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"Autumn In New York"

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KCNET NEWSLETTER
09/26/04
COMMENTS AND SCHEDULE PAGE

MIKE'S COMMENTARY
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
NEWS & NOTES BY SUE FOUST

IN MEMORY


FLY...	BILL BAUMER...	FLY ON!

MIKE'S COMMENTARY AND BITS OF WISDOM:

Why Leaves Change Color The Splendor of Autumn
Every autumn we revel in the beauty of the fall colors. The mixture of red, purple, orange and yellow is the result of chemical processes that take place in the tree as the seasons change from summer to winter.

During the spring and summer the leaves have served as factories where most of the foods necessary for the tree's growth are manufactured. This food-making process takes place in the leaf in numerous cells containing chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color. This extraordinary chemical absorbs from sunlight the energy that is used in transforming carbon dioxide and water to carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch.

Along with the green pigment are yellow to orange pigments, carotenes and xanthophyll pigments which, for example, give the orange color to a carrot. Most of the year these colors are masked by great amounts of green coloring.

Chlorophyll Breaks Down
But in the fall, because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor.

At the same time other chemical changes may occur, which form additional colors through the development of red anthocyanin pigments. Some mixtures give rise to the reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumacs, while others give the sugar maple its brilliant orange.

The autumn foliage of some trees show only yellow colors. Others, like many oaks, display mostly browns. All these colors are due to the mixing of varying amounts of the chlorophyll residue and other pigments in the leaf during the fall season.

Other Changes Take Place
As the fall colors appear, other changes are taking place. At the point where the stem of the leaf is attached to the tree, a special layer of cells develops and gradually severs the tissues that support the leaf. At the same time, the tree seals the cut, so that when the leaf is finally blown off by the wind or falls from its own weight, it leaves behind a leaf scar.

Most of the broad-leaved trees in the North shed their leaves in the fall. However, the dead brown leaves of the oaks and a few other species may stay on the tree until growth starts again in the spring. In the South, where the winters are mild, some of the broad-leaved trees are evergreen; that is, the leaves stay on the trees during winter and keep their green color.

Only Some Trees Lose Leaves
Most of the conifers - pines, spruces, firs, hemlocks, cedars, etc. - are evergreen in both the North and South. The needle- or scale-like leaves remain green or greenish the year round, and individual leaves may stay on for two to four or more years.

Weather Affects Color Intensity
Temperature, light, and water supply have an influence on the degree and the duration of fall color. Low temperatures above freezing will favor anthocyanin formation producing bright reds in maples. However, early frost will weaken the brilliant red color. Rainy and/or overcast days tend to increase the intensity of fall colors. The best time to enjoy the autumn color would be on a clear, dry, and cool (not freezing) day.

Enjoy the color, it only occurs for a brief period each fall.

~Featured on weather.com~
From the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

The Cost of Raisins The government once calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 and came up with $160,140! That doesn't even touch college tuition. For those with kids, this figure leads to wild fantasies about all the money we could have banked if not for (insert your child's name here). For others, that number might confirm the decision to remain childless.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, or $171.08 a week. That's a mere $24.44 a Day! Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice says don't have children if you ever want to be "rich." It is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
- Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
- Glimpses of God every day.
- Giggles under the covers every night.
- More love than your heart can hold.
- Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
- Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
- A hand to hold, usually covered with jam.
- A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sandcastles, and skipping down the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
- Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up!
- You get to finger-paint, carve pumpkins, play hide-and-seek, catch lightning bugs, and never stop believing in Santa Claus.
- You have an excuse to keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, watching Saturday morning cartoons, going to Disney movies, and wishing on stars.
- You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnet and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck!
- You get to be a hero just for retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, taking the training wheels off the bike, removing a splinter, filling the wading pool, coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
- You get a front row seat to history; to witness the first step, first word, first bra, first date, and first time behind the wheel.
- You get to be immortal.
- You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren.
- You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
- In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there with God.
- You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

ENJOY YOUR CHILDREN... and Your Grandchildren!!

~Thanks to Life's Adventures~

30 Things Hurricanes Teach Us This bit of humorous insight was in a recent Langalist. The comments pertain to hurricanes but the same can be said for the aftermath of a flood.

