Starbucks is named for
Captain Ahab’s first mate, Starbuck in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
The founders had considered naming it Pequod's, after Ahab’s ship.
Coffee related and true - The first webcam watched a coffee pot. It
allowed researchers at Cambridge to monitor the coffee pot without
leaving their desks. Well, call me Ishmael.
Oct 10, 2014
New Internet Rumor Tracker
Emergent is a real-time rumor
tracker. http://www.emergent.info/about
It is part of a research project with the Tow Center for Digital
Journalism at Columbia University that focuses on how unverified
information and rumor are reported in the media. It aims to develop
and best practices for debunking misinformation. Kind of like a
"real time" version of Snopes.
You can view a list of rumors being tracked on the homepage, along with their current claim state (True, False, Unverified). Click on a story to visit a page that visualizes the sources reporting the rumor, and a breakdown of social shares per source. You can also click on individual articles on the story page to see specific revision and social share data about that article.
You can view a list of rumors being tracked on the homepage, along with their current claim state (True, False, Unverified). Click on a story to visit a page that visualizes the sources reporting the rumor, and a breakdown of social shares per source. You can also click on individual articles on the story page to see specific revision and social share data about that article.
Wordology, Crocodility
I love the way that word rolls off
the tongue. Crocodility is an ancient word for fallacious reasoning
See if you can follow this paradox. A crocodile snatches a young boy from a riverbank. His mother pleads with the crocodile to return him, to which the crocodile replies that he will only return the boy safely if the mother can guess correctly whether or not he will return the boy.
There is no problem if the mother guesses that the crocodile will return him. If she is right, he is returned; if she is wrong, the crocodile keeps him. If she answers that the crocodile will not return him, however, we end up with a paradox: if she is right and the crocodile never intended to return her child, then the crocodile has to return him, but in doing so breaks his word and contradicts the mother’s answer. On the other hand, if she is wrong and the crocodile actually did intend to return the boy, the crocodile must then keep him even though he intended not to, thereby also breaking his word.
The paradox is such an enduring logic problem that in the Middle Ages the word 'crocodilite' came to be used to refer to any similarly brain-twisting dilemma where you admit something that is later used against you.
See if you can follow this paradox. A crocodile snatches a young boy from a riverbank. His mother pleads with the crocodile to return him, to which the crocodile replies that he will only return the boy safely if the mother can guess correctly whether or not he will return the boy.
There is no problem if the mother guesses that the crocodile will return him. If she is right, he is returned; if she is wrong, the crocodile keeps him. If she answers that the crocodile will not return him, however, we end up with a paradox: if she is right and the crocodile never intended to return her child, then the crocodile has to return him, but in doing so breaks his word and contradicts the mother’s answer. On the other hand, if she is wrong and the crocodile actually did intend to return the boy, the crocodile must then keep him even though he intended not to, thereby also breaking his word.
The paradox is such an enduring logic problem that in the Middle Ages the word 'crocodilite' came to be used to refer to any similarly brain-twisting dilemma where you admit something that is later used against you.
My Blog Statistics
Interesting statistics
from last month show that the top five viewing countries to my
blog, in order were Ukraine, US, France, Russia, and UK. It has
been a very long time since US was not first on the list.
Thanks and welcome to my new best friends from Ukraine.
Oct 3, 2014
Happy German-American Day
It became Public Law 100-104 when
President Reagan signed it on August 18, 1987. The US celebrates
German-American Day on Oct. 6. It commemorates the date in 1683 when
13 German families from Krefeld, near the Rhine landed in
Philadelphia. These families subsequently founded Germantown,
Pennsylvania, the first German settlement in the original thirteen
American colonies. About 1 in 4 Americans claim part or full German
heritage.
Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is observed on October 3, when the official German holiday commemorates Germany's reunification in 1990, when East and West Germany once again became one country known as the Federal Republic of Germany die Bundesrepublik Deutschland).
German Pioneers Day is celebrated in Ontario, Canada on the day after Canadian Thanksgiving, second Monday in October. A law passed by the Ontario provincial Legislative Assembly in 2000 proclaimed the annual celebration of the German contributions to Canada on the day after Canadian Thanksgiving.
Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is observed on October 3, when the official German holiday commemorates Germany's reunification in 1990, when East and West Germany once again became one country known as the Federal Republic of Germany die Bundesrepublik Deutschland).
German Pioneers Day is celebrated in Ontario, Canada on the day after Canadian Thanksgiving, second Monday in October. A law passed by the Ontario provincial Legislative Assembly in 2000 proclaimed the annual celebration of the German contributions to Canada on the day after Canadian Thanksgiving.
National Pizza Month
It was first observed in the US during
October 1984. The observance was thought up by Gerry Durnell from
Santa Claus, Indiana and the founder of Pizza Today magazine. It is
also observed throughout much of Canada.
The US has about 63,000 pizzerias and 94% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. About three billion pizzas are sold in the United States every year, plus an additional one billion frozen pizzas. That works out to about 100 acres of pizza per day, or 350 slices per second.
The US has about 63,000 pizzerias and 94% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. About three billion pizzas are sold in the United States every year, plus an additional one billion frozen pizzas. That works out to about 100 acres of pizza per day, or 350 slices per second.
