Saturday, November 12, 2005

Our Faith in Science - New York Times

Our Faith in Science - New York Times: "Our Faith in Science
EDITRO'S NOTE:
TENZIN GYATSO is the 14th Dali Lama

By TENZIN GYATSO
Published: November 12, 2005

Washington

SCIENCE has always fascinated me. As a child in Tibet, I was keenly curious about how things worked. When I got a toy I would play with it a bit, then take it apart to see how it was put together. As I became older, I applied the same scrutiny to a movie projector and an antique automobile.
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Karen Barbour

At one point I became particularly intrigued by an old telescope, with which I would study the heavens. One night while looking at the moon I realized that there were shadows on its surface. I corralled my two main tutors to show them, because this was contrary to the ancient version of cosmology I had been taught, which held that the moon was a heavenly body that emitted its own light."

UK Psychics Report - Did ancient Egyptians use kite power to build pyramids?

UK Psychics Report - Did ancient Egyptians use kite power to build pyramids?: "DID EGYPTIANS USE KITE POWER TO BUILD PYRAMIDS?


Using kite power to lift an obelisk PALMDALE, California
When people think about the building of the Egyptian pyramids, they probably have a mental image of thousands of slaves laboriously rolling massive stone blocks into place with logs and levers. But one Caltech aeronautics professor has set out to demonstrate that the task could have been accomplished by several people using a kite to move the heavy stones.
On June 23, Mory Gharib and his team raised a 6,900-pound (3132.6 kg), 15-foot (3.0 m) obelisk into vertical position in the desert near Palmdale by using only a kite, a pulley system, and a support frame. Although the blustery winds were gusting up to 22 miles (35.4 km) per hour, the team set the obelisk upright on their second attempt."

Friday, November 11, 2005

Requesting Your Help

Requesting Your Help With A New Feature...

Well, Blogger has made some inroads into a problem we once had and I am going to give an old problem a new try with a different twist. You can help by testing out this new feature for me.

As you know we have an electronic bulletin board that is a bit cumbersome because you have to email me and I put the ads on for you... Well we are going into a trial period where you can put as many as ads as you would like on by yourself. We’ve automated it.

What I would like you to do is visit the Bulletin Board site using the link on the left of this site. Once there you will find instructions on the left side of the board. Put an item up for sale/trade/free or just say,” Hi Ron”. Then use the return link to return to this page. Wait a bit and then click the bulletin board again and see if your ad posted itself.

Thanks for the help..RT
Wonder What's in Sunnyvale where we spent the last two weeks moving our daughter?
Lori and I took a few hours off on Saturday and she ferried me around to some of the city's hotspots which I just couldn't resist having my pictures shot. Everything here is within a few blocks of each other.





The Picture below is taken in front of NASA's world largest wind tunnel.



I love my Microsoft.





end Posted by Picasa

VETERANS DAY

VETERANS DAY: "More | Subscribe | 14-Day Archives (Free) | Long-Term Archives (Paid)
VETERANS DAY
Friday, November 11, 2005

Coming home to lives forever changed

I t was November 1968 and the sky was dark and gray. We flew under the storm as choppers dropped us off at the base of the mountains. We carried 80-pound packs, rifles, machine guns, Claymores, mortars and hand grenades. We carried C-rations, water, battle-dressings and perfumed letters from home, wrapped in plastic. Our squad was the first one out as we climbed into the jungle, and Gurney was on point."

Coast Guard saves 6 fishermen

Coast Guard saves 6 fishermen: "Coast Guard saves 6 fishermen
Friday, November 11, 2005

DEPOE BAY -- The U.S. Coast Guard rescued six fishermen who had to abandon their sinking boat, the Coast Guard said.

The operator of the Bold Contender contacted the Coast Guard on Thursday morning, saying the vessel was taking on water. The Coast Guard launched a helicopter, a motor lifeboat and a surf rescue boat."

