XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World: 04/07/11

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Are Cavities Really Contagious? - Unfortunately - YES! - So much can be communicated in just one kiss -

So much can be communicated in just one kiss — including the bacteria Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, which flourish on teeth and gums and cause cavities.
Sugary candies are usually blamed for rotten teeth, but the real culprits are bacteria. They subsist on food particles left in your mouth, and the acid they produce eats away teeth. The bugs travel easily from person to person. Reported AOL Health:
"Particularly, the easiest way to catch a cavity is when a mother is feeding a child," Dr. Irwin Smigel, creator of Supersmile, told AOL Health. The mother will taste the food to check the temperature and then continue feeding the child. "Immediately, that's how kids get cavities," he says.
Kissing between couples can also cause the spread of harmful bacteria. Smigel has seen many patients, particularly women, who have clean, healthy mouths, discover a cavity or two after entering into a relationship with a man who has cavities, gum disease or hasn't been to the dentist in several years.
Infants and children are especially vulnerable to the bacteria. A 2007 study conducted at the University of Queensland's School of Dentistry in Australia found that cavity-causing bacteria was found in the mouths of 30% of 3-month-old babies and more than 80% of 24-month-olds with primary teeth.

To prevent the germs from multiplying, dentists recommend avoiding sticky candies, rinsing with mouthwash after eating, drinking water throughout the day to flush away plaque and bacteria, and flossing. You can also chew sugar-free gum, which promotes beneficial saliva.
But by far the best way to ward off cavities is to brush your teeth twice a day, and especially at night: during sleep, the mouth produces less saliva, which allows bacteria to proliferate on teeth and gums.

"If you can brush your teeth for two minutes twice a day with fluoride, the results are immeasurable," Smigel told AOL Health.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/07/are-cavities-really-contagious/#ixzz1Isv60Yri

Grandma Shuts Down Entire Country's Internet - woman was scavenging for scrap metal -

Internet service in all of Armenia was cut off for several hours when a 75-year old Georgian woman inadvertently cut the main service line between the two countries.
The woman was scavenging for scrap metal when she discovered the primary fiber-optic cable which runs through the two countries. Service went down when she apparently hacked into it with a shovel severing the line, officials said.
"She found the cable while collecting scrap metal and cut it with a view to stealing it," Georgian interior ministry spokesman Zura Gvenetadze told AFP.
The damage was apparently so severe that 90% of Armenian users lost access for nearly 12 hours while neighboring Georgia and some areas of Azerbajian were also affected.
Monitoring systems determined a break in the primary cable and a security team was immediately dispatched to investigate.
Christened the "spade-hacker" by the local media, authorities arrested the woman just outside the Georgian capitol of Tbilisi where they charged her for damaging property. If convicted, she could face three years in prison.
"Taking into account her advancing years, she has been released pending the end of the investigation and subsequent trial," Gvenetadze said.
"I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable," the head of the company's marketing department, Giorgi Ionatamishvili, said.
The cable is owned by the Georgian railway network and is typically protected although heavy rain recently may have made the area more exposed.
Copper looting is a common means of making money in the former Soviet Union. Certain scavengers have been known to dig up hundreds of meters of cable.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/07/granny-cuts-armenian-internet/#ixzz1IrqRaLU9

Donald Trump Sends 'Birther' Team to Hawaii - "he has real doubts about whether Obama was born in the United States" -

Real estate tycoon Donald Trump said Thursday he has real doubts about whether President Obama was born in the United States and has sent investigators to Hawaii looking for answers.
The "Celebrity Apprentice" star has shot up in the polls as a potential GOP nominee, in part on his questions about whether Obama is constitutionally allowed to be president if he doesn't prove he is a natural born citizen of the United States.
"I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding," Trump told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday.
Officials in Hawaii have certified Obama's citizenship, but a segment of society -- labeled "birthers" in the vernacular -- have demanded additional proof. Trump said when he started seriously considering a presidential bid a few weeks back, he thought the president was native-born, but now he's not so sure.
"His grandmother in Kenya said he was born in Kenya, and she was there and witnessed the birth. He doesn't have a birth certificate or he hasn't shown it. He has what's called a certificate of live birth. That is something that's easy to get," Trump said, arguing that Obama has spent $2 million in legal fees "to get away from this issue."

Calling it potentially one of the biggest scams in the history of politics, Trump said he'd like Obama to show his birth certificate.
"And to be honest with you, I hope he can," he told "Today."
Trump, who placed second in an NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll of potential 2012 Republican candidates, said he will decide by June whether to run, and if he is the GOP nominee, "I'd like to beat him straight up," not on the basis of the question of where Obama was born.
In the poll, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the would-be group of contenders with 21 percent of Republican primary voters surveyed followed by Trump and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 17 percent each. The Republican primary poll was taken as part of a March 31-April 4 survey of 1,000 adults, but the sample survey of Republican primary voters polled was only 238.
In the poll, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich garnered 11 percent while former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin earned 10 percent support. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty earned 6 percent, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann got 5 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won 3 percent and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour received 1 percent support.
Asked in the interview how genuine his presidential ambition is, Trump, who would have to hand over the reins of his international empire in order to run the country, said, "I always take things seriously, but I've never taken it seriously like this. I wish I didn't have to do it."
But speaking on ABC News, New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who is insistent he personally is not a candidate for president in 2012, said he wasn't sure his friend Trump would be either.
"Donald's a really good friend of mine, I don't know that Donald really wants to be president," Christie said in an interview that aired Wednesday night. Christie: I don't know that he wants that in particular. ... We've spoken about it and all I could say to you is, I’ll believe it when I see it."
Back on NBC, Trump said he wants Obama to do well but the presidency is not going that direction.
"I love this country, but this country is going to hell. ... The world laughs at us. They won't be laughing if I'm elected president," he said.
Trump accused Obama of conducting a confusing policy on the civil war in Libya, saying "nobody knows what's happening, and now it looks like (Libyan strongman Muammar) al-Qaddafi is going to beat the United States."
"I'm only interested in Libya if we get the oil," Trump said. He said Obama "doesn't have a doctrine (on foreign affairs.) Foreign affairs is, we take care of ourselves first."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/07/trump-sends-investigators-hawaii-gains-gop-presidential-primary-poll/#ixzz1IrhbWgRA

Oldest working television goes on the auction block - Marconi type 702 mirror-lid television from 26th November 1936 -

The oldest working electronic television in Britain is going up for sale at a Knightsbridge auction house in London.

The television — which was originally bought for £99 and 15 shillings ($150) by a GB Davis in November, 1936 — will go on sale later this month at Bonhams.

And it is extremely rare. There are more Stradivarius violins still in existence than these televisions, experts say.

The auction house is asking between £3,000 and £5,000 ($4,700 and $7,800) for the set, but experts suggest it could go for a lot more.

A fully restored model of the same television sold for about £10,000 ($15,600) at an auction a couple of years ago. But this television, manufactured by Marconi, is even better.

“The television is a pre-war electronic television,” explained Laurence Fisher, department head for mechanical music and technical apparatus at Bonhams. “This hasn’t been restored and it works perfectly.”

Before 1936 there were mechanical televisions. But they were superseded by an electronic version with a glass tube and screen and a series of components.

The pre-war electronic television comes with its original bill of sale and it has a very low serial number.

It also comes with an instruction manual and photostats of service sheets, including circuit diagrams, chassis layouts and general workbench information.

Original typed sheets from EMI, dated 8th May 1946 following the sets' delivery at the Hayes factory for testing, are also included. The sheets detail upgrading suggestions and testing formulas and are stamped with the engineer's mark of the world-famous Gerry Wells.

“It’s in superb condition,” said Fisher. “The quality of the picture is astounding.”

The Marconi type 702 mirror-lid television is about 2 feet across, 16 inches deep and 40 inches high. It is housed in a mahogany and walnut veneered cabinet.

When the television’s first owner Davis died in 1981, Roy Flitter acquired it, Fisher said.

Flitter was a television service engineer in the 1940s. He had a small collection of radios, but this television was his pride and joy, Fisher said. “He kept it in very good condition. Very few components have been changed. All of the wiring in the television is pre-war and most of the components are pre-war too.”