A Crummy Commercial

I was watching this Veritasium video on Ytterbium based atomic clocks (OMG a rare earth element !).   These clocks are precise enough to allow at least an order of magnitude better measurement of the Einstein prediction of how gravity changes space-time. source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyZEqSPeMwg the NIST blog page on this experiment:   https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/putting-einstein-test-worlds-most-accurate-clocks The original clock based tests (Hafele and Keating in 1971) were done with Cesium based clocks - those clocks have a signal with a frequency of 9,192,631,770 Hz or 9.1 GHz.  Curiousmarc on Youtube has recently been refurbishing similar equipment to attempt to duplicate the initial experiments, the latest was fixing a power supply to allow portability: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pne1yKr3V_s These cesium based clocks are the basis of GPS - corrections must be made to account for the GPS satellites speed and altit...

  source:  https://spectrum.ieee.org/ground-effect-vehicle manufacturer:   https://www.regentcraft.com/ From the perspective of an island dweller, this machine is really cool.  Fast, hopefully safe, electrically powered transport over water.  It says it can carry 12 passengers at a speed of 290 kph (180 mph) with a 290 km range (180 miles).  The coincidence of that 290 figure seems suspicious but think of it, 1 hour from Milwaukee to Washington Island, very nice.  Travel over ice isn't mentioned - sometimes there isn't any open water for hydroplaning or floating.  And neither is cold weather performance mentioned.  But for places like Puget Sound this thing sounds ideal.  Also the Army/Navy/Air Force/Marines would probably be interested.  However I didn't see a price mentioned, that's always going to be a sticking point. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a book called: Profiles of the Future - I've got a copy around here somewhere.  ...

I actually turned on the TV last night and watched this show, which NOVA then also put on Youtube: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIITTjlG3Zk Yes, as usual, it did put me to sleep.  But at the beginning the talking head scientists mentioned their favorite foods: At the end of the show was this: Yikes !   The man was younger than I am, I hate the fact that he died at 70.  Also, was the preference for meat related to his (by my estimation) early demise ?  It made the burgers I made from the bargain ground beef ($4.99 ground beef at Mann's: set kinda uneasy in my stomach !  I doubt the 100% whole wheat bread I made the burgers with, mitigated any bad health effects.  For one thing who knows what they put on that bread to have it still be moist and squishy after sitting for 4 days on a shelf at Mann's :( source:  https://www.pepperidgefarm.com/product/whole-grain-100-whole-wheat-bread/ BTW, the bread ($5.69) cost more than the ground b...

The Brewers don't play until Friday: Game 1 of the World Serious versus the American League's best, the Tampa Bay Rays.  But until then, I thought this was an interesting story: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/601403/2018/10/19/when-i-see-somebody-wearing-it-i-go-ive-got-a-story-for-you-the-inspired-melancholy-life-behind-the-brewers-beloved-logo/?unlocked_article_code=1.I1E.LJLK.jnoqmAnbbzXL&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta&source=athletic_thewindup_newsletter&campaign=20461308&userId=21227649 I certainly  never "saw" the m and b in the ball and glove before reading this :)  The story is also presented in the wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Brewers_ball-in-glove_logo Mandatory inflated prize amount: It really is a clever design, simple but meaningful.  The ending of Tom Meindel's life was sad. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Jose Simon Molina, 82, listening to AM radio I often check The New Yorker site on Monday morning for the cartoons from the latest issue.  Yesterday the cartoons from the new issue weren't up yet though.  So I scrolled back and noticed this article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/10/19/the-first-social-network It was a really interesting article.  For one thing they had an audio version READ BY A REAL PERSON !!  AI voiced audio narration is good but it pales compared to a reading by a good actor / announcer.  Anyway, I thought the article itself was really interesting.  Folks in rural Argentina "off the grid" will listen to AM stations they can catch - at certain times the stations will have the announcers read messages from these folks, for lost animals, sickness in the family, birthday greetings - those kinds of things.  People like to listen even though they aren't expecting a message for themselves.  Something like this isn't strictly...

I saw this one page article in the March 1966 issue of Electronics Illustrated: source:  https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Illustrated/Electronics-Illustrated-1966-03.pdf Here's a more scholarly exploration of the diode as meter protector in the November 1966 issue of Electronics World: https://w4npn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Diode-Meter-Protectors.pdf Now with mechanical meters becoming either expensive or unobtanium, this simple mod is something I will have to try on my various meters. If only there was as simple way to prevent this: source:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/267722861557 I know: just be careful, Chuck !! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HBIUJiqWao This is one reason why I prefer black and white, you never have to worry about your colors changing to living red and white !  Black and white is basically silver particles coated on the film stock.  Here's Don with the flower gal both ways: Color film is complicated, three layers of dyes that can obviously fade :( But I never knew that grown men raced go-karts !  I remember the neighbors in Fox Point, the B family, had a cart.  It even had a seat belt but as I recall I was too fat for it to fit :(  Mr. B. was a mechanical genius though.  In addition to their go-kart he had built his sons a fort above the breezeway between the house and the garage.  He also had a very cool '57 Chevy.  He also had rigged up an electric motor to wind up kit string when the boys were flying kites really high.  Far before I had ever seen a mechanical shaker for harvesting fruit I can remember seeing Mr. B....