A fail-safe device is one that is capable of compensating automatically and safely for a system failure. A common example is traffic lights. Traffic lights have a controller known as a conflict monitor unit to detect faults or conflicting signals. When conflicting signals are detected the fail-safe unit switches all the lights at an intersection to flashing red. The traffic…
What, to my surprise, was the topic of conversation among the second and third graders during snack time at Vacation Bible this year? The angelic little darlings were talking about zombies and vampires! Then they proceeded to get up from their snacks and act out being zombies with great enthusiasm. At one point one of the…
When I was a kid there was a man who knew how to do some very creative things with cow horns. The first step in the process was to use pieces of glass to scrape the horns to make them smooth. This pictures shows what he was able to do with the horns that I…
Originally posted on Minnesota Prairie Roots:
PICKING UP MINNESOTA WRITER Rachael Hanel’s We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down—Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter, I wonder how I can possibly relate to a book focused on death. But I can, in many ways. I am, like Hanel, a native southern Minnesotan. That is telling.…
Health Day News reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late Tuesday (April 30) approved the over-the-counter sale of Plan B One-Step, a version of the so-called “morning after” pill, for use as emergency contraception by girls and women aged 15 and older. One thing that struck me about this decision is how it…
Bird flu is a dangerous thing. According to Yahoo News, “China’s premier on Sunday (April 28, 2013) urged authorities to be vigilant against a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people, while saying that efforts to tackle the virus have so far been effective.” According to the CDC web site: “Usually, “avian…
If anyone had any doubts about how well things have been going for farmers the last few years, they only had to go to the North American Farm and Power Show in Owatonna March 14-16. Looking over all the equipment on display I realized that farming is big business and definitely not for amateurs. You…
The fourth Sunday of Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday. Here is what Martin Luther has to say about Jesus, the Good Shepherd. “When he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” Luke 15:5 There is scarcely any more precious illustration in the whole Gospel than when the Lord Christ compares himself to…
The day before Palm Sunday is known in the church calendar as Lazarus Saturday, the day Christians commemorate Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, as recorded in the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John. There are many notable things about this miracle. First, though he was not one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, Lazarus was…
Mirror Neurons 