Free goverment skills training handbooks

I was surfing through Jerry Pournelle's site. He is one of my favorite Scifi and SciFact authors. From time to time he and his readers discuss education. This time around they are pondering the difference between symbol based (mathematical) and skills based education. One of his readers pointed us to some wonderful handbooks kindly created by our goverment.

Machinist handbooks

Math, Physics, Chemistry and many others

Okay, the second is from the training programs for nuclear engineers and technicians, but that just doesn't matter as the laws of physics are pretty stable for us. Just get the Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry handbooks and you are good.

These are good solid handbooks to learn from and since we've already paid our government to create these they are free.

How many parents have said follow your dreams but have a solid skill to fall back on. Machinist is a good and so are plumber, electrician and furnace repair. These are jobs that cannot be outsourced, they have to come to your house.

What's Up 2007:365 Days of Skywatching

This is a wonderful free guide to the night sky.

Filled with the history of astronomy, of people and their discoveries, it is worth it just for these. It helps bring astronomy down to earth.

The images are mostly of what you would see with the naked eye or with a good pair of binoculars, though there are some from very large telescopes.

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The site seems to be down but here is a direct link that should work.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/astronomycast/365day s2007.pdf

BBC World Service Discovery - Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves

BBC World Service Discovery - Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves: "� Reginald Fessenden
BBC World Service Discovery -
Fessenden: King of the Radio Waves
The world's first radio broadcast took place a hundred years ago on Christmas
Eve 1906.
The broadcast, a programme of live music, readings and phonograph recordings,
was transmitted to ships in the Atlantic Ocean by Reginald
Fessenden %u2013 a prolific inventor largely forgotten
by history."

This was a significant feat. Radio was first used by Tesla, but he got sucked into fighting with Edison about electricity which ended up wasting a lot of time, energy and money that could have been far better spend on invention and development. Marconi was already sending signals for quite some time, but he was using Morse's code to send information. This, however, was the start of broadcast radio as we are familiar with it today.

To fix US schools, panel says, start over | csmonitor.com

To fix US schools, panel says, start over | csmonitor.com: "What if the solution to American students' stagnant performance levels and the wide achievement gap between white and minority students wasn't more money, smaller schools, or any of the reforms proposed in recent years, but rather a new education system altogether?

That's the conclusion of a bipartisan group of scholars and business leaders, school chancellors and education commissioners, and former cabinet secretaries and governors. They declare that America's public education system, designed to meet the needs of 100 years ago when the workplace revolved around an assembly line, is unsuited to today's global marketplace. Already, they warn, many Americans are in danger of falling behind and seeing their standard of living plummet."

There are obviously systemic design flaws in the schools system as it stands today. There are many movies and books out there about amazing teachers changing a school, but always after the teacher leaves the school reverts to the norm. Something more substantial needs to be done.

The graphic at the end of the report is an amazing thing to behold. While it looks like there has been a recent upswing in reading scores if you work the math it is only a 3% change, that is the typical margin of error. Statistically speaking, there has been no change in reading scores over the past 20 years even with a ~75% increase the money spent on the topic.

cbs2chicago.com - Teen Expelled From School For Turning In Found Gun

cbs2chicago.com - Teen Expelled From School For Turning In Found Gun: "(CBS)
PLAINFIELD, Ill.
A 13-year-old Plainfield boy and his parents are stunned and outraged after the teen found a gun in school and turned it in to authorities, who then expelled him."

Ah the wonders of zero tolerance. Maybe they should consider the power of homeschooling.

An Online Graphing Calculator

calc5.com - online calculator with symbolic calculations and graphs

I remember paying nearly $500 for a HP 48G graphing calculator and how totally cool Graphing Calculator was on the Mac in OS 9 but it is amazing how it is now so easy to create something like this.

A Java Slide Rule

This is a cool bit of work, I've never used one but my Dad did and he even had a circular one.

Switch 101: On Windows, I used to...

Switch 101: On Windows, I used to...

If you are switching from Windows to a Mac this is a really good introduction of the changes in how things are done. for all the talk about how Windows and Mac are copying each other there are still some major thought differences between how they do things. Mac is not Windows and vice versa and this highlights some the big differences.

Big storm pounds Pacific Northwest - Weather - MSNBC.com

Big storm pounds Pacific Northwest - Weather - MSNBC.com

This stupidity happens every year. Let's be clear on this:

Generator safety:

Generators belong outside.

A garage is not outside.

Either build a protective structure before hand or just wait until the storm is over. It would be a great idea to have a small battery bank charged up before the storm to run off of during the storm and using the generator after it is over to recharge.

Candle safety:

Tall skinny candles need to be well anchored in a solid base. If you don't have a good candelabra It is simplest to put a candle in a tall drinking glass partially filled with sand, gravel, marbles or even water.


After storm safety:

There will be a lot of people out with chainsaws, make sure they are in good condition and follow the manufactures safety instructions, and I hope you got some training and practice before hand.

There will be lots of damaged trees and homes watch for falling debris.

Use your eyes and brains before doing something. It may just save your life.

Big storm pounds Pacific Northwest - Weather - MSNBC.com

Big storm pounds Pacific Northwest - Weather - MSNBC.com

This stupidity happens every year. Let's be clear on this:

Generator safety:

Generators belong outside.

A garage is not outside.

Either build a protective structure before hand or just wait until the storm is over. It would be a great idea to have a small battery bank charged up before the storm to run off of during the storm and using the generator after it is over to recharge.

Candle safety:

Tall skinny candles need to be well anchored in a solid base. If you don't have a good candelabra It is simplest to put a candle in a tall drinking glass partially filled with sand, gravel, marbles or even water.


After storm safety:

There will be a lot of people out with chainsaws, make sure they are in good condition and follow the manufactures safety instructions, and I hope you got some training and practice before hand.

There will be lots of damaged trees and homes watch for falling debris.

Use your eyes and brains before doing something. It may just save your life.

He put down his gun to pick up a baby | The San Diego Union-Tribune

He put down his gun to pick up a baby | The San Diego Union-Tribune: "When Walsh and the Marines came to one doorway, M-4 rifles up and ready, a woman emerged from a room, holding an infant and saying, over and over again, %u201CBaby. Baby sick.%u201D
Walsh put his gun down and the woman put the baby down.
Walsh had seen bad things %u2013 as an EMT back home in St. Louis, and at war. But he told his comrades he had never seen anything like this: The child, just a few months old, looked as though her insides had been turned inside out."

The most remarkable thing about this story is not the Marines or the efforts they went through to save this baby. But that the mother knew that the American can and would help her child.

What do people really think of the Americans? This tells us more then all the thorax thumping that has been going on in the media for some time.

Did Noah's Flood occur on...

Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami? - New York Times: "...the morning of May 10, 2807 B.C. Dr. Masse analyzed 175 flood myths from around the world, and tried to relate them to known and accurately dated natural events like solar eclipses and volcanic eruptions. Among other evidence, he said, 14 flood myths specifically mention a full solar eclipse, which could have been the one that occurred in May 2807 B.C. Half the myths talk of a torrential downpour, Dr. Masse said. A third talk of a tsunami. Worldwide they describe hurricane force winds and darkness during the storm. All of these could come from a mega-tsunami."

Whether it did or not is not the issue. The amazing thing about this is that we are seeing a multidisciplinary approach to solving a puzzle. The astronomers are looking at the sky and seeing a few worrisome asteroids but none that are all that close so they assume that asteroids only impact once or twice every million years. Geologists are looking at the ground and see odd things they can't explain readily and who knew there were even specialists in something called environmental archaeology.

But look at the power of synergy as they come together to puzzle out why shellfish fossils have metal fuzed to them and are a long way from the ocean.



I remember as a child I watched a pair of PBS shows back to back, one about food handling and the problems of moving and storing wheat and rice and how they had to solve problems about how they flow in and out of a storage facility. The very next show was about earthquakes and how they were having a tough time with soil liquefaction. Had those two groups come together they may have solved their problems a bit faster.

Relating it to ourselves. Being well read is not about having read Shakespeare in college but in reading all kinds of things and that gives you the ability to put puzzles like this together.

Wired News: Making Water From Thin Air

Wired News: Making Water From Thin Air: "The water-harvesting technology was originally the brainchild of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sought ways to ensure sustainable water supplies for U.S. combat troops deployed in arid regions like Iraq."

Now you too can fulfill your dream of becoming a moisture farmer like those on Tatooine.

This is a great breakthrough. Good clean water is relatively rare on this planet. There have even been people saying the next big war will be over water.

I like this story a lot because they weren't funded by DARPA like a couple of other companies were. They came out of left field and blew them away.

Never give up if you have a good idea, start working on it, there is no perfect time, only time that is slipping away.

I just read in a few places that blogs are pretty much saturated. That tells me that it is the prefect time to start something new. So I will be posting a bit more often.

Neil Gaiman - Neil Gaiman's Journal: Important. And pass it on...

Neil Gaiman - Neil Gaiman's Journal: Important. And pass it on...: "There are writers who blithely explain to the world that they didn't make a will because they don't mind who gets their jeans and old guitar when they die but who would have conniptions if they realised how much aggravation their books or articles or poems or songs would cause their loved ones (or editors, anthologists or fans) after their death..."

Lots of people don't have wills, this might not be the greatest will in the whole world but something is often better then nothing at all.

