Oct 16, 2015

Staying Young

It does not need to take a lot of effort. John Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatric medicine at Saint Louis University outlines a ten step program to improve quality of life as we age.

He suggests little changes that involve good eating, such as including dark chocolate in your diet, drinking wine, socializing, adding simple exercises, fidgeting in your office chair to burn calories, spending time walking from your car to the store rather than driving to find a close parking space, working in your garden, walking up stairs instead of using the elevator, or going dancing once a week. I can fidget, plus adding wine, chocolate, and dancing, how can this be bad.

Free Friday Smile

What's more fun than a wheelbarrow full of monkeys.

Oct 9, 2015

Happy Friday

Happiness is not infinite, but can be infinitely shared.

I always share my happiness infinitely while having a Happy Friday!

Happy Birthday Confucius

“What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” Confucius formulated the Golden Rule 2,500 years ago. This year we celebrate his birthday 9 October 2015 (Eighth Moon, Day 27).

Confucius is one of the most influential of China’s philosophers. He left a world-famous legacy of teachings and ethical principles that stress self-enlightenment through the Five Virtues of charity, justice, propriety, wisdom, and loyalty. His teachings, emphasizing proper behavior and loyalty to friends and family, shaped Chinese culture and continue to influence Japan, Korea, Vietnam and more to this day.

International Day for Failure

October 13th is International Day for Failure. A holiday intended for people to share stories of failure and learn from them. The goal of the people organizing the event is to have it be an internationally-recognized holiday by 2020. Without the possibility of failure there is no success, they go hand-in-hand. On this day you can admit some stupidity, error estimation, awkward moments, and other fails to the world. Facebook has a page dedicated to it.

The holiday was created in Finland in 2010. In 2012 it expanded to over 17 different countries. You can share your failures at this LINK   It will be interesting to see if their failure campaign will be a success.

More October Holidays

On October 12 we celebrate Columbus Day and Canadian Thanksgiving day. Of course they have nothing to do with each other, just coincidence this year.

Nine Gartner Technology Predictions

Gartner has released its technology predictions for the year.

By 2018, twenty percent of all business content, one in five of the documents you read, will be authored by a machine. "Robowriters" are already producing budget reports, sports, and business reports, and this trend is sneaking in without notice.

By 2018, six billion connected things will be requesting support. These non-human “things” are customers requesting services and data, and other methods of support.

By 2020, autonomous software agents outside of human control will participate in 5% of all economic transactions. Smart algorithms are already beginning to perform transactions without human help.

By 2018, more than three million workers globally will be supervised by a roboboss. "The problem with this is that robot bosses don't have human reactions," it said. "The reality is we have to see if robots can get human mannerisms right."

By 2018, twenty percent of smart buildings will have experienced digital vandalism. As buildings, both commercial and residential, get smarter and more connected, there is greater potential that these buildings can be attacked. We need to develop a way to detect and correct these intrusions.

By 2018, fifty percent of the fastest-growing companies will have less smart employees and more smart machines. Smart systems will be analyzing how a factory is being run, or deciding whether people are completing a task at an appropriate speed.

By 2018, digital assistants will recognize individuals by face and voice. Passwords are unworkable and good ones are hard to memorize. Biometrics have been around for a long time, but will get stronger.

By 2018, two million employees will be required to wear health and fitness tracking devices as a condition of employment. One benefit is that insurance costs may be lower for those companies with healthy employees. The use of such devices also raises significant issues about whether an employee keeps a job based on fitness level.

By 2020, smart agents will facilitate forty percent of mobile interactions. This is based on the belief that the world is moving to a post-app era, where assistants such as Cortana, Siri, and Google Now act as a type of universal interface.

Water on Mars

Came across one of my old blog posts from way back in February 2009. It is a picture of water on Mars. How prescient I must have been.

Happy Emergency Nurses Day

On October 14, 2015 we celebrate Emergency Nurses. Each year on the second Wednesday in October we take this day to say “thank you” to the emergency room nurses for their hard work, dedication, service, and commitment to their patients and families and their loyalty to the emergency nursing profession. National Emergency Nurses Day is part of Emergency Nurses Week. To all ED nurses, thank you and we hope you have a great day.

Shower Power

Easy way to remember benefits of showering, in addition to getting clean.

Selfie Mania

Taking selfies has killed more people so far during 2015 than shark attacks (12 to 8). The majority have actually been tourists trying to take pictures of themselves in unfamiliar places. There has also been a noticeable increased incidence of pedestrian accidents due to people looking down at their phone screens while attempting to walk. I presume there is some overlap with those who also had difficulty walking while chewing gum.

Condom Facts

For most of their history, condoms have been used both as a method of birth control, and as a protective measure against sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms have been made from a variety of materials. Prior to the 19th century, chemically treated linen and animal intestine or bladder were used. The oldest condoms ever excavated were found in a cesspit located in the grounds of Dudley Castle and were made from animal membrane, the condoms dated back to as early as 1640s. Condoms during the Renaissance were made out of intestines and bladder. Cleaned and prepared intestine for use in glove making had been sold commercially since at least the 13th century.

The story of the Earl of Condom, a knighted personal physician to England’s King Charles II in the mid-1600’s, who was requested to produce a method to protect the King from syphilis is completely false.

Oct 2, 2015

Happy Friday

Contentment may be the bread, but happiness is the wine of life.

I love to break bread, pour happiness, and share with friends on a Happy Friday!

World Smile Day

Today, October 2, 2015 we celebrate World Smile Day. It is always celebrated on the first Friday in October. Show the world a big smile and use #WorldSmileDay to post on social media.

The idea of World Smile Day was initiated by Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts. He created the Smiley Face in 1963. The World’s first World Smile Day was held in the year 1999 and has been held annually since.


After Harvey died in 2001, the “Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation” was created to honor his name and memory. The slogan of the Smile Foundation is “improving this world, one smile at a time.” The Foundation continues as the official sponsor of World Smile Day each year. Likely no coincidence this year it happens on a Happy Friday. Harvey wants us to have a ball.