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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Odds of Winning Lotto Comparison

One said, your are 3 times likely be killed by flash eating bacteria than winning a lotto.  It's not a fair comparison..

This is why I believe that you're can win the jack pot..

Powerball 175.2 (1-59, 5 numbers, 1-35, 1 number)
Mega Million 175.7 (1-56, 5 numbers, 1-46, 1number)
Texas Lotto 25.8 (1-54, 6 numbers)
The odds of being killed/injured from lighting  is 1:775,000 or 1:1,000,000

----------
If a player plays the same set of number, assuming the Winning jack pot numbers are different for all drawings, then

# # # # # #

There are 52 weeks, or 104 drawings a year, so
The odds of winning, when playing Texas Lotto is 1:250,000
You will win the Texas lotto 4 times over before being struck by lighting

The odds of winning Mega Million /Powerball is about 1:1,700,000, so
You will had be to struck by lighting twice before winning the jack pot.



Monday, March 26, 2012

Traveling to African Countries and Central Asia


*****************************
Nairobi, KENYA
*****************************
SAT-ORD-BRU-KGL-NBO-BRU-ORD-SAT
San Antonio
Chicago,
Brussels, Belgium
Kigali, Rwanda
Nairobi, Kenya
7 segment path: 18887 mi
SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W) 31° (NE) 1042 mi
ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W) BRU (50°54'05"N 04°29'04"E) 46° (NE) 4159 mi
BRU (50°54'05"N 04°29'04"E) KGL (01°58'07"S 30°08'22"E) 148° (SE) 3943 mi
KGL (01°58'07"S 30°08'22"E) NBO (01°19'09"S 36°55'40"E) 84° (E) 471 mi
NBO (01°19'09"S 36°55'40"E) BRU (50°54'05"N 04°29'04"E) 336° (NW) 4071 mi
BRU (50°54'05"N 04°29'04"E) ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W) 301° (NW) 4159 mi
ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W)
SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) 217° (SW) 1042 mi


estimate plane ticket costs $1300-$1400 (march/april)



*****************************
New Delhi, INDIA
*****************************
SAT-ORD-EWR-DEL-EWR-DEN-SAT
San Antonio
Chicago,
Newark, NJ
New Delhi, Inda
Denver, Co,
San Antonio
6 segment path: 18807 mi
SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W) 31° (NE) 1042 mi
ORD (41°58'54"N 87°54'24"W) EWR (40°41'33"N 74°10'07"W) 92° (E) 719 mi
EWR (40°41'33"N 74°10'07"W) DEL (28°34'07"N 77°06'44"E) 25° (NE) 7324 mi
DEL (28°34'07"N 77°06'44"E) EWR (40°41'33"N 74°10'07"W) 337° (N) 7324 mi
EWR (40°41'33"N 74°10'07"W) DEN (39°51'42"N 104°40'23"W) 278° (W) 1605 mi
DEN (39°51'42"N 104°40'23"W) SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) 151° (SE) 794 mi
estimated plane ticket costs  $1600-$1700 (Sundays)
estimated plane ticket costs  $1500-$1600 (non-Sundays)
estimated plane ticket costs  $1300-$1400 (May non-Sundays)
flying out of Houston, save $200






*****************************
Bucharest ROMANIA
*****************************
SAT-IAH-FRA-OTP-VIE-IAD-SAT
SAN ANTONO - HOUSTON, PARIS FRANCE, BUCHAREST ROMANIA, VIENNA AUSTRIA, WASHINGTON DC, SAN ANTONIO



estimated plane ticket costs  $1,000



From To Initial
Heading Distance
6 segment path: 12669 mi
SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) IAH (29°59'04"N 95°20'29"W) 79° (E) 191 mi
IAH (29°59'04"N 95°20'29"W) FRA (50°01'35"N 08°32'35"E) 40° (NE) 5232 mi
FRA (50°01'35"N 08°32'35"E) OTP (44°34'20"N 26°06'08"E) 107° (E) 904 mi
OTP (44°34'20"N 26°06'08"E) VIE (48°06'37"N 16°34'11"E) 301° (NW) 517 mi
VIE (48°06'37"N 16°34'11"E) IAD (38°56'51"N 77°27'36"W) 300° (NW) 4464 mi
IAD (38°56'51"N 77°27'36"W) SAT (29°32'01"N 98°28'11"W) 247° (W) 1362 mi

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=SAT-ORD-EWR-DEL-EWR-DEN-SAT%3BSAT-IAH-NRT-TPE%3BSIN-HKG-SFO-SAT%3BIAH-NRT-TPE-NRT-IAH%0D%0A&RANGE=&PATH-COLOR=red&PATH-UNITS=mi&PATH-MINIMUM=&SPEED-GROUND=&SPEED-UNITS=kts&RANGE-STYLE=best&RANGE-COLOR=navy&MAP-STYLE=





Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bank Notes - Around the World

Taiwanese notes (NTD)

Exchange rate - past 5 years, 1 US$ = 28-31 NTD
Commonly found/circulated
Notes: 100, 500, 1,000
Coins: 1, 5, 10, 50
Practical coins, 5, 10, 50

Not commonly used
Notes: 200, 2,000
Coins: 1/2, 20

# # # # # # # # # # #
Japanese note
Notes: 1,000, 5,000, 10,000
Coins: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500
Practical Coins (vending machines):  10, 50, 100,


Not commonly used
Notes:  2,000

# # # # # # # # # # #
Singapore
Notes: 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, 1,000,
Coins:  1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents,50 cents, $1
Practical Coins (vending machines):  ??


Not commonly used
Notes: 20, 25, 10,000




Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Gardening Power Tools List

Gas and or/Electric

Curb Edge Trimmer
Line Trimmer

Hedger
Chain Saw

Tiller (twist, hand held)
Blower

Hedger, manual
Shear, manual


Web Browsers, for PC, hand helds, smart phones, tablets Why so many?

2014.11
There are many never seen before web browsers on hand held devices
Dolphin?
Chrome
Safari
Firefox
and many other 3rd party browsers

   /\/\    /\/\     /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\    /\/\



2012.03
On the PC platform, there are couple popular web browsers

Internet Explorer
Firefox
Chrome
Safari

When conducting search on Internet off the same web site, the cookies/cache doesn't allow user to keep the results if comparison is needed.

To get around that issue, use a different browser.  Since browsers do not share cache/cookies, the content/web site thinks the request came from two different source.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Training for Mountain Hiking/Climbing

Where can you get training for mountain hiking?

Equipment, the essential and emergency equipment?

Water and food?

Physical conditioning

Sunday, March 18, 2012

fuel consumption difference between 50cc 125cc 150cc scooters

What's is or is there a fuel consumption difference between 50cc 100cc 150cc scooters?

The price break seems to suggest that their is a big difference between displacement/price/performance.  How fast do you want to go? Will the 50cc motor get up to speed for normal traffic flow?


50cc - top speed - 40 mph,  110 mpg
100cc - top speed -50 mph,  85 mpg
150cc - top speed - 60 mph,  60 mpg

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Family Budget for 4? Having mid-size sedans for entire family.


3,000 - 4,800 prop tax
1,800 - 2,400 housing repair budget
3,000 - 3,400 vehicle 1, depreciation and tax, insurance
3,000 - 3,400 vehicle 2, depreciation and tax, insurance


Want a new car every year?

Mazda 6i Sports $17,000
Nissan Altima 2.5S  $17,000
Mazda Mazda5 CX5 $21,000
Honda CRV LX $21,000

Family with teenage drivers can have expensive

Car 5 year 8 @ 14k/year = 112K
Car 4 Year 6  @ 14K/year = 84K
Car 3 Year 4  @ 14K/year = 56K
Car 2 Year 2  @ 14K/year = 28K
Car 1 Year 0  @ 0k/year = 0K

Average = spending = $19,000 - $6,000 trade in
Capital/depreciation -Average = $13,000 per 2-years for 4 vehicles.  or $6,500

Insurance & registration = 1,250 x 4 vehicles  = $5,000
Repair & maintenance budget $400 x 4 vehicles = $1,600
Operating costs without fuels = $13,100
Fuel @ 26mpg @ 56,000 @ $3.65 pg = $7,900
Total transportation = $21,000 /year or $1,750 month

# # # few miles / longer ownership # # #


Car 5 year 12 @ 122/year = 145K
Car 4 Year 9   @ 12K/year = 108K
Car 3 Year 6   @ 12K/year = 72K
Car 2 Year 3   @ 12K/year = 36K
Car 1 Year 0   @ 0k/year = 0K

Average = spending = $19,000 - $4,000 trade in
Capital/depreciation -Average = $15,000 per 3-years for 4 vehicles.  or $5,000/year
Insurance & registration = 1,250 x 4 vehicles  = $5,000
Repair & maintenance budget $500 x 4 vehicles = $2,000
Operating costs without fuels = $12,000

Fuel @ 26mpg @ 48,000 @ $3.65 pg = $6,740
Total transportation = $18,740 /year or $1,560 month



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

What Do Great Cities Have In Common? San Antonio

March 2012 - What do great/large cities have in common?       

How does my local town (San Antonio) compare to other cities?

