Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Don't Punch the "Cheerleader"

Okay, this time I used the numbers indirectly to find a news item to perhaps comment upon.  The numbers "generated" by my Solitaire program were "510 1112 6131," leading to a house at an address in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  The numbers are also three separate Nokia cell phones, but what's there to say about that?

So, looking for News about Muskogee, I come upon two criminal investigations: one of murder and one high-profile assault case.  I will comment on the alleged assault case.  I say "alleged" for legal clarification.  The accused admits to doing the damage to the woman accusing him in her own words "with one punch."

This is the case of incoming freshman Joe Mixon who unfortunately had a run-in with a local woman before ever attending Oklahoma University, who drafted him from California.  According to reports, Amelia Molitor, 20, accused him of hitting her in the face at a local cafe. Mixon claims self-defense.

Reports say that Mixon was celebrating his 18th birthday when "people at his table" were harassing the victim and her friends for some reason.  Apparently, someone got up and got physical, for a punch was thrown with enough force to "break [Molitor's] face in four places.  Mixon's defense lawyer says the 21l-pound 6'2" running back was acting in self-defense.  They are confident that surveillance tapes will prove this.

Ms. Molitor has a recent arrest record (jailed and charged with possession of marijuana, etc., last December), and has an outstanding bench warrant out on her for failure to follow instructions of the court.  She is currently "on the lam."  This woman, a blonde standing 5'7" and weighing in at 120 pounds, apparently had a too few too many drinks and felt she could take on a football player!

I do not condone striking a woman, especially when one's life is not threatened, but something is not right in this case.  The newly-minted adult, out to have his first "legal" beer, is faced with a woman two years his major who seems to be a bit tipsy.  Does she "get in his face" and he shields himself to her detriment?  Or did he get up to "make trouble" as part of an act of "harassment" that went beyond words.

Oh, I guess I ought to mention that Mixon is black.  I'm predicting that this will NOT be an issue with the defense, but that his defenders might charge the accuser of being racist.  This will be a big mistake, and I hope that a jury will be told to disregard such an attitude.  I am pretty sure that the video evidence will show that the "punch" was not delivered in an aggressive manner.  The younger man most likely reached out to push away the woman and made unfortunate contact.

Ms. Molitor has been quoted as saying she fears the fans of OU who were placing their hopes on Mixon to be a factor in the coming football season.  In saying this, she is assuming that he will be convicted of assault.  It is interesting that Ms. Molitor's mother does not want her to press charges.  Could it be that she fears her daughter's past will be used against her?

On the other hand, the defense is confident that the video evidence will exonerate Mixon.  The University will not comment, of course.  I am not sure if I would want to be on the jury.

The moral of the story is that a young man should not expect to think clearly while partying with the guys on his birthday.  And also, don't badmouth the cheerleader at the next table if you do!  Joe Mixon has probably lost out even before he started.  If he is found innocent, there will be those that insist it was because he was an athlete.  If he is found guilty, there will be those who claim it was because he is black.  The promising college football career is most likely nipped in the bud.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Special Needs

Today I the top cards were three queens, four, ten, seven and nine. (12 12 12 4 10 7 9).  My first response was to discard the queens for the sequence following them: 4-10-7-9.  I immediately thought that might be a Biblical reference.  Numbers 10:7-9 records God's command concerning trumpet calls - one to worship and the other to battle.  The call to worship and the call to battle remind the people of God that He is near whenever He is needed.  John 10:7-9 records Jesus' words "I am the door of the sheep," and what that means to the flock.  Both passages are reminders that our God is here with us.

With that, I should just post and be done with it. But alas, I'm "hooked" for a while on the random number thing.  So, here goes with "1212":

The Atlanta Zoo has set up a live feed camera to watch the pandas -- the PandaCam!  Click on the link to watch the pandas Live.  The page is designated "1212," so you get this link!  Enjoy.

Finally, another link to Autism: the July & Michael Tracy Family Foundation.  Their Urban Autism Solutions has "Project 1212" that opened June 6, 2014 in Chicago.  From the website:

It is designed to have a secure, nurturing environment. While it will have a family-like staff, it isn’t intended to function as a “container.” On the contrary, it’s a vibrant community-within-a-community. The specific autism friendly design includes a combination of public and private spaces. 
This is a residential group home for autistic individuals with a full-time staff. Though I would prefer solutions that work around the home, I can see where a need is out there for such a facility in most communities.

 

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Traffic Control

I just noticed I had not hit "Publish" on this one (Thursday!)

I decided to at least do the random number experiment for a week.  Today, the solitaire hand starts out like this: Ace, nine, queen, king, queen, king and five.  In numbers that is: 1 9 12 13 12 13 5.  Combining where I can, I get  "19 1213 1213 5."

Well, with the placement of queens and kings TWICE in the cards, I would go with 1213 as the "number of the day."  Near the top of the Google search I found the non-profit Christian relief organization '1213,' based on Romans 12:13: "Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality."

This verse is in the midst of commands given by Paul to the church at Rome years before he visited there.  The chapter begins with a call to holiness and service, moving on to practical instructions on how to make that happen.  Verse 4 reminds Christians that they are "members in one body," each with separate functions.  Since love is sincere and without hypocrisy (verse 9), it is seen in acts of kindness in times of need.

Visit this worthy ministry at http://1213online.org/ for more information.

Next, in an oddly related field on the microscopic level, there is Gene 1213, CLTC (clathrin, heavy chain [human]).  Also known as CHC or CHC17, this is a "major protein component ... involved in intracellular trafficking ..."  In other words, CLTC is necessary to get the microscopic machines within the cells to their proper work spaces.  It is like a GPS on the dash of the utility vehicles of the cell.

I say "oddly related" because this is the function of the 1213 ministry, directing funds to people in need.  They serve as an auxiliary source when times get really hard.  They are a support system of the body of Christ just as CLTC is to the microcosm which is found within the cell.  Find out more about CLTC here  and here.

There you go, folks.  Remember that you have a part to play in the macrocosm which is the world around you.  If you are a Christian, that means to seek to know and use the gift(s) given to you by God.  That example, of course, works in the world around us as well.  As the saying goes, "we are all connected."

North, South Carolina and other stuff



Today my wife and I headed south to find North.  North, South Carolina, that is!  Since the co-ordinates are 33°37' North and 81°6' West, I chose 3337 today.

Gene 3337 of the human genome encodes the "heat shock protein" which regulates cellular processes by aiding in folding, transport and assembly of cell structures.  Apparently there is a tremendous amount of work going on at a molecular level and this gene works as a thermostat.


The other significant 3337 goes from microscopic to hands on science, introducing us to the *FIRST Robotic Competition, team 3337 from Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge Louisiana.  Here is a paragraph from the "Panthrobotics" website:

 Panthrobotics, FRC Team #3337,  is a multicultural team of students who are bringing a passion for math, science, engineering and computing to our school and community by participating in yearly FIRST® Robotics competitions. Each year we work with a talented group of mentors, generous sponsors, and excited students to build a robot from scratch within a defined six-week time period, compete with that robot, and then take it with us to demonstrations and other events throughout our  community.

[* FIRST is a registered acronym for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."]

Back to North, SC.  We came in from the northwest, basically east by southeast, having started at about 35 degrees North, in Greenville, SC.  North is therefore Southeast of us.  We came took a picture of the sign on the west side of town, turned up Main Street (North-South axis) and headed home on a mostly Northern route.

As a point of reference for Americans, 33°37' North is parallel to just south of Myrtle Beach, SC; just south of Atlanta, GA; just north of Birmingham, AL; West Point, MS; Warren, AR; Paris, TX; just north of Roswell, NM; Surprise, AZ; and Newport Beach, CA.  North is the only town at 33°37' North that will experience the total solar eclipse August 21, 2017. It will have 2 minutes, 22.3 seconds of totality.

Nouth is about 50 miles due north of Hampton, SC. It is also due north of Savanah, GA; Ormand Beach, Daytona Beach and Marathon, Florida.  However, North is due south of Woodford, Swansea, Gaston, Pine Ridge, Springdale, St. Andrews, Winnsboro and Newport in South Carolina alone!  Also north of North are at least three towns in North Carolina, one in West Virginia an two in Ohio.  Mr. North confused a lot of map makers when he agreed to have the town named after him.

Friday, July 25, 2014

It's Friday!

My solitaire hand today contained only one face card, but it had THREE aces!  That means, in Vegas scoring I start with 15 dollars earned.  Okay, to the random number search.

I take the first four cards - Ace deuce five and another ace - to get a four digit number: 1251.  The first hit ,apart from Wikipedia's page on the date, is Windows-1251, a character encoding table (code page) also known as CP1251.  Since I can barely use DOS encoding, I'll leave this to the experts.

Speaking of experts and codes, the US Legal Code, paragraph 1251, addresses the Original Jurisdiction of the US Supreme Court.  That's right, some cases go to them immediately.  Here are the specifics:

(a) The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction of all controversies between two or more States.
(b) The Supreme Court shall have original but not exclusive jurisdiction of:
(1) All actions or proceedings to which ambassadors, other public ministers, consuls, or vice consuls of foreign states are parties;
(2) All controversies between the United States and a State;
(3) All actions or proceedings by a State against the citizens of another State or against aliens.

Got it?  Logically, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over interstate disputes, disputes between the feds and the state(s),  and actions dealing with non-citizens (especially foreign dignitaries).

Well, speaking of legal codes, the Catholic Church has its "Canon Law" which prescribes the proper way, in its opinion, to worship God.  Canon Law 1251 reads:

Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity* should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

[*A solemnity is a holy feast day.  Abstenance is not observed when one is supposed to be celebrating a holiday.]

Speaking of Fridays, according to the song 12:51,  "Friday nights have been lonely."  In this music video by "The Strokes" the words are hard to make out.  Basically, the guy speaking wants to go over to his girlfriend's house "now that {he's} older."  There is one "bad word" in the lyrics and the assumption of sinful behavior, but this mix is acoustically interesting.

So, 1251 reminds us of computer code (aka "law"?), US legal code, and canon law.  And then, at 12:51 one night this guy gets the courage to "take it to the next stage" with his girl friend "now that I'm older."

Let us take from this that there are standards by which to direct our lives.  Some, like computer encoding, are absolute by nature.  Others can be "interpreted" as with civil and ecclesiastical courts.  And then there are personal standards, based on our conscience, which must be trained by higher laws.  Adults have the responsibility to guide children to avoid disaster in the decisions they make.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Random Frivolity

This is so much fun that I'm posting a new number for the third day in a row.  I know, I need to "get a life" -- but hey, right now this IS my life.

Today I have 610 711 1012 4.  I have combined the two-digit numbers consistently with the numbers before them, leaving a single "4" at the end.  (610) 711-1012 is a phone number in Philadelphia, but apparently is private.  Then again, 411.com, "directory assistance," puts the number in Allentown.  The area code puts it in Allentown.  Once again, I find the online directory assistance lacking!

Well, 711-1012  seem to be pages in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry, all of which are for sale in approximately 5-page articles (going price: $31.50!).  Those interested can look up Volume 5, Issue 8.  Be warned, by use of "mass framentography" minute amounts of steroids can be used to extrapolate peak levels! (Abstract, pages 727-732).

Steroids might suggest athletes, but I doubt if any were used by those running in the Autism Speaks 5K in Potomac, MD (July 4, 2011).  Placing 12th in the 60-64 class, a man from Columbia, SC, ID# 711, placed 1012th overall.  In the chart from runhigh.com, this showed up as 711 1012 in adjacent columns on the chart!  Hmm... This is a possible link back to the first post on Monday.  Thank you, David R., for running for Autism.

Of course, I could go with 610-711.  That looks like a sequence, and indeed, it is a period of time.  On the first page for a search for "610 711," I came upon the Herakleian Dynasty that just so happened to dominate the Byzantine Empire in the seventh century AD.    Like I said, I could go there, but I've written enough.  Thanks for stopping by,

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Why did the dog cross the street?

Okay.  Just for the fun of it, I opened the Solitaire program this morning to get 8 Q 2 J K 2 6.  This translates to 812-211-1326.  This time I got hit on a number in Chandler, Indiana.  However, doing a reverse search with Spokeo, the "owner" of that "landline" is presently at an address in Montgomery, Alabama.  This is odd.

Using Whitepages.com, I can confirm that the number is indeed the state of Indiana and not Alabama.  The available area code directory then shows that it is in southern Indiana, confirming the first search result to a point.  Short of calling the number or paying for the privilege of more info, I'd say this is about as far as I can go.

Going on to random links of the numbers 211 1326 I stumbled across a couple of things that are interesting.  First, a GIF submitted to Reddit.com a year ago, measuring 320 x 211 at 1326 Kilobytes, one finds a funny video of a dog crossing the road on two legs. Thanks go out to submitter "derplink."  Oddly, my download reduced the size to 976 KB.  Enjoy:



Speaking of walking, Yahoo Answers a question about walking around a round pond with an area of "about 138,656 square feet," with an approximate walk being 1326 feet, given a rounded radius of 210.1 feet and keeping one's feet dry.  To quote the answer: "This would make my walk 2 pi * 211 = 1326 ft (approx)."  The circumference of the given area is 1320 feet (to two decimal places).  It is odd that someone would give the area, but being a math guy I kinda understand.



Monday, July 21, 2014

"125-2119" Touched by Autism

I just finished watching "Touch" on Netflix.  Having two grandsons with autism piqued my interest in this truncated series about a young boy who communicated with numbers.  He not only communicated in numbers, but he saw patterns that connected seemingly random individuals.

Well in the spirit of that fictional autistic boy, I tried an experiment using a truly random number in dealing a hand of Solitaire.  Actually, it was the game called "Klondike" commonly called "Solitaire," but I digress.  The cards that came were: 8 J Q 5 2 J 9.  Giving the face cards their value, this changed to 8 11 12 5 2 11 9.

I first converted that to a phone number, 811-125-2119, but found nothing.  Abandoning the 811 area code, I tried just 125-2119.  While this gave me several phone numbers to choose from, I found other "hits" to be more interesting.

First, I found the RGB color: 125, 2, 119, "Dark Magenta" (a purple with just a little green in it).  The Hexadecimal version is 7d0277.  Just for fun, this paragraph is in the Hexadecimal version.6

That being a neat, but useless little factoid, I moved further down the list, finding a Michigan state law, Act 224 of 1985, section 125.2119, which reads:

ENTERPRISE ZONE ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 224 of 1985


125.2119 Duration of exemption or credit.

Sec. 19.

An exemption or credit granted to a qualified business shall continue until the certification of the qualified business is revoked, as provided in this act, or for 10 years from the date that the business is certified as a qualified business. Even if approval of an enterprise zone is revoked by the authority as provided in this act, an exemption or credit granted to a qualified business located in that enterprise zone shall continue until revoked or until the 10-year or other specified period elapses.

So, now you know how you can continue to do business even after an "enterprise zone" is no longer in affect in your neighborhood.

Well, since I don't live anywhere near Michigan, I looked further for some trivia connected to 125-2119.  Imagine my surprise when I found that at the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service, form MMS-125 received 2119 responses.  At an estimated one hour response time, this translates to $74,165 in estimated cost ($35 per hour).  This is for regulations to keep oil and natural gas wells safe.  On a whim, I searched Google to see what that money might buy.  Well, in nearby Atlanta a 2014 Cadillac Escalade Platinum Edition lists for exactly  that amount.

But alas, I don't have the government's money and I'd probably not buy a luxury SUV, so I moved on to something else.  I found something I might be able to afford: a Trusco model #125-2119 Hex wrench tool from Monotaro.  The size of a pocket knife, I can have it for just 19.09 SGD (Singapore Dollars).  But alas, they don't ship to the USA!

Finally, the fine folks at Pipl, the people finders, gave me a real live person.  He is a 7th Grade Math teacher in Pennsylvania!  If I were Jake Bohm's dad, I might be emailing the guy to ask him if he knows anything about Michigan state Law or tools from Singapore.

Well, if anyone wants to fall in love with a fictional 11 year old boy with autism, try the first season of "Touch."  The producers did a good job of presenting autistic behavior.  Meanwhile, check out Autism Speaks and other support groups.