3-D Wooden Puzzles

I have no financial interest in Rolife, but they sell some interesting and unusual stuff. Of special interest are their 3-D wooden puzzles. Visit site

Night Driving Glasses

     We've all seen advertising on television for those night driving glasses with the yellow lenses with the claim that they help you to see better at night while you’re driving. They’re non-prescription, yellow-tinted and often have some kind of anti-reflective coating to eliminate reflections from the streetlights and oncoming headlights that cause glare. 

     Many people have reduced vision in low light, especially older people. As you get older, other diseases like cataracts can also make it harder to see at night. And here is a scary fact: you may need twice as much light at the age of 50 to see as well as you did when you were 30! 

 

There are five signs of night driving issues: 

1) Not being able to see road signs clearly. 

2) Inability to judge distance and speed. 

3) Struggling to read car instruments 

4) Difficulty adapting to glare from headlights. 

5) Experiencing a loss of side vision. 

 

     These night driving glasses tend to be similar to shooting glasses and in some cases they are identical. Shooting glasses are yellow because this color is known to filter out blue UV rays. It's also claimed that yellow lenses improve a person's ability to see and discern objects as well increase depth perception. Shooters who wear these glasses for hunting or target shooting often find that they increase the contrast of objects against an overcast sky. But do they really help you see better while you're driving at night? 

     A 2019 study showed that people wearing night driving glasses had a harder time seeing pedestrians in their path than people who were not wearing night driving glasses. Those wearing the night driving glasses sometimes took up to 1.5 seconds longer to see pedestrians while driving. 

     Glasses with yellow tinted lenses can enhance contrast in certain daylight conditions, since the yellow tint blocks some of the sun's blue light. This high-energy visible blue light is more likely to cause glare when it enters the eye, compared to other forms of visible light. 

     Amber or copper colored lenses can block much more blue light than yellow lenses, but they also prevent more light from entering the eye, which reduces visibility even more in low-light conditions. In fact, even yellow lenses reduce the overall visible light to a degree, since they also block some blue light. This might be a good thing during the day, but not at night when maximum visibility is important.

     Researchers at Harvard's Schepens Eye Research Institute conducted a study involving 22 participants to find out whether night driving glasses provided any benefit for nighttime driving. 

     The experiments were conducted in four simulated night driving conditions with the subjects wearing either yellow tinted night driving glasses or glasses with clear lenses. Scenarios included testing with and without a headlight glare that mimicked oncoming traffic. The experiment measured the subject's reaction time to seeing a pedestrian walking alongside the roadway. 

     The study found that night driving glasses did not appear to improve how well participants detected pedestrians at night. The experiment data suggested that wearing yellow-lens glasses when driving at night does not improve performance in that critical task. 

     In fact, the results found "that wearing yellow-lens glasses may slightly worsen performance," but the finding "was not statistically significant." Their conclusion was that the findings did not appear to support the use of night-driving glasses. 

     If your eyes are healthy and you don't have vision problems and don't need prescription glasses, then it's best not to wear any glasses at all. If you need prescription eyeglasses then having an anti-reflective coating is worth the small extra cost. 

     The reasons are that these glasses will allow almost all of the visible light to enter your eyes, they will let your eyes focus properly and reduce or eliminate the glare causing reflections of streetlights and headlights in your lenses. 

     Note that the AR coating only reduces the glare caused by the eyeglass lenses themselves so there is no visual benefit to wearing non-prescription lenses with AR coating.

The Golden Gate Quartet: Old Time Religion

Durwood FIncher Interviews People

A Scary Man

     Michael Flynn is a retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army and the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was also the National Security Advisor under President Trump. It's scary that this goofball was once running the military, occupied a high ranking position in the government and apparently is still an influential figure in politics. 

     Appointed by Trump on November 17, 2016, Flynn didn't have the job long. He resigned on February 13, 2017, amid reports that he did not provide Vice President Mike Pence with accurate information about a conversation that he had with a Russian ambassador concerning sanctions against the country. On November 25, 2020, President Trump tweeted that he had granted Flynn a presidential pardon.

