Sunday, December 02, 2007

Salt & Vinegar Chips - Questions From Neighbors

Angelikfiona asks (See original document):


What is your favorite flavored potato chips? Do you like salt & vinegar?


You either hate them or you love them?? Me, I love them, they feel like acid in my mouth (because they pretty much are) do you like them? Why and how do you cope with the acidic taste? Do you like acid? If you dont like them, What kind do you like? hehe


My Answer:


I LOVE Salt & Vinegar chips! The acidity doesn't bother me at all! I especially like them the traditional way, just taking a bag of chips, sprinkling some vinegar in the bag, shaking it up, adding some salt, shaking it some more and then eating. That's good because you can mix the ingredients to taste, and each batch tastes slightly different from the last.


According to SaltandVinegarchips.com, if you are having problems with the acidity; when you are half done with the bag, put a boiled egg in the bag and shake it up with the salt and vinegar. The salt gives the egg the taste you usually associate with a boiled one, and the vinegar gives it a tang. The egg absorbs the remnants in the bottom of the bag, cutting down on waste, while making possible for you to finish that bag of chips. Which is nice, since the bottom part is usually the most acidic.


The Worsley School conducted an experiment using Pringles brand Salt & Vinegar chips, which makes an interesting read. I've provided a link below. They were surprised to find that, "The test subject was in fact unable to eat more than 50-60 salt & vinegar Pringles before complaining vehemently that his mouth was burning up. His mouth was in fact so sore that even after half an hour (still without water) he was unable (or unwilling) to consume a single additional chip."


I do love Salt & Vinegar chips. But they are not my favorites. My favorites are those Crunchers Jalapeno chips, or any regular chips sprinkled with habanero sauce.


Source(s):


Salt & Vinegar Chips


Worsley School Study on Salt & Vinegar Chips

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Coefficient of Restitution - Questions from Neighbors

Ashley asks (See original document):

Does this make sense?

In a, you can see that the ketchup in the bottle is a rest. When you turn the bottle upside down, thrust it at a high speed and quickly stop it, the ketchup flies to the bottom of the bottle. Since you’ve applied a force on the bottle and then stopped it, the force causes the ketchup to go down even after you’ve stopped the bottle because of its inertia of the initial force.

In b, you can see the ball is in motion. When the ball hits the wall, the unbalanced force, it will bounce off and continue in a different direction. Even if the ball wasn’t stopped by the wall, gravity and air resistance would have eventually stopped it.

My Answer:

Are you saying that the ketchup continues in the direction it was traveling, even after you stopped the bottle? If so, this is an example of F=MA, Mass times Acceleration equals force. Or an object in motion will stay in motion until another force acts upon it.

When the ketchup hits the end of the bottle, or the ball hits the wall, and returns. This return is called coefficient of restitution. The coefficient of restitution is the ratio of speeds of a falling object, from when it hits a given surface to when it leaves the surface, or the amount of return or bounciness. A superball may have a high coefficient of restitution, or return of about 90% of it's original starting point, ketchup may only have a < 2% return.

Source(s):


The Physics Factbook

Extraterrestrial Life - Questions From Neighbors.

Three Hearts asks (See originating document):

Do you believe that Extraterrestrials (aliens) exist? and if not .....Why?


And if there was undeniable proof, would that make the bible Irrelevant.


My friend told me that if aliens landed and made them self knowing to the public, that the World be in total chaos. Because Religious fanatics would be freaking out and could not handle it, because the bible teaches that humans are the only superior existing intelligent being in the universe.


Is this true?


My answer:


A very good question that is difficult to answer in the space provided here.


No, I do not believe that there are sentient extraterrestrials in the dimensions that make up our physical universe. There maybe other species of animals, but I don't believe there is anything out there that is self-aware, like we are.


