True Colors

From the day that babies are brought home and cradled in their pink or blue blankets, implications have been made about gender and color. While there are no concrete rules about what colors are exclusively feminine or masculine, there have been studies conducted over the past seven decades that draw some generalizations. 

This week, a look at the true colors of gender.  You can find the full size chart at http://blog.kissmetrics.com/gender-and-color/?wide=1.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week:

   True Colors Short by fredwine

The 500 Phases of Matter

Forget solid, liquid, and gas: there are in fact more than 500 phases of matter.  Thankfully that portion of my education is in the past and memorizing the other 497 is not on my to-do list.

This week, a look at how everything I ever learned about states of matter is now outdated.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There are places I remember all my life, though some have changed, some forever, not for better, some have gone and some remain." – The Beatles, "In My Life" (Lennon-McCartney)

  The 500 Phases of Matter by fredwine

Sticking Power

Velcro: a man-made interpretation of nature's glue that never wears out.  When it first arrived in America, it caused a sensation. In 1958, a syndicated financial columnist named Sylvia Porter announced that “a new fastening device” had so bewitched her that she spent days playing with it. “It’s on my desk as I type this,” she wrote.

You want to open and close some now, don't you?  This week, a look at velcro.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind." – The Beatles, "Julia " (Lennon-McCartney)

   Sticking Power by fredwine

Flush with Success

Call it what you will: privy, latrine, water closet, lavatory.  It makes our lives better that we can even imagine.  And while it is disappointing to find it is just an urban legend that it was invented by Sir Thomas Crapper, it is good to know that King Minos of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history, over 2800 years ago.

This week, a look at the indoor toilet.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Sleep pretty darling, do not cry and I will sing a lullaby." – The Beatles, "Golden Slumbers" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Flush With Success by fredwine

Packed With Power

Imagine a world where everything that used electricity had to be plugged in. Flashlights, hearing aids, cell phones and other portable devices would be tethered to electrical outlets, rendering them awkward and cumbersome. Cars couldn't be started with the simple turn of a key; a strenuous cranking would be required to get the pistons moving. Wires would be strung everywhere, creating a safety hazard and an unsightly mess.

Thankfully, batteries provide us with a mobile source of power that makes many modern conveniences possible. This week, a look at batteries.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Someday when I'm lonely, wishing you weren't so far away, then we will remember things we said today." – The Beatles, "Things We Said Today" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Packed With Power by fredwine

Soft Landings

Parachute pants are a style of trousers characterized by the use of nylon, especially ripstop nylon. In the original loose-fitting, extraneously zippered style of the late 1970s/early 1980s, "parachute" referred to the pants' synthetic nylon material. In the later 1980s, "parachute" may have referred to the extreme bagginess of the pant. 

While they became a fad in US culture in the 1980s as part of an increased cultural appropriation of breakdancing, they have very little to do with parachutes, although they did slow you down when you tried to run...or so I have heard.

This week, a look at the history of the parachute.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you." – The Beatles, "Dear Prudence" (Lennon-McCartney)

  Soft Landings

Salt Sugar Fat

Every year, the average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese (triple what we ate in 1970) and seventy pounds of sugar (about twenty-two teaspoons a day). We ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt a day, double the recommended amount, and almost none of that comes from the shakers on our table. It comes from processed food. It is no wonder, then, that one in three adults, and one in five kids, is clinically obese. It is no wonder that twenty-six million Americans have diabetes, the processed food industry in the U.S. accounts for $1 trillion a year in sales, and the total economic cost of this health crisis is approaching $300 billion a year.

This week, a look at Salt Sugar Fat, a book by Michael Moss that shows how we got here.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Who will love me till the end, through thick and thin, she will always be my friend." – The Beatles, "Another Girl" (Lennon-McCartney)

   Processed Food Industry Disapproval Matrix by Michael Moss by fredwine