Nov 14, 2014

Happy Friday

"By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property." Voltaire

We can all appreciate the excellence of another Happy Friday!

Wordology, Handicap

The word handicap is known to originate from the old English trading game Hand-in-cap. The game was based on trading possessions, and proceedings would take place with the help of an umpire. The umpire had a responsibility to decide if the items were valued the same, and if not, he had to decide what the difference was. The two players then put the money in a cap. They had to place their hands in the cap and subsequently remove them either holding money or not, to show if they had accepted the terms of the deal.

Other uses for the word handicap include a condition that markedly restricts a person’s ability to function physically, mentally, or socially. The word also means a disadvantage imposed on a superior competitor in sports such as golf, horse racing, and competitive sailing in order to make the chance of winning more equal.

Famous Inventions by Women

A Shaker community in Massachusetts had a woman named Tabitha Babbitt who worked as a weaver. She would regularly witness the men cutting the wood with a pit saw (a two-handled saw that needed two individuals to operate). Although the saw needed to be pulled in two directions to cut the wood, there was only cutting going on when the saw was being pulled in a forward direction making the backward motion useless. In 1810 Babbitt developed her own draft of a saw that was circular in shape and would eventually be commonly used in saw mills. She attached the blade to her own spinning wheel in order to make every movement count toward cutting results.

Admiral Grace Murray Hopper joined the military during 1943 and was stationed at Harvard University where she was employed using IBM’s Harvard Mark I computer, which was the first large-scale computer in the US. She was the third individual programming the machine and she wrote a handbook of operations that led the way for many that would follow her. During the 1950s, the Admiral came out with the compiler, which converted English instructions into a computer code. This meant that computer code could be developed by programmers with less errors and complications. Hopper then created the Flow-Matic, which was utilized to program the UNIVAC I and II computers. Hopper had also been overseeing the advancements of Common Business-Oriented Language or (COBOL), which was one of the very first computer languages. She went on to obtain various awards for her work and even had a US warship named after her. Heard her speak one time and she used a length of wire 11.8 inches long as a prop. She described how light traveled that distance in one nanosecond.

Leather Stain Removing

If you have an oil stain on your favorite leather handbag, coat the stain with baby powder and let it stand overnight. By morning, the stain should be gone. If a bit still remains, repeat the process until the stain is completely gone. Also, add a few drops of vinegar in a bowl of water and scrub for water stains on leather shoes or boots.

Origin of Scotch Eggs

Scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, dipped in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried. According to food historian Alan Davidson, the Scotch egg originated in India and was brought back by returning soldiers of the British Empire.

It is a descendent of the Indian dish nargisi kofta, which consists of eggs covered in minced lamb and cooked in curried tomatoes.

The first written reference to Scotch eggs, with the recommendation that they be eaten hot with gravy, was in the Cook And Housewife’s Manual in 1910.

Bacon and the N Words

Most discussions of eggs are followed by bacon and vice versa. Nitrates and nitrites may be unhealthy for your body, but what most nutritionists fail to tell you is that you can easily avoid nitrates and nitrites by simply not burning, charring, or over cooking your bacon or by baking your bacon in the oven.

By including some dairy and citrus with a bacon meal, the vitamins A, D and E work to effectively prevent conversion of “nitrates and nitrites into nitrosamines in the stomach, rendering them harmless to the body. Yea!
#bacon

Intel Wearable Awards

Intel’s Make It Wearable is a global initiative to inspire ideas and fuel innovation that will evolve personal computing in exciting new ways.

The Development track focuses on concepts that are both excitingly innovative and feasible to execute. They also demonstrate innovative solutions, creative implementation, technical feasibility, intelligent business planning, and potential for long-term success.

Intel is on a mission to identify and support wearable products and/or technology that can go to market in near future. This track features 3 rounds. All submissions are evaluated in round 1 (idea proposal submission), forty advance to round 2, ten advance to round 3, and three winners are chosen. Semifinalists and finalists gain expert support and education aimed at evolving their proposals into fully developed designs and business plans.

