There are so many ways that a ham can make contact from anywhere on the
planet that it's staggering.
While VHF/UHF repeater coverage in Colorado is excellent because most
of the repeaters are on top of mountains, you can also find a lot of
places in the back-country where you can't hit a repeater because some
@#$%^ mountain is in the way;)
You could also communicate via satellite. There are ~20 amateur radio
satellites currently operating.
Then there are the "traditional" methods using HF frequencies.
The Amateur Radio Relay League (the national ham group) runs an
exercise annually that focuses on various modes of operating in the
field. Hence the name, Field Day. Unfortunately, it was last month.
But the ARRL or a local ham club will be a better resource than random
ramblings here. Check them out (or find a local club) at arrl.org.
The aliens in The Killing Star
aren't concerned with conquest or resources, they are concerned with
risk! The authors introduce the three laws of alien contact, which as
best I recall are:
Nice guys don't get to the top of the food chain
My species survival is more important to me, than you species survival is to
me
In case of conflict, see rules one and two
The point being that any interstellar capable civilization can easily
destroy planets. MAD
may not be an adequate deterrent when you are talking about the death
of your home planet and possibly your entire species. The viewpoint of
the Killing Star aliens is
that any such risk is too great, and must be eliminated preemptively.
> it
does look like a whole lot like
a Barrett.50 sniper rifle
Maybe if you look at it upside down with an astigmatism. But it is similar to the French GIAT FAMAS rifle or
the canceled H&K XM8.
The Seattle area was also somewhat sensitized by a guy closed down I-5
last week after firing shots from "an
AK-47-style rifle." I find it interesting that the normally
antievil
assault weapons Seattle Times made the distinction that it was not
an actual (i.e. full automatic capable) AK-47.
Of course, Seattle
is not exactly 2nd Amendment
friendly under the best of circumstances.
Lots of Civil War re-enactors have built artillery pieces
before. There are whole batteries of them!
As for it going to an eleven year old, he will have a great deal of
difficulty moving it around without dad's truck. Ammunition will cost
over $20/round, so he won't be firing it very often. Before we all
became politically correct (and more urbanized) after WWII, a boy would
often get "his first
rifle long before he has his first long trousers." This kid has a
lot less potential to get into mischief with a howitzer than he
does with a.22 rifle!
P.S. With a little research, dad could have bought one of these for a
lot less
than $6K.
Instead of jamming, which is illegal, why don't schools (and theaters, etc) set up their own phone microcells (picocells?)? Force phones in the building to associate with the inside cell, then set that cell to signal "No Circuits Available". There would also be no connection to the "real" cellular infrastructure, so no problem with incoming calls or texts.
I may not have the terminology correct, but this should work both technically and legally.
If you think your name, address, employment history, etc. are secret, you are living in a fantasy world. If you've ever used a job board, or emailed a resume, the details of your entire work history are probably out there too.
LinkedIn serves a useful purpose in that maintains the "link" between associates, even when they change jobs or email addresses. There are LinkedIn junkies who try to link to everyone they possibly can. Others only link to "real" associates. I do the latter, and find it quite useful.
Laugh all you want, but I think an interstate monorail system is exactly what we could use.
A monorail could be built with pre-fabricated components along existing interstate highway right-of-ways with minimal traffic disruption. Limiting stations to every ~500 miles or so reduces need for real estate, and allows the trains to get up to some speeds.
Having a workable interstate train system would reduce airport congestion, save fuel, and be _relatively_ immune to terrorists (if you crash a train, you only crash one train. Track and pylons can be rebuilt). It would also be a hell of a lot faster for medium distances than air travel these days when you factor in all the crap you fo through at the airport. If you offered trains with auto-carriers, you could drive on here, and drive off 1,000 miles later.
If you worry about unfair competition to airlines, let them invest in the system.
Obama is looking for a way to spark the economy, this could be ideal.
Already have a program like this on my cell phone. It's called (very originally) "Call Block", at http://www.wishsolutions.com. You can whitelist and/or blacklist numbers, block calls at certain hours, let calls go to voicemail, or pickup and hangup to prevent that. Doesn't play messages to the callers though.
Gah!!! This Stylish script does more damage to the UI than the canvas "upgrade". Use <a href="http://userstyles.org/styles/11351"> http://userstyles.org/styles/11351</a> for a simple fix of the horizontal tabs.
While having someone look at my vacation pictures wouldn't especially bother me, having some Homeland Security dweeb who can't find the power switch impound my PC because he thinks that maybe, possibly, there is a chance there is something questionable scares the hell out of me.
Customs (and others?) can seize laptops, disks, media, etc, FOR NO REASON AT ALL, and there is little or no legal recourse to get the stuff back. If that's not worth being paranoid over....
Wouldn't it be even nicer if the rules applied to those endless calls from political candidates an parties this time of year? But, of course, politicians never apply the rules to themselves!
---
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/none_of_the_above_bumpersticker-128058981912421235?gl=klausner" target="_blank">Vote for "None of the Above." The most qualified candidate!</a>
Project Orion was a proposal from the 1950's headed by Freeman Dyson to drive a spacecraft by throwing nuclear baombs out the back end. I guess you could call that pulse propulsion. Even suggesting something like that today would have every anti-nuclear type going ballistic (pun intended.) Chemical rockets are clearly a dead end, but the eco-freaks will never allow nuclear, laser launch, beanstalks, electro-magnetic catapults, or any other alternative system.:(
During the fifties and sixties, every public building and most large private ones had emergency stocks of food and water in a designated shelter area. Then Civil Defense became part of FEMA, and the whole program seems to have died out. I think reviving it would make more sense than having the government try to equip households. Nuclear war isn't the only reason to be prepared. If I remember correctly, the LDS church urges its members to keep a full year's worth of supplies, including food, water, toilet paper, etc.
Anyone panicked of USB security is only displaying their naivete! The risks with USB drives are essentially the same as those with floppies, tapes, or email attachments. Unless you want to strip search everyone leaving at night, the key to this kind of security is education and management vigilance.
SOX is a farce that is more about show than substance. It's generated zillions of billable hours for program mangers to create lots of project plans, but it is still up to the company to decide to actually do anything concrete.
Slashdot Mirror
There are so many ways that a ham can make contact from anywhere on the planet that it's staggering.
;)
While VHF/UHF repeater coverage in Colorado is excellent because most of the repeaters are on top of mountains, you can also find a lot of places in the back-country where you can't hit a repeater because some @#$%^ mountain is in the way
You could also communicate via satellite. There are ~20 amateur radio satellites currently operating.
Then there are the "traditional" methods using HF frequencies.
The Amateur Radio Relay League (the national ham group) runs an exercise annually that focuses on various modes of operating in the field. Hence the name, Field Day. Unfortunately, it was last month.
But the ARRL or a local ham club will be a better resource than random ramblings here. Check them out (or find a local club) at arrl.org.
What, a riff on the classic To Serve Man?
The point being that any interstellar capable civilization can easily destroy planets. MAD may not be an adequate deterrent when you are talking about the death of your home planet and possibly your entire species. The viewpoint of the Killing Star aliens is that any such risk is too great, and must be eliminated preemptively.
> it does look like a whole lot like a Barrett .50 sniper rifle
Maybe if you look at it upside down with an astigmatism. But it is similar to the French GIAT FAMAS rifle or the canceled H&K XM8.
The Seattle area was also somewhat sensitized by a guy closed down I-5 last week after firing shots from "an AK-47-style rifle." I find it interesting that the normally anti evil assault weapons Seattle Times made the distinction that it was not an actual (i.e. full automatic capable) AK-47.
Of course, Seattle is not exactly 2nd Amendment friendly under the best of circumstances.
Still a bargain compared to the $6K the article says he spent.
Lots of Civil War re-enactors have built artillery pieces before. There are whole batteries of them! As for it going to an eleven year old, he will have a great deal of difficulty moving it around without dad's truck. Ammunition will cost over $20/round, so he won't be firing it very often. Before we all became politically correct (and more urbanized) after WWII, a boy would often get "his first rifle long before he has his first long trousers." This kid has a lot less potential to get into mischief with a howitzer than he does with a .22 rifle!
P.S. With a little research, dad could have bought one of these for a lot less than $6K.
Why? Schools and theaters did nicely for nearly a century with only land-lines for emergency calls.
Instead of jamming, which is illegal, why don't schools (and theaters, etc) set up their own phone microcells (picocells?)? Force phones in the building to associate with the inside cell, then set that cell to signal "No Circuits Available". There would also be no connection to the "real" cellular infrastructure, so no problem with incoming calls or texts.
I may not have the terminology correct, but this should work both technically and legally.
Don't be jealous. You too can spread some joy.
Let people know that Linux is not exactly the new kid on the block!
If you think your name, address, employment history, etc. are secret, you are living in a fantasy world. If you've ever used a job board, or emailed a resume, the details of your entire work history are probably out there too. LinkedIn serves a useful purpose in that maintains the "link" between associates, even when they change jobs or email addresses. There are LinkedIn junkies who try to link to everyone they possibly can. Others only link to "real" associates. I do the latter, and find it quite useful.
Might be better if we don't hear anyone else, given how much noise we are making. Any response could easily be relativistic!
Laugh all you want, but I think an interstate monorail system is exactly what we could use.
A monorail could be built with pre-fabricated components along existing interstate highway right-of-ways with minimal traffic disruption. Limiting stations to every ~500 miles or so reduces need for real estate, and allows the trains to get up to some speeds.
Having a workable interstate train system would reduce airport congestion, save fuel, and be _relatively_ immune to terrorists (if you crash a train, you only crash one train. Track and pylons can be rebuilt). It would also be a hell of a lot faster for medium distances than air travel these days when you factor in all the crap you fo through at the airport. If you offered trains with auto-carriers, you could drive on here, and drive off 1,000 miles later.
If you worry about unfair competition to airlines, let them invest in the system.
Obama is looking for a way to spark the economy, this could be ideal.
When is Opera Mobile 9.5 coming out of Beta? Is Opera following the Google model of leaving things in permanent beta?
Already have a program like this on my cell phone. It's called (very originally) "Call Block", at http://www.wishsolutions.com. You can whitelist and/or blacklist numbers, block calls at certain hours, let calls go to voicemail, or pickup and hangup to prevent that. Doesn't play messages to the callers though.
Gah!!! This Stylish script does more damage to the UI than the canvas
"upgrade". Use <a href="http://userstyles.org/styles/11351">
http://userstyles.org/styles/11351</a> for a simple fix of the
horizontal tabs.
You aren't paranoid if you really have enemies.
While having someone look at my vacation pictures wouldn't especially bother me, having some Homeland Security dweeb who can't find the power switch impound my PC because he thinks that maybe, possibly, there is a chance there is something questionable scares the hell out of me.
Customs (and others?) can seize laptops, disks, media, etc, FOR NO REASON AT ALL, and there is little or no legal recourse to get the stuff back. If that's not worth being paranoid over....
Wouldn't it be even nicer if the rules applied to those endless calls from political candidates an parties this time of year? But, of course, politicians never apply the rules to themselves!
---
<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/none_of_the_above_bumpersticker-128058981912421235?gl=klausner" target="_blank">Vote for "None of the Above." The most qualified candidate!</a>
Chris reports that the FBI is knocking on his door. The boarding pass generator is also (at least temporarily) down.
No, I think there are a few of us who consider the new BG to be grossly overrated, and boggle at the slavish devotion most seem to have for it.
Project Orion was a proposal from the 1950's headed by Freeman Dyson to drive a spacecraft by throwing nuclear baombs out the back end. I guess you could call that pulse propulsion. Even suggesting something like that today would have every anti-nuclear type going ballistic (pun intended.) Chemical rockets are clearly a dead end, but the eco-freaks will never allow nuclear, laser launch, beanstalks, electro-magnetic catapults, or any other alternative system. :(
During the fifties and sixties, every public building and most large private ones had emergency stocks of food and water in a designated shelter area. Then Civil Defense became part of FEMA, and the whole program seems to have died out. I think reviving it would make more sense than having the government try to equip households. Nuclear war isn't the only reason to be prepared. If I remember correctly, the LDS church urges its members to keep a full year's worth of supplies, including food, water, toilet paper, etc.
Anyone panicked of USB security is only displaying their naivete! The risks with USB drives are essentially the same as those with floppies, tapes, or email attachments. Unless you want to strip search everyone leaving at night, the key to this kind of security is education and management vigilance.
What kind of phone has that kind of recording capacity?
SOX is a farce that is more about show than substance. It's generated zillions of billable hours for program mangers to create lots of project plans, but it is still up to the company to decide to actually do anything concrete.