kowalskil

A Digital Voice Recorder Digital voice recorders are much better than old tape recorders. About a week ago I finally bought one, for $50. It was Sony ICD-312. Frustrated by learning from the little booklet (which came with the device) I decided to write my own very short introduction. The draft has just been posted at: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/sony-voice.html Comments and suggestions will be appreciated. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

Some of you are probably not too young to remember what happened nearly 23 years ago, on March 23, 1989. It was a dramatic announcement of the discovery of the so called Cold Fusion. Some people think that this was the greatest fiasco of the last century; others believe that this discovery was an important step toward future technology of pollution-free nuclear energy. The link to my free online book about Cold Fusion is: http://ludkow.info/cf/403memoir.html Please forward this post to those who might be interested. Thank you in advance. It is my third book written after the retirement. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

Mission Control for Mac Users A number of pages one can open on a computer screen--for example while browsing, or while writing a book (where each section might be in a different doc file)--can be very large. But working on a desktop overpopulated with windows is likely to be very inconvenient, especially when the screen is small. The application named Mission Control, that comes with Lion, the latest Macintosh operating system, offers two tools for dealing with "too many windows" situations. After learning how to use Mission Control, I decided to summarize what I have learned, in a short introductory User's Guide. How can a retired teacher miss an opportunity to teach? The guide is freely available online at http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/lion_mc.html Feel free to use it in any way you wish. And share what you know about Mission Control. Thank you in advance.

I agree 100%. How can anyone choose starvation? Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

Every scientist, among those who I met, was a philosopher, at least to some degree. But not every philosopher is a scientist. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

Me too, if the alternative were to starve. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

A mini-tutorial for some MAC users I just wrote a free online mini-tutorial for those who want to quickly learn how to use Keynote, a MAC application for creation of slide shows. The link to this short guide is: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/keynote.html Feel free to share it with others.

Radiation:Fukushima reactors update The accident phase was enden in Fukushima, as described at: http://tinyurl.com/8yshwhy But the process of “decommisioning reactors” is expected to take 40 years. Ludwik Kowalski .

Updating my mini-guide for Kindle users My free online mini-tutorial for Kindle users--“Kindle 3 How To: Notes to share”--has been updated. The added Note 11, for a potential writer of a Kindle book, describes how to create an active table of contents. Writing it was a real pedagogical challenge, especially displaying invisible components. The link is: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski//kindle/kindle2.html Feel free to share this link with others. Comments, as always, will be appreciated. Also share what you know about kindling. Thank you in advance.

Scientific methodology of validation of claims Some of you might be interested in an article (about a new invention) I have posted. The link is: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11027663-rossis-invention-unlimited-safe-and-inexpensive-energy-or-wishful-thinking-reporting-from-fort-lee-new-jersey It is an entry for a writing contest. Please post your comments at their website. Please evaluate this short article; it was written with general public in mind. Feel free to forward the above link to anyone who might be interested. Thank you in advance, Ludwik Kowalski

KINDLE FOR BEGINNERS My mini-book about using Kindle is available at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006E4PBK0 It describes only those basic tasks which I actually performed. The title is KINDLE HOW-TO: NOTES TO SHARE; the price is less than one dollar. Each short note describes a different task, as shown below: Table of Contents Introduction Note 1: Kindle's keys and buttons Note 2: How durable are Kindle's batteries? Note 3: Extracting text from a Kindle book Note 4: Kindle's wireless channels Note 5: Private documents on Kindle Note 6: Archiving my Kindle books Note 7: Finding a phrase in my Kindle book Note 8: Grouping Kindle books into collections Note 9: Reading Kindle books on my computer Note 10: Writing Kindlle books Being a beginner I would like to know what more knowledgeable people think about this mini-book. If you are one of such people then contact me by email at [email protected] and I will send you the mini-book in Word format. Your comments will help me to improve the book. Yes, I am contemplating a second edition, after becoming more knowledgeable. Please share the link with those who might be interested.

Publishing a Kindle Book 1) Inspired by The New York Times article about Kindle publishing (October 24, 2011), I prepared the third edition of my "Tyranny to Freedom ..." book, submitted the manuscript and the book was on the market in less than 24 hours. It costs only $0.99, the lowest permissible price. By the way, there are no shipping charges for Kindle books, delivered via Wi-Fi. 2) Those who want to learn from my limited technical experience producing a Kindle book are invited to visit this website: http://csam.montclai...indle/toc1.html 3) Will kindle devices replace traditional books? I do not think so. But many people say that I am wrong. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikopedia) .

How did Stalin manage to outmaneuver so many After reading an interesting, and rather unique, book about Stalin, I just posted a very short review of it, at the Amazon’s website. Here it is, for those who might be interested: I agree with those who wrote that Montefiore's voluminous "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar" is not always easy reading. But it is certainly worthwhile for the light it sheds on relations between Stalin and his close subordinates, those whom he liquidated and those who survived him. Stalin's methods of domination--both brutal and ideological--are skillfully described. The same applies to personal relations between communist leaders. The Soviet Union was the first country in which the idea of proletarian dictatorship, formulated by Marx, was implemented. That is why all aspects of Soviet history are worth studying. Be aware that the number of characters is unusually large. Fortunately, Stalin's family tree and the introductory section entitled "List of Characters" should help readers to deal with this problem. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

Those interested in automatic translators will probably find this article useful: http://www.independe...ks-2353594.html It is about how Google Translate works, and why it usually outperforms other automatic translators. To verify this claim, I translated a piece from English to Russian. The result was not perfect but it was very good. Here is what to do: 1) Go to http://translategoogle.com 2) Specify languages, for example, English --> Russian 3) Paste (or type) the text to be translated. 4) Click on the “translate” button The translated text will appear at once. You can just read it or cut-and-paste it into another document. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

1) Those interested in recently (?) measured radiation levels (at different distances from the Fukushima reactors in Japan) should see: http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuclear/pdf/monitor02_01.pdf (dose levels measured 1 meter above the ground) http://www.meti.go.jp/earthquake/nuclear/pdf/monitor02_02.pdf (dose levels measured 1 centimeter above the ground) Radiation levels near the Fukishima reactors Note that the color code is explained near the lower left corner of each dispay. Radiation levels are expressed in micro-Sieverts per hour. [The 10 micro-sieverts, for example, is the same as 0.01 mSv, etc. And 10 micro-Sievert/hour is the same as 0.24 mSv/day, or 7.2 mSv/month.] 2) The effect of penetrating radiation on a person depends on the dose received. The common unit of dose is Sievert (Sv). Smaller doses are expressed in milliseverts (mSv) or microseveret. A dose of 10 Sv will most likely results in death, within a day or two. 5 Sv would kill about 50% of exposed people. 2 Sv can also be fatal, especially without prompt treatment. 0.25 Sv = 250 mSv is the limit for emergency workers in life-saving operations. 0.10 Sv = 100 mSv dose is clearly linked to later cancer risks. 0.05 Sv = 50 mSv is the yearly limit for radiation workers. 0.004 Sv= 4 mSv typical yearly dose due to natural radiation (cosmic rays, etc). 0.003 Sv= 3 mSV typical dose from mammogram Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

Bacteria destroy radioactivity A claim: radioactivity can be reduced by bacteria. See this link: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/402vysotskii.html Radioactive Cs-137 is mostly responsible for meltdowns of spent reactor fuel. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

The 70th anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union was on June 21. On that occasion I visited many Russian websites. What a surprise to find that both communists and anticommunists glorify Stalin in today's Russia. Communists remember him as a great Marxist ideologist, as Lenin's partner, as a leader responsible for collectivization of agriculture, for rapid industrialization, and for merciless destruction of traitors, especially within the communist party and the military, in the late 1930's. Briefly, they glorify him as the leader of the Soviet proletarian dictatorship, and as a military genius responsible for the Soviet victory over fascism. The anticommunists also claim that Stalin was responsible for the Soviet victory over fascism. But they totally ignore his communist ideology, and the brutality he used to impose obedience. Logically, the attitude toward Stalinism should divide communists and anticommunists. But in reality it seems to unite them. How can this be explained? And this is not the only puzzle. As some of you probably remember, I wrote a memoir about life in the Soviet Union during the first year of the war. It can be seen at http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/dedenievo.html Thinking about the approaching 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War--that is how Russians refer to their experience during WWII--I sent the above link to perhaps as many as 20 editors of Russian newspapers, giving them permission to translate and publish my memoir. Not a single one responded. How can this be explained? Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

How should I interpret the term "being"? It already assumes "existence," of what you have in mind. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

By leaving the US one is no longer protected by the tax-supported services, such as police, etc. That makes the argument valid, in my opinion. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

Facts-Based Fiction: Polish Jews in Siberia Some of you might be interested in this: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/siberia.html The piece of facts-based fiction was written as my second assignment, at the memoir writing workshop for senior citizens. The first assignment was to write a true memoir; it is also freely available online. The link is http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/dedenievo.html Comments will be appreciated. Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

This forum is for sharing our own products. But that is not what I am doing. I am sharing a product created by someone else. He interviewed me, recording our talk, and produced a CD. I ripped the content and made the audio file available over the Internet. Some of you might be interested. The link is http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/interview1.html Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

I hope this claim-nuclear electricity ten times less expensive than from coal, and without any pollution--to be real. But the odds are against it. An Italian inventor, Andrea Rossi, claims that a 1000 MW nuclear reactor, being constructed in Greece, will become operational in October 2011. I hope he is right; how can one not be happy to have electricity which is ten times less expensive than from coal, and without any pollution? But I am skeptical. Why? Read this paper: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/rossi.html But many reputable people take his claim seriously, as illustrated in these two posts: http://www.rainews24.rai.it/it/video.php?id=23096 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzL3RIlcwbY How can such optimism be explained? Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) . .

How can a society exist without a government? How can a government exist without money? How else can money be reliably collected to govern? Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) .

These are examples of political uses of religion. I wanted to discuss theological conflicts between theists and atheists, not political conflicts. (Religion = theism + much more.) Ludwik

Theists and Atheists I still do not know what can be done to eliminate endless conflicts between theists and atheists. But comments collected at several websites prompted me to compose a short on-line paper at: http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/theo_sci.html It can probably be used to initiate an interesting discussion here. Please share this link with those who might be interested. Ludwik Kowalski Professor Emeritus Montclair State University, USA .