Friday, September 03, 2010
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Huge emerald pulled from North Carolina farm | NWCN.com | NWCN - News
Huge emerald pulled from North Carolina farm | NWCN.com | NWCN - News: "The emerald compares in size and quality to one surrounded by diamonds in a brooch once owned by Catherine the Great, who was empress in the 18th century, that Christie's auction house in New York sold in April for $1.65 million, said C.R. 'Cap' Beesley, a New York gemologist who examined the stone."
Monday, August 30, 2010
Aging's Misunderstood Virtues - NYTimes.com
ron says, "an interesting read".
But perhaps there’s nothing wrong, said Dr. Tornstam, who has been investigating aging for more than 25 years."
Friday, August 27, 2010
Worldchanging: Bright Green: Hygroelectricity: A Prospective New Energy Source - Electricity Pulled Out of Thin Air!
Worldchanging: Bright Green: Hygroelectricity: A Prospective New Energy Source - Electricity Pulled Out of Thin Air!: "Recent scientific advancements have led to one innovation that can extract potable water from atmospheric moisture and another that produces synthetic fuel feedstock by removing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Science Daily now reports of cutting-edge clean energy developments that are poised to harvest the electrical energy produced naturally in the atmosphere."
Rednecks Can Be Tree Huggers (And Vice Versa) : TreeHugger
Rednecks Can Be Tree Huggers (And Vice Versa) : TreeHugger: "Redneck Yacht Club member. Image credit:Redneck Village, 'These R My People.'
Proper treehuggers follow Lloyd's admonition to keep living space down to just what you need to get by. The owner of the pictured 'house boat,' officially a member of the Redneck Yacht Club, gains easy entry to treehugger-dom - at least on vacation. I just hope the center of gravity is low enough to handle any bow waves that come along. Otherwise, second story passengers are going to spill their brewskis. Doing your part to combat invasive Asian carp also might qualify you as a double agent: a treehugger /redneck."
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Electronic Newspaper
ron thomas
Most mornings I get up and get a pot of coffee going and then turn on my computer and then read my email. After that, back to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee then back to the computer to read the newspaper. A lot of you might not know how to do that and it is one of the great joys of owning a computer... getting the morning news, and only the news you care about.
Google news literally searches the world for news stories in every paper and then brings to your computer the stories that the most people have clicked on and it does it as soon as those papers are published. It gives you a synopsis of the article and then lists under it links to what other papers have written. This is handy because maybe you do not like the paper that has the synopsis and want to see what another more trusted source is saying.
Off to the side of every story is a timer that shows you how long ago a story has been published. That is a means of getting your news "Hot off the press".
When you configure the news to your taste you can specify general topics like World News, Sports, Afghanistan, knitting doilies or any broad or narrow subject you like and you can have it fetch stories from your home town... Literally, any article published anywhere, any time. You have a whole range of categories you can put on or you can make your own up.
This the best newspaper I have ever had. It brings me the stuff I want to know about and none of the other stuff.
Want to set it up on your computer? I can do it with you step by step or you can do it yourself. Let me know.... teckron@gmail.com
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Computer Idea sharing
r. thomas
I tried teaching classes at the clubhouse but that was not the formula that was needed. Probably, because folks start out by wanting to do one thing on the machine and didn't want to use up precious retirement time having to learn all the basics.
So, we had an informal group that met to talk about (show and tell) what we had learned.. That was interesting from a hobbyist point of view. But it only attracted a few people that had laptop computers that they could bring with them to the clubhouse for "show and tell" sessions. That was fun for me and I learned a thing or three too. Wayne Hill (resident) has asked if we could start up such a group again. Sounds like fun but only for some.
Once a lady came to the meeting without a laptop and she wanted to learn how to just do one thing on her home computer... collect and organize recipes. We all spent a lot of time showing her the ropes and I'm not sure we did not confuse the heck out of her in the process. But, she left with the knowledge that what she wanted could be done. Later, much later, the lady asked if I could come to her house and show her how to do something on the computer... I did and apparently, she got it and I haven't heard from her again.
