Oldest Grapevine

Located in Maribor, Slovenia, the oldest grapevine in the world that still produces grapes—and in turn, wine—has been around since the 1500s. Each year approximately 100 small, 250-milliliter bottles are made from the fruits produced from the vine. Incidentally, each bottle of wine and grape variety is different, but on average, there are about 736 grapes in a single bottle of wine.

Windows Key Tips

Use the first combination to get the desired size, then the second to take a screenshot to print or email it.

Win + “+” and “-” keys — Zooms in and out with the magnifier tool (you can zoom in on any app, desktop, or folder).

Shift + Win + S — Selects any desired area of the screen and takes a screenshot of it.

Grow Mint Reduce Bugs

Mint prefers well-drained, but moist ground, tolerates shade, and needs minimal care. Mint is the plant that we love thanks to its strong fragrance. Some animals and bugs just can’t stand the smell of mint. It can repel ants, mosquitoes, slugs, snails, and mice.

What's in a name, Grapefruit

“The fruits are borne usually in clusters of from 3 to 15,” explains the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, published 1901, “hence the name Grape-fruit (in clusters or bunches like grapes), by which it is known by in Jamaica.”

Even back then, however, at least one expert took issue with that answer. Here’s the editor of The American Botanist grousing back in 1902: Another horticultural magazine gravely informs its readers that the grape-fruit (Citnis decumana) receives its common name from the fact that it grows ‘in grapose clusters.’ Everybody that has seen the grape-fruit growing knows that the fruits hang singly, like their near relatives the orange and lemon. ‘Grapose clusters’ favors facts manufactured to fit the explanation.

American Flag Facts

A few years after welcoming Vermont and Kentucky, states 14 and 15 into the union (in 1791 and 1792, respectively), a new version of the flag was created that had 15 stars and 15 stripes. As the U.S. continued to add new states, there was concern about having to continually add additional stripes. The solution: revert to 13 to represent the original 13 colonies, and let the stars represent the States.

Incidentally, there have been 27 official versions of the U.S. flag, each with a different number of stars.

Happy Friday

"Happiness has always seemed to me a great achievement." ~Françoise Sagan

We all try to achieve happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!

Over The Hump, Covid

We have officially passed the middle of 2020. The good news is that we appear to have escaped Armageddon. Future historians will likely replace, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot" with "Where were you when the virus hit?." We will endlessly debate which was worse, the negative media hype, the lock-down, or the disease. What we do know is that this pandemic is not the worst. Also, since the beginning of June, there are more cured cases than active cases. According to WebMD, early estimates predict that the overall COVID-19 recovery rate is between 97% and 99.75%.

As of June 24, the number of people the CDC confirmed infected is at 9.2 million, or .13% of the world population and the death toll is (475 thousand) .06%.
CDC estimates that, from October 1, 2019, through April 4, 2020, there have been between 39 and 56 million seasonal flu illnesses.

From MPH Online, an independent online resource for public health students -

HIV/AIDS Pandemic had a Death Toll of 36 million. (Congo)
Between 2005 and 2012 the annual global deaths from HIV/AIDS dropped from 2.2 million to 1.6 million.
Flu Pandemic 1968 had a Death Toll of 1 million. Hong Kong))
The 1968 pandemic had a mortality rate (.5%) and resulted in the deaths of more than a million people.
Asian Flu Pandemic (1956-1958) had a Death Toll of 2 million. (China)
The World Health Organization noted approximately 2 million deaths.

Flu Pandemic (1918) had a Death Toll of 20 -50 million. (Spanish, but disputed)
Of the 500 million people infected in the 1918 pandemic, the mortality rate was estimated at 10% to 20%, with up to 25 million deaths in the first 25 weeks.

Wordology, Ineffectual vs. Ineffective

Both refer to failure, but only ineffectual refers to the kind of failure that happens when the effort was weak, impotent, and/or incompetent without satisfactory or decisive effect. An ineffectual person does not have the ability or confidence to do something well.
Ineffective means not producing intended results and there is no effect.  For example, ineffective communication includes talking instead of listening actively.


Likely ten percent of people will notice or care when one of these words is used instead of the other.

Text Books Online

LibraryGenesis (gen.lib.rus.ec) is a completely free library of almost every textbook and college manual, cookbooks, comics, etc. You can likely retrieve all of them in pdf or epub form. Some of it is in Russian, such as magazines. Still a good source for free books.

Volunteer

Whether it is planting trees or serving food to the homeless, volunteering your time for the greater good makes a difference in the lives of many. Doing good deeds also benefits your body, too. A study from Harvard shows that people who regularly volunteer enjoy longer, happier, healthier lives.
Researchers say that people over 50 years old who volunteer for about two hours weekly have a considerably lower risk of death. They are also less likely to develop physical impairments and do exercise more frequently. All of these benefits naturally lead to a stronger overall well-being versus people who do not volunteer.
“Humans are social creatures by nature. Perhaps this is why our minds and bodies are rewarded when we give to others,” explains lead author Dr. Eric Kim, of the Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University. “Our results show that volunteerism among older adults doesn’t just strengthen communities, but enriches our own lives by strengthening our bonds to others, helping us feel a sense of purpose and well-being, and protecting us from feelings of loneliness, depression, and hopelessness.”

The researchers randomly selected nearly 13,000 participants a national study conducted between 2010-2016. Participants were split into two groups and tracked for four years each. The research team used health data, face-to-face interviews and surveys to evaluate the effects of volunteering on 34 specific physical and mental health outcomes.

Espresso and Caffeine

Espresso is a form of coffee made by grinding the beans very finely and subjecting them to hot water at high pressure. Espresso has a more concentrated flavor. Ounce for ounce, espresso does have more caffeine than a regular drip brew. A shot of espresso has 120 to 170 mg of caffeine, whereas a cup of coffee has 150 to 200 mg. It would take two or three espresso shots to equal the caffeine in a 16-ounce Starbucks coffee.

Car Production 2017

In case you were thinking the US still manufactures the most cars, here is a startling picture.

Five Interesting Car Facts

There are 1 billion cars currently in use on earth.
Volkswagen owns Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Audi, Ducati, and Porsche.
In 1924, half the cars in the world were Fords.
Half of all new cars in Norway are electric or hybrid.

95% of a car's lifetime is spent parked.

Soundbase vs. Soundbar

When it comes to speakers for TVs, some models are described as a “soundbase.” Soundbase and sound bar are similar,and they might even share identical technological feature sets, but they are not the same thing. A soundbase is specifically designed to sit on a cabinet and support the weight of a television. Their form factor means they cannot be mounted to the wall.