Mar 10, 2017
Forth Bridge
During March 1890, the Forth railway bridge, connecting Edinburgh to Fife over the Firth of Forth, opened, becoming an internationally recognized Scottish landmark. So, the tongue twisting Forth bridge over the Firth of Forth connects to Fife.
Newts and Salamanders
Newt and salamander are often used interchangeably, but there are subtle distinctions between the two. Newts are a type of salamander, belonging to a subfamily called Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae. Both are able to regenerate nearly all parts of the body, such as limbs, tail, eyes, intestines, heart, and spinal cord.
Newts have three metamorphoses throughout their life, an aquatic larva, a terrestrial juvenile stage called an eft, and an adult stage. As adults, newts live a semi-aquatic to aquatic life. Most newts have webbed feet and a paddle-like tail, which make it easier to live in the water. Newts usually have rougher skin than salamanders. During the breeding season, they develop a flat tail.
Adult salamanders live a mostly terrestrial life except when breeding and laying eggs. A salamander is pregnant for only a few days. Salamanders typically have longer and more rounded tails with well-developed toes for digging in soil. Salamanders have smooth, wet skin like a frog. There are over 600 different species of salamanders.
All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts, just like a toad is a frog, but all frogs are not toads.
Newts have three metamorphoses throughout their life, an aquatic larva, a terrestrial juvenile stage called an eft, and an adult stage. As adults, newts live a semi-aquatic to aquatic life. Most newts have webbed feet and a paddle-like tail, which make it easier to live in the water. Newts usually have rougher skin than salamanders. During the breeding season, they develop a flat tail.
Adult salamanders live a mostly terrestrial life except when breeding and laying eggs. A salamander is pregnant for only a few days. Salamanders typically have longer and more rounded tails with well-developed toes for digging in soil. Salamanders have smooth, wet skin like a frog. There are over 600 different species of salamanders.
All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts, just like a toad is a frog, but all frogs are not toads.
Picture-in-Picture Redo
Microsoft Windows 10 is coming out with a new update soon. It has a feature called Compact Overlay window. You can keep watching a movie or video chat on one corner of your screen, even when switching apps to check email or browse the web.
The compact overlay mode will be shown above other windows so it will not get blocked. Another way to be unproductive by watching and listening to YouTube videos or Skypeing while trying to get something accomplished.
The compact overlay mode will be shown above other windows so it will not get blocked. Another way to be unproductive by watching and listening to YouTube videos or Skypeing while trying to get something accomplished.
Mar 3, 2017
Happy Friday
A smile is the seed of
blooming happiness.
It is always blooming happiness for me, especially on a Happy Friday!
It is always blooming happiness for me, especially on a Happy Friday!
Happy National I Want You to be Happy Day
Today, March 3. This day was created
as a day encouraging us to do something to make others happy.
Putting a smile on someone’s face tends to put one on yours, too.
How appropriate that it falls on a Happy Friday this year.
IHOP National Pancake Day
Unlike the worldwide pancake
day we celebrated this week, IHOP has its own. It began as a
charitable event during 2006. Head over to IHOP on Tuesday March 7
for a free short stack of pancakes. IHOP encourages a donation for
its charities supporting children battling critical illnesses.
Statue of Liberty Fact
Statue of liberty seven spikes represent
the seven oceans and seven continents.
Grass Art
Some
things are as boring as watching grass grow. These artists take
that idea to a whole new level. Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey
make photographs using grass. They call it Chlorophyll
Apparitions.
When grass is grown from seed on a vertical surface, it can record complex images much as photographic film does: Each germinating blade produces chlorophyll in proportion to the light that reaches it. Stronger light produces greener grass, and blades deprived of light grow, but produce no chlorophyll, leaving them yellow. “In a sense we have adapted the photographic art of producing pictures on a sensitive film to the light sensitivity of emergent blades of young grass.”
They shine negatives of a picture through a projector to produce a light onto a canvas that has been coated with a growing medium and real grass seeds. If you are interested in more of the process, here is a LINK
When grass is grown from seed on a vertical surface, it can record complex images much as photographic film does: Each germinating blade produces chlorophyll in proportion to the light that reaches it. Stronger light produces greener grass, and blades deprived of light grow, but produce no chlorophyll, leaving them yellow. “In a sense we have adapted the photographic art of producing pictures on a sensitive film to the light sensitivity of emergent blades of young grass.”
They shine negatives of a picture through a projector to produce a light onto a canvas that has been coated with a growing medium and real grass seeds. If you are interested in more of the process, here is a LINK
Seven More Peanut Butter Facts
Peanut butter more or less as we know it today was popularized at the 1893 World Fair. In the early 1900s, peanut butter made frequent appearances in tea rooms across the nation where it was billed as a dish for rich people. Back then, it was paired with items, such as cucumbers, cheese, celery, and crackers. At that point, peanut butter was still considered a “high end” food and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were not a commonly eaten food item.
