Fireworks for the New Year

  I've changed the background of the blog again, added a new header title and even put in fireworks for the New Year! Hope everyone enjoys the work.
And if you'd like to put the fireworks effect into your blogger blog go here:
Add fireworks to Blogger

The Kitty Gets Into The Christmas Spirit

It's The Wubbox!

  So, I've been playing My Singing Monsters for about 3 months or so and I guess am doing pretty well. I've got Plant & Cold islands pretty much maxxed out, Air, Water & Earth islands are coming along nicely. Ethereal island has gobs of Ghatz, Grumpyres, Reebros & Whisps-though none of the others as yet. Shugabush island is the sad story & I have only a deedge & a furcorn there to keep each other company, lol. 

  But, I have bought and hatched a wubbox on Cold island. The ultimate in monsters! And man does he take a lot of resources to create. 75,000,000 coins to buy him for starters. At the time I had like double that so the purchase knocked my bank account down half-way. Then after incubating him for 2 days he hatched as a box. You then have to feed 15 other monsters into him to make him activate (come alive). So I did that at no small expense. I bred/bought most of these monsters myself, but some I purchased thru the wubbox itself I think for around 90 diamonds or so. That done and the wubbox all full he was activated. And so now I have him after much effort.

  I fed him up to level 15 to make him as profitable as possible, even bought him a couple toys he liked to get him to 50% happy. So now he makes like 270 coins/minute (the best monster I have other than some ghatz at level 15 on Plant island that make me like 295 coins/minute).

  Since he was level 15 I placed him on Gold island to show him off alongside my other level 15s. But, once there he became a large box & not the standing wubbox anymore. I noticed that he needed to be fed monsters once again to be activated. And this time instead of 15 he needed 30 monsters!!!! And the monsters he must be fed must be there with him on Gold island, which means that they must have attained level 15 on another island & when you feed him these monsters they are removed from their original island & no longer produce coins there anymore. (more resources expended). The benefit to doing this is that you will complete several goals that pay out a total of 50 diamonds upon completion. 

  And so I fed every monster I had on Gold island into the wubbox cube leaving 11 more to breed & level & place on Gold island & feed to him later. Geez! Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.

Sorry for the low quality video & that there's no sound. I used a screen capture software to record this off my laptop. I could have recorded sound & included it by making a Movie Maker recording, but felt it unnecessary for this posting.
   UPDATE: I was able to finally breed all the monsters I needed to feed into the Wubbox on Gold island, leveled them all to 15 & placed them on Gold island. Before feeding them into the Wubbox, however, I had one more bit of work to do. And it involved the Clamble and Bowgart monsters from Plant island. I'd never before bred a Clamble so I didn't want to waste it (feeding the monsters into the Wubbox removes them from Plant island, so I needed to wait to do that).
   The reason for all this was that I had still never bred a Shugabush monster. The Shugabush is a legendary monster that can only be bred on Plant island & only by combining the Clamble and Bowgart. SO, I tried several times, failing every time. I figured then that it must be a rare breed, so I lit all my torches and tried again. I started with about 150 diamonds, running bred monsters thru the breeder & incubator system until finally the magical 35 hour breeding time popped up (which is the tell tell sign of the Shugabush).
   And so all told it cost me a little over 100 diamonds to breed it. It is now on Shugabush island in the incubator with about 12 hours left to go. Once hatched I can combine it with other monsters to make the other legendary monsters there on Shugabush island.
   With that done I went ahead and fed the remaining monsters into the Wubbox on Gold island. Then he was activated and is now dancing and singing happily.

It's Snowing!!!

   I wanted to put a snow falling effect onto my blog page & tried several javascript methods to no avail. But I was finally able to get it working, as you can see, by using the system at the following site:
how to make it snow on your blog
It works pretty well & does what I wanted so I'm happy. Enjoy!

The Old Paper Folding Myth

   For anyone wondering how many times a sheet of paper can be folded, the Mythbusters have answered.
   Shown in the following video we see that it is possible to fold it more than 7 times
(what was previously thought to be the max number of folds)
Enjoy!

Walking Without Beth

   On November 30th we saw the season finale of The Walking Dead.
   ********************Spoiler Alert***********************

   In the episode, at the end when it seemed Beth was to be reunited with her 'family' (Rick, Daryl, Carl, Maggie, Glenn etc.), instead she was killed. The death came fast and unexpected leaving viewers shocked and appalled. In fact a petition has even begun to try and bring her back to the show - though that is unlikely. At best we can hope to see her again in flashbacks - which they actually do all the time in the show, so I'd almost guarantee we'll see her again at least that way.

   It just goes to show how much she was a beloved character & that no one wanted her to go, especially when she was just 'coming into her own strength' so to speak.

   We will miss you Beth.

No More Football In The Magic City

   Birmingham is a great city, nicknamed the "Magic City", but it's about to lose some of its magic. The powers that be are taking it away - to the disapproval of many. What I'm talking about is UAB football.

   UAB is one of the three University of Alabama System colleges (UA & UAH being the others) and it is renowned primarily for its academic medical center & hospital, although UAB is a full fledged university which teaches all aspects of academics. Like many colleges it has an athletics program & this includes football.

   The UAB football team has existed since 1991, 1991 - 1998 in Division 1-A, 1999-2014 in Division 1, but after this year those in charge decided to shut down the program due to monetary loss (they've also shut down the women's bowling and rifle teams).

   I am a UAB grad and I have to admit that I rarely went to any of their games (maybe 1 or 2 in my lifetime) so I can't claim to be a big supporter, but others did go. And the UAB Blazers football team have lacked success, their first few years being their best from 1991-1994 where they went 27-12-2, all other years finishing below .500 except for this year they went 6-6, not great, but they are bowl eligible. So UAB will now wait to see what bowl game they go to.

   The thing that is upsetting so many people is that there seems to be a few in power who don't want UAB to compete in football especially in this state where Alabama controls them from afar in a sort of nefarious and conspiratorial way. I wouldn't try to explain who the people are that make the decisions about UAB football or what their true motives are, but I'd have to say that there does seem to be something underhanded going on. Especially when the football program is now finally doing the best its done in many years and is drawing more people. To cut it off and say that it just costs too much money just doesn't ring true. It can't succeed if it doesn't exist. And why now? It took them almost 20 years of bad play to finally decide to cancel football? Why dangle it in front of us playfully mocking UABs students with the hope that they could have a football powerhouse like UA to then, when it just starts to get good, take it away? Some might say that those in power at Alabama don't like how things are going at UAB and so they've 'pulled the plug' on us.

 

  
  

Doing A Little Wiring

   I'll be getting a "new" PC in a couple days & I'm gonna be hard wiring the ethernet connection to it (as opposed to using wifi, which is a good bit slower & which is why I rather do this - a 15 to 20 mbps speed compared to 60 to 70 mbps, not much of a comparison really).

   In wiring the ethernet I'll be passing the cat5 cable thru the hallway wall & into my closet. To do this I'll be using a wall plate I got today from Home Depot. I learned after buying it that this particular item has plagued many people when installing it because of 2 things: it comes with no instructions & because the color coding doesn't match the colors of the wires within the cat5. 

   Fortunately I found some helpful data on this item that I hope will work when I wire up my system. I've collected this information and created a wiring diagram of sorts for anyone else who happens to use this item from Home Depot. (And I'll update later on if my wiring actually works).

