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Did You Know? Avocados

Avocados should not be stored in the fridge.



Tip to ripen avocados quickly
Avocados 

Avocados Do Better On The Counter

If you have some unripe avocados that you want to ripen up, the fridge is definitely not the place for them. 

The cold air causes avocados to ripen more slowly. 

Leave your avocados in a cool, dry place, like on your counter left  open (uncovered).


LIES ABOUT FOLIC ACID - VITAMIN B-9

Don't believe everything you read on Infographics. 
Some, like this one, have false information



Are you a reader of infographics?  

If so, I will bet that you believe that they were written by experts, or at the very least by someone who had some medical background.


 They didn't. 

If you believe the information on them, please don't.

Infographics are created with a computer program by people just like you and me. They make them for lots of reasons. 


Primarily they are informing others that: 

1) they know how to make cool infographics 
2) that they can copy and paste like a pro
3) that they didn't research the information

Instead, they copied the information from one or more sources and they never bothered to research to see if the information was true.

In other words, they didn't do any homework.

I would like to point out some information on this infographic. It is only one infographic from among a dozen or more on Pinterest with false or misleading information.

This one states that Folic Acid is Vitamin B-12.  It is not.


Folic Acid is and always has been Vitamin B-9.  


It also states that Folate deficiency can be diagnosed with a blood test.  The fact is that it must be diagnosed with a blood test since that is the only way to measure it.  


_________________________________

It is true that Folic Acid is not helpful for people who have normal blood levels.  

It is true that Folic Acid is primarily helpful to pregnant and nursing women.

It is true that Folic Acid works best when taken with Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin C.

But there are a few other things that are not true.

_________________________________

There is another incorrect value on this infographic that could lead to detrimental side effects.

This is especially concerning if the reader is an uninformed consumer who believed what she read, and ran right out to Walgreens to buy Vitamin B-12 to start their daily RDA of 400 mg. (milligrams).

If that same consumer learned after she arrived at the store that Folic Acid was indeed Vitamin B-9 and not Vitamin B-12 and had she bought Vitamin B-9 instead, that consumer could become very ill with devastating side effects from overdosing on 400 mg of Vitamin B-9.

The infographic SHOULD SAY 400 mcg.

One milligram equals 1000 mcg.
 

So 400 mg is 400,000 mcg.

Oh My!

_________________________________

It may not seem like a big deal, but it really is a big deal when so many people rely on the information they read on infographics, especially on Pinterest.  


Please read the demonstration at the end of this post.

Be smart. 


Research before you put your beliefs into what you have read on infographics.

_________________________________

Other errors are on the description at the top where it says the vitamin "prevents obesity, prevents heart disease and various cancers, including colon cancer."


This is not true either.  It is actually illegal to say any supplement "prevents" a certain disease or ailment.

People who have obesity or colon cancer in their family history will expect to be protected and may find they became obese or got colon cancer anyway. 



Listed in the BENEFICIAL box on the right, the author claims that Folic Acid is beneficial for "thwarting heart disease" and "helps keep the brain young."  


This is also a falsehood, probably copied from somewhere, but more likely the creator is fudging the benefits of Folic Acid. 


People expecting their brain to keep young are going to be very disappointed.


There's no conclusive scientific evidence that Folic Acid keeps your brain young and it has no effect in thwarting, putting off, preventing or treating heart disease, colon cancer, or obesity. 

These are buzzwords (or keywords) meant to capture Search Engine robots to place the infographic better in search results.

Your body gets the amount of Folic Acid that it needs from your normal daily diet.  It is a water-soluble vitamin which means it is not stored for later use.  Taken in normal doses, whatever the body doesn't need washes out of the body with urine. 


See for yourself. Search for Folic Acid benefits on Google. Then visit at least five different websites to make sure the information is the same.  

_________________________________


So what are some of those devastating side effects I talked about?   Ok, here goes.  These were results on all ages of patients who were given 15 mg of Folic Acid for 30 days.

FIFTEEN milligrams, not 400 mcg, not 400 mg.


If the uninformed consumer who went to Walgreen's to buy Folic Acid also has kidney disease (or on dialysis), has an infection, is an alcoholic, or has any type of anemia that has not been confirmed with laboratory testing, Folic Acid is not advised. 

But if that uninformed consumer didn't know that, she would be taking a lethal dose.

_________________________________

In one test study of 100 epilepsy patients, the National Institute of Health (NIH) reported that after taking 15 mg a day for 30 days, increased seizure activity was seen in some epileptic patients whose daily medications included phenobarbital, primidone, or diphenylhydantoin.  

_________________________________

In an NIH study of patients ages 50 -75 years old who received 15 mg daily dose of Folic Acid for one month, the following overdose symptoms were observed:  

numbness or tingling, mouth or tongue pain, weakness, tired feeling confusion, or trouble concentrating, nausea, abdominal distension, flatulence, bitter or bad taste, altered sleep patterns, difficulty concentrating, overactivity, and impaired judgment, allergic responses including skin rash, itching, general malaise, respiratory difficulty due to bronchospasm, anaphylaxis including shock, irritability, excitement, mental depression, and confusion.

If the uninformed consumer who arrived at Walgreens to purchase Folic Acid also takes any of these medications, the side effects are stronger: 

raltitrexed (brand name Tomudex for chemotherapy), phenytoin (Dilantin), methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexall), nitrofurantoin, an antibiotic (Macrodantin, Macrobid), tetracycline, an antibiotic (Ala-Tet, Brodspec, Sumycin), a barbiturate such as butabarbital (Butisol), secobarbital (Seconal), pentobarbital (Nembutal), or phenobarbital (Solfoton), or pyrimethamine (Daraprim) which is an antimalarial drug that is like Quinine.


Many people, young and old, are routinely prescribed a form of Quinine for leg cramps.

_________________________________

Now, suppose the uninformed consumer who went to Walgreens to buy Folic Acid was a 79-year-old female senior citizen who after believing the incredible claims that she read on an infographic on Pinterest proceeded to take 400 milligrams of Vitamin B-9 (Folic Acid).

After 30 days at 400 milligrams a day, she was suffering from mental depression, confusion, impaired judgment, periods of dementia, and fluctuated back and forth between irritability and outbursts. 

Her family doctor gave her a cursory exam without benefit of extensive testing and concluded she was a victim of dementia that comes with old age.  He was unaware that she was taking mega-doses of Vitamin B-9.

The family followed the doctor's advice to admit her into a long term nursing facility where the intake coordinator decided to place her in the psych wing.  Families usually don't bother to investigate. They'll assume that their loved one finally got Alzheimer's Disease and they will follow a doctor's advice.


She wasn't crazy. She took a dietary supplement in overdose amounts for 30 days that caused the symptoms.  

Even though Folic Acid is a water-soluble vitamin, senior citizens can't drink the amount of water needed every single day to wash out even half out of the mega-dose she took every day.  After 30 days at such high doses, it can cause permanent damage.


She will only get worse. She will likely be ignored just like other patients in facilities like that because no one listens to or talks to senior citizens who aren't "with it."  Because of little or no interaction with others, symptoms have two levels  - they either stay the same or they get worse.


She will remain there in that condition because it was logically assumed that her mental symptoms are a normal progression for a senior citizen.  


All because no one did any research.


That is what it all comes down to - Research. 

Do yours. I did mine.


Please tell your friends about this post that they should research first before they believe what they read on health-related infographics.  Thank you.

Did You Know? Apple Storage

Don't Put Apples In the Fridge




Apples

Apples can last one to two weeks when kept at room temperature, but they start to get mealy very quickly in the fridge. 






Also, apples can cause other fruits to ripen more quickly because of the natural gas that they emit. You don’t want to trap all of that gas in your fridge with your other perishables.


Thanks for stopping by.

ARE YOU A BELIEVER?





Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 after Nazis discovered her and her family hiding in an attic in Amsterdam because they were trying to avoid persecution for being Jewish.  According to two sisters who witnessed Anne and Margot's burial in a mass grave, Anne and Margot died from typhus sometime in August 1945.

Nine years later, a little girl named Barbro Karlen was born in Sweden on May 24, 1954. 

From the time Barbro Karlén was three years old (around 1957), she told her parents her name was not Barbro, that it was Anne Frank.  She began telling her parents strange stories about events that happened to her when she was named Anne Frank. 

Barbro had terrifying nightmares of men kicking in the door of her home, of hiding in a closet with her relatives and of soldiers taking them all away after they were found. 

Her parents didn't believe her. They had heard of Anne Frank but they didn't think that Anne was a real person. They didn't believe the Holocaust stories, so they thought Anne Frank was a fictitious character. 


Barbro Karlén's young parents were Swedish parents who were raised as Christians and they intended to raise their little daughter as a Christian too.  They didn't believe in reincarnation.  

But they do now.

At three years old, Barbro couldn't yet read and it wasn't likely that she had read about Anne Frank in a newspaper, magazine, or book.  It also wasn't likely that her parents or visiting family members would have spoken about a little German girl named Anne Frank who met her death in a concentration camp.  That's because up until Barbro started talking about her, the family of both Barbro's parents also did not believe there had been a Holocaust and thought Anne Frank was not a real person.  