Nixie, the Selfie-Taking Drone, won. It is a wristband that unfolds into a remote-controlled flyable camera, and the winner of the US $500,000 prize. Each of the second through tenth place winners took home US $50,000.

In second place was Open Bionics' 3D printed, functioning prosthetic robotic hand.

Third place was won by Team Proglove's "smart glove" for production and manufacturing. It is a sensor-based "smart glove" that can boost productivity for manufacturing jobs. With an embedded Intel Edison module, and an on-board display, ProGlove allows wearers to scan, sense, and record activities.

Six Fruit Spreads

Jelly, jam and preserves are all made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. The difference between them comes in the form that the fruit takes. Pectin is an indigestible carbohydrate. It is found in the cell walls of most fruit. When heated with sugar in water, it gels, giving jam, jelly, and preserves their thickness.

Jam is a thick mixture of pulp or crushed fruit, pectin, and sugar that is boiled gently and quickly until the fruit is soft and has an organic shape. It spreads easily and can form a blob. In addition to being a spread, jams are also good for fillings. Jam tastes much like the original fresh fruit.

Jelly is made from sugar, pectin, acid, and fruit juice and is a clear spread that is firm enough to hold its shape. Jellies can also be made from ingredients other than fruit, such as herbs, tea, wine, liqueurs, flowers, and vegetables. Unlike a jam's fresh flavor of the original fruit, a jelly's flavor is that of the fruit after several hours of cooking.

Marmalade is a spread made from the peel and pulp of fruit. Marmalade is cooked for a long time, has no pectin, and is used as spreads and glazes. It is a balanced combination of clear jelly with pieces of fruit suspended in it. This fruit may or may not be citrus. Marmalade, like jelly, does not taste of fresh fruit, though the pieces of whole fruit maintain much of the original brightness of flavor.

Preserves are spreads that have chunks of fruit in a syrup or jam. It is a broad category that includes jam, jelly, and marmalade, as well as pickles, chutneys, and any other canned food. Basically, food which lasts longer than it would on its own is considered a preserve.

Fruit butter is a smooth and creamy spread that is created by slow-cooking fruit and sugar until it reaches the right consistency. These types of spreads are sometimes translucent and often opaque. Fruit butters are best used as a spread or filling. It is a variety of jelly and is whipped or cooked down until it becomes extremely thick

Conserves are basically a jam, made with dried fruits and nuts and cooked. They have a very thick and chunky texture. Conserves work very well as a spread and as a condiment for meats and cheeses.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, jam and preserves are considered the same thing. Generally a fruit spread is a preserve if the fruit chunks are somewhat large and it is called a jam if the chunks are relatively small and mashed.

Jams and jellies are sweeter and have about half the calories of butter or margarine and unlike butter and margarine, contain zero fat.

Using Vocal Cords

Your vocal cords are an instrument that you use every day. The human vocal range extends from the depth of whispering to shouting. In between are talking, laughing, crying, humming, singing, and more. The entire vocal range is both attenuated and enhanced by emotions. For instance, it is not necessary to see a person speaking with fear, or happiness to notice the differences in tone and inflection.

One often underused quality of voice is silence. Most of us are familiar with the ‘the silence was deafening’. If you can't improve the silence, don't waste your time exercising your vocal cords.

World Toilet Day

Not a joke. United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, along with a coalition from Singapore, introduced a resolution to declare November 19th the first 'World Toilet Day'. The resolution was co-sponsored and adopted by 122 countries at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. On July 24, 2013, World Toilet Day became an official UN day.

Since its inception in 2001, World Toilet Day is celebrated globally by NGOs, UN agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations and the international community.

19 November is a special day for the World Toilet Organization. It was founded on 19 November 2001. World Toilet Day was established with the aim to draw global attention to the sanitation crisis. The organization’s approach of mixing humor with serious facts resonated with people around the world.

A clean and safe toilet ensures health, dignity and well-being, yet 40% of the world’s population does not have access to toilets. Over two billion people do not have access to proper sanitation, including toilets or latrines, with dramatic consequences on human health, dignity and security, the environment, and social and economic development.