Time marched on and to date I find myself going to neighbors throughout the community and helping them understand the one thing they want to know about their computer. Others have computer glitzes and we try and help get them out of trouble and back on track. Sometimes we offer advice over the phone.
The thing is there seems to me to be 3 kinds of learning about computers here epitomized by the following statements:
- I just want to know how to do....
- Hey, let's meet and find out new things to do on the computer.
- Can you come and fix.....?
I am thinking right now about the long rainy season ahead and wonder if there is interest in having an informal group of laptop people meet at the clubhouse to drink coffee and help each other understand new stuff and folks that just want to know how to do one thing?
On the right side of this page is a poll... Please mark it up to show your interest. The questions are in black and hard to read so I want to know how to fix that.. :)
Friday, August 20, 2010
HumanCar is the self-funded brainchild of Charles Samuel Greenwood, an engineer who has been working on developing the perfect human-powered vehicle since the late 1960s. Now, it looks like his car is actually getting somewhere. According to Autoblog Green, the lightweight Imagine PS is street legal and, if four people are cranking inside, can run on human power alone. "PS" stands for "power station," naturally. Based in Eugene, Ore., HumanCar Inc. is preparing to start producing the car.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist - Attacking Social Security - NYTimes.com
Image via WikipediaOp-Ed Columnist - Attacking Social Security - NYTimes.com: "So where do claims of crisis come from? To a large extent they rely on bad-faith accounting. In particular, they rely on an exercise in three-card monte in which the surpluses Social Security has been running for a quarter-century don’t count — because hey, the program doesn’t have any independent existence; it’s just part of the general federal budget — while future Social Security deficits are unacceptable — because hey, the program has to stand on its own." 
Egg Recall Numbers Expand: Check Your Carton and Watch Your Order - Health Blog - CBS News
Image via WikipediaEgg Recall Numbers Expand: Check Your Carton and Watch Your Order - Health Blog - CBS News: "CBS) Now that the already massive egg recall has grown from 228 million to 380 million eggs due to the largest salmonella scare we've seen in years, consumers are wondering which eggs are safe.Three new brands have been added to the long list of eggs to check for possible contamination:
James Farms
Glenview
Pacific Coast
Below you'll find the complete list of eggs which may be infected with salmonella. They are all produced in Galt, Iowa by Wright County Egg, but they are sold in grocery stories under many different brands."
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Nanotech Tea Bag Purifies Drinking Water for Less Than a Penny | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
Image via Wikipedia
Nanotech Tea Bag Purifies Drinking Water for Less Than a Penny | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World: "Roughly 1 billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water, and contaminated water kills more people worldwide than all forms of violence combined. Seeking to provide a solution to this problem, South African researchers have created a water-purifying nanotech tea bag that costs half a cent. Portable, instantly effective and with no chance of recontamination, the tea bag sounds like the best idea since sliced bread."
Google TV plan is causing jitters in Hollywood - Los Angeles Times
Google TV plan is causing jitters in Hollywood - Los Angeles Times: "The search giant is touting an ambitious new technology, called Google TV, that would marry the Internet with traditional television, enabling viewers to watch TV shows and movies unshackled from the broadcast networks or cable channels on which they air. Users would need to buy a TV or set-top box with Google software that could connect to the Internet, along with a keyboard to type commands. Users could also use their iPhone or Android phone to operate Google TV." 
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Beloit College Mindset List
Beloit College Mindset List: "Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at www.beloit.edu/mindset, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually." 
News: Local | "Crabbers pleased at big haul" | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon
Image via WikipediaNews: Local | "Crabbers pleased at big haul" | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon: "NEWPORT — There are plenty of reasons to be worried about the ocean these days, from climate change to dead zones to rising sea levels. But there’s at least one very bright spot along Oregon’s coast, an indicator that in some ways, the Pacific is humming along just fine: It’s Dungeness crab." 
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