Shub's Thoughts

Sep 6, 2019

UPC vs. SKU vs. PLU

Stores use many codes for inventory tracking. Here are a few you might have seen, but not sure how they are used.
A UPC, or Universal Product Code, is the number (usually under the barcode) universally used to identify a certain product. Identical products at different stores will have the same UPC. There are multiple UPCs. UPC10, UPC11, UPC12, and UPC14 are frequently used, with UPC12 being the most popular.
A SKU, or Stock Keeping Unit, is the product code used by an individual store. Many SKUs, for simplicity’s sake, were simply their UPCs, but most store-brand items have shorter SKU numbers. If a product’s packaging changes there might be two different UPCs represented by one SKU, because the newer item would eventually replace the older one.

A PLU is a Price (or Product) Look-Up. Some are universal, such as 4011 for bananas and some can be assigned by the store for unique items. Items with a PLU are generally sold by weight, or volume, or quantity. An item sold with a PLU could have 3 different numbers to represent its price, UPC, and the store’s stock keeping unit.

Calzone vs. Stromboli

When I was younger, a pizzeria where I lived advertised its stuffed pizza. It was really, a Calzone, but we were not familiar with that name. The place was wonderful and the "stuffed pizza" gained a loyal following. Another place I lived had a bakery with the best Stromboli and it was on the weekly list of must have dinners. Sadly, miss them both.
One of the major differences between a Calzone and a Stromboli, beside shape is the sauce. In a Stromboli the sauce is baked in and with a Calzone it is served on the side like a dipping sauce.
Calzone origin: Naples, Italy
Tomato Sauce: On the side
How it is made: Baked or fried
Shape: Crescent moon (think of pizza folded in half)

Stromboli origin: Philadelphia, PA
Tomato sauce: Baked in
How it is made: Baked
Shape: Log
My mouth is watering just thinking about both of the pizza treats.

Happy Friday

A smile is the quickest way to get a yes answer without asking a question.

Yes, I always enjoy a Happy Friday!

Burning of Zozobra

On the Friday before Labor Day each year, Santa Fe residents watch as their sadness and gloom go up in flames. Traditionally, burning Zozobra allows gloom and sadness to be dispelled so the fiesta can begin. The 50-foot-tall, white-clad, dreadful faced marionette is mounted high above Fort Marcy Park. His growls turn to agonizing screams as the Fire Spirit dances and throws flames at Zozobra’s feet. He begins to scream violently as he is set on fire and begins to burn. Fireworks burst forth from within the marionette, burning him completely and he crashes to the ground.

The crowd cheers as the monster representing their sorrows explodes before crumpling to the ground in defeat. Setting this massive marionette aflame rids Santa Fe of doom and gloom for another year.

International Bacon Day

Happy Bacon Day! August 31, 2019

I would be remiss if I forgot this wonderful day. It is always celebrated on the Saturday before the US Labor Day Holiday.

For a free peek at some wonderful bacon facts and trivia, try this link to my book 'Bacon Orgazmia' on Amazon

Skin Facts

Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It makes up about 16% of your body weight and covers about 1.73 square meters.
The skin is composed of several layers. The very top layer is the epidermis and is the layer of skin you can see. The epidermis is waterproof and serves as a protective wrap for the underlying skin layers and the rest of the body. It contains melanin, which protects against the sun’s harmful rays and also gives skin its color. The epidermis also contains very sensitive cells called touch receptors that give the brain a variety of information about the environment the body is in. It is the layer upon the dermis, the second layer of skin.

The dermis contains hair follicles, sweat glands, oil glands, blood vessels, nerve endings, and a variety of touch receptors. Its primary function is to sustain and support the epidermis by diffusing nutrients to it and replacing the skin cells that are shed off the upper layer.
The bottom layer is the subcutaneous tissue which is composed of fat and connective tissue. The layer of fat acts as an insulator and helps regulate body temperature. It also acts as a cushion to protect underlying tissue from damage when you bump into things. The connective tissue keeps the skin attached to the muscles and tendons underneath.
Our sense of touch is controlled by a huge network of nerve endings and touch receptors in the skin known as the somatosensory system. This system is responsible for all the sensations we feel – cold, hot, smooth, rough, pressure, tickle, itch, pain, vibrations, and more. Within the somatosensory system, there are four main types of receptors: mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, pain receptors, and proprioceptors.
Mechanoreceptors perceive sensations such as pressure, vibrations, and texture.
Thermoreceptors perceive sensations related to the temperature of objects the skin feels.
Pain receptors detect pain or stimuli that can or does cause damage to the skin and other tissues of the body.
Proprioceptors sense the position of the different parts of the body in relation to each other and the surrounding environment.

Your skin regenerates itself about every 28 days and you have an entirely new layer of skin. It naturally sheds dead skin cells every day.

There are millions of bacteria on your skin. These bacteria are harmless, and your skin microbiota can even help your immune cells to fight microbes that can cause diseases.

Cartoon Villain Shape

The villains in cartoons, live action, and animated movies share many of the same characteristics. They often have horns, pointed ears, protruding chins, sharp eyes, pointed wings, V-shaped eyebrows, and devilish goatees.
This is because the facial and body shapes of villains are often drawn or designed to resemble triangles with pointed tips. Filmmakers and animators use triangles for villains, because our faces look triangular when we are angry. People also notice triangular and angry faces faster, because they appear threatening.

For movie directors, threatening and angry means evil. This is something backed by science. In one study, volunteers noticed the angry expressions first when shown the faces of smiling, angry, and neutral people. They also noticed the downward-facing triangles first when shown pictures of four triangles pointing up, down, left, and right.

Death Row

The United States has the 7th highest execution rate in the entire world, behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, and Egypt. Since 1976, 1,500 people have been executed in the United States.
Texas, US has executed the most prisoners. In 2018, the 13 men that the state executed was over half of the total executions in the entire country (25). Last year, Texas had almost double the amount of executions compared to the previous two years, as 7 men were executed in both 2016 and 2017.
Twenty Two juveniles were executed between 1976 and 2005 for crimes that they committed while they were underage. In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute juvenile offenders.
As of April 1, 2019, there were 54 women living on death row. Since the death penalty was reinstated during 1976, a total of 16 women have been executed.

Incidentally, Bathsheba Spooner became the first woman to be executed in the United States on July 2, 1778.

LEO and the Internet

Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are much smaller and orbit closer to Earth than traditional satellites. The lower orbit dramatically reduces the time lag that usually comes with satellite broadband internet. The purpose of these satellites is to blanket the earth and provide wireless internet service everywhere.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has plans to launch as many as 12,000 satellites as part of its Starlink constellation. Each Starlink satellite weighs about 500 pounds (227 kilograms) and is about the size of an office desk. They will deploy into orbit about 273 miles (440 kilometers) up. After the first successful launch, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Starlink’s formal request to offer broadband service. That service will take a few years to get enough satellites in place for a viable network. Starlink’s ultimate goal is to launch 4,425 satellites by 2024, but it will likely start offering service before then.
Amazon plans to launch a constellation of 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit in order to provide internet to “unserved and underserved communities around the world.” Amazon confirmed that Kuiper Systems is one of its projects.
Telesat successfully launched a test LEO satellite in January 2018. Telesat announced during July 2019 that it had partnered with the Government of Canada in a mission to provide affordable high-speed Internet connectivity across rural and remote areas of Canada through the development of Telesat's LEO Satellite Constellation. Blue Origin will launch the next Telesat LEO satellites using its New Glenn rocket, which is currently under construction. Telesat plans to launch 120 LEO satellites by 2021, all with Blue Origin.
OneWeb has an initial 600-satellite constellation currently being built out to provide global satellite Internet broadband services beginning in 2021. The first six satellites of the constellation were launched in February 2019 and plans to launch 900 LEO satellites by the end of 2019 using Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin. OneWeb is considering nearly quadrupling the size of the satellite constellation over time by adding 1,972 additional satellites.
Jeff Bezos’s rocket company, Blue Origin, is not building a satellite network, but is building reusable spacecrafts to launch satellites for a variety of companies. Telesat, the largest satellite internet provider in Canada, is one such company.
Loon, started by Google and now run by parent company Alphabet, is slightly different from the other companies. It is not building a satellite constellation, but it is using similar concepts. Instead of an orbiting network in space, Loon uses weather balloons to float transmitters high in the atmosphere, essentially creating a floating network in the sky.
Facebook, filed a request with the federal government to fly a single experimental satellite in low orbit. It has not committed to deploy a full-fledged network or revealed much about its strategy. Other smaller companies with smaller wallets have also begun to join the race.

All will also require a network of Earth stations for the satellites to communicate with. There is much competition, many dollars to spend, and much work to do before we see the results in our living rooms.

Aug 23, 2019

Happy Friday

Get up and decide it is time to celebrate a Happy Friday.

I celebrate every day, especially on a Happy Friday!

New NFL Roku Channels

Here are the teams with a free Roku channel:

The NFL is not the only sport to launch Roku channels. Increasingly teams and even full leagues are launching free streaming channels on Roku to make it easy for their fans to enjoy free content from their favorite teams and sports.

Staying Young

Received this from a friend recently and thought it is good enough to share.

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctors worry about them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about computers, crafts, gardening, etc., and never let your brain idle.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long, and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. Tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on.

7. Surround yourself with what you love. Whether it is family, friends, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.

8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Do not take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the beach, to a park, but not to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Stop Signs

Stop signs are the only octagonal (eight-sided) road signs. They are like that because the government wants them to be easily distinguished from other road signs, even when viewed from the back.

The first stop signs appeared in 1915. At the time, they were square with a white background. “STOP” was written in a black font. The sign worked until more cars began to crowd the roads during the 1920s.

The American Association of State Highway Officials came up with a new eight-sided 'STOP' sign that drivers could easily recognize, even if they did not understand or could not see what was written on it.

The old eight-sided stop signs had yellow backgrounds with black lettering and outlines. The background became red with white lettering during 1954. They changed to a red background, because traffic lights were using red to mean 'STOP'.

Egg Substitutes

Catering to vegans and vegetarians these days is popular and profitable. However, the purity of vegan and current concocted substitute offerings seem to be at odds. Reminds me of the purist greenies who decided bottled water is better than natural water and are now running away from the consequences of millions of pounds of trash plastic bottles their cause created.

Like with plant based burgers, new vegan does not mean cheap. In fact, Just brand vegan eggs suggested price for 12 oz (about 7-8 eggs) is $7.99 vs. $1 to 1.20 for a dozen real eggs. So, 10 cents per egg vs. about $1 per mung bean egg equivalent.
JUST egg's is a plant based egg substitute. According to its website, Just eggs are made from: "Water, Mung Bean Protein Isolate, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Dehydrated Onion, Gellan Gum, Natural Carrot Extractives, Natural Flavors (sic), Natural Turmeric Extractives, Potassium Citrate, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Tapioca Syrup, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Transglutaminase, Nisin, and contains soy."
According to Food Navigator, JUST's process for extracting the protein is: "the raw mung beans are de-hulled and milled to produce flour, which is mixed with water and a food-grade defoaming agent to form a slurry, the pH of which is adjusted with a food-grade sodium hydroxide solution for solubization of the target protein into the aqueous solution.”
A serving of JUST Egg contains 5 grams of protein and zero carbs, similar to a real egg. It works for scrambled eggs, omelets, stir-fries, French toast, and crepes. It does not mimic the properties of an egg in baking nor will it emulsify when it is raw, meaning it is no good for something like a carbonara or a salad dressing.

Mung beans originated in India and are typically found in many Far East and Middle Eastern diets. When bean sprouts are called for in recipes, it generally refers to germinated mung bean or soybean sprouts. About 7 ounces (202 grams) of boiled mung beans contains 212 calories. Generally speaking, mung beans, but not necessarily Just Eggs are healthy for us.

Mmmm, going to gas up with some mung bean eggs for breakfast.