Free Friday Quote


Nov 7, 2014

Happy Friday

If it does not make you happy, do not do it.

I am always happy while celebrating a Happy Friday!

National Kindness Day

Next Thursday, November 13 is World Kindness Day. Please be extra kind that day.

Saggy Pants

Have often wondered where the style of some youth began with wearing pants sagging much below the waist. Many US towns have banned wearing in public trousers that are slung so low as to expose the wearer’s underwear.

This saggy trend appears to have originated in US jails where the combination of a prison diet and vigorous sports leads to a slimmer waist. As prisoners are required to wear the trousers they were issued with at the beginning of their sentences, and because belts are usually banned for various reasons, this led to inadvertent sagging. The 'fashion statement' spread beyond the prison walls and has become a sought-after look among America’s disaffected youth.

Horsepower and Watts

Although he was not first to use the horsepower name, James Watt was the first to apply specific measurement to it. During the 1780s, after making a vastly superior steam engine to the common Newcomen steam engine, Watt was looking for a way to market his invention, advertising the fact that his engine was superior and used about 75% less fuel than a similarly powered Newcomen.

He came up with a new unit of measurement that those in need of his engine understood, horse power, referring to powerful draft horses. He calculated how much power a typical draft horse could generate and figured out a typical draft horse could do about 32,400 foot-pounds of work per minute and maintain that power rate for a full workday. He then rounded up, going with 33,000 foot-pounds per minute for 1 horsepower. By overestimating what a horse could do he made sure that his product would always over deliver what he said when trying to get people to buy it.

Watt’s engine was revolutionary and played a huge role in the Industrial Revolution. His unit of measure of an engine’s power became popular. Today the SI unit of power, the Watt, which was named in homage to James Watt, has widely come to replace horsepower in most applications.

Bacon Elevator

Bacon is an effective mood elevator. Bacon makes us feel happy, satisfied, and blissful, which greatly reduces stress and effectively relieves the negative effects of frustration.

Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and Subs

The Grinder arose in New England and was likely named after the dockworkers whose jobs involved much noisy grinding to repair and refurbish the ships. However, some attribute the name to the amount of chewing and grinding it takes to work through the crusty Italian bread and tough meats on the typical sandwich.

The Hero can contain an infinite number of combinations of meats, cheeses, condiments, vegetables and pickled things. Many believe the Hero Sandwich was named by food columnist, Clementine Paddleworth in the 1930s relating to the Submarine sandwich, when she noted, “You had to be a hero to eat it.” The Oxford English Dictionary credits the naming to armored car guards.

Hoagie is what the folks in Philadelphia call it. Most claim that the name came originally from Al De Palma who thought that a person “had to be a hog” to eat such a large sandwich. When he opened his own sandwich place during the Great Depression, Al called his big subs 'hoggies'. It is assumed that the strong Philadelphia accent changed the pronunciation, and eventually, the spelling.

The Submarine sandwich originated in several different Italian American communities in the Northeastern United States from the late 19th century. So, all Grinders, Heros, Hoagies, and many other regional names for these great sandwiches are Subs and all Subs are sandwiches, but not all sandwiches are Subs.

Five Fun Facts

We eat pizza from the inside out.
Denver International Airport is larger than Manhattan.
There are more life forms living on your skin than there people living on earth.
The craters named Beer on Mars and the Moon were named for German astronomer Wilhelm Beer, not the drink.
Russia considered beer as a soft drink and not alcohol until 2011.

3D Printed Prosthetic Hand

Hayley Fraser, a five-year-old girl from Scotland, recently became the first child in the United Kingdom to be outfitted with a prosthetic limb made using 3D printing technology.

She was born without fingers on her left hand. Her parents, David and Zania Fraser, went online to try and help their daughter who had been turned down by the National Health System. They came across the website of E-nable, a group of volunteers in the United States who design and build prosthetics for children. They made a cast of their daughter's hand and sent it to the group. Professor Flood used the model to print out properly-sized prosthetic components using a 3D printer.

