Space travel

The dream of spaceflight for humans is exactly that: a dream. Consider Voyager I - after nearly 40 years of traveling over 37,000 mph it is just reaching the edge of the solar system. The Enterprise can do that in a few minutes.

New Horizons: Today the spacecraft finally reached Pluto, its main mission. It was launched in 2006 and sped directly to the dwarf planet. Other solar system spacecraft have used "gravity-assist" methods to reach speeds and trajectories to accomplish their missions. New Horizons used a gravity assist from Jupiter to place in its path to Pluto and speed it up. It still took 9 years to get there. Voyager I and II used Jupiter for assist and Voyager II used the gravity of Jupiter to change course towards Saturn then Saturn's gravity to pass Uranus then that planet's gravity to change course again to Neptune. Today's visit to Pluto marks discovery missions to all nine planets (in 1977 Pluto was still classified as a planet).

NASA's software "NASA's Eyes" is a great way to see where the current spacecraft of discovery are today in real time. Each time the program is started it downloads positions of all the planets and updates graphics to display them. http://eyes.nasa.gov/

Resurrecting a 2004 HP Pavilion

HP Pavilion a744x 

made in November 2004 for Windows XP Home Edition. 

Pentium 4 515 2.93 GHz CPU
upgraded to Pentium 4 550 3.4 GHz

Memory Installed 512 MB (2 x 256)
 upgraded to 4GB (4 x 1GB)

Video Integrated, no AGP slot, no PCIe
upgraded to PCI GeForce 8400 GS

Replaced Windows XP Home Edition
with Ubuntu 14.04LTS

PNY nVidia GeForce 8400 GS 512MB PCI graphics card

After many changes in configuration and installation of nVidia's own Linux drivers I finally abandoned the use of this expansion card. Possibly because of the PCI format instead of AGP or PCIe configurations each attempt to install the card resulted in a blank screen on bootup. Eventually I installed Ubuntu 15.04 to see if the newest version of the operating system might work. It did not. I removed the graphics card and configured the system to use the Intel® i915G Integrated Graphics and keep the Ubuntu 15.04 installation.

The CPU I ordered from eBay was supposed to be a Pentium 4 3.4GHz but when it arrived it was stamped with two identifying marks. The 1st showed the 3.4GHz information but the 2nd mark, stamped sideways, identified the chip as 3.2GHz. Software in the computer BIOS confirmed the lower speed. I emailed the seller and told them of the discrepancy as the item not being as listed (I also told them I'll still keep it) and they refunded 100% of the money I paid. This CPU ran hot and I finally re-installed the original 2.93GHz Pentium.

Internet connectivity is accomplished via a TRENDnet 54Mbps Wireless G USB 2.0 Adapter TEW-424UB. When I first used it on a Windows XP Professional machine it would only work after the drivers were installed. Today when I plug it in to Ubuntu computers the system automatically installs generic drivers and utilizes the adapter on boot.

The system is now Ubuntu 14.04LTS stable and reliable.

ACER
Another rescue is a 2003 Acer Pentium4 2.6GHz  

AcerPower SV

Processor    Intel® Pentium®4 processor 2.59GHz

Memory        (2) 1GB PC3200 DDR RAM

Video        NVIDIA G8 (512MB GeForce 8400GS PCI)

Audio        Intel® ICH4 Controller, Integrated  AC´97 Audio Codec

Storage        3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive
        52X maximum variable-speed CD-RW
        40GB and 80GB Hard Disk Drives

Power Supply    200W power supply (110/220V switchable

Wireless    Linksys WMP110 PCI

Operating System

        Ubuntu 15.10 Wiley Werewolf
        Linux 4.2.0-14-generic (i686)

States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths

This was reported back in August 2014:

TIME: Aug. 25, 2014 by Alexandra Sifferlin @acsifferlin

Opioids for chronic pain, like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are meant to suppress pain. Recent data shows that not only are prescriptions for these drugs up, but rates of overdose and death are increasing as well. New research published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows that states with medical marijuana laws have rates of anticipated opioid-related deaths 25% lower than states that don’t allow it.

Read the full story:

 http://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/

Time to retire the battle flag

Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

This flag represents something that many consider racist and bigoted. Our rights to free speech permit us to display it and use it privately or to publicly display it. It is time to remove it from any federal or state institution.

Battle Flag of the Army of Tennessee

The Confederate flag displayed today was never an official flag of the Confederate States of America. It is a war flag. A battle flag. It was proposed to the Confederate Congress in 1860 but rejected. The design was incorporated into the official flag in 1863 as a corner graphic on a plain white field. In 1865 a large red bar was added to this design and was the official flag of the Confederacy when Lee surrendered to Grant. 

Although I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, I was not familiar with the official flag. I believed the battle flag of the Army of Tennessee was the official Confederate flag. The Ku Klux Klan used it and made it popular. The TV show Dukes of Hazzard car General Lee displayed it proudly. It was used on bumper stickers, mugs, shirts, decals and thousands of Bric-à-brac and it still is. But it never was THE Confederate flag.

What was the Civil War about? Very rich guys and cotton. The South was getting extremely rich exporting cotton to Europe. In the United States, Southern cotton provided capital for the continuing development of the North. Much of the Southern cotton was trans-shipped through northern ports and federal taxes went to northern states. Abraham Lincoln promised to end slavery. The South hated that.

Was it about slavery? You bet it was. Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton. Imagine the cost of suddenly having to PAY them. It represented so much money that rich southern politicians convinced people to die over it. Cotton was worth so much money that even after the end of the Civil War across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers and landless white farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations of the wealthy in return for a share of the profits and they all got rich. Money continued to flow to the north. It was all about money.

On March 21. 1861, a speech by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate Sates of America, exposed another reason for the war. It is called the “Corner Stone” Speech.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech

http://web.archive.org/web/20130822142313/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerstone-speech/"Our new government is founded upon, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. They (the North) were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal."

Thus, the Confederate Flag as we know it is a WAR flag and the Civil War was fought over slavery and money. Only after 1865 was the reason for the war claimed to have been based on State's Rights.

The rich continue to try and control the government. Doug Hughes, now known as "the man who flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol" risked his life to bring attention to this current problem. A simple patriot and concerned about our country he performed a non-violent act of civil disobedience for election reform. He wants to get money out of politics. Now he is charged with serious crimes and will probably spend time in prison. 

To me, he is a hero.

Doug Hughes, "the man who flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol"

SineCycles

Drivetrain: 2013 Zero Motorcycles Motor: 3-phase high efficient permanent magnet  Max. Torque: 57 Nm Max. Power: 27 PS (20 kW) @ 4000 U/min Max. Capacity: 2.8 kWh Voltage: 102 V Range: 55 km (34 miles) Max. Speed: 120 km/h (75 mph) Transmission: Clutchless direct drive Battery Housing: Bruno Forcella
Heat Sink Motor Controller: Bruno Forcella
Connectivity: Smartphone app with detailed information about the motorcycle such as the time until charged, average watts per mile, total charge cycles and much more. Customizable riding modes performance profile.  Synced using Bluetooth.
https://www.facebook.com/sinecycles

Compare to the Harley Davidson Electric introduced in 2014:

The Harley looks asian in design.

The SineCycle looks more like American chopper...

 

http://sinecycles.com/