Monday, July 15, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Why we dream? Source - How Stuff Works.com
The question of whether dreams actually have a physiological, biological or psychological function has yet to be answered. But that hasn't stopped scientists from researching and speculating. There are several theories as to why we dream. One is that dreams work hand in hand with sleep to help the brain sort through everything it collects during the waking hours. Your brain is met with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of inputs each day. Some are minor sensory details like the color of a passing car, while others are far more complex, like the big presentation you're putting together for your job. During sleep, the brain works to plow through all of this information to decide what to hang on to and what to forget. Some researchers feel like dreams play a role in this process.
It's not just a stab in the dark though -- there is some research to back up the ideas that dreams are tied to how we form memories. Studies indicate that as we're learning new things in our waking hours, dreams increase while we sleep. Participants in a dream study who were taking a language course showed more dream activity than those who were not. In light of such studies, the idea that we use our dreams to sort through and convert short-term memories into long-term memories has gained some momentum in recent years.
Another theory is that dreams typically reflect our emotions. During the day, our brains are working hard to make connections to achieve certain functions. When posed with a tough math problem, your brain is incredibly focused on that one thing. And the brain doesn't only serve mental functions. If you're building a bench, your brain is focused on making the right connections to allow your hands to work in concert with a saw and some wood to make an exact cut. The same goes for simple tasks like hitting a nail with a hammer. Have you ever lost focus and smashed your finger because your mind was elsewhere?
Some have proposed that at night everything slows down. We aren't required to focus on anything during sleep, so our brains make very loose connections. It's during sleep that the emotions of the day battle it out in our dream cycle. If something is weighing heavily on your mind during the day, chances are you might dream about it either specifically, or through obvious imagery. For instance, if you're worried about losing your job to company downsizing, you may dream you're a shrunken person living in a world of giants, or you're wandering aimlessly through a great desert abyss.
There's also a theory, definitely the least intriguing of the bunch, that dreams don't really serve any function at all, that they're just a pointless byproduct of the brain firing while we slumber. We know that the rear portion of our brain gets pretty active during REM sleep, when most dreaming occurs. Some think that it's just the brain winding down for the night and that dreams are random and meaningless firings of the brain that we don't have when we're awake. The truth is, as long as the brain remains such a mystery, we probably won't be able to pinpoint with absolute certainty exactly why we dream.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
HP Ink Costs More Than Human Blood, Booze
HP Ink Costs More Than Human Blood, Booze
Comparing the price of HP ink to other various fluids, some bodily in nature. See that a $30 HP #45 black ink cartridge gives you 42ml, pricing out to $0.71/ml. Meanwhile, blood apparently costs $200 for 500ml from the Red Cross, pricing out to $0.40/ml.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Useless Facts About Shaving
If you’ve always wanted to know how many hairs are removed from a man’s face by shaving, you’re in luck! Can you believe the prehistoric man shaved too? This article is filled of shaving facts, that may be useless but at least you’ll know.
1. The average shave will trim away somewhere between 20,000-25,000 hairs from a man’s face.
2. Shaving cream was only made for men until the industry specifically targeted women in 1986 by manufacturing the whipped magic specifically for women!
3. Shaving cream didn’t always come in aerosol cans; the method wasn’t even introduced until 1950.
4. The Pharaohs of Egypt probably liked a good shave every now and then, of course using nothing less than the best made from gold and silver. Archeologists have found razor relics that date back as far as the fourth century.
5. Only about 30% of men who shave use an electric device to shave.
6. When a man wet shaves, it’s as good as using an exfoliating product because the process removes dead skin cells promoting healthier skin.
7. Shave gels weren’t even thought of until the 1970’s.
8. Archeologists believe that caveman used clams and shark teeth to shave with, 20,000 years ago-in the Stone Age!
9. Nearly 70% of American women prefer a clean-shaven man.
10. Some archeologists think that many warriors shaved their heads before battles so opponents didn’t have any hair to pull … maybe they were discouraging the practice of scalping?
Fantastic Facts about Inventions throughout History
Cuneiform is the earliest form of writing. It was invented by the Sumerians between 4000 and 3000 B.C.
The chariot, or horse-drawn cart, was invented in Mesopotamia c.2000 B.C. They used spoked wheels instead of the older planked ones making for a faster trip.
China saw the invention of the saddle around the year 25 A.D. which made horseback riding far more comfortable.
1859 saw the invention of the internal combustion engine by Etienne Lenoir. This Frenchman’s model was too costly to run, however. Nikolaus Otto of Germany invented a version in 1878 that was far more practical.
Eli Otis invented the elevator in 1954 in America.
