The complicated origin of Amazon’s name

In the online shopping days when we can even order groceries in our PJs, it’s hard to remember a world without Amazon. But amazon.com almost never existed—or at least with that name.

At first, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos called his e-commerce company (at that point just a bookseller) Cadabra Inc. The name was a play off “abracadabra” to show how magical online shopping was. But after a lawyer misheard the name as “cadaver,” Bezos figured he should rebrand, according to Mashable.

A bit of brainstorming led Bezos to relentless.com—a name he and his wife were crazy about, according to Business Insider. Friends told him Relentless sounded unfriendly, but Bezos still bought the domain name in 1994. To this day, if you type relentless.com into your browser, you’ll go straight to the Amazon.com homepage. Seriously, try it! Same goes for browse.com and awake.com, two other names Bezos considered.

He also came up with the name Aard, with the pure intention of making it to the top of alphabetical lists. Before the days of Google’s complex algorithms, some search engines would arrange links alphabetically, so having an “A” name would be a definite advantage.

Finally, Bezos settled on Amazon. For one thing, he could still keep his company at the top of the alphabet. But borrowing the name of the world’s longest river was supposed to evoke how huge it would be, according to Mashable. After all, the site’s tagline was “Earth’s biggest bookstore” when it started—back before you could read books online for free.

Keep these eight simple tips for safe online shopping in mind before sharing your credit card information with an e-commerce site.

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Mystery Object of the Month: What Is It?

Johanna Hudson of Lower Sackville, N.S., writes, “My husband found this item at the dump but we have no idea what it’s used for. The handle is designed to hold easily, it’s made of metal and measures 14 1⁄2 inches in length. We’d love to find out what it is!”

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3 Tips for Adding Protein to a Diabetic Diet

Meat has its role to play a diabetic diet—as long as you choose carefully.

Meat contains fat, which is a drawback because fat means calories. We don’t propose that you should eliminate fat from your diet—that wouldn’t make sense. Fat adds flavour, richness and texture to foods. It makes you feel full and satisfied. And it helps the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and E. In fact, people who cut out too much fat from their diets are less likely to succeed at losing weight. That doesn’t mean, though, that you can eat all the fat you want or that every type of fat is good for you. Use the following guidelines to plan meals that provide a good helping of protein.

1. Cut Back on Saturated Fat

The culprit in most heart problems that are blamed on fat intake is saturated fat, the type found in meat and full-fat dairy products such as cheese. Saturated fat raises “bad” LDL cholesterol, the kind that clogs blood vessels and can lead to heart attacks and strokes – and you already have an increased risk of these when you have diabetes. Just as important for you, research shows that saturated fat may increase insulin resistance and make blood sugar control more difficult.

The trick is to choose lean meats and low-fat dairy products. It’s no great hardship.

In general, you should:

• Choose meats that are relatively low in saturated fats. Before cooking, trim off any visible fat from steaks, chops and cutlets, and from cubes of meat that are to be used in casseroles or stews. (Put meat in the freezer 20 minutes beforehand and it will firm it up, making it easier to cut.)
• Cook casseroles and stews ahead of time and allow them to cool overnight in the fridge. A layer of congealed fat will form on the top which can easily be skimmed off. Or drop a few ice cubes into a warm casserole or stew: the fat will solidify around them and they can then be lifted out.
• Eat chicken without the skin. (You can leave the skin on while cooking to help keep the meat moist, then remove it before eating.)
• Choose lower-fat versions of dairy foods. Skimmed milk, for example, is virtually fat-free, while whole milk gets almost half of its fat calories from saturated fat. For 100kcal, you can have either 300ml (10fl oz) skimmed milk or 150ml (5fl oz) whole milk.

2. Favour Oils, Nuts and Fish

Not all fat is bad for your heart or your insulin sensitivity (although all fat is high in calories). In fact, some fat—the unsaturated kind—is actually good for you. This type of fat lowers your “bad” cholesterol rather than raising it. And one type of unsaturated fat, called monounsaturated fat, has even been shown to help reduce insulin resistance and make blood sugar easier to control. Sources of monounsaturated fat are:

• Almonds and other nuts
• Avocados
• Olive oil and canola oil
• Peanuts and peanut butter
• Seeds

However, you’ll still have to watch how much you eat, because at 9 kilocalories per gram, even “good” fat can pack on the pounds. For example, peanut butter makes an excellent protein choice for a quick lunch or snacks, but you should limit yourself to 2 tablespoons because of its high fat content.

Fatty fish are another source of “good” fats: omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are the kind proven to cut the risk of a fatal heart attack—so people with diabetes should eat them. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in:

• Oily, cold-water fish such as salmon, tuna, canned sardines, and mackerel. Using the plate approach, you should aim to fill the protein quarter of your plate with fish two or three times a week.
• Shellfish such as prawns, lobster and mussels. They contain smaller amounts of omega-3s but are low in saturated fat and calories. They also contain other important nutrients for people with diabetes, including vitamin B12 and zinc.
• Certain vegetable oils such as linseed, walnut and rapeseed. But recent evidence suggests that these may not bestow the same benefits as oily fish.

3. Keep Dairy Foods on the Menu 

Dairy deserves a special mention because foods such as low-fat cheese and fat-free milk and yogurt are high in both protein and calcium. Why is calcium important? Studies have found that if you get adequate amounts of calcium this can help you to lose weight. This is because a lack of adequate calcium triggers the release of a hormone called calcitriol, which prompts the body to store fat. Eating two or three servings of calcium-rich dairy foods per day helps to keep calcitriol levels low so your body burns more fat and stores less. Taking calcium supplements doesn’t seem to produce the same effect, which has led researchers to conclude that dairy foods may have some other, as-yet-undiscovered, weight-loss advantage as well.

Not everyone tolerates the lactose in milk well, but if you are bothered by symptoms such as bloating and gas, you can ease dairy into your diet by having small amounts with meals, which slows the rate at which lactose enters your system. You can also forgo milk in favour of dairy foods that are naturally lower in lactose, such as low-fat cheese and yogurt.

Here are 3 More Ways to Manage Diabetes Through Diet!

Is Coffee Healthy or Harmful? Research Supporting the Health Benefits of Coffee:

Diabetes: A study of 14,000 people in Finland (the world’s greatest per-capita consumer of coffee) found that women who drank three to four cups a day cut their risk of developing diabetes by 29 per cent. For men, it was 27 per cent. Researchers aren’t sure why, but suspect that the antioxidants in coffee help deliver insulin to the body’s tissues.

Cancer: In Japan, a study of 90,000 people revealed those who drank coffee every day for ten years were half as likely to get liver cancer. Meanwhile, German scientists have identified an active compound in coffee called methylpyridinium that boosts enzymes thought to prevent colon cancer.

Parkinson’s Disease: Researchers in Hawaii monitored the health of more than 8,000 Japanese-American men for 30 years and discovered that those who drank a cup of coffee a day had less than half the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. A possible clue as to why: caffeine promotes the release of dopamine, a substance involved with movement and usually depleted in Parkinson’s sufferers.

Gallstones: A US study of 46,000 men who drank two to three cups of coffee a day over a ten-year period revealed they had a 40 percent lower risk of developing gallstones. Researchers believe it is because caffeine stimulates the gall bladder, flushing out substances that could turn into gallstones.

The Potentially Harmful Effects of Coffee:

Heart Attack and Stroke: There’s hot debate on whether drinking coffee is a cardiac risk. A Greek study of more than 3,000 people found coffee drinkers had higher levels of inflammatory substances (which have been associated with increased rates of stroke and heart attack) in their blood than non-drinkers. But Harvard researchers looking at the health of coffee drinkers over 20 years could not pinpoint any extra coronary problems. Nevertheless, a study of 2,028 Costa Ricans found those with a gene variant that processes caffeine four times slower than average, and who also drank two to three cups of coffee a day, upped their heart-attack risk by 36 per cent. As this group metabolises caffeine slower, it remains in the body for longer-possibly pushing up blood pressure.

Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Finnish study of 19,000 people revealed those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were twice as likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers believe some as-yet-unidentified ingredient (particularly in unfiltered coffee) could trigger the disease.

Osteoporosis: A Californian study of 980 post-menopausal women found that those who drank two cups of coffee a day suffered a greater loss in bone density than those who didn’t. How come? Because caffeine acts as a diuretic, increasing the amount of calcium excreted in urine.

So… Is Coffee Healthy or Harmful?

