Last Sunday, a 19-year old driver fell asleep at the wheel as she was driving on the Chesapeake bay bridge.  The bridge has two spans which normally carry one-way traffic in different directions, but on this day, there was two-way traffic because one of the spans was closed for repairs.  The car with the sleeping driver drifted unto the oncoming traffic and a collision involving several vehicles sent an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer plunging into the Chesapeake Bay.  The driver of the truck was killed.  The sleepy driver was hospitalized and was reported to be in good condition.

Sleep deprivation may cause paranoia, hallucinations, as well as cognitive and psychomotor impairments. In one experiment, people who drove after being awake for 17-19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent, which is the legal limit for drunk driving in many western European countries.

Always get a good night’s sleep before you drive or operate machinery.  If you feel tired while driving, stop to rest and take a nap.  Think of the consequences.  What kind of life will you have after an accident?  If you survive, you may end up disabled or feeling guilty for the rest of your life for having injured someone through your negligence.

This morning, I woke up to the cheerful chirping of some goldfinches in my flower pots.  In the springtime, I harvested some lettuce from these flower pots.  When the lettuce was trimmed, I found some Thai basil growing from seeds scattered by the wind.  I let these plants grow around my petunias.

Every time that I water the pots, the basil releases a wonderful sweet aroma.  Both the petunias and the basil stems are a great attraction for the bees, but now that the basil blooms are forming seeds, finches are perching on the stems to feed.  The birds probably scatter some seeds as they feed, and this is how the basil came from the penthouse to the flower pots in my balcony.  My neighbor downstairs will probably have basil in her flowerpots next year.

I have only run out of gas twice in my life.  The first time, I had been moving from one apartment to another, and I had a very busy schedule.  I completely forgot that cars ran on gas.  Lo, and behold, as I was driving down the street, my car started to sputter.  Dazedly, I looked at the gauges, and sure enough, the gas tank was completely empty.  This was in the days before there were red little warning lights on the gauges that let you know that your gas was low.

Fortunately, it was my lucky day!  The car stopped right in front of a house where the owner was mowing his lawn and he had a can of gas right there.  Seeing my predicament, he poured his gallon of gas into my tank and would not take any money.  Of course, gas cost about 50 cents per gallon in those days.  It was not a major investment like today.  I thanked him profusely and went on my merry way - directly to the gas station.

The second time I ran out of gas was because of an accident.  I was driving in my Buick Century down a freeway with my son, and all of a sudden, the car in front swerved to the left.  By the time I realized why he had swerved, I was on top of a big chunk of metal that probably had fallen off a truck.  Clink! Clank! Thunk! These were the sounds that I heard as the metal hit the underside of my car.  My tires were OK, but as I continued further, I noticed that my gas gauge was dropping quite fast.  I looked back in the mirror and saw a trail of gasoline.   My first thought was “I hope the car doesn’t catch on fire”, as I kept going.  There was an exit coming up.  I ran out of gas as I entered the exit and coasted right into a gas station that was in the right place at the right time.  I was really lucky!  The gas station specialized in gas tank repairs.  I called a neighbor to give me a ride home and lived happily ever after.

The domain ScientificPsychic.com has been active since February 15, 2001.  The web site has continued its original goal of providing educational material and entertainment.  Some of the most popular pages are the optical illusions, games, diet calculator, verb conjugation, and hygiene.

ScientificPsychic.com averages approximately 6000 visitors and over 16,000 page views per day.  Most of the traffic originates from English-speaking countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, but there are visitors from many parts of the world where English is spoken such as Singapore and the Philippines.  This is an example of the country of origin of the visitors.

Some of the web pages have been translated to other languages and it is not unusual to have Google refer French queries to the French version of the verb conjugation page.  The recent translation to Spanish of the diet calculator, and the pages about carbohydrates and hygiene already is attracting visitors from Latin America who search the web in Spanish.

Scientific Psychic^® is registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office with registration number 3,088,970.

We have had several rainy days in the Washington, D.C. area lately. Yesterday, after a brief thunderstorm, the sky cleared up and we were left with a beautiful, bright rainbow. I like rainbows and moonlit nights.

This is a picture of me and Jeff Noordermeer in 2007 celebrating his 74th birthday. Some time ago, Jeff had mentioned that he had written the memoir of fifty years of his life. I asked him if he was going to publish the material and he said “no”. After I read what he had written, I was fascinated by how Jeff survived World War II during the bombing of Rotterdam, Holland. Jeff has had a life with many interesting adventures. He is an optimist who is always looking for the positive things in life.

I would like to thank Jeff for allowing me to post his memoirs on my web site. I think that many readers will find Jeff’s perspective of life refreshing and humorous.

Ralph Nader was at the Bethesda Barnes & Noble bookstore promoting his book “The Seventeen Traditions”. The book describes the family relationships that became the foundation of his beliefs and his ethics. Nader’s parents came to the United States from Lebanon when they were very young. All their children, including Ralph, were born in the United States. It was interesting to hear Ralph speak about growing up in Winsted, Connecticut where his father owned a restaurant. Ralph said that the interaction of the community and the values passed down through example by his parents molded his character.

Ralph is dismayed seeing that television, movies, i-pods, and computers are eroding the community and family relationships that shape the values of the next generation. He proposes that parents should play a more active role guiding their children by good examples and good deeds. Some of the seventeen traditions include listening, health, history, education, discipline, charity, work, and patriotism.

The flowers of spring are turning into seed pods. It is a pleasant time of the year. The weather is neither too hot nor too cold. The trees are covered with green leaves and all the landscape is green. From the penthouse, only a few rooftops can be seen through the thick canopy of leaves. Huge white magnolia blooms are a sure sign that summer will soon be here. Clusters of tall buildings can be seen in the distance, but most of the houses in Bethesda do not rise above the tree tops.