Cop Car's Beat

Thanks, Moon - by Richard Crowson, KMUE radio commentator

Crowson: Thanks, Moon.

By Richard Crowson • 14 hours ago

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Credit nasa.gov

 

 

I hate to play the “age card” again (who am I kidding – I love playing the age card), but I am old enough to remember a time when the moon didn’t do tricks. 

That’s right. There was a time when we weren’t entertained by a “super moon.” Heck, there wasn’t even a “Spidey” moon or a “Bat” moon. For the most part, the moon used to be content to just go through its normal routine: a quarter moon, a half moon and a full moon. That was it. Sure, now and then there was a “Harvest Moon.” And we thought that was a pretty good treat.

Nowadays? Forget about it. The moon is entertaining us with all sorts of pyrotechnics. You’d think it was a stage prop for a rock concert, the way it cavorts about – inflating itself to gigantic sizes, lighting itself in weird, psychedelic ways, calling itself by all sorts of bizarre, non sequitur names. Even teasing us by playing peek-a-boo games that it claims are lunar eclipses.

I guess it was the recent Super-Blood-Wolf Blitzer-Hyper-Doppler-Cirque du Soleil-Very Stable Genius Moon that finally made me realize that something weird is going on. Our old calm and placid moon is a thing of the past. The question is, why? Why now?

I think I know. We all need a distraction. Our world of politics has gone, well, over the moon with its lunacy. All our normal outlets for entertainment distraction have joined in. Sports, movies, music, they’re all hyper-politicized these days. The moon knows this and is trying its best to provide us with some new wondrous entertainment that we can all look up to for a few moments of respite from the nastiness.

Thanks, moon. I just hope things down here improve before the sun starts getting into the act. Climate change is disastrous enough as it is.

_________________________

Note: Mr Crowson is a local (mostly) political cartoonist Frequently, he sings his commentary, strumming on his banjo.

 

 

Upcoming Acquisitions

McConnell AFB, the main entrance to which is about six miles north and 1/2-mile west of our house, is to start taking delivery of KC-46A Pegasus Tankers within the next couple of weeks or so. Construction of facilities to support the KC-46A aircraft and crew/support personnel training mission has been watched with great interest over the past few years. McConnell AFB had been chosen for first deployment of KC-46A aircraft to an active-duty AFB in 2013. Construction of the required additional facilities began in 2014.

Below is a Wichita Eagle photo of two of the new hangars, as they stood in late February, 2016. (The large, round bales of hay are probably on Cessna Aircraft property where it abuts the northern boundary of McConnell AFB.)

The two videos of the KC-46A, immediately below and at the end of this posting, are from a Boeing website. In the video of the tanker in flight, note the appearance of aircraft in addition to the KC-46 aircraft. Can you identify them? (My identifications are at the end of this posting.) I recommend playing the videos from Boeing's website. The quality is better than that of the embedded videos.

 

Below are excerpts from an article published in The Wichita Eagle newspaper.

Air Force accepts long-delayed Boeing tanker, bringing the KC-46 to Wichita soon

By Chance Swaim - January 10, 2019 08:40 AM, Updated January 10, 2019 04:53 PM

The wait is almost over for Wichita’s McConnell Air Force Base. The KC-46A Pegasus tanker could come to town by the end of the month, officials say.

The delivery will happen despite unresolved deficiencies in the long-delayed plane, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

Air Force Cpt. Hope Cronin called the decision to accept the plane from Boeing “a major milestone for our next generation tanker” that will allow the Air Force to begin operational testing and flight training. She also said the plane has deficiencies in its remote vision system that Boeing will fix at its own expense.

….

McConnell was selected as the first active-duty base in the country to receive the new refueling tankers, which will replace KC-135s that have been in service since the Cold War. Boeing said the first delivery to McConnell will be four planes.

Thirty-six of the tankers will come to Wichita eventually, a spokesman for McConnell said. Boeing is on contract for 52 planes. It expects to deliver 179 of the new tankers to the Air Force by 2027.

….

The KC-46A is expected to replace the KC-135 air refueling tankers that dominate McConnell’s two air refueling wings, the 22nd and 931st. It’s expected to be faster, fly farther and be more fuel efficient than the Cold War-era tankers in use today.