Considered to be a Turkish invention, the merry-go-round’s exact origins are difficult to trace. Researchers seem to agree that 1620 was the year of its debut.
French paper makers invented the hot air balloon in 1783. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier have the credit of this invention. Their balloon rose 6,000 feet in the air.
Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented the bicycle in 1838. He called it a velocipede.
1803 saw the invention of the railroad locomotive by Richard Trevithick, an English engineer. He named it “Catch-Me-Who-Can.”
The earliest bathtub is dated from 3100 B.C. from Gaza. However, bathtubs did not become common in the area until 2500 B.C.
Showers are traced to Egypt and Greece, however, and date from c.1350 B.C.
Frederick Walton, an inventor from England, invented linoleum in 1860. Kitchen floors owe him a great debt!
The game of chess is believed to have been invented in India around 600.
Hungarian professor Erno Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube in 1980.
The hypodermic syringe was invented in 1853 by Charles Pravaz, a French surgeon.
The practice of embalming dates from c.2300 in Egypt. Although they eventually came to master the art of mummifying, their first attempts were achieved with plaster and resin.
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph record player in 1877. He followed up on this terrific invention with the incandescent electric lamp in 1879.
Gas streetlighting was invented in England in by the National Light and Heat Company.
The American Traffic Signal Light Company invented the traffic light in 1914.
Napalm was invented in Syria in 674 by a Syrian architect named Kallenikos.
Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese in c.950. It comprised large inclusions of charcoal to burn.
The Chinese also have the credit of inventing the cannon in 1280.
The Welsh invented the longbow between 1250 and 1300. Being more powerful and easy to load, it replaced the short bow.
Called the “Woman Edison,” Margaret Knight invented the paper bag machine in 1879. Grocery stores owe her a great debt.
James Ritty invented the first cash register in Dayton, Ohio in 1879.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.
Cool Facts About Killer Bees
Bees live in every region of the earth-except near the North and South poles.
Africanized bees did not migrate from Africa, but rather, originated in Brazil. They are a hybrid crossing gentle European honeybees with hardy African bees.
Scientists in Brazil were looking to make a hardier bee for better honey production; instead, the result was the aggressive hybrid known today as killer bees.
These bees might not have seen the light of day but for an accident resulting in a release from the science laboratories. Immediately, they took over the local hives and continued to breeze resulting in today’s aggressive swarms.
Africanized bees look quite similar to European bees; experts must examine upwards of twenty body parts to determine which bee they are dealing with.
Africanized bees have the same stinger as European bees-same amount of venom. However, killer bees are easily provoked and attack in army fashion-this is where their danger lies.
It takes a European roughly thirty seconds to sting; a killer bee can manage the task in about three seconds.
A single sting by an Africanized bee can set off an alarm to other bees provoking hundreds and eventually thousands or stings if the victim does not get away. The alarm is an odor similar to the smell of ripe bananas.
Africanized bees are ill at ease near people and animals. A sound or a strong perfume can easily set them swarming.
Scientists do not believe that killer bees are simply “mean;” they are more sensitive and more prone to defend their hives; they feel threatened quite easily.
Africanized bees produce five times less honey than the more docile European bees.
A single colony of killer bees is likely to include 80,000 members.
The first U.S. town known to contain killer bees was Hidalgo, Texas. The town now refers to itself as “Killer Bee Capital of the World.”
The bees are now in such U.S. states as California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and of course Texas. Mexico has them as well.
As more bees breed there are increasing attacks on humans. One tip might be to never remove a colony near your home-call a bee removal service.
Bees tend to attack outdoors, but occasionally they invade houses-usually when they are swarming to find a new home.
If you live in areas where killer bees are known to live, avoid low-hanging branches. Be careful of holes in the ground; killer bees also build nests in such holes.
Most people can outrun bees-but run in a straight line and be prepared to run past that quarter mile mark. Never think you can fight them off. Cover your face which is a prime target for the bees.
Weird Jobs
Chicken sexer: How would you like to be the one who sorts through baby chicks to determine whether they’re male or female?
Laughter therapist: Not just for comedians anymore! A laughter therapist actually teaches people to laugh-at themselves and the world- in order to better their mental health and spiritual well-being!
Hair boiler: Imagine coming home after a hard days’ work, smelling like your job as someone who boils animal hair for a living!
Vermiculturist: Ahem- worm farmer. Need anymore be said about that?
Cheese sprayer: It’s hard not to feel like the ‘Big Cheese’ when you’re in charge of the spray hose that controls spraying layers of cheese on popcorn!
Odor judgers: You’ve gotta have some sort of fetish to want to smell somebody’s funky pits for deodorant effectiveness!
Eye bank procurer: Gathering eyes and corneas for transplants and research, ya see?