Tracing the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank shows it was published in Germany and France in 1950 and in the United Kingdom in 1952.  By 1953, it was out of print because of low sales.  When Barbro was born in 1954, the book was out of print.


   
Anne Frank and Barbro Karlen at age 13 and adult
Anne Frank and Barbro Karlen at age 13 and adult


After Anne Frank's death, the detailed descriptive book Anne Frank penned - "The Diary of a Young Girl" - declared her to be a child prodigy.  Her father Otto Frank was the lone survivor.  He was given Anne's diary and after he read it, he decided in 1950 to have it published. It was published in Germany and France in 1950, and in 1952 in the United Kingdom. 

However, it was out of print by 1953 because of low sales and when Barbro was born on May 24, 1954, the book was out of print.

A small portion of the diary was excerpted in a small German newspaper in 1946 for three days, long before Barbro was born.  

In 1960, the book also became required reading in many school systems around the world. But Barbro had already been saying she was Anne Frank when she was three years old in 1957, which was before the book appeared in schools.


At age 16, Barbro was already an accomplished author of several books and she was also declared a child prodigy by age 12.  

When she was being bombarded with memories of a past life, her parents took her to a psychiatrist. Because she was afraid of being labeled crazy, she didn't share what was going on with her memories and dreams. The psychiatrist pronounced her "normal."

Since early childhood, Barbro had a fear of men in uniforms and it got to the point where she had bad anxiety attacks which continued into adulthood. To get over them, when she came of age as an adult she became a mounted police officer. She remained in the job for ten years and her fear has abated.

To this day, Barbro has an aversion to showers and will only take baths.  She attributes this to the fact that the Nazis herded everyone into a room and told them they were getting showered, and they were exterminated with poisonous gas.

There are a lot of people who don't believe in reincarnation and do not believe the Holocaust ever happened. 

But there are a lot more people who DO believe the Holocaust happened and it was a real event. Some also believe in reincarnation.

Are you among those who believe in reincarnation?

You can read much more about Barbro Karlen's fascinating story here. 

https://www.energytherapy.biz/2016/10/27/did-anne-frank-reincarnate-as-barbro-karlen-unbelievable-past-life-memories-prove-life-after-death-is-real/

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

Not every person knows how to love a dog, but every dog knows how to love a person
Love a dog, love a person



 


Did You Know? Gas Tanks

The placement of the gas tank on the dashboard gives the driver valuable information
The placement of the gas tank on the dashboard
gives the driver valuable information



Here's a tip that you need to know when you pull into a gas station to refuel your car.

If your vehicle was manufactured after 2010, the gas tank icon will be on your dashboard. Its placement on the gas gauge is important to understand.

If the tank icon is on the right side of your fuel gauge, the gas tank is on the right side of your car. If the tank icon is on the left side of your fuel gauge, the gas tank is on the left side of your car.

If the icon is high on the gauge, it means the tank is in the rear of the car on that side. If the icon is low on the gauge, it means the tank is in the middle of the vehicle on that side.

This is especially helpful to know when the location of the gas tank is not familiar to you, for example when you just bought a new car or when your car is a rental.

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Did You Know? Street Signs

The placement of the exit sign gives valuable information to the driver
The placement of the exit sign gives valuable information to the driver



 If the exit sign is side by side another exit sign with no mileage to say how far the exit is, the sign on the left indicates the exit is on the left and the sign on the right indicates the exit is on the right.

If both signs show mileage, for example, one says "Exit in 2 miles" and the other sign says "Exit in 3 miles," both exits are on the right. 

However, the sign with the earliest mileage of 2 miles will be first on the right, and the sign that says 3 miles will be after the first exit.

Please tell your friends about our blogs so they can enjoy them too. Thank you.



Did You Know? Heinz Ketchup

The "57" on the Heinz Tomato Ketchup is a special spot with a special function
The "57" on the Heinz Tomato Ketchup
is on a special spot



The "57" on the Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottle has a special function.  If you tap the spot three times when the bottle is in the down position, it makes the ketchup come out.  

It's called a bottle well and many bottles have them to facilitate the product to come out of the bottle faster or to prevent gasses from building up inside and keep the bottle from exploding.


Thanks for stopping by.




A Most Unique Castle

 At first glance, this most unique castle looks like it was built into the side of a mountain. But it wasn't. It was built into the opening of a cave. 


Predjama Castle in Slovenia dates back to 1274 AD
Predjama Castle, Slovenia dates back to 1274 AD



Located in Slovenia, Predjama Castle dates back to 1570 AD, but it wasn't the first castle built there. It's the second. The first was built in 1274 AD.  

