Category: Science

Viri-The Truth about Bugs

Any of you who have read any of my blogs know that I have a thing for “the truth.”

We live in a society today that regards the truth as an inconvenience. So here is the truth about anti-virus software from someone’s perspective that fought the very first virus in 1981, without the benefit of anti-virus software, on a 300 node network.

I cannot personally get into the mind of someone who creates these things. One wonders why someone would spend the time to create a piece of software that literally is destructive in nature, when the person who created it cannot watch the affected person anguish over his or her brand new PC running at the pace of a snail.

Normally, (I say normally like I know,) but it is my opinion that when someone does something malevolent, they want to witness the carnage; much like the people who killed and maimed so many in Boston. They hung around to watch the chaos, carnage and all of the injured people and then took some sort of “delight” in their handy work as expressed by their smirk.

When I think of someone who might create viruses, I picture some fat, anti-social kid with pimples, sitting around in his mother’s basement, in his underwear, trying to figure out some way to “show-em” that he is important, by creating a virus. I think that it is more than that however. While I do think that stereotype might fit some of them, I believe that it goes much deeper than that. (Don’t bully the nerds.. They are people too.)

Since a million or so viruses are written each year, you know that there must be millions of programmers writing them, or at least hundreds of thousands. Some claim that it is the Russian mafia. I was not aware that Russia had a mafia but I guess if we have one, so should they…

There is a practical use for viruses in that they have something called key loggers, that in fact will copy your keystrokes and when certain key words or phrases are caught, the passwords to you bank account and or credit card information are sent off to someone who compiles a list of such numbers, and sells them to the highest bidder.

Some viruses are written in such a way as to replicate when you try to delete them. Just when you think you have your system cleaned, the virus pops up again and does its thing.

Others are time bombs, sitting harmlessly on your machine waiting either for an event or date to activate.

There are far too many to write about but, you get the idea. The only way to be 100% protected from an infection is to never hook your machine to the internet and never put any software on it. Sounds impractical doesn’t it, well, it is!

There are many different anti-virus software packages out there, some cost big dollars, and some amazingly are free!

I plan on looking at this one soon…

First Truth -With anti-virus software, you usually get what you pay for, and if it is free, it is not worth what you paid for it!

While I will admit that free is better than nothing, it is only slightly better.

While no antivirus software is sacrosanct, some are much better than others. The trick is to find one that not only is layered in such a way to handle your basic anti-virus functions but, also takes care of your e-mail; as the largest percentage of infestations come in through e-mail; unless of course you are big into porn.

Ok, that was a challenge to find something that I could post..

Yes I know that the internet was made for porn…not really, but that is most probably the reason that the internet took off as it did. Porn is in fact a huge business with lots and lots of dollars spent on it… Another blog for another day.

I have removed viruses from computers that had each of the popular anti-virus software on them. That tells me that there is no silver bullet. How could there be as there are millions of viruses out there are more are created each and every day!

Currently, I am sold on Eset-Node32 www.eset.com Do I still see infected computers that have this, yes, but not near as many as some of the others.

The bottom line here is this; don’t skimp on anti-virus software. If you purchase it, and support the company, and others do as well, than they can afford to keep folks busy searching for new viruses and devising ways to defeat them, as well as improving the product.

Full disclosure, I have no vested interest in ESET. My opinions are my own and are derived from years and years of removing viruses. Tomorrow you may ask me which is the best and I may like Trend or Norton… Today and for the last few years it has been ESET. I often evaluate other brands, as I need to know for myself, so I can feel confident promoting one over the other.

Second Truth- When evaluating software, look for something that has a light footprint.

What do I mean by that? One of the reasons I dumped a trusted anti-virus package is that its footprint was so huge, that I could not use my PC. It actually was worse than having a virus, as the utilization was high and the memory it took to run was astounding! While the pc was kind of protected, it was unusable.

PC magazines and consumer reports are good places to look. I like to talk with the “nerds” at the computer store as they see even more of this than I do. By the way, when I say nerd, I say that with utmost appreciation for them, as I are one albeit and old one, or “seasoned.”

I actually have a favorite virus if you can believe that. Back in the early 80’s someone wrote the “pong” virus modeled after the video game “pong.” How this would work is you would be in WordPerfect just typing away on that miserable blue screen and all of the sudden out of nowhere a “pong ball” would appear. It would start traversing your 13 inch CGA monitor and as it came in contact with one of your characters in your document, the letter, would tumble down to the bottom of the screen. I give them an A for creativity but, as clever as it was, it still destroyed the document as it was un-recoverable.

Could not find a picture of the pong virus so … I like Homer..

Once we networked the PC’s even in the world of DOS, the virus found a home in that once in, it had access to hundreds of computers and servers. When Al Gore invented the internet, (can’t let that crap rest,) now we can infect millions of PC’s; world wide!

Be sensible where you go, don’t open attachments that you are not expecting, get a good anti-virus software and scan your machine every so often. There are many good tools on the market to help as well and that too is another blog for another day.

If your experience is different from mine or you have some experience to share… Comment!

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Space Pollution, a possible niche market for someone with deep pockets

Since this “political football known as sequester” we need someone who wants to tame the new frontier, to “boldly go….” Ok enough..

Calling Bill Gates, or any of you other billionaires out there with nothing to spend your money on…. I have a proposition for you! Read on to hear my plan…

One year ago, in April, we just about lost a $960.000.000 telescope to a defunct Russian spy satellite. Quick thinking on the part of several people managed to save our telescope however; the risk remains and it is not getting better, but worse.

With each and every launch, other “stuff” is left in space to orbit, and slowly fall back to earth. Depending upon the altitude and velocity, it could take weeks, years, decades or centuries for the orbit to decay enough for the earth’s gravity to pull it back down.

The good news is that things fall back to earth often and usually burn up during the re-entry process , falling harmlessly into the ocean or some other body of water, the Canadian Wilderness or the Australian outback. This is just about a verbatim statement from “those who know.” I for one am glad that these things only fall where people aren’t; pretty clever of them to arrange that.

Truth be told, (you know how I like truth) this claim is made because 70% of the earth is covered with water of one kind or another. If you have ever gambled you know that it is all about the odds, which are derived from percentages of one thing or another.

By last estimates there are 23,000 pieces of space junk and about 1500 satellites give or take the dozens that neither country will admit to. That means that there are about 24,500 objects up there with no planned way of removing them safely. I think that we actually have an “end of life” policy created for ours, if the thing is still functional.

The hazards are increasing exponentially with each and every launch and of course should two satellites collide as they did in 2009 at hyper speeds, lots of space junk gets released into orbit. The collision between Iriduim 33 and Kosmos 255 was not the only collision in space. In fact there have been 8 known high speed collisions and several minor collisions. Someone gets paid to keep up with each and every little thing up there. How well do you think they do their job?

As of yet, there are no Universal treaties as to who does what in space; so the problem continues to get worse. The lawmakers are too concerned about anything but what they should be, so don’t look for help from any government.

Along come the visionaries…

Well maybe not these folks…

We need some visionaries to come up with a way to reclaim the space junk. Instead of figuring out ways to make a weapon more precise or more lethal, how about working on this problem before it is totally out of hand?

I actually have an idea that might work. Scientist have proposed building a type of tractor (not like the one on Green Acres) but a “Space Tractor” to snag or deflect an asteroid causing its trajectory to change enough to save the earth.

What if…we tested that theory on some space junk? What if…. we slowed the orbit of some space junk down enough so its orbit would decay at a more rapid rate, and maybe, just maybe with some practice, we could manage where and when it would fall, not using the current Vegas method of science, but real science. Instead of trying to deflect an asteroid first, start out with something small and closer to home like, a defunct satellite. One could actually make a business out of it, and charge Millions! Why does it take a science fiction writer to come up with this stuff? Maybe if the space station has enough mass they could figure out a way to test the theory with it. It is already up there, with a crew and everything!

No, Ok well how about this?

If any of you happen to know Michio Kaku; or the guy that demoted Pluto, or some other notable “scientist,” forward this to them. If you know Bill, give him my best and show this too him but, sell it as the newest form of software development. Someone would have to write the stuff to control this thing, right?. I would love to hear why it would not work or why it is not a good idea. Personally, I think if the nation(s) could focus on something else, other than politics, it would be a good thing. If any of you scientist need any more “out of the box thinking”…call me….phone is write here…waiting….

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Why do I think that UFO’s are not visiting us?

Why would they?

The only reason’s that “aliens” would come to this planet would be to exterminate us, and take the planet for themselves, or to simply take its resources or, manage us, much like we manage the deer population. They might very well find sport in hunting us; and they might have a taste for human flesh.

Then of course we have the ET or Alf varieties, who just want to make friends and possibly eat our cats.

As a race of people, we are a violent race. While some countries are “more mature” than others, there are elements or factions in this world who are malevolent in nature, and in fact still “live by the sword!”

There are other factions that enslave us with their corrupt, power hungry, narcissistic, maniacal, psychotic view of life, bent on gaining even more power or money, damn the cost! I would ask them, how much money is enough? Writing laws by the thousands, in order to enrich their lives by taking from the peasants. No race or group is sacrosanct, they just manipulate us into believing that we are.