Bound by war and a friend

Bound by war and a friend: "More | Subscribe | 14-Day Archives (Free) | Long-Term Archives (Paid)
Bound by war and a friend
Vietnam vets haven't forgotten Gresham's William L. Sperb, 36 years after his death
Friday, November 11, 2005
ERIC MORTENSON

It's midafternoon on April 14, 1969, and a Marine rifle company in South Vietnam has taken casualties. A CH-46 helicopter lifts off to pick up the wounded, heading to a jungle-shrouded hill south of Da Nang called Charlie Ridge, because it's so favored by the Viet Cong.

Onboard are a couple of tough, seasoned pilots; an ingenious, decorated crew chief nicknamed Gooie; a pair of door gunners manning .50-caliber machine guns; a combat photographer who talked his way aboard; and Navy Corpsman William L. Sperb."

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Samuel Goldwyn
'Television has raised writing to a new low.'"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Stolen from my son's website... A touching story by Rob Thomas


Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Happy 230th Birthday Marines! In honor of the Mar...
Happy 230th Birthday Marines!

In honor of the Marine Corps 230th birthday, I thought I'd share one of my favorite stories. I performed the colors ceremony at Camp Pendleton more times than I could possibly remember, so I'm always touched by this story whenever I read it.

A foreign diplomat who often criticized American policy once observed a United States Marine perform the evening colors ceremony. The diplomat wrote about this simple but solemn ceremony in a letter to his home ministry:

During one of the past few days, I had occasion to visit the U.S. Embassy in our capital after official working hours. I arrived at a quarter to six and was met by the Marine on guard at the entrance of the Chancery. He asked if I wouldn't mind waiting while he lowered the two American flags at the Embassy. What I witnessed over the next 10 minutes so impressed me that I am now led to make this occurrence part of my ongoing record of this distressing era.

The Marine was dressed in a uniform which was spotless and neat; he walked with a measured tread from the entrance of the Chancery to the stainless steel flagpole before the Embassy and, almost reverently, lowered the flag to the level of his reach where he began to fold it in military fashion. He then released the flag from the clasps attaching it to the rope, stepped back from the pole, made an about face, and carried the flag between his hands--one above, one below--and placed it securely on a stand before the Chancery. He then marched over to the second flagpole and repeated the same lonesome ceremony. On the way between poles, he mentioned to me very briefly that he would soon be finished. After completing his task, he apologized for the delay out of pure courtesy, as nothing less than incapacity would have prevented him from fulfilling his goal, and said to me, “Thank you for waiting, Sir. I had to pay honor to my country"

Photo Gallery: Hurricane Heaves "Tsunami" on Bahamas Island

Photo Gallery: Hurricane Heaves "Tsunami" on Bahamas Island: "November 9, 2005—Rubble remains where buildings once stood in the village of Eight Mile Rock on the island of Grand Bahama.

On October 24 Hurricane Wilma made landfall on the small island some 65 miles (105 kilometers) off the Florida coast.

Small, remote fishing villages like Eight Mile Rock on the island's West End sustained the heaviest damage."

Video in the News: Land Diving—Bungee Jump of Faith

Video in the News: Land Diving—Bungee Jump of Faith: "Video in the News: Land Diving—Bungee Jump of Faith
November 9, 2005—It's an offering to the gods, a test of courage, and an ancient precursor to bungee jumping. The ritual known as land diving, which researchers believe dates back nearly 15 centuries, still takes place every spring on the South Pacific island of Pentecost. See villagers perform this daring feat as they literally risk their necks to secure harvest blessings and prove their bravery."

National Geographic Channel: Explorer: Explorer: Pyramids of Death

National Geographic Channel: Explorer: Explorer: Pyramids of Death: "Explorer: Pyramids of Death

Heidi Shin and Bill Kelso

The Jamestown We Knew…

In 1607, 13 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock, just over 100 English men and boys seeking gold, profit, opportunity and adventure in the New World landed on a small island in the James River and established Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America, and what would eventually become the birthplace of the United States.

