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Have a Fun, Safe April Fools’ Day

History.com Tells us that the annual tradition of playing practical jokes on each other began with English pranksters on this day in 1700.

The origin of the day, however, is not quite that clear. Also known as All Fools’ Day, April 1 has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Some historians link April Fools’ Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.

Have fun with jokes and pranks today, but keep them safe and harmless.

Come to think of it, keeping your things safe and unharmed is a big part of what we do at Dino’s Storage. If you have things to store, we’re the go-to place. Come see us in Des Moines, Winnipeg or Omaha. We also have rental trucks, locks, boxes and moving supplies to meet your needs.

Smartphones Are Getting Outsmarted; Apps Will Be the Next to Fall

You might have noticed this development if you got a new phone over the holidays. Or you will see it if you watch what comes out of the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show opening this week in Las Vegas. Phones are where laptops were about a decade ago. The design and purpose are fixed and well-understood, so all that’s left are incremental improvements – making them a little thinner, adding a little more power or coming up with an occasional new feature like Samsung’s notifications along an outer edge.

From now on, Newsweek reports, all the real innovation will happen outside your phone – in apps, the cloud and other connected devices. “We’re at the cusp of a transition to wanting our technology on us and around us,” Phillippe Kahn, one of the great inventors of mobile technology, said recently. “Instead of having to carry gadgets, technology will just be there. The more we forget the technology, the better.”

Intriguingly, this new world will also be a threat to apps as we know them.

This isn’t to say that smartphones are finished as a business. About 3.5 billion of the planet’s 7 billion people own one. That leaves maybe another billion more potential customers – if you leave out small children, the 1.3 billion who live on less than $1.25 a day and the grandmothers tightly clutching flip phones. And nearly everyone who owns a smartphone today will buy a new one every couple of years, if not more frequently.

Yet, over time we are going to rely less on our phones, and instead get more things done by connecting to applications and services through a dizzying variety of things. Our attention will move from our phone screens to the ether – we’ll feel that our apps are in the air around us, and can be accessed through any connected device we encounter.

Young consumers already seem to be tilting this way. In a survey by Ericsson Consumer Labs, released in December, half of respondents said that by 2021 they might not even be using a smartphone. They expect to access apps in what they say are more convenient ways.

Like what? Cars, for example. Today, if you want your Spotify music and GPS maps and voice calls in the car, you carry your phone into the car, prop it up in the cup holder, and try to stab the screen with your thumb while going 72 miles per hour. We’ll come to realize this is cretinous, not to mention hazardous. Cars of the next decade will connect to the network, respond to voice commands and display info like your playlists or maps on a heads-up display in the windshield. Instead of opening a discrete app to do something, you’ll just say what you want – “play random Clash songs” or “pay my electric bill.”

Amazon’s Echo is another nudge in that direction – along with Apple’s Siri and Google Now. Set up an Echo at home, and the cylindrical device constantly listens for requests. Echo’s software comprehends a properly phrased request, then goes to the cloud to do it – no phone required. The technology is still in its rudimentary stage.

No single device is going to replace the smartphone. The cloud and artificial intelligence software are going to replace the smartphone. We’ll connect through whatever makes sense – a smartwatch, connected eyeglasses, a touch-screen kitchen counter, cars, Echo, Nest, Fitbit, Oculus Rift. Motorola Mobility recently patented a device that would get implanted under the skin and respond to voice commands. If a service needs to know who you are, it might scan your voice, face or fingerprint. No more remembering 259 user names and passwords.

Today each app focuses on one service, so anything you do on a device requires you to think first about which app to open. That’s a barrier when you just want to get something done. The technology needs to act more like a great personal assistant who already knows your preferences and understands your shorthand orders.

Plus, who wants to have to install a boatload of apps on your watch, car, implanted gadget and a dozen other devices? As Google director Aparna Chennapragada says, the goal has to be to “de-silo and unbundle the function of apps” so software like Google Now, Siri or Echo can mix and match app services to accomplish the task you requested. Once that happens, we won’t think of apps the way we do now. In fact, it’s likely we won’t think of apps at all.

The physical gadget of smartphone won’t go away – no more than laptops have gone away. The smartphone, though, is probably heading for a future as more of a pocket screen – something that allows you to watch videos, read news stories and take pictures when you’re out. It won’t be the center of your tech life – it will be an adjunct.