There is a list on the internet of the wealthiest men. Bloomberg is worth Billions; is it any wonder that he now acts like a god; telling you what you can eat or drink or smoke. Take your billions and go retire somewhere, buy an island and don’t take any guns or soft drinks.

There are factions on this earth who have been at war with one another most probably since they were in caves; learning to master fire. There is in fact nothing that we have to offer a space traveler other than entertainment, much like the Romans throwing Christians to the Lions for being unpatriotic and not worshiping their gods Jupiter, Mars, Juno and Vesta. Then they might want to do like the writers of Star Trek suggest in one episode, (original version), pitting one human against another in some sort of competitive sport where they fight to the death, with the aliens betting on which one would be victorious. Whatever a quatloo is worth in our money, maybe we should print some, just in case. Actually thinking about it that was kind of a theme, I still remember the Gorn, do you?

My personal feelings are that if we were visited by a friendly race, we would be chastised for how noisy we were as a planet, and warned not to bring our war mongering ways outside of our planet. I would in fact welcome such a visit as then, just maybe the super powers and the war mongering idiots of this world would see that there are bigger things out there other than themselves and their petty bickering. Personally, I think they are all so wrapped up in their own agendas, that they truly can’t see the forest for the trees!

They all in fact need a “time out!”

Technology has truly outpaced our humanity. We have “scientist” sending signals into space, looking for a response as well as SETI, much like the Short Wave Listeners of years ago, just listening to see what they hear.

We have more and better ways to kill one another. We have created WMD’s that will kill off the inhabitants, while leaving the infrastructure in tact. We have such a low value for human life that we call it a women’s choice vs. what it truly is “murder,” and then we make it a political lever or football in order to paint one side in a negative light. We kill innocent people, in order to make a point of how “bad ass we are” and than threaten that you had better capitulate to our god, or more will die.

As far as a race coming here to take our resources, I have serious doubts that we would be worth the trouble. There are far too many worlds out there that most likely have no life at all or possibly simple microbial life, at the beginning of its evolutionary cycle. One has to wonder if Aliens did visit us, would they consider us at the beginning of our evolutionary cycle.

Carl Sagan was a man that I admired, and while I loved his shows, his brilliant forward thinking mind, I can not help but wonder if sending a map, to where we are; out into interstellar space was a good idea. Hopefully by the time it is discovered, we will have evolved as well. If when found and we are visited what will they find? A functioning world with intelligent beings, or a world wrapped in nuclear winter?

Any alien passing by, on their way to who knows where, most certainly would listen to our broadcast, and if they could make sense out of them they would know that they would most likely be met with hostile threats or actions from some nation on this planet, probably multiple nations as the proliferation of nukes make there way into the hands of people who are not of sound mind and body, or have such twisted ideas of man and morality that most “normal” people, would not recognize them as sane. They may in fact pass us by because of the hostility that exists on this world deeming us simply not worth dealing with; just to get a few cats.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Design, Nature or Luck?

Today I want to visit with you regarding a subject that will not interest about 80% of you. So for you 20% who find interests in subjects that are not widely talked about or even known about, let’s go!

The Pinworm is fascinating. There are three known species of these creatures scientist proclaim. There are two that we can talk about as we have evidence of their existence and how they live.

One breed lives inside the chimpanzee and one breed lives inside us… It should be no secret that the human host parasites but, the pinworm is a creature that with some effort can be removed from you and your family’s bodies, if you happen to have them.

The pinworm infects the host either by inhaling the eggs, or by ingesting them.

This is probably the best argument for keeping pets out of your bed as the pinworm eggs can live on an animal’s hair, migrate into your bed sheets or other linen, and make their way into your system.

From the womb to adulthood most people sleep with a hand near their face. I would argue that this is a leftover behavior from sucking the thumb from inside the womb but, I digress. The simple fact is that we do.

The pinworm is ingested either by being airborne from possibly making the bed, or your child’s bed, or by petting your pet causing the eggs to become airborne. They are also ingested by placing your unwashed hand either in, or by your nose or mouth.

Once ingested, the worm (egg) stays in your duodenum (opening to the small intestine), until hatched. From there, it makes it way through the small intestine and takes up residence in the ileum. It is in this area that the pinworms set up house. They live by extracting nutrition from colonic contents. They mate here and shortly after mating the male worms die, and are expelled with the fecal material.

The female worm or (gravid), becomes almost completely filled with eggs. When the time is right the worm makes her way to the anus and actually comes out to

A: get air for her eggs

B: lay her eggs in the folds of the tissue of the anus.

By her wriggling around during this process this action can cause an itching sensation to occur. Part of the reason that this condition affects children, more than adults is children will scratch what itches, and will not in most cases wash their hands afterwards. The eggs get trapped under the fingernails and are now ready to be disseminated either from what the child touches, toys, each other etc, but also to re-infect the host by the child eating something that he or she touches or by simply putting that thumb into their mouths.

Adults are not immune as we also have pets that may get into our bed and we also hug and cuddle the little host known, as children. How many times have you seen an adult or, possibly you have done this; allow the child to put their hand into your mouth.

Once inside the mouth, the process starts all over again or in the case of the adult begins.

Never fear, once detected there is a cure that usually involves the entire family and the frequent washing of pajamas and bed linen until the all clear sign is given by your health care provider. It is also a good idea to wash the Childs toys with some sort of disinfectant, especially if your child is in a day care facility.

On a side note, it would be interesting to know if there are protocols in place to keep this sort of germ / parasite transmission down in daycare facilities.

Why does this interest me you ask? My interest in this is the process that the animal lives and propagates. We see many symbiotic relationships not only in the animal kingdom, but with plants and insects, plants and animals and so on. Here is one more “relationship” where this animal depends on us, and our nature.

The mechanism for which this animal survives, by causing the itch around the tissue of the anus for the host to “scratch” that itch and the eggs are then either transported to other opportunities, or to re-infect the host. (Scratch what itches, and put our hands near our face or into our mouths.)

One other way that we stay infected (argue some scientist) is that the new born pinworm makes its way back through the anus and “goes against the current” so to speak, making its way to the ileum to become part of the process of reproducing. This process is highly debated and if indeed it can occur in this manner than the rate of reoccurrence by this method is low.

You ask, “How do you know if you or your child is infected.” Before the child’s morning bath, take some cellophane, “transparent” tape and apply it to the area of the anus. Remove the tape and seal it into a plastic bag and take it to your health care provider. He or she can examine it under a microscope and not only give you a positive or negative result but, if positive can identify your particular critter. There are drugs to kill them.

Are they harmful? The most common side effect is enterobiasis or (anal itching).

My apologies if I have “creeped you out.” So go wash your hands and insist that your family does the same.

Fun fact: did you know that “creeped” has recently crept into our language? Although spell check does not like it; the word is viable and in fact means: off-putting, or to weird out or possibly even frightening.

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Electric Cars, a Case for the Combustion Engine

I went into an office the other day and noticed a small car parked up front, rather stylish but the name caught my eye, “Volt.”

As an electronic gadget loving guy, not to mention one who designs circuits for one thing or another, I was rather intrigued. Walking around the other side of the car there was this device sticking out of the fender with a long thick cord attaching it to some sort of box with another cord extending from the box to the outlet outside the building.

I really don’t want to rain on the electric car parade but, I think that this technology is too immature for prime time.

When an electric car is fully charged you are going to get a maximum of 100 miles (maybe.) That most likely is predicated on perfect road condition, traffic etc. The radio, air conditioner, windshield wipers and stop and start traffic all play a role.

100 miles to empty in most peoples cars is like somewhere between a quarter and an eight of a tank of gas till empty. Put another way, the little gas light is either on, or about to come on.

Now think about this, you go to work 15 miles each way. You go to lunch maybe 5 miles to lunch and 5 miles back. So far this is good, only 25 miles used. Add to this the trip to the school or the store and then home again, you might make it happen. After work and back home now you have errands to run, but you can’t because the car has to re-charge.

Add to this that each and every night you have to get this cable out of the trunk, drag it across the driveway or what have you and plug everything in or guess what, the next day you will be calling a cab to get to work.

As these cars make more of an impact on society, office buildings and possibly stores will provide a place to hook up your car for a little boost while you are working or visiting the doctor or even shopping.

We are not there yet.

Propane powered cars never took off as there are few places to get propane. It was a natural for cities as they can house the filling station for their fleet. Propane now cost more that gasoline however; and most probably because it can be used for transportation instead of only heating and cooking. Those using propane that live in the country, know exactly how much that has changed in the last few years.

I would imagine that if and when someone makes an electric car that will go further than 100 miles, and they become more ensconced in our way of life, the price of electricity will skyrocket as well as there will be more demand it.

One other thing that the dealers don’t talk about regarding the electric car is the replacement cost of the batteries.

There is a huge difference between the batteries that goes into the Prius (Hybrid) vs. a pure electric car or EV. The Prius battery has been known to go 200000 miles. That is mainly because the Prius battery assist a gasoline engine and is charged every time the vehicle brakes.

Not only are the chemical differences something to be considered, but lets say you “kill” your batteries. That is known as a deep discharge and will in fact damage the battery over time.

Secondly let’s say your drive is only 50 miles a day. When you charge your car every night the batteries will in fact loose some of their ability to hold a charge and before long you may not be able to make it even the full 50 miles.

While GM and Nissan both offer a warrantee on them, they do consider that the batteries diminished capacity is not a warranted item.

You laptop battery uses the same technology. Does it last as long as it did on battery the day that you bought it?

The lithium ion battery which the EV uses, needs “lithium” which this country does not have in abundance. The interesting part if this equation is that Afghanistan is loaded with it. Chile also has large deposits as well as Bolivia. If this country as well as others start driving EV’s in any quantity guess what the cost of lithium will do, not to mention its availability.

Since this is earth week, are EV’s “green friendly?”

Pure Ev’s are charged from the grid. That means that the same power plant that burns coal to create electricity is now putting energy into your car. Since there are no tailpips to allow exhaust to get out and pollute the planet, remember that the “juice” in your batteries came at a carbon cost.

If I were really concerned about getting better mileage and not adding to the carbon foot print I would purchase a hybrid of some sort. No limits on miles, charges from the vehicle braking and can be charged from the grid.

If my mileage was incredibly predictable I might consider an EV at some point. The battery technology and the eventual disposal of them is still to new and since I don’t have thousands of dollars to piss away, I will stick with what I know.

If, and this is a big if, you could get an EV, charge it from your solar array or wind farm, you might have something. Alternate forms of energy producing things are way too expensive for the normal guy, not to mention take up lots of real estate.

It is a free country “still,” and your mileage may vary.

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Electronic News

Many of you will not really have much knowledge of what I am going to talk about here as it relates to the electronic industry and your pocket book. By the time your done reading this, you will be enlightened somewhat.

Not too long ago some Chinese company produced something known to me and anyone who knows technology as a capacitor. These live in just about any electronic device that you might have.

The problem is that the formula for these was invented in Japan and it was liberated “Stolen” from the Japanese plant and sold to someone in China. Industrial espionage happens all of the time and there are many famous cases that I could site; The TV and Radio are two off the top of my head.

The problem with this formula is that they did not get all of it. They got the part for the dielectric, (the part that separates the internal plates from shorting) but they did not obtain the stabilizer for the dielectric; so after a few months to a few years the dielectric breaks down and fails. These capacitors were sold to many different manufacturers including Dell and LG to name two.

Other computer board manufacturers are also loaded with these defective capacitors. One of my LG monitors stopped working and for about $6 and change and about one hour worth of work, I replaced all of the capacitors on the power supply/ inverter board and, Viola; the monitor is as good as new. The most difficult part of the procedure was taking the monitor apart without damaging it.

Last night one of my desktop crapped out. The power supply went south. I happen to keep new power supplies on hand so I simply upgraded the power supply from 300 watts to 600 watts which also sports a larger cooling fan. It was a win win!

As the power supply houses some pretty cool parts for those of us who still build things, I took it apart and there it was, a capacitor that was bloated, standing out like a sore thumb. The fix probably would have cost me $.50 but as it was a 300 watt power supply I elected to scrap it. 300 watts is really too small, and of course much cheaper than a 600watt.

A few weeks ago I was working on a dell for a gentleman and the onboard video card was working terribly. There were lines in the picture and it was not syncing correctly. Examining the board around the GPU I noticed, you got it, puffy capacitors. I installed an inexpensive video card and turned off the internal one. Problem solved until some of the other capacitors in the box fail.

A friend of mine works for a City here in Texas and part of his job has him traveling to the Dump of all places. There in some building at the dump are flat screen TV’s microwaves and so forth that have been discarded. He picked up several flat screen TV’s that were discarded and for a few dollars repaired them. While he is the ultimate recycler, it is a shame that we do not repair things any more. One has to wonder if we are spending too much time with video games instead of tinkering. One night at dinner with some friends I was gob smacked to learn that one of the guys at the table had no idea how to change spark plugs. These are the type of people who call on people to do things for them. While it may make financial sense to do this I simply cannot pay someone to do something that I am perfectly capable of doing with a few exceptions.

This week being “earth week” I would encourage you to think about getting things repaired instead of trashing them when they break. Electronics are known in the industry as Ejunk. There are companies that specialize in recycling this type of thing but, they are becoming harder to come by. I suspect that the EPA makes this type of business a tough one to run, and not be out of compliance in some small way.

Most of us have no reason to know this but, the dumps all over the country are filling up. There is a dump not too far from me here in north Texas that at one time was low land covered in water; and is now reminding me of the foothills in NorthernCA.

A lot of this e-junk is shipped to third world countries where families hover over open fires, melting the solder with the fire, removing the parts off the circuit boards for the metals that they contain. Since it is an open fire, the board is blackened and the people doing this breath in those toxins along with their children who are helping. It does not even stop there as this residue litters the grounds, the water supply, the air, and what have you. We here in this country do not have a clue; we simply think that we do our part by most of the time, throwing that soda can in the blue bin. Once we toss stuff into the bin do we ever think about it?

I come from a time when there was not so much stuff trashed. I bought a broken TV at a garage sale for $5 as a kid; and learned how TV’s worked and for about $3.50 for a new high voltage rectifier tube, I had a nice looking portable TV at the age of 10. At 13 I wanted money to buy a new CB and antenna. Mowing lawns seemed like a good job. One could make $4 a yard…. Currently I pay $25 a week, and this is one thing that I will not give up. As I put my plan in the early 70’s together, I would first need a lawnmower as my dad was dead set about me not using the family lawn mower on others peoples yards. He was right to be concerned as I killed 3 lawnmowers on one person’s yard for $2. That is another story..

Again I went to garage sales and found a lawn mower that did not work. I pulled it through to make sure that there was compression and nothing bent, and bought it for $15. After a trip to the library checking out a book on small engines, I digested the book. Lawn mowers have points and a condenser under the flywheel and those are known to be problematic. I checked for spark and there was none. The local grocery store sold parts such as these and for a few $$ back in the day, so I now had my own lawn mower.

I purchased three lawnmowers all together in similar fashion along with an edger. Gas cost about a quarter to fill up my can and that would last me about a week. I created my fist direct marketing campaign at the age of 13 with three sheets of paper, two pieces of carbon paper and my best penmanship that I could muster.

I mow yards

Please call 242-XXXX

For an estimate, ask for Scott.

I wrote this until I filled up a sheet of paper and then cut them out much like Avery labels would look today. Armed with a shirt pocket full of “flyers” and some scotch tape I went door to door canvassing my entire neighborhood.

The interesting thing about all of this is that those types of campaigns have about a 2% return or hit rate. That was the figure 42 years ago and oddly enough, that is still the figure today! I still do direct marketing campaigns; just not to do yard work. J

I did this for several summers; it paid for my first car, and lots of photographic equipment, and oh yes a CB that quickly turned into Ham Radio equipment.

Where are those entrepreneurs today?

As you can tell, I still do this today. Not that I go buy things at garage sales to repair but, I do restore antique radios that I have purchased either online or from individuals. Some just make their way too me as friends know that I do it, and they are tired of storing it.

So when your flat screen TV dies if you know anyone with any technical prowess, have them search the web to see if someone has posted a fix. It may very have been me. Have them try it. The parts are available in the form of a kit from some people online for as little as $12.

There is a good feeling that comes from repairing something that otherwise would have been put into that growing mountain of pampers, kitchen waste, and of course defective electronic devices that needed about $6 to $10 in parts.

As a side note I did this with cars as well. At one time I had 13 cars which I bought for next to nothing as they were broken. I picked up parts from a junk yard that the owner had an old TV, which always needed fixing. I would fix them and sell them and I enjoyed the process. That was back before the computer was installed into the car which controls everything relying on sensors for information.

Like the lawnmower, back then you needed spark, gas, air and compression. Today you need an analyzer of some sort that can interrogate the onboard computer and find out what the failure is. Usually some sort of sensor that you did not know that you had.

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Bugged

I love chocolate; well to be fair, I love just about anything that is sweet and purports to be candy of some sort. Like all the years before; I buy extra Halloween candy (the good stuff) and probably like most families, dig into it before the holiday.

The mini candy bars are my favorite for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that most of the time you really want to satiate the desire for the candy but not fill up on it. Portion control is paramount for weight control, not to mention blood glucose levels; which is a topic for a different blog. The bite size goodness of Snickers or Butter Finger or that ever popular “Mounds Bar,” do the trick quite nicely.

After this particular holiday passed, in order to assist with my families desire to keep the sugar out of site, I put it into a Tupperware container and tucked it away where only I know where it was. “Don’t Look behind the books that are not dusty…”

Making my way through Christmas, Valentines and of course Easter (my favorite candy holidays) I went in search for that treasure trove of chocolate goodness from October 2012.

With my taste buds all primed for that peanut butter crunchy stuff covered with chocolate, opening the container and grabbing one of the Butterfinger bars I noticed something on it which looked like the remains of what used to be a creature of some sort.

