Feb 14, 2020

Vegan Snacks

According to the PETA web site, the following are the top vegan snacks.

Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Brownie Mix
SkinnyPop White Cheddar Flavored Popped Popcorn
Airheads
Cracker Jack
Spicy sweet vegan Doritos
Fritos
Fruit by the Foot
Kettle Brand Potato Chips (sea salt and vinegar)
Lay’s Potato Chips (barbecue and classic)
Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars
Ritz Crackers
Ruffles Original Potato Chips
Sour Patch Kids
Wheat Thins
Hershey’s Syrup
Ore Ida Tater Tots
Pringles (original only)
Nabisco Oreo 100 Cal Thin Crisps (Oreo cookies are not vegan)
Jell-O Cook & Serve Vanilla Pudding & Pie Filling

New FedEx Scam

 I try to keep informed about new scams and this is just one more to watch for. Users will receive a text message informing them that their purchase has been shipped via FedEx. Users are then given a link that they can click to track their shipment, but when they click on it, they are taken to a fake Amazon page that offers a reward to complete a survey.

If in doubt, type the tracking number into google search and it will tell you if the number is legit or not.

Then in order to claim the reward, users are required to pay for the shipment of their reward by entering their credit card info, which will ultimately result in ongoing monthly charges of $98.95. There are many red flags in this scam to begin with, such as being redirected to a rewards page instead of FedEx’s website. Also, the rewards page has been designed to look like Amazon’s website, but the site does not belong to Amazon. If you do receive such a notification, mark as spam and delete it. Caveat Emptor.

Brain Scans

Many of us have been subjected to different types of scans in the hospital. Attached to this email is a picture of the various machine representations. It makes it easy to see why different machines are used to picture different parts of the brain, or body, depending on what the doctor is looking for.

More Myths Debunked

Water-induced wrinkles are not caused by the skin absorbing water and swelling. They are caused by the autonomic nervous system, which triggers localized vasoconstriction in response to wet skin, yielding a wrinkled appearance. This was theorized to have evolved to give ancestral primates a better grip in slippery, wet environments, but a 2014 study showed no improvement in handling wet objects with wrinkled fingertips.

Hair care products cannot actually repair split ends and damaged hair. They can prevent damage from occurring in the first place, and they can also smooth down the cuticle in a glue-like fashion so that it appears repaired, and generally make hair appear in better condition.

Eight glasses or two to three liters of water a day are not needed to maintain health. The amount of water needed varies by person including weight, activity level, clothing, and environment (heat and humidity). Also, water actually need not be drunk in pure form, but can be derived from liquids such as juices, tea, milk, soups, etc., and from foods, including fruits and vegetables.
Sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children. Double-blind trials have shown no difference in behavior between children given sugar-full or sugar-free diets, even in studies specifically looking at children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or those considered sensitive to sugar.
A vegetarian or vegan diet cannot provide enough protein for adequate nutrition. Typical protein intakes of ovo-lacto vegetarians and vegans meet and exceed requirements. However, a vegan diet does require supplementation of vitamin B12 for optimal health.
There is little evidence that obesity is related to slower resting metabolism. Resting metabolic rate does not vary much between people. Weight gain and loss are directly attributable to diet and activity.

Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day. Many of the studies about the benefits of breakfast were funded by Kellogg's, and showed correlation, not causation.

Peanut Butter Fact

Americans eat 500 million pounds of peanut butter a year, enough to coat the floor, of the Grand Canyon.

Feb 3, 2020

Happy Friday

"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing." ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

Go ahead, take a risk and be happy, especially on a Happy Friday!

Groundhog Day Origin and Candlemas

On February 2, 1887, Groundhog Day, was celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, it gets scared and runs back into its burrow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting the hedgehog as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State. I am hoping for no shadow.

Super Bowl Name Origin

Very interesting that the Super Bowl name is from former Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, inspired by a popular '70s toy: the Super Ball. For its first three years, the game had been called the world championship. Then Hunt saw his daughter playing with a bouncy ball and asked her what it was called. The rest is Super Bowl history.

Incidentally, the NFL pays no halftime appearance fee. The only thing the organization pays for is the expenses for the band and its entourage. Also, Joe Montana won all four Super Bowls he played in and he never threw a interception in any of them.