The KC-46 can hold 212,000 lbs of fuel for refueling, 12,000 more than the KC-135. It also refuels faster than the KC-135. The KC-46 refuels at a rate of 1,200 gallons a minute compared with 1,176 gallons a minute for the KC-135.

McConnell’s KC-46A Pegasus Fuselage Training Facility has been in use since May, and will train Air Force personnel from across the country.

From the KWCH-TV website: McConnell gives tour of KC-46 fuselage training facility

Posted: Wed 3:37 PM, Dec 12, 2018  | Updated: Wed 4:44 PM, Dec 12, 2018

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article224220340.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article224220340.html#storylink=cpy

ead more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article224220340.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/business/aviation/article224220340.html#storylink=cpy

Finally, the second video from a Boeing website.

 

____________

My identifications of the aircraft, other than KC-46s, that appear in the first video:

    at 0:33 - F/A-18 Super Hornet

    at 0:51 - AV-8B Harrier II

    at 1:03 - F-16 Fighting Falcon

    at 1:11 - F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-16 chase plane

    at 1:23 - KC-10 Extender and F-16 chase plane

    at 1:27 - C-17 Loadmaster

Please let me know if you think I've screwed up any identification(s). Of all the models in the list, the only one I have never worked with was the C-17 Loadmaster.

After the eclipse

While some of us in the States were lucky enough to have great viewing, some of us are not equipped and do not have the aptitude for photographing lunar eclipses; so, we must steal from others.

First, a shot by Raymond Dodson who lives in our City of Derby, Kansas. Not a bad photo, but not a great one either. Obviously, much better than I could have done.

Next, a shot by Michael Quade, who lives in the City of Hoisington, Kansas - about 140 miles NW of us. He was better equipped. I'm reminded that, Hunky Husband worked disaster response when a tornado hit Hoisington rather hard in (May?) 2001. The tornado hit the night the high school seniors were having their Senior Prom, missing the VFW hall where the kids were dancing in the basement, but hitting their school.

Next, a fine photo by Tom Wildoner of Weatherly, Pennsylvania. 

Lastly, a photo by Karl Diuefenderfer of Quakertown, Pennsylvania. He was happy to see that the stars showed up in his photo. (We'll see how well the stars show through this medium!) My preview tells me that we must click on the image. The stars are visible (on my monitor, at least) in the larger presentation.

ADDITION OF 1/21/2019 - 9:35AM - from Stu of Eunoia, whose viewing position was not ideal but who took quite a nice photo. Thanks, Stu, for sending the photo in an email. Like you, I don't know how to embed an image in a comment. I'm not sure that it can be done. Beautiful photo!

ADDITION OF 1/22/2019 - 3:30PM - from Stu of Eunoia

Below is an interesting video, the link to which Stu was kind enough to include in his second comment on this posting. Thanks, Stu!

 

Upcoming Total Lunar Eclipse

Ethan Siegel, astrophysicist and science writer, of Starts With A Bang! has a fine posting concerning the total lunar eclipse that will be visible to many of us, tomorrow night (20th/21st). I've excerpted portions of his posting, below.

The Supermoon lunar eclipse of 2015 was the first such combination since 1982, and was the largest diameter Moon to be seen in lunar eclipse in more than three decades. 2018 had one, and so will 2019 on January 20/21. (JIMMY BAIKOVICIUS FROM URUGUAY)

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse To Become The First Pan-American Total Eclipse in 19 Years: On January 20/21, half of Earth will experience a total lunar eclipse. For the first time in 19 years, this includes all of North and South America.

….

Total lunar eclipses are relatively common; we get about one per year, on average. But something special is happening on the night of January 20th/21st: the entirety of the North and South American continents will get to experience the full show of the eclipse. This includes the penumbral, partial, and total stages from everywhere in the Americas. It’s the first time this will happen since the year 2000, and the last time it will occur until 2058.

The area shown in red, here, will get to observe the total lunar eclipse of January 2019 from Earth. This includes everyone in North and South America with clear skies. (TIMEANDDATE.COM)

….

