Shout out to Michelle Barbara and Cowabunga Ice Cream for sending me the following tasty ice cream facts.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month (July 17, 2011) as National Ice Cream Day. Photo Credit: James Ross/Getty Images

Did you know?

Each American consumes a yearly average of 23.2 quarts of ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, ices and other commercially produced frozen dairy products.

The Northern Central states have the highest per capita consumption of ice cream at 41.7 quarts.

More ice cream is sold on Sunday than any other day of the week.

Ice cream and related frozen desserts are consumed by more than 90 percent of households in the United States.

Ice cream consumption is highest during July and August.

The most popular flavor of ice cream in the United States is vanilla (27.8%), followed by chocolate (14.3%), strawberry (3.3%), chocolate chip (3.3%) and butter pecan (2.8%).

Children ages two through 12, and adults age 45 plus, eat the most ice cream per person.

The average number of licks to polish off a single scoop ice cream cone is approximately 50.

History of Ice Cream

Ice Cream Sundae

Photos - Ice Cream History

Ice Cream Cone

What do smart people do when they have time off. Keep their minds nimble and sharp with brain games that improve spatial recall, logic, memory, problem solving and more. All while keeping them very entertained.

I've selected a few free online brain games for you to try out and tossed in some convincing arguments as to why you should play brain games. Basically, use it or lose it. Photo Credit: Getty Images

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You should be aware of them. They are in the business of helping people find prior art. Article One Partners uses the power of the global online community to research evidence that relates to the claims of novelty of selected patents. A patent, in essence, tells the story of a technology as of a certain date. Its validity is analyzed based in part on whether the same story is told in earlier publications. You can request a study be done by the AOP community for such publications that relate to select patents. These publications, known formally as prior art, are publicly available and may be in any language from anywhere in the world. Article One Partners offers compensation to researchers from 176 countries to help find prior art, and that reduces the risk of infringement assertions by competitors, and improves your patent quality.

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Photo-luminescence by definition is the emission of light from a molecule or atom that has absorbed electromagnetic energy: examples include fluorescence and phosphorescence materials. Photo-luminescence spectroscopy is a contact-less, nondestructive method of probing the electronic structure of materials.

The photo to the right depicts photo-luminescence materials spread on 7-inch wide roll. This is from a patent pending technology developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that uses small organic molecule materials to create organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and other electronics. Proof-of-principle of the technique has been demonstrated by successfully coating the small molecule Alq3 on a PET substrate (photo). The method may also be used to produce "patterned" electronic thin-film devices in which an active small molecule organic material is selectively deposited on a substrate to form a pattern appropriate for the operation of the device. Photo: Department of Energy

History of Glow in the Dark
Glow in the dark powders, glow sticks, ropes etc. are all fun examples of photo-luminescence. Phosphorus and its various compounds are phosphorescents, or materials that glow in the dark. Before knowing what phosphorus was, its glowing properties have been reported in ancient writings. The oldest known written observations were made in China, dating back to 1000 B.C. regarding fireflies and glow-worms. In 1602, Vincenzo Casciarolo, discovered the phosphorus glowing "Bolognian Stones" just outside of Bologna that started the first scientific study of photo-luminescence.

Phosphorus was first isolated in 1669 by German physician Hennig Brand. Brand was an alchemist who was attempting to change metals into gold when he isolated phosphorus. All glow in the dark products contain phosphor. To make a glow in the dark toy, toy makers use a phosphor that is energized by normal light and that has a very long persistence - the length of time it glows. Zinc Sulfide and Strontium Aluminate are the two most commonly used phosphors.

Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark".