It is a
semiprecious stone and is the traditional birthstone for
February. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/amethyst
1250-1300; Latin amethystus, Greek améthystos not intoxicating, not
intoxicated (so called from a belief that it prevented
drunkenness)
The ancient Greeks wore amethyst and made drinking vessels
decorated with it in the belief that it would prevent
intoxication. It is one of several forms of quartz.
A
collection of noses is a Nasothek.
Classical statues tend to lose their noses, and
during the 19th century museums would commonly replace them with
“restoration” noses, to preserve the appearance of the original
sculpture.
During the 20th century some museums changed
philosophies and “de-restored” their collections, thinking it
better to present each piece in its authentic state. This
created a excess of noses, and some museums collect these into
displays of their own. I make no claims about which one
might resemble mine.
Incidentally, Gutzon Borglum, who also sculpted Mount
Rushmore, sculpted the Capitol bust of Abraham Lincoln - with
just one ear. He believed that the dualities of Lincoln’s
personality (hard as rock, soft as velvet) were reflected in
the opposite sides of his face, with the right strong and
masculine, the left soft and feminine. Borglum said of
Lincoln’s face, “You see half-smile, half-sadness; half anger,
half-forgiveness; half-determination, half-pause; a mixture of
expression that drew accurately the middle course he would
follow.” If you look at the left side, you do not see an ear.
Borglum explained that he purposely omitted the ear because he
wished attention to be drawn to the stronger right side of the
face.
From noses to ears to phones.
Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed a mechanism that,
when triggered, can destroy a Smartphone or other electronic
device. The self-destruct mechanism consists of a polymer layer
that rapidly expands when subjected to temperatures above 80
degrees Celsius, effectively bursting the phone open from the
inside. The mechanism can be adapted to be triggered in various
ways, including remotely through a Smartphone app or when it is
subjected to pressure.
Once triggered, power from the device's battery is directed to
electrodes that rapidly heat, causing the polymer layer to
expand to about seven times its original size within 10-15
seconds. This crushes the vital components inside the device,
destroying any stored information.
One engineer believes the phone will see adoption in the
intelligence and financial communities first, though it can also
be retrofitted to existing phones for about $15.
This is the time of year there are many
bugs going around to make us miserable. Worse yet, some come
back during the same season. In
general, flu symptoms tend to be more severe than cold
symptoms, but do not last as long. Here are a few ways
to tell whether you have a cold or the flu.
- Symptoms of a cold
usually come on gradually, but symptoms of the flu can
appear suddenly.
- Symptoms such as
sneezing, stuffy nose, and sore throat are more common with
colds than with the flu.
- People with the
flu usually develop a fever, but people with colds rarely
do.
- The flu often
causes body aches and headaches, which can be severe. If you
have a cold, aches are usually mild.
- The flu can cause
serious complications, such as pneumonia or bacterial
infections, but such compilations are rare with colds.
- You can get a
seasonal flu vaccine to reduce the severity of flu each
year, but there is no vaccine to protect from the common
cold.
- Washing your hands
frequently can help prevent either cold or flu.
There is no cure for the
common cold, but relief includes: stay hydrated, get rest,
soothe a sore throat, combat stuffiness, relieve pain. etc. All
are common sense, and should help you feel better for the week
or two it takes to shake that nasty cold. Antibiotics attack
bacteria, but they are no help against cold viruses.
Antiviral medications do not cure, but can help alleviate some
of flu symptoms, and many of the remedies for cold apply to the
flu as well, including taking medicine for headaches. Flu
symptoms usually are gone in a short time and do not linger as a
cold does.
Regardless of whether you have a cold or the flu, the illness
will usually go away on its own, but you should visit your
doctor if your symptoms change or get worse. If you get
either a cold or flu, please stay home and do not share.
Laughter is like a
push-up bra for your personality.
Now I understand why I like laughter so much, especially on a
Happy Friday!
If you
have a 4th generation Apple TV box and want to reduce the loud
sounds to equalize volume during some parts of shows, press the
microphone on your Apple remote and say to Siri, "Reduce loud
sounds." It will change the internal settings until you change
it again.
Since the
last time I wrote about TVs some new acronyms have popped up. If
you are buying a TV for the future these are important, but if
you are buying a TV for short term, (the next few years) almost
all of these are not important. The reason they are not
important is because almost no one is broadcasting to take
advantage of 4K, HDR-10, (Dolby), except some Netflix and Bluray
DVDs.
Smart TV - These sets are good to have now and the
majority of new TVs are smart TVs. They allow access to the
internet from your home WiFi and provide access to Netflix,
YouTube, Hulu, and more without the need for a separate box. Many Smart TVs give you a full web browser,
so you can use a search engine or visit websites. Some let you
play interactive online games.
4K UHD - these ultra-high-definition televisions offer
four times the resolution of a standard 1080p HDTV. Instead of a
screen that has about 2 million pixels, these televisions show
about 8 million pixels.
HDR-10, Dolby Vision - I lump these two, High Dynamic
Range and Dolby10 together, because they are competing
technologies, kind of like the old Betamax / VHS argument. Some
manufactures are using one vs. the other and some have both. HDR
is currently winning, because it is open source while
manufacturers must pay royalties to Dolby for its technology.
Many advertisements refer to them simply as Dolby and HDR.
The first of the two
major differences between Dolby Vision and HDR-10 is that Dolby
uses 12 bits per color (red, green, and blue), where HDR-10 uses
10 bits per color. The second, Dolby Vision uses dynamic, or
continuous metadata so that color and brightness levels can be
adjusted per scene, or even frame-by-frame basis. HDR-10 uses
static metadata that is sent only once at the beginning of the
video. Both reproduce a wider range of brightness levels, higher
contrast ratio, and richer colors. Contrast ratio is the
measurement of the difference in brightness between the whitest
white and the darkest black. When seen side by side with non-HDR
content, HDR-enhanced video is incredibly bright and with
vibrant colors. Samples show a very positive marked difference.
Some TVs use OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)
screens for a superior image and other benefits. Televisions
packed with organic light-emitting diodes are incredibly thin,
because each pixel is its own light source, so backlighting is
not required. These televisions are more energy efficient than
other TV panel types. Some LG TVs are as thin as four credit
cards. Quantum
dot or QLED TVs can match the contrast ratio of OLED.
Quantum dots are microscopic dots about a fraction of the width
of a human hair.Samsung uses the term Quantum Dot.
Bottom line, you can
get 4K UHD, HDR (Dolby), OLED on one TV. Every 4K is UHD by
definition. Almost all TVs are LED, but very few are OLED or
Quantum dot. Most TVs are now Smart TVs.
Incidentally, DolbyVision is for pictures and Dolby Atmos is
for sound.
In the
winter of 1949, BB King played at a dance hall in Twist,
Arkansas. The hall was heated by a barrel half-filled with
burning kerosene, a fairly common practice at the time. During a
performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the barrel
and sending burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into
flames, and the building was evacuated.
Once outside, King
realized that he had left his guitar inside so he went back into
the burning building to retrieve his beloved $30 Gibson guitar.
King learned the next day that the two men that started the fire
had been fighting over a woman who worked at the hall named
Lucille. King named that guitar, and every guitar he
subsequently owned, Lucille, as a reminder never again to do
something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over
a woman.
“Like a
welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the
earth, the air and you." ~ Langston Hughes
For those of you who may wish to get an antenna and ditch cable,
check the TV you have and the next one you buy. Some
manufacturers have begun to eliminate the tuner in order to save
costs.
A TV tuner is a device
that converts digital over-the-air channels for viewing on
compatible displays and TVs. If you get a TV without a tuner,
you will need some kind of converter box, such as an HDTV
Digital TV Converter box with HDMI output. You can also get a
DVR that will turn an antenna into HDMI cable. This way not only
do you get OTA but a DVR to record your shows.
External TV tuners cost
from fifteen US dollars up to multiple hundreds of dollars and
can be as small as a USB stick up to the size of a cigar box.
You can also buy a TV tuner card for a PC and turn it into a
television.
The natural tendency to see faces in objects or patterns.
It is the
psychological phenomenon that causes some people to see or hear
a vague or random image or sound as something significant.
Pronounced par-i-DOH-lee-a.
If happiness lives in
your soul, a smile will adorn your face.
My soul keeps me
smiling, especially on a Happy Friday!
Saturday,
February 4 is World Cancer Day 2017. The day is celebrated to
raise awareness of all types of cancer and to encourage the
prevention and treatment of cancer. The idea is to become aware
and push for actions that will reduce premature deaths, improve
quality of life, and increase cancer survival rates. More info
here http://www.worldcancerday.org/faq
On February 6 National Lame Duck Day recognizes the
ratification of the 20th Amendment on February 6, 1933 to the
United States Constitution, or the Lame Duck Amendment.
The term 'lame duck'
originated as a description of stock brokers in 1700s England
who could not pay off their debts. The term later carried over
to businessmen who, while known to be bankrupt, would continue
to do business.
The official record of
the United States Congress of January 14, 1863 read, "In no
event ... could [the Court of Claims] be justly obnoxious to the
charge of being a receptacle of 'lame ducks' or broken down
politicians." In politics a lame duck is a person currently
holding a political office who has either: lost a re-election
bid, chose not to seek another term, was prevented from running
for re-election due to a term limit, or the office held has been
eliminated.
Prior to the
ratification of the 20th Amendment to the United States
Constitution there was, for Congress a 13 month delay between
election day and the day the newly elected officials took
office. In the case of a lame duck, this was a 13 month notice
his or her job was terminating, crippling his or her influence.
Hence the lame or injured duck. The 20th Amendment shortened this period from
13 months to 2 months and changed the dates for the beginning of the new
Congress to January 3 and when the newly elected president took
office from March 4th to January 20th.
During a lame duck
session, members of Congress are no longer accountable to their
constituents. It is possible for their focus to switch to more
personal gain instead of acting on behalf of their constituents
with an eye toward re-election. Lame duck Congresses have
declared war, impeached a president, censured a senator, and
passed the Homeland Security Act among other actions. Lame duck
Presidents have pardoned many criminals, issued executive
orders, confiscated land to create national parks, declared
areas to be newly opened or newly restricted from drilling for
oil, created additional federal judges, executive clemency for
family members, and more.
Jimmy Carter's
administration published more than 10,000 pages of new rules
between Election Day and Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Day. When
President George W. Bush took office in 2001, his administration
acted to block the implementation of 90 final rules that were
issued in the final months of the Clinton administration, but
that had not yet gone into effect.
Incidentally, unlike
the United States Congress, there is no 'lame duck session of
Parliament in most Commonwealth countries between the general
election and swearing in of elected officials.
