Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Monday, April 19. 2010The Deafening Silence Suddenly, flying 30,000 feet above the ground, a massive depressurization takes place and the airliner starts to break apart. It tumbles toward the ground, bucking and spinning, as the last seconds of your life turn into a living nightmare. The only good news is, in the chaos around you, your mind would be so overwhelmed that you'd be in shellshock, with no time to contemplate what could have been, no time to regret what never will be, and no time to say goodbye to life, itself. But, as ugly as that is, there is one scenario that might even be worse. You're flying along at 30,000 feet when suddenly... Click. All four engines stop. You don't like the depressurization scenario? Well, lucky you, you now have minutes upon minutes to contemplate what might have been, to regret what never will be, and plenty of time to say goodbye to life, itself, before you cartwheel into the sea and disintegrate. Lucky you. A few weekends ago I decided to wig out and watch every single 'airline disaster' show on YouTube. There were about twenty of them. And, as terrifying as many of them were, there was one that stood out above the rest. The one where the engines suddenly went click.
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Doc's Computin' Tips: The common enemy
But by the time the dust settles, the dust has settled. And dust covering the electronic parts is, over the long run, one of the most destructive forces of all, simply because it makes everything run hotter, from the electronic components to the drives. Enough dusty coating, enough external heat from a blistering hot summer's day, maybe clog up the tower's intake vents with some dustballs, and one of the components could exceed its factory specs and blow. And that means a new motherboard, and that usually means a brand new computer. This is especially true coupled with the fact that electronic devices such as motherboards generate a field of static electricity around them, attracting small particles in the air. Throw in an intake fan for the power supply, maybe one for the motherboard, and, truth be told, that computer of yours is doubling as an excellent little room-sized dust filter. The actual cleaning process is straightforward enough: 1. Unhook everything, figure out how to open the case. 2. Find a neighbor with a compressed air rig (they're always looking for an excuse to use it), some friend who owns a scuba tank and air nozzle, or head to the local gas station. You can also use those small cans of compressed air but they won't be near as effective. Stand upwind on the closed side of the tower, reach the hose over and blast the hell out of the thing. The first gust should really kick up a ruckus. After that dissipates, face the insides and get real close to everything. Blast the individual components on the motherboard, the heat sink on the big CPU chip and the fans. Also blast the inside of the (enclosed) power supply through both vents. 3. Reassemble. These days, there's not much worry about hooking things back up incorrectly. Everything's color-coded, a unique size, polarized, if not all three. Once a year sounds about right. If you do a 'spring cleaning' routine, put it on the list. If the tower sits right on the floor, do it twice a year. If at all possible, the tower really should sit at least 8" off the floor, especially carpet. Please refer to accompanying photograph for demonstration. Tuesday, April 13. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: Back-up time
Pictured: Who doesn't. To be completely honest, you never did have much of an excuse when you lost those super-important files during that computer melt-down a while back and had lazily neglected to back them up. Oh, you made a big bid for sympathy, all right, but we just laughed and sneered. There have always been zillions of backup programs around, and they've always been real easy to use. No, you really had no excuse at all. And now, sadly, with cheap terabyte drives available, you'll have even less. To take it through the timeline, first we backed up our precious files to floppy disk. Then came hard drives, so we used a variety of backup programs that would 'sync' two folders together, copying the new files in the first folder over to the backup folder. Then came CD blanks, then DVD blanks, so that became the medium of choice for a decade. Their permanency and ease of storage made the media very attractive. But even it had its flaws, like having to divide things up so they'd fit on a disc, and the time and hassle of the burning process, itself. But the biggest problem was simply the size limitation. I have about 200 gigs total, spread across two drives and nine partitions, so that's about 45 to 50 discs if I wanted to back up the works. Yikes. But now, with the recent advent of inexpensive monster-sized (terabyte) hard drives, the rules change once again. Given how much easier it is to click on a single button in SyncToy and back up the whole enchilada, this is clearly the way to go. If you're wondering about price, I picked up one of the Seagate drives used in this test at BestBuy the other day for $75 on sale. Hook it in as a spare drive, download the free SyncToy and you're good to go. And the next time a computer glitch eats those super-important files, you'll be the one who's laughing last. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: Back-up time" Friday, April 9. 2010Treasure hunting with a metal detector
Metal detectors have been around for a long time, about seventy years or so, but until relatively recently they've been severely limited as to the type of ground they could penetrate. All of the iron in the ground in California, Nevada and Colorado has been like a solid wall to metal detectors, until now. This new wave of metal detectors can now penetrate these ferrous-rich areas, and great discoveries await those who try. The technology has also enabled metal detectors to work correctly in salt water. The old style worked somewhat, but not nearly as well as the new ones do. Below the fold, I'll list out some popular ways in which this new metal detector technology can be used for fun and profit. You don't have to buy the fanciest one on the shelf, but you'll certainly get more options, the more you pay. A more-expensive model can not only tell how deep a coin is buried, but even what type of coin it is. It can also tell basic metal types, such as "iron", "silver", "gold", and can even isolate and identify pull-top tabs, the all-time bane of the treasure hunter. So, a few extra dollars spent now could save you endless hours later in the field. Continue reading "Treasure hunting with a metal detector"
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Wednesday, April 7. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: The IDE/SATA/RAID story Pictured: Average reader upon hearing the bad news. Well, there's no sense in beating around the bush. Let's get right to the good news. For a mere $49.95, it's possible that you could more than double your hard drive speed. That means everything would be quicker. Boot-up time, saving, converting, copying, formatting, rendering, transcoding, frameserving, demuxing, remuxing, bitmapping, raytracing, defragging, scanning, disk-checking... Everything. For a crummy 49 bucks. Think that's impressive? With the mere flip of a setting, you might be able to almost double it again. More info and official techie-type graphs & numbers are below the fol- "But Doc, wait! What about the bad news?" Oh, let's just keep that between ourselves. There are children present. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: The IDE/SATA/RAID story"
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Saturday, March 27. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: The Amazing AVS Video Converter
I was impressed with a video program. And, let me assure you, for me to be impressed with a video program takes a lot. I have in my tool bag all of the latest, hottest goodies, and I know all the video tricks. Hell, I invented half the tricks. I've been a leader in the field of digital video for a decade. Nevertheless, I'm impressed with AVS Video Converter. And the $59 they're asking is fairly cheap for a quality conversion program. To keep it in perspective, Adobe Premiere lists for $799. The whys and wherefores will only be of interest to us videophiles (budding and otherwise), so I'll lay it all out below the fold. This is truly a remarkable program in at least three ways. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: The Amazing AVS Video Converter"
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Tuesday, March 23. 2010Doc's Bag O' Links
Please note this is not a 'comprehensive' list by any means. A number of categories are not included, such as mainstream news sites, bloggers, and reference sites. Bloggers can be found in the site's sidebar and I'll do separate posts on reference sites and online games some other time. Continued below the fold! Continue reading "Doc's Bag O' Links"
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Wednesday, March 17. 2010Men & women of film
Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Ruth Chatterton, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, Vivien Leigh, Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, Olivia de Havilland, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Loretta Young, Deborah Kerr, Judy Garland, Anne Baxter, Lauren Bacall, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Audrey Hepburn, Dorothy Dandridge, Shirley MacLaine, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Janet Leigh, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Ann Margret, Julie Andrews, Raquel Welch, Tuesday Weld, Jane Fonda, Julie Christie, Faye Dunaway, Catherine Deneuve, Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Kathleen Turner, Holly Hunter, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Salma Hayek, Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore, Diane Lane, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry Men of film: Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Errol Flynn, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Tyrone Power, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster, William Holden, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, Anthony Quinn, Gregory Peck, Richard Burton, Jack Lemmon, Sean Connery, Sidney Poitier, Charlton Heston, Steve McQueen, Peter O'Toole, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider, Warren Beatty, Dennis Hopper, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Harrison Ford, Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Michael Douglas, Christopher Walken, Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, John Travolta, Antonio Banderas, Tim Robbins, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, George Clooney
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Sunday, March 14. 2010Sunday silliness: 'Redstar Fall' Myself, I scored an 88%, which I think is pretty good. In that vein, here's one of my favorite online games. Just hit 'Start', no need for instructions. Challenge: Level 13 in two clicks.
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Saturday, March 13. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: Saving & playing web videos
You think you're looking at a web page on Maggie's server, right? Nope, not even close. Every single item you see or hear on a web site has been downloaded to your computer first, and those are the files you're reading, watching and listening to. Everything, including all of those wild & wacky videos you watch, are sitting right there on your computer waiting to be saved for later enjoyment. But no. No, as cruel as it sounds, this is not an ideal world, and thus there are bound to be a few hitches and bumps along the way, such as your media player rudely spitting out "Unknown format" when you innocently try to play your latest YouTube treasure. But with stalwart heart and steely resolve, we'll solve the whole mess in one fell swoop. I'm not exactly sure what a fell swoop is — but I'm pretty sure there's one below the fold. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: Saving & playing web videos"
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Friday, March 12. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: Removing context menu entries
P.S. I sure wish I had a lip ring. :( On a Windows system, the 'context menu' is what pops out when you click on an icon with the right mouse button. Unfortunately, programs like installing their own entries on the context menu and things can get a bit cluttered after a while. The solution is to use a simple program called ShellExView to remove the unwanted entries. A download site is here. No need to install, just unzip and copy the folder to a permanent home. Then open the ShellExView folder, grab hold of the program's icon and d-r-a-g it over to the Start Menu and drop it in for future access. Fire up the program and look for the company or program name on the left. Right-click on it and select 'Disable'. Go find an icon, right-click on it and see if the entry has been removed. If not, look for another entry by the same company or program. It should be there somewhere.
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Saturday, March 6. 2010Doc's Computin' Tips: Browser tips Below the fold, I'll offer some suggestions on how to clean things up and get more web viewing space (IE in particular needs help in this department), how to make the tool bar buttons more efficient, how to get rid of those ugly purple fonts that some pages display in IE, some clarification on browser speed, and some bug fixes. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: Browser tips"
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Thursday, March 4. 2010"All wee-wee'd up"
If so, then this video is not for you. Sunday, February 28. 2010Train story with a twist(er)
You're the engineer of a great big freight train. Nothing stands in your way! What's that? There's a huge 18-wheeler stalled on the tracks up ahead? No problem! You'll cut that tin can in two and just keep on goin'! Nothing stands in your way! Well, unless you attempt to drive through a tornado, of course. But who'd ever do that?