Teaching kids to fight back against classroom invaders - CNN.com

Teaching kids to fight back against classroom invaders - CNN.com: "Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth, Texas, school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls with their hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they've got -- books, pencils, legs and arms.'Getting under desks and praying for rescue from professionals is not a recipe for success,' said Robin Browne, a major in the British Army reserve and an instructor for Response Options, the company providing the training to the Burleson schools.That kind of fight-back advice is all but unheard of among schools, and some fear it will get children killed."

Is it just me are are they totally missing the point? The Bad Guy is coming into the school to KILL people. The Bad Guy is there to kill children, he might have a target list, he may not, but let us be clear on one point:

The Bad Guy is there to kill people already.

At that point the only thing you can do is do everything in your power to minimize the number of people we let him kill. It takes too long for police to show up, one of the school shooters came to school with nearly 1000 rounds of ammunition, plenty to kill everyone in the whole school.

Have they forgotten the lessons of 9/11 so soon. The Bad Guys are trying to kill us, and we are the only ones who can stop them.

Stuffed Foods

I have been thinking about lunch foods lately things that are easy to transport and eat under less then ideal conditions. While a typical corporate break-room will have a frig and microwave frozen dinners for lunch are not all that great and sandwiches are not all that exciting after a while and fast-food is often just pathetic.

Lunch foods have been a problem that has been solved many different ways for some time. The ancient Greeks invented Toast as a way to preserve bread for a journey. What other road foods have existed?

Pasties and runzas have a history of being lunch foods for miners and factory workers. Ravioli is also an obvious one, so are egg-rolls and pot stickers. also things like fried pies or their baked sisters turnovers. Calzones are a folded over pizza and hot pockets are just mini versions of calzones. And don't forget things like tamales.

These are all a kind of an-croute food. The best part about this food is that can be transported and eaten easily without too much extra to carry along. Though a Beef Wellington would not generally be called easily transportable I would put it in the same basic family of stuffed bread foods. You can also use phylo or puff pastry doughs for similar things though much more delicate.

Stuffed foods are a simple preservation technique. Okay it won't last as long as canned but for a day to get to work it is just fine. All you're really trying to do is keep out the airborne germs from the gooey nutrient rich filling. They have a hard time getting through the hard crust of a bread.

Now I've been thinking about other things you can put in them.

Stuffed pies are already common. Hostess Fruit Pies come in flavors like apple, cherry and blueberry, but why stop there, pumpkin, rhubarb and peaches make good pies. But you don't have to stop at just sweet; savory pies, like quiches, would work just fine too, so it is obvious that most any pie filling will do fine as a turnover or fried pie as long as it isn't too watery so the dough doesn't soak through and fall apart before you eat it.

The same idea would apply to a stuffed breads. A calzone is fundamentally a pizza that has been folded over. A pasty is a beef stew stuffed into a loaf of bread and a runza is a hamburger and cabbage casserole in a bread wrapper.

So what else could we stuff into some bread. Again the key is that the filling not be too watery. The first thing that comes to mind is some pulled pork BBQ. Not very wet and has some very big flavor, a very good choice. Obviously any kind of boneless or deboned BBQ will work for this application.

Casseroles also have the kind of features we want in a stuffed bread filling so why not try it. Turkey tetrazinni, tuna noodle casserole, chicken cachatore, and beef stroganoff are just a few ideas. Meatloaf is also an excellent choice.

Stews, chowders and thick soups can work as well.

And it doesn't have to be all entrees, but why not side dishes as well like green bean casserole, Spanish rice, sweet potato casserole or glazed carrots. Okay, maybe a whole pasty of glazed carrots might be a bit much but a spoonful in one corner and spoonful of jam as a dessert in the other would be wonderful.

You can also go fusion, why not put a bit of cherry pie filling in a wonton skin and deep fry that. Or put some stir fry in a pasty. Or a tuna casserole in a tamale. Or some chili in a potsticker.

One of the main techniques to be aware of is to make sure there is as little air as possible the stuffed bread so as it heats it doesn't blow out all over the place. It doesn't really matter if you are baking, boiling or deep frying them, air expands a lot faster then the dough can handle.

The problem of what to take for lunch has been solved by smart women around the world. Their solutions are a reflection of their available resources but they are remarkably similar. We can now almost mix and match to come up with what strikes our fancy.

Back

Things have been busy but now I think it is time to post again.

%u201CLet the Good Times Roll%u201D by Guy Kawasaki: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

%u201CLet the Good Times Roll%u201D by Guy Kawasaki: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

This is very important to remember to not overload anyone with what you're doing.

%u201CLet the Good Times Roll%u201D by Guy Kawasaki: Guy%u2019s Golden Touch

%u201CLet the Good Times Roll%u201D by Guy Kawasaki: Guy%u2019s Golden Touch

Guy has a blog. This is good.