According to their website, the castle is set 123 meters high and was built into the side of Postojna Cave because it provided the castle with some protection, even though one would think that it is highly unlikely that the castle would ever be attacked.  But it was, in fact, multiple times.

Bats make their home in the cave and in the tunnels that run behind and underneath the castle.  They were used by knights to go on expeditions and to take refuge during attacks.  

The castle has had a few owners in its history including knights who were robber barons.   The castle was refurbished after years of laying in ruins. Today it has been used in movies, TV shows, and music videos.  It also plays host to couples for their weddings. 

The website pictures of Predjama Castle are awesome and you can see them here.

The Postojna cave pictures are just as spectacular and offers a train ride that looks thrilling.  


QUOTE OF THE DAY

Life's too short to walk around angry, so be happy and sing out loud
Life's too short ...



Interesting Facts About Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley was an Old West sharpshooter who gained fame appearing in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Tour, a traveling show.  But as much as she was considered a Western star, she was not born in the Old West.  Here are some interesting facts you might not have known about her.



Annie Oakley starred as a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill's Wild West traveling show
Annie Oakley starred as a sharpshooter in
Buffalo Bill's Wild West traveling show



Annie Oakley was her stage name. Her birth name was Phoebe Ann Mosey, but her family called her Annie. Some historians show the family name as Moses or Mozee, but the census records show as Mosey.


A historical marker at the cemetery where the Mosey family is buried
A historical marker at the cemetery
where the Mosey family is buried



Annie's father died when she was four. She first started shooting at age six and by age eight was expertly hunting and killing small game.  She learned to shoot once to the head so the body and skins would be clean so she could sell them to local shopkeepers.  The money she earned helped to support the family until her mother remarried. 



A young Phoebe Ann Mosey (Annie Oakley), possibly around six years old
A young Phoebe Ann Mosey (Annie Oakley),
around six years old



The farm where Annie was raised in Darke County, Ohio
The farm where Annie was raised in Darke County Ohio



After contracting pneumonia at age ten, Annie and her sister were hospitalized in an infirmary that was also a home for indigents - the poorhouse. With so many children to take care of, Annie's mother told the infirmary that it was best if they stayed in the state-run home. When her sister recovered, she wanted to go home. But the childless owners of the infirmary took Annie into their home. The wife was hoping to tame her wild ways and teach her ladylike tasks like sewing and embroidery. One day, the owners got a visit from a farming couple who said that they needed a live-in caregiver for their baby son while they worked on their farm. They said they would pay a handsome salary of fifty cents a week ($9.77 in 2019 dollars) and they promised to provide a formal education to whoever was chosen for the job.

The owners immediately agreed to give up ten-year-old Annie.  Shortly after Annie went to live with the farming couple,  they began to physically and mentally abuse her. She tried to run away many times and was beaten when she was caught.  


Two years after she went to live with them, she escaped during the night. Her mother and her new husband took Annie back to live with them on the farm, and Annie went back to hunting and selling her kills.  


Annie Oakley around age 15
Annie around age 16
    

 


At age 15, Annie earned enough money from hunting and selling fresh game that she was able to pay off the mortgage on the family farm.  




Annie met Frank Butler, her future husband, after 
beating him in a shooting contest and winning $100 on a bet ($2300 in 2019).







A young Frank Butler, preparing to marry Annie Oakley
A young Frank Butler, preparing to marry Annie Oakley



After a very short courtship, she began living with him. It turns out he couldn't marry her because he was still married to another woman.  Even though Frank claimed in public that he married Annie on August 23, 1876, Frank wasn't divorced from his first wife until 1881. He married Annie in 1882.


Proof of marriage in 1882, which disputes Frank Butler's 1876 story
Proof of marriage in 1882 


Annie appeared with her husband in traveling shows for nine years and was billed as a teen sharpshooter.  After they were working for a while in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, they started to downplay her age.


Graham and Butler toured traveling shows demonstrating their shooting prowess
Graham and Butler toured traveling shows
demonstrating their shooting prowess



For sixteen seasons, they traveled around the world, with Annie as billed as an expert female sharpshooter.  Annie wowed audiences with her one of a kind act that many tried to duplicate but few succeeded, especially the trick where she hit targets by aiming backward using a hand mirror to look over her shoulder.





Annie Oakley shooting over her shoulder at a target while using a mirror
Annie Oakley shooting over her shoulder
at a target while using a mirror





William Randolph Hearst, Newspaper Owner
William Randolph Hearst, Newspaper Owner



Annie Oakley sued millionaire newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst for reporting a horrendous and false story in two of his newspapers that Annie Oakley was a cocaine addict who was arrested for stealing a black man’s pants.  When more than 50 other newspapers picked up the story,  Annie Oakley went into attack mode trying to clear her name.  

