Eggs and Muffins and Goats and Elephants and Other Stuff

Did you check out that Star Wars article yesterday? If you did and you thought it was too long, then you might be a man of the cloth, or perhaps someone with the attention span of a gnat, or both. I was going to say the attention span of an elephant to tie in today's photos, but then, I remembered that elephants never forget.

Have you heard of Kickstarter? It is a crowdfunding tool that lets you invest in someone's project with an chance for a nice reward. If it is a game, maybe you get a free copy or something. Anyway, I found an article talking about the failure rate of Kickstarter-funded projects. It averages less than 10%. You can look at all the statistics here.

How can I win more often at Rock-Paper-Scissors? How many times have you asked yourself that question? Maybe you never have, but that has not stopped scientists from doing the research. A Chinese scientist used 72 students, each playing 300 games, to evaluate their game strategies. The pattern that he discovered — winners repeating their strategy and losers moving to the next strategy in the sequence — is called a "conditional response" in game theory. The researchers have theorized that the response may be hard-wired into the brain, a question they intend to investigate with further experiments. The scientist suggests that exploiting the knowledge that most people use the conditional strategy may result in winning a lot more games of rock-paper-scissors. You can read the whole story here.

Do you like it when a retailer you frequent promises to address trendy issues? What did I just say? For example, Taco Bell has promised to use only cage-free eggs by the end of next year. Panera will use only cage-free eggs in its supply chain by 2020. Now, Dunkin' Donuts has pledged to serve only eggs from cage-free hens by 2025. So, it will take them 10 years to get there while Taco Bell can do it by next year? Does that really impress you? Will it make you more likely to frequent your local DD? Get the details here.

While we are talking about breakfast foods, I came across an article on some mug and microwave recipes for breakfasts you can make in a minute. We are talking about blueberry muffins, an omelet, and a banana cinnamon cake. Sound intriguing? Watch this video.

Say it isn't so. I just now read that the original TV Superman, George Reeves, wore a suit that was gray and brown to better show up on the old black-and-white TV screens. That is like learning that Hitchcock used chocolate syrup to simulate blood in the famous Psycho shower scene. Can we trust anything anymore?

I was about to move into choosing a couple of photos for today's blog post when I came across an article that could prove invaluable to men everywhere. You should share it loudly and often. What am I so excited about. Scientists! Yes, they have scientifically determined which urinal we should use in a public bathroom. If we did not have this proof, we could be caught in analysis paralysis in wondering which we should choose. Anyway, I will spoil the surprise and let you know it is the one furthest from the door. You can read about the study yourself. xkcd has his own spin on it.

Monty Hall was the original host of Let's Make a Deal. Here's the situation. Three doors are shown with a goat behind two of them and a car behind the third. You choose a door, but Monty reveals that a goat is behind another. Now, you know one door holds a goat and the other, a car. Do you switch your answer? For this one, I will NOT reveal the surprise. If you want to know the scientifically proven answer, watch the video.

Now, some as-promised photos. First, an elephant leg bone. How do they know what animal it came from? Well, look at it. It seems obvious since it has elephants on it. Does that mean my bones have a man depiction on them?

In an amazing coincidence, this egg also comes from an elephant since that is what the carvings show. It must come from Horton, right?

Finally, we see a tusk and, as you have now learned from the previous photos, we know which animal this comes from by its outward appearance. I should have purchased a chicken sandwich where these bones were displayed. Would it have a chicken image burned into it? Would the bun have the image of a stalk of wheat burned into it?

You can tell where we were because they display the name of the place on a giant column. There is a giant 'O' in the upper left and a depiction on the globe in the lower left. I'm telling you. Everything is apparently engraved or labeled there.

Oh, wait. There is something here without a label. A big tree with lights (which don't show up well. Sorry).

Finally, though, we see the sign from above that we are in the right place.

My time is up for today. Let's grab a quick snack of CoV.

And now, let's go make it a Tremendous Tuesday. Don't worry. I have no trips planned, so I will be back before you can say ... well, whatever you want to say.