A Crummy Commercial

As often happens I'll get an email out of the blue: your reserved library book is available - often a book I barely remember reserving :)  This time it is Chip War by Chris Miller.  An interesting book although since it's from 2022 in some ways (the recent AI craze) it's aged out. (Actually the AI boom is addressed in this edition with an extensive appendix).   Here are a few observations on the book: The Transistor Girls by Paul Daniels => As my Grandmother might have commented:  "spicy" https://archive.org/details/bwb_P9-EJQ-315/page/146/mode/2up GCA => I confess I'd never heard of this company, they invented the stepper lithography at the suggestion of Morris Chang (founder of TSMC) ?  But they dumped Nikon as the supplier of their optics so Nikon went into the stepper business, listened to customers and did better than GCA. Micron => Everyone has heard of Micron in Idaho but I didn't know of their relentless focus on cost and process improve...

The trail cam captured a non-deer picture Friday morning: It's EASY to understand that birds are descended from dinosaurs once you hear a Sandhill crane calling - LOUD ! On the way to the store on Friday I saw one of the new poles, this one at Airport and Jackson Harbor roads: This pole was part of the reason for the 8 hour power outage on Wednesday, mentioned before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/05/wiec-strikes.html Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

OOPS ! source:      https://x.com/NASASpaceflight/status/2060164928472854821 the Ars Technica article: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-just-exploded-during-a-static-fire-test/ The New Glenn rocket uses methane and oxygen - methane is dangerous stuff.  I remember watching a NOVA program in one of the early seasons about hydrogen.  The show mentioned this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_East_Ohio_Gas_explosion Natural gas (mostly methane) is clear/odorless/heavy so it can creep along the ground and mix with oxygen to form an explosive mixture that just needs an ignition source.  This is at least partially why those open flames are seen in oil fields.  If the methane can't be captured it must be burned or eventually everything goes blooey.  Every heating season there are news stories about houses blowing up or burning - usually the family is away and natural gas is the cause.  Methane is dangerous !...

Mentioned the 1931 Nautilus arctic expedition a couple days ago: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/05/nautilus-radiogram.html Then I came across this term which also referenced 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ?  Point Nemo https://allthatsinteresting.com/point-nemo Apparently there is a lot of space debris at the bottom of the Pacific at Point Nemo.  It's a relatively safe place to direct space junk because it is so remote.  But the Pacific is really deep at Point Nemo: This reminded me of an old time radio show called: Latitude Zero    Here is a brief article in Time Magazine , June 22, 1941: https://time.com/archive/6788665/radio-latitude-zero/ Unfortunately there is only one episode available in mp3: https://s3.amazonaws.com/RE-Warehouse/l/latitude_zero_1941-02-11_first_show.mp3 It was an unsponsored "summer replacement" - that was the summer before the attack on Pearl Harbor - this probably meant that a lot of the people working on the show, including Howard Du...

A customer mentioned the MMX Zero: https://www.wimo.com/media/akeneo_connector/media_files/M/M/MMX_ZERO_Reference_Manual_V1.1_images_formatted_final_copy_2d27.pdf He had a question about interfacing the MMX Zero to the Keyall HV kit.  So I looked at the manual but the thing that stood out to me was: no schematics.  What was going on inside that box ? Also, the MMX Zero is essentially a Morse code terminal.  In effect, Morse code is now like Radio Teletype: JADM - Just Another Digital Mode ?  Maybe I'm just getting old but even if I had the technical prowess to create such a product (I don't) I doubt I would.  Morse code was the genesis of the hobby - having a magic box do all the work for the operator ?  I think that's a step too far. Recently the Elecraft KH-1 also came to mind.  Again, looking at the manual: https://ftp.elecraft.com/KH1/Manuals%20Downloads/KH1%20Owner's%20Manual,%20rev%20B7.pdf No schematics.  Not even in the kit manual: https:/...

I saw this on Pinterest: What the heck is this about ?  Fortunately an internet search found these pages: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2005/november/oceans-1931-first-nautilus-north-pole-expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Wilkins#Nautilus_expedition Very weird.  The Navy took a World War I sub out of mothballs and let a guy from Australia (Hubert Wilkins) to refit the boat and rename it Nautilus.  In 1931 the Navy allowed Wilkins to use it for $1 a year to go to the Arctic and conduct a scientific expedition.  Finally, rather than returning the sub the Navy let Wilkins scuttle the Nautilus off of Norway near Bergen in 200 fathoms or 1200 feet of water when the diving planes on the boat didn't work.    Radiogram notes: Bergen => the city in Norway Sverdrup => one of the Norwegian members of the Nautilus Expedition LCD Wilkins => ??  not sure who this is (I assume a different Wilkins with a Lieutenant Commander USN ran...

When I first saw this photo: I immediately thought of this episode of Gilligan's Island (season 2, episode 7): Here's the video clip: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yiCgPAZ64o Infrared light is wacky.  Getting a little exercise with the new trail cam while having a little fun. But get away from me with the crazy glowing eyes ! Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm