My Late Brother Larry

My brother Larry died on Christmas day 2017 at the age of 74. I do not have many pictures of Larry just a few of his baby pictures, but I have memories of him which I will share.

I believe I was only 4 years old, my parents were burning leaves and I walked too close to the flames and my right leg caught on fire. 

Naturally, I was crying and screaming. Larry came out to help , drop me to the ground and  rolled me until the fire was out.

At my very young age I thought he was picking on me while I was still in pain.
It turned out that he was reading his boy Scott book that day.

One day my brother brought in an aquarium tank filled with guppies that probably was a take home class project.

Once Larry went off to school my sister and I took the guppies out of the water ,put them on a tray so they wouldn't drown.

We were very young, we didn't know anything about gills. Larry was disappointed.

My brother is the one who taught me how to play chess. It started when I had placed  chess pieces on just the black squares of a checker board.

He taught me how to set up the chess board right, how the pieces move and the rules of the game.

In a few weeks I thought he was cheating with moves such as "en passant" and "castling" but they were legit.

Below  a  very short video of  Larry in his pontoon boat  1986:

When Larry was 18 he joined the armed forces. Once the terms were up for one  he enlisted into another. The goal of course is to make money a nest egg if you will.

My mom, Mary, told him "Larry, you're going to be a very old man before your time !"

Larry replied back saying: "Yes, but I will be a very rich old man !"

Larry was on the navy ship 'Enterprise" in 1968

Self Suggestions Being Evil

Seems like there is too much violent against kids cause by kids especially teenagers. Are these sick teenagers actually playing real life video games? In my opinion I believe so.

There are music and movies with very violent themes especially violent music with lyrics like "I'm going to hurt this person", "I'm going to hurt this person" saying same sentences over and over again. without the teenagers realizing that they may be actually being hypnotize to do harm to other people, especially when they are under 17 years of age.

What's worse these teens  drink alcohol and do street drugs making them more susceptible to the  violent lyrics and maybe acting out  those violence acts in the real world.

If a parent buys a violent killing video game for the kids, at least make sure they are  at least 17 years of  age or older. I am way over the age 17 and still I will never never never play 'Grand Thief Auto"or other similar games. What's wrong with playing a game of pacman?

           Please, always check the video game rating.
Of course these statements are just my opinions but every one has the right to my opinions. :)

                      On a more positive note
They say when kids are at the age of 10, the boys and girls cannot stand each other, but not always. I liked girls when I was the age of 10, even much younger than that, I was smitten with Edie Adams when I was only 5 years old.

I do not know if it just happens naturally or if I was influence with the songs I heard   "Alvin's Harmonica"  and "Thank Heaven For Little Girls". Both songs can be played below:
                Click here for Alvin's Harmonica
                       
   click here for "Thank Heaven For Little Girls"

Doing A 360 On A Chained Swing

In the 1950's when I was a kid my mom drove me to Glen Echo Park located in Columbus,Ohio.My mom sat in one of the swings and I was in the next one to her.

There were other kids playing in the park .so I decided to show off, by doing a 360 in a swing. I kept going faster and faster until I reached 100 degrees in the air, that's when the chain disconnected from one of the supporting hooks and I had fallen down to the hard ground crying.

While I was crying two pretty girls about my age raced up to me saying "Awww!"  and started to kiss my cheeks, one of them close to my mouth. The kisses made me feel a little better, but I was still in extreme pain.

My mom drove me back home and called our family doctor.In the 1950's doctors did make house calls.I had no broken bones, prescribed pain pills and ordered bed rest.

Now I beginning to think that doing a 360 in a chained swing unaided  is impossible and is very dangerous.

But I did kept on day dreaming about the two pretty girls who kissed me , wondering if they wanted a chance to kiss me ,or was it simply because  their motherly instincts  had taken over.