What you usually hear about Jamestown are the stories of Pocahontas coming to the aid of John Smith and his starving men. What’s not so well known is that Jamestown is the birthplace of American democracy and free enterprise. Also what you don’t hear about is just what the relationship between the settlers and the Indians was really like. And rarely are questions asked about the effectiveness of John Smith’s leadership and the role of his followers—their endeavors and struggles, how they lived and died. That’s what archaeologists wanted to learn when launching the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, but they ended up unearthing much more than they had bargained for."

USATODAY.com - Drug plan options lead to confusion

USATODAY.com - Drug plan options lead to confusion: "Drug plan options lead to confusion
By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
With enrollment set to begin Tuesday for the new Medicare drug benefit, federal officials say they have fixed computer glitches on an official government website aimed at helping members select coverage.

Dozens of private companies are approved to offer coverage to Medicare members who choose to enroll — and coverage starts in January. In most areas of the country, Medicare members have 40 or more plan options from which to choose."

Appetite-suppressing hormone obestatin may help fight obesity, study

Appetite-suppressing hormone obestatin may help fight obesity, study: "Appetite-suppressing hormone obestatin may help fight obesity, study
By
Nov 11, 2005, 10:17


A new hormone named obestatin may be used someday to help people with obesity control their appetite and lose weight.

Obestatin, a recently discovered anti-hunger peptide hormone, when injected into laboratory rats, reduced food intake and caused weight loss in the rats, according to a new report published in the Nov. 11 issue of Science.
"

Photo Gallery: 'Godzilla' Fossils Reveal Real-Life Sea Monster

Photo Gallery: 'Godzilla' Fossils Reveal Real-Life Sea Monster: "Photo Gallery: 'Godzilla' Fossils Reveal Real-Life Sea Monster
Image: Illustration of an ancient marine reptile

Fossils from a real-life sea monster—a massive crocodile-like species—have been unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina. The animal likely measured 13 feet (4 meters) long from nose to tail.

The researchers who made the discovery say the marine reptile, nicknamed Godzilla, lived about 135 million years ago. They describe their find in the November 11, 2005, issue of the journal Science."

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Family Computing - Discover more about what you like, think and believe

Family Computing - Discover more about what you like, think and believe: "Family Computing - Discover more about what you like, think and believe
Thursday, November 10, 2005
KATHLEEN BLYTHE

The journey to adulthood involves learning to make choices and decisions. Children who can think independently and know their own mind will have an easier time resisting peer pressure. Encouraging your children to think about who they are and what they value can be as simple as reflecting on the music they like to hear, the food they like to eat, favorite sports, hobbies, movies and books. Check out these Web sites to take the investigation further.

Ancestors PBS Series www.pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors"

Even with a high-tech spin, some tales are still urban legends

THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE. We will be puting links to these urban legend sites on our web page soon...RT

Even with a high-tech spin, some tales are still urban legends: "More | Subscribe | 14-Day Archives (Free) | Long-Term Archives (Paid)
Even with a high-tech spin, some tales are still urban legends
Thursday, November 10, 2005

You'd think as people become more techno-savvy, these crazy Internet warning e-mails would die off. Instead, they're more common than ever. They're changing, though. It's hard to believe, but lately a slightly higher percentage of the crazy-sounding cautionary tales are turning out to be . . . true. Or partly true. In some cases, slightly true.

Today's assortment comes with an appropriate theme: high technology.

Electrocution by cell phone: Several readers have passed along an e-mail warning folks not to answer their cell phones when the phones are being charged. 'Several days ago,' the message reads, a young man took a call on a phone 'still connected to an electrical outlet. Electricity flowed into the cell phone unrestrained, and the young man was thrown to the ground with a heavy thud,' dead.

Internet myth investigators have found only one apparent instance of this unfortunate kind of death, and it occurred years ago in India. No one can explain how it happened, because experts agree there is not enough current flowing into a charging cell phone to kill anyone."

