Chocolate Shake Please

Add plastic made from plants (technology exists), to test-tube hamburger (and other meats, coming this fall), to the Replicator (already exists) and you get Star Trek. It sounds far-fetched, but it is now possible. We already have many artificial flavors, made from natural and laboratory artificial ingredients. One can also find many artificial colors. So, how would it work?

On board a space station there would be a greenhouse for growing plants that would provide the oxygen for the station. Some of those ‘greens’ would also be the various vegetables. Instead of a lot of scraps, there would need to be a way to recycle. What better way than to feed these scraps of grasses and vegetables to a replicator?

A computer program would decide the combination and all it would take then is a vocal recognition program would be used for input. Make your selection and sit and enjoy a totally vegetarian meal that tastes like steak and potatoes. Star Trek is here!

system cleanup

CPR for your PC

As computers age and as they are used, they tend to slow down. You can take your computer to a local computer repair shop where they will charge you ten bags of wheat or half your yearly income to clean it up, or you can save the wheat to make bread and do much of the work yourself. Steps 1 through 4 are just for information so that when you do decide to upgrade, you know ahead of time what you have and what you may need. Steps 5 through ten only need to be done once. The main part of the cleanup starts at step 6. If you already know the information in step 4 you may skip it. Steps 1through 3 should be performed. Skip step 5 if you are uncomfortable with making that drastic of a change and proceed to step 11.

First, don’t try pressing and releasing your PCs heart (the processor), while holding its nose (finger over the mouse input), as you blow into its mouth (the keyboard input). That won’t work and just upsets the motherboard. Instead:

[Note: word(s) that are to be clicked on will be enclosed in brackets [].

1. Shut off computer. This gives RAM time to clean out.
2. Wait one full minute.
3. Restart Computer.
4. Once you are back at desktop (the screen with the little pictures called icons).
   1. Click on [Start]
   2. Click on [Control panel]
   3. Double click on [System]
   4. Write down the processor speed (in gHz)
   5. Write down the amount of RAM (lower part of screen)

Suggested minimum optimum sizes

1. XP: 1 gig, will run with 512 meg
2. Vista and Windows 7: 2 gig, will run with 1 gig.
3. Click on [x] in upper right of screen to close window.
4. Click on [Start]
   1. Click on [run]
   2. Type msconfig in the window, all lower case.
   3. Click [ok]
   4. Click on [Startup] tab on far right.
   5. Click on [disable all].

Note: This operation only stops these programs from starting up and running in the background when the computer is started.

1. Click [apply]
2. Click [ok]
3. Click [restart]
4. When the computer boots up, three windows will appear.
5. On the first screen click the box at the bottom that reads, “Do not show this

screen again”

1. Click [ok]
2. On the second screen, click [ok]

10. On the third screen, click [exit without restarting]

11. Click on [Start].

1. Scroll up to All programs
2. Scroll over and up to accessories
3. Scroll down to system tools
4. Scroll down to and click on [disk defragmenter]

12. Click on [Start].

1. Scroll up to All programs
2. Scroll over and up to accessories
3. Scroll down to system tools
4. Scroll down to and click on [disk cleanup]
5. Click on [ok], to delete these unneeded files

13. Click on [Start]

a. Scroll up and over to and click on [control panel]

b. Double click on internet options

c. In the browsing history section, click on [delete]

d. Ensure ‘temporary internet files and cookies have a check mark in their

respective boxes.

e. Click [delete]

f. When it finishes deleting, (a bar will appear in the upper left of the screen.

If the bar does not appear, there was nothing to delete. Click [ok]

g. Click on the [x] in the upper right hand corner.

This completes the cleanup process. Repeat steps 11 through 13 at least once a week depending on your computer usage. These instructions clean up the most common elements that cause a computer to run slow. It is also recommended that you go to free avg and download the free antivirus software. Go to http://malwarebytes.org to get a free anti malware download.

Our Amazing Government

Our Amazing Government

Isn’t it wonderful how our Government watches out for us? They couldn’t make smoking illegal so they raise the taxes. In fact, they will keep raising the prices until all the places that deal with smoking products go out of business. This gives the governments more money for their raises. It gives them more money for THEM to buy cigarettes since they will have to be imported. Of course it puts thousands of people out of work, but no one likes smoke in the air so what’s a few more thousand unemployed?

But then, alcohol becomes a problem. Again, tax them out of business: a few more thousand in the unemployment line. But, drunk drivers are now a thing of the past. Bars now only serve sodas. We are living well now. Oh wait a minute, soda pop has all that sugar. Let’s take out cola’s, Pepsi, Coke, RC, etc.

Then comes coffees and teas, followed by something else.

But our government, the one we bought and paid for with first our votes and then our taxes, is watching out for us. NOT!

From Lawless to Overlawed

Senator Byrd died. Does that mean that other states can now get money porkbarreled to them for such ridulous projects such as bridge reconstruction or highway infastructure? It does bring up the question of why so many laws. Let’s face it, laws like the following are a bit on the dumb side.

Colorado: 

Sterling – it is unlawful to allow a pet cat to run loose without a taillight.

Florida:

It is illegal for men to be seen in public wearing a strapless gown.

Tampa Bay – it is against the law for rats to leave docked ships.

Illinois:

Chicago – it is illegal to eat in a place that is on fire.

Decatur – it is against the law to drive a car without a steering wheel.

Indiana:

It is illegal to bathe in the winter.

Ok, we have a lot of illegal cats in this town and I guess I have to leave my strapless gown in the closet. I have to say, that Indiana law must mean their football team really stinks. Now, I admit that these are a few of the extremes, but think about this. Every year federal and state legislators enact thousands of new laws. Why? Why can’t they just enforce the ones we have? In fact, why can’t they spend their time (and our money), cleaning some of the old laws off the books. I can’t think of one person today who would let their horse sleep in the bathtub, with or without the rider (a California law).  Can you imagine a house without a bathtub, much less two? There is a law against both in a couple of states.

We have gone from a free wheeling country that allowed men to carry guns and women to raise horses to Long Beach – any female attending a dance “must be found wearing a corset. A physician is required to inspect each female at the dance.”

I wonder how soon it will be before we are not allowed to think dirty thoughts or arrive at a decision before the question is asked? Big Brother is here my friends.

Reunion, G. Washington High School, Cedar Rapids, Ia

 

GEORGE WASHINGTON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

FORTY-FIVE YEAR REUNION

Class of 1965

January 27, 2010

After much deliberation it was decided to have our 45-Year Reunion on September 3 & 4, 2010, at the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center in Cedar Rapids.  We want this to be an informal, fun-filled weekend, having fun and reminiscing with old friends. 

Friday, September 3, 2010              6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Start this fun-filled weekend with an

“Ice Breaker” with maid rites and a cash bar.

          Saturday, September 4, 2010                   6:00 pm – cash bar

                                                                    7:00 pm – Dinner buffet

                                                                    8:00 pm – Program: Mark Hunter, CR Historian

                                                                                    Presentation on The Flood of 2008

Look for us on the Web at www.lynenterprises.com click on the link for Washington High School.  We are also on Facebook under Washington HS Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Clarion Hotel and Convention Center, 525 33^rd Ave SW (exit 17 off I-380) has reserved a block of rooms, be sure to tell them you are with the Washington Class of ’65.  Rooms are $89 plus tax and include a large Continental Breakfast.  This block of rooms will be held until August 20th.  To make reservations, call locally 319-366-8671 or toll free 1-877-949-2992.  Airport shuttle is available.

Judy (Thomas) Fries

1421 28^th St. SE

Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

319-365-3719

319-364-8036  FAX

JudyFries1@msn.com  

Reunion Questionnaire

Name:  ________________________________________________________

Maiden:  _______________________________________________________

Address:  ______________________________________________________

City:  _______________________________ State:  ______ Zip:  __________

Phone:  ________________________  Occupation:  _____________________

Place of Employment/Retired: _______________________________________

Email address:  __________________________________________________

 

MAKE RESERVATIONS NOW TO ATTEND:

Return as soon as possible so we know how many to plan for.  Deadline for reservations is August 27, 2010.

Dates                                                 Registration

Friday & Saturday – September 3rd and 4^th

Both nights – per person                                        $45.00

Friday – 9/3 only – per person                                $15.00

Saturday – 9/4 only – per person                            $40.00

Additional Donation:  _____________________________________________

We realize illness and emergencies come up.  If given 35 days notice you will receive a full refund.  If given 12 days notice you will receive a fifty percent refund.

Make checks payable and return to:

Judy (Thomas) Fries

Washington High School Reunion Committee

1421 28^th St. S.E.

Cedar Rapids, IA  52403

319-365-3719

JudyFries1@msn.com

Black Holes

Aptly named because they are not easily seen due to their melding with the darkness of space but yet as a hole, it’s a slight misnomer. A simple description.

Stars do eventually run out of fuel. When that happens they expand outward greatly. Our own star, the sun, will, in a few billion years, expand out beyond Pluto then collapse back into a very small dead star. Increase the size to almost twice that of our sun and it will collapse into a neutron star. But, a star twice the size of the sun will expand then implode into a black hole.

By definition, a black hole is a very small version of itself that has a gravity field from which nothing can escape, including light. The death of these stars is a supernova explosion. A black hole is not very dense. One a billion times the size of our sun will have a mass only about twenty times that of air. In other words, matter that is squished into nothing but quarks, is not very massive. The tidal force, the force that pulls objects in, is stronger for small black than for larger ones.

Once past the event horizon (beyond which nothing escapes), the tidal force takes over.

“The tidal force at the event horizon is smaller for larger black holes: you would get torn to shreds far outside a black hole the mass of our sun, but at the event horizon of a billion solar mass black hole the tidal force would only be a millionth of an ounce!”

“Strange Facts About Black Holes

• Light bends so much near black holes that if you were near one and looking away from the hole, you would see multiple images of every star in the universe, and could actually see the back of your own head!

• Inside a black hole the roles of time and radius reverse: just as now you can’t avoid going into the future, inside a black hole you can’t avoid going in to the central singularity.

• If you stood a safe distance from a black hole and saw a friend fall in, he would appear to slow down and almost stop just outside the event horizon. His image would dim very rapidly. Unfortunately for him, from his point of view he would cross the event horizon just fine, and would meet his doom at the singularity.

• Black holes are the simplest objects in the universe. You can describe one completely by just its mass, spin rate, and electric charge. In contrast, to completely describe a dust mote you’re have to specify the position and state of all of its atoms, taking at least $10^{16}$ numbers!

• As Hawking discovered, black holes can evaporate, but only very slowly. Even one the mass of a mountain will last for ten billion years, and one the mass of the Sun will only evaporate after 1067years. “

Finding black holes isn’t easy, but one may suspect an area where one would expect to see a star and only find a black spot. They can be seen, so to speak, also when in a binary system as there will be a stream of matter being sucked out of one half of the set.

This is a brief overview of what a black hole is. For more information, google the source in the footnotes or just google black holes.

Humor newsletter

This is a quick post.

I am starting a monthly newsletter (subscription).  For a sample and information on getting in on the ground floor, contact me at: unwriter@yahoo.com.

This is a newsletter of fun only. It will be a monthly collection of four to five of my offbeat stories. In coming issues there will be the story of the walking cell phone, breakfast farm, talking coffee cups, etc. Stay tuned to the newsletter, you never know what will be animated next.

She kicked the bucket!!

 

Leave it to my granddaughter to kick the bucket!

There was a small bucket where she is now sitting. It is now on the floor.

She was also ready for lunch.

She found an egg! This kid is growing, at least in height.

This is my Granddaughter, Kaydence Callista. She is 15 months old and absolutely precious.

Two simple questions

A pair of simple questions

I have two questions that have bothered me for years, yet I know there must be a simple answer. Granted that they may sound stupid, yet the question exists.

1. In space there is approximately one atom per meter. What is in between the atoms? It cannot be an ‘ether’ because that would be something particulate and thus containing atoms. It cannot be empty because then every atom would fall to the proverbial bottom. What then is in between the atoms?

2. Along these same lines we have the atom. The nucleus consists of protons, neutrons and other particles. Orbiting this at a distance (for the first shell) approximately equal to 18,000 times the radius of the electron, are electrons. As above, what is the nothing in between? I understand that it is the force of magnetic repulsion since the protons are positive and the electrons negative. But are we not discussing magnetic waves and are not these waves particulate?

We lost it!

(warning, this is a long post with the links)

Where did it go? We have lost the country I grew up in. Common sense is dead and Marv Wilson has the eulogy for it on his blog. There is no disipline allowed for our children, thus they rule us. I’ve heard there is a supreme being that is supposed to be watching over us, but I don’t dare mention that in public. We used to, and we used to do so in school. Ask Red Skelton, The Pledge Of Allegiance .

So we are left with the question, where did the country of our youth go? We have crooked politicians, crime everywhere and we are being taxed to the limit. Our country is not what it used to be. But, on the other side of the coin, look at Europe and Asia. They don’t see the bad parts but they do see us. Let’s hope they stay that way as Kenny Rodgers says, God Bless America Again – Charlie Daniels Band .

 

God bless us all!