Touching Braille

Louis Braille invented Braille, an alphabet using raised dots, at the age of 15. Prior to that, each letter was raised and to read, one had to feel out each letter. The books were heavy and took a long time to read.

Braille was actually born with sight, but became blind at age three after an eye injury. At the age of 10, he entered the Royal Institute for the Blind in Paris and five years later, invented Braille. He was offered a full-time teaching job at the institute at age 19. The Braille method didn’t become widely used until after he died at the age of 43.

What's in a Name, Spooning

When Welsh couples talk about “spooning,” they’re not discussing cuddling. Since at least the 17th century, the Welsh have exchanged “lovespoons,” intricately hand-carved wooden spoons, as signs of romantic intentions. Young men spent hours meticulously crafting their spoons so they could offer their favorite girl the most magnificent utensil imaginable. If she accepted the spoon, the courtship was on.

The courtship aspect of the spoons has since faded, but lovespoons are still given on special occasions as tokens of admiration and affection.

Natural Flavors

'Natural flavor' can, literally be anything. It can be made in laboratories, like chemicals or gasses, or taken from animals, or boiled from bats.

Here is the actual definition from the federal regs, “The essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”

That was a mouthful. No wonder we get full when foods and drinks have natural flavors. The natural flavoring in orange juice could actually be pigs feet, as long as they were ground, distilled, etc. The good news is that anything not listed in the reg above must be listed as 'artificial'. I feel so much better.

Artificial flavorings are safety tested and natural flavorings are not. This is our government at its finest. For the curious, there are more FDA definitions here LINK

if you have children in school and they are looking for jobs for the future, tell them to become a 'flavorist'. It is more fun than being just a chemist and pays well, especially for flavorists in the perfume industry. The need for flavorists is growing. Luckily, bacon still does not contain any natural or artificial ingredients.

Winnie the Poo

Honey is a natural flavor as any Poo Bear knows. A.A. Milne's book, Winnie-the-Pooh, about the adventures of his son, Christopher and his stuffed animals made its debut on this day in 1926. The great actor Sterling Holloway was Winnie's voice for years, among the many other voices he did for Disney.

Casmir Pulaski Memorial Day

I hope you celebrated General Pulaski Memorial Day this past Tuesday. It is a United States holiday in honor of General Kazimierz Pułaski, a Polish hero of the American Revolution. This holiday is held every year on October 11 by Presidential Proclamation, to commemorate his death from wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779 and to honor the heritage of Polish Americans.

It is also celebrated as a legal holiday in Illinois on the first Monday of March with street parades and celebrations. Illinois has a large Polish population.

The observance was established in 1929 when Congress passed Public Resolution 16 of 1929 designating October 11 as General Pulaski Memorial Day. Every President has issued a proclamation for the observance annually since (except in 1930). His death was October 11, 1779 and he was buried at sea.
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Bacon Candy

Speaking of natural flavors, for the true bacon lovers, bacon candy has arrived. 

If you want something smoky, meaty, and sweet you should try Bacon Candy. 12 bacony treats for $5.95. Mmmm.

Solar Windows

3M has developed a see-through film that turns ordinary windows into solar panels. It will go on sale next year.

The solar film, on display at the Ceatec electronics conference in Japan, is arrayed in narrow, translucent green strips with clear gaps between and then glued to windows in large patches. A square meter of the film can generate roughly enough electricity to charge an iPhone under peak sunlight, but still allows for high visibility.

The film might cost about half as much as solar panels, but will produce less electricity. It is easier to install and takes up no additional space.

"An average person could go to the store, buy some of this, and then bring it home and install it themselves," said Yasuhiro Aoyagi, a senior manager in the company's construction markets division.

The film blocks or absorbs about 80% of visible light and over 90% of infrared light, so it also acts as a sunshade. Demonstrations showed a difference of 10 degrees Celsius between two sides of a window it was attached to.

What's in a Name, Pennsylvania

William Penn was born in London.  He studied briefly, was thrown in jail a few times for his religious beliefs and became a Quaker. He sailed to America, while still in his thirties, along with others searching for religious freedom.

By coincidence, he later received a large piece of land as repayment for a debt that King Charles II owed his father, Admiral William Penn. The King's charter named the piece of land Pennsylvania. He preferred the name Sylvania so that people didn't think he chose the name after himself.

He was a prolific writer and many of the ideas in Pennsylvania's constitution found their way into the US Constitution.   Sylvania means 'forest land' in Latin.

Happy Friday

Give a man health and a course to steer, and he'll never stop to trouble about whether he's happy or not.
I am healthy and steering in the direction of a Happy Friday!

Bacon Bandages

A friend of mine, Jeff Flanagan came back from a recent trip and gave me a gift he picked up along the way. (Likely after a few beers.) Anyway, the gift was a tin of real bandages. These are no ordinary bandages, these are bacon bandages.

I quickly went home to administer a small cut to test the 'die cut sterile strips' and see how they worked. Below is a picture of my hand with the beautiful medical strip attached.

It really is a good mini bacon replica. Alas, it does not have the bacony goodness smell, but it is a true bandage. However, it also makes me hungry just looking at it. Time for breakfast. Thanks Jeff.

IgNobel Awards

Each year for the past 21 years, the Ig Nobel Prizes are given. Last week, they were presented at Harvard University, 10 awards in the fields of Physiology, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Peace and Public Safety.

It points out the ridiculousness of real research that we have to scratch our heads and wonder why would anyone actually spend money to study that. Naturally, much of it is government funded and that should end the lingering doubt about why.

Winners researched such areas as a safety alarm that sprays wasabi and beetles that mate with beer bottles. One study was conducted to find out about contagious yawning of red footed turtles. Another all wet study sought to uncover why people make better decisions about some kinds of things, but worse decisions about other kinds of things when they have a strong urge to urinate.  If you are truly curious you can read more at the following link, or just be happy that somebody else studies these studies.  LINK 

Record and Record

The TV show House has the largest audience in the world of all TV shows. 81 million people from 66 countries watch it. That's a prescription for success, especially for an English actor that uses a fake American accent.

Another Brit, Adele, claimed the World Guinness Record for her music topping the British records list for 11 weeks in a row. If you have not heard her,  it is worth a listen, she is great.

Easier Pancakes

What could be easier than mixing pancake mix and water to make pancakes. There is a product called Batter Blaster that comes in a can, like whipped cream that you just shake and squirt for pancakes and waffles. It squirts out propelled by CO2.

The website has bunches of ways to use the product. It is listed in this month's 'Women's Health' as one of 125 best packaged foods for women, along with 'unsweetened blackberry essence water, rythm superfoods bombay curry kale chips, and applegate the great organic uncured hot dog. I am not kidding. Batter Blaster is even advertised as "USDA-certified organic and Kosher." Sorry, I had to share.

Vitamin C Facts

It has been talked about as a cure-all for everything from preventing colds and AIDS to curing cancer. The death of its biggest proponent and Nobel prize winner in Chemistry (not medicine), Linus Pauling died of cancer. Reminds me of the eye doctor on TV pushing his weight loss pills.

Vitamin C, ascorbic acid, does slow down and prevent some cell damage. It really does prevent scurvy and anemia. It is essential for the repair of bones and teeth. It helps to produce collagen and cells are held together by collagen. Collagen is found in your skin, bones, ligaments, tendons, liver, cartilage, bone marrow and blood vessels.

Occurrence of cataracts, hay fever, and asthma can be reduced, to some extent, with daily doses of the vitamin and its role in reducing common cold is known, but sometimes debated about dosage required. The body eliminates vitamin C rapidly, so it is better to take a lesser amount more often to keep it in your body.

it is not usually mentioned, but meat and potatoes both contain vitamin C. It is a preservative that can be used in jams and pickles. Kiwi has almost twice as much vitamin C as an orange.

Too much Vitamin C can cause kidney stones and also cause diarrhea.

What's in a Name, Soapbox

I tend to be a bit outspoken on many more subjects that I should and sometimes hear my friends say, "Oh, he is on his soapbox again." Of course, that just makes me talk faster and louder. Ha.

Younger folks have no idea where that saying comes from. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves above the crowd by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods. A person would stand on the box to make an impromptu speech, often about religion, politics, or any other topic about which they wanted to have their opinion heard.

Many times hucksters would get on their soapbox to sell any number of things from snake oil and wonder potions to books. Central Parks were favorite public areas to get on your soapbox and be heard in the days before television and the internet.

Today's equivalent of a soapbox is a blog, or facebook, or twitter, etc. and soap is no longer shipped in wooden crates. Some of us send out regular 'soapbox' emails to anyone willing to 'listen'. Please don't throw rotten tomatoes.

BTW, the original soapbox derby encouraged the use of soap boxes and orange crates to make the cars. Also, 'snake oil salesman' is a derogatory term for people who sell quack medicine or any product with exaggerated marketing, but questionable quality or benefit. I'll bite my tongue on further commentary about that.

Vitamin Water Facts

The original Vitamin Water, owned by Coke, and Sobe Life Water, owned by Pepsi are two of the biggest. Others with light to clear colors and healthy sounding names are all over the food and drink shelves.

Vitamin Water and Life Water both contain 32.5 grams of sugar per bottle, about the same as a Snickers bar (30 grams of sugar). Others

Origin of the Trampoline

It was 1930 and 16-year-old George Nissen, a member of his high school gymnastics and diving teams, was goofing off in his parents’ garage when he decided to stretch canvas over a rectangular steel frame, using materials he found in a local junkyard, according to MIT . Seven years later when he was in business school at the University of Iowa, he and his gymnastics coach refined the invention with nylon and started a traveling acrobatics troupe called the Three Leonardos.

They initially called it a “bouncing rig,” but after traveling through the Midwest and Southwest, they learned the Spanish word for diving board, “el trampolin” and changed the name to Trampoline and got a patent.
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Bacon in Your Pocket

Now you can carry that magnificent bacon flavor in your pocket. Here are some effervescent bacon tablets and they make regular water taste better than vitamin water.

They act like Alka Seltzer. Just drop a few in a glass of water or any other favorite beverage and swoon to the bacony goodness. how about a sparkly Bloody Mary with a hint of bacon, or vodka rocks sparkle. The possibilities are endless.

Happy Friday

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

I have the confidence to think I will profoundly love creating a Happy Friday!

Eight Track Museum

The world's first Eight Track Museum is now open in the Deep Ellum arts district of Dallas. Twenty years after he made the 8-track collectible by selling a Sex Pistols 8-track for $100, Dallasite Bucks Burnett took the 8-track fully into the realm of the historical with the opening of The Eight Track Museum.
http://www.eighttrackmuseum.org/home.html

Johnny Appleseed

I have a friend who will like this. Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in Leominster, Massachusetts, 1774. He was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Many of us grew up reading about interesting characters like Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny's story was about him spreading apple seeds randomly across the country. He actually planted nurseries and built fences around them to protect them from livestock. Much less interesting than the stories, but also much more profound in his influence of the apple industry.   Johnny left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares. His trips were much more concentrated to a small area, rather than around the whole country as the stories told it. He returned  to check up and tend his trees every so often to make sure they were thriving.

When he wasn't spreading his apple seeds, he was spreading religion as a traveling minister. He would read stories to children and adults for a way to earn a nights rest and a meal. He did not accept money for his seeds, gospels, or his stories. He actually converted many Indians during his travels. Because of his eccentricities, it is not know for sure exactly what year he died, or where he is buried. He did leave about 1,200 acres of land to his sister.

Fort Wayne, IN. has a Johnny Appleseed Festival each September.

About that pot on his head for a hat. It was true, he did wear the pot and used it to scoop up water and to cook his vegetarian dinner. I think I will have an apple today to keep the doctor away

Ngrams

Google has digested over 15 million books to date and has come up with an interesting way to plot the usage of words over time. Ngrams are line charts that show the usage of words over time.  Try some neologisms, like 'went missing' , which is relatively new to American English or laser, etc., to track when they came into everyday use. You can also pick two words to compare and you get to decide the time-line.

It does not filter out any words, including four letter words. It also has proper names. Think about interesting words and see how they relate to each other. There is a timeline on the bottom that lets you click to read the books used in the analysis. It is a fun way to pass some time and may be a site to bookmark so you can go back when a new word intrigues you, like extoplasm.
LINK

Willie Mays

He was the youngest baseball player to hit fifty home runs in a year, when he was 24. He was also the oldest baseball player to hit fifty home runs in a year, when he was 34, in 1965. Am sure many remember say hey, Willie Mays!

What You Look Like on Facebook

Many people innocently spend way too much time on Facebook and tell way too much about their personal lives. Now researchers have found a way to determine your personality by your Facebook friends and the things you like. It might be time to think about what you say electronically before your fingers hit the keyboard.

Researchers have created a website that combines the Facebook profiles of fans of companies and public figures with personality testing to create a sophisticated new marketing tool.

Barack Obama, Adam Sandler, and Family Guy all attract the same type of personality on Facebook, according to a newly-launched website, http://www.likeaudience.com , which has been designed by two researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Sarah Palin appeals to a rather different personality type. Her followers are likely to be more traditional in mindset, disciplined, dutiful, and older than the average Obama fan. Unsurprisingly, her typical Facebook followers are not hockey-mums, but men. Long before the internet or Facebook, my mother told me to be careful about the people I hung around with. How prescient she was.

Muffins and Granola

We have been told muffins, especially bran muffins are good for us. They keep us regular and help us flush out the bad stuff. There is a bit more to the story. The main ingredient in muffins is fat. Check the wrapper and you can see the grease soaked into it.

Here is a scary comparison. A medium-sized blueberry muffin has more calories than a McDonald's Sausage McMuffin that's the same size. Almost half of those calories are from fat equal to a third of the fat you are supposed to eat in an entire day. Bran muffins have only slightly less calories.

The Quaker Oats True Delights Bar contains raspberries and chocolate and has almost the same amount of fat and calories as a much larger Snickers bar.

Of course, if you stick to chocolate muffins with bacon on top, everything will be fine.

Color of Money

Check your wallet - now we know what they really think.

Collective Intelligence

Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. You will be hearing much about this soon. It adds what people are good at with what computers are good at and shares with many unrelated people and machines. Because of each unique idea of how to solve problems combined with other unique views, the power of collective thought is much more profound than any few combinations. In other words, we get smarter quicker.

A recent study proves how powerful this can be. Researchers at the University of Washington have successfully leveraged the power of gamers to determine the folding structure of a complex protein related to the development of AIDS.

The team had been working on the puzzle for years without success and decided to use a new computer program called Foldit. It is a simulation game where individuals can seek new solutions for how genes fold and get points We all need rewards) for correct answers. The whole problem does not have to be solved, just individual pieces.

The collected individual little bits are put back into the researchers model and recomputed with all other bits to come up with an new overall model. The problem was solved in three weeks. Let's go think about that for a while.

Happy Friday

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

I think I will say to everyone that I am doing a Happy Friday!

What's in a Name, Scotchguard

Patsy Sherman, a chemist for 3M was assigned to work on a project to develop a rubber material that would not deteriorate from exposure to jet aircraft fuels.

She accidentally dropped the mixture she was experimenting with on her shoe. While the while the rest of her shoe became dirty and stained, one spot remained bright and clean. She retraced her steps and identified the stain resistant compound, known today as scotchguard.

Aspirin the Wonder Drug

Most of us know to take an aspirin immediately at onset of a heart attack and that it is good to cure headaches, hangovers, and relieves modest aches and pains, but this old wonder drug is good for many more things.

One crushed aspirin in a gallon of water helps keep plants alive during transplanting, or cutting. Stressed plants can't absorb nitrates and phosphates but the aspirin solution is easily absorbed. It also works to prolong cut flower arrangements.

Salicylic acid is in many acne treatments, and is an ingredient in aspirin. Crush an aspirin or two and mix with water to make a paste to put on a pimple. In a few minutes and rinse without rubbing. The size and redness should diminish soon.

Finding Pain

A team at Stanford University in California used computer learning software to sort through data generated by brain scans and detect when people were in pain.

"The question we were trying to answer was can we use neuroimaging to objectively detect whether a person is in a state of pain or not. The answer was yes," Dr. Sean Mackey of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, whose study appears in the journal PLoS One.

Currently, doctors rely on patients to tell them whether or not they are in pain. And that is still the gold standard for assessing pain, Mackey said.

Some patients, the very young, the very old, dementia patients or those who are not conscious, cannot say if they are hurting, and that has led to a long search for some way to objectively measure pain.

"People have been looking for a pain detector for a very long time. We're hopeful we can eventually use this technology for better detection and better treatment of chronic pain."

His team used a computer algorithm invented in 1995 to classify patterns of brain activity and determine whether or not someone is experiencing pain.

To train the computer, eight volunteers underwent brain scans while they were touched first by an object that was hot, and then by one that was so hot it was painful. The computer used data from these scans to recognize different brain activity patterns that occur when a person is detecting heat, and which ones detect pain.

The computer was more than 80 percent accurate in detecting which brain scans were of people in pain, and it was just as accurate at ruling out those who were not in pain.

Another Use For Bacon

Cook other meals with bacon as a nonsticker. One bacon strip is all you need to keep your meatloaf from sticking to the pan while it cooks. Place a strip on the bottom of a cooking pan to stop meatloaf and other casseroles from sticking. Works great for flour or bread dishes to also make them less sticky.

Moringa

It has been described as the wonder drug in many countries. You will be hearing more about this in the future. Moringa trees are mostly grown in Africa, India, and many Eastern countries. They are also grown in Mexico, California, Arizona, and Florida. In Haiti and other Caribbean islands it is sometimes referred to as Marango.

Research shows Moringa contains:
    7 times the vitamin C in oranges
    4 times the calcium in milk
    4 times the vitamin A in carrots
    2 times the protein in milk
    3 times the potassium in bananas

The World Health Organization has been studying and using the plant for the last forty years as a low cost health enhancer in the poorest countries around the world. It is mostly taken as a powder or made into tea, but lately some firms are selling powder capsules. Leaves can be cooked like spinach, or used in salads. Many Asian supermarkets sell fresh Moringa leaves.

It has been used as an antibiotic, help with liver disorders, an anti diuretic, used to lower blood pressure, and more. It has no known side effect, even with overuse.

Roadkill Festival

Sept 27, Marlinton, WV, With taglines like “You kill it we grill it; featuring some of the highway’s finest” and “Eating food is more fun when you know it was hit on the run,” Marlinton, West Virginia, knows how to bring a little humor into a good food festival. Featuring any animal often—but in this case, not actually—roadkill, contestants cook up recipes using possum, beaver, raccoon, snake, deer or armadillo. Care to try some “Deer Smear Quesadillas” or “Bumper Bruised Barbecued Bear”?

Happy Friday

First comes thought; then organizing that thought into a plan, then transforming that plan into reality.
I think I shall plan for the reality of a Happy Friday!

Bacon Bash

Do not forget to attend the annual bacon bash tomorrow if you are in Pittsburgh. The Harris Grill is hosting the event. Fun events and even some Maple Bacon Gelato will be on hand. Last year almost two hundred people made it to the event. For the adventuresome, here is a LINK

Consume Carbs

British researchers found that eating concentrated doses of carbohydrates and protein after some "over indulgence" can speed up your metabolism and provide the amino acids needed to start feeling better. BLT for breakfast, anyone?

Any amateur college biologist will suggest "heavy" or "greasy" food the morning after a long night out, as it "soaks up" the remaining alcohol in your system, or something like that. Newcastle University researchers suggest that age-old remedy is rooted in how the protein provided by bacon and other meats is broken down into amino acids, which in turn replenish the neurotransmitters depleted by a long night of drinking.

CFL Light Bulb Facts

CFLs burn out rapidly when they’re not allowed to rest at least 15 minutes between being cycled off and on. They overheat and fail if they are used in recessed ceiling canisters

CFL floodlights in outdoor motion-sensor systems is bad because of how fast the bulbs expire when they have to flick on and off so quickly. CFLs contain mercury, enough that the Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup instructions for a broken bulb run three pages and start with a warning to open windows and evacuate people and pets.

What's in a Name, Three Dog Night

The group's name originated from an Australian practice. In Australia, the aborigine tribes of several regions slept outside all year. As the temperatures becomes colder, the tribesmen sleep with a dog to keep warm. In colder weather, they huddle with two dogs, etc.

Seven Uses for Coffee Grounds

Soften and add shine to hair. When washing your hair, rub coffee grounds through wet hair and rinse.

Use coffee grounds as an exfoliant for skin. Pat on skin, massage over skin, rinse.

Old coffee grounds are nutrient-rich for plants that thrive in an acidic soil. Grounds also repel snails and slugs

Use coffee grounds to repel ants.

Place a bowl with used coffee grounds and a few drops of vanilla in the freezer to remove unwanted odors.

Rub coffee grounds on hands to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up smelly foods.

Remove furniture scratches with damp coffee grounds.

Project Gutenberg

I have been a fan of Project Gutenberg for years and always looked forward to Michael's regular emails detailing the number of books in the expanding library and progress toward his goal of providing a million free eBooks to the world. Back when devices were rudimentary and no official standard was set for electronic books, he produced pure text book that could be read on any device. He even hand typed the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and the U.S. Constitution. Here is the link to the site which offers digital versions of those documents and over 100,000 free eBooks. LINK

Below is from his obituary.

"Michael Stern Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947. He died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64. His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett. Michael was an Eagle Scout (Urbana Troop 6 and Explorer Post 12), and served in the Army in Korea during the Vietnam era.

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. He often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart's life's work, spanning over 40 years."

Interesting McDonald's Facts

Thirty Three percent of all french fries sold in the US are from McDonald's. It will buy 54 million pounds of fresh apples this year. One in eight working people are work at or have worked at a McDonald's. More than 50,000 students from all over the world have earned a "Bachelor of Hamburgerology" at McDonald's "Hamburger University," in Illinois. China has a wedding package for couples who wish to be married at a McDonald's. It has sold over 100 Billion hamburgers. I could not find out how many of those were bacon burgers. I am getting hungry.

Laughter and Chocolate

We have all heard that laughter is good for the heart and recently there have been studies that dark chocolate is good for you. These two facts have been confirmed again.
more than 300 measurements were made with a 30-50% difference in blood vessel diameter between the laughter (blood vessel expansion) and mental stress (blood vessel constriction) phases. “The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium after laughing was consistent and similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic exercise or statin use” “The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so it is very possible that laughing on a regular basis may be useful to incorporate as part of an overall healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease

the second team of researchers, from the University of Cambridge, may add chocolate to that list, as well. Of course, we’ve long known that dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and boasts numerous health benefits, including the ability to help lower blood pressure and even cause a significant increase in insulin sensitivity. But these researchers have an added perk to throw on the laundry list of health benefits -- after conducting a large-scale review on recent evidence (the results were published in the British Medical Journal), these scientists found that regular chocolate consumption (they didn’t differentiate between dark or milk) can slash cardiovascular risk by a third.