Remarkably, binoculars or a telescope will allow you to see incredible features of the Moon with no additional filters. Normally, viewing the Moon through binoculars or a telescope is very harsh on the eyes, and impossible without a special lunar filter due to the Moon’s overwhelming brightness.

….

Small portions of northern Europe and northern Asia will experience the entirety of the eclipse, but all of North and South America will get to view the entire thing. This marks the first Pan-American eclipse of the 21st century!

….

________________

I've undoubtedly mentioned, previously, having observed a red moon during an eclipse as a child. At age 4, (I believe that I observed the eclipse of August 25/26, 1942) I feared that the moon was bleeding to death!

Not too well coordinated

Some days are like this. I'm just hoping the whole year doesn't continue in this vane. Considering the mishaps that have already happened in 2019, I think I'm ready for it to be 2020.

1.    Sprung something in my left knee while trying to get my heart rate up, sufficiently, on a treadmill at the local senior center. Walked away from the treadmill, realizing a couple of hours later (when paying for lunch with Elegant Friend, in Wichita) that, not only did my knee hurt, but I'd left my coin purse on the treadmill's "shelf". The coin purse doesn't hold enough coinage for the money to be a big deal; but, I don't know where I'd get another coin purse like it. Stopping back by on my way home from Wichita, I was pleased to find that someone had been kind enough to turn my coin purse in at the office.

2.    Attempting to prepare a couple of pork chops, I set fire to one of the meat wrapping papers by not noticing that a corner of one of the papers had come in contact with the stove's gas flame - until it flared up in my face, that is. The papers had pools of olive oil on them, which pools I didn't want the flames to reach, nor did I want the olive oil slung all over the kitchen (possibly catching fire). My options were thus limited. I repeatedly slapped the flames down to the tile surface of the kitchen counter with my right hand, to smother the blaze.

In the above photo, the burned part of the bottom paper has been cut off. I cut it off so as to put the ashes and singed edges into a tin can. The papers can thus be put into the trash bin, now, while the charred remains will be held for a day or two to assure that no live embers are left.

3.    Cutting up a pineapple to add bits to a "whipped cream"-type fruit salad for Hunky Husband, I fumbled the main cylinder of pineapple as I was trying to put it into a container with my left hand. Forgetting that the knife was in my right hand, I brought it across to "catch" the pineapple - neatly slicing a small gash at the base of my left thumbnail. Oh, me. Having once watched a guy cut off the tips of three of his fingers, I would not have liked it one bit had I lost the tip of that thumb! (Hunky Husband has always contended that sharp objects should be kept away from me; however, he doesn't offer to do the food prep, one notices.)

The good news: 1) I can still hobble and I got my coin purse back; 2) the house is still standing, not having burned to the ground; and 3) I caught the pineapple, guiding it into the container.

I think that I shall read for a while. What can I do to myself while reading?

More from Slashdot.com - All adither

From Slashdot.com:

Ask Slashdot: Is Today's Technology As Cool As You'd Predicted When You Were Young? 229

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday January 13, 2019 @12:34AM from the back-to-the-future dept.

"How does the actual, purchaseable consumer technology available in 2019 compare to what you -- back in the 1960s, '70s, '80s or '90s -- thought consumer technology might look like around the year 2020?" asks Slashdot reader dryriver. Is today's consumer technology as advanced, inventive, groundbreaking and empowering as you imagined it would be 30, 40, 50 years ago? Or is the "technological future that has now actually arrived" different, in various ways, from how you'd hoped/imagined it might be a few decades back?

If so, what was different in your "future technologies imagination" than what is available to buy today?
Each generation received different dreams from the pop culture of their time. Back in 1969 an 18-year-old Kurt Russell starred in a Disney movie with a malfunctioning mainframe. By 1984 one TV series showed David Hasselhoff with his own talking self-driving car. But how close did your own personal predictions come, asks the original submission.

"Do today's technological gadgets manage to live up to how you imagined tech around the year 2020 would be, or do they fall short of what you hoped/imagined might exist by today?

 

I don't know about you, but I never was a visionary. Being more interested in basic science than in consumer goods, I have pretty much taken things as they come - used some of those things and ignored others.

