Things I learned lately 21 Jul

• Phoenix lately: High 46.5C. Low 35C.
• Seeding storm clouds with silver iodide particles actually increases hailstone formation, which in turn increases quantity while it reduces their size and consequently, the damage created by them.
• The area of total burnt forest in Canada this year so far is bigger than the country of Portugal. 
• Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, will soon be allowing customers to pay for their purchases using a new type of biometric - your palm. Once registered, you would simply wave your palm over the reader as a means of identifying yourself and paying. “Pay with Palm”
• Pelinti: From the Buli language (spoken in Ghana). You know that thing you do where you unwittingly bite into something piping hot, and as it burns your mouth, you start pushing it around in hopes of getting it to cool down? That's what pelinti describes. More specifically, it means “to move hot food around in your mouth.”
• The average new car price in Canada is over $66,000.
• Henry Kissinger is 100 years old.
• When Coco Chanel developed an accidental suntan in 1923, many suggest it was the moment that sunbathing became a cultural phenomenon. Porcelain-skinned women were everywhere, because a tan had been associated with the working class that spent most of their days working outside and exposed to the sun. In many parts of the world, fair skin had long been an indication of one’s social status. Slowly, more skin was on display in modern western civilization. Hemlines got higher, sleeves got shorter, bonnets and parasols ditched. The rich were also playing more sports and spending more leisurely time at the seashore while on the other end of the spectrum, labourers were moving inside to factories and losing their tan. Until recently, even Chinese women preferred to stay as white as possible. The first sun tan oil "Huile de Chaldee" appeared in 1927.