Upgrade!

Pimp my ride - ham radio style...

My Studebaker has five transistors. I almost feel bad about adding a few million more this weekend. pic.twitter.com/wdyZqXDDK9

— Travis Goodspeed (@travisgoodspeed) January 25, 2019

Frac - 3D Tetris

A random conversation reminded me of a computer game I played in the early 90's: Frac (3D Tetris). I fired up the browser version and I was surprised that my fingers remembered how to manipulate the pieces. Good times.

Most GenX Thing Ever

Agreed.

The most GenX thing ever. 👇🖕 pic.twitter.com/3rxHLH8CeX

— Brad King (@thebradking) January 20, 2019

Random Fun

Love the throwback warm-up pants...

Let’s go gentlemen pic.twitter.com/PAAkwShEH9

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 12, 2019

Funny Machine Learning Outcomes

A great list...

Would you like a giant list of times that ML systems learned to do the thing by hacking some bug you didn't realize your system had? Yes you would. Because it's hilarious. https://t.co/qN2FYpUy8e

— Andromeda Yelton (@ThatAndromeda) January 9, 2019

Including such instance classics:

"In an artificial life simulation where survival required energy but giving birth had no energy cost, one species evolved a sedentary lifestyle that consisted mostly of mating in order to produce new children which could be eaten (or used as mates to produce more edible children)."

Or:

"A  robotic arm trained to slide a block to a target position on a table achieves the goal by moving the table itself."

Via @ItsRobbAllen

Augmented vs. Virtual

That's not a bad way to look at it...

You can boil it down to - VR is for fun, AR is for work

— Jordan (@lead_proSapien) January 7, 2019

Lord British is a robot!

Lifehacker does a "How I Work" series and asks people about their hacks, battle stations, tools, etc. They recently interviewed Richard Garriott aka Lord British. I had not thought about Ultima in a long time. And it was interesting to read about his use of a tele-presence robot.

Saturn V Lamp

This Saturn V lamp is amazing. 

Via @ItsRobbAllen

Ham Licenses

It's been a year since I posted an update on the Ham licenses chart.

Up: Extra, General, Tech, and Total

This is a high water mark for all three classes and overall licenses. Total was 748,136 at the end of 2017.

Down: Advanced and Novice
Advanced and Novice will only go down since no new licenses are being issued for these classes.

Month	Extra	Advanced	General	Technician	Novice	ARS Total
Dec-18	147,369	39,607	175,949	384,145	8,360	755,430
Nov-18	147,131	39,718	175,750	383,674	8,410	754,681
Oct-18	146,892	39,828	175,550	383,202	8,459	753,931
Sep-18	146,777	40,001	175,396	382,886	8,489	753,549
Aug-18	146,567	40,155	175,210	382,580	8,544	753,054

Hero Forge

Pretty cool... Hero Forge - Custom Miniatures.

They will send you the 3D printer file, or 3D print your design for you, or even create a bronze or steel miniature.

I designed this one with just a few clicks.

National Signing Day

Local Ham Signs With Yaesu https://t.co/pkD35LFPa9 pic.twitter.com/OqVXjvNW8m

— Ham Hijinks (@HamHijinks) December 19, 2018

3,000,000+ Page Views

The site went over 3,000,000 page views this morning - despite my severe lack of posting in the last year or so.

A Reason to Keep Facebook

You can watch Buffy!



Via Lifehacker

Quotes of the Day

Leaders must be willing to act with incomplete information.

You will never have enough data to remove all anxiety.

The world is simply too complex.

— The Stoic Emperor (@TheStoicEmperor) October 29, 2018

Many fear judgement more than failure.

— The Stoic Emperor (@TheStoicEmperor) October 29, 2018

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1) Kindle Edition

I bought the Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1) a few years ago. My only complaint about the book is that you'll end up buying the others in the series. (It's been fun watching the series on Syfy and I'll follow it to Amazon Video.)

Right now, you can get the Kindle version for $2.99.

Refurb iPad Deal

If you don't mind refurbished, Amazon's Deal of the Day gets you some cheap 2018 iPads!

Life Changing

If you only watch one ham radio related video this year... make it this one:

The Right Stuff

I recently finished Scott Kelly's Endurance. He credits Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff as being his inspiration for becoming an astronaut. I've seem the movie, but not read the book - so it's on my liast. You can get the Kindle version of The Right Stuff for $5 today.

Hytera

Insert shocked face that anything like this could happen.

Judge says Hytera employees 'unquestionably copied' Motorola DMR technology https://t.co/TOZSQod6m4

— Bob Witte (@BobWEngr) August 29, 2018

The Terror

So I'm not really sure how I started watching "The Terror" on AMC, but I was quickly hooked. I eventually realized that show was based on the book of the same name by Dan Simmons. I'd read all his Hyperion Cantos series.

The book is about an actual 1845 English expedition to find the Northwest Passage, but the story has been fictionalized and includes a strong mystical element. To borrow a quote from Armageddon, the arctic north is "the scariest environment imaginable."

I can't even begin to understand what would make men want to undertake this venture given the technology and resources of that day.

It's a long read, but definitely worth it ($8.99 Kindle Book).

(And the TV series is worth watching, too. You'll probably recognize at least a couple of the actors.)