UPDATE: Dec 2: Well, in installing the faceplate I decided to do it the easiest way possible and bypass the difficult part altogether. What I did was to snap off the cat5 connector block on the back of the CE TECH faceplate, leaving a hole for the cable to pass thru. Doing this there was no need to cut the cable, expose the wires, connect the wires to the terminal screws, etc. So the problems associated with all of that was eliminated. All I needed to do was to enlarge the square hole just a bit to allow the cat5 end connection to fit thru. The coax cable was connected as in the previous setup, I ran the cat5 cable thru the wall into my closet & into my room and over to my PC. I attached the faceplate to the wall & I was done! It may not have ended up how I originally intended, but it functions and looks fine. And the cat5 connection block is sitting in a drawer if I need it later, lol.

Probably The Best End Credits Ever

    Sometimes at the end of a movie there is a little extra added on that we might not have expected or that is not really part of the story, but just to entertain us while we leave the theatre. Because of that you should always wait while the credits are rolling to catch a glimpse of these if there might be some. And one of the best IMO is from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. See if you agree:

Watch Out For The Shark

   I'm a fan of TV comedies - sitcoms they're called. They are a staple of the TV genre next to mysteries, dramas, horrors, sci-fi, and others. And there have been oodles of them over the years. I've seen one unfortunate problem with a number of them, however, and that is that IMO they become ruined if they last too long.

   By ruined I mean that the shows characters get bogged down in relationships with one another so much so that it alters the very nature of what the show was to begin with. The latest one to have this happen to it is I'm sorry to say The Big Bang Theory.

   TBBT started off fine with 4 nerds going about their lives in their own unique and nerdy ways. No one was attached romantically to anyone else. Life was good. But in walks Penny, then Leslie, then Bernadette, then Amy, etc. etc. etc. Before long everyone is paired up and getting married. Did we need this for the show to succeed? Was the humor between the 4 nerds not enough? I'm not saying that they shouldn't try to get girlfriends - of course not. I'm just disappointed that the writers of the show thought they had no alternative than to go this way. Another path could have simply been for them to try but never succeed in getting girlfriends. At least not permanent ones.

   Friends was another show that disappointed me. For a while everyone was single and unhitched, just having fun and living their lives. Then suddenly they start pairing off, Chandler with Monica, Ross with Rachael, Joey with...well Phoebe and him didn't get hitched like the others although she did have kids, which is as bad. 

   Another example of this has been termed 'jumping the shark' which was coined from an episode of Happy Days where the Fonz strapped on some skis and literally jumped a shark, I guess to get people to watch because ratings had dropped. This happened in The Brady Bunch in season 5 when they introduced a new character - Cousin Oliver. And any show that does anything like this is considered to have 'jumped the shark'

Laptop Computers Are Cool

   Laptops, the portable variety of personal computers, have been a popular alternative to the larger and unportable desktops for several years. They serve an important role in our everyday lives because there are so many places we just can't take our PCs (traveling situations for instance, such as on planes or trains).

   Yes laptops are very handy these days, however, they do have some severe problems: they are usually more expensive than the PC counterparts while not usually providing quite as much 'horsepower' so to speak. By this I primarily mean graphics capabilities. And that will likely never change unless some incredible technology is invented.

   But perhaps a workaround that is already available can be used to circumvent these limitations. What I'm talking about is somehow connecting a PC graphics card to your laptop, making it as powerful, at least graphically, as a PC. Can this be accomplished you ask. Yes it can. I've seen two examples of this already, and I'm sure that more are on the way (considering how beneficial and demanded these will be for gamers who only have a laptop computer & can't afford to buy a new system for the better games coming out).

Example one: From Alienware.com = more expensive, although probably a bit better in the long run:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/27/7079879/alienware-new-graphics-amplifier-laptop
example two: From a company in China called Banggood.com = cheaper, but possibly not as well made:
http://www.banggood.com/EXP-GDC-Laptop-External-PCI-E-Graphics-Card-p-934367.html

It Is Groot!

    If you've seen the movie Guardians of the Galaxy you will have caught the Baby Groot towards the end of the film. It's the surviving bit off of the former and much larger Groot who got destroyed a bit earlier and we were all very happy to see the little fella. Anyways, this has become a very popular item, there's even some on sale in such places as Amazon.com, and many have also created their own. One such example is this created by a man named Darren Carnall-an skilled artist who's made a lot of various creations. Check out the video of his Baby Groot-I think you'll agree that it's one of the cutest things you've ever seen:

http://www.darrencarnall.com/baby-dancing-groot/4586362300

Halloween In Lights

    Halloween is nearly here and with it comes all manner of spectacles including, at least recently it seems, home light shows. I've seen these before during Christmas, people have been decorating their homes in lights for X-Mas for decades, and of course I know of Halloween decorations as well, but it seems the Halloween decorations have gotten much more involved recently-especially with lights and I guess the advent of LED lights in particular because they use much less power and can be synchronized to music. Yes, technology has provided one more instrument for us to play with.

    Go to Youtube and look for Halloween light show & you'll find a good variety of these. Unfortunately, in Riverside, CA., one such home exhibit was shut down by the police due to the noise and traffic complaints
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/10/28/police-shut-down-12000-light-halloween-home/18059579/
 around the neighborhood. Before they did, however, many videos of the displays were made including the one I've posted below, so enjoy the show:

Matthew McConaughey Had It Coming

    The actor from such big-hit movies as Contact, Dallas Buyers Club, Magic Mike, Failure to Launch & the upcoming film Interstellar to name only a few has recently been seen in commercials for The Lincoln Motor Co. advertising their MKC vehicle. If you've seen these spots you might think them a bit odd as I have, partly due to his commentary as he's driving, but also simply because of who he is (it's a little unusual for a star actor to make commericals - Charlie Sheen did one for Fiat a couple years ago, but he's not on par with McConnaughey).
If you'd like to see McConaughey's commercial it is here: http://www.lincoln.com/crossovers/mkc/highlight:19/?hptid=pro-2236-dn-mkc-mm
    This past Saturday on SNL Jim Carrey hosted and played a variety of characters as usual, however, he also did his own version of the same Lincoln commercials. And boy were they something. His imitation of McConaughey was spot on and as hilarious as anything I've seen Jim do. You gotta see them to appreciate them - enjoy:

Very Steampunk

     Searching Youtube for good videos, found The White Stripes (Seven Nation Army) & Lo Fidelity Allstars (Battleflag), thought those were both really good-but then found this cool video by Awolnation (Sail).
     I've heard the song plenty of times before, but I'd never seen this video. The way I'd describe it is it is very steampunk-if you know what that is. If not it is basically how things looked like 100-150 years ago with the Industrial revolution when we built machines like steam locomotives & steel plants & such. But also it is combining that with what we have today. Kinda a mix of the old and new. Check out the wiki on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
     Steampunk is a pretty popular genre, a mix of science fiction and industrialization, and I imagine that maybe our world would have become this if we never developed computer technology.

It's Gorillaz!!!

    I heard a small clip from a song the other day & remembered it from years ago as being a song that I liked. This was on the radio - just an intro to a radio talk show - so I had no way to play it back to find out what it was. I suppose I could have called the station and asked them to tell me what song it was, but I didn't want to go to all that much trouble, if they would have told me anyway I dunno. 

