Do You Know How the Microwave Oven Heats Food?

The microwave oven has a magnetron inside it. This component generates the microwaves which are then channeled into the cooking chamber of the oven.

Microwaves are generally reflected by metal surfaces. Therefore, the cooking chamber is an enclosure made of metal, except for the oven door. Even then, the glass paneled oven door has a metal mesh to keep the microwaves in.

As such, the microwaves keep bouncing off the walls of the cooking chamber and are continually passed through the food. These waves are absorbed by the food, particularly the water molecules found in most foods.

These water molecules are excited by the microwaves and they bump around, creating friction that produces heat. This, in turn, heats up the rest of the molecules of the food, effectively heating or even cooking the food.

Ceramic and glass containers are water-free and thus remain cool, although hot food might heat them through conduction.

For additional information:

• HowStuffWorks - How Microwave Cooking Works
• Wikipedia - Microwave Oven
• Scientific American - How the Microwave Works
  

Do You Know What is the Desiderata?

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Desiderata

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Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

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Max Ehrmann, 1927

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Desiderata is a prose poem written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. The author is a poet and lawyer from Indiana who lived from 1872 to 1945. This poem attempts to inspire its readers to attain happiness.

The word "Desiderata" is actually Latin, which means "things to be desired".

Links:

• Wikipedia - Desiderata
• Marilee's Pages - Desiderata
• Old Poetry - Max Ehrmann
  

Do You Know You Can Die From Drinking Too Much Water?

You've heard of the benefits of drinking water. But do you know you can die from drinking too much water? Most people won't believe this, but it's true.

In January 2007, Jennifer Strange was one of about 18 contestants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console by determining how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. She guzzled almost 2 gallons (about 7.58 liters) of water. Several hours into the contest, Strange was interviewed on the air and complained that her head hurt. Several hours later, Strange was found dead in her home. The county coroner said preliminary autopsy findings indicate Strange, a 28-year-old mother of three, died of water intoxication.

Water intoxication occurs when a person drinks so much water that the other nutrients in the body become diluted to the point that they can no longer do their jobs. It is also known as hyponatremia.

Sodium is an important electrolyte that helps regulates the body’s fluids. When the body’s sodium level is changed rapidly by drinking a lot of water, the extra water then causes the cells in the body to swell and malfunction. If it's caught early, treatment with IV fluids containing electrolytes can lead to a complete recovery; but untreated, hyponatremia can be fatal.

When somebody dies of water intoxication, it is usually caused by the combination of a very large amount of water (often 5 liters or more) over a relatively short period of time (minutes to hours).

Several high risk factors include:

• Gastroenteritis, particularly in infants and children: The severe diarrhea and vommiting associated with gastroenteritis can result in very large electrolyte losses. Drinking water will replace lost water and avoid dehydration, but if the person is unable to take any other drink or food then lost electrolytes will not be replaced, which can result in water intoxication.
  
  
• Endurance sports: Some of the most famous cases of water intoxication have involved athletes. They got in trouble because they were losing larges amounts of both water and sodium in their sweat but they were replacing their fluid loses with water only. The use of electrolyte solutions instead of water to prevent dehydration reduces the risk substantially.

• Binge Drinking: There have been at least two reported cases of people dying from binge drinking as part of drinking contests and fraternity hazing.
  
• Drug Use: Water intoxication has occurred in people trying to dilute their urine to pass a drug test. There have been at least two cases of teenagers dying after using Ecstasy and then drinking excessive water. Impairment of the kidney’s ability to remove the extra fluid by the drugs (particularly Ecstasy) was an important factor in their deaths.
  
  
• Low Body Mass (infants): It can be very easy for children under a year old to absorb too much water – especially if the child is under nine months old, because with their small body mass, it is easy to take in a large amount of water relative to body mass.
  

Water intoxication can be prevented if a person's intake of water and electrolytes closely matches his or her losses. Avoid situations that provoke extreme or prolonged perspiration. Drinking fluids that are specially balanced to replace lost electrolytes can also help to prevent intoxication. Eating regularly can provide needed electrolytes if only normal water is available for rehydration.

For additional reading:

• Wikipedia - Water Intoxication
• HowStuffWorks - How can someone die from drinking too much water
• FoxNews - Authorities investigate case of woman dying after water-drinking contest
  

Do You Know What is the Aurora?

The aurora is a beautiful atmospheric phenomenon appearing as bands of coloured light sometimes visible in the night sky in the polar regions of the earth. In the northern region, it is known as the aurora borealis or the Northern Lights. In the southern region, it is known as the aurora australis or the Southern Lights.

Auroras take on different appearances. They can look like an orange or red glow on the horizon - much like a sunrise or sunset. They may also look like curtains or ribbons and move and undulate during the night.

Auroras can be green, red or blue. Often they will be a combination of colors, with each color visible at a different altitude in the atmosphere.

• Blue and violet: less than 120 kilometers (72 miles)
• Green: 120 to 180 km (72 to 108 miles)
• Red: more than 180 km (108 miles)

Aurora over Bear Lake, Alaska

Red aurora above Pioneer Peak, Alaska

How do auroras happen? The solar wind from the Sun can bring fast-moving particles towards the Earth. Some of them are then guided by the Earth's magnetic field towards the north and south magnetic poles. As they approach the Earth, the particles interact with the atmosphere making it glow in many different colours and causing the effect we call an aurora.

Illustration of how the aurora is formed

Auroras are like neon lights. Neon lights work by exciting gases inside of a tube with electricity. The resulting colors that you see are a result of the different gases used to make neon lights. In an aurora, the neon colors you see are the different wavelengths of light from gases high in the atmosphere.

A photograph of an aurora borealis taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS)

The following YouTube video shows the aurora australis captured by NASA's IMAGE satellite and overlaid onto NASA's satellite-based Blue Marble image.

For more information of the aurora, follow the links below:

• Wikipedia - Aurora (astronomy)
• Michigan Tech - The Aurora Page
• NASA - Aurora
• MSN Encarta - Aurora (phenomenon)
  

Do You Know Why Some Websites Have "www" in Their Address While Some Don't?

If you frequently surf the Internet, you may have realized by now that certain URLs have the "www" prefix in front of them, while certain others don't. For example http://www.google.com has it, while http://phfoong.googlepages.com doesn't. Why is this so, you may ask?

The reason for this happening is due to the usual practice of naming the Internet hosts according to the services they provide. For example:

• The host name of a Web server usually has the "www" prefix.
  
• The host name of an FTP server usually has the "ftp" prefix.
• The host name of a News server usually has the "nntp" or "news" prefix.

The use of the prefixes is in fact NOT required. That is why we can see many website today not having the "www" prefix in their URLs. The "www" is simply a choice in name, nothing more.

You can find out more from these articles:

• Wikipedia - World Wide Web
• Ask Leo! - Why do some website addresses have "www", and some don't? And why do some work with or without the "www"?
• HowStuffWorks - Why do some Web sites include www in the URL while others don't?

Do You Know What is a Googol?

Nope, I did not mis-spell THE search engine.

A googol is a very huge number. It is actually 10¹⁰⁰ (which is 1 followed by 100 zeroes).

The term was popularized by Edward Kasner. On a walk with his nephews, Milton and Edwin Sirotta, Kasner asked for their ideas for a name for a very large number. Nine-year-old Milton suggested "googol."

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, named their search engine after the term googol.

There is also googolplex - an even bigger number. A googolplex is equals to 10^googol (which is 1 followed by a googol zeroes).

Incidentally, the company headquarters for Google is known as the Googleplex (most likely a combination of Google and complex).

Do You Know What is Antibiotic Resistance?

In my previous post regarding bacterial vs. viral infection, I touched a little on the emergence of antibiotic resistance. So, what exactly is antibiotic resistance?

First, we need to establish what is an antibiotic. Antibiotics are medicines that fight (or prevent) infections caused by bacteria. Antibiotics cannot fight infections caused by viruses. Antibiotics have been used extensively in the fight against infectious diseases.

However, because it is used so much (and sometimes inappropriately), bacteria are quickly adapting and becoming resistant to antibiotics.

The following information from the website of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes how bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics:

Antibiotics kill or inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria. Sometimes one of the bacteria survives because it has the ability to neutralize or evade the effect of the antibiotic; that one bacterium can then multiply and replace all the bacteria that were killed off. Exposure to antibiotics therefore provides selective pressure, which makes the surviving bacteria more likely to be resistant. In addition, bacteria that were at one time susceptible to an antibiotic can acquire resistance through mutation of their genetic material or by acquiring pieces of DNA that code for the resistance properties from other bacteria.

Because of antibiotic resistance, diseases are becoming harder to treat using conventional antibiotics. Not only that, they are becoming more virulent, causing widespread infections. Newer and more expensive antibiotics have to be used to treat these resistant bacteria. In fact, the bacteria are adapting faster than we can develop new antibiotics! This graph clearly shows that we are slowing down in the discovery of new antibiotics.

So, what can we possibly do to help prevent this health care disaster? Here are some recommendations from the CDC:

• Do not take an antibiotic for a viral infection like a cold, a cough or the flu.
• Take an antibiotic exactly as the doctor tells you. Do not skip doses. Complete the prescribed course of treatment, even if you are feeling better.
• Do not save any antibiotics for the next time you get sick. Discard any leftover medication once you have completed your prescribed course of treatment.
• Do not take antibiotics prescribed for someone else. The antibiotic may not be appropriate for your illness. Taking the wrong medicine may delay correct treatment and allow bacteria to multiply.
• Antibiotic prescriptions in outpatient settings can be reduced dramatically - without adversely affecting patient health - by not prescribing antibiotics for viral illnesses, such as colds, most sore throats, coughs, bronchitis, and the flu.
• Do not demand antibiotics when a healthcare provider has determined they are not needed.
• Talk with your healthcare provider about antibiotic resistance.

You can read more about antibiotic resistance here:

• Wikipedia - Antibiotic Resistance
• CDC - About Antibiotic Resistance
• WHO - Antimicrobial Resistance
• Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
• SciDev.Net - Antibiotic Resistance FAQs

You can also get a good brief description on the topic of antibiotic resistance from this YouTube video here:

Do You Know the Difference Between a Bacterial and a Viral Infection?

Most people do not know the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection. Heck, most people do not even know that there are different kinds of infections. To a lot of people, infection = "give me some antibiotics so I'll get better straight away!".

It's hard to blame them. Both bacterial and viral infections are usually very similar in their symptoms, for example, fevers and sore throats. However, they are caused by very different things.

Bacteria are single-celled "living" microorganisms that reproduce by dividing. Bacteria exist everywhere, inside and on our bodies. Most of them are completely harmless and some of them are very useful. But some bacteria can cause diseases.

Unlike bacteria, viruses are not "living" organisms but capsules of genetic material. They require living hosts — such as people, plants or animals — to multiply. Otherwise, they can't survive. When a virus enters your body, it invades some of your cells and takes over the cell machinery, redirecting it to produce the virus.

Despite their similarities, it is absolutely imperative that we distinguish between the 2 infections. This is because medications that are effective against one is not effective against the other. It can be difficult, even for a doctor to distinguish which is the cause of a specific infection. According to this Infection article found at Wikipedia, the following are the typical symptoms that you see when you're having a:

Viral infection - In general, viral infections are systemic. This means they involve many different parts of the body or more than one body system at the same time; i.e. a runny nose, sinus congestion, cough, fever, body aches etc.They can be local at times as in viral conjunctivitis or "pink eye" and herpes. Only a few viral infections are painful, like herpes. The pain of viral infections is often described as itchy or burning.