Even to this day I still don't know who they were, the park was crowded.(end)

Inconvenient-Convenient

I now pay most of my bills on-line but if you're on Wi-Fi is it safe ?  The answer is yes and no. No if you're using a public wi-fi and yes if you have a private wi-fi with a secured password. If you still don't feel safe you can always have one computer with the wi-fi  disabled and connect that computer directly to a router and just use your other devices for wi-fi. Don't worry the disabled wi-fi on your computer can be re-enabled.

Beware tough  billing via email with a link attached may be dangerous. There are hackers that pose as companies that send emails with legit looking links but leads to a fake site.
 Sure legit companies also send email links to their sites but if you go to the wrong one it will be the hackers that get the money and not the legit companies.It happen to me twice.

My cable company  told me they did not received payment, and now recently I got two emails from my cable company that tells me one of those emails are fake. So to avoid this problem do not click on the links in the emails, instead go to main site in your browser and type everything in yourself  making sure you see the lock padlock and https the 's' meaning secured. I got everything settled now.

In short even you think they are legit companies in your emails still don't click on the links, use your browser and just search for your companies' name.If you know the your passwords you use to enter various company sites then there is really no need in this case to use email anyway.

Paying bills online is very convenient ,especially if you do not want to go out in -40 degree or 130 degree weather. I used to ride my bicycle in very hot weather in early morning to the insurance building to pay my bill. Not anymore, I can still pay the amount I owe just sitting in front of my air conditioner. :

I do not have a credit or debit card so how do I pay my bills? Simple really I use the online check sometimes called electronic bank transfers. All is required is:  Your bank information, the router number and account numbers of your checking/savings account and of course your company's account number, and so far there is no convenience fee using this option, either from ( my bank anyway) or companies.

On checks the routing number is on the bottom right side of the check and  your account number is just right of it. (end)

Super Strength And Ouija Boards.

Two weeks ago I was watching an episode of Supergirl, one of the plots was this ordinary mom suddenly gaining super-strength, and  lifted  a downed very heavy antenna tower off her pinned daughter. 

This really does happens in real life. In a emergency the adrenaline levels of a human body goes way up, and goes back again to normal, after the save, but why don't we have an overflow of adrenaline all the time ? The answer is it would kill us. Best just have bursts of strength. 

That Supergirl link of the mention episode is below at least for a few weeks anyway:
                                    Supergirl S3-E1

Now for ouija boards. People may think that spirits are moving the ouija planchette  if that was the case the planchette wouldn't have to be touch at all. 

It is actually people moving the planchette  not being consciously aware of it.The answers it displays  comes from people's subconscious minds and not the spirits.

These answers may come from various sources from the subconscious like movies or tv shows,past memories of long time ago etc. .So don't take the answers seriously.

If a people want to play with the ouija boards make the group all male or all female. The ouija boards works better on male-female teams  but there is a real danger. Read the next paragraph. 

The danger is  subconscious minds can make things happen accidentally in real life. 

Try this experiment: Have  male and female teams think of someone they know at exactly at the same time. Let's named that person Steve. Now have them visualize Steve dropping his pants at Wal-mart in the middle of one of the aisles then wait and see if it happens in real life and remember be specific.

 Only try this experiment once and see if it works; Keeping "cursing" somebody will fall ten times  worst on you and/or on your team mates..Keep reading....

It is best to avoid ouija boards all together. 

What you think it is still spirits and not the subconscious minds ?  Read the back of the box that the ouija board  had came in-- it'll will tell you it's dwelling into people's  subconscious minds.(end)

Weird Dreams

At my old age I take a lot of prescription medicine for various health conditions some of which have side effects of causing weird dreams.

                             THE GIFT OF GOUT 
One night I dreamt I was on  a moving passenger train I saw this beautiful blond actress who plays a money broke girl on a popular sitcom. In my dream I was lying down face-up  on one of the train beds with my bare feet sticking out from the covers.I was going to ask her an  autograph then show her a magic trick. 

 I was half asleep, my mind in the real world was thinking she may have time for an autograph  request, but she may not have time to stick  around for a magic trick. She kissed my left bare foot and departed to go  to bed. When I woke up,in the real world, I have seen what look like a red nipple on my left big toe. I woke up with gout.

