New Car!

July 7^th

Woof! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I didn’t mean to take a hiatus for so long, but it’s been a crazy summer! I shall endeavor to tell you all about it in small digestible blog posts. Let me see, where to begin. Ah yes… that fateful day my masters decided to get a car…

Sometime around July 2^nd, my masters decided to get a new car, you know, those loud gas guzzling beasts that threaten wildlife. While I find myself enjoying walks in the park, there is nothing quite like sticking your head out of a moving vehicle and feeling the wind in your fur. J They finally settled on an older Toyota Camry, with a 4 cylinder engine and cruise control. It is a dark maroon and very pretty. Then came the adventures…

First of all, the car was having a hard time shifting, and seemed to stutter a lot. After taking it into the mechanic, (the Toyota dealership) we found out 2 things: 1) dogs aren’t allowed to sniff new cars on the lot, and 2) the car, while only needing minor repairs, was going to cost an arm and a leg to fix. After some panicked phone calls to the family car expert (We’ll call him Bob) he assured us the minor repairs could be fixed up with a little DIY maintenance. So we headed over there to get the plug wires and spark plugs, and fuel cleaners and oil. After some food, good advice, and a little wrench time, the car was running like a dream. This actually took us about 4 weeks between appointments, purchasing the car, taking the tags/car to dmv, and fixing the car (Cars can eat a lot of time). The final touch was a stereo my master bought for his wife as an anniversary present. She was super excited, and while not as pretty as a necklace, very practical.

Car repair can be an ongoing thing, and there is such a thing as spending too much on a car. My masters tried to hit a middle balance of fixing what needed to be fixed, and keeping an eye on the other warning signs of the car. Their list of items to fix over the next year or three include:

Alignment

New Tires

Timing Belt / Water Pump

Cars

Good Morning and happy Thursday everyone!

For the past week or so, my masters have been looking at cars, researching what kind to get, and how much to spend. There are hundreds and thousands of cars on craigslist, especially around large cities, so the question becomes, which car to pick? Model, Year, Mileage, Price, Wrecks...etc. Aaack!!! I was teaching myself Cherry Slap Jack at the time, but here are snippits of the conversations I was overhearing:

B - "Here's a Jeep for only 3,500, it's lifted and has new tires"
K - "But do we really need a lifted Jeep?"
B - "It would be great for camping trips!! *Puppy Eyes*"
K - "Well, you can get it if you want, but the mileage is awfully high, and it's old enough to drink"
B - "LOL good point, maybe something newer then"
K - " Ooh pretty mustang!"
B - "Hmm, 130k miles, bright red, clean title, looks great! ...Oh, but it's 7200...
K - *Really Big Puppy Eyes*
B - "I suppose we could ask about it, but that's a lot..."
K - "No, you're right, oooh Here's a Ford Focus, 2500$, only 120k miles, clean title...
B - "Let me see... yeah, it looks great! And it's a 4 door too."
K - "Okay, I'll send them an email about it"

This conversation goes on, but I won't bore you. I was thinking though, that that is a difference when picking anything out with a spouse vs. picking something out for one'self. A spouse can offer a voice of reason, or simply another opinion. It was fun hearing them converse and ask each other what might be best, and it's always nice to have a friend when prowling craigslist to catch something you may have missed. The other thing I found touching was their thought and concern for each other. B wanted K to replace her car first because of it's leaky trunk, cracked windshield, and strange engine noise. Meanwhile, K wanted B to replace his car first because of the struts, shocks, and trunk seal. When your focus is on the safety of someone else ahead of your own, it's a good place to be.

Oh, and the bunnies turned on a Jurassic Park Movie later that night so no one got any sleep. :P

Cheers,
Sheepdog

Planet-Wide Panic!

Woof! Woof!...
I'm barking at the moon, do'ya mind? Okay, so my bark isn't very loud, and the moon has been hiding recently anyway. Well, on to today's topic: Planet-Wide Panic! I'm the kind of dog who likes to hide from the news, it's rather depressing, and I prefer my jaunts through the park, and my cookies and milk (cookies courtesy of the rabbits). But the scary facts just keep popping up in the newspaper.

Just today I read 3 articles, that when added together paint a very alarming picture for our future. The first article outlines what would have to happen to create a world-wide food shortage. The surprising thing is, it wouldn't take much. Just 3 natural disasters happening in close succession of each other just might do the trick. Specifically, the article outlines a wind-blown wheat rust in Russia, a heat wave in South America, and a warm El Nino. We've been having warm years lately, as well as El Nino's off and on, so this is a very real possibility. The second article takes a look at water on planet Earth. Most of the water we have is salt water, and not really drinkable unless you are willing to freeze and thaw it (as Captain Cook discovered). Our underground fresh water reserves are being drained faster than the Earth is replenishing them. Someday, our fresh water may run low enough we have to begin nationally rationing water, or find a new source. Getting nervous yet? There's more.

If you haven't lived under a rock, you've heard California is going through year after year of drought. This year is looking worse. According to numbers, the snowpack in the Sierra mountains, usually at 100% for a regular year, stands at 0% of that total. This year is the third driest year observed in California, at a little over 5 inches of precipitation, less than half of the average (13 inches). June 1 of this year, California instituted a 25% mandatory water reduction restriction, a goal they are struggling to reach. In terms of records, the last time California saw a similar scale drought was over 1000 years ago! And, according to NASA, the state would need about 11 trillion gallons of water to make up for the shortfall!

Any one of these articles is alarming, but all three read on the same day can really make one uneasy. I hope the rabbits can find a way to save our planet, I've given them a 12$ budget, 3 days, and a new game of Parcheesi (theirs has worn out) as incentive to find a way to fix our planet. We'll see what they come up with.

Notes on Primes

Good Morning, and happy Friday!
My weekly blog post this week will steer back towards mathematics!
I recently made some quick notes on prime numbers and thought I would share them with you.
Enjoy!

Practical uses of prime numbers...

Well to begin with, there aren't that many. Prime numbers have many interesting uses in mathematical theory, but out in the real world, they are mainly used in programming, random number generators, and especially cryptography.

Programming uses prime numbers to check for mistakes in code, create random samples and random numbers.

Random number generators use prime numbers to search for and find random numbers to generate / compile data.

Cryptography goes back a long time. Spies would use all sorts of ways to encrypt data, from using dictionaries, to random books, to codes number sequences. Currently, RSA and other encryption systems use large primes and prime factorization (I'll get to this in a bit) to create really difficult codes to break. Since we do not even know all the prime numbers in the world, it is extremely hard to break RSA encryption.

Prime factorization is a principle key in mathematics. The fundamental theorem of algebra states:

Every integer greater than 1 is either a prime, or the product of prime numbers, and this product is unique, up to the order of the factors.

Euclid stated this theorem in his book Euclid's Elements. The idea that any positive integer is either prime or a product of primes is sort of baffling! In a sense, to think that every number is directly related to prime numbers seems to suggest a great significance to these numbers, but we haven't really done that much with them over the years.

Me personally, I think that God just loves numbers. :)

-SheepDog-

Bunny Apocalypse

So I had a special request to create a how-to on surviving the zombie apocalypse, but then realized I have already written this blog last October (titled AAaaaah! Zombies!). So I decided to address a much more serious threat: Bunnies. *Nods seriously* Bunnies are slowly taking over my life, as well as the world. How do we survive when they have control of the Earth? Well, as the Bunny apocalypse approaches, here are some things to think about:

Over the years, Bunnies have been mistreated. They have been used as bait in greyhound racing (see sgt. Bilko), as rocks (Open Season) as gas masks (again, Open Season), Poor Rabbit has all his honey stolen by a bear, more than once I might add, and every year, the Easter bunny has all his eggs stolen by the world! Well the rabbits have finally had enough. They have finally assembled a team of elite bunnies in strategic positions throughout our industries, preparing for years for their chance. Here is a list of their top operatives:

Energizer Bunny……….Demolitions Specialist

Trix……….Food Service Specialist, and special ops manager for kid strike division

Harvey……….Invisible Pookah, Special Weapons and Secret Ops Division

Happy Bunny………. Known as stinky bunny. Nuclear Weapons

Bugs Bunny……….HR Specialist, tracks meetings, minutes, and carrots

Thumper……….Creative Operations

Cadbury Bunny……….Secretary to the Easter Bunny.