Now, Hayley can manipulate her prosthetic hand's artificial tendons, joints, and fingers by flexing and rotating her wrist. She can hold her teddy, peel a banana, and even paint her nails. Her new bright pink bionic hand was inspired by the movie Ironman.

Sad Presidential Fact

Theodore Roosevelt’s wife and mother died in the same house on the same day, Valentine’s Day 1884. His wife had just given birth to their daughter Alice, and the pregnancy had hidden her kidney disease. He held her for two hours, had to be torn away to see his mother die of typhoid fever, then returned to his wife, who died in his arms.

Find a Hometown Paper

Many of us move quite far from home and every now and then might be curious about what is going on at the place or places we left. I find it fascinating how different places report the 'same' news, or at least their slant on the same news.
LINK

Free Frdiday Smile


Oct 31, 2014

Happy Friday

Smiles are catchy like yawns, but more fun.

It is infinitely more fun to throw a smile on a Happy Friday!

Time Change and Vote


Don't forget to change clocks back this Saturday night in most parts of the United States. The election is next week, November 4 and folks in the US can electorally choose to fall back or jump ahead. Get out and vote or do not complain for the next few years.

Happy Halloween

This Holiday makes me squirrelly

Twice as much chocolate is sold on Halloween as on Valentine's Day.

Here is a scary, but true thought - You are ten times more likely to get bitten by a person from New York than a shark.

Wordology, Advesperate

to grow dark, to become night. On Halloween we wait for the day to advesperate.

Idiot, Imbecile, Moron

We often hear these words during an election cycle. Each of these words has a different meaning. The medical definitions have been mostly abandoned and the words are now used more in a pejorative sense, rather than diagnostic.

In psychology, an idiot has the least intelligence on the IQ scale, equivalent to someone who is mentally challenged. Idiot derives from the ancient Greek, 'idio', meaning “person lacking professional skill” or “mentally deficient person incapable of ordinary reasoning.” Those who have an IQ between 0 and 25 are considered idiots.

From Middle French imbécile, from Latin imbÄ“cillus meaning weak or feeble, literally “without a staff.” An imbecile is considered equivalent to moderate retardation or moderately mentally challenged. People with IQs between 26 and 50 are considered imbeciles.

The word 'moron' was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard and derived from the ancient Greek word 'moros', which meant 'dull'. Those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 are considered morons. A moron is the highest level of intelligence for someone who is mildly mentally challenged.

These terms were popular in psychology as associated with intelligence on an IQ test until the 1960s. They were then replaced with the terms mild retardation, moderate retardation, severe retardation, and profound retardation. Other factors besides IQ are now used in diagnosing these levels of mental deficiency.

Retarded comes from the Latin 'retardare', which means “to make slow, delay, keep back, or hinder.”  The term retarded was used to replace the terms idiot, moron, and imbecile as these terms gradually became thought of as derogatory. Now 'retarded' is considered a derogatory term.

Many old words seem to pop up around election time as politicians seek to differentiate themselves, while preaching the same drivel. Even politician used to be a good word, which has now become thought of as derogatory.

What's in a Name, Santa Fe

"Santa" can also mean holy, and "fe" means faith, so Santa Fe = holy faith. The full name of the New Mexico state capital is "Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis," or "Royal Village of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi."

Oatmeal, Porridge, Gruel, and Spurtles

Oats taken from the farmer’s field are sieved in a rotating drum to remove impurities like seeds, stalks, sticks, and stones. Then they are put into a rotating drum to remove the husk. Finally, the oats are heat dried to reduce the moisture content before being ground or crushed to produce fine oatmeal.

Oatmeal is a product made by processing oats. In North America, oatmeal means any crushed oats, rolled oats, or cut oats used in recipes such as oatmeal cookies. It is also a name for a breakfast cereal made by cooking the oats. All oatmeal is porridge, but not all porridge is oatmeal.

