CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2012-09-21 19:44:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

These are the only two pictures I was able to get of the Space Shuttle Endeavor flying down the San Francisco Peninsula along I-280 as it passed Burlingame, CA. Taken from the roof of the Mike Harvey Acura building.

It was an amazing thing to see... :)

2012-08-09 20:36:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Congratulations US Women's Football (Soccer) Team! :)

2012-08-09 18:52:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Someone with no soul, brain or right to call themselves part of a tool-using species might ask what's the point of achieving these impossible materials.

LOL, how can you not love a "positronium annihilation gamma ray laser", where "Annihilation" isn't its function, but its mode of operation :)

2012-08-09 18:17:07 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

LOL, a "fully functional bike out of just recycled cardboard" ...OK, so there are a few pieces that are not cardboard, but it's essentially a cardboard bike :)

2012-08-06 05:56:52 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

+NASA  This is awesome... :)

2012-08-06 05:44:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Real pictures are being sent back from Mars from the Curiosity lander that just landed a few minutes ago -- NASA moved some satellites orbiting Mars so that they'd be flying overhead when Curiosity landed in order to relay the telemetry data as it entered the Martian atmosphere and then the first pictures after landing...

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE INVOLVED. WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD!! LOL, who cares about how many medals were won by people who happen to have been born on one side or the other of some arbitrary boundary line delimiting "countries" -- THIS is the real gold medal! :)

http://twitter.com/NASA/status/232350219700932608/photo/1

2012-07-21 06:05:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

OK, I really love this... :)

...I can name A, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, N, P, S, T, U, and V. I know what Z is, but it's kind of generic, so I'm not sure if my Z guess is correct, and I know what Q is, but I don't see how they get it to start with a Q and not a K or a C, LOL...

...and I recognize I, M, O, and X, but I can't remember the names...

...but B, K, L, R, W, and Y have me totally stumped... anyone else know?

http://99percentinvisible.org/post/27422750848/the-architecture-alphabet-designed-by-stephen

2012-07-19 06:20:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Well this makes me sad... Jon Lord on the organ helped define what is good music for me in my younger days...

2012-07-18 07:16:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Well, the San Francisco Giants have come back after the All Star break to win 4 in a row and now have 50 wins for the season (yeah, I know, they were the last of the division leaders to get there)... and thanks to LA's continued slide, the Giants now lead the NL West by 3 games and their magic number to win the division is 69... :)

2012-07-16 23:34:14 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Hmmm...
The brains of Internet addicts scan a lot like the brains of drug and alcohol addicts.
...food for thought...

2012-07-04 19:47:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

#Higgs #higgsboson lol!

2012-07-04 19:12:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This is well said. I could pull a bunch of quotes to get you to read it, LOL... here's one that will go counter to what the title seems to imply the article is about:

"Looked at one way, government is simply the mechanism that moves our money to where it is needed most."

It's a good read -- take the time to do it. :) Happy 4th of July, everyone -- or, at least, to those of you who think it's a significant day... :)

2012-06-29 05:10:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The San Francisco Giants are now in sole possession of first place in the National League West, thanks to their 4th consecutive shutout and the Dodgers' loss to the Mets -- their magic number now drops by two to 85... :)

2012-06-29 04:51:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Thank you, Chief Justice Roberts, for setting aside your personal opinions on the Affordable Care Act and instead ruling only on its constitutionality -- and in recognizing and acknowledging the separation of powers and the proper role of the courts.

Read the whole thing here:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-393c3a2.pdf

I particularly appreciate the following, which explain the philosophy of the Court in interpreting the Affordable Care Act:

We do not consider whether the Act embodies sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the Nation’s elected leaders. We ask only whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to enact the challenged provisions.

and...

Our permissive reading of these powers is explained in part by a general reticence to invalidate the acts of the Nation’s elected leaders. “Proper respect for aco-ord... more »

2012-06-21 06:51:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

LOL... that's all I can say... :)

2012-06-06 06:39:00 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 2 +1s)

I took these photos with a little Nikon CoolPix 3000 point-and-shoot camera while holding some 8x21 binoculars in front of the camera lens to act as a telephoto lens and eclipse glasses in front of the binoculars to act as a solar filter... none of these match the quality of the pictures taken with real cameras and telephoto lenses or telescopes, but more important to me was seeing this in real life and I'll never forget the month of super moon, annular eclipse, and Venus transit... :)

2012-05-21 09:15:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

And now the moon is moving off to the upper left... more pictures as I was playing with it and trying to get some pictures that corresponded to what started -- they aren't great pictures compared to what you see from real photographers, but they mean a lot to me because of what I experienced...

2012-05-21 08:40:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The annularity... the first picture was when the moon was dead center in the middle of the sun: 6:28PM PDT, May 20, 2012. I was so awestruck at what I was seeing that I was shaking just trying to keep the jury-rigged telephoto camera kludge aimed at the sun... in the third one I was a little more steady (about 2 minutes later), but by then you could see that the annularity was almost over and the moon was about to start moving past the other side of the sun. When I realized what was happening, I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures of the sun through the binoculars aimed at paper, so I hurried to do that, but by the time I got the photo, the annularity was over. You can still see how thin the visible sliver of the sun is, though...

2012-05-21 08:28:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Given what I'd seen on the paper, I decided it was time to start photographing the sun directly again -- the more I saw of what was happening, the harder it was to hold the camera and all the accouterments still...

2012-05-21 08:28:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

These pictures were created by holding binoculars aligned with the sun and aimed at a piece of paper, then I moved myself around (sometimes lying on the ground) to aim my cell phone at the paper without blocking the sun image, LOL. The first three are with small 8x21 binoculars, the last two are with 10x50 binoculars.

2012-05-21 08:00:21 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

a variety of pictures taken with a Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot. I'm not sure if my comments that I entered on Google Drive are making it over here... I may have to add more comments here in Plus if they aren't. Most of these are me experimenting holding small 8x21 binoculars to the lens of the point-and-shoot (zoomed all the way, but with digital zoom turned off) and holding the filter of the eclipse glasses in front of the binoculars -- LOL, it took me a while to figure out how to hold all three things together AND be able to push the button to actually take a picture, all while keeping everything aligned with the sun... :) ...the first one was just holding the eclipse glasses in front of the point-and-shoot, the rest are with the binoculars added into the mix...

2012-05-21 07:23:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I didn't have a great camera, nice lenses and filters, or a tripod on hand -- all these eclipse photos were taken either with my cheap phone or with a Nikon point-and-shoot (many with one side of small binoculars held to the camera lens and some "eclipse glasses" covering the other end of the binoculars). So if you're looking for great photos, look elsewhere, LOL, but if you want to see what someone could get by using a little ad-lib creativity with what he had on hand, feel free to browse these... :) ...it was a great experience to see it in person... :)

2012-05-20 17:05:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Road trip to Shasta Lake today to see the eclipse in its total annularity... :)

How many times does the path of an eclipse come within driving distance of you? If you're in the US, it's been a L-O-N-G time...

2012-05-20 17:04:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

An intelligent response to Karl Rove's intentional misrepresentation and outright lies...

2012-04-26 02:37:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The San Jose Sharks disappeared quietly, but the Capitals -- LET'S GO CAPS!!! :) :) :)

2012-04-19 02:07:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

My hero! :)

...btw, it's not just any random research paper that saved him from the fine, it's one he wrote using math and physics to explain how what the police officer perceived may not, in fact, have been reality... :)

Click the link in the article to his paper, it's just a 4 page PDF containing math, physics, some cool graphs... if you hated math and/or physics in high school and college, the paper will bring back nightmares... otoh, if you thought that stuff was kind of cool, it's neat to see how what we see (angular velocity) doesn't match what we think we are perceiving (linear velocity)... ah, the memories... :)

if your head is hurting after reading this (or the article or the paper), I can point you to a video of a mother cat hugging a dreaming kitten which you should watch a few times... :)

2012-04-19 01:07:18 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

LOL, just look at the pictures... :)

2012-04-17 05:49:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Where other states have teachers cheating to help students, Florida decided to grade correct answers as wrong.

Mr. Krampf examined the state's science answers and found several that clearly listed right answers as wrong.

One question had 3 out of 4 answers that were scientifically true. He wrote to the Florida Department of Education's Test Development center.

They admitted he was right about the answers, but said they don't expect 5th graders to realize they were right.

2012-04-17 05:19:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This pretty much speaks for itself... :)

2012-04-02 06:19:06 (0 comments, 7 reshares, 2 +1s)

Oh jeez, this is appalling...

2011-10-25 20:38:00 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

For +John Head

2011-10-25 20:06:38 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

So a scientist who claimed that something was wrong with the human activity-induced theories of global warming (and therefore the data should be re-examined to weed out flaws in the theory) has re-examined the data and now claims that he was wrong to doubt... hmmm...

At least in so doing he demonstrated that he truly is thinking scientifically -- i.e., when the evidence goes counter to your theory's expected results, it's time to re-examine your theory... and in this case, his attempt to use scientific method to refute global warming led him to refute his own theories...

2011-10-25 19:49:21 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

Yay for toast!

2011-10-25 19:44:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Interesting video that makes pretty clear what a lot of the issues are.

2011-10-21 05:30:31 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

2011-10-21 05:23:14 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

It's amazing how many misconceptions have been spread about OWS... by media on both sides, although one side has worked harder to discredit it than the other...

2011-10-16 05:37:02 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

This is amazing and a little scary at the same time -- a baby who can't figure out a magazine because it doesn't work like an iPad...

2011-10-16 03:30:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Fox and their NEW "CYA" policy.....

2011-10-15 04:14:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

One more political post for the day before we get back to the fun stuff.

I've heard a lot of people saying, "I don't care about the protests because they don't affect me personally."

That's true. You may have a job right now. Things may be fine for you right now. You may not care about your neighbor.

But take a look at this graph. How many years do you want this to go on, and what do you think are the odds you will be personally affected before this is over?

Would you rather speak up for more regulation before you lose your job, or after?

2011-10-15 02:59:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Moody’s Economist Says GOP Jobs Bill Would ‘Likely Push The Economy Back Into Recession’

2011-10-15 02:57:03 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Wow. This is so much more level-headed and empathetic than I somehow had expected from Daily Kos.

Even though it's "just" a promoted member contribution, it has shown me that I need to throw away my past impression, and review quite a bit more, before I give any opinion again about the site.

2011-10-15 02:47:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Romney’s ‘Middle Class Tax Cut’ Would Provide No Benefits To Most Of The Middle Class

During this week’s GOP primary debate, Newt Gingrich asked Mitt Romney why he has proposed eliminating capital gains taxes for only those making less than $200,000 annually (which is a key component of Romney’s economic plan).

2011-10-15 02:45:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Get the facts on Rick Perry's "jobs" plan, which is actually just a wish list written by the the Big Oil lobby (American Petroleum Institute.) SHARE, this post to spread the word.

2011-10-15 02:16:51 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A police officer lost it and punched a woman in the face today in NYC, as seen in this video. They are getting pretty violent.

Please, do not fight back.

In the words of Gandhi: "Non-cooperation is an attempt to awaken the masses, to a sense of their dignity and power. This can only be done by enabling them to realize that they need not fear brute force, if they would but know the soul within."

True power is the ability to see this sort of thing and to remain non-violent in response.

2011-10-15 02:13:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

"He's bitter about the Republican Party hijacking his movement and tells Occupy Wall Street, "Don't let it happen" to you." Raw Story

2011-10-15 00:48:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

wow, this is nicely stated -- with pictures and graphs, too, for those who are visual learners...

2011-10-14 07:34:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Essentially, there is a correlation between numbers that appear to be fake on financial reports in different industries (e.g., finance, high tech, manufacturing) and collapses in those industries (because the companies are fudging their books right before going under?)

http://econerdfood.blogspot.com/2011/10/benfords-law-and-decreasing-reliability.html

2011-10-14 07:18:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2011-10-14 07:10:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

oh jeez, seriously?

2011-10-14 07:09:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Cain: ‘I Have No Idea’ How My 999 Plan Would Work