The Secret Service protects current presidents and past presidents and their families. This protection was offered until their death. But in 1997, the law was changed to only protect them for 10 years after office.
Gleaned from The Sentinel DVD
Official info
http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/protection.shtml
For some of these items you may just say, “Well, of course, you didn’t know that!?” Anyway, I just now realized what it means when I see “bump” or “bumpity bump” in a forum post. It’s a simple technique to get a discussion thread posted to the top of the list. Extensive description at the ever-loving Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_%28internet%29
Also lead to the discovery of what a “backronym” is.
I sometimes wonder why somethings become archaic, why does something else become the norm? Here’s an interesting discussion on the reasons why we started using “you” as opposed to “thou.” Still not a definitive conclusion, but compelling none the least.
According to author David Vise, 1,000 books are published each week in the United States. Seems to make Books-a-Million’s name not sound so extravagant a claim. Boy, that’s a lot of paper!
Ever wanted to make a ring out of a dollar bill? Now you can!
Those little plastic things on the end of a shoelace are called aglets. And did you know there were people who think a lot about shoelaces? Ian does:
http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/agletrepair.htm
He also claims to have the fastest way to tie your shoes.
Coming up with a completely new, intereseting item a day is tough! Don’t be angry if some of the items seem silly or inconsequential.
Although the pictures on my HDTV are really good, especially compared to analog, they can be compressed up to almost 68 to 1. Since most broadcasters are sending up to 3 channels in their allotted bandwidth, picture quality has to take a hit. I’ve been wondering what an uncompressed picture would look like!
Further info on this subject.
http://broadcastengineering.com/digital_handbook/broadcasting_hdtv_data_multiplexing_5/
As opposed to a typical DVD movie, which is compressed about 10 to 1.
Until recently, in several European countries bribes to foreign public officials were not only legal but tax deductible!
http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/295/Writing_off_tax_deductibility.html
I always wanted to know why the Advanced Television Committee went with such an odd aspect ratio for the new digital television standard. Turns out one guy, Dr. Kerns Powers, discovered that this ratio would cover all of the existing formats of film, from super wide screen 2.35 down to TV and old film size of 1.33.
Check out these entertaining and informational instructional videos from Craig Syverson, the videogrunt. Highly recommended.
