Bees sniff better than dogs

Today I was watching QI and I discovered that bees are actually better at identifying smells than dogs. Trials have been conducted in which it has been discovered that bees can identify a smell within approximately ten minutes, as opposed to the three weeks that it takes to train a dog to identify a certain scent. I found this to be amazing and it conjured up all type of thoughts, such as bees replacing hounds on a fox hunt. It would probably lose much of the drama of the hunt without all the barking, because the barking would be replaced with buzzing, which can get quite annoying.  Especially since you would need to use an entire swarm in order to be able to see where the bees were heading. However on the plus side, the bees would be able to follow the fox into places quite easily and it would be very difficult for the fox to escape a swarm of bees.

Now the hunt theory might be ridiculous but what is currently being considered, in light of this research, is to use bees to replace dogs at airports for sniffing out drugs or explosive materials. My concern with this plan is that we will be diverting the bees from their true purpose. If they are not out pollinating plants and flowers, are our plants going to slowly wither and die. Also, will there be a shortage in global honey stocks, because that could be a potential tragedy for honey lovers worldwide. I mean what would Yogi Bear do?!? Overall I think that we should just leave bees to making honey and dogs to their sniffing, because I for one don't want to have to walk through a swarm of bees to reach my luggage!

A jiffy is a measurement of time

I have always known that the term, 'back in a jiffy' means, 'I will return in a short amount of time.' However I have always just assumed that it was a saying, something somebody had made up at some point that had caught on, a bit like the Yellow Pages ad in Australia, where the woman shouts out her window at her receptionist, who forgot to put the business' number in the Yellow Pages directory, 'Not happy Jan.' However today I learnt that a jiffy is actually a measurement of time. A jiffy, as defined by Gilbert Newton Lewis, an American physical chemist, is the time it takes light to travel one centimetre. As light travels quickly, the time it would take to travel one centimetre would not be long, so it fits with the meaning of the saying 'back in a jiffy.'

According to Wikipedia however, the above definition is not the only definition for a jiffy, as it has different meanings when used referring to computing or electronics. It is also unclear whether the term jiffy was used before Lewis' definition was created (Lewis' definition was recorded as being created before any other definition). Considering that all the official definitions of jiffy define things that occur quickly, usually within one or two seconds, which fits with the theme 'back in a jiffy' referring to a short amount of time elapsing, it could be that the word jiffy was made up to mean a short amount of time and then adopted to officially define things after the word came into popular use. If this is true then I have hopes that one day my word, 'Regimimer' pronounced reg-e-mimer, which means an 'aggressive young go-getter', will one day become widespread in use!

Read more about a jiffy on Wikipedia.

Fido means 'faithful one'

I went to see a comedy show during the week and I was told during this show that people name their dogs 'Fido' because the Latin meaning of the word is 'faithful one'. As dogs are very faithful animals this name is quite fitting and so over the years it has become a common name for a dog. I thought this was interesting and so I decided to find out if this was true or if it was actually just made up. It was after all, a stand up comedy show, and if I was in their position, I would probably make up a story just because it would be cool to see if my made up story became an urban legend!

However when I Googled Fido after I got home I found that the Internet was very supportive of Fido meaning 'faithful one', or at least of similar interpretations of the name including it meaning 'I trust'. However as to why the name has become widespread it seems that it originated in 1943 when an Italian dog called Fido became a celebrity due to his faithfulness to his master, before and after his death. He was mentioned in many Italian stories and also made international headlines at the time. So although the meaning of the name was correct, the story of its spreading was a little inaccurate, but in this case I will let it slide!

A couple of different sources agreed with this story as to why Fido is such a widespread name for a dog, however the most comprehensive story can be found on Wikipedia.

Nobody knows why moths are attracted to light

I was watching QI the other day and there is often a a fact on the show to which nobody knows the answer. The episode I was watching the other night revealed that science is yet to answer the reason why moths are attracted to light. This surprised me because it is such a common thing to see a moth flying towards a light, I thought, surely some scientist would have tried to discover the answer, and many probably have, which is why even without a definitive answer there are still many theories as to the explanation. I however I am happy that this fact is still a mystery because it hopefully means that scientists have spent their time on discovering more worthy scientific answers. 

As far as theories go however, I think that the comedian Jimeoin has the best theory, which is not remotely based in scientific fact. His theory is linked to reincarnation, you know how you often hear about people having near death experiences and they talk about walking towards the white light. Jimeoin's theory is that before people die they walk towards the white light, and when they pass through the white light, they die and are then reincarnated as a moth. So the first thing they remember as a moth is walking towards the white light in their previous life, so as a moth they want to get back through the white light to their original life. Thus explaining why all moths are attracted to the light, they are trying to reverse their reincarnation. Now maybe there is a scientific theory out there with more basis in science than Jimeoin's, but I am not really interested, because until they can tell me with absolute certainty the reason, I am happy to believe Jimeoin!

