Jul 7, 2017

Starbucks Sizes

A Venti iced size (24 ounces) at Starbucks is equal to two Tall (12 ounces). If you buy a Venti and split it with a friend you can save over a dollar each.

Incidentally, Short [8 fl. oz.], Tall [12 fl. oz.], Grande [16 fl. oz.], Venti Hot [20 fl. oz.], Venti Cold [24 fl. oz.] and Trenta Cold [31 fl. oz.]

3D Pancake Printer

Now I have seen it all. Amazon is selling "PancakeBot PNKB01BK 3D Food Printer." It is a 3D printer, with computer smarts that includes a grill and makes pancakes in any shape you can design. Oh, it costs $299. That is a bunch of dough to spend.


According to the description - There is a proprietary batter dispensing system to draw your perfect customized pancake every time. Software is included to trace any image on your computer. Non-stick electric griddle with removable probe is included and a BPA-free batter dispenser. Quick start Guide and Recipe Book are also included. Disclaimer - I have no financial interest in this, nor do I have any interest in buying one. However, I do think it is a fun and innovative use of technology.

Streaming vs. Casting

These terms are used when discussing getting information from devices to your TV. Streaming is video-delivery sent over the internet to your computer or smart TV. It also may refer to Internet Protocol television (IPTV) also called just Internet TV. It includes Live TV, time shifted replays of live TV, and video on demand, such as movies. IPTV is delivered over a closed, proprietary network, accessed via a specific internet service provider. It is different from OTT (see below), which is open and delivered by providers over the top of any internet service.

Casting refers to the delivery of audio, video, or other media types from a users mobile device or PC to a Television or connected TV device. For mobile devices, such as smartphones, mirroring means casting uses your bandwidth allocation and costs money each time you use it. Video uses an extremely high amount of bandwidth and if you do not have unlimited use, your monthly phone bill could be enormous. Mirroring takes the display from a sender devices and replicates that on a receiving device. Casting without mirroring means that after you cast the video to your TV, you can use the phone as normal, because it hands off the original signal to the TV.

Bottom line, streaming goes directly to a device and casting sends a stream from one device to another.

OTA vs. OTT

The often used abbreviations can be confusing. Think of OTA (Over The Air) as using a TV antenna, where the signal comes into your antenna, literally over the air from satellite or huge broadcast antenna at a TV or radio station, vs. on a cable.
Think of  OTT (Over The Top) as directly accessing the internet via a physical cable (such as the one that goes into your modem/router LINK). WiFi also gets its input from that cable. It refers to audio, video, and other media transmitted via the Internet without cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems controlling content. No TV tuner or receiver is necessary.

OTT devices which support streaming include Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, and FireTV, etc. OTT services include video on demand services like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Sky Go, BBC iPlayer, etc.

Bottom line, OTA uses the air outside of your house to receive signals and OTT uses cables outside of your house to receive signals. They both use cables from the wall to devices inside the house.

Wordology, Empty Calories

Many people associate alcohol calories with empty calories. They think empty calories are less fattening than regular calories. Empty calories are empty because they have no vitamins, minerals, or nutrients associated with them.


Alcohol calories are treated differently in the body than food calories. Alcohol calories get used for energy like any other calorie. However, alcohol is treated as a toxin by the body, and is given first priority for metabolism, so food calories must wait to be burned until after the liver deals with the alcohol calories. Food calories are stored as fat until used after the alcohol calories are used and that (simplified) is why alcoholics suffer from liver cirrhosis, or fatty liver, which is deadly.

Calorie Defined

The official definition of calorie is: A measurement of energy- the amount of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure. Calories in food are actually measured in kilocalories, so 1,000 actual calories for every 1 Calorie listed on food packages. Europe uses the actual kilocalories or kilojoules.

During the 1880s, Wilbur O. Atwater decided to determine how much energy different types of foods contained. He decided to treat different foods just like coal and burn them to ash in a furnace and measure how much heat (or calories) each one produced. He gave a numerical value to the calories produced by each food. He measured nine calories per gram from high-fat foods, and about four calories per gram from carbohydrates and proteins. We still use this system, to an extent.

