Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fwd: Did you ever wonder about the history of ball point pens?

> Did you ever wonder about the history of ballpoint pens?
>
> By David McClelland
>
> I can't think of many of my possessions that I use more often than my huge assortment of ballpoint pens. They are everywhere around my house, in my vehicles, the garage, etc.
>
> I wondered about their history and, you guessed it, I did the research. The first patent was issued on October 30, 1888 to John Loud's. That design was improved dramatically and by 1946, the type of pen we use today was already being manufactured.
>
> I found a neat little book, Ball-Point Pens by Bernie Zubrowski and illustrated by Linda Bourke, publishede by Little, Brown and Company in 1979, that calls itself "A Children's Museum Activity Book" and has many amazing facts as well.
>
> Since it is a book written for children, I figured I would be able to understand most of what it contained. For example, it asks whether the reader thought a ball-point pen is good only for writing. The answer, "Wrong. With a little imagination and a little information, you can do a variety of things with your pen." Mr. Zubrowski said that you can turn you pen into a part of a scale, make it a simple pump or use it as a thermometer.
> He went on to say that, by taking a pen apart, you can construct other tools such as a balance, an eye dropper or a prism.
>
> It turns out that a ballpoint pen is more complicated than it looks. Its tip is designed to take advantage of the properties of liquids. The ink is not just colored water, but a liquid especially selected for properties that result in uniform writing. The design of the pens had to take many issues into account, like the weight and spreading of the ink, the type, size and material of the ball used for the point, the type and amount of ink to be stored in the tube and the quick drying time of the ink. We take all of that for granted now.
>
> The pen won't write upside down because the weight of the ink will pull it away from the ball. I found that my pens won't even write in the horizontal position for more than a couple seconds. There is a good story about the huge amount of time and money that NASA expended to develop a ballpoint pen that would write in space in any and every position, whereas the Russian astronauts just use a pencil. Should tax payers revolt?
>
> There is much more to say, but I tried to cover the basics and, I think you know that you should never leave home without your ballpoint pen and a pad of paper.

Did you ever wonder about the history of ball point pens?

Did you ever wonder about the history of ballpoint pens?

By David McClelland

I can't think of many of my possessions that I use more often than my huge assortment of ballpoint pens. They are everywhere around my house, in my vehicles, the garage, etc.

I wondered about their history and, you guessed it, I did the research. The first patent was issued on October 30, 1888 to John Loud's. That design was improved dramatically and by 1946, the type of pen we use today was already being manufactured.

I found a neat little book, Ball-Point Pens by Bernie Zubrowski and illustrated by Linda Bourke, publishede by Little, Brown and Company in 1979, that calls itself "A Children's Museum Activity Book" and has many amazing facts as well.

Since it is a book written for children, I figured I would be able to understand most of what it contained. For example, it asks whether the reader thought a ball-point pen is good only for writing. The answer, "Wrong. With a little imagination and a little information, you can do a variety of things with your pen." Mr. Zubrowski said that you can turn you pen into a part of a scale, make it a simple pump or use it as a thermometer.
He went on to say that, by taking a pen apart, you can construct other tools such as a balance, an eye dropper or a prism.

It turns out that a ballpoint pen is more complicated than it looks. Its tip is designed to take advantage of the properties of liquids. The ink is not just colored water, but a liquid especially selected for properties that result in uniform writing. The design of the pens had to take many issues into account, like the weight and spreading of the ink, the type, size and material of the ball used for the point, the type and amount of ink to be stored in the tube and the quick drying time of the ink. We take all of that for granted now.

The pen won't write upside down because the weight of the ink will pull it away from the ball. I found that my pens won't even write in the horizontal position for more than a couple seconds. There is a good story about the huge amount of time and money that NASA expended to develop a ballpoint pen that would write in space in any and every position, whereas the Russian astronauts just use a pencil. Should tax payers revolt?

There is much more to say, but I tried to cover the basics and, I think you know that you should never leave home without your ballpoint pen and a pad of paper.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicles came into existence?

Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicles came into existence?

By David McClelland

Late last year, smart announced that it would introduce a battery powered model.smart's fortwo electric drive vehicle, when its battery is fully charged, will have a range of 84 miles between charges and a range, in time, of 4 to 5 hours at city speeds. Just plug it in while parked in your garage between trips. smart will emphasize its "green" nature by painting it's exterior white with an electric green tridion cell color scheme. The interior will have electric green paint trim.

Worldwide, the idea for the smart has been around for 22 years. It began in Germany when Daimler-Benz was approached by Nicolas Hayek, the inventor of Swatch watches, who wanted to make a small car that would be fuel efficient, environmentally responsible and easy to park in small spaces. Daimler Benz agreed and the first Micro Compact Car development began in 1994. The first car was unveiled at the 1997 Frankfort Motor Show and went on sale the next year. The name "smart" came from Swatch, Mercedes and "art". For about two years before smart cars became available at dealerships, one could order one online to his or her specifications with a $99 refundable deposit, but usually had to wait for nearly a year for delivery.

The Penske Automotive Groupsmart believed that mobility begins in the mind and that "open the mind", which is imprinted on many of its shirts and caps, is a call to question the status quo, take a different angle and a fresh approach. The smart car is a concept that makes more efficient use of the ever deminishing space available in our towns and cities.

Recently, smart was been taken over by Mercedes-Benz USA and the transition is seamless for the customers. Check it out.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Fwd: Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicles came into existence?




Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicle come into existence? Part 2

By David McClelland
 
This is the second blog of a multiple-part series on smart. 

The smart car is spelled with a small "s" because it IS small, on the outside. 

smart USA has more than 709 smart dealerships nation-wide. More than 1,000 smarts have been sold at the Michigan dealership during the two years since the smart was introduced in the United States in January, 2008. Sales are strongly influenced by the economy and the current price of gas. If the per gallon gas price goes over $4, sales increase. 40,000 smart cars were sold, nation-wide, in 2008 & 2009.
 
            Worldwide, the idea for the smart has been around for 23 years. It began in Germany when Daimler-Benz was approached by Nicolas Hayek, the inventor of Swatch watches, who wanted to make a small car that would be fuel efficient, environmentally responsible and easy to park in small spaces. Daimler Benz agreed and the first Micro Compact Car development began in 1994. The first car was unveiled at the 1997 Frankfort Motor Show and went on sale the next year. The name "smart" came from Swatch, Mercedes and "art". For about two years before smart cars became available at dealerships, one could order one online to his or her specifications with a $99 refundable deposit, but usually had to wait for nearly a year for delivery. 

            The Penske Automotive Groupsmart believed that mobility begins in the mind and that "open the mind", which is imprinted on many of its shirts and caps, is a call to question the status quo, take a different angle and a fresh approach. The smart car is a concept that makes more efficient use of the ever deminishing space available in our towns and cities.
 
            The Brand Manager of the Michigan smart car dealership is Shane Reed. His take on the smart car is that, "America is ready for this brand. smart is fun, unique and economical without sacrificing safety and style." A recent smart buyer is Jean Williams-Gammey of Auburn Hills who works for Common Ground, not far north of the smart dealership. Jean bought her smart in September, 2009 and "Loves it. It is fun to drive, gets great gas mileage and is BIG inside." She said she has had "no problems" with it.
 

Tina Daniels, when asked how she liked her smart car, said "This is the only car that makes people respond positively when they look at it! Children will point and smile or adults will smile and wave! When I drop the top on my Smart car, people honk their horns and give me the thumbs up sign! What more fun and cool can that be? The Smart car will never haul a boat or RV, but it will definitely get you where you need to be! The car has found a niche for consumers like me...owners that wanted something "fun" and "nifty" to get around in, but is good on gas and fun to drive!" She also told me that she has a Lexus in the garage, but prefers to drive her smart car which she does on a 112 mile round-trip from her home in Lapeer to her Henry Ford Hospital nursing job in Detroit each day.

            Tina gave me a ride in her smart car and I was amazed by how roomy it is on the inside. As I told her, it has the feel of a much larger car as you sit in the passenger seat. And pep? It zooms around. Shane told me it has a governor that prevents one from driving the smart car faster than 90 miles an hour. 

            The following Monday, I made an appointment at the smart car dealership for a "test drive" of my own. Shane asked Samantha Ball to take me. She drove us up to the Summit Place Mall parking lot and I drove back. When I drove into the dealership lot, I didn't want to get out of the car. I wanted more. Now, I'm considering one of my own. It was that much fun to drive. Again, while in the driver's seat, it has the feel of a much larger car. I did feel "smart" driving it.

 Look for my next blog on Sunday, March 13th where I will discuss more about smart and what the future holds for his vehicle in the United statest.
 


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicles came into existence?


Did you ever wonder how the smart vehicle come into existence?

By David McClelland
 
This is the first blog of a multiple-part series on smart. 

The smart car is spelled with a small "s" because it IS small, on the outside. 

