Archive for 2010
Run When It’s Raining to Stay Drier
Sooner or later, everybody gets caught outside when it starts raining.
I used to have a long walk to school. I mention this because walking to school has the same affect on rainfall as washing your car — it only rains at the worst possible time and it stops immediately after you stop caring.
When you’re stuck in the rain, you might think about whether it would be better to run or walk. When you run, you collide with more rain but you also reduce the amount of time you are exposed to the rain. When you walk, you collide with less rain but for a longer duration. So which is better?
It turns out that running is the better option, assuming you run fast enough to reduce the time you are exposed to rain. Myth Busters tested this in episode 38 if you want to check it out.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Myth Busters, Wise Geek
How to Chop Food Quickly, Safely and Easily
The difference between an amateur and a professional is their technique and practice.
In this case, it’s fairly easy to do it like a pro. You just need to know the right technique.
For a quick tutorial, watch this video from Chef Jacob (if you can’t watch the video, read below).
When you’re slicing, dicing and chopping vegetables, you’ll place one hand on the knife and use your other hand to hold the food and guide the knife. The knuckles on your guide hand will maintain constant contact with the side of the knife. You will curl your fingers under your knuckles to protect them from the cutting edge of the knife. Your thumb will oppose your knuckles and stabilize the food. You can see the correct hand position in the photo below:
For those of us who have never been to culinary school or worked in a restaurant, this is a tip that we can really benefit from.
Thanks to Chef Jacob of FreeCulinarySchool.com.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Source and Photo: @ChefJacob
Dog’s Mouths Are Not Cleaner Than Human’s
This probably shouldn’t be a secret. If you think about the things that dogs lick and humans don’t, then this should be pretty obvious. But, the myth that dog’s mouths are cleaner than human’s is perpetually propagated.
There is an old tale that you should let a dog lick your wounds to speed healing. The wounds may actually heal faster; that’s because the licking will stimulate circulation and clear away dead tissue, but it’s not because their saliva is cleaner than ours.
Some say that dog’s saliva is more acidic than humans so they break down bacteria better. Others look at the fact that dogs rarely get cavities or gum disease as proof.
The fact is, dogs have a similar amount of oral bacteria to humans. But, the types of oral bacteria varies between dogs and humans.
That’s why dogs rarely get cavities or gum disease, the types of bacteria that cause these problems are only found in about 5% of dogs. In fact, viruses and bacteria that affect humans usually don’t bother dogs and vice versa. For that reason, you may actually have a higher risk of becoming sick from kissing a human than kissing a dog. But, that doesn’t mean their mouths are cleaner.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: A Moment of Science, ABC, Life’s Little Mysteries
Mosquitoes are Attracted to Men More Than Women
Female mosquitoes bite mammals for their blood. They don’t do it for food, they need proteins in the blood to form eggs that will eventually make baby mosquitoes.
When it comes to people, they don’t necessarily prefer men to women, but it’s generally easier for mosquitoes to find men than women.
Mosquitoes detect mammals by picking up two chemicals: CO2 and 1-Octen-3-ol. CO2 is obviously in our breath when we exhale. 1-Octen-3-ol is a type of alcohol and it’s naturally in our breath and our sweat. Mosquitoes can detect these chemicals up to 36 meters (118 feet) away.
The more air you exhale and the more sweat you generate, the easier it is for mosquitoes to find you. Typically, men are: larger than women, have higher body temperatures, sweat more and exhale more CO2.
Larger women are also at a higher risk of mosquito bites than smaller women. In fact, a study found that pregnant women are twice as likely to attract mosquitoes than non-pregnant women.
The most effective way to repel mosquitoes is with a product that contains DEET. There are some natural alternatives to DEET: lemon eucalyptus and lemon grass are popular and reasonably effective, although there are other alternatives too. Unfortunately, none of them are as effective as DEET on the skin. DEET provides 100% protection for up to two hours, the natural alternatives need to be reapplied every 30-60 minutes.
Nepetalacton, the active ingredient in Catnip, is nearly 10 times more effective than DEET at repelling mosquitoes. However, it is not effective when applied to skin.
When a mosquito bites you, or when your skin is punctured in general, there is a complex reaction in your body that tries to stop the bleeding. Mosquitoes inject their saliva which contains a number of compounds, one of which is designed to prevent this reaction from happening. That prevents the blood from clotting and allows them to easily extract it. These compounds are the reason mosquito bites are itchy.
Researchers are studying the anti-clotting compounds in mosquito saliva since they could be effective in treating life threatening blood clots and heart-related diseases that affect humans.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Annals of Internal Medicine, Wikipedia (Mosquito, DEET, 1-Octen-3-ol), NYT
The Real Reason Cell Phones are Banned on Planes
I should start by saying that smartphones and simple cell phones are not banned on planes everywhere. Air France started allowing passengers to use their cell phones in 2008. Since then, a few Eastern airlines have followed suit.
