Friday, November 27, 2009

Almanacs “The Almanac - Nov. 27 - Post Chronicle” plus 3 more

Almanacs “The Almanac - Nov. 27 - Post Chronicle” plus 3 more

The Almanac - Nov. 27 - Post Chronicle

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 05:32 AM PST

Today is Friday, Nov. 27, the 331st day of 2009 with 34 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Mars, Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer and inventor of the centigrade thermometer, in 1701; American historian Charles Beard and Israeli statesman Chaim Weizmann, both in 1874; producer David Merrick in 1911; entertainer "Buffalo Bob" Smith ("The Howdy Dowdy Show") in 1917; actor and martial arts star Bruce Lee in 1940; rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix in 1942; singer Eddie Rabbitt in 1941; and actors Fisher Stevens in 1963 (age 46), Robin Givens in 1964 (age 45) and Jaleel White in 1976 (age 33).

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On this date in history:

In 1759, town officials in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, evicted the Rev. Francis Gastrell from William Shakespeare's home after he cut down a 150-year-old tree that had been planted by the writer.

In 1901, the U.S. War Department authorized creation of the Army War College to instruct commissioned officers. It was built in Leavenworth, Kan.

In 1940, two months after Gen. Ion Antonescu seized power in Romania and forced King Carol II to abdicate, more than 60 aides of the exiled king, including Nicolae Iorga, a former minister and acclaimed historian, were executed.

In 1970, a man with a knife attempted to injure Pope Paul VI at Manila Airport in the Philippines.

In 1989, University of Chicago doctors implanted part of a woman's liver in her 21-month-old daughter in the nation's first living donor liver transplant.

Also in 1989, Virginia certified Douglas Wilder as the nation's first elected black governor by a margin of 0.38 percent.

In 1990, British treasury chief John Major was elected Conservative Party leader, succeeding Margaret Thatcher as prime minister.

In 1992, military dissidents attempted to overthrow Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez.

In 1994, Bosnian Serbs took 150 U.N. peacekeepers hostage to prevent NATO airstrikes.

In 1997, tens of thousands of German students took to the streets of Bonn to protest the decline of Germany's higher education system.

In 2002, U.S. President George Bush created a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to find ways to thwart future strikes.

In 2003, U.S. President George Bush swooped into Iraq under the cover of darkness in a surprise visit to U.S. forces in Baghdad to help serve them Thanksgiving dinner.

In 2005, earthquakes struck China and Iran. At least 17 people died in the quake that rattled eastern China and at least 10 were killed when another tremor hit southern Iran.

In 2006, while deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein awaited court-ordered execution on his earlier mass murder conviction, Baghdad prosecutors resumed his second trial in which he and six others were charged with crimes against humanity in the deaths of as many as 180,000 Kurds in 1987-88.

In 2007, U.S. President George Bush, addressing representatives from more than 40 countries before a meeting over Mideast peace, said Israeli and Palestinian leaders had agreed to initiate immediate talks on a peace treaty.

In 2008, authorities say fires and explosions rocked Mumbai 24 hours after a coordinated series of terrorist assaults struck India's largest city. Gunfire and explosions were reported at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels and a Jewish center.

Also in 2008, Edna Scott Parker, who is said to be the oldest living person in the world, died at age 115 in Indiana, her family said.

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A thought for the day: King Louis XVIII of France had a favorite saying, "Punctuality is the politeness of kings." (c) UPI

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HDTV Almanac - We Want Our HDTVs! - HDTV Magazine

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 05:32 AM PST


Market researcher InStat has released the results of its survey on holiday shopper's plans for consumer electronics purchases this year, and the interesting news is that high definition products take the first and fourth positions on the top five product category list:

• HDTVs
• Notebook PCs
• Digital cameras
• Blu-ray players
• Desktop PCs

One interesting point is that while HDTVs also topped the list last year, this year consumers apparently are less likely to purchase one. The company press release states what may seem obvious to many observers: "In-Stat believes the economy is continuing to take a toll on consumer spending."

Early reports from Black Friday sales indicate that the models smaller than 40″ are selling briskly, but there is less interest in the larger sizes. That's not too surprising, given the difference in price between a 32″ and a 42″ model. So while retailers may have smaller inventories than last year, you may reasonably expect to be able to find plenty of products to choose from if you're shopping for something 40″ or larger. I don't think you'll save much by waiting, however, and you do run the risk of some models selling out. So if you are serious about getting a large flat panel TV this year, you'll probably do best to shop for it in the next week or so.

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Family Review of Settlers of Catan - Wired News

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 04:56 AM PST

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Photo by Veronica Belmont

Board games are great fun for families as well as excellent Christmas presents for friends. So here is the first of our beginner guides to board gaming for families.

Although I know there are many of us who already know and enjoy a wide range of board games, I am often amazed at how many families I come across who think these games are limited to those stocked by W. H. Smith's - Monopoly and the like. So, starting with Settlers of Catan, I'm going to start a series of easy introductory board game reviews to some of the most engaging games a family can play together. Whilst these are beginner guides, my intention is that we can discuss them in more details through the comments.

In Settlers of Catan, players compete to build the biggest and best settlement in the land, using a combination of strategy and luck. Due to a modular board and dice directed play, the game turns out differently every time, which makes you want to come back to it time and time again, and tell all your friends to do the same!

Type of Game

Settlers of Catan is a well established strategy game with a number of different variations available. It revolves around simple resource management and has a board that is constructed afresh for each time you play it. We were introduced to Settlers by some friends, and immediately had to buy ourselves a set, as we enjoyed it so much and could see that our family would love it too.

