Happiness is a choice.
Always choose to be
happy, especially on a Happy Friday!
Dec 28, 2018
New Year Tradition
Watching 'Dinner for One' is a New Year tradition in much of
Europe. Here is a LINK
from my blog to the perennially favorite comedy (length 14
minutes). Enjoy. Happy New Year!
Cannabis and Big Business
Cannabis is now fully legal in Canada and
rapidly taking over the rest of the world, as soon as
politicians get their acts together. Even though outlets are
limited and the industry is in its nascent stages, big business
is beginning to pour billions in investment to get ahead of the
pack for worldwide dominance. Now that hemp is legal and no
longer controlled by the Controlled Substance Act in the US,
some say it is the crack in the dam and time to look for even
more action and investments. Following are a few recently
announced deals.
AB InBev (Budweiser, Labatt's, Stella Artois, and more) said it is teaming up with Canada's Tilray to research cannabis-infused drinks. Together, they will invest a combined $100 million into researching non-alcoholic drinks containing cannabis elements.
Marlboro owner Altria invested $1.8 billion in cannabis company Cronos. Phillip Morris is also looking for a cannabis partner to invest in.
Constellation brands (Corona and others) invested four billion dollars into Canopy Growth, another Canadian marijuana business.
Heineken launched Hi-Fi Hops, a cannabis-only beverage in a handful of dispensaries in California. The beverage is designed to taste like beer, but does not contain alcohol. Currently, the beverage comes in a ten-milligram version with THC, and a hybrid version with five milligrams of THC and five milligrams of CBD.
Molson Coors Canada announced a joint venture with The Hydropothecary Corporation, a recognized leader in Canadian medical cannabis to develop a line of non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages.
Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis Inc. recently announced a license agreement with Alcanna, Canada’s largest private-sector liquor retailer paying $82.5 million for a 19.9 percent ownership interest in Alcanna, which at the time was called Liquor Stores N.A. Alcanna already begun converting some of its 229 liquor stores into cannabis retail outlets.
Microsoft shook the cannabis industry and much of the business world when it announced that it would be entering the cannabis industry via a partnership to provide seed-to-sale tracking software, a lucrative sector in cannabis.
Jack in the Box fast-food chain teamed up with the Snoop Dogg-backed cannabis media company Merry Jane to offer a limited-time meal for the cheeky price of $4.20. It is available at a handful of locations in Southern California. The meal was more symbolic than it was an actual entry into the cannabis industry. It marked the first time a non-cannabis company the size of Jack in the Box publicly marketed directly to cannabis consumers.
Walmart, Amazon, and Home Depot sell hydroponic equipment, grow lights, and a number of other products that are used for cultivating cannabis. These are essential items for some cannabis growers, but they have other uses too, so the retailers selling them do not necessarily raise eyebrows. They also sell products that are specifically geared towards cannabis cultivation. American Cannabis Company has a distribution agreement with all three retailers. The retailers will distribute such products as SoHum Living Soils – designed for cannabis cultivation.
Incidentally, investing in cannabis stocks is looking like investing in Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others was, before they achieved wildly inflated prices they command today.
AB InBev (Budweiser, Labatt's, Stella Artois, and more) said it is teaming up with Canada's Tilray to research cannabis-infused drinks. Together, they will invest a combined $100 million into researching non-alcoholic drinks containing cannabis elements.
Marlboro owner Altria invested $1.8 billion in cannabis company Cronos. Phillip Morris is also looking for a cannabis partner to invest in.
Constellation brands (Corona and others) invested four billion dollars into Canopy Growth, another Canadian marijuana business.
Heineken launched Hi-Fi Hops, a cannabis-only beverage in a handful of dispensaries in California. The beverage is designed to taste like beer, but does not contain alcohol. Currently, the beverage comes in a ten-milligram version with THC, and a hybrid version with five milligrams of THC and five milligrams of CBD.
Molson Coors Canada announced a joint venture with The Hydropothecary Corporation, a recognized leader in Canadian medical cannabis to develop a line of non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages.
Alberta-based Aurora Cannabis Inc. recently announced a license agreement with Alcanna, Canada’s largest private-sector liquor retailer paying $82.5 million for a 19.9 percent ownership interest in Alcanna, which at the time was called Liquor Stores N.A. Alcanna already begun converting some of its 229 liquor stores into cannabis retail outlets.
Microsoft shook the cannabis industry and much of the business world when it announced that it would be entering the cannabis industry via a partnership to provide seed-to-sale tracking software, a lucrative sector in cannabis.
Jack in the Box fast-food chain teamed up with the Snoop Dogg-backed cannabis media company Merry Jane to offer a limited-time meal for the cheeky price of $4.20. It is available at a handful of locations in Southern California. The meal was more symbolic than it was an actual entry into the cannabis industry. It marked the first time a non-cannabis company the size of Jack in the Box publicly marketed directly to cannabis consumers.
Walmart, Amazon, and Home Depot sell hydroponic equipment, grow lights, and a number of other products that are used for cultivating cannabis. These are essential items for some cannabis growers, but they have other uses too, so the retailers selling them do not necessarily raise eyebrows. They also sell products that are specifically geared towards cannabis cultivation. American Cannabis Company has a distribution agreement with all three retailers. The retailers will distribute such products as SoHum Living Soils – designed for cannabis cultivation.
Incidentally, investing in cannabis stocks is looking like investing in Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others was, before they achieved wildly inflated prices they command today.
Typing Tip
Have you noticed the small ridges toward the bottom of “F” and
“J” keys with almost all keyboards? Your index fingers can
locate them by touch and you are sure you are on the 'home' row
and ready to type without looking.
Epilation vs. Depilation
Both refer to the
processes of unwanted body hair removal. Depilation refers to
hair removal just at the surface and without damaging the
follicles. The procedure does not damage the structure of the
hair. Its effect lasts from a few hours to several days. For
depilation, razors and different hair removal creams are used.
Epilation is the removal of hair entirely, including the part below the skin. It damages hair follicles and the effect lasts from several days to several weeks. Epilation includes waxing, sugaring, lasering, and other salon procedures.
Epilation is the removal of hair entirely, including the part below the skin. It damages hair follicles and the effect lasts from several days to several weeks. Epilation includes waxing, sugaring, lasering, and other salon procedures.
More Google Tips
Either this or that is effective if you are not exactly sure
of the information you are searching. Put in a few potential
variations of what you are looking for, and separate them by
typing the “|“ symbol. You can also use "or". Then it is easy to
choose the result that makes the most sense. For instance,
"Chuck or Tom".
If you need to find websites on a given subject rather than those that include a specific phrase, add the "~" symbol to your search. For example, if you search for the term "healthy ~food" you will get results about the principles of healthy eating, cooking recipes, as well as healthy dining options.
Sometimes you read an interesting article on a website and find yourself subsequently wanting to share it with your friends or simply reread it. The easiest way to find the desired piece of information again is to search within the website. To do this, type the address of the site, then a key word or entire phrase from the article, and it should come up immediately. For instance try shubsthoughts Google (no " marks).
If you found something you really like online and want to find similar websites, type in "related:" and then the address of the site, without a space between them. For example try related:twitter.com.
If you type in the words i love you without quotation marks, Google will show the results where these words appear in any order on a website. However, if you type "i love you" within quotation marks, you will get only those results where these words appear in the order you typed them. This is a great way to find lyrics to a song when you might just remember one line from it.
If you need to find websites on a given subject rather than those that include a specific phrase, add the "~" symbol to your search. For example, if you search for the term "healthy ~food" you will get results about the principles of healthy eating, cooking recipes, as well as healthy dining options.
Sometimes you read an interesting article on a website and find yourself subsequently wanting to share it with your friends or simply reread it. The easiest way to find the desired piece of information again is to search within the website. To do this, type the address of the site, then a key word or entire phrase from the article, and it should come up immediately. For instance try shubsthoughts Google (no " marks).
If you found something you really like online and want to find similar websites, type in "related:" and then the address of the site, without a space between them. For example try related:twitter.com.
If you type in the words i love you without quotation marks, Google will show the results where these words appear in any order on a website. However, if you type "i love you" within quotation marks, you will get only those results where these words appear in the order you typed them. This is a great way to find lyrics to a song when you might just remember one line from it.
Five Fascinating Body Facts
If you take every vessel in a body and put
them end to end, it would be a length of 96,000 kilometers or
60,000 miles in children and 100,000 miles in adults.
There are more bacteria in a human mouth than there are people in the world.
Canadian scientists revealed that the female heart runs 10 beats a minute more than the male heart.
Messages from the human brain travel along nerves at up to 200 miles an hour or 322 km/h.
By the age of 60, people usually lose up to 40% of their sense of taste.
There are more bacteria in a human mouth than there are people in the world.
Canadian scientists revealed that the female heart runs 10 beats a minute more than the male heart.
Messages from the human brain travel along nerves at up to 200 miles an hour or 322 km/h.
By the age of 60, people usually lose up to 40% of their sense of taste.
Aerial vs. Antenna
The words aerial and antenna are used interchangeably by
almost everyone, except techies. Accurately speaking, the top or
elevated portion of the antenna is the aerial, and that portion
which completes the electrical connection between the aerial and
the instruments is the lead-in. The antenna is the entire system
consisting of the aerial and lead-in together.
Dec 21, 2018
Happy Friday
Happiness is a gift you
can share all year.
It is great to share happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!
It is great to share happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!
Christmas Pickle
The Weihnachtsgurke, or Christmas Pickle, is supposedly a
classic German tradition, but may not be as German as some
believe. Legend has it that when Germans decorate their
Christmas tree, the very last ornament they hang on it is a
pickle or pickle ornament. On Christmas Eve, the first child to
find the pickle hidden in the branches is said to get good luck
for the year to come, as well as an extra present.
If you ask someone from the American Midwest, they will most likely be able to tell you all about the German festive custom. Germans, on the other hand, may have no knowledge of the custom.
One story is that a captured German-American soldier in the civil war became seriously ill and asked for a pickle as his last meal. After eating it, he was restored to health and from then on always hung a pickle on his tree each year.
According to another legend, St. Nicholas (not Santa) discovered that a shop keeper had murdered three boys and hidden them in a barrel of pickles. He prayed for the boys and his faith miraculously brought them back to life. Supposedly, from then on the pickle has been linked to St. Nick and consequently to Christmas.
Recently, the Christmas Pickle has made its way back across the pond and is beginning to rise in popularity in Germany.
If you ask someone from the American Midwest, they will most likely be able to tell you all about the German festive custom. Germans, on the other hand, may have no knowledge of the custom.
One story is that a captured German-American soldier in the civil war became seriously ill and asked for a pickle as his last meal. After eating it, he was restored to health and from then on always hung a pickle on his tree each year.
According to another legend, St. Nicholas (not Santa) discovered that a shop keeper had murdered three boys and hidden them in a barrel of pickles. He prayed for the boys and his faith miraculously brought them back to life. Supposedly, from then on the pickle has been linked to St. Nick and consequently to Christmas.
Recently, the Christmas Pickle has made its way back across the pond and is beginning to rise in popularity in Germany.
Holiday Hack
Just before guests come over for a Holiday visit, simmer a pan
of water on the stove and add some cinnamon and maybe some
essential oils. It will make the house smell great and add some
much needed humidity.
5G Phones
2019
will usher in new 5G phones, but do we need one? First, 5G
service will not be available in many places, so the technology
will be useless to most. Second, 5G pioneers will suffer the
slings and arrows of new technology and we all know the first
generation of most new technology is buggy. Third, the
technology is expensive and may cost a few hundred dollars more
per phone with 5G.
5G mmWave has worse range and worse penetration compared to the current LTE. A mmWave signal can be blocked by buildings, trees, and even your hand. It also does not work well in the rain or fog, and the ~60GHz chunk of this spectrum can actually be blocked by the air around you. To get around the hand blockage, extra antennas will be added to phones, taking up valuable battery space. One redeeming feature is the phones will be backward compatible, so you can spend more money to get the same service you have now.
First generation 5G chips will be much larger compared to the other extremely-small smartphone components. They will also require more power to use. More size for technology means less size for battery and smaller battery means less usage time between charging.
Bottom line, increased cost, limited availability of 5G coverage areas, new technology woes, and less use time from the battery all point to waiting to buy, unless you have a desire to be 'first on your block' to have new technology for bragging rights.
5G mmWave has worse range and worse penetration compared to the current LTE. A mmWave signal can be blocked by buildings, trees, and even your hand. It also does not work well in the rain or fog, and the ~60GHz chunk of this spectrum can actually be blocked by the air around you. To get around the hand blockage, extra antennas will be added to phones, taking up valuable battery space. One redeeming feature is the phones will be backward compatible, so you can spend more money to get the same service you have now.
First generation 5G chips will be much larger compared to the other extremely-small smartphone components. They will also require more power to use. More size for technology means less size for battery and smaller battery means less usage time between charging.
Bottom line, increased cost, limited availability of 5G coverage areas, new technology woes, and less use time from the battery all point to waiting to buy, unless you have a desire to be 'first on your block' to have new technology for bragging rights.
Hershey Almonds
The first
Hershey chocolate bars with almonds were produced during 1908,
because they were cheap to make. The nuts took the place of some
of the more expensive milk chocolate, which meant Hershey’s
could keep the price of the candy at a nickel.
Christmas Goat
In the Swedish town of Gävle, about 100 miles north of
Stockholm, residents have been erecting a giant straw goat in
the town center since 1966. The Gävle Goat, also known as the
Yule Goat and the Gävlebocken, may be a massive Christmas
decoration, but there is never any guarantee that it will still
be standing for the holiday. That is because there is a second,
illegal annual Christmas tradition in Gävle. It is trying to
burn down the Yule Goat before Christmas.
Yule goats have been a Christmas-time tradition in Sweden and elsewhere in Scandinavia for many centuries, though how exactly the practice got its start has been lost to history. During 1966, advertising consultant Stig Gavlén developed the idea of constructing a giant straw Yule goat for the holiday season, hoping it would function as something of an attraction to bring business to the shops around it.
The idea was subsequently executed by the town’s fire department. With funding provided by local businessman Harry Ström, they built a 43-foot tall, 23-foot long, 3-ton straw goat in the town center. It was completed on December 1, 1966 and it stood through that month. On New Year’s Eve, a vandal from a nearby town set the goat on fire. Being made of straw with a wood framework, it quickly burned to the ground.
During the following four years local merchants known as the Söders Köpmän (Southern Merchants) took over financing the Gävle Goat. For the first two years, nothing of note happened; the goat was put up and taken down with no issue. Then in 1969, vandals managed to again set the goat aflame. The following year, they did it again. In fact, in the 1970 burning, drunken teenagers had managed to burn down the goat just six hours after construction of the goat was complete.
Fortunately for Gävle’s Yule Goat tradition, the Natural Science Club from the nearby School of Vasa took charge in 1971 and the Gävle’s Yule Goat lived on. Their first goat made it through the season without incident. However, sabotage in 1972 led to the goat’s collapse. Two years later, the goat was burned down once again and two years after that, it got hit by a drunk driver and was destroyed.