 Everything about the smart is smaller than normal. It is only 8'8" long, less than 5'1" wide and 5'1" tall. The wheelbase is 6.1'2" and gross weight is 1,80852 lbs. Two can park, end-to-end, in a regular parking space by the curb. It is a concept that takes some getting used to since it has only two seats. The non-electric basic price of $113,990335, EPA estimated gas consumption of 41 mpg on the highway and 33 in the city (8.7 gallon fuel capacity), and lower insurance costs, gives it appeal to some baby boomers and empty nesters, as well as to others who are looking for something different. It also appeals to some commuters. Until 2013, the smart car comes with only one engine, a 70 hp, Mitsubishi built, 1 litere engine. The engine is in the rear for better traction. It also has Electronic Stability Programming which prevents the wheels from spinning in the snow.
 
   If you want to check smart out in Michigan, you must go to the state's only smart dealership, owned, until recently, by Roger Penske Automotive Group, which is located at 1765 Telegraph Road, in northern Bloomfield Hills. There, you can look at all of the models which begin with the lowest priced Pure Coupe and continue to the highest priced Passion Cabriolet convertible, the "show car". There is a complete list of options available. Several customers have ordered custom paint jobs. Penske even had two vehicles which looked like race cars during the Dream Cruise.
                       
    Roger Penske Automotive had the smart distributor ship for the entire United States under the name smart USA. It is interesting to note that the Penske Automotive Group' smart USA headquarters was also located at the same address. So, if a smart was sold in New York or California, the paper invoice was generated here. So far, about 80% of smart sales in Michigan have been sold to customers located in the greater Detroit area. 
 
     Look for my next blog on Thursday, March 19th where I will discuss more about smart, quite some satisfied owners and discuss the new owner.
 

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Did you ever wonder how God does it all, day in and day out?

Did you ever wonder how God does it all, day in and day out?

By David McClelland

I have wondered about that question all of my life and I have come up with one possible explanation. Of course, the simple answer is that He does it ALL by Himself because He can. But, just HOW does He do it all?

I believe that He can to it all by Himself, but I also believe that He is way too intelligent to continue to do it all by Himself now that the world population has reached over 6,775,000,000 people. So, who helps Him? My short answer is that "We all do."

OK, but who are "We?" By "We," I mean all of the Christians who live today and all who have ever lived since Jesus Christ was born.

We Christians on Earth, are all who have been, in my "answer," baptized. We have been Deputised to help with God's work on Earth. We help each other every day and we pray for God's help whenever and wherever we need His assistance. We really do try to assist with God's work in our daily lives. We always fall short of perfection, but we keep on trying and, over time, we do get better at these important tasks. And, no matter how much success we have in assisting God, we continue to strive to improve and to achieve more.

All Christians who have gone before us and are now "living" with God in Heaven, are also deputised to assist God with his multitudes of tasks as well. God evaluates the qualifications and talents of each new soul and uses him or her to assist Him with many, but not all, of His tasks.

For example, first and foremost, I suspect that God asks former Popes, priests, bishops and ministers, of all faiths, to listen to our daily prayers and to prioritize them by urgency and importance. Some will be assigned the easy tasks of listening to our prayers of thanksgiving. Others will be asked to assist with the selection process of assigning incoming souls to the tasks for which they are best qualified. Others are asked to be alert to prayers to relieve suffering. Others are asked to watch over travelers and still others to get prospective mothers through their pregnancies and childbirth. Former doctors are asked to watch over and guide the minds and hands of current doctors on Earth in their day-to-day caring for their patients and assisting with God's work here. You get the idea.

God also asks others to assist Him with the care and feeding of the souls in Heaven, a much easier assignment.

If you can accept most of, if not all of, the above, what then, do I believe that God does, Himself? I believe that He is like the CEO of the Universe and monitors the work of each and every one of his Deputies. He remains alert so that He may step in whenever and wherever necessary, any time that He is really needed. For example, he know when He must personally "answer" a prayer. When He must, He does; i.e., when God speaks to us, He does NOT do so via a Deputy. I am comforted by that part of my answer as well. I'd hate to think that His answer to our prayers my get garbled in the translation.

Why, then, are not ALL prayers answered, if God has all of this help? The answer to that question is the same as it has always been. They are, but not always in the most direct, obvious and timely manner. And, in many instances, God trusts us to work out our own solutions to our own problems. In those cases, that is His answer; i.e., He thinks that we can provide good solutions to our own problems, we should.

That, in a nutshell, is how I believe that God gets it all done and I'm glad to help.