Care by the Numbers

Medicaid and Medicare are similar programs that are publicly run. They cover 62 million and 43 million Americans, respectively. They each use their large membership to negotiate lower prices with hospitals and doctors. Medicaid tends to have the lowest payment rates. On average, Medicaid pays 66 percent of what Medicare pays doctors.

Incidentally, US Census Bureau as of 2015 shows population of about 318 million Americans, including 23 million non-citizens.

Origins of Golf Terms

The website ScottishGolfHistory.org cites a golf glossary published in 1857 that included the word fore. Historians at the British Golf Museum have surmised that the term 'fore', as a warning in golf, evolved from forecaddie. A forecaddie is a person who accompanies a grouping of golfers around the golf course, going forward on each hole to be in a position to pinpoint the locations of the group members' shots.

Mary Queen of Scots was likely the first woman to play golf. It was during her reign that the famous golf course at St. Andrews was built, in 1552. Mary coined the term caddie by calling her assistants cadets. Of course, le cadet is French for youngster of the family. Some argue French military 'cadets' carried clubs for golfing royalty and this practice came to Scotland when Queen Mary Stuart returned in 1561.

One of the most common misconceptions is that the word GOLF is an acronym for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. The first documented mention of the word 'golf' is in Edinburgh on 6th March 1457, when King James II banned 'ye golf', in an attempt to encourage archery practice, which was being neglected. During 1460, Sir Gilbert Hay translated an old French poem into the Scottish language. It uses the word 'golf' twice. "Therefore I am sending you a ball to play with and a 'golf staff' to hit it with, as children do round the streets."

Also, according to Grammarist the most correct spelling is caddie (an attendant who carries the golf clubs for a player), not caddy (a can for storing tea). Although the word caddy is currently loosely accepted for caddie

Joys of Golf

Here is a fun quickie of someone who adds insult to injury while taking a shot and losing a wedge. LINK

Pounds and Ounces

These words must seem weird to those who follow the metric system, so a bit of history might help explain. The Latin word Libra is abbreviated to 'lb'. Libra is widely known as the astrological sign for balance, but it was also part of the Roman unit of weight, libra pond, which translates to “pound weight." Britain derived pound from that expression as its unit of measurement and also as a term for its currency because centuries ago, a pound in money was considered equal to the value of a pound of silver.

Ounces - The Spanish ounce (Onza) was 1⁄16 of a pound. It is a unit of mass used in most British systems of measurement. It is most pervasive in the retail sale of groceries in the United States, but is also used in many other matters of domestic and international trade between imperial or customary measurement driven countries.

Organic Food

Multi-ingredient agricultural products in the US “Made with organic” category must contain at least 70 percent certified organic ingredients (not including salt or water). These products may contain up to 30 percent of allowed non-organic ingredients. All ingredients – including the 30 percent non-organic ingredients – must be produced without GMOs.

Ten Interesting Tidbits of Knowledge

The word ‘ushers’ contains five pronouns: us, she, he, her and hers.

By the time a glass of champagne goes flat, two million bubbles will have popped.

People suffering from superior canal dehiscence syndrome can hear their own eyeballs moving.

A Gongoozler is a person who stares for a long time at things happening on a canal.

Britons eat 97% of the world’s baked beans.

By the time they leave high school American children will have eaten 1,500 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.

American bullfrogs’ eyes have special retinas. The top half sees in daylight, the bottom sees into the water in infrared.

The act of snapping one's fingers is called a fillip.

Tyler, Texas, USA contains the world's largest rose garden: 22 acres with over 38,000 rose bushes and more than 500 varieties of rose.

The 2004 tsunami shifted the location of the geographic South Pole by a few centimeters.

Happy Friday

"Happiness is a state of mind, and depends very little on outward circumstances." ~ Helen Keller

I always have a Happy state of mind, especially on a Happy Friday!

National Donut Day

It is celebrated on the first Friday in June. That sweet, doughy goodness that has a day set aside holey in its honor. Go out for some freebies from your favorite donut shop today.


Incidentally, the name was originally hyphenated, as in "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly koeks(oily cakes): a delicious kind of cake made by Dutch families.” When  phonetic-based spelling reform came along, it was changed to donut, which was popularized by Dunkin' Donuts and has become the more popular spelling.

Gandhi Tale

This interesting bit of fiction takes place when Gandhi was studying law at the University College of London, a white professor Peters disliked him. The two had many arguments and confrontations.
Mr. Peters was having lunch at the dining room of the University, and Gandhi came along with his tray and sat next to the professor. The professor said, "Mr. Gandhi, you do not understand. A pig and a bird do not sit together to eat." Gandhi looked at him and calmly replied, "You do not worry professor. I'll fly away," and went to sat at another table.
Mr. Peters decided to take revenge on the next test paper, but Gandhi responded brilliantly to all questions. Mr. Peters asked him the following question. "Mr. Gandhi, if you were walking down the street and found a package, and within was a bag of wisdom and another bag with a lot of money, which one would you take?" Without hesitating, Gandhi responded, "The one with the money, of course."
Mr. Peters said, "I, in your place, would have taken the wisdom, don't you think?"
Gandhi shrugged and responded, "Each one takes what he does not have."
Mr. Peters wrote on Gandhi's exam sheet the word "idiot" and gave it to Gandhi. Gandhi took the exam sheet and sat down at his desk trying to remain calm while he contemplated his next move.

A few minutes later, Gandhi got up, went to the professor and said to him in a dignified, but sarcastically polite tone, "Mr. Peters, you signed the sheet, but you did not give me the grade."