Fish liver sorter: Just like it sounds- with buckets for livers of different sizes, shapes, colors and textures.
Still convinced you have the worst job ever? It could be worse! But hey - if it pays the bills…
Women Behaving Badly
Charlotte de Berry’s career as a pirate began in the 1600’s when she dressed up as a man to follow her husband into the Royal Navy. Charlotte’s ruse was discovered when the ship they were on was attacked and it was discovered that she was really a woman. She was made to take a ship back to England. Along the way, the Captain of the ship bound for home assaulted Charlotte and in revenge, she lead the crew in a mutiny and lopped off the Captain’s head, whereupon she usurped his position and decided instead of going home, it would be more fun to be a pirate and raid ships along the African Coast.
Madame Popova operated a service in Russia in the late 1800’s specializing in helping married women get rid of cruel husbands. She used poison, her own hands, weapons or sometimes assassins to get rid of over 300 victims during her ‘career’ in murder-for-hire. The jig was up when one of the women she helped ratted her out and she was put in front of a firing squad.
Belle Gunness was the first 20th Century Black Widow. During the 1900’s she is said to have killed 49 people- husbands, ranch workers who worked on her farm and even children who were assigned to her care through social agencies. Most of her victims were poisoned, or suffered ‘accidents’ while on the farm. She convinced another ranch hand to use arson and help her cover it up by faking her own death. The ranch hand, who ended up dying in prison, was innocent of every crime but the arson. She was never convicted.
Melita Norwooda of London supplied Soviets with nuclear bomb plans back in the 30’s while working as a secretary in a scientific research institute. Most knew her as ‘Grandma Hola’, who happened to make the best darn homemade jellies in the whole neighborhood! A staunch communist and great-grandmother, Grandma Hola says she doesn’t regret a thing!
Facts About Mercury
• It is smaller than Ganymede and Titan, the largest moons orbiting the planets Jupiter and Saturn respectively.
• Because the planet is so close to the sun at all times, it can be hard to see. The best times to view it are just after the sun has risen or set.
• Mariner 10 is the only spacecraft to have visited the planet. Another one, launched in 2004 is scheduled to orbit the distant planet in 2011 after making a series of fly-bys.
• Just under half of the planet’s surface has been mapped.
• Of the surface that has been mapped, most of it is extremely cratered, similar to that of the moon.
• It is the most cratered planet in our solar system.
• Other surfaces are remarkably smooth, possibly due to volcanic activity on the planet.
• The temperatures on Mercury’s surface vary greatly with the lows reaching minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and the highs reaching an incredible 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Surprisingly, radar has found what might be ice water in the cold shadows cast off by some of the crater walls.
• Despite being so close to the sun, the planet isn’t actually the warmest in our solar system. Parts of it are actually the coldest.
• It is the second densest planet in our solar system, after only the earth.
• There are no known satellites that orbit Mercury.
• It has a very small magnetic field – about one percent of the size of the field seen here on earth.
• Mercury’s core encompasses most of the planet and is made mostly from iron.
• Despite the large amounts of iron under the surface of the planet, there is no evidence of iron on the surface.
• If you were standing on the dark side of Mercury (the side not facing the sun) you would be able to see billions of stars.
• If you were standing on the light side of the planet (the side where the sun is visible) it would appear that the sun is two and a half times larger than we see it here on earth.
• A year on the planet takes 88 days.
10 Things I Didn’t Know About Jukeboxes
2. The manufacturers of the Jukeboxes never referred to them as “jukeboxes”… they referred to them as …Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs. You know where their minds were at the time.
3. Everyone else referred to them as Nickel-in-a-Slot machines for obvious reasons. Early models could play 45rpm or 78rpms, but just one side at a time. That would change as soon as technology figured out a way to flip the record.
4. Jukeboxes began holding between 12 and 16 records at the most and patrons were not able to pick and choose their songs. The records were simply played in order. And the early models did not resemble the jukeboxes that we have become accustomed to at all. They were made of wood and had flat tops.
5. It wasn’t until the late 30s’ that mechanisms were added that would allow the choice of records to be played. But, things weren’t quite what they seemed. See #8!
6. Tavern owners loved the ideas of jukeboxes as the economic depression of the late thirties made hiring a band almost impossible. Being able to feature music, even out of a box, brought kids and money into their establishment in droves.
7. Much to the delight of kids, jukeboxes soon began appearing in drugstores, ice cream parlors and small dancehalls.
8. It was during the 1950s’ that miniature juke were placed on all the tables in diners. Patrons could pick and choose what song they ate lunch to! At least, that’s what they thought. What they didn’t know is that songs were played in sequence of songs actually paid for. The same song could have been chosen by several tables, and no one knew the difference. The top hits made the restaurant style diners a lot of money.
