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How Much Memory Did the First Computers Have

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:06:09 +0000

Memory is the lifeblood of many computers manufactured today. The Operating Systems and other applications created to enhance user experience and provide instant access to word processing and Internet browsers require increasing amounts of memory to create the user experience to which many of us are accustomed.

This was not always the case; however, the first computers were often very large and had minimal processing capability. The input mechanism was a series of paper cards which the user had to punch holes in to represent the data the computer was to process. These early computers were built to work on specific problems or solve certain types of equations and not much more.

The first computers used punch cards for input and had very limited memory for processing. The average memory in the first computers was between three and forty five kilobits. Memory was used to store data in the processing of linear equations, and the results were then printed in binary.

When compared to the computers available today, the first computers do not seem very technologically advanced, but at the time they were created these first computers were engineering masterpieces. Many of the concepts created when building early computers are still in use in modern computing technology.

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer, credited with being the very first computer, introduced three concepts — using binary digits to represent all data, processing calculations with electronics rather than mechanical parts, and separate processing and storage — that are used in computers available today. The ABC had a whopping 3000 bits of memory which allowed it to process sixty items at one time. Other early computers had more memory, some has high as forty five kilobits, which allowed them to process several more words of data in a shorter amount of time increasing the overall processing speed of the system.

The memory in the first computers was one of the only small things about them, compared to what we have available today. The size of these early computers was very large, usually as big as a desk or even a room.

Over the last fifty to sixty years, the technology introduced in the first computers has become overshadowed by start buttons, word processors, and wireless phones that do everything from make calls to surf the Internet with seemingly endless gigabits of memory available. Without the first computers and their ability to make simple calculations, the technology we use today might not be as advanced as it has become.

How Many Species of Plants Are There

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:03:54 +0000

There are about 375,000 species of plants, with more being discovered each year. This includes seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and relatives of ferns called fern allies. Some 297,326 species of plants have been identified, of which 258,650 are flowering and 15,000 bryophytes (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses). All plants are photosynthetic, utilizing carbon dioxide, water and light energy to produce oxygen and sugars. Within each cell are numerous organelles called chloroplasts which perform this task. Chloroplasts are thought to be ancient cyanobacteria that were absorbed by the larger eukaryotic cells which constitute plants.

Plants consist of two main groups; green algae and land plants. Other types of algae, such as red algae and brown algae, were initially identified as plants, but later classified outside the kingdom Plantae. These latter organisms are part of the same unranked group as plants, Archaeplastida, but are usually not referred to as plants except in a colloquial sense. An example of a familiar green algae is seaweed.

Most plants, of course, are the land plants, known as embryophytes. The most common are the vascular plants, meaning they have internal tubes to carry water and nutrients. The minority are species of plants called bryophytes, including liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. Without vascular tubes, plants can only grow a couple inches tall. Bryophytes first evolved during the Cambrian era, about 500 million years ago, and have remained abundant ever since.

The vascular plants are a more advanced species of plant. These evolved during the Silurian era, about 420 million years ago, and went on to dominate the land, both in terms of diversity and biomass. Vascular plants are the keystone that holds up the entire terrestrial ecosystem, in the same way that cyanobacteria hold up the ecosystem in the oceans.

The first serious innovation after the initial evolution of vascular plants was that of the seed. Using seeds, plants could colonize drier areas than before, and survive seasonal drought. By comparison, plants that reproduce via spores, such as ferns, require a moist environment.

The most recent plants to evolve were the angiosperms, or flowering plants. These developed only 125 million years ago, during the Cretaceous. The point of evolving flowers was to get mobile animals, especially insects, involved in the process of exchanging pollen and therefore genetic material.

How Many Left-Handed Presidents Has the US Had

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:00:42 +0000

As of 2008, the United States has had seven left-handed Presidents in its history, and since both the Republican and Democratic nominees for President in 2008 were left-handed, the number is slated to become eight. Incidentally, only two of those Presidents have been Democratic, for those who were planning on making cracks about being on the “left.”

In chronological order, the left-handed Presidents are: James Garfield (1881), Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), Harry Truman (1945-1953), Gerald Ford (1974-1977), Ronald Reagan (1981-1989), George Bush Sr. (1989-1993), and Bill Clinton (1993-2001). It is intriguing to note that the United States was in the control of a southpaw for 20 years from 1981-2001, considering how rare left-handed people are in the general population.

There are some disputes about the list of left-handed Presidents. Prior to the 20th century, left-handedness was regarded as a negative character trait, and it is possible that more presidents prior to the 20th century were left-handed, but they concealed that fact. “Retraining” of left-handed individuals was also very common well through the 20th century, with young children being forced to write with their right hands, even if their left hands were dominant.

