Monday, May 28, 2012

Is there other intelligent life out there?

Is there intelligent life out there?
How’s that for a loaded question?  Is there intelligent life out there?  For the moment, let’s narrow the focus down to non-intelligent life, something perhaps single-cellular or multi-cellular but not intelligent.  The first part of this posting is going to be fairly simple to follow, but I think my conclusions might cause a number of people to roll their eyes at me.  Dr Jill Tartar and Dr Seth Shostak, for example, won’t like my conclusions one bit. 
There are only two possibilities.  The first is that there is simple (or perhaps even complex) non-intelligent life out there.  The second possibility is that there isn’t simple (or perhaps even complex) non-intelligent life out there. 
The best estimates about the number of stars in our galaxy alone is somewhere between 200 – 400 billion stars.  That’s a lot.  (And yes, it’s also another ‘duh’ moment.)
The best estimate about the number of galaxies in the Universe is somewhere between 100 – 200 billion.  Although, a recent German supercomputer estimate pegged that number at perhaps 500 billion.  Sometimes these galaxies collide with each other, and sometimes they start sloshing around.  (NOTE:  I am NOT suggesting that all the life forms in the particular galaxy all got intoxicated at the same time (ie: ‘sloshed’) and they got together on the galaxy internet and said “Hey, we’re all sloshed so let’s see if we can get our galaxy sloshed too!  So tomorrow, lean really really far left and then begin rocking back and forth!   We’ll get our galaxy sloshed in no time!  (And please don’t forget the Nauzene or similar anti-nausea liquid.  I don’t want another couch ruined!”) ) (*)
So in multiplying out 100 billion times 100 billion we get … a really big number.  A really really big number.  If your brain isn’t hurting yet, it just might be by the time you read the rest of this.
Add to that the fact that most physicists believe we exist in a Multiverse, where our Uninverse is but one of many(N1).  Although, for now, we’re going to concentrate on just this Universe which we’re in.  I wouldn’t want anybody’s brain to explode. 
Given that really really big number, can I state with certainty that Earth is alone in all the Universe in that it’s the only planet which has life?  I think we can pretty much rule that out on just the sheer numbers alone.  But it also violates everything that Copernicus and Galileo were trying to tell us when they said that Earth is not special as a place, nor as the only place in the Universe where the laws of physics work the way they do. 
So the conclusion is no, I don’t think Earth is the only planet to have ever evolved life. 
But now we come to the really hard question; is there intelligent life out there?  Again, given the sheer numbers of stars involved, I believe that there is intelligent life out there.  Having said that, in my opinion it’s going to be so rare and so far distant from each other that the chances of making contact are indeed slim.
Why?
Our Earth is about 4.67 billion years old.  The giant impact hypothesis (*2) states that about 4.5 billion years ago the Earth got whacked by a Mars-sized object with the ejecta forming the Moon.  Our Moon does a number of things for us:
* - it gives us moon-lit beaches to walk upon, hand in hand with the person we love.
* - it slows the Earth down.  Without the moon, we’d be spinning a 4-hour day.  Two hours of day and two hours of night.
* - it gives us ocean tidal forces.
* - It makes Human life more likely.  Without the moon’s being there, the Earth’s surface winds would be between 350 – 400 km per hour.  Humans would have great difficulty trying to live on such a planet.
Add to that the fact that there have been 15 mass extinctions on this planet, 10 of which appear to have been caused by … wait for it … global warming(*3).  Indeed, at 10 of these mass extinctions we find isorenieratane at the surface of the ocean.  This can only occur if the surface of the ocean is anoxic (has no oxygen) and is saturated with hydrogen-sulfide; enough to come out of solution(N2).  96% of all life on the planet died after the mass extinction known as the Great Dying(*4) of 250 million years ago.  The Thrinaxodon(*5), for example, with a skull the size of a robin’s egg, was the only mammal that survived this mass extinction.  If not for it, I am not here – something else is.
Exactly what caused this mass extinction is still hotly debated, but there is growing evidence of the release of noxious and poisonous gasses into the atmosphere.  Some people think it was due to a flood-basalt of lava from the Siberian Traps(*6).  And, indeed, fully one-quarter of Siberia is buried under lava. 
But then we come to the famous (or infamous) K-T Event(*7) of 65 million years ago.  It’s perhaps the most famous of all extinction-level events and is the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. 
Add to that the fact that Toba went off 74,000 years ago and about wiped out the human race.
And there have been various other things that have happened over the years.
But here is the crux of what I’m getting at:  Over 4.7 billion years the Earth has gone through many changes, some happening due to natural disasters(N3) and some due to chance events, such as the K-T Event.  And, of course, there has been the occasional genetic mutation thrown in just to keep things honest. 
4.7 billion years of events happening in the same sequence, in the same time frame(s) and with roughly the same outcome.  The Thinaxodon, the only surviving mammal of the Great Dying is the only reason you and I are here.  The K-T Event is the chance impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
So we have a very specific sequence of events happening at a certain timeframe and with a certain outcome.  The odds against that happening in the same sequence at the same time and with the same outcome are virtually nill.
CONCLUSION:  Yes, I do believe there is other intelligence life out there.  However, it will almost certainly look nothing like us and will in all probability be so rare and so far apart from each other that the chances of contact, at least with our current level of technology, are virtually nill.
(*2) – giant impact hypothesis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_impact_hypothesis
(*3) – Kump et al hypothesis – 2005. “Greenhouse Extinctions.”