I had gout twice before and it hurts. This time I was not going to fool around I made an appointment with my doctor, who gave me a shot in my bare butt and sent me home with antibiotics.

                             THE BLUE MAN
Another dream I had was about a six foot blue skin man who told me "I don't want you to be walking around !".  The next scene, if you will, was the same exact blue skin man but this time he was only two feet tall  walking through Wal-Marts' Aisles.

On awaking that night walking to my bathroom I stubbed my toe on my right foot which in turn made my ankle hurt. My home nurse (who comes once a week) took a look at it and told me "It's not too bad, let it heal on its own".It was healed within a week. This blue skin man had the same shade of blue like my omeprazole prescription pills (stomach acid reducer).
            
                        THE COFFIN DREAM
One night I had a coffin dream. I dreamt I was in a closed coffin and couldn't breathe; Again, I was only half asleep, lying face up in bed  aware that I was dreaming. I tried hard to wake up but I was paralyzed took every will power of my brain to move my muscles to get woken up. I finally got woken up and was glad it was just a dream.

Exponents

In this blog the numbers are as they are called in the United States. They may be called different names in other countries.

I was watching 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ?' and one of the easy questions was: What is thousand times thousand?  The answer of course is one million, in which the contestant knew. She only had to add three zeroes at the end of the number one thousand 1,000,000 making it one million.

If it was a hard question in my case, I would have been using the exponents for example (10^3) x  (10^3) = (10^6) which means the
number 1 followed by 6 zeroes or one million. Yes, you add the exponents to multiply and subtract the exponents  when dividing..

Now for a hard question:  What is a trillion divided by a billion?
In the United States the small scale trillion is the number 1 followed by 12 zeroes.

 A billion is the number 1 followed by 9 zeroes. Can the person actually keep track of all the zeroes when dividing in their head ?  That's going to be hard !

1,000,000,000,000 divided by 1,000,000,000 of course  is easy with pencil and paper and crossing out zeroes making the answer one thousand. However on 'Millionaire' you will not be allowed to use paper and pencil, making figuring exponents in your head the best option.

(10^12) divided by (10^9) when the exponents are subtracted (since we are dividing this time) smaller from the larger, we get the answer (10^3) which is the number one followed by three zeroes or one thousand. So a trillion (small scale) divided by a billion is a thousand.

Now there is a long scale trillion which is the number one followed by 18 zeroes instead of 12 zeroes.Of course on Millionaire they probably would have to state if it's the large scale trillion or the small scale trillion to be fair.

What do the exponents mean ?  Let's find all the combinations of Bingo .No, it is not 75 combinations but;
              (15^5) or ( 15 x 15 x 15 x 15 x 15)
 giving us the answer of: 759,375 combinations and not 75.

I can break down those bingo combinations, like how many odds-evens there are, or how many combinations are all odd, but since most bingo places do not allow a person to choose their own card(s) any more, why bother?

Now for math oddities: 
What is zero in the zero power ? (0^0) is it one or zero ?
No one really knows, so it 's undefined. On old computers they will give an error message, but on new computers Google calculator will give you the answer as one; Even the zero in zero power, it's just the way that Google calculator is programmed . However, (0^0) is never use anyway, so why worry about it?

What is 6 divided by zero ? Is it 6 , 0  or infinity ? Another 
mathematical oddity.

Another oddity the square root of a negative number { -25^ (1/2)} Google calculator will give this result as -5 which is classified as an imagery number. It can  also be written  as, i = -5,.simply because
 -5 x -5 gives us actually a positive 25 (+25) and not a negative 25 (-25).
                                   ****END***

                          

What ?!! ,A State Highway Inside Of An Airplane?

In 1968 I joined the navy. A car pick me up and drove me to the Columbus, Ohio airport.It was the first time I have had seen an airplane full size. Man, those suckers are huge. I just don't know how they even get off the ground. 

When I was seated  every time I talked I could of sworn  I heard my own voice behind me. I heard other people also talking about going their way to boot camp.

Finally, we stopped at a Chicago bus station and boarding the bus taking us on our way to boot camp.

In about 20 minutes at 3:45 A.M Illinois time we arrived at boot camp and everything all of a sudden got quiet. We went to bed at 3:50 A.M  about an 1/2 hour later we were told to get up. Geeze..

I had a knot in my stomach but fortunately they had a brand names soda machine.They told me I didn't need to put any money in the coin slot, just press the button of the drink I wanted. The soda did helped my stomach a little bit.

We were given clothes, sewing kit, a Bible, and a chit book which was like those old food stamp books tearing out the amount you want when going to stores, except it was not limited just for food. 

At least we got three meals a day we did not have to pay and we were free to choose what ever we wanted on our plates.  

During our first week we marched most of the day and even sang a marching song once.We went to bed at 9:30 PM and were awaken at 4:30 AM 

After we got our buzz cuts we were tailored for  our sailor uniforms and  were issued rifles. A rifle? I never shot a weapon in my life. I  don't even hunt or fish; Not too mention I had to  get used to listening to new adjectives.

Finally my two year term was up and I was honorably discharged. They told me I can re-enlist BUT with a chance going to Vietnam ?!, No thank you. "I'm out of here !". 

 I am glad I didn't have the opportunely to kill anyone, friend or foe. Now don't tell me that is nothing to be proud of !.

I was driven to the O' Hare airport boarded a plane. A beautiful stewardess took me to my seat and took my order from a menu which I wasn't charge. 

Forty-five minutes later, at Columbus, Ohio it was time for me to dis board but it was a huge plane and even saw a highway through glass windows inside the plane then I caught on;They probably had "docked" at the bus station. Yes, I wondered, what is a highway doing inside of an airplane?

I was allowed to keep some of my navy clothes which still had my military serial number paint-stamped on them including the duffel bag.

About three months later my sister got a nursing job and a new apartment, which she was going to share with her female friend. She took my duffel bag, took out all my comic books,all my movie magazines, all  my Reader's Digest books and the book I was reading green hard cover "How Green Was My Valley ?" 

I decided to help my sister out, by folding all her clothes into triangles before putting them in my duffel bag. It turned out she didn't want her clothes folded into triangles. lol  (end)

Why Do We Have Rainbows?

 It seems like I have a dry spell, so I figure the only cure is to write at least something down.. 

Vanessa: "Mom?!, why do we have rainbows?"

Jackie:   "Well, honey, it's God's way of reminding peoples of the world  that we all should  get along regardless of race; Like if the whole world is just like one big happy rainbow"

Jackie continues:   "Not only that, but we also have to respect and appreciate each other as well, that  includes respecting each other's peaceful religions and also to respect peoples' sexual orientations. 

As far as religions are concern ,in my option No one is righter than the other ! We all must get along, of course relations and friends are going to argue but that is just a normal part of life" 

Vanessa: "In other words, you're telling me that the myth of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is actually a metaphor for love and peace, and to find that love and peace we all must get along like the colors of a rainbow, and to accept people just the way they are"

Jackie: "Oh my God, Vanessa,  you're smarter than I am !"

Vanessa: " I love you, mom"

Jackie: "I love you too, honey, now give  mommy a great big hug"

                                      ***END***

How Many Identical Twins In Germany

Germany sure has a lot of identical twins or it may seem that way since the whole country of Germany is half the size of Texas also when I look at the numbers on my blog most hits I have gotten were the blogs about the German twins Allison and Heidi who I had known 54 years ago

Below is a picture of one set of identical twins holding hands before finishing a race either they knew what each other was thinking or they have had talked about it.Their brains are similar.
 click here to see picture of one set of German twins.

Below  a German music video from identical twins Kathrina and Jessica "All Peoples of/on The World"
  click here for Katharina's and Jessica's Music Video

Another German music video below but this time from Verena  and Nadine singing "7 Days Longing" notice they both have freckles which does not bother me (remember the German "V" sounds like the English "F"):  
   click here for Verena's and Nadine's music video

If I was still in the fifth grade with let's say that are about 10 sets of identical twins in our class I and my male friends would definitely would have a field day. Hey ! here's an idea rotating girl friends. :) read on....

Below is a video of a duo who are not twins. They're not even sisters which is revealed in their interview at the end. Heard of The Beatles, well they are not actually beetles are they?

Also you will notice they are in line skating, playing and singing which proves that females are better at multi-tasking than men are. 
          click here for Twinnies' music video.

I did take German in the fifth grade and Spainish from the eighth grade. I like the German language better they don't talk a mile a minute.(end)

Where Did The 100 Come From?

About a month ago I posted this tweet on my stanleyinparis' account:  

But where did the number 100 come from ?

Simple a person can write the formula this way: 

X%  of  30 = 19.5

The percent sign "%" just by itself has a value of  1/100, so we simply replace the percent sign with the value of 1/100.

X (1/100) of 30 =19.5

X/100 of 30 =19.5 

30X/100 = 19.5

Ike He Is Not A Man

 Jackie  gives her present husband Ike money to pay the bills but instead of paying bills Ike has been spending the money on whiskey and other liquors that's when Jackie decided to drop Ike like a lead balloon and since the house is in her name Jackie tells Ike to get the hell out.

Jackie: "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU SON OF A BITCH !

I HAVE NO CABLE, NO PHONE SERVICES AND THE WI-FI PEOPLE ARE NOT EVEN COMING."

"YOU DON'T EVEN THINK OF MY DAUGHTER VANESSA ONLY YOURSELF AND SHE  NEEDS A NEW ASTHMA INHALER IT'S  ABOUT OUT ! YOU  F**K-ING BITCH !"

Ike punches Jackie in the eye and then he pushes her daughter Vanessa on the floor. Vanessa runs upstairs and starts to cry. Later Vanessa braves up gets on her computer and goes on Facebook to tell her friends about her troubles then decides to text her very best friend to  please call the police.

 Days later at court the jury finds Ike guilty.

Vanessa: "Is my former dad going to be in jail for the rest of his life ?"

   

Jackie:"No, Honey, people in this state do not take wife and child beaters lightly. He is going to pay the ultimate price; That way a person would think twice before beating a child or woman !"

Jackie: "By the way, how did you get on the internet ?"

Vanessa explains:  " I was so excited to be on Wi-Fi  I couldn't wait!  A few days ago, I have had asked Ivy the old lady next door if I may piggy back on hers. She gave me  permission and a temporary password I can use, until we get Wi-Fi  of our own then she's going to change it back"

Jackie: "Vanessa, you are a very smart girl and  a life saver"

Vanessa: "Thank you and why was Ike so mean?"

Jackie:" People like that do not have love in their hearts especially pure love. I have pure love, you have pure love and Johnny who is going to be my new husband has pure love . You will love Johnny"

Vanessa: "Is Johnny going to be anything like Ike?"

Jackie: "No, honey, far from it. Johnny is mostly a fixer upper he knows plumping, electrical work, knows how to fix cars, trucks and in your case bicycles, he can't even stand to see a hole in a wall if he sees one he goes and fixes it"

"Right now Johnny is installing a new furnace for us. He was going to clean our old ten year old furnance, but decided to buy us a new one.. Something about the flames being yellow in a natural gas furnace. They should be blue with small yellow tips, if  the flames are entirely yellow it means the natual gas furnace is extremely dirty and needs cleaning" 


Jackie continues: "But one thing Johnny cannot fix, Vanessa, are your health problems he is not a doctor which  is why you have appointment in two weeks."

Three weeks later after Jackie's services have been restored thanks to Johnny paying the bills a nurse calls to talk about Vanessa's health.

Nurse:  "Jackie ? Vanessa does not need inhalers anymore.Don't let her use them, for some strange reason her asthma went away;That does happen in some cases, however she still does  have some pollutants in her lungs but that will go away in time"

Jackie tells Vanessa the good news and ask "Where is Johnny ?"

Vanessa: "Down in the basement checking the elements in our electric water heater"

Jackie yells down the basement stairs: "Johnny, honey, don't forget we are getting married tomorrow"

The next day Jackie and Johnny walks down the wedding aisle:

Johnny: "Oh look, honey, there's a hole in the church wall, I have to fix that !"

Jackie: "Worry about that later. Right now we're getting married"

                              *****END****

.

What The Old Countrty Lady Had Heard.(PG-13)

One day an old lady started to knit in her rocking chair which was faced away from an opened window and her televison was turned off.Suddenly her neighbors Stanley and his friend Alice droved up after shopping in the city.

Talking about a car seat cover Stanley just had bought, here is what the old lady had heard:

Alice: "Okay, Stanley, unzipped it , take it out and put it over the car seat. I will  stretch it  far as it goes and tie it under the car seat". "Ooooh! My God Stanley, that is way too small ! I tell you what, let's drive back to the city and get you a new one"

On returning with a wider seat cover the old lady still in her rocking chair knitting heard more than she bargin for:

Alice: "Okay, Stanley like before unzip it and place it on top of the car seat "

Referring to one of the elastic straps Alice instructs Stanley: "Okay,Stanley pull on it, and stretch it out. and keep stretching it". "Oooh, dang, Stanley, you broke it. Now tie a knot in it !"

"That's it !" The old lady tought to herself  "I had heard enough.I'm going to my other room and take a nap, geeze !"

Let's Dispell The Black Cat Myth

One day I was eating inside of KFC and  Nancy a  female friend of mine who I haven't seen for a ages came through the door. She saw me and said "Awww, Stanley" she hugged me and kiss me on the cheek then something weird happen:  A teenage boy nearby  who saw the kiss  ran out of the door crying. We  figured that he must be one of the people from our town's mental health center.He even left his food on the table.

We're not psycologists, but we did assumed to get over  something like that he'll have  to face it head on. For example making him watch couples kissing over and over again ,in either real life or on TV, until it no longer bothers him.

But like I said before we are no psycologists.He may be even conditioned that way, so he will have no choice but to go back to his  psycologist over and over again to pay her/him more and more money.

So I am guessing for people that had their minds "poisoned" with the black cat myth since they were kids ,will have to walk pass a black cat's path over and over again until they are no longer scared and finally realize all this black cat business is  nonsense.

Maybe even start a club like the "Superstitions Dispelling Club". "The Black Cat Club" already has been taken and it's a nightclub in Washington, D.C.

.Just because something is read in a book or someone says something does not make it true.

Now there are some cats (felines)  you need to be afraid of like lions, tigers, pathners etc. That is understandable but to be afraid of a little black  house cat that goes" meow" that's ridiculous. See 30 second video below:

October 27th is National Black Cat Day in England and Ireland. August 17 th in the United States

***END***

Thunderstroms And Coin Flipping

You may be thinking this blog is about people flipping coins in a thunderstrom to see if  lighting would hit them. Kind of dangerous but amusing.

Actually  I am going to show how to figure how far a thunderstorm is.After  that, the odds of flipping a coin, believe it or not the odds change when the coin is flipped more than once.

One day I was watching the new Mcgyver and his friend Jack counted off 11 seconds and said the thunderstorm is 2 miles away. Was he right? Sort of ,it was actually 2 1/5 miles away.

Once you see  lighting  start counting off the seconds until you hear thunder and divide that result by 5.

 It won't be exact but it will be a ballpark figure. Remember lighting can strike 10 miles away from the storm. So if you figure the thunderstrom is 15 miles away doesn't mean you're safe; Go inside a safe building.

Also if a thunderstrom seems like it came to an end, wait another 1/2 hour it may start up again.

Now for the odds of flipping a coin either heads or tails. 

