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RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Spanky - 11-28-2016

(11-28-2016, 12:39 AM)Popster Wrote: ........................
Yeah Pop, probably the hallmark mantra of Holistic health.  You can eat right, run in place, and take your vitamins, but if you're bummed all the time, good chance you will catch something.  Always feel good when you can, you'll know when you feel bad . . . or something like that.  


Spankster


RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Charon - 11-28-2016

One of the things my pastor says to say daily, is to command my cells to work the way the Lord intended them to.

So, it all sounds good to me.

RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Popster - 11-28-2016

The body has its own intelligence.....it knows how to breathe, pump blood, heal and all the miraculous things we take for granted.......HOWEVER it has NO choice but to respond to our thoughts....and it cannot tell the difference between a "now" thought, a fear (real or not), a worry, a dream or whatever....hence the need to monitor one's thoughts. Simply but accurately put: thoughts + feelings = emotions.

Never take our body for granted.....it is indeed our temple. Cool

Please excuse my ramblings......this is my favorite subject, above all.

RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Spanky - 12-05-2016

A Fun and Informative Disarray of Factoids Daily--or Semi Daily--Various Sources:


12-5-2016

The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that assists planes in taking off could throw a pickup truck over a mile. (Hope the kartells aren't reading this--Spank)
 
There are 3 categories of phobias – Specific phobia or simple phobia, Social phobia and Agoraphobia. The latter two are called as complex phobias.
 
Women are twice as likely to develop a phobia compared to men.  (Ergo, women are more complex than men--duh--Spank)

New Jersey has the highest prevalence of autism in U.S., with every 1 in 45 individuals being diagnosed.

The sound you hear when you put seashell nest to your ear is not the ocean, but blood flowing through your brain.  (No wonder I never hear anything--Spank)

Fingers prune underwater not because of them absorbing water or washing away of oil, but because of an evolutionary trait caused be brain to enhance the grip of your fingers underwater.

Talking to yourself actually makes you smarter.  ("Now, where'd I leave my wallet, keys, brain?" spoken aloud by Spank)
 
FAMOUS GAME SHOW CHEATERS

1. Michael Larson 

   
 
The basis of CBS's 1980s game show Press Your Luck was a giant, light-up game board. Filling its squares were money amounts, prizes, and an animated cartoon devil called the "Whammy." Each contestant would earn spins around the board, press a plunger, and wherever the spinning stopped, that was the prize—or if they hit a Whammy, they lost everything, including their turn. In 1984, an ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson appeared on the show and had an amazing string of good luck. After getting a Whammy on his first spin and having to wait through the two other contestants' turns, Larson just kept amassing money and prizes. He never hit another Whammy, and by the end of the episode he'd won $110,237. (His time at the board was so long, CBS had to split the broadcast into two separate episodes.) But Larson wasn't lucky—he'd studied. In the months before his appearance, he pored over videotaped episodes of the show until he memorized the patterns on the game board, knowing exactly when to hit "stop" and avoid a Whammy.
 
 
2. Charles Ingram
 
     
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? really wants you to win. (It's good TV, after all, to see a regular Joe get rich.) They provide "lifelines" such as "ask the audience" and "phone a friend." That wasn't enough for Charles Ingram, who appeared on the British edition of the show in 2001. He stationed his wife, Diana (who had once been a contestant on the show herself) and a friend, Tecwen Whittock, in the audience. Then, as he carefully read off each of the four multiple choice answers out loud, he'd listen for a small cough. That was a signal from his plants as to which answer he'd just suggested was the correct one. With this ridiculous method pioneered by cheating high school students, Ingram won the million-pound grand prize. The scheme was ultimately discovered and all three were found guilty of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception"—in other words, fraud.
 
 
 
 
3. Adriana Abenia
 

   
In 2014, cheesecake model Adriana Abenia appeared on Pasapalabra, Spain's version of Password. In a "name that tune" segment, she was tasked with listening to a series of song clips and identifying the name and performer. She got all of them correct—until the host and other contestants noticed that she kept looking at her phone. It turns out Abenia had been using the music identification app Shazam to, well, identify the music. She was called out on it, but the host and contestants just laughed it off.
 
 
 
4. Khaled El-Katateny


   
Millionaire Hot Seat is an Australian spinoff of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. In 2014 a 19-year-old law student named Khaled El-Katateny racked up winnings of $100,000. But after the show aired, he told the media that he cheated—sort of. El-Katateny claimed to nail correct answers to the questions not through knowledge, but by watching the body language and what scientists call "micro-expressions" of host Eddie McGuire as he read off the multiple choice possibilities. (McGuire's eye might have just barely fluttered at the correct answer, for example.) El-Katateny also watched the studio audience behind McGuire to see which choice made their faces light up. In the end, El-Katateny got to keep his money, because what he did technically wasn't against the rules.
 
 
5. Terry Kniess
 

   
The Price is Right seems like a difficult game show to win because it involves guessing the "actual retail price" of items—which never seem to be anywhere near what you'd see at an actual store. That's just a small part of why it's so remarkable that in 2008 Terry Kniess put in a bid of $23,743 during the "Showcase Showdown"—which was the exact, perfect price. How'd he do it? Kniess claimed to be an expert blackjack player and card counter familiar with pattern recognition techniques, which included watching The Price is Right every day for a year and memorizing the prices of all the items used (and frequently reused) in the Showcase Showdown segment. Another theory: In the audience during taping was Ted Slauson, a regular Price attendee who had amassed an encyclopedic memory of Showcase Showdown prices. He allegedly colluded with Kniess and used hand signals to tell him the perfect price. After producers checked Kniess and Slauson for smartphones and other cheating tools, Kniess got to keep his winnings, as audience interaction is actually encouraged on The Price is Right.
 