    At any rate I've been looking on Youtube for a while to try and track it down. And success, I found it! The song is by the Gorillaz, the name of the song is Clint Eastwood. I never would have guessed that in a million years. Long story short, here is the video:

                     

50 Cute & Fun Pet Costumes

      Just in time for Halloween - here's a slideshow of 50 pet costumes I think you'll find to be really cute and fun. If you have a pet and want to dress him/her up for Halloween maybe you'll get some inspiration from this video. There are many more costumes available as well - just goto bing.com under images, type in pet costume & you'll see hundreds.

The Walking Dead Parody From SNL

K.Hart Walking Zombie Parody Skit from jus def on Vimeo.

Vadar Can Really Swing It!

Looking around the videos for Star Wars I happened upon this little gem. It combines my love of both Star Wars and baseball in one funny package. Check it out!

Fun Vegas World Games

This is my avatar, he looks a bit like Star Trek, but I like it :P
http://www.vegasworld.com

Funny Video From Conan

Here is a very funny video from the Conan O'Brien Show with guest Nasim Pedrad impersonating Aziz Ansari. It is absolutely hilarious. Let's take a look:

My Favorite Singing Monster

    I've been playing My Singing Monsters for about 3 weeks and am starting to get a number of good earning monsters. So far I still only have the plant and cold islands, but I have one of my entbrats halfway thru level 14. At 15 I can place him on gold island for a 3 million coin payout. That will really help fund my continuing efforts to succeed. I have so far 5 of the quad monsters with 2 more incubating. I've been really lucky I guess lately on breeding them, esp. entbrats. I don't know if using 'retry' after breeding something you wanted helps, but even with zero torches I'm producing entbrats pretty regularly over and over. Maybe I'm just super lucky, who knows.

    Oh, anyways, I wanted to say what my favorite singing monster was. I haven't bred one yet cause I've not gotten the chance as I haven't the resources, but I have seen it in some videos by other people. It's the whisp monster. I love her song. I've heard I think most all the songs & she's my favorite.

    I can't wait to finally get whisps some day :P

A Very Happy Camper

This image is self-explanatory. I found it on a Facebook page I'd visited and thought it was too hilarious not to post. Enjoy!

Ice Is Nice

    Ever wonder how they make money selling ice? I have. Of course everyone's seen the ice freezers at gas stations, grocery stores & Walmarts that hold ice bags people can buy for about $2.50 or so. And I guess they must make some money with them or they wouldn't bother doing it. But what I'm talking about are the stand alone ice houses that generate, produce and bag fresh ice for walk-up customers. You see them usually in more rural areas, like places outside the big cities, like maybe in smaller towns or out in the country. Places away from the more wealthy residential areas it seems. At least that's where they seem to be around where I've seen them here in Alabama. And I've always wondered how they made money. 

   It costs money to: put the ice house somewhere, put it in operation, keep it running (power, maintenance, servicing, collecting money, etc.), what have you. I just have trouble seeing a profit in this. But, maybe they can make money. According to a few web sites there may be money to be had from them. After reviewing their information I'd still wonder how much I'd really make - only giving it a try in a practical application would really answer that question I suppose because you never really know for sure how it would turn out. Their projections look good - but you can't predict the future, especially with something like this. If you had the funds to get an ice house going somewhere and were willing to keep it going long enough I would assume that in the long run (like in 5 years or more) you might start to see a profit out of it. I guess in that way it's like a lot of other businesses that have high start-up costs and take several years to get your investment back out to then start making some money.

http://grandeice.com/index.html
http://www.icehouseamerica.com/

A Groundbreaking Occasion

Two days ago the ground breaking ceremony of the Atlanta Braves new stadium was enjoyed by a great many fans of this historic team. Here are a few highlights from that day.

The Train Lane

   As technology advances we become more and more dependent on it and it seems like there could be a time in the near future where this will probably involve our transportation system. I'll try to explain my thoughts on how this could actually be a good thing for motorists as well as the system I foresee being constructed.

   We all know how things currently are on the interstate. It's a free for all fight for your life activity to get where you're going. It's dull to drive on these roads and potentially very dangerous. People die everyday in accidents due to all kinds of reasons including distractions, exhaustion and driver error. These three reasons are the focus of my point here as it pertains to why my idea for the Train Lane will likely be developed.

   If computer technology could advance far enough to provide a safe alternative to the difficulty faced by drivers on the Interstate we would see several improvements to our society. Two examples:

1> fewer accidents = computer control would eliminate many accidents

2> distractions = nearly everyone would rather be doing something other than driving their vehicle down the road. EX: listen to the radio, talk on the phone, work/play on a laptop or other device, watch TV, read a book, sleep etc.

   I'm not advocating total control to computers where vehicles are concerned, just part of the Interstate systems (at least to begin with initially), because I do think that there are many situations in our world where human control is still necessary (off-roads, busy city streets, neighborhoods, etc.) Let us drive where it's logical to do so, but transform the Interstates into an advanced roadbed for the future. It I think is the next logical step forward for mankind's transportation system.

   How it would work: What I foresee is what I call the Train Lane. I imagine it would be situated in the far left lane of the Interstate. What you would do is when you pull onto the Interstate and get up to matching speed with others you'd then activate Train Lane Navigation. Your vehicle would be taken over by computer and moved into the next available spot in the Train Lane. Once in a screen would pop up on your dashboard display where you program your path/destination by touch screen (this way you wouldn't be distracted for too long while still manually controlling your car/truck). When you reached your destination the computer would alert you to reenable manual control and leave the Interstate. You would deactivate Train Lane Navigation by pressing a button. Upon doing so the computer would move your vehicle out of the Train Lane safely and place it in cruise control at the speed limit whereupon you'd then take full control. While in the Train Lane you would be free to do whatever else you wished and not have your attention tied up with the bothersome chore of driving. Of course those who still wished to drive themselves, either because they weren't going very far anyway or they just rather would, can do so and drive along in the right hand lanes. This system is meant for and available to those who really need it: long-haul truckers and people having to drive a long distance in their cars being two of the primary reasons.
    I'm not sure if anyone else has also imagined the future in this way though I do know that many people and companies are designing transportation systems for what cities will need in the long term and as our technology becomes much more advanced. To this end I searched for a video of like-mind to what I envision and came up with the following. It is not exactly what I've described, but not too dissimilar.

View At Your Own Risk

    In 1992 an animated short film aired on Liquid Television. It was the pilot episode of Beavis & Butthead called Frog Baseball - a rather unpolitically correct and alternative style cartoon notable for cringe humor, shock value and being off-color. It quickly gained in popularity amongst the younger crowd leading to Judge being signed by MTV to develop the concept into more episodes. Needless to say the show did well. He also later created the cartoon King of the Hill which did well and others such as the movies Office Space, and Idiocracy. Here is that pilot episode of Frog Bseball to commemorate the beginning of Beavis and Butthead.

My Singing Monsters Are On My Mind

    I just started playing My Singing Monsters a couple days ago & it's infectious. And I can't get their songs out of my head! LOL! Now I can't wait to get back home from work or to wake up in the morning to see how much money my monsters have gathered, if my baked goods are ready to take out of the bakeries, if an egg is ready to hatch from the incubator, and if I can breed any new monsters. This is because even while you're not playing the game is still running & your monsters are still busy working for you. 

