Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Saturday, April 24, 2021
#15 puzzle
I used to be fond of the #15 puzzle, and even Bobby Fischer was fond of it. The 19nth century puzzle maker Sam Lloyd claimed that he invented it, but it was actually invented by a 19nth century postmaster named Noyes Chapman.
It seems to me that the puzzle is a precursor to the Rubicks' Cube. Both involve sliding pieces in a limited way. It is possible to take apart and reassemble both in a way that can't be solved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_puzzle
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Remember warming up the TV before watching it?
For those who don't remember, on powering up really old televisions the image would start as a dot in the middle of the screen, and then expand. It might only take a couple of seconds to a few seconds to reach full size. The reason for this is that old televisions used vacuum tubes instead of transistors, and these needed warming up. I remember going to a repair shop that had dozens of different types of tubes for replacement parts.
Sometime in the mid-1970s, manufacturers began to advertise televisions that were "Instant On". Since many of these TV's still used vacuum tubes, I noticed that these TV's kept some of the vacuum tubes powered up even when the TV was "off". I could tell because most vacuum tubes glowed. Many old televisions had heat vents toward the back and an orange glow would emanate from these vents. It would light up the wall behind my television. The TV also put out a great deal of heat.
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
Sometime in the mid-1970s, manufacturers began to advertise televisions that were "Instant On". Since many of these TV's still used vacuum tubes, I noticed that these TV's kept some of the vacuum tubes powered up even when the TV was "off". I could tell because most vacuum tubes glowed. Many old televisions had heat vents toward the back and an orange glow would emanate from these vents. It would light up the wall behind my television. The TV also put out a great deal of heat.
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
Friday, April 9, 2021
Latitude
I was curious about the latitude of Columbus, Indiana. It is at 39 degrees, which means that it is not halfway between the equator and the North Pole, although Minneapolis, Minnesota is halfway at 45 degrees. Windsor, Ontario, Canada, is only 42 degrees, and Toronto is 43 degrees, but Ottawa is at 45 degrees. If you traveled straight west from Ottawa then you would eventually hit Minneapolis, on the north side.
Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is at 64 degrees. That is more than 2/3 of the way to the North Pole from the equator. Reykjavik, Iceland is also at 64 degrees, although Iceland is reportedly a nicer place to live. The capitals of Norway, Sweeden, and Finland are at around 60 degrees.
Juneau, Alaska is only at 58 degrees. Anchorage is at 61. Fairbanks is the farthest north that you would find any United States city of any significance, at 64.8 degrees.
The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901 miles. Halfway up the globe, say in Minneapolis, an east-west line circling the Earth would not be half of the length of the equator. To get the length you have to multiply the length of the equator by the cosine of 45 degrees, giving a length of 17,607 miles. If you wanted a circle that was half the length of the equator, you would need to be at 60 degrees, such as Helsinki, Finnland.
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is at 64 degrees. That is more than 2/3 of the way to the North Pole from the equator. Reykjavik, Iceland is also at 64 degrees, although Iceland is reportedly a nicer place to live. The capitals of Norway, Sweeden, and Finland are at around 60 degrees.
Juneau, Alaska is only at 58 degrees. Anchorage is at 61. Fairbanks is the farthest north that you would find any United States city of any significance, at 64.8 degrees.
The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901 miles. Halfway up the globe, say in Minneapolis, an east-west line circling the Earth would not be half of the length of the equator. To get the length you have to multiply the length of the equator by the cosine of 45 degrees, giving a length of 17,607 miles. If you wanted a circle that was half the length of the equator, you would need to be at 60 degrees, such as Helsinki, Finnland.
--
Best wishes,
John Coffey
http://www.entertainmentjourney.com
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Friday, March 19, 2021
Why a Hass Avocado Seed Does Not Give Us a Hass Avocado Tree
A bit of trivia, but I think that this is interesting.
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Friday, February 26, 2021
A word on gambling and feeling alone
Despite some strong language, this seems like some of the best advice I have ever heard.
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Friday, February 19, 2021
Homogenous Vs. Homogeneous: What's The Difference?
Apparently, these are two different words, but I would get confused.
adjective
ho·mog·e·nous
- 1.BIOLOGYold-fashioned term for homologous.
ho·mo·ge·ne·ous
adjective
- of the same kind; alike.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Snow
Yesterday I had to dig my car out, with some help from the neighbors, to go get some groceries. I had to dig out the tires twice to get the car back into the garage. I tried a couple of times to shovel the driveway, but it kept snowing so I gave up. I might try again tomorrow, but I have kind of resigned myself to staying home. It is supposed to all melt on Sunday and Monday, although we might get some more snow Sunday night.
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Daum Crystal Volupte by Lucien Gibert Limited Edition | Figurines | Daum Crystal | Crystal & Glassware | Tabletop | ScullyandScully.com
I don't know why I am seeing advertisements for these sculptures, but $42,000 for a miniature nude sculpture? I could buy a minivan for that. I don't care how great this artist supposedly is, it seems like a huge waste of money.
