A Crummy Commercial

I saw an email on the Piclist that Microchip Technology (the PIC people) have made the full XC compilers including the optimization stuff (whatever that is) free for the downloading.  It used to be that the unoptimizing compiler was available as a part of MPLAB.  Here is the press release: https://ir.microchip.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1403/microchip-expands-developer-access-with-free-mplab-xc-compilers-and-mplab-machine-learning-development-suite I've made many attempts to learn programming beyond PIC assembly language but never made much progress.  Theoretically it should increase productivity but I dunno - I'm just not that great at programming.  It sounds like a lot of folks are becoming, in effect: "systems analysts". they don't write code, they spec what they want the code to do.  Then the AI generates the code.  The person then reviews, tests and tweaks the input to AI for any necessary changes.  I can't see doing that either, especi...

Available here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78084 or here: https://archive.org/download/AgathaBundle/The%20Mysterious%20Mr.%20Quin_%20A%20Shor%20-%20Agatha%20Christie.pdf The book is in the public domain as of 1/1/2026. I listened to several stories in the book on Chapter a Day: https:\/\/wpr-podcast.streamguys1.com\/cad\/cad260629.mp3 https:\/\/wpr-podcast.streamguys1.com\/cad\/cad260630.mp3 https:\/\/wpr-podcast.streamguys1.com\/cad\/cad260701.mp3 https:\/\/wpr-podcast.streamguys1.com\/cad\/cad260702.mp3 https:\/\/wpr-podcast.streamguys1.com\/cad\/cad260703.mp3 I wanted to read more even though I'm kind of tired of murder shows in general - these three stories didn't involve murder just mystery.  But after reading some of the stories in the book (12 in all, 3 of them were on Chapter a Day) there are indeed murders a plenty :( One thing that the internet does do well is looking up unfamiliar words, for example: "two countries separated by a common language" - so...

Interesting article from IEEE Spectrum : https://spectrum.ieee.org/ukraine-ground-drones Yikes !  Killer machines flying AND rolling around ?  No, thank you ! The vision of killer robots reminded me of this Philip K. Dick story, The Defenders : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28767 It was dramatized on the NBC old time radio show: X-1  (note that the story isn't quite the same as the Galaxy  original but the essence is there): https://archive.org/details/XMinusOne560522052TheDefenders Spoiler alert:  The story starts years after a doomsday nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union.  The remaining populations of both sides have retreated below ground to escape the radiation.  Both sides use robots called:  Leadys  to continue the fight above ground.  However the robots of both sides stopped fighting without ever telling the humans and instead created fake war news and video on how the war was continuing.  In the meantime ...

I finally caught a buck on the cam: He must have been spooked by the click or the red glow since he turned around and walked south.  I only rarely see a buck during the day.  Once spring after the snow melted I found this in the side yard: Later this doe was unperturbed by the cam and walked on by: On a different subject, I was wondering what the heck this is since I'm fully disconnected and refunded: Of course Frontier has to gig me yet again - will it be the last time ?  we'll see. Finally, one bad thing about the island is that USPS Informed Delivery tells you about mail that you will receive tomorrow , so if you see something like this: you have an extra day to wonder:  "what is this from the IRS ?"  I *think* I know what it is but who knows, Kreskin ?? Update, July 11, 2026 afternoon: The IRS letter arrived and it was just a note that someone had used id.me to create an account on irs.gov - so no big deal, this was the previous mention of id.me: https://wb...

I found out that Practical Wireless , a UK ham radio magazine, is available via overdrive.com, nice !   https://www.overdrive.com/media/8765740/practical-wireless In addition Overdrive still has a few 2023 issues from the now defunct CQ Amateur Radio , too. https://www.overdrive.com/media/5855264/cq-amateur-radio I mentioned Overdrive and CQ before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/04/cq-magazine.html Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

Shorpy posted an interesting (to me) photo: https://www.shorpy.com/node/27916 from the Library of Congress site Be sure to click the Shorpy link and zoom in for the detailed view. I have observations: 1) the view is not that great ?  if it were I would point my desk at the window :) 2) considering the president of the agency would have the nicest office, it seems spare / cramped 3) maybe the dropped ceiling (for the sprinklers and ventilation) or possibly the indirect lighting contribute to the cramped feeling 4) it looks like if the president were to be fired, he could make way for the new guy pretty quickly, gather up the books, including American Sayings , the plant and the picture and you're gone !  Sorta like they were renting the office and the real estate agent told them "it'll rent quicker if you add some furniture" ! 5) that built-in seating looks too small to stretch out on, I imagine the button on the chair might allow reclining ?  I did a little searching ...

I noticed that there is a fairly recent archive (posted March 19, 2026) of CQ Magazine from the start in 1945 through 1963.  Apparently after 1963 the copyrights are still in force.  So not too much modern content but still quite interesting. https://archive.org/details/cq-amateur-radio I tried checking the issues from 1948 for sideband articles, a couple of rigs were presented as well as an intro article.  There were also several construction articles in 1949.  In 1950 nothing until October, a receiver was presented. One problem when looking for articles on beginnings of single sideband is that the usage of the term, SSB hadn't become standard.  The first mention spotted was in September 1951 on page 46.  So I guess it's necessary to either read each issue cover to cover or search on the various terms used such as SSSC (Single Sideband Suppressed Carrier). I still haven't found any documentation on why standard practice is to use the lower sideband on the...