November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month

1. Southern Peanut Growers, representing southeastern peanut farmers, started the celebration as Peanut Butter Lovers Day on November 4, 1990. November 4 marks the anniversary of the first patent for peanut butter, applied for by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg on November 4, 1895.
2. Eating peanuts and peanut butter helps control hunger without leading to weight gain.
3. Studies found peanuts lowered the risk of cardiovascular and coronary heart disease. 
4. Eating peanuts and peanut butter may reduce colon cancer in women.
5. A study found that those getting the most niacin from foods were 70 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Peanuts are one of the foods highest in niacin.
6. In two studies, individuals eating five or more servings of nuts per week had a 25 percent to 30 percent lower risk of getting gallstones compared to those who rarely or never ate nuts. 
7. Although peanuts are technically classified as a legume, they were considered nuts for these experiments, so peanuts are actually the most commonly consumed ‘nut’ in the world.
8. All of the fat in peanut butter is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. A study found that insulin-resistant adults who ate a diet high in mono-saturated fat had less belly fat than people who ate more carbohydrates or saturated fat.
9. Eating peanuts can reduce the risk of diabetes according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
10. Peanut butter has protein as well as potassium — which lowers the risk of high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. It also contains fiber for your bowel health, healthy fats, magnesium to fortify your bones and muscles, Vitamin E and antioxidants.
11. Peanuts are susceptible to molds and fungus — some of which are highly toxic. A fungus called Aspergillus flavus produces a carcinogen that is twenty times more toxic than DDT, called aflatoxin. 
12. Feed your dogs peanut butter. The vitamins E and H (Biotin) in peanut butter can help to improve your dog's coat, dog skin, and nail strength. However, it is better to make your own and avoid feeding your dog high salt levels in commercial brands. Also, don't feed it to overweight dogs, as it is calorie-laden. Use little dollops of peanut butter to help your dogs swallow their pills. Warning: Some dogs may be allergic to peanut butter. Make sure your dog won't have allergic reactions before feeding him or her the peanut butter. Some people are amused by the mess dogs make when fed peanut butter because they can't get it off their mouths easily. This can be upsetting for the dog, so only feed it small amounts at a time.

Sources:

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/the-facts/fun-facts/

http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-Peanut-Butter-Lovers-Month

http://peanutbutterlovers.com/uncategorized/november-peanut-butter-lovers-month/

http://www.punchbowl.com/holidays/national-peanut-butter-lovers-day

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/11/november-is-peanut-butter-lovers-month.html

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/8-health-benefits-of-peanut-butter.html

http://www.peanut-institute.org/health-and-nutrition/default.asp

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/the-facts/fun-facts/

The Boolean Man - George Boole

1. Today is the 200th birthday of George Boole, the man famous for his Boolean logic, was an English mathematician, educator, philosopher and logician. He worked in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic, and is best known as the author of The Laws of Thought which contains Boolean algebra.
2. He was born on 2 November 1815 at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.
3. His legacy was Boolean logic, a theory of mathematics in which all variables are either "true" or "false", or "on" or "off". 
4. The mathematician became one of the founding fathers of modern computer science and engineering – despite never finishing school  but it took him several years to master calculus as he had no tutor. 
5. His system of Boolean Logic paved the way for modern electrical engineering and computer science  and his ideas were put to use more than 70 years after his death when Victor Shestakov at Moscow State University in Russia proposed using the system to design electrical switches, according to the Scientific American. 
6. He was a polymath having learned French, German, Latin and Greek.
7. He founded a school when he was just 19 in the year 1839 and also in 1840.
8. He became the first professor of mathematics at the newly founded Queen’s College, Cork (now University College Cork) in Ireland in 1849. 
9. Boole was awarded the Keith Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1855 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857. He received honorary degrees of LL.D. from the University of Dublin and Oxford University.
10. He died of fever-induced pleural effusion on 8 December 1864 (aged 49) at Ballintemple, County Cork, Ireland and was buried in the Church of Ireland cemetery of St Michael's, Church Road, Blackrock (a suburb of Cork City). There is a commemorative plaque inside the adjoining church.
11. Boolean algebra is named after him, as is the crater Boole on the Moon. The keyword Bool represents a Boolean datatype in many programming languages, though Pascal and Java, among others, both use the full name Boolean.[33] The library, underground lecture theatre complex and the Boole Centre for Research in Informatics[34] at University College Cork are named in his honour. A road called Boole Heights in Bracknell, Berkshire is named after him.
12. Google honored him today, 2 November 2015, for his  11001000th birthday with a doodle.

Sources:

George Boole: Five things you probably didn’t know about the man behind today's Google Doodle 
George Boole: How mathematical genius's Boolean logic led to the digital age 
George Boole