Miscellany

BEFORE YOU GO video

Here's a link to a video that was produced to honor veterans. The download includes a link to the BeforeYouGo.us website that explains why and how it was produced.

TODAY IN HISTORY

The following information is automatically supplied by brainyhistory.com by means of a javascript rss insert. It's an interesting thought starter.

THE APPLE CONTEST OF 1988

On January 28, 1988 five finalists in Apple's "PROJECT 2000'' competition assembled at the company's Cupertino headquarters to present papers on their projects. Teams from the University of California at Berkeley, Drexel University, the University of Illinois, Princeton University and the University of Minnesota all prepared to make their cases before a panel of distinguished judges which included futurist Alvin Toffler, science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, education author Diane Ravitch, and computer pioneers Steve Wozniak and Alan Kay.

Tablet, the entry from the University of Illinois was judged the winner. Tablet integrates the power of computation and communication into a package as portable as a notebook.

THE FATA MORGANA

Fata is the Italian word for fairy, a female supernatural being. The name is deried from Morgan Le Fey, the legendary half sister of the fabled King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table. The legend of Fata Morgana came to Sicily by way of the Normans who began their conquest of Sicily in 1066.

SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES

In Sacramento the start of winter is on December 21 or 22, depending on the occurrence of the winter solstice. On especially cold winters, the night time low may dip below freezing for several nights around this time. Daytime temperatures will hover around 50 degrees (10c).

Here's a table of dates for the solstices and equinoxes from 2004 to 2017 together with some explanatory text, copied from Wikipedia.

DNA AND GENEALOGY

For most of us, classic genealogy research deals in terms of hundreds of years. Some few of us with reknowned ancestors may be able to go back farther. However, with recent advances in the sequencing of the human genome, we're learning that every one of us carries within our own DNA (dioxyribonucleic acid) the history of our ancestry going back thousands of years.

Here's a slide presentation presented to Chapter 3 of POINTers on September 10, 2005 discussing the relationship of genealogical research and the then current advances in sequencing the human genome.