National Geographic

omni-directional wheels

http://www.airtrax.com/company/history.shtml

From United States Patent Office:
Omni-directional vehicles capable of controlled motion in any direction have long been recognized as having many useful applications. A number of designs of omni-directional vehicles have been disclosed. Most omni-directional vehicle designs are similar in that they use wheels that feature a number of rollers positioned about the periphery of the wheel; the rollers permit the wheels to support motion in directions at an angle to the wheel's plane of rotation. Omni-directional vehicles using such omni-directional wheels can move in any direction by rotating the wheels and rollers in an appropriate combination. Each omni-directional wheel's rotation is mechanically driven and servo controlled in a coordinated fashion to cause the vehicle to follow a desired path as previously disclosed by Ilon in U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,782. Three, four, or more omni-directional wheels are connected to a suitable chassis, suspension, wheel drives, and controls to form an omni-directional vehicle. Hereinafter, all uses of the words "roller" and "rollers" refer to the type of rollers used on or designed for omni-directional wheels for omni-directional vehicles.

Omni-directional wheels can be grouped into two general classifications. The first class of wheels is comprised of a rigid hub that supports a number of free spinning rollers around its periphery. The hub is rigidly coupled to an axle that, along with other omni-directional wheels and axles, supports the vehicle. The rollers are mounted at an oblique angle to the wheel's axle and are free to rotate about their own axles. Omni-directional wheel roller mounting angles of ninety degrees have been disclosed by Blumrich in U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,947. The omni-directional wheel disclosed by Blumrich was mechanically driven to produce motion parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheel. Omni-directional wheel designs with a ninety-degree roller mounting angle and free-spinning rollers have been disclosed by Bradbury in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,753; Hiscock in U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,899; Smith in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,460; and Guile in U.S. Pat. Nos. D318,219 and D318,791. Omni-directional wheels with rollers mounted obliquely at roller mounting angles of approximately forty-five degrees with respect to the wheel shaft have been disclosed by Ilon in U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,255 and Amico in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,966. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,876,255 and 5,701,966 are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The second class of omni-directional wheels differ from the above described omni-directional wheel design concepts in that the rotational axes of the free spinning rollers intersect with the wheel's axis of rotation. Wheels of this class have been disclosed by Bradbury in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,753, and by Pin, et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,879. In wheels of this class, two or more spherical rollers are mounted in fixed positions so as to constrain the vehicle's motion in the direction of wheel rotation, while being unconstrained in a direction that is orthogonal to the wheel's axis.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=9&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ptxt&s1=5,701,966&OS=5,701,966&RS=5,701,966

1987 was a very good year !!

The A2000 was actually two machines in one, it was first a Commodore computer capable of the fantastic graphics and sound with a large library of games, and second an IBM clone completely compatible with the entire DOS based software library.

Specifications here:
http://www.myoldcomputers.com/museum/comp/amiga2000.htm

I used to build 8" floppy drives for Shugart

This was our third computer.................

The TRS-80 model II was intended to be a business computer for use in offices and labs. It is equiped with a full height Shugart 8'' drive with a capacity of 500k.

I wonder what we ever did with all the old computers..........

Our second computer

The ZX-80 is regarded as a pioneer system in micro-computing as at the time the only available computers were kits for hobbyists like the MK-14 or more expensive systems intended for education or research such as the Tandy TRS-80 or the Commodore PET.

CAPICOM

CAPICOM is a Microsoft® ActiveX® control that provides a COM interface to Microsoft CryptoAPI. It exposes a select set of CryptoAPI functions to enable application developers to easily incorporate digital signing and encryption functionality into their applications. Because it uses COM, application developers can access this functionality in a number of programming environments such as Microsoft® Visual Basic®, Visual Basic Script, Active Server Pages, Microsoft® JScript®, C++, and others. CAPICOM is packaged as an ActiveX control, allowing Web developers to utilize it in Web based applications as well.

On the web at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995332.aspx

The brave new world..............

I found the first EPIC "documentary" fascinating................

Epic 2014 is the original flash online movie made by Robin Sloan for the Museum of Media History. Set in 2014 it charts the history of the Internet, the evolving mediascape and the way news and newspapers were affected by the growth in online news. It coined the word "Googlezon" from a future merger of Google and Amazon to form the Google grid, and speaks of news wars with the Times becoming a print only paper for the elite culminating in EPIC Evolving Personalised Information Construct. As a flash animation, this film is extraordinary, not just for it's use of technology but for it's fantastic perception looking forward.

check this out!
http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

You can see the original version here:
http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/

It gives me goose bumps!!

ROCK PARK TO CLOSE TEMPORARILY

The park will be closed to the public beginning Monday, July 28 to create a new recreational destination. Construction will begin on a new whitewater attraction in the Truckee River along with enhancements to park facilities. The park will reopen to the public in early 2009. The whitewater attraction will open in summer 2009.
The Rock Park construction improvements include work inside the river channel that will create a recreational whitewater experience for people of all ages and abilities. The banks of the Truckee will be landscaped to provide an unobstructed view of the river and improved access.

"The whitewater feature at Rock Park will raise the bar for recreation in the Truckee Meadows and bring visitors to Sparks from near and far," said Sparks Mayor Geno Martini. "The project will be a wonderful use of the Truckee River, and something our citizens can enjoy for years to come."

The second phase will consist of park enhancements which will include increased parking areas, new shade structures, play structures and landscape improvements. Additionally, the river trail system will be rerouted and improved.

Rock Park was constructed in 1978 with Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant money and is located on the west side of Rock Blvd. along the Truckee River.

This story can be found at:

http://www.ci.sparks.nv.us/about/news/?newsid=933


Sparks has many more parks, listed here:

http://www.ci.sparks.nv.us/living/parks/all.php

The most notable of the parks in Sparks is the Sparks Marina, mentioned earlier in this blog. The old Helms gravel pit...........now a recreation destination !!

Enjoy the warm weather, we know not what the winter holds this year !!

Amazing Website !!

According to Ken Polsson of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada he has been researching a few topics and creating time-lines. He also says that he cycles his research time among the main subjects, spending about a month on each one. He has been working on his project since 1995, accumulating tens of thousands of individual items.

Awesome job Ken !!

It is definitely worth a look !!

http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/

Enjoy !!!

My old Vectrex

Although I do not use Wikipedia for serious research, they did a good job on my old game console. I think the Vectrex is special because it is a stand alone console.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

My first day at TMCC

Today is my first day at Truckee Meadows Community College. I have decided to return to school to obtain more skill in networking computers and Linux applications. I have been in school since 2001 and I really enjoy the academic atmosphere. There is something special about the halls of learning. I am looking for work; I would prefer to work at the University of Nevada, Reno, although any higher education institution would suffice. I have been to several community colleges all over Nevada and California, but I have my Bachelors of Science from California State University, Fresno. I did not like programming, so my major was Business Administration with my option in Computer Information Systems. So I have a lot of experience in data base applications.

I have a webpage on Facebook. If anyone is interested….http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692882884. I am looking forward to learning new and amazing things this semester!

Found a Banned Book List

A wonderful list of Banned Books can be found here:

http://bookworm.pilcrow.biz/2008/06/01/yippee-a-banned-book-list/

Her home page is here:

http://bookworm.pilcrow.biz/

Many thanks to Bookworm for this list !!!!!

"Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas"

Celebrating the Freedom to Read
Banned Book Week
September 27–October 4, 2008

Libraries, schools, and individuals that would like to
celebrate the freedom to read and help ALA get the word out on
Banned Books Week 2008 (September 27-October 4) should go to
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.cfm
and find out how to celebrate Banned Book Week !!

Treasure Your Freedom to Read and
Get Hooked on a Banned Book !!

This is very true !

more cat pictures

My Grand Daughter is Six Months Old Today

Old Blue Web Designs

Here are some links to some amazing websites with movies.........
Happy 4th of July !!
I love the USA !!!!

http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm

AND a website devoted to a subject near and dear to my heart !!!!

http://silverstateghosttowns.com/

Save the RainForest

Go to the website and save the rain forest.
Try it and help save a tree !!
It's free to click and donate !!

http://www.therainforestsite.com/names.htm

Also available at this website are:

Save an animal,
promote literacy,
child health care,
breast cancer screening,and
eradicate world hunger

He is with me always, of this I am sure!

This video captures what I believe. Thank you, CREATIVERAIN for making these videos and posting them on YouTube for all of us to share!

My favorite funny video!

Growing up in Oakland

I grew up in Oakland and I lived in five different houses near Lake Merritt. However, I have never seen it from the air. I have fond memories of watching Fourth of July and New Years Eve fireworks beside this lake. And of playing here after school and all summer long. There was plenty to do at Lake Merritt. There was a Children's Fairyland that had rides, a train, and a petting zoo. There was also a science center with an active bee hive. There were swing sets and jungle gyms; restaurants and boats to rent. There was also a branch of the Oakland Public Library in the park at Lake Merritt.

http://www.oaklandnet.com/parks/parks/lakemerritt.asp