For most of us, the humble cup of coffee is simply a harmless and enjoyable way to kick-start the day or give us an excuse for some time out. No more, no less. However, it is important to remember that different people exhibit different tolerance levels to caffeine—it is, after all, a drug.

So, while a mid-morning cappuccino will give one person a pleasant buzz, it could make another person edgy and irritable. To play it safe, it’s best to err on the side of caution. Whatever your choice—espresso or latte—keep a watch on your consumption for the sake of both your short-term and long-term health.

Here are 11 Things That Might Happen to Your Body If You Switch From Coffee to Tea!

You’d think that being a little extra brainy would help you avoid the social faux pas of judging someone based on their looks, but as it turns out, even if you’re smart and more aware of the various cultures around you, you’re still prone to making the mistake of stereotyping. In fact, you’re even more likely to make this mistake. Those are the findings of a 2017 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

According to the study’s lead author, David Lick, a postdoctoral researcher in New York University’s Department of Psychology, “superior cognitive abilities are often associated with positive outcomes, such as academic achievement and social mobility. However, our work shows that some cognitive abilities can have negative consequences—specifically, that people who are adept at detecting patterns are especially quick to learn and apply social stereotypes.” Here are even more habits of smart people.

For the study, more than 1,257 participants were invited to complete six online experiments. Tests included studying a series of various male faces with a given set of behaviour descriptions. The faces had been purposefully altered so that certain facial features, like a wide nose, were described and associated with a negative stereotype. After looking at the faces, participants played a trust game, choosing how much money to give an avatar partner that displayed similar facial characteristics to the ones they were just shown. Despite the avatars being unrelated to the previous facial recognition tasks, participants gave less money to avatars whose facial features, such as a wide nose, were associated with negative behaviours.

There is good news though, as those with higher cognitive abilities are able to diminish their stereotyping when presented with new patterns that challenge existing stereotypical associations, Jonathan Freeman, PhD, a study co-author said. Researchers saw this dynamic during the participants’ final test, in which they were initially measured on previously held gender stereotypes, such as the idea that men are more authoritative and women are more submissive. After measuring their initial thoughts, those participants viewed a series of counter-stereotypical gender concepts, such as women being authoritative and men being submissive, before again having their thoughts measured. Results showed that exposure to the counterintuitive concepts reduced their previously held beliefs on gender.

“People with better pattern detection abilities are at greater risk of picking up on and applying stereotypes about social groups,” Lick told EurekAlert. “However, what’s promising about our findings is that people with higher cognitive ability also tend to more readily update their stereotypes when confronted with new information.

Dr. Freeman, who is an assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, also notes that the findings may help pave the way for future research that leverages pattern detection or other cognitive abilities to help reduce social biases.

There’s never a time or place for tasteless jokes, so why do some people insist on telling them? A new study sheds some light.

Your Pet Question: “Should I Stop My Dog From Eating Goose Droppings?”

“We live along the St. Lawrence River where there is a large goose population. Our mixed breed dog, Matty, purposely seeks out and eats a lot of goose feces when we walk her there. We try to stop her, but she’s often too fast. Will this gross habit harm her? And if so, how do we stop it?” – Candace Jamieson, Morrisburg

The Expert Says:

“Dogs eating poop is called coprophagia and it can be a health risk, especially with giardia. But the point is not what your dog is eating as much as her eating it when you say ‘NO’! You are only teaching her to consume the ‘treat’ faster when you try to stop her your way. If you’d rather not basket-muzzle her on your walks, you should teach her the ‘leave it!’ command. Start at home—dog on leash with treats on the floor. Walk her by and if she shows interest in it, say ‘leave it,’ then reward her with something better than what’s on the floor. (Be sure she doesn’t get the floor food!) Do this multiple times in short sessions. Be prepared when walking her outside to have something really yummy—even better that goose droppings!—to reward her for ‘leaving it’. Be sure to praise her and play with her as well. Soon, you won’t need treats and she will get what ‘leave it’ means, but continue the praise when she does.” – Ellie Ross of Kitchener, Ontario, is a professional animal behaviour consultant, owner of Wag and Train Inc., and the expert/host of CTV’s “Pup Talk”.

Check out these 10 Dog Training Tips to Stop Bad Behaviour!