Kits and Expansions

The basic Settlers box costs around GBP25, but if, like us, you regularly play with a family of more than four people, you will also want the 5/6 player expansion pack, for a further GBP15. This does make the game seem quite expensive but we still think it is worth it. As well as the original Settlers of Catan, you can buy the Seafarers, Cities and Knights, and Traders and Barbarians extensions to the game, which add extra dimensions. There are rule variations for playing with larger groups of people and these are clearly explained in the extension packs.

Getting Started

Game set-up can take a while until you get used to it. The board is built up of hexagonal pieces which join together like a jigsaw, and while there is a suggested set-up for these, you can in fact play with them in any configuration that you like, which means that the game can potentially be completely different each time you play. There are a lot of rules, and again, in the first instance these do seem a bit overwhelming, but once you have played the game a couple of times the gameplay is actually quite simple. The game comes with a great Almanac which describes all the complexities of the game very clearly.

Playing the Game

Settlers of Catan is a combination of strategy and resource management. You need the right materials to build houses and roads and gain victory points. The luck of the dice throw drives these resources and determines how many settlements and roads you can build, which in turn accrue more resources. These can then be used to purchase other materials or special cards which develop your settlement.

The gameplay is enhanced by the way that on your turn, if you don't have the resources you need in order to do what you need to do, you can barter with other players, offer card exchanges, and haggle about what you need in order to make the game work for you. This particular facet of the game means that it often takes ages to get through a turn in our family! One of our kids will never deal with other people, while another one of them will take ages bargaining for resources in order to get the cards that they need.

We particularly like the little wooden pieces in Settlers of Catan - there are three sorts: roads, settlements and cities. The last time that we played the game, as well as the game itself we ended up having lots of entertainment from sculptures made with the game pieces, but I suspect that was largely due to the drinks we enjoyed at the same time as playing the game!

The outcome of the game is decided by 'Victory Points', which each player keeps track of. These can be earned through the development cards that you buy, having the longest road, the biggest army, or the most cities in your settlement. As there are so many different ways to gain Victory Points, each player does have a lot of tactical decisions to make.

How Long and How Old

The game can take a good few hours to play if you have some determined players not willing to trade freely. As it is a fairly complex game in many ways, the age recommendation of 8+ is a good guide, and there is a separate 'Kids of Catan' set available for younger players.

Conclusion

The game really is unique, unlike any other board games we have played before. It has remained a firm favourite both with our children and at adult dinner parties too. It's less prescriptive than Monopoly, and less cut-throat than Risk - and more interesting than both of them! Gameplay takes around an hour and a half to complete with five or six people, which is about right for us. We think its real strength is in the way the board and dice work together to make the game different each time. If you still want more, you can play online at www.catan.com, or even on your iPhone!

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December ideal for sky watching - Daily Telegram

Posted: 27 Nov 2009 05:53 AM PST

December's deep, dark nights may be cold, but they generate ideal conditions for viewing the stars. This year we also get a shot at seeing a major meteor shower and a rare chance to ring out the old year under a full moon.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks the evening of the 13th, spewing fireballs from a point near the Gemini twin Castor. This point, called the radiant, will be well up in the east by mid-evening and visible all night.

Gemini belongs to the knot of familiar winter constellations making their grand entrance over the eastern horizon this month. Orion, with his trademark belt and sword, stands out from the pack. Following at his heels, Sirius, the Dog Star, outshines everything but the moon and the brighter planets.

A beacon in the southwest, Jupiter comes out after sunset and sinks lower every night. In the morning sky, Venus plummets and is lost in the sun's foreglow. Saturn, high in the south at dawn, slowly brightens and opens its rings. Look for it between the tail of Leo and bright Spica in Virgo.

But if you must choose one planet to watch this month, make it Mars. The Red Planet rises in the east behind Gemini, about five hours after sunset on the 1st and less than three hours by the 31st. During December its brightness doubles, and viewers with good telescopes may be able to pick out surface features like the shrinking north polar ice cap.

Mars owes its growing prominence to Earth, which is catching up to it in the orbital race and will pass it in late January. If it's still hard to find, look at the predawn sky on the 6th; Mars will shine between a fat waning moon to the west and the bright star Regulus, in Leo, to the east. And around 10:30 p.m. that evening, Mars and the moon will appear together above the eastern horizon.

Winter arrives officially at 11:47 a.m. on the 21st, when the sun dips to a point directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. On that day the Twin Cities area will enjoy just eight hours and 47 minutes of daylight. The day length diminishes with increasing distance north; Duluth, for example, gets 15 minutes less. The good news: The earliest sunset comes sometime (the exact day varies by latitude) during the second week of December. After that, sunsets start coming later, and by month's end we'll see 10 more minutes of light at the close of day.

And speaking of light, we get two full moons this month. The full Cold Moon comes on the 2nd, at 1:30 a.m., while the full Long Nights Moon falls on New Year's Eve. Recently, the second of two full moons in a month has been called a blue moon, but reports in the popular astronomical literature have labeled this an error based on a misinterpretation of information in the 1937 Maine Farmer's Almanac. A blue moon is really supposed to mean the third of four full moons when four fall in a season.

So does our New Year's Eve moon qualify? Since it's only the first full moon of the winter season, obviously not. On the other hand, ideas change, names change, and "blue moon" has been widely interpreted as the second of two full moons in a month. Besides, as the second brightest and last full moon of 2009 — not to mention that it ushers in the last year of the decade — the New Year's Eve moon deserves a little recognition.

The University of Minnesota offers public viewings of the night sky at its Morris, Duluth, and Twin Cities campuses. For more information and viewing schedules at the Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium in Duluth, go to www.d.umn.edu/~planet.

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