If you are planning to fly after the first of the year, you should be aware of a new federal law that covers spare lithium batteries in checked baggage. Effective January 1, 2008, air travelers will be required to keep all spare lithium batteries in carry-on baggage with the terminals covered. May I add, “Duh!”?
For more details, visit the Department of Transportation’s Safe Travel Web site. The legalese is at the Federal Register Environmental Documents.
If you were one of those who were lucky enough to have received a multi-megapixel digital camera as a Christmas gift, or if you already enjoy photography in the digital realm, then here are some sites that should interest you:
UPDATE 01-05-2008: Here is one that I missed.
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You may not have noticed that I have added a new link in the sidebar. It leads to the SolderSmoke podcast. It is accurately self-described as, “Radio experimenters discuss workbench projects”. Want further details? Here are the latest show notes:
SolderSmoke71.mp3 December 9, 2007: Copper clad as blank canvas, Understanding mixers, Bookshelves and the fight against entropy, China listening? Barebones superhet in Rome, Lead—the new gold, 500kc trans-atlantic QSOs (and some history), 3D model of Altoids tin, Italian space podcast, MAILBAG: Shacks/Sheds: K5TAK on TechShop in Menlo Park, OH2FFY and the Aussie shed movement in Finland.
SOURCE: SolderSmoke
In an article by Phil Mercer, on the BBC News (Sydney) web site, we learn of an interesting way to keep life interesting for older men. I include this because the average ham’s age is over fifty. The article makes you want to invite a bunch of guys over to your ham shack and hand out soldering irons.
Australia has come up with a novel weapon in the fight against high rates of male suicide and depression —a variation on the humble shed.
The Men’s Shed movement is booming in disused warehouses and other suburban buildings, which are being transformed into havens for mostly older men to socialise. [sic]
At the last count there were 216 of them around the country and more are on the way. (Read more)
SOURCE: BBC
Ready your telescopes! Tonight, Dec. 18th, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth until the year 2016. At a distance of only 55 million miles, Mars outshines every star in the night sky (it is slightly brighter than Sirius) and draws attention to itself with its distinctive red color. Plus, it looks great through a backyard telescope.
Ready to look? Train your optics on the bright red “star” rising in the east after sunset: sky map.
SOURCE: spaceweather.com
I have long recommended (mostly to deaf ears) that people NOT share documents freely in the Windows Word .DOC file format, preferring the Rich Text Format (.RTF) format instead. This is because of Word’s powerful scripting language that makes it possable to have a shared document do things on your computer that may not be in your best interest. That is in addition to the fact that .DOC files contain more information than you see at first glance — like everything you thought you had deleted from the document. Whoa, could that be embarrassing.
Another way to more safely share documents is to use read-only .PDF files. Here is a way to create them for free.
Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world. CutePDF Writer (formerly CutePDF Printer) is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents - with just a push of a button!
SOURCE: CutePDF
Got access to an old travel trailer that no one is using and a desire to own a car hauler? This guy rolled his own to a very good result. Now this is what I call recycling.
Converