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Psalm 117 the Shortest Psalm in the Bible

Psalm 117
Psalm 117 is the shortest Psalm in the Bible
Some noteworthy and remarkable facts are floating around in my head regarding Psalm 117.

In my research for this post I discovered a fair number of divergent opinions on the exact number of verses and chapters in the Bible. There are many good reasons for this — including the many variations of modern translations of the Bible.

Compare the text shown in the photo at right with the text below. It is different. The original King James Version (KJV) which was completed in 1611 is considered the most authoritative of the English translations in use today. It is the basis of the figures quoted here.

There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. The very center chapter of the Bible is the 595th chapter. This is Psalm 117 which also happens to be the shortest of Psalms or chapters in the Bible. Continue reading “Psalm 117 the Shortest Psalm in the Bible”

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Hottentots Holland Mountains of the Western Cape

Hottentots Holland Mountain Range
The Hottentots Holland Mountains, Apple, Pear, Peach and Nectarine country

Almost equidistant between Hermanus and Cape Town lies the beautiful Hottentots Holland mountain range. The excellent N2 national road must negotiate the Sir Lowry’s and the Houwhoek mountain passes. The recently upgraded road is in superb condition and is well graded and contoured.

This region is the heart of the Western Cape’s successful fruit-growing export industry. Apple, pear, peach and nectarine orchards are interspersed with established vineyards.

These beautiful fruit farms and vineyards lie nestled together in the sheltered and fertile green valleys of the Hottentots Holland mountains. Many of the famous vineyards in this area contribute substantially to the renowned South African wine export trade. See a slideshow of 24 images Continue reading “Hottentots Holland Mountains of the Western Cape”

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American Icon 1950s Cadillac

American Icon, the 1950s Cadillac
American Icon, the 1950s Cadillac — Artist: John Harding

This great American icon of American success and the American dream, the 1950s Cadillac, is beautifully drawn here by renowned artist John Harding. See a portfolio of John Harding’s work here. Click to enlarge the image at right.

When this famous automobile first appeared on the streets the classic lines of the 1950s Cadillac defined an era. The style embodied the optimism of post-war America and heralded a glorious industrial renaissance led by Detroit, the home of the American automobile industry. On 25 November 1949, Cadillac produced its one millionth car, a 1950 Coupe de Ville.

Cadillac developed three engines for the 1950 model, including the V8 engine which  set the standard for the automotive industry.  Cadillac’s first tail fins, inspired by the twin rudders of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, appeared in 1948. Continue reading “American Icon 1950s Cadillac”

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Mr Gene Sharp: Why Dictators and Despots Fear His Name Everywhere

Gene Sharp
Gene Sharp -- photo: Evan McGlinn for The New York Times

Gene Sharp is relatively unknown to the American public. Around the world he is held in high esteem by activists and is regarded with fear and animosity by many authoritarian leaders.

This humble, shy 83-year-old intellectual, through his practical writings on non-violent revolution, has had a broad influence on international events for two decades. Though he is quick to dismiss his role, his ideas are credited with helping to advance a global democratic awakening.

In 2005, two Moscow bookstores selling Russian translations of a book written by Mr. Sharp were mysteriously burnt down. In June 2007, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Mr. Sharp of stirring unrest in Venezuela. In 2010 in Vietnam opposition activists were arrested for distributing a book written by Mr. Sharp.

Most recently his 102 page pdf document, “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” which is available in 28 languages, has inspired dissidents in Tunisia and Egypt Continue reading “Mr Gene Sharp: Why Dictators and Despots Fear His Name Everywhere”

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Revolution Comes to Egypt and Sweeps Across The Arab World

Mohamed Bouazizi
Mohamed Bouazizi, a humble vegetable vendor started the revolution in Tunisia when he set himself alight as a sign of protest

Tonight as I write this a revolution of change is sweeping the Arab countries of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen.

The revolution was started in Tunisia by Mohamed Bouazizi (26), a humble vegetable vendor. He set himself alight in December as a sign of protest. Mohamed had endured police bullying that resulted in the “last straw” confiscation of his vegetable cart. He died of his wounds in early January and instantly became a martyr to students and the unemployed. A wave of protests against poor living conditions began. Three weeks ago the country’s dictatorship fell sending a spark to ignite the unrest that is now burning out of control in this region of autocratic rulers.

The next dictator to feel the pain of revolution was Hosni Mubarak of Egypt after a 30 year autocratic rule which subjected Egyptian citizens to the suppression of political opposition, detention without trial and torture. Continue reading “Revolution Comes to Egypt and Sweeps Across The Arab World”

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RAM How To Boot Test Diagnose and Replace It — Part-2

RAM Card 2GB DDR2
Fig.1. RAM Card, 2GB DDR2 800MHz. You should avoid touching the gold connectors.
In this post we do a walk-through of the process of installing new RAM. The first post explored how to diagnose faulty RAM.

RAM that is faulty will occasionally cause your system to reboot. To correct this problem the RAM must be replaced.

Now, if you’ve got this far then you you know that my system occasionally reboots without warning. You know that I have established that malware is not to blame. No known driver issues and I’ve even made peace with the fact that my RAM failed me.

In Fig.1 at right is a top and bottom view of the replacement RAM card, 2GB DDR2 rated at 800MHz. You should take care not to touch the gold connectors, and rather handle the card by it’s short edges. For the replacement RAM I went to a local supplier here in Hermanus. You can find them online here.

Juan-Pierre of Matrix Wharehouse says: “It’s a 2GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM module that runs at an effective speed of 800Mhz. The actual speed of the memory is 400Mhz, but because it is DDR RAM, it is doubled as the transfer rate is doubled as well. Also, you will get a higher transfer rate if you connect two of the same memory modules, therefore giving you dual channel transfer speeds.”

Continue reading “RAM How To Boot Test Diagnose and Replace It — Part-2”

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RAM How To Boot Test Diagnose and Replace It

Grub menu
Fig.1 Dual boot Windows / Ubuntu + Memtest 86
You will hear these words, or at least think about them, when next you experience faulty RAM components. This can happen to you.

Random and without warning are four words that you do not want to hear used with computing terms like “shutdown” and particularly and ironically not together with the words “Random Access Memory” or RAM.

Just recently my computer has started occasionally rebooting spontaneously without perceivable cause. My motivation for fixing this problem is based on Van Haelen’s 3rd proposition, which, as you are no doubt aware, is based on premise that this reboot will happen right before you have saved your work and right after you have entered some critically important data, which will now be gone. The well known rider to this proposition is that the random reboot will never happen when you are playing Spider Solitaire or similar. Here’s my experience with diagnosing the problem and replacing the faulty RAM. Continue reading “RAM How To Boot Test Diagnose and Replace It”