Are you terrified by technology or baffled by anything with batteries? If so then you are invited to take advantage of Council’s Broadbeach Branch Library’s ‘Techno Expo’.

The ever popular program is back again with free workshops on offer all day, Thursday 12 February 2009, between 9am – 7pm.

Community and Cultural Development Chair Cr Bob La Castra, said this year’s program included a whole host of new and exciting sessions.

“Our gadget gurus will teach you all about mobile phones, MP3 players, digital still and video cameras,� he said.

“You will get 15 minutes of one-on-one time with one of our resident gadget gurus who will answer your questions, show you the basics and direct you to troubleshooting resources on your gadget of choice.�

Cr La Castra reminded those attending to bring along their gadget, instruction booklet and any cables that connected their gadgets to a computer to the sessions.

“It’s frustrating enough that you own something you can’t use properly – so don’t forget to bring these important items.�

“One of the other popular sessions will no doubt be the ‘digitising your family photos’ session where you can learn how to create and store digital copies of those important family photos,� he said.

“Our ‘online video editing and sharing’ session will also show you how to share photos and videos online which means that you can keep your family and friends up to date with your latest family movies and happy snaps.�

Cr La Castra said seats were filling fast for Broadbeach Branch Library’s Techno Expo and that bookings were essential.

Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation which is unusually acidic. It has dangerous effects on the environment and on structures. It is mostly caused by emissions due to human activity of sulfur and nitrogen compounds which respond in the atmosphere to produce acids. In recent years, many governments have introduced laws to lessen these emissions. Both lower pH and higher aluminum concentration in the surface water that occur as a result of acid rain can cause damage to fish and other aquatic animals. At pHs lower than 5 most of the fish eggs would not hatch and lower pHs can kill adult fish. As lakes become more acidic biodiversity is also reduced. Soil biology can be critically damaged by acid rain. Some tropical microbes can quickly consume acids but other microbes are incapable to tolerate low pHs and are killed. The enzymes of these microbes are denatured by the acid. The hydronium ions of acid rain also mobilize toxins and filter away essential nutrients and minerals

The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropical world, for decoration as well as for its many cooking and non-culinary uses, virtually every part of the coconut palm has some human use.The flowers of the coconut palm are polygamomonoecious, with both male and female flowers in the similar inflorescence. Flowering occurs continuously, with female plants producing seeds. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although some dwarf varieties are self-pollinating. Coconut water can be used as an intravenous fluid.

 

A ghost is said to be the phantom of a deceased person, normally similar in emergence to that person, and usually encountered in places he or she frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the character or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or evil spirit. Ghosts are often associated with hauntings, which is, according to the Parapsychological Association, "the more or less regular incidence of mystic phenomena associated with a particular locality (especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of footsteps and voices, and various odours."

Ghosts are a notorious inconsistent phenomenon. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization, about 32% of Americans believe in the subsistence of ghosts. The term ghost has been replaced by phantom in parapsychology, because the word ghost is deemed unsatisfactorily precise.

A bottle is a small pot with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, plastic or aluminum, and typically used to store liquids. e.g. water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil (for both cooking and as fuel), medicine, liquid soap, shampoo, ink, etc.

For some bottles a place is paid, which is returned after returning the bottle to the retailer. For other glass bottles there is often separate rubbish collection for recycling. A device used to close the mouth of a bottle is called a bottle cap (external), or stopper (internal). A bottle can also be sealed using initiation sealing.

The glass bottle was an important development in the history of wine, because, when combined with a high-quality stopper such as a cork, it allowed long-term aging of wine. Glass has all qualities required for long-term storage. It also ultimately gave rise to "château bottling," the practice where an estate's wine is put in bottle at the source, rather than by a merchant. Prior to this, wine would be sold by the drum  and put into bottles only at the merchant's shop, if at all. This left a massive and often abused opportunity for fraud and corruption, as the final consumer had to trust the merchant as to the contents of his or her glass. It is thought that most wine consumed outside of wine-producing regions had been tampered with in some way. Also, not all merchants were especially careful to avoid oxidation or pollution while bottling, leading to large bottle distinction. Particularly in the case of port, certain conscientious merchants' bottling of old ports fetch higher prices even today.

 

Computers take plentiful physical forms. The first devices that be similar to modern computers date to the mid-20th century (around 1940 - 1945), although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier. Early electronic computers were the size of a large room, strong as much power as several hundred modern personal computers. Modern computers are based on relatively tiny integrated circuits and are millions to billions of times more capable while occupying a fraction of the space.

Today, simple computers may be made small enough to fit into a wristwatch and be powered from a watch battery. Personal computers in various forms are icons of the Information Age and are what most people think of as "a computer"; however, the most common form of computer in use today is the surrounded computer. Embedded computers are small, simple devices that are used to control other devices, for example, they may be found in machines ranging from fighter aircraft to industrial robots, digital cameras, and children's toys.

The ability to store and execute lists of instructions called programs makes computers extremely versatile and distinguishes them from calculators. The Church–Turing thesis is a arithmetical statement of this versatility: any computer with a certain minimum capability is, in principle, capable of performing the same tasks that any other computer can perform. Therefore, computers with potential and complexity ranging from that of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer are all able to perform the same computational tasks given enough time and storage capacity.