After World War II, in 1946, it was Masaru Ibuka, an engineer, and Akio Morita, a physicist, who started a company with $845 and 20 employees. They began repairing electrical equipment in a bombed out Department Store in Tokyo. They called the company Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering. The name was changed to “Sony” which was chosen as a mix of the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the English word “sunny.” they wanted a name that did not limit the scope of what the company could become.

In 1954, they obtained a license to make transistors. Transistors had not been used in radios. Sony made the first all-transistor radio,

Their inventive and innovative products have included the Trinitron Color Televison, The Betamax VCR, the Walkman, the 3.5 inch micro floppy disk, the electronic camera, the first CD Player, and the first consumer camcorder.

Sony bought Columbia Records and Columbia Pictures. Sony got in the game product area with their Sony Play Station.

In the 45 years since the company began, it has grown from 20 employees to over 100,000 people around the world. The name Sony was a good choice since now the company is in so many fields that involve sound that a limiting name would not have fit all of the industries they now dominate.

If you want inexpensive candles to look like a million bucks, there are zillions of ways that you can spruce them up. A fantastic idea for a holiday or special occasion is to turn a plate or a platter upside-down and set a large square or pillare candle on the upside-down plate. You can also use a set of round pillar candles in various sizes. Then, decorate around the base of the candle with silk ivy, roses and baby breath, or pine needles and candy canes. You can also use fruits, cinnamon sticks or even pine cones and strings of beads.

This same concept can be used to make lovely kitchen candles. Use a cereal bowl or dipping sauce bowl (depending upon how large your candle is) and turn it upside-down to make the stand. Glue ceramic berries or other assorted fruits around the base of the candle. A variation of this is to turn a coffee cup upside-down and glue lace around, leaving a slit at the handle. Place round pillar candle on the cup, with the lace hanging down. Use the handle to carry the candle around.

If you have an old flat mirror, use it to lay on a bathroom counter or a tub shelf to place several candles, strings of beads, rings, etc. You can also place a couple of flowers or seashells on the mirror, depending upon the look you want.

In days gone by, everything wasn’t pre-packaged and sitting on a shelf, waiting for you to purchase. You had to be inspired, inventive, even ingenious to throw together a few things from the cupboard to make a luscious treat, like this one:

Total preparation time: 45 minutes

1 potato
18 oz. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
2 lb. confectioner’s sugar

Boil 1 medium sized potato in a small saucepan until it is tender when poked with a fork. Remove from water and peel potato. Smash potato in medium sized bowl with a fork. Let the steam subside somewhat, then begin to add confectioner’s sugar until a dough forms. (If you add the sugar while the potato is too hot, it will turn soupy. If you add the sugar when potato has cooled too much, it won’t mix properly.) Add sugar when potato is not scalding, but still extremely warm.
After the dough becomes too stiff to stir, sprinkle confectioner’s sugar on a clean table and lay the dough in the middle of the sugar. Sprinkle more sugar on top of the dough ball, kneading the sugar into the dough.
When the dough is no longer sticky, use a rolling pin to spread the dough to about 1/4″ thick. Spread with peanut butter until completely covered.
Roll up like a jelly roll, then use a clean thread to cut into 1/2″ wide slices. *Do not chill. Cover with aluminum foil and leave out. Makes approximately 20 large candy pieces.

Substitutions: try strawberry or chocolate frosting instead of peanut butter, but you’ll have to refrigerate this version.

*If you must refrigerate, allow candy to sit out, covered in foil, until firm enough to handle easily. Wrap each piece individually in cling wrap before chilling.

Turtles:

Place 4 pecan halves in an “X” shape on a plate with waxed paper. Then place a caramel square on top of each “X”. Place in microwave on medium low until caramel is about half melted. Remove from heat and use a spoon to press the caramel down into the nuts. After completely cool, spready with chocolate frosting. Store in refrigerator or leave out, but covered.

Chocolate Covered Nuts:

Place a medium saucepan of water on burner and heat to boiling, then reduce to medium heat. Place a bag of semi-sweet chocolate pieces in another, smaller saucepan and place on top of the water. Allow chocolate to melt, stirring frequently. When completely melted, begin adding peanuts or mixed nuts to the chocolate, stirring well. When mixture is full of nuts and getting thick, remove from heat and place tablespoons full of the mixture on waxed paper. Allow to cool, then store in refrigerator.

