Jan 5, 2018

Robo Calls Getting Worse

Does it seem like we are getting more unwanted calls on smart phones? We are, and they are more and more difficult to stop. We are now in the phase where bad technology leapfrogs good technology and until that changes again, it is something to deal with.

US Federal Trade Commission data released during December 2017 shows a massive 4.5 million consumer complaints about robocalls in 2017, up from 2016's 3.4 million. For every single month of the year, robocalls topped the list of "Do Not Call" violations.
The six most common ones in no particular order include:
Reducing your debt (credit cards, mortgage, student loans)
Dropped call or no message
Vacation and timeshares
Warranties and protection plans
Calls pretending to be government, IRS, businesses, or family and friends
Medical and prescriptions.

In addition to all the complaints, use of the "Do Not Call" registry hosts 226 million active registrations.
The reason for the increase is the cheap new telephony equipment, ease of placing millions of calls without a person needed to do the dialing, and  digital calling systems that make it simple to automatically spoof caller ID numbers. Robo calls are becoming the 'Nigerian Prince' scam for phones.

Incidentally, the worst thing you can do is respond. The bad guys have no do not call list to put you on and no reason to stop calling. Also, once you respond, your number goes into the bank of live persons and your number will be sold to other scammers. Robo call apps help blocking, but cannot keep up with the ever shifting use of numbers used, including what appear to be local numbers.

Tongue and Taste Myth

Your tongue does not have independent zones for different types of flavor, sweetness, or saltiness. The confusion comes from the mis-translation of a German study. Actually all of the tongue is more or less equally capable of detecting different flavors, although there are different patterns of strength.

What is generally categorized as “taste” is basically a bundle of different sensations. It is not only the qualities of taste perceived by the tongue, but also the smell, texture, and temperature of food.
Incidentally, “hot” or “spicy” is often described as a taste. Technically, this is just a pain signal sent by the nerves that transmit touch and temperature sensations. The substance “capsaicin” in foods seasoned with chili causes a sensation of pain and heat.

Do Not Recycle These

Ribbons, bows, Styrofoam and the glue that sticks them to the gift are not to go in the recycling bin.

You cannot recycle wrapping paper that has metallic, glossy, glitter, or velvety flocking on it.

Plastic bags, twine, and anything else that is long and stringy cannot be recycled.

Shiny Christmas cards printed on photo paper, have metallic embossing, or glitter cannot be recycled.

Disposable plates, cups, plastic tableware, napkins, and paper towels should not be recycled. Some plastic cups may be recyclable, but read the bottom for recycle symbol. (Many people think that rounded arrow symbol means it is recyclable, but that is the resin code. Different municipalities can recycle different resins, but only number one and two plastics are recyclable in most places.)

Do not recycle candy wrappers or the bags that coffee comes in.

Pizza boxes and fast food carryout bags may include the additional message, “Recycle if Clean & Dry,” since pizza boxes and bags dirtied by a significant amount of grease or food residue are often not accepted for recycling.

Chip bags cannot go into the recycle bin, since most chip bags are made from aluminum laminated with polypropylene.

The popular K-Cup® pod as a whole cannot be recycled.

All is not lost as cardboard boxes are great to recycle, even with some tape on them.

Pantone

Pantone is the self-proclaimed global color authority. It has released its 2018 color of the year. The color is Ultra Violet 18-3838, a dark blue violet, halfway between cobalt and periwinkle. I do not understand why they cannot just call it purple.

2017 Word of the Year

The field is crowded, and the fight for Word of the Year will be fierce. The American Dialect Society will chose the winner during January 2018. For 2016, the word was 'dumpster fire'. Here are some contenders for 2017:
    Fake news
    Alternative facts
    Collusion
    Nothingburger
    Normalize
    Antifa
    Resistance
    Persisterhood
    Dotard
    Reclaiming my time
    Taking a knee
     Covfefe

According to the Oxford University Press, use of the word "Trump" has increased 839 percent. It analyzed over 100,000 short stories written by British children for a competition, and has already declared "Trump" to be the Children's Word of the Year 2017.

Feminism ranks as Merriam-Webster’s 2017 word of the year. It is defined by Merriam-Webster as: “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activity in support of women’s rights and interests.”

'Complicit' is Dictionary.com's word of the year - "Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity."

Recent past Words of the Year were not so overtly political: The American Dialect Society gave us "Dumpster fire" for 2016, An emoji was used during 2015, and 2012 brought us "hashtag." Back in 2009, "tweet" was word of the year.

During 2016 snollygoster was voted the first Haggard Hawks Word of the Year. It is a word for an unscrupulous politician

'Whatever' was voted the most annoying word of the year for the ninth year in a row.

Six Benefits of Parsley

Parsley is full of vitamin C, an essential nutrient and best known for giving the immune system a boost.

Parsley can actually improve kidney functionality by helping the human body do away with excess fluids. It is a diuretic and according to Livestrong.com, it plays an important role in the process of removing unnecessary fluids from the body.

Parsley contains ample amounts of folic acid and research from Harvard Medical School shows that foods high in folic acid can help the body regulate blood pressure and produce and maintain new cells.

Parsley Contains Vitamin K an important nutrient in helping the body respond to injuries. It helps in the clotting process, giving the body a chance to stop the damage and begin the healing process. Vitamin K has also been shown to help reduce the risk of bone damage and build bone durability.

Parsley contains compounds that can aid in digestion, according to research from WebMD,

Parsley contains anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce inflammation around the joints and ease the pain associated with conditions like osteoarthritis.

Wordology, Obdormition

It is pronounced ob-dor-MISH-uhn. It means numbness in a limb, usually caused by pressure on a nerve. Also known as falling asleep. From Latin obdormire (to fall asleep), from dormire (to sleep). Earliest documented use: 1634.

Incidentally, there is a good word that comes after obdormition: paresthesia, known as pins and needles.

Cord Cutters

Cord cutters are people who have decided to give up cable TV and find another way to watch TV and movies. The main alternatives have been streaming TV over the internet (OTT) and subscribing to services, such as NETFLIX, YouTube, Amazon Video, etc.

Another alternative gaining a growing following is using a TV antenna. The antenna technology is much better than the traditional antenna service and is extremely cheap, with no monthly fees. Recent studies have shown that over 90% of the US population is within range to stream free over-the-air HD television. Antennas do not lose stations like satellite subscribers suffer from during bad weather. In addition the signal is not compressed, so there is a noticeable improvement in picture quality vs. cable and satellite. In addition, usually there are 30 to 60 free channels available. Many find that an indoor antenna is sufficient, so no need to climb up on the roof for installation.

As of November, the latest analysis by Kagan indicates that another 1.2 million Americans cut the TV cord during the past quarter, lured away from expensive traditional cable TV bundles and by the rising availability of cheaper, more flexible streaming alternatives. The losses once again broke records for the industry, contributing to a net loss of 2.9 million traditional pay TV subscribers so far during 2017, after a loss of another 2 million during 2016.

Since 2015, TV watching growth has been in the number of antenna-equipped homes with broadband access. These increased 36 percent.

Quick Food Tip

It is safe to eat the stickers on fruit, both the paper and glue are food grade.

Free TV Trials

Now you can try some of the streaming deals for free, before or after you cut the cable cord. Sign up for any or all of the following. Some require a credit card, but do not bill unless you go past the trial period. Many begin to automatically bill at end of trial, so it pays to be diligent and watch the end date of your trial period.

Amazon Prime Video: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
Amazon Channels - As a Prime member, Amazon Channels has additional services with free trials from 7 to 30 days (includes HBO, Showtime, and Dove Family Films)
CuriosityStream: 7 days (Documentaries & Educational)
DIRECTV NOW: 7 days (Live TV)
Fubo TV: 7 days (Live TV with sports)
HBO NOW: 30 days (Movies & TV shows)
Hulu: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
NETFLIX: 30 days (Movies and TV shows)
PlayStation Vue: 5 days (Live TV)
PureFlix: 30 days (Family-friendly Movies & TV shows)
Showtime Anytime: 30 day (Movies & TV shows)
Shudder: 7 days (Horror movies)
Sling TV: 7 days (Live TV)
Sundance Now: 7 days (Independent movies)

Browser Honey

Honey is sweet, especially when it can save you money. Honey is a browser add-on that automatically applies coupon codes at checkout, and now it also finds better prices on Amazon immediately.

Honey brings the best final prices to the forefront after automatically comparing every top-rated seller in the Amazon marketplace.

It also lets you know if you can save money just by waiting a couple of days for delivery. Quick shipping is awesome, but so is having options, especially if those options save you money.

Shop on Amazon as usual. If Honey finds a better deal, a little tag will appear showing you how much you could save by buying the same item from a different seller. It takes into account the final price of the item (including sales tax and shipping), seller rating, delivery time, and Prime status , so you can still get Prime deals. Here is the link to add it to Firefox. LINK  and Chrome LINK.

Dec 22, 2017

Happy Friday

It is not possible to have too much happiness.

Grab all you can, wherever you can, especially on a Happy Friday!

Christmas Carol Origins

Phillip Brooks was an Episcopalian preacher, he earned a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Oxford, and taught at Yale University. During 1865, he rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where he participated in the Church of the Nativity's five-hour long Christmas Eve celebration. After returning home he wrote "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Its first public performance was held three years later, performed by the children's choir of his church.

Clement Clark Moore was a professor of Divinity and Literature at a New York Episcopal college when, in 1822, he sat down to write a Christmas poem for his family. Moore never intended for the poem to be published. It was only at his family’s begging that it was published a year later. "The Night Before Christmas", poem became an immediate success. Moore created much of our Christmas mythology. He named the reindeer, was the first to call St. Nicolas an “elf,” the idea of Santa going from rooftop to rooftop, and codified most every concept about Santa entering your home to leave gifts. Much about the current legend of Santa was influenced by his poem.

Christmas Banned

Christmas was banned in England between about 1644 and 1660 by Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England. Oliver Cromwell, along with Puritan members of parliament, believed the merrymaking and festivities observed during Christmastime were acts of sin and insults to God. Celebrating Christmas became a punishable offense, and consumption of Christmas foods was forbidden. The ban in England remained in place for almost 20 years, during which people secretly celebrated Christmas. When the British monarchy returned to power in 1660, it overruled all laws passed since 1642, and lifting the ban on Christmas.

Christmas was, until recent times a purely religious festival and New Year was and still is the main holiday for Scots. Christmas was not traditionally celebrated in Scotland, because it was banned for nearly 400 years until the 1950's. Christmas was not even a public holiday until 1958. Hogmanay was the real traditional celebration. LINK

Similar laws were passed in Puritan colonies in America. Christmas was banned in Boston and Plymouth Colony from 1659 to 1681. In 1659 the Puritan General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony made it a criminal offense to publicly celebrate Christmas and declared that “whosoever shall be found observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way” was subject to a 5-shilling fine. In New England, Christmas did not become a legal holiday until 1856.

Although outlawed in public, the celebration of Christmas endured in private homes, particularly away from the Puritans in Boston. December 25 was declared a US federal holiday in the United States in 1870.