   Best of all it's a free game & just a fun diversion from everyday life. You can buy stuff for real world money if you want to, and of course that's why they really made the game - to make money ultimately, but why? It's great fun without having to do that.

Check out some of the in-game action in this short video clip:

Wild For The Wild Card

    This year in Major League Baseball (MLB) 5 teams get to play, at least initially, in the post-season for both leagues (the American & National). This is a total of 10 teams out of 30 out there who get to feel some post-season baseball. That's not bad - a third of all the teams playing have a shot at winning it all. Compare this to other pro sports: In the NFL 12 out of 32 teams see post-season play (37.5%). In the NBA 16 out of 30 teams get into the playoffs (53.3%). In the NHL 16 of the 30 teams play in the post-season (53.3%). So comparatively MLB has the fewest teams seeing post-season play. When I started writing this post I had no idea that MLB was the loser in this, I actually assumed it had the most teams - but it's totally opposite.

    As of this moment the Atlanta Braves are in 3rd place in the Wild Card standings, which means they would not see post-season play if the regular season was over. They have 21 games left in the regular season - 21 games left to try and beat out the competition for one of the top 2 spots. Their chances of winning the Eastern Division over Washington are nigh impossible - so that ship has sailed. But they do stand a chance at getting in as a wild card.

    Assuming that San Francisco takes the top spot, the next spot looks to be between Atlanta, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh to take. There's only like 2 games difference between these 3 teams in the current standings, so with 21 games left any one of them could win it. Atlanta's been playing a little better lately, going 5-5 the last 10 games, while Milwaukee's gone 1-9 and Pitt's gone 4-6. If the Braves can keep up 50-50 ball they'll end up I think in pretty good shape & it would take one of the other two teams getting really hot to beat them. Of course anything can happen, which is why we watch them play, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Update: As of today (Sept. 13) Atlanta is in 4th place in the wild card standings behind San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee with 15 games left to play. It's looking more and more like it'll be the Giants and Pirates playing for the wild card birth. There's still time to catch up being 3 games back, but it will be a Herculean effort to say the least for Atlanta to accomplish. And they're not playing well at the moment 

(3-7 in the last 10 games). We'll just have to keep watching and hoping.

I Never Seen Them In The Same Room So...

   I noticed this previously while watching the US Open Tennis tournament. Stanislas Wawrinka was playing someone and he reminded me of someone I'd seen on TV and in movies - Dane Cook. Then I thought - you know I've never seen them in the same room. Could they be the same person?

Two of The Best Things In The World

Tiny Infant Baby Jesus

Enjoy this video from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It's so good.

Making Money In Pro Sports

Golf: Making the cut

    There are a number of pro sports out there and each one has its own rules by which the players must abide in order to get paid. Obviously the winner of a sporting event is not the only one to make money. Players who do well and come up short make money as well. In team sports the players pretty much know what they are being paid as they are under contract with a team. And if they have a good season (like say for instance in the NFL their team makes it to the Super Bowl they'll make extra money - a bonus in addition to their regular salary - in fact the winners will have made around $180,000 for their playoff run and the losers around $130,000 according to Andrew Brandt of ESPN).

    Individual sports, like golf, tennis, fishing, etc., do things a bit different. Players or competitors in these sports don't to my knowledge get contracts to play. Instead they must enter tournaments and try to do their best to make as much money as possible. In other words, if a player does really well he'll make good money, if he does poorly he might not make any money at all. In fact, he may go home in the negative since he/she paid money to be there. I'll be covering golf in this blog post as it is the sport I wish I could be a pro in:

     In golf a cutline is commonly used to determine who stays in the tournament (and thus will make some money) or goes home. The cutline itself is not just decided by taking the best half of the golfer's scores for the first two days and keeping them in the tournament (although some tournaments may very well do it this simply). The following are the current rules by which the known pro golfing tournaments make their cuts:

(this info was garnered from:

http://golf.about.com/od/golfterms/g/bldef_cutline.htm

     PGA Tour = "Regular" PGA Tour events are cut after 36 holes to the low 70 scores plus ties. If that results in more than 78 golfers making the cut, then another cut takes place after 54 holes, again to the low 70 plus ties.

     The Masters = Following the second round, golfers with the low 50 scores, plus ties, plus any golfer within 10 strokes of the lead, advance to play the final two rounds. Those outside the Top 50 plus ties and not within 10 of the lead miss the cut.

     The US Open = After 36 holes all golfers in the top 60 plus ties make the cut. Golfers outside of the top 60 plus ties are cut from the field and fail to advance to the final two rounds of play.

     The British Open = Everyone in the Top 70, including ties, after 36 holes makes the cut.
     The PGA Championship = After 36 holes the golfers with the low 70 scores, plus any ties, make the cut and play the final two rounds.

     There are other tours out there being played by golfers too. The top level of men's professional golf in the United States is the PGA Tour. The second level is the Web.com Tour, which is the official developmental tour run by the PGA Tour. The Gateway Tour and rival ventures such as the NGA Pro Golf Tour (formerly known as the Hooter's Tour) and the Pepsi Tour are the level below that. The fourth and lowest level of tour golf is the mini-tour circuit (akin to satellite tennis tournaments). There are also tours in Europe, Japan, Canada, China, Korea, etc. And last but not least there are pro tours for senior men and women. So pretty much no matter your skill level or where you live you're probably not far from a professional golf tour.

     At any rate, making money in golf - apart from the lucrative endorsement contracts that some do manage to acquire, requires one to make the cut in tournaments. Make the cut and you are guaranteed a check. Miss it and as Arnold said in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, it's..."Hasta la vista, baby!"

Voyager Fly-by of Neptune Moon

    Space - the final frontier. That was what was said at the beginning of every Star Trek episode. Though that show was fictional. However, we do explore space. We have space vessels out there right now. There are little robots on Mars and others even farther afield. One of the first, if not the first, was Voyager 1 launched in 1977(made famous by the movie Star Trek the Motion Picture in 1979 where it was called V'ger). 

    Voyager 1 has journeyed farther from earth than any other man-made object. It will reportedly cease functioning in the year 2025. Voyager 2 strangely enough was actually launched about 2 weeks prior to Voyager 1, however, its flight path and slower current speed have not allowed it to travel quite as far as its brethren. It is the only vessel to have passed near to Uranus and Neptune and in 1989 it snapped a series of pictures of Triton - one of Neptune's moons. These images were later processed and made into an animation of the fly-by.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2
http://www.space.com/
Here is the result:

Some Of The Biggest Waves I Have Ever Seen

Here's a video I found of some of the biggest waves being surfed by some very brave souls. Very entertaining to watch:

The Life Of Being A Pro Athlete

    I've played some competitive sports in my life - mainly in tennis (USTA Leagues, tournaments and such when I was between the ages of 20 and 35, I'm 49 now). So I know a little about being a competitor and the drive it takes to win. My tennis days never really turned into anything other than a casual diversion, though I met some interesting people and have made some lasting relationships due to my time there. So I cannot truly understand the lives of professional athletes. No one can unless you walk in their shoes. But, I imagine that I do at least understand some of the more obvious aspects.

     Two of my favorite sports are tennis and baseball. I've played very little baseball (a couple years of little league where I had no idea what I was doing and our team pretty much sucked - nothing past that other than some recreational baseball one summer about 10 years ago). But I do love to watch the games both in person and on TV. Also movies about the games are of interest to me (I'll bring that up later).

    As an up and coming player/competitor, let's say a high school kid who is a good athlete, one would have to choose what sport to dedicate themselves to and to decide upon if they had professional potential. While in high school they'd still have the freedom to do whatever they wanted. It takes some time to 'feel out' a sport and see if it's right for you. I never liked playing basketball. Maybe because I'm not a good jumper, so I can't slam dunk. And my shooting kinda sucks too. I can't even run that fast. Some people prefer certain sports. I practiced many hours and played many matches and so I got fairly good at tennis. Not great mind you, just good. Better at doubles too, because I had a big serve, good volley, didn't have to cover as much court & liked quick points. By the time I did all this I was in my mid twenties so there was certainly no professional career in my future. Those who become pro athletes start when they are very young and work at it continuously. 

    A thought hit me while watching a baseball game while over at a friend's house: it occurred to me that it is so much easier to be on the pro tennis tour than to be a pro baseball player. At least as far as your personal choices seem to go. 

    Let's say you had two athletes, one wants to play pro tennis, one wants to play pro baseball. Both athletes are equally skilled at their game. Lets say that they are about average (for argument sake) compared to other pros in their sports and both are the 100th best players in their sport. (these are men btw) Here's how they compare to one another:

     Tennis player rankings are from: 

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx

    These rankings are based on a point system where you get points for winning tournaments. Therefore it is totally unbiased and not subjective in any way.

     The tennis player, if he was ranked 100 in the world, as of this writing, is Stephane Robert; 

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ro/S/Stephane-Robert.aspx

     He is a Frenchman who has already made over $275,000 this year in prize money. He has a career high ranking of 61 & career prize money of over $1.2 million in the 14 or so years he's played pro tennis.

      Baseball player rankings are from:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/playerratings#

      Instead of simply getting points for winning games as in tennis baseball players are evaluated on a number of statistical 'metrics' of their performance. Baseball is a team sport as opposed to tennis singles which is an individual sport, so rating players this way is currently the best method of doing this.

      The baseball player, if he was ranked 100 in the world, as of this writing, is Danny Duffy; 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/31114/danny-duffy

    He is a pitcher on the Kansas City Royals MLB baseball team. His salary is reportedly $526,000 this year. He's played for only 3 years in MLB.

    These two guys for comparison are on the low end of the spectrum money-wise. There are higher ranked players making much more money than these guys. I just wanted to show what kind of cash some average bloke might expect to get if he wasn't one of the best players in the sport.

    There was another concern I thought about too, however, with these sports & that is of the control you have over your own life. Robert as an individual can choose what tournaments to play. It's his call. He never needs to prove himself to anyone to get to play. He just has to win to get a good ranking.

      Duffy on the other hand has a tougher road to hoe. He not only has to win and be productive he has to be 'fourtunate' as well. What I mean by this is that pro baseball players are picked and traded all the time by one team after another. If a general manager doesn't like you for whatever reason he can trade you to another team. Or, for any reason, you can be benched and not given game-time, or sent down to wait to be called back up again out in the limbo of the minor league farm system. As a player for the team you must play when they tell you to play. You must practice and work out when they tell you to. You are much more in their power than the pro tennis players who have no such person over them. Watch the movie Money Ball as a good example of what I'm talking about here.

     So, I the question is how would you rather live your life? Having the freedom to do as you wish or not having as much freedom. I guess if baseball is the sport you love to play and that which you are greatest at then you just have to accept how the game is played (& controlled).

     Just for good measure and because I happened to be watching a golf tournament on TV, because I'm also a big fan of golf & love to watch & play it as well, I decided to look up what the 100th best golfer in the world was making money-wise. I found the info here:
http://espn.go.com/golf/moneylist/_/page/2
     The man's name is Michael Thompson, an average Joe from Arizona who's made over $900,000 this year alone (over $5,000,000 in his 7 year career). Compared to the other two sports golf looks to me like it may be the best right now, at least as far as money making. You don't have to run around or get into fights like you do sometimes in other sports such as MLB/NFL/NBA/NHL etc. though you do have to work out of course to be in good shape. But as in tennis you are not being controlled like in the team sports. Man, if I could I'd be a pro golfer!

The Perseid Meteor Shower

My Tribute To Robin Williams

   It's impossible to sum up the life of Robin Williams. He gave us so much. For nearly fifty years he's entertained people the world over. The sheer quantity of material he's delivered, be it stand up comedy, movies, TV shows, what have you, is exceptional in scope, and at the same time rarely lacking in quality. Of course, there were the forgettable & regrettable moments to be sure-all entertainers stumble from time to time in life as well as in their careers. Though he always came back stronger than ever when he did.

   I've watched him my whole life from the very beginning on Happy Days where his character Mork became the star of a spin-off show itself. That's how good he was. Almost instantly he became a household name. A prolific actor on TV and especially in movies, he's come to be in my humble opinion one of most beloved persons I've ever known. There are other beloved people out there; Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Jim Carrey, Lucille Ball, Betty White & Morgan Freeman are a few others I can think of that rise to the top of this short list.

   He wasn't just a comedian. Though he was terrific at comedy. He had a number of much more serious roles and dramatic roles in movies in which one wouldn't have initially thought to cast him. I have no idea why he was chosen for certain roles as they were far from the usual comedic persona we became accustomed to. Perhaps he wanted to stretch his acting muscles. Perhaps the director wanted Robin to fit the character's profile. Who knows. Whatever the case may have been he adjusted well to the challenges he faced.

   I've created a video tribute to the late great Robin Williams who died just three days ago. It is a collection of images from the web of all facets of his life be they TV, stand up and movies. I've tried to put them in chronological order, however, some may be a bit out of place here and there. I don't own any of the images, nor do I own the musical accompaniment (Elton John's Rocketman) which I felt was quite fitting. I hope you enjoy it. And rest in peace Robin.

Up, Up, and ... Oh Well

I saw the other guy make it!

The Surfer Seal

A friendly seal wants to join a couple surfer dudes one fine day for a little relaxing on their boards. (the sound didn't come thru for some reason, sorry)

Here Comes SUPERMOON!

Yes, we're in for a treat in a few days. On August 10th there's gonna be a Supermoon. What is a Supermoon you ask? Well, it's when the moon's orbit around Earth gets a little bit closer (by about 25,000 miles or so) which makes it look about 20% bigger and a good bit brighter to anyone looking up at it in the night sky. You can check out the info here:
http://universetoday.com/113548/get-set-for-super-duper-moon-2-of-3-for-2014/
also here for even more info on Supermoons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon

Sometimes You Just Can't Catch EM

In Yesterdays baseball game of Pittsburg vs. San Fransisco a home run was hit into the outfield crowd and zeroed in on one lady. Her cup of beer actually. This was the result:
Baseball Game Beer Taken Out By Homerun Hit by SimplyJustRandomness

Björk!!!!!

It's simply a Björk kinda day. Sooooooo... Sorry? Hmm, was the script for Rainman written after listening to this song I wonder? (when she sings, definitely, definitely, definitely...like what Dustin Hoffman says in the movie). Let's all eat moths anyways, yum!

GPS Navigation

Found this funny video about people using a GPS device in their car.