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Mary 1 vs Mary Queen of Scotts
The Tudor dynasty is one of the more famous, if not infamous, periods of British royalty. You can see the movie Elizabeth, its sequel Elizabeth The Golden Age, or the entertaining Tudors TV series about King Henry VIII.
This https://www.triviagenius.com/answer/who-was-the-first-reigning-queen-of-england/YBBlFhi0UIl_BpZe Trivia Genius post confuses Mary 1, sometimes called "Bloody Mary", with Mary Queen of Scotts as if they are the same person, going as far as making the outrageous statement, "who followed Mary's example by having Mary herself executed".
So I wrote them to explain the error.
Friday, January 29, 2021
Fwd: Systems
As I posted this to Facebook I touched up the working a little and added a sentence to the end.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey <
Date: Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 10:54 PM
Subject: Systems
To:
From: John Coffey <
Date: Fri, Jan 29, 2021 at 10:54 PM
Subject: Systems
To:
The "Solar System" is a "system" consisting of at least eight planets, many dwarf planets, dozens of moons, millions of asteroids and comets, all bound together by the gravity of a large central star.
The Milky Way Galaxy is a system of up to 400 billion stars, stellar nurseries, rotating arms, and a large black hole in the middle that helps hold everything together, again with gravity. Our galaxy is so large with such a large gravitational attraction that it has 1 or 2 other smaller galaxies that orbit around it, and these together also form a system. Groups of galaxies form Galactic Clusters where their mutual gravitational attraction binds them together. The entire universe consists of spiderweb-like strings of galaxies formed theoretically by Dark Matter.
A single atom is also a system, consisting of a large electron cloud bound to a small central nucleus by the electromagnetic force. The nucleus is also a system consisting of protons and neutrons held together by the strong nuclear force, but each of these is a system consisting of three quarks held together also by the strong nuclear force. Groups of atoms form molecules, held together by the electromagnetic force. Large groups of like molecules and atoms form chemicals, coalescing into substances, and these can be combined in different ways to make the materials that everything is made out of.
Your body consists of many different systems working in tandem, but each cell is a very complex system by itself, like a microscopic chemical factory.
The planet Earth also consists of many different systems keeping the whole thing going.
With so many systems from the supergalactic to the subatomic, it gives the impression that there is some sort of design behind it all. It could be that it is just the emergent property of matter and energy along with the laws of physics to form more complex systems.
Systems
The "Solar System" is a "system" consisting of at least eight planets, many dwarf planets, dozens of moons, millions of asteroids and comets, all bound together by the gravity of a large central star.
The Milky Way Galaxy is a system of up to 400 billion stars, stellar nurseries, rotating arms, and a large black hole in the middle that helps hold everything together, again with gravity. Our galaxy is so large with such a large gravitational attraction that it has 1 or 2 other smaller galaxies that orbit around it, and these together also form a system. Groups of galaxies form Galactic Clusters where their mutual gravitational attraction binds them together. The entire universe consists of spiderweb-like strings of galaxies joined theoretically by Dark Matter.
A single atom is also a system, consisting of a large electron cloud bound to a small central nucleus by the electromagnetic force. The nucleus is also a system consisting of protons and neutrons held together by the strong nuclear force, but each of these is a system consisting of three quarks held together also by the strong nuclear force. Groups of atoms form molecules, held together by the electromagnetic force. Large groups of like molecules and atoms form chemicals, coalescing into substances, and these can be combined in different ways to make the materials that everything is made out of.
Your body consists of many different systems working in tandem, but each cell is a very complex system by itself, like a microscopic chemical factory.
The planet Earth also consists of many different systems keeping the whole thing going.
With so many systems from the supergalactic to the subatomic, it gives the impression that there is some sort of design behind it all.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Grammar Guide: Using Bare Infinitives | Word Genius
Some grammar rules that I had no idea about ...
Sunday, January 24, 2021
10 Story Fantasy v01n01 (1951 Spring) (Tawrast EXciter)
This 1948 story, published in 1951, by Author C Clarke was the inspiration for 2001 A Spacey Oddysey. It does not seem like a particularly good story, but it is a start.
Sunday, January 17, 2021
What Are Irregular Verbs? | Word Genius
It has been a long time since school. Nice to have the refresher. This gets more complicated in Spanish and many other languages that have much more verb conjugations than English.
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Monday, November 16, 2020
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Fwd: Needle felting Cat // Making video //By Wakuneco.
This is unbelievable that people can do this. Although I am impressed by the artistic skill, I think that it looks kind of creepy.
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Saturday, October 31, 2020
How Large is the Universe? Bigger than you can Imagine?
The universe that we can see is so large that it might as well be infinite. Our little solar system is like a speck of dust by comparison. That part of the universe that we can't see may actually be infinite, but we might never know.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Pet rat grieves loss of his sick brother
Interesting that an animal like this can have such emotion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)