Eleven Benefits of Chocolate

As we approach the holidays, let me make it easier for you to indulge on a traditional holiday treat. A recently completed European study of chocolate eating among teens showed those who regularly consumed chocolate have less total and abdominal body fat than those who do not. The findings are based on data from 1,458 youths ages 12 to 17, who were part of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence study, which examines lifestyle habits among youths in nine countries in Europe. The study did not differentiate between dark or light chocolate.

Although most studies claim dark chocolate is better for you, there is no need to rule out light chocolate.
Benefits of eating chocolate show:
A 20% reduced risk of stroke,
Lower blood pressure,
Lower risk of heart attack,
Helps keep you feeling fuller longer,
Increases insulin sensitivity (reducing risk of diabetes),
Dark chocolate flavonoids are good for your skin,
Theobromine in chocolate reduces activity of the vagus nerve to ease coughing,
Increases a positive mood and reduces stress,
Cocoa has blood thinning properties,
Improves vision.

White chocolate is really not chocolate, because it does not contain cocoa solids. It is a chocolate derivative and usually consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, and salt.

Baked Eggs

Baked eggs are better because they are less sulfurous smelling and the texture of the finished eggs is creamier. Try baking them at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. You might enjoy the difference.

Even More Inventions from Women

Patsy Sherman's role in the invention of Scotchgard™ was a "happy mistake". As a research chemist with 3M in 1953, a lab mishap with fluorochemicals lead her to a new discovery. An assistant accidentally dropped a bottle of synthetic latex that Sherman had made, it splashed onto the assistant's white canvas tennis shoes. The substance did not change the look of the shoes it couldn't be washed away by any solvents, and it repelled water, oil and other liquids.

In 1813, Tabitha Babbitt created the circular saw. It was circular so that the teeth would continue cutting, unlike the straight saws that only cut on the pull and not the push motion. Her other building innovations, like machine-cut nails instead of individually hand-crafted nails. As a Massachusetts Shaker community member, she helped create tool innovations for furniture making. She lived a simple Shaker life and never applied for patents.

The inventor of "Liquid Paper" or "White-Out" was Betty Nesmith Graham. Graham got an idea she had seen done by sign painters, which was to add another layer of paint to cover-up mistakes. She used a kitchen blender to mix-up her first batch of substance to cover-up over mistakes made on paper at work. After much experimenting and then being fired for spending so much time distributing her product as a trial, she received a patent in 1958.

Google Package Track

Here is a Google feature that may come in handy around the holidays. Track your packages by entering any tracking number into Google search and it will show you where your mail is. No need to login to USPS or FedEx.

200 Types of Cancer

The reason is that there are over 200 different types of cells in the human body with each of these having the potential to become cancerous. Cancer can develop in any of the over 60 organs in the body. Cancers are named for the part of the body where it started and the type of cell that has become cancerous. All cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control. There are two general categories of cancer. Carcinomas are cancers that develop on the surface linings of the organs. Sarcomas are cancers that develop in the cells, and they affect solid tissues, such as muscle and bone. They can also develop in the blood vessels. Cancer tumors can either be malignant or benign.

Normal healthy cells divide and die as they should. The average number of times normal healthy cells divide is known as the Hayflick Limit. It was named after Dr. Leonard Hayflick, who in 1965 noticed that cells divide a specific number of times before the division stops. The average was between 40-60. (There is one woman who had tissue in her body that could divide apparently forever: The Woman with Immortal Cells)

If you took every cell in your body, at the time you were born, and accounted for all the cells they would produce and multiplied that number by the average time it takes for those cells to die, you get what is known as the ultimate Hayflick limit or the maximum number of years you can theoretically live. This is how researchers come up with the theoretical life limit of 120 years.

For the first time since the government began collecting mortality data early in the last century, cancer death rates began to decline in 1993. It significantly declined from 1994 to 1998 with a non-significant decline from 1998 to 2001 and falling death rates from 2001 to 2008. In 2008, the death rate for all cancers was 175.67 per 100,000 people in the US. Cancer is not contagious.

Future of the Internet

Cisco does annual predictions about the internet and here are few interesting predictions for the year 2017.

• In the year 2017 more data will move on the internet than the beginning of the internet.
• The Asia pacific region will generate 36% of all internet traffic by 2017.
• There will be 3.6 billion internet users.
• There will be over 19 billion connection.
• Internet speeds will be 3.5 times faster than 2012.
• Almost half of the world's population will have internet access.
• Personal tablet access will increase from 27 million 2012 to 190 million.
• Overall tablets will be about 425 million.
• More than 827 million TVs will have internet access.
• Average household internet traffic will increase from equivalent 13 hours of HDTV to 30.
• Smartphones and tablets will increase to 29% of all usage and PCs will slip from 88% to 57%.

Cisco has proven to be very accurate in its past predictions about the net.

Twelve Famous Firsts

Thomas Jefferson 1801 --- First US president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

Sam Patch 1829 --- First first known person to survive the jump off of Niagara Falls.

Edward Smith 1831 --- First indicted bank robber in the US. He was sentenced to five years hard labor on the rock pile at Sing Sing Prison.

William Henry Harrison 1841 --- First US president to die in office. At 32 days, he also had the shortest term in office.

Elizabeth Blackwell 1849 --- First woman to receive medical degree in US. (from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.)

Jefferson Long 1870 --- First African American elected to U.S. House of Representatives, Georgia.

Victoria Woodhall 1872 --- First woman to run for President of the US.

Grover Cleveland 1886 --- First President married inside the White House.

William Kemmler 1890 --- First criminal to be executed by electrocution (in Auburn N.Y. Prison)

Annie Moore 1892 --- First immigrant to pass through Ellis Island. She was 15 years old and from County Cork, Ireland.

Queen Isabella of Spain 1893 --- First woman to appear on a US postage stamp.

John J. McDermott 1897 --- First annual Boston Marathon winner - the first of its type in the US. (Winning time was 2:55:10 vs. 2012 winning time of  2:3:2.

Happy Friday

In the endless war between trees and matches, trees always win because they have learned to grow.

We also grow as we strive to enjoy a Happy Friday!

Laser Headlights are Coming

BMW is working on laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) headlights to be introduced on selected 2014 models. They promise to be much better than the relatively recent LED headlights. The laser lights will put out more light and use two-thirds the power of LEDs, which use one fourth the power of ordinary headlights. They are also much more efficient and brighter than the current Xenon headlights used on some cars. In addition, they are just 10 square micrometers and 1/10,000th the size of a 1-square-millimeter LED.

The inventor of the headlights says Laser lighting may even do away with household LED and CFL lighting before either takes off. These new Laser lights are also ideal for businesses, signage, and projectors used in movie theaters, as well as smartphone projectors. The Laser lights are different than you might think of a laser beam. These lights are diffused blue beams and reconstituted to a white specific width for use. There is no danger of an accident creating a beam that could be harmful to the naked eye.

Einstein came up with the theoretical foundation for lasers in 1917 and they were first demonstrated in 1947. They have been in use since then for various applications, but almost always as a concentrated beam.

It took from 1879, when the incandescent light began until a few years ago for radical change, now we have another whole new generation of lighting in about five years. In spite of the hype from manufacturers, it will likely be a few more years before we can buy one for our homes.