Jim Croce

Who knew he was so prescient about Chicago way back in 1974. Here is an oldie musical interlude, Leroy Brown. LINK

Facebook Wants More Data

Yikes, Facebook recently reached out to major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup Inc., and U.S. Bancorp to pitch “potential offerings it could host for bank customers on Facebook Messenger.” In exchange for potential features including fraud alerts and checking-account balance checks, Facebook is asking for some of its users’ most sensitive financial information, such as account balances and where they use debit and credit cards. Luckily some banks are reluctant, especially after the recent data breach by Facebook.

Not too long since the data breach by Facebook that found 87 million Facebook users around the world whose details were shared with Cambridge Analytica caused one of the largest data breaches. The majority of those whose information was shared, about 70 million, are in the US.

No wonder that Facebook lost millions of members during 2017 and estimates losses of more millions during 2018. Caveat Emptor!

Dinner vs. Supper

Dinner and supper really do mean different things, or at least they used to. During the 1800s and perhaps even earlier, Americans in some rural regions started calling their midday meal dinner, while supper was reserved for the evening meal.

Historically, the word dinner was associated with the largest meal of the day, regardless of whether it was served in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Supper, on the other hand, is more time-specific. It stems from the Old French word souper, meaning an evening meal, and it was generally lighter than other meals served throughout the day.

Supper and dinner have more to do with the quantity of food that is served than the time of day that you eat. Supper is seldom used anymore and dinner is by far the more popular term in the US.

Robots Rise

International Federation of Robotics (IFR) President Junji Tsuda previewed the statistics that will appear in the IFR Industrial Robots Annual Report covering 2017 sales data. He reported that 2017 turnover was about $50 billion, that 381,000 robots were sold, a 29% increase over 2016 and a 29 percent increase over the 294,300 units sold in 2016, and China was the main driver of 2017’s growth with a 58% increase over 2016 (the US rose only 6% by comparison). In addition, 2016 was 27% over 2015
China installed around 138,000 industrial robots in 2017, followed by South Korea with 40,000 units, and Japan with 38,000 units. In the Americas, the USA is the largest single market with 33,000 industrial robots sold, and in Europe it is Germany with around 22,000 units sold.
The automotive industry continues to lead global demand for industrial robot sales, according to the IFR. In 2017, around 125,200 units were sold in this segment for 21 percent growth. Other strongest growth sectors in 2017 were the metal industry (54 percent), the electrical/electronics industry (27 percent) and the food industry (19 percent).

Kuka’s CEO said we would see a big move toward mobile manipulators doing multiple tasks. ABB’s Sr. VP said that programming robots would become as easy and intuitive as using today’s iPhones. Fanuc’s ED said that future mobile robots would become more flexible. DHL’s VP forecast that perception would have access to more physics and reality than today.

Wordology, Vexillology

The study of flags is vexillology and a vexillologist is a person who studies flags.

Impact of Junk Mail

Junk mail in the US destroys 100 million trees a year. The equivalent of deforesting all of Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
Hundreds of millions of pieces of junk mail (also called “direct,” “bulk,” or “standard” mail) are sent through the US Postal Service annually, none of them solicited or requested by the recipient, and most of them entirely unwanted.
That mountain of credit card offers, insurance offers, catalogs, flyers, coupons, phone books, and anything else you did not specifically ask for, are all vying for your attention and causing the eradication of our forests. These companies apparently get enough responses to justify their excessive mailings, but that does not mean you have to like it.
Here are some facts from New York University School of Law about junk mail and sustainability:

• 5.6 million tons of catalogs and other direct mail advertisements end up in US landfills annually.
• 44 percent of junk mail is thrown away unopened, but only 22 percent is recycled.
• The average mailbox receives 848 pieces of junk mail per household, equal to 1.5 trees every year and that equals more than 100 million trees for all US households combined.
• Largely due to deforestation, junk mail manufacturing creates as much greenhouse gas emissions annually as 3.7 million cars.
• Americans pay $370 million annually to dispose of junk mail that does not get recycled.

Older Adulthood

Modern humans have added a whole new era to life, with many people continuing to thrive into their 80s and 90s. We have increased the lifespan about two and a half years each decade over the last century. With longer life comes a further decline in rapid recall, but other aspects of cognition are at their strongest as we move into older adulthood.