Lorem Ipsum

Recently I was in a training course and the facilitator was showing us how to create a training course online. He was using an example to show us the final product and in this example the course text was just full of what I thought was gibberish. I had seen similar gibberish in different documents and sample texts and I just assumed that someone had mashed the keyboard down until the page was filled. I was wrong however, because this type of gibberish I learnt, is called Lorem Ipsum.

Lorem Ipsum is dummy text that printers use in order to fill a sample page of text. It has been determined that if you are creating a sample page and filling it with actual text, the person who views the page will be distracted by reading the sample text, when the purpose of the sample is to highlight the design not the content. Lorem Ipsum was designed to fill in the content with text which is not in English, but looks similar, so that it doesn't distract the reader from the over look of the sample. Lorem Ipsum has been in use since the 1500s, and is not simply a group of random letters, it is actually Latin and was discovered, in recent times, to link directly to a piece of Latin literature, "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero. So next time you are looking at a group of what appears to be gibberish on a sample document, you will know that this is in fact Lorem Ipsum, and if you spoke Latin, then many of the words might actually mean something to you!

To read more on Lorem Ipsum check out this website.

The Leaf Curling Spider

When I was visiting my friends in Canberra, they showed me a spider web in their backyard which had a leaf curled in the centre. My first assumption was that the leaf had somehow been caught in the web, however my friend explained that the spiders actually curl the leaf themselves and then hide inside the leaf waiting for prey to be caught in their web. My friend had never seen this type of spider before he moved to Canberra, and I had never seen one before he showed me my first that day. Once he learned of their existence he decided to find out what they were called. He was, as was I, expecting them to have some sort of really cool name (like the I came up with, the 'Hider Spider'). However it turns out that they are simply called the 'Leaf Curling Spider'. 

I must admit that I was pretty disappointed to learn the name, as was my friend, we were both expecting them to have a really cool name, much better than say, the 'Hider Spider'. Alas we were both discouraged by the fact that imagination was on holiday the day that leaf curling spider was named. Upon reflection however I guess it is not that surprising that the leaf curling spider has such a dull name, when you consider that one of our most dangerous spiders is simply called the 'Red Back Spider,'  on account of having some red on its back. Although in the case of the red back spider, it still strikes fear into people even with its dull name. I suppose it is like calling a mass murderer 'Fluffy', he is still scary because he has murdered many people, his name doesn't make him any less scary. I guess I was just hoping for a more imaginative name for the 'Leaf Curling Spider' rather than just calling a spade a spade.

31 Mar 2012 - Burt Bacharach's numerous Top 40 hits

Today I was listening to the radio and I heard the song, "Always something there to remind me." At the end of the song the announcer said that this song was written by Burt Bacharach. My first introduction to Burt Bacharach was when he sang, "What the world needs now is love," in the first Austin Powers movie, and I will be honest, I had never heard of him prior to this film. For me that film is what put him on my radar, I didn't know that he had written that song, I just assumed that he had because he was singing it in the movie. Since then I have heard his name a number of times and learnt the names of a few songs that he has written, but overall, until today, I still knew very little, so I decided to Google him to find out more. 

I was surprised to discover that he has 70 United States Top 40 Hits, and 52 United Kingdom Top 40 Hits. He has written an amazing amount of songs for various artists, such as Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, and his body of work spans seven decades, from 1954 until the present. So now when I re-watch the Austin Powers movies, I will know exactly who Burt Bacharach is when he is singing the song, and that he not only wrote the song, but that he wrote many other fantastic songs!

30 Mar 2012 - Manganese

Today I was helping my Dad to add chemicals to the pool, in order to stabilise the water and maintain the appropriate levels, to allow us to continue to swim in the pool. I was reading the water analysis report which details the appropriate levels of chemicals and the actual levels in our water, and explains the steps and chemicals that need to be added in order to maintain the pool's water. As I was reading this report I came across the word manganese, which got me to wondering, what is manganese exactly. My first thought was that it should be some sort of language, Chinese, Japanese or Manganese, perhaps spoken by the inhabitants of Manga. I realised that in the context it was used and that my parents pool wouldn't have any knowledge of other languages, this alternative was unlikely. Not to mention the fact that even though I don't know a great deal about geography, I am fairly certain there is no country called Manga.

Then I decided that the best course of action would be, as is often the case, to Google it! It turns out that manganese is a chemical element (which makes sense that it would be present in a report about chemical levels in the pool's water) and is a metal used in stainless steal. Considering our pool is not made of stainless steal, this didn't make sense, so I read further. It turns out, it is also a name that is applied to various black minerals, such as pyrolusite, and pyrolusite is used in the production of chlorine. My parents pool is a salt chlorinated pool, so the presence of chlorine explains why manganese levels would be tested in the pools water. Once again I have learnt something new, and the world makes sense again (not that it didn't before, it is just that I understand that sense now).

