March 22 is a special day in the prevention of type 2 diabetes. It's the start of the American Diabetes Association's 23rd annual, month-long Join the Million Challenge to get people to assess their risk for type 2 and take the necessary steps to delay or prevent it. With the rising number of type 2 diabetics and the serious long-term health implications it holds if not treated properly, it's essential that people take the time to take this seriously.
Type 2 diabetes is a disorder in which the body either cannot produce sufficient insulin or the cells ignore the insulin that is produced. The result? The insulin is not utilized to take the sugar from the blood in the cells. The result? A build up of glucose in the blood that actually makes the blood more viscous and leads to diabetic complications.
Check out the Type2 Beat for book and product reviews, as well as news and info for the newly diagnosed.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Did You Know: Standardized Fire Hose Couplings
Did you know that one of the first things to be standardized in the US was --- the diameter of hose couplings for fire hoses? I know. Who knows, let alone cares about that sort of detail? None other than yours truly. Since I'm certain you now also want to know the scoop, I'll fill you in.
The Port of Baltimore (in Maryland) was founded as a tobacco port in 1706. It played a part in the Revolution and the War of 1812. While in Baltimore Francis Scott Key wrote a poem, The Star Spangled Banner, about a battle held at Fort McHenry. It went on to be set to music and become our National Anthem. Baltimore was also a port of significance during the Civil War.
Being such an old city, Baltimore has been the site of countless technological innovations. Among the most impressive is the standardization of the fire hose coupling. In 1904, a massive fire decimated over 1500 buildings in Baltimore in the course of 30 hours. Engine companies from up and down the coast made their way to Baltimore to help. When they arrived, they were unable to connect their hoses to the water supplies and tankers. They had no choice but to stand by and watch the city burn.
As a result, a move was made to standardize hose couplings so that all fire companies could work together. Some variances remain but the bulk of the couplings are made to spec, allowing fire companies today to respond and do more than watch helplessly.
The Port of Baltimore (in Maryland) was founded as a tobacco port in 1706. It played a part in the Revolution and the War of 1812. While in Baltimore Francis Scott Key wrote a poem, The Star Spangled Banner, about a battle held at Fort McHenry. It went on to be set to music and become our National Anthem. Baltimore was also a port of significance during the Civil War.
Being such an old city, Baltimore has been the site of countless technological innovations. Among the most impressive is the standardization of the fire hose coupling. In 1904, a massive fire decimated over 1500 buildings in Baltimore in the course of 30 hours. Engine companies from up and down the coast made their way to Baltimore to help. When they arrived, they were unable to connect their hoses to the water supplies and tankers. They had no choice but to stand by and watch the city burn.
As a result, a move was made to standardize hose couplings so that all fire companies could work together. Some variances remain but the bulk of the couplings are made to spec, allowing fire companies today to respond and do more than watch helplessly.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
A Science Hall of Fame With a Twist
On January 14, Science ran a Gonzo Scientist piece entitled, "The Science Hall of Fame." John Bohannon details the ways in which this particular Science Hall of Fame (SH0F), curated by Adrian Veres and John Bohannon, measures fame in terms of the number of times a person's name has appeared in books over the centuries. The impact is measured "in milliDarwins (mD): one-thousandth of the average annual frequency that Charles Darwin's name appers in English-language books from the year he was 30 years old (1839) until 2000," as explained in the SHoF piece.
Turns out Alfred Thayer Mahan, the one who started the whole naval defense is key to a country's prosperity thing in 1890 has a graph that looks like this: 
David Watson Taylor, noted hydrodynamicist and the man who designed and ran the first model basin in the US in the early 1900's fared thus:
William Froude, the man who championed model testing as a viable way to predict the performance of full-sized ships before they were constructed in the late 1870's generated this chart:
Charting them together, it's easy to see that Froude outshone them all, which is only fitting since he's the one who proved the theory and got the ball rolling:
But let's face it. Charles Darwin kicked their butts:
The data set was created by a team led by Jean-Baptiste Michel and Erez Lieberman Aiden. It is "based on the trillions of words within Google Books, which currently represents 15 million books, 12% of those ever published," according to The Science Hall of Fame piece.
You can either go to the SHoF and see the results for yourself or... go into the data to see what you can come up with. I, of course, immediately went into the data to see how my favorite trio of dusty naval guys made out.
David Watson Taylor, noted hydrodynamicist and the man who designed and ran the first model basin in the US in the early 1900's fared thus:
William Froude, the man who championed model testing as a viable way to predict the performance of full-sized ships before they were constructed in the late 1870's generated this chart:
Charting them together, it's easy to see that Froude outshone them all, which is only fitting since he's the one who proved the theory and got the ball rolling:
But let's face it. Charles Darwin kicked their butts:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