These airlines use an in flight system that mimics cell phone towers found on the ground. The system relays the call/text/email to a satellite and back to the ground from there. Similar systems have been on cruise ships for years. On cruise ships, they use these systems because there aren’t any ground based cell phone towers in the middle of the ocean.
When you drive in a car, your cell phone call may jump from tower to tower as you travel out of range from one tower and into range of another. These jumps used to cause an echo with early cell phone networks, but it is pretty seamless today. Well, at least in your car it is. Airplanes move much more quickly and the network cannot pass your call from tower to tower at that speed. That’s why airplane systems typically bounce your call off a satellite, which it can easily maintain a connection to.
An unintended benefit of having the cellular connection on the plane is that the cell phone doesn’t require a lot of power to connect the call, so your battery will last longer and there will be less electromagnetic radiation in the plane. If you phone was attempting to connect to ground based towers it would have to amplify the signal much more and that consumes more battery power.
So, the technology exists. Why don’t most airlines allow it?
Firstly, there is the myth that cell phones cause interference with navigational equipment. Most people aren’t going to try to test it either, no phone call is important enough to take that risk. But, if you fly a lot then chances are good that you’ve realize mid-flight that you forgot to turn your phone off. It doesn’t appear that there have been any equipment problems. You seem to be flying in the right direction and you haven’t heard any complaints from the cockpit.
I asked an airline insider about this and they checked with some pilots and filled me in on the details. They said that old analog cell phones may have caused problems, but there is no evidence that digital phones cause any problems. Like I said before, Air France has been doing it for two years now without incident and there have been a number of studies that failed to find any incompatibilities between aircraft systems and cell phones. In fact, the problems are more likely with the ground based systems as they scramble to route your call to the nearest tower as you pass a new tower every few seconds in an airplane.
Here’s where it gets really interesting, many planes already have equipment to route in-flight cell phone calls without going to ground based towers (similar to what Air France uses to properly route cell phones through satellites). This equipment is often part of the system that planes use to offer in-flight wifi. Many US carriers currently offer that service and much of that equipment has cellular capability, it’s just not enabled right now.
If it was truly a problem with airplane systems, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) would surely support the ban of cell phones. Instead, the FAA blames the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for the in-flight cell phone ban.
The FCC regulates all electronics that are sold in the United States and they readily admit they’re cautious about changing the rules on this issue. Their main goal is to prevent electronics from interfering and causing problems with each other, especially with emergency and government systems. They say that limited information is available on the safety of using cell phones on airplanes. They also note that consumers don’t want cell phones on planes.
They’re probably right about cell phone calls on the plane, although I’m not sure if that is their decision to make. I could see a war between airlines who adopt the technology and those who promote their flights as cell phone free.
The interesting thing about the technology is that the airlines can control which services the passengers can use. They can disable calls, but allow text messages and emails/data to be transferred. Disabling calls would maintain a flight environment similar to what we have now and that would ensure that screaming babies retain their exclusive right to prevent you from sleeping on red-eye flights.
As more airlines install the equipment for in-flight wifi, they’ll be itching to generate revenue from in-flight cell phone usage too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the airlines lobbying the FCC for the right to offer these services. When they do, sign me up for the deluxe service package: 1 piece of luggage, cellular usage, 1 meal, 1 life vest during an emergency and 1 bathroom break — not necessarily in that order.
Thanks to Gina for suggesting this secret!
Related: Why Airlines Dim the Lights Before Night Landings
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Live Science, ABC, OnAir
Photo: lrargerich
Stock Market Analysis Began with Rice in 18th Century Japan
The past few years have proven that the world economy lives and dies on the success of major financial markets around the world.
Traders use sophisticated software to analyze trends, make predictions and purchases. There is one legendary trader, who made billions of dollars analyzing market trends.
His name was Munehisa Homma and the only thing he traded was rice. His billions in earnings are in today’s dollars and he may have known more about market analysis in the 1700s than our smartest people do now.
He began trading rice in Osaka, where the rice market was very sophisticated, it even traded rice futures. Coupons were sold that promised the delivery of rice at a specific price in the future. Homma was believed to have created a personal network of 100 men located about 6km apart from each other to move market information between Osaka and Sakata.
He wrote the first book on market psychology in 1755, The fountain of Gold – The Three Monkey Record of Money. I have no idea what the title means, hopefully somebody is working on a movie adaptation and we can see it in 3D. Maybe it could be a prequel to 12 Monkeys?
Seriously though, Homma was a genius. He invented the candlestick chart, which is still used by traders today.
This handy chart combines four pieces of data into each plot point on a date axis. For example, you can look at a single day of trading of a specific stock and see the open and close price of the stock on that day (the candle body), along with a low and high range of prices at which it traded throughout the day (the candle wick). The candle body is solid when the open price is represented by the top line and the close price is the bottom line. It is hollow when it’s the opposite, indicating whether the price increased or decreased that day.