From the ashes of all this, the tradition of attempting to destroy the Gävle Yule Goat was born. Since 1980, the Gävle Goat has only managed to survive through the holiday season 13 times. This is despite the fact that a fire station is incredibly close by and several attempts have been made to make it more difficult for vandals to destroy the giant straw decoration. For instance, they tried spraying flame-retardant on the straw, only to have it wash off and the treated goat easily burned down.
Of course, despite all this and other efforts, half the fun of the tradition for many is seeing if the goat will make it to Christmas.
After years of trying, it appears they may have hit on the right mix of protection for the Gävle Yule tradition in 2014. After adding even better flame retardant chemicals that will not wash away easily, they moved a busy taxi stand to the town center right near the goat. They also positioned security personnel near the goat and had a 24-hour webcam trained on the decoration. Although there were reportedly a few close calls, the 2014 goat ultimately survived the Christmas season and was disassembled on December 29th, a bit earlier than previous surviving goats.
The 2015 Gävle Goat, which was erected on November 26th, made it through 2015’s Christmas but was burned down at approximately 3 am on December 27 by what police described as a heavily intoxicated man in his twenties. The man, who smelled of petrol, was caught red-handed carrying lighters and newspapers shortly after the goat was set ablaze. The man’s clothes were also singed as they briefly caught fire. Ah, fun traditions continue. . .
Yule goats have been a Christmas-time tradition in Sweden and elsewhere in Scandinavia for many centuries, though how exactly the practice got its start has been lost to history. During 1966, advertising consultant Stig Gavlén developed the idea of constructing a giant straw Yule goat for the holiday season, hoping it would function as something of an attraction to bring business to the shops around it.
The idea was subsequently executed by the town’s fire department. With funding provided by local businessman Harry Ström, they built a 43-foot tall, 23-foot long, 3-ton straw goat in the town center. It was completed on December 1, 1966 and it stood through that month. On New Year’s Eve, a vandal from a nearby town set the goat on fire. Being made of straw with a wood framework, it quickly burned to the ground.
During the following four years local merchants known as the Söders Köpmän (Southern Merchants) took over financing the Gävle Goat. For the first two years, nothing of note happened; the goat was put up and taken down with no issue. Then in 1969, vandals managed to again set the goat aflame. The following year, they did it again. In fact, in the 1970 burning, drunken teenagers had managed to burn down the goat just six hours after construction of the goat was complete.
Fortunately for Gävle’s Yule Goat tradition, the Natural Science Club from the nearby School of Vasa took charge in 1971 and the Gävle’s Yule Goat lived on. Their first goat made it through the season without incident. However, sabotage in 1972 led to the goat’s collapse. Two years later, the goat was burned down once again and two years after that, it got hit by a drunk driver and was destroyed.
From the ashes of all this, the tradition of attempting to destroy the Gävle Yule Goat was born. Since 1980, the Gävle Goat has only managed to survive through the holiday season 13 times. This is despite the fact that a fire station is incredibly close by and several attempts have been made to make it more difficult for vandals to destroy the giant straw decoration. For instance, they tried spraying flame-retardant on the straw, only to have it wash off and the treated goat easily burned down.
Of course, despite all this and other efforts, half the fun of the tradition for many is seeing if the goat will make it to Christmas.
After years of trying, it appears they may have hit on the right mix of protection for the Gävle Yule tradition in 2014. After adding even better flame retardant chemicals that will not wash away easily, they moved a busy taxi stand to the town center right near the goat. They also positioned security personnel near the goat and had a 24-hour webcam trained on the decoration. Although there were reportedly a few close calls, the 2014 goat ultimately survived the Christmas season and was disassembled on December 29th, a bit earlier than previous surviving goats.
The 2015 Gävle Goat, which was erected on November 26th, made it through 2015’s Christmas but was burned down at approximately 3 am on December 27 by what police described as a heavily intoxicated man in his twenties. The man, who smelled of petrol, was caught red-handed carrying lighters and newspapers shortly after the goat was set ablaze. The man’s clothes were also singed as they briefly caught fire. Ah, fun traditions continue. . .
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