Queen Ukulele Style

He starts rocking it out around the four minute mark.

Ten-Tec Video

I went to the Hamfest at Ten-Tec in September. They have tailgating, plant tours, and a demo area. The plant is interesting because one half the plant looks like a traditional, industrial facility while the other part is more of a clean room. The surface mount area was neat to see. They were showing of the new Eagle radio. It's cool to have one of the few ham radio manufacturers in my backyard.

Brick of Borg

A interesting view from Amber Case... people + technology = cyborg. In the past, tools were an extension of our physical selves, e.g. a club. Today, these little external brains (aka smart phones) are an extension of our mental selves.



These devices eliminate the barriers of time and space, so that we can be connected to anyone at anytime from anywhere. She has a concern that this always connected world leaves little time for self-reflection. As a classic INTJ, I really get that. I love being able to listen to people on the repeater, review Facebook updates, and send e-mail/txts, but I need time downtime to recharge my batteries.

A Small World: Stephen Hunter & Glen Reynolds

If you don't know Glen Reynolds, he's a professor at the University of Tennessee and is also know as the "Blog Father" for his InstaPundit website.

He interviews Stephen Hunter, whose Bob Lee Swagger books, I've been reading. Worlds collide! Hunter looks like an author, but he nothing like I would have expected. I guess I always think the characters are a reflection of the author.

Bang. Bang. Tap. Tap. Friggin slaying bodies.

RTT-CQB Man is super high speed, low drag.

Beware the Hacker!

It gets good around 9 minutes. If you want to skip ahead, the background is that this guy got his computer stolen and tracked it down after more than a year. I laughed out loud more than once.

Winter is Coming

Winter is coming via an HBO series.

"Winter is coming" is the motto of House Stark from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin that I've mentioned in a previous post.

I think "Preppers" would appreciate the attitude of the Starks.

I don't have HBO, so I may have to figure out a way to watch it.

The Station Agent

The Station Agent is a great example of a movie that doesn't occur on some grand scale - it is just a movie about people, their personal struggles, and their evolving relationships. I have no idea why the XYL and I picked up this movie. We watched it some years ago and were quite surprised how much we enjoyed it. If you want more info regarding the plot, Wikipedia has the usual write-up. I generally enjoy action movies and thrillers with lots of twists, so the fact that I liked this says something I think.

On The Rocks

My XYL likes The Sing Off. I half pay attention and surf while it is playing. I heard them say that "On the Rocks" was a YouTube hit. I see why.

Antenna Install Video

My father-in-law helped* me install four antennas in my attic and terminate them in a outlet box in my bonus room. I've passed both my Technician and General exams this year, but have zero practical experience, so I learned a lot. (I would draw a parallel between my General license and those guys that go to a MCSE boot camp to get certified. They spend a week to pass several exams and become what we call a "paper MCSE." They've got the creditials, but no experience. That's me when it comes to ham radio.)

We were lucky that the back side of the wall in the bonus room was unfinished. It made it easy to mount the box and run the cables into the attic. It was interesting to me that my father-in-law didn't use a lot of fancy, single-purpose tools. He scored the drywall with an exacto knife and did all his cable striping with his pocket knife.

He had made the 2M quarter wave ground plane antenna some time ago. He brought the PFC pipe and just trimmed it to fit. He also made the termination fixture from aluminium angle he had in his workshop.

He had some insulators laying around that he gave me for the HF antennas. He pulled the wire from his collection of random bits he has acquired over the years. We went to the ARRL Handbook (1999 Edition) and got the formula to calculate the lengths for the dipoles on the three bands. It was simple math (468 divided by the frequency to get the length of the antenna), but it was neat to do the calculation along with the hands-on work.



I really made out like a bandit since he provided everything... wire, connectors, outlet box, outlet cover, coax, insulators, solder, etc. He even loaned me his wattmeter and SWR meter. (More on those later.)

* Helped = means he did most of the work and had all of the know-how.

Magpul Dynamics DVDs

I ordered the 4 series set of Magpul Dynamics DVDs (Handgun, Carbine I & II, Aerial) along with the new Magpul Shotgun videos from Brownells. They had a sale on the 4 pack and a coupon for 10% off.

I'm glad I ordered the Magpul videos now instead of waiting on the on the Daniel Defense/Larry Vickers training series. I agree with ENDO and don't think I could stomach much of "LAV."

And boom goes the dynamite!

House just said, "And boom goes the dynamite!"

If you don't know the origin of the phrase, you must watch this video.

Training Videos

I've enjoyed the outtakes from the Magpul Dynamics guys and have been considering the Art of the Dynamic Handgun and the Art of the tactical Carbine. I saw that Daniel Defense and Vickers Tactical are about to release some training videos as well. I'll have to check them out.

Via Guns & Coffee