When the coin is flipped only once that is of course is 1 out of  2 odds; But your odds change when you flip the coin more than once.

If you filp the coin twice your odds are 1 out of 4
                       1/2  x  1/2 = 1/4

Flipping the coin three times your odds are 1 out of 8
                       1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 = 1/8

Flipping the coin four times the odds are 16 to 1.
Flipping the coin five times the odds are  32 to 1.
and so on. Why would a person need to know this? 
Probably to win money on quiz shows.   :)
                     
                                    *****END****

                     

I Love Stitchers

I love Stitches so much that next month I am going to purchase Volume One of Stitches and Volume  Two a month after that. I do not have  debit and/or credit cards but I do go to the store and purchase a $25 iTune gift card once a month.I am on a budget.

Note: None of the gift cards iTunes or otherwise on the unsecured racks are activated. They must be activated at the cash register.So if you drop a few accidently on the floor while trying to get your  iTune card(s) don't worry about it.They're nothing but cardboard .They don't even have bugs that set off the store's alarm installed in them.

Of course there may be some idiots that will try to steal a handfull of those unknownst to them unactivated gift cards. The store will
even let them leave with them and probably report it to iTunes.

So when this person or persons try to enter an unactivated code into the computer it won't work, also iTunes now knows were they are exactly located. IDIOTS !   Duh! Oh that's where you are ! --lol

Not only that but they would not be allowed in that store again, not just the store they have in  their town, but all of them. Stealing is still stealing. Their name(s)  along with their picture is/are now in their database in all their branches.

Now why am I going to download Stitchers next month and the month after that? Well, this month I am planning to download Victoria Justice's new movie 'The Outcasts' . However I will still have some money left; I can at least download   some of the Stitchers episodes for $2.99 each just to get started.

         Stitchers Volume I  $19.99
         Stitchers Volume II $19.99
'The Outcasts' starring Victoria Justice $14.99

In the meantime I can have Stitchers fix on the Freeform website  
                                                     :)
         click here to see the cast of Stitchers.

    
    

Direct And indirect Variations

                                Intruduction:
Oh no not more math ? ! Why do I sometimes write  blogs about math? Sometimes parents need help with their kids' homework especially math (if they already don't know how). Math was one of my favorite subjects in school. 

 A direct variation in math is when if one thing increases then another thing increases as well. For example the more you buy the more you have to pay. It also applies to decreases. The less you buy the less you have to pay.

For example three apples cost you a dollar. How much would six apples cost? Yes, I know you already know the answer but let's do
the math anyway.

                                3            1
                               ----   =   ----
                                6            X

                   Now let's cross multiply: 
                                3X=6
                                  X=2
So if three apples cost one dollar then six apples cost two dollars.
      
Now on to the indirect variations where one thing increases while another decreases. For example when driving in a car the faster you go (increase)  the less time (decrease)  it would take you to get to your destination.

Let's say you are driving at 30 miles per hour and it took 8 hours to get to your destination. How long would it take  if you were driving  at 60 miles per hour ? Yes, I know you already know the answer, but again let's do the math anyway.
                              30       8
                             ----  = ----
                              60      X    

Hold it ! If we figure this equation as it stands now, we will get the  wrong answer of 16 . Remember this time it is an indirect variation in this case we have to invert one side doesn't matter which one. Let's invert the right side changing 8/X into X/8.

                             30      X
                            ----  = ---- 
                             60       8

              Now let's cross multiply: 
                 (30)(8) = 60(X)

            then divide by 60 on both sides.

                  (30)(8) 
                   -------  =   X
                    (60)

      30/60 can be reduce to 1/2 and 1/2 of 8 is 4 which is now the correct answer. So there we have it in this indirect variation. If it took 8 hours to get to your destination driving at 30 MPH  then it would take you 4 hours driving at  60 MPH

If you understand expontents see also:
        click here for Doubling Pennies On A Checkerboard.