That’s another way smartphones are like laptops. Not so long ago, new laptops were exciting to buy. They contained our lives on their hard drives and were our windows to the world through the Internet. Now laptops seem more like work tools, and new ones don’t seem much different from the one you bought a few years ago. Much the same fate awaits smartphones.

On the flip side, next-generation refrigerators will connect to the network and come armed with sensors and AI software that can automatically take care of important things, like understanding that you just ordered General Tso’s chicken through Echo, noticing that you’re out of beer and ordering more to be delivered. Now that’s exciting.

The Christmas Tree

There are reports of decorated fir trees before the Middle Ages. Some believe that the real beginning of the Christmas tree as we know it may be attributed to the 16th Century German theologian Martin Luther or another clergyman of his time.
The clergyman, according to legend, was walking through a forest at night and was overcome by the beauty of the green fir trees against the starlit sky above. When he arrived home, he wanted to recreate the beautiful scene for his children as he told them about his walk. So he brought a small fir tree into the house and decorated it with lighted candles.
From this beginning, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree spread throughout Germany and into the rest of Europe.
It was introduced into England by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German husband, in 1841.
The German immigrants brought the treasured tradition with them to America, and Christmas trees have been a cherished part of our holiday season ever since.
The Christmas tree has gained in popularity in America since the middle of the 19th Century and is perhaps the foremost feature of Christmas celebrations.
Along with the bright lights, now much safer that the earlier candles, trees are decorated with colorful balls, religious symbols such as angels and crosses, glittering tinsel and chains of popcorn and cranberries.
Under the tree, in Christian homes, will frequently be found a creche of the nativity scene reminding us of the night Christ was born.
Anyone who has seen the beauty of a Christmas tree reflected in the wonder of a little child’s eyes knows it is among the most treasured of our traditions.

The Traditions of Christmas

The traditions of Christmas in America have their roots in many lands, a reflection perhaps of the many nationalities and cultures that make up our nation of immigrants. In this blog we will take a look at the traditions emanating from Rumania and Syria.

From dawn until after sunset on Christmas Eve, Rumanian boys visit neighboring homes to sing a Christmas greeting, Colinde, for which they receive apples, cakes and coins. On Christmas Day they parade through the streets carrying a great wooden cross which is hung with little tinkling bells. The star is illuminated from within by a candle, and is decorated with a transparency of the Baby Jesus and the Magi. Roast pig is the principal food of Christmas dinner.

An ancient Rumanian custom, still practiced today, is called “Blessing the Danube.” Clad in costumes depicting Pontius Pilate, Herod and other biblical characters, people gather at the river bank to sing carols. A young boy breaks the ice and a wooden cross is thrown into the water. All scramble after it for the rescuer will have extraordinary fortune in the coming year.

Christmas Eve in Syria is spent in worship and prayer. A bonfire of vine stems is made in the middle of each church in memory of the Magi who were cold from their journey.

Many Syrians journey to Bethlehem to attend midnight services in the Holy Land. Christmas Day is observed chiefly in the home with prayers and quiet rejoicing.

Young Syrian boys and girls, masked and dressed in gay costumes, go singing from door to door and receive coins, eggs and candies in return.

Legend tells that the youngest camel who carried the Wise Men to Bethlehem fell down, exhausted by the journey. The Christ Child blessed the camel and conferred immortality upon it. For this reason, a camel brings gifts to the children on New Year’s Day. Before going to bed that night, boys and girls set a bowl of water and wheat outside the house for the camel. In the morning, the good find gifts and the naughty find a black mark on their wrists.

The Traditions of Christmas

In Poland families end a fast on Christmas Eve and gather for a dinner to honor the Holy Child. Before supper is served, the father of the house breaks the Christmas wafers, which are marked with Nativity scenes and have been blessed by the church. The father distributes the pieces to all who are present as tokens of peace and friendship. The meatless meal that follows has 12 courses, one for each Apostle.

In England, Christmas is a day of family gaiety and of feasting on turkey with roast potatoes, mince pies and plum puddings. Turkey also is the Christmas meal most chosen by Americans.

In Mexico, the flower of Holy Night, the poinsettia, is seen everywhere during the Christmas season and everywhere, in doorways and arches, there are pinatas. On Christmas Eve, children roam the streets breaking the pinatas with a long stick. When each is broken, a profusion of peanuts, fruits and candy showers down.