For those interested in Presidential trivia, two of the left-handed Presidents, Garfield and Reagan, experienced assassination attempts. Garfield probably would have survived with the benefit of modern medicine, but he had the misfortune to be shot in 1881, dying only after weeks of infection and misery. Reagan survived, as the bullet barely missed his heart. Truman and Ford were both Vice-Presidents who succeeded to the office of the Presidency, after the death of President Roosevelt in 1945 and the resignation of President Nixon in 1974. Ford was the only President who never won a national election, as he was appointed to the office of the Vice-Presidency after Nixon’s original running mate resigned from the office in disgrace.

Hoover is sometimes left off lists of left-handed Presidents, making his left-handed status unclear, and Reagan started out left-handed as a child, but later learned to write with this right hand, making his inclusion questionable as well. Given that an estimated seven to 10 percent of the population is left-handed, eight of 44 Presidents is a pretty remarkable statistic, and a cause for pride among some members of the left-handed community. Left-handed individuals are supposedly more creative and articulate than their right-handed counterparts, due to differences in brain function which have been explored in numerous studies, and this may have something to do with the high number of left-handed Presidents

How Many Muscles Are Used to Smile

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:58:59 +0000

Many people have heard some version of the saying “it takes X muscles to frown, but only Y muscles to smile,” with X usually being larger than Y, to suggest that it should be easier to smile than frown. The numbers in this saying can vary quite radically, however, and even when one accounts for the different types of smiles, such diversity is a bit suspect; any number between four and 22 seems to be used. In fact, the precise number of muscles used to smile is a bit unclear, although people have certainly conducted extensive research into the matter.

Of the 36 muscles used to create facial expressions, only a fraction are used in smiling. The precise number involved can vary, depending on an assortment of factors. Some people, for example, argue that eye crinkles are part of a genuine smile, and that therefore the muscles involved in this activity should be considered part of the number of muscles required to smile. Researchers have also discovered that people from different areas of the world smile differently, although they may use many of the same muscles.

Different types of smiles have also been extensively documented, ranging from the zygomatic or genuine to the utterly fake. People make smile-like expressions for a variety of reasons and in an assortment of ways, and each requires slightly different muscle movements. By studying pictures of people smiling, some skilled researchers can point out the subtle meaning and variation behind the seemingly friendly facial expression.

Six pairs of muscles appear to be directly involved in smiling: the levator anguli oris, levator labii superioris, orbicularis oculi, risorius, zygomaticus major, and zygomaticus minor. This brings the grand total to 12 muscles most probably used to smile. Most authorities who are familiar with their anatomy seem to settle on this number, with 11 muscles being used to frown. That’s right: in terms of sheer numbers of muscles involved, it is theoretically easier to frown than to smile.

Before one rushes to dispute the saying that it is easier to smile than frown based on this evidence, it is important to be aware that in its resting state, the mouth often approaches a smiling expression, suggesting that minimal effort is required to pull the mouth into a full grin. Furthermore, muscles vary widely in size and strength, so it is entirely possible that people expend less energy in smiling than they do in frowning. Perhaps some intrepid researcher will conduct a detailed study to get to the bottom of the matter.

How Many US Presidents Served More than One Term as President

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:56:50 +0000

The simple answer to this question is that almost half of the United States presidents to date have served more than one term as president. In fact, 20 presidents in all have served more than one full term in office. They were: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George Washington, Harry Truman, George W. Bush, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Richard M. Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson, William McKinley and Abraham Lincoln.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is the only us president in history that served more than two terms in office. In fact, FDR was elected to 4 full terms in office. Unfortunately Roosevelt died during his 4th term and the remainder of the term was served by his Vice President, Harry S Truman.

In 1947 the Twenty-Second Amendment of the United States Constitution was passed. This amendment stated that a President cannot serve more than 10 years or two consecutive terms in office.

However, not every us President that served more than one term served them consecutively. Grover Cleveland was the only president that served two terms that were not in a row. Cleveland goes down in the American history books as both the 22nd and 24th President of the USA

Out of the 20 us presidents that served more than one term as president, 11 individuals served two full terms. These presidents included: Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George Washington and George W. Bush.

There are also a handful of leaders that were originally elected as a Vice President and ended up serving part of a previous President’s term. Of these leaders 4 went on to be elected to their own term. This President’s include Harry Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Lyndon B. Johnson.

These US presidents are not the only American leaders who served more than one term but less than two terms. Richard Nixon resigned during his second term after the Watergate scandal, while William McKinley and Abraham Lincoln were both assassinated during their second terms in the presidential office.

