Robocalls Data

According to recent reports, 48 billion robocalls were made to U.S. mobile phone users in 2018, with scams making up 40 percent of all robocalls. Only 3 to 5 percent of people return these calls which can net criminals thousands of dollars each. Identity theft scams in particular have become increasingly popular and potentially more lucrative for the bad guys. 

Bird Migrations

We think humans travel far, but it seems some birds have us beat and without planes or Uber. Of the nearly 10,000 species of birds, about 19% (1,850 species) are considered to be migratory. The 13-15 inch, 3.5 ounce Arctic Tern takes the prize for the longest migration at an astounding 44,000 miles (71,000 km) annually on average.

By tagging the birds, scientists learned the shortest migration was 36,900 miles (60,000 km) while the longest was 50,700 miles (81,000 km). For perspective, the circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles (40,075 km).

This migration is completed annually at every life stage. The Arctic Tern can live for 35 years, so a single bird can potentially travel about 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) in its lifetime.

During its migration, the Arctic Tern completes a round trip from Greenland, traversing the Weddell Sea and flying along the shores of Antarctica. The birds take a break at sea over the North Atlantic Ocean while they fuel up on food. Once this break is completed, the birds head down the coast of northwest Africa, around the Cape Verde Islands, then off the west coast of Africa towards Senegal.

Rather than traveling straight back along the path they came, they instead travel in a twisted ‘S’ shaped pattern through the Atlantic Ocean. Though this route adds many miles to their trip, the birds take advantage of the global wind system and use less energy, thanks to the wind currents.

Climate Change History

Could not resist this bit of history from the climate groupies. We only had until the year 2000 before disaster would strike. Seems these dates change like the dates for the doomsayers predicting the end of the earth. As each date passes, another ominous warning and another 'disaster' date is set.

"U.N. Predicts Disaster if Global Warming Not Checked,  PETER JAMES SPIELMANN June 30, 1989

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000. Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of eco- refugees, threatening political chaos, said Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, or UNEP.


He said governments have a 10-year window of opportunity to solve the greenhouse effect before it goes beyond human control. As the warming melts polar icecaps, ocean levels will rise by up to three feet, enough to cover the Maldives and other flat island nations, Brown told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday."

More YouTube Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting tidbits to one-up your friends.

• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. It processes more queries than Bing and Yahoo combined. (It also means Google owns the world’s two most popular search engines).
  
• Ten years of new video is uploaded every day with 72 hours of newly uploaded video every minute.
  
• The first Spanish-language video on YouTube to amass more than 1 billion views was Enrique Iglesias’ reggaeton song, Bailando.
  
• The only non-music video in the most watched YouTube videos of all time is a Russian-language version of an episode of children's TV show, Masha and The Bear. It has been watched 3.4 billion times and counting.
• In total, 17 different videos have held the record for being the most watched video on YouTube. The current holder is Luis Fonsi’s hit, Despacito LINK with over 6 billion views. (Gangnam Style has only a bit over 3 billion views)
  
• The YouTube Rewind 2018 video is universally disliked with 15 million downvotes in its first month.
• Of the 7 billion videos available, more than 20 percent of videos are switched off within the first 10 seconds of playback.
• We watch four billion hours of video every month—that is 456,621 years worth.
  

Wordology, Philematology

Researchers discovered two out of three people tilt their heads to the right when kissing. Doctors say it strengthens our immune system and slows down the ageing process.

• Just thinking about a kiss increases the flow of saliva, which in turn loosens plaque. 
• A normal kiss burns 6.4 calories per minute and an average kiss lasts 12 seconds.
  
• People kiss in 90 percent of the countries worldwide. How and why differs from one country to the next. Three cheek kisses are a standard welcome in France, while in Japan; people only kiss if both parties want sex.
  
• Germany ranks second with four kisses per day behind Sweden on the list of countries that are stingy kissers.
  
• People in France and Italy kiss an average of seven times per day.
  
• It is forbidden to kiss women in public on a Sunday in Michigan and Connecticut.

Samsung Note Emergency SOS Feature

I had a chance encounter with an SOS feature was not aware of. Was trying to increase volume while on a call and rapidly pressed the "On/Off" button three times by accident. It activated the feature.
The phone took a back picture, forward picture, captured my location, and sent all the info to my phone emergency contacts, along with SOS text. All this activity took place while I was on a call and did not notice anything happening. Imagine my emergency contact's surprise (and fear) and mine.

It is a great feature and should be more widely discussed. Having the ability to picture surroundings and provide location could be a life saver in many situations. PS - warn your emergency contacts before you test it.

Wordology, Gerrymander

The US Supreme Court recently ruled that it has no authority to decide cases that challenge partisan gerrymandering, a practice in which political parties draw Congressional districts to increase votes in their favor.

By redrawing the borders of electoral districts, members of a given political party can cram the opposition’s supporters into as few precincts as possible, thus grabbing a disproportionate amount of power.

The tactic gets its name after a one-time vice president. Elbridge Gerry was born on July 17, 1744. He was a native of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

In 1787, with the war over, Gerry took part in the Constitutional Convention and was the person who moved to include a Bill of Rights.

Early in 1812, Democratic-Republican legislators laid out new districts which shoehorned most Federalist Party supporters into a handful of precincts. Due to this redesign of maps, Federalist candidates for the state Senate earned 1602 more votes than their Jeffersonian opponents did. Yet, because of these new precincts, the Democratic-Republican Party nabbed 29 seats to the Federalist’s 11.

Districts now came in all manner of irregular shapes. Particularly infamous was one such division in Essex County. This squiggly precinct looked like a mythical salamander. Thus, the name “Gerrymander” was born.

National Bikini Day

July 5 is National Bikini Day and celebrates the anniversary of the invention of the two-piece bathing suit. Due to its risqué design, the bikini was slow to be adopted, but it gradually gained acceptance when film stars began to wear bikinis on public beaches and in their films. Incidentally, it is named after hydrogen bomb testing that was conducted at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific during World War II.

July 4th Celebration Beginning

After the members of the Second Continental Congress approved and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, John Adams wrote about the occasion in a letter to his wife Abigail: "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding Generations as the great anniversary Festival." He suggested that it should "be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty." and "It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more."

Adams was talking about July 2, 1776, when the document was approved and signed, and not July 4th, when it was formally adopted by the Continental Congress. For the remainder of his life, Adams considered July 2 to be America's true Independence Day, and he was so upset when the Fourth became the accepted holiday that he refused to participate in any celebrations on that date.

Suntan, Sunscreen, Sunblock

Suntan lotion is for tanning. It only blocks enough UV light to prevent sun burns, but enough to get a more tan complexion with enough sun exposure.
Sun screen is a more casual protection. It blocks more UV light than suntan lotion, but is a light enough formula that it does not alter the appearance of skin while it is on.
Sun block is a formula which blocks significantly more UV light; however it tends to go on very thick. The smell of it also tends to linger even after you rub it in. This formula is ideal for being in full sun, such as when on the beach.

Check this LINK for SPF information.

Pontefract Liquorice Festival

Every July, the town celebrates its leading role in England’s love affair with licorice (known as “liquorice” in the country), in particular through the “Pomfret” or Pontefract cake. Created in 1760, these black, coin-shaped “lozenges” were made of cooked licorice sap and could be dissolved in water. Once used to treat ailments and sweeten other medicines, the cake eventually became better known as a snack toward the end of the 19th century. Licorice-based fashion is a big part of the annual festival, which began in the 1990s, with some years featuring all kinds of wearable confectionery, including dresses, licorice-lined boots, and even a licorice jewelry-making station. For those who might not be interested in candy-coated fashion, the town also provides free travel on the “Liquorice Land Train” to Pontefract Castle, where people can take a tour. For the tried and true licorice lovers, the festival features a vast array of classic licorice savory snacks such as licorice-laden Yorkshire pies and sausage rolls.

Futures Vs. Options

Futures contracts require the transaction specified by the contract must take place on the date specified. Futures contracts are agreements to trade an underlying asset at a future date at a predetermined price. Both the buyer and the seller are obligated to transact on that date. Futures are standardized contracts traded on an exchange where they can be bought and sold by investors.

Options give the buyer of the contract the right, but not the obligation to execute the transaction. Options can be exercised at any time before they expire. There are two types of options: call and put options. Call options give the buyer a right, but not the obligation to buy the underlying asset at a predetermined price before the expiry date. A put option gives the option-buyer the right to sell the security.

Both options and futures contracts are standardized agreements that are traded on an exchange such as the NYSE or NASDAQ or the BSE or NSE. There is daily settlement for both options and futures, and a margin account with a broker is required to trade options or futures. Investors use these financial instruments to hedge their risk or to speculate. The underlying assets for both futures and options contracts can be stocks, bonds, currencies, or commodities.

One of the key differences between options and futures is that options are optional. The option contract itself may be bought and sold on the exchange, but the buyer of the option is never obligated to exercise the option. The seller of an option is obligated to complete the transaction if the buyer chooses to exercise at any time before the expiry date for the options.

Microwaves Revisited

Microwaving changes the molecular structure of food. It has been scientifically proven that microwaving changes the molecular structure of food. This is called cooking.
There are two kinds of radiation: (1) ionizing, the high-energy kind produced by nuclear bombs, radioactive elements, etc., and (2) non-ionizing, the relatively low-energy type we encounter every day in the form of light, heat, and radio waves. Microwaves are located between radio and heat (infrared) as non-ionizing.
Microwave heating is different from conventional heating because, microwaves only affect molecules having polarity or positive and negative ends, which rotate rapidly back and forth as the microwaves pass through. A common type of polar molecule is water, which is distributed fairly evenly throughout many foods.

Infrared energy warms up almost any molecule it passes through. While ordinary heat gets absorbed by the outer layer of a food and only slowly penetrates to the interior, microwave energy passes through most of the food as though it were transparent and heats up mainly the water, and to a degree fats and sugars, which in turn heat up everything else. The food thus cooks mostly uniformly. Yes, microwaved foods are still safe to eat.

Food For Flying

Here is an updated list of foods you can take through airport security. Cakes, Pies, Sandwiches, Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Sliced Fruit, Firm Cheese, Meat, Candy, Gum, Brownies, Cookies, Pastries, Granola Bars, Pretzels, Chips, Hamburgers/Cheeseburgers, and Fries. Even though an item is allowed to pass through security with you, it does not mean it will not be given a review. For instance, cakes and pies are permitted as carry-on items, but could require additional screening.