Thursday, February 23, 2006

Richard Dean Anderson and the walk of fame.

Via Google Reader and MAKE I learned of the push to get Richard Dean Anderson ( of MacGuyver and SG-1 fame among other things) on the walk of fame. I am not a person who does the whole "fan" thing. The more celebrities you meet minor or major the more you realize that they're just normal people in extraordinary circumstances. Which is why when I saw this tribute to the man with the duct tape in his coat pocket, I was impressed and a bit wierded out.
I mean "Wow" that's a great deal of effot to go through for someone who may not give a damn. I guess I had no idea what a great relationship "RDA" , as they call him, has with his fans. RDA's reaction was....pretty cool.
"MY GOD, THAT IS THE MOST WONDERFUL AND THOUGHTFUL BIRTHDAY PRESENT I HAVE EVER RECEIVED. IT IS ASTOUNDINGLY PROFESSIONAL AND BLESSEDLY PERSONAL. I AM GENUINELY TOUCHED, AND WILL ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TALENT AND INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING.

HONESTLY, MY FRIENDS, YOUR CREATION IS UTTERLY SPECTACULAR.

THANK YOU, SO VERY MUCH!

RICHARD


With that coloring my perspecitve, the site seemed now,heartwarming. Civil not crazy fans and a down to earth guy. Cool.

He's got my vote for a star.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Someone Else Decides to Coin the Term "Gonzo Engineering"

Shortly after the death of Hunter S. Thomson my circle of engineer friends tried, and I will admit, failed to define Gonzo engineering. As a response to Hunter's "Gonzo Journalism", Gonzo Engineering would have the same flair and reckless abandon as Hunter, but with an eye toward making things. I suppose we should probably involved guns and drugs somehow, but being complacent, risk adverse engineers, we'll probably just top off at hard liquor.
Perhaps it was a similar mode of thinking that led this guy to coin the term. As someone who has made it a goal to be well rounded when I started thinking on Gonzo Engineering, I wanted to avoid playing into the geek/engineer/ ham radio stereo types . If it's Gonzo, people should look on in awe. You can read and decide for yourself whether his definition is deserving of "Gonzo"
I certainly respect the guy's approach, but Microship's Gonzo is what most people call "hermit engineering." Of course, he anticipates this claiming that Gonzo engineers end up broke, alone and crabby..or words to that effect.

Maybe I was just hoping the there was a place in Gonzo engineering for fortune and glory, for a raging kegger now and then, for just blowing things up, you know just for the heck of it.

Manifest Destiny embraces RSS....finally.

Yesterday I finally got on the RSS bandwagon. Inspired by discovering that the IEEE has some RSS feeds I decided to plop them on my Google Homepage--just because.. Good stuff. After completing that task I decided to add all of the blogs I check daily. This new homepage would streamline the process of taking uselss facts and cramming them into my brain. I had no idea what I was in for.

When I got to Boing Boing I clicked on the "RSS" link and was greated by a link for Google Reader. Sure, I am behind the times here but without the internets at home I don't get in as much surfing as I used to; this was my first hearing about this wonderful application.

So yesterday, I quickly added all the non-professional blogs I generally run through during a day. After wrapping that up, I rushed home to cook the Mrs., Ming's Blue Ginger Garlic-Pepeer Lobster.

This morning I checked the reader and discovered a New York magazine story about the to 50 blogs via Bruce Sterling of Wired blogs. I quickly scanned the 50 and realized I was aware of most of the english blogs (Even Dooce). So I suppose I am not really that far behind the curve afterall.

I found where I was really lacking was the gossip blogs. Not much use for those in my life, but I decided to check them just this once. What was I missing? On The Superficial is discovered that TomKat may split up (is there still time to abort the anti-christ?), Mel Gibson bought a bowling alley for Fiji and Tommy Lee got beat up by Enimen's posse for dissing Kid Rock. Good stuff. West Side-Represent!

...but you know...it's all about the journey...

Monday, February 13, 2006

Bruce Sterling Short Story

What would happen if a Caliphate did form in the Arab world? Science Fiction writer Bruce Sterling ponders this possibility in his short story "We See Things Differently" Sterling always has great ideas even if his writing isn't always Nobel material.

Wild Hooey! A broadband bitch session. (Please ignore)

I may or may nor have posted on WildBlue, the satellite ISP that went online late last year. Before I left my previous job, I was working quoting the antenna system for what ended up being the satellite that carries WildBlue. For the longest time, I was under the impression my previous employer won the contract ( things were looking good at the time). Alas, our competitor ended up building and launching the satellite which uses Ka spot beam technology.
Having read up on WildBlue's other technologies I was convinced that they had the best technology available and when I heard they were going to start pricing at $49.99 I was enthusiastic. Maybe finally, I could be free of my terrible landline connection. There was also the promise (at least initiaaly) that WB would not implement a draconian Fair Access Policy (FAP) such as the one that plagues The Angry Engineer (maybe that's why he's so angry?).

Last year around this time Ihad gone to WildBlue's website to sign up. Maybe I could beta test. After all I used to design antennas for satellites I also have plently of experience with computers and dish alignments. No, it turns out that beta testing would be done only in Colorado...er something like that. So, I added my self to their waiting list. They told me they would contact me when service was available.

I checked back in June and found that service had gone live. Alas, there were no installers in my area. It was around this time I found a user board for WB called "WildBlue Uncensored". I had a busy summer and didn't really miss having a useable landline let alone broadband. The landline though, got a lot worse. Finally in November it got so bad that I could not receive calls. I called Verizon and they wanted a tech to enter the house ( My NID is in my basement) an action that instantly incurrs a $90 charge. No way, unless they fixed the problem I was finally going to get WildBlue. Verizon relented and finally fixed the line and also admitted that there were seriouis problems with the line.
The line has been reasonable since then, but with my yearly bonus a week away I decided I was going to get WildBlue anyway. Unfortunately, I received this message:
" We apologize, but due to overwhelming demand, we are not currently performing installations in your area. We hope to resume doing so in the coming months. Please register and we will inform you as soon as installations resume in your area."
I went to the WB Uncensored forum where I discovered many users encountering problems uploading to WildBlue. After about a month of investigation I discovered that the spot beam covering my geographic area was full. In my fantasy world, this is all because of suburban Chicago-landers, but I have no proof. There was much speculation at the time issues would be fixed after the New Year. Note the word "soon" in the message above.

After some digging in January I discovered that "soon" actually meant, within a year or two. After WildBlue gets the go-ahead to launch a new satellite, completed In Orbit Testing (IOT) and does another round of beta testing. That really doesn't cut it as "soon" in my book. I contacted the "local" (100 miles away) Co-Op performing installs and WildBlue and both confirmed that the beam was "full". After some mulling and kicking a can down the road in frustration, I relented. Perhaps DirecWay was my only option.

As an aside, during this time I also looked at Verizon's BroadBand access. This would work just fine for my needs except they require you to have a laptop. You see, they in no way want you to replace their landline. It's possible to use a Bluetooth enable phone instead, but this is against their terms of service. So, even if I am willing to pay $60/month for the priveleg, they won't let me add a data plan to my phone.

At last the day came, I was going to order DirecWay. I went one last time to WB Uncensored and poked around looking for hope. It was at that time I found a user eager to get out of their contract and, even better, they were only a short drive away. I made an attempt to contact the person and didn't hear back until last Friday. I was elated. That is until I received a call on Saturday informing me that this person had sent WildBlue a nasty letter in the intervening week and WildBlue had let her our of her contract....and given it to someone else. I felt gipped. I mean, I had been on the waiting list since they had a waiting list..before they even had any installers and had been passed over because there are no installers in the area.

So, here I am bitching on my blog. I posted a plea on the WB Uncensored forum. There are plenty of people unhappy with WildBlue. Apparently, it's not all that good for P2P. They also implemented a FAP, but it is still tons better than DWay. We'll see if anyone bites.

....sincerley, Pathetic in Polkton Twp.

Friday, February 10, 2006

High Def 3D sonar?

Ever since taking a class on direction-finding and signal processing I've had an ear to the wind in regard to new advancements. MIT has developed a "Super Sonar" which supposedly, according to NPR allows for real-time tracking of fish schools over miles of ocean floor. I have to figure that either some antenna/radar theory got worked into this development...or it will lead to some interesting developments in antenna/radar.
It may be a while before you can see in the dark with your cell-phone though. From the story I heard, the "super sonar" is a monster and requires a ton of computing power.

The story on NPR.
Web page of Professor Nicholas Makris

All quiet on the blogging front.

A lot has happened since my last post. Well, mostly I got engaged. I also bought Mrs.Oberon an iPod. After spending hours loading her music library onto the 5th gen device I've developed a longing for an iPod of my own....I think I might wait around for this fancy brick.
Really, a 3.5" screen video ipod with a touch screen? Wow. Have to set aside some of the ol' tax return for that baby.