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Thursday, December 3. 2009The Michael Crichton Challenge
But those aren't the only ways to judge an author. What about ingenuity? Originality? The brilliance of an idea never thought of before? A correlation; a conjunction of ideas that few others, if any, have made? Some guy chases a big whale all over the place. Moby-Dick. A lawyer defends an innocent black man. To Kill A Mockingbird. A bunch of Okies migrate to California. The Grapes of Wrath. Architect makes it big. The Fountainhead. These are original ideas? They might read well, and there are certainly some deep, underlying truths running around the place, but, by my definition? Pretty boring, really. Below the fold I present the case that the late Michael Crichton was perhaps the greatest original author of all time. I'll present the argument. You answer the challenge. Continue reading "The Michael Crichton Challenge"
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Monday, November 30. 2009R/C Madness
First, introducing the Hydroboat-plane-car-helicopter-lawnmower-skateboard: Pretty nifty, eh? And some review I read mentioned "sand and snow", so I guess we can add "dune buggy" and "snowmobile" to the list. Aerodynamically, what's amazing is how maneuverable it is with what little wing surface it has. But it certainly seems like it's under fairly tight control. And one big plus point is that they don't cost very much, compared to jumping into the field of normal R/C planes and expensive control boxes. So when you pile the rascal up, it won't be a wallet-killer to replace it, and it also gives us the luxury to try a different brand if we're not happy with the first one. Try Stormlauncher, Graupner and HydroFlyer, and Toys 'R' Us has a pretty good selection of flying toys. Now, if you want a more conventional plane, but one that can still pull off some simple, basic maneuvers, try this little honey: That's a pretty cool moment when he stands it on its nose. Don't try it at home! On the other hand, if the above planes are too mechanical-looking... Monday, November 23. 2009Doc's Computin' Tips: Security update Here's the quote:
Exactly. I'd even go so far as to change his "also" to "often or "usually". This is becoming a huge problem on the 'Net and is one of the driving forces behind both personal identity theft and 'botnet' attacks. Most malevolent programs running around these days aren't "viruses" — meaning some program that does something nasty like suddenly delete your C Drive — because viruses don't ultimately do the instigator any good. Outside of the satisfaction of being mean, of course. The worst programs are the 'keyloggers', which send a record of your keystrokes to the bad guy. All he has to do is look for 19 numbers in a row (your credit card number plus the 3-digit number off the back that you just entered in some online order form) and bingo. Now all he has to do is try a few expiration dates and your bank account is toast. Second-worst is the 'botnet' program that lies dormant in your computer until the bad guys launch an attack on some corporation, usually in the form of blackmail. They'll tell the company to either cough up the dough or the 20,000 computers on their botnet (of which you're one) will 'ping' their web site 10 times a second from now until Doomsday, thereby overloading the server and keeping legitimate customers from getting to the site. Obviously, for an online company, this is serious business. And you, yourself, will never even know you were part of the attack. That's why everyone from God on down recommends installing a quality anti-virus/spyware program, and don't forget a good firewall program. You cannot rely on the stock Windows programs, such as Windows Firewall and Windows Defender. I have a post on the subject here. Back to Gringo's warning, it isn't just web sites and email where the damage is being done. There's an area of the Internet called 'Usenet' which has a large section of programs, pirated and otherwise. I got curious and did a study on this a few months ago and I'd estimate that three-fourths of the anti-virus/spyware programs available for downloading have some spyware buried deep in the install files. That is, it'll actually install the anti-virus program, but it'll have been tweaked so it overlooks the keylogger. While you're thinking your computer is finally safe, your bank account is being drained. The same is true with P2P (peer-to-peer) file-sharing sites (eDonkey, BitTorrent, etc), and sophisticated chat lines, like the IRC, that allow for file transfers. Some chat buddy says, "Hey, I just downloaded the latest Norton Anti-Virus from Usenet! I installed it and it's working perfectly! Want a copy?" You reply "Sure!", and now both of you are unknowing partners in a gang of Internet blackmailers. Or simultaneously having your bank accounts drained. So be safe, be cautious, use common sense, don't trust renegade downloads, and please spend the money on quality protection. Some program suggestions are in the above link. General security rules-of-thumb: 1. Never open a file-attachment in an email unless you're 101% sure of the sender. Remember, one of the ploys of the clever virus or spyware is using the names in a person's address book to send itself on. 2. Never click on a link in (what appears to be) a commercial email, like from a bank or loan agency, much less input anything personal like a password. The reason phishing emails look so real is because they are real. Everything you see is probably coming directly from the bank's actual site. It's when you click on something that the trouble begins. 3. Never click 'OK' in any box that pops up while you're on a web site unless it's something you've initiated, like installing a program. Plus, you know the little click-box in the upper-right corner that closes the intrusive box? Well, if you wanted the person to click the 'OK' button to install your keylogger or netbot file, wouldn't you make the little 'close box' do the same thing? And, for that matter, the 'Cancel' button? When I see one of those things pop up, I open Task Manager and shut it down that way. 4. Always right-click on a download from a possibly suspicious source and have your anti-virus/spyware program scan the file directly. It'll give the file a quick scan when it's downloaded, but often only a deep scan will detect the really nasty stuff. This doesn't apply to songs, pics and videos, but it definitely applies to compressed files such as Zip and Rar, and you should never, ever, download an EXE file unless you're positive of the source. The real danger today is spyware, and it's on your shoulders to use a quality program to fend it off. Not only could an easy argument be made that it's the most important money you can spend on your computer, but it could even be argued that it's the only money that you actually need to spend on your computer. One can get by with a lot of great freebie programs in the computer world, but not in this area. Any specific questions, as always, just ask in the comments.
