May 19, 2010
What is the Althing
Iceland, whose parliament, the Althing was formed by the Vikings in 930, is the oldest democracy still in operation.
Email Photo Frame
Pandigital came out with a $149 Photo Mail Frame in February that gives you a dedicated e-mail address to send images to. They go from your e-mail account to the Pandigital server, which then routes them to the frame via AT&T's cellular network and onto the picture frame.
There is room for 300 images. When the frame gets full, you can delete images.
There is room for 300 images. When the frame gets full, you can delete images.
Famous Drummers
This is for the oldies in the bunch. In the summer of 1969, the New York Post Office received a letter with no address other than "The World's Greatest Drummer."
With no return address, the sorter wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, a former drummer worked in that post office. He found Gene Krupa's address and forwarded the letter to him.
Krupa read the envelope and thought, "This isn't for me" and forwarded it to Max Roach. Roach thought, "Somebody must have made a mistake" and forwarded it to Buddy Rich, renown for his incredible ego. Grinning from ear to ear, he ripped open the envelope and it began, "Dear Ringo. . ."
With no return address, the sorter wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, a former drummer worked in that post office. He found Gene Krupa's address and forwarded the letter to him.
Krupa read the envelope and thought, "This isn't for me" and forwarded it to Max Roach. Roach thought, "Somebody must have made a mistake" and forwarded it to Buddy Rich, renown for his incredible ego. Grinning from ear to ear, he ripped open the envelope and it began, "Dear Ringo. . ."
Lost Cursor
Have you ever been looking at a page on the screen and forgot where the cursor was. Here is a trick, hit the CTRL (Control) key on the right or left bottom row of your keyboard and a big circle shows up where the cursor is. If it doesn't work, go to the control panel, click on mouse, then mouse pointer options, then click on the box that says "show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key'.
May 16, 2010
Top Nine Uses for Coffee Filters
Clean windows and mirrors, because they are lint-free and leave windows sparkling.
Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.
If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods, like tacos.
Keep in the bathroom for razor nick fixers or strips for waxed eyebrows.
Prevent a popsicle from dripping, poke a hole as needed in a coffee filter.
Put a few in a plate to soak up grease from fried bacon, french fries, chicken fingers, etc.
Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale to weigh.
How Many Emails
Did you know that everyday 247 billion emails are sent. By 2013 it will reach 507 billion emails sent every day. Gee, I hope my Friday Thoughts don't get lost in the pile.
How Much Weight Can You Lift
In the heaviest dead lift recorded, British weightlifter Andy Bolton lifted 457.5 kilograms (1,008 pounds) from the floor to his thigh.
What is the maximum weight a human could ever lift? Todd Schroeder at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles thinks we are already close to the maximum. "If you look over time at the records for maximal lifts, they have crept up but are starting to plateau," he says. "Today's weightlifters, including those that use steroids, are near the limit of human potential."
It is the muscles that set the limit. When something does give way, it is usually the muscle fibers that tear, often near the tendon. It is control of the muscles that gives weightlifters their advantage. The body has natural inhibitory mechanisms designed to keep us from hurting ourselves by trying to lift too much. These work by controlling how many muscle fibers are activated at any one time. Weightlifters learn to suppress these signals, enabling them to use a larger fraction of the muscle's potential in lifting.
The key to success is training and genetics plays a role. Short limbs favor strength and some people have more muscle fibers than others.
What is the maximum weight a human could ever lift? Todd Schroeder at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles thinks we are already close to the maximum. "If you look over time at the records for maximal lifts, they have crept up but are starting to plateau," he says. "Today's weightlifters, including those that use steroids, are near the limit of human potential."
It is the muscles that set the limit. When something does give way, it is usually the muscle fibers that tear, often near the tendon. It is control of the muscles that gives weightlifters their advantage. The body has natural inhibitory mechanisms designed to keep us from hurting ourselves by trying to lift too much. These work by controlling how many muscle fibers are activated at any one time. Weightlifters learn to suppress these signals, enabling them to use a larger fraction of the muscle's potential in lifting.
The key to success is training and genetics plays a role. Short limbs favor strength and some people have more muscle fibers than others.
Rosetta Books
For those of you with little children or grandchildren, Rosetta has been adding books to its online library HERE. They are free full color copies of the original children's books and very interesting to see and read.
Maybe grandpa can get out his iPad and read a nighttime story from the original book, with pictures. You might call it high tech retro.
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