LargeFortune 500 Companies
* Toyota
* UT Health Science Center
* USAA
* Rackspace
* Valero Energy
* Tesoro Engergy
* NuStar Energy
* HEB (special)

Professional Sports Team
* NBA Spurs

Minor Professional Sports Team
* Hocky
* Baseball - Misson
* WNBA

Large Military Installations
* Fort Sams/Central Command
* Brooks
* Lackland (survival training)
* Kelly

Higher Education
* University of Texas at San Antonio
* UT Health Science Center
* St. Mary
* IWU
* Texas A&M University at San Antonio

Sporting Facilities
* Golf courses, too many to list
* Bike Trails (Missions, McAlister Park)
* Many Dog Parks
* Hiking Trails (Eisenhower Park)
* Schliterbahn (Water Park)

Sporting Facility
* AT&T Center;
* Alamo Dome
* Race Track

Performing Arts Facility
* xxxx 

Unique Shopping
* North Star Mall; * La Cantera

Scheme Parks
* Sea World of Texas;
* Six Flags of Texas;

Arts
* Witty (needs help)

Others
* Riverwalk





January 2011 - San Antonio Parks Review

These three parks have fairly lengthy hiking trails.

(NW/1604-NW Military) Eisenhower Park (free, dog, no bike).

After 9-11, the only way to enter the park is through the NW Military Dr/1604.  In the summer days, it may not be a good idea to bring your pets to walk on paved/asphalt surface. It may be easier to take the natural trails to the hill top and returning to parking lot/starting point via paved and down hill trails.

(NW/1604-I-10) Friedrich Wilderness Park (free, no dog, no bike)

(South/I-10, 281) Mission Parkway (free,dog, bike) - click here for map

This is linear 7 miles trail. Unlike the Eisenhower Park, you must turn to starting point using the same path.





BAC5437 Sewing

Looking for BAC5437 Sewing specification?





Sunday, March 11, 2012

Anmax Chen


台灣政壇知名行政院長孫運璿,生前曾給兒子寫過一封信,這封信最近才流傳出來,並很快的流傳於各大網站,很多父親看後感觸很深,其實這信適合所有人看!




[下輩子,無論愛與不愛,都不會再見]----孫運璿送給兒子的備忘錄

我兒:寫這備忘錄給你,基於三個原則:

(一)人生福禍無常,誰也不知可以活多久,有些事情還是早一點說好。

(二)我是你的父親,我不跟你說,沒有人會跟你說這些事?

(三)這備忘錄記載的,都是我經過慘痛失敗得來的體驗,可以為你的成長省不少冤枉路。

 以下,便是你在人生中要好好記住的事:

(一)對你不好的人,你不要太介意,在你一生中,沒有人有義務要對你好,除了我和你媽媽。至於那些對你好的人,你除了要珍惜、感恩外,也請多防備一點,因為,每個人做每件事,總有一個原因,他對你好,未必真的是因為喜歡你,請你務必搞清楚,而不必太快將對方看作真朋友。

(二)沒有人是不可代替,沒有東西是必須擁有。看透了這一點,將來你身邊的人不再要你,或許失去了世間上最愛的一切時,也應該明白,這並不是什麼大不了的事。

(三)生命是短暫的,今日你還在浪費著生命,明日會發覺生命已遠離你了。因此,愈早珍惜生命,你享受生命的日子也愈多,與其盼望長壽,倒不如早點享受。

(四)世界上並沒有最愛這回事,愛情只是一種霎時的感覺,而這感覺絕對會隨時日、心境而改變。如果你所謂的最愛離開你,請耐心地等候一下,讓時日慢慢沖洗,讓心靈慢慢沉澱,你的苦就會慢慢淡化。不要過分憧憬愛情的美,不要過分誇大失戀的悲。

(五)雖然很多有成就的人士都沒有受過很多教育,但並不等於不用功讀書,就一定可以成功。你學到的知識,就是你擁有的武器,可以白手興家,但不可手無寸鐵,謹記!

(六)我不會要求你供養我下半輩子,同樣地,我也不會供養你的下半輩子,當你長大可以獨立時,我的責任已經完結。以後,你要坐巴士還是賓士,吃魚翅還是粉絲,都要自己負責。

(七)你可以要求自己守信,但不能要求別人守信,你可以要求自己對人好,但不能期待人家對你好。你怎樣對人,並不代表人家就會怎樣對你,如果看不透這一點,你只會徒增不必要的煩惱。

(八)我買了十多二十年的六合彩,還是一窮二白,連三獎也沒有中,這證明人要發達,還是要努力工作才可以,世界上沒有免費午餐。

(九)親人只有一次的緣分,無論這輩子我和你會相處多久,都請好好珍惜共聚的時光,下輩子,無論愛與不愛,都不會再見。


Hunting Rifles, M4 and M16


Kentucky rifle
* musket with rifling
* percussion cap

1873 springfield trapdoor rifle
* black powder
* corrision

1886 Lebel Rifle (French)
* smoke less gun powder
* increase velocity

Winchester, repeating rifle

Cartridge

Krag

Mauser G98
* 8mm

Lee-Enfield
* 10 rounds 
* .303 round

M1903 Spring field
* bolt action
* 2700 ft/sec  5 round 
* 8.7lb




Savage MK II
Price: $421
Cartridge: .22 LR
Smallest Group: .109
Trigger Pull: 3 lb. 8 oz.

Savage 93R17
Price: $399 
Cartridge: .17 HMR
Smallest Group: 1.00
Trigger Pull:  2 lb. 11 oz.

# # # # 

Questions - M4 carbine vs M16  Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16


M14 enters service during Korean War 1959-1970
M16 enters service during Vietnam War 1963 cira 
        M16A1

        M16A2
        M16A3
        M16A4

M4 enters service /2010 - design and manufacturing
        M4 - shorter version of M16A2

Saturday, March 10, 2012

How To: Nissan Altima Repairs - Head Light / Oxygen Sensor P0420

 -- 2005 Nissan Altima 2.5S      --- 


-- Headlight Repairs/Bulb Replacement -- 


There are 4 fuses 15A for each of the head lights. These fuses are located near the windshield wiper fluid reservoir tank.  The black box, is label with the fuse diagram.

H/L R/H Low
H/L L/H Low
H/L R/H Hi
H/L L/H Hi

--- L/H - driver side headlight -----
replacing the light bulb can be accomplished without remove the entire head lamp assembly.  It's misleading, thinking the headlamp is held up by the 2x 10mm bolts, holding the lamp assembly to the frame.

The short easier way:
1. remove the air filter assembly (unlatch the air filter box, remove air filter, and move/away the air intake)
2. remove the 1 single bolt, connecting the air filter box to the frame.
3. remove the air intake duct sitting on top of radiator (remove 4 plastic tabs), and disconnect it from the air filter intake box
4. pull the air filter intake box, straight up.

Follow the headlight wires, and disconnect the housing, seals etc.  One-for-One swap for new parts.

Fully connect the wires, be sure that the light bulb is properly grounded first. Do not test the lights until, the light bulb is in the light assembly, and grounded.



 -- OXYGEN SENSORS      --- 

The repair manual/suggests the following for resolving ODBC II code P0420:

Service Engine Code  P0420
- check for leaks (affecting sensors), wiring etc
- replacing rear/down stream oxygen sensor first
- replacing up stream oxygen
- replacing the catalyst converter

REPAIRS:

PART 1:  BUY PARTS
      --- AutoZone, O'Reilly  offers BOSH OEM fit up stream sensors for $100
      --- SAME PLACES - BOSH OEM FIT sensor for down stream sensor $90
     ---  get a tube of "high heat" anti-seize compound
     --- A bottle of PB blaster spray to loosen metal/sensors

PART 2:  TOOLS
     -- 10mm and 12mm socket wrench
     --  hex key (to remove engine conver)
       -- adjustable wrench (to remove oxygen sensor)
     - flat screw driver (to un-click wire harness connector)
      -- Floor jack and JACK STANDs (to remove down stream sensor)


PART 3A: - REPAIRS, UP STREAM SENSOR
-- replacing front/up stream oxygen sensor second ( first - was jn error)
* remove the engine plastic cover (4 hex screws), easier access to remove the o2 sensor connector
* remove front heat shield 4 screws 10mm
* carefully unhook o2 sensor wire from the heat shield clip
* electrical connector - rotate/un-clamp (gray)
* use a flat screw driver to un-clip the connector and pull back
* locate the black bracket (holds the sensor and the engine plastic cover mounting point)
* the 02 wire is too short, either (cut it first), or rotate the bracket, so the bracket can be slide off.
* bracket is hold by 2 bolts - 12mm, remove the top one, and loosen the bottom one
* rotate the bracket and un-clip the 02 sensor connector
* remove the o2 sensor on catalyst converter 



PART 3B: - REPAIRS, DOWN STREAM SENSOR
* JACK UP the vehicle safely (passenger side)


 -- Engine Oil Change ----
Oil Type - 5W-30
Capacity - 4 1/2 qts, with filter change
Capacity  - 4 1/4 qts - without filter change
Oil filter - Frame TG7317 (Tough guard 6x of average dirty holding-retaintion)
              or Frame HM7317 (high mileage)



 -- Windshield Wiper Blades ----
02-05 Altima         26 driver / 17 passenger

Monday, March 5, 2012

Seriously, Really, Shipping Me etc


What's the easiest way to express your expression without dropping F-bombs?

1. Seriously
2. Really
3. Shipping Me?

1. Absolutely
2. Definitively
3. Totally
4. Yes
5. OK