Porridge made from oatmeal is also called oatmeal or oatmeal cereal. Porridge can be made with oats, rice, barley, cornmeal, brown rice, or basically any grain that is cooked, usually in water or milk. Similar dishes made with other grains or legumes often have other names, such as groat, polenta, grits, owsianka, or kasha. Since porridge was used as prison food for inmates in the British prison system, 'doing porridge' became a slang term for a sentence in prison.

Gruel is similar to porridge, but is made without milk and has a very thin consistency.

A spurtle is a Scottish kitchen tool used for stirring porridge.

Bonus - Pease porridge made from dried peas is another traditional English and Scottish porridge. It inspired the Mother Goose rhyme "pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.

Laptop Tip

Overcharging is not so much of a problem as most modern laptops have circuitry that keeps the battery just under 100% when it is plugged in. That means there is less chance of the battery overheating and catching fire.

However, lithium-ion batteries, like the ones in newer laptops, last longest when they stay between 20% and 80% capacity. When they spend a lot of time above and below those percentages, it shortens the battery's life.

Also, a battery that is charging while the laptop is running will be hotter than usual. That also shortens the overall battery life.

So, if your laptop is always sitting the same place, it is a good idea to unplug it every now and then and let the battery take over. Or you can remove the battery totally and leave it plugged in all the time.

Leftovers Lite

While not usually nine days old, some foods taste better the second time than when first cooked. Many people say leftover pasta tastes great. Now an experiment has shown that it also might be better for us.

Pasta is a form of carbohydrate and like all carbohydrates it gets broken down in our gut and then absorbed as simple sugars, which in turn makes your blood glucose quickly rise. In response to a surge in blood glucose our bodies produce a rush of insulin to get our blood glucose back down to normal as swiftly as possible, because persistently high levels of glucose in the blood are extremely unhealthy.

A rapid rise in blood glucose, followed by a rapid fall, can often make a person feel hungry again quite soon after a meal. It is true of sugary sweets and cakes and also true for things like pasta, potatoes, white rice, and white bread. That is why dieticians emphasize the importance of eating foods that are rich in fiber, as these foods produce a much more gradual rise and fall in blood sugars.

Cooking pasta and then cooling it down changes the structure of the pasta, turning it into something that is called 'resistant starch'. It is called that because once pasta, potatoes or other starchy food is cooked and cooled it becomes resistant to the normal enzymes that break carbohydrates down and release glucose that causes a blood sugar surge.

According to Dr. Denise Robertson, from the University of Surrey, if you cook and cool pasta down then your body will treat it much more like fiber, creating a smaller glucose peak. You will also absorb fewer calories.

A study was conducted and volunteers had three days of testing, spread out over several weeks. On each occasion they had to eat pasta on an empty stomach. The volunteers were randomized to eating either hot, cold, or reheated pasta on different days.

On one day they ate the pasta, freshly cooked and hot with a plain sauce of tomatoes and garlic. On another day they had to eat it cold with the same sauce, but after it had been chilled overnight. On a third day they ate the pasta with sauce after it had been chilled and then reheated.

On each of the days they also gave blood samples every 15 minutes for two hours, to see what happened to their blood glucose as the pasta was slowly digested. Eating cold pasta led to a smaller spike in blood glucose and insulin than eating freshly boiled pasta.

Cooking, cooling, and then reheating the pasta had an even smaller effect on blood glucose. It reduced the rise in blood glucose by 50%.

We can convert a carb-loaded meal into a more healthy fiber-loaded one without changing a single ingredient, just the temperature. Leftovers could be healthier than the original meal.

Global Incidents

This site has a map showing real time incidents around the globe. It is interactive and a bit scary to see so many things going on that we never hear about on our local-centric the news. LINK

Dalai Lama

This title as first given to the third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, by Altan Khan. In order to help secure his rule in Mongolia, Altan Khan agreed to let Sonam Gyatso convert Mongolia to Buddhism.

Gyatso then proclaimed that Altan Khan was in fact the reincarnated of the great Khublai Khan, former ruler of China and Mongolia and grandson of Ghengis Khan, helping legitimize Altan Khan’s rule. The fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso, the only Dalai Lama to be born outside of Tibet to date was the great grandson of Altan Khan.

The title Dalai Lama literally means 'The Ocean Lama' with the 'lama' coming from the Tibetan 'blama', meaning guru, mentor, teacher, wise-one.” So, it could be interpreted as 'Ocean of Wisdom'.

Free Halloween Smile


Oct 25, 2014

Vodka Pie Crust Hack

Use vodka instead of water when baking your next Holiday pie. Vodka is only 60% water, so it forms less gluten, which makes for a more tender crust.

Six Quick Animal Facts

Armadillos found in the US nearly always give birth to identical quadruplets.

The largest bat colony in the world in Bracken Cave, Texas has 20 million bats.

Dolphins can stay active for 15 days or more by sleeping with only one half of their brain at a time.

Elephants are pregnant for almost two years.

Guinea pigs are neither pigs nor from Guinea.

Koala bears are not bears, they are marsupials.

Funeral Celebrants

Funeral Celebrant is an interesting and relatively new profession. They can help plan a festive or somber ceremony, and work with families to develop a eulogy. Some celebrants perform a whole ceremony while some families prefer to perform a ceremony themselves. Celebrant funerals are funeral ceremonies that are a true celebration of the departed one’s life.

Many people are choosing to forgo traditional funerals and cremation is growing as an alternative to funerals with half or more people now choosing it. Unlike funerals with the somber process of casket, service, and internment, the cremation process is more personal, less costly, as well as more positive and celebratory. Cremation typically costs less than one fourth the cost of a funeral (if not done by a funeral home). Most states have cremation societies, which can take care of paperwork for insurance, VA, Social Security, obituary, etc., having the body moved to a facility, and assist with all aspects of the process, just as a funeral director traditionally did.

Scattering of ashes is now the most popular thing to do with cremation ashes. Family and friends are having private memorials, scattering ashes, and having a party in the backyard. In fact, you can now buy a "Loved One Launcher", which is a CO2 cartridge filled tube, including confetti that launches ashes into the air. There are also personalized mementos containing bits of ash used in jewelry, lockets, pictures, action figures, and more. You can even get an urn that can be used as a birdhouse after the ashes have been scattered. Seems like an oxymoron with an action figure made of ashes.

Oct 24, 2014

Happy Friday

"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back." Arthur Rubinstein

It is doubly true when celebrating a Happy Friday!

Berserk, Pea, and Edit

A back-formation is a word created by removing an element from an existing word. It can change the word’s meaning or the part of speech.

Berserk  is a back-formation from berserker, one of a band of ancient Norse warriors legendary for their savagery and reckless frenzy in battle.

Pea and plural peas are a back-formation of Middle English 'pease', which was a mass noun in wide use, like oatmeal.

Edit is a back formation of editor. Editor was in use for almost 150 years before edit. Edit arose because the word 'editor' sounds as if it should mean 'one who edits'.

Selfie Video

Skype has a new app that lets you take a short movie and send it to anyone in your address book. Think of it as a video instant message. LINK

Nobel Prizes 2014

The $1.1 million awards will be handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

MEDICINE
U.S.-British scientist John O'Keefe split the Nobel Prize in medicine with Norwegian couple May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for breakthroughs in brain cell research that could pave the way for a better understanding of diseases like Alzheimer's.

PHYSICS
Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and Japanese-born U.S. scientist Shuji Nakamura won the Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of blue light-emitting diodes, which promises to revolutionize the way the world lights its homes and offices, and already helps create the glowing screens of mobile phones, computers and TVs.

CHEMISTRY
U.S. researchers Eric Betzig and William Moerner and Stefan Hell of Germany won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for finding ways to make microscopes more powerful than previously thought possible, allowing scientists to see how diseases develop inside the tiniest cells.

Baseball Trading

Harry Chiti was traded for himself. Chiti was a major league catcher who played from 1950 to 1962. On April 25, 1962, before he actually played a game for the Indians, he was acquired by the expansion New York Mets team for a 'player to be named later'. He was sent back to the Indians on June 15, 1962 after 15 games and a .195 batting average.

