It is the little things - MagPod

Inventing something brand new gets the glory, but I am equally impressed when people improve upon existing things.



Via Fred at Guns and Coffee

What to believe?

Oh how the internets make my head hurt sometimes. I read it on the internet so it must be true.

Uncle says the Republicans are intentionally throwing the race as they don't want to be in charge during another dismal four years.

Tam says that the Democrats miss giving the president a hard time and don't want to win, so we can expect a Republican to win.

Worlds collide! Is it too late for the Galt/Taggart ticket?

SOPA and Ham Radio

I knew that Reddit and Wikipedia among others were going to protest SOPA by doing a blackout, but I just read that APRS.FI will be off-line on Wednesday.

"Although the law is being made in the U.S., it will break the Internet on a global scale by making sites such as aprs.fi liable for links and content posted by the users of the site. Sites like aprs.fi are commonly run by individual developers or small volunteer teams. Due to the huge volume of automatically published user-generated content (50 packets per second currently!) it would be impossible for me to go through it all before publishing. If some APRS user would post links to copyright-infringing material, even when that material would reside somewhere else than aprs.fi itself, aprs.fi could be shut down in the U.S. and there would not be much that I could do about it."

Egg McMuggin

I tried my second Egg McMuggin this morning. I'm trying to eat more protein as part of my elite athlete diet and stumbled across this quick and easy breakfast.

• Take a coffee mug and coat the inside with olive oil or some non-stick spray. Forget this step and clean-up is a pain!
• Crack two eggs into the mug.
• Add salt/pepper and scramble the eggs.
• Microwave for 45 seconds. (Maybe less depending on your microwave and how dry you like your eggs.)
• Add small pieces of cheese, ham, or bacon as you see fit. (Pro-tip: Prep the bacon/ham/cheese in a batch, so you have some ready to easily add).
• Stir all the ingredients.
• Microwave again for 45 seconds. (Maybe less depending on your microwave and how dry you like your eggs.)
• Your Egg McMuggin is now ready to eat, but be careful as it will be really hot!

Harbrace

Also from my Tennessee Alumnus reading tonight... how did I not know that Hodges was responsible for Harbrace? No wonder he has a huge library named after him. I still use my Harbrace - not that you could tell from my raw, lazy, and unpolished writing for the blog. Proof reading is for the professionals.

Power Company Controlled Thermostat or Blackout

I was reading this article about a UT professor's work to gather data about the power grid in order to better manage demand. It talked about rolling blackouts as a method to prevent the total collapse of the system when it is overwhelmed by demand.

I've read other stories about the power company wanting to have the ability to reach in and change the settings on my thermostat to reduce energy usage during peak times. I usually get my feathers ruffled by the idea of the power company controlling the temperature in my house.

Then it occurred to me that a house that is a little too warm is better than one that has no power, so no air conditioning either - and no lights, internet, etc. Of course, this also reminds me of the Ben Franklin quote about the choice between liberty and security.

Which poison would you choose? Rolling blackouts or a remote controlled thermostat?

Printer Hack

Hide ya kids. Hide ya wife. Hide ya printers.

Amateur Radio Quiz: As Seen on TV!

A quiz about ham radio on TV. Good thing this wasn't on the general class exam. I only got half of them right and I had no idea about the Tennessee Valley Indians.

This video will help you answer at least one correctly.

Reddit Ham Radio FAQ

The Reddit Ham Radio FAQ

Sometimes I post things so I can find them later. This is one of those posts.

Layout

Explains why I have been seeing new options for grid layout templates for blogger.

andrewchen OH: a recent A/B test showed that grid-layouts increase engagement/interaction by 10-30% over linear feeds. Visual density helps w scanningMon, Jan 16 12:50:19 from web