What's in a Name, Donald Weder

If you have ever enjoyed an Easter basket with plastic eggs and grass, then you can thank Donald Weder, the man who invented both. Weder not only holds the patents on these holiday staples, he also holds a total of 1,413 U.S. patents, including ones for water-based inks, flower-pot covers, and decorative wrappers. That is more than Thomas Edison, who held just 1,093 U.S. patents.

Happy Friday

"Do not run after happiness, but seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you." ~ James Freeman Clarke
If you are chased by happiness, turn around and embrace it, especially on a Happy Friday!

July 4

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." Adams went on to suggest that it should "be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty." He then added: "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."

Reading these words, you might describe Adams as prescient, except he 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 the Second of July to be America's true Independence Day, and he was so miffed when the Fourth became the accepted holiday that he refused to participate in any celebrations on that date.

Wordology, Under the Weather

Originally, sailors used the phrase “under the weather bow,” referring to the side of the ship that would get the brunt of the wind during storms. To avoid getting seasick when the waves got rough, they would bunker down in their cabins, literally under that bad weather, to let the storm pass.

Georgia Peaches

Georgia may be known as the Peach State, but according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, California grew 541,000 tons of peaches in 2017. Meanwhile, Georgia was not even in the top three, even though peaches are its official state fruit. New Jersey was second and Pennsylvania was third.

Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda

Difference between baking powder and baking soda.

Baking soda and baking powder both leaven baked goods. Baking expert Zach Young explains the difference during his Cranberry Scones class. Baking soda is activated by the acid in the recipe (like yogurt or buttermilk). Baking powder, on the other hand, is typically activated twice: first when it is added to a wet batter and second when you put it in the oven.

Oldest Grapevine

Located in Maribor, Slovenia, the oldest grapevine in the world that still produces grapes—and in turn, wine—has been around since the 1500s. Each year approximately 100 small, 250-milliliter bottles are made from the fruits produced from the vine. Incidentally, each bottle of wine and grape variety is different, but on average, there are about 736 grapes in a single bottle of wine.

Windows Key Tips

Use the first combination to get the desired size, then the second to take a screenshot to print or email it.

Win + “+” and “-” keys — Zooms in and out with the magnifier tool (you can zoom in on any app, desktop, or folder).

Shift + Win + S — Selects any desired area of the screen and takes a screenshot of it.

Grow Mint Reduce Bugs

Mint prefers well-drained, but moist ground, tolerates shade, and needs minimal care. Mint is the plant that we love thanks to its strong fragrance. Some animals and bugs just can’t stand the smell of mint. It can repel ants, mosquitoes, slugs, snails, and mice.

What's in a name, Grapefruit

“The fruits are borne usually in clusters of from 3 to 15,” explains the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, published 1901, “hence the name Grape-fruit (in clusters or bunches like grapes), by which it is known by in Jamaica.”

Even back then, however, at least one expert took issue with that answer. Here’s the editor of The American Botanist grousing back in 1902: Another horticultural magazine gravely informs its readers that the grape-fruit (Citnis decumana) receives its common name from the fact that it grows ‘in grapose clusters.’ Everybody that has seen the grape-fruit growing knows that the fruits hang singly, like their near relatives the orange and lemon. ‘Grapose clusters’ favors facts manufactured to fit the explanation.

American Flag Facts

A few years after welcoming Vermont and Kentucky, states 14 and 15 into the union (in 1791 and 1792, respectively), a new version of the flag was created that had 15 stars and 15 stripes. As the U.S. continued to add new states, there was concern about having to continually add additional stripes. The solution: revert to 13 to represent the original 13 colonies, and let the stars represent the States.

Incidentally, there have been 27 official versions of the U.S. flag, each with a different number of stars.

Happy Friday

"Happiness has always seemed to me a great achievement." ~Françoise Sagan

We all try to achieve happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!

Over The Hump, Covid

We have officially passed the middle of 2020. The good news is that we appear to have escaped Armageddon. Future historians will likely replace, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot" with "Where were you when the virus hit?." We will endlessly debate which was worse, the negative media hype, the lock-down, or the disease. What we do know is that this pandemic is not the worst. Also, since the beginning of June, there are more cured cases than active cases. According to WebMD, early estimates predict that the overall COVID-19 recovery rate is between 97% and 99.75%.

As of June 24, the number of people the CDC confirmed infected is at 9.2 million, or .13% of the world population and the death toll is (475 thousand) .06%.
CDC estimates that, from October 1, 2019, through April 4, 2020, there have been between 39 and 56 million seasonal flu illnesses.

From MPH Online, an independent online resource for public health students -

HIV/AIDS Pandemic had a Death Toll of 36 million. (Congo)
Between 2005 and 2012 the annual global deaths from HIV/AIDS dropped from 2.2 million to 1.6 million.
Flu Pandemic 1968 had a Death Toll of 1 million. Hong Kong))
The 1968 pandemic had a mortality rate (.5%) and resulted in the deaths of more than a million people.
Asian Flu Pandemic (1956-1958) had a Death Toll of 2 million. (China)
The World Health Organization noted approximately 2 million deaths.

Flu Pandemic (1918) had a Death Toll of 20 -50 million. (Spanish, but disputed)
Of the 500 million people infected in the 1918 pandemic, the mortality rate was estimated at 10% to 20%, with up to 25 million deaths in the first 25 weeks.

Wordology, Ineffectual vs. Ineffective

Both refer to failure, but only ineffectual refers to the kind of failure that happens when the effort was weak, impotent, and/or incompetent without satisfactory or decisive effect. An ineffectual person does not have the ability or confidence to do something well.
Ineffective means not producing intended results and there is no effect.  For example, ineffective communication includes talking instead of listening actively.


Likely ten percent of people will notice or care when one of these words is used instead of the other.