my amazon astore 2012.02

. this is the current state of my amazon astore,
featuring gear and cookables I appreciate .
it's a mess because I had to strip out the
3-column tables for this blog's format;
but it document's my work on
astore.amazon.com/americiu-20

iraq war ending, a real war is just beginning #ows #relig #pol #parenting

12.15: news.pol/purges/
iraq war is ending, and a real war is just beginning:

. NPR was asking the public how they felt
about the usa officially pulling out of iraq today .
. a marine who was one of the first to be
stationed at iraq's sea port, said,
"( what struck me about my job, is that
I had to replace some iraqi guy
who really did want to work
-- who wanted to care for his family ).

. no doubt that iraqi guy was already doing
a perfectly good job at defending that port!
(but the way the marine said it, at first made you assume
that usa hadn't had to take the port;
they just had to keep it secure,
and they could have just managed over the current crew,
but they didn't know how to trust them
(how do you care for your family, really,
when terrorists know you help the other side?))

. those guys wanted to work,
he poetically repeated in several places .
. wow, wasn't that the proverbial
"(your economy is just perfect now;
how do you feel? )!
--
. this call had at least 2 interesting surprises:
first I was reminded of #OccuppyWallStreet
who were said to be expecting a "(handout) for college;
because, here was a caller representing troops coming home;
and, you know, today's troops are often tomorrow's police
-- the same police having to face #ows protesters .
. then I was reminded that many marines
will be in similar job-hunting curcumstances
-- really wanting some sort of work
after they finish our war tour .
[. and not happy with just a handout .]

. well, trustables who want to work;
so, where will those jobs be?
. being trustworthy only works when you are
willing to pay people for what that trust is worth;
so, the jobs are going to people who
don't need to be trusted!
-- they're overseas, living in caves,
and can't possibly #OccupyWallStreet .

. the last idea from this call
came from the Carter admin':
at that time the military was angry with democrats
for telling the military to take a pay cut
(forgo inflation compensation)
yet the dem's still had plenty of fed money for what?
rolling out to welfare
-- for guys who didn't want to work,
and weren't conscerned about caring for their family .
[ie, the men were shadows to single welfare mom's .]

prophets (messengers of god) as sons of god

1.10: adds/relig/
prophets (messengers of god) as sons of god:

. the son of a man has traditionally implied
one who carries on the ambitions of the father;
therefore, I think it would be helpful
to define "(son of god)
as one who was given a god-inspired message;
especially a message that is
not currently popular or obvious .
. why would a god have many sons?
god as the eternal (infinitely living) father
would appear to be programming our software
in the same way god has appeared to be
programming our hardware:
with a spark of genetic genius,
followed by a jungle of evolutionary testing .
. hence sons are expected to be finite,
good for just one phase of the evolution
-- an evolution that might go on indefinitely,
or as long as man's thoughts have some inputs into
the robotic (intelligent, demon-free) law enforcement .

. here is a summry of prior religions,
presenting their founders as sons of god:

. when son#judaism was given the rule to stay clean,
they impl'd it by separating self from unclean members,
applying it not just to communicable diseases,
but also to communicable psychological tendencies .

. so then son#jesus was given the rule:
get real! there are no dirty family members!!
treat all family as self .
. when jc couldn't reach his family,
he suggested the path to justice is
making the whole world your family:
if your kingdom is your heart,
your family members are those who
believe in your kingdom .

. son#catholic was given the rule that
the path to making the whole world your family:
is building a worldwider political hierarchy
that would force everyone under one holy flag;
but, to impl' this rule they had to
transform the christian message
into something like the pagan religions
that christianity needed to replace:
. you will follow jesus because the magic
shows he was the god:
jc's law was god's law .
. jc was just like you hindu's
coming back from the dead as a higher form,
a form that lives in the love of god .

. son#islam was given the rule that
son#judaism's law about not worshipping images
was not mere trivia:
it was a foundational commandment;
so, son#jesus's image as being a magic healer
is not what makes him worthy of respect:
what does make him worthy
is being given god-inspired rules,
ones that further the survival of eternal civilization .
. son#islam was also given a great rule about capitalism
that could have prevented all our economic depressions:
never allow loans for profit,
anybody who wants to invest should buy stock in a project .