From a biblical/religious standpoint, when Adam rebelled and rejected God's rulership as of no benefit to the physical creation, God could point to the existence of extraterrestrials as proof his rulership is beneficial! Since He didn't do that, it would appear that they do not exist, or they have also rejected His Universal Sovereignty. If they have rejected it, why did God choose to send his son here to pay the ransom for lost perfection? He could have sent him to another world? Yet the bible tells us that Jesus died for "our" sins, "once for all time", benefiting all of creation. There is no evidence from a religious view that there is extraterrestrial life.

From a scientific standpoint, I find it difficult to believe in the possible existence of extraterrestrials. If man has evolved, the obstacles that stand in the way of sentient life evolving from a single cell organism are so incredible, that even in an infinite universe, they are quite improbable. So, even though I have read Asimov's Extraterrestrial Civilizations, where he argues in favor of the evolutionary odds of multiple occurrences of sentient life, I remain incredulous.

If there were undeniable proof that extraterrestrials existed, this would not make the bible irrelevant. The bible deals largely with events that have occurred during detailing of Earth's final creative epoch. In Genesis it says "In the beginning God created heaven and earth", what happened during this time period, the bible does not say. It's obvious from the fossil record that there were other creative epochs involving other species, such as dinosaurs, but we don't know why God chose those time periods for extinction. But he did. Then Genesis goes into greater detail concerning the preparation of Earth for the creation of man. Many creationists assign a specific time period for this, but Genesis really doesn't say how long a day is during this time period. The use of the term day, could be a reference to a period of time, like one could say "in my Grandpa's day", the use of "day" could be a reference to a creative period of time or epoch, the duration of which we do not know.

Again, the bible is a book dealing with the restoration of God's Kingdom, and only gives us an outline of creation and not the details. It is not a scientific reference to give us all the answers. Even Ecclesiastes 3:11 says in this regard, "He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can't find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end." The beauty of life is learning new things. If God gave us all the answers, then life wouldn't hold much meaning. We do know that God has created other species, the bible does speak of Angels, which were created far beyond any frame of reference we have scripturally or scientifically (as Hawking says in his book "A Brief History of Time", any theory regarding the nature of things prior to the Big Bang would be meaningless, since all laws of physics would no longer apply, even time itself would have no meaning) and exist outside the dimensions of our physical universe. So in that sense, I believe there is extragalactic/extradimensional life.

In summation, I do not believe in extraterrestrial life in our dimension or universe. It would be exciting to find proof of extraterrestrial life, but doing so would not shake my faith in God or the bible, which does not deal with the creation of life elsewhere, either universally, or extradimensionally, but only gives an outline to point to the restoration of God's Kingdom. During that time we will be able to explore these questions more fully and endeavor to learn all the things that have transpired since the beginning of time.

There are always fanatics, religious or otherwise. They are currently "freaking out" about a variety of things that have very little to do with what the bible actually says. Men are always looking for any reasons to dominate one another and often use religious reasons to do so. They may indeed freak out, but not because the bible teaches anything about man being the only intelligent being in the universe, it does NOT! They would freak out as an opportunity to push their own hidden agenda and do it in God's name.

I encourage you to do my research in this regard, both scientifically and scripturally. It's always good to make your own informed decision.

Source(s):

New Jerusalem Bible


Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Isaac Asimov


A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking


Friday, November 09, 2007

Earn Money on My PC - Questions From Neighbors

Eric asks (See original document):

What is a good way to make extra money on my pc as i am disabled?

My Answer:

There are companies that employ people to provide customer service from home. These are legitimate opportunities that allow you a flexible schedule and pays a decent wage. Click the links below for more information and maybe there is an opportunity for you!

