Primes, Roots, and Cryptography

As you may already know, a prime number is one that has exactly two factors, 1 and itself. No number will divide a prime number and create a non decimal answer. It turns out too, that when you break down a number into its factors, the factors are always prime, whether the number itself is or not. This is especially useful when doing square roots. For example, when you factor the number 36, you get 2*2*3*3. This also means the root of 36 is root(2*2*3*3). Since the square root of a number times itself is just the number, it is easy to see that for each repeated number under the square root sign, we can pull one out as a whole number. So the square root of 36 is 2*3, or 6.

The same thing can be done for prime numbers, but you won't get any actual factors, and it would be silly to write 1 as a factor; it's kind of a given. Nonetheless, this same thing can be done for much larger numbers too. If we wanted to find root(220,000) we would of course need a calculator and the best place to start would be dividing by 2 because it is obvious that 2 will divide it. Anyway, we find that the factors are 2*2*2*2*2*5*5*5*5*11. So root(220,000) equals 2*2*5*5*root(5*11) or 100*root(55).

Occupy the White House

It occurred to me recently that reform is impossible with the people we have elected; obviously our government works for the 1%. One of the best candidates we have for president is Buddy Roemer, but the system is so corrupt that they don't allow him in the debates with one pretext or another; besides, the elections could be rigged.

Therefore, I propose organizing a massive walk to Washington to ask for Obama's resignation. We elected him to work for us and instead he is working for the corporate oligarchy; it is our constitutional right to replace him at any time. They did it in Egypt. We can do it here!

We choose a date and depart from New York, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to meet in Washington DC at another set date (we can use vehicles part of the way if necessary). By the time we get there, enlisting occupiers along the way, we should number on the thousands. And we occupy until we install a new president and replace the Federal Reserve System (a banking cartel that stole our government in 1913 - it is unconstitutional) Please check: The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second look at the Federal Reserve, by G Edward Griffin.

The Dutch Attempt Colonization In The New World

Engaging in a voyage for the Dutch East India Company, in 1609, Henry Hudson was seeking a Northwest Passage to the Indies and the spices and wealth of Asia. Hudson's attempt was fruitless, but by it, learned that the mouth of Hudson River offered attractive possibilities for settlement, due to the fertility of the land and the possibilities of a profitable fur trade with the Iroquois Indians.

The Dutch East India Company quickly lost interest in this region, after the attempt to find a passage to the Far East had failed. However, other Dutch businessmen quickly sent voyages to explore, what is now New York, to seek out these new business opportunities, which ultimately led to permanent settlement. An important figure was Adrian Block, who sailed to Manhattan in the year 1613 and discovered; the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers, Rhode Island, and Block Island. In 1614, other Dutch ship owners secured trading posts in the area, leading to the permanent settlement of Albany.

All of the early trading posts were established through the direct efforts of business firms, and not through the initiative of governments.

China's Influence Upon the Technology of Luster

What has been evenly fired reflects just like red gold... and it shines as brightly as the sun! Something like this was said in the early 14th century about the quality called "luster." The way ceramics have been used throughout the Europe and the Islamic world for over a thousand years pertains to this quality in particular. The luster technique of decorating is actually complicated and expensive. It requires three skilled craftsmen and enough fuel for three separate firings. In fact, luster potters are forced to regulate the firing conditions very cautiously if they are to be successful. One cannot understand this technique simply by looking at the final product either. Luster decorating demands an arcane knowledge of the chemical process along with the quantities of different materials needed. It is easy to understand why exact techniques were most likely passed along from potter to potter over time. For the Asian enthusiast, the logical question is: How did this precise technology come about through the help of China?

The skill that eventually developed into luster pottery may have been first invented to decorate glass in Syria or Egypt around 700 CE. It is true that some of the best inventions were discovered by people through an "accident." So it was in Iraq in the 9th century that the production of luster decorated ceramics first began to be noticed. It was also at this time, during the boom years of the Abbasid Empire, that new long haul trade routes opened up. These routes connected the Islamic world and Tang dynasty China (618-907 CE). As a result, glazed Chinese ceramic wares started to come into the Iraqi port of Basra.

