Coffee Klatch

Here’s a riddle that I remember hearing long ago. I think it used to be a common thing–I even remember seeing it on Sesame Street when I was little–but I haven’t heard it for a long time.

While I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives
And every wife had seven sacks
And every sack had seven cats
And every cat had seven kittens.
Kittens, cats, sacks, wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

Most people start doing the math:

1 + 7 + 7×7 + 7×7x7 + 7×7x7×7, which equals 2,801.

The real answer?

(”As I was going to St. Ives….”)

MSG. Monosodium Glutamate. We’ve heard it’s not healthy and that it’s a primary trigger for migraines. I just read that there are other names for the same thing. After all, what food manufacturer would proudly list “Contains MSG” when it’s been so frowned upon? Well, apparently there are a couple other names that are being used for MSG. Multodextrin and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein are the two most common aliases for MSG. You see them in TVP or veggie-burgers and many other places.

Also, when your body processes the protein in soy, it’s basically creating MSG. So when you eat tofu or other soy products, you’re not eating MSG, your body is manufacturing it.

Word to the wise. Or at least to those who are trying to avoid MSG.

Current music: Apurimac, by Cusco

Wouldn’t you know it? Scientists say astrology is a bunch of hogwash! Not just from their scientific backgrounds clashing with “reading” the stars that way, but from an actual study that was done.

Discovery Channel News reported on a study that is being published in next month’s issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences. Click the link to read the whole story they reported. Here’s a clip:

One of the largest studies of the possible link between human traits and astrology found little, if any, connection between the traditional sun signs of the zodiac and characteristics of individuals.

The study adds to the growing body of evidence that there is no scientific basis for star signs, such as Aries, Taurus and so on. These signs are based on the place of the sun in relation to the date of birth of the subject.

The researchers, however, leave open the question as to whether other, more detailed and personal forms of astrology hold any validity.

Current music: Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening, by Ray Lynch

In the past, I’ve switched companies providing dialup Internet access, but this was the first time I switched DSL companies. Yes, I’m still on dialup as of right now, but I should have everything up and running and equipment in hand by this Friday.

Lessons learned?

Well, first, it’s NOT the same as switching dialup. They have to have a DSL-FREE line to activate your account. When I ordered DSL service from Earthlink, my account with SBC was still active. Therefore, Earthlink couldn’t process my order and activate my DSL account. It was only after SBC and “fully disconnected” my service that Earthlink was able to process it.

With dialup, I’d been able to overlap my service so that I never went without. Apparently, when switching DSL companies, you can’t do that.

Also, I seem to remember that just because one company can get you DSL at your address doesn’t mean that they all can. You have to check with the companies individually if you want to be sure.

Also, even if you don’t have DSL the day you place the order, you very well may have dialup that same day. Remember to use it if you’re a somebody (like me) who is used to checking email regularly. I went a few days before remembering that I already had it and taking the time to set it up on my laptop.

Regardless, though, I’m going to be incredibly glad to have DSL again!

Current music: Blue Sun, by Mark Isham

Two of my favorite cereals have always been Lucky Charms and Captain Crunch’s Crunch Berries. Yesterday I found out that there’s a new version of Lucky Charms where the pieces of cereal are berry flavored. It combines the best of my two favorites! It SMELLS extremely berry, but it doesn’t taste nearly as strong. In fact, the base cereal is not really any sweeter than the regular version. But it’s berry flavored with Lucky Charms marshmallows. Cool!

MAN, it’s slow!! I’m in the middle of switching from SBC/AT&T/Yahoo DSL to EarthLink, since the pricing was better and I was having issues with my SBC software.

And then yesterday Butler University was closed the whole day because of a power outage. Power went out Thursday night shortly before midnight and the library’s didn’t come back on until after 5:00 pm on Friday.

Anyway, I haven’t been online since Thursday and that’s why I haven’t posted anything. As of now, my EarthLink DSL modem hasn’t arrived yet and I got tired of waiting so I set up a Dial-Up number on my laptop so I could at least check my email, etc., until I’ve got DSL again.

And, MAN! it’s slow! How did we ever live without high-speed Internet? Anything else is just writing on a shovel with the blackened end of a stick!

Google has a cool new Quest for you to solve. It’s based on the Da Vinci Code, accompanying the imminent premiere of the movie, which opens May 19. There are 24 puzzles for you to solve and if you solve them all you get entered for a chance to win a trip to New York, Paris, London, or Rome!

It runs from April 17 to May 11, so you’d better get going on it! They are adding one puzzle per day (four so far, as of today, April 20), and they’re using Google’s customized home page, so if you’re already using that, you’ll see the Quest section on your Google page every day.

Visit The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google to get started.

Another in the line of excellent Google products is their Google Calendar, which I just discovered today. If you have an account with Google or Gmail, you’re already set up. This has got to be one of the best calendar programs I’ve worked with!

It can export and import to/from almost any other program using .CSV files. You’ve got all the regular calendar functions, plus you can share calendars if you like, having all the results displayed in the one view but color-coded to signify which calendar they’re from. And if you only want SOME of the items in that calendar, you can copy the individual events to your calendar and then turn the other one off. Another VERY cool function is that you can select a range of dates on the mini calendar in the sidebar and that’s what will be displayed on the main screen.

It’s a very easy way to share calendars without having to purchase Outlook or any other program. And it’s all web based, so it’s not tied to one machine. You can even send invitations along with calendar entries. Your friends don’t use Google calendar? No problem, they can still RSVP to your invitations by email!

Reminders for events can be set up to notify you via email, popup, or text-message your cell phone.

Overall, it’s one of the simplest, most logical and easy-to-use interfaces I’ve ever seen on a calendar program. And, of course, you can Google-search your calendar entries just like you Google-search your email or the Internet.

(It’s kind of funny, because I was just thinking this last week how Google seemed to have almost everything, but I was wanting a To-Do List and figured it would have to be tied into a date-sensitive application like a calendar. And HERE IT IS!)

Go to http://www.google.com/calendar to check it out, or maybe take their tour.

I‘ve never been that keen on poodles, but apparently they’re good for cross-breeding. We have a mix of Yorkshire Terrier and Poodle (called a Yorkipoo), and I’d heard of a Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel/Poodle) and a Pekapoo, but there are apparently all kinds of mixtures that I just found out about. The media is calling them “designer dogs.”

What’s interesting is that poodles (which don’t shed and are supposed to be half-way smart) have been cross-bred with tons of other breeds. One website lists 42 different mixes. Visit that site to see the list and pictures of each kind.

The funniest name I found was a Schnoodle, which is a mix between a poodle and a schnauzer. That’s the picture that I included, but here are bunch from Google Images.

So you think that the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings movies were long? Even if you combined all three (total of about 12 hours), you wouldn’t come close to the longest movie ever made.

Someone Asked Yahoo! this question and they came up with “Cure For Insomnia,” which is 87 hours of L.D. Groban reading a reeeeaaalllllly loooooong poem. I think the title is probably appropriate.

However, “Cure For Insomnia” is considered an “experimental film.” Second-longest in this category is called “The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World,” which runs about 48 hours.

If you want the longest with an actual story line, it’s “The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple,” a Chinese movie made in 1928, which lasted 27 hours and which, apparently, never was publicly shown in its entirety.

Wikipedia gives us a list of the longest movies ever made, covering everything 300 minutes and more. And of course you can look up those titles in IMDb for more info about them.