Sep 19, 2014
What's in a Name, Lego
Danish carpenter Ole Kirk
Christiansen, the founder of Lego, asked his staff to come up with a
name for his growing toy company. The two names that ended up being
finalists were 'Legio' and 'Lego'. The first was a reference to a
legion as in a Legion of toys. The second was made from a
contraction of 'leg godt', which is a Danish phrase meaning 'play
well'. Lego is also a Latin word meaning 'to gather or collect'.
History of Kevlar
Did you know Kevlar was invented by a
woman? Stephanie Kwolek took a temporary position for DuPont during
1946. Her goal was to save enough money to pay for medical school.
By 1964 Stephanie was still working there and doing research on how
to change polymers into higher strength synthetic fibers. She was
working with polymers that possessed rod-like molecules that were
all lining up in a single direction.
In contrast to the molecules that had been forming in bunches, Stephanie believed that uniform lines would render the resulting material more powerful, although such polymers had been quite challenging to break down into a testable solution. She finally developed the correct solution that had rod-like molecules and at the same time looked dissimilar to every other molecular solution she had yet made.
The next step was to put it through a spinneret, a device that could generate the fibers. The operator for the spinneret initially refused to allow Kwolek to operate the machine, because her new solution was so different than any other before it, and he believed it would ruin the machine.
Kwolek refused to give up and made a fiber, which was as tough as steel. The material was then named, Kevlar and since that time it has been utilized for radial tires, brake pads, drums, skis, helmets, camping gear as well as suspension bridge cables. The most widely known use for Kevlar is bulletproof vests. Kevlar was a brand name, but has become generic term. In July 1995, Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Perseverance counts.
In contrast to the molecules that had been forming in bunches, Stephanie believed that uniform lines would render the resulting material more powerful, although such polymers had been quite challenging to break down into a testable solution. She finally developed the correct solution that had rod-like molecules and at the same time looked dissimilar to every other molecular solution she had yet made.
The next step was to put it through a spinneret, a device that could generate the fibers. The operator for the spinneret initially refused to allow Kwolek to operate the machine, because her new solution was so different than any other before it, and he believed it would ruin the machine.
Kwolek refused to give up and made a fiber, which was as tough as steel. The material was then named, Kevlar and since that time it has been utilized for radial tires, brake pads, drums, skis, helmets, camping gear as well as suspension bridge cables. The most widely known use for Kevlar is bulletproof vests. Kevlar was a brand name, but has become generic term. In July 1995, Kwolek was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Perseverance counts.
Bathroom Time Trivia
Normally I do not do this type
of trivia, but the numbers staggered me, and not in a good way. This
first fact was not a surprise, but the rest were rather surprising.
Women spend more than twice as long in the bathroom than men. Thirty seven percent of women and fifteen percent of men spend more than one hour in the bathroom per day.
86% said the toilet is the place where they did most of their reading.
75% of Americans have used their mobile phone in the bathroom. 67% of them read text, 63% answer a call, and 29% do social networking (Yuck).
63% of people read books, magazines and newspapers in the bathroom. Magazines are the favored literature (many of my books are considered good bathroom reading). Men's top two reading are erotic magazines and sports. Women's top two are romance novels and interior design magazines.
33% of people read mail and email in the bathroom.
3% of Americans have TVs in their bathroom.
Women spend more than twice as long in the bathroom than men. Thirty seven percent of women and fifteen percent of men spend more than one hour in the bathroom per day.
86% said the toilet is the place where they did most of their reading.
75% of Americans have used their mobile phone in the bathroom. 67% of them read text, 63% answer a call, and 29% do social networking (Yuck).
63% of people read books, magazines and newspapers in the bathroom. Magazines are the favored literature (many of my books are considered good bathroom reading). Men's top two reading are erotic magazines and sports. Women's top two are romance novels and interior design magazines.
33% of people read mail and email in the bathroom.
3% of Americans have TVs in their bathroom.
Annual Rainfall
While checking a city and looking at annual
rainfall can be interesting, it may not be informative. For
instance, Houston, Texas gets 49 inches of rain annually, which is
more rain than Seattle, which gets only 38 inches of annual
rainfall. The key difference is Seattle has a relatively high amount
of days per year with relatively light rain, 158 vs. Houston with
104 rainy days. Seattle also has 226 cloudy days per year.
Wordology, Briffits and Dustups
Briffits are the clouds
left behind when comic-strip characters speed off. They are most
often found in the comic strips with hites, which are the horizontal
lines streaking between a cartoon character and the briffit to
represent speed.
Dustups are the clouds that obscure comic-strip fights.
Things that look like clouds, but are not, include various fumetti, such as word balloons and thought balloons (cumulus fumetti).
Incidentally, although storytelling with pictures and words had been around for hundreds of years and, until recently it was generally believed that the first comic was the Yellow Kid in 1896. However, Rodolphe Töpffer is considered the father of the modern comic strips. His illustrated stories of Histoire de M. Vieux Bois (1827), was first published in the USA in 1842 as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck.
Dustups are the clouds that obscure comic-strip fights.
