Techwing

I just downloaded Sky Safari, which I've seen highly recommended as an astronomy app. It seems to be extremely cool. There's just one little problem: I live in a big city where weather and light pollution make it difficult to see much more than the moon and a planet or two at night. I don't even have a telescope, since it's rarely clear enough to make one useful. So I'm looking for ideas on interesting things I can do with this app when the sky is overcast and I can't see very much outside. Are there interesting and educational features to the app that don't necessarily require a clear view of the night sky? Suggestions welcome.

Is there a name for the position in which the queen takes a rook in one corner of the border and then the opponent's knight moves to "trap" the queen in the corner for a certain time? The queen is in the corner and there's still a bishop on the same rank with a rook or queen protecting it, and effectively the queen cannot move anywhere without capture, at least for a while. I was wondering if there's a conventional name for this situation.

What type of motor does a typical 12-cm computer case fan use, and what's the locked rotor current in relation to the normal current when operating at maximum speed?

I have a broken fan in my PC that I cannot replace just yet and I'm wondering how much current the fan motor is pulling, since the fan is not moving.

Do women usually carry tampons or sanitary napkins on their persons on a regular basis (in a bag or purse, or wherever), "just in case"? Or do they only carry them when they are expecting to start their period? Or do they not carry them at all and only have them at home?

I ask because I'm not too clear on how much warning (if any) a woman usually has before her menstrual flow begins (days? hours?). Put another way, is the actual start of the menstrual flow the first sign of her period, or will she feel differently or experience cramps or something that warn her that the period is about to start? I know the mechanism of menstruation very well, but of course I have no direct experience of it, being male.

Can someone explain to me how the rhotic consonant ('r') is pronounced in Japanese? Preferably in terms of how it is actually articulated, not imitations or approximations. It's clearly not a post-alveolar retroflex approximant like English, nor does it seem to be a trill or flap like Spanish, so exactly how is it described phonetically?

Given how poorly qualified some cruise captains seem to be, I find myself wondering what sort of qualifications the military requires for the people it puts in charge of multi-billion-dollar aircraft carriers. How much experience does a typical carrier commander have, and what sorts of qualifications? How does the military decide to whom it can entrust a ship with thousands of people aboard and costing billions of dollars, with the kind of duties that a warship has? I hope they do a better job of selection than civilian cruise lines.

There is some sort of recording of Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" that was made in the 1960s or 1970s, I think, and stayed on the charts for a while. It was recorded by a chorus or group of singers, not a single vocalist or band. It was in the style of the Mike Curb Congregation or something like that, although apparently MIke Curb never recorded it. Does anyone remember which group this was? No, it wasn't The Lettermen.

I know that the LDS church has an extensive internal welfare system and that it brings in substantial revenue from the tithing system that it more or less imposes on devout members of the church, but how does it avoid going bankrupt with its welfare system? I realize that the church has a strong work ethic, but in any large population there are always losers, scammers, and fraudsters. How does the church ensure that slackers do not drain the welfare system dry? What checks and balances are in place to ensure that welfare goes only to those who need it, and not just to those who ask for it?

Who makes the best mass-produced, ready-to-drink chocolate milk? I'm thinking of chocolate milk that is sold nationwide or internationally, not specialty products that you can only find in a few specific places.

Is there any way to make vanilla custard without fancy cooking gear, e.g., with just a microwave and a refrigerator? I like custard but I don't have fancy double boilers or a stove or anything.

I do have a rice cooker … could it make custard, given that it has some sort of temperature control in it (I think)?

Is there some law that weather people learn in school that requires them to treat hot, sunny weather as the best possible weather? I'm so tired of hearing them talk as if 105° F and no trace of clouds or moisture is somehow Paradise. It rains after months of drought and the weatherman talks about the "deterioration" in weather, even though the rain is desperately needed and the heat has been oppressive for weeks. Where do weather people get indoctrinated with this nonsense?

My refrigerator is behaving strangely. These are the symptoms:

- The compressor runs continuously--no cycling. It used to cycle (but

ran a lot), now it just runs all the time.

- The freezer section is plenty cold, with frost inside but not very

much (maybe 1/2 inch around the inside).

- The refrigerator side isn't as cold as it used to be. Drinks stored

on the shelves in the door are only slightly cold. Stuff placed on the

shelves is a lot colder, but still doesn't seem to be as cold as it

used to be.

- What looks like an evaporator plate at the back of the refrigerator

section is about 2/3 covered with frost, the final third being clean.

The refrigerator is almost twenty years old. I open the door many times each day.

I'm worried that the refrigerator may be nearing the end of its life.

What do you think? Is there something really wrong with it? Anything I can fix? Anything that is worth having fixed? Or will it soon be time to replace the refrigerator?

I know that Marc Elliot has been the voice of Disney trailers for some time, but who did the voiceovers for trailers from the 1960s? The ones with the movie titles that seemed to fold up towards the screen. I know Paul Frees did a lot of work for Disney, but I don't think it was him (?).

With all the publicity surrounding the recent mission to get Osama bin Laden and the involvement of Navy SEALs, I've been wondering: Is there any way for an ordinary person to verify whether someone who claims to be an ex-SEAL really was one? Something quick and online would be best (enter a name, get a yes or no answer), or, barring that, maybe a place that can answer the question by postal mail or telephone. It seems that there are 1000 fake ex-SEALs out there for every real one.

If there's such a thing as an "average" American or European Jew, which traditions and/or rituals would he usually observe for Passover?

For example, Christians might have an egg hunt for Easter, might attend a church service, might do without something for Lent, etc., but wouldn't necessarily follow every tradition and ritual to the letter.

So what would, say, a "typical" American/European Jew do in observance of Passover? Are there any "musts" that just about every Jewish family will do for the holiday?

What do stores do with returned merchandise? Do they quietly resell it as new to unwitting store customers? Do they sell it as used on some other market somewhere? Do they return it to the manufacturer? Are they required to sell it for less and/or to tell consumers that they are buying returned merchandise?

For example, if someone buys a digital camera, uses it, and then returns it, will the store sell it again to someone else at the same new price, even though it's not actually new? What about a suit or dress?

Is there a way to tell if you are paying the price for new merchandise but are instead getting returned merchandise? Is there any legislation relevant to this?

What was really written over the entrance to Hell in the Divine Comedy? I've seen several versions:

1. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

2. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate.

3. Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.

Version 1 seems to be the one in the actual text (I think). Version 2 and Version 3 are versions I've frequently encountered. Which of these versions did he actually write, and what exactly did it mean? If the other versions are also correct, what are the differences in meaning. (I know the general meaning, I'm just interested in the specifics.)

When I prepare rice in my rice cooker, and I put the rice in the fridge (since I can't eat it all at once), when I take the rice out later to heat up another portion to eat, I notice some water in the rice container. Does this mean that I have not cooked the rice correctly, or is it normal? I use two parts of rice with five parts of water, and let it cook until the rice cooker shuts off on its own. I add some curry seasoning, butter, spinach, and a couple eggs (just before the cooking is finished), if that makes any difference.

In this picture of the USS Midway being docked in San Diego, there's a lot of brown stuff in the water around the ship as tugs maneuver it into position. Is this mud, or oil, or what? How much clearance does this ship have from the bottom once it's docked?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16...

What are the technical errors in the new movie "Unstoppable," apart from the hammy excess emotion of the cast?