9. Rock Around the Clock was just that… a number one hit in 1955. I wonder how many nickels that song made!
10. No one is really sure just how many jukeboxes were actually made, but it is thought to be around 2 million. Would love to get my hands on one of the early ones. I have lots of nickels! It would be like stepping back in time.
All About Coughing
* I had heard of the highly addictive drug … laudanum being used for sleeping purposes in romance novels set in the 19th century, but apparently it was also used to stop coughing. On the other hand, it was used for just about any ailment imaginable, sometimes with horrific results.
* We all like our trivia and apparently so does Snapple bottled juices. One piece of trivia found on the bottle cap was the fact that fish can cough! Who knew.
* Apparently Boots (the British drugstore) also produced a children’s cough medicine that obviously included an ingredient that would help to the children relax. But it was the label that caught the attention of parents. It made a point of stating that one should not drive a car or operate machinery after taking the medication!
* You probably thought that cough drops have been around for some time, but did you know that the first cough drop can be traced back to around 1000 B.C.E. by the Egyptians. Ingredients included honey, herbs, spices and citrus fruits. Clever bunch!
* The next time you cough, you might want to know that you are sending air through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound!
* Alligators apparently practice coughing as this is part of their courtship ritual!
* The next time you have to cough, try the following position. Sit with your head slightly foreward and your feet flat on the floor. Makes no sense to me, but apparently it is supposed to help!
* And then there are some of the superstitions that are connected with coughing. I don’t think your dog will be very pleased, but here goes. Take one hair from the head of a person who is coughing and put it between two slices of buttered bread. Now feed it to the dog. Somehow, that is supposed to cure you from coughing.
* Someone who obviously grew cranberries came up with this idea. If you cook a cup of cranberries in two cups of water, add a little cornstarch to thicken and some honey to sweeten, you have a soup that is not only good for you, but should get rid of your cough at the same time.
* Now here is something a bit morbid… a dry, hoarse cough was often referred to as the “churchyard cough”!
* It had to be a man who loved beer to come up with this one. It’s a really simple recipe … take beer, add honey and drink! That’s it. It was supposed to cure loss of voice, hoarseness and any cough that you might have picked up.
* Lemons were often used to cure ailments and coughs in particular. Actually, it sounds pretty good. You roast the lemon slowly until the skin splits. Squeeze the juice and then add to about a half a teaspoon of honey. This is to be repeated hourly until the cough is gone.
* Now I don’t think that I could manage this one, but here goes. Cut an onion in half and then sprinkle with a couple of spoonfuls of sugar. Sit the onion in a glass bowl and place plastic wrap over the top. In the morning you should find onion juice in the bowl. This juice is supposed to knock the cough out of you.
* There is a commercial on TV that talks about how bad a particular cough mixture tastes, but it works! Here is something along the same line. Unfortunately, just thinking about it is triggering the gag reflexes. You take lard and mix it with sugar. That is it. I’m thinking that the lard would coat the throat preventing the annoying cough. Not sure which would be worse though!
* In the late 1800s, apparently people were doing their own fair share of coughing and something called Terpin hydrate was a popular cough medicine. The Food and Drug Administration stepped in and banned it however. They decided that the mixture had not been proven effective. But I’m wondering if it had anything to do with the ingredient. Terpin Hydrate wouldn’t have something to do with turpentine would it?
I’m sure that there are zillions of recipes floating around than enables you to make your own cough syrup. I found one such recipe that boiled Father John’s leaves, elder bush and cedar berries. It didn’t go into any more details than that, but I would be a little nervous of making your own medicines. Natural does not always mean safe.
So here’s to a cough free winter!
Milkshake Trivia
2. The first milkshake came about probably in the days of my great grandparents. The first reference appeared in a newspaper around about 1885. But these ones were a little different than the ones we enjoy today. Some of them contained whisky! My great-grandparents might be a lot more interesting than I ever imagined.
3. Now here is a milkshake that was developed in 1887 and can still be found today. It’s called Horlicks and apparently British children are fed the stuff. When my wife emigrated to this country, it was one of the first food items she went in search of and actually, it tastes pretty good.
4. All of this talk about milkshakes started me wondering about all of the flavors there must be out there … so I went looking. Now this one sounds pretty odd to me, but someone in California actually raved about a Pumpkin Pie flavored milkshake. So, if this sounds good to you, head for your closest Jack in the Box restaurant. Apparently, that’s where you can get one! Actually, the guy raved so much about them, I just might go looking for the restaurant myself. I really like pumpkin pie, so the milkshake might surprise me!
