How Does An Abacus Work?

As kids, my brothers and I always played around with the ancient beaded calculator, the abacus. But to this day I have never known how people actually use them. To this day when I looked it up. :)

How To Add Two Numbers With An Abacus (via WikiHow):

Say for this example, we're adding 35 to 113.

1. Assign values to the columns in a systematic way from right to left, like here:

This mimics the way that we read numbers; with the highest magnitude as the left-most number, and they decrease to the smallest on the right (like 256 = 2 hundreds, then 5 tens, then 6 ones).

2. Row I beads will be 5 times whatever Row II beads are worth.

3. Start with all the beads towards the ends. Then place the abacus flat on the table.

4. Break down the first number into units that fit the values you assigned:

35 = 3 units of 10, and 5 units of 1

Move the beads towards the center bar accordingly:

3 beads from Row II in the "10s" column

1 bead in Row I in the "1s" column:

5. Break down the second number into units:

113 = 1 unit of 100, 1 unit of 10, and 3 units of 1

Move more beads towards center to account for those units

1 bead from Row II in the "100s" column

1 bead from Row II in the "10s" column

3 beads from Row II in the "1s" column:

If you end up needing 5 or more beads from Row II, you can replace 5 beads from Row II with 1 bead in Row I.

6. Count the beads that are by the center bar and figure out their worth to get the answer.

In this case,

"100s" Column: 1 bead from Row I = 100

"10s" Column: 4 beads from Row I = 40

"1s" Column: 1 bead from Row I, and 3 beads from Row II = 8

= 148!

If that was too complicated, there's a handy video here. I think the explanation is harder than the practice, actually!

You can imagine this could be as helpful as a calculator for adding many or larger numbers together. Brilliant, considering it's over 800 years old. When people get the hang of it, they can do it very quickly!

To Plug or Unplug?

So which preserves battery life on your laptop more, keeping it plugged in or unplugging it until it runs out of charge?

Here's one answer (with multiple parts) via smarterware:

1. With Lithium-Ion batteries, Apple encourages users to let the battery run completely out and recharge it fully once/month. In between chargings, it recommends not leaving your laptop plugged in unless you need to.

2. For other battery types, the data is pretty inconclusive. Whereas neither Dell nor HP suggests unplugging to save battery life, there are many people who claim that leaving their laptop plugged in has shortened the battery life significantly.

Bottom line (as the article says): When In Doubt, Unplug. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that unplugging can shorten a battery's life if nothing else. Plus I hear it's "greener" anyway. Win-win.

Bogeys, Birdies, and Eagles, Oh My!

Ever wonder why golf lingo appears to be so random? Well, maybe this will help:

Bogey: Scottish golfers, as far back as the 1500s, used to use this word as the standard score per hole. The Scots saw themselves as playing against an imaginary "bogey", or ghost (like the "boogie man"). The Scot would try to get the balls in the holes in less strokes than the bogey.

Par: In 1898, the rubber-centered golf ball was invented and could travel much farther than the old ball. Par, meaning "a common level" or "equality", was the word chosen to be the standard score when using the new balls. Par happened to be, on average, one stroke lower per hole than the bogey. Eventually the older balls were phased out and "bogey" became commonly known as one stroke over par.

Birdie and Eagle: Both of these words were slang terms for "excellent" in the late 19th century. When golf really became popular in the US in the 1920s, Birdie became known as "1 stroke under par" and Eagle became "2 strokes under par". Or, as I like to think of them, "excellent" and "most excellent", respectively.

There, now you'll know why you call it a bogey when you score 4 strokes on a 3-par hole on your next golf/mini-golf/disc golf outing. And that's pretty birdie if you ask me. :)

(Thanks to to author/word enthusiast Bill Bryson's book, The Mother Tongue, for the info! Check it out to learn more fun facts about English.)

Tutti Frutti, Oh Rudy

Did you ever wonder what that Little Richard song title means? I became especially curious after I saw that a crossword puzzle answer for "tutti definition" was "everyone".

It may actually be a very simple answer:

"Tutti Frutti" is the name of an Italian dessert, and it translates as "all fruits". The dessert is a collection of many different fresh and candied fruits and maybe ice cream. The American version typically contains fruits soaked in alcohol, usually brandy. (I've been exposed to all sorts of Italian foods in my life, but never remember seeing this one!)

Also of note, the dictionary says the meaning of "tutti" is: "with all voices or instruments performing together —used as a direction in music". Although this definition probably isn't the one referenced by Little Richard, it's good to know ("okay, bandmates, this time let's try that song more tutti!").

I believe that "tutti frutti" in the song is meant to say, "These girls - Rudy, Sue, and Daisy - are like a sweet mix of tempting and possibly liquered fruits". It's a metaphor. :) But I am up for other interpretations, of course!

Michigan Can Deposit Explained

As many Midwesterners know, Michigan has a 10-cent deposit on cans and bottles, whereas the rest of the country caps it at 5 cents. Ever wonder how Michigan got the honor of paying and receiving back that extra 5 cents?

The Michigan United Conservation Clubs and hunters actually pushed for a higher deposit in the early 1970s to prevent the cans and bottles from becoming road-side litter. The law was enacted in 1978, and 5 cents was a huge jump (around 19.5 cents in today's money according to MeasuringWorth.com).

It makes you wonder if we should encourage states to raise the deposit to what they originally were meant to be. More people would probably return cans and bottles if they paid a $.20 deposit ($.40 in Michigan) on each of them!

In case you're wondering who gets and gives back the deposit money, it appears to be the State's Department of Environmental Quality. And for Michigan, they pay back 96% of the money they take in (not bad! I bet there are a lot of people who find it worthwhile to collect can and bottle litter for the $.10 deposit), and they give 25% of the leftover money to the retailers and 75% towards cleanup and pollution-prevention.

So is it worth a Seinfeld-esque trip to Michigan to make an extra $.05 per recyclable? Well, that's your call, but apparently it just hurts Michigan stores near the borders: if the merchants pay out more than they make in deposits, they take the hit. And in a state as financially strapped as Michigan is, it may just be too mean. Unless of course you also spend twice as much as you made on Michigan-based products. :)

(via freep.com)