A Crummy Commercial

The summer of the moon landings, 1969, I had graduated from grade school and was about to start high school.  So I took a couple of summer classes at Nicolet High School.  The first one was mechanical drawing - this was way before computerized drawing CAD programs of course.  But the other course was touch typing.  And then I never did any typing again for 4 years !  Also you don't remember touch typing without using it.  Finally, touch typing depends a LOT on the particular keyboard layout - muscle memory gets developed and it's hard (at least for me) to shift to a different keyboard on a computer.  I never really nailed down touch typing numbers (and certainly shifted number symbols) but now I can sorta no look type but with the caveat of lots of mistakes.  I remember a fellow named Tony at GTE would marvel at how fast I could type on the Sentry IC tester terminal and how fast I could make mistakes :) It turns out that I didn't really ever use t...

The GE World Monitor radio was mentioned before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/09/seven-days-in-may-movie-version.html Today I noticed an ad for an Admiral AM/FM/SW Transistor Portable: never knew about this radio And that got me thinking about the GE.  Where did I first see the World Monitor ? the hard to see price was $199.98 source:  https://archive.org/details/newsweek74julnewy/page/n245/mode/2up I was scrap booking the space program in 1969 and would try to buy Newsweek, Time, Life - we also got National Geographic in the mail then. Why didn't I just buy one ?: Even now I'd have to think a while about spending over $1700 For one thing I DID have the Hallicrafters S-120.  And I was 13 years old in July 1969, no way I would ever see that much cash. Just for the heck of it I tried searching on the Sams Photofact with the GE World Monitor: TSM-148  Bang: there it is on the wonderful WorldRadioHistory site !  Just dumb luck. https://www.worldradiohistory...

I was reminded recently of the author, Paul de Kruif - one of his most popular books was called: Microbe Hunters which I read as a kid.   https://archive.org/search?query=microbe+hunters+de+kruif&sin=   (you can tell it was a popular book by all the copies on archive !) Hunger Fighters was another of de Kruif's books and has a Wisconsin connection in the last three chapters: https://archive.org/search?query=hunger+fighters+de+kruif&sin= I made it through four years of college at UWM (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) with an Electrical Engineering degree.  But the University of Wisconsin at Madison is the biggest school in the state and arguably the best.  It has a long history of accomplishment.  One of the tellers of those tales of UW history is Professor Dave Nelson.  Here is one of Prof. Nelson's lectures on PBS Wisconsin: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0axP7Hq6HzQ   (Tom Zinnen must be a dad because he does tell dad ...

Going over to my Grandparent's house was a regular thing when I was a kid.  One memory I had this morning was of a small bookcase in their living room next to the davenport.  Mostly filled with books it also had a marble ashtray that was never used.  Supposedly it was made from Hitler's doorstep by some GIs?  My Grandmother was with the Red Cross during World War II - anyway that was the story I got, IOW a conversation piece. But the thing I remembered today was this book spine: blue and gold, very Cub Scoutish, that's just how I remember it, no jacket source:  https://i.etsystatic.com/6694032/r/il/aa3abb/5616935458/il_300x300.5616935458_6zm5.jpg I don't think I ever asked about the book or looked at it but today I wonder what it was about.  Apparently a novel also made into a movie.  Should I go full Costanza and just watch the movie ?  Or maybe get the book and try reading it ?  The book is on archive: https://archive.org/details/oilforlamp...

I was watching this recent Asianometry video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lLFBun1qR0 It's an interesting video - everyone has heard of the datacenter boom - in Wisconsin there are towns that are turning down datacenters.  I imagine that there will be a shakeout in the future.  IMO the AI focus should be concentrating on standalone applications like robotics where it would be foolish to rely on communicating with a central brain.  For example I know that there are mini-AI models used on PCs to subtitle videos.  People like to watch un-subtitled videos from Korea or Japan but don't have the time to learn the languages.  With a gaming type of Nvidia video card in a PC this kind of voice recognition + translation  and then conversion to subtitles is a snap.  BTW when I think datacenters I picture something like the telephone central office switches we used to make at GTE.  This is a lot of open steel racks (probably NOT 19 inches wide :) filled w...

Roughly 9 years ago it was easy to pay the Washington Island Electric Cooperative.  On the 20th of the month: go outside, read the meter and then calculate your bill using the supplied form and then send it in. Then the Co-op installed these plastic power meters: http://wb9kzy.com/power.htm Here is a Youtube video: source:  https://youtu.be/PkVXOwrIVD8 The co-op eventually went to automated billing.  But this month one of the gears in the billing machine must have been broken because here is the first sighting of the bill this morning on USPS Informed Delivery: sent 1-29-2026, it won't arrive until 2-3-2026 at the earliest Yes, they do have a website but nothing updated as of this morning since the bill due on 1/1/2026. Both the USPS and the Co-op had working systems in the olden days.  Now the USPS sends local mail down 180 miles to Milwaukee and back and the Co-op waits until the next month before delivering the bill.  Is this yet another clue to the way thing...

This is Kodak's answer: Feeding the novelty beast !  This reviewer just doesn't get it: https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/kodak-charmera-review-retro-keychain-camera It's really not a question of a sharp, high quality image, the quality is more painterly.  I doubt that reviewer would hang a Bob Ross or William Alexander painting on the wall either :) The weird thing is that Charmera isn't really a Kodak, it's just Kodak badged with that Kodak yellow packaging we all know: https://www.kodak.com/en/consumer/product/cameras/digital/charmera-keychain-digital-camera/ I won't be buying a Charmera.  I've already got one of these that I never use: The real virtue of a camera like the Charmera is being able to tote something all the time, ready to shoot and not worry about losing it or breaking it.  Most people have phones now but they can be so awkward to use, especially outside. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm