Do you remember in the early days of TV that many studies predicted that children would ruin their eyesight by sitting too close to the TV. Those studies have long since been debunked as they proved to be false.
Now, a new study shows that habitual smartphone usage dulls vision as users generally hold their devices too close to their eyes. The study says people hold papers and magazines 16 inches away from their eyes, but smartphones at 14 inches. One ophthalmologist suggested that people get reading glasses. Hmmm. . .
Aug 13, 2011
What's in a Name, Luke Short
This guy from the old west had a stature that matched his last name. Luke started out hunting and trapping in Nebraska, but discovered his skill at gambling when he would regularly clean out his acquaintances on the trail.
Gambling led to gunfights and he was a gambler/gunfighter for the rest of his life. He went to Colorado mining camps, visited the Earp Brothers’ Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, AZ and ended up in Dodge City, KS in the 1880′s. Luke bought an interest in the Long Branch Saloon and during an ongoing feud with a rival saloon owner, Luke’s friends Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp came to town to help him end it.
Short eventually moved on to Fort Worth, TX and bought the White Elephant gambling hall. He famously gunned fellow gunfighter Long-Haired Jim Courtright when Jim tried to extort protection money from him.
In 1893 Luke sold the White Elephant and moved to Kansas City, MO, where he died in bed the same year at age 39 from an unknown ailment.
Back in the old days, 'seeing the elephant' meant having a great adventure. Also, a 'white elephant' was a worthless investment. In the wild west, white had a racist subtext, because frontier saloons tended to be very segregated. Back then, Fort Worth also had another bar called the Black Elephant.
Finally, the White Elephant bar insides were regularly seen in the Chuck Norris, Texas Rangers series. Elephants are more afraid of Chuck Norris than mice.
Gambling led to gunfights and he was a gambler/gunfighter for the rest of his life. He went to Colorado mining camps, visited the Earp Brothers’ Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, AZ and ended up in Dodge City, KS in the 1880′s. Luke bought an interest in the Long Branch Saloon and during an ongoing feud with a rival saloon owner, Luke’s friends Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp came to town to help him end it.
Short eventually moved on to Fort Worth, TX and bought the White Elephant gambling hall. He famously gunned fellow gunfighter Long-Haired Jim Courtright when Jim tried to extort protection money from him.
In 1893 Luke sold the White Elephant and moved to Kansas City, MO, where he died in bed the same year at age 39 from an unknown ailment.
Back in the old days, 'seeing the elephant' meant having a great adventure. Also, a 'white elephant' was a worthless investment. In the wild west, white had a racist subtext, because frontier saloons tended to be very segregated. Back then, Fort Worth also had another bar called the Black Elephant.
Finally, the White Elephant bar insides were regularly seen in the Chuck Norris, Texas Rangers series. Elephants are more afraid of Chuck Norris than mice.
IBM PC Anniversary
Today in 1981, IBM introduced the Model 5150 PC (personal computer). The IBM PC ran on the Intel 8088 microprocessor at 4.77 mHz with one or two 160K floppy disk drives. It had 16 kilobytes of memory, no built-in clock, no built-in serial or parallel ports, and no built-in video capability -- it was available with an optional color monitor. Prices started at $1,565. Thirty years ago it forever changed the face of computing and the changes keep coming.
Show Me The Money
Every time we fill up our tanks, we wrestle with one of life’s thorniest mysteries: Why do gas prices end in 0.9 cents? Unfortunately, the origins of the increment are murky. Some sources attribute the practice to the 1920s and 1930s, when the gasoline tax was nine-tenths of a cent.
Stations would simply slap the extra 0.9 onto the advertised price of a gallon to give Uncle Sam his cut. Others theorize that slashing 0.1 cent off the price undercut competitors back in the days when gas was just a few cents per gallon.
Although most drivers simply ignore the extra 0.9 cents, oil companies certainly don’t. In 2009, Americans consumed 378 million gallons of gas per day, and that extra 0.9 cents per gallon was collectively worth nearly $3.5 million a day. On the flip side, you could also argue that customers collectively saved around $340,000 per day, thanks to stations’ reluctance to round up to the next penny.
Stations would simply slap the extra 0.9 onto the advertised price of a gallon to give Uncle Sam his cut. Others theorize that slashing 0.1 cent off the price undercut competitors back in the days when gas was just a few cents per gallon.
Although most drivers simply ignore the extra 0.9 cents, oil companies certainly don’t. In 2009, Americans consumed 378 million gallons of gas per day, and that extra 0.9 cents per gallon was collectively worth nearly $3.5 million a day. On the flip side, you could also argue that customers collectively saved around $340,000 per day, thanks to stations’ reluctance to round up to the next penny.
Vanilla Extract
Here is a trick that some realtors use to get rid of unpleasant odors and make a house smell better. Put two caps full of vanilla extract in a coffee cup, then place it in the microwave or the oven at 300 degrees for about one hour. Within twenty minutes the whole house smells pleasant. If it gets too strong, turn it off sooner. I found that cooking bacon has the same pleasant effect for many people.
Dumpsters
The Dumpster was invented in Knoxville Tennesee by the Dempster brothers. The original name was the Dempster Dumpster. The Dempster-Dumpster system is a way of mechanically loading the contents of standardized containers onto garbage trucks. The Dempster Dumpmaster, was the first successful front-loading garbage truck, which really brought the word into everyday language.
A dumpster is a large steel waste receptacle designed to be emptied into garbage trucks. The word is a trademark of Dumpster, an American brand name for a type of mobile garbage bin.
Dumpster diving involves people voluntarily climbing into a dumpster to find valuables, or useful items, including food and used clothing.
A dumpster is a large steel waste receptacle designed to be emptied into garbage trucks. The word is a trademark of Dumpster, an American brand name for a type of mobile garbage bin.
Dumpster diving involves people voluntarily climbing into a dumpster to find valuables, or useful items, including food and used clothing.
Aug 12, 2011
Happy Friday
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
I am healthy and content with my faithful devotion to having a Happy Friday!
I am healthy and content with my faithful devotion to having a Happy Friday!
Aug 9, 2011
Millionaires
People and households earning $1 million or more annually made up 0.1 percent, or about 235,000, of the 140 million tax returns filed in 2009. Tax returns filed by people making $10 million or more amounted to 8,274. About 97% of all filers earned less than $200,000.
National Speed Limits
Sometimes the citizens win, but it takes a while. During the oil crisis of the 1970s, the U.S. government was desperate to convince Americans to burn less gasoline. Realizing that cars are more fuel-efficient when driven at lower speeds, Congress decided to force people to drive slower. In 1974, it enacted a law that set the national speed limit at 55 mph, along with a threat: Any state that didn’t comply with the rule would lose its federal highway funding.
Congress may have set the speed limit, but it was up to individual states to enforce it and many states didn’t appreciate being bossed around. In fact, some states made a mockery of the law. Nevada, for example, refused to write tickets to speeders unless they were caught traveling more than 70 mph; instead, offenders received $5 “energy wasting” fines.
So, did the lowered speed limit actually accomplish its goal? While the law did slash petroleum consumption by 167,000 barrels per day, the savings represented a drop in demand of only about one. Highway fatalities also dropped with the lower speed limit, though some analysts have theorized that this reduction was the result of a general decrease in recreational driving rather than slower speeds.
Nonetheless, both state governments and average citizens whined about the law so much that Congress bumped up the speed limit to 65 mph in 1987, then did away with the law completely in 1995, putting speed limits back in the hands of the states, where it belongs.
Congress may have set the speed limit, but it was up to individual states to enforce it and many states didn’t appreciate being bossed around. In fact, some states made a mockery of the law. Nevada, for example, refused to write tickets to speeders unless they were caught traveling more than 70 mph; instead, offenders received $5 “energy wasting” fines.
So, did the lowered speed limit actually accomplish its goal? While the law did slash petroleum consumption by 167,000 barrels per day, the savings represented a drop in demand of only about one. Highway fatalities also dropped with the lower speed limit, though some analysts have theorized that this reduction was the result of a general decrease in recreational driving rather than slower speeds.
Nonetheless, both state governments and average citizens whined about the law so much that Congress bumped up the speed limit to 65 mph in 1987, then did away with the law completely in 1995, putting speed limits back in the hands of the states, where it belongs.
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