Carmine "Lilo" Galante - The Cigar

He was as vicious as Mafia boss Vito Genovese, as ambitious as Vito Genovese, and he was deeply involved in the heroin business as was Vito Genovese. However, Carmine "The Cigar" Galante, would not die of natural causes as did Vito Genovese (albeit in prison). Instead, Galante was murdered in one of the most memorable mob hits of all time. After his body was filled with lead, he lay sprawled on his back in the tiny backyard patio of a Queens restaurant, his trademark cigar clenched tightly between his teeth.

Camillo Galante was born on February 21st, 1910, at 27 Stanton Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Because both his parents, Vincenzo, a fisherman, and his wife (maiden name Vingenza Russo) had been born in the seaside village of Castellammarese del Golfo in Sicily, Galante was a pure first generation Sicilian/America. Galante had two brothers and two sisters, and when he was in grade school, Galante ditched his given name Camillo, and insisted he be called Carmine instead. Over the years it was shortened to "Lilo," which was the name most of his associates called Galante.

Galante first got into trouble for petty theft from a store counter when he was fourteen years old. But since he was a juvenile at the time, an account of this arrest is not in his official police record.

At various times, Galante attended Public High Schools 79 and 120, but he dropped out of school for good at the age of fifteen. Galante was in and out of reform school several times, and was considered an "incorrigible delinquent."

From 1923 to 1926, Galante was ostensibly employed at the Lubin Artificial Flower Company at 270 West Broadway. However, this was a ruse to satisfy the law that Galante was gainfully employed, when, in fact, he was engaged in a very lucrative criminal career.

Make Your Video Better Using Stock News Clips

Any producer who does not use stock news clips is not only lowering the quality of his presentations, he is also wasting valuable time and money. Video news reels can be dropped into a larger story easily because they are short, finished pieces. There are three primary types you can use to enhance your video production: conceptual clips, current news clips and archival clips. These can be added to your own footage to complete a story, used alone, or in combination with each other. Here is an explanation of each type of news footage clip and ideas of ways they can be best used.

1. Current news clips. A complete, current news story can be made by joining a narration to clips that are only a day or even a few hours old. They can be quickly put into a video to add current national and world news to your presentation without breaking your budget.

2. Archival clips. Many current stories are based on past news events. Help your audience gain an understanding of what is going on by including a short clip of former events that led to today's news. Most announcements of the death of Steve Jobs, for example, included news clips of him unveiling well-known products.

Barb Jacobs, a media specialist for a large VA hospital is in charge of producing a daily video clip of the day's events to be played on the building's closed circuit TV's. "I need stock clips to get stuff out quickly. If we are planning a Pearl Harbor Day service, then an archival clip of the attack does a lot, not only to help the audience understand why the ceremony is solemn and sacred but also to add drama to the announcement."

The Old West Versus the New West

The wild frontier of the 1880s is alive in the hearts of many. But unfortunately, it seems to be a dead issue in the hearts of our younger generation. I can understand this because as cities grow and technology races forward, our children are extremely busy trying to keep up with our rapidly advancing world. There is no time to introduce them to the details of the Old West and the advantages of learning about their ancestors who helped found our country. Because they don't know many of the details of the past, they don't have time to muse about life then and now, and compare the differences, both the good and the bad.

I wonder how the children of today would cope in the 1880s, and conversely, what the children of the 1880s would think of today's world. In the Old West there were no cars, no school buses, and the children of that era had no conception of cell phones or electronic games. Life was lived at a different level, but it was an important level for it helped shape our lives of today.

I often wonder what Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) would think of today's world, and what the women of the 1880s would think about our microwave ovens, fast food, and plastic wrap. When the women of olden times cooked a meal, they used heavy iron pans that wouldn't melt in an open flame. This was quite unlike today's world when we can take a slice of pizza or a piece of fried chicken, put it on a paper plate in the microwave oven and have it warmed up to eating temperature in a few seconds.