Dumping the entire contents of the Tupperware out I noticed that there were several holes in the packages and lots of evidence of some happy bugs. The candy which I was looking forward to made its way into to the bin, and I was left to wonder, how those creatures got inside that sealed Tupperware?

As it turns out; I bought them as part of the package.

According to ABC News, the average chocolate bar contains eight insect parts. Anything less than 60 insect pieces per 100 grams of chocolate (two chocolate bars’ worth) is deemed safe for consumption by the Food and Drug Administration. My guess is that eggs are considered part of the formula for “bug parts.”

Aside from chocolate, cockroach parts also make their way into peanut butter, macaroni, fruit, cheese, popcorn and wheat. The roach bits can affect people with asthma, as well causing migraines, cramps, itching or hives in people who are allergic to them. Some people think that they are allergic to chocolate when indeed they are allergic to cockroach…

The prevailing wisdom is, in order to produce food without bug parts would necessitate more pesticides, which would be more harmful than eating ….BUGS….

If I had to offer my 2 cents worth, I am guessing that it is more of a financial burden than a worry about pesticides but, that is just my cynical self thinking out loud. They really need to kill anything in the food; and that could be done with radiation or some other process that would not harm the food, just the living bugs and or eggs. While I would rather eat a bug than pesticides, I think that someone really needs to complain to the FDA and make a “federal case out of this” (no pun intended.) This good old’ boy mentality of paying people under the table to do things on the cheap, or look the other way, really needs to stop.

Anyone who has not discovered a worm in an apple or peach (well, half a worm) is deprived of the gut wrenching decision whether to stick a finger down their throat or just role with it. I have been in the finest of restaurants and noticed that acrid taste (more than once) of some sort of bug in my salad (well mouth.) Chew, swallow without making a face, swish some wine down quickly and move on to the next dish.

In order to eat something without bug parts or bugs, one would just about not be able to eat. At least with food that you prepare, you can cook the hell out of it so anything that made it past your watchful eye is at least dead!

The dilemma is this, being a huge fan of Chocolate; do I forget the bug parts and just continue on, or do I swear off of the one candy that really makes me happy…really happy…

I would think that the different chocolate companies could rake up if they could find a way to keep bug parts out of their product. One final thought, who counts the bug parts in each chocolate bar to make sure that they are in “tolerance?”

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Technology, the Good the Bad and the Ugly

As someone who makes a living either by designing systems or complete data centers or managing or servicing same, I probably am more in tune with technology than the normal folk. That is not bragging, it is simply stating facts.

The other day while I was in the super market, upon checking out there was two long lines, waiting to check out. Employees could be seen wandering by, looking at the lines and then continuing on their way. This was a major chain grocery store.

The longest line was for the automated kiosk. As there were long lines of folks with overflowing carts at the one “regular” cashier I opted for the kiosk.

While I could go on about how we are loosing touch with our customers using things like kiosk, and lets face it the internet; kiosk in a grocery store are a mistake. While waiting my turn to “check out” , there was one middle aged lady wondering around from kiosk to kiosk, as the red light on top of each one blinked on a few second apart. That is not fair to the customer and certainly a terrible job for the lady. I personally vote with my feet.

There are too many different items and some are not even in the system. When the normal cashier has to obtain help, “price check” what do they expect us to do? “They” don’t care. They are saving the salaries of 4 employees, while getting you to do their work.

Other technology which is problematic is automated machines that call you. It is bad enough to call a company and have to “listen closely to our menu as our menu items have changed.” Weaving my way through automated machines or IVR’s, when I need customer service, just adds gasoline to the fire; and I install this stuff!

Now we have a constant stream of calls on a daily basis from an automated outgoing IVR trying to sell us something or “hold on for an important message!” The only positive to this is; I don’t really feel so bad hanging up on a machine. The problem with hanging up is that it simply puts your number back into the queue and calls you another time.

Technology replaces people, workers. There is a glut of un-employed people in this country and there is a plethora of new technology taking their place. While no businessman starts a business because he wants to employ people; employees are a necessary “evil,” or are they?

Technology also strips away our rights as citizens to expect some modicum of privacy. From backscatter radiation machines at the airport removing your clothes, to the “no warrant needed” to be wire tapped by just about anyone that wants to.

Some graduating high school kids ask me what I thought they should major in. I pointed them towards the medical field as I don’t see a kiosk doing this. There are of course in the works ways to contact a doctor over “Skype” or other such network. There is no telling what part of the world the call will go and as far as privacy, who knows. How does a doctor from 3000 miles away palpate your abdomen?

