This Day in History

Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the first nationally recognized Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is known as a day dedicated to expressing gratitude to our mothers, gifts, brunch’s and pampering.

 

Where it all Began

Ann Reeves Jarvis started the process in the 1850’s when she held Mother’s Day work clubs” to improve conditions for women and children. After the Civil War, the clubs organized events called Mother’s Friendship Day picnics to unite mothers across America and encourage women to take a more active role in politics. Ann’s daughter, Anna, was inspired after her mother’s death to organize the first Mother’s day observance in 1908. Through Anna’s efforts, a growing number of cities across the country began observing Mother’s day after 1908. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May to be recognized as Mother’s day.

Interesting Factoids

 Mother’s day was intentionally left in its’ singular form to signify that the holiday wasn’t a day to celebrate all Mom’s just the most special one in each individual’s life.  Anna was adamant it stay in singular form to keep each Mother’s day observance unique to the special mom in one’s life. Anna recognized it as a day that you’d go home to spend quality time with your Mother and thank her for everything she’s done for her children.

 This weekend, it is estimated that American’s will spend $19.9 billion on mom. According to Hallmark, Mother’s day is their third largest holiday for sales behind Christmas and Valentine’s. Behind Christmas, it is the second most popular holiday to shop for gifts and is the year’s busiest day for the restaurant business.

At Paladin we want to take the time to recognize all the moms out there for everything they do day in and day out. Happy Mother’s Day!

7 Misconceptions about Technology

    1.       The web is the internet

One of the most common misconceptions people have today. Most people use the web as their method of using the internet. The internet actually began in the form we use it when Arpanet started using the TCP/IP system in 1983. Six years later, Tim Berners-Lee invented the web, made up of servers and clients which display the page (Internet Explore, Safari, Firefox etc.). The internet is the system of technologies under the surface, which enable the web to come to existence.  Without the internet, the web would seize to exist.

2.       Cookies are dangerous

Web cookies are plain text files that are used for websites to store information on your computer to manage your browsing. Unless there is a security flaw in your browser, cookies can’t have access or modify any files, change settings or execute code. The only real concern people have is the lack of privacy in your browsing habits.

3.       It is necessary to let your phone’s battery drain before charging it

When a device uses Nickel cadmium batteries, it is advisable to let the battery drain fully before charging it. Nickel cadmium batteries suffer from what’s called the memory effect, when the battery is charged and discharged often enough; it begins to lose ability to charge the battery at 100%. The good news is most electronics now run on lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries don’t suffer from the memory effect and can be recharged at any time. Apple, whose products run on lithium-ion batteries, does recommend that you let your device’s battery drain from 100% to 0% once a month to help maintain life of the battery.

4.       More bars on your smartphone, mean better service

Bars on your smartphone indicate your signal strength to the cell tower closest to you. The misconception is that your signal strength signals service quality; however, your service quality actually depends on how many devices the cell tower is serving at a given time. You may have noticed that when you go to a large sporting event or festival, you have bars but you can’t effectively communicate on your phone. This is because the cell tower isn’t equipped to serve the influx of people in that one area at a given time.

5.       Emptying the trash or recycle bin will permanently delete files

Emptying the trash doesn’t delete a file permanently, it just frees up the space used on the hard drive. There will still be fragments left on the hard drive that could still be revived in the future.

6.       Macs don’t get viruses

It is true that Macs aren’t as susceptible to viruses as Windows’ devices; however, this can be attributed to the fact that Windows was the most common operating system until just a few years ago. With Mac’s gaining popularity, they are becoming more at risk to get viruses targeted specifically at Mac products. The good news for Mac users is that their OS X operating system does currently have much less paralyzing viruses to worry about.

7.       I should wait to upgrade because there is something new coming out just around the corner

In the tech world, there will ALWAYS be something right around the corner scheduled to be released. This is just the nature of the industry; if you get caught up in this mindset you will never upgrade and suffer the consequences for it. Though there are times it makes sense to delay an upgrade, make sure you have weighed the benefits with the costs of waiting.