Mar 9, 2018

Pi Day

Pi Day was invented by physicist Larry Shaw and the first Pi Day celebration was held at the San Francisco Exploratorium in 1988. In 2009 the US Congress officially recognized March 14 as Pi Day in the United States. The 6-trillionth, 8-trillionth, 9-trillionth and 10-trillionth digits of pi, are all fives.

Innies and Outies

Scar tissue development. "Inny" and "Outie" belly buttons are not caused by where the umbilical cord is cut (contrary to a popular misconception). It is dependent on how scar tissue develops as the remaining tissue dries and falls off. This process is random, though "inny" tends to be a more common result.

Coffee Beans, Light vs. Dark Roast

Caffeine is extremely stable during the roasting process. A change in caffeine depends on how you measure your coffee.
There is an estimated ninety bean difference between a pound of dark and light roast coffee, with the dark roast higher. During the roasting process, a bean loses its mass. The density of the bean changes; beans that are roasted longer are less dense. That is why you have more beans by mass of dark roasts.

If you measure your coffee by scoops, light roasted coffee will have more caffeine, since the beans are denser than a darker roast. However, if you weigh your scoops, darker roasts will have more caffeine, because there is less mass. Depending on how ground coffee is measured, there is only a minimal variance in caffeine content with dark and light roasts. Unlike Marijuana,  people have died from caffeine overdose.

Two Car Part Inventors

Early automobiles had tillers, similar to the tillers used to steer boats. The tiller was attached to a simple mechanism that made the car’s front wheels turn when the tiller was pushed to the left or right. During 1894, a French engineer named Alfred Vacheron modified his Panhard runabout, replacing the tiller with a wheel attached to a shaft that went through the floor of the vehicle at a nearly vertical angle, where it attached to a mechanism that turned the front wheels.

Packard likely came up with the glove box. An article in a 1900 edition of The Horseless Age magazine describes the Model B: “The body of the carriage shows the best possible coach work and upholstering, and the aim has been to get rid of the ‘horse wanted’ appearance. The leather dash is not used, but instead a boot or box forms part of the body. In this is ample space for parcels, waterproofs, etc.” Other automakers soon started adding compartment-like features in place of old-fashioned dashes. The modern-looking glove compartment, with a drop-down door, first appeared during the 1920s.

Costco Ink Refills

Bring any supported, empty cartridges to the Photo Center at your local Costco. Your cartridge will be refilled while you shop. The system cleans, refills, and tests your cartridge. Receive your quality inkjet refill in an hour. Cost varies by location, but is cheaper than new cartridges.

Download, Sideload, and Upload

Many get these confused, but is easy to tell the difference once you understand.

The term "sideloading" is very similar to the more common terms "downloading" and "uploading," and it is much easier to understand what sideloading means if you are already familiar with those terms. Sideloading does not make use of the internet, it requires you to use some other method to transfer files. This can be accomplished with a physical connection between the two devices, like a USB cable, or via a wireless method like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. If the mobile device has a memory card slot, sideloading can also involve copying files from a computer to an SD card and then inserting the card into the mobile device.

Downloading involves transferring a file from a remote location, like the internet, to a local device like your computer. Uploading is the opposite, since it involves transferring a file from a local device, like your computer, to a remote location like a file hosting service on the internet.

Bottom line, Think of the internet as a cloud. You upload to the cloud and you download from the cloud. Think of another device sitting beside yours. You sideload from it.

Keyboard Cleaners

Clear tape, the kind you find in the office or use to wrap presents is an ideal choice, since it is thin and easy to manipulate. Sticky notes work too.

Cleaning your keyboard with tape is fairly simple. Tear off an inch of tape and fold it in half so that the non-sticky sides are facing together and the sticky sides are facing outward. Slip the tape underneath the edges of the keys and rub back and forth a few times. Pull the piece of tape out and prepare to be disgusted at the amount of grunge. Repeat until all of your keys are clean.

Mar 2, 2018

Happy Friday

Smiles are like Spring to Winter.

Your smile will warm up everyone, especially on a Happy Friday!

Amazon Fire TV Screensaver

If you or someone you know has an Amazon Fire TV you likely came across the beautiful landscape pictures that show as the screensaver. I was wondering about some of them and came across this site LINK that shows each of the 182 pictures, along with a description.


Incidentally, if you have a fire TV and an Amazon Prime membership, you can upload your own photos for free and watch them on the big screen, and/or use them to replace the generic screensaver.

Accent vs. Dialect

The words "dialect" and "accent" are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. An accent might be described by muddling up the difference between words people use and the sounds they make, their pronunciation. It is the distinct way that a group of persons or even one particular individual speaks with distinctive phonetics and phonology. Groups sharing an identifiable accent may be defined by any variety of common traits, such as regional, the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language (when the language in which the accent is heard is not their native language), etc. In the US, think Boston, New Orleans, etc.  For example, the Southern accent might refer to the pronunciation of the vowels like fire to 'fahr' or stress shift like 'po lice versus po 'lice.

A dialect is a variation in the language itself and not only in the pronunciation. Dialect is a type of language that is derived from a primary language. A dialect is a variety of language differing in vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or class. It is a geographically or ethnically restricted form of a language characterized by a combination of distinctive phonetics (individual sounds), phonology (sound system rules), syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into three general categories: British Isles dialect, North America dialect, and those of Australasia.


If someone from India were to move to London and start speaking English, we would refer to the speech as foreign accented speech, not a dialect.

IRS Scams

This time of year in the US there are many IRS scams due to tax season. If you receive an IRS scam call or a fraudulent tax refund call, never return a phone call from someone claiming to be with the IRS. Instead, individuals should call the IRS directly at 800-829-1040, and businesses should call 800-829-4933.
The US Department of Justice says the IRS never discusses personal tax issues through unsolicited emails or texts, or over social media. Always be wary if you are contacted by someone claiming to be from the IRS who says you owe money.

If you receive an unexpected and suspicious email from the IRS, forward it to phishing@irs.gov.

Four Google Tips

If you are searching and want to eliminate a word, put a minus - sign before it as in "cowboys -dallas" (without the quotes). It will get you the information about cowboys, but very few results about the football team.

Use an asterisk * to search and find the word you cannot remember, such as the "* of march" (without the quotes) returns results for the ides of March.

Looking for pictures, type in your search then click images on the top row. It will load your page with (mostly related) pictures. If you want animated pictures, click on search tools and choose "animated pictures".

The Google tool I use most is to filter by time. After you type in your search, click Tools, click "Anytime", then choose the time period. Many sites become outdated over time, and it is important to get the latest information. At the very least, choose "Past Year" for more recent information.