ALL THE REST –    February 19
  

Today's Quotations — ADVICE
 


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The worst men often give the best advice.

— Bailey

Necessity is the only successful adviser.

— Charles Reade

 

  
 


Agreeable advice is seldom useful advice.

— Massillon

It has been well observed that few are better qualified to give others advice than those who have taken the least of it themselves.

— Goldsmith

 
 

We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.

— W. R. Alger


 

 

word puzzleToday's Word – OUBLIETTE

 



gla·cial  

 adjective 1.a. Of, relating to, or derived from a glacier. b. Suggesting the extreme slowness of a glacier: Work proceeded at a glacial pace. 2.a. Often Glacial. Characterized or dominated by the existence of glaciers. Used of a geologic epoch. b. Pleistocene. 3. Extremely cold; icy: glacial waters.  Synonym cold. 4. Having the appearance of ice. 5.a. Lacking warmth and friendliness: a glacial stare. b. Coldly detached: a glacial composure. 

The scientific celebrities, forgetting their mollusks and glacial periods, gossiped about art, while devoting themselves to oysters and ices with characteristic energy; the young musician, who was charming the city like a second Orpheus, talked horses; and the specimen of the British nobility present happened to be the most ordinary man of the party.

LITTLE WOMEN
Louisa May Alcott


Definitions from American Heritage Dictionary

 

Today's Fact

Over the next several days the facts here on the DM will be about Serendipitous Discoveries.
This is the first fact on this subject.

   

Serendipity
Discoveries
The TEFLON
 

  
   
 
Serendipity, or chance discovery. This has been the means of a number  of scientific discoveries both great and small. 

 

 
SERENDIPITY 4   

When someone wishes to justify the space program Teflon is often used as an argument for one of the practical benefits conferred on man. Teflon has been widely used in the space program, but it was not invented by NASA. Teflon is the result of serendipity. Teflon was discovered, by accident on April 6, 1938.

Du Pont researchers Roy Plunkett and Jack Rebok accidentally created the chemical compound now known as Teflon. Roy Plunkett was only 27 years old and had been working as a chemist at the Jackson Laboratory at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for just two years when, in the spring of 1938, he made a discovery that brought him lasting fame. He was trying to invent a new type of Freon. In the 1930s these compounds were proving to be immensely useful as the principal gases in refrigerators and air conditioners. They were safe, non- flammable substitutes for toxic and even explosive refrigerants. Today these compounds are known as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. Many suspect them to be a major culprit in depleting the atmosphere's ozone layer.

The most widely used form of Freon was tetraflorodichloroethane, also known as refrigerant 114. This refrigerant was supplied exclusively to the Frigidaire divisions of GM. The chemists at the Jackson Laboratory, were responding to the requests of other refrigerator manufacturers for an equally effective refrigerant that could be sold more widely. Plunkett and his colleagues were hired to manufacture a Freon variant that would get around Frigidaire's patent control of refrigerant 114.


Plunkett hypothesized that he could start with a compound called tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and cause it to react with hydrochloric acid to yield the desired alternative refrigerant. To work on the project he required a large amount of tetrafluoroethylene. He then decided made a hundred pounds of the gas for test purposes. The making of the gas was a complicated process. He decided to make the gas first to get the job out of the way. He stored the gas in metal canisters under pressure. He set his canisters on top of dry ice so that the TFE inside would liquefy and the pressure inside the cans would be kept low.

Plunkett and his assistant, Jack Rebok, set up the apparatus for inducing their gas to react with hydrochloric acid. They opened a valve to release the pressure in a cylinder of TFE into a a heated reaction chamber. Then they released a stream of hydrochloric acid into the chamber. Nothing happened. The cylinder of TFE seemed empty. The weight of the cylinder indicated that it still contained TFE. Roy Plunkett cut open the cylinder and discovered that it was full of a waxy substance that slithered around without sticking to the walls of the cylinder. He discovered a substance with such strange and unexpected properties that they had hardly even been dreamed of.
Teflon was born.

The first uses for the substance were strictly military. In 1954 Mare Gregoire of France was trying to use the substance on a fishing rod. He discovered how to make the substance stick to metal. He founded the Tefal company. This company launched the world's first non-stick pans in May of 1956. The French kitchenware company showed NASA how to stick Teflon to metal, thus using it in the space program.  

