Ken Ramos

Buzsaw said I enjoy the God given wisdom of King Solomon. One of my favorites from Proverbs goes something like this; "The voices of fools are heard in great halls but wisdom in the quite streets."

Hope I haven't opened up a can of worms here but I did not see any suggestions for an image uploader, so I thought I would make one. I know that there are online places where one can archive upto 10MB of images for posting on the IN but how about an uploader for ones PC docs. and settings? It would be nice to have so to futher define a subject and highlight certain points. Being an amateur Microscopist, Protozoologist and Stream Biologist, among other interests, it would be a help but then again how many like minded individuals are in the membership of this site to make it worthwhile?

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I am new to the forums here and so I figure I may as well jump in and get my feet wet. For starters, I am no meteorologist and absolutely know nothing about the subject of the science. However I do know this, I have observed lightning accompany snow fall twice in my 53 yrs of living. Once in the state of Arkansas. We recieved, which is a rarity for SW Arkansas, 20 inches of snow, accompanied by thunder and sever lightning. It was a magnificent display of natural force. It also raised numerous questions on the local news as to why and I only wish that I could remember the reason. It may have been in relation to diverse thermal layers in the atmosphere. Arkansas is noted for what you may call "odd" weather patterns. On Jan 6, 1996 and F5 tornado touched down near Texarkana and stayed on the ground all the way to Little Rock. The twister was 3/4 of a mile in width and missed my home only by a few miles as it took out almost the entire city of Arkadeplphia, Ar. Of course this has nothing to do with snow and lightning but only shows the abnormalities that the weather can produce. Who ever heard of an F5 tornado occuring in the middle of winter? The second time that I observed lightning and snow fall together was here in Western North Carolina about two years ago. The western part of the state is located in association with an isolated thermal boundry. So I really don't know or recall the reason for lightning occuring durning a snow fall but I do know positively that it does happen on occasion.

Thank you Sandi for your welcome and response I see that you live in Yorktown or maybe near Yorktown. I have visited the NWS there on occasion. I was the ships Missile Tech and ALM (Air Launched Missile) Rep. One may find it odd that I would be interested in protozoa after leaving such a technical field. Ah..but technology has passed me by, now its milk and cornbread and a rocking chair on the front porch. Not really (LOL)! No I am somewhat of an avid microscopist and microphotographer. The images that I produce may not be breath taking but they are suitable for my purposes and maybe even for classroom use. I have met, over the internet, some very good microphotographers whose images or subjects, I should say, look as though they would crawl right out of the monitor. As I said I delve into Protozoology and actually have been researching and studying those organisms known to be pathogens e.g., Naegleria fowleri and/or Acanthamoeba culbertsoni. Both known to cause the often or should I say very much often, deadly infection known as Amebic Meningoencephalitis or Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis. I should clarify that when I referred to the infection as often, I ment often as in 100% fatal. Actually the infection is quite rare but from time to time cases do crop up. Well, chemosynthetic bacteria I will have to look that one up. Sounds like it maybe a bit interesting to an aging protozoologist, who really likes to stick his nose in everything dealing with microbes. So thanks once more for the welcome Sandi and hopefully I will come across a Protozoologist or two here.

Greetings to all members of SFN My name is Ken Ramos. I am a retired US Navy veteran with 21.5 yrs of service to my credit. My interests are in the study of Nature, in general, Protozoology, and Stream Biology. I am an amateur in all of the afore stated. I have studied Protozoology for about two years now and have only began in the study of Stream Biology. I also do macro and microphotography of my subjects. Having completed the basic requirements for education, I am a high school graduate only. Having been in the naval service, I am well traveled, or at least I think so, and have visited many places around the globe. Southeast Asia and those countries which lie or border on the Mediterranian have been the primary ports of call. However I have made a stop or two in jolly ol' England. I enjoy the study of the life sciences and for the most part I am self educated in my fields of interest. So, with this all having been said, I do look forward to some interesting discussion here with those having like interests in my fields of study. Thanks & Cheers! Ken Ramos