During 2003, a US university team of nutritionists tested two slimming diets with the same number of calories on a group of overweight women. One diet was very low-fat and relatively high in carbohydrate. The other was high in fat, but low in carbohydrate. The low-fat dieters lost 3.9kg (almost 9lb), but the high-fat dieters lost more than twice as much weight at 8.5kg (almost 19lb).
The calories are the same, but the body reacts differently when it uses them. Maybe it is time to rethink how we count calories.
Calories listed on food labels are only an approximation. The US FDA allows food manufacturers to look at their ingredients and determine how many grams of fat, carbohydrates, and protein they contain, and then assume that each gram of protein and carbohydrates gives 4 kilocalories, each gram of fat gives 9, etc. Then they subtract 4 kilocalories for every gram of fiber, and that is the official, government sanctioned calorie measurement.
In addition to the above, different bodies deal with Calories differently. Genetic conditions, illnesses, and other factors can cause foods to be metabolized differently by some people vs. others. A 100 Calorie snack for you, might only be an 80 Calorie snack for someone else.

Bottom line, since Calories are an approximation, ingesting a few hundred more or less on any given day is not going to make much difference on your weight.

Jun 30, 2017

Happy Friday

If you lust for trivial things, you become trivial. If you lust for happiness, you become happy.

Today I lust for sharing the joy of a Happy Friday!

Happy Canada Day

July 1 is Canada Day. This year, it celebrates Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Incidentally, The first Saturday in July is also International Cherry Pit Spitting Day. Past three year winning spits -
2014 Brian Krause Dimondale, MI 80' 8"
2015 Kevin Bartz Niles, MI 48' 8"
2016 Rick Krause Tuba City, AZ 48' 2 1/4"

Brian Krause is also holder of the US record cherry pit spit of 93' 6 1/2", set during 2003.

July 4th

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, died the same day in 1826 as John Adams, second president of the United States, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. A few years later, fellow founding father, and fifth President of the United States, James Monroe passed away on July 4th, 1831. Interesting that three of the first five American presidents died on the 4th of July.


Incidentally, The people of France offered the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World to the people of the United States on July 4th, 1884.

Just Three American Cars Remain

Online car research site Cars.com, ranks the “most-American” cars and trucks and takes into account globalization of the supply chain. It found just three models qualified.
The definition of “Made in America” has been undergoing some changes, especially in the auto industry. Integrated supply chains and efforts to cut costs have made the auto industry’s globalization “irreversible.”
The criteria used: country of engine origin, country of transmission origin, U.S. factory employment relative to the company’s sales footprint, domestic parts content, and assembly location. The percentage of domestic parts that a car needs to be able to qualify is 60 percent.

The three "most-American" cars were Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Cherokee (made by Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in Toledo, Ohio), and Ford Motor Co.’s Chicago-made Taurus.

Simpsons Names

Many of the characters on the Simpsons show were named by Matt Groening and are named after people in his family. He did refuse to name the grandfather after his own grandfather, Abraham, and asked the writers to choose a name. The writers, who had no knowledge of his grandfather's name, chose Abraham. The full name is Abraham Jedediah "Abe" Simpson II, but he is commonly called grampa. His parents were Orville J. Simpson and Yuma Hickman.

O.J. Simpson

No relation to the above. His full name is Orenthal James Simpson. His nickname from football days is The Juice. He is having a parole hearing July 20, 2017 in Nevada, and could be released during October. 2017.

Incidentally, Lawrence Tureaud it the full name of Mr. T.

Tomato Preservation Tips

Keep your tomatoes at room temperature, ideally in a single layer out of direct sunlight. To keep them fresher longer, store them stem side down. If they do not lay flat, peel more of the stem off, until they can lay flat on a counter or plate. Also, it is OK to store in the refrigerator if you will use them within a few days. Last, you do not need to keep them in a brown paper bag, unless there are flies in the area.

Wordology, Pizza Peel

You may think it is odd to peel a pizza, but that is not what this is.

It is the instrument that pizzerias and cooks around the world use to shove a pizza into the oven and to remove it from the oven. Kind of like peeling off the oven floor.