Thomas F. Shubnell's Blog, page 498

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Most people think that a coin toss is completely random and the odds of it landing on heads or tails is equal.  Recently, a three-person team of Stanford and UC-Santa Cruz researchers produced a study that challenges conventional wisdom.

The researchers concluded that a coin is more likely to land facing the same side on which it started. If tails is facing up when the coin is on your thumb, it

Quotable

Did you ever stop to think that worrying works? 90% of the things you worry about never happen.

Jack Benny

Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago on Valentine's Day, 1894. His parents lived in nearby Waukegan. Jack worked there as a violinist in the pit band of a local Vaudeville house and that was his beginning in show business.

He toured working with a female pianist in an act known as "Salisbury and Kubelsky - From Grand Opera to Ragtime", but when concert violinist Jan Kubelik's lawyer

Notice To Die

True - When Arthur Zissen died in his Florida apartment in late September 2007, he failed to give the landlord 60 days advance notice he was going to die.

The manager at the Sun Harbour Yearly Residences sent the family a bill demanding rent for October, November, and December, and telling them Art forfeited his security deposit and last month's rent for failing to give 60 days notice.  It said

Quotable

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

Question

Did you ever stop to think that memes are just mini morēs.

Name That Tune

Did you ever forget the name of a tune, or the words to a song, or you can't remember the artist. Midomi is a site that will help you. Sing the words and it will tell you the tune and artist.

Tissue Dispenser

Here is a unique Kleenex dispenser.

Human Filters

Generally speaking, the key is sensory awareness. Humans have kind of evolved to fit into their environment by filtering out information they don't need. If you actually look at the amount of data coming in through all your senses, there's something like 100 million bits of information coming in every second through your visual system and another 10 million bits coming through your auditory

Talk to Your Coffeepot

Voice Interactive Coffee Maker.


This is the first voice-interactive coffee maker that asks, "Would you like to set the clock or set the coffee brewing time?" and operates in response to your verbal commands. Simply saying, "Set the coffee brewing time," or "Set the clock," will prompt the machine to reply, "Please say the time, including AM or PM."

It uses an advanced voice recognition system