Crystallized intelligence, for example, which refers to a person’s amassed knowledge such as vocabulary and cultural references, continues to improve with age. The crystallized intelligence or wisdom of aging comes from your synthesis of experience, knowledge, maturity, and judgment, which all improve.

Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc refused to hire any person who had an MBA degree. He believed that college degrees did not teach proper competitive spirit and those who attended university were missing a certain marketing finesse.
Kroc was the person who set in place strict codes of conduct for work ethic by introducing standardization and discipline to McDonald's and was the first person to introduce large-scale mass production to the service industry.

The original Ronald McDonald premiered in 1963, but as Kroc and the corporation expanded the branding of their clown mascot across the country, they thought it would be too difficult to find other actors with the same stocky build of the original actor, weatherman Willard Scott. So, Scott ended up losing the job and McDonald’s established the slimmer Ronald that we see today.

Ray set up the “Hamburger University” for future franchisees of McDonald’s. Before one could purchase a franchise, an owner had to attend and get a degree “hamburgerology with a minor in French fries.” Hamburger University continues and there are now seven locations spread throughout four continents around the world. Over 275,000 people have graduated from the school since it opened during 1961. The Shanghai campus accepts less than 1% of applicants, making it more difficult to get into than any Ivy League school.

Happy Friday

Happiness is nature's proof that life is good.

It is easy to prove, especially on a Happy Friday!

What's in a Name, Vicodin

Vicodin's name is based on it being approximately six (VI is 6 in roman numerals) times stronger than codeine.

Wild Bill Hickok

He was born James Butler Hickok. He was given the mocking nickname “Duck Bill” because of how big his nose was. He later altered the name by calling himself “Wild Bill” instead.

Hickok’s reputation as a skilled gambler and poker player was so good that he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

Wordology, Pink Noise

Mercedes provides your ears with an extra layer of audio protection called pink noise designed to keep your hearing intact by the extremely loud sounds typically associated with a vehicle crash.
The crunching metal, breaking glass, and the explosive deployments of airbags can hit 165 decibels or higher, and has the potential to permanently damage a passenger’s hearing. Pink noise, which Mercedes calls “Pre-Safe Sound” is unique in that its power is inversely proportional to the signal. When it hits the ear, it triggers muscles in the ear to contract by reflex, automatically bracing the inner ear and eardrum for the extremely loud noise of the crash by reflecting some of the sound before it reaches the point where it could cause problems.

Once the vehicle’s sensors have detected that a collision is unavoidable, a comprehensive system of safety features is activated within the short time before an impact occurs. It takes just 150 milliseconds to deploy the reversible seat belt tensioners and other safety features. The duration of a human blink is 100 milliseconds.

Fresh Fruit vs. Dried Fruit

A common myth is that fresh is better, However, this myth is only true if you are looking for vitamin C. Dried fruit contains just as many nutrients and sugar for energy as fresh fruit. If you subscribe to the notion that you should eat five fruits a day, then you only need one tablespoon of dried fruit per portion – so five tablespoons of dried fruit fulfills your daily need. The same is true of canned or frozen fruit. Fruit juice is also able to be used as a daily fruit portion, but just one per day should be made up of juice only.

Omega-3 Supplements Useless

A recent meta-analysis of 79 randomized controlled trials following more than 100,000 participants added to the growing corpus of non-findings. The study catalogued a long list of heart conditions for which omega-3s appear to have “little or no effect,” challenging the claimed benefit of the supplement, that taking it promotes heart health.
The rise of omega-3 supplements began when a team of Danish scientists, intrigued by reports of low rates of cardiac death among Inuit populations, embarked on an expedition to Greenland. They drew blood samples from local Inuit people and found far more omega-3 in their blood than in the blood of those in the Danish control group. Their hypothesis: Omega-3s are good for your heart.

The original claimed benefits for cardiac health were the first to fall after large randomized controlled trials showed few results. A 2012 meta-analysis came to the conclusion: “Overall, omega-3 … supplementation was not associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiac death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, or stroke based on relative and absolute measures of association.”
Studies reported that omega-3 supplements do not help depression, do not help young children at risk for psychotic disorders, and do not improve the memories of the elderly.

Finally, during 2017, the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, a trade association, published a press release of its own study “Among randomized controlled trials, there was a non-statistically significant reduction in coronary heart disease risk with EPA+DHA provision.” Bottom line, save your money.