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How To Colorize B/W Photographs In Photoshop

Why would anyone want to colorize a black and white photograph ? Because it's fun and it is also relaxing .Maybe it's cold outside or it's raining and there is nothing else to do. Yes, you can have others to have it done for you, but I know you might want to do it yourself.
I will also show how to make photographs look like drawings. Don't worry it is very easy.

Open a black and white photo that you want to colorize, set your brush settings to color. What this does is let you paint the picture without painting over it, if not lower the opacity to a level that does.

You will notice below I have also have a color picture but why ? It is because in photoshop I can use the color picker (eye dropper) on the tip on my nose to match my skin tone. See video below the picture.You may want to watch it  full screen.

Some of the time the hair color may not come out right, so use your swatches and  opacity settings . Enjoy, think of colorizing photographs as a pages from a coloring book.

In this case I use the color blue choosen from the swatches.It takes practice.I am actually wearing a two color shirt.

Changing any photograph into a drawing:

Open any photo in photoshop. Go to Filter  (in the menu) then stylize and  find edges  ....

....then go to  Enhance   (in the menu) , adjust color   then remove color. Now you have another picture to color. Read on below the picture.

Now if you want a chalk drawing on blackboard look:

Go to Image (in the menu),  adjustments then finally invert.

Then save your painted picture using "save as" give it a name then press enter.

***END***

Best Friends Forever

In my old age I sometimes remember things that had long past and all the fun I had in the 1960's mostly listening to the radio and buying and playing records, reading comic code authority approved comic books, and even socializing.The only main problem I really had was doing my homework but not in the summer time.

On a rare cool August evening in 1963 my parents were planning a barbecue at Glen Echo Park located in Columbus,Ohio.We also invited  our  neighbor Linda , her family, as well as our good friends  the German identical twins Allison and Heidi.

Linda, since she is a member of a  Catholic  church   lead us into grace { not favoring one religion over the other here } While we were eating, Linda started to look at me  with hands folded as if she was still in prayer and spoke to me:  "Stanley, I know you have strong feelings for  Allison and Heidi  . Now is the time to tell them how you feel !" I had no idea how Linda knew that but okay.

Allison and Heidi have had heard what  Linda had just said, walked  towards me said to me : "kommen" and we started to walk holding hands while Linda gave me this advice:  "Stanley, close  the door to your mind and open your heart, let your heart do all the talking"

(After walking a short distance) "What's your heart trying to tell us. Stanley?" asked the twins. "We have an idea ,but we want it to be heard from you and your heart.. 
                        Tell us, Stanley, Tell us !"  

With a little choke in my voice , my head tilted down with  a small tear rolling down my cheek  I told them that I love them very much.I told them also that I have no idea, why I feel the way I do.

Knowing I was about to cry Allison and Heidi place their hands on my shoulders to console me: "Stanley, it is all right,you're not the only boy that feels that way about us. We know many more, but we do  love you  and  always will."  

"You're one of the few boys we can actually trust.In fact we consider you as our best male friend; But it would be better for all of us if we  just remain friends."

"We  will be leaving for west Germany very soon and we don't like to see you hurt . Let's consider our good times we had together and maybe going to have, including this day's  barbecue as our dates.

I knew they where telling the truth because they responded right away without any delays. 

Twins: "Now, let us go back to the barbecue. We will allow you to sit between us" with hands held and me now being thristy for a soda  to clear my throat we headed back to the barbecue party.

A few days later Allison and Heidi arrived at my house and asked my parents " hier ist Stanley ?". My mom yelled upstairs: "Stanley? Heidi and Allison are here, they want to talk to you !"

What the twins wanted is to give me something to remember them by, in case I would be unable to see them again.

(After getting my parent's permission) The twins and I carved our names on a tree then carved  a heart around our names, beside that heart another heart that has been kissed and carved just by Allison and Heidi themselves including the sentence: 
"Beste Freunde für immer"

This is definitely love
***END***
                    See music video below sung by Beatrice Egli  
            Now And Here For Always title translated from German   
                                                                                                                                                     See also:  
               Allison And Heidi Roller Skating German Twins