Lastly, I want to touch briefly on Drones. I find it inconceivable that we can be watched in more places than ever before. Cameras at every street corner with facial biometric ability to track whoever “they” want to is a little spooky. Law enforcement with remote control drones that they can fly over any place that they deem of interest and “look” down as to the goings on, possibly in your back yard or through your window.

It is not just law enforcement that has these but private citizens have them as well. Currently they are a bit pricey but as the technology becomes more accessible, the prices will come down enough so eventually the pimple faced kid next door will have the ability to fly a camera outside your window, or over your pool.

There are cameras on these drones that have such a high rate of magnification, they can see into your open window from blocks away and tell how many freckles you have on your bottom. There are also FLIR “infrared” cameras that can see heat signatures so you are not even safe to skinny dip in the dark of night!

Google has already proven that you really have no right to expect privacy in your own back yard as the satellite views of neighborhoods and so forth have been littered with people nude sunbathing.

Military drones are equipped with technology that from 17,500 feet can tell what kind, and color of the clothes that you are wearing. The drones for “use over the US,” are to be equipped with technology to tell if you are armed or, electronic surveillance of your cell phone.

If one wanted to get “off the grid” as it were, one would have to live like a caveman with no technology what so ever. Maybe we should find the Sasquatch and find out how they do it.

We are an overly litigious society and perhaps this is one law suite that needs to be fought, if for no other reason than to shine the spot light on a situation that is quickly coming upon us and will get out of hand in no time. I happen to believe that you do have a right to privacy in your home, your back yard, and if you own a lot of land, there too. Law abiding citizens should not have to worry about this sort of thing. I also happen to believe that any branch of law enforcement should be required to obtain a warrant before any type of wire tap, or flying some sort of camera over or around your property. We live in a new age and Orwell may have just missed it by thirty years.

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Asteroids and Meteors Oh My!

As a writer of science fiction, I was rather amused by the media trying to get “science savvy” calling on “experts” to explain the events of the last day or so.

The one theme that was consistent with all of the explanations was that the meteorite in Russia was not connected to DA14.

One writer pulled out her “slide rule” and gave us a lesson in probabilities and statistics leaving us empirical evidence that the Russian meteorite was simply a coincidence.

A small light show in the middle of the night, I would have bought as one can go out and watch the stars and on most any given night see a “falling star” or two.

When we have an event like the one in Russia at the same time that we have a huge rock flying by earth at a mere 17,000 miles away; I find that hard to stomach that it is a “coincidence.” I was willing however to let it go as this is their field of expertise.

Last night the 15^th of February we had another event similar in nature happen over San Francisco. The reporter with a minor in math will most probably need to revisit her table of mantissa, as statistically speaking; the odds of these events having nothing to do with DA14, just went astronomical (pardon the pun).

We need to look at how these rocks are formed in the first place. Exactly like this planet that we call home, they were first formed from “dust.” Static electricity is most likely the cause of the first clumping of dust until the clumps became large enough to have some sort of gravity, even micro gravity.

In the scheme of things, speaking in an astronomical time frame, we have rocks, than we have larger rocks. Those rocks now have substantial gravity and they pull in even more “stuff” until they are the size of planets.

Not all rocks make planets but because of gravity anything in orbit around another spatial body is in fact falling. The planet we are on is falling; as well as the other planets in our solar system. Because of the speed and the angle of our “fall” we are instead in orbit around the sun as the moon is in orbit around us.

Rocks in space are falling as well. Many in fact are in an orbit between mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt known as “the main belt.” Within this region of space reside many such rocks and even some dwarf planets. There is another belt called the Kuiper belt which Pluto resides in.

These rocks and planets all have gravity and every now and then some event happens to cause one to fall or be knocked out of its orbit. As there is nothing to offer resistance to such a rock it does not take long to pick up quit a bit of velocity on its way toward the sun.

My theory is that these rocks with their own gravity carry other smaller rocks with them that may very well have been in some sort of orbit around them. I think that is what we experienced this February. I believe that DA14 had some “friends” that it carried with it on its way towards the sun, and that is what came in to our atmosphere over Russia and San Francisco. There may have been more that hit us that we don’t know about. ¾ of our globe is uninhabited as it is covered with water. There is no stellar detection grid “yet” so we really have no idea if there were more or not. When statistics do not make sense, you need to look for another answer.

There is an upside to this. If my theory is right, this gives credibility to the “tractor” scenario of adjusting the orbit of other spatial bodies. If those other rocks were indeed in orbit around or gravitationally attached to DA14, a moving larger rock, then we can and should proceed to figure out how to build such a tractor, and test it; as it is simply a matter of time when another life ending event such as the rock that killed the dinosaurs will happen again.

-Best to you and those that you care about.