Storage Bondurant – Page 22

Donations Large & Small Help

It’s a Christmas tradition across Canada and the United States. Volunteers ring the bells beside Salvation Army Kettles at stores and malls to raise funds to help the needy.

Most of the donations are small, a handful of change or a few dollars. But every year there are heart-warming stories of more generous contributions dropped into the kettles. Scratch-off lottery tickets are commonly dropped into the kettles, usually these are worth $10 or $20.

Sometimes a generous donor drops in a gold coin, worth well more than its face value.

This year, someone dropped a winning $1,000 lottery ticket into a Salvation Army kettle at an Erie, Pennsylvania, Walmart store.

“The Christmas season often brings out the best in people,” said Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko. “It’s heartwarming to hear stories such as this one, and I applaud this anonymous winner for turning their good fortune into an act of charity that will benefit the community.”

Leslie Walter of the Salvation Army in Erie said scratch-off donations are nothing new, but one this sizeable is almost unheard of. “We’ve received donations of winning instant tickets in the past, but they’re usually in an amount of $10 or $20 – never something of this size,” said Walter. “We are very grateful for this generous donation, which will help us to serve people and families in need.”

Last year, a Minnesota couple made a $500,000 donation to the Salvation Army, saying they had endured hard times and wanted to help others facing dark days during the holiday season. The donors, who wished to remain anonymous, dropped the half-a-million-dollar check into one of the charity’s red kettles, setting a Minneapolis record for a single donation to the Salvation Army.

Whatever you can spare will be appreciated and put to good use in your community. Help the Salvation Army help your community. Give generously.

Why We Say Such Strange Things

When we use phrases such as “white elephant” or “read the riot act,” most likely we are unaware of the origins of the phrases, though we understand their accepted meaning. A bit of background can shed light on our usage.

Turn a Blind Eye. The phrase is used to refer to a willful refusal to acknowledge a particular reality. It dates back to a legendary chapter in the career of the British naval hero Horatio Nelson. During 1801’s Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson’s ships were pitted against a large Danish-Norwegian fleet. When his more conservative superior officer flagged for him to withdraw, the one-eyed Nelson supposedly brought his telescope to his bad eye and blithely proclaimed, “I really do not see the signal.” He went on to score a decisive victory. Some historians have since dismissed Nelson’s famous quip as merely a battlefield myth, but the phrase “turn a blind eye” persists to this day.

White Elephant. White elephants were once considered highly sacred creatures in Thailand – the animal even graced the national flag until 1917 – but they were also wielded as a subtle form of punishment. According to legend, if an underling or rival angered a Siamese king, the royal might present the unfortunate man with the gift of a white elephant. While ostensibly a reward, the creatures were tremendously expensive to feed and house, and caring for one often drove the recipient into financial ruin. Whether any specific rulers actually bestowed such a passive-aggressive gift is uncertain, but the term has since come to refer to any burdensome possession – pachyderm or otherwise.

Crocodile Tears. Modern English speakers use this phrase to describe a display of superficial or false sorrow, but the saying actually derives from a medieval belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness while they killed and consumed their prey. The myth dates back as far as the 14th century and comes from a book called “The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.” The book, quite popular upon its release, recounts a brave knight’s adventures during his supposed travels through Asia. Among its many fabrications, the book includes a description of crocodiles that notes, “These serpents sley men, and eate them weeping, and they have no tongue.” While factually inaccurate, Mandeville’s account of weeping reptiles later found its way into the works of Shakespeare, and “crocodile tears” became an idiom as early as the 16th century.

Diehard. While it typically refers to someone with a strong dedication to a particular set of beliefs, the term originally had a series of much more literal meanings. In its earliest incarnation in the 1700s, the expression described condemned men who struggled the longest when they were executed by hanging. The phrase later became even more popular after 1811’s Battle of Albuera during the Napoleonic Wars. In the midst of the fight, a wounded British officer named William Inglis supposedly urged his unit forward by bellowing “Stand your ground and die hard … make the enemy pay dear for each of us!” Inglis’ 57th Regiment suffered 75 percent casualties during the battle, and went on to earn the nickname “the Die Hards.”

Resting On Laurels. The idea of resting on your laurels dates back to leaders and athletic stars of ancient Greece. In Hellenic times, laurel leaves were closely tied to Apollo, the god of music, prophecy and poetry. Apollo was usually depicted with a crown of laurel leaves, and the plant eventually became a symbol of status and achievement. Victorious athletes at the ancient Pythian Games received wreaths made of laurel branches, and the Romans later adopted the practice and presented wreaths to generals who won important battles. Venerable Greeks and Romans, or “laureates,” were thus able to “rest on their laurels” by basking in the glory of past achievements. Only later did the phrase take on a negative connotation, and since the 1800s it has been used for those who are overly satisfied with past triumphs.

Read the Riot Act. Angry parents might “read the riot act” to their unruly children. But in 18th century England, the Riot Act was a real document, and it was often recited aloud to angry mobs. Instituted in 1715, the Riot Act gave the British government the authority to label any group of more than 12 people a threat to the peace. In these circumstances, a public official would read a small portion of the Riot Act and order the people to “disperse themselves, and peaceably depart to their habitations.” Anyone that remained after one hour was subject to arrest or removal by force. The law was put to the test in 1819 during the infamous Peterloo Massacre, in which a cavalry unit attacked a large group of protestors after they appeared to ignore a reading of the Riot Act.

By and Large. Many everyday phrases are nautical in origin – “taken aback,” “loose cannon” and “high and dry” all originated at sea – but perhaps the most surprising example is the common saying “by and large.” As far back as the 16th century, the word “large” was used to mean that a ship was sailing with the wind at its back. Meanwhile, the much less desirable “by,” or “full and by,” meant the vessel was traveling into the wind. Thus, for mariners, “by and large” referred to trawling the seas in any and all directions relative to the wind. Today, sailors and landlubbers alike now use the phrase as a synonym for “all things considered” or “for the most part.”

The Third Degree. There are several tales about the origin of “the third degree,” a saying commonly used for long or arduous interrogations. One theory contends the phrase relates to the various degrees of murder in the criminal code; yet another credits it to Thomas F. Byrnes, a 19th century New York City policeman who used the pun “Third Degree Byrnes” when describing his hardnosed questioning style. In truth, the saying is most likely derived from the Freemasons, a centuries-old fraternal organization whose members undergo rigorous questioning and examinations before becoming “third degree” members, or “master masons.”

Things That Go Bump in Your Car

Surely you have experienced it. Surely you have found it irritating. But likely you haven’t figured out what “IT” is.

“IT” is that strange thumping noise that sounds like a tire with one part flat that thumps as you drive down the road.

The cause is simple. When you have a single window open in the car, especially a rear window, an aerodynamic phenomena causes the sound. Open a second window and it stops.

Call it wind throb. The phenomenon that produces this noise is the Helmholtz Resonance, the same principle that makes a bottle hum when you blow over its open top. It’s the interaction of the gas in a container with a single opening and the other gases that are passing over the opening. In this case, the container is the car. The interaction between the two masses of air produces vortexes that compress and decompress the air, producing the throbbing effect.

German physician and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, who died in 1894, described the interaction.

How loud and intrusive the sound is depends on your car’s shape, the size of its windows and the speed of the vehicle. Modern cars and trucks are more subject to wind throb because they’re so aerodynamically efficient and well sealed against wind intrusion. Jim Zunich, GM’s global vehicle performance chief engineer for wind noise, explains: “We want nice, smooth attached air for aerodynamics, but that’s worse for buffeting.”

The size and shape of the side mirror on your car affects air movement around your car and makes the bumping sound much worse when just a rear window is down. That’s because the side mirrors are placed and shaped to minimize buffeting at the front windows.

Before aerodynamic design became the norm, the mass of air swirling around your vehicle only allowed the Helmholtz Resonance occasionally. And even then the windows and doors of older cars were not airtight, so the air leakage around them relieved any pressure differences. But modern cars are well-sealed with only minimal air pressure leaks.

Partake in the Magic!

It’s that magical time of year, from the Thanksgiving feast to the New Year’s toast at the stroke of midnight to welcome in the New Year.

It’s a time for family and friends. It’s a time to cherish every morsel, every moment, every memory.

Wishing you and yours the most magical season ever.

Jana

No, Your Sight Isn’t Failing

Having trouble reading things on the web? Wonder if it’s your eyesight? It’s not. The tech world is failing you.

The internet is becoming unreadable because of a trend towards lighter, thinner fonts – fonts that don’t meet the basic standards of readability for a good share of the populace.

The Telegraph of London reports that a web expert has found these lighter, thinner fonts are making it difficult for the elderly or visually-impaired to see words clearly. Where text used to be bold and dark, which contrasted well with predominantly white backgrounds, now many websites are switching to light greys or blues for their type.

Award winning blogger Kevin Marks, founder of Microformats and former vice president of web services at BT, decided to look into the trend after becoming concerned that his eyesight was failing because he was increasingly struggling to read on screen text. He found a ‘widespread movement’ to reduce the contrast between the words and the background, with tech giants Apple, Google and Twitter all altering their typography.