Several of my family members and friends live in the Pensacola, Florida, area that was hit hard by a recent hurricane. After a few days of shock, and a few more days without power or phone service, a few harbingers of normalcy began to emerge; a sense of humor among the first. The cleanup may take months, but the spirit of the people there will recover sooner, if this note from Regina Barry (one of my sisters, who lives there) is any indication:

1. An oak tree on the ground looks four times bigger than it did standing up
2. Even after all these years it is still nice to spend time with Col. Mustard in the ballroom with the lead pipe.
3. When house hunting look for closets with lots of leg room.
4. Water from the shower is much colder than water from the kitchen sink--and tastes just as bad.
5. AA, C and D are the only alphabet we need ( batteries )
6. The four-way stop is still an ingenious reflection of civility.
7. Radio can be the best way to watch television.
8. Chain-saw wielding men are nothing to be afraid of.
9. SUV's are the best makeshift tents on the market.
10. You can use your washing machine as a cooler.
11. It's your God given right to sit on your back porch and eat Chinese takeout by candlelight in your underwear.
12. We shouldn't complain about "useless" tools in the garage--we actually DO need a generator
13. You can' t spell "priceless" without I-C-E.
14. Downed power lines make excellent security systems.
15. Lakes can generate waves.
16. Gasoline is a value at any price
17. Cell phones: Breaking up isn't hard to do.
18. The life blood of any disaster recovery is COFFEE
19. The need for your dog to go out and take care of business is inversely proportional to the severity of the storm.
20. Candlelight is better than Botox--- it takes years off your appearance
21. Air Conditioning: BEST. INVENTION. EVER.
22. Water is a comfort food. But 3-day-old Cheetos are too.
23. Shadow animals on the wall---still fun.
24. No matter how hard the wind blows, roadside campaign signs will survive.
25. You should never admit to having power at your house in the presence of co-workers or neighbors who do not.
26. There's a plus to having NOTHING in the refrigerator.
27. Getting through the day should be an Olympic event.
28. The movie theater can be a most pleasant place, even if the feature is Alien vs. Predator
29. Somebody's got it worse.
30. Somebody's got it better. Obviously, they're getting preferential treatment.

When my grown children complain about the way they were raised,
I always tells them that we did the best we could with what we had to work with.
I'll have to remember this one

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It's time to knock the "t" off the "can't." I like the words of author Frank Hughes:
"I will say this about being an optimist;
even when things don't turn out well, you are certain they will get better."

KCNET CLASSES:
Internet and Email
4 session course
Topics include using the browser to find information on the Internet, web and email addresses, sending and receiving email, forwarding and replying to email, bookmarks, using the address book, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.

Beginner Windows 9x/XP
4 session course
Topics include an introduction to all parts of the computer, learning about the desktop, mouse features and operation, and features and operation of the keyboard. Also creating shortcut icons, using recycle bin, wallpaper and screen savers, toolbars and taskbars, drag and drop, using window features (minimize, maximize, resize, etc), control panel, accessing the different drives, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.

Intermediate Windows 9x/XP
4 session course
Topics include organization of windows programs, creating and organizing folders, file extensions, saving files from Internet, folder and file views, formatting floppy disks, installing programs, download programs from Internet, HTML email, uninstall vs delete, scandisk and defrag, email attachments, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.

Advanced Windows 9x/XP
4 session course
Topics include a review of the management of folders and files, an introduction to photo manipulation, introduction to web page creation, using the sound recorder, attaching recordings to emails, introduction to eyeball cams and Internet transmission, and an introduction to burning your own CDs. There is always time for questions and general exploration.

KCnet Users Group: (formerly know as "Senior Net Learners" most recently called "Advanced Class"). I wanted to call this class "The Abusers Group", but Sue would not hear of that. Attendees are persistent in their search for computer knowledge. They ask great questions and present interesting challenges. The cost for this class is $0.00 for members of KCnet and $2.00 per session for non KCnet members. There is no set format for the sessions. Occasionally we will take a specific subject and do a detailed study over a period of successive weeks. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The folks that have been attending for awhile are always happy for a review and in most cases new or better ways to do things will surface. Questions stimulate in-depth exploration with the usual result being an understanding of how and why.
We welcome new attendees from the Advanced sessions and our forever growing KCnet membership. This is an advanced group and we cover a lot of territory. We are kind of free flowing. You never know what will transpire.
It is not necessary for attendees to have their own computers but it sure helps with the learning curve.
KCnet Advanced Class computer knowledge and Advanced Class computer skills are necessary.

OTHER CLASSES:
CLICK HERE FOR ORIENTATION - BEGINNERS - INTERMEDIATE - ADVANCED
CLICK HERE FOR SCANNING - MAC- GENEALOGY - WEB PAGE - EXCEL - WORD - DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - PHOTO MANIPULATION - OTHER SPECIALTIES

THIS WEEK'S CLASS SCHEDULE:
Beginner Windows
Tuesday & Thursday - 9:00 - 11:00
First & Second Sessions
Instructor: Wayne Smith

EBAY
Monday & Wednesday - 5:30-7:30 pm
Third & Final Sessions
Instructor: Kerry Clausen

