A Crummy Commercial

An interesting Veritasium video:   source:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBZOcqZerk The most interesting thing to me was the explanation of how the "cribs" were used to help manually break the code.  This starts at about 26:30 into the video.  A "crib" would be some boilerplate text sent in a message each time like:     WeatherReportBiscay      (but of course in German).  I'd read other books about Bletchley Park but none of them ever explained in detail how this clever technique was employed.  Of course it was kind of hit and miss before the clock ran out on the messages. Since the Enigma machine never outputs the same letter that was input, the crib could be slid across the message until those same letter impossible alignments were eliminated. One thing I wondered was whether there was a lamp test ?  Old school bulbs don't last forever !  I guess you'd know something was wrong if no bulb lit up but you wouldn't...

Don't irritate me, computer, I'm already bugged !  Yesterday I started seeing this little star in the Firefox icon:  Apparently it is for profiles ?  I don't know or care what profiles are, I want this little star GONE !  I turned off profiles, no help.  I may have to give up and live with the little star. This is another thing that annoys me: Yes, gmail, I deleted something and now I want to bolt, why are you doing: "mother, may I" ??  I will probably just have to live with that as well. Another irritation is Hotmail.  Lately it stinks.  It will erase emails from the screen, I haven't deleted them.  So I have to refresh the screen and voila, the email is back.  But it's a waste of time.  Isn't time saving supposed to be one of the justifications for computers in the first place ? I had clicked on an email and then the screen blanked after a refresh the email appears Now possibly this is due to the Lenovo Ideapad memory going bad - ...

This post was from last Sunday 2026-09-13: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/09/hey-everybody-its-time-for-beating.html But this is how Youtube served up the vids on Monday morning: you know the Brewers have won when they have their own video highlights Yesterday the Packers won an overtime noon game: The Packers lost a couple of players early and the whole game was a wet, ugly mess but a win is a win is a cliche. And the Brewers also won their 98th (a new team record) game of the season in the evening: Six more games in the season for the Brewers. But I did waste a pretty decent Sunday inside - I also ate way too much :( Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

I did finish reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons.  It's a very readable book but without spoiling anything, Hyperion just seems to be an intro - sorta like The Hobbit , there are three more books in the series.  I did put a hold on the next book, The Fall Of Hyperion but who knows how long it will take before it is available. My Dad always hated this kind of thing, especially on TV, he'd use the phrase "soap opera" as a sort of epithet.  I guess Hyperion would qualify as a space opera :) BTW, I have no idea why I reserved Hyperion in the first place, must have been something from the internet ?   Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm

One thing I've always meant to try is a hot wire cutter for plastic.  The primary application would be for cutting IC tubes.  I like to package DIP ICs or sockets in the plastic tubes to prevent lead damage during mailing.  Cutting is done with an old Swiss Army Knife.  But it's kinda tedious especially with weird tubes like for TO-220 transistors. I was looking at the July 1957 issue of Popular Electronics, from World Radio History: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Poptronics/50s/57/Pop-1957-07.pdf On page 79 I found this article: Here is the schematic: That's pretty simple, basically just a transformer and a wire.  I'm not quite sure where to get the nichrome wire but I'm sure Ebay might have something. The only problem: hardly any kit sales lately, it wouldn't be worth it.  Maybe I could rig something up using a Weller soldering gun ?  Basically those guns are a transformer, a trigger switch and a piece of copper wire. I'll have to think it...

I think the only reason why I've read some fiction is because it was referenced in another work of fiction.  For example, as mentioned here: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/08/braves-yankees-1957-world-serious-game-1.html the only reason why I read the book: You Know Me Al is that the author, Ring Lardner, was mentioned by Holden Caulfield in Catcher In The Rye . Another was the book: Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.  I saw that referenced in the Heinlein juvenile SF novel: Have Space Suit - Will Travel .  Of course that title was derived from the TV / Radio show: Have Gun - Will Travel   :)  mentioned previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2023/08/hvac-comfortable-rate-of-cooling.html Those are the only two that come to mind - although a lot of the juvenile series books like The Hardy Boys will reference other books in the series, but that's not quite the same thing. I started reading a book called Hyperion (soon to be a motion picture ?  :) ...

I saw these in the daily email from Electronic Goldmine: source:  https://theelectronicgoldmine.com/products/g29888 DigiKey still sells them:   https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/6-1437514-7/2135766 But a nickel each just seems high for my 20th century blood.  And I do still have tons of these: source:    https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/09/pin-sockets.html And they might not work in my boards anyway.  Regular sockets work fine at relatively low frequencies, are easier to solder and easier to insert chips into.  Press-fit sockets are theoretically slightly better than the soldered pin sockets because they should make a gas tight bite into the plated copper rather than relying on solder.  Solder just isn't quite as good as copper at high frequencies. But just this one time I will resist temptation :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm