Do you remember answering machines? They were a precursor to voice mail systems of today. In 1986, Scott Jones and Greg Carr started Boston Technologies, and began working on a system where you could dial a number and find out stock information. One good idea led to another and the pair thought they could provide people with built in voice mail.
Until 1988, all phone companies besides AT&T were legally banned from providing voice mail. When the ruling was reversed, the pair approached several telecom companies and got financial backing. Within 3 months, their ideas were realized. Voice mail is slowing in popularity with some age groups due to text messaging, but is still a staple of the telecommunications industry. I don't think voice mail will be replaced for a while.
Mar 18, 2011
Iodine and Nuclear Fallout
There has been a run on iodine pills in Hawaii, Finland, and some European countries where people are expecting trips to Japan or are worried about Nuclear fallout.
Iodine may be used in radioiodine-contamination emergencies, such as nuclear accidents, to "block" the thyroid's uptake of radioiodine.
Potassium iodide was approved in 1982 by the US FDA to protect the thyroid glands from radioactive iodine from accidents or fission emergencies. In the event of an accident or attack at a nuclear power plant, or fallout from a nuclear bomb, volatile fission product radionuclides may be released, of which 131I is one of the most common by-products and a particularly dangerous one due to thyroid gland concentration of it and this may lead to thyroid cancer. By saturating the body with a source of stable iodide prior to exposure, inhaled or ingested 131I tends to be excreted.
Potassium iodide’s value as a radiation protective (thyroid blocking) agent was demonstrated at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident when Soviet authorities distributed it in a 30 km zone around the plant. The purpose was to protect residents from radioactive iodine, a highly carcinogenic material found in nuclear reactors which had been released by the damaged reactor.
Potassium iodide cannot protect against any other causes of radiation poisoning, nor can it provide any degree of protection against dirty bombs that produce radionuclides other than isotopes of iodine. Also, using common table salt is not an effective substitute. Even with that, salt supplies have been almost completely depleted in stores around Japan.
Iodine may be used in radioiodine-contamination emergencies, such as nuclear accidents, to "block" the thyroid's uptake of radioiodine.
Potassium iodide was approved in 1982 by the US FDA to protect the thyroid glands from radioactive iodine from accidents or fission emergencies. In the event of an accident or attack at a nuclear power plant, or fallout from a nuclear bomb, volatile fission product radionuclides may be released, of which 131I is one of the most common by-products and a particularly dangerous one due to thyroid gland concentration of it and this may lead to thyroid cancer. By saturating the body with a source of stable iodide prior to exposure, inhaled or ingested 131I tends to be excreted.
Potassium iodide’s value as a radiation protective (thyroid blocking) agent was demonstrated at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident when Soviet authorities distributed it in a 30 km zone around the plant. The purpose was to protect residents from radioactive iodine, a highly carcinogenic material found in nuclear reactors which had been released by the damaged reactor.
Potassium iodide cannot protect against any other causes of radiation poisoning, nor can it provide any degree of protection against dirty bombs that produce radionuclides other than isotopes of iodine. Also, using common table salt is not an effective substitute. Even with that, salt supplies have been almost completely depleted in stores around Japan.
Corn Flakes
They were also the first to add a goodies in the cereal box to boost sales, a Funny Jungleland Moving Picture Booklet was first in the early 1900s. Battle Creek is still home to Kellogg and hosts a major Balloon Festival every year. I'll bet you didn't know the name of the corn flake mascot, since 1959, is Cornelius (Corny) Rooster.
Exabytes
From bites to bytes - Last year, manufacturers shipped 5.1 exabytes of storage devices. An exabyte is a quintillion bytes, or a thousand trillion. Below are some more interesting tidbits about exabytes and the internet.
* In 2004, global monthly Internet traffic passed 1 exabyte for the first time and six years later, it is estimated at 21 exabytes per month, or 252 exabytes per year.
* Mobile data traffic is growing faster than non-mobile traffic, has tripled each year for the past three years, and is projected to rise another 26-fold to about 75 exabytes per year by 2015. (The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate over 20 percent of mobile data traffic,)
* Non-mobile internet traffic has averaged 151% growth each year since 1997.
* By 2013, annual global internet traffic will reach two-thirds of a zettabyte or 667 exabytes.
* Global mobile data traffic will reach over two exabytes per month by 2013.
* It is estimated that there was 988 exabytes of data created last year, 2010. That is over 18 million times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written.
* In 2004, global monthly Internet traffic passed 1 exabyte for the first time and six years later, it is estimated at 21 exabytes per month, or 252 exabytes per year.
* Mobile data traffic is growing faster than non-mobile traffic, has tripled each year for the past three years, and is projected to rise another 26-fold to about 75 exabytes per year by 2015. (The top 1 percent of mobile data subscribers generate over 20 percent of mobile data traffic,)
* Non-mobile internet traffic has averaged 151% growth each year since 1997.
* By 2013, annual global internet traffic will reach two-thirds of a zettabyte or 667 exabytes.
* Global mobile data traffic will reach over two exabytes per month by 2013.
* It is estimated that there was 988 exabytes of data created last year, 2010. That is over 18 million times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written.
Bytes in Perspective
Below is the sequence of names for describing digital information - Think of a byte as a letter or number, such as 1 or T. A kilobyte is exactly1,024 bytes, but common usage rounds it to a thousand. One page of text is about one kilobyte.
Here are some more comparisons to give you a sense of scale - A terabyte is roughly a trillion bytes and our national debt is measured in trillions of dollars. One terabyte can hold about 3.6 million images or about 300 hours of good quality video. A terabyte can hold 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten terabytes can hold the total printed collection of the Library of Congress. We are adding about a terabyte of information to the internet roughly every minute of every day.
kilobyte (kB) 103
megabyte (MB) 106
gigabyte (GB) 109
terabyte (TB) 1012
petabyte (PB) 1015
exabyte (EB) 1018
zettabyte (ZB) 1021
yottabyte 1024
There are more names going up to ten to the 63rd power, but only those above have so far been approved. I have a friend who is so old, he remembers plain old bytes, now we have moved from Kilobytes to Exabytes. Hope to be around for the Yottabyte revolution.
Here are some more comparisons to give you a sense of scale - A terabyte is roughly a trillion bytes and our national debt is measured in trillions of dollars. One terabyte can hold about 3.6 million images or about 300 hours of good quality video. A terabyte can hold 1,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Ten terabytes can hold the total printed collection of the Library of Congress. We are adding about a terabyte of information to the internet roughly every minute of every day.
kilobyte (kB) 103
megabyte (MB) 106
gigabyte (GB) 109
terabyte (TB) 1012
petabyte (PB) 1015
exabyte (EB) 1018
zettabyte (ZB) 1021
yottabyte 1024
There are more names going up to ten to the 63rd power, but only those above have so far been approved. I have a friend who is so old, he remembers plain old bytes, now we have moved from Kilobytes to Exabytes. Hope to be around for the Yottabyte revolution.
How to Make a Book
This YouTube shows the way books used to be made, all by hand and machines. We have come a long way from those days and modern machines spit books out one-at-a-time on demand. New printing presses act more like high speed copiers. There is no paper and no process from digital book to hard copy book. The video, in old news style, is nine minutes and takes you from typing a manuscript to a mechanically finished book. Interesting to watch. You may remember from a previous Friday Thoughts why paper and pages are the size they are.
Mar 15, 2011
Kinect
This revolutionary technology is mostly unknown to people that do not play computer games. Kinect uses a 3D camera and motion recognition software to let people play videogames on the Xbox 360 using natural body movements and voice commands instead of hand-held controllers. Watch for many hackers developing cool ways to use this gesture sensing technology for interacting with computers.
Microsoft tells us that sales of the gesture-sensing Kinect for the Xbox 360 videogame console makes it the fastest-selling consumer electronics device ever and it has sold more than 10 million standalone Kinect games worldwide.
Microsoft sold an average of 133,333 Kinect units per day between the day of its launch on November 4 and January 3. No other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span. Amazing that profoundly changing technology comes out as a game first. Move over Apple, Microsoft has a hit.
Microsoft tells us that sales of the gesture-sensing Kinect for the Xbox 360 videogame console makes it the fastest-selling consumer electronics device ever and it has sold more than 10 million standalone Kinect games worldwide.
Microsoft sold an average of 133,333 Kinect units per day between the day of its launch on November 4 and January 3. No other consumer electronics device sold faster within a 60-day time span. Amazing that profoundly changing technology comes out as a game first. Move over Apple, Microsoft has a hit.
If I had my Druthers
Have you ever thought about what a 'druther' is? This is an American phrase that began popping up in the late 1800s. It's short for 'would rather' or I'd rather'. It means 'If I had my choice'. It is usually used in the plural, but can be singular.
There was a Johnny Mercer song: If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my druthers, than anything else I know. Also, John Denver: If I had my druthers I'd go fishin, Find myself a lake and a lazy day, If I had my druthers I'd quit wishin, Get off the old caboose get on my way. If I had my druthers, I would rather read some of Shubnell's books.
There was a Johnny Mercer song: If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my druthers, than anything else I know. Also, John Denver: If I had my druthers I'd go fishin, Find myself a lake and a lazy day, If I had my druthers I'd quit wishin, Get off the old caboose get on my way. If I had my druthers, I would rather read some of Shubnell's books.
Searching in a Kayak
Kayak.com is an interesting meta-search engine. Kayak itself sells nothing, but what it does do is find airline prices and information. That's something that had been limited to Priceline, Orbitz, etc., and the airline sites.
When you log onto Kayak.com, you are presented with a simple search form that asks where you wish to travel. You can search for one-way or round-trip trips, as well as multi-city itineraries. Clicking the "Search multiple sites" button starts the action.
The results page graphic shows airline websites being scanned for their up-to-the-moment information. Kayak has the ability to go to nearly all of the airline databases, extract their information and reformat it into something understandable. The animated display also shows you an interim status of specific airlines that are being scanned at that moment.
When Kayak is done, you are presented with an ordered list of flights that meet your search criteria. The default is to sort them by price, from the most economical to the very expensive, but can change the sequence as you desire. It has many other cool features and can also help with hotels, cars, etc. A great alternative that is not beholding to any airline.
When you log onto Kayak.com, you are presented with a simple search form that asks where you wish to travel. You can search for one-way or round-trip trips, as well as multi-city itineraries. Clicking the "Search multiple sites" button starts the action.
The results page graphic shows airline websites being scanned for their up-to-the-moment information. Kayak has the ability to go to nearly all of the airline databases, extract their information and reformat it into something understandable. The animated display also shows you an interim status of specific airlines that are being scanned at that moment.
When Kayak is done, you are presented with an ordered list of flights that meet your search criteria. The default is to sort them by price, from the most economical to the very expensive, but can change the sequence as you desire. It has many other cool features and can also help with hotels, cars, etc. A great alternative that is not beholding to any airline.
Mar 11, 2011
Happy Friday
Humility is a virtue all men preach, few practice, and yet everybody is content to hear.
I don't preach, I practice and am always content with having a Happy Friday!
I don't preach, I practice and am always content with having a Happy Friday!
Laughter Competition
The United States' first-ever laughing championship takes place tomorrow, Mar 12, in San Luis Obispo, CA. A few dozen gigglers, guffawers, snigglers, and chortlers will laugh it up in hopes of winning the coveted title of "California's Best Laugher."
The contestants will compete in events, such as "Best Diabolical Laugh" and "Most Contagious Laugh" and face off in "Laughter Duels" to see who can make the other person crack up most.
It's part of a serious effort by Albert Nerenberg to raise awareness of the power of laughter. He says, "When two people laugh together, there is a limbic lock. Their brains actually merge and they're on the same frequency."
We all know laughter is good for you mentally and physically, but, wow, a 'limbic lock'. It almost sounds lewd. I looked it up and found - The immediate, involuntary reaction involves the most direct communication possible between people – brain to brain – with our intellect just going for the ride. It actually causes a physical sensation.
The contestants will compete in events, such as "Best Diabolical Laugh" and "Most Contagious Laugh" and face off in "Laughter Duels" to see who can make the other person crack up most.
It's part of a serious effort by Albert Nerenberg to raise awareness of the power of laughter. He says, "When two people laugh together, there is a limbic lock. Their brains actually merge and they're on the same frequency."
We all know laughter is good for you mentally and physically, but, wow, a 'limbic lock'. It almost sounds lewd. I looked it up and found - The immediate, involuntary reaction involves the most direct communication possible between people – brain to brain – with our intellect just going for the ride. It actually causes a physical sensation.
Cold Weather Balm
It is almost time to put away the lip balm as spring is here. It is OK to sneak a rub in the summer as you slather your lips in this bacon balm. Make your man love you even more. Mmmm!
Flexi Straws
Did you ever think about how they came up with this little device? Joseph Friedman was sitting at his brother's soda shop, watching his daughter drink a milkshake. She was struggling to drink her beverage through a straight paper straw, but she was short and could hardly reach the end.
He thought about how he could help and inserted a screw into the straw. He then wrapped and tightened floss around the straw to create a ribbed texture. When he took the screw out, the straw naturally bent over the rim of the glass and his daughter was able to drink with ease. He patented his idea in 1937 and started his own company to produce the straw. The rights to the flexible straw were eventually sold to the Maryland Cup Corporation, which now sells about 500 million of them every year.
He thought about how he could help and inserted a screw into the straw. He then wrapped and tightened floss around the straw to create a ribbed texture. When he took the screw out, the straw naturally bent over the rim of the glass and his daughter was able to drink with ease. He patented his idea in 1937 and started his own company to produce the straw. The rights to the flexible straw were eventually sold to the Maryland Cup Corporation, which now sells about 500 million of them every year.
What's in a Name
Nintendo - The three words “Nin” “ten” “do” is Japanese for “we do all that we can, as best as we can, and await the results.” Nintendo is a motto and company name all in one.
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