That proves it, if you want a healthy heart, start with a good hardy laugh and have chocolate for desert.

Dagwood and Blondie

This week in 1930, Dagwood and Blondie comic strip was created. It was originated by Chic Young (d.1973) and continues with his son, Dean.

They have been in cartoons, TV series, movies, and on radio. The strip featured newspaper man Dagwood Bumstead as the playboy son of a railroad tycoon. He dated Blondie Boopadoop, a flapper. They married had a son, Alexander (Baby Dumpling) and daughter Cookie.

The strip is still running with Herb Woodley, Mr. Dithers, Tootsie, and more. Blondie Bumstead went back to work after the children grew up and works with Herb’s wife, Tootsie in a catering service. Time to sit back, reminisce, and have a piled high Dagwood sandwich.

Colonel Harland Sanders

 He was born September 9, 1890. At 12, he went to work and had many jobs. Finally he operated a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. At forty, he began cooking at the station. His dishes became so popular that he finally had to open a restaurant. It was there that he developed his famous 11 herbs and spices chicken recipe.

In 1935, he was made a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Ruby Laffoon for his contributions to Kentucky cuisine. In 1955 an an interstate highway bypassed Corbin, Kentucky, so he took his chicken recipe on the road to sell it across the country. His deal was to get a nickel for every chicken sold using his recipe. Years later, he sold his interest for two million dollars and stayed on as spokesman until he passed away in 1980.

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, was offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He helped save the restaurant, and revolutionized the fast food industry by simplifying its menu from nearly one hundred items to just basic fried chicken and salads.

Three Keyboard Tips

Sometimes a hitting a few keys is quicker than using the mouse or touchpad. Here are a few of my favorites that I use almost every day.

Hold down the CTRL key and hit F. This will automatically bring up Find. It is useful if you are looking for a specific name or word in a long document or on the web or even in emails.

CTRL and P is useful to print the screen you are looking at. It brings up the print box.

One of my favorites is CTRL Z. It reverses what you have just done. For instance in Word, or in an email, you just deleted something by mistake. Hit CTRL Z and it brings it back.

Red Cross

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with almost 100 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide, which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. It is called a 'movement' and has two major independent organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and coordinates activities between the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In addition, there are 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Thirty Three Islamic states use the Red Crescent symbol.

The first disaster relief provided by the American Red Cross benefited thousands of fire victims of the Michigan Great Fire of 1881. The fire raged for three days, scorching over a million acres. 282 people died in the blaze, which burned much of the thumb area of Michigan.

The American Association for the Relief of Misery on the Battlefields was a result of the International Red Cross and the forerunner of the American Association of the Red Cross. Clara Barton was instrumental in establishing the American Red Cross chapter in September 1881.

Seven Unique Uses for Nail Polish

Dab a bit of clear nail polish on the screws on the side of your glasses to keep the screw from getting loose. Also good to put on cupboard door screws to tighten them up.
Dip the end of shoelaces in some to keep them from raveling.
Put on labels to smudgeproof them.
Put different colors on keys to distinguish. Also put a dot of the same color on door locks to match.
Cover costume jewelry to keep it from losing its luster.
Use it as a band aid for small cuts. It is close to what hospitals use instead of stitches.

Waffle Bacon

According to some people, waffle irons make the best bacon. They point out that  in a pan, the fat and meat shrink and cook at different rates. The waffle iron pulls away bacon grease in its nooks and notches. You can easily pour it off or leave a thin layer of bacony goodness on for seriously delectable home-style waffles. Mmmmm!

Happy Friday

Where there is life, there is hope. Where there are hopes, there are dreams. Where there are dreams there are goals. Where there are goals there is action.

I hope and dream to act on my goal of having a Happy Friday!