Blind Bambi

A Four-Sun Planetary Find

2012-10-16T17:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday night, researchers meeting in Reno, Nevada, at the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society presented their discovery of a four-sun planet. A circumbinary planet is one that orbits two suns. Only six other circumbinary planets are known to exist. "Citizen scientists" Robert Gagliano and Kian Jek combed through data from NASA's $600 million Kepler telescope and coordinated their findings with Yale astronomers to find the first known quadruple-sun system. This rare planet is a little bigger than Neptune, with a radius about six times greater than Earth. It is now known as PH1 (short for Planet Hunters 1), taking its name from the online citizen science project behind its discovery.

Fattening Cows on Candy

2012-10-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

According to a CNN article, the rising cost of corn is driving thrifty farmers to turn to alternative sources of feed for their livestock. Food products such as chocolate bars, gummy worms, ice cream sprinkles, marshmallows, bits of hard candy, crumbled cookies, breakfast cereal, trail mix, dried cranberries, orange peelings and even powdered hot chocolate mix are being used as more economical alternative feeds. These are typically blended with more traditional forms of feed, like hay.

The sugar, providing the same kind of energy as the corn it is replacing, helps fatten the cows and increase milk production without any known ill effect to the cow or human consumers of its milk or meat.

Candy is not alone in its use as a substitute feed. A wide assortment of other byproducts, including cherry juice, fish meal, peanut butter, fruit fillings, tapioca and left-over grain from distilleries, also often find their way into the diet of livestock as a cost-saving measure.

Colorful Honey

2012-10-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

A LiveScience.com article, today, reports on the results of honey bees attracted to colorful sugary waste rather than wildflowers for nectar.

Near Ribeauvillé, France, local bees have acquired a taste for processed sugars at a biogas plant that processes waste from a nearby Mars chocolate factory, where M&M candies are made. With dyes from the processed sugars turning their honey blue and green, though, the beekeepers can't sell their honey. Apparently it still tastes like honey, but they consider it something completely different. The planned solution is to keep the waste M&Ms better contained so that the bees can no longer get to them.

Watch for "designer" honey products based on this principle in the future.

Facebook Reaches 1 Billion User Mark

2012-10-04T17:28:00.000-07:00

Facebook has reached another major milestone. Today, a CNN Money article reports on co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that the social media site now helps over one billion users connect. This means that it is used by one of every seven people on the planet.

Much of their recently added user community is from Asia and the developing world. While now less than 20% of Facebook's users live in the U.S. and Canada, however, those users still account for 48% of the $992 million in advertising revenue that Facebook took in last quarter.

One of Facebook's future focus areas will be the growing mobile market. Half of Facebook's users access the site at least once a month through mobile devices. 102 million users (roughly 10% of total) only use Facebook's mobile site.

Moo for a Potential Milk Allergy Solution

2012-10-03T17:19:00.001-07:00

A Health.com article on Monday reports that scientists in New Zealand have cloned a genetically modified, tail-less calf that produces milk containing no detectable levels of beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), the protein that is believed to trigger allergic reactions. Additionally, the hypoallergenic milk from this calf appears to be even more nutritious than regular cow’s milk, as it contains double the amount of the healthy milk proteins known as caseins.

So far, though, no genetically modified animals or animal products have been sold for food. The nearest example is a patent-protected salmon containing genes from two other fish species that enable it to grow faster, but that fish has yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Search For Hoffa Reaches Another Dead End

2012-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

The latest lead on the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa's remains is another bust. Recently, a tipster claimed to have seen a body buried in the yard of a home in suburban Detroit the day after Hoffa disappeared in 1975. Today, two soil samples taken from that property showed no evidence of human remains.

Red Lobster Revamping Menu

2012-10-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

According to a Fox News article today, popular seafood chain Red Lobster is planning changes to its menu by the middle of the month. It will be increasing the number of lower cost entrees (less than $15) to appeal to customers cutting back on spending. Items in this price range represent about 40 percent of the current menu selections. This proportion will be increased to about 60 percent.

A quarter of the new menu will be non-seafood dishes, up from 8 percent and will include a Parmesan-crusted Chicken Alfredo and Pork chops. Roasted Vegetable Skewers will represent the first vegetarian entree that isn’t salad or pasta. For those who want to go light, the Island Grilled Mahi-Mahi and Shrimp is only 510 calories. There are now three salads, including the Bar Harbor Salad, which has dried berries, pecans and blue cheese.

A new ‘‘Four-Course Feast’’ that comes with a soup, salad, entree and dessert will be offered for $15.99. For those who want to splurge, the NY Strip Steak & Rock Lobster Tail will still be available for $32.99.

National Drink Beer Day

2012-09-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Today is National Drink Beer Day, an annual “holiday” dedicated to beer lovers and beer connoisseurs across America. If you were thinking about grabbing a few cold ones with friends, this is the perfect excuse.

A Wikipedia entry on "Beer in the United States" claims that he U.S. produced 196 million barrels of beer in 2009, and consumes roughly 20 gallons of beer per capita annually. Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in America and accounts for roughly 85% of the volume of alcoholic beverages sold.

Ain't the beer cold! ... Enjoy the holiday!

Google Maps Now Underwater

2012-09-27T18:36:00.001-07:00

The street view feature on Google Maps now lets you explore under the water. Specifically, you can currently digitally investigate six ocean coral reefs using the popular Google tool.

Still Too Fat to Fight

2012-09-26T18:18:00.001-07:00

A USA Today article this week summarizes some of the results contained in a report released by Mission: Readiness, a group of more than 300 retired generals and admirals. In 2010, the group released a report titled "Too Fat to Fight." This follow-up, called "Still Too Fat to Fight," contains some sobering facts about child obesity in America.

Apparently, three-quarters of those ages 17 to 24, cannot serve in the military. A quarter of them are simply too overweight or obese. Others don't have a high school diploma, have criminal records, or suffer from other health problems. Additionally, many accepted recruits must be diverted to special training to address inadequate physical fitness before they can even begin basic training. The group considers childhood obesity not only as a health crisis but also a national security issue.

The retired-military group is urging the government to move quickly in updating nutritional standards for all food served in schools (including those sold in a la carte lines, vending machines and stores).

The ROI of a College Degree

2012-09-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

A Fox Business article, last Friday, evaluates the long-term worth of earning a college degree.

While college graduates typically out-earn those with just high-school diplomas, the difference is highly dependent upon the specific career field. For workers such as such as electricians, janitors and postal service mail carriers, there's actually no difference. In a few job categories, such as carpentry, college graduates may actually have lower lifetime earnings.

Regardless of the choice of career and major, though, a four-year degree still hones leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and the ability to see a long-term task through from beginning to end. Sometimes, a degree can represent a level of credibility or help get your foot in the door. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell provide examples of those who built impressive empires without degrees. Of Fortune 500 CEOs, however, 93% have bachelor's degrees and 50% have graduate degrees.

The following career choices provide some examples where a college degree provides a seven figure advantage in median lifetime earnings:
Chief executive officers and legislators: $1.9 million
Securities, commodities, financial services sales agents: $1.5 million

Financial manager: $1.3 million

Miscellaneous manager: $1.3 million

Models, demonstrators, and product promoters: $1.3 million

Marketing and sales managers: $1.3 million

Salespeople in wholesale and manufacturing: $1.3 million

First-line managers and supervisors (non-retail): $1.2 million

General and operations managers: $1.1 million

Construction management: $1.1 million

Memory Mysteries

2012-09-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

A CNN Health article last week reported the findings of a study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Anyone who's tried hard to remember something knows that repetition helps. The more times you retrieve a memory, the longer you will remember it.

The problem is that every time we retrieve a memory, we might forget, add, or slightly change small parts of it. Apparently, the next time we recall the information we remember what we remembered incorrectly. This is similar to the game of "telephone" we played as kids, where a message is passed from person to person via whisper. When the last person indicates what he or she heard, it is usually much different than what was first communicated (the cumulative effect of small changes made as the message is relayed from person to person).

One theory is that our brain has an access problem. Each time we remember something, our brain creates a new item similar to the first and stores it up front. When we go to grab that memory again, we grab the one that's easiest to access (the most recent version).

The other theory is that our brain has a storage problem. Every time we access a memory, we might lose part of it and/or alter it slightly.

Text Neck

2012-09-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

According to this CNN article, your smartphone may be a serious pain in the neck. The average human head weighs 10 pounds in a neutral position (when your ears are over your shoulders). When you use a mobile device, however, it is probably likely that your head is tilted forward and your shoulders are curved. For every inch you tilt your head forward, though, the pressure on your spine doubles. So if you're looking at a smartphone in your lap, your neck is holding up what likely feels like 20 or 30 pounds and is putting a lot of extra pressure on your spine, possibly leading to muscle strain, disc herniations and pinched nerves. Over time, it can even flatten or reverse the natural curve of your neck.

Now there is even a Text Neck Indicator app to tell you whether or not you are holding your phone at a viewing angle putting you at risk for text neck.

Best and Worst Airline Seats

2012-09-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

A FOX News article back in April provided the results of a Skyscanner.com airline passenger poll on seat preferences. Apparently, the best (or at least most sought after) seat is 6A. This up-front window seat seems to represent the best compromise between comfort and safety.

As passengers board and de-plane from the front of the plane, 45% of passengers prefer the first few rows. Middle seats over the wings also ranked high in the survey because some claim that location may limit the effects of turbulence somewhat.

By contrast, the worst rated seat (the one nobody wanted) was 31E, a middle seat near the rear of the aircraft.

Worrisome Ice Cap Melt Patterns

2012-09-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

An arstechnica.com article, today, explains that while Arctic ice is melting much faster than scientists predicted, Antarctic sea ice is actually expanding.

Yesterday, the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that the Arctic melt season was probably over and the Arctic Sea area with at least 15% sea ice will reach a record low point of about 3.41 million square kilometers. That is about half of the typical low point observed in the 1980-2000 era and about 750,000 square kilometers less than the previous low set in 2007. Actually, though, every year since 2007 has seen unusually strong summer melts. The six lowest seasonal minimum ice extents have all occurred in the last six years.

In the Antarctic, however, sea ice is expanding. Warming waters in the Southern Ocean are producing increased snow. This contributes to keeping existing ice cold and adds to the glaciers that feed floating ice sheets. It also creates a layer of fresh water that stays on the surface, insulating the ice from warmer ocean waters below. The result is an ice sheet that is growing despite the warming climate (at least until the point that warming causes more of the moisture to start falling as rain).

The article points out that the Earth's two poles have radically different behavior, at least in part due to the fact that one is an ocean that is largely surrounded by land, while the other is a continent surrounded by ocean.

2011 Seafood Haul Is Largest in 17 Years

2012-09-19T16:54:00.001-07:00

A CNNMoney article highlights some of the results from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report released today. It indicates that last year was very productive for America's commercial fishermen. They landed 10.1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish valued at $5.3 billion. That's an increase of 1.9 billion pounds and more than $784 million from 2010 and represents the biggest catch for U.S. fishermen since 1994.

Globally, though, seafood trade volumes and values hit new highs in 2011 and even with the improved catch last year, the U.S. still imported about 91% of their seafood. In 2010, the U.S. was responsible for roughly 3% of the global seafood catch. By comparison, China provided 35%, India supplied 6% and Indonesia brought in 5%.

Scarce Spider Suspends San Antonio Highway Project

2012-09-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, a San Antonio Express-News article by Colin McDonald explains why the unearthing of a cave containing a rare Braken Bat Cave meshweaver spider (Cicurina venii) has halted construction efforts on a $15.1 million San Antonio area highway project to build an underpass for Texas 151 to go beneath Loop 1604.

The spider was believed to be extinct. In fact, the only place it has previously been sighted is at Braken Bat Cave, a few miles from the construction site, but that was 30 years ago. Now, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) found a second one, by accident.

The limestone caves below Bexar County, Texas, house species that have been separated from our above-ground environment for so long that they have evolved into very unique critters. While the discovered species is closely related to eight other spider species in Bexar County, and others that live across Central Texas, the different varieties all have different internal organs and no-one is sure why.

Compliance with the Endangered Species Act will require one of two possible approaches. If uncovering the cave has not significantly affected the feeding, breeding or sheltering behavior of the spider, officials may change plans for the new highway interchange so the cave will be left unharmed. If the cave is damaged or a change in plans is not feasible, another cave with the same species of meshweaver must be found so that it can be protected elsewhere.

The majority of people probably wonder why all of this fuss over a silly spider. Scientists argue that, while we don't know what we could learn from it, it could be a lot. Once it is gone, however, that is irreversible and we may never know what we have lost.

Mobile Phone Service a Top Priority

2012-09-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

A recent cellular-news article reports that more than one in five (21%) of American mobile phone owners pay more for the phone service to support their mobile communication needs than they do for groceries. Nearly half of Americans (46%) pay at least $100 per month and 13% pay at least $200 per month in cellular phone service charges. Spending on Internet service is less than phone service for 71% of households. 57% spend less on cable TV service. 33% spend less on basic utilities (e.g., water, gas, and electric).

Bacon Bits

2012-09-14T20:03:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week, Fox News published an article laying out The Truth About Bacon. On the bad side, 68 percent of bacon's calories come from fat and almost half of the fat is saturated (artery-clogging). Cured bacon also contains nitrates that have been linked with cancer. A single strip of bacon can contain up to 3.5 grams of fat, 150mg of sodium, and 7mg cholesterol. On the good side, pork bacon is high in protein, vitamins and minerals, including B6, B12, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc, as well as choline, a nutrient which helps improve cognitive performance, memory, mood and mental alertness.