Morgan Freeman Is Your New GPS by videobash

Speed Up Your PC

    I saw this while exploring Youtube videos: a way to speed up your PC. I think it's actually a way to free up fragmented memory after using an application on your PC, resulting in the machine running faster, but they say that it is supposed to work even though I've not really seen a noticeable improvement in speed myself. Perhaps I'm not using it correctly? I dunno. At any rate, here's what you do:

    (disclaimer: I didn't create this, just passing the info along, so don't blame me for any problems it might create on your system. I've used it several times & noticed no problems and there are many websites that claim it does what it says it does, so I have no reason to believe otherwise. IE: use at your own risk)

* On the desktop open notepad
* Type in: mystring=(80000000)
* Save the file to the desktop with an appropriate name such as ram or FreeMemory or something like this, and use the extension .vbe. Also save it as an all files type of file instead of as a text file.
* When you do this you'd get something that looks like the following on the desktop:

* So then, when you need to free up system resources, double click this program icon & you may see improved speed on your PC.
Thanks for watching

Suspiciously Secret Subconciously Subliminal Signage

    Okay, that was a rather verbose title for a posting, but actually accurate in what I'm about to propose to you. We all know that advertising is full of this stuff; words and images that are either expressly or understatebly hidden within commercials & used to gain your trust & confidence in their product. And of course this is in addition to them outwardly lauding the greatness and superiority of their product to all others. I'm sure there are many examples of this-you may know of some yourself-and this post is written to point out one that I found myself which I'm not sure if anyone else has ever noticed. Perhaps it was intentional or perhaps it is simply an interesting accident of fortune. Whatever the case, I'll explain what I'm talking about.

    A couple years ago Wendy's hamburgers 'rebranded' their store signage. Here is an example of the change:

    Now most people wouldn't see much difference in these two images. Both are of the same Wendy with red hair, smiling, with freckles & blue ribbons on her pig-tails. Yes, that's all true. What you may not have noticed is the slight change to her neck area. As I said before I don't know if this was intentional or not, but if you look closely you can see the word "MOM" spelled out there around her neck. When I saw this & realized that they had made this change to the brand I had to wonder if they meant to do this to subliminally make people feel a certain way about their restaurant. Like it was a safe place to be. Like being with your mother. I mean, what place is safer than when you're with your mother? The earlier signage didn't have this. The design was close, but definately not mistakeable for the word "MOM". I doubt that I'm the only one who sees this as it is fairly apparent. Look for yourself if you don't believe me. It is especially easy to see on the bags & cups. As seen in this example:

 

    I want to say that I don't have anything against Wendy's, in fact I love their food & everything (well almost everything) about them. I just felt like pointing out this that I noticed for the rest of the world. Thanks for reading!

Nutrisystem

     After a couple months of trying on my own to lose weight mainly by exercising a bit more each day I've found that it's not going so well. I'll have to admit that I haven't been watching what I've been eating very closely & have treated myself to some fast food. This I suspect is my primary problem-I cannot control myself when it comes to what I eat. SO, that is going to change.

     I have ordered Nutrisystem. I'll be delivered one month's worth (they say 28 days worth) of food where you get 5 meals a day. And if the celebrity endorsements are true (Marie Osmond, Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, Janet Jackson, have all endorsed it) & it's worked for them, maybe it can work for me.

     I'll wait and see. When I get it and test it out I'll see just how good it does for me. I can follow directions, and I think the system comes with directions on how to make it work for me, so we'll see. Buying my own groceries each month has cost at least as much as what this system costs-perhaps even a bit more-so I don't think that it will be unduly expensive at all to try. After I try it for a month or two or more I'll report back on how I'm doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrisystem
https://online.nutrisystem.com

This Day In Infamous History

    On June 12, 1994, Brown and Goldman were found dead outside Brown's condominium. Simpson was charged with their murders. On June 17, after failing to turn himself in, he became the object of a low-speed pursuit in a white Ford Bronco SUV that interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals. The pursuit, arrest, and trial were among the most widely publicized events in American history. The trial, often characterized as "the trial of the century", culminated on October 3, 1995 in a jury verdict of not guilty for the two murders. The verdict was seen live on TV by more than half of the U.S. population, making it one of the most watched events in American TV history. Immediate reaction to the verdict was notable for its division along racial lines: polls showed that most African-Americans felt that justice had been served by the "not guilty" verdict, while most white Americans did not. O. J. Simpson's defense counsel included Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, and F. Lee Bailey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson

And although he did escape conviction for the two murders he was later tried and found guilty in a civil trial for which he was to pay the Goldman family around $33.5 million in damages. Much of O.J.'s memorabilia was confiscated to help pay for this judgement. Then later, when O.J. attempted to reacquire his former goods by force he was arrested and charged with multiple charges including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery, and using a deadly weapon. His armed robbery charges by this date have been eliminated by the Nevada Parole Board, but he still remains in prison to this day on the other charges.
Today is 20 years to the day that O.J. & A.C. were chased along the highways and city streets of LA which was watched live on TV across America. To commemorate those moments please enjoy watching this video:

 

STAR WARS RETURNS

   It's been 37 years since Star Wars exploded into movie history and since that momentous occasion there have been related items for the fans to collect and treasure. Objects of all sorts have been produced over the years for the adoring public, yet one type of collectible is valued higher than all others & that is the action figure.

   With 6 Star Wars movies already made and 3 more in the works the franchise is stronger than ever. I once possessed a Star Wars collection of my own, made up primarily of MOC action figures from the ESB movie-that one is my personal favorite, but sadly I ended up having to sell the lot to pay debts. However, lots of people still collect them to this day and I'm sure will do so forever.

   With so many figures available many people would argue over which ones are the best-subjective opinions abound to be sure-and While they may not be the biggest or flashiest of the Star Wars collectibles, the following list of ten figures all have one thing in common: rarity. This list isn’t written in stone as many collectibles move in and out of popularity.
(this list is according to:

 http://www.mademan.com/mm/10-most-valuable-star-wars-collectibles.html)

Blue Snaggletooth. This Star Wars collectible was released in 1978. The toy modelers had only a black and white photo of the top half of Snaggletooth to go by. So when the movie version was red and barefoot, instead of blue and boot-clad, the figure was redone. In-box value of the original figure is about $400, making it valuable among Star Wars collectibles.

Freeze-frame Weequay. Released in the '90s, the value of this Star Wars collectible lies in the packaging. The figure itself isn’t particularly rare, but only a few were packaged with a translucent slide of the figure. If you have one with the slide, it’s worth about $400.

Anakin-to-Darth Vader Hasbro Press Kit. Only given out to media guests at Hasbro’s 2005 Toy Fair, this rare figure of Anakin on a circular base that rotates to a figure of Vader is valued at around $400.

Telescoping Lightsaber Luke. In 1978, three figures were produced with lightsabers that extended from their arms. Blades, in turn, extended from those sabers. These were very fragile, so only one run of the toys was produced. The most common of these figures was Luke Skywalker, which is valued at around $600.

Yak Face. In 1985 Kenner cancelled it’s Star Wars action figure line. Yak Face (a character with a very short Return of the Jedi appearance) had already been produced, and rather than being destroyed, was sent to outlets in Europe and Canada. Average price, in package, is about $1,000, making it a treasure among Star Wars collectibles.

Rocket Firing Boba Fett. This 1980 Star Wars figure, which Kenner officially denies the existence of, comes with it’s own urban legend. A three-year-old supposedly choked on the projectile, which was fired from Fett’s back. Some sources say this figure only existed as a prototype, while others disregard Kenner’s denial and list the figure at $1,000 to $2,000.

Vinyl-Caped Jawa. This 1978 Star Wars figure is one of the rarest of all produced. And one of the most counterfeited. Soon after the release of these figures, Kenner improved the line by switching the cheap plastic cape to a fabric one. An authenticated loose figure is worth about $1,000, while in-box authenticated figures are worth about $2,000. Any collector would be pleased to own this among Star Wars collectibles.

Vlix. A character from the Droids cartoon, this figure wasn’t produced at all in the U.S. When the Droids line was cancelled, the Vlix molds were sent to a Brazilian company, which produced the figure around 1985 and sold it only in Brazil. This Star Wars collectible is worth about $4000 loose.

Telescoping Obi-Wan. Like Luke, this 1978 Star Wars figure came with the extendable light saber in the arm. Quickly phased out because of their fragility, the less common Obi-Wan is worth about $6,000 to $7,000. This is one of the most valuable of the Star Wars collectibles.

Telescoping Darth Vader. Also released in 1978, this Star Wars figure is said by some sources to be the most valuable of those with telescoping lightsabers. Like Obi-Wan this figure is valued around $6,000 to $7,000.

   Finding one of these at a thrift store or garage sale would certainly make ones day, even if you weren't going to resale it on Ebay or some other outlet site. Although only a true Star Wars fan might feel the need to hold on to such a precious commodity.

A Brave New Stadium

    I've been an Atlanta Braves fan since the early 90s when a friend who was already a fan introduced me to his love of baseball. From then I've watched the game on TV and in person, major league, minor league & college games. And I'd have to say that the sport is my favorite to watch and attend-more so than football, basketball, tennis, etc. Even though its popularity as our 'national pastime' has waned a bit & it is actually listed second in the number of fans in America (According to the 2013 Harris Poll, the six sports with most fans are American football (46%), baseball (14%), basketball (10%), auto racing (7%), ice hockey (5%) and tennis (3%).  In the 1985 poll, 31% of fans preferred football, 23% baseball, 12% basketball, 5% auto racing and 5% tennis).

    Advocates of baseball point to the overwhelming number of baseball tickets sold annually in the United States and Canada, compared to NFL football. It is likely that the average American sports fan will attend many more major league baseball games than NFL football games in his or her lifetime, due in part to baseball's longer schedule and football's (generally) higher ticket prices. This is very true in my regard as I've personally attended dozens of MLB games. Meanwhile, I've only ever been to one NFL game and one NBA game. I've never been to a NHL game. I have been to two or three pro tennis tournaments. The ticket prices for NFL & NBA games are much higher than MLB games, and to me the experience of going to a baseball game is just so much better. I doubt that I'll ever go to an NHL game, so lets not include that, NBA sucks (even on TV), NFL isn't worth going to in person, though I do like watching some of the games on TV (however, this is reserved usually only for the Superbowl game-regular season & playoffs don;t interest me)-I actually find college football much more interesting, esp. SEC football, like games Alabama & Auburn are playing, But I love watching & attending baseball games be they college or pro level. And I esp. love to watch my Braves play any other team. Lately I've not been able to see them too much as the TV provider & package I have doesn't carry the Braves games, so I only get a few of them during the season.

    In a couple years the Braves will be moving into a new stadium north of Atlanta in Cobb county. You can get the details on this website:
http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/future/BravesBallpark.htm

    My friend and I have long gone to see the Braves at Fulton County where Hank Aaron became famous for his home runs, so having them move away will be sad, but it looks like their new home will be a pretty special place. Lets hope so. I'd hate to see their popularity falter because of this move.

Meanwhile, Over In Texas...

Lake Whitney in Texas is a fun place to hang out. People play around the lake and enjoy the water-some even build homes close to the limestone cliffs overlooking the majestic lake. Usually this works out, but recently it didn't for one family. Watch the following video for the fun things and not so fun things at Lake Whitney.

PORK TRACK?

For something completely different & unusual-here's Pork Track. If you've always wanted to know what song you were conceived to, this might have the answer. A weird idea that is probably getting some attention. Check it out @:
http://www.porktrack.com/

How Small Can We Go?

Looking at world records the other day on:
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
I came across one record in particular that caught my fancy--the world's smallest movie. Strangely enough it seems it was created by IBM researchers. You can see how they created it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA4QWwaweWA
But for the fun stuff, watch the movie itself below. It is as simple as it can get for a movie, but what more can you expect when you're making it out of atoms?

Time Travel...Possible?

We've long dreamed of travelling thru time--going back into the past or forward into the future. Of all the wondrous things that could be done this must rank in the top 5 certainly. And yet we know for sure that time travel is an impossibility. Right?
Well, hold on a minute. Let's not rush to conclusions just yet or give up on the idea. There might be a way to at least see into the past. And if that could be done would that not be considered the same?
I may have lost most of you reading this already--I know it's a fantastical concept to even be able to see into the past. But I have an idea for doing it that is I think possibly not too far from being a reality.
Achieving this goal would require three things in my opinion:
1> a hardy space vessel for transporting occupants thru space in a timely and efficient manner. We have the capability to create this already, so step 1 is complete.
2> The most powerful telescope mankind has ever devised, but small enough to fit inside the spacecraft and be usable by the occupants.It would need to be perhaps a million times better than the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA scientists are continuing their work on the James Webb Space Telescope, said to be the most powerful telescope ever created. The telescope is said to be capable of capturing seven times more light than its successor, the Hubble Space Telescope, a factor that will aid in its expected exploration of the deepest reaches of outer space. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is managing the project in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA reported today that the last three mirrors necessary for assembly of the complex infrared device have been delivered, allowing them to move forward with assembly. The $8.8 billion telescope will be massive, with its largest mirror, a unique folding, 18-segmented creation, spanning over 21 feet in length and weighing in excess of 1500 pounds. The mirror is six times larger than that of the Hubble Telescope). This is a leap forward in technology but a far cry from what I propose is needed for this mission. Perhaps in a hundred years or so we will have advanced technologically enough to create what I envision is needed. And also, by then perhaps we'll have located the third and final component on my list of requirements;
3> A known wormhole in space that can be navigated by our spacecraft and has the following characteristics:
   a> the entrance is not too far from Earth to allow us a timely journey there,
   b> the wormhole extends thru space to a point hundreds or even thousands of light years from earth and takes a very short time to journey thru to its exit,
   c> both ends are permanent so that it can be counted on being there for a long time/forever.
   d> the exit would be located somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy (so it would be no more than say 80,000 light years away from Earth).
Okay, here's the proposed idea/plan: Take the spacecraft loaded with the telescope thru the wormhole & to wherever it exits. Park the craft and deploy the telescope. Look back at earth & zoom in on whatever is happening in the past. (Since light travels at light speed we would be looking at an Earth hundreds or possibly thousands of years old).
If this could all be done then whatever was witnessed could be recorded and sent back thru the wormhole to Earth of the present. We wouldn't be able to hear people talking, but you might be able to see the actions of people outdoors. And there were apparently some famous things going on back then. For instance:
*See the crucifixion of Christ
*see Noah build the arc & the great flood
*see Moses part the Red Sea and lead the slaves to freedom
*see David defeat Goliath
etc. (moments depicted in the bible could be verified as to have truly happened)
Then, if even longer wormholes were found that took us farther from Earth perhaps we could see back even further in time. Like seeing when man first appeared on Earth. This would possibly require a wormhole exit located in some other galaxy, however, due to this being millions of years ago (which would mean millions of light years away). And, it is almost inconceivable to imagine, but if there was a wormhole that could take us around 65 million light years distant we could possibly witness the extinction of the dinosaurs. Of course the telescope required for this would also have to be unimaginable in power.

-As for actually physically traveling back in time, I still have no theories on how this could be done, although I'm sure other have various ideas. I as well have as yet no ideas for future time travel or even looking into the future. But, I'll be thinking on this next and will report back on the blog if I come up with any ideas. :)

ICE CREAM BREAD!!!

Yes it's true! You can make bread from ice cream. Well, ice cream + flour. Sounds crazy. I mean, who would imagine that it could be done? But there's many videos on Youtube and elsewhere showing it being done. I guess that all the ingredients to make the bread must be within the ice cream minus the flour, so that must be how you can do it. I just wonder who was the first to discover they could make it. Well, at any rate, watch the video below to see it for yourself. It's true and pretty wild!

 

HALT AND CATCH FIRE

AMC, the channel that has previously brought us spectacular and award-winning shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Mad Men is attempting to deliver its latest hit with the period drama Halt and Catch Fire.
Halt and Catch Fire = (HCF) an instruction which causes a computer to cease functioning.
With one episode under its belt we've so far been introduced to the main characters;
Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace)=the adrenalin fueled and highly ambitious go-getter who has left IBM Corp a year before the shows opening apparently because he is tired of "playing it safe", arrives at his new job at Cardiff Electric and has the secret goal to build a computer better than anything else on the planet. And his methods leave little to the imagination as nothing it seems is off limits in achieving this goal.
Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy)=the engineer nerd who might just be smart and eager enough to follow Joe along on this quest.
Cameron Howe (MacKenzie Davis)=the gorgeous babe with brains to match lured into this yarn by the charm and salesmanship of Joe, who's already made it with her by halfway thru the show.
I highly anticipated watching the initial episode as I grew up in the 80s and have always had a personal computer ever since my first one which was an Apple II+ that I bought for $1000 in 1980. Looking back on it that simple machine seems so pathetic now, however, back then it was state of the art. If we only knew then what we know now.
In "I/O" episode 1, Gordon Clark reverse engineers an IBM PC & figures out the hexadecimal codes within the bios chip. Presumably from there he can program his own bios chip and then put together a PC of his own. Gordon's Family and company problems derail these plans quickly, however, as IBM's attorneys arrive at Cardiff Electric due to Joe informing IBM of what he and Gordon have done.
AMC it looks to me has hit another home run-hopefully the rest of the season's episodes will be as good as the first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(TV_series)
http://www.amctv.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire

 

Nature Can Be A Scary Thing

I found this video on the website:
http://www.snotr.com/video/9664/Damn_natureYou_scary__O
I've known clouds to look pretty scary at times, and I've seen some wierd stuff, but never anything quite like this. I've never seen a tornado or hurricane in person-though I have seen a waterspout, which was pretty cool (down at Gulf Shores, Alabama during a thunderstorm there was one of these tornado-like events churning up the surf about a hundred yards off the beach & running parallel to it=probably one of the coolest experiences I've ever witnessed. My brother was there with me to see it & I took a couple pictures of it with his camera). I'd imagine that these are kinda scary. But watch the following video for something else pretty scary looking.

My Own Bed Project

A few weeks ago I began work on what I call a pedestal or riser for my bed I've been using for the past 9 months. Since getting the bed and mattress from Overstock.com I've known that it sat too low for me. I'm a kinda tall guy (6' 2"), but even so, I'd think that any adult would find the bed a bit low for them. Maybe a child would be comfortable with it the way it came, but not adults, as I sit at only like 1 foot off the floor.
So, I'd always wanted and thought about lifting it up a few inches somehow. The how was the puzzler. Exactly what method or design I'd make or use would be really important because I'm also a heavy guy (about 260+ lbs.), so it needed to be strong and well made. I know about the little 4" lift plastic feet you can get that only cost like $5 to $10 or so for a set of 4. But I'd need 6 of them, not 4, due to the way my bed is designed. (there are 2 support posts in the center of my bed frame that holds up the middle structure, so I'd need 2 for those in addition to the 4 outer feet. This alternative, however, left me feeling unsure about if it would be wobbly & fall over. So I rejected this plan.
Without another solid plan I lived with the bed as it was like I said for the past 9 months or so until I saw a video on youtube.com. It was of a guy who built his own bed frame to hold his king-size mattress. It was a clever design & sat up off the floor like 6" or so using 4 sturdy feet. You can see his video on youtube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDjPqZ_Gtmw
in addition, you can see complete details on how he built his bed frame

on his facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/KevinHagerty/media_set?set=a.552281930614.2071539.19304077&type=1&l=e9d5dda6e7

Inspired by Kevin's video I designed a pedestal to lift the bed frame that I had. After careful measurements of what I would need to build I gathered my materials: I used 9 of the wooden 8' 2"X4"s as the 'bones' and a sheet of 4'X8' plywood as a 'skin' to cover them. The 2"X4"s I cut to size and notched so that they could be interwoven into a kind of latticework, which I then glued and screwed together. The plywood was cut into 4 perfectly fitting boards and screwed down onto the top

of the framework. Then it was onto the feet, which were probably the most demanding part of the build. I created 4 feet from the remnants of the 2"X4"s by gluing 3 pieces of wood together (1 short piece sandwiched between 2 longer pieces). This way I wouldn't need to cut a notch out of one large 4"X4" or something (which is what Kevin did & said had been really tough for him). Gluing and clamping the boards together for a couple days was all it took & they were stuck

permanently. After some finish work on them to cut off the 'flash' some might call it I went about the tough job of attaching them to the underside of the pedestal framework. This involved positioning the 5 legs in place and locating drill holes. Needless to say this was tough as my drill bit was only like 3" long and the holes drilled needed to be like nearly 6" to pass all the way thru both the legs and the

undercarriage. I ended up using a pattern drawn on paper that would position where to drill the holes. It still was a kind of trial and error experience, but not too taxing. And eventually, after about a

week of work in my spare time it was completed.

The finished pedestal was rather heavy when me and a helper carried it to my upstairs room, but we managed to get it in. I didn't want to mess up the bedroom with sawdust & stuff which was why I didn't work on it in there & why I built it on the back porch. It did fit the bed frame quite well, though it was a tight fit, and ended up lifting the bed exactly the height that I had wanted. Bully!
The total cost of supplies for the build (wood, bolts, nuts & washers, and wood glue=I already had screws & the tools I needed, which included a jig saw, circular saw, hand saw, 2 drills, 2 large clamps, a ratchet set, hammer, & screwdriver) came in at well under $100 from Home Depot.

Here are a couple photos: one of the bed I'd purchased from Overstock.com & one after it was lifted. Also one photo of the underside where you can see a bit better the framework & feet beneath the bed.