Don't let winter knock plants out cold

Don't let winter knock plants out cold: "Don't let winter knock plants out cold
Take precautions to protect leafy pals; the frost won't do them any favors
Thursday, November 10, 2005
DIANA K. COLVIN

You're thinking scarves and gloves when you head outside these days. Well, so are some of your plants. A few may even be wishing for a vacation in a warmer locale.

Lori Vollmer, co-owner of Garden Fever in Northeast Portland, has some advice to help protect plants from winter's chill. Ideally, the work should be done before the first hard frost."

LEWIS AND CLARK

LEWIS AND CLARK: "LEWIS AND CLARK
Thursday, November 10, 2005

One enduring legacy of Corps of Discovery

T wo hundred years ago this week, Lewis and Clark neared the end of their perilous journey to the Pacific. The recent weather should remind us of what life might have been like for the Corps of Discovery as it made its way down the Columbia River Gorge.

Earlier, members of the expedition had climbed atop a mesa overlooking the Columbia, below its confluence with the Snake River in Southeastern Washington, revealing a distant Mount Hood. This put them 'back on the map,' for they knew before they began their journey that Mount Hood was but a few days' travel from the ocean."

USATODAY.com - Cars soon may 'talk' to roads, each other

USATODAY.com - Cars soon may 'talk' to roads, each other: "
Posted 11/9/2005 10:48 PM Updated 11/10/2005 12:33 AM






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Cars soon may 'talk' to roads, each other
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
UTSUNOMIYA, Japan — As the Japanese version of a Honda Accord pulls up to a blind intersection, the navigation screen flashes the urgent message 'Caution: Oncoming Vehicle!'
A warning registers on the Honda Accord's navigation system screen when a motorbike is about to cross its path. A warning registers on the Honda Accord's navigation system screen when a motorbike is about to cross its path.
Honda

A moment later, a motorbike whizzes past, its electronically transmitted warning having potentially saved it from a collision with the car.

The demonstration at Honda's test center outside Tokyo previews what is shaping up as the next phase of automotive safety: vehicles that talk to each other and the highway system itself."

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Albert Einstein
'The important thing is not to stop questioning.'"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

CALIFORNIA BALLOT MEASURES
Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Ballot Measures RealTime Results..."

DriversDrive.com: Ford Tough on Bathroom Breaks

DriversDrive.com: Ford Tough on Bathroom Breaks: "Ford Tough on Bathroom Breaks

A recent Detroit News article discusses an unlikely auto industry subject -- bathroom breaks at Ford. Apparently a Ford memo went around that said 'Ford supervisors will begin collecting weekly data on the amount of time workers spend on bathroom breaks and 'respond appropriately.' The Detroit News story said that many workers and analysts think the move is unwise but Ford says the bathroom break rules are in the UAW contract."

Wired News: New Screening Tech Misses Nothing

Wired News: New Screening Tech Misses Nothing: "New Screening Tech Misses Nothing



By Abby Christopher

02:00 AM Oct. 11, 2005 PT

Bad news for terrorists and drug traffickers: The hunt for narcotics, explosives and biohazards is about to get faster and easier thanks to new research from Purdue University.

A new testing method can, for the first time, speedily check objects and people for traces of chemical compounds. The detection technology known as mass spectrometry is already in use by forensic scientists.


'Mass spectrometry is one of the most sensitive methods for finding drugs, chemicals, pollutants and disease, but the problem is that you have to extract a sample and treat that sample before you can analyze it,' said Evan Williams, a chemistry professor at UC Berkeley.

That process can take anywhere from two to 15 minutes for each sample. Multiply that by the number of people in line at airport security at JFK the day before Thanksgiving, and you've got a logistical nightmare on your hands.

The research from Purdue, led by analytical chemistry professor Graham Cooks, developed a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, that eliminates a part of the mass spectrometry process, and thus speeds up the detection of substances to less than 10 seconds, said Williams."

News in Science - Space tractor could tow away asteroids - 10/11/2005

News in Science - Space tractor could tow away asteroids - 10/11/2005: "No need to send Bruce Willis into space with a nuclear bomb. The best way to deal with a killer asteroid hurtling towards Earth could be a 'gravity tractor'.

Two NASA astronauts, gently mocking the solution offered in the Hollywood blockbuster Armageddon have come up with a deceptively simple plan to pull asteroids off course.

Dr Edward Lu and Dr Stanley Love propose in today's issue of the journal Nature that a rocket be launched into space, effectively to act as a giant magnet.

Landing on an asteroid, which is no more than a spinning pile of rubble, is very difficult to achieve.
"

Gigantic Apes Coexisted with Early Humans, Study Finds

Gigantic Apes Coexisted with Early Humans, Study Finds: "Gigantic Apes Coexisted with Early Humans, Study Finds
By Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 07 November 2005
01:34 pm ET


A gigantic ape standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 1,200 pounds lived alongside humans for over a million years, according to a new study.

Fortunately for the early humans, the huge primate's diet consisted mainly of bamboo.

Scientists have known about Gigantopithecus blackii since the accidental discovery of some of its teeth on sale in a Hong Kong pharmacy about 80 years ago. While the idea of a giant ape piqued the interest of scientists – and bigfoot hunters – around the world, it was unclear how long ago this beast went extinct.

Precise dating

Now Jack Rink, a geochronologist at McMaster University in Ontario, has used a high-precision absolute-dating method to determine that this ape – the largest primate ever – roamed Southeast Asia for nearly a million years before the species died out 100,000 years ago during the Pleistocene period. By this time, humans had existed for a million years."

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

We arrived in Newpor

We arrived in Newport at 4:30pm Wednesday...

We had 12 calls stacked up on the answering machine... So for those that have called it will take us awhile to sort out all the questions and problems. Meanwhile, the websites really need a good updating and I will be on that probably for a couple of days. Don’t forget the Fall dinner. As soon as we are in the loop on that we will have more to say. Two things you could comment to us about that we are really interested in is

  1. How was Marie’s Birthday Party? And whoever is collecting for it let us know we want to chip in.

2. How was the catered breakfast?

The Senior Funnies W

The Senior Funnies Website...


We have updated the funnies with 25 pictures sent in by Charles Burke. If you need to lighten your heart just click the link icon on the left of the page.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Why the website..

Why the website looks kind of sparse....

RT

You may have wondered where all the news items and quotes...links to cool sites and all that have gone? Of course we are busy down here in Sunnyvale and there are some time constraints.. But the real reason we can't come up with a full page daily is Apple Computer. .... My daughter has a MacIntosh and it just will not do a lot of the functions that are setup on my little PC notebook computer. So it cuts down on all the slick stuff such as pictures and news quotes that we can normally do. Her computer is the one tied to the net ... So it is the one we have to use... That will be coming to a change this Tuesday as we start home to Oregon. By Thursday I will be setting in the dining room at home publishing to our site and doing the things necessary to keep it up and running in first class shape.

I will be interested in teaching a class on how to write on the website. It has become a very simple process and we would like to see a lot of neighbors reporting throughout the community on interesting things. That would give the site more continuity when we have to be away.

Just how easy is it to write now? I think some of you who wrote before found the process a bit difficult and those folks who created this media have now made it as simple as writing something on Microsoft Word and clicking a publish button. Google, the sponsors of this site made a tool bar that downloads to your computer in about 10 seconds. When you tell it to install it goes to your Microsoft Word program and installs itself there. If you write something and want it on the website you just click publish or save as draft and it then publishes directly to the website. That's it.

There are a few other things that have to occur such as signing you on to the website as a member but I am going to do all that for anyone who wants to be a reporter. So in reality all you have to do is download the new Google toolbar and I will even do that for you if you would like.

Interested? email me at teckron@hotmail.com