Tuesday, January 31, 2012



LET IT SNOW






NOW YOU KNOW

Cycling
Image by tejvanphotos via Flickr
The record for the fastest speed by a bicyclist on a flat surface is 167 miles per hour, set by Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg, in 1995.  How'd he go so fast?  He drafted behind a custom-built drag racing car, taking advantage of the car's slipstream.  For comparison's sake, the 167 miles per hour speed is more than twice that of the fastest cycling speed without drafting -- 83 miles per hour, held by Canadian cyclist Sam Whittingham and set in 2009.  
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MENSA Q & A

 True or false: Pasternak was the first Soviet writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
(click below for the answer)

AND I QUOTE

"My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted."-
Steven Wright

TODAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 31

1606:Guy Fawkes, a co-conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, was executed.

1865:Robert E. Lee was appointed commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces.

1865:The House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States.

1940:The first social security check was issued to Ida Fuller for $22.54.

1958:The first U.S. earth satellite, Explorer I, was launched.

1990:The first McDonald's opened in Russia.


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MENSA Q & A

 Who was the inventor of the mercury thermometer?
(click below for the answer)

Monday, January 30, 2012

SPACE

Little Planet Lovejoy
Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Cherney (Terrastro, TWAN)
Explanation: Once a bright apparition in the southern hemisphere dawn Comet Lovejoy is fading, but its long tail still stretches across skies near the south celestial pole. Captured on the morning of December 30th, the comet appears near edge of this little planet as well. Of course, the little planet is actually planet Earth and the image was created from a 12 frame mosaic used to construct a spherical panorama. The type of stereographic projection used to map the image pixels is centered directly below the camera and is known as the little planet projection. Stars surrounding this little planet were above the photographer's cloudy horizon near the Bay of Islands on the Great Ocean Road in southern Victoria, Australia. Running alongside the Milky Way the comet can be identified, with other celestial highlights, by putting your cursor over the picture. Very bright stars Canopus and Sirius are right of the little planet.

DEALING WITH A PAIN IN THE NECK

Neck Pain? Skip the Pills, Just Stretch Like a Chicken


Doing some simple exercises at home is more effective than medicine at getting out a painful crick in the neck, a new study shows.
Neck pain afflicts at least three quarters of people at some point in their lives, and many take over-the-counter medications or visit doctors and chiropractors in search of relief. Sedentary office workers tend to be most susceptible to the condition. (click below to read more)

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

James Ward's second annual festival of tedium (the "Boring conference"), in November at York Hall in east London, once again sold out, demonstrating the intrinsic excitement created by yawn-inducing subject matter. Last year's conference featured a man's discourse on the color and materials of his neckwear collection and another's structured milk-tasting, patterned after a wine-tasting. This second edition showcased a history of the electric hand-dryer and a seminar on the square root of 2. [The Independent, 11-19-2011]

ALWAYS WEAR YOUR LIFE JACKET


TODAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 30

1649:King Charles I of England was beheaded.

1933:Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany.

1948:Gandhi was assassinated.

1968:North Vietnamese forces launched attacks against the South Vietnamese, beginning the Tet offensive.

1972:British troops opened fire on civil rights marchers in Northern Ireland, sparking the "Bloody Sunday" massacre.

1979:The Iranian civilian government announced that the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini would be allowed to return.


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Sunday, January 29, 2012

MAKING RUBE GOLDBERG PROUD


THANKS FOR THE HEADS-UP


VINTAGE AD-1976


HERE COMES THE GANG, IT MUST BE CLOSE TO NOON





NOW YOU KNOW

Of all countries with 25 million or more inhabitants, Bangladesh is the most densely populated one -- by a lot.  Its population density is roughly 2,500 people per square mile; the next most dense country with a population exceeding 25 million is South Korea, at just over 1,250 people per square mile.  Another perspective: Both Bangladesh and Iowa have an area of roughly 56,000 square miles.  Bangladesh has a population of 145 million.  Iowa has a population of 3 million.
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DO YOU REMEMBER?

Years before the public fully understood the dangers associated with smoking tobacco, it was glamorized to no end in movies and on television. And youngsters weren’t immune to the allure of their favorite hero suavely dangling a cigarette from his or her mouth. (click below to read more)

TODAY IN HISTORY

Edgar Allan Poe
Cover of Edgar Allan Poe

JANUARY 29

1802:John Beckley became the first Librarian of Congress. He was paid $2 a day.

1845:Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven was published.

1861:Kansas became the 34th state in the United States.

1886:Karl Benz received a patent for the first successful gasoline-driven car.

1936:Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson were the first players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

1963:Poet Robert Frost died in Boston.

2002:In his State of the Union address, President Bush labels Iraq, Iran, and North Korea an "axis of evil."


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MENSA Q & A

A book has N pages, numbered the usual way, from 1 to N. The total number of digits in the page numbers is 1,095. How many pages does the book have?
(click below for the answer)

Saturday, January 28, 2012

VINTAGE AD-1971


MENSA Q & A

Tanzania was formed by the union of two countries. Name them.
(click below for the answer)

2011 ROTARY IMAGES




CANADIAN ROTARIANS FIND JOBS FOR THE DISABLED

Several Rotary districts in Ontario, Canada, are helping to expand employment opportunities for people with physical or developmental disabilities by educating business leaders on the benefits of hiring them.(click below to read more)

VINTAGE AD-1964


VENDING MACHINE WIN

JUST FOUND SOMEONE ELSE WHO CAN WALK ON WATER


TODAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 28

1547:King Henry VIII of England died and his nine-year-old son, Edward VI, assumed the throne.

1915:Congress passed legislation creating the U.S. Coast Guard.

1916:The first Jewish Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis, was appointed.

1986:U.S. shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after lift off, killing all seven crew members aboard, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.

1999:The creation of Element 114 is announced by scientists.


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Friday, January 27, 2012

MENSA Q & A

 Where specifically would you find a mitral valve?
(click below for the answer)

STORMS OVER AFRICA, FROM SPACE

AND I QUOTE

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."-Abraham Lincoln

FROST FREE ZONE


PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Hospital protocols may be changing, but too slowly for Doreen Wallace, who fell in the lobby of the Greater Niagara General Hospital in Ontario in October and broke her hip. Though it was less than 150 feet from the lobby to the emergency room, hospital personnel, following rules, instructed her to call an ambulance to take her around to the ER, though the nearest such ambulance, in the next city, did not arrive for 30 pain-filled minutes. Hospital officials said they would handle things better in the future. [Toronto Star, 10-18-2011]
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YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA


TODAY IN HISTORY

JANUARY 27

1880:Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his incandescent light.

1944:The Soviets announced the end of the two-year siege of Leningrad.

1945:The Russians liberated Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had killed over 1.5 million people, including over 1 million Jews.

1951:The U.S. Air Force started atomic testing in the Nevada desert.

1967:The Apollo I fire killed astronauts Grissom, White, and Chaffee during a simulated launch at Cape Canaveral.

1973:Vietnam War peace accords were signed in Paris.


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Thursday, January 26, 2012

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF "BRIDGE"


MENSA Q & A

Using only a four-minute hourglass and a seven-minute hourglass, measure exactly nine minutes—without the process taking longer than nine minutes.
(click below for the answer)

DEEP IN THOUGHT




DO YOU ENJOY PHOTOGRAPHY?


Vivian Maier
The Nanny’s Secret
Vivian Maier (1926-2009) had a talent for seeing. As she walked down the street, she not only avoided bumping into people and objects, she actually saw them in a way most people do not; she saw them in their particularity. We know this because more than 100,000 negatives of photographs she took were somewhat accidentally stumbled upon after her death and now form the basis of two concurrent gallery exhibitions, a photo book and two websites. There was a museum show earlier this year at the Chicago Cultural Center. There will be more. Maier's talent is recognized immediately by those who view her work, something she let no one do in her lifetime. (click below to read more)

MENSA Q & A

 When you start a game of 8-ball, how many balls in all are on the pool table?
(click below for the answer)

VINTAGE AD-1963


IT'S IN HERE SOMEWHERE