The next article that appears in the Slashdot.com posting:

Old People Can Produce As Many New Brain Cells As Teenagers (independent.co.uk) 71

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday January 12, 2019 @09:38PM from the senior-momentum dept.

Long-time Slashdot reader Futurepower(R) shares this article about a newly-published study which counters previous theories that neurons stop developing after adolescence: Healthy men and women continue to produce new neurons throughout life, suggesting older people remain more cognitively and emotionally intact than previously believed, researchers found. For decades it was thought that adult brains were hard-wired and unable to form new cells. But a Columbia University study found older people continued to produce neurons in the hippocampus -- a part of the brain important for memory, emotion and cognition -- at a similar rate to young people....

However, the researchers also noted fewer blood vessels and connections between cells in the older brains, which Ms Boldrini said "may be linked to compromised cognitive-emotional resilience" in the elderly.
The article suggests these newest findings may be hotly debated.

"They come just a month after a University of California study suggested adults do not develop new neurons."

Please note that last quotation. Also, if you didn't catch it the first time through, please note the pun in the "Posted by" line.

Flaky meme answers by CC

    1.  Can you "throw a chain"? From SYLVANS:THE FORESTRY CLUB & TIMBERSPORTS TEAM @ SFA  - "The steel surveyor tapes must be wound very precisely or the loops, known as 'links', will not line up properly.  Once the entire surveyor tape is wound into a loop of 4 or 5 feet in circumference, it is folded in half in a move known as a 'throw'.  Hence the event is called chain throwing." Rather than as a "sporting event", I threw a chain during surveying class. My capability was tested in the final practical exam. (December 1955 or January 1956)

    2.  Have you considered buying an RVFSBO? Yes, but not very seriously. In the mid-1990s, Hunky Husband and I attended a Recreational Vehicle (RV) exposition, at which there was a section of RVs for Sale by Owner (RVFSBO). I first saw RVFSBO when it started popping up in TV ads for an RV exposition a few weeks ago.

    3.  What's the bravest thing you ever did? Bear Dudette (1959). By the time I bore Bogie, it was old stuff. Second bravest: parachuting. (1979)

    4.  When did you act your most cowardly? In about 2003 - 'nuff said

    5.  Name of a TV show that you try not to miss, if any? The Big Bang Theory - 60 Minutes is a close second.

    6.  All-time favorite movie, if any? Andromeda Strain - 1971 version (better than the book)

    7.  Have you seen the "blue hue" of a nuclear reactor? Yes, at Los Alamos National Laboratory - first time in the mid-1980s

    8.  In what year did you first use an electronic computer of any type? 1959 - IBM mainframe at Boeing

    9.  Did you ever learn to program a VCR? No

    10. What is the tallest human-made structure that you have climbed? Big Brutus world's largest electric excavating shovel in West Mineral, Kansas - 160 feet tall - I climbed the steps to the top when HH and I went to see it in the mid-1990s. Second, would be a tie between a (forest) fire watch tower (1952) and a water tower (1948).

    11. What is your pet peeve, if any? I've previously posted about 16 pet peeves, so you'll understand that I cannot narrow it down to one.

    12. Has a primitive Pythagorean triple ever been useful to you? Many times - usually the 3-4-5 one (a triangle whose sides are 3 units, 4 units, and 5 units long, respectively).

    13. Have you ever had to determine the unit cell for a body-centered-cubic structure (such as for Iron alpha)? Yes - I had to determine the unit cell (which provides 3-D tessellation) of the Iron alpha crystal. It was tough. When I finally figured it out, it didn't look at all the way I had mentally pictured its doing. (1958 - 1st semester of a Solid State Physics

course)

    2.  Have you considered buying an RVFSBO? Yes, but not very seriously. In the mid-1990s, Hunky Husband and I attended a Recreational Vehicle (RV) exposition, at which there was a section of RVs for Sale by Owner (RVFSBO). I first saw RVFSBO when it started popping up in TV ads for an RV exposition a few weeks ago.

