The September 3, 2009 issue of Science Daily harbored a fascinating article called "Super-fast Computers of the Future". Computer information will be transferred in the form of light signals instead of via electrical currents. Queens Universlty Belfast and Imperial College London are the lucky academic entitites that got funded for the research. The challenge lies in the realm of the developing science of nanotechnology, the science of manufacturing parts and devices at the molecular level to function in the world of computer engineering.

"Nanoplasmonic" devices are no bigger than 100 times the width of a human hair and are divided in the categories of "wave guides" to help the light signals navigate their way through the tiny components; and signal receivers and detectors to "catch" the data after their journey through the computers processor has been attained. Currently, nanoscale metal devices in computer processors work with electric current, but the new devices have been designed to interact with light in an unusal and highly controlled way which make it possible to use light signals to compute data.

These processors will become known as "optical computers" based on their utilization of light. The prediction is that they will be much faster and more efficient than what is at our fingertips today.

Ok, Shiropan, I promised you this research project. A list of resources regarding algebra, I found the website www.purplemath.com. I found the link to West Texas A& M's Virtual Math Lab at www.wtamu.edu under the "Free Online Tutoring and Lessons" link.

The Virtual Math Lab covers help for elementary algebra, intermediate algebra and college algebra. There are practice tests with answer keys at the the end of their lessons. I also checked out sites under the Other Useful Sites link and found references for using graphing calculators and studying for tests.

I am making use of this Virtual Math Lab site at this time, but I will be researching and utilizing other online resources material as well, which I will fill you in on.

That is the great and fun thing about the Internet, you can find virtual guides to improve your study skills without having to leave your house. Didn't have these resources when I was in college, cause the Windows interface did not exist back in 1985. I remember utilizing the DOS-based systems (man, I am dating myself!) and taking beginner programming languages in PASCAL and FORTRAN-can you imagine that? Life before Bill Gates!

I remember taking my first computer progamming class in 1985 in the basement of the Casper College administration building. Ralph Anderl was my teacher and he was so sick of being stuck in the basement with those dinosuar computers.

I was nineteen, so you probably would have been about six or seven years old at the time. I didn't grow up with a Windows interface, so now I am remembering when we didn't have it, but would like to play around with Linux again like I did in the past. (That's been a while.) I am now hitting the Linux resource guide sites.

You see, I am a geek that way and at times I like being by myself so I can indulge in my "geekdom" without multiple condenscending quips from people who don't care to try to understand why I enjoy this stuff.

But not all the time. And not forever. Just when I want to be by myself. I think everybody needs and should get their space just to be themselves sometimes. Not like its a bad thing.