Obama aniti-religious?

     In this article Newt Gingrich accuses Obama of being anti-religious. I do not believe religion has a place in government decision making. Religion should be a very personal thing and anti-religious is too broad if you are arguing in favor of a religious government. Details about separation of church and state aside, if a government is religious based or encouraging then which religion does it pick to support? Some might say just support all religions but, you can’t. Even leaving human nature out of the picture many religions by their nature are conflicting. Should the president support Christians or Muslims? Pagans or Hindus? Buddhists or Jainists? One will always be more supported than the other and it is my humble opinion that the U.S. government should keep its fingers out of it.

     Religulous hits the nail on the head (it leaves something to be desired as an actual documentary) when talking about monumental decisions being made by people under the influence of religion in my humble opinion. I believe this is a good example of how to do things. The idea behind making this comment looks to me as if good ole Newt wants some people represented and not others.  These sentiments are better expressed by Catherine.

   

    -(catherinemacivor.com)- “Now bear in mind that President Obama had Rick Warren give a prayer at his inauguration and has pentecostal members in his office of faith based initiatives as well.  The real issue is that Gingrich wants only some people there and he doesn’t believe gays should be represented.

Keep on stirring the fear mongering pot Newt.  Maybe you and O’Reilly can team up.”

What do you think?

Change in goals

I decided to change this blog from being purely technical to anything that catches my eye. There are to many things to cover.

New Montgomery GI Bill

The basics of the new Montgomery GI bill in short

1. Monthly pay instead of reimbursement.
2. BAH or Basic Allowance for Housing of E-5 with dependents rate
3. 1000$ annualy for books based on enrollment i.e. if you enroll in one class only you may not get the full 1000$
4. A one time stipend if you can prove you live in a rural area and have to pay for transport.
5. Tuition up to the most expensive public university in your state+Maximum fees of most expensive public university in your state.
6. This does not cover online or distance education at all.
7. Perrsonnel who were on active duty when this came into effect can choose between the old system and the new. 
8. There is a graduated system based on active duty time as to whether or not you rate the full percentage. 3 years+=100%

 

The Post-9/11 GI Bill is for individuals with at least 90 days of aggregate service on or after September 11, 2001, or individuals discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 days. You must have received an honorable discharge to be eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The Post-9/11 GI Bill will become effective for training on or after August 1, 2009. This program will pay eligible individuals:

• tuition & fees directly to the school not to exceed the maximum in-state tuition & fees at a public Institution of Higher Learning. see chart listing 2008 – 2009 maximum rates
• a monthly housing allowance based on the Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents at the location of the school. To determine the BAH for your school’s ZIP code click here (link goes to a non-VA website)
• an annual books & supplies stipend of $1,000 paid proportionately based on enrollment
• a one-time rural benefit payment for eligible individuals see comparison chart for more information.

This benefit is payable only for training at an Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) (See comparison chart for more information). If you are enrolled exclusively in online training you will not receive the housing allowance. If you are on active duty you will not receive the housing allowance or books & supplies stipend. This benefit provides up to 36 months of education benefits, generally benefits are payable for 15 years following your release from active duty.

 

The above comes from the official VA website. This is fact not interpretation.

The history of the modern paper fastening device, the paper clip.

Up until the 19th century, stacks of papers were bound with ribbons, strings, straight pins, or even clothes pins. All that changed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when several patents for the fastening device were filed.

Although, the claim has been disputed, most sources cite Norwegian Johan Vaaler as the inventor of the simple yet effective paper clip. In 1899, Norway lacked a patent office, so Vaaler registered his device, a piece of wire bent into a “rectangular, triangular, or otherwise shaped hoop,” in Germany, and later, in the United States. Around the same time, Cornelius J. Brosnan from Springfield, Massachusetts, was issued a U.S. patent for a similar device called the Konaclip.

That familiar double-oval-shaped clip, sometimes called the Gem clip, we all know and love was actually never patented. In 1901, an American named William Middlebrook patented a paper-clip making machine for the Gem Manufacturing company in England. A sketch of the clip was included in the patent, but the patent only covered the machine itself.

 

Based on: http://ask.yahoo.com/20031120.html

How gas turbine engines work

     Turbine engines are amazing feats of engineering that effect 90% of the worlds population every day. Whether from the production of electricity, to flying people and goods across vast distances, or even propelling M-1 tanks.

    The basic description is: suck, squeeze, bang, blow. In the first stage, the suck stage, the air passes through the intake and the IVGs or inlet guide  vanes. These vanes pre-swirl the air. Rotation is so high on jets especially that if the air isn’t pre-swirled then it can damage the engine. Then it passes through the compressor in the squeeze section and a piece of air about 196cm cubed  can be mashed into 1/30th of its original volume. This is done by rotors which act like fans on crack to move the air into a smaller space. In between each row of bladed rotors are motionless “stators.” Stators  help keep the air straight and even.

    The air then moves into the bang phase in which sprayers, similar to the ones that keep vegetables damp in stores, spray a constant stream of fuel into the engine combustion chamber. Once a combustion chamber once lit does not need re-ignition normally. In aircraft if the flame goes out it is called a (duh) “flame-out.” Most  ignition sources in gas turbine engines are similar to the ones in cars except much more powerful. They can be heard quite clearly in most engines upon start up. The air is super heated here  and forced out into the blow zone or, exhaust area. Before the air exits the engine it passes through a turbine that powers the compressor stage and a gear box. The gear box provides mechanical power to many peripheral devices. The air then exits the engine.

 

Questions? If I can’t answer them then one of my friends can. Thanks for reading.

Based on:  Personal expirience

Make cheap or free cell phone calls to Africa

    My girl friend lives in Kenya and I am currently in Finland which leaves us with the problem of how to stay in touch over all that distance. The first thing that might pop to mind is international calling cards. Well let me back up there are three categories of calls into Kenya: Kenya, Nairobi cell, and Nairobi land line. The cheapest is Nairobi landline then, Nairobi cell, followed lastly by calls to Kenya outside of Nairobi. The cheapest calling cards for Kenya were about 0.079$usd and, I found those on http://www.callingcards.com/.

    The other way That would be common would be Voip(voice over ip) Skype being a prominent name in that market. Skype allows you to make free calls and free video chat and has lower rates than direct dialing. However I don’t have a skype usable computer every where I go and African Internet connections leave much to be desired. The solution was buy a smart phone, get a 14,90 euro/month unlimited data. Using Fring  on the smart phone and terrasip.com as the SIP company I now pay 0,0196euro/min. calling to a Nairobi landline from my N95.  Fring also has an interface for MSN messenger, AIM messenger, and the facebook site. At Frings website there are many SIP companies to browse and choose from, many offering free Internet to landline deals in quite a few countries. Nigeria was the only country in Africa where I could rig it to call absolutely free however, there were many European countries and the U.S.

    If any one needs help finding a decent SIP company to meet their needs and I’ll do what I can. If you need a data plan you are best off checking with your local service provider.

Hello world!

First off thanks to anyone visiting my brand new blog. I will be devoting this blog to explaining how things work, spewing random facts you can tell your friends to look cool, or trying to teach you something that makes you go “huh, thats neat.” I will also be posting on common things you can do to be safer, as in when traveling or just in general. With that since this is my blogI will putting my take on things especially when I have had personal experience. When I post information I will do my best to state my source for the information i.e. been there done that or, this medium of information conveyance at that location. I will draw the line between fact and inference or theorizing. I will be posting every two days and try to post twice daily if I stumble across anything of interest.  I will take questions and try to answer them. Thanks all.

P.S. Email is ToolBoxBlog@hotmail.com