| World's 1st computer, from MyZines.com 1-19-01 RE: ENIAC--world's 2nd electronic computer. It's correct that the ABC computer (Atanasoff Berry Computer) was the world's 1st electronic computer. The people who developed the ENIAC went to see the ABC computer (at the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa) & got many ideas from it in order to come up with the ENIAC. There has been disagreement in recent decades as to the official 1st electronic computer. A federal court (I think it was in the 1980s) ruled that the ABC was the 1st. I saw a replica of the ABC at the 1999 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. What a behemouth! It was great! So many large tubes, dozens & dozens of large cables, & large cylinder shaped wax pieces with wires inside! The original parts were scavenged for other projects in the 1940s, but pictures, written descriptions from the inventors, & eye witnesses of the orignal machine were used for the replica. Too bad the university didn't patient it! It's interesting that it made small burn holes in specially designed paper to record information; there were times when people had to evacuate the room before a paper was finally developed that did not burn TOO much. John G. from Iowa (graduate of ISU) Re: Z-3 computer which was designed by A. Zuse You said it had mechanical switches & was programmable & therefore a computer. An abacus is also a computer, used thousands of years ago; but the world's first electronic digital computer was the ABC (Atanosoff Berry Computer) invented & developed at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa (completed in, I think, 1941.) Internet origin Internet began '69 by Defense Depart., decentralized communicat'n system if nuke attack; then to coordinate university defense research. TV broadcast 1st US tv broadcast, Wash. DC to NY 1927, secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover image. M&Ms Named for 1940's bosses Victor Mars, Mr. Merrie. Red discontinued to assuage public fear of containing Red Dye# 2, carcinogenic; never contained it. Most people prefer brown (maybe 'cause looks most like chocolate,) so each bag contains mostly brown. Mints make mouth feel cool Don't reduce temp. Menthol in mints stimulates certain nerve cells to fire which normally react only to temp. Arsenic hour Poison centers refer to 4-10 pm (dinner hrs) when most calls are made poison centers--busy time for parents, kids more likely unsupervised, get into bathroom/kitchen cabinets. Nat'nal poison help: 1-800-222-1222. Compass points British Medical Journal: sense of direct'n maybe associated wth pineal gland (produces melatonin.) Subjects wthout calcium deposits did 2x as well as people wth calcium deposits. Homing pigeons wth normal glands found way home, no trouble; those wth pineal gland calcium got lost. Thurs. 9 a.m., memory at peak French study, Universite Francois Rabelais, Tours; read 103 children a story, asked to memorize word groups; tested wk later. Sess'ns held on different days of wk, different times. 9 a.m. Thurs. sess'ns always did better than any other. Lighting Strikes Earth about 200 times/sec. Graupel Small pellets of ice made when supercooled water droplets coat snowflakes; cloudy/white, not clear like sleet; often mistaken for hail. Mt. Tambora eruption Indonesia, Apr. 1815; heard nearly 1K mi. away. Ash 1 ft thick covered sea; 1 1/2 mil. tons dust/debris blanketed sky, blocked sun's rays for 1 yr; changed weather patterns in most of N. Hemisphere; some blamed B. Franklin's weather experiments. Peak lost 4.2K ft of 13K height. Desert Applies hot/dry area & inhospitable ice-covered region--barren or desolate area. Dry, often sandy region, little rainfall, extreme temps, sparse vegetation; or permanent cold largely or entirely devoid of life. Both generally have an annual precip less than 2". Can refer to apparently lifeless water area. Cosmic year Length of time sun completes revolution around center of Milky Way-- 225 mil yrs. 1st day of summer (solstice) Our 1st day of summer (solstice) was in middle of summer in ancient calendar. Living kingdoms Linnaeus, 1735, divided all living organisms into 2 kingdoms: plants, animals. Biologists later added fungi, protists, monera, archaea. Powder inside Etch-a-Sketch Aluminum, ground extremely fine; not dangerous. It's in the bag (tea) Perfect tea brewing temp.: 176 degrees F. (80 degrees C.) yielded best extracts of polyphenols (chemicals that have health benefits.) Anything less won't extract same levels of polyphenols; anything more will damage polyphenols. |
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