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Friday, November 13. 2009Doc's Computin' Tips: The Snipping Tool
If you just want a grab a picture from the Web for your own use, you right-click on it and save it. The problem arises when you just want part of a picture, or part of a web page (or program) that's not a picture. The traditional method is to hit the 'Print Scrn' key on the keyboard, which puts a snapshot of the entire screen into memory, then paste it into a paint program and do your cropping. The Snipping Tool eliminates the entire process. In Vista's Start Menu, the entry is in Programs/Accessories. In Win7, it'll either be on the main Start Menu list or buried somewhere. If you don't see the entry, open Control Panel, 'Programs and Features', click on 'Turn Windows features on and off' over to the left, then checkmark the "Tablet PC" entry and let it load. If it's already checked and you swear you can't find the entry on the Start Menu, uncheck 'Tablet', reboot, then put it back in. (Why it's tied in with the tablet's features is anybody's guess.) Update: A commenter noted that the 'Tablet' feature isn't offered in his 'Home' edition, so if you don't see a 'Tablet PC' entry in the 'Features' box, check out the couple of free snipping tools available here. To use Snipping Tool, just fire it up. It automatically goes straight into 'capture mode'. Grab the mouse, hold down the left button and d-r-a-g it over the area you want to snip. When you let go, a box pops open with the sniplet. Do a 'Save As' and there ya go. There are a couple of other features in the sniplet box you might find useful, such as a 'pen' tool where you can manually write words or circle something, and a yellow 'highlight' tool. If you don't like what you circled or highlighted, click on the 'Eraser' tool and then the area you want erased. You can also send the snip directly to someone via email without even bothering to save it, another time-saver. There are a couple of Options you might want to change: — You can add it to the Quick Launch tool bar if you use it. — The 'ink' color is the color of the border it puts around the snip, so you might prefer black or some dark color over the default red. Kudos to Microsoft for an excellent time-saving tool that works perfectly.
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Wednesday, November 4. 2009The Astounding World of the Future
If you've got a few years on you, then you probably remember those "documentaries" from the 50's and 60's showing "The Astounding World of the Future!" It was usually the year 2000, that being a nice, round number. And remember all the great predictions? We'd all be flying around in our jet cars, speaking into our Dick Tracy-style TV/radio/telephone wristwatches, and putting a small capsule in the middle of a pan, jamming it in the oven for 10 seconds, then pulling out a steaming roasted turkey complete with all the trimmings. Obviously, it was all gibberish, and that's what makes this video so amazing. As you'll see, the writers took a very realistic view of things and, not surprisingly, nailed a number of them. And they must have dumped a bunch of money into the production because the props and special effects are quite well done for the time and extremely believable. Recognize any of these?
So, without further ado, welcome to...
