Feb 15, 2014

Google Site Search

Did you know that Google has a feature that allows you to search a specific site for information. Here is how it works: To search a single website -
1. Type "site:" into the Google search bar (without the quote marks).
2. Type the name of the website you want to search without the "http://" and the "www."
3. Type the search term you are looking for.
For example, use Google to search my blog for peanuts, you would type this - site:shubsthoughts.blogspot.com peanuts

Free Smile Friday

Baby laughing at dog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTOeuH-iEJ8

Feb 7, 2014

Happy Friday

Those who wake up in the morning and think, 'this is going to be the best day of my life' usually make it so.

I always wake up thinking that. It makes for a special Happy Friday!

Be Positive Stay Healthy

A recent study analyzed data on 3,199 people, 60 and older, including their attitudes about how much they enjoyed life, problems they had with basic daily functions such as dressing and bathing, and how mobile they were.

About 21 percent were deemed to have a high level of enjoyment about life, 56 percent a medium level and 23 percent a low level of enjoyment. In an eight-year span, problems with day-to-day tasks generally increased and mobility declined. About 4 percent of those most upbeat about life developed two or more new functional impairments, compared with 17 percent of those who enjoyed life the least. People assessed as enjoying life at a medium or low level were about 80 percent more likely than their happier counterparts to have developed mobility and functional problems.

There is growing evidence that optimistic people not only tend to live longer, but may enjoy physical benefits as well. As the song says, "Don't worry. Be Happy!" (Bobby McFerrin with Robin Williams and Bill Irwin)

Ten Amazing Body Facts

  • An average red blood cell lives for 120 days.
  • There are about 2.5 trillion red blood cells in your body at any moment.
  • A red blood cell can circumnavigate your body in under 20 seconds.
  • Nerve Impulses travel at over 400 km/hr (25 mi/hr).
  • A sneeze generates a wind of 166 km/hr (100 mi/hr), and a cough moves out at 100 km/hr (60 mi/hr).
  • Our heart beats about 100,00 times every day.
  • Our blood travels about 60,000 miles each day.
  • When we touch something, we send a message to our brain at 124 mph
  • The life span of a taste bud is ten days.

  • There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
  • Origin of the Bra

    Wearing a specialized garment to support a woman’s breasts dates as far back as the 14th century BC in Greece where women wore a band of wool or linen that was wrapped across the breasts and tied or pinned in the back.

    It is not clear who was the first to invent the modern bra, as numerous patents in various nations were filed in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. However, Caresse Crosby, born Mary Phelps Jacob, invented her design in 1910 and was among the first to patent her 'backless brassiere'. She got the idea for her bra when she was just 19 years old and going to a ball. Her dress for the evening was a sheer gown. She, with the help of her maid, took two handkerchiefs and some ribbon and sewed them together to make something like a modern day bra, so she could have support, but not need to wear a corset.

    Frederick Mellinger, founder of Frederick’s of Hollywood, introduced a padded bra, a push-up bra, a front hook bra, and more colorful bras. The most expensive bra in history, valued at $15 million, was modeled in 2000 by Gisele Bundchen and made from red satin and hand-cut Thai rubies and diamonds.

    Corsets dominated the undergarments of wealthier women in the Western world for centuries, until WWI required quite a bit of metal. In 1917, the US War Industries Board asked American women to help their 'men win the war' by not wearing or buying corsets. During the war it is estimated that they freed up around 28,000 tons of steel that could be used for other types of heavy lifting.

    Who Were Procter and Gamble

    William Procter was a candle maker from England, and James Gamble was a soap maker from Ireland. They settled in Cincinnati and met when they married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris. They began business as Procter and Gamble, October 31, 1837. Their first product was a floating soap called Ivory.

    During the 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored a number of radio programs. As a result, these shows often became known as 'soap operas'.