How Many Species of Insect Are There

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:53:48 +0000

Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth. There are over a million described species of insect, and an estimated 6-10 million species total. Insects are found in nearly every above-ground environment, even in Antarctica, which has a species of insect called springtails. There is even a species of insect that lives on the surface of the open ocean, walking on the water tension using tiny leg hairs. These are insects of the genus Halobates, otherwise known as sea skaters or water striders. Around Antarctica, where there is greater oxygen in the sea than the Equator, these can grow to 30 cm (1 ft) in width.

So far, there have been observations of 5,000 dragonfly species, 2,000 praying mantis, 20,000 grasshopper, 170,000 butterfly and moth, 120,000 fly, 82,000 true bug, 360,000 beetle, and 110,000 bee, wasp and ant species. Keep in mind that arachnids, such as mites — of which there are over 1 million described species — and crustaceans, like lobsters, are not insects, which only includes members of the class Insecta.

Species of insect range in size from 0.139 mm (0.00547 in, fairyfly) to 55.5 cm (21.9 in, stick insect), with most falling between 0.5 mm (0.02 in) and 50 mm (2 in). In general, smaller insects are capable of reproducing more rapidly due to their larger counterparts, allowing them to maintain their biomass over generations. If the biomass is not regularly replenished, then a species will go extinct. It is thought that the species of insect alive today only represent about 1% of all insects that have ever lived.

Insects are truly a success story for animals. Although most people don’t think of insects when the word “animal” is mentioned, they are both the most successful and numerous. The global insect biomass is estimated at 1012 kg, with approximately 1018 distinct individuals. Divided by the total number of species, this gives an average of 100 million individuals per species. Of course, like with other animals, the majority (over 66%) of insect species are found in the world’s rainforests.

How Many Tectonic Plates are There

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:44:44 +0000

Tectonic plates are great slabs of rock which form the Earth’s crust. Both the continents and the oceans rest on tectonic plates, which float on the superheated, plastic mantle below. Over millions of years, these tectonic plates float around, driven by convection currents in the mantle, gathering into supercontinents and scattering again. This is called the theory of plate tectonics. Tectonic plates move about as fast as your fingernails grow — 5 to 10 centimeters per year.

The Earth has 14 major tectonic plates, and 38 minor plates, for 52 plates total. The major plates are the African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Arabian Plate, Australian Plate, Caribbean Plate, Cocos Plate, Eurasian Plate, Indian Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate, Nazca Plate, North American Plate, Pacific Plate, Philippine Plate, Scotia Plate, South American Plate. The largest are the Antarctic Plate, the Eurasian Plate, and the North American Plate. A continent may include several different plates: for instance, India and Arabia are both separate from the Eurasian Plate. The Himayala Mountains are a result of the Indian Plate pushing north into the Eurasian Plate.

Minor plates break off major plates during rifting events. Some minor plates subduct under other plates as they move. This causes them to be pushed down into the mantle and melt. The Farallon Plate to the west of San Francisco is almost completely subducted beneath the North American Plate, for example. Sometimes a part of a plate will end up on top of another plate, in which case it will be called an accreted terrane. Parts of North America and Europe are terranes.

It is thought that the boundaries of tectonic plates are partially determined by upwelling events called mantle plumes. These split apart the crust and cause it to crack, creating rifts, like the Red Sea, which separates Africa from Arabia. A typical upwelling event creates three rifts at roughly 120° from each other. This is called a triple junction. Usually, two of these rifts will continue to spread while one fails. A failed rift on land is called a rift valley.

How Much Electricity do Appliances Use

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:39:23 +0000

Household appliances use a varied amount of electricity, depending on their efficiency. Location of an appliance can affect electricity usage. For example, a clothes dryer in an open location like a garage, is likely to be somewhat less efficient than one located in a house. Similarly, a water heater with improper insulation is likely to be less efficient and will use more electricity than a well-located and insulated water heater.

Another factor affecting electricity usage of an appliance is the age of the appliance. If your refrigerator is forty years old, chances are your electricity bills are quite high. If you have purchased a refrigerator in the US within the last five years, you are likely to have a far more energy efficient appliance, which represents significant savings on your electricity bill. Today, more and more appliances in the US are now given the Energy Star seal of approval, which guarantees less usage of electricity.

Electricity in the US is measured in kilowatts. A kilowatt costs about .06 US dollars (USD) per hour. Rates can be different depending upon where you live, and on your total electricity usage for the month. Rates vary, and increase with higher energy usage

The average freezer and refrigerator purchased before 1985 uses about 100 kilowatt hours per month. This means you will pay approximately 6 USD per month to run a refrigerator. A refrigerator purchased after the year 2000 only uses only about 37.5 kilowatt hours per month, representing a huge savings on your electricity bills. This is the average measurement for a relatively small fridge. Larger refrigerators will use far more electricity.

