Archive for the ‘Cool Videos’ Category

As a child I remember that school always started the day after Labor Day. We didn’t have the school year like kids do today. We were still an agriculture society so that the longer summer was required. Where I lived the harvest came due in the fall, many local families needed to work the harvest before it got too late in the season. Harvest meant picking apples and cherries.

Another harvest I worked in 1970 was the hop harvest. It was a messy job and the green pods stained my hands. My job was to use a plywood broom made of a slab of plywood nailed to a long stick that was the handle. I was suppose to push the hops out from under the belt that had shaken loose as the hops went up. Ugh, not only was it hard and dirty but it was a night job!!! But at seventeen I endured through that for a few days.

I liked going back to school after Labor Day but for me it was a demarcating line of time from summer ending and school beginning. What I didn’t know then that I know now is that Labor Day is always on the first Monday in September. It was created by the labor movement being a day set aside for the the social and economic achievements of workers all over America.

The first Labor Day was on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. That was a 129 years ago! It wasn’t until 1885 it was moved to the first Monday of September. By then the celebration was moving out over the country.

It was a huge deal back then. By 1894 only 23 states adopted the holiday in honor of workers across America. And it was also celebrated with many similarities to July 4^th. There were parades, special festivities with speeches by prominent workers who placed significance on a day of rest from work for Americans. Sunday before Labor Day was added in as a time to reflect spiritually on the growth on America.

Of course Labor Day has changed over the years. We still have a three day weekend on the first weekend in September. And it is appropriate to recognize the American worker and their work contribution to the economy.

I think I enjoy the memories of the time gone by. I am glad we have Labor Day set aside for workers because even as a child my parents could have the day off work. It celebrates the end of summer. It begins a new season. Labor Day is a great way to end summer and pay tribute to the American worker. So gear up that barbecue grill, invite friends and family over. Hang out with those closest to you and enjoy the end of summer.

Happy Labor Day!

On stardate 4523.3 is when history records the takeover. Captain James T Kirk and his crew are called by the Federation to assess a priority one distress call at Deep Space Station K7. The rub is that the disputed territory between the Federation and the Klingons Empire has a problem. A real problem. There, soon to be hidden in the grain storage and multiplying like maniacs are those cute little Tribbles. Those furry little asexual animals who look and act harmless, purring and soft. But alas! The Tribbles have one mortal enemy, Klingons.

Oh I loved the Trouble with Tribbles which first aired on Star Trek on December 29, 1967. I was amused when they overtook the Enterprise and Kirk looked overwhelmed in a pile of Tribbles.

Well, that is until I found out those little critters have two disturbing issues. One, they hate Klingons right? So when they interact with Klingons they emit the loudest, shrillest ear-piercing shriek. They jump and get aggressive toward the Klingons and the effort was not wasted on them either, the Klingons hated them too.

At first Kirk and his crew do not see the problem until they found those little critters created another issue. Of course they hated the Klingons but if that was not enough what really brought Star Fleet Command to this corner of the universe was that Tribbles multiplied worse that rabbits and McCoy told Captain Kirk that these maniacs have “only two purposes in life, to eat and reproduce”.

If you were and are a original Star Trek fan you loved this crazy furry like animal. Oh, they get them control, how else could they end the show?

A side note I had forgotten was the retaliation by the Enterprise towards the Klingons for creating the problem. Scotty decided to beam the critters on the Klingon ship to let them deal with the remaining pests.

Trouble with Tribbles has taken on a life of its own. This one show has been done many times over and in 2006 it was remastered and released. A couple things were added as is usually the case when a show is remastered. For example:

Space station K7 is rendered as a CGI effect with more surface detail added. And, A Klingon ship has been added in orbit around the station that was never seen in the original episode, but was seen in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine tribute episode, “Trials and Tribble-ations”. None of the effects from “Trials and Tribble-ations” were used in the remastered episode, although the more detailed appearance of station K7 (including a prominent K7 logo on the dome of its central module) is clearly influenced by that episode.

The story about the Tribbles probably was expected to be serious but it turned out to be one of those legendary shows in which audiences found it amusing. I loved the Tribbles and I did not care if they ate everything sight and reproduced like rabbits. I think the redeeming value they had was they could spot “bad seed” and bad seed was spotted when they were around Klingons! We learned early on as Trekkies that they could not be trusted!

And so Enterprise pulls out of the area to move on yet to another adventure. Ah, those were days, Star Trek with Captain Kirk and his crew.

This is one of my all time favorite songs by John Lennon. He was an amazing person. When he was writing songs during this period there was a great deal he wanted to say….enjoy.

I must of have chanted this song a million times during the 1970s. We all wanted to peace. We wanted the “Great Society” that LBJ talked of but it was not to be with Asia erupting with The Viet Nam war.

He even did remakes amazingly…..

Fly me to the moon

Let me sing among those stars

Let me see what spring is like

On Jupiter and Mars

Recently I was reminded just how much I enjoy exploring space. It made me think about how I access information about space and nature. I found that I have become an app junkie. I can find just about anything I want for a small fee or for free.

I love my apps. Who doesn’t? I have a few interesting apps.  I love to visit them regularly. I am fascinated by space and nature and probably have more apps about these two subjects than I need to. Anything that is about space or our earth gets my attention.

My favorite is Star Walk. You can point your iPhone or iPad in any direction and you can see what stars, constellations and satellites you are looking at in real time. It is important to note if you want to use this one it cost $2.99 and requires 3GS/4/4^th gen IPod touch for motion tracking. But is well worth it, I find it is the prettiest way to explore the universe.

These are the apps that I enjoy that are free. Cosmic Discoveries is supported by the American Museum of Natural History. It contains about 1,000 images of space. Take a trip across our universe with stories about galaxy clusters.  Keeping me out in our universe I then go to the HubbleSite. NASA invites us to help choose the world’s most popular Hubble images by voting on the pictures. You can use the pictures as wallpaper or gather Hubble facts that you are curious about.

I love visiting Google Earth. All of us probably have visited Google Earth at one time or another. It shows you just about anywhere on the planet including your own home! Project Noah is a mobile app that helps nature lovers (like me) discover their local wildlife and assist budding scientists in research projects. But frankly, I am curious so I just want be able to ask questions about my environment. It has three areas to use in research. Spottings: Get a photograph and look for interesting facts about your site project. Location-based Field Guide: One of my favorite parts of this app is that you can look at plants or animals and look up information about them. And Field Missions allows users to contribute to ongoing research projects while enjoying exploration.

I am naturally a very curious person. I always want to know, why? When the Internet came about it was the answer to my world and any questions I have.  At any given moment I can get online and get answers for just about anything.

Who hasn’t heard that phrase, “there’s an app for that”? And there is! What are your favorite apps? I would love to hear about them.

Note: The apps that I am sharing here are primarily to be used on the iPhone or iPad. But other smart phones offer options that have comparable apps to be had.