Once Again

Repeating History

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a moneyed aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson


"...corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it's reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." Abraham Lincoln


Speaking Of History...

"I taught I taw a puddy tat, but I can't find my glasses."

My sister sent me this picture, reminding me that, "Tweety", is 60 years old.
Thank you Sue.

Stellarium

The illustrated view from my balcony. 3/26/09 6:02 AM

I got a great program to assist me with stargazing. It's called, Stellarium. The download is free. You can set it for the sky anywhere, on, and off the earth.

I enter Redding, and my zip code and I get a picture of what I look at from the balcony.

Planets and stars, I am not seeing, yesterday afternoon.

I found Stellarium, while reading Toms Astronomy Blog . Thanks Tom.
Get Stellarium.

$2.8 Billion a Year

My laptop turns off automatically, thank you.

The other day, I was at a friends house and I asked him why he didn't turn his computer off when he wasn't using it. It was just the way he had been taught when he had a PC. I got to thinking that even PC's probably should be turned off when not in use. A little more research and I found that especially with windows, it's important to turn them off when not in use. It will help you avoid having to reboot each day because your cache gets clogged. (Or something like that.)

Anyway, if we all turned our computers off while we are not using them, we can save $2.8 billion in electricity costs each year. I think that the leaving it on goes back to UNIVAC and warming up the vacuum tubes until they were at a stable temperature.

So now you know. It's good to turn your computer off when you are not using it.

Killer Flapjacks?

They look good to me.

The killer pancake e-mail is back.

I got one from Garie, this evening. It must have had more than 100 email addresses that it had gone to.

Here is what I wrote back to Garie;

Hi Garie,

I knew I had seen that e-mail before. The last time I got it was in 2008. It began circulating in 2006. According to snopes, there was a dear Abby letter with the story, but they couldn't verify that it was a true story.

However, in 2001, 2 pathologists in Charleston, reported a case of a 19 year old who died from a mold allergy after eating pancakes made from a box that had sat open in a kitchen cabinet for 2 years. His friends didn't finish their pancakes because they tasted bad. They didn't get sick.

Snopes advises that if you have a mold allergy, don't eat pancakes from an open box that has been sitting out for 2 years.

I wonder why people write e-mail like that?

Phil

I Saved $20

Redbox rentals cost $1.00

You may have noticed these DVD rental machines at your local supermarket. They have a couple of them at the local Raley's, where I shop. I have used the machine to rent 2 or 3 movies like, Wall-E, (Loved this movie.), and something else not as memorable. But how did I save $20?

On the 24Th, Apple began offering HD movie downloads. They claim to be better than HDDVD's and nearly as detailed as BluRay. I am intrigued by the amazing quality of HDTV broadcasts, so I thought I would get a movie to enjoy on the great equipment I have. They have a few movies offered at this time, but I haven't seen any of them. They charge $19.95 per movie.

I like James Bond movies, or at least I thought I did. I liked the Sean Connery, and Roger Moore, "Bond", movies that I have seen, and I noticed a bond movie in the HD selections. It is called, "Quantum of Solace", and features some, "new guy", as Bond.

What I like about Bond movies, and thought would look good in High Definition, are the sweeping vistas and exotic location shots. I like the humor and the clever dialogue, the puns and double entendres. The tounge in cheek performance as, "Bond....James Bond". I was thinking about investing $20 in this movie, but wondered how I might be able to see it first. REDBOX! If the movie was good, I would consider downloading the $20 HD version, to savor in striking color and detail.

Thank you Redbox, I saved $20. It would have been awful to sit through that movie in a theater. I'm glad I watched it at home, where I could move around, eat dinner, read the news, fix cake and ice cream, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, edit photographs, take my meds, and clip my fingernails while I waited for Quantum of Solace, to end.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Live and Let Die -Wings

Shaken, Not Stirred