Newts and Salamanders

Newt and salamander are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle distinctions between the two. Newts are a type of salamander, belonging to a subfamily called Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae. Both are able to regenerate nearly all parts of the body, such as limbs, tail, eyes, intestines, heart, and spinal cord.

Newts have three metamorphoses throughout their life, an aquatic larva, a terrestrial juvenile stage called an eft, and an adult stage. As adults, newts live a semi-aquatic to aquatic life. Most newts have webbed feet and a paddle-like tail, which make it easier to live in the water. Newts usually have rougher skin than salamanders. During the breeding season, they develop a flat tail.

Adult salamanders live a mostly terrestrial life except when breeding and laying eggs. A salamander is pregnant for only a few days. Salamanders typically have longer and more rounded tails with well-developed toes for digging in soil. Salamanders have smooth, wet skin like a frog. There are over 600 different species of salamanders.

All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts, just like a toad is a frog, but all frogs are not toads.

Picture-in-Picture Redo

Microsoft Windows 10 is coming out with a new update soon. It has a feature called Compact Overlay window. You can keep watching a movie or video chat on one corner of your screen, even when switching apps to check email or browse the web.

The compact overlay mode will be shown above other windows so it will not get blocked. Another way to be unproductive by watching and listening to YouTube videos or Skypeing while trying to get something accomplished.

Happy Friday

A smile is the seed of blooming happiness.

It is always blooming happiness for me, especially on a Happy Friday!

Happy National I Want You to be Happy Day

Today, March 3.  This day was created as a day encouraging us to do something to make others happy. Putting a smile on someone’s face tends to put one on yours, too. How appropriate that it falls on a Happy Friday this year.

IHOP National Pancake Day

Unlike the worldwide pancake day we celebrated this week, IHOP has its own. It began as a charitable event during 2006. Head over to IHOP on Tuesday March 7 for a free short stack of pancakes. IHOP encourages a donation for its charities supporting children battling critical illnesses.

Statue of Liberty Fact

Statue of liberty seven spikes represent the seven oceans and seven continents.

Grass Art

Some things are as boring as watching grass grow. These artists take that idea to a whole new level. Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey make photographs using grass. They call it Chlorophyll Apparitions.

When grass is grown from seed on a vertical surface, it can record complex images much as photographic film does: Each germinating blade produces chlorophyll in proportion to the light that reaches it. Stronger light produces greener grass, and blades deprived of light grow, but produce no chlorophyll, leaving them yellow. “In a sense we have adapted the photographic art of producing pictures on a sensitive film to the light sensitivity of emergent blades of young grass.”

They shine negatives of a picture through a projector to produce a light onto a canvas that has been coated with a growing medium and real grass seeds. If you are interested in more of the process, here is a LINK

Seven More Peanut Butter Facts

Peanut butter more or less as we know it today was popularized at the 1893 World Fair. In the early 1900s, peanut butter made frequent appearances in tea rooms across the nation where it was billed as a dish for rich people. Back then, it was paired with items, such as cucumbers, cheese, celery, and crackers. At that point, peanut butter was still considered a “high end” food and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were not a commonly eaten food item.

Peanut butter spread to the masses during the 1920s and 1930s, shortly after pre-sliced bread came into existence. At that time commercial brands Skippy and Peter Pan began.

With the Great Depression, peanut butter on bread became a staple in many American households, because it provided a hearty, filling meal with a cheaper-than-meat substitute for protein.

During WWII the peanut butter and jelly sandwich became a popular meal among United States soldiers. When soldiers arrived home from the war, peanut butter and jelly sales skyrocketed.

The PB&J is a bigger hit in the United States than in most other countries.

The average American will eat around 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time they turn 18.

Incidentally, peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes (a type of plant with seeds that grow inside pods like peas or beans). Nuts are grown on trees, peanuts grow underground. March is National Peanut Month.

Nutella

Many people use Nutella as an alternative to peanut butter. Its main ingredient is sugar, followed by palm oil, then hazelnuts. The label says that jars contain "over 50 hazelnuts per 13 oz. jar."

It is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero that was first introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1946. It was originally sold as a solid block, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version during 1951. Its composition was again  modified and it was renamed Nutella in 1964.


Ads highlight the fact that Nutella has no artificial colors or preservatives and it contains, sugar, modified palm oil, and hazelnut, followed by cocoa solids, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin flavor. In the US, it also contains soy products.

According to its nutritional label, Nutella contains 58% of processed sugar by weight and 10.4 percent of saturated fat. A two-tablespoon (37 gram) serving of Nutella contains 200 calories including 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5g of which are saturated) and 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. The spread also contains 15 mg of sodium and 2g of protein per serving.

Incidentally, Nutella is marketed as "hazelnut cream" in many countries.