    3.  What's the bravest thing you ever did? Bear Dudette (1959). By the time I bore Bogie, it was old stuff. Second bravest: parachuting. (1979)

    4.  When did you act your most cowardly? In about 2003 - 'nuff said

    5.  Name of a TV show that you try not to miss, if any? The Big Bang Theory - 60 Minutes is a close second.

    6.  All-time favorite movie, if any? Andromeda Strain - 1971 version (better than the book)

    7.  Have you seen the "blue hue" of a nuclear reactor? Yes, at Los Alamos National Laboratory - first time in the mid-1980s

    8.  In what year did you first use an electronic computer of any type? 1959 - IBM mainframe at Boeing

    9.  Did you ever learn to program a VCR? No

    10. What is the tallest human-made structure that you have climbed? Big Brutus world's largest electric excavating shovel in West Mineral, Kansas - 160 feet tall - I climbed the steps to the top when HH and I went to see it in the mid-1990s. Second, would be a tie between a (forest) fire watch tower (1952) and a water tower (1948).

    11. What is your pet peeve, if any? I've previously posted about 16 pet peeves, so you'll understand that I cannot narrow it down to one.

    12. Has a primitive Pythagorean triple ever been useful to you? Many times - usually the 3-4-5 one (a triangle whose sides are 3 units, 4 units, and 5 units long, respectively).

    13. Have you ever had to determine the unit cell for a body-centered-cubic structure (such as for Iron alpha)? Yes - I had to determine the unit cell (which provides 3-D tessellation) of the Iron alpha crystal. It was tough. When I finally figured it out, it didn't look at all the way I had mentally pictured its doing. (1958 - 1st semester of a Solid State Physics

Ultima Thule (2014 MU69)

In case you missed seeing NOVA's story of New Horizons, here is a link to Pluto and Beyond - NOVA, Season 46 Episode 1 - aired on 1/2/2019. Time: just under 53 minutes.

Space.com posted the following photos and paragraphs are in its article Ultima Thule in Pictures: Flyby Views of 2014 MU69 by New Horizons. The photos were taken by New Horizons during its flyby on 1/1/2019. [I have a better appreciation of what a friend in Florida meant when he told me that something was "out in the Thules"*.]

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

This first color photo of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule reveals the object's red color as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft from a distance of 85,000 miles (137,000 kilometers) during a Jan. 1, 2019 flyby. From left to right [in the above image]: an enhanced color image, a higher-resolution black and white image, and an overlay that combines both into a more detailed view.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

The surface features of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) are coming into focus in these images [above] taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby on Jan. 1, 2019. These images, released Jan. 2, were taken a day earlier from a distance of 18,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) with a scale of 730 feet (140 meters) per pixels.

ADDITION 12 HOURS LATER - Thule

From Wikipedia:

Thule (/ˈθjuːliː/ THEW-lee^[1] Greek: Θούλη Thoúlē, Latin: Thūlē) is the farthest north location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, the island of Saaremaa (Ösel) in Estonia,^[2][3] and the Norwegian island of Smøla.^[4]

In classical and medieval literature, ultima Thule (Latin "farthermost Thule") acquired a metaphorical meaning of any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world".^[5]

By the late middle ages and early modern era, the Greco-Roman Thule was often identified with the real Iceland or Greenland. Sometimes Ultima Thule was a Latin name for Greenland, when Thule was used for Iceland.^[6] By the late 19th century, however, Thule was frequently identified with Norway.^[7][8]

In 1910, the explorer Knud Rasmussen established a missionary and trading post in north-western Greenland, which he named "Thule" (later Qaanaaq).

Thule has given its name to the northernmost United States Air Force airfield, Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland.

*    In the early 1980s, in Florida, I could not have looked up Thule without someone's spelling it for me. See how much NASA adds to our classical education? I had thought that Stan was using the Southern colloquialism, "toolies". Actually, it seems probable , to me, that "toolies" is a corruption of "Thules". I wasn't knowledgeable enough to have asked Stan.

2019 Inauspicious beginning ; )

Above is a photo taken a couple of hours ago, typical of the lovely, winter skies we've been having in 2019. Gloomy, to some, but not boring. We've even had a few hours of sunshine. Having started the year with a day when temperatures varied between 18 and 19 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures have worked their way up to yesterday's span of 27 to 61 degrees. Hunky Husband even went out for a run, this morning, his first of the year. In another way, however, we had an inauspicious beginning to 2019. We didn't get to January 2 without 2019 showing its bellicose side: sewer backup.

