A Crummy Commercial

I've been toting my credit cards in the home made shield mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/04/shield-me.html But it occurred to me: the new Moto G 2025 phone has NFC, right ?  Yup.  So I downloaded an app called NFC Tools.  Also I had bought an NFC Arduino shield which included a couple of NFC tags.  So, I dug out the (unused) NFC Arduino shield and got out the tags from the bag. One tag was a white card, the other was a blue key chain tag.  So first the white card, unshielded it reads fine: when shielded, the card doesn't read: The blue tag unshielded: The blue tag shielded: So the simple copper tape shield seems to do the job, nice ! Why not just use my credit cards in the test ?  Feeling a little paranoid I figured that although the app is certified safe - data isn't swept up to the cloud, if I don't try the credit cards then I don't have to worry that the info would get stolen.  I don't care about tag data at all :) Best Regards, Chu...

I saw this on Ebay: Source:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/287339757881 It's a small, notecard sized display - E-paper like the various E-book readers.  The virtue of E-paper is that it requires no power to keep alive.  Indeed these Ebay displays are powered by NFC (near field communication) like the smart credit cards.  So it doesn't need a power supply, just an NFC signal to upload the image you want to display.  Then the image persists even if there is no signal present.  This NFC signal probably comes from an app for an NFC enabled phone, which I now have !  But it could come from something like an Arduino with an NFC shield. But you are probably thinking: can't you just write (or use a computer printer) a message or image on regular paper or card stock - that doesn't require any keep-alive power, right ?  That's certainly true, as I said, it's almost irresistible :( I was thinking of E-paper for a clock display but there are two problems, this NF...

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 improv...

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:/...