There are free USB charging stations everywhere now. You can find them at nearly every airport and hotel. They are in thousands of restaurants, coffee shops, shopping centers, and public libraries. Don’t use them! Crooks have figured out how to infect cell phones and computers with malware and steal your data through USB charging stations. It is known as ‘juice jacking.’ How many charging stations are infected? No one knows. All we know for sure is that it is going on and is becoming more common. However, there is a safe way to recharge your device while you are away from home. Take a USB wall charger and plug it into an electrical outlet. It doesn’t appear that crooks have figured out how to infect cell phones or computers through electrical outlets, at least not yet. Most charging stations have electric outlets nearby. Keep a wall charger in your luggage while you are traveling along with your own charging cable. Criminals intentionally leave infected cables and wall chargers plugged in at charging stations and give them away as promotional gifts.
2 WIDELY BELIEVED MYTHS FROM HOLLYWOOD.
Myth #1: THE IRISH WERE ROOTING FOR HITLER IN WORLD WAR 2. I recently saw the movie ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ on TV. In this big-budget movie, an Irishman goes to England to help German commandos who are there to try to assassinate Winston Churchill. The Irishman is not risking his life for money but out of a hatred of England. Another movie on TV that same week was ‘The Man Who Never Was’. This movie takes place in England in 1943 and is based on a true story. In this movie, an Irishman goes to England to spy for the Germans. At the beginning of the movie, the Irishman lets the audience know that he too is doing this because he hates the English. At the end of the movie, just as he is getting ready to send a message to Berlin that he thinks will help Hitler win the war, he looks at his radio transmitter and makes the sign of the cross. This is to let the audience know that he is working for Hitler not only because he hates England, but also because he is Catholic. There are other movies and TV shows with this same theme.
As I said, this is a myth. Although Ireland was neutral during World War 2, the country was always pro-Allied. While Ireland had very contentious politics at the time, all political factions in Ireland were deeply committed to democratic government, and they understood that Hitler was a threat to democracy everywhere. Plus, Hitler did things during the war that enraged people in Ireland. In 1941, hundreds of German bombers dropped bombs on Belfast in Northern Ireland, killing large numbers of people, setting the city on fire, and damaging or destroying over 30,000 homes. Eamon de Valera, the Republic of Ireland’s head of state, delivered a radio address after the bombing titled: “They are our people.” It reflected the shock and anger of the country.
The Irish government helped both Britain and the United States throughout the war, although there wasn’t a lot they could do. Today, Ireland is one of Europe’s wealthiest countries, but in the 1930s and 1940s, the Republic of Ireland was very poor. The country had a tiny army. They had no navy, no air force, and no air defense. They didn’t even have one military airplane. Not one. Although the government of Ireland discouraged its citizens from participating in the war, over 50,000 Irishmen enlisted in the British army and navy during World War 2. They served in every theater of the war. I know of only 2 Irishmen who joined the German army. (How they came to join the German army is a long story. I think they were shanghaied.) In addition, over 100,000 Irish men and women volunteered to work in British war industries. Many of them were killed by German bombardment.
In many small ways, the Irish government made it clear that they wanted Britain to win the war. For example, when German Luftwaffe pilots crashed in Ireland or when German sailors were rescued by Irish ships at sea, the Irish government put them in internment camps and kept them locked up there until the war was over. On the other hand, when RAF or American pilots crashed in Ireland or when British or American sailors were rescued at sea, the Irish government drove them to Northern Ireland. If you want to learn more about how the Irish government helped the Allies, look up ‘The Donegal Corridor” or “Irish D-Day Weather Stations” on Google.
I have never seen a World War 2 movie in which the Irish were helping the Allies. They are always working for Hitler. I am surprised that Irish-American politicians don’t complain about this nasty myth.
Myth #2: PEOPLE WERE STILL DEBATING WHETHER THE EARTH IS ROUND OR FLAT IN THE MIDDLE AGES. ‘A Man for All Seasons’ is a wonderful movie. It swept the Academy Awards in 1966. The movie is about Thomas More, Henry VIII’s chancellor. It takes place in the 15th Century. In this movie, Thomas More says that people were debating whether the Earth is round or flat, and he wasn’t sure which side was right. That’s ridiculous. While illiterate peasants may have believed that the Earth is flat, educated people everywhere knew the Earth is round. Christopher Columbus was not trying to prove the Earth is round and neither was Magellan, although that is mentioned in many movies as well. The reason why you can see farther from the top of a watchtower or a ship’s mast than you can from the ground is because the Earth is round, and people have known that for thousands of years. Around 250 B.C., a Greek mathematician named Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth. His calculations were remarkably accurate. He was off by less than 1%.
About ‘The Four Corners of the Earth.’ This expression can be found in numerous places in both the Old Testament and the New Testament; however, this doesn’t mean that the people who wrote the Bible believed that the Earth actually has 4 corners. The ‘four corners of the Earth’ is a figure of speech, one that we still use today. It means ‘from all over the world’ or ‘from remote places’. I sometimes see people on TV who identify themselves as ‘religious conservatives’ who don’t seem to know what a figure of speech is or that the Bible is full of them. Perhaps the best-known Bible metaphor is: “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” It was written by King David, who undoubtedly knew that he wasn’t literally a sheep.
The Flat Earth Society. Many years ago, I got an application for an apartment from a U.C. Berkeley physics student. He was a member of the Flat Earth Society. At first, I thought this organization was a joke, but then I went to their website and realized that it is definitely not a joke. These people believe that the Earth looks like the map in the United Nations flag. See below. They have dozens, maybe hundreds, of papers and articles ‘proving’ that the Earth is flat as a pancake. There were 2 articles on the website that were written by the applicant for my apartment. They included math and geometry that was way over my head. After this guy left, I wondered – How could someone who believes that the Earth is flat get into Berkeley’s physics department?
MINT NEWMAN-O’S REPLACES MINT OREOS.
Dark chocolate and mint is a great combination. I have been making chocolate-covered mint Oreos for a long time, but I have switched to mint Newman-O’s. The only difference most people notice between them is the color of the filling. Mint Oreos have a green filling, but mint Newman O’s have a white filling. The first thing I noticed when comparing the ingredients of these products is that mint Oreos lists sugar first and flour second, whereas mint Newman-O’s lists flour first, and sugar second. Also, Newman-O’s don’t contain some problematic ingredients that are in Oreos, like corn syrup and artificial food coloring, which explains their green filling. Mint Newman-O’s definitely seem to be a healthier product.
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