You Learn Something New Everyday

Troll the Ancient Yuletide Carol

2008-01-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

On this day I learned that to "Troll" can mean to sing aloud in a carefree way.

The song "Deck the Halls" features the phrase "TROLL THE ANCIENT YULETIDE CAROL"

Compote Pile

2008-01-08T22:49:00.000-08:00

Today I learned what "compote" is. It can mean one of two things, one delicious and one nasty sounding to me.

Common preparation of a compote is a cooked dish of fresh or dried fruits, simmered whole or in pieces in a sugar syrup.

A compote can also refer to a game meat dish containing rabbit, pigeon or partridge, cooked in a roux for a long time over low heat with bacon, and pearl onions until the meat has completely cooked to a fine texture.

Father's Office, which houses one of the most critically acclaimed hamburgers in Los Angeles offers Compote on their burgers. Dried fruits on my burger? Gross. I'll take a whopper.

More on wikipedia.

Dine In Tax

2008-01-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

Learned of a new tax today. If someone asks you "for here or to go", say "to go" in California. The cashier told me that if I said "for here" he would have to charge me extra. A "dine in" tax exists. Strange, wouldn't it cost the company more to give me a to-go bag and a plastic top?

Apparently

"It’s a sales tax, which is charged on restaurant meals, but not groceries, in many states.

When the food is taken to go, I guess it’s considered groceries."

Water, by the gallon.

2008-01-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that soda and water often cost more than gasoline. This was stumbled upon when I was at a the insanely overpriced Westfield, Century City food court where I could not find a beverage for under $1.79. And these are all places with soda fountains. I had a dollar and forty cents, but had to go on without hydrating. Dear Westfield managers, how can you live with yourselves?

The Look on Your Face

2008-01-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that getting your wisdom teeth out and getting a nose job both have similar effects on your face. Swelling a bruising can occur around the cheeks and eyes. Strange how the human face reacts to being altered.

Lessons of Minion, Crime in the Hills

2007-03-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

The lesson yesterday? I learned that there are a few different meanings for the word minion... and its more than a word used for henchmen in an evil organization. A Jewish Minyan is a "a quorum of Jewish adult men required to hold any sort of service."

Today delt another lession: in Beverly Hills, sometimes people will walk right into the buildings and just try every door to see if it is open. Crooks are known to nab purses during lunch breaks and bathroom stops.

Pilots, Location, Location, Location

2007-03-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

I usually learn multiple things in a day, but I've taken to just describing the most interesting things I've learned each 24 hours.

Friday I learned about Pilates. I had always wondered what set it apart from Yoga. Apparently they were developed by a guy who wanted to control and work out his core postural muscles. Because I cannot remember the details of what I was told about Pilates, here is the current summary on Wikipedia:

Joseph Pilates developed Pilates because he preferred fewer, more precise movements, requiring control and form. He believed that mental and physical health were essential to one another and created what is claimed to be a method of total body conditioning that emphasizes proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement, "The Pilates Principles".
Pilates classes help to build strength and flexibility, with an emphasis on lengthening the body and aligning the spine, rather than on building muscle mass. Pilates' focus is on the "powerhouse" region of the body which includes the muscles of the abdominals and the lower back. Because of its focus Pilates has become popular not only in the field of fitness, but also in rehabilitation. It can be used to progress individuals through movements that represent their day-to-day activities. The focus on strengthening the core/powerhouse muscles and improving postural awareness are especially well indicated for the alleviation and prevention of back pain.
As the popularity of Pilates has exploded, studios have been popping up all over, but so have many mediocre versions of this method, such as trainers with little or no Pilates education teaching this complex system, so keep this in mind when looking for a studio or class. Be aware of your own safety and look for a trainer with years of experience and certification, if at all possible.

On Saturday I learned things about house locations that I never knew. Apparently houses on corners are hardest to sell because they have less land and are harder to get in and out of. Also, in California living on hills means more shake when earthquakes hit, thus more break when it happens too.

Dishes, Hookahs, and T-Rexes

2007-03-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Tue March 6th: Somehow all my life I've escaped running a dishwasher. I've either lived at home, where I rinse and put dishes in the washer and my mom will usually start it up, at college where the dining hall dishes are done for you, or in apartments with broken washers where I would use disposable utensils and plates, rinsing and washing what ever nondisposables in the sink.

Well I taught myself how to use a dishwasher today. Apparently you get that dry soap and pour it into the largest cup that the dishwasher door has. Then you close the cup up (I think, at least thats what I did...) and lock the thing shut. Then hit the best sounding wash... like "hot heavy rinse" and press start. Dishes will be clean soon! (I'm still shakey on how much time it takes...)

Wed March 7th: I tried a Hookah this evening, which is essentially smoking flavored tabacco. The flavors aren't that strong, nor is the taste, and the only effect really is that the taco you eat that night will taste vaugely like strawberries and coconut. Yuck. It was kind of boring, actually, I wonder what everyone enjoyed so much about it.

Thur March 8th: Tyrannosaurus Rex had a lifespan of up to 28 years old. I have always wondered how long they lived. Every time I tried to ask a scientist I would never be able to phrase the question right. "How old were most T-Rexes when they died?" Often the answer was "65 Million Years Ago".

Learning of Mitsubishi and Podcasts

2007-03-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday our 65+ inch Mitsubishi television has conked out little more than a year of watching. The warranties all just expired, and Mitsubishi customer support has been zero help. We hired a specialist and he broke our television even further, going from off colors, to black burns in the screen, to complete chaos. Replaced bulbs, fried chips, you name it we've got it. So if I've learned anything today it is that everyone who wants their television to last for more than a year should stay very far away from Mitsubishi rear projection large flatscreen HDTVs.

Today I learned about running podcasts. There are an entire subcategory of podcasts that are 45 minute mixes of continuous music to workout to. Brilliant! I will be running and downloading many of these. They work great for getting work done in the office and for driving to work as well! My favorite so far is the Nike/Crystal Method work out mix. Even though it feels like a little bit of a sell out, its still great.

Suns Interfere

2007-03-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that Solar Interference occurs twice a year with cable systems. It happens in the beginning of March, again in September. According the the Time Warner Website:

"Each Spring and Fall, cable companies experience a technical phenomenon called "sun outages." For a period of about 2 weeks, the sun causes "solar interference" to all geostationary satellite signals. As the sun's path across the sky gets lower each day, there are times when it is in a direct line behind a communication satellite that is sending signals to a receiving satellite dish here on earth. When the dish antenna is looking into the sun, the interference from the sun overrides the signals from the satellite. This is when a sun outage occurs.

Sun outages typically occur during the months of February/March and September/October and can last as long as 15 minutes a day and take place over a period of 15 days. This will normally occur during the afternoon hours of the day. The effects of a sun outage vary in degree from minimal to total outage throughout the 15 day period. Once it reaches its peak, the interference will gradually decrease becoming less noticeable each day after."

Teachers Gather

2007-03-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

Today I learned about teacher networking. There is still a lack of a central area where all teachers gather to share techniques, but www.tappedin.org is trying to fix that with groups, lesson plans, and chats. There are also teacher conferences like the NECC hosted by the ISTE. Don't ask me what they stand for, google it yourself!

Mag Book

2007-03-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

Mac introduced magnetic cords to their Mac Books recently, and they work like a charm. Popping power in and out is easy as pie, and pulling the cord can actually be fun, from afar. But what I learned today is that you're actually supposed to tip the magnet out of it's slot, not pull from the cord.

Pulling from the cord causes the wires near the jack to fray and disconnect, causing them to heat up and literally melt the insides. It doesn't look or smell pretty when it happens, and reeks of a firehazard. I almost burned myself pulling it out.

Mac is redesigning their adapters to be stronger, as this has happened a lot. A google search finds plenty of pictures and articles of this happening. If it happens to you, go down to your local Apple Store and show them the melted plug. They replaced mine for free, an 80 dollar value!

Ink Cartridges

2007-02-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today I learned about printers that are bigger than your normal ink jet. The heavy duty printers that you see in most offices run on huge cartridges that cost 65 bucks a pop. Thats a 65 dollar black, a 65 dollar magenta, $65 cyan, $65 yellow. These cartridges are huge and can last for a year.

But what do you do when you run out? Well you can buy them all again, in fact returning the cartridges to an OFFICE MAX will give you 5 bucks off the next purchase.

Or you can order pure bottled ink. Thats what we did. So tomorrow I go into the cartridges with a screw driver, and carefully sqeeze new toner in. A mistake would mean stains of epic proportions.

And thats how you refill one of those giant printers.

Welcome

2007-02-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to "You Learn Something New Every Day".

Last week I was remarking how each day I seemed to come away with at least one life lesson. Now I will share them with you on a daily basis! These are things that are not taught, that come with experience, and that are not talked about enough... you might know them, but yesterday I did not.

-Like how a house's asking price is never paid in full right off the bat. Mortgages are taken out to slowly pay it off.

-Or how human breasts do not stop producing milk until the baby stops sucking for a month. Breasts can give milk for YEARS!

-Or how most DMVs aren't open on Saturdays, and the ones that are only open once a month for four hours!

A fact each day. Learn with me!

DVD-Rs

2007-02-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

Come in 4.7 GB sizes for the most part. However you need to buy a 8.5 GB DVD-R for recording many full length movies. These are 5 bucks a pop and hard to find at Staples.

You can find them in three packs or in 25 packs.

Burning a DVD is actually not as difficult as you might think. You need to drag the VIDEO_TS files out of it, and then burning those to DVD requires a program called TOAST for Mac.

Your measley built-in program will not work. However TOAST has its flaws, version 7 was reading my 8.5 GB Dual Layered DVD and telling me that it was a CD.

This is what I learned today.