Pictures of St. Charles Prepatory School

Our son Tom attends St. Charles Preparatory School here in Columbus.   I am very proud to know he is there and getting an outstanding education.   Since much of my family lives out of town, I figured it would be nice to share some photos of this great institution for them to see.

Pictures of St. Charles Prepatory School in Columbus

Microsoft's Security Update, HUH!!!

It looks like another one of Microsoft "Security" Update has automatically installed the Java Console and  Microsoft .Net Framework as a Firefox Addon, again.   This happened back in 2009, but it appears to have happened somewhere around 3/7/2011. 



http://gizmodo.com/#!5383413

I usually install and run Mozilla FireFox and  include the following Addons:
"NoScript", IETab(optional), ImageZoom(optional), WOT (optional). 


I use Firefox and these addons because it's the best and most secure browsing experience I have found for the Windows environment WITHOUT a ton of other anti this and anti-that crowding my systems cpu, memory and drive resources.



 
Microsoft's update installs the .Net Framework which is just dangerous leaving your pc vulnerable to attacks.  It also installs the Addon called "The Java Console"... this is just as bad.   The whole point in installing NoScript is so that NO SCRIPT  runs unless you tell it to.  With The Java Console and .NET installed, anything runs that wants to.   Thanks for opening a security whole, Microshaft!


If you run Firefox, check to see if this has installed these addons:
Open Firefox
Go to Tools -> Addons
If you see something called "Java Console"  or Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant, then follow the instruction below to un-install this crap.

Uninstall the “Microsoft .Net Framework Assistant x.0″ add-on  and Java Console.  
1.        Hit “Start -› Run -› “regedit”  
2.        Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\extensions“  
3.        Right click on the entry “{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}” and delete it  
4.        Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins“  
5.        Right click on the subkey “@microsoft.com/WPF,version=3.5” and delete it  
6.        Open Firefox and enter “about:config” in the address bar 
            a.  Filter for “general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet”   If you don't see this, don't worry. Go on to #7.  If you do, highlight it and hit the [Delete] button. 
          b.  Filter for  “microsoft.CLR.clickonce.autolaunch”.  If you don't see this, don't worry. Go on to #7.  If you do, highlight it and hit the [Delete] button  
7.        Go to Firefox ->  Tools -> Addons.  Select the "Java Console" Addon.  Hit the Uninstall button.   Say yes to uninstall it.  
8.        Go to My Computer ->  “C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation“  
9.        Rename the folder “DotNetAssistantExtension” to “DotNetAssistantExtensionOld” and the file NPWPF.dll to NPWPF.dll.old (you can delete the folder and the file later if you don’t encounter problems)  
10.        Restart Firefox (close it and open it back up).  Verify the two programs are gone by going to Tools ->; Addons.

Body Tricks

These are pretty good.   I found them here:
http://aliciagoh.blog.friendster.com/2008/09/tricks-of-the-body/

"1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear.

When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you’re more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it’s not worth gagging over. Here’s a better way to scratch your itch: “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”

2. Experience supersonic hearing!

If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Overcome your most primal urge!

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won’t feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” video.

4. Feel no pain!

German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Clear your stuffed nose!

Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.

6. Fight fire without water!

Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? “Sleep on your left side,” says Anthony A. Star-poli, M.D., a New York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you’re on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity’s in your favor.

7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

8. Make burns disappear!

When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natural method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

9. Stop the world from spinning!

One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. “As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

10. Unstitch your side!

If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!

Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed—if you don’t mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. “Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose,” says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing here helps stop them.”

12. Make your heart stand still!

Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It’ll get your heart rate back to normal.

13. Thaw your brain!

Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Abo. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

14. Prevent near-sightedness!

Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It’s usually caused by near-point stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.

15. Wake the dead!

If your hand falls asleep while you’re driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don’t let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

16. Impress your friends!

Next time you’re at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He’ll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will fold like a house of cards. By misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body’s ability to resist.

17. Breathe underwater!

If you’re dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When you’re underwater, it’s not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin’ ain’t right. “When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,” says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen.” It’ll buy you up to 10 seconds.

18. Read minds!

Your own! “If you’re giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory."

                                        Again, these were found on:

                                                   http://aliciagoh.blog.friendster.com/2008/09/tricks-of-the-body/

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave bereft

I am not there. I have not left.

                         Mary Elizabeth Frye 1932

 

20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World

There are at least 250,000 words in the English language. However, to think that English – or any language – could hold enough expression to convey the entirety of the human experience is as arrogant of an assumption as it is naive.

Here are a few examples of instances where other languages have found the right word and English simply falls speechless.

1. Toska

Russian – Vladmir Nabokov describes it best: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

2. Mamihlapinatapei

Yagan (indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego) – “the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start” (Altalang.com)

3. Jayus

Indonesian – “A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh” (Altalang.com)

Photo:  craigallyn

4. Iktsuarpok

Inuit – “To go outside to check if anyone is coming.” (Altalang.com)

 Click the link to see more...

20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World

15 things you probably didn't know about bananas

[Source: Today I Found Out]

Finish every day...

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely
and with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with
your old nonsense.

This day is all that is
good and fair.
It is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

Thanksgiving "did you knows?"

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[Source: Today I Found Out]

Please help Wikipedia....

If you have not already, please start looking into those tax donations for the end of the year.

Here's a good one..



Dear Charles,

Thank you for your gift  to the Wikimedia Foundation, received on November 13, 2010. I’m very grateful for your support.
Your donation celebrates everything Wikipedia and its sister sites stand for: the power of information to help people live better lives, and the importance of sharing, freedom, learning and discovery. Thank you so much for helping to keep these projects freely available for their nearly 400 million monthly readers around the world.

Your money supports technology and people. The Wikimedia Foundation develops and improves the technology behind Wikipedia and nine other projects, and sustains the infrastructure that keeps them up and running. The Foundation has a staff of about fifty, which provides technical, administrative, legal and outreach support for the global community of volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia.
Many people love Wikipedia, but a surprising number don't know it's run by a non-profit. Please help us spread the word by telling a few of your friends.

And again, thank you for supporting free knowledge.

Sincerely Yours,


Sue Gardner
Executive Director

* To donate: http://donate.wikimedia.org
* To visit our Blog: http://blog.wikimedia.org
* To follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wikimedia
* To follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wikipedia


This letter can serve as a record for tax purposes. No goods or
services were provided, in whole or in part, for this contribution.
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit charitable corporation
with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Our address is 149 New Montgomery, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94105. Tax-exempt number: 20-0049703

Great Quote

"I'm not frightened. I'm not frightened of anything. The more I suffer, the more I love. Danger will only increase my love. It will sharpen it, forgive its vice. I will be the only angel you need. You will leave life even more beautiful than you entered it. Heaven will take you back and look at you and say: Only one thing can make a soul complete and that thing is love.
- Michael Berg, The Reader"
— Bernhard Schlink (The Reader)

Piatt Castles

Arlene and I took Tom and Libby to the Piatt Castles about an hours drive west of Columbus in West Liberty, Ohio.

The castles were built by the Piatt brothers in the 1860's.   They are only about a mile from one another.

Margaret Piatt and so many others before her have done a great job maintaining these nearly 150 year old beautiful structures. 

2010_08_23 - Trip to the Piatt Castles

If you live in Ohio and are looking for a great historical adventure, then this is the place to visit.

Also, very near by (a mile or so)  are the Ohio Cavern.


More information about the Piatt Castles can be found at:

http://www.piattcastles.org/

and


http://www.ohiocaverns.com/

Fun Shockwave -- Ragdoll

I hate when people think they can just push me around  Ragdoll Shockwave File...

Bounce to my google document site, click open on the swf

Gravity

What is going on with this theory of gravity...

I recently read this great article by Dennis Overbye in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?_r=2   

It got me completely curious.  What is this guy talking about??? 

I went to his paper here:  http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1001/1001.0785v1.pdf

but found my self confused.  Being a layman and it being 16 years since I have had a physics class, I was quite perplexed.

So, I started to do some searching on some basics of gravity and found the following really great movie:
What On Earth Is Wrong With Gravity?
In summary, it says:
  
Newton predicted the efffects of gravity:  An apple falls to the ground from a tree and it is the natural attraction between objects that appeared to Newton, to be the cause.

Einstein worked out why gravity exists. We all see space as dark empty and black.  Einstein, saw space as a type of fabric.  So the earth and us, as we spin and move through space, stretch this space fabric.   The closer you are to the earth, the stronger the gravitational field.   The further you are out in space, the weaker the gravitational field. What he theorized and was later proven was that this space fabric is time.  The stronger the gravitational field, the slower time moves.   The further you are away from a gravitational field, the faster time moves.

Satellites, like those used by the Global Positioning System (GPS) have to constantly be re-synchronized with the clocks here on earth.  They in fact, run faster.

More to follow...