On Christmas Eve in Ireland, candles are lighted and placed in every window of the house and doors are left ajar. The candlelight and open door are symbols of welcome, assuring the Irish people that no couple seeking shelter for a Baby who is the son of God will be homeless. The candlelight must shine forth all night long, and may be snuffed only by those having the name of Mary.

A cup and saucer is placed on the table in each Irish home for the entertainment of wandering souls from purgatory, who are believed to come home for Christmas.

The Traditions of Christmas

In Sweden, pagan customs mingled with Christian ritual. In heathen times, it was believed that at Christmas the dead returned to earth, so food and drink were set out for them. Today, children set out food for Santa Claus.

In villages throughout Sweden young girls vie each year for the honor of portraying Saint Lucia on Dec. 13. On that day, a young girl clad in white with a crown of candles on her hair is followed by other young people carrying burning candles as sleeping families are awakened at dawn with an offering of wheat cakes and coffee.

Of course, the famous Scandinavian smorgasbord of cheeses, breads, salads and meats is replicated at holiday open houses and gatherings throughout America each Christmas season.

After weeks of Christmas preparations, homes in Finland are ready for holiday celebrations by noon on Christmas Day. A straw framework, decorated with paper stars suggestive of heaven, is suspended from the ceiling. Lighted from below by the glow of firelight and the Christmas tree, the framework produces a mysterious effect. Straw is heaped on the floor and, like the Christ Child, the children sleep on this manger-like bed.

In honor of Christmas Eve celebrations, each member of the Finnish family takes a traditional sauna or steam bath. After the sauna, all gather about the table while the head of the family solemnly reads the Christmas prayer and sermon. Little children visit other homes during the evening, but return early to see if the man dressed as a yule goat, Father Christmas, has left any presents for them.

Throughout Spain, Christmas is a time of devout religious ceremony that begins on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8. Before midnight Mass on Christmas, little Spanish children dress in peasant costumes and enact an age-old Christmas Eve tradition of dancing around the Nativity scene to the musical accompaniment of tambourines.

The Christmas observance ends with the children receiving their gifts on Jan. 6. The gifts are said to be left by the Magi passing through on their way to Bethlehem. In the big cities, elaborate parades are held honoring the Three Kings.

Spanish children have no Christmas tree and do not hang up their stockings on Christmas Eve. Instead they hide slippers and shoes for Balthasar and the Wise Men to fill with goodies.

The Traditions of Christmas

Many of the most cherished Christmas traditions have their roots in Germany. In Europe from time immemorial evergreen trees were brought into homes during the winter as symbols of unending life. It was in the Black Forest of Germany that the evergreens were first used as part of Christmas. And when Alsace was German, the tradition of adorning the fragrant firs and spruces with sparkling glass balls and garlands of tinsel began.

The colorful Advent calendars, with little windows to open for each day of the season, also originated in Germany as did the evergreen Advent wreath with four candles that is displayed in many homes with one candle lighted each Sunday until Christmas Eve.

Father Christmas, the kindly bearer of gifts, originated in the Teutonic lands and in Austria good Saint Nicholas parades through the streets in bishop’s regalia.

The Ceppo was the early Italian equivalent of the Christmas tree. Constructed of cardboard and three or four shelves, it was pyramidal in shape and stood about three feet tall. At the top, a pine cone or puppet was placed. Wax candles were lit along the sides and at the bottom, a Baby Jesus, made of wax or plaster, lay in a cradle amidst shepherds, saints and angels. The shelves held candy, fruit and small presents. Objects similar to the Ceppo often are displayed in American homes today, sometimes with the heat of candles placed on the lowest level providing heated air currents to turn an upper level causing chimes to strike.

In France, on Christmas Eve a glass of wine is poured over the Yule Log before it is ignited, and a late supper, to be eaten after midnight Mass, may be cooked over the blaze. In cities, where fireplaces are not common, the tradition is maintained by eating cakes shaped like logs and covered with chocolate icing to resemble tree bark. The luxurious meal eaten following midnight Mass consists of oysters and special wines and sausages. In some American homes, a light meal of oyster stew may be a holiday highlight following midnight Mass.

Father Christmas, the kindly bearer of gifts, originated in the Teutonic lands and in Austria good Saint Nicholas parades through the streets in bishop’s regalia.

Police, Volunteers Work Together for Community

Sparked by the Omaha Police Department’s northwest precinct, volunteers from the community joined together last Saturday to beautify an Omaha neighborhood. More importantly they showed that police and community members can work together for the common good.

The cleanup focused on North 48th Street from Taylor to Sahler Streets.

“The discussion started at an Empowerment Network Omaha 360 weekly meeting,” said Jim Hubbard, northwest precinct crime prevention specialist. “Various members of the community, elected officials, representatives from nonprofits and the Police Department started a discussion, and we kept the ball rolling as a team.”

The goal of the event was to reduce crime in the neighborhood, promote ownership of the neighborhood among residents, encourage productive neighborhood partnerships and create a safe area for youths to walk during Halloween for trick-or-treating.

About 60 volunteers from across Omaha joined neighborhood residents in the cleanup effort. Volunteers included representatives of the Police Department’s northwest precinct, Benson Plant Rescue, Black Police Officers Association, Embrace the Nations, Empowerment Network, Keep Omaha Beautiful, Landmark Group, Dino’s Storage, More Than Just a Village Academy, Omaha Home for Boys, Omaha Public Schools and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Real Estate’s Hot New Sector: Storage Units

It’s a good time to be in the storage unit business: Rents are rising, vacancies are limited and competition has been muted due to limited new construction, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Storage unit companies are finding business is booming at a time when other commercial real estate sectors are still mostly flat. Investors are buying up shares in storage unit companies too; Extra Space Storage Inc. saw its stock rise 33 percent in the past year. The Salt Lake City-based company reports that 94.5 percent of its space was occupied at the end of the second quarter, up from 92.1 percent one year prior. Public Storage, which is the largest publicly-traded storage firm, reported a 7 percent increase in rental income year-over-year.

The number of self-storage locations in the United States is more than triple the number of McDonald’s outlets. Seeing opportunity, some investment firms are rushing to complete new projects, although storage facilities tend to take years to build. For example, Carlyle Group LP is spending $80 million to build new facilities in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.

The industry’s stability may be thanks to the fact that storage space is in demand in good times and bad. Some in the industry use the 4Ds – death, divorce, downsizing and dislocation – as reasons consumers might utilize their services. Because these events aren’t necessarily tied to the economic cycle, the industry “isn’t recession-proof, but it is recession-resistant,” says Ryan Burke, an analyst at real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors.

Analysts said storage can be a good long-term business because once people rent storage units, they are unlikely to move to a different facility even if the rent is slightly lower, and they tend to keep the units longer than they anticipated.

Dino’s Storage owns facilities in Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion and Elkhorn, Nebraska, Bondurant and Des Moines, Iowa, and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Stealing or Sharing?

It’s no secret that young people like to consume entertainment they don’t necessarily pay for.

Money magazine notes that when business and tech types talk about this reality, they tend to use neutral or even flattering language: Millennials, they say, like to “swap” files and “share” subscription passwords. After all, super-earnest, bike-commuting, coffee-sipping twenty-somethings don’t look like dangerous criminals. And let’s face it, no business wants to alienate the work-force’s largest generational cohort, with billions, if not trillions, worth of spending ahead of it.

Now, however, some Wall Street analysts have decided to come right out and use another S word – steal – in discussing the problems facing some traditional media enterprises.

“The millennials are a generation that grew up (and will likely grow old) ‘sharing’ (read stealing) passwords for access to content if it continues to be ignored,” wrote analysts Mike McCormack, Scott Goldman and Tudor Mustata in a note to clients. “We believe it is the most significant cause of the declining pay TV subscriber base.”

The problem, the analysts suggest, is that all this sharing or stealing could quickly destroy the cable TV business. Similar trends already have gutted the music and news industries, Money magazine reports.

The analysts argue password sharing is already “the most significant cause of the declining pay TV subscriber base.” They compare the current situation to a time when people rigged access to cable with “illegal cable drops, third-party set tops and reprogrammed satellite cards.” Revenues returned only when the industry cracked down.

Of course, no one likes to be called a crook. Millennials might counter that the situation isn’t totally black and white. The music industry has evolved, and sharing streaming TV passwords isn’t clearly against the rules. Passwords for the streaming service HBO Now, for instance, are limited to a household, but the company has been vague about what that means. Netflix, Amazon and others all have policies that similarly attempt to both acknowledge and limit sharing.

The solution, the analysts say, is for companies to adopt tougher rules with emphasis on “authentication limits” – restrictions on how many people can use a log in at the same time. Some sites like Netflix and Hulu already do this.

The analysts acknowledge the scope of the problem – and the fact that it’s not just millennials. People of all ages have used or allowed others to use content passwords, they note.