Bacon Up

Holy Disaster - US bacon reserves hit 50-year low. Prices continue to go up in a sizzle. The average price of bacon across America has risen 14 percent since June of last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Analysts are reporting an 18% increase in the wholesale price of pork, with the surge expected to have a continued rise on the price of bacon and sausages.

Pig farmers can't keep up with the world's sizzling appetite for those fatty, juicy, smoky strips of sheer eating pleasure. US Department of Agriculture, “Today’s pig farmers are setting historic records by producing more pigs than ever,” said Rich Deaton, president of the organization. “Yet our reserves are still depleting.”


Hog farmers export approximately 26 percent of total production, the Bacon Council said. China still produces almost four times the amount of pork as the US, so the US may need to reduce exporting in order to satisfy local demand or risk rising imports. Bottom line, eat more bacon now before the next increase.

Quote

 “Laugh a lot, and when you are older, all your wrinkles will be in the right places.”

Falconry Terms

Some common terms we use come from falconry. For instance, the term, 'under your thumb’ comes from the falconry way of holding the bird's talons under ones thumb to keep it from flying away.
A falcon is fitted with a small leather hood over the bird’s eyes and head to keep it from being distracted. From this we get the term ‘hoodwinked’.

Falconers regularly give their bird a small treat when landing on their hand. Each time the bird goes to find game, like rabbits, and returns it is given another treat. After a few sessions the bird is full and no longer wants to go hunt. It is said the bird is ‘fed up’.

Quick Conversion

 If you want to quickly convert between miles and kilometers, you can use the Fibonacci sequence to make a conversion with a good degree of accuracy. The Fibonacci sequence, which is the basis for the golden ratio (1.618), begins like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144

Each number in the sequence after the first two is the sum of the previous two numbers. Look at any number in the sequence as a number of miles and the next number in the sequence is approximately that same distance in kilometers. For example, 55 miles equals about 89 kilometers. Conversely, 34 kilometers equals about 21 miles.

The conversion of miles to kilometers is 1.609. The small difference between that and 1.618 will cause higher numbers to not equal, but the numbers would need to be quite high to make a difference. When in your car, check your speedometer for a quick comparison.

Krispy Kreme Giveaway

Starting February 6 ending February 28, Krispy Kreme will provide customers with a free original glazed doughnut when they purchase a coffee in any size. No coupon is required, and customers may take advantage of as many free doughnuts as they can handle while the deal is valid.

The company is relaunching its coffee with a choice of two flavors: Smooth and Rich. The former is described as best for "subtle, easy drinking," while the latter is darker and comes with a "more bold experience."

Happy Friday

Keep smiling and your wrinkles will appear to be from happiness.

I always smile and exercise my wrinkles, especially on a Happy Friday!

Stone Age Bacon

Oetzi the famous "iceman" mummy of the Alps appears to have enjoyed a fine slice or two of Stone Age bacon before he was killed by an arrow some 5,300 years ago. His last meal was most likely dried goat meat, according to scientists who recently managed to dissect the contents of Oetzi's stomach.
"We've analyzed the meat's nanostructure and it looks like he ate very fatty, dried meat, most likely bacon," German mummy expert Albert Zink said at a talk in Vienna.

More specifically, the tasty snack is thought to have come from a wild goat in South Tyrol, the northern Italian region where Oetzi roamed around and where his remains were found in September 1991.

Google Search Tip

When searching for solutions to a problem, add the word 'solved' at the end and more practical results should show up high on the list.

Beer Yoga

Yes, it is a real thing. It is yoga that is done with beer. It first originated in places like Berlin and Burning Man, and is now becoming the biggest thing in Australia.

According to BierYoga founder Jhula, it is a marriage between two art forms, both of which are great for one’s well-being. “BierYoga is fun, but it is no joke,” said Jhula. “We take the philosophies of yoga and pair it with the pleasure of beer-drinking to reach your highest level of consciousness.” 

Beer Can Origin

Prohibition was finally repealed during December 1933. During that same year, the first beer can patent was issued. After much testing and changing designs, the American Can Company finally was ready to sell its cans. On January 24, 1935 the Krueger Brewing and Ale company began selling beer in cans for the first time. By the end of the year, 36 other brewers were also selling beer in cans.

A 'churchkey' type can opener was patented by another company that same year. One end was used for opening bottles and the other for puncturing the top of beer cans. They were usually given away for free. Young people will never be able to appreciate the versatility of this handy device.

Incidentally, Churchkey Can Company is a brewery founded in 2012 by actor Adrian Grenier and former Nike designer Justin Hawkins in Seattle, USA. The brewery's name refers to its flagship beer, which must be opened using a can piercer, or 'church key'.

Cell Phone Usage

During January, 2009, only about 10% of the U.S. population had smartphones, resulting in network traffic that mostly involved texts and voice, and some modest picture messaging.

Four years later the faster LTE wireless network that Verizon had launched during late 2010, still had not gone mainstream. AT&T said that data usage on its D.C.-area network was more than 16 times larger than it was during 2009. By 2016, 88% of the population owned smartphones.

Wordology, Chalaza

When you crack an egg, there is the white albumen, the yolk, and that strange white string. It is called the chalaza, and its job is to hold the yolk in place in the center of the white. It is completely edible, but is sometimes removed during baking for aesthetic reasons.

More Egg Tidbits

To clean a dropped egg up off the floor cover it in salt to help it congeal, then clean.

The older the hen, the bigger the egg.

Eggs can stay good in the refrigerator for up to a month after the sell-by date on the carton.

Horny Cows

First scientists have been trying to make dairy cows less flatulent, now they are trying to make them hornless. Dairy cows grow horns, but dairy cows in the U.S. rarely have horns, because they are seared, cut, or chemically burned off. The purpose is to prevent injuries to other cows and handlers.

Recently, a company named Recombinetics took a hornless gene from a breed of beef cattle and inserted it into a breed of dairy cattle. The resulting cattle are hornless, good at producing milk, and still genetically 100 percent cattle. In the past, breeders could have crossed dairy cattle and hornless beef cattle to get hornless dairy cattle after many generations. The good news for dairy farmers is that the cows are hornless, but not less horny, just confused.