    Disposable Diaper Double Duty

    Procter and Gamble may have developed disposable diapers, but now they have found a new life. Diapers keep baby bottoms dry because they absorb liquids. They can also be used in planters. Cut strips of unused diapers and place on the bottom of the pot before adding soil. They absorb water and keep plants hydrated longer as they slowly release the water to the soil on top.

    Porcelain, Fine China, and Bone China

    Exported Chinese porcelains were held in such great esteem in Europe that in the English language china became a synonym for porcelain.

    Bone china is made from cow bone ash and other ingredients. The addition of animal bone ash gives bone china a warm color, while fine china is a brighter white. Bone china has a translucent quality compared to fine china. Fine china is made the same way, replacing bone with kaolin clay. 

    Spone china - American artist Charles Krafft replaced cow bone ash with human bone ash, retrieved from a crematorium.

    Porcelain is fired at a higher temperature and is much harder. Porcelain gets its name from old Italian porcellana (cowrie shell) because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell. The raw materials are finely ground, cleaned, formed in a mold, and then fired.

    If the temperature is high the finished product is more durable and known as porcelain. If it’s fired at a lower temperature it becomes fine china. Fine china is much softer than porcelain, making it suitable for plates and cups. Porcelain is strong enough and durable enough for a wide range of products, such as electrical insulators and toilets. Bottom line, all china is porcelain, but not all porcelain is china.

    What's in a Name, Harvard

    Harvard was founded mainly by a bequest from John Harvard, along with his extensive library in 1636. The iconic statue of him is really not him, because they could not find a real picture of him so the artist had another person sit in. That guy was a student, Sherman Hoar.

    Moravec's Paradox

    Hans Moravec, adjunct faculty member at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, pointed out that machine technology mimicked a savant infant. Machines can do long math equations instantly and beat humans in chess, but they can't answer a simple question or walk up a flight of stairs (until recently). He, along with many others has been working to solve that paradox and help computers evolve on their own.

    Early artificial intelligence (AI) researchers believed intelligence was characterized as the things that highly educated scientists found challenging, such as chess, symbolic integration, and solving complicated word algebra problems. They thought, if those could be done so easily by computers, things that children of four or five years could do effortlessly, such as visually distinguishing between a coffee cup and a chair, or walking around on two legs, or responding to words would be infinitely easier for computers to learn.

    Computers/robots are finally beginning to move and think like people. Narrative Science can write earnings summaries that are indistinguishable from wire reports. We can ask our phones, 'I'm lost, help.' and our phones can tell us how to get home. (The smartphone was introduced in 2007, just seven years ago.)

    Computers that can drive cars were never supposed to happen and ten years ago, many engineers said it was impossible. Navigating a crowded street requires a combination of spacial awareness, soft focus, and constant anticipation. Yet, today we have Google's self-driving cars and they have been approved by some states as allowable on city streets. Ten years from impossible to common.

    IBM, working with Memorial Sloan-Kettering cancer information is using its computers to diagnose diseases and the Cleveland Clinic to help train aspiring physicians. It just invested a billion dollars to set up 'Watson' into a separate business unit for medical and other complex decision making activities.

    Bottom line, we are experiencing solutions to the paradox and it is very exciting, although I am not sure machines will ever replace the following or that we will ever want to.

    Free Smile Friday

    No words needed


    Feb 1, 2014

    Happy Friday

    Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.

    I never need to hunt for the meaning of having a Happy Friday!

    Kosher Salt Facts

    Kosher salt is not kosher, does not come from the Dead Sea, is not necessarily blessed by a rabbi, and may contain additives, although it is usually free from iodine.

    Kosher salt refers to any coarse-grain salt that is used to make meat kosher. Kosher salt usually is mineral salt, which may mined anywhere. A rabbi does not "bless" the salt to make it kosher (although Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt in the past has claimed to be packaged under Rabbinical supervision). As with any other salt, some commercial Kosher salt, uses anti-caking additives to make it free-flowing.