Haystacks:

Place a medium saucepan of water on burner and heat to boiling, then reduce heat to medium. In a smaller pan, place one bag of butterscotch morsels then place upon the pan of water. Allow morsels to melt completely. After melting, add dry chow mein noodles, stirring well. When mixture becomes thick with the noodles, remove from heat and drop large spoons full of the mixture on to waxed paper. Store in refrigerator.

A creature that is fragile, shy and virtually harmless. Is that any way to describe our horror image of the vicious tarantula of movie fame? Yes it is because by and large these spiders are timid creatures. Although they are venomous there is no reliable report of the venom killing any human.

When tarantulas mate it is more like they are dancing the tango. Their front legs touch and then she sidesteps with him following. He caresses her and gradually face-to-face they entwine their front limbs together. The tango continues with the male hooking his front legs over her fangs and with his second set of legs bends her backward. Then the moment arrives when he reaches under to transfer his sperm into a furrow in her mid section. Because a female may kill her sex partner after the dance is complete the male quickly scrambles out of reach of her legs.

Although the sex dance is intricate and charming these creatures don’t do much but sit and wait as predators. They can’t leap or construct intricate webs or ensnare an insect with silken threads. No, they just wait for the next passers by and attack the unsuspecting one in its path with their venomous fangs.

Tarantulas can live to more than 20 years and grow to the size of a dinner plate which is too big to stomp under foot like a regular spider. But they aren’t the gargantuan scary size as seen in the 1955 film Tarantula. In this scary flick a hundred foot tarantula crushed houses and eats cattle.

No wonder the tarantula has developed an undeserved reputation when in reality it is such as shy and virtually harmless spider to the human race.

Wyoming is an Indian word, but it is not from the Shoshone or the Arapaho, which are the local Indians. It is from the language of Delaware Indians, who named Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. The name means “big river flats” and is a fitting one for this state that has a series of dry basin floors between the Continental Divide.

This is state is a natural cathedral of endless prairies and mountains and in the far northwest corner of the state the sudden majesty of the Tetons borders the grandiose of all parks, Yellowstone.

There are no big cities in this state to write about since the entire state is a population of 501,242 according to the Census Bureau as of 2003. Cheyenne, Wyoming is the largest city.

Between the sage brush in the center of the state there are gas wellheads and pipeline stations. Just by drilling a water well one can hit gas and discover a blue flame from their faucet. One story which may be more fiction than fact tells of a man lighting a cigarette in his cellar and blowing himself right outside to the open spaces of Montana. Although coal is under 55 percent of Wyoming the greatest area for coal is the Powder River basin. It is estimated that at a site owned by ARCO about a ton a second is mined. Every day they can fill up eight or nine trains with each train being a mile long.

The major event of the professional rodeo circuit is Cheyenne’s “Frontier Days”. This is the frontier that in the 1800’s, great trappers such as Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, and the famous Kit Carson, made fortunes trapping beavers for pelts. Cheyenne’s “Frontier Days” represents those days of Wyoming history and their major event in that commemoration is the professional rodeo circuit which ranks this event as their most important rodeo of their season.

Food poisoning is one of the most common widespread illnesses of human history, and it can be caused by various factors that are plainly out of our control. Others are within our control, like proper hand washing and using sanitized utensils during food preparation. Some of these factors are introduced to the food chain during manufacturing or cultivation, while others happen during packing and preservation and many more during its retail handling. Food service workers and anybody that handles food should always wash there hands, especially when handling different types of food at once and always as a form of good hygiene. The most common cause of tainted food is identified as bacteria or fungus growth, microscopic in nature, it is not easily detectable. The presence of this bacteria is normally found in raw food. In most cases, bad handling, unhygienic food preparation and contaminating utensils cause the contamination to grow uncontrollably, especially in meats and meat products, where the contamination between raw and cooked foods can be fatal if consumed.

Food poisoning is most likely to attack people with low immunity defenses such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. 90% of food poisoning in the world is caused by several types of bacteria which include Salmonella, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Entero-pathogenic Escherichia coli. The earliest recognizable symptoms of food poisoning are abdominal pains, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and fever. However, the slightest hint of any of these symptoms should trigger an alarm in a healthy person. Sometimes, as the toxins are flushed out of the body, the food poising takes care of itself, but it is advisable to consult a physician before matters get out of hand. A rapidly strengthening bacterial attack can be fatal, so proper care should always be taken when handling food.

The world’s smallest hitchhiker is the lowly flea. This is a parasite whose main goal in its short life of a few weeks to a year is to find a host and hitchhike. This microscopic creature performs this feat through the use of antennae and bristles sensitive to vibration, heat and air currents. The carbon dioxide of a passing host as it is exhaled also helps this hitchhiker.

In order to cling to its host who attempts to reject him by being attacked with tooth and claw the flea is armored with clinging power. They have living burrs studded with bristles and combs. They can maneuver between fur hairs because their bodies are flat from side to side. They have a blood-siphoning tube which is a saw like lance that penetrates the skin. Some fleas are permanent hitchhikers sucking whenever hungry and others hop on to other hosts.

While on the host the female chigoe flea of South and Central America as well as Africa expands from the size of a pinhead to the size of a pea in eight to ten days filling with eggs. If a male is in the proximity of her and mates hundreds of eggs she releases will be fertile.

There are more than 2,400 species and subspecies. The majority live on mammals with a few living on birds. Fleas are categorized according to their movement patterns: sedentary fleas, stick-fleas and mobile fleas which we know best.

The rabbit populations of Australia and Europe in the 1950’s were almost exterminated by the flea. The mosquito transmitted the viral disease from Australia to Great Britain.

Man is the best host for the mobile flea because we have clothing allowing the flea to hide. The fleas seem to prefer women. Perhaps they have a hormone that attracts them. Further study of this hitchhiker of mankind will have to determine their preference for this gender.

3M began in 1902 with the intent of mining mineral deposits to be used as an abrasive for grinding wheels. The mining did not pan out and the company moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1910. Their new flagship product was a waterproof sandpaper. This met success in automobile manufacturing since this type of sandpaper did not cause dust.

There second major product was the invention of masking tape in 1925. This was the first of now a long line of Scotch® Pressure-Sensitive Tapes. In the following years new research developed the Scotch® Cellophane Tape for box sealing which is now and extensive line of Cellophane tapes.

Post it ® notes was a solution waiting for a problem. The formula was made to put sticky glue on the back of a piece of paper that could be taken on and off of a surface. It was Art Fry who while singing in the church choir noticed that his bookmark would fall out of his hymnal and he would lose the page. He tried using this new sticky note product and the world now has found countless additional uses for this new product named Post it® notes.

Today 3M, is an $18 billion diversified technology company with operations in more than 60 countries and serve customers in 200 countries. They have dominant positions in consumer and office products , display and graphics; electronics and telecommunications, health care, industrial, safety, security and protection services and transportation

3M is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and also is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

America’s birth as an independent and lustily growing young nation took place when Boone was in his prime, and events of the country’s early life are intertwined with his. Daniel Boone (1734-1820), was a famous American pioneer and frontiersman who blazed the Wilderness Trail and founded Boonesborough, Kentucky.

In 1769, Boone blazed the first known trail from North Carolina to Tennessee. Boone spent the next two years hunting and exploring in Kentucky, where he was captured twice by Indians and escaped both times.

One myth about this first hero of the frontier is that he wore a coonskin cap. He was a Quaker and preferred the wide brimmed beaver that Quakers wore.

Boone represents the frontiersman– a strong, silent figure moving swiftly through virgin timber, sighting a deer, felling it with one shot of his flintlock.

Daniel married Rebecca Bryan, by most reports a tall brunette, who was to be his wife for 56 years. Of her ten children, two were killed by Indians. She could mold bullets, shoot a flintlock, and skin a deer.

A contemporary relates that after one long absence hunting and exploring, Daniel returned to find a new child in Rebecca’s arms. She confessed that one of his brothers was the father. Well,” Bone reportedly replied, “If the name’s the same, it’s all the same,” and he loved the child as his own.

To the end of his days, he hunted and trapped the western reaches–some say he went as far as the Yellowstone country. Rebecca died March 18,1813, and Daniel lived 85 years. He lived his last years with his children.