True black on white text has a contrast ratio of 21:1 – the maximum which can be achieved. Most technology companies agree that it is good practice for type to be a minimum of 7:1 so that the visually-impaired can still see text. Yet Marks found that even Apple’s own typography guidelines, which recommended 7:1 are written in a contrast ratio of 5.5:1. Google’s guidelines also suggest a 7:1 contrast ratio, but 54 per cent opacity of display, which brings the ratio down to 4.6:1.

Marks, who has been named one of the Telegraph’s 50 must influential Britons in technology, said the changes risk undermining the universal reach of the internet. “The typography choices of companies like Apple and Google set the default design of the web, and these two drivers of design are already dancing on the boundaries of legibility,” he warned on the technology site Backchannel. “If the web is relayed through text that’s difficult to read, it curtails the open access by excluding large swaths of people such as the elderly, the visually impaired or those retrieving websites through low quality screens.”

The changes in typography have come about because, as web design evolved, the numbers of fonts, colors and background began to diverge from the original set of ‘web safe’ fonts which were deemed legible online.
The rise in LCD technology and high definition screens has also allowed designers to use increasingly thinner fonts. While these fonts work on desktops, they can be virtually impossible to read on smartphones or tablets.

In recent years, reference guides have steered designers away from too much contrast, claiming that traditional black on white typography strains the eyes, and made it difficult for people with dyslexia. Many computers are now set to grow dimmer during the evening to avoid too much blue light after dark, which can keep people awake.

But the US based Web Accessibility Initiative, which came up with the original ratio formula in 2008 to help web designers said too little contrast made web pages “confusing and frustrating”. “Choosing colors with poor contrast makes navigating, reading and interacting a real pain,” said a spokesman. Sufficient contrast between foreground and background colors is essential for people with low contrast sensitivity which becomes more common as we age.

Marks said reducing the contrast risked alienating some users. “To arbitrarily throw away contrast based on a fashion that looks good on my perfect screen in my perfectly lit office is abdicating designer’s responsibilities to the very people for whom they are designing,” he said. “My plea to designers and software engineers: Ignore the fads and go back to the typographic principles of print. “You’ll be making things better for people who read on smaller, dimmer screens, even if their eyes aren’t aging like mine. It may not be trendy, but it’s time to consider who is being left out by the web’s aesthetic.”

Success Is Not Age Related

A new study, rejecting decades of contrary thinking, finds that your age should never hinder you from being successful.

For decades, scientists who study achievement have found that people tend to achieve their most promising work earlier in life rather than later. But a new big-data analysis appearing in the journal Science finds that long-term success doesn’t hinge on age or on early stardom in your career field.

Instead, success hinges on a combination of personality, persistence, intelligence and some luck at any age, the researchers find. The research took into account all levels, from the student and young professional to mid-career striver and beyond.

“The bottom line is: Brother, never give up. When you give up, that’s when your creativity ends,” says Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, who conducted the analysis with a team of researchers.

Researchers at first just studied the career of physicists before broadening the study’s scope. Initially, the research team found that that physicists tended to produce their most notable work earlier rather than later in life, but it had nothing to do with their age. Instead, it was based on their productivity. Young scientists tried more experiments, which increased the likelihood they would find something that worked. As such, keeping your productivity equal at age 50 to a 25-year-old could score you just as much success, researchers found.

The study also found the “Q factor” to be of great significance. The “Q factor” remains constant over time, researchers noted. Q compares with skill and includes factors like I.Q., drive, motivation, openness to new ideas and the ability to work well with others, researchers said. Q may be more important than how much experience a person has in a profession. Experience does not significantly raise a person’s ability to make the most impact in a project, researchers said.

“It’s shocking to think about,” Barabasi told The New York Times. “We found that these three factors — Q, productivity and luck — are independent of each other.”

Mozart, Marie Curie and Einstein all were successful before age 30 and researchers found that many career scientists were more likely to produce “impact” papers earlier rather than later. However, that this had nothing to do with their age. Instead, the new research, finds a host of factors that have nothing to do with age or early stardom. They suggest a combination of personality, persistence, pure luck and intelligence, leads to high-impact success at any age.

Too Old for Blue Jeans?

A great pair of jeans never goes out of style. But according to a new study by British company CollectPlus, we need to find a new way to be stylish at age 53.

Admit it, there’s probably is a best-by date for crop tops and miniskirts. However, we reserve the right to figure that date out for ourselves. But jeans? C’mon, do we really grow out of wearing jeans?

CollectPlus doesn’t rule out wearing jeans after 53 altogether. The thesis is that shopping for new pairs past this age isn’t worth the trouble. One in 10 half-centurions try on six pairs and spend five days looking just to find one pair that fits. The process is so traumatic that 6 percent reportedly burst into tears. So, if you can still fit into your old jeans, you’re good!

But the firm says forget about shopping for new ones. Since the options for clothing the lower halves of our bodies in adulthood seem to be rapidly dwindling, here are a few options that haven’t yet been outlawed by the peanut gallery:

Overalls – They’re not just for toddlers anymore!
Pantsuits – Always a great way to make a presidential statement.
Caftans – It is an inalienable right to enter old age in a fabulous caftan. Apparently, that starts at 54.
Astronaut suit – You’ll be ready for anything!
No pants – Technically that wouldn’t break any fashion rules.

All kidding aside, you should wear what you want and leave the fashion rules by the wayside.

These Are Among Our Favorite Maxims

Out of habit or custom, we tend to pepper our conversations with a wide variety of adages or maxims, making simple points with widely-known expressions. Sometimes the expressions bear no apparent relationship to the point we are making, but we know the meaning and the use of the adage makes the point.

Here are some of those we most commonly use:

A stitch in time saves nine – Repair something before the damage gets worse.

A pig in a poke – Literally buying a pig in a bag without looking in the bag. Meaning is buying an unknown.

All hands make light work – People working together can better solve a problem or perform a task.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – You need a life beyond your work.

All’s fair in love and war – No rules apply. The saying usually is used in a light hearted way to describe some action that is a little unusual for the circumstances in which it took place.

All’s well that ends well – Things may not have gone as planned, but the end result worked out.

Big fish, little sea – If you are a clerk in a multi-national company with thousands of employees you are a little fish in a big sea. If you are the accountant for a small local company you are then a big fish in a little sea.

By hook or by crook – A hook was a bent rod with a sharp point used to assist the user to hold and move a bag or bundle. A crook was the long (two metre) walking stick with a hook on the end traditionally used by shepherds. By hook or by crook meant that by the use of these two tools the job would be completed.

Don’t change horses in midstream – Stick with what or who you know.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – Spread your risks. Don’t invest all of your money with one bank.

Don’t beat a dead horse – A project obviously will not succeed, so it is connsidered dead and not worth further work.

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread – When considering an action be sure to consider all angles before making the final decision.

Good things come to those who wait – Don’t rush into anything, think it through and wait until the time is right before you act.

Great minds think alike – Thoughtful people tend to come up with similar answers.

He who hesitates is lost – If you are sure of something, go for it.

Lay low – Say little and hope others will forget the error of your ways.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth – Don’t accept,without question, something given to you.

Out of sight, out of mind – If someone leaves our immediate vicinity to live elsewhere they maybe forgotten.

Penney wise pound foolish – Refers to a person who worries about saving every small amount of money that they can, but may go and spend many pounds without thinking about the real cost.

Practice makes perfect – Applies in all training and learning.

Shake the hand before you plough the field – Arrange the payment conditions before doing the work.

There’s no use in flogging (beating)a dead horse.

Too many cooks spoil the broth – Stay out of the expert’s way.

Two heads are better than one – Two people can more easily find a solution to a problem than one person.

Variety is the spice of life – Life would be dull without a wide range of activities.

Don’t Believe All Your Mama Told You!

Despite what you may have been told:
– Poinsettias are NOT toxic
– Vaccines do NOT cause the flu
– Cold weather can NOT make you sick
– Sugar does NOT make the kids over active
– Eating holiday turkey does NOT make you drowsy
– Reading in the dark will NOT harm your eyesight and neither will sitting too close to the TV.

A study that looked at 23,000 Instances of poinsettia exposure found that none was fatal and the worst reactions were stomachaches. So, as you think about decorating for the holidays, don’t worry about having poinsettias around.

“Those beautiful flowers you’ve been so wary of keeping in your home during the holidays, lest they poison pets or children, are not toxic,” reports Live Science. Citing a study that looked at nearly 23,000 cases of
poinsettia exposure reported to poison control centers. None was fatal, and the most severe reactions were stomachaches.

This is just one of the supposed medical facts that the website knocks down as myth. Live Science says the poinsettia fears probably were sparked by a 1919 case in which a child was said to have died after eating parts of a poinsettia, but neither the death nor the poinsettia connection was ever confirmed.

Live Science also addressed the myth that vaccines can cause the flu. No, they can’t. The flu shot contains
flu viruses, but they are inactivated. “A dead virus cannot be resurrected to cause the flu,” Rachel Vreeman, a doctor who has written about medical myths, told the website.

Another myth says that cold weather makes you sick. No. People feel more chilled when it’s cold, but that does not translate into actually getting a cold, a major study found. “Whether … shivering in a frigid
room or in an icy bath, people were no more likely to get sick after sniffing cold germs than they were at more comfortable temperatures.” We probably get more colds in winter just because there are more people
stuck together indoors, making it easier to spread germs.

A lot of parents are convinced that sugar makes kids really wired. Nope, even though many parents swear this is true. Live Science writes: “In one particularly clever study, kids were given Kool-Aid sweetened with
aspartame, a compound that contains no sugar. Researchers told half the parents the Kool-Aid contained sugar, and told the other half the truth.” Wrist sensors on the kids found they were “actually acting subdued,” but the parents who thought their kids had ingested a sugary drink “reported that their children were uncontrollable and; overactive.” More likely it is, the excitement of parties where sugary treats are served that makes kids wild.

Some believe that eating holiday turkey makes you drowsy. You will read stories about tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey, and how it makes you want to nap – but, in fact, chicken and beef have pretty similar amounts of the chemical. Your sleepiness is probably just from overeating, with lots of carbo-
hydrates and a few alcoholic beverages added in, experts told Live Science.

And, in this season of longer nights and more indoor activity, it’s good to know that neither reading in the dark nor sitting too close to the TV ruins your eyesight. These behaviors may tire your eyes because they work harder, but “there is no evidence that these practices cause longterm damage,” Vreeman told
Live Science. However, she said, if you tend to sit so close to the TV (or computer) that your eyes
hurt, it’s probably worth getting tested for nearsightedness.

Think Your Email is Private? Dream On!

In just the last several months, hackers have leaked emails belonging to some highly influential people — former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta – to name a few. Some of the hacked emails contain embarrassing tidbits and became a major theme in the U.S. presidential campaign.

The hacking problem, however, extends far and wide, hitting not only those with influence and power, but plenty of ordinary Americans, too.

In September, for instance, Yahoo confirmed that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts had been stolen from the company’s network in 2014 by what it suspects was a “state-sponsored actor.” The pilfered information may have included names, email addresses and answers to some security questions.

Such high-profile breaches serve as a reminder to take basic precautions when it comes to using email, whether it’s for work or personally. Don’t click on links or open attachments in unsolicited emails unless you have verified the sender’s identity.

Phishing emails — like the one that reportedly allowed hackers to access Podesta’s personal account — often contain links or attachments that can install malware on computers, allowing cybercrooks to get their hands on sensitive personal information, send spam and commit fraud.

Think twice about what you write in your emails, said Davia Temin, an executive coach and crisis manager who has worked with victims of hacks. Many business and government leaders, she said, have long known that they shouldn’t expect privacy with regard to email, which can be subpoenaed in lawsuits or government investigations or land in the wrong hands through forwarding.

“Folks who are in high levels of leadership within corporations or other organizations pretty much know intellectually that they should never put in an email something they wouldn’t want” covered by the media, said Temin. She noted, though, that many still find it difficult to censor themselves.

The Powell hack, like other recent high-profile breaches may have been conducted by parties with ties to the Russian government. The hack revealed that Powell considered Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a “national disgrace,” Hillary Clinton “greedy” and former Vice President Dick Cheney an “idiot.”

“People, no matter who they are, are human, and their need for self-expression, or to get things done efficiently, is great. They often get caught up in the moment and do things they shouldn’t do,” said Temin.

Like it or not, email messages, particularly work-related, should be innocuous, added Temin. They obviously shouldn’t contain corporate secrets, but snarky remarks about others, lewd comments, angry rants or complaints about the boss are a bad idea also.

More than a few workers, she noted, have been shown the door for writing a boss-bashing email that circulated widely, before somehow landing in said boss’s inbox. It’s also best to assume, noted Temin, that your managers have the ability to snoop on your emails, even if they aren’t actually doing so. “There are all kinds of monitoring devices that companies have on email,” said Temin.

You don’t have to be stilted or old fashioned, but the tone of your emails should be respectful and a bit formal, she explained. Don’t hit send, she added, unless you’ve taken the time to re-read what you’ve written and are fairly confident that you’ve chosen your words carefully.

“Pretty much all of us have to re-read our emails at least once after we’ve written them and think about how they would appear to people who don’t know us and don’t know what we are talking about,” said Temin.