5. Do you recognize the name Ray Kroc? He was the man who sold milkshake machines to the McDonalds’ brothers. Yes, they are the guys who introduced us to all of those hamburgers! He then joined the team and came up with the idea of making McDonalds’ a franchise operation. And it all started with milkshake machines.
6. I don’t know if I should be sharing this little piece of information or not, but did you know that a banana milkshake flavored with a little honey is a well known way to cure a hangover? Not that I would know anything about it, but I hear it works really well!
7. Get ready for this… the largest known milkshake measures in at 6,000 gallons. It was formulated in New York in the year 2000. Now what I want to know is what flavor it was and what they did with it all!
8. If you were asked what they called a milkshake in Rhode Island, would you know? That question was asked in a contest a few years ago and the answer is “cabinet”. Not sure where they got that name for it, but it certainly is interesting. Can I have a chocolate cabinet please? Must try that the next time I am in Rhode Island.
9. So, what are you doing on September the 12th? You do know that it is National Milkshake Day … right?? Well, you do now!
Little Known Facts about Venus
* Venus is the brightest of all the planets and is named after the goddess of beauty and love. Most of Venus’ surface formations are named after females.
* Being the brightest object in the night sky, Venus has been the focus of curiosity since the beginning of time. Venus is known as “The Morning Star,” and “The Evening Star.”
* Mariner 2 visited Venus in 1962. It was the first spacecraft to do so. Venus has since been visited by 20 spacecrafts.
* Venus’ rotation is the slowest of all planets. It takes 243 Earth days for it to rotate.
* Venus presents the same fact to Earth each time the two planets are at their closest point.
* Venus is known as Earth’s sister planet because they are very similar in some ways.
* Though Venus contained large amounts of water at one time, today it is a dry planet. Why? The water boiled away. Earth would have suffered the same fate it if had been closer to the sun.
* The geographical surface of Venus is continual, rolling plain. Much of the surface if covered by lava flow.
* The center of Venus is very similar to that of Earth. Its iron core is approximately 3000 kilometers in radius. The rest of the planet is made up of molten rock mantle.
* Venus has a tale because it has no satellites.
* Venus has no tectonic plates as Earth does. There is evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus.
* Venus is more extremely affected by the greenhouse effect than Earth. Why? Because Venus has a dense carbon monoxide atmosphere.
* Venus appeared as a black dot crawling across the sun when it passed between Earth and the Sun on June 8, 2004.
* Why have Earth and Venus evolved so differently when at one time they were so similar? Food for thought.
Facts On Cats!!! Too Good To Know
1. Ever wonder why a cat sees in pitch-black dark? It’s because their eyes take light in and reflect if back out … like a flashlight!
2. Did you know that a cat’s whiskers could detect even the tiniest of creatures? A cat can detect any kind of movement up to 2000 times smaller than the width of the hair on your head
3. Ever wondered why cats constantly lick themselves clean after eating? A cat has natural instincts derived from the wild and this instinct tells them to wash away food scent to keep predators at bay.
4. Know how to tell when a cat is happy? That’s easy, they just squeeze their eyes closed.
5. Did you know that cats might have lived on earth 12 million years ago? A fossilized record similar to today’s cats suggests they did.
6. Have you ever wondered how many cat breeds there are? There are more than 100!
7. Did you know that the light displayed from your television could make your cat shed fur?
8. Cats purr at the same rate of a diesel engine, 26 cycles per minute.
9. Did you know that dogs have more teeth than cats, a dog has 42 and a cat has only 30?
10. Ever wonder what makes some people allergic to cats? It’s a protein in cats saliva people are allergic to and when a cat licks their fur, it can get in the air and cause lots of aaaaachoo’s!
11. Did you know that a cat breathes in anywhere from 20-40 times a minute depending on their health.
12. A cat’s heart beats twice as fast as a human.
13. Did you know that a cat can jump anywhere from five to seven times it’s own height?
14. Do you know who invented the famous “kitty door”? It was Sir Isaac Newton.
15. American’s spend lots of money on cat food every year; in fact they spend more on cat food than on baby food!
16. Do people talk to cats? 95% of cat owners say they talk to their kitty cat.
17. Just like humans are either right handed or left handed, cats are too.
18. I bet you’ve never saw a cat sweat! They don’t have sweat glands.
19. Did you know that a cat cannot move their jaw from side to side!
20. Do you know what a polecat looks like? It’s a European weasel and not any kind of cat at all!
21. In America a black cat is considered bad luck, did you know that a black cat is good luck in Asia and England?
22. Cats sleep more than any other mammal! The average is about sixteen hours … a day!
23. Did you know that cats like female humans better than male humans? Researchers believe its because women have a higher pitch voice then men.
24. Cats caused the black plague! People believed cats were associated with witchery, they locked all the cats away and rats took over, spreading the disease!
25. Did you know that the famous author Ernest Hemingway was a cat lover? Hemingway had more than thirty cats at his home in Havana.
26. Rags to riches! Morris, the famous “9-Lives” poster kitty was actually discovered at an animal shelter in New England.
27. Did you know that even Nostradamus had a cat? His name was Grimalkin!
28. Do you know how to discourage a cat from scratching up furniture? Rub it down with orange or lemon rinds because cats hate them!
29. Could you be killed for killing a cat? If you killed a cat 4000 years ago in Egypt, yep!
30. Do you know the correct terminology of a cat lover and a cat hater? A cat lover is called an “ailurophile” and a cat hater is called an “ailurophobe”.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Webtraffic Tips
Webtraffic Tips
Being a novice website developer the hardest part of creating a new website is getting actual people to look at your website. Coming up with the next great idea seems to be the easy part but it will never be a real success if you are the only person reading your work. I have been doing some experimenting with this problem and here are some of the things that seem to work for me.
1. Social Bookmarking – this is my number one pick because in large it has brought the lions share of the traffic to my site, there are some great sites that do this www.digg.com is my favorite it seems to be one of the most popular at the moment you can submit a link to one of your stories with a brief description and if it intrest the rests of the diggers you might make it to the homepage.
2. Article Directories – I have to admit that there are a lot of crappy articles on most article directories so if you put your well written article on one it is bound to get snapped up by hundreds of content starved websites looking for new stories all they will all have backlinks pointing to you, Articledashboard.com seems to be a nice one.
3. Forums Posting - This has got to be the most time consuming one if you do it correctly you must find people who might have some interest in your site, in my case those are computer related forums and I try to help people with there computer problems and drop a link to my site in the signature. Becareful with this one please don’t spam forums with a bunch of junk just to get you link out there if you can add to a discussion or help another member most forum admins will not have any problems with you putting a link in your sig.
4. Website crawled - This is one of the hardest things to do but it has the potential to pay off big if you get a good ranking from Google. One thing that needs to be checked is your Robots.txt file this allows search engine spiders to correctly craw your pages a more detailed article on the subject can be found here www.searchengineworld.com. You also might consider trying to implement Google’s new Sitemap generator - this is on my to do list
5. Directory Submissions - Submit your site to human edited web directories like http://dmoz.org/. It will help your page rank and may even get you some traffic.
6. Link trading - Most sites with similar interests as yours will be more than happy to add a link to your site as long as you provide them with a reciprocal link.
This is by no means an all inclusive list and I am sure there are many more great ways to generate website traffic if you have a suggestion please post a comment.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Strange Facts - F
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customer wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
J.S.Bach had 20 children, 7 with his first wife and 13 with his second.
Jacques Cousteau invented scuba gear while in the French resistance during World War II
James Buchanan was the only unmarried president of the US
James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger of his right hand.
Jaw muscles can provide about 200 pounds of force to being the back teeth together for chewing.
Jean Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original Predator in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes.
Jet lag was once called boat lag, beck before jets existed.
Jimmy Carter is a speed reader (2000 wpm).
Jimmy Carter was the first US president to have been born in a hospital.
John Cage composed 'Imaginary Landscaper No.4', which was scored for twelve radios tuned at random.
John has a long moustache was the coded signal used by the French Resistance in WWII
John Larroquette of Night Court And the John Larroquette Show was the narrator of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and was found in a warehouse. Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and was found in a theatre.
John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.
Judy Jetson is a Libra.
June Foray, the voice of Talking Tina from the classic Twilight Zone episode Living Doll, was also the voice of Rocky the talking squirrel from Rocky & Bullwinkle.
Just twenty seconds' worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
Kathleen Turner was the voice of Jessica Rabbit, and Amy Irving was her singing voice.
Kemo Sabe, the name Tonto called The Lone Ranger means Soggy Shrub in Navajo Indian.
Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.
Killer whales have such a good sense of touch that if you dropped a pill into a bucket and feed it to the orca it would eat the fish and spit out the pill.
King Kong in the only movie to have its sequel (Son of Kong) relaced the same year (1933)
Kleenex tissues were originally used as filters in gas masks.
Knitted socks discovered in Ancient Egyptian tombs have been dated back as far as the 3rd century AD.
Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI
Lady Astor once told Winston Churchill 'if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee'. His reply 'if you were my wife, I would drink it'
Larry Lewis ran the 100 yard dash in 17.9 seconds in 1969, there by setting a new world's record for runners in the 100 years or older class. He was 101.
