What is a blue screen of death?

The blue screen of death - or BSOD - is caused when a Microsoft Windows machine encounters a critical error that it cannot fix; this is usually caused by low-level software or faulty hardware.

What Causes the Blue Screen of Death?

Blue screens are generally caused by problems with your computer’s hardware or issues with its hardware driver software. Sometimes, they can be caused by issues with low-level software running in the Windows kernel. Regular apps usually won’t be able to cause blue screens. If an app crashes, it will do so without taking the operating system out with it. A blue screen occurs when Windows encounters a “STOP Error.” This critical failure causes Windows to crash and stop working. The only thing Windows can do at that point is restart the PC. This can lead to data loss, as programs don’t have a chance to save their open data. When a blue screen occurs, Windows automatically creates a “minidump” file that contains information about the crash and saves it to your disk. You can view information about these minidumps to help identify the cause of the blue screen.

What does a Blue Screen of Death Look Like?

In Windows 7 and before, the Blue Screen of Death was a very convoluted page, with lots of technical words.


In Windows 8 and 10, the Blue Screen of Death is much simpler.

What can you do if you start experiencing BSOD's?

If you have trouble locating good advice for solving your problem, don’t worry. BSODs can have a variety of root causes. Here are some additional tips that might help you deal with many blue screens:

• Use System Restore: If your system just started blue screening, it may be a software issue. You should use System Restore to try to fix the problem. If this works, then you know it is a software issue.
• Scan for Malware: Sometimes, malware can cause system instability. You should regularly scan your computer for malware to make sure that the malicious software isn't crashing your computer
• Install Updated Drivers: An old driver, a falsely installed driver, and a buggy driver could be a cause for BSODs. Make sure you have the latest drivers and install them correctly
• Boot into Safe Mode: If your computer blue-screens every time you turn it on, try booting it into safe mode. When you boot it into safe mode, windows only uses the essential drivers and from there, you can further troubleshoot your problem
• Check for Hardware Problems: Another cause for BSODs is faulty hardware. Make sure you test your computer's memories for errors and checking your computer's temperature to make sure it isn't overheating. Additionally, you could hire a pro to check other parts that may have gone bad. 
• Reinstall Windows: Your very last option could be to do a clean install of windows. This will completely remove your existing software and replace it with a new one. If your computer continues to blue screen after that, then it is a hardware problem

Tech Tip #4

Hey guys, it's Achintya back again with another helpful tech tip for everyone. This one is to practice touch typing. Touch typing can improve your typing speeds very quickly. I have noticed many people do not know how to touch type and cannot type as fast as I can. There are many free sites that can help you, and when you learn how to touch type, you will be much faster.

Life After Humans Pt. 1

Human neglect affects the world's skies and aeronautic icons, including Air Force One, the Theme Building and a control tower at Los Angeles International Airport, the Spirit of St. Louis in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota. Elsewhere, Rocky Mountain locusts invade the cities in the Midwest, Mount Everest's ice preserves artifacts left by climbers and even the bodies of climbers who died on its summit, and the migratory patterns of birds and even the weather are affected by the absence of humankind patrolling the skies. Solar-powered radio station KTAO continues broadcasting long after humans are gone. The Cassini space probe crash-lands on Saturn's moon Enceladus, leading to extremophile bacteria from Earth that had been present inside the probe colonizing its possible water ocean and possibly causing life to evolve on it. The episode also visits Edgar, Ontario, a Cold War radar site which was abandoned in 1999, and the aging Berlin Tempelhof Airport in Germany which was closed in 2008.

Pi Day

Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an important part of the foundation of mathematics, most importantly geometry, where pi is key to equations calculating the area of a circle, A = πr2, and the volume of a cylinder, V = πr2h. Pi day is on 3/14 because the number pi starts with 3.14.

Pi(π): 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588

Tech Tip #3

Hey guys, it's Achintya back with tech tip #3. Today's tip concerns only windows users. (Sorry Apple) You can use windows shortcuts in a variety of ways to help cut down the amount of time you waste, and this can allow you to use less mouse and more keyboard. Use Window + R to open the run menu. You can use Window + E to open up Microsoft Explorer, and you can use Window + M to minimize all tabs.

The Brain

The Brain

     What is the Brain? What does it do? How do we know? Get all the answers right here in Achintya's informational blog. The brain is an organ, and without it, now human could survive. Without the brain you can't eat, think. learn, or create. Subconsciously, your brain is making sure every muscle and organ is doing its job. The nervous system relays information to and from the brain so everything else in the body does its job correctly. Many scientists call the brain "the most complicated thing in the universe".

    The brain has 12 basic parts. Let's start numbering the 12 parts.