     Trump claimed that, although Flynn “didn’t do anything wrong,” he had lost confidence in the general. Trump said, “He didn’t tell the vice president of the United States the facts. And then he didn’t remember. And that just wasn’t acceptable to me.” 

     Flynn is a scary man! QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory and movement centered on false claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals, known by the name Q, claimed that Flynn worships Satan. 

     In an effort to refute that absurd claim and in an effort to proclaim his Christian faith, Flynn, speaking in San Antonio, Texas on the ReAwaken America tour which features Flynn, other Trump loyalists and anti-vaxxers who have a history of spreading disinformation about the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic, he called for Christianity to become the singular religion of the United States!

     He stated, "If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God." Most Christians would, I think, shudder at the very thought of the United States having a state religion. Besides that, under the Constitution such a thing is illegal. 

     Flynn also said he taped a segment for the television program Tucker Carlson Tonight (Carlson is a political journalist who speaks on current issues). In reference to the insurrection that took place in Washington DC at President Biden's inauguration, Flynn called it the "insurrection crucifixion" and compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Pontius Pilate, the man who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus in the Bible. He stated, "This is the crucifixion of our First Amendment freedom to speak, freedom to peacefully assemble. It's unbelievable." 

     As is all that isn't bad enough, Flynn gets even more weird. A while back he stated, “Somebody sent me a thing this morning where they’re talking about putting the vaccine into salad dressing, or salads.” That's right! Flynn is tossing around a conspiracy theory about Covid-19 vaccines being secretly put in salads or salad dressing. Flynn did not say on the video whether he actually agreed with the salad claim adding, “I’m thinking to myself, this is the Bizarro World, right.” But, why mention it? 

     Flynn did not elaborate where this information came from, but according to Snopes, in a September 16, 2020 article by Jules Bernstein for the University of California-Riverside News began with the lines, “the future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.” 

     Scientists are studying this possibility but have not achieved it yet. They even received a half a million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to do research on this. What they are actually trying to do is to use plant cells to produce enough mRNA to be used as a vaccine. First, they haven't accomplished it nor are they trying to turn salads or salad dressing into some kind of secret vaccine.

     Amusing was rapper, singer and songwriter Nicky Minaj's tweet about a friend of her cousin's testicles. Her tweet:

  

My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.  

 

You can read the response by the government of Trinidad and Tobago HERE.

Where did the robins go?

     Where I live robins are the harbinger of spring and a common sight in the summer. Yesterday I put some stale bread out for the birds, but, of course, this time of the year there were no robins. By the way I have never seen them eating bread. 

     Where do robins go for the winter? Do robins migrate? The answer is yes and no. While they are associated with spring and summer here, not all robins escape the winter. Unlike many long-distance migrating birds which head south en masse during the fall, robins react to winter's onset in two ways. 

     Many retreat southward. They skedaddle out of Northern Canada and the cold, snowy parts of the country and head to areas far to the south like Texas and Florida. But they are not motivated by the cold because robins can withstand extremely cold temperatures, adding warm, downy feathers to their plumage. No, their motivation for heading south is food. 

     As their warm-weather diet of worms and insects becomes scarce, robins begin searching for fresh supplies. For unknown reasons though some stay up north and tough it out just like we humans do. Robins have been observed in every US state except Hawaii and all southern Canadian provinces in January. 

     They survive by changing their diet, transitioning from insects and worms to winter fruits and berries, including junipers, hollies, crabapples and hawthorns. In the spring and summer, robins aggressively defend their territories and raise young. In the winter, they change. They become nomadic, searching far and wide for food. If a heavy snowfall persists for more than a few days they will leave in search of greener pastures, so to speak. 

     Although I have never seen one (probably because there isn't a lot of food for them in the winter around here) robins also form flocks in the winter which can number in the hundreds or thousands which is totally unlike their summer behavior where they pair up and raise young. 

     Flocking means the larger groups have more eyes pealed to spot and avoid predators. It also increases the chances of discovering food. Here's another odd fact about robins that winter over in flocks...they make little noise during winter months. Although some males begin singing toward winter's end as spring approaches and mating hormones kick in, they typically maintain a subdued silence. Taken together, these changes lower robins' profile in the northern part of their range, making sightings much less common, and leading some people to assume they have all gone elsewhere.

     The burning question is, how do robins decide whether to stay or go during the winter? Nobody knows, but it is thought that it's mostly males that remain because it allows early access to the best breeding grounds. When spring arrives the winter robins disperse and change their diet back to worms and insects. Then a few days to two weeks later the females show up. 

     Robin populations are increasing, but they are vulnerable to pesticide poisoning because they forage on lawns and other open spaces that are often sprayed with weed killers. Additionally, pesticides can also kill earthworms, a major food source for robins. Because they forage on the ground, robins often end up as food for outdoor cats. Collisions with windows, communications towers and car strikes are other common hazards.

Toilet Seats

     The use of toilet seat dates back 2,000 years to China, when it was made of stone and was a luxury. Latrines featuring just a hole in the ground could be found in public places and the seats were nothing more than a part of the communal bench where the holes were cut out. 

     In Ancient Egypt, they had proper bathrooms and toilets in their homes with toilet seats made of limestone. In Ancient Rome, wealthy people also had their own toilets, while public bathrooms consisted of stone seats right next to one another.

     During the Middle Ages, toilet were pits in the ground with wooden seats over them. Medieval castles had shafts for toilets with a stone seat; they were called garderobes and they stuck out of the side of the castle. A hole in the bottom let everything drop into a pit or the moat. People who didn't live in castles used pits and sat on wooden planks. 

     Eventually toilets made their way into most homes and today the seat is a hinged unit typically made from plastic or a blend of wood and plastic. It consists of a round or oval open seat that typically has a lid bolted onto the bowl. 

     A toilet seat consists of the seat itself, usually contoured to provide a more comfy seating, but lids are often absent in public restrooms. There are reasons for the lids. They can be closed to prevent small items from falling in, to reduce odors, for aesthetic purposes or simply to provide a chair. Some studies show that closing the lid prevents the spread of microscopic aerosols on flushing which end up covering everything in the bathroom with fecal bacteria. 

     Toilet seats are manufactured in a range of styles and colors and are usually shaped to fit the shape of the toilet bowl: elongated or round. Some toilet seats are fitted with slow-closing hinges to reduce noise and prevent them from slamming against the bowl. Some are made of wooden materials, like oak or walnut, and others are made soft for added comfort. There are also novelty seats such as floral designs or transparent plastic with small decorative items such as seashells or coins. 

     Some metal toilets, such as those in jails and prisons, have built-in toilet seats that cannot be removed, so that an inmate cannot fashion it into a weapon, shield or escape tool. 

     Some seats have an open front. The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials' Uniform Plumbing Code, section 409.2.2, requires that "all water closet seats, except those within dwelling units or for private use, shall be of the open front type." 

     The code is followed by most public authorities, many public toilets feature open front toilet seats , also known as split seats. This seat design prevents genitals from contacting the seat and also omits an area of the seat that could be contaminated with urine and it makes for easier wiping. 

     Nowadays there are also high-tech toilet seats such as heated seat, bidets and blow driers. These seats are most common in Japan. Electrically heated toilet seats have been popular in Japan since the 1970s because Japanese bathrooms are often unheated and the toilet seat can double as a space heater. 

     Seatless toilet have no seat (no surprise there!). It's claimed they are much cleaner and easier to clean than toilets with seats. While it is possible to sit on the toilet without a seat many users prefer to hover over it. 

     Back in 1987 there was a huge brouhaha over the Lockheed Corporation's charging the US Navy $34,560 for 54 toilet covers, or $640 each on P-3C Orion antisubmarine aircraft which went into service in 1962. 