 

 


 

The Daily Miscellany Times
February 19, 1906

Old News = History

"Instant" flakes for a healthy breakfast 

A new kind of "instant" breakfast went on sale today in the US. It is backed by an expensive advertising campaign. The Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company of Michigan is selling boxes of the twice-baked wheat flakes. Just add milk and sugar, and the breakfast is ready to eat.

The company's founder, Will K. Kellogg helped to develop the cereal nearly 30 years ago with his elder

 brother, Dr. John H. Kellogg.

Dr. John H. Kellogg is the director of his sanitarium at Battle Creek. Dr. Kellogg is a Seventh Day Adventist, he has used the flaked cereals as a vegetarian health food for patients with mental illness. Dr. Kellogg also claims that this cereal will help curb the sex drive. The ad campaign launched by his brother, Will, will not mention that benefit of the new breakfast flake.

Just a little aside – Since we have been discussing "serendipity" the discovery of the process for making   flaked cereal was due largely to serendipity. The Kellogg brothers left some cooked wheat untended for more than a day. When they ran the wheat through the rollers they were pleasantly surprised to discover that it came out flaked instead of as a flat sheet.  

They liked this effect and tried the process the next day with corn. The result was "corn flakes." The flaked corn cereal was released to the public and became an immediate success. The wheat flakes (the first discovered) was not commercially released for another 26 years.

"Source: On This Day"

 

 

clown
Today's SMILE

 

 

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

 

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)

  
   

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SOME COMMENTS ABOUT MARRIAGE

    Q:  Why are brides dressed in white?

    A:  So they match the rest of the appliances.

  A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can   spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

   Marriage is a three ring circus:
engagement ring
wedding ring
suffering

  Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves.

  After marriage, the "y" becomes silent.

  A husband said to his wife, "No, I don't hate your relatives.

  In fact, I like your mother-in-law better than I like mine."

  A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get
  married?"

And the father replied, "I don't know, son,  I'm still paying for it."

A couple was having a discussion about family finances.  Finally the husband exploded, "If it weren't for my money, the house  wouldn't be here!" 

The wife replied, "My dear, if it weren't for your  money,  I wouldn't be here."

  Her husband has been slipping in and out of a coma for several months  yet she stayed by his bedside every single day.  When he came to, he  motioned for her to come nearer. As she sat by him, he said, "You know  what?  You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got  fired, you were there to support me.  When my business fell, you were  there.  When I got shot, you were by my side.  When we lost the house,  you gave me support.  When my health started failing, you were still by   my side.  When I think about it now, I think you bring me bad luck!"

  First Guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!"

  Second Guy:          "You're lucky, mine's still alive."

  This guy goes to a party without his wife.  He hears this other guy say
  to his wife "Pass the sugar, Honey." and "Pass the honey, Sugar."  He
  thinks this sort of speech is a good idea. So, in the morning when he
  and his wife are eating breakfast, he says to his wife,  "Pass the bacon, Pig."

A man rushed home from work and exclaimed to his wife, "Pack your  bags, I've won the lottery!"

The wife excitedly asks,   "Should I pack clothes for cold or warm weather?"

He says, "Pack'em  all, you're leaving!"

FINAL THINGS TO PONDER

If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?

If a turtle loses his shell, is it naked or homeless?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?

If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

How much deeper would the ocean be, if SPONGES didn't grow in it?

Why do we wait until a PIG is dead, to "CURE" it?

TRUE FACT ...

Humans begin laughing at two to three months of age. Six year olds laugh about 300 times per day, while adults laugh from 15 to 100 times per day.

SOURCE: NYT, Dr. William F. Fry, Stanford University

 

smile

 


 Sometimes I wake up grumpy;
Other times I let her sleep. 

 

 


Daily Miscellany Comics

 

Have A Great Day

Phillip Bower

 

Soul Food - devotions, Bible verse and inspiration.

Soul Food February 19

Today in History - events and birthdays for this date in history

Today in History February 19

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Copyright Information: Phillip Bower is not the author of the humor, and does not claim to own any copyright privileges to the jokes. Sources of jokes are listed when known. Birthday's and Happenings for the date, and quotations are public knowledge and collected from numerous sources. Quotations are public knowledge and sources are listed when known. Weekendspirations are written by Tim Knappenberger who has copyright privileges. Cathy Vinson authors Whispers from the Wilderness and owns copyright privileges. Weekendspirations and Whispers from the Wilderness are used with permission by the respective authors. Other devotions are written by Phillip Bower unless otherwise stated. In all cases credit is given when known. The Daily Miscellany is nonprofit. Submissions by readers is welcome.