Their tips for enjoying bacon in a healthier manner are:
- Moderation (stick to small servings)

- Blot extra grease off to lower fat intake

- Avoid adding extra salt or other high sodium seasonings

- Consider healthier alternatives, such as:

* Turkey Bacon

* Bacon Flavored Salt

* Canadian Bacon

* Meatless Bacon Substitutes

* Uncured Bacon

Bacon Number Featured By Google

2012-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

The actor Kevin Bacon once claimed that he had worked with everyone in Hollywood. The Kevin Bacon Game (or Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon - after the phrase: six degrees of separation) is all about testing this claim. A celebrity's "Bacon Number" represents the smallest number of "connections" linking him or her to Kevin Bacon. Google Search has now added a "Bacon Number" feature based on their Knowledge Graph, a 'map' of real-world people, entities, and the connections between them.

To use it, simply type the words "Bacon number" (without quotes), followed by the name of a celebrity, as a search entry and it will return a result indicating how closely he or she is connected to Kevin Bacon.

Check it out.

Bypassing Banks

2012-09-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

A CNN article, today, reports that, according to survey results released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, about 8.2% of U.S. households, or nearly 10 million, lack a bank account. That's up from 7.7%, or about 9 million households, in 2009. About 33% indicate that this is because they don't have enough money to open and fund a bank account. Banks are also tending to push out unprofitable customers with the decline of free checking and fees that impact customers unable to meet minimum balance requirements and/or who may be chronic over-drafters. While some don't need or want an account and primarily use cash, one in four households have used at least one form of alternative financial service (money order, check cashing service, tax refund anticipation loan, pawn shop, money-transfer service, payday loan, etc.) and about 12% of households have used one of these products in the past 30 days. Unfortunately, the high cost of some of these alternative financial services can take a toll over the long term.

Omega-3 Supplement Effects In Question

2012-09-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Perhaps not too surprisingly, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that taking fish oil pills rich in omega-3 fatty acids doesn't appear to have a significant effect on heart attacks, strokes or death.

A USA Today article quotes Richard Karas, director of the preventive cardiology center at Tufts Medical Center in Boston with his perspective that:

Time and time again research shows that a diet rich in a certain vitamin or nutrient is beneficial. But then people think if you take a pill containing that ingredient, you'll be healthier. It doesn't work that way.

and

The message Americans may not want to hear is that eating healthy foods, not taking pills, is what helps heart health.

Fantasy Football's Toll on Worker Productivity

2012-09-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

The NFL season is again upon us and, according to a millionairecorner.com article, fantasy football may cost American employers upwards of $6.5 billion. This is based on an estimated 22.3 million employees spending an hour adjusting their line-ups and rosters each week over the course of the duration of the 15-week fantasy season. As the average hourly wage of American workers is $19.33, the math results in a weekly cost of $430.9 million or $6.46 billion over the course of the entire season.

Fantasy football is played by about 75 percent of all fantasy sports participants. Market research indicates that there are 70 million free and paid leagues and that players spend up to nine hours a week on their teams.

Some believe that the impact, however, is negligible or even positive. John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. states that. “Employers will not see any impact on their bottom line and, for the most part, business will proceed as usual." He adds that, “Companies that not only allow workers to indulge in fantasy football, but actually encourage it by organizing company leagues are likely to see significant benefits in morale as well as productivity,”

Philly Now Boasts World's First Pizza Museum

2012-09-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

Pizza Brain, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, is now the world’s first pizza museum and "home to the world’s largest collection of pizza-memorabilia" (apparently according to the Guinness Book of World Records). There is also an "artisan pizzeria" attached. According to a post, from July, by Elizabeth Fiedler to the NPR food blog "The Salt, it is the brainchild of 27-year-old Brian Dwyer, who is apparently so into pizza that he has a tattoo on his back of a drawing of himself holding a slice and saying "Totally Saucesome."

Text Your Emergency?

2012-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

In a press release earlier this week, AT&T announced that it will launch a trial of a new text-to-911 service in Tennessee. Last August, the Federal Communications Commission announced plans for the ability to send texts, photos, and videos to emergency call center operators. This was inspired by the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, when students tried to send emergency text messages that the emergency call centers were unable to receive. This test is a precursor to a nationwide launch. Verizon is also working on a similar capability. New York City's 911/311 system was upgraded back in 2008 to accept photos and videos.