NOTES:
(N1) Note One:  This is the many worlds theory which states that every time the Universe has to make a choice (or we ourselves are faced with a choice) both choices come into existence.  For example:  I am currently wearing a black shirt.  But I had a choice of wearing the black shirt I’m currently wearing, or the blue one which has the word “California” emblazoned on it.  In this Universe, I put on the black shirt, but in the other Universe I put on the blue one.  Another example would be taking two different routes to work.  Should I take the shorter, more direct route?  Or should I take the longer route which might actually save time due to traffic conditions?  In this Universe, I took the shorter route, but in the other Universe I took the longer route.  (Is your brain hurting yet?)
(N2) Note Two:  Hydrogen-sulfide (H2S) is a colourless gas that smells like rotten eggs.  200 parts per million (PPM) is enough to kill you dead.  H2S as well as the above-mentioned isorenieratanes tell us that at least 10 of the mass extinctions appear to have been due to “Greenhouse Extinctions.” (Kump et all hypothesis – 2005)

(N3) Note Three: Hydrogen Sulfide vent off the coast of Namibia:  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=12831

Lake Nyos - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos  It has happened before.  It will happen again.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

To S.E. Cupp

Ms Cupp;
 
    I think I know the answer to this rhetorical question, but feel free to correct me.  In my opinion, you’re part of the solution. You question and criticize those on both sides of the political spectrum and, frankly, we need more people willing to do this.  I myself have taken Speaker Boehner and Sen Kris Jordan (whom I actually campaigned for) to task for some of their views.
 
    I don’t know how to add this next without sounding like a nut; but I like the way you think.  I won’t lie to you and say that I agree with you on everything, but for the most part we see eye-to-eye on many important issues (which is probably impossible since I’m only 5’ 4”.)  I would be more than honoured to be the father of any future children you might wish to have.  I can’t ... I won’t lie about that either.
 
All the best.
 
Greg Birosh
“We did NOT.  But we DID temporarily inconvenience some electrons.  Others were hurt or killed when they went through that stupid meter.”

Opinion: President Obama is part of the problem.

You read (or heard) it here first!  At least, I hope. 
But remember when Mr Obama said he wasn't going to spike the football and show photos of the corpse (Not Corpseman, Mr Obama - corpse.  ) of bin Laden? 

And then he politicized it - you could say he spiked the football.  Even Arianna Huffington (yes, that one) was none too pleased with Mr Obama about it! 

The link:  http://www.mediaite.com/tv/democratic-columnist-discusses-report-of-desperate-obamas-enemy-list-of-wealthy-romney-donors/

There's a reason I chose that link:  it also contains the link to Mr Obama's "enemies" list a la Richard "I am NOT a crook" Nixon.