. son#mormon was given the rule that a living god
should be represented by a living bible, one that grows .

. son#buddha was given the rules for
casting out demons!

. he lamented as the son of a king
in line for the throne,
that people were so persistently, inevitably
underserved by any king ruling over them,
so instead of pretending to be helpful as a king,
he gave his time to developing rules for
how we could all find the peace we want .

. most of the time people feel they
have to punish others because
they wouldn't have felt insulted
if only others had just been more polite;
so,
law#1: expect life to be emotional pain;
physical pain is almost never originating
from others: it's starting as emotional pain
injected from within by the devil,
who is the lord over technological evolution
who wants you to start some real pain
to evolve weapons and other technologies .
. if instead we would all not be the first one
to make a judgement against another,
that would solve a lot of violence .

. the other main problem was leadership:
people were always trusting
religions and governments
without understanding what they were doing;
and, this was another source of conflict .
. his idea for a world religion that we
could all believe in as one world
-- just like the catholics were hoping for
but without the violence of hierarchical leadership --
was to use a combination of
both your own common sense
and finding agreement by your community of elders .
. this would help everyone both own the religion
and remain future-aware, guided by experience .

. this would be yet another modification
of a son#judaism rule:
the rule affected this time
was to follow one's elders without question:
"( this is what your god wants;
your parents will make sure you know this;
make sure you honor your parents ).
. some of the things "(god) wanted
were pretty surprising;
not the stuff of common sense at all .

. one problem with son#buddha's rule
is that he was never discouraged by
a view of god as being a devil .
. what if people were inately
suicidal, not just ignorant,
bent on fueling the tech evolution
by starting yet another war
-- just for the "(fun) of it ?
. the pinacle of tech is almost here
(within the next 500 years)
just 2500 years after the buddha's ministry .

#health help with elderly #edema

1.29: web.health/help with elderly edema:
re co.trice/health/help with edema:
one reason for such edema is congestive heart failure;
and,
coenzyme Q10 therapy may be good for that;
another thing that helps edema
(and also high blood pressure)
is the use of a low-glycemic diet with no sugar;
eg, with most carb's coming from greens & beans;
also, a good magnesium supplement,
one that doesn't cause a laxative effect
will be help relax heart and arteries .
. even a strong beat won't pump blood
unless it can relax between beats .

for getting the right magnesium:
Mildred S. Seelig`The Magnesium Factor
Carolyn Dean`The Magnesium Miracle

for proof low-carb helps edema:
Gary Taubes`Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It

for proof coenzyme Q10 helps with edema:
Clin Investig. 1993;71(8 Suppl):S134-6.
Effect of coenzyme Q10 therapy in patients
with congestive heart failure:
a long-term multicenter randomized study.

. the main clinical problems in patients
with congestive heart failure
are the frequent need of hospitalization
and the high incidence of
life-threatening arrhythmias,
* pulmonary edema, *
and other serious complications.
coenzyme Q10 (n = 319,
mean age 67 years, range 26-89 years)
at the dosage of 2 mg/kg per day .
The number of patients who required
hospitalization for worsening heart failure
was smaller in the coenzyme Q10 treated group
(n = 73)
than in the control group (n = 118, P < 0.001).
Similarly,
the episodes of pulmonary edema or cardiac asthma
were reduced in the control group
(20 versus 51 and
97 versus 198, respectively; both P < 0.001)
The improved cardiac function in patients with
congestive heart failure
treated with coenzyme Q10
supports the hypothesis that
this condition is characterized by
mitochondrial dysfunction and energy starvation .

