Rookie Guru

On May 10th, 1869, the race to complete the great transcontinental railroad came to an end with a golden spike.  In three long and difficult years, the two companies, Union Pacific and Central Pacific laid nearly 2000 miles of track ultimately meeting in Promontory, Utah. It was known there was a need for this railroad since 1832, but challenges arose in congressional funding and the civil war.  In 1853, congress finally approved funds to survey the land.  However, with the rising tensions from the North and South, progress was slow going.  It wasn't until 1862, one year into the civil war that a Republican-controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act, which guaranteed public land grants and loans to the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad companies. In 1866, construction finally began, but was not without it challenges.  Terrible weather, long harsh work hours, Indian raids and getting over/through the Sierra Nevada mountains are just a few of the hardship

“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” -George Washington On February 22, 1732, the world was forever changed when a special child was born. He was a husband, a father (of adopted children), a man of faith, a general and the first President of The United States of America. All the things he did in his life he did not aspire to do, but rose to the occasion when his people and his country needed him most. One thing is certain, he did it all with the help and direction of God. This great country was founded by our Father in Heaven. George knew this and always tried to do what's right before God. Countless miracles can be seen through the revolutionary war and the fact the colonies won against the powerful British army is a miracle in and of itself. Many times mysterious weather like fog, wind, and storms saved his troops and helped them defeat the Briti

Do you like watching TV, but hate that steep cable bill...?  What if you were able to cut the cable TV umbilical cord and get all your favorite TV shows for really cheap and even free?  This how to article will take you step by step on how to do just that.  To be upfront, it does require some initial hardware investment.  But that cost can depend on your desired features. Overview: You can get most local and some other channels for free over the air with a HD TV antenna and tuner.  People have been doing this for years, but I will show you how to do it and not sacrifice the shows you like and want.  Depending on what cable channels you watch and what you like, there are many options to get what you want.  Also depending on what features you want, the up front cost could be very little (~$200) or more significant (~$600-$1,000), but in the long run you can say goodbye to the cable company! You can just get free over the air channels and no DVR or you can pay some subscription fe

Today, is an endless vortex of communications.  We have land lines, fax machines, cell phones, texting, Skype, Facetime, satellites and streaming media to name a few.  But it all started with some wire and an idea.  Almost 200 years ago Samuel Morse gave his first public demonstration of the telegraph on January 11th 1838. Source: Wikipedia Samuel Morse invented and patented the Telegraph in 1837.  He came up with the concept and code known as Morse Code to be able to send messages over a wire with electricity.  He encoded the alphabet and numbers with dots and dashes that could then be sent with one telegraph key and received by another. Source: Wikipedia This was the first method of communication that was instantly received on the other side.  Before this invention all communications came by letter or messenger.  On this day in 1838, Morse demonstrated his invention at Speedwell Ironworks close to Morristown NJ.  He sent a message over 2 miles of wire to the amazeme

On this day December 14th 1962, a US made spacecraft called the Mariner 2 had finally arrived at it's long awaited destination Venus.  The Mariner 2 had launched on August 27th 1962, so it took just a little over 3 months to arrive. Before the Mariner 2 was successful, the Mariner 1 had to be self detonated only 5 mins after takeoff (July 22, 1962) due to it veering off course from a SW glitch.  They were able to correct that issue in the code and use other learnings to make Mariner 2 a success.  Although there were a few hiccups and course corrections through it's flight to Venus, it was able to recover from all of them and hit its mark. The Mariner 2 arrived at Venus on December 14th 1962 and began capturing data with its on-board instruments.  Weighing 40 lbs, here are the instruments it was equipped with: Microwave radiometer Infrared radiometer Three axis fluxgate magnetometer Cosmic ray detector Cosmic dust detector Solar plasma spectrometer Particle detect

It happens to all of us, young and old, short and tall. When that late afternoon hits and then the yawning frenzy begins. Sometimes or should I say many times we yawn when we feel tired.  But why is it the body has the need to do this?  Why do we yawn?! There are many theories as to why we yawn. Like many things about the human body, science can't quite explain it or just have theories and no real answers.  So here are some of the theories: We yawn because our brain needs oxygen This has been a theory for some time, but there is no real evidence this is the case We yawn to cool the brain Some theories are this is the way the brain regulates temperature.  When we yawn we draw in are to cool the bottom of the brain stem and cool our head down. We yawn to wake ourselves up Theory is that yawning is the bodies counter measure to wake itself up when too tired.  By the body doing this, it causes muscles to contract and blood to flow waking you up. We yawn when bored