Lawsuits riled be California inmates cost the taxpayers more than 25 million in 1994.
Lee Harvey Oswals's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992
Lemon sharks grow a new set of teeth every two weeks! They grow more than 24,000 new teeth every year!
Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one had and draw with the other at the same time.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors, played the viola, and spent twelve years painting the Mona Lisa's lips.
Less than 1% of the Caribbean Islands are inhabited.
Less than 7% of the population donates blood.
Less than 2% of the water on Earth is fresh.
Li is the family name for over 87 million People in China.
Lightning strikes the earth about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
Liquid paper was invented by Mike Nesmith's (of the Monkees) mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, in 1951.
Lobsters have blue blood.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of Lorne Green's Wild Kingdom.
Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, LA
Strange Facts - E
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
In Toy Story, the carpet designs in Sid's hallway is the same as the carpet designs in The Shining.
In Vermont, USA, it is illegal for women to wear false teeth without the written permission of their husbands.
Ireland is the only place where windmills turn clockwise.
Irving Berlin, who was born on 11 May 1888 and who composed three thousand songs in his lifetime, couldn't read music.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey decimal category.
It costs $6,400 to raise a medium size dog to age eleven.
It costs more to buy a new car today in the United States than it cost Christopher Columbus to equipt and undertake three voyages to and from the New World.
It has been calculated that in the last 3,500 years, there have only been230 years of peace throughout the civilized world.
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.
It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.
It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.
It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
It is illegal to own a dog in Reykjavik.
It is illegal to swim in central park.
It is possible to lead a cow up stairs but not downstairs.
It take 8.5 minutes for light to get from the sun to the earth.
It takes a yard of sugarcane to make one sugar cube.
It take a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot.
it takes more than 500 peanuts to make one 12 ounce jar of peanut butter.
It take the insect eating Venus Flytrap plant only half a second to shut its trap on prey.
It took engineers 22 years to design the zipper.
It was illegal to sell ET dolls in France because there is a law against selling dolls with out human faces.
It would take more than 150 years to drive a car to the sun.
It is against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Omaha, Nebraska
It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland.
It's against the law to slam your car door in Switzerland.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Strange Facts - D
"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
In Greene, new york, you cannot walk backwards and eat peanuts on teh sidewalk during a concert.
In Hardford, Connecut, you may not, under any circumstances, cross the street walking on your hands.
In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.
In ancient Greece, where the mouse was sacred to Apollo, mice were sometimes devoured by temple priests.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 cam be jailed for cheating on their finals.
In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.
In Casablanka, humphrey Bogart never said Play it again, Sam.
In eighteenth century England, women's wigs were sometimes 4 feet high. These remarkable headdresses were dusted with flour and decorated with stuffed birds, replicas of gardens, plates of fruit, or even model ships.
In eighteenth century English gambling dens, there was an empolyee whose only job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.
In England, in the 1800's pants was considered a dirty word.
In 1976 a Los Angeles secretary named Jannene Swift officially married a 50 pound rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people.
In 1976 Rodrigo's Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez' was No 1 in the UK for only three hours because of a computer error.
In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
In 1990 there were about 15,000 vacuum cleaner related accidents in the US
In the 19th century, the British Navy attempted to dispel the superstition that Friday was an unlucky day to embark on a ship. The Keel of a new ship was laid on a Friday, she was named HMS Friday, commanded by a Captain Friday, and finally went to sea on a Friday. Neither the ship nor her crew were ever heard of again.
In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'
In the Balanta tribe of Africa, a bride remained married until her wedding gown was worn out. If she wanted a divorce after 2 weeks, all she had to do was rip up her dress.
In the country of Turkey, in the 16th and 17th centuries, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death.
IN the flim 'Star Trek: First Contact, when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible .. But new Zealand is missing.
In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured.
In the heart of the Antarctic winter, temperatures drop to as low as 127 degrees Fahrenheit. In the Marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the Couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.
In the middle Ages, the highest court in France ordered the execution of a cow for injuring a human.
In the past 100 years only 12 people have been attacked by mountain lions in the state of California. Five died and two of those were because of rabies in 1909
In the United States there is one birth every 8 seconds and one death every 14 seconds.
In the White House, there are 13,092 Knives, forks, and spoons.
Strange Facts - C
If the Earth was smooth, the ocean would cover the entire surface to a depth of 12 000 feet.
If you are chased by a crocodile, run zigzag, a crocodile is not good at making sharp turns.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula"
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
Strange Facts - B
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
Canada has more lakes that the rest of the world combined.
Canada is an Indian word meaning Big Village.
Catgut comes from sheep not cats.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about 10.
A group of whales is called a pod.
Abraham Lincoln was the only US president ever granted a patent.
According to Genesis 1:2022 the chicken came before the egg.
Children grow more in the springtime.
Chopsuey is not a native Chinese dish, it was crafted in California by Chinese immigrants.
Chrysler built B29's that bombed Japan. Mitsubishi built the Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant called Diamond Star.
Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly over head.
Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
During a life time, one person generates more than 1000 pounds of red blood cells.
At age 16 Confucius was a corn inspector.
Armored knights raised their visors to themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
Assuming you could walk to the sun it would take about 2000 years.
Strange Facts - A
A group of larks is called an exaltation.
A elephant is the heavest of all land mammals at around 8,000 pounds.
A kangaroo can't jump unless its tail is touching the ground.
A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth up to 7 miles away.
A man had the hiccups for 69 years.
A millipede has 4 legs on each segment of it's body.
A mole can dig over 250 feet of tunnel in a single night.
A monkey was once tride and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend,Indiana.
A noisy resturant is 100,000 times as lound as a watch ticking. Rock Consert 1,000,000,000 times as loud. Loud headphones 10,000,000,000. Shotgun blast 1,000,000,000,000
A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut.
A person at rest generates as much heat as a 100watt lightbulb
A group of owls is called a parliament.
A Penny whistle has six finger holes.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A quarter of Russia is covered by forest.
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champange will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.
A rat can last longer with out water than a camel.
A rhinoceros' horn is made of compacted hair.
A rodents teeth never stop growing. They are worn down by the animal's constant gnawing on bark, leaves, and other vegetables.
A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee
A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
A group of ravens is called a murder.
A shark can grow a new set of teeth in a week
A silicon chip a quarter inch square has the capacity of the orignal 1949 ENIAC computer, which occupied a city block.
A sizable oak tree, during the typical growing season, gives off 28,000 gallons of moisture.
A snail can have about 25,000 teeth
A group of toads is called a knot.
About 3,500 gallons if water is needed to produce one pound of beef.
About 300 million cells die in your body every minute.
About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were thirty.
About 70% of all living organisms in the world are bacteria.
About 85% of the plant life on the Earth is in the ocean.
About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.
A group of rhinos is called a crash.
A species of earthworm in Australia grows up to 10 feet in length.
A starfish can turn its self inside out.
A ten gallon hat holds three quarters of a gallon.
A toothpick is the object most often chocked on by Americans.
A Walla Walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background when they say walla walla it looks like they are actually talking.
A whales heart beats only nine times a minute.
A woodchuck breathes only ten times during hibernation.
A zebra is white with black stripes.
Anteaters prefers termites to ants.
Ants stretch before they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.
Albert Brooks's real name is Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952.
Alexander the Great was an epileptic.
Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
All 17 children of Queen Anne dies before she did.
All totalled, the sunlight that strikes Earth at any given moment weighs as much as a large ocean liner.
A group of Unicorns is called a blessing.
According to Genesis 7:2, God told Noah to take 14 of each kind of 'clean' animal in to the ark.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and vice president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
After eating, a housefly regurgitates is food and then eats it again.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
How To Cook an Egg with Mobile Phones
How To Cook an Egg with Mobile Phones
I might add it takes aproximently 2 minutes of speaking on a cellular phone for the radiation to cross the protective Blood Brain Barrier. So when ever there is a land line available use it in preference to your cell.
Enjoy the interesting article I received from the Raw Family...
How Two Russian Journalists Cooked an Egg with their Mobile Phones
Vladimir Lagovski and Andrei Moiseynko from Komsomolskaya Pravda Newspaper in Moscow decided to learn first-hand how harmful cell phones are. There is no magic in cooking with your cell phone. The secret is in the radio waves that the cell phone radiates.
The journalists created a simple microwave structure as shown in the picture(chk out the site for pictures). They called from one cell phone to the other and left both phones on talking mode. They placed a tape recorder next to phones to imitate sounds of speaking so the phones would stay on.
After, 15 minutes: The egg became slightly warm.
25 minutes: The egg became very warm.
40 minutes: The egg became very hot.
65 minutes: The egg was cooked. (As you can see.)
Conclusion ..1: Cooking eggs with mobile phones is possible but very expensive ($4.55 or 123 Rubles)
Conclusion ..2: All this talk of danger is exaggerated; even if your brain gets cooked, it would take a couple hours of talking on a cell phone.
Conclusion ..3: We dont recommend carrying cell phone in your pants.
Photos by Anatoly Zhdanov.
Translated into english by Victoria Boutenko.
Source: Komsomolskaya Pravda, April 23, 2006
http://www.kp.ru/daily/23694.4