6. Jack Barry, Dan Enright, Herb Stempel, and Charles Van Doren
 
   
 
Most game show cheats are contestants, going at it alone. Not so in the scandal surrounding the game show Twenty One in 1956, which involved the show's producers rigging the game. Apparently the show's questions were initially so difficult that in the pilot episode both contestants ended with a score of 0 (and it aired to dismal ratings). The sponsor threatened to pull out if changes weren't made, so producers Jack Barry and Dan Enright decided to rig the show to make good television. The patsy: a New York postal clerk named Herb Stempel who was given answers beforehand and coached on how to deliver them. Producers allowed him to keep winning until ratings started to slip—about six weeks. To drum up interest, a new contestant was brought in: Charles Van Doren, an English professor at Columbia University. He was similarly coached, and after some staged episodes that ended in ties, Van Doren eventually overtook Stempel in an episode watched by 15 million people, the highest audience ever for a game show at that point. News of the true nature of Twenty One broke in 1957, and led to congressional hearings. Congress passed laws to prohibit rigging, but it didn't much matter—the networks were so spooked that they abruptly cancelled all of their primetime game shows, and the scandal was dramatized years later in the 1994 Robert Redford movie Quiz Show.
As I read over these, it becomes clear a  couple weren't "cheaters" per se, more like "card counters" in Black Jack, and that's not cheating.  It's why the casinos started using a "shoe" and multiple decks.  Micro electronics are so dominant and sophisticated it's hard to beat real cheaters with skills.  Like three "lifelines".  "Call a friend" could easily--not for me--be rigged the new google ap that answers questions for you, could be your "friend". 

They should just play "Cut The Card" for big money.  Newly shuffled deck each pick, each carried out on a silver platter.  Lift from the shuffled deck for high card, pick against a robot arm which could be checked out daily by a respected engineering firm for guaranteed randomness--which in reality doesn't exist, but would work for purposes of show.  Where's Chuck Barris when you need him. 




Spank

RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Charon - 12-05-2016

interesting. I did not know most of those scandals. Thank u spanky.

RE: Daily Curiousities/Obscure Facts: Tales of Decent Men For the Gals, etc. - Spanky - 12-14-2016

A Fun and Informative Disarray of Factoids Daily--or Semi Daily--Various Sources:


12-14-2016


Bacteria have been around for millions of years. They are found everywhere in the air, water, soil, inside body and on skin.
 
Earwax has antimicrobial properties that reduce the growth of bacteria and fungus in the ear.  (So go easy with that Qtip--Spank)
 
One teaspoon of the bacterium C. botulinum, if distributed properly can kill every single human being in U.S.
 
All the heavier elements in our body such as iron, carbon, calcium etc were made in supernova explosion.
 
The Astronauts can grow two inches taller due to lack of gravity in space.
 
We cannot burp in space.  (Huh-0h . . . what about that "other" thing?  "All right, who didn't phart . . . ever?"--Spank)
 
Dont Be A Punc



   

[b]William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White's extensive—and sometimes snarky—guide to grammar was published in 1920, but it's still considered a go-to for writing purists who are wary of change. The bookshelf staple, with a foreword by Roger Angell and updated with 57 colorful illustrations by Maira Kalman, is sure to offer up hours of education (which is entertainment to the language lover in your life).
[/b](Really, this is the only book you need, and it's skinny, to allow you to teach yourself to write--Spank)


   


These pencils will help keep common homophones straight. The retro sets of five are decorated with gold foil letters hand-pressed onto the sides. The Etsy store also offers up a set of red pencils that feature short, grammar-positive statements.


   

[b]High marks: The delicate metal earrings are less than an inch tall, making them a subtle but charming choice for any


[/b]
   
[b]

The pendant, which comes in the material of your choice, is dedicated to a well-known pet peeve amongst the literate.[/b]


[b]     [/b]



[b]Everyone knows about the question mark and the semicolon, but what about the interrobang? This simple poster, available in three different sizes and 60 different colors, celebrates the punctuation that really helps writers get their point across. It's printed on satin luster paper with ChromaLife 100 inks, creating a long-lasting piece of artwork.[/b]


   


[b]Keith Houston's book offers up a thorough look at the history of the written word. Readers can learn about the rich stories behind punctuation marks, including tales that cover everything from Ancient Roman graffiti to George W. Bush.[/b]







   


[b]The ampersand is a divisive punctuation mark in writing, but it's widely loved in design; the attractive logogram can be found everywhere from wedding invitations to tattoos. This metal light stands at almost 10 inches, making it a nice statement piece in any home.


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[b]Grammar is even more accessible with the help of beloved pop culture characters. ET, Robocop, Holly Golightly, Walter White, and more all come together to help teach tricky grammar terms. The poster is broken down into seven basic parts: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.


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[b]You have a friend who's always correcting everyone with a stern "whom?" With the help of two owls, this shirt pokes light fun at two counterparts to the oft-neglected word. The lightweight, cotton shirt comes in a classic white with sizes for men, women, and children.



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[b]This large, 16-inch-wide tote bag features the opening and closing lines from the classic book, Moby Dick. The diagrammatic words follow the Reed-Kellogg system (a parse tree that breaks down the grammatical structure of a sentence). The thick canvas bag is screenprinted on both sides and has a collapsible gusset for storing.
 
Anyone wishing to acutally buy any of the above can go to:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/87663/10-grammatically-correct-gifts-language-lovers
for more info. 








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