You can imagine the reason that I've bound three different things together here.  First, consider each of these items on its own merits and consider it from a liberal viewpoint.

First, we've known for some time (and I've written about it before) that Mr Obama's campaign has put out a list of people whose only 'crime' was to donate money to Mr Romney's campaign coffers.  Let's play pretend and pretend for the moment that it was Mr Romney's campaign doing this classless and dishonourable thing.  The liberal media and the liberals themselves would (rightly!) be all over it.  Why?  Because it would be classless, dishonorable and borderline defamatory.  You simply need to view Mr Obama's "enemies list" to see some of the borderline defamatory statements.  But this is Obama bin Largess 'the Obamessiah,' or 'the anointed one' doing all these things. 

No matter who does it, it's wrong.  But if you're willing to say it's not a problem because it's Obama doing it, you seriously need to realize that you've just shown yourself to be part of the problem.  To get out of this mess, we don't need people to prove that they're part of the problem, they need to be ready to act as (and be!) part of the solution.  And that means willing to criticize both sides of the aisle when they deserve it!

So now we come to Mr Bush's being unable to say "nuclear."  I myself laughed at it.  Why?  Because here's the President of the United States being unable to say a simple word such as "nuclear" correctly!  (As an aside, could you imagine him trying to say 'bovine spongiform encephalopathy?' )  I don't want to be anywhere near President TelePrompTer were he to try to say it!

Mr Obama, however, says (twice) " ... Navy Corpsman ... " with "Corpsman" being pronounced "corpse-man."    Get the idea yet?  Those who were so willing to nail Mr Bush to the wall for his inability to say "nuclear" are oddly mute on Mr Obama's flub of "corpse-man."  Part of the solution or part of the problem?

Thirdly, Obama bin Largess' double-standard and spiking the football by politicizing his decision to get Osama bin Laden.  Even Arianna Huffington is NOT happy about that.  Which, to me, is shocking.  She's a big-time liberal and she's gone off the reservation and is willing to criticize 'the one.'

His making it political is wrong - no matter how you slice it.  Had it been Mr Bush, the liberal media would be all over it.

They too are part of the problem.

And I'm going to add one thing because this too is part of the problem. 

Political author S.E. Cupp wrote a book in 2010 named "Losing Our Religion: The Liberal's Attack on Christianity," and people out there immediately took it to mean that since Ms Cupp is a Conservative author, she was therefore also a Christian.

The liberals, again, have their facts wrong.  According to her Wikipedia article and she herself, she is an atheist.  Although, to be honest and in the interest of full disclosure, she is an atheist who "really aspires to be a person of faith someday."
I would be honoured to be the father of any future children she might wish to have. 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Obama REALLY Needs to Come Clean!

The link: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii

" In addition, Obama and his handlers have a history of redefining his identity when expedient. In March 2008, for example, he famously declared: "I can no more disown [Jeremiah Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."

" Several weeks later, Obama left Wright's church--and, according to Edward Klein's new biography, The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, allegedly attempted to persuade Wright not to "do any more public speaking until after the November [2008] election" (51).

" Obama has been known frequently to fictionalize aspects of his own life. During his 2008 campaign, for instance, Obama claimed that his dying mother had fought with insurance companies over coverage for her cancer treatments

" That turned out to be untrue,but Obama has repeated the story--which even the Washington Post called "misleading"--in a campaign video for the 2012 election. " (Bold and colour added.  Links are Breitbart.com's and are left intact.)

So which is it, Mr O Bow Ma?  If you had any honour at all, you'd beg forgiveness from the American Public and then quietly retire from public life, never to be seen in public again (a la Johnny Carson virtually disappearing from public life after leaving The Tonight Show.) 

Of course, the mainstream media won't have a thing to say about this.  I can hear the crickets lining up to chirp now ... and for my sister to say (again) that my heart is filled with hate.

Simply because I question. 


Is It Possible??

