May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your window pane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you
Mar 17, 2010
Mar 16, 2010
Play Doh
Did you know Play Doh was originally a cleaner for cleaning soot off of wallpaper? Captain Kangaroo helped make it famous on his TV show. Now you know.
Foods From the Fifties
Did you ever wonder how long some things have been around?
-
1950
Sugar Pops (Kelloggs)
Minute Rice (General Foods)
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (Lawry's)
Dunkin' Doughnuts (fast food chain)
1951
Ore-Ida Foods (frozen potato products)
Duncan Hines Cake Mix (Nebraska Consolidated Mills)
Tropicana Products (Florida orange juice)
Jack-in-the-Box (fast food chain restaurant)
Taco Bell (fast food mexican restaurant)
1952
No-Cal Ginger Ale (Kirsch Beverages)
Sugar Frosted Flakes (Kellogg's)
Non-dairy creamer (M & R. Dietetic Laboratories)
Dehydrated onion soup mix (Lipton)
Ms. Paul's Fish Sticks
-
1950
Sugar Pops (Kelloggs)
Minute Rice (General Foods)
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (Lawry's)
Dunkin' Doughnuts (fast food chain)
1951
Ore-Ida Foods (frozen potato products)
Duncan Hines Cake Mix (Nebraska Consolidated Mills)
Tropicana Products (Florida orange juice)
Jack-in-the-Box (fast food chain restaurant)
Taco Bell (fast food mexican restaurant)
1952
No-Cal Ginger Ale (Kirsch Beverages)
Sugar Frosted Flakes (Kellogg's)
Non-dairy creamer (M & R. Dietetic Laboratories)
Dehydrated onion soup mix (Lipton)
Ms. Paul's Fish Sticks
Piconewton
A piconewton is a millionth of the force that a grain of salt exerts when resting on a tabletop.
Mar 15, 2010
China Dogs
The Chinese government is considering legislation that would make eating cats and dogs illegal.
Eating dog meat is a long-standing culinary tradition not just in China, but also Korea, and the Philippines. Cat meat can be found on the menu in China, Vietnam, Philippines, and even parts of South America.
"The dogs you raise at home, you shouldn't eat," said Pan, a butcher who declined to give his first name. "The kind raised for eating, we can eat those." Many dogs and cats sold for meat are specially raised on farms.
The ban on eating dog and cat meat is part of a larger proposal to toughen laws on animal welfare. Individual violators could face up to 15 days in prison and a small fine. Businesses found guilty of selling the meat risk fines up to 500,000 yuan ($73,500).
Restaurants won't necessarily need to change their menus immediately. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the law prohibiting cat and dog meat could take as long as a decade to pass.
However, to avoid upsetting international visitors during the Beijing Olympics, officials ordered dog meat off the menus at local markets. Officials in Guangzhou have warned vendors to stop selling it ahead of the Asian Games which will be held there later this year. Reminds me of what Utah did for drinking as a prelude to its Winter Olympic bid. It's true that money talks, even to religions and Communists.
Eating dog meat is a long-standing culinary tradition not just in China, but also Korea, and the Philippines. Cat meat can be found on the menu in China, Vietnam, Philippines, and even parts of South America.
"The dogs you raise at home, you shouldn't eat," said Pan, a butcher who declined to give his first name. "The kind raised for eating, we can eat those." Many dogs and cats sold for meat are specially raised on farms.
The ban on eating dog and cat meat is part of a larger proposal to toughen laws on animal welfare. Individual violators could face up to 15 days in prison and a small fine. Businesses found guilty of selling the meat risk fines up to 500,000 yuan ($73,500).
Restaurants won't necessarily need to change their menus immediately. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the law prohibiting cat and dog meat could take as long as a decade to pass.
However, to avoid upsetting international visitors during the Beijing Olympics, officials ordered dog meat off the menus at local markets. Officials in Guangzhou have warned vendors to stop selling it ahead of the Asian Games which will be held there later this year. Reminds me of what Utah did for drinking as a prelude to its Winter Olympic bid. It's true that money talks, even to religions and Communists.
No religion
According to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, released in March, 2009, the percentage of people who claim no religion has nearly doubled since 1990. Those claiming no religion jumped from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008.
3D is a Big Deal
Sony is announcing six new 3D ready TVs this year. Some come with the glasses and others require a separate purchase of glasses and infrared transmitters. It is planning for 3D to be ten percent of its TV sales. Panasonic and Samsung already have 3D sets available at Best Buy. Vizio, the number one largest LCD TV seller, is following with a 72inch, 480Hz LED 3D HDTV screaming stunner in August, with smaller 3D sets to follow. The 72inch is slated to cost a comparatively measly $3,500.
At least a dozen 3D movies are coming out this year and a large number of theaters are upgrading to 3D capable screens.
ESPN has been testing it for two years and recently announced it is coming out with an all 3D network June 11, and plans to have at least eighty-five 3D events ready this year. One caveat, the new network will go dark when no 3D is available. Discovery announced plans for its 3D network to begin broadcasting in 2011.
Gamers are also in on the 3D craze and Microsoft and others announced some of their new games in all 3D.
Just when we all have slipped into the HDTV age, another new technology makes it obsolete. Still, I don't see full scale adoption for another 4 - 5 years, but I do smell upcharges coming sooner to a cable network near you.
At least a dozen 3D movies are coming out this year and a large number of theaters are upgrading to 3D capable screens.
ESPN has been testing it for two years and recently announced it is coming out with an all 3D network June 11, and plans to have at least eighty-five 3D events ready this year. One caveat, the new network will go dark when no 3D is available. Discovery announced plans for its 3D network to begin broadcasting in 2011.
Gamers are also in on the 3D craze and Microsoft and others announced some of their new games in all 3D.
Just when we all have slipped into the HDTV age, another new technology makes it obsolete. Still, I don't see full scale adoption for another 4 - 5 years, but I do smell upcharges coming sooner to a cable network near you.
Mar 12, 2010
Birthday Wishes
Tomorrow is Donald Duck's Birthday. He was likely born Friday, March 13, 1914. The number of his car license is always 313 and it really does reflect his birthday.
A Hundred Years Ago
Here are a few things from a century ago. -
1910 - First photo of Halley's Comet 1910
1910 Boy Scouts of America is founded
1911 First air conditioner invented
1912 Sinking of the Titanic
1912 First use of zippers in clothing
1913 Panama Canal completed
1914 Outbreak of World War I
1915 Fist use of poison gas in warfare
1916 Albert Einstein - General Theory of Relativity
1917 USA enters World War I
1918 Lawrence leads Arabs into Damascus
1919 First airline between London and Paris
1910 - First photo of Halley's Comet 1910
1910 Boy Scouts of America is founded
1911 First air conditioner invented
1912 Sinking of the Titanic
1912 First use of zippers in clothing
1913 Panama Canal completed
1914 Outbreak of World War I
1915 Fist use of poison gas in warfare
1916 Albert Einstein - General Theory of Relativity
1917 USA enters World War I
1918 Lawrence leads Arabs into Damascus
1919 First airline between London and Paris
Cucumber Reduces Eye Puffiness Myth
The cucumber itself does not reduce puffiness. Cucumbers are able to stay cold for long periods of time outside of a refrigerator. That cold is what actually reduces puffiness (it causes blood vessels around our eyes to constrict, thereby reducing swelling). Of course, you could also lay a cold dirty sock over your eyes and it would help as much.
Manly Cupcakes
Looks like someone has kicked it up a notch. One shop has come up with some new manly cupcakes and they are selling like, um, hotcakes. For the Love of Cake's 'mancakes' feature such ingredients as beer and bacon, with no pink sprinkles. The macho cupcakes are part of a new trend that's seeing the once dainty desserts reinvented for an audience that drinks milk straight from the carton.
These new style cupcakes have everything from bacon to beer. They are a tongue-in-cheek response to the apparently too-prissy offerings that dominate display cases. At Butch Bakery in New York, the 12 available flavors include Rum & Coke (rum-soaked Madagascar vanilla cake with cola Bavarian cream filling), Beer Run (chocolate beer cake with beer-infused buttercream, topped with crushed pretzels) and The Old-Fashioned (orange-soaked whiskey cake with lemon curd filling).
These new style cupcakes have everything from bacon to beer. They are a tongue-in-cheek response to the apparently too-prissy offerings that dominate display cases. At Butch Bakery in New York, the 12 available flavors include Rum & Coke (rum-soaked Madagascar vanilla cake with cola Bavarian cream filling), Beer Run (chocolate beer cake with beer-infused buttercream, topped with crushed pretzels) and The Old-Fashioned (orange-soaked whiskey cake with lemon curd filling).
LifeLock and Identity Theft
The Federal Trade Commission and a consortium of state attorneys general have reached a $12 million agreement with an identity theft protection service provider to settle charges that the company used false claims in its advertising. The FTC also charged that its service provided no protection against certain forms of identity theft, including medical identity theft.
LifeLock made promotional claims such as the following: “By now you've heard about individuals whose identities have been stolen by identity thieves … LifeLock protects against this ever happening to you. Guaranteed.”
The forms of protection LifeLock employed as part of its service, placing fraud alerts on customers' credit files “protected only against certain forms of identity theft and gave them no protection against the misuse of existing accounts, the most common type of identity theft,” the FTC release said, adding, “It also allegedly provided no protection against medical identity theft or employment identity theft, in which thieves use personal information to get medical care or apply for jobs. You can place your own fraud alerts on your credit files, but it is a pain to get credit, etc.
LifeLock made promotional claims such as the following: “By now you've heard about individuals whose identities have been stolen by identity thieves … LifeLock protects against this ever happening to you. Guaranteed.”
The forms of protection LifeLock employed as part of its service, placing fraud alerts on customers' credit files “protected only against certain forms of identity theft and gave them no protection against the misuse of existing accounts, the most common type of identity theft,” the FTC release said, adding, “It also allegedly provided no protection against medical identity theft or employment identity theft, in which thieves use personal information to get medical care or apply for jobs. You can place your own fraud alerts on your credit files, but it is a pain to get credit, etc.
Restaurant Healthcare Charge
The next time you eat in a restaurant in San Francisco, take a closer look at the bill. You may see a new line item there, a "health" fee to cover employees’ healthcare.
The idea is to cover the employers’ mandatory contribution to the City’s "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge is levied on employers, but some crafty restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer’s bill to cover this charge.
Their excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much they’re paying for employees’ health coverage. That’s the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guests’ room bills. Caveat Emptor!
The idea is to cover the employers’ mandatory contribution to the City’s "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge is levied on employers, but some crafty restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer’s bill to cover this charge.
Their excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much they’re paying for employees’ health coverage. That’s the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guests’ room bills. Caveat Emptor!
Mar 11, 2010
Booty Call
To prevent the wrong moment, there is an iPhone application that sends ovulation alerts sent to your phone. It sends a series of 18 text messages (3 per menstrual cycle) that let you know when you are most likely to be fertile and provide helpful fertility advice. The name is 'booty caller'.
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