Peanut butter spread to the masses during the 1920s and 1930s, shortly after pre-sliced bread came into existence. At that time commercial brands Skippy and Peter Pan began.
With the Great Depression, peanut butter on bread became a staple in many American households, because it provided a hearty, filling meal with a cheaper-than-meat substitute for protein.
During WWII the peanut butter and jelly sandwich became a popular meal among United States soldiers. When soldiers arrived home from the war, peanut butter and jelly sales skyrocketed.
The PB&J is a bigger hit in the United States than in most other countries.
The average American will eat around 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time they turn 18.
Incidentally, peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes (a type of plant with seeds that grow inside pods like peas or beans). Nuts are grown on trees, peanuts grow underground. March is National Peanut Month.
Peanut butter spread to the masses during the 1920s and 1930s, shortly after pre-sliced bread came into existence. At that time commercial brands Skippy and Peter Pan began.
With the Great Depression, peanut butter on bread became a staple in many American households, because it provided a hearty, filling meal with a cheaper-than-meat substitute for protein.
During WWII the peanut butter and jelly sandwich became a popular meal among United States soldiers. When soldiers arrived home from the war, peanut butter and jelly sales skyrocketed.
The PB&J is a bigger hit in the United States than in most other countries.
The average American will eat around 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by the time they turn 18.
Incidentally, peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes (a type of plant with seeds that grow inside pods like peas or beans). Nuts are grown on trees, peanuts grow underground. March is National Peanut Month.
Nutella
Many
people use Nutella as an alternative to peanut butter. Its main
ingredient is sugar, followed by palm oil, then hazelnuts. The label says that jars contain "over 50
hazelnuts per 13 oz. jar."
It is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero that was first introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1946. It was originally sold as a solid block, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version during 1951. Its composition was again modified and it was renamed Nutella in 1964.
Ads highlight the fact that Nutella has no artificial colors or preservatives and it contains, sugar, modified palm oil, and hazelnut, followed by cocoa solids, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin flavor. In the US, it also contains soy products.
According to its nutritional label, Nutella contains 58% of processed sugar by weight and 10.4 percent of saturated fat. A two-tablespoon (37 gram) serving of Nutella contains 200 calories including 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5g of which are saturated) and 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. The spread also contains 15 mg of sodium and 2g of protein per serving.
Incidentally, Nutella is marketed as "hazelnut cream" in many countries.
It is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero that was first introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1946. It was originally sold as a solid block, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version during 1951. Its composition was again modified and it was renamed Nutella in 1964.
Ads highlight the fact that Nutella has no artificial colors or preservatives and it contains, sugar, modified palm oil, and hazelnut, followed by cocoa solids, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, lecithin, and vanillin flavor. In the US, it also contains soy products.
According to its nutritional label, Nutella contains 58% of processed sugar by weight and 10.4 percent of saturated fat. A two-tablespoon (37 gram) serving of Nutella contains 200 calories including 99 calories from 11 grams of fat (3.5g of which are saturated) and 80 calories from 21 grams of sugar. The spread also contains 15 mg of sodium and 2g of protein per serving.
Incidentally, Nutella is marketed as "hazelnut cream" in many countries.
Ms. Pearl the Squirrel
Speaking of nuts, outside of Austin, Texas, off
of an uneventful stretch of Highway 71, sits a U-turn worthy
site for the squirrel worshiper in us all.
Standing at 14 feet tall, Ms. Pearl beckons passersby from the highway to have their picture taken with her. If you are wondering why she is clutching a pecan, it probably has something to do with the nearby Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Company, a family-owned business that includes a gift shop, a pecan orchard, and an adorable squirrel statue.
It was constructed in 2011 by Berdoll, Ms. Pearl received her name from a customer as part of a contest. In 2015, the statue received a facelift. She is available 24 hours a day and while the nearby gift shop has regular business hours, there is a vending machine outside the shop with fresh, full-sized pecan pies replenished daily for late night snacking.
Standing at 14 feet tall, Ms. Pearl beckons passersby from the highway to have their picture taken with her. If you are wondering why she is clutching a pecan, it probably has something to do with the nearby Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Company, a family-owned business that includes a gift shop, a pecan orchard, and an adorable squirrel statue.
It was constructed in 2011 by Berdoll, Ms. Pearl received her name from a customer as part of a contest. In 2015, the statue received a facelift. She is available 24 hours a day and while the nearby gift shop has regular business hours, there is a vending machine outside the shop with fresh, full-sized pecan pies replenished daily for late night snacking.
Feb 24, 2017
Happy Friday
“The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions,
not our circumstances.” ~ Martha Washington
I always keep a happy disposition, especially on a Happy Friday!
I always keep a happy disposition, especially on a Happy Friday!