KCnet Users Group: Every Wednesday
The starting time is 9:00 AM on this Wednesday September 15. We meet in Computer Lab 1 (The Big Room). Leadership is Mike Foust and anyone that wants to jump into the fray.
We started the class with site browsing of pics of the recent flood and the William Raco site for photography buffs. These sites are featured in this Newsletter on the Technology Page under Interesting Sites.
Then Tom Stephens, KCnet's Education Coordinator, rolled up his sleeves and dove headfirst into explaining the topic for the day and a very difficult procedure, Reformatting. We learned that there are so many bits of information, unexpected circumstances and key decisions to make a reformat successful. Experience is the best teacher for this chore and experienced minds should be at the control of the mouse and keyboard. Remember the TV ad "You can pay me now or you can pay me later"? - either way you need to have or employ experience for the procedure. I know the task is not Rocket Science but one does need to know which buttons to push and when. There is no Go Back, Restore, Undo or Reundo available for mistake recovery. One doesn't just put a disk in, push a button and take a nap while all the work is being done by Bill Gates.
In summation I'll repeat a statement I made during class. One of the class members asked this very good question, "When a list of choices is presented on our monitor how do we know which choice to make when we are working on our machine at home"?
My answer was, "If you have to ask that question you should not doing this procedure at home".
Even with the knowledge presented and assuming I understood it I still would not attempt to reformat my machine alone.

Great food again this week. Peg Masden brought in a delicious Butter Loaf Cake delicately positioned on a beautiful Stars and Stripes Plate. Joe Morasco brought Ho-Made Extra Plump Perfect Pumpkin Cookies. Sue Clemens found another Pumpkin Cake recipe that resulted in a Scrumptous Four Layered Pumpkin Cake. The layers were mortared with a Tasty Icing. For dessert we had a Perfect Cinnamon Bread safely transported in total by C. Wayne Wert. The Pretzel Fairy, Dave Glossner, tried to sneak in again this week with a bag of Dark Pretzels; definitely my favorite among the muriad of pretzels.

You don't want to miss the next session.
This class often becomes idea swapping and we learn by sharing our many experiences and I'll tell you all again, that really happened this week.

Digital Photography
Thursdays, 5:30--7:30
September 30
Four Session Course
Instructor: Kerry Clausen

Other KCnet Classes Starting Soon:

Music Creation
Participants should be able to play a piano/keyboard by sight or ear.
Tuesdays, 5:30 -- 7:30
October 12, 19, 26 & November 2
Instructors: Carsten "Jon" Ahrens & Mike Foust

Orientation to KCnet
One-Session Class – No Charge for KCnet Members
Third Wednesday of Every Month 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Instructor: Bob Fenton

Genealogy
New Sessions will begin soon.
Instructor: David Wallace

MAC User Group
New Sessions will begin soon.
Instructor: Clair Falls

For more class details and to register visit: http://www.kcnet.org/class/
Registration can be done online, simply click on the course you are interested in and enter the information requested. Registration can be done via phone 893-8111.

NEWS AND NOTES WITH SUE FOUST:

Blaster is back!
If your computer is giving you the ol’ “59 seconds to save everything” before it shuts down, you have Blaster and need to call your local ISP or computer repair center. There is an easy fix, a removal tool that is a software program that will get rid of the virus.

As I’ve written before, you need an anti-virus program and you need to update it daily. We talk with people almost every day that have somehow gotten viruses. Some even have an anti-virus program installed. When we ask if they update it, they say they didn’t know they had to. Install and update, update, update.

And, if you’re getting pop-ups, you most likely have spyware on your computer. Little programs (we’ve seen over 100 on some computers) that track what web sites you’re visiting and then send your ads or send your identity to commercial companies or advertising firms.

This week was a good one. More progress was made in establishing the guidelines for the ICDL (International Computer Drivers License) program. Certification of computer skills in 7 areas will be given to people who finish the program. Employers will be made aware of the value of holders of the "computer drivers license." It'll hit the news waves in October and the program will be underway in November.

Lesley Duck is the newest member of the KCnet staff. Lesley is a recent graduate of Lock Haven University, with a degree in Accounting. Please welcome Lesley to our KCnet family when you visit or call the office. You will find her at the reception desk.

We've started selling "vanity" e-mail addresses. We think they are a good idea for Christmas gifts or any other gifts, for that matter. There's a gift card, a sheet of business cards, and a year-long (easy-to-renew) e-mail address that can be something like Sue@11mikes-peak.com or thekids@theshoenfelthouse.com or even bestcook@johnlaubscher.com! Think about it. This could be that unique gift you are looking for. It doesn't matter what Internet service a person uses; this vanity e-mail address will work world-wide. It's the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for person, no matter what age - from kids to grandparents. Price is in the $30 - $50 range, depending upon what services you attach to it; renewable at a minimal cost, without the setup fee, for years to come. We'll have more information out about this in early October.

KCnet Board Of Directors Officers: President Judy Yoho, Vice President Bill Raco, Secretary Donna Lannan, and Treasurer Don Miller. Other members of the board: Carsten Jon Ahrens, Fred Bierly, R. Keith Kelly, Paul Korn, Amy Lapriola, Tom Livingston, Ray McGill, Bob Rolley, and Rich Wykoff.

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