Posts by Dave Rickmers

All the high tech of a Radar Range

Everybody knows an open quarter wave stub shorts the design frequency to earth. This is probably just the principle realized with fractal antennas on a flexible backing. I designed a similar system to keep UHF TV out of open air stadia.

No mention of pollution or climate

SRBs make very nasty clouds, as do Hydrazine rockets. Look the other way at your own peril.

This is very shortsighted

The People own the spectrum and deserve vibrant free TV in return. No matter how much UHF spectrum you give to mobile, it will never be enough. WiFi is the future of broadband portable, not mobile spectrum.

In the USA our free TV is getting bigger, despite the FCC constant whining about spectrum. The US Gov't is sitting on tons of unused spectrum, as is AT&T. We like our TV without gatekeepers.

Are you sure?

I have never seen a Linux install disk, Live CD or Alternate, that didn't ask at least twice, if you are sure you want to destroy existing files. The staffer may have messed up and thought he was doing a dual boot or whatever but I doubt "autorun" wiped the box.

Logical Conclusion

I can do the Dish box one better by simply skipping through the "content" as well. Commercial TV is not worth the trouble, even with the paid spots removed.

The greasy underbelly of the internet

If the internet becomes another ratings-driven venue for "safe" content, I will be saddened. The TV model sucks. TV is designed for weak-minded people who actually buy the garbage on the ads. Smart people don't fall for the ads, so no TV for smart people. There is already too much fascism in media. Studios should not control cable TV systems. News media cannot be driven by profit motives; people need unpleasant news, even if the numbers sag. You have a smaller audience, but a smarter one.

We cannot have a society organized around Quarterly Earnings Reports. The internet is about chaos, not 22 minute 3 act safe padding between the ads.

Hippies were/are right about most things

Don't be so quick to condemn the humble hippie.

If it's digital streaming they can cut you off

Broadcast TV should be ubiquitous and available at the flip of a switch, for reasons of public safety and democratic process. If there's a proprietary CoDec involved any number of people can pull the plug.

As someone living in the mountains near Los Angeles

I can attest that the wood is not an issue but that the flaccid Latex and/or Mylar draped in the shrubbery is ugly as all get-out.

[persistent contrails] in Space?

Will H.A.A.R.P. be notified?

No Maunder Minimum

Scientists (or more quaintly "Boffins") have already determined that the cumulative effect from a Maunder Minimum type solar event would be to reduce the temperature gain by less than 0.5 degrees Celsius. The 70% enhanced energy striking the planet is ultraviolet radiation, not infrared. It doesn't even reach the ground.

The sun is dead on one side

I too am a radio amateur. This solar max is a bust. Two days ago there were zero sunspots. Today we're up to 56. It typically would be over a hundred in this part of a cycle.

Blatantly illegal on several levels

It is against USA law to help yourself to other peoples' data. It is also against the law to endanger people on the ground with heavier-than-air craft capable of doing harm. You can fly things like that at an old airstrip, not above Paradise Valley, Nevada.

You kids have no sense of right and wrong. I blame my parents.

Some 3rd Party Should Support XP After Softie Drops It

There are millions of loyal XP fans who'd love a 2011 version. (Service Pack 4!?)

Solar Cycle 24 is not happening-the Sun has gone to sleep

Satellites are the least of LightSquared's problems. Their terrestrial base stations take out all GPS receivers within 20 KM.

Couldn't the pirates hide in the fog?

Wouldn't a well placed smoke grenade render the laser useless?

Now I see why Pauly in Goodfellas never used the phone

Bin Laden, too. On the other hand, if you knew "they" were listening you could feed them "disinformation" and send them in pursuit of "at liberty" geese.

Shale Gas Extraction is Not New

Fracking is a problem because it ruins 2 million gallons of fresh water per hole (or more). The casing on the well is what leaks methane and rotten eggs into the aquifers. This is a matter of codes and inspections. The world is awash in methane, there's very little money in extracting it unless you cut corners.

There are not two sides to a fact

We should proceed as if the worst predictions and more are currently coming true, because they are. The models are wrong; warming is happening faster than predicted.

To watch you argue over the validity of something that is already happening outside your window is fascinating.

I'm so scared

If enough people disobey at the same time the authorities will be unable to lock them all up. That's how pot got defacto legalized. There are no secrets.

"If you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to fear"

No Death Penalty Possible

The United States of America (+Samoa, Iraq, Guantanamo, etc.) is not at war, as defined by the U.S. Constitution. There is no formal declared enemy to which Pvt. Manning could have provided "aid and comfort".

A "single point of failure" this big is a crime for sure. But what kind of secret database can't tell when someone is bulk transferring thousands of documents. (Hell, I can't even save a screen shot to a thumb drive where I work.) The genius (genii) who put young Bradley in the tempting situation share[s] the blame.

I support full disclosure. The US Government should be transparent. If it doesn't stand the light of day, why?

I'm watching him back.

I'm still filling my first 160 GB drive

My (admittedly limited) experience with SSD is that they read faster, but write more slowly. The whirling platter magnetic storage devices are still my preferred choice for fixed location desktop computing. I have a couple netbooks with the squealing flash (yes it makes noise).

Puppy Linux is all I can afford

You don't need "spectrum analyzers"

This can be done very cheaply with direct conversion DSP receivers for way less than $10k each. WinRadio, ICOM, Ten-Tec, and others all offer black box digital receivers, already equipped to network (verb). These provide real time full spectrum radio surveillance to intel communities. Most spies work for taxpayers (or Microsoft) so shouldn't the public have access to it?

Mister Softee is again trying to reinvent the wheel.

Perhaps we use too much

The author is correct on two points. Electricity makes life better and television is designed to confuse you.

A huge amount of power is wasted making nuclear fuel. Another huge amount of power is wasted transmitting power from the atomic pile to the end users.

Nuclear energy is the last gasp of an obsolete model where you have to buy electricity from a pipe, like natural gas. Centralization concentrates power and puts the consumer in a subservient role; we should seize any opportunity to move public opinion away from it.

Full Screen Flash Movies on Via C7D

Running Puppy 511 (based on Ubuntu 10.10) on 1.5 GHz single core "green" low-power Everex PC. I can play *.flv if I store them first, then open with MPlayer or VLC.

I have an XP box in the garage I use to talk to my iPod and run some DSP routines that require DirectX, free ham radio apps, etc. For web surfing and mail and audio streaming and photo editing, etc., I love Puppy Linux (now powered by Ubuntu 10.10).

I use my leaf blower

at least once a year on the innards.

Google Lies

Your router's MAC address is personal information. In the USA it is against the law to intercept a communication not intended for you. Doing it for money can make the crime a felony. It doesn't matter if your encryption is on or not.