Here’s where I need to be really careful.  Not in what’s been going on with “The Grove” and “Nike” and Mr Pacquiao, but with something else.
If you recall, I wrote a while back that I don’t use the word “impossible” easily.  Granted, I have used it before, albeit sparingly.  The reason is simple in that many things are indeed possible in theory and on paper.
The odds of a black hole being created by the LHC and swallowing up the Earth?  Yes, it is theoretically possible; however the odds against it happening are somewhere along the lines of 1 to 55 or 60 million against.  Yes, it is statistically possible.  But to be honest, I really don’t lose any sleep worrying about it and I’m guessing that you don’t either. 
But I was listening to an old Coast to Coast AM last night (one that I legally downloaded as a streamlink member) and the guest said something that was just wrong.
It was said, if I remember it properly, by Glenn Kimball.  Mr Kimball said that the lost civilization of Atlantis might have been destroyed when an object (asteroid, comet) struck the Earth.  In this part, that could easily have been.  Earth has been struck many times by asteroids and comets and meteors.  Meteor Crater, Arizona was created when a (you guessed it!) meteor hit the Earth.
The K-T Event of 65 million years ago was a 6km asteroid striking the Earth and wiping out the dinosaurs, as well as about 50% of all life on the Earth.  So the first part of what Mr Kimball said is entirely possible.
Where it breaks down however, is when he estimated the size of the object that would have hit.  He estimated the size of said object to be 1/7 or 1/8th the size of the Earth.
However, that simply cannot be.  That is the part that is impossible.  The impactor in the K-T Event, an asteroid 6km across, blasted out the Chicxulub Crater(*) which is 110 miles across!
A strike by an object 1/7 or 1/8th the size of the Earth wouldn’t have simply wiped out Atlantis, it would have completely wiped out the Human race.  Indeed, there is speculation that it would wipe out nearly all life on Earth.
I will grant Mr Kimball something, however.  There is a possible impact event which would account for the Biblical Flood.  It is the Burckle Crater(**) and an impact both in the region and of the size hypothesized could cause the Flood and possibly wipe out Atlantis.

"Nike" under pressure to drop Manny Pacquiao.

You might've seen my previous posting about it.  Mr Pacquiao is being assaulted by the leftie prog mob for remarks he allegedly made when he allegedly quoted Leviticus. 

There's just one slight problem.  The writer of that article, Granville Ampong, did the honourable thing and admitted (albeit under pressure) that he added that part.  For reference, simply follow the link in my previous posting.

"The Grove" (Yes, the one in LA) banned Mr Pacquiao for life ... without bothering to do the least bit of due diligence. 

Here's my question:  Will Nike do the honourable thing and stand up to the prog mob who are lying and distorting the facts? 

Or will they follow "The Grove's" cowardly lead and kowtow to those with an agenda, those who are willing to lie and distort the facts.

Sadly, my money says that Nike will follow "The Grove's" cowardly and dishonourable lead.

If Rick Caruso of "The Grove" (Twitter: @RickCarusoLA) had any personal honour he would immediately:

1) Get his facts straight and do the basic due diligence
2) Apologize to Mr Pacquaio (via Twitter since the smear was made via Twitter)

or, failing the first two

commit seppuku(*) (Japanese ritual suicide, usually by disembowelment.)

Of course, he'll probably do nothing.  And that's sad.

(*) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppuku

" Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely suffer torture), or as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed for other reasons that had brought shame to them. " (Links are Wikipedia's and are left intact.  Emphasis and colour added.)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Grove bans Manny Pacquiao

The link:  http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/16/the-grove-bans-pacquiao-for-gay-marriage-views-boxer-denies-quote/

There's just one slight problem:  Mr Pacquiao didn't actually say what he's being accused of saying!  Indeed, the article itself states this!

" Granville Ampong, the writer of the article — but not Pacquiao himself — went on to quote a passage from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, which states that “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” " (emphasis and colour added)

Of course, if you've been following along on Twitter (or twitchy) you'd see that to those with an agenda, this little fact doesn't mean a damn thing.  Mr Pacquiao did not say what he's being accused of saying.

That is the fact.

Pity that "The Grove" and others couldn't be bothered with the facts.

NOTE:  I have contacted "The Grove" for their comment(s) and am awaiting their reply. 

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Opinion: A few words for thought...


Does anybody remember back on 9-NOV-2008, when Valerie Jarrett the Co-Chair of the Obama-Biden transition team said this?
“ However, given the really daunting challenges that we face, it’s important that President-Elect Obama is prepared to really, ah, take power and begin to rule day one.”
“ … begin to rule … “ ?!? 
Perhaps I’m just dense about this, as the liberals keep telling me, but an elected President does not ‘rule,’ he governs.  There’s an important distinction to be drawn here.  A dictator rules, but somebody who is elected governs.  Back I went to dictionary.com to see what their definition of ‘rule’ is.  And I’ll quote the 5th definition that they have:  “tenure or conduct of reign or office:  during the rule of George III.” (italicized in article.) 
However, it could be argued that Ms Jarrett meant ‘rule’ as in ‘govern.’
But let’s go further.  Here’s another link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUfo-RxkXA8&feature=related
There’s a lot going on in this clip, so let’s distill it down.  First we learn that, according to the moderator, every time the capital gains tax was increased, revenues from the tax dropped.  While it sounds counter-intuitive, it really isn’t.  It is, however, an ‘inconvenient truth’ that the liberals love to forget.  Every time the capital gains tax was increased, revenues from the tax fell.  Conversely, every time the capital gains tax was lowered, revenues from the tax increased!
But there’s also this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYrlDlrLDSQ
" If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to - this is the last stand on Earth. "

And then Mr Reagan said something prophetic.  It was almost as if he were aware of the situation that now faces us.  He said:

" This is the issue of this election; whether we believe in our capacity for self-government, or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. "

And then, most dammingly for Mr Obama and his supporters:  " And among themselves and all of the things I will now quote have appeared in print:  these are not Republican accusations.

" For example, they have voices that say 'The Cold War will end with our acceptance of a not-undemocratic Socialism.'

" Another voice said the profit motive has become out-moded, it must be replaced by the incentives of the Welfare State.

" Or 'Our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th Century.

" Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is out-moded.  He referred to the President as our 'moral teacher' and 'our leader.'  And he says he is hobbled in his task by the restrictions of power imposed on him by this antiquated document.  He must be freed so that he can do for us what he knows is best.

" And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as 'meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government. "

When did President Reagan say these things?  27-OCT-1964.

It certainly fits today, doesn't it?

Article: "Commencementgate: Liberals outnumber conservatives 7-1"

The link:  http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/05/commencementgate-liberals-outnumber-conservatives-7-1/613681

FIRST, an important caveat:  the numbers I'm going to be citing came from Young America's Foundation.  Having said that, read on:

" The liberal tilt of America’s top colleges and universities has gone off the charts with the ratio of liberal-to-conservative commencement speakers reaching 7-1, an all-time high, according to a new survey of graduation ceremonies at the top 100 schools. "

Um.  Are you sure there's no liberal bias in the schools, including universities?

" While it’s no surprise that colleges and universities tilt liberal, the numbers have never been so weighted to the left, according to YAF. Their survey reinforces an earlier report which found that liberal professors outnumber conservatives three-to-one, and professors that supported the administration outnumbered foes by a nine-to-one ratio. "

All of these figures should be quite telling. 

Are you sure there's no liberal indoctrination going on?



Chris Matthews fails on "Jeopardy"

The link:  http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/05/15/having-repeatedly-mocked-palin-what-shed-do-jeopardy-matthews-comes-l#ixzz1uwLt94fb

This is just sooooooooo juicy.  Mr Matthews, who repeatedly ...  Well, I'll let you read it for yourself.

Be sure to go all the way to the bottom of the article to see more flubs by Mr Matthews, all of them happening (according to the article) just this month!  Wow.

Opinion: "Obama vandalizes WH presidential biographies"

The link:  http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-vandalizes-wh-presidential-biographies/543386

" Conservatives are having a laugh after it surfaced that the official presidential biographies on the White House website have been updated to inject President Obama into history. But kidding aside, this is a truly disgraceful behavior. " (emphasis added)

But the writer wasn't done!  I'm actually in shock about this.  It's been my opinion that Obama is a megalomaniac, but to see this clear of an example.  I'm actually floored!