Pancake Day
Pancake Day is celebrated primarily in the UK, Ireland, Canada,
and Australia. It is also known as Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day is
the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. Ash
Wednesday is March 1, 2017.
Pancake Day was originally a pagan celebration of the changing of seasons, a sort of recognition of the maddening battle this time of year between very cold and beginnings of Spring. Pancakes, in their roundness and warmth, symbolized the sun.
Incidentally, a Bristol-based design firm called Kinneir Dufort has come up with a 3-D printing machine that uses facial recognition technology to print your likeness on a pancake. The system utilizes both the high-tech and the low-tech to mirror your face, combining complex face-recognition and tracking software with the practice of layering strokes of pancake batter onto a hot plate to result in color gradation caused by the varied cooking times of different parts.
Pancake Day was originally a pagan celebration of the changing of seasons, a sort of recognition of the maddening battle this time of year between very cold and beginnings of Spring. Pancakes, in their roundness and warmth, symbolized the sun.
Incidentally, a Bristol-based design firm called Kinneir Dufort has come up with a 3-D printing machine that uses facial recognition technology to print your likeness on a pancake. The system utilizes both the high-tech and the low-tech to mirror your face, combining complex face-recognition and tracking software with the practice of layering strokes of pancake batter onto a hot plate to result in color gradation caused by the varied cooking times of different parts.
Snow White
One of the most famous fables,
variations of Snow White appear in more than 400 versions of
fairy tales around the world. The most well-known version is
actually called “ Snowdrop” and comes from Grimms’ Children’s
and Household Tales . It was later tweaked into a more familiar
format by the folklorist Andrew Lang and eventually adapted by
Walt Disney.
In this version, the queen wished for a child and a baby girl was born; her hair was as dark as ebony and her skin was so fair and pure that her mother named her Snow White. After the queen died, her father married a woman who was vain and wicked, who would stand in front of a magic mirror asking who was the fairest woman in the land. The mirror always replied “My Queen, you are the fairest one of all”, until one day an answer came that threw her into a rage – Snow White was now the fairest woman in all the land.
Snow White’s step-mother, furious at what the mirror had told her, ordered a huntsman to take her into the forest and kill her, taking the girl’s heart as a proof. The huntsman felt sympathy for Snow White and let her free, bringing the Evil Queen a deer’s heart instead. Snow White came upon a small cottage and, feeling exhausted, collapsed into one of the beds and fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke, seven dwarfs were looking down upon her. They told Snow White she could stay with them as long as she cleaned and cooked.
Snow White and the dwarfs lived in contentment, until one day when the magic mirror told the Queen that Snow White was alive and was still the fairest of them all. The Queen disguised herself as an old woman and presented Snow White with a poisoned apple. After taking a bite of the apple, Snow White fell unconscious. The dwarfs, assuming she was dead, built a glass coffin and placed her inside.
In the animated movie, the prince convinced the dwarfs to let him give her one last kiss - that became the most popular version. She awakened and the prince declared his love for her. They were married, and as all fairy tales go, they lived happily ever after.
Other versions include, "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree” - “Maria, the Wicked Stepmother, and the Seven Robbers” - ”Snow-White and Rose-Red“ and "The Young Slave."
Incidentally, Disney announced a live-action feature retelling Snow White’s tale from her sister’s perspective, Rose Red.
In this version, the queen wished for a child and a baby girl was born; her hair was as dark as ebony and her skin was so fair and pure that her mother named her Snow White. After the queen died, her father married a woman who was vain and wicked, who would stand in front of a magic mirror asking who was the fairest woman in the land. The mirror always replied “My Queen, you are the fairest one of all”, until one day an answer came that threw her into a rage – Snow White was now the fairest woman in all the land.
Snow White’s step-mother, furious at what the mirror had told her, ordered a huntsman to take her into the forest and kill her, taking the girl’s heart as a proof. The huntsman felt sympathy for Snow White and let her free, bringing the Evil Queen a deer’s heart instead. Snow White came upon a small cottage and, feeling exhausted, collapsed into one of the beds and fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke, seven dwarfs were looking down upon her. They told Snow White she could stay with them as long as she cleaned and cooked.
Snow White and the dwarfs lived in contentment, until one day when the magic mirror told the Queen that Snow White was alive and was still the fairest of them all. The Queen disguised herself as an old woman and presented Snow White with a poisoned apple. After taking a bite of the apple, Snow White fell unconscious. The dwarfs, assuming she was dead, built a glass coffin and placed her inside.
In the animated movie, the prince convinced the dwarfs to let him give her one last kiss - that became the most popular version. She awakened and the prince declared his love for her. They were married, and as all fairy tales go, they lived happily ever after.
Other versions include, "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree” - “Maria, the Wicked Stepmother, and the Seven Robbers” - ”Snow-White and Rose-Red“ and "The Young Slave."
Incidentally, Disney announced a live-action feature retelling Snow White’s tale from her sister’s perspective, Rose Red.
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