If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!When Did You First Get Voice Mail At Home?  Cassette-tape-based Answering Machine Do you remember how annoying it was to get a voice mail answering when you called someone? Do you remember how annoying it was not to have a voice mail machine pick up to take your message when someone wasn’t at home? Do you still have a tape recorder in your voice-mail machine? Which Came First, Voice Mail for Home or Office? In this instance, tape-based voice mail recorders, or answering machines for the home, hit the market before... (Read More ...)

Do Offices Still Use Fax Machines? Modern Fax Machin I have a one-way fax machine. It sends, but does not receive. A couple of years ago, when it quit receiving, I did not bother to get it fixed. For a couple of years before it stopped receiving, the only faxes I received were advertisements. Every single advertisement made me really angry. It has been illegal to fax unsolicited advertisements since the passage of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. The fine is $500 per advertisement. The legal premise is that you cannot be forced to pay for unsolicited ads. With fax machines, you have... (Read More ...)

Baskets. Peas. Cows. Why Do We Have Kudzu All Over the South? Kudzu in Atlanta, Georgia Do you remember when kudzu was used to contain soil erosion? If you’ve driven much around the Southeastern U.S., you may have noticed the graceful vines with large leaves covering hillsides and trees, powerlines and roadsides there. Southerners call it “the vine that ate the South.” It is kudzu. Where Did Kudzu Come  From? Native to Japan and China, where it is used as food, in medicines, and in basket weaving, kudzu is a pea. It improves the soil both by fixing nitrogen in the soil and transferring... (Read More ...)

Oranges. Hangers. Kuiper Belt. How Many Planets Are There? There are eight planets circling the sun. It is important for you to know this when you are helping your grandchildren do their homework. Eight Planets and the Moon They may try to correct you if you say nine, and, they will be right.   How Many Planets Do You Remember? You may dimly remember that when you studied this subject, there were nine planets. What happened to the ninth one, and which one is it? It is Pluto, and it did not fall out of the sky, break up, or go find another sun to orbit around. It is still orbiting the Earth.... (Read More ...)

GPS. Vacuum Cleaners. Tire Pumps. How Many Cigarette Lighters Do You Have in Your Car? Car Cigarette Lighter I have never smoked. I was too cheap. I just couldn’t get the image of rolling up a dollar bill and setting a match to it out of my mind. But, my seven-year-old  car has two cigarette lighters in it. Of course, they’re not working cigarette lighters. That costs extra. They are outlets for chargers that have been adapted to cigarette lighters. And, it’s not enough. My husband and I compete over charging our cell phones and connecting the GPS. Where Did They Come From? Cigar lighters... (Read More ...)