Blue Bears

Many have heard of black bears, brown bears, cinnamon bears, and white bears, but there are also blue bears. The Tibetan bear or Tibetan blue bear is a subspecies of the brown bear found in the eastern Tibetan plateau, western China, Nepal.

It is also known as the Himalayan blue bear and Himalayan snow bear and is one of the rarest subspecies of bear in the world and rarely sighted in the wild. The blue bear is known in the west only through a small number of fur and bone samples. It was first classified in 1854.

Tibetan blue bears are black with a tinge of blue gray. They often have a beige or white collar and chest. It is common for their face to be a reddish yellow.

Nostalgia Machine

Here is an interesting site that plays songs by year from 1960s - 1990s. Original sounds and a good read, even if you do not want to listen to all the music. Fun diversion. LINK

Seven Super Brain Foods

Whether it is a new dance or a foreign language, the older you get the harder it is to learn new things. Some foods have been found to be beneficial to keeping the brain sharp. Alzheimer's researchers like to say what is good for your heart is good for your brain.

Blackberries can get the conversation flowing again. They provide potent antioxidants known as polyphenols that zap inflammation and encourage communication between neurons, improving our ability to soak up new information according to a Tufts University study.

A recent Finnish study of 1,400 longtime coffee drinkers reveals that people who sipped between three to five cups of coffee a day in their 40s and 50s reduced their odds of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65 percent compared with those who downed fewer than two cups a day. Researchers believe that coffee's caffeine and antioxidants are the keys to its protective affects.

Apples are a leading source of quercetin, an antioxidant plant chemical that keeps your mental juices flowing by protecting your brain cells. According to researchers at Cornell University, quercetin defends your brain cells from free radical attacks which can damage the outer lining of delicate neurons and eventually lead to cognitive decline. To get the most quercetin bang for your buck, eat apples with the skins on.

Chocolate can lower blood pressure and it can also keep your mind sharp. A Journal of Nutrition study found that eating as little as one-third of an ounce of chocolate a day (the size of about two Hersey's kisses) helps protect against age-related memory loss. They credit polyphenols in cocoa with increasing blood flow to the brain.

Cinnamon research from the University of California at Santa Barbara reveals that two compounds in cinnamon, proanthocyanidins and cinnamaldehyde may inactivate tau proteins that can cause brain cells to die.

Spinach is packed with nutrients that prevent dementia, such as folate, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Just one-half cup of cooked spinach packs a third of the folate and five times the amount of vitamin K you need in a day. A 2006 Neurology study revealed that eating three servings of leafy green, yellow, and cruciferous vegetables a day can delay cognitive decline by 40 percent. Of these three, leafy greens were found to be the most protective. Try spinach drizzled with a little olive oil. Its healthy fats boost absorption of fat-soluble vitamins E and K.

Scientists found the heart-healthy polyphenols in red wine and Concord grape juice can also give your brain a boost. When researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine gave twelve older adults with declining memory a daily drink of Concord grape juice or a placebo drink for three months, they found that the volunteers who drank the grape juice significantly improved their spatial memory and verbal learning skills. Researchers believe that, just like blackberries, grape juice polyphenols improve communication between brain cells.

Self Parking Office Chair

I had to go searching for more sources, because I thought this was a joke, but it is not. Nissan Motor Co Ltd announced the first Intelligent Parking Chair, a concept inspired by its intelligent park assist technology that allows drivers to easily park their vehicles using automatic steering. You can see a demo on YouTube. LINK

Read Old Newspapers and Magazines Online

Below are a few more ways to get your favorite reading online and for free.

Google News – Google News indexes thousands of newspaper websites from around the world and organizes news in clusters for easy reading. In addition to current news, Google News also offers access to stories published in old newspapers that you can search for free.

Google Books – If you are looking for an older issue of a magazine, Google Books might be the best place to find it. The magazines are scanned and searchable and can be read online using the standard Google Book interface. Decades worth of material are available, and the magazines are laid out just as they were when they were originally printed, including the original articles, index, cover, and advertisements.

Trove – The National Library of Australia has a large selection of newspapers from across Australia archived online that anyone may read for free. All the newspapers are completely scanned and can be viewed online in any modern browser, or you may download them as a PDF for offline reading.

Library of Congress – The Library of Congress has a large repository of historic newspapers published in America between 1880 and 1922, available as PDFs. Though the library has made available newspapers from 14 states and Washington, DC., these states contain some of the largest newspapers and thus the archives are still a very valuable resource. Additionally, the site has a database of records of all newspapers printed in America from 1690 to the present.

The Olden Times – If you are looking for a popular article about a major historical event, the Olden Times may be a good place to look for it. Although it does not contain entire newspapers, it does have snippets including popular news articles, print advertisements, and personal information sections such as births and obituaries. All content is free, and the content ranges from 1788 to 1920.

OMA – Old Magazine Articles contains magazine pages covering from famous historical events. The articles can be downloaded as PDF files for free. They have been edited to remove advertisements from the original magazines.

BBC – The 'On This Day' section of BBC offers an online archive of some of the most significant stories broadcast by BBC News since 1950. You can select any date from the menu at the top of the page, and view the news from that date as well as today’s historical news.

More Yogi Berra Quotes

Here a a few more of his many famous quotes:

    If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.
    When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
    It ain’t over till it’s over.
    It’s like déjà vu all over again.
    No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.
    A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
    Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.
    We made too many wrong mistakes.
    Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.
    You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
    I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.
    Never answer an anonymous letter.
    I’m lucky. Usually you’re dead to get your own museum, but I’m still alive to see mine.

Ten German Inventions

MP3 - A German inventor, Karlheinz Brandenburg is responsible for an invention that has revolutionized how we listen to music.

Ring binder, ink eraser, hole punch, glue stick - Confirming the stereotype that Germans like to keep orderly records of everything, some of the most useful office supplies have been invented by Germans. Friedrich Soennecken invented ring binders and hole punches in the late 19th Century. Another German, Louis Leitz, then improved on the invention by putting a finger hole in the binder to make it easier to remove from a crowded shelf.

Aspirin - The world's favorite painkiller made from willow bark was developed by Felix Hoffmann in August 1897 for pharmaceutical giant Bayer, and although a US company claimed the patent for the drug after the First World War, 12,000 of the 50,000 tons of aspirin produced each year are still made by Bayer.

Carabiner - The most important piece of gear in any climber’s equipment was invented by Otto Herzog, a Bavarian climber and inventor. The carabiner has many uses, but this metal loop with a spring-loaded gate is most commonly used to allow a climber to safely scale or descend a steep cliff with the aid of a rope.

Lithography - Invented by Alois Senefelder in Bavaria in 1796, lithography has given the world some of its finest art. Most famously, Edvard (sic) Munch used the printing technique, but Picasso, Monet, Manet and more have also used the technique.

Accordion - When asked to think of Germany, one often thinks of a portly man wearing lederhosen, and a green hat, playing folk tunes on a huge accordion. In fact, early versions of the instrument date back to third century BC China. But the first 'true' accordion was invented by a German, Christian Friedrich Buschmann, who in 1822 attached bellows to a portable keyboard with vibrating reeds, naming it a 'hand-aeoline'.

X-ray machine - The first X-ray machine was invented by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, physics chair at the University of Würzburg. He apparently discovered the unknown radiation, which he marked with an x, while investigating cathode rays. He noticed that the radiation could pass through human tissue, but not bones.

Contact lens - Although Leonardo da Vinci is said to have been the first man to come up with the idea of a contact lens, it was a German by the name of Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick who first made a contact lens and successfully fitted it to the human eye. Fick’s prototype is could only be worn for an hour or two at a time due to its unwieldy size.

Playmobil - Playmobil was invented by Hans Beck in the 1970s with the idea to make a flexible toy that was still simple enough for young children to understand. With the original toys being an American Indian, a cowboy, and a builder, the little figures were a hit as soon as they came on the market.

Airbag - Walter Linderer came up with the idea of using compressed air in a bag which would inflate when the bumpers of two cars made contact. He patented it in 1951, although his design did not inflate fast enough and had little practical value at the time.

Happy Friday

A good smile and hearty laugh are the honey to which all are attracted.

I always try to spread some honey, especially on a Happy Friday!

Valentine's Day

February 14 is Valentine’s Day; the second most celebrated holiday around the world, second to New Year’s Day.

Also celebrated on Feb 14 is National Condom Day, originally started on campus at the University of California, Berkeley. It is celebrated every year in California and is designed to raise awareness of safe sex practices and encourage the use of condoms in a humorous, educated way, and to educate people about the serious risks from having unprotected sex.

For the interested few, there are J&D’s Bacon-Flavored Condoms that look like and taste like bacon.

National Flag Day of Canada

Since 1996, February 15 is the day it is celebrated. The day commemorates the inauguration of the Flag of Canada on that date in 1965. The day is marked by flying the flag, occasional public ceremonies, and educational programs in schools. It is not a public holiday, although there has been discussion about creating one.

The Maple Leaf flag replaced the Canadian Red Ensign, which had been in conventional use as the Canadian national flag since 1868. Canada is the second largest country in the world.

Canada U.S. War of Pork and Beans

Canada and the United States have not fought a war against each other officially since 1814, but in 1839, there was a ‘war’ of sorts fought mainly with fists and axe handles. It was along the New Brunswick–Maine border and the warriors were lumbermen. It is known as the 'war of pork and beans', or the 'Aroostook Controversy'.

Logging along both sides of the border was controlled by powerful lumber barons who were not always careful about the areas into which they sent their lumberjacks. Most of the trouble was in the rich Aroostook Valley pines. The worst battle broke out on February 8, 1839. Under normal circumstances, the fighting among loggers might not have caused much alarm, but the situation was dangerous, because of the dispute about the location of the border.

Maine and New Brunswick called out the militia. Nova Scotia passed an appropriation for defense, and British troops were rushed from Halifax to guard the border along St. Croix River. The United States Congress voted $10,000,000 to raise a force of 50,000 men if required.

London and Washington realized the seriousness of the situation and President Van Buren persuaded the Governors of Maine and New Brunswick to arrange a truce.  Britain and the United States finally agreed on a border. The Ashburton-Webster Treaty provided a settlement in 1842.

Canadian Inventions

Did you know the following were all invented in Canada: peanut butter, Wonderbra, Trivial Pursuit, the car odometer, Imax, egg cartons, McIntosh apples, discovery of insulin, sports instant replay, luggage bag tags, electric wheelchair, and more.

Global Internet Speeds

The US is still slipping behind the rest of the world when it comes to download speeds, with an average of 10 Mbps it ranks just 55th worldwide.

For coverage, US subscribers get an LTE signal 81 percent of the time, or seventh best in the world. By comparison, Romania offers only 61 percent coverage for its LTE network, but has speeds as fast as 33 Mbps.

The global average for download speeds on LTE is 13.5 Mbps. Singapore offers the fastest networks, with downloads as fast as 40 Mbps. During 2015, America's average download speed was a paltry 9 Mbps.

Top 5 fastest countries average speeds:
    New Zealand, 36 Mbps
    Singapore, 33 Mbps
    Romania, 30 Mbps
    South Korea, 29 Mbps
    Denmark, 26 Mbps.

Mondegreens, Malapropisms, and Eggcorns

A mondegreen is a word or phrase resulting from a misinterpretation of another word or phrase that we hear. Mondegreens sound like the original wording, but often change the meaning of the word or phrase entirely. The term mondegreen is usually applied to misheard song lyrics or lines of poetry, but can also refer to other types of speech. For example, someone might hear the sarcastic saying “Thank you, Captain Obvious” as “Thank you, Katherine Obvious.”

A malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsense, or humorous utterance. Yogi Berra was a master of this, saying things, such as "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes". Another example is “dance the flamingo” instead of “dance the flamenco.”

Eggcorns are an idiosyncratic substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound similar or identical in the speaker's dialect. The new phrase introduces a meaning that is different from the original, but plausible in the same context, such as "old-timers' disease" for "Alzheimer's disease" or "mating name" instead of "maiden name."

If a person stubbornly sticks to a mispronunciation after being corrected, that person has committed a mumpsimus.

Yogi Berra Quotes

Here a just a few of his many famous quotes:
•    You can observe a lot by just watching.
•    He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.
•    Take it with a grin of salt.
•    Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.
•    You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
•    It gets late early out here.
•    You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.
•    I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.
•    If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
•    If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.
•    I never said most of the things I said.

Garbage Technology

This tickled me, so thought I would share. Seems Peru is mixing hi-tech and low-tech to solve an age old problem of garbage.

Officials in Lima are strapping GoPro cameras and GPS trackers to vultures to help map the area’s illegal dumping problem. With about twenty percent of the Peruvian capital’s garbage ending up in places other than one of its four landfills, officials hope the project brings more attention to the issue.

more hi-tech-low-tech - Dutch police are using eagles to solve the problem of unauthorized drone flights in restricted areas such as airports and over crowds. Dennis Janus said, "We use the birds' age-old hunting instinct to intercept and neutralize drones." Police released video footage of the tests, which shows an eagle in flight firmly grasping the drone with its talons before landing a few metres (yards) away. The eagles are trained by 'Guard from Above', which describes itself as the "first company in the world that uses birds of prey to intercept drones."

Six Ways to be Happy

A recent study found: "When participants physically discarded a representation of their thoughts, they mentally discarded them as well, using them less in forming judgments than did participants who retained a representation of their thoughts." If you have pervasive negative thoughts, write them down on a piece of paper, and physically throw them away, or burn them. This strategy can be employed as a quick way to clear your head of negativity.

Another just-released study found that the human imagination is powerful to a scary and exciting degree. "This is the first set of experiments to definitively establish that the sensory signals generated by one's imagination are strong enough to change one's real-world perception of a different sensory modality." Exercising your imagination will generate creative ideas, motivate you, and make you happier if you use it well. Happiness is a perspective, and using your imagination is an effective way to alter your perspective in a positive way.

Experiences have been shown to make us happier than material possessions. A study from Cornell says, "Consumers spend more time thinking about material purchases they didn't choose than they spend when they buy an experience." When it comes to spending money, experiences are almost always a better value than possessions. Material possessions tend to make us happy initially but quickly wane, but the happiness gained from experiences can last a lifetime. If you want to be happier in the long term, consider taking a trip instead of buying a new TV.

A few studies show that you can be much happier by giving, such as volunteer, pay for the person behind you at the tool booth, cook a surprise meal for someone, or give someone an unexpected gift. We are incredibly powerful in our ability to make someone else's day with very little effort on our part. One study found that toddlers before the age of two years old "exhibit greater happiness when giving treats to others than receiving treats themselves." Another study by a Harvard scholar found that happiness can be bought, so long as you are spending the money on someone else. Giving brings real happiness results. If you truly want to maximize your happiness, then find ways to give to others.

Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, is sometimes called the happiest man in the world. "There is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting. That is the ground for mind training. Mind training is on the idea that two opposite mental factors can't happen at the same time. You cannot in the same gesture shake a hand and strike a blow. There are natural antidotes to emotions that are destructive to our well-being."

Ricard says that mind transformation is achieved through meditation on unconditional compassion and loving kindness. "Some of [the monks] who came to the labs did 20-40 thousand hours of meditation. When the monks were tested for happiness using tests that measure brain activity for happiness, it was found that the monks were four standard deviations from the norm in favor of happiness; in other words, they were off-the-charts happy. If you want to multiply your happiness results, meditate on compassion and loving kindness. The monks' theory on opposite mental factors holds true. They spend so much time thinking of positive things, that negativity and angst are pushed out of their mind, and they become very happy.

Perhaps the most surprising and 21st century relevant happiness factor is focus. A study found that people's minds wandered 47% of the time on average and it had a more negative impact on their happiness than what they were doing. There is a direct connection between focus and happiness. Focusing your skills and energy on fewer areas is a simple formula that brings big results. The more you focus on what matters, the more your life becomes as you desire, and the happier you will be. True happiness is not being a slave to a piece of technology. It is deciding what is most important in this moment and focusing all of your energy on it. So, if you want to be happy, toss out negativity, think good things, do good things, give to others, imagine being happy, and focus on being happy.

Happy Friday

“I think the only way to get through this life is laughing hard and constantly, mostly at myself.” – Shannon Hale

No need to over think it, just be happy and laugh, because it is a Happy Friday!

National Weatherpersons Day

Every February 5th, the world collectively expresses their appreciation for meteorologists everywhere, mostly with tongue firmly in cheek.

National Weatherpersons Day commemorates the birth of John Jeffries in 1744. He was one of America’s first weather observers, began taking daily weather observations in Boston in 1774 and he took the first balloon observation in 1784. This is a day to recognize the men and women who collectively provide Americans with weather, water, and climate forecasts, and warning services.

Punxsutawney Phil's Prediction

The tradition comes from the German legend and Catholic feast day of Candlemas. "If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Winter will not come again."

This year, "It is agreed, there will be early Spring." The Groundhog Club emcee proclaimed, "There is no shadow to be cast! An early spring is my forecast." He added, "Take your jackets off, you're not going to need them." During the past 28 years, Phil was correct 13 times and incorrect 15 times. New Iberia's Pierre C. Shaddeaux (a nutria) agrees with Phil. Staten Island Chuck in New York and General Beauregard Lee in Georgia both concur with Phil that spring is coming soon.

The findings were independently verified by a groundhog in Canada, where Shubenacadie Sam, groundhog at Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Wildlife Park also saw no shadow. According to a Canadian study looking at 13 different cities’ groundhogs used for their respective festivals, the net accuracy was only 37%.

Ontario's Wiarton Willie predicted six more weeks of winter after spotting his shadow. Ohio's Buckeye Chuck agrees. Alabama's Sand Mountain Sam, who has been making appearances since 1993 also agrees and has only been wrong one year. West Virginia's French Creek Freddie also predicts six more weeks of winter.

In Manitoba, Groundhog Day celebrations have been cancelled following the death of Winnipeg Willow, who died last Friday at the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

No word yet from North Carolina's Sir Wally Wally (wrong 7 out of the last 10 years), Louisiana's T-boy, the Cajun Groundhog (actually a nutria), or Alabama's Smith Lake Jake.

It appears these groundhogs are about equally as accurate as local weatherpersons.

Wordology

Disinterested means unbiased and does not mean uninterested.
Correct: "The dispute should be resolved by a disinterested judge." / Why are you so uninterested in my story?

Enervate means to sap or to weaken and does not mean to energize.
Correct: That was an enervating rush hour commute. / That was an energizing cappuccino.

Hung means suspended and does not mean suspended from the neck until dead.
Correct: I hung the picture on my wall. / The prisoner was hanged.

Interesting word thought - If womb is pronounced woom and tomb is pronounced toom, why isn't bomb pronounced boom?

White Bread vs. Wheat Bread

Not all wheat breads are created equal. Most white bread is made with refined grains that skip much fiber and nutrients. However, there are whole-wheat white breads that are just as healthy as whole-wheat breads. Regardless of color preference, it is important that the bread contains bran, germ, and endosperm.

Victorian Words

The Victorians had much influence on common terms - The avoidance of plain terms for bodily parts commonly is associated with the prudery of our Victorian ancestors though many of the evasions predate Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne in 1837.

People started saying darn instead of damn, to employ dashes (d – – –) when writing the harsher word, to perspire instead of sweat, to wear unmentionables  instead of trousers and breeches, to have stomachaches instead of bellyaches, to use nude rather than naked when referring to human figures in painting and sculpture, and to be laid to rest, not buried in a cemetery.

The taboo on breast was so strong that it was replaced by bosom in many contexts during the following century. Decorative breast knots on dresses became bosom knots, breast pins became bosom pins, and even otherwise earthy English farmers were known to refer to the breast, or forward part of the moldboard of a plow, as its bosom.

Most likely, the reluctance to say breast also explains why William Congreve’s line in The Mourning Bride, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” is often misquoted as “Music has charms to soothe a savage beast.”

Energy and Power

Energy is measured in Joules. Power is measured in Watts. Energy is how far you can run. Power is how fast you can run.

When it comes to batteries, Elon Musk says, "It’s really rare that there’s a big breakthrough because there are so many constraints. You can easily improve, say, the power, but then it’d make the energy worse."

Current electric cars have batteries that provide less power and less energy. This is why the Nissan Leaf has a range of only 84 miles (one-third that of the Tesla Model S) and takes three times as long to get to 60 miles per hour.

Musk's Tesla Gigafactory, being built outside Reno, Nevada, will be the second-largest building in the world by volume. It opens in 2016 and will be complete during 2020. His plan is to build enough batteries to reduce the price and improve the power and energy of batteries, so electric cars can go faster and farther. (The latest edition of the Model S received a score of 103 from Consumer Reports, which was a problem only in that Consumer Reports ratings are typically scored out of 100. The magazine had to revise its scale in response to the record-breaking result.)

In addition, the plant will produce large batteries that store energy in homes and even larger batteries that do the same for utilities and businesses. One of its goals is to make home and business solar power more practical. Current prices are already half what other battery manufacturers charge. Musk says, "The issue with existing batteries is that they suck. They’re expensive. They’re unreliable. They’re stinky. Ugly. Bad in every way." His new battery plane are on the path to fix those problems.

In addition to CEO of Tesla Motors and Space X, Musk is also the chairman of solar energy provider SolarCity.

Whitening Toothpaste Myth

"Scientifically proven" labels on toothpaste containers are not entirely accurate. According to the American Dental Association, whitening toothpastes may be able to do something on the surface level. To get to the deep-down stains, you need more extreme treatments like bleaching. Several whitening toothpastes are available over the counter and have received the ADA Seal of Acceptance.

The ADA recommends that if you choose to use a bleaching product, you should only do so after consultation with a dentist. This is especially important for patients with many fillings, crowns, and extremely dark stains.

Since December 31, 2007, professionally (such as dentist) applied bleaching products are no longer eligible for the American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance.

Travel Tip

If you travel, those little hotel room packets of coffee are perfect to use in your bag with dirty laundry and at home for room odors. Unwrap the foil covering and toss unused coffee packet in with your dirty laundry. When you get home your bag will be less stinky. Leave the coffee packet in your bag while storing it for your next trip.

Using Google Voice

Users of Google’s voice-control features such as OK Google are probably aware that the company stores the voice recordings it receives when they talk to it. Did you know it keeps a list of all the recordings the company has ever made of you. If you have or have ever had an Android phone with Google’s “OK Google” voice-control system, the link below will show a list of every command you have ever given it, including a play button next to it. https://history.google.com/history/audio

Google also has a location history, showing any location the company has tracked you to, through apps such as Google Maps as well as simply using an Android phone. It can be found here https://maps.google.co.uk/locationhistory/b/0

Happiness and Bars

Here is a quick read about how to "Spend Time at Your Local Bar to Build Community and Your Own Happiness." Researchers at Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology explain there are social benefits to being a regular at a small local bar. LINK

Happy Friday

"There are two distinct classes of what are called Thoughts:
those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking,
and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord." ~Thomas Paine

Thoughts from reflection and thinking make up my Friday Thoughts blog entries.
Happy Thoughts immediately bolt into my mind when I wake up on a Happy Friday!

Ivrea Festival

It is celebrated during the first week of February in Piedmont, Italy. It is a huge food fight, consisting of men and women throwing oranges at each other.

The purpose is to pay tribute to a battle that happened in 1194 when the Mugnaia (miller's daughter) decapitated Raineri di Biandrate, the town Count. It may have begun with the tossing of beans, but somewhere along the way changed to oranges. Sounds like great fun.

Happy Anniversary Al Gore

Bad News: It’s been 10 years since Al Gore predicted in “An Inconvenient Truth,” we had just 10 years to save the planet. I think we are still here.

Time and Time Zones

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, time is the most frequently used noun in the English language, and year is the third most frequently used noun. Person is the second most used noun.

The world is divided into about 40 time zones, including 27 hourly time zones. In addition, there are several time zones of just 30 or 45 minutes apart.

China and time zones - Despite being larger than mainland United States in terms of land area, China has one single time zone (UTC+8).

Mainland United States is divided into four time zones.

France has 12 time zones, most of which are in its overseas territory. The country of France itself observes a single time zone.

Russia, The world's largest country has eleven time zones. Daylight saving time is not used in Russia.

Canada, the world's second largest country, has six time zones.

Antarctica and the Arctic are the only areas where all standard time zones currently followed in the world, converge. Amundsen–Scott Station on the South Pole however uses New Zealand time (UTC+12 and UTC+13 during DST).

Wordology, Eschatology

It is a sub-field of a variety of disciplines including Theology, Philosophy, and Physics that deals with the end of the World or end of time.

Robot Progression

According to a research study by Tractica, annual shipments of consumer robots - a category that includes robotic vacuums, lawn mowers, and pool cleaners as well as social robots - will increase from 6.6 million units in 2015 to 31.2 million units worldwide by 2020 with a cumulative total of nearly 100 million consumer robots shipped during that period.

The fastest growth will occur in robotic personal assistants, a category that is nascent today. According to the report, "the next 5 years will set the stage for how these robots could fundamentally transform our homes and daily lives."

China, Japan, and South Korea are responsible for 40% of all new robot installations. China has more than 25% of all annual installations. The world market for robots grew 17% during 2015 and has had steady growth since 2009. Indications are that this growth rate will continue.

It used to be that the largest market for robotics was the United States. By 2014 China took over as the single largest market. During the past two years it had 50% annual growth in terms of new robot installations. China still has much below average installations of robots per capita. The maturity of a market is typically compared by number of robots installed per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry. Mature industries, such as automotive, will typically have 1 robot for every 10 workers.

South Korea has the most robots for manufacturing with 478 robots per 10,000 workers. Japan is second with 314 per 10,000 workers. Germany is at 292, USA is at 164. The world average is 87. China is currently at 36. Even with twice as many robots sold, China would still be below average in its use of robots.

Calories are Calories

A few years ago, for a class project of 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate sugary foods for his meals. To add variety in his stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, he munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals, Oreos, Twinkies, Nutty bars, and powdered donuts.

His daily intake included : Doritos Cool Ranch: 75 calories; 4 grams of fat,
Kellogg's Corn Pops: 220 calories; 0 grams of fat,
whole milk: 150 calories; 8 grams of fat,
baby carrots: 18 calories; 0 grams of fat,
Duncan Hines Family Style Brownie Chewy Fudge: 270 calories; 14 grams of fat,
Little Debbie Zebra Cake: 160 calories; 8 grams of fat,
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat,
Centrum Advanced Formula From A To Zinc vitamin: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat,
Little Debbie Star Crunch: 150 calories; 6 grams of fat,
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat, and
Diet Mountain Dew: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat.

His premise was, "In weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most - not the nutritional value of the food." (Not the best for lifelong intake, but an easy diet.)

A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss and consumed less than 1,800 calories a day.

The result - Haub's 'bad' cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his 'good' cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent. In addition, the premise held up as he dropped 27 pounds during the course of his diet.

Cemetery and Graveyard

Graveyard and cemetery do not mean the same thing. From about the 7th century, the process of burial was in the hands of the Church (the organization), and burying the dead was only allowed on the lands near a church (the building), the churchyard.

The part of the churchyard used for burial is called a graveyard. As the population of Europe started to grow, the capacity of graveyards was no longer sufficient. By the end of the 18th century, the unsustainability of church burials became apparent, and completely new places, independent of graveyards, were devised. These new places were called cemeteries.

Cemetery comes from Old French cimetiere, which meant graveyard. The French word originally comes from Greek koimeterion, meaning 'a sleeping place'.

Bottom line, a graveyard is a type of cemetery, but a cemetery is usually not a graveyard.

World Population

This picture depicts the population of earth divided in half.

Happy Friday

Happiness and infinity are uniquely limitless.

There is no end to happiness that can be had on a Happy Friday!

Peanut Butter Day

Peanuts are native to the Americas and since Aztec times have been made into a paste to be eaten. Modern peanut butter originated in the late 1800’s with the first patent dating back to 1884, but it was much runnier than modern versions.

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented another paste in 1895 that is much more similar to what we see today and served it to patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium as a health supplement. It was originally so expensive that it became a staple of luxury in the early 1900’s and was commonly served in upper class tearooms that populated New York and was paired with a wide array of foods such as cheese, celery, watercress, pimento, and crackers.

The first reference of peanut butter paired with jelly is from a recipe by Julia Davis in 1901, and by 1920 the sandwich caught the attention of less wealthy members of society and spread peanut butter around the nation.

As the price of peanut butter lowered, it became extremely popular with children and today it is one of the most widespread food items in America. In fact, the spread is so popular there is even a National Peanut Butter Day on January 24th.

Happiness is Physical and Emotional

Japanese researchers have mapped, using MRI where happiness emerges in the brain. The study, published in Scientific Reports, paves the way for objectively measuring happiness and provides insights on a neurologically based way of being happy.

A team at Kyoto University has found an answer from a neurological perspective. Overall happiness, according to their study, is a combination of happy emotions and satisfaction of life coming together in the precuneus, a region in the medial parietal lobe.

People feel emotions in different ways; for instance, some people feel happiness more intensely than others when they receive compliments. Psychologists have found that emotional factors like these and satisfaction of life together constitutes the subjective experience of being happy. The neural mechanism behind how happiness emerges, however, remained unclear. Understanding that mechanism will be a huge asset for quantifying levels of happiness.

Their analysis revealed that those who scored higher on the happiness surveys had more grey matter mass in the precuneus. In other words, people who feel happiness more intensely, feel sadness less intensely, and are more able to find meaning in life.

"Several studies have shown that meditation increases grey matter mass in the precuneus. This new insight on where happiness happens in the brain will be useful for developing happiness programs based on scientific research." Am thinking my precuneus must be enlarged, especially on a Happy Friday.

Every Day vs. Everyday

Every Day means each day. Everyday means commonplace, ordinary, typical.

Here are some examples for using every day and everyday correctly: Jane takes her dog out for a walk every day. It is important to floss every day.

Jack did not take very good care of his everyday shoes.

An "everyday occurrence" does not necessarily mean it occurs every day. It only means means it is an ordinary, commonplace occurrence. It is not something unusual. Everyday is an adjective, so it describes an attribute of the occurrence.

If something occurs daily, you say it "occurs every day" or that it is a daily occurrence. Since "every day" is an adverb, it cannot be used as an adjective to describe the occurrence.

Smart Light Bulbs

The next big deal may be the smart bulb. Sony last week launched a connected light bulb that contains everything needed for Artificial Intelligence. It goes on sale in Japan this year. Think of a smart house linked with a number of these lights in different rooms, unobtrusively sitting there, waiting for your beck and call.

Sony's Multifunctional Light works like other smart lights. It can be automated or can be controlled with a smartphone. It has built-in Wi-Fi and a dedicated app. It also has a motion-detector, brightness meter, temperature and humidity sensors, an infrared sensor and a memory card slot, plus a built-in speaker and microphone. Wouldn't it be nice to control the temperature for the room you are in vs. the temperature down the hallway.

Not a stretch to think of adding smoke/gas detectors. Wouldn't it be also be great to have it speak in addition to smoke alarm and call the fire department and send pictures for you. I imagine it could turn itself on or off under any range of circumstances, like if someone comes into a dark room or leaves a room. Nice to have a built in intercom so you no longer need to yell upstairs to bring more beer and chips. How about being able to replace the baby monitor with a smart monitor or having it turn on in the morning along with the alarm clock. Think of it turning the stove off if your food is beginning to boil over. Add a fire extinguisher in the ceiling and it could selectively put out small fires at the source.

It is a step up to think of speaking to a light from clapping to turn on, along with telling it to dim a bit more. It could even be programmed to automatically dim when a TV is turned on. Easy to think of it as a replacement for the Amazon ECHO. Have a question, ask it out loud and the light will search the net and speak back with an answer.

I can also envision it to be programmed to know when you are away, so the motion detector will know that no one should be there and to turn on, give an audible alarm, and call the police, or just call the police with no alarm. Heck, a video camera could send a pic of the culprit to the police along with the call.

Devices need electricity, whether by battery or from the wall. Light bulbs are always plugged in directly and fixed, so no battery needed.

It would also be easy to take it with you and just change apps so it works in your cabin, camper, or hotel room. Ah, technology, how the mind wanders.

New Way to Slice Pizza

For those who have friends or family who love crust and some who do not, here is a novel way to satisfy both.

Make a few gently curved lines and join corners to middles. Six slices each, with crust and no crust.

Screen Resolution Evolution

Now that the 2016 Consumer Electronic Show has ended, it seems appropriate to recap where we are with TVs and how we got here.

First, 3D TV is dead. Curved screens remain a hard sell. 4K TV is looking at a short life span as it is already being usurped by 8K TV. 8K may suffer the same fate unless TV and movie producers begin to crank out content capable of utilizing the new standards. In times past, we always waited for hardware to catch up to our needs, now we are waiting for content to catch up to hardware.

Sharp released its first 8K TV in 2015. The 85-inch LV-85001 costs $133,000. Samsung showed its 110-inch 8K TV in January, 2016. It also announced that a 11K TV is being developed for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. LG also showed off a 98-inch 8K TV in January, 2016. All of this advancement comes amid a current dearth of 4K content. These advances may still prove to be more resilient than the 3D revolution that never happened.

Advances in hardware and software continue to outrun battery capacity and bandwidth speed. Although bandwidth is less of an issue in Europe and other countries as the US continues to lag, mostly due to politics, not capability.

How we began the race comes from early television. For the first half-century of television, resolution was measured in lines per screen rather than pixels. TV resolution in the 1930s and 1940s had 240 to 819 lines per screen, improving upon previous resolutions. The new resolution used a display method known as progressive scanning, where each line of an image is displayed in sequence, in contrast to the traditional analog method where first odd and then even lines are drawn alternately.

In 1953, analog color TV had 525 lines, establishing the NTSC color standard. Europe followed up in the 1960s by introducing the 625-line standards. However, bandwidth barriers limited widespread adoption of analog HDTV.

In 1977, the Apple II introduced color CRT display to home computers by adapting the NTSC color signal. The Apple II achieved a resolution of 280 pixels horizontally by 192 pixels vertically. By the 1980s, home computer makers began using pixels (picture elements) as a unit of measure.

IBM introduced a VGA standard display of 640x480 in 1987. Since then, demand for digital videos and video games has driven resolution to greater and greater density. Desktop monitors are now a standard resolution of 2560x1600. Mobile devices range lower from 240x320 for the smallest devices.

During the 1990s, plasma TVs and LCD TVs moved toward thinner and lighter TVs. During 1996, digital was officially mandated by the US FCC as a new standard for future DTV/HDTV broadcasting. By 2006, LCDs became more popular due to better daytime viewing and lower prices. LCDs created colored images by selectively blocking and filtering a white LED backlight rather than directly producing light.

HDTV uses a resolution of 1920x1080p, equivalent to 2,073,600 pixels per frame, and known as 1080p. The 4K Ultra HDTV uses 3840x2160p, known as 2160p. This amounts to four times the amount of pixels and twice the resolution of HDTV, hence 4K. The newer 8K increases this eight times to 7680x4320.

OLED improved color by directly producing colored light, allowing for greater contrast. OLED TVs are also extremely thin, measuring in fractions of an inch.

When the iPhone 4 was released, Steve Jobs claimed that the human eye cannot detect smartphone resolution beyond 300 pixels per inch (Apple's limit at the time). However, many others have proven the eye can actually detect at least 900 or greater PPI.

Incidentally, it is the relationship of HD, 4K, 8K, etc., to screen size that makes the difference. Phone screens are small, so HD, 4K, etc., are a waste, as our eyes cannot perceive the difference. Distance between our eyes and the screen is also a factor, that is why many TV manufacturers show the optimal distance for viewing.

As TV sets grow, it takes more pixels to see the same clarity of picture that are needed on a smaller screen. The arguments of not being able to tell the difference between HD, 4K, and 8K are relative to size and distance from the screen. However, 8K is likely beyond the average household to notice any perceptible difference vs. 4K.

Stroma Procedure

There is a laser treatment, pioneered by California-based Stroma Medical and it is currently available in several countries. It is undergoing human testing in Costa Rica that turns brown eyes blue. The Strōma laser disrupts the brown layer of pigment, causing the body to initiate a natural and gradual tissue-removal process. Once the tissue is removed, the patient’s natural blue eye is revealed. The procedure is totally non-invasive and takes about 20 seconds to perform, but takes two to four weeks to see final results. Current cost is about US $5,000. Reminds me of a song by Crystal Gale. LINK             

China's Wealth

China has 190 billionaires, more than two million millionaires, and ranks a bit behind the US in number of high-net-worth individuals, according to research from Forbes magazine and Boston Consulting Group. Not bad for a communist country.

Horology

The science of timekeeping is known as horology.
Nanosecond and Picosecond - A nanosecond is one billionth of a second, and a picosecond is one trillionth or 0.000 000 000 001 of a second.

Planck time - Planck time is the shortest known time span. It is the time it takes for light to travel a Planck length or 1.616199 × 10-35 meters in vacuum.

Easter celebration date - Easter is normally celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the Spring Equinox.

Light year - A light year is not a unit of time, but a unit of distance. The International Astronomical Union defines a light year as the distance light travels in vacuum in one Julian Year. In astronomy, a Julian Year corresponds to exactly 365.25 days.

Fortnight - A fortnight is a unit of time that refers to 14 days. It comes from an old English word, fēowertȳne niht, meaning fourteen night. It is commonly used in the UK, Ireland, and many commonwealth countries. People in the US and most parts of Canada use the term biweekly to refer to the time period of two weeks.

New York minute - The phrase in a New York minute refers to a very short period of time or an instant. Legend has it that the phrase originated in Texas in the late 1960s. The phrase was popularized by TV personality Johnny Carson who joked that a New York minute was the time between a traffic light turning green and the car behind one's car honking.

Jiffy - Jiffy is usually used to indicate a very short period of time, but it is formally defined in the fields of Physics and Chemistry as the time required for light to travel a centimeter. Also known as a light centimeter, a jiffy is equal to about 33.3564 picoseconds.

Friday 13th - Any month in the Gregorian Calendar that begins on a Sunday will have a Friday, the 13th, and there is at least one Friday the 13th in every year. A single calendar year can have up to 3 Friday the 13ths.

Happy Friday

Laughter increases the activities of antibodies in the body by twenty percent, helping destroy viruses and tumor cells.

I always increase my laughter while enjoying a Happy Friday!

Looney Tunes wanted to add a rabbit to their lineup and animator Ben "Bugs" Hardaway had a sketch of the proposed bunny. When the drawing was finished, he labeled it as "Bug's Bunny," his nickname and bunny.

Later the studio was looking for a name, saw the caption at the bottom, so just eliminated the apostrophe from bug's and the new name was born.

Physian's Changing Attitudes

Doctors have always encountered the problem of how to best tell their patient of a terminal sentence. Recently, medical professions have been more upfront about tragic news such as this. Physicians used to think that by not telling a person they were dying, it would boost their moral and increase their hope.

During 1961 only 10% believed it was correct to tell a patient of a fatal diagnosis. This changed after studies were done that revealed nearly 90% of patients said they would like to know the truth of their prognosis.

By 1979, physicians had completely reversed their beliefs and a survey revealed that 97% felt full disclosure was the correct course to take.