A Crummy Commercial

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...

I've mentioned one of my grade school teachers, Mr. Peterson, before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/contracts-mr-peterson-7th-grade.html Recently I was reminded of the book: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck: https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20220145 I don't remember the exact time or context (probably 7th grade) but Mr. Peterson wanted me to read the book.  Probably just because my name was Charles ?  And the Charley in the title is a dog, a big old French Poodle dog  :) I did read it (it's a travel book - all authors seem to write travel books, even Thoreau :) - the only thing I remember from the book is that at one point Steinbeck encounters buxom women - it was remarkable so he wrote it down :) Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm 

My only experience in a canoe was paddling down some stream not too far from Pewaukee, WI where Mr. Dobbratz lived (I've mentioned him before: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/08/i-found-out-that-one-of-my-elmers-died.html Mr. D had an aluminum canoe, my Dad and I went along - the only thing I remember was falling in, of course I was the only one :(  Anyway, for some reason I was thinking of canoes today and found these items: Earl's Canoe (intro only): source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEVEXC5xQAA I saw the whole video on Wisconsin Public TV and probably have it on tape - somewhere ! Birchbark Canoe : source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSjKRnUzVo This one is a little chatty, probably the better video if someone actually wanted to make their own canoe. Cesar's Bark Canoe : source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fWd2koev0M The NFB of Canada films used to show up on public TV a lot but I don't remember ever seeing this one before.  It's interesti...

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...

This short video from Milwaukee PBS popped up on the Youtube feed: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8MqEDQJyqQ Quite interesting, at least to a Wisconsinite :)  When I was a kid in the 1960s we had an Evinrude outboard motor, a Yachtwin - as I recall it was light blue and white as contrasted with the camo green of a Johnson motor :)  We didn't use the motor that much so Dad would periodically run it in a garbage can filled with water.  This was in the garage where he had a small setup made of 2 x 4s nailed to the wall to hold the motor.  When the motor was fitted to a rowboat it didn't go very fast but I guess it wasn't meant to - it was for moving sailboats while in the harbor ?  I think my lack of interest in boating was kind of a disappointment for my Dad - he had been in the Naval Reserve, owned a small sailboat, loved to go fishing - me: not so much :) A Yachtwin Evinrude's 1st outboard motor patent: source:  https://patentimages.storage....

Remember the book:  Homer Price ? : https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/06/homer-price.html There was a sequel by author McCloskey:  Centerburg Tales I can't remember if I read this one as a kid - but it's a fun book - and it has those amazing drawings by author McCloskey.  The book has many of the characters from Homer Price but adds new kooky ones like the fanciful Grampa Hercules and the crusty Dulcy Dooner.  A wonderful collection of stories about people in the fictional Centerburg. One radio related story, the gang in Uncle Ulysses' lunchroom encounters a huckster named Professor Atmos P.H. Ear.  He sells them all cans of EVERSOMUCH MORE-SO which is sorta like MSG in cooking except that EVERSOMUCH MORE-SO works on everything :) this sounds like every preamp I've ever tried with a radio :) Freddy is raising one eyebrow No murders, nothing serious, just silly, I love it !  Yes, I am still 12 years old inside. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/h...

Henry Reed, Inc. is a kids book from 1958, written by Keith Robertson and illustrated by Robert McCloskey.    https://archive.org/details/henryreedinc00keit The McCloskey drawings are what make the book for me.  Mentioned him previously: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/06/homer-price.html I am pretty sure I read Henry Reed, Inc. in the 6th grade.  But maybe it was a similar book - I remember it because we had to do drawings with our book reports and mine was of a runaway balloon that had to be shot down like the one in Henry Reed, Inc. : It's a fun book - I noticed two items that would have passed me by in 1966-67, first sunspots: Since the book was written near the greatest sunspot peak in the radio era but I was just into radio at that point and hadn't known that.  Anyway it must have been the thing to blame everything on sunspots in the late 1950s. The second item was this: I remember hearing Jean Shepherd voice the same opinion so I don't know if it was c...

I was reading a book of short stories which became part of the public domain on 2026-01-01: Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.  Earlier in the day the internet was "out" for over 3 hours so it was a chance to avoid the infinite scroll and read: source:  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77923 But although Very Good, Jeeves was written in English, this work was published in 1930 and Wodehouse was an Englishman - result was that there were references that I didn't understand.  For example:  Costermongers:  sellers of food, often from a cart, the cart being located in England Whelk-stall owners:  a whelk is a saltwater snail eaten by English folk The Sands of Dee:  tidal mudflats and salt marshes of the River Dee estuary between the Wirral Peninsula and North Wales (England adjacent - be careful when walking there !) Patience on a Monument:  sitting perfectly still, composed, and unmoving while enduring deep, silent sorrow or waiting, often smilin...

I have a Thomas Nelson KJV Bible from the 20th century.  It was furnished through the courtesy of the Not Ashamed Ministries, Lawrenceville GA, director: Lloyd Ferguson.  Incidentally, I happened to hear about the free Bible offer from a SW broadcast of Not Ashamed Ministries, shortwave used to be useful :) As can be seen the words in red are those of Jesus. On a completely different subject: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-strange-case-of-peekaboo-power-bill.html I was thinking about the billing date and finally dug out the latest bill and saw this: This would have been more helpful BEFORE they started ! I'm afraid I usually just ignore the words in red on the power bill.  Maybe my customers do the same with my website and documentation ? Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm  

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 doubt there are many people who could use this free book: http:www.designinganalogchips.com http://www.designinganalogchips.com/_count/designinganalogchips.pdf for the titled purpose, actually designing an analog IC chip.  But there is a lot of good / interesting information in the book for the rest of us (at least in the first chapter which is as far as I've gotten :).  The author is Hans Camenzind, the designer of the famous 555 timer chip which is still in production / use even after decades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Camenzind As hams well know the 555 is the basis of numerous code practice oscillators and sidetone generators. One thing in the book that reminded me of when I worked at GTE was when he mentions that an epitaxial or "epi" layer is often used in IC manufacturing to create a controlled substrate for the transistors on top of the silicon wafer.  The only reason why I remember this is that I remember a production meeting I attended as the IC test ...