Source(s):

Saturday, August 11, 2007

The Great Taste of the Midwest

Brewer's Log

Today I took three of our beers to the Great Taste of the Midwest, the best brewer's festival in the mid-west. The Fun Hunters booth was a great success and a lot of the beer lovers complimented us on our Wheat beer and Oatmeal Stout. Next to us, the guys from the AEppelTreow Winery were serving up some tasty Cider, which reminded me of a drink I read about called a "Smoothie". A Smoothie is a mixture of Cider with a Stout beer. Since we brought our Oatmeal Stout with us, I was eager to try this mixture. It was surprisingly good and I encouraged a lot of the Stout drinkers who visited us to try it. I encourage you to try it, even if you don't like Stout beers, or Ciders!

Many thanks go out to Pike, Natalie, and Matt for helping me work the festival. A thank you also goes to Kurt and Charles and the guys from the AEppelTreow Winery for sharing so much of their great Cider with me and those that visited us for Oatmeal Stout!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Late Start This Morning.

Stayed up late last night to watch "Dear Frankie" which was a cute movie. I would have liked to see a better denouement, one that explains what happens to the brother. I watched the movie speeded up so I wouldn't be up to late, but I was still up long enough that I hit the snooze one too many times. I arrived at work on time, but found the log in software was down so I probably won't get paid for today. Dani, if you are reading this, I'm just kidding, I'll get get paid, at least for half a day!

I brought my Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification book to review during slow times and I have gotten to read it a little. My lower back is hurting and I don't know why, I didn't do anything strenuous yesterday, so I imagine Dani was kicking me while I slept **SMILE**.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Riding the Rails in a Motorcar

We had a lot of fun riding the rails in one of the service vehicles used by the railroads. They were abandoned in favor of multipurpose trucks. Now they are still used by hobbyists. For more information about this hobby, check out railspeeders.com or narcoa.org.


Sunday, May 20, 2007

A Bell for Number 26

Today was my first day working as a volunteer at the East Troy Trolley Museum. I was put right to work installing a bell on Number 26. It was a great FUN!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

You MUST Transfer!

Awoke this morning 30 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Besides my normally stiff neck and dull headache, I feel a lot better then I did yesterday.

Had time to eat some cereal for breakfast and run to the Lakeside BP for some coffee. I really love that Farmer Brothers' Rush coffee. It has more then the normal amount of caffeine that you would find in a cup of coffee, which really helps overcome that dull headache. A cup of Rush, two Excedrin , three ibruprofen, and I should be as "right as rain".

Logged into my work station this morning and handled three calls and then had to meet in the conference room to discuss changes in how we handle transfers that is also going to restrict our interaction and ability to present our services. It's times like this I really miss working for Gary at Sprint. Gary always gave us room and flexibility to do what it took to get our message out and rewarded us for aggressivenes.

I really would like to be doing something technical.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Twin City Lines 1583

Dani, Barak, and I went to the East Troy Trolley Museum today and started a family membership. Now we can go and ride the Trains anytime we want to. I took this video while we rode one of the trolleys.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

At the Brewers Game

8th inning and the Brewers have scored two runs solidifying thier lead over the Pirates, 7 to 3.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Monday Morning Rush

It's a decent start to the week!
I ran to the BP this morning,
where they have the best coffee in Palmyra.
Now I'm sitting here at work enjoying a cup of Rush.
It's slow going now, but after this coffee,
things are sure to speed up!

Saturday, January 13, 2007

My Whovian Scarf


My cousin Nita made me this SUPER COOL scarf! It's from Dr Who, the Tom Baker years. I LOVE it! Thanks Nita!


My Whovian Scarf
Originally uploaded by roadsideray.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

A Tribute to My Dad!

It's been two days since he died and I feel the need to do something cathartic. So I've started working on a website dedicated to my Dad, Raymond J. Miller.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

My Dad Died Today! =(

I was at work today when Dani called about 2:30 to let me know that they were taking Dad off of life support and I better get up to the hospital. I left work early and drove to Waukesha. By the time I got there he had already died! Aaron and I went went downtown to the House of Guinness and had a few pints of Belhaven.

I feel horrible. I'm going to miss him so much!