Rabbit……….Mastermind

As near as I can tell, this is what will happen:

Stage 1: Planning Stage

The bunnies need plenty of time to prepare for their strike. For their coup to be successful, they need a plan of attack. This will be well thought out, and utilize every weapon they have available. They will need a large army, and the technology to run multiple strikes simultaneously across the world. They need to have planted seeds of dissent among us humans so we will fight each other rather than our common enemy.

Stage 2; Initial Strike

The bunnies prefer covert warfare. Likely, we will not even notice the initial strike until it is too late. Harvey will infiltrate the highest levels of government and plant ideas among our leaders by day and night until he drives them mad, or they begin to listen. Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny, already stationed in Hollywood, will be slipping in strategic scenes in upcoming movies to make us sympathetic to their cause. The Energizer Bunny has already planted the idea of running off of batteries (lithium ion, and rechargeable cars) to us humans. These batteries are all wired to a master control system, giving the Bunnies a direct line to many cars, generators, and power plant reserve systems. Finally, Trix has diverted most of the world’s breakfast cereal to their headquarters in Australia. Soon, we will be without breakfast.

Stage 3; Darkness

Once stage 2 is complete, the bunnies will cause a major blackout across the world. All reserve systems and batteries will shut down, and any remaining power will be cut off by Thumper’s crew using an army of EMP Pulse drones across key cities of America and the rest of the world. In darkness, with no food for breakfast, and with our cell phone batteries dwindling, we will have precious little time to react as Harvey rises with a new world order plan in the UN Summit.

Stage 4; Light, then unconditional surrender

Harvey’s new documents will outline a restructuring of nearly every modern government, and in return, power will be restored to the world.

Stage 5; Contingency Plan

Bunny’s are relatively peaceful, but they have some plans in case their initial strike fails. Stinky Bunny has a back-up fleet of drones, filled with stink bombs designed to enforce the new world order.

So, how can we prepare against this? The bunnies are upset, but not quite to the breaking point according to recent biased polls (the 3…4...5… however many bunnies are in my apt. right now). They have a list of demands we must meet:

1)      The cookie jar must always be full.

2)      Never complain about their loud music or all night Parcheesi parties

3)      If they invite another bunny to join, always say yes.

4)      Join their pinochle parties

5)      They want iPads

6)      And cookies. Did they already mention this?

7)      Most importantly, don’t throw them at cars.

Good luck surviving the bunny apocalypse!

Math comes in all forms...

Less Known Mathematicians:

Calvin and Hobbes Math:

1.   What is 7 plus 3?

          7+3 = 73

What is 3 plus 8?

          Assign the answer a value of x. x always means multiply, so take the numerator (that’s Latin for number eighter) and put that on the other side of the equation. That leaves you with 3 on this side, so what times 3 equals 8? The answer is of course, 6.

2.   What is 9 plus 4?

          Ooh, that’s a tricky one. You have to use calculus and imaginary numbers for this. You know, eleventeen, thirty-twelve, and all those. It’s a little confusing at first.

Fox Trot Math:

1.   Using a straightedge and compass, it is impossible to construct friends.

2.   What is the decimal equivalent of 1/10?

          This is way too easy. Therefore, it must be a typo. I’m sure the test meant something challenging like 1/sqrt (2).

Rabbit Math

1.   What is 1 plus 1?

          365,211 (Rabbits that is)

2.   What is one batch of cookies plus another batch of cookies?

          A mess in the kitchen, and several very hyper bunnies.

3.   How long does it take to eat a batch of cookies?

          Depends. How many bunnies are awake, and how close are they to the kitchen?

Sheepdog Math

1.   What is 3+3?

          *Yawn* 9….

2.   What is 2/3*3/4?

          6/12 = ½ or .5 *zzzz*

Peanuts

1.   “Cut an apple in half…”

          Sally: “That’s fractions!! You’re trying to teach me fractions! You know I’ll never understand fractions! What are you trying to do to me? I’ll go crazy! I’ll..”

2.   Peppermint Pattie is the only person to ever have gotten an A in sleeping on her report card.

Life and Rabbits

Allo to all you chaps and chappesses out there:

Since my last few posts have been dedicated to science and space exploration, I thought it was about time for a status update. Since my last duel with lightsabers (I ended up losing by the way), I have found some small amount of time to work on projects while my masters are at work. I have made some GF Banana bread, as well as a batch of cookies (which the rabbits stayed away from, as they dislike GF). I have also acquired and fixed an older remote control car, which has been fun to play with. The weather has been very nice lately, although I may be the only sheepdog on the block who enjoys rain and clouds. :P It was warmed up though, and the rain is much more tolerable at 58 degrees than at 38 degrees. I've made a few walks to the library to check out books (although it's rather difficult to carry them in my mouth on the way home). The rabbits sometimes come with me, but I make them wait outside the library, otherwise they will most likely trash the place.

And, that's about it for the important news! Here is a brief world-news report for those interested: The apple watch is out and in stores, the middle east (and parts of Russia) are still in turmoil (along with Nepal, courtesy of an earthquake). Google and Apple are joining a petition to reject Obama's plan to build in government backdoors into anything electronic (including phones computers and waffle irons). Oh, and we may run out of internet by the end of summer. You know, no big deal. Little things. ;)

I will try to post another blog later this week, as I may be tied up next week.

by for now!
Woof!

Star Wars Stuff!

Happy May the 4rth (erm, 5th)!

Many star wars fans greeted one another in excitable fashion yesterday, saying things like May the 4rth be with you, and other nonsense. Coffee stands dressed up and served Chewbacca's Han Solo's, and General Grieves's cure for the common cold (also known as chai tea), and the dog park was filled with dueling dogs with lightsabers. I took no part myself, and merely watched while eating an R2D2 burrito.

I brought along a very special friend to talk about space travel, and how close we are to building a Millennium Falcon. Her name is Braille the cat, and she has a B.A. in applied physics, and a PHD in haberdashery. She is also blind in one eye, but it doesn't seem to hamper her greatly. I present: Braille.

*Ahem* Thanks, as mentioned, I am a cat with many talents. I have lived a varied life, and spent most of my study learning about various methods of propulsion. To build a Millennium Falcon, we will obviously need some form of warp drive mechanism. In this day and age, we have 3 possibilities, as no one has truly created a warp drive or discovered dilithium.

Our first option is regular propulsion. Rockets and standard engines burn fuel at enormous rates to propel them forward. On earth this isn't an issue, cars get 30mpg, and can go quite a ways on a tank of gas, very quickly. An average car traveling 60 miles per hour on the freeway is traveling almost 30 meters per second (in space I will be referring to objects traveling in m/s). If the car gets low on fuel, it can stop at a gas station.
In space, as you may have guessed, there are no gas stations. Any fuel we need must be brought up with us. This is the primary problem with rocket propulsion. However, it is fast. The more we burn fuel, the faster the rocket goes. And in space, things don't really slow down. There is no air resistance, so an object moving tends to stay moving. Overall, rocket fuel is excellent for short missions, but fairly useless if you want to travel to mars, then to Jupiter and back again.

Our second option is Ion propulsion.
It sounds very futuristic, but the truth is, Ion propulsion is already being used by our latest generation satellites and probes. Simply put, Ion propulsion take a charged element, like xenon, and strips the ions away and burns them to create thrust. Ion thrusters use very little energy, and take a long time to get up to speed. Imagine your car taking 48 hours to get from 0-60mph. However, they can travel for years before they need to refuel or be repaired. These are a great option, but lack the true speed for warp drive. Xenon, a common propulsion element for Ion thrusters, is also expensive, and hard to obtain.

Our third option is EM, or ElectroMagnetic propulsion.
This option may have potential, but no one has created a solid working prototype yet. It is largely theoretical. The basic idea is to blast a cone shaped container with magnetic waves, like a microwave. If you blast it with enough waves, they begin bouncing around, eventually hitting the small end of the cone, kind of like pouring juice down a funnel. This would create the thrust needed in space. Why is this idea so radical? Because unlike Ion or rockets, it requires only electrical current, and does not require fuel. Given a couple of EM thrusters, and a lot of solar panels, a probe could get up to speed as fast as a rocket, and never run out of energy. However, as I mentioned above, it is still in the theoretical stage.

Our best bet? Steal from the aliens who live on mars. I'm sure they have warp drives and space craft. Mwahahaha!

*Sheepdog backs away from Braille slightly* "...Okay, thanks for that Braille." Now, ahem, I think I'll take a stroll.

Woof!

<Meow!>
"Braille here, and I get the last word, Ha!"

Finally Recovered! Pluto's lost diary...

Breaking news! Astrologists recovered Pluto's diary, (buried inside the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where NASA recently landed a probe called Philea). Pluto apparently tossed his diary at the comet as it streaked past about 8 years ago. Here are some excerpts from his diary:


Beginnings:
A small book landed on me from a nearby asteroid whizzing by. I think I shall record my life out here! It's dark, very dark, but I do not need much light. Besides, the Sun is so big, and intimidating. Maybe one day I will introduce myself, but for now I am content.

1st century:
Life has been going along quite well, although I do not get invited to many parties. Other planets are so much bigger than I am, I do not seem to fit in. However, I have found plenty of asteroids who seem to enjoy my company. Some even land on me and do some ice skating. It is quite fun.

2nd century:
There is a big commotion near the sun. Some very small humanoids on Earth are starting to notice us! They have even given some of us names. The Sun, Earth, and Moon were the first to receive attention. They are eating all the cake too, by the way.

2nd century - note:
The Sun has been promoted! It has now reached Star class. And that's not all. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have all gained Planet status, and the moon has gained Moon (orbiting around a Planet) status. Alas, some of us out here are still yet to be promoted. :( We threw a small party out here, myself, Uranus, and Neptune, along with our moons.  We were all sort of blue.

1781
Uranus has finally been promoted! While I am happy for it, I am still sad that Neptune and myself have not been awarded this honor. We have grown quite close however, and she and I have played scrabble and minefield (using the asteroids) every time we pass each others way. Uranus is now officially invited to all the Planet parties, and no longer hangs out with us.

1801
Poor Neptune! Ceres was just promoted as a planet, and she is so torn up over it. I took her out dancing, and we danced the night away to forget our troubles.  I told her she was such a beautiful planet, that she would be noticed and become a Planet very soon.

1846
She is now a Planet! Neptune has been classified as the 13th Planet of the solar system. She is so happy she is glowing. And though she has been invited to the Planet parties, she still plays scrabble with me on occasion.

1851
Neptune is now the 8th Planet. It seems you have to fulfill a certain size requirement to be a Planet, and Ceres is now re-classified as an Asteroid. I feel sorry for Ceres, but happy for Neptune

1890
*Sigh* Only Neptune still hangs out with me. All the other Planets, even Ceres, are going to these Planet parties, and having fun and playing games. I'm all alone out here in the furthest orbit. It's so very lonely.

1920
Will I ever be noticed?

1930
They saw me! I'm a Planet now! Yayyyyyyy!!!! I'm so happy!!  They have named me Pluto, a suggestion by a young 11 year old Earthlander who lived in Oxford, England at the time. I love my new name!

1950
These parties are fun! And they have cake! Oh, I love cake!

2006
Wha? *sniff* *sob* I don't understand... Why would they demote me? I haven't done anything wrong... I've been a good Planet, I really have. Maybe they will still hang out with me. And I wanted to ask Neptune out on a formal date. What will she think?

.........

And that's all there is. Pluto must have thrown his diary at one of the passing asteroids and NASA picked it up 8 years later.

Sheepdog: poor Pluto! well, I still think he's a planet! :D

How to explain computers to your average 1775 farmer

The year is 1775. Things on US Soil were going crazy, what with redcoats and indians all around. Thomas Paine published common sense. But your daily history lesson aside, suppose you brought a computer, or (heaven forbid) a cell phone to this era. First you wouldn't have power, and second, no internet (gasp), but most importantly, people would probably think your a witch or sorcerer. How do you explain in their terms what a computer is and what it does?

I've taken a stab at this, for purely non-nonsensical reasons (I actually plan to time travel there and make my first million, but shhhh).

Okay, the inside of a computer is full of strange words like processor, memory, graphics card, or hard drive. What does it all mean, and why is it important?

Imagine you are a rural farmer on the outskirts of town. You need supplies, as well as templates and public records to manage your crops. There is a main road from your house into town. Each Sunday, you send an order for plant seed, apples for your horses, oranges for your goats, and carrots for  your rabbits. This order is sent via courier, a small man on a small horse. He travels into town, and returns with the apples. Then he travels into town again, and returns with the oranges. You ask him why this is taking so long. He replies, "I only have one horse, and can only carry such a large load at a time." This makes sense to you, but you can't wait 3 days for your supplies. So you hire two more couriers, each on top of two more horses. Now, it only takes you two days, one day for the apples, oranges and carrots, and a second day for the plant seed.

The next week, you decide you want it all on one day. You hire a fourth courier and horse. But the path is too narrow for all 4 horses to safely travel on the same day. Frustrated, you build a 2 lane road from your farm into town. Now, all 4 horses can travel on the same day. :) Hooray!

A year passes. Your farming business has grown. You are now again waiting 3 days for delivery because you need 6 horses worth of carrots, 3 horses worth of oranges, and 2 horses worth of apples, and 1 horse of plant seed. You pay to widen the road some more, and hire another 6 couriers and horses to transport the food.

This scenario represents what is happening with your computer. Processing speed is like the number of horses and couriers sent to retrieve and deliver packets. The road represents the amount of memory (RAM), or how many horses you can have on the road at once. If you have two many deliveries (or programs) running at once, the road will get too full.

An average iphone for example, may have:
512 mb of ram (imagine a road full of 512 horses),
1000 mh processor (imagine 1000 horses, where 512 are on the road at once, and the other 500 are being loaded up and getting ready for the trip, there would always be horses on the road!)

Starting to make sense?
Okay, now what about the graphics card, or hard drive?
Well, think of the hard drive like the size of warehouse in town used to store the fruit, carrots and plant seed for the farmer. The graphics card is like a smaller road headed to the local library where the farmer may be ordering books. The graphics card is still used to carry packets, but only video packets (or way back in the day, books). Most iphones or computers only need a few horses and a small road because they are not trying to run multiple videos or photo's at one time. However, a scholar (who loves books) or a graphic design artist may need a large road and lots of horses!

Back to our iphone example:
256mb graphics card: (256 horses, just used to transfer books from the library)
8000mb hard drive (warehouse that can hold 8000 crates of fruit, veggies, and plant seed).

Hope this helps anyone looking to travel back in time to 1775!

An extra note for fun:
What about dual core, and quad core?

A lot of computers and phones are dual core, or quad core nowadays. This only refers to the processor (number of horses). A dual core phone means you have twice the number of horses. A quad core means you have 4 times the number of horses.

iphone 4s:
1000mh dual core = (2000 horses)

iphone 6:
1200mh quad core = (4800 horses)

Get it? Good!

Enjoy!
Woof!