User: lofter59

Geraniums?

On: U.S. Dept. of Energy Takes A New Look At Cold Fusion

common for hobbyists to use a geranium "cat's whisker"

That's some flowery prose.

My crystal set used a >germanium crystal, don't know about yours.

Google is almost HAL

On: Google's Next Steps

I've often thought google is the closest we've come to truly useful AI. You can practically ask it questions now, and with a bit more sorting/summarizing and a good voice UI, voila, the holy grail.

1MW Fuel Cell plant about to go online

On: The Power of Sewage

Here:

http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wtd/fuelcell/fuelcellcam. ht m

The good old days

On: Pictorial and Written History of Bell Systems

Boy does that site bring back memories. My best buddy in junior high and I were obsessed with Bell, Western Electric and everything telephonic. Spent many a day chasing after phone trucks to bug the guys, they were our heroes (blushes). Dumpster diving behind the exchange to find great racks of relays and stuff full of mercury and other fun things. Some of our highlights:
-Made the TV news for building an exchange in my buddies basement from salvaged parts that connected houses on our block (pretty much his doing)
-Learned how to draw that modern bell logo by heart- put it on everything.
-My delight at finding a '604b' tool at the base of a phone pole (it was a dual ended nut driver)
-6 button business phones and 50 conductor cable with funky wide plugs.
-We could tell whether an exchange used regular relays or rotary step-switches by the sound on the line.
-Many odd admin type phone numbers that did fun things- can't remember what all now.

Yes, we were obsessed.

Mixed feelings about Totoro re-release

On: The Future of Ghibli US Releases

My Neighbor Totoro is the most important movie in our home. Both my kids (and I) have watched it fanatically as they have grown up. The english voices on the Fox release are quite good and I have a hard time imagining getting used to others. But I would very much like to see Totoro in the widescreen format.

Re:There are plans for *everything*

On: U.S. Air Force Plans for War In Space

Except, apparently, how to handle Iraq after it is conquered.

Not quite it, try this:

On: Writing Messages In Empty Space With GPS

int lat = 0;
int long = 0;

while(1) {
for(lat = -90; lat < 90; lat++) {
for(long = 0; long < 360; long++) {

GPS_printf(lat, long, "ALL YOUR COORDINATES ARE BELONG TO US!!!\n");

}
}
}