Googol not Google

A googol is the large number 10¹⁰⁰, that is, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros.

1 googol = 10¹⁰⁰ = 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

Mathematician Edward Kasner devised the concept to show the common features of whole numbers, no matter how large. But he needed a name; writing out such a large number wouldn't do. Kasner wanted a fanciful name. Kasner asked his 9 year old nephew Milton Sirotta to name it. Milton dubbed it googol.

The name for the Internet search engine Google came from Googol. The original founders were going for 'Googol', but ended with 'Google' due to a spelling mistake.

And there is a Russian author named Gogol, who wrote a fine short story, "The Overcoat."

Geek's Lament

ThinkGeek Fashion link

From link:
"There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to help other people with their petty computer problems."

Like:
' What does the delete key do?'
'I removed some of the pins from my monitor cable because it didn't seem to fit right, now it's not working at all...can you fix my computer?'

The bezzle

The economist John Kenneth Galbraith wrote a book about the 1929 stock market called "The Great Crash." Galbraith wrote that after the crash, stories about embezzlement filled the newspapers. People had "borrowed" money to play the market, figuring stocks could only rise and they could always repay the "loan." After the crash the stocks were nearly worthless, so the crimes were obvious.

In good and bad times, there is always "“undiscovered embezzlement." The amount varies with the temper of the times. Galbraith suggested calling the amount of this undiscovered theft the "bezzle." In good times, people let down their guard and believe in get rich quick schemes. People are gullible; the bezzle grows. In bad times, people assume that anyone who runs a corporation or deals in the stock market is dishonest. People are suspicious; the bezzle shrinks.

Playboy In Braille

Link to article: "Most likely you are surprised that such a thing exists. You are not alone. When I discovered Playboy in Braille years ago, it was in a box in an abandoned building. I found myself in a state of disbelief. The kind you feel when you're being chased by a leprechaun with a crossbow."

Watch the sunset - Live webcam at the Pyramids

http://www.pyramidcam.com/

Enraged woman swallows cell phone

By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View
Published Friday 23rd December 2005 20:13 GMT

We've all been there. Your spouse or loved one drives you to the breaking point, and you have no other choice than to swallow their cell phone.

A Blue Springs, Missouri woman was the latest victim of cell phone rage. She swallowed her boyfriend's mobile in mid-argument because 'she didn't want the boyfriend to have it,' according to a report in The Kansas City Star. The phone became lodged in the lady's throat, and she was rushed to the emergency room.

'Police responded to a call about a non-breathing person about 4:50 a.m. in the 3000 block of Southwest U.S. 40,' the paper reported. 'Police arrived and found that the 24-year-old woman was having trouble breathing. Her identity was not released.'

The poor lass still had the phone wedged in her throat when she got to the hospital.

full story link

global warming due to the loss of Pirates since 1800

You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature.

link to evidence

Where in the world?

You are outside the town of Quemado, New Mexico, a dozen or so miles from the Continental Divide. You’ve been dropped here to spend the night at this remote desert cabin with four perfect strangers, and to wait for the lightning to strike.

The Lightning Field, 1977, by the American sculptor Walter De Maria, is a work of Land Art situated in a remote area of the high desert. It is comprised of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid array measuring one mile by one kilometer. The poles-two inches in diameter and averaging 20 feet and 7½ inches in height-are spaced 220 feet apart and have solid pointed tips that define a horizontal plane. A sculpture to be walked in as well as viewed, The Lightning Field is intended to be experienced over an extended period of time, and visitors are encouraged to spend as much time as possible in The Lightning Field alone, especially during sunset and sunrise. In order to provide this opportunity, Dia offers overnight visits for up to six people during the months of May through October.


popular science article

Benefits of flu vaccine substantially overestimated

Studies of influenza vaccine effectiveness in elderly people substantially overestimate vaccine benefits, according to new research from the US published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE), edited at the University of Bristol.

Research by Dr Lisa Jackson and colleagues at Group Health Co-operative, Seattle, found evidence of serious bias in estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness in seniors. Their study suggests that the association between vaccination and risk of death is influenced by the fact that relatively healthy seniors (that is, those already less at risk from dying) are more likely to get vaccinated.

However, the research does not indicate that there is NO benefit in vaccinating the elderly, just that the differences in health between seniors who receive vaccine and those who do not make it difficult or impossible to tell what benefit is being derived from the vaccine.

"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat." (Isaiah 11:6)

A friend sent me this story:

NAIROBI - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on
the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a large old male tortoise. The hippopotamus, weighing about 650 pounds, was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26.

After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together. The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother. The tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother.'

Quiz: Was it Groucho or Karl. . . Marx ?

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

"Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish,
and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity."

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

"Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form."

"Go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven't said enough."

"I am not a Marxist."

"The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake those, you've got it made."

"I made a killing on Wall Steet a few years ago...I shot my broker."

"I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived."

Where in the world?

Pistol River, Oregon
Photographer Randy Olson

A family rides their horses along the beach, headed for Oregon's Curry County Fair.

In 1852 explorers discovered gold and other precious metals in the rivers and along the beaches of this area. Initially, settlement was concentrated along the coast and depended primarily on water transporation. Today water transportation of a different sort is popular here. The area has several times played host to U.S. championships for windsurfing.

Painting from my art gallery

click for art gallery

Happy Holidays- from Matisse

California empire of 8 vacation properties with a negative cash flow

SFgate article link: "Sacco estimates that along with McCook's mother, who has been a silent partner, they've made $1.3 million since they began their buying spree, but all of this is still in equity on their properties. Their monthly reality is more sobering. They have $2.3 million in mortgage debt and negative cash flow that ranges from $5,000 to $15,000 monthly depending on the season.

So how do they pay the bills?

'We sort of count our equity loans as our income,' she says, with the slightest wince. 'If we had real jobs, we'd be fine, but we just need to get some money in. Some people call it a pyramid, but I don't like to think about it that way.'

Surreal financing? Bubble economics? Perhaps. But it's also the way people are increasingly approaching real estate: as a bet that in the long run can't be beat.

Whether it's first-time buyers who take out interest-only loans or investors who extract equity from one property to fund the next, real estate is an industry that is being buoyed by a belief in continued appreciation. And because real estate markets are a kaleidoscope of micromarkets, only time will differentiate those with blind faith from those with perfect vision."

Thank God that could never happen here in Florida

Andre Kertesz - photographer

Edward Weston - photographer

Einstein on romance . . . on a bicycle

Do you worry about being attacked while you sleep? Me neither.

James McAdam [Porfolio]

Check out this site for practical advice for the paranoid.

I defrost, but you could Learn Thai Cooking - deep knowledge of Thai food

ThaiTable.com : "Discover what's behind the different tastes of Thai food. Find easy (or more challenging) recipes that you like. Get the ingredients. Cook, eat and enjoy! Come again, learn more and cook more."

Photographer to the Tsar - Fascinating Peek into History

Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record : "The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population.

In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation."

Is your hamster depressed?

Link to ABC News article " As the days grow shorter and cold, and darkness settles in, some begin to feel a little blue — hamsters and people alike.

Up to 20 percent of Americans report they feel more depressed during the winter months as a result of a condition known as seasonal affective disorder. Now scientists have shown that hamsters experience the same sluggishness when their exposure to light is reduced. By studying these sad hamsters, the researchers hope to find new ways of helping people combat seasonal depression."

Housing Bubble Running Out Of Stupid People

"Psssssfffffft. That's the sound of the air finally leaking from the real estate bubble in Loudoun County, Va. By October, agents had 2,908 existing Loudoun houses on the market, an increase of 127% over a year earlier. The average time on the market had climbed 62%, to 42 days, since the fall of '04."
"And in just two months, from August to October, the median sales price for houses dropped from $506,100 to $480,000.
"Jim Williams, of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Assn., knew the 'feeding frenzy' had gotten out of hand when a waiter in a restaurant he frequents confided that he had bought four houses on spec. 'I'm sitting looking at him and thinking even with tips...he must be dying on the vine.'"
"Loudoun's real estate community insists the market is merely reverting to a more normal state. 'We're coming back to more of a balance,' says Karen Overheu in Loudoun County. 'You don't have to make up your mind [about buying a house] in an hour or risk losing it to someone else. It's a little insane to have it the other way.'"
"There's another explanation, says insurance agent Joe Kelly over lunch downtown at the Leesburg Restaurant. 'They ran out of stupid people.'

link to full article on housing bubble

Irving Penn photographer

Portrait of T. Williams

Joesph Koudelka photographer

Another strange study

A pilot study for Australia's first clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional Chinese exercises in preventing the growing problem of diabetes has produced startling results. The team from The University of Queensland found that by performing the Chinese exercises Qigong and Tai Chi, participants significantly improved several indicators of metabolic syndrome including HbA1c, blood pressure, bodyweight and waist circumference."

It WILL make you blind - more or less

article link: It's true. Pornography can make you blind. Look at a smutty picture and, according to research by Steven Most, of Yale University, and his colleagues, you will suffer from a temporary condition known as emotion-induced blindness.

Dr. Most made this discovery while studying the rubbernecking effect (when people slow down to stare at a car accident). Rubbernecking represents a serious lapse of attention to the road, but he wondered if the initial reaction to such gory scenes could cause smaller lapses. The answer is, it does. What he found was that when people look at gory images—and also erotic ones—they fail to process what they see immediately afterwards. This period of blindness lasts between two-tenths and eight-tenths of a second. That is long enough for a driver transfixed by an erotic advert on a billboard to cause an accident.

Come Home Spot

By Jenn Shreve

Lost dog? As of next March, PetCell, the first cell phone for dogs, is due to hit pet-store shelves.

Hung off Spot's collar, the PetCell is a bone-shaped cell phone that will let dog owners talk to their best friend over a two-way speaker. Developed by PetsMobility, the PetCell works with standard cellular networks and has its own number. It automatically answers when the owner punches in a code on their telephone keypad that means, "Spot, come home!"

Creativity quotes - 3 Scientists and a writer

Linus Pauling: The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.

Albert Einstein: The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

Niels Bohr: Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.

Robert Heinlein: Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.

PCWorld.com : "Free software" article

"Free software" used to conjure up visions of a half-baked program with an ugly interface that someone cooked up in a garage--usable, but only for limited functions. Today you can find plenty of top-notch programs that look good and work quite well, for little or no cost. But can such software challengers hold their own against the market leaders--and save you a ton of money in the process?
We put some to the test and found that, yes, you really can replace many of your expensive, big-name packages with powerful free or low-cost alternatives. You may have to get multiple programs to accomplish what a single suite would otherwise do. If you don't mind a few rough edges, however, you'll find that the software challengers presented here can hold their own quite well. So read on to see what these packages can do for you.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,122929,00.asp

The answer: Lake Toba, Sumatra island, Indonesia

Photographer: David Alan Harvey

About 74,000 years ago, a volcano erupted and collapsed in on itself on Sumatra. The resulting crater later filled with water and became known as Lake Toba
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, 'A Sumatran Journey,' March 1981, National Geographic magazine)"

Bored with Earth?

The Great Images in NASA (GRIN) system provides a database of photos documenting NASA. Photos include: aircraft structures, aircraft design, aircraft models, wind tunnel tests, materials research, space programs, astronaut training, robotic planetary exploration and images taken by NASA spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope and Mars Global Surveyor. GRIN contains many, but not all of the most popular images from NASA’s history.

Head over heels? Alas, it won't last

ROME - Your heartbeat accelerates, you have butterflies in the stomach, you feel euphoric and a bit silly. It’s all part of falling passionately in love—and scientists now tell us the feeling won’t last more than a year.

The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers.

The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships.

But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the ‘love molecule’ in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.

The Italian researchers, publishing their study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, said it was not clear how falling in love triggers higher levels of NGF, but the molecule clearly has an important role in the 'social chemistry' between people at the start of a relationship.
2005 Reuters
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10252428/

Diane Arbus photographer

Helen Levitt photographer

Cybertimes Navigator-research links

If you are doing some research, here is a good place to start.

nytimes cybertimes navigator link

"For more than 10 years, the Newsroom Navigator has been used by New York Times reporters and editors as the starting point for their forays onto the Web. Its primary intent is to give the news staff a solid starting point for a wide range of journalistic functions without forcing all of them to spend time wandering around to find a useful set of links of their own. The list is by its nature highly selective and constantly changing. "

18 Tricks to Teach Your Body. Or Not.

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."

Let's get small

Tiny is better!
Are you tired of sending long web addresses in email only to have them break apart when delivered?
This neat free solution compresses huge web address into small ones.
Go to http://tinyurl.com/ and follow the instructions.

"Turn this URL:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&mqma
p.x=300&mqmap.y=75&mapdata=%252bKZmeiIh6N%252bI
gpXRP3bylMaN0O4z8OOUkZWYe7NRH6ldDN96YFTIUmSH3Q6
OzE5XVqcuc5zb%252fY5wy1MZwTnT2pu%252bNMjOjsHjvN
lygTRMzqazPStrN%252f1YzA0oWEWLwkHdhVHeG9sG6cMrf
XNJKHY6fML4o6Nb0SeQm75ET9jAjKelrmqBCNta%252bsKC
9n8jslz%252fo188N4g3BvAJYuzx8J8r%252f1fPFWkPYg%
252bT9Su5KoQ9YpNSj%252bmo0h0aEK%252bofj3f6vCP

into this tinyURL:

http://tinyurl.com/6

Which one would you rather cut and paste into your browser? That's the power of TinyURL!"

All the news that's fit to print

Once a year, the news is full of stories of a catastrophe in Bangladesh. The monsoon has temporarily pushed thousands of people out of their homes. This is certainly bad for the flood victims; it is not news. Perhaps one should call it "olds." The real news would be if the monsoon didn't arrive.

So like Sherlock Holmes, look for the dog that didn't bark.

idea from Ralph Wanger

Geek Gorgeous Calendar -Women in Technology

"Why should the ditsy girls have all the fun? Smart is sexy in the Geek Gorgeous 2006 Wall Calendar. The calendar showcases young ladies who are not only beautiful and stylish, but can also fix your computer, normalize your databases, discuss the advantages of polymorphism, and beat you at Doom."
get the calendar

I can't make this stuff up!

Image of the week from my art gallery

link to art gallery

Vintage Mexican Postcard

Jewish postcard

Vintage Eastern European postcard

Capitalism, Crime amd dating?

Online daters sue matchmaking Web sites for fraud
By Martha Graybow

link to reuters news story

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - It's not easy finding love in cyberspace, and now some frustrated online daters say they were victims of fraud by two top Internet matchmaking services and have taken their complaints to court.

Match.com is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy.

'This is a grossly fraudulent practice that Match.com is engaged in,' said H. Scott Leviant, a lawyer, which brought the suit. Match 'promotes the policies of integrity to protect members, and yet they themselves, we allege, are misleading their entire customer base,' he said.

The company said it does not comment on pending litigation. But Match spokeswoman Kristin Kelly said the company 'absolutely does not' employ people to go on dates with subscribers or to send members misleading e-mails professing romantic interest. The company has about 15 million members worldwide and 250 employees, she said.

In a separate suit, Yahoo Inc.'s personals service is accused of posting profiles of fictitious potential dating partners on its Web site to make it look as though many more singles subscribe to the service than actually do.

Yahoo did respond to requests for comment.

The suits, which both seek class-action status, came as growth in the online dating industry has slowed, although Web matchmaking still remains a big business."

Noise has no reason why.

Every day a woman walks her dog through the park. Each day, she enters through the same south entrance and lets the dog loose on a long leash. The dog runs back and forth, frantically exploring and enjoying the world of smells. The woman keeps walking at a measured pace. As she approaches the north exit, she calls the dog, shortens the leash and they leave through the north exit.

Following the motion of the excited dog is hard and pointless, like watching stock prices all day. Finding where the woman enters and exits is easier, like following long term trends.
credit Ralph Wanger

New Sand Key Photo Gallery

Click to go to new beach photos

Lemur Named After John Cleese -minister of silly walks

on Yahoo! News:

Fri Nov 11, 9:42 AM ET

Most people know him as the Minister for Silly Walks on 'Monty Python' or as Q in James Bond films. But John Cleese will also go down in history for another reason: lemurs.

Researchers from the University of Zurich have named a newly discovered species of lemur — one of the most primitive and endangered primates in the world — after the British comedian in honor of his work with the animal.

The avahi cleesei, which weights less than two pounds and eats leaves, was discovered in Western Madagascar in 1990 by a team led by anthropologist Urs Thalmann and his colleague Thomas Geissman of Zurich University.

The name is a tribute to Cleese's promotion of the plight of lemurs in the movie 'Fierce Creatures' and documentary 'Operation Lemur with John Cleese,' the university said in a statement. A lemur even appears next to Cleese on his Web site.

The lemur's long legs are the only physical attribute it shares with Cleese, Thalmann told New Scientist magazine. 'Woolly lemurs can't really walk — but they do enjoy silly jumps,' he said.

___

On the Net:

http://www.thejohncleese.com"

Animal preferences

A squirrel is an interesting animal. It's not the strongest or smartest animal in the forest, but it is a very successful animal. There are squirrels in every country because they are adaptable and opportunistic.
...
Tigers are brave and beautiful, but they're nearly extinct. And bulls are strong and powerful, but they wind up as a beef patty between slices of bread. But squirrels are all over the place.
Ralph Wanger

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Winston Churchill

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain