406

UFO / Re: Rambling around the Universe

« on: February 22, 2016, 04:27:46 AM »

Dark energy and dark matter are fascinating topics with some early break though beginning but nothing substantial yet that I've read.

Eisenstein created what he termed the cosmological constant from observed data to account for missing mass that couldn't be found. He later termed is one of his biggest mistakes. When dropped from his equations it didn't really work out to account for everything and was later reinstated. What he was accounting for was what we now term dark energy. At the time nothing was known of dark energy nor was the term even invented. All he had was calculations didn't match up to observed data.

Something seems to have changed with dark energy. While we knew the universe was expanding no one noticed it was speeding up, this repulsion effect. That it seems to be getting stronger to account for the increased speed we now see in the most distance objects. It doesn't seem to follow the law of physics as light. By that I mean, the Inverse Square Law, where strength is inversely proportional to distance.

While I am not a physicists, I would make the guess that the expansion is multiplied over time by creation of matter/energy to fill the empty spots as space/time stretches with the expansion.

407

Food / Re: Hot dogs from around the world

« on: February 22, 2016, 03:47:59 AM »

This one I had not seen before. Thank you, I'll go hunt the source for the original image so that I may obtain a copy of it.

408

Food / Re: Chimpanzee Cheesecake In the Microwave

« on: February 22, 2016, 03:18:06 AM »

This recipe and many others come from a forum where I was admin at. I did not own the forum but administered it. The forum closed down and I saved the recipe thread from it before that happened. I did say I gathered them from a wide variety of sources. *smiles*

409

Drinks / Re: Some new pictures of pretty coctails from a Thai style bar

« on: February 22, 2016, 03:14:24 AM »

Yes, that service exists in the largest city nearest me. I know of an on-line fellow who does this. They have a team, one drives the passenger's car home, the other provides transport for the passenger.

410

Other topics / Re: Art

« on: February 22, 2016, 02:47:52 AM »

Absolutely, 100% of what you see does not exist in real life. Every bit of it is computer made. If you look very closely you will see one of my screwups in the wave. But I have to call your attention to it or you wouldn't notice it.

There are limitations with what you have to work with. In making this image all is not as it seems. Notice the crest of the wave. Look very, very, closely, and you will see faintly a long extended oval, where the wave at the crest has a different look to it. The draw back here is that you have to have something to put the texture on so that water looks like water and not like tree bark. The oval is from a circle that has been tilted and stretched to fit right there at the crest. You can see the oval if you look very closely.

411

Paranormal / Re: About the blue waffles myth

« on: February 22, 2016, 02:40:00 AM »

Many people just believe everything they see online (and offline).

Long ago encountered this. Younger folk used to come into a science forum and then want to use a TV show or movie as the reference source for their facts. It was easier to accept spoonfed info than it was to go look it up. Made for some interesting conversations sometimes and a lot of toes stepped on because the source could not be referenced with a link.

412

Food / Re: Homemade Food

« on: February 22, 2016, 01:52:46 AM »

Nice photos. Thank you for sharing.

413

Food / Chimpanzee Cheesecake In the Microwave

« on: February 22, 2016, 01:50:01 AM »

Chimpanzee Cheesecake In the Microwave


Directions

4 tablespoons margarine
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
16 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup mashed bananas (3 medium)

Directions

Microwave margarine in a 10-inch glass pie plate at HIGH for 45 seconds, or until melted. Add crumbs and sugar, blending well. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and sides of pie plate. Microwave at HIGH for 2 minutes, rotating plate midway through cooking. Set aside.

Microwave unwrapped cream cheese in glass mixer bowl at MEDIUM (50%) for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, or until softened. Beat well with electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add sugar, eating well. Add eggs and lemon juice; beat until smooth. Blend in bananas. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Microwave at MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) for 10 to 11 minutes, rotating plate every 2 minutes.

Let stand until cool. Refrigerate. Garnish each serving with sliced bananas, if you wish

414

Food / Breakfast Bread

« on: February 22, 2016, 01:46:12 AM »

Breakfast Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
2 tablespoons fresh chopped chives
1/3 cup chopped red peppers
9 eggs
1 cup soft butter
3 tablespoons mustard
1 1/2 cups chopped ham
2 cups Gruyere cheese
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions

Prep all your ingredients before hand, this will help to make sure things move quickly and to be sure you have all the ingredients. In a bowl combine the flour, thyme, chives, baking powder and red peppers.

Mix together, in a separate bowl combine the eggs, soft butter and mustard. Mix till well blended. Add in the freshly ground pepper and stir.

Pour the wet ingredients into a large bowl. Pour in half the flour mixture and mix just till blended. Add in the chopped ham and the cheese. Mix together.

Add in the rest of the flour mixture and stir just till mixed. Do not over mix. Pour into 2 greased medium 8x4 loaf pans.

Bake in a 375F oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove from pans.

415

Other topics / Re: Art

« on: February 22, 2016, 01:36:11 AM »

I called this one 'Oh Shit' because that would have been my reaction.

416

Electronics / Re: What is computer

« on: February 21, 2016, 09:49:00 AM »

Computers are a fairly new technology in our society. At least as we know them today. We've had mechanical aids to help us with counting and math at least back to 2400 BC with the Abacus. But an abacus is not really a computer is it?

One of the jokes I always enjoy springing on folks is the Amish Laptop.

The line sort of gets faded as to what is a computer and when the first computer was made. After all computers are giant calculating devices. In 1833 Charles Babbage invented what he called the Analytical Engine. Punch cards were used to input data and the machine spit out data on punch cards.



Now a days we don't have to worry about punch cards. The first vacuum tube computer which took a large space to house, was a mechanical/vacuum combination known as the Z2. The Z3 which was created in 1941, was the very first electromechanical programmable computer.


The US built the ENIAC computer for calculating ballistics. They finished building it in 2 years and was completed in 1943. The first lady in the image on the left holds an ENIAC computer board.



Today general calculations and computers have come a long ways. Your car is a good example of a computer that no longer looks like a computer. Everything from firing control on the ignition system to controlling the feel of the ride are incorporated in them.

Cell phones today have more power and calculating ability than the first space capsule the astronauts used.

You find them in everything from home thermostats to traffic control and many times you aren't even aware they are there and on the job.

 

417

Paranormal / Re: About the blue waffles myth

« on: February 21, 2016, 09:09:52 AM »

Interesting. Guess I was out of reach when this one came out. First I am hearing of it.

Blue Waffle Disease eh? What folks won't think up...

418

Food / Re: Hot dogs from around the world

« on: February 21, 2016, 08:03:44 AM »

I remembered I had picked up this probably from the same source you did. I just ran into it today and yeap, it's the same identical. It's a rather nice one isn't it?

419

UFO / Rambling around the Universe

« on: February 21, 2016, 07:29:31 AM »

The universe is an amazing place from what we observe. The distances are truely mind numbing to even attempt to grasp in some meaningful way. To give an idea of how mind numbing I offer you this YouTube clip.

The Known Universe ◄ clicky

Near everything we observe is going away from us. That is lacking a few such as the Andromeda Galaxy.



Andromeda Galaxy ◄ clicky

Everything can be measured as how fast we are departing from each other through red shift. The typical rule of thumb is the farther away an object, the faster is it moving away. Anything going away from us has it's light red shifted. The furthest objects we have detected through the Einstien Ring has been red shifted into the infrared part of the spectrum. The Einstein ring is a quirk of gravity, predicted but until fairly recent modern times never observed.



Einstein ring ◄ clicky

Anything approaching us has it's light blue shifted. There are not many galaxies that are blue shifted we find. The Andromeda Galaxy is blue shifted because we are due for a collision with it in about 4 billion years. You might want to circle that year on your calender so as not to miss it.

We've gone through several ideas over time as to the nature of the Universe and what that might mean to us. During Medieval Ages the universe was thought to be filled with Aether. A material that filled all space so that light and gravity had something to transport it along.

At some point the idea of the Big Crunch came along. The Big Crunch was that if there was not enough energy to continually push the universe in expansion that one day it would run out of energy and reverse direction. All mass and objects headed back to a center point. Sort of like when you throw a ball in the air and it comes back to earth. Others felt that there might not be enough gravity to oppose expansion and it might continue on forever.

A term was created called The Omega Factor (Ω). The idea here was that if the Ω factor was 1 or greater, the expansion of the universe would never stop. If it was less than 1 then the Big Crunch was the ultimate fate of the universe. At the time dark energy and dark matter were not named but something was realized not accounted for. The Ω factor eventually came out to be slightly larger than 1, meaning there will be no Big Crunch. Instead the fate of the Universe will be continued expansion, at an ever increasingly faster rate. If humans are around there will come a time when no stars are visible in the Universe. That everything will be so far apart, reaching another star system won't be possible, given the science we know today. This will occur before the ultimate end of entropy. Entropy being the loss of all energy to where there is nothing left of moving molecules or enough energy to see light, nor heat. Again relativity will stretch that time a bit longer, due to the slow speed of light traveling. Probably for many millions of years afterwards possibly billions, that last beam of light will continue in space until it finds something that blocks its photons.

The universe will end with a whimper, not a bang.

420

Drinks / Re: Some new pictures of pretty coctails from a Thai style bar

« on: February 21, 2016, 05:38:30 AM »

Buses and taxis? Haa! I live in a one horse town the horse got up and left. You have to have people in order to support a taxi and the nearest taxi service I know of is 70 miles away; one way.

I'm not sure where the bus is but it isn't like you think of being in the city. Here a bus outside of big cities runs once a day, if you are lucky. Some may run 3 times a week. Many of the small towns don't have a bus stop and you have to go to another town to catch it.

There is a railroad track not far but not for passengers. No place to get on it. It's a freight line. Not uncommon to see 100 car trains or trains that need two engines to pull them all.