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Saturday, October 24. 2009Doc's Computin' Tips: Multiple email identities in Vista
It was, in short, an invaluable feature, and there's no reason on God's Green Earth why they should have removed it. The only way it can be done with Windows Mail is to actually log off the entire system and then log back on as a different 'identity'. That's friggin' ridiculous. So, the hunt was on to find an email program that supported multiple identities. Two days and about a dozen programs later, I found the answer. It costs $35, but if you want true multiple identities, it's the only program I found that does the trick. More info + setup tips below the fold. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: Multiple email identities in Vista"
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Saturday, October 17. 2009Doc's Computin' Tips: Tweaking Vista
But first, the bad news. If you've heard the horror stories about Windows Vista and are hanging on to your Windows XP for dear life, hoping that Windows 7 will be the answer... Or you're currently using Windows Vista and are disappointed with its sluggish performance and those crazy 'permission' boxes that pop up every time you change the tiniest setting, and you're also hoping Windows 7 will be the answer... Sorry. I suggest you not plan on upgrading to Windows 7 in the near future, and for two very good reasons:
The good news is, there's a simple answer to your dashed hopes and dreams: Simply turn off the 'bloatware' in Vista. Do everything in this guide and you'll have a Windows Vista system that's quick, snappy and reliable, and should provide you with years of carefree use. Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: Tweaking Vista"
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Thursday, September 24. 2009Browser & OS stats Instead, here are the official stats from our Google Analytics page:
You Safari users should be using the Mac version of Firefox, available here. Safari has a few bugs and the colors you're seeing aren't necessarily what everyone else is seeing. And Firefox is better in a number of other ways.
To you 'smart-phone' users, don't hold your breath waiting for a mobile-friendly version of Maggie's to appear. The guy who developed the software has long dropped support of it and there's no reason to assume anyone else will pick up the reins. Such is life in the sleepy back hollow wherein Maggie's resides. Wednesday, September 9. 2009The Mission
Can one regular ol' person really make a difference? My answer is, "He can, if he really puts his mind to it." An example is below the fold. Continue reading "The Mission"
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Sunday, September 6. 2009Life On Other Worlds: By The Numbers
For practical purposes, the third category is really the only one that concerns us. The first type might be nothing more than a colony of microbes. Sure, it's "life"... but so what? The second type might be 'intelligent', but most likely we'll never find out. It could be anything from some parachute-shaped beings floating around in an atmosphere of pure methane to some formless creature living 10,000 feet below a sea of hydrochloric acid. We've been so brainwashed by Hollywood that I'm sure the first impulse of a great number of people would be, "Just build a voice translator and we'll be able to understand them perfectly!" Sorry, it just doesn't work that way. Nor, after such a long journey, are we going to be equipped to fly through an atmosphere of pure methane or dive 10,000 feet beneath an ocean of hydrochloric acid. Again, it just doesn't work that way. No, for our purposes, we really have to be talking about carbon-based life forms similar to us, and from a world similar to ours, if we want to have a real chance of communicating with them. And that's really what it's all about. If we sent back a signal to Earth declaring, "We've found alien life forms floating around in an atmosphere of pure methane!", well, everyone's going to find that pretty exciting for a minute or two, then it's back to the daily grind. If we can communicate with them, however, then there's a real chance that we'll learn something that will vastly improve mankind, such as a new, pure form of energy or a transgalactic space drive. So, what are the odds of there being intelligent carbon-based life forms out there living on a world similar to ours? Let us construct such a scenario step by step and see. Continue reading "Life On Other Worlds: By The Numbers"
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Thursday, September 3. 2009A couple o' Sagan clips The first is how Eratosthanes calculated the earth's circumference 2,200 years ago to high precision. This remains my favorite scene from any documentary. You get the feeling that if the world had just STOPPED... at that moment and everyone had listened to Eratosthanes and his colleagues, our civilization would be about 2,000 years more advanced than it is today.
And if you've ever heard the term 'perspective is everything', here's demonstrative proof. First, to help you picture how far outwards we can go, there's this:
But what's truly amazing is that we can go just as far in the other direction.
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