29 Mar 2012 - Sexually Transmitted Nuts

Sexual education in school is fairly standard these day, even more so than it was when I was at school (I try to avoid using the term, 'in my day,' because it makes me feel old). Sexually Transmitted Diseases, or STDs as they are more commonly called, were covered during this education, however one thing that was not covered, and I would expect is probably still not covered, is Sexually Transmitted Nuts, or STNs as I will be calling them. What, I suppose you are wondering, are STNs? No I am not talking about the 'nuts' that are part of the male appendage, STNs, are of course Brazil nuts. I was watching QI the other night and I discovered that people that are allergic to peanuts or other nuts, can actually have an allergic reaction just by having sex with somebody who has been eating Brazil nuts before the encounter.

This revelation amazed me, because I think about all those signs on food, warning potential nut allergy suffers that they should not consume certain products. My first thought is that soon there will be legislation in place to make men and women who have recently consumed Brazil nuts, wear a sign around their necks warning potential sexual partners that they need to avoid sex with this person, or risk an allergic reaction! However I think that a much simpler solution would be to add STNs to the national curriculum and educate the next generation of the potentially damaging affects of sex, post Brazil nut consumption. This way we can educate everyone to feel comfortable discussing their Brazil nut consumption levels before any sexual activity with strangers.  Potentially, just as people avoid eating garlic if they are looking to pick up that night, people could just avoid eating Brazil nuts 24 hours before any expected sexual activity with a stranger. I don't know how prevalent this problem is at the moment, but I think prevention is always the key!

28 Mar 2012 - Lincoln was the first successful assassination

I was watching 'Bones' today and there was some discussion about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and the man that assassinated him, John Wilkes Booth. I realised that I didn't really know much about this event in history, aside from the fact that Lincoln was assassinated at the Theatre. So I decided to do a little Googling on the subject. I knew a little about Lincoln, that he was a famous American president, who's term included the American civil war, and that he is often mentioned as one of the most influential presidents that the United States (US) has ever had. However, the fact that surprised me, was that he was the first successfully assassinated US President. There had been previous attempts to assassinate presidents in the United States of America but until Lincoln, who was the 16th US President, there had never been a successful assassination. 

I don't know why, probably because there are so many movies about assassination attempts on US Presidents, but I had always assumed that there had been many assassinations that I didn't know about. The only two that I could call to mind were Lincoln and John F. Kennedy (JFK). I did some further research and after the successful assassination of Abraham Lincoln, there has only been 3 more successful assassinations; James A. Garfield (20th President), William McKinley (25th President) and the other one I already recalled, which is probably the most famous assassination, John F Kennedy (35th President). Considering Barack Obama is the 44th President, that is only about ten per cent of US Presidents that have been assassinated, which means that ninety per cent have lived through their duration as president (or at least died of natural causes during their presidency). I guess overall a ninety per cent chance you won't be assassinated as a US President isn't so bad, although a 100 per cent chance would be preferable if considering the top job!

27 Mar 2012 - Meaning of Dickensian

I have been watching 'The Wire' and this season is following a storyline about the print media, and involves characters working for a newspaper who are writing articles about homelessness. A couple of times the Dickensian aspect has been mentioned, and today I decided to look up what that meant. At first due to their Baltimore accents, I didn't understand their pronunciation, and thought they were saying the dekensian aspect. However once I Googled the word dekensian, Google corrected me (because it is ever so helpful like that), and translated my misspelling to Dickensian, explaining that it means, 'Of or reminiscent of the novels of Charles Dickens, especially in suggesting the poor social conditions.'

This definition made sense with the context used in 'The Wire', as they were referring to homelessness and the Dickensian aspect of homelessness, which obviously was referring to the poor social conditions of living on the street. My discovery of the definition was also disappointing, because I didn't like that the word Dickensian wasn't more apparent. When you hear Shakespearian, there is no question that you are referring to the works of Shakespeare, however Dickensian, didn't have the same apparent meaning when I heard it used. This also got me to wondering if any authors of today would have words describing their works in a hundred or so years. I think Pattersonian, to describe the suspenseful aspects of James Patterson's books would be a great word in the future, and I am sure that there are many others out there if you think about it!

26 Mar 2012 - Columbus landed in the Dominican Republic

I don't know about you, but I have always thought that Christopher Columbus discovered America, and by America, I mean the North American continent where the United States of America is situated today. However, today I learnt that even though he made numerous voyages to the Americas, he never actually landed on the North American continent, he landed primarily in the Caribbean islands and Central and South America. My discovery was sparked by a conversation I had with a friend of mine from work, who was born in the Dominican Republic. He was telling me that Christopher Columbus landed in the Dominican Republic when he discovered America, and that the house where he used to live is still there on the island. 

