Wednesday 25 October 2017

Khan Academy


Scale of the universe 
We learn about how small we really are in the universe. 
Examples are…
it would take a bullet 40 hours to go around the world and it would take a bullet half a year to go around the sun.

He also took one video to explain how small some things are, like bacteria and hair.

After that he talk about the Orion Spur which is 10,000 light years long (part of the Milky Way), he then went to talk about how small that is, then he talked about the known universe, which is about 47 billion light years, and mean while we are a tiny little speck in the universe.


Stars, black holes and galaxies 
First thing we learn about is how stars are formed, the get formed by a massive clouds a atoms slowly getting pulled in by each other’s gravitational pull, until the pressure makes the atoms start to fuse together making heavy up to iron 56 and nickel 56.

The life of our sun 
The sun started out as any other (at this stage the only difference between stars is the sizes of gasses they start out with), where it will burn for several dozen billion years with the core getting smaller (more dense with a bigger mass) and the out side is expanding, until the sun cannot do fusion any more without loosing energy, so the core now consists of iron 56 and nickel 56, it now becomes a red giant, when our sun does this it will swallow up the earth. It will burn for a couple hundred thousand years, and then it will become white dwarf then a black dwarf (a black dwarf is when all the energy is out of the white dwarf). Dwarfs are tiny spaces of super condensed mass. Our sun will turn into a white dwarf the size of a city and the white dwarf will be 2.5 more massive (mass) than it is know.


Life of a Supernova
It first starts of with a bigger cloud of atoms, and it burns for a much shorter time, only a couple of dozen million years, it will then explode into a supernova.

Nebulas

The mother of suns, they are massive with some parts spanning a couple of light years.

Monday 16 October 2017

Belle Île (the well named Island)

My Time On Belle Île

Since the beginning of September I have been adding to my three months on Belle Île, which I did last year.  So far I have been on Belle Île for 5 and a half months and hopefully longer.

I am staying in a small house which is just a couple minute bike ride (my bike is a red bike called Lucifer, like the angel that fell from heaven, I just couldn’t help myself ) away from the biggest town (Palais). The house consist of bathroom, a bedroom, a hallway, and a kitchen. Although that would seem to suggest a dingy little place it is not. It has been completely re-done so that every-thing is bran spanking new, all white and is great for one person (although on the web site it said it could sleep 6 (French standards are slightly different then North America’s)).

I have recently joined an free time group which includes several languages, art, and other things I don’t know. It costs 36 Canadian dollars for the winter and you can go to as many of the classes that are available that you want to. At the moment I’m going to Latin, Spanish, and art.

Belle Île might be one of the best named places on earth because it truly is a beautiful Island.

For internet I go down to the local pub where the owners (Eric and Ghislaine) are very nice and always have smiles on their faces. It’s also the most interesting place for people watching, with it being the place all the locals go to it can get quite busy, but you see the most interesting people and the locals there are very friendly and started to shake my hand when I entered only a few days after I arrived (be warned not all the places have friendly locals like this. At another establishment we heard the locals complaining about us being there which is quite funny since its one of the most busy places in town to stop for a drink).


Nero Wolf Reviews

Recently I went on an audio book binge, specifically Nero Wolf by Rext Stout. Which is a mystery book placed from 1940-1970, there are at least 72 books. So here is a list of the and what there about. Warning there will be some major spoilers so I suggest that you just stop reading this and go listen to them now, because there hilarious, and very creative, and also give you some old time feels.

 First I guess I should tell you about the main characters.

Nero Wolf
He is one of the two main characters that the books revolve around, he is 270 pounds and is an eccentric genius with a perfect bating score when it comes to detecting. He also never leaves his house on business, and rarely ever leaves it at all.  This is where Archie Goodwin comes in, he is the eyes and ears of Nero Wolf.  His favourite is yellow and he also owns 10 thousand orchids and is in the top 80% tax bracket.

Archie Goodwin
Nero Wolf’s left and right hand, and also the writer of all the books, without him Nero Wolf would never have been able to work as he does. He has quick wit and knows his ways around the ladies, an essential and great part of the book.


Lilly Rowan
Archie’s most permanent girlfriend, who is rich from her father’s will and helps Archie and Nero on numerous occasions.


Fritz
Possible the most important member of the household, the chef, he is the best chef in New York, and possibly the best in the world, he and Nero often are found in the kitchen discussing food.


Saul Panzer
The best operative in New York besides Archie Goodwin, and often help in gathering information.

Fred Durkin
A very capable, but not the best, but as long as he is given the right jobs he’ll get it done and he knows his own capabilities.

Orry Cather
A showy guy and thinks he would look better in Archie job that Archie is. But still one of the best.


In the best Families
This is a very important one in the plot of all the books, Nero ends up getting compelled to destroy his enemy, Mister Zek (ruler of a major criminal industry).

Murder By the Book
4 people end up getting murdered all because a lawyer doesn’t want his career ruined.
Might As Well Be Dead
A Father comes to ask Nero to find his son who has disappeared and it ends up that the son has recently been convicted of murder and Nero has to find the real murderer.

Homicide Trinity
A set of three small stories.

Death Time Three
A set of three small stories.

Death of A Dude
Archie went on a holiday to Lilly Rowan’s house in the country side, but one of his friends is convicted of murder and he goes around trying to find facts to clear him, but nobody will tell him anything, but when all looks lost Nero leaves his house to get Archie’s friend out of jail.

A Family Affair
A man comes to Nero Wolf’s house late at night and asks to see him but Archie says it can wait till morning and Archie takes him up to the guest room but before Archie can go to sleep the man dies. And it turns out that one of the three helpers did it.

Champagne For One
A party is held with 4 ladies and 4 gentlemen, and one lady ends up being poisoned but because everybody knew she carried the poison they thought it was suicide, only Archie’s word stop the police from saying it’s suicide.

Black Orchids
Two stories, one how Nero gets the black orchids the only ones in the world, and the second, when a lady dies they show up on her coffin.

And Be A Villain
A man is killed while 10 thousand people are listening and the radio people want it solved.

A Right To Die
A black man quotes a speech Nero made 10 years ago and asks for Nero to look into a background a the girl his son is going to marry. But then that girl is murdered and his son in convicted Nero suddenly has a much harder job.

Some Buried Caesar
Archie is driving Nero to an orchid convention but the car crashes and they end up getting sent head first into a murder case.


And Four to Go
4 seasonal stories

Death Of A Doxy
A woman is killed and Orry is taken to jail but Saul says he’s innocent and Nero has to get him out.

Fer-de-lance
Fred comes with a friend in need of help and then it turns out that there are two murders involved.

Gambit
 A man is murdered at a chess tournament and a man is convicted but his daughter says he’s innocent and is willing to pay 22 thousand.

Black Mountain
Nero Wolf’s oldest and best friend is killed and Nero has to go back to his home country to catch the murderer.

The Doorbell Rang

 A woman come to Nero Wolf and puts down 100 thousand dollars (and that’s just a retainer) and ask Nero to get the FBI off of her back.

Monday 2 October 2017

War Of 1812

War of 1812 CANADA


Lasted from 1812 to 1814

Battle between USA and Canada and the UK with Canada and the UK being on the same side.


The USA decided to attack after the British started to push high taxes and treating the native born usa citizens harshly and they thought that attacking Canada would be easy and would hurt the British so on 18th of June 1812 President Madison signed a declaration of war against Canada and England.



USA decided to attack Upper Canada. Upper Canada.
About 1,600 British regulars, formed mostly from the 41st Regiment of Foot and detachments from other units, defended Upper Canada. However, the badly outnumbered British were in fact better prepared than the Americans knew. The 41st Regiment of British regulars had been reinforced by a number of militia units (although their loyalty and reliability was uncertain). The Provincial Marine controlled Lake Ontario. Much of the preparation was thanks to the foresight of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, administrator of Upper Canada. Brock had a thorough grasp of the challenges of the upcoming conflict and had been preparing for five years, reinforcing fortifications, training militia units and, perhaps most important, developing alliances with the First Nations.






THE BRITISH ATTACK

Like most commanders, Brock was dissatisfied by lack of troops he had. But he didn’t want to wait for the USA to attack he thought that a bold military attack would stir up the population and get the first nations on his side.
He sent orders to the commanding officer of Fort St. Joseph on Lake Huron to capture a key American post at Michilimackinac Island on 17 July. The force of 46 British soldiers and 400 Aboriginal warriors captured the fort quickly and without bloodshed.

American force under General William Hull had crossed from Detroit into Canada, forcing Brock to quickly march his men from the town of York to counter the invasion. When he arrived at the British fort at Amherstburg, Brock found that the American invasion force had already withdrawn to Detroit. With the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh at his side, he boldly demanded that Hull surrender Detroit, which the hapless general did on 16 August, in effect giving the British control of Michigan territory and the Upper Mississippi.

Campaigns in Upper Canada

At this point Thomas Jefferson's remark that the capture of Canada was "a mere matter of marching" returned to haunt Washington. Having lost one army at Detroit, the Americans lost another at Queenston Heights (13 October 1812) after their militia refused to cross into Canada, citing the constitutional guarantee that it would not have to fight on foreign soil. (However, during the engagement Brock was killed – a significant loss to the British and Canadian cause.)


A new American army under William Henry Harrison struggled up from Kentucky to try to retake Detroit. One wing was so badly mauled at Frenchtown (22 January 1813) by a force of British, Canadians and First Nations under Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Procter that further attempts at invasion that winters were abandoned. The only Americans in Canada were prisoners of war.


With the death of Brock the strategy of the British was to play passively and let the enemy make mistakes Governor Sir George Prevost husbanded his thin forces carefully, keeping a strong garrison at Québec and sending reinforcements to Upper Canada only when additional troops arrived from overseas.


1813

As the campaign of 1813 started USA was able to hold York (Toronto) briefly, they then went and seized fort Georg, while this is the time of the war that the British lost the most the USA army failed to push there advantage.
They gave the British to recover and prepare. The British then regained control in a fierce battle.

They then lost again three weeks later at Beaver Dams, where some 600 men were captured by the first nations. The British had been warned of the attack by Luara Secord.

Finally the Americans left Fort George on December 10th and they burnt down the town of Newark as they left which led the British to a brutal retaliation at Buffalo. Which continued until Washington itself was burned by the British the following August.



 They then had several sessions of lake battles where the USA fleets beat the British badly.

The USA also attacked Lower Canada, where the USA had a huge advantage of outnumbering the Canadian forces 10-1.
But a miscellaneous force of British regulars, Voltigeurs, militia, and First Nations harassed the advancing Americans and turned the invasion back at Châteauguay (25–26 October 1813) under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles de Salaberry, and at Crysler's Farm (near Cornwall, ON) on 11 November 1813, under Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison.


Invading the United States

On the Atlantic front, Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Sherbrooke, led a force from Halifax into Maine, capturing Castine on 1 September 1814. By the middle of September, British forces held much of the Maine coast, which was returned to the US only with the signing of the peace treaty in December 1814. The most formidable effort by the British in 1814 was the invasion of northern New York, in which Governor Prevost led 11,000 British veterans of the Napoleonic Wars to Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. However, Prevost was hesitant to attack — he was no Brock — and the defeat of the British fleet in Plattsburgh Bay by the American commodore, Thomas Macdonough, on 11 September led Prevost to withdraw his troops.




The Treaty of Ghent


Prevost’s decision to withdraw from American territory affected peace negotiations in Ghent, which had begun in August 1814. Had Prevost’s invasion succeeded, much of upper New York State might be Canadian today. However, his withdrawal forced the British peace negotiators at Ghent to lower their demands and accept the status quo. When the treaty was signed on Christmas Eve 1814, all conquests were to be restored and disputes over boundaries were deferred to joint commissions.
Hostilities continued after the peace treaty was signed, however. The last battle of the war is often cited as the Battle of New Orleans (8 January 1815), but British and American forces also clashed on 11 February 1815 at Fort Bowyer on Mobile Bay. A number of naval engagements also followed the signing of the treaty, including the final battle of the war, between the US sloop Peacock and East India cruiser Nautilus in the Indian Ocean, four-and-a-half months after the peace treaty was signed.