The Shangri-La #Diet debate replays #Atkins

2011.11.9: web.health/diet/shangrila diet:
[2012.1.17: summary of news:
.  psychologist professor Seth Roberts
had written The Shangri-La Diet:
The No Hunger Eat Anything
Weight Loss Plan (2006)
. the point of the title is that
the book was not so much about dieting
as it was about retaining your dieting results
by the use of associative learning theory
for lowering your Body-Fat Set Point .
. having some personal anecdotal evidence,
he wrote the book to ask the public
if they would like to join an online experiment
(Shangri-La Diet forums at sethroberts.net).
. Dr.Ford accused him of abusing his professional title:

"( Dr. Roberts has not been shy or circumspect about
touting his credentials as an
associate professor at University of California, Berkeley.
However, despite his status as an academic,
he has opted to bypass his own colleagues
and the checks and balances of his own profession.
Rather he chose to go straight to the lay press.
Obviously by mentioning his university affiliation,
he intended to give the added weight to his conclusions
that such a position would appear to justify.
Why wouldn't he have studied his diet
the way researchers normally do
when they want to establish the validity of a hypothesis
(and I don't mean with a sample size of one)
before publishing widely? .)]

my reaction to Dr.Ford:
. what is the point of science?
pretty spendy isn't it?
you hear about $millions involved .
. and of course, "(the quacks always say that!)
-- and also predictably,
the quacks point out that if you follow the money
there is a conspiracy between FDA, BigPharma,
and Medical professionals (Doctors, Consultants, ...) .
. it might even seem true when you find out
BigPharma essentially funds the FDA
-- essentially funding your own watchdog?!
. and Doctors don't look too saintly either
with their medical cartel artificially creating
a shortage of doctors to keep their wages high .
. yet quacks make outlandish claims,
and there is a good reason for quackwatch;

but then I watched them take down Dr.Atkins,
despite his referencing good science
-- science that did apply to his program .
( well, I didn't read Atkins' first book ...
let's assume he was always well-referenced: )

many belated additions to photo gallery

1.14:
. due to a variety of filing errors causing misplaced photos,
and not knowing how to use picasa photo uploader,
I found years of additional files to upload .
https://picasaweb.google.com/dr.addn?feat=email

1.9: mis.cyb/mac.picasa/overlooked targets:
. when it seems to open directories for you,
it's only opening a certain levels ?
or maybe it doesn't open any,
it was me that opened some but not all;
there are many places where the
subfoldering is deeper than usual (era/year/month - subj/)
so I was missing many subtopics
whenever a [month - subj] was holding folders instead of targets .

hp-15c - my 1980's college math conqueror

2011.4.18: web.cyb/hp-15c:

[20.12.1.1:
. hp-15c was my calculator while
getting a BA degree in Math,
it was programmable,
with a solver for calculus,
and had matrices for  linear algebra .]

hp15c on ebay? yes
-- expensively sold as vintage rare,
one though is $62
-- cheaper than new for used ok .

open source hp15c simulator
HP-15C (UNIX/Linux Windows NT4/2000/XP) (new)
. Torsten Manz' Tcl/Tk simulator .
It should run on all operating systems
supported by Tcl/Tk.
It has been tested on
several UNIX/Linux flavours
as well as Windows NT4/2000/XP.
It has not been tested on
Windows 95/ 98/ME or Mac OS.
This distribution contains
both the executables
for the Windows and Linux platform,
as well as the Tcl/Tk source file.

Nonpareil simulates HP's calc's(1972 ... 1982).
-- the 15c is from 1984 .
Tom Fors`iPhone port of Nonpareil
supporting the Voyager calculators
(11C, 12C, 15C, 16C).

Calculator Emulator for the iPhone
* 09-Mar-2008
- Calculators are now built using the SDK
and running in the simulator...
"( Still waiting for Apple to approve my registration
so I can test on a real phone and distribute them in June. )
. you can download [crude copy of] manual here :
http://hp15c.org/hp15c.pdf
http://hp15c.org/hp15cAdvanced.pdf
--
[. I have the manuals!
(I can use my paper ones for whatever the copies left out
they are black&whites of the colored paper manual)]

The 10C series:
Compact yet Sophisticated Calculators (1981)
    * HP-10C Basic Scientific Programmable Calculator
    * HP-11C More Advanced Scientific Programmable
    * $135 HP-12C Top Selling Business Calculator 1982-1989
    * HP-15C Scientific with Matrix & Complex Math
    * HP-16C The Computer Scientist Calculator
   
The RPL Family (1986)
    * RPL A Platform for Powerful Calculators
    * HP-18C Business Model with Solver
    * HP-28C/S Scientifics with Symbolic Math and Solver
    * HP-48S/SX Large Screen Scientifics with Symbolic Math

Some Interesting Later Models (1986)
    * HP-27S Algebraic Do Everything Calculator
    * HP-17B Algebraic Business Model
    * HP-22S Algebraic Scientific Calculator
    * HP-32S RPN Scientific with Complex Math
      (Including Anniversary Edition.)
    * HP-42S RPN Scientific (HP-41C compatible)
    * HP-14B (50th Anniversary Edition)
    * HP-67CX Unreleased RPN / HPL / Linux Scientific
   

solar storm not in 2012 #cyber #backup #ups

2011.4.16: cyb/backup/solar storm

Do solar storms create hard drive data loss?
I read we are expecting increased solar storm activity for 2012.
I would like to prepare. What would be the best way to
protect sensitive data on hard drives
(backups and internal).
Would it be preferable to back up things on DVDs?
The 1989 storm managed to damage the computers
of the Toronto Stock Market.
reply:
 2012  will actually be a damn boring year.

a solar physicist: Do not worry about solar storms.
. solar and geomagnetic activity pose essentially
no risk to your data.
The biggest possible risk would be power outage,
so you could buy yourself a UPS if you are really worried,
but even then, the risk is really minimal,
since these events are predictable and power companies are
proactive about mitigating their effects on infrastructure.

If your backups are not connected to the power grid
you don't have to worry about solar storms,
because solar storms cause problems by induction.
Large loops of cable such as power grids might be affected,
but not small external hard drives.
Good back ups are not connected to the computer
they are supposed to back up 24/7.
Online backups that are located far away from your local backups
will probably not be affected by the same solar storm.

magnetic storm of September 10, 2005 over Quebec:
August 1989, another solar storm affected microchips
and caused a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.
Since then, power companies worldwide have
started evaluating the risks of
geomagnetically induced currents
so that contingency plans can be put in place
to deal with any power outages.

 Officials watched in disbelief as three disc drives
 
 failed in succession on what is supposed to be
 a 'fault-tolerant' computer system.

 . most of Quebec sits on a large rock shield
that prevented current flowing through the earth,
for finding a less resistant path along the 735 kV power lines.
. Other utilities in North America, and elsewhere
implemented programs to reduce the risks associated with
geomagnetically induced currents.

links:
# geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) @solarstorms.org
# laser light and magnetic storm both em wave?

2012.1.1:
On-Line UPS Systems
eg, $273 IS250HG Isolation Transformer
-- Isolator Series UL60601-1 Listed Medical Grade Isolation Transformers
$178.99 at newegg.com
This is the highest level of battery backup protection available.
Power is first broken down and then
perfectly reconstructed by the inverter,
which is "on-line" 100% of the time.
There is absolutely no transfer switching time.
This process completely eliminates
incoming surge and line noise,
adjusts high or low voltages,
and produces perfect sine wave power.

IS250HG Medical Grade Isolation Transformer
Key Features
. offers line isolation, continuous noise filtering
and enhanced common mode surge suppression.
Internal low-impedance isolation transformer
with Faraday shield offers 100% isolation from the input AC line
Full UL60601-1 medical-grade listing with hospital-grade plug
and outlet receptacles;
Reduces the cumulative leakage current
of the Isolator and connected equipment
to levels less than 100 microamps
Secondary neutral-to-ground bonding
eliminates common mode noise,
providing an isolated ground reference
for sensitive equipment
Serves as an inexpensive alternative to dedicated circuits
and site electrical upgrades
Removes EMI/RFI noise, utility switching transients,
load-generated harmonics and ground loops
Additional surge suppression components
placed at the line input and output
combined with full line isolation
provide continuous filtering of a full range of
power line noise in all modes
Active transformer filtering offers
continuous common-mode noise rejection
with no wearable parts; unique ability to reduce surges
in the worst of power environments to harmless levels
Reduces 6000V IEEE587 Cat A&B ring wave
and combination wave test surges to only 0.5V common mode
Includes 2 widely spaced NEMA 5-15R
hospital-grade output receptacles,
a 6-ft. power cord, hospital-grade input plug,
circuit breaker overload protection and lighted power switch.