Things that look like clouds, but are not, include various fumetti, such as word balloons and thought balloons (cumulus fumetti).
Incidentally, although storytelling with pictures and words had been around for hundreds of years and, until recently it was generally believed that the first comic was the Yellow Kid in 1896. However, Rodolphe Töpffer is considered the father of the modern comic strips. His illustrated stories of Histoire de M. Vieux Bois (1827), was first published in the USA in 1842 as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck.
Handy Online Manuals
Do you have appliances, computer
equipment, lawnmower, audio equipment, TV, GPS, tools, or any number
of other items with no owner's manual? This site has the manual. It
also has an option for you to upload your manual so it can help
others. Handy info to know. LINK
Call Back App
Here is an application that could save your
evening or possibly your life. It is based on text messages, works
with any cell phone, not just smartphones and it does not rely on an
Internet connection. The service is called Kitestring.
A person sends Kitestring a text with time period like '30m'. In 30 minutes, Kitestring will send back a check-up text and you have five minutes to respond with an 'OK'. If you do not reply on time, Kitestring sends an alert to your designated emergency contact. It might be handy to set before blind dates, traveling alone, or for medical situations.
The basic service is free with eight uses per month with one emergency contact. A paid version offers unlimited uses and contacts as well as with a recurring check-in mode and customized response period.
The recurring check-in might be useful for people with medical conditions and/or who live alone. For instance, you can have it check in on you once or twice a day. A pleasant way to be reminded to let someone know you are OK, without the need for a call. Using this service can mean no call is good news.
A person sends Kitestring a text with time period like '30m'. In 30 minutes, Kitestring will send back a check-up text and you have five minutes to respond with an 'OK'. If you do not reply on time, Kitestring sends an alert to your designated emergency contact. It might be handy to set before blind dates, traveling alone, or for medical situations.
The basic service is free with eight uses per month with one emergency contact. A paid version offers unlimited uses and contacts as well as with a recurring check-in mode and customized response period.
The recurring check-in might be useful for people with medical conditions and/or who live alone. For instance, you can have it check in on you once or twice a day. A pleasant way to be reminded to let someone know you are OK, without the need for a call. Using this service can mean no call is good news.
Sep 12, 2014
Happy Friday
Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.
Spending time laughing is also the best way to celebrate a Happy Friday!
Spending time laughing is also the best way to celebrate a Happy Friday!
Short Performance Oscars
The record for shortest Oscar
winning performance is held by Beatrice Straight, who won a Best
Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in Network (1976), which she
appeared in for just one 5 minute and 40 second scene.
Second shortest record for a Best Actor Oscar is held by David Niven, for his work in Separate Tables (1958), which he appeared in for 15 minutes and 38 seconds.
Third shortest record for Best Actor Academy Award is held by Anthony Hopkins, for his work in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which he appeared in for just over 16 minutes. All prove that sometimes less is more.
Second shortest record for a Best Actor Oscar is held by David Niven, for his work in Separate Tables (1958), which he appeared in for 15 minutes and 38 seconds.
Third shortest record for Best Actor Academy Award is held by Anthony Hopkins, for his work in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which he appeared in for just over 16 minutes. All prove that sometimes less is more.
Junk Phone Calls
When you receive an unwanted phone call,
you might want to look up the number by using Google or other search
engine. For regular numbers, you will see a list of services
promising to find a person, but for scams you will usually see a few
sites like those below.
You can help others by going to web sites like http://www.mycallbot.com http://misternumber.com or 800notes.com www.callercomplaints.com The sites will show you what others have to say about calls from a number and you can add your add details of the call. You will also want to add the number to your do not call list.
You can help others by going to web sites like http://www.mycallbot.com http://misternumber.com or 800notes.com www.callercomplaints.com The sites will show you what others have to say about calls from a number and you can add your add details of the call. You will also want to add the number to your do not call list.
Hack the Menu
Speaking of junk - like junk food, here
is a site that has many of the secret menu items from your favorite
fast food joints. Items that you might like, but do not see on the
menu. Interesting that Wendy's in not featured.
Did you know that KFC has a triple down that is a larger version of the double down, or that you can get bacon added to any order. How about a side of biscuits with their honey and butter. Burger King offers Frings, which is half fries and half onion rings and you can order a ham and cheese if you are tired of burgers. Many more goodies. Yum. Here is the LINK.
Did you know that KFC has a triple down that is a larger version of the double down, or that you can get bacon added to any order. How about a side of biscuits with their honey and butter. Burger King offers Frings, which is half fries and half onion rings and you can order a ham and cheese if you are tired of burgers. Many more goodies. Yum. Here is the LINK.
Pipsqueaks, Plonkers, and Whizz-bangs
World War I, soldiers in the trenches gave cute names to the artillery shells that were constantly killing and maiming their friends and comrades. Some of these names, like 'whizz-bang', 'plonker' and 'pipsqueak' describe some of the lethal devices.
Another war term from the time is strafe, as in The German phrase "Gott strafe England!" (God punish England!) was widely used in German propaganda. The word strafe then entered the English language, meaning punish, bombard or reprimand. Strafe definition later narrowed to refer to attacking with machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft.
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