This revelation sparked a wider Google search which revealed that my previous conceptions were incorrect, and that although Columbus is credited with discovering the Americas, his voyages never actually took him to the North American continent. He did however settle the first permanent European settlement in the Americas which was located on the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti occupy this island today), on the part of the island that is the present day Dominican Republic. Columbus governed this island from the colony that he set up, which is why the house where Columbus used to live is located in the Dominican Republic. So really Columbus didn't discover the present day United States of America, as I have always assumed, but he is credited with discovering the Americas, which includes the North and South American Continents as well as the Caribbean islands.

If you would like to read more about Columbus, check out Wikipedia.

25 Mar 2012 - How to create a Facebook page

Today I decided that I wanted to create a Facebook page for my blog. I didn't realise that it was going to be so easy and so complicated at the same time! It was easy enough to create the page, you just go to the login page of Facebook, click 'create a page', on the bottom of the login page, and follow the prompts. This was the easy part, I had my page up and running in no time, however once the page was created, you had to do all of these tutorials on how to set up the rest of your page. I wasn't interested in doing the tutorials, I just wanted to play on my page and figure it out. It seems that Facebook doesn't like you teaching yourself, it prefers if you follow the tutorials, and now that I have ignored them, I can no longer find them! I will have to trawl through their online 'help'.

After a little trial and error, I managed to get my page looking a little the way that I want it to look, there are still many things that I need to learn in order to make my page better, but as far as Facebook pages go, mine is at least functional! So I guess what I learnt today is twofold, it is vey easy to create a Facebook page, but creation is only the first step, setting up the created page is a much larger challenge and understanding how to get the most out of your page is an even bigger challenge. I look forward to the day when I can blog that I understand all about Facebook pages, but I see that being in the dim distant future!

Check out and like my Facebook Page - You Learn Something New Everyday.

24 Mar 2012 - Australian electricity prices most expensive

Today I was reading an article on The Age website, relating to the cost of doing business in certain countries around the world. Overall the article was about how Australia is currently, for a variety of reasons, a very expensive place to do business. However the thing that interested me most, was that Australia has been assessed as having the highest prices for electricity than any of the other major economy in the world. This got me to thinking about our electricity prices, and I came to the same conclusion about the high prices of electricity as I did about the high prices of mobile phone services in Australia. Many people I have spoken to, who have lived in different countries, compare our high prices for mobile phones, electricity and other similar services, and wonder why America or the United Kingdom have better mobile phone deals or lower utilities costs than Australia. Most of these conversations are about the unfairness of the high prices and how Australian companies need to get their issues sorted, and start offering better deals. 

My thoughts are that many of these companies are doing the best that they can in the Australian operating environment, comparing Australia to America is far from fair. If you consider that the costs for setting up a service, across a geographical distance, in Australia would be similar to those when setting up a service in America, however, once they have spent this money in America they have access to a population of over 300 million people, as oppose to a population of around 22 million in Australia. This is around 13 times more potential customers in America, and we expect them to offer the same range of services at the same price here is Australia with 13 times less potential customers. The same would be true of electricity prices, now I am not saying that there is nothing that can be done to lower prices and that companies aren't making large profits, but people have to keep in mind that we are a country the geographical size of America, with 13 times less the population. So companies investing in Australia have less potential revenue, for a similar investment cost, which in turn means that prices will be higher in Australia.

23 Mar 2012 - A vaccination against cat allergies

Today I was talking to a friend of mine, who told me that it was now possible to vaccinate yourself against cat allergies. I was a little skeptical, and I also thought that maybe she was just thinking of needles that you can get to help with allergies in general, because that can also help with cat allergies. However, when I got home and Googled 'cat allergies vaccination', I discovered that a team of scientists have identified a molecule in cats that sparks the majority of people's allergies of them, de-constructed this molecule, along with samples of people's blood who have allergies, and have developed a specific vaccination that people can get to reduce or stop their allergies to cats.

Now my first thought, and I have wondered this for a long time, why do people have cats if they are allergic to them? Why would you go through the effort of vaccinating yourself against cats, why not just avoid them? It doesn't make sense to me, I am allergic to bees, but you don't see me asking scientists to create a vaccine so that I can start my lucrative career as a bee keeper. I just cross that profession off my list! Surely if you are allergic to something it is natures way of telling you that you shouldn't be around that thing. I guess, it is just a human trait, people say you can't have that, you automatically want it! I guess nature just misjudged humans, it tried to warn us, via allergies, that we shouldn't be near a certain thing, but that just made us want it more!

If you want to read more about the cat vaccine, check out this Science Daily article.