Heinz's Email Blog July 2006 Archive

Did you know that penguin was originally the name of the Great Auk, a fascinating bird that is now unfortunately extinct? It's also interesting to see how the King penguins ... Read More

Alpha is something you may want for your investments (do not trust it though; volatility is a bad indicator of risk), and if you are curious, you may want it ... Read More

For aceto balsamico to be authentic, the balsamic vinegar has to be made from highly concentrated grape juice, which is fermented and aged for at least 45 years. As it ... Read More

July 29 is a red letter day — literally. It was on this day that transcontinental American airmail operations began in 1920 with a flight from New York to San ... Read More

If you think that tricycles look interesting on land, you will surely appreciate the aquatic tricycle. In the morning hours of July 28, 1883 (the nice number of 123 years ... Read More

Dark and cave-like was the room, but through its white and freshly cleaned windows the bright sky was reflected in my eyes. My gaze seemed frozen and futile, but it ... Read More

The very first animated film is a bit difficult to pinpoint, but James Stuart Blackton's Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, filmed 100 years ago, and its predecessor, Enchanted Drawing are ... Read More

The lovely word floccinaucinihilipilification (made by sticking together four Latin words that all mean "of little value" and once happened to appear, flocked together, in a grammar book) is a ... Read More

A butterfly's seemingly chaotic flapping and flittering is anything but and follows decisive flight paths instead. But what about migration? How do monarchs, for example, avoid getting lost? Do they ... Read More

If you send yourself links to more things you should read than you can read, turn to an outstanding investor, magnificent manager, literate humorist, sharp mind and designer of corporate compensation ... Read More

Boy Eats Own Head! Anything less is no real headline. Preacher Explodes in Pulpit! comes close. It is not, however, the almost literal popping out of these headlines that explains the ... Read More

No nation is without faults. Every group has its foibles. This is a good thing, says Balthasar Gracián in his venerable Art of Worldly Wisdom. Master (or at least conceal) these ... Read More

To the cheese lover — known as a turophile to the logophile (lover of words) —, it is no mystery how the eyes (holes) got into the Emmentaler. The bacteria ... Read More

Can I interest you in some instant gratification? Or more than just "some"? As much gratification, delivered instantly and delivered permanently, in fact, as you want? Whatever you are doing, do ... Read More

Pegasus Mail, mythical child of Poseidon and Medusa, now includes a finely integrated and precisely sorting spam filter. Also new to Pegasus Mail 4.41 are improvements to HTML message rendering, ... Read More

If it has worked so well in facial creams, prebiotic yoghurt and green tea, it should work with grapes and apples, too. Yes, aloe vera marches on unabatedly to ever ... Read More

The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler, John Mellencamp, Bruce Willis (!) and The Jackson 5 cannot err. The Drfiters' Under the Boardwalk is a song worth singing. Apparently, it was also banned ... Read More

Benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde — ineffably bad substances slowly but steadily gathering to render the air trapped inside our buildings poisonous and sick. Well, I'm not too concerned about that. But ... Read More

The best piece of sporting equipment is, of course, the body. (I think its fanatic proponents call that bodyweight exercises these days, don't they?) Not far behind come the ball, ... Read More

Colors, rich and deep, set into motion by stark contrasts of gloomy darkness and concentrated light — that's how Rembrandt filled his canvasses to become timeless masterpieces. This day marks ... Read More

They were young. They were poor. They were angry. And they had a motto: ad fontes. Well, maybe not all leaders of Renaissance humanism can be properly described as young and poor, ... Read More

MailTags, the best thing to betide Mac users since packaged tea, has become a tad better, handsome and usable with version 1.2.2. It is now possible to show and hide the ... Read More

Bees may recognize human faces, but they are probably more interested in remembering flowers more often. I experience this every day with the cats, who in their photographic memory will ... Read More

Are you… feeling… a bit… slow… today? Tired and lacking zest? Or do your thoughts race in agitation and fright you might miss something, a thought, a glance, an idea, not ... Read More

I thought 2m (6.5 feet) were enough. Far from it! The phalaenopsis I joyfully look after suffered a cat-induced fall. The pot broke, but the brave orchid did not. It is ... Read More

It's not that ashes were all bad a filler for the cat box. But in addition to hairs, scratches, and dirt carried in from outside, Kay Draper now had to ... Read More

When Germany played Hungary in the finals of the 1954 FIFA world cup, the Hungarians, arguably the best team at the time and one of the best ever to step ... Read More

Without the business acumen of Asa Candler, Coca-Cola might be forgotten today or remembered merely as a syrup curiosity (that was advertised as a cure for morphine addiction). But without ... Read More

When water tunes in to the radio waves emitted to the inside of a microwave oven, its molecules start to dance. As their temperature increases, they heat the food in ... Read More

The hairstyle of a geisha is a matter of artful precision. Apprentice geisha allegedly use special pillows with a hole in the middle that save them from ruining their hair ... Read More

During summer's hot, dry days, many animals dig holes, look for mud or otherwise escape underground for a long and deep siesta: aestivation. A metabolism slowed down to the minimum, ... Read More

Those transparent shaving gels are a bit creepy. Seeing, in real time, how well (note the potentially euphemistic use) your shaving goes need not be the fulfillment of a desire. But ... Read More

I had planned to talk about the Jeffersonian notion of "self-evident" truths, but that is probably not leading us anywhere. No, let's focus on that very special time instead, the ... Read More

The black, sharp-keaked drongo is a fearless bird, but it is also prudent. When a predetor is in sight, a drongo will shout alarm — but not only in his ... Read More

9 p.m. and no minute later, that was bedtime for the queen of Spain. During the summer months, she was allowed to stay up until 10 p.m., but the rule ... Read More

TextSoap, the application filled with aqua and glycerin formerly known as textSOAP, learns a few new helpful trick and sees its interface improve, too, with every release. Now running natively on ... Read More