" Obama should get beyond his own narcissism and realize that, win or lose in November, he's just a temporary part of something that's bigger than himself. "

Wow.  DHS and Ms Clownitano (and you Mr Holder) obviously need to investigate the writer.  He's saying bad things about 'the one.'

Saturday, May 12, 2012

MSNBC Cuts off Romney Supporter

The link:  http://freebeacon.com/watch-tamron-hall-go-nuts/
Watch as that "fair," and "unbiased" "news anchor" cuts off a Romney supporter.

To be honest and fair (something many reporters aren't these days) FOX has also done the same in cutting off liberals.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Article: "I'm getting chills again"

The link:  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/05/10/abcs_robin_roberts_on_interviewing_obama_im_getting_chill_again.html

Yes, those "unbiased," and "impartial" media types are drooling again.  First it was reporters swooning aboard the plane during Mr Obama's first run for the office.  Then it was Chris Matthews and the thrill going up his leg (possibly as something hot and sticky went the other direction,) then it was MSNBC and the "projectile victory" and now this. 

Those slobbering sycophants in the media are still firmly in the tank for 'the one.'

Obama Reverses Stance on Same-Sex Marriage

Well.  President Obama has reversed his former stance on same-sex marriage.  If you remember, in 2008 he said that he thought marriage should be between one man and one woman.  NOW, he’s endorsed same-sex marriage. 

To the press, this isn’t a flip-flop.  Although the WH has admitted that it was gaffe-tastic Joe Biden who basically made them admit this now.  They’d hoped to do it after the election. 

But let’s pretend that this had been a Republican President.  Here’s how (I think) the press would have handled it.

Q:  Mr President, you used to believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
R:  That’s correct.  But after talking with people in the gay and lesbian community, my position has changed.  It’s evolved.
Q:  But don’t you think others will see this as yet another flip-flop? I mean, after all, it was only four years ago that you stated otherwise.
R:  Well, as I said, my stance has evolved over the years.
Q:  But don’t you see this as a flip-flop?  Isn’t this really just to get the gay and lesbian community aboard your campaign for re-election?  After all, you’ve changed your stance on a number of important issues so far.  It seems …
A:  As I said, my stance has evolved over the years.  It’s not a flip-flop.
Q:  But it was only four years ago, and I have the transcript here, that you stated that a marriage was between one man and one woman.
A:

And it would go from there.  The press would pound our hypothetical Republican President for a flip-flop.  For the Obamessiah, yet another pass.

Nothing new here.

2nd computer dies. R.I.P.

Wow.  This is really REALLY freaky.  My desktop computer (Win XP) 1.7G PIV died.  It’s the second computer I’ve had die on my recently.  My other, you might recall, was a 3.7G PIV that also used Win XP.   Well, the 1.7G was my backup and it went belly up. 

SO … I began using my laptop, which is a 2.2G PIV quad-core machine with 4G of DDR3 DRAM. It runs circles around the older one (especially now what the 1.7G machine is a doorstop.)  BUT, I HATE using the touchpad and the keyboard on the laptop.  Out I go to the Internet to find something to hook up a PS/2 mouse to a USB port.  (As an aside, could you imagine what I would’ve had to go through without the Internet?  I’d have to make phone call after phone call after phone call to find such a device, and at a price I could afford.) 

Well, I found it.  Thanks to the fine folks at Smartphonechargers (that’s actually the name of the company) out of Fairfield, NJ, I ordered a USB dongle thingie to hook up a PS/2 keyboard AND mouse to one of my laptop’s USB ports.  Windows 7 found the drivers automatically and installed them for me.  A reboot, and all is well.

Thank you soooooooooo very much to the fine folks of Smartphonechargers, I can now use my PS/2 mouse and my PS/2 keyboard on my laptop.

Ordering with them was simplicity itself, and went smoothly.  They told me that the dongle might not be here until Monday, but today is Thursday, 10-MAY and I’m loving it!  (with all apologies to McDonald’s.)