Since Chiti was the 'player to be named later', he became the first player ever traded for himself. Three other players in history have been traded for themselves: Dickie Noles, Brad Gulden, and John McDonald. Chiti never played another major league game, spending two more years at Triple-A before retiring in 1964.

Houseplants and Odors

People in office cubicles have put photos of nature up on the walls or brought in green plants to help personalize their space since cubicles were first invented.

The impact turns out to be more than just aesthetic. Adding a plant or two can boost productivity by 38% or more. Scientists at the University of Exeter conducted ninety experiments and found houseplants not only improve creativity (45%) and overall well being (47%), they also provide a boost to focus. As an added bonus, rooms filled with plants have an average of 50% to 60% less bacteria.

Environmental odors appear to impact how productive we are. As the most powerful of our senses, smell might have an impact. One corporation says to chop up some lemons. In studies, workers made 54% less errors when they smelled lemons, 33% fewer mistakes with jasmine, and 20% fewer with lavender.

Free Friday Autumn Smile


Oct 17, 2014

Happy Friday

There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.

This is especially true when celebrating a Happy Friday!

Cell Phone Facts

Although Apple iPhone smart phones generally receive the most publicity, they make up just 11.7% of all world-wide smart phones.

Android has 84.7% market share according to Business Insider (August 15, 2014). The rest, to equal 100% are other brands.

The top 5 countries with the most active cell phones are: China, 1.2 billion; India, 904 million; US, 327 million; Brazil, 276 million; and Russia, 256 million.

A scientific study by the Mayo Clinic in 2005 proved cell phones cause no electromagnetic interference with hospital equipment.

Wordology, Idioms

Here are a few idioms that have preserved words that we no longer use by themselves. They are almost exclusively used in context, rather than stand-alone.

Eke is usually used as to 'eke out a living'. It comes from an old verb meaning to add, supplement, or grow. It is also the same word that gave us "eke-name" for additional name, which became "nickname."

Dint comes from the Old English where it originally referred to a blow struck with a sword or other weapon. It is now used as "by dint of something" where 'something' can stand for charisma, hard work, or anything you can use to accomplish something else.

Deserts, as in 'just deserts' comes from an Old French word for 'deserve', and it was used in English from the 13th century to mean that which is deserved. When you get your just deserts, you get your due.

Fro, as in 'to and fro' comes from the old English way of pronouncing from.

Kith, as in 'kith and kin' comes from an Old English word referring to knowledge or acquaintance. The expression "kith and kin" originally meant your country and your family, but later came to have the wider sense of friends and family.

Umbrage, as in 'take umbrage' comes from the French ombrage (shade, shadow), and it was once used to talk about shade from the sun. It took on various figurative meanings having to do with doubt and suspicion or the giving and taking of offense. To give umbrage was to offend someone, to "throw shade".

Shrift, as in 'short shrift' came from the practice of allowing a little time for the condemned to make a confession before being executed. In that context, shorter was never better.

Hangar Hack

If your clothes keep slipping off the end of hangars, wrap a rubber band toward each edge of the hangar and clothes will stay put.

Advanced Technology

Thought for the day. Does technology make us anti-social?

Before technology


After Technology




Nine Big Banana Facts

Eating two bananas can give you enough energy for a 90-minute workout.

Bananas can fight against depression. This is because bananas contain a protein called tryptophan, which converts to serotonin. Serotonin helps you relax and can make you feel better.

Bananas contain Vitamin B6, which regulate blood glucose levels and can put you in a better mood.

The Vitamin B6 will also help fight nerves and stress.

Bananas are high in potassium and low in sodium, which helps fight against high blood pressure and prevent strokes.

Bananas can soothe heartburn because of the natural antacid effect it has on the body.

Bananas are high in fiber. This can help regulate bowel movements without resorting to laxatives.

The potassium in bananas helps you stay focused and alert.

The inside of banana peels can soothe mosquito bites. Bananas also taste good.