Relatively new washing machines use about 360 kilowatt hours per year. Relatively new dryers use approximately 765 kilowatt hours per year. Your electric bill will usually specify exactly how many cents you are charged per kilowatt hour, which can help you determine the cost of running an appliance.

Small appliances or household electrics can often use a surprising number of kilowatt hours. A computer and monitor without sleep mode can use up over 400 kilowatt hours per year. A standing fan may use twice that.

However, large appliances like air conditioners are some of the worst consumers of electricity. Central air conditioning may use as much as 2000 kilowatt hours per year, and sometimes more. Electric furnaces are the most expensive however, using over 6000 kilowatt hours per year.

Most appliances today are now labeled with their average rate of usage, and of course, kilowatt usage can depend upon how much you use an appliance. If you rarely turn on an electric furnace, you’re not likely to use much electricity. Keeping appliances clean, and turning off appliances when not in use, like the TV or computer, can mean a little less money paid to the company supplying your electricity.

With electricity supply sometimes being exceeded by demand in heavily populated areas, it makes sense to choose appliances that will use the least amount of electricity possible

How Many Neurotransmitters are There

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:36:53 +0000

A neurotransmitter is a specialized messenger chemical that transfers or sends information from one type of cell to another. Scientists have managed to identify over 100 neurotransmitters in the human brain alone, but evidence suggests we have significantly more than this number. An unfortunate aspect of not being able to identify all neurotransmitter cells is that researchers, especially those developing medications to act on specific messenger cells, can’t always determine why or how medications work or fail to work.

You’re probably familiar with some of the identified neurotransmitter names. These include dopamine, GABA, serotonin, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine. Each of these performs some specific functions in the body. For instance serotonin is indicated in mood stability, emotional response, and temperature control. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that allows for the person to willfully or voluntarily use his or her muscles. While researchers can suggest the possible effects of certain neurotransmitters, they not only haven’t identified them all, but also are nowhere near determining all effects of the messenger cells that have been identified

This is made very clear when people are given medications that should have an effect on a neurotransmitter. A variety of drugs focus on preventing the body from using serotonin too quickly and are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs are most commonly used to treat depression, and are helpful in preventing the body from using serotonin too quickly. When this neurotransmitter is in greater supply in the brain it tends to elevate mood, and you’ve likely heard the names of some of the common SSRIs like Prozac®, Zoloft® and Paxil®.

Theoretically, if serotonin were the only neurotransmitter responsible for depression, these medications would treat everyone. Yet many people with depression don’t respond to SSRIs. They may instead respond to medications that act on GABA, dopamine or norepinephrine. Some people have tried all these medications meant to alleviate depression and are still unresponsive to treatment. Failure to respond to treatment suggests we don’t fully understand the role of neurotransmitters in depression, and there may be unidentified messengers that create conditions like depressed or anxious states.

Since we don’t understand the precise mechanism of each neurotransmitter or the true number of all that exist, we also can’t understand how medications, foods, or environmental exposure may affect these chemical messengers. Scientists and researchers must make educated guesses based on what is known, but the plethora of unknown information on these cells equates these theories to trying to playing darts in total darkness. Sometimes the guesses are pretty good; SSRIs for instance are reasonably effective for a lot of people. Other times these theories fail to work, since we’re guessing about what is essentially undiscovered territory, and we have no idea what other effects might be caused by raising or decreasing levels of certain chemicals made by the body.

The mechanism and identification of neurotransmitters remains a fertile area of study in the sciences. If we could know precisely how many of these messengers we have, and exactly how they work, interact with each other, and drive the body, we might be able to effectively develop medications to treat numerous conditions. Until then, educated guesswork is relied upon by science and medicine.

How Much Text is in a Kilobyte or Megabyte

postman1 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:33:17 +0000

A bit is the most basic unit of information. At their most fundamental level, most modern computers operate on binary bits which means that they can have two states, usually specified as a 0 or 1. Long strings of these bits can be used to represent most types of information including text, pictures and music.

Most modern computers are binary systems and therefore, they are particularly well suited to working with bits. Pure binary information, however, is of little use to humans. The binary number 11000101110 is equivalent to 1582; it is obvious that we are much more suited to working with digits and text instead of ones and zeros.

To help make computers more like our language-based way of thinking, groups of bits are joined into bytes. One byte is comprised of 8 bits. A set of 8 bits was chosen because this provides 256 total possibilities which is sufficient for specifying letters, numbers, spaces, punctuation and other extended characters. This very sentence, for example is composed of 125 bytes because there are 125 letters, digits, spaces and punctuation marks. Keep in mind that we are discussing pure text; some word processing programs, include other sorts of formatting data, and therefore the filesizes will be greater than the number of characters in the file.

How Much Electricity Does a Computer Use