It turned out that a burlesque performer using the stage name of Ann Oakley was the one who was arrested.  Most of the newspapers printed retractions, but William Randolph Hearst refused to do so.  Instead, he went into his own attack mode and hired a private eye to get any dirt that could be found on Annie Oakley. He found only that her marriage date was in question, but nothing else.  

Annie sued 55 newspapers for libel and by 1910, she had won settlements from 54 of them.  She did win a $27,500 settlement from Hearst (which is 741,318 in 2019), but the total of her legal expenses outweighed all of the settlements she received so that she lost money trying to clear her name.



Annie Oakley endorsed some products early in her career
Annie Oakley endorsed some products early in her career


While Oakley was dealing with her libel suits against William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, Frank Butler became a spokesperson for the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. (an ammunitions company) and Annie continued to lend her name to products.  When Annie retired in 1913 from her last Wild West Show, the couple settled into retirement and helped to raise money for the Red Cross for World War I.   Annie did occasional demonstrations but her professional performing ceased.



Canada Dry was only one of many food products Annie Oakley endorsed.
Canada Dry was only one of many food products Annie Oakley endorsed.




 

In 1912, the Butlers built a brick ranch-style house in Cambridge, Maryland. It is known as the Annie Oakley House and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 1917, they moved to North Carolina and returned to public life. Until she became too ill to do so, Annie continued to go hunting with her dog whenever possible.



Signed by Annie Oakley, she enjoyed hunting with her dog.
Signed by Annie Oakley, she enjoyed hunting with her dog.



Working in a man's world, Annie Oakley played to very rowdy audiences.  However, she never lost sight of her femininity and made it a point to appear in embroidered skirts and blouses. What most patrons didn't know was that the stitching on her costumes was by her own hand during down times between cities. It was a skill she most likely learned in her youth from the infirmary owners.  


Annie personally did all the embroidery on her clothes
Annie personally did all the embroidery on her clothes




 Annie Oakley died on November 3, 1926, at the age of 66, after a three-year illness of pernicious anemia, which is caused by a lack of Vitamin B-12.   She was cremated according to her wishes and her ashes were placed in one of her shooting trophies, then given to her husband, Frank.  Some say that to go on without her was too much for Frank Butler to bear. He died 18 days later on November 21, 1926.  The trophy was placed next to his body in his coffin and was buried with him. He is buried near the Mosey family plots. 




Annie Oakley, at age 62
Annie Oakley, around 62 years old










Annie Oakley with her husband Frank, and their dog. This is one of the last public pictures of Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley with her husband Frank, and their dog.
This is one of the last public pictures of Annie Oakley




QUOTE OF THE DAY

This is the reason God gave you two hands
The reason God gave you two hands



DIY Hacks To Fix Eyeglasses




Skip the Ad on the video after 5 seconds, and enjoy these six DIY Hacks to fix eyeglasses: broken frames, foggy lenses, eyeglasses that slip, scratched lenses and more!



QUOTE OF THE DAY

Live your life in such a way that if someone spoke badly about you, no one would believe them
Live your life in such a way ....


 

HOW TO TAKE A SCREENSHOT

This is not a new skill if you have been using a computer for over five years, but we do have some newer readers.  

This post is also on our Geek website and it has step by step instructions with pictures. By the time you do it twice, you will be an expert.  Have a look, comments are welcome.



Our site will teach you step by step instructions how to take a screenshot
https://2geekgirls1nerdyguy.blogspot.com


Follow this link:

https://2geekgirls1nerdyguy.blogspot.com/2017/08/how-to-take-screenshot-on-computer.html

The Inward Well On Bottles

The inward well at the bottom of a bottle is called a punt
The inward well is called a "Punt"



 That inward well at the bottom of your soda, ketchup, juice or wine bottle is called a "punt."  The punt makes the bottle more stable so it doesn't tip over when bumped in the fridge or on a pantry shelf. It also makes the bottle stronger so it can stand the high pressure of the fizzy contents. 


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QUOTE OF THE DAY

When someone says "You sure are different from what I thought you'd be" smile and say Thank You
https://nowyouknowthis2.blogspot.com



SOLAR LIGHTS - TIN FOIL

Wrap foil around top of solar lights to improve brightness



If you take some sheets of tin foil and wrap them around the part of your solar lights where the light shines out, you can make your solar lights shine brighter.  Try it out!


QUOTE OF THE DAY

Follow your heart, but take your brain with you!
Follow your heart, but ...