High Tech Halloween Costumes

Check this site to see some awesome and battery wasting costumes. LINK

Velcro Myth

Some say that Velcro was invented by NASA for the space program. Not true, Velcro was already commercially available before being used by NASA. It did receive a huge boost in popularity after being used by NASA on parts of astronaut’s space suits as well as used to allow astronaut’s to store things along the walls of their space craft. Because of this, similar to Tang, it is a common misconception that Velcro was invented by or for NASA.

World Championship of Punkin' Chunkin

This year it runs from Nov. 2-4, 2012. The World Championships of Punkin' Chunkin in Bridgeville, Del., brings together some of the most determined, ingenious, and crazy hobbyists, who arrive with various contraptions engineered to launch pumpkins thousands of feet.

The competition started in 1986, and last year drew more than 200,000 people. The winning "chunk" in the Adult Air category flew 4,329 feet.

If you can't get there in person, they always have the finals on TV and it is fun and very entertaining.

Poinsettia Poison

Myths and rumors about the toxicity of the poinsettia plant are common late in the year, when the popular red-leaved plants take center stage in holiday decorations. While the genus (Euphorbia) to which the poinsettia plant belongs does contain some highly toxic plants, the popular poinsettia itself is not toxic. Some sources attribute the rumor about the dangers of poinsettia leaves to a case of poisoning in 1919 that led to the death of a two year-old child. At the time, the cause of the poisoning was incorrectly determined to be a poinsettia leaf.

Contact with the sap of a poinsettia plant may cause a mild, itchy rash. If this happens, wash the affected area with soap and water and apply a cool compress to ease itching. Eating the leaves or stems of a poinsettia plant may cause a mild stomachache, vomiting or diarrhea, but severe signs and symptoms are unlikely.

A 50 pound child would need to eat about 500-600 leaves or about 20 ounces of the bitter tasting leaves of a poinsettia plant before any medical action would be necessary.

Lighting Pumpkins Tip

This year for Halloween, get a few glow sticks to light your pumpkins. They are safer than candles and last most of the night. You can find them for a dollar at the Dollar store. They also come in fun colors.

Pleased as Punch

This phrase came from an English puppet show, Punch and Judy that goes all the way back to the 1600s. No two performances of the show were totally alike, but they all usually involved the same events:
1. Punch kills his infant child
2. Punch punches Judy until she dies
3. Punch goes to prison and escapes using a golden key
4. He then kills doctors, lawyers, and a hangman
5. He kills Death, as in the Grim Reaper
6. Then it all ends spectacularly as he kills the Devil.

Apple Tracking

No, not a way to look for apples. It is a way Apple is tracking your iPhone. The new operating system that came out a few weeks ago has a feature that is turned on by default. IFA or IDFA stands for "identifier for advertisers." It is a random, anonymous number that is assigned to you and your iPhone.

The good news is that you can turn it off so advertisers cannot track your every move.

First, what it does. When you look at an app, or browse the web, your presence generates a call for an ad. The site you are looking at passes the IFA to the ad server so an advertiser knows a specific iPhone user is looking at a specific publication and can direct a specific ad to you.

To disable this, go to "Settings," "General," then "About," and then "Advertising." The tracking control is titled "Limit Ad Tracking," and must be turned to On. On means 'limit tracking' so tracking is not working. Interesting, you have to turn it on to turn tracking off.

State Rocks

Many people do not know there are many states that have a state rock. Here are states that do.
Serpentine California
Geode Iowa
Bauxite Arkansas
Slate Vermont
Thunder egg Oregon
Red granite Wisconsin
Agate Kentucky, Nebraska
Limestone Tennessee
Petoskey stone Michigan
Cumberlandite Rhode Island
Barite rose Oklahoma
Mozarkite Missouri
Roxbury puddingstone, Massachusetts
Marble Alabama, Colorado, Vermont
Coal Utah, West Virginia
Sandstone Nevada
Granite New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont

Robot Pole Dancer

This struck me funny and had to share. It is a pole dancing robot shown at the Tobit Software booth prior to the opening of the CeBIT IT fair in Hanover, Germany, on March 5, 2012. It should destroy the myth that nerds do not have a sense of humor.

You can find this and many more robots for work and play at LINK.