888-382-1222. You will be asked to provide the date of the call and the company's name or phone number.
Unfortunately, political organizations, charities, and survey takers are still permitted to call you. Businesses you purchased from or made a payment to in the last 18 months also have a right to call. If you ask them not to, they must honor your request. Political and informational robocalls, such as those from health care providers, banks, and schools, are still allowed.
The fine print on free product offers may say the company may send you telemarketing calls.
In spite of frequent email hoaxes, mobile telephone numbers have never been in any danger of being made public or released to telemarketers. The FTC says that unsolicited telemarketing calls or robocalls to cellphones are illegal. If you get unsolicited marketing calls on your cellphone, tell them you do not want to be contacted and you can file a complaint using the information above.
If you sign up and still receive a telemarketing call, it is most likely the person on the other end is a scammer. Legitimate telemarketers do not want to risk a $16,000 fine for disregarding a number on the list.
If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to work at the Do Not Call Registry or Federal Trade Commission and they offer to sign you up if you provide some personal information, do not respond. This is always a scam.
The Do Not Call list keeps you off of for-profit business call lists, but it can take up to 31 days before it goes into effect. If you receive an unexpected sales call after you registered your number, and you have been on the list for 31 days, you may file a complaint. Go to the donotcall.gov site above or call 888-382-1222. You will be asked to provide the date of the call and the company's name or phone number.
Unfortunately, political organizations, charities, and survey takers are still permitted to call you. Businesses you purchased from or made a payment to in the last 18 months also have a right to call. If you ask them not to, they must honor your request. Political and informational robocalls, such as those from health care providers, banks, and schools, are still allowed.
The fine print on free product offers may say the company may send you telemarketing calls.
In spite of frequent email hoaxes, mobile telephone numbers have never been in any danger of being made public or released to telemarketers. The FTC says that unsolicited telemarketing calls or robocalls to cellphones are illegal. If you get unsolicited marketing calls on your cellphone, tell them you do not want to be contacted and you can file a complaint using the information above.
If you sign up and still receive a telemarketing call, it is most likely the person on the other end is a scammer. Legitimate telemarketers do not want to risk a $16,000 fine for disregarding a number on the list.
Tidbits
Pope John Paul II was named an honorary Harlem
Globetrotter in 2000.
The number of words posted each day on Twitter would fill a ten million page book.
The chance of dying on the way to purchase a lottery ticket are greater than the chance of actually winning.
Not True - The average mattress weight doubles every ten years from mites and mites poop.
True - There is a mattress sale every day of the year.
The number of words posted each day on Twitter would fill a ten million page book.
The chance of dying on the way to purchase a lottery ticket are greater than the chance of actually winning.
Not True - The average mattress weight doubles every ten years from mites and mites poop.
True - There is a mattress sale every day of the year.
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