Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes

A sweet potato is not a yam. A yam is not a sweet potato. A sweet potato is not a potato, nor is a yam. The US FDA, which regulates food labeling, does not have a standard of identity for either sweet potatoes or yams, so either term works. The US Department of Agriculture requires that labels with the word ‘yam’ on them also be accompanied by ‘sweet potato’.

They are both tuberous root vegetables that come from a flowering plant. The sweet potato is in the morning glory family, while yams are related to palms and grasses.
Yams are starchy and dry. Sweet potatoes are sweet and moist, some more than others.

Some yams and some sweet potatoes look similar. They are both tubers or edible roots.

Shape is the key. Sweet potato can be short and fat or long and thin, but it will always taper at the ends. Yams have a cylindrical shape with blackish or brown, bark-like skin and white, purple, or reddish flesh. Yams can be reddish or purplish as well, but most often, if you scrape the skin with a fingernail, you see white or cream-colored flesh. Most Americans have never had a real yam.

Sweet potatoes are grown in the United States, mainly North Carolina. Yams in Africa (where they originated), Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Central America.
Since the "soft" sweet potatoes slightly resembled true yams, they picked up the name and became labeled as "yams" in most US grocery stores. Common US Grocery Store Labeling
 Yam — Soft sweet potato with a copper skin and deep orange flesh.
 Sweet potato — Firm sweet potato with golden skin and lighter flesh.

A yam is super sweet and can grow over seven feet in length. Yams are toxic when eaten raw, but safe when cooked. A true yam is a starchy edible root of the Dioscorea genus. It is rough and scaly and very low in beta carotene.

High Tech Meets Low Tech

Nike just released its new self-lacing Adapt BB sneakers with self-lacing technology, integrated lights, and an app to lace them. You control your sneaker lacing with an app and a motor inside the shoes mechanically tightens the laces or loosens them. However, the Android version of the app refuses to pair with the second shoe. The necessary firmware update appears to have caused connectivity problems and prevented the Android version of the app from pairing with one of the shoes. Absolutely true.

This comes on the heals of the basketball shoe blowout on the court during a game a few days ago. Caveat Emptor!

All Living Things

The world’s 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things. 

Bacteria are a major life form representing 13% of everything

All other creatures, including insects, fungi, fish, and animals, make up just 5% of the world’s biomass.

Plants account for 82% of all living matter on the planet – 7,500 times more than humans. Most of plant biomass is in the form of wood.

Viruses alone have a combined weight three times that of humans, as do worms. Fish are 12 times greater than people and fungi 200 times as large.

Sam's Club Secret Menu Items

You can get a secret menu item that combines the best of both menu items.
The Pizza Pretzel - Sam's Club douses one of their pretzels with marinara sauce and tops it with shredded mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.

The ICEE Float - The cold drink is paired with Sam's soft serve ice cream.

Just ask for either by name as Sam's Club employees in the United States are familiar with the secret menu item and will know how to build it when ordered.

Four Things You Think Cause Cancer but Do Not

Back in the 2000s, you might have read that plastic contains diethylhexyl adipate (DEHA), a supposed carcinogen. The US Environmental Protection Agency says DEHA 'cannot reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer.' Likewise, the International Agency for Research on Cancer does not list DEHA as a carcinogen.
Many people are afraid to microwave foods in plastic containers and plastic wrap under the mistaken impression that it will release cancer-causing chemicals into their food. The US Food and Drug Administration strictly regulates plastic food containers and approves the ones marked 'microwave safe.'

Some people still believe microwave cooking makes food radioactive. Not so, according to the ACS. The group explains, 'Microwave ovens can cook food, but they do not otherwise change the chemical or molecular structure of it. 'Microwave ovens are designed so that the microwaves are contained within the oven itself,' the ACS states. When used according to instructions, there is no evidence they pose a health risk to people.

Cavities you had filled a many years ago are likely to have mercury in them. Too much mercury can be bad for your brain, but it is not a carcinogen. Those mercury fillings also included silver, tin, and copper. According to the American Dental Association, the combination of these metals makes the fillings, known as dental amalgams, completely safe.

Orange Facts

Many varieties of orange exist today. However, every variety traces its roots to the man-made hybrid created by crossing the pomelo with the mandarin. The pomelo is almost as bitter as the grapefruit, while the mandarin is sweet. The mandarin has an orange color, and some people misidentify it as a variety of the orange, but the mandarin is an ancestor of the orange.

The history of the orange is unclear, but it is believed to have first appeared in southern China. Humans have selectively bred oranges to create many varieties, making it easy to confuse the orange with other citrus fruits. A fruit needs to have evolved from the pomelo and mandarin to be considered an orange.

A tangerine is not considered an orange, because it evolved from the mandarin, but not the pomelo.

Fourteen Sleep and Dreaming Facts

1. You have no sense of smell when you are sleeping.
2. You burn more calories while sleeping than you do when watching television.
3. Sleeping less than 7 hours each night reduces your life expectancy.
4. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you will have a bad dream.
5. Babies start dreaming even before they are born.
6. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms, and potted plants.
7. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream.
8. You can go without eating for weeks without succumbing, but only eleven days without sleep.
9. In a year on an average person sleeps for 122 days out of 365 days.
10. When we go to sleep and enter REM (Rapid Eye Movement), our bodies become completely paralyzed as areas of the brain that control movement are de-activated.
11. An average person has over 1,460 dreams a year which is about 4 dreams every night.
12. An average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
13. By 60 years of age, 60% of men and 40% of women will snore.
14. A human body releases growth hormones during sleep.

Stan Laurel Laughing

Thought you might enjoy this short clip to get you in the right frame of mind to start your day with a smile. LINK

Happy Friday

"True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future." ~Lucius Seneca

I always enjoy the present, especially on a Happy Friday!

What's in a name, Cadillac

This luxury car maker combined elements from the Ford and Oldsmobile companies when it was started in 1902 and later became known for its innovation and high quality. The company was named for the French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit in 1701. Cadillac, Michigan (Originally Clam Lake) is also named after Antoine.

Warmer or Cooler

Headlines say that the world is doomed as 2018 was so warm, but the facts they offer spell something a bit different. The facts they give say the warmest year was 2016, 2017 was the third-warmest, and 2018 was fourth warmest.


That means 2017 was cooler than 2016 and 2018 was cooler than 2017. This indicates there has been a cooling trend for the past few years. It will be interesting to see if the polar vortex influences 2019 numbers.

More Celebrity Real Names

After seeing the real names, it is easy to understand why some changed their name.


Lady Gaga - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Jean-Claude Van Damme - Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
Tom Cruise - Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
Freddie Mercury - Farrokh Bulsara
Winona Ryder - Winona Laura Horowitz
Alice Cooper - Vincent Damon Furnier
Vin Diesel - Mark Sinclair
Whoopi Goldberg - Caryn Elaine Johnson
Ben Kingsley - Krishna Pandit Bhanji

Wall Street

The name of the street originates from an actual wall that was built in the 17th century by the Dutch, who were living in what was then called New Amsterdam. The 12-foot (4 meter) wall was built to protect the Dutch against attacks from pirates and various Native American tribes, and to keep out other potential dangers.

The area near the wall became known as Wall Street. Because of its prime location running the width of Manhattan between the East River and the Hudson River the road developed into one of the busiest trading areas in the entire city. During 1699, the wall was dismantled by the British colonial government, but the name of the street remained.

The financial industry got its official start on Wall Street on May 17, 1792. On that day, New York's first official stock exchange was established by the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement, named because it was signed under a buttonwood tree that early traders and speculators had previously gathered around to trade informally, gave birth to what is now the modern-day New York Stock Exchange NYSE.

Disinfection vs. Sterilization

Disinfection is the process of reducing harmful microorganisms from inanimate objects and surfaces. It includes airing, shaking, wiping surfaces, boiling, and using substances such as chlorine, alcohol, etc.

Sterilization is the process of killing all microorganisms, no matter if they are harmful or not. This includes thermal treatment, radiation, filtration, and using gaseous or liquid substances.