About vs. Approximately vs. Around

Will not go into all the other uses for these words, just enough to highlight the difference in use between them.

“About” is a word that means reasonably close to. About means reasonably close to, it is a guess or an estimate. We can use it to talk about quantity. About does not stress the closeness to accuracy that approximately does.

“Around” also means reasonably close to. We also use around in casual informal situations.  We can use around with numbers and quantity as we did with about. We use this for time as we saw with the word, about. So, for time, we can say, “I will be there around 7:00 p.m.” “I will be there around breakfast time.”

The difference between about and around is largely a matter of preference: about is more common in British English and around in American English.

“Approximately” means reasonably close to something else so we use it, again, to make an estimate, to make a guess. However, approximately is usually used in more formal situations. It is more natural to use approximately in formal situations. If you use “approximately” in an informal situation, it might sound strange.

Approximately has fairly limited uses. Around and about, however, have a few other functions to consider. When you are making guesses, when you are making estimates, especially for quantities or time, in most cases, about and around can both be used.

Dolly Parton Facts

On January 17, 2018 it was announced that Dolly holds two spots in the Guinness World Records 2018 edition: One for Most Decades With a Top 20 Hit on the US Hot Country Songs Chart and the other for Most Hits on US Hot Country Songs Chart By a Female Artist with a total of 107.

Silicon vs. Silicone

They are almost spelled the same, but are pronounced different and are two different things.

Silicon is a hard brittle element found in sand and used to make microchips.

Silicone is a rubber-like material or liquid, used in things like cooking utensils, sealants, and breast implants. See what I did there?

Printer Ink Refills

Did you know Costco and Sam's can refill your printer ink cartridges and they cost less than new? These refills come closest to matching original-ink quality, and they are backed by Costco’s and Sam's customer service.  Costco’s ink refills come closest to matching the print quality and staying power of HP’s own ink. Glossy photos displayed almost the same level of contrast. The Costco color inks are less saturated, but fairly accurate compared with other refill inks. When regular cartridges can be filled to XL levels, Costco always does so. In these cases, regular and XL cartridges cost the same to refill. Costco is a bit more expensive than Amazon refills.


Amazon Ikong’s ink performed the best of the bought-on-Amazon options. The print quality was good enough across the board for home use, and nearly up to the standard that Costco’s refills set. Incidentally, the last two times I needed refills and went to Walmart, it was cheaper to buy a new printer, which I did.

Save the Date

If you want to protect the date you wrote or changed documents, or your stories, scripts, ideas, pictures, etc, print a copy and send it to yourself through the mail. When you receive it back, leave the envelope sealed, because the sorting office stamp mark proves the date. You can also send it certified or return receipt to have additional proof. Also handy if you cannot get a witness, or get to the lawyer or business quickly. If it is very sensitive, you can put the sealed envelope in your safe deposit box.


With an email, you can send it to yourself and not open it. The cloud will maintain dates. Do the same with a file attachment for a quick free backup.

Nine Interesting McDonald's Facts

McDonald's originally served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chili with baked beans, and slices of pie.

McDonald’s introduced an official company mascot: Speedee, a burger-faced chef with a bow tie that looked like he was in a perpetual rush. The brothers noted that his round head would make a good base for a lollipop, and decided to hand out Speedee-shaped treats to orphanages and children’s hospitals as a charitable form of advertising. Speedee was retired in 1962.

McDonald’s hands out more toys than any other business on the planet.

In an effort to curb the frenzied pleas of children for a Happy Meal in order to score the free toy, San Francisco passed an ordinance in 2011 that prohibited the company from peddling the promotion within city limits. To get around the law, the company began charging 10 cents for the toy, skirting around the definition of free.

It is illegal to open a McDonald's or other foreign fast food chain restaurant in Bermuda.

Ronald McDonald is called Donald McDonald ( Donarudo Makudonarudo) in Japan.

Warren Buffett has a card that provides free food at any McDonald’s in his hometown of Omaha.

Bill Gates’ has a card which entitles him to eat free anywhere at any Golden Arches in the world.

Jeff Bezos once worked at McDonald's.


Incidentally, A KFC was opened in Bermuda before the ban and is the only one allowed.