1. Skull- The skull offers protection from most things. There are many bones in the skull.                         
2. Cerebral Cortex- This part of the brain does many things. Most important, it helps you remember basic stuff like making sense of your surroundings, think and speak                              
3.  Anterior Cingulate Gyrus- This part of the brain that controls blood pressure and heart rate and plays a part in keeping your emotions in check                                                                                
4.   Thalamus- The master of the senses(it controls all senses)                                                               
5. Parietal Lobe- This helps you make sense or numbers, words, and maps                                          
6. Hypothalamus- Controller of your body's temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleepiness.                     
7. Frontal lobe-  Associated with character and personality. Helps you make decisions.                        
8. Olfactory Bulb- processes sense of smell; gives you a sense of smell                                                   
9. Cerebrospinal Fluid- Your brain floats in this liquid, the liquid protecting the brain                                  
10. Hippocampus- this is where memory lives                                                                                       
11. Cerebellum- helps you balance and have coordination over the movement                                              
12. Brain Stem- messages between your brain and body are sent in the brain stem. It makes sure all your organs are working properly.                                                                                                      

    Subconscious brains play an important part in your life to. They help you breathe. Subconsciously, your brain makes sure your lungs are breathing. Also subconsciously, your brain makes sure your heart is beating. Another important thing your brain does subconsciously is that it makes sure that your eyes are blinking. Basically, subconscious brains do almost everything basic while you focus on important stuff.

    Conscious brains, on the other hand, do everything else. They make sure that you are writing properly, reading properly, and etc. They help you focus on math, finish a science experiment, and get your homework done. They make sure that you listen and pay attention. They make sure your food goes in your mouth. You should get the idea by now. They do literally everything else for us.

     What happens to your brain when you go to sleep? First of all, lets tell how much sleep you should get. Are you a newborn? Then you should be getting 15-16 hours of sleep. Infants get 14-15 hours of sleep. Toddlers should get 12-14 hours of sleep. Children should get 10-11 hours of sleep. Teens should get 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep. Adults should get 7-9 hours of sleep. When in sleep, your brain enters a subconscious state, making you less aware of your surroundings. The reasons you have dreams is because REM combined with the brain that are linked with imagination, creativity, and anxiety are active. You rarely remember dreams because when you sleep, your brain's storage is off.

Tech Tip #2

Hey guys, it's Achintya back with Tech Tip Tuesday. Today's tip is how to enter Windows "God Mode" folder. Windows offers a centralized Control Panel for all of the OS settings, making it easy for users to tweak everything from desktop background to setting up a VPN. To enter this mode, create a new folder with this exact name (copy and paste it): God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. The folder icon will change to a Control Panel-style icon, and you will be able to jump in and change all kinds of settings.

Tech Tip #1

Tech Tip #1: Use Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts to help make operating a computer easier. For example, to switch tabs on a browser, you can use ctrl + tab instead of using your mouse. You can also use ctrl + t to create a new tab, ctrl + shift + t to open the last closed tab, and ctrl + w to close your tab. Additionally, you can also use ctrl + c to copy, ctrl + v to paste, and ctrl + x to cut. For a full list of all the keyboard shortcuts, you can look at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12445/windows-keyboard-shortcuts.

Falcon-Heavy First Test Launch

What is Falcon Heavy?

Falcon Heavy is a reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX. It is a variant on the Falcon 9 line of rockets, and it consists of a strengthened Falcon 9 rocket core with two additional Falcon 9 first stages as strap-on boosters. The Falcon Heavy is the world's 4th highest capacity rocket ever to be built.

What happened on February 14th, 2018?

On February 14th, 2018, the Falcon Heavy had its original test flight. It was launched at 3:45 PM EST after a delay of 2 hours because of unfavorable wind conditions. There are 3 more scheduled launches, 2 later in 2018 and 1 in 2020. There is no word when the first manned flight with this rocket will occur.

On Friday, December 29th, my family woke up at 5:30 A.M. and immediately started loading the car. We knew we had a long day of driving ahead of us, so we wanted to get an early of a start as possible. We were going on a vacation to Death Valley National Park for the New Year’s weekend. We left at about 7:00 A.M. and began driving.

 We traveled via the route highlighted above for approximately 1 hour before we stopped in Palmdale for a rest stop and breakfast. There we went to McDonald's and ordered coffee and biscuits, and we went to Krispy Kreme for half a dozen donuts. I ate a donut and a biscuit during the next hour of driving. We drove for a couple more hours before we stopped at the Ranch House Cafe in Olancha, California. We ate an early lunch because we knew we were not going to see another restaurant till at least 3:00 P.M. There, I ate a skillet and it tasted pretty good. From there, we drove for another 45 minutes or so till we stopped at our first point: Father Crowly Vista Point. From there, we could see volcanic ash that had come from a volcano, and I found it pretty cool.

Following that, we drove for 15 minutes more before we realized we missed what was supposed to be our second stop: Darwin Falls. We thought about going back but then decided against it because we doubted the fall would have much if any water in it. We drove for another hour or so till we got to the Stovepipe Wells where we went to get our pass permit. After that, we went to Mosaic Canyon, but the 2.2-mile drive on gravel was brutal because we did not have a 4-wheel drive. We got there around 2:30 and it was a small hike with nice views of many different rock formations.

When we finished the Mosaic Canyon, it was about 3:30 and we only had 1 more place to go to on our list: Devil's Cornfield. There wasn't much there, just a lot of underbrush that looked like dead corn stocks, so I'm guessing that's how it got its name.
<photo here>
Now that we were down on our list, we started driving to Shady Lady Bed & Breakfast, the place we were staying for the night. It was about an hour away from Death Valley, and it still was the closest hotel we could find that was not booked. We drove till about 4:30 when we came across Beatty, the closest town to Death Valley. From there, we had to eat dinner but we did not have many choices, only Denny's and Subway. Since it was still early and none of us were hungry, we took Subway to go and decided we were going to eat it at our hotel. We drove for about 35 more minutes before we came across the place, and it was truly in the middle of nowhere. It was 1/4th of a mile away from the highway, and the closest neighbor lived more than 1 mile away. We were met with a guy who called himself the owner's son and let us in. He said that the owner was shopping and would be back in about 30 minutes, so we took the opportunity to eat our subway. When he came, he and his daughter checked us in and showed us into our room, a nice place.When we got into our room, I started by checking all my texts and going to play my games for a little, and then my family and I played Imploding Kittens for about 2 hours. When we finished, it was about 9:00 and I played a little bit more on my phone, and then I slept at 10:00.

The next day, I woke up at about 6:45 and got up and took a shower. After taking a shower and playing a little on my phone, my family and I went out to go get some breakfast. I ate scrambled eggs, toast with jam, sausage, and bacon. It tasted great! Immediately after we finished breakfast, we left and drove for 2 hours till we got to Dante's Ridge, which I thought was my favorite point because when you looked down from the ridge(it was over 5000 ft up) you could see all the people and cars, but they looked liked tiny dots.

 After that, we went to the 20-mule canyon, which was basically a really cool canyon in which there was a narrow path that got you on top of a small hill. Although I didn't go all the way, it still looked pretty cool from my vantage point about 100 ft above the place where we started.Then, we went to Zabriskie Point, and by that time it was about 12:00. We were all hungry so we made the turkey sandwich with the supplies we had brought. After that, we looked at Zabriskie Point and the view was phenomenal because you could see all the way across the valley.After that, we went from being almost a mile above sea level to 280 feet under it: the Badwater Basin. This was basically a dried up salt lake, and it had so much salt that when I took a picture to send to a friend, they actually thought that the salt was snow.

After that, we went to Devil's Golf Course which was just a place with salt roughs everywhere and a place where it would be hell to play golf at.To finish the day, right after the sun was setting we went to artists palette and there were some beautiful views of multicolored rocks.We drove back to Beatty where we decided to eat at Denny's. I had a sandwich and then we went back to the hotel. Once again, we played some more Imploding Kittens, and then I played on my phone. Finally, we went to sleep.

On Sunday, we got up at like 7:00 A.M. and I showered and then went to go eat breakfast. I had an omelet instead of the scrambled eggs, and everything else stayed the same. It was one of the best omelets I ever tasted, and I was stuffed after eating it. We started on our drive to borax works, which was just an abandoned mining facility. It had a really cool looking wagon that towered above us and was pulled by a 20-mule team. After that, we went to the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail where we learned about the fish that actually live in the hottest place in the world. It was a short hike with lots of picture spots and great views.

After the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail, we went to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center where we decided where to go next. We decided to go to the golden canyon hike, which was a long hike that had 4 different routes to go. We went to the shortest one and ended up on top of a large rock that allowed you to see the whole trail we just walked. Following that, we decided we wanted to actually see the sunset at Artist's Palette, so we went there again and we saw a beautiful sunset. After that, we drove to Denny's to eat, where I had a burger. Then, we went to eat Ice Cream at Eddy's World, and then we went back to Shady Lady Bed And Breakfast. We played some more Imploding Kittens, I played some more on my phone and then I went to sleep.

On Monday, the day we were heading home, and also New Years' Day, we got up at 7:15 and quickly took our showers. We all wanted to get home, but we still had some sightseeing to do. We ate at around 8:00(I had another Omelet) and then we packed up all our stuff. We left the hotel by 9:30 A.M. and started driving. We went to Rhyolite Ghost Town first, and it was an old gold mining town. It had a jail, and a crumbling school, and a lot more and it was really cool to see a place that was over 100 years old. Then we drove for a couple more hours before stopping at Keane Wonder Mine. We hiked for about 2 hours before realizing that there was a very long hike left, and it was a colossal waste of our time. We did see the mine, but not from inside, unfortunately. Since none of us were that hungry, we skipped lunch and started the long drive home. We arrived home at about 7:00, and after the 4 day trip, we were all exhausted. I really enjoyed it and it gave my eyes a rest from all the stress I've been giving them over winter break.