Bacterial infection - The classic symptoms of a bacterial infection are localized Redness, Heat, Swelling and Pain. One of the hallmarks of a bacterial infection is local pain, pain that is in a specific part of the body. For example,if you get cut and the cut gets infected with a bacterium, it will be painful right where the infection is. If you have a sore throat and the infection is bacterial, one side of the throat is often more sore than the other. An ear infection is usually bacterial if one ear hurts and the other doesn't. An infection that produces pus is always bacterial.

Treatment
Bacterial infections are usually treated with a special antibiotic that only kills the bacterium that has caused the disease. To make sure that you get the right treatment, your doctor may take a sample, for example a swab from the throat or a urine sample.

Treatment of a viral infection is usually left to the patient's own immune system. Doctors usually advise the patient to take lots of fluids and to rest at home. Painkillers are sometimes prescribed to bring down the temperature and alleviate some of the symptoms. Other than that, vaccines have also been developed against most viral diseases. The vaccine gives the body some help in quickly and effectively fighting off the virus.

Antibiotics have NO EFFECT upon viral infections such as colds or flu, and it is important that we limit antibiotic use only to bacterial infections that won't get better on their own.

Over-use of antibiotics reduces their effectiveness by encouraging the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which is a serious and increasing problem globally.

Antibiotic resistance is another interesting and important health topic, which I'll explore the next time.

Do You Know What is a Tropical Cyclone?

This is an image of hurricane Isabel taken from space in the year 2003.

According to the Britannica Online Encylopedia, a tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain. Drawing energy from the sea surface and maintaining its strength as long as it remains over warm water, a tropical cyclone generates winds that exceed 119 km (74 miles) per hour. In extreme cases winds may exceed 240 km (150 miles) per hour, and gusts may surpass 320 km (200 miles) per hour. Accompanying these strong winds are torrential rains and a devastating phenomenon known as the storm surge, an elevation of the sea surface that can reach 6 metres (20 feet) above normal levels. Such a combination of high winds and water makes cyclones a serious hazard for coastal areas in tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

Depending on their location and strength, tropical cyclones are referred to by other names, such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression and simply cyclone.

The structure of a tropical cyclone. Click on the image to see a larger picture.

More recently, a devastating cyclone named Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar and caused catastophic destruction. An estimated 100,000 people have died since Cyclone Nargis struck on the 2nd of May 2008. Experts warn that the death toll may very well rise with the onset of diseases like cholera and malaria, not to mention widespread hunger.

Read more about cyclones here:

• Wikipedia - Tropical Cyclones
• Tropical cyclone - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
• Met Office: Tropical Cyclones
• FAQ: Hurricanes, Typhoons and Tropical Cyclones
• Hong Kong Observatory - Tropical Cyclones

Do You Know What is the CIA World Factbook?

The CIA World Factbook is a book published by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) of the United States of America and this book provides a multitude of information about every country in the world.

Information of a certain country is usually categorised into the following categories: introduction, geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military and transnational issues. A map of the country and its flag is provided as well.

The CIA publishes the World Factbook in printed and Internet versions. You can find the Internet version at this URL: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/. This is the front and back covers of the printed version of the 2008 World Factbook. You can see the covers for all the previous issues at this gallery of covers at their website.

The World Factbook is published in the public domain. This means that all the information provided by the book may be used by anyone at anytime without the permissions from the CIA. Only the official seal of the CIA may not be used without permission.

At the time of writing, The World Factbook is updated every two weeks. It was previously only updated once a year. This makes it one of the best resources on the Internet for current geographic information.

Here is some information about my country, Malaysia from the CIA World Factbook.

Do You Know 'Up' Has SO Many Meanings?

I did not realize that the word 'up' has so many ways of being used and so many meanings until I received the following e-mail recently:

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There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is UP.

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or toward the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends. We use something to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers, and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP . When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

We could go on, but let's wrap it UP, for now this time is UP, so: Time to shut UP!

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Amazing, huh? Well, Dictionary.com listed up to 90+ meanings for the word 'up', and that list is definitely not exhaustive. Check it out here:

up. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved April 15,
2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/up

Now, who wants the lowdown on the word 'down'?

Do You Know How to Reduce Vehicle Fuel Consumption?

2008 has been a year of many record highs for the price of petroleum. Look at the graph below. It looks like it has only gone up and up and up!! For more details about the trend of oil prices, you can check out this article about oil price increases since 1993 at Wikipedia.org or get the latest energy statistics from the U.S. government at the Energy Information Administration website.

Anyway, if you drive a vehicle, this situation must be causing you a lot of pain. It sure is hurting me, so I decided to find some ways to reduce the fuel consumption of my vehicle. Here is a short list I compiled to share with you:

1. Check your tire pressure regularly. Apart from being dangerous, under-inflated tyres will make your engine work harder and also causes uneven tyre wear.
2. Avoid sharp acceleration and braking. You may thing you look cool when you make "jackrabbit starts" and speed off at the traffic light, but it's sure gonna cost you more fuel! Abrupt and hard braking also wastes fuel, not to mention increasing tyre wear.
3. Don't be idle. Do not start your car unless you mean to drive it. If you're waiting for someone for more than 5 minutes, turn the car off. As long as the engine is running, fuel is getting burned!
4. Don't bother warming up your car. Most cars today do not need to be warmed up anymore. It's a waste of fuel. The best way to warm up your car's engine is to drive it gently. It will reach it's normal operating temperature very soon that way.
5. Lighten your car. Do not store stuff in your car. The extra weight just makes it burn more fuel.
6. Watch that speed limit! Driving at 80 km/h uses up to 15% less fuel than driving at 110 km/h.
7. Use your air-conditioning wisely. Try to park your car in the shade when it's hot so that your air-conditioner doesn't need to work so hard to cool your car. And if you're in the cool mountain tops, turn it off! The harder you work your air-conditioner, the more fuel you'll burn.
8. Plan your driving trips. Stop and go traffic will definitely cause more fuel to be used. So, avoid roads with lots of traffic lights. Also, avoid the rush hour if you can.
9. Drive a hybrid car. Hybrid cars are powered by both electricity and fuel. If you drive at sensible speeds, this car should be able to reduce the amount of fuel that you'll need to pump.
10. Car pool. Not only will you get a companion to talk to, you can share the fuel costs as well as reduce fuel emissions.

That's the only 10 that I can think of. If you have any other tips on how to reduce vehicle fuel consumption, please do not hesitate to share it with us.

Do You Know How to Blog?

Ok, first things first - what is a blog? The term "blog" was actually derived from two words - "web" and "log". Put those two words together and you get "weblog", or blog in short! Bloggers (these are people who write blogs, in case you didn't know!!) usually create blogs to share experiences and information with their readers. The blog posts are usually created in a reverse-chronological order, much like a diary or journal. This blog post here at ProBlogger can probably give you a better insight into what a blog really is.

So, how can you create a blog? Nowadays, publishing blogs can be as simple as pushing a button! Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are two good places to start. Both these websites will allow you to create your own blog(s) for free! Generally, all you'll need to do is:

1. Register an account with them.
2. Using that account, choose a name and URL for your blog.
3. Choose a template and setup the layout for your blog.
4. Go nuts blogging!

The following are a couple of links to good articles from website/blogs that provide hints and tips for new bloggers:

• ProBlogger - Blogging Tips for Beginners
  
• PCStats - Beginner's Guide: How to Blog/Weblog
  
• Blogger Help
• Mahalo - How to Setup a Blog for Beginners
• WikiBooks - Weblogs: An Introduction
• Robin Good - How to Blog: A Beginner's Blog Publishing Guide
  

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.