     In 1987 it was determined that the toilet shroud, the cover that fits over the toilet, needed replacement and because the airplane was out of production that would require new tooling to produce. 

     These on-board toilets required a uniquely shaped, molded fiberglass shroud that had to satisfy specifications for vibration resistance, weight, and durability. The molds had to be specially made and the price reflected the design work and the cost of the equipment to manufacture them. The charge was for the large molded plastic assembly covering the entire seat, tank and full toilet assembly. The seat itself cost $9 and some cents. 

     President Ronald Reagan stepped in and held a televised news conference where he held up one of the shrouds and stated, "We didn't buy any $600 toilet seat. We bought a $600 molded plastic cover for the entire toilet system." The Pentagon admitted that the Navy was overcharged and the president of Lockheed adjusted the price to $100 each and returned $29,165. "This action is intended to put to rest an artificial issue," he said. Still, the whole incident stunk and Lockheed appears to have deliberately overcharged (stolen) from the Navy. 

 

12 toilet oddities around the world that surprise Japan

US Navy Training

     As I suspected when I posted on seamounts, the US Navy has fired Commander Cameron Aljilani, the Commanding Officer of the USS Connecticut, Lieutenant Commander Patrick Cashin, the Executive officer and Master Chief Sonar Technician Cory Rogers, the Chief of Boat, due to loss of confidence in their ability.

     Ryan Ramsey, a former British Royal Navy submarine captain, said he was shocked by the collision, which is relatively rare, adding that "The USS Connecticut is a very modern submarine - so it's kind of surprising," he told the BBC. "But if you relax at any point, then things can happen."  Details

     From the top down, lack of leadership and poor training has plagued the Navy and resulted in accidents that have injured and killed a number of sailors. The main reason is that the Navy is more concerned with political correctness and administrative tasks than efficient training. Unfortunately, crap does not roll uphill and until it does we are not likely to see any change...expect more sea service deaths. Read more...

Seamounts

     An undersea collision that injured 11 crew members of the USS Connecticut, a fast attack nuclear-powered submarine, last month was the result of it running into an uncharted seamount. 

     The boat hit what at the time was an unidentified object in international waters in the South China Sea on October 2nd, resulting in moderate to minor injuries. At the time, the Navy did not specify how much damage the vessel suffered, but sub was able to make its way to a port in Guam by traveling on the surface. 

     An investigation found that the Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount. The fleet's commander was investigating to determine if human error might have somehow played a role in the accident. Given the Navy's accident rate involving collisions due to poor seamanship in recent years that explanation is quite possible. 

     In 2005 the submarine USS San Francisco hit an uncharted seamount near Guam with the result that numerous sailors were injured and one died. 

     According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers believe more than 100,000 seamounts rise more than 3,300 feet from the seafloor. It is estimated that there are over 30,000 seamounts in the Pacific Ocean alone. The only known seamounts in Canada are found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia. 

     Seamounts are undersea mountains formed by volcanic activity and at one time they were thought to be little more than hazards to submarines, but today, scientists recognize they biological hotspots that support an amazing array of marine life. That's because their steep slopes cause currents that carry nutrients upwards from the depths of the oceans toward the sunlit surface, providing food for creatures ranging for corals, fish and crustaceans. 

     New estimates suggest that seamounts encompass about 11.1 square miles of the Earth's surface...more than deserts, tundra, or any other single land-based habitat. 

     These underwater mountains, generally extinct volcanoes, rise hundreds or thousands of feet from the seafloor and sometimes even break the ocean's surface. The highest mountain on Earth is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is actually a seamount. It is a dormant volcano that is more than 30,000 feet tall measured from its base on the seafloor 18,000 feet beneath the surface.

     Scientists estimate there are at least 100,000 seamounts higher than 3,000 around the world. In addition to providing food for sea life, there seamounts create obstacles that shape ocean currents. Although often hidden beneath the ocean, they are also being targeted by mining companies that hope to mine the minerals that often collect around seamounts. Read MORE