For a single date, this gives the reader a lot of information. But, it becomes a fountain of gold when you put multiple days together — that’s when patterns can be spotted. The great master could read the chart and predict how the market would behave in the future. Understanding these patterns is how he made his billions.
Charles Dow recognized the value of candlestick charts around 1900 and included them in his studies. You may have heard of him, he’s the guy who co-founded Dow Jones & Company, The Dow Jones Industrial Average and The Wall Street Journal.
He was obviously a brilliant man, but it was the research of Steve Nison in the early 1990s that popularized candlestick charts in North America. If you want to know more about these charts, you should look at his work.
Homma is still recognized as the greatest trader of all time. It is believed that he made more than $100 billion (today’s dollars). He once said, when all are bearish, there is cause for prices to rise.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Trader’s Log, Candlestick Forum, Wikipedia (Candlestick, Charles Dow, Homma Muneshisa)
Images: Wikipedia (Candlestick Chart, Candlestick Definition)
Coupons You Get at Grocery Stores are Based on Your Purchases
In the United States it is very common for supermarkets to offer discounts to shoppers who present their loyalty card at the checkout. Price tags in the aisles often quote two prices, with and without the discount card.
The loyalty cards are usually provided by the retailer at no charge. However, they’re not free.
Although you don’t pay any money for these cards, you do handover your entire purchase history at that store. Your information is often used immediately at your time of purchase to determine which coupons should be printed out for your next visit.
Marketers frequently target consumers who buy their competitors products. For example, if you frequently buy Uncle Ben’s Rice, you may get a coupon from Rice-A-Roni. The manufacturer is trying to entice you to buy their brand the next time you shop.
Purchase history may also be used to determine the dollar value of the coupons you receive. For example, if you normally buy Dannon yogurt, then Yoplait may offer you $0.50 off your next Yoplait purchase. If you’re already a Yoplait customer, you may only get a $0.10 coupon or none at all.
Obviously, you don’t need a loyalty card for the store to recognize that you’re buying Uncle Ben’s today, but it is important if they want to know if you have bought that brand before or if you typically buy another brand.
When you sign up for a loyalty card, you often fill out a short survey of personal information, including your home address. They say they want your address so they can mail other offers to you, which they may. More importantly, your address allows them to understand a lot about you, including the average income of your neighborhood and even how much you paid for your house. In some cases, these programs are run by outside companies. Your address will help them combine your shopping information from multiple stores, assuming you always use the same name and address.
By comparing your personal information with information about other people’s shopping habits, average income and other demographic information, they can predict which products you’ll most likely try if they provide a coupon a for it.
Many stores will give you their loyalty card and let you use it right away, then they send you home with a survey to fill out and mail in to register for the card. I can tell you from experience that you can use your loyalty card for years without ever mailing the survey in. Although they’re collecting your shopping history, they don’t know much else about you.
There are also studies that show stores with loyalty cards don’t always have the best price, even when you use your frequent shopper card. In fact, one study even showed that sale prices went up after the introduction of a loyalty shopping card. It’s a good idea to keep track of the prices of a few items you commonly purchase to see if the regular price is better at other nearby stores.
I usually shop at a co-op, which does not use a loyalty card but has better prices than any other store around. They even have better prices than Target on items that they both carry, although that is one of the few places I cannot use my credit card to get cash back — they only accept cash or debit, one way they try to keep their costs down.
It’s not just grocery stores that provide you with sponsored coupons. I stopped at target yesterday to pick up some envelopes, on my way to the cash I spotted a new iced coffee drink. From other posts, you know I am addicted to coffee, so I couldn’t resist. At the register I was given a $7 off coupon for Crest Whitening strips. I doubt the envelopes triggered that.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Seattle Press, No Cards, an Industry Insider
The Purpose of Color and Registration Marks on Packaging
I first noticed these marks on cereal boxes as a kid. After pouring a bowl of cereal, I’d read the front panel, then the back and eventually I’d be reading the subscript on the top panels.
The folding panels of many cardboard packages contain colored boxes and cross-hair markings. I always wondered what they were for.
The cross-hairs are called “registration marks” and they may be used for different purposes during the printing and package making process.
In the initial stages of the printing process, they are used to ensure the printing plates are properly aligned in multiple color processes. Technicians use these marks to perform the initial setup and make adjustments during the print run. Advanced printing presses also have sensors to check for alignment and make automatic adjustments.
The registration marks may also be used to align materials in other machines that do cutting, folding and gluing.
The color boxes are used by printing technicians to verify the proper quantity of ink is being laid on the printed material. This allows them to match color samples to ensure consistency from start to finish of the printing run and even across printing facilities that print the same materials around the world.
Thanks to Todd M for suggesting this secret.
Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton
Subscribe on: Facebook | Twitter | Kindle
Sources: Computer Hope, Wikipedia (Registration), Sensors
Broken Secrets 