From about 4:00pm on January 1 until about 8:00pm on January 4, the only usable bathroom in our house was the guest bathroom. Having not had inside plumbing for the first several years of life, I could live with the situation; but, HH gets thrown off his game when his routine is interrupted. (He "threatened" to go to a hotel!) Using the guest bathroom (much as he had been required to do last May while his bathroom was being re-done) was a trial for him; but, he soldiered on.

For all the good it did me, I had pinpointed  the location of the clog in the sewer system. The dispatcher for the company whose plumbers we normally use, their two plumbers, and another plumber disagreed with my diagnosis. This meant, that, when they were finally able to get out to the house, the first two plumbers did not bring the required equipment with them to clear the clog that I had envisioned (and, when I suggested they go get it, told me it wasn't available). They all concluded that the clog was further downstream than I posited - in the "main". (Of course, what they called the "main" and what I called the "main" differed, too.)

Oh, well, the dispatcher had scheduled two plumbers because one (John) was to deal with the plumbing clog and the other (Billy) was to do routine servicing that was due on our heating system. Since John couldn't do anything about the clog, I had him work on an issue that I had observed with the plumbing to/from the water heater and the plumbing to the humidifier. He replaced the lines to/from the water heater that had corrosion at their fittings and replaced the 1/4" copper tubing from the cold water pipe to the humidifier, including a smaller orifice at the outflow end and a different type of valve at the inflow end that would allow me better control of the water flow to the humidifier. Previous plumbing/valve had let the maximum amount of water that the pressure would push through the 1/4" tubing flow through the humidifier. The running water from the humidifier overflow was not only wasteful, but noisy! Yea, for our team! It is much quieter, now. 

Although John had been to our house several times, Billy was new to me; but, having worked with their employer for 19 years, now, I trust their employees. Billy called a sewer service company for whom he had previously worked, to get a plumber out here with the equipment "they all" were convinced would be required to snake out the clog. By 7:30pm, Luke had arrived. He and I discussed the system, I showed him where the outdoor access lines to the sewer "main" line (my terminology) and the access to a cleanout to the branch line (my terminology) that serves the two "problem children" bathrooms, and we did a variety of diagnostic testing. He was equipped with two snake machines: one was small, reaching no more than 25 feet into a line, the other was large and would reach much farther. I convinced him to try the smaller machine first, on the branch cleanout (in the closet of my bedroom!) Nearly immediately, he hit pay dirt and cleared the clog. Yea, again, for our team!

Luke gave me a discount on the work because he had so much fun working with me. At least, that's what he said. I concluded that it was probably a normal discount that they give old folks who ask for it, and he was putting a better spin on it. At any rate: All three of the plumbers were delights with whom to work. I sanitized the "problem children" bathrooms (mine, in particular, since backup had assaulted my shower and the bathroom floor withstood a clear water overflow when I had failed to check before performing a second diagnostic flush for Luke).

HH is happy to be able to use his own bathroom, now, and all is right with his world. Everything works!

Flaky meme

This meme is something that I've whipped up to feature some of life's experiences that my family, friends, and I have gone through. See how your experiences have overlapped - if you care!

1. Can you "throw a chain"?
2. Have you considered buying an RVFSBO?
3. What's the bravest thing you ever did?
4. When did you act your most cowardly?
5. Name of a TV show that you try not to miss, if any?
6. All-time favorite movie, if any?
7. Have you seen the "blue hue" of a nuclear reactor?
8. In what year did you first use an electronic computer of any type?
9. Did you ever learn to program a VCR?
10. What is the tallest human-made structure that you have climbed?
11. What is your pet peeve, if any?
12. Has a primitive Pythagorean triple ever been useful to you?
13. Have you ever had to determine the unit cell for a body-centered-cubic structure (such as for Iron alpha)?
14. Post the answer to the question you think will be answered by the fewest commenters. IOW: Post the answer that you are proudest of knowing. [I'll post my answers, which have already been written, in a few days.]