UPS 3D Printing
It has reached a new plateau. UPS is
now offering in-store printing of 3D objects for its customers. It
is the first nationwide retailer to offer 3D printing services
in-store. Other local and regional stores have been set up around
the country specifically to offer 3D printing with varying degrees
of success, but having a national brand offering the printing
service brings a shift from concept to mainstream.
UPS' experiment with in-store 3D printers worked and now has expanded the availability of 3D printing services to over 100 locations across the US, including Hawaii. Customers can print everything from accessories, architecture, functional prototypes, and one-of-a-kind gadgets.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/ups-3d-printer-expansion/
UPS' experiment with in-store 3D printers worked and now has expanded the availability of 3D printing services to over 100 locations across the US, including Hawaii. Customers can print everything from accessories, architecture, functional prototypes, and one-of-a-kind gadgets.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/ups-3d-printer-expansion/
Coupes, Flutes, and Tulips
During the 19th century,
champagne glasses were wide and shallow, not at all like the flutes
we use today. They were called 'coupes' and legend has it that they
were modeled after the shape of Marie Antoinette's left breast.
The coupe eventually gave way to the 'flute', the tall, narrow glasses out of which most of us currently our bubbly. The flute both displays and preserves champagne bubbles, and makes it easier to drink.
Many champagne lovers say the 'tulip' is the true way to enjoy the beverage. The glass is tall, but curves outward to within a couple inches from the mouth, then curves inward to the mouth. This design allows a little more space for swirling, and focuses the aromatics.
The coupe eventually gave way to the 'flute', the tall, narrow glasses out of which most of us currently our bubbly. The flute both displays and preserves champagne bubbles, and makes it easier to drink.
Many champagne lovers say the 'tulip' is the true way to enjoy the beverage. The glass is tall, but curves outward to within a couple inches from the mouth, then curves inward to the mouth. This design allows a little more space for swirling, and focuses the aromatics.
Fatfingers
Smaller and smaller keyboards have caused many
to mistype words. This is commonly called fat fingering the
keyboard. Now there is a site that can help, Fatfingers. The main
purpose of Fatfingers is to help people find items on Ebay that have
not sold, because the owner mistyped the word. Fun to try. I typed
in bicycle and found 1,643 results. LINK
Wordology, Schmoo
The origin of the word comes from Al Capp
and his cartoon Lil Abner. A Shmoo is a cuddly creature that desires
nothing more than to be a boon to mankind.
Shmoos are the world's most amiable creatures, supplying all man's needs. However, they reproduce so prodigiously they threaten to wreck the economy.
They require no sustenance other than air, have no bones, and reproduce asexually and prolifically. Shmoon (plural) are delicious to eat, are eager to be eaten, and taste like chicken. Nogoodniks are anti-Shmoo. They are Shmoo-shaped, but colored sickly green with yellow teeth, red eyes, and often had five-o’clock shadow, chomp stogies, and devour their friendly Shmoo cousins.
Since then, the word schmoo now has taken on other meanings. In socioeconomics, a shmoo refers to any generic kind of good that reproduces itself.
In microbiology, the cellular bulge produced by a haploid yeast cell towards a cell of the opposite mating type during the mating of yeast is referred to as a shmoo, due to its structural resemblance to the cartoon character.
In the field of particle physics, shmoo refers to a high energy survey instrument. Over one hundred white shmoo detectors were at one time sprinkled around the accelerator beamstop area and adjacent mesa to capture subatomic cosmic ray particles emitted from the Cygnus constellation. The detectors housed scintillators and photomultipliers in an array that gave the detector its distinctive shmoo shape.
In electrical engineering, a shmoo plot is the technical term used for the graphic pattern of test circuits. The term 'to shmoo means to run the test. Incidentally, there is no relationship between schmoo and schmooze.
Shmoos are the world's most amiable creatures, supplying all man's needs. However, they reproduce so prodigiously they threaten to wreck the economy.
They require no sustenance other than air, have no bones, and reproduce asexually and prolifically. Shmoon (plural) are delicious to eat, are eager to be eaten, and taste like chicken. Nogoodniks are anti-Shmoo. They are Shmoo-shaped, but colored sickly green with yellow teeth, red eyes, and often had five-o’clock shadow, chomp stogies, and devour their friendly Shmoo cousins.
Since then, the word schmoo now has taken on other meanings. In socioeconomics, a shmoo refers to any generic kind of good that reproduces itself.
In microbiology, the cellular bulge produced by a haploid yeast cell towards a cell of the opposite mating type during the mating of yeast is referred to as a shmoo, due to its structural resemblance to the cartoon character.
In the field of particle physics, shmoo refers to a high energy survey instrument. Over one hundred white shmoo detectors were at one time sprinkled around the accelerator beamstop area and adjacent mesa to capture subatomic cosmic ray particles emitted from the Cygnus constellation. The detectors housed scintillators and photomultipliers in an array that gave the detector its distinctive shmoo shape.
In electrical engineering, a shmoo plot is the technical term used for the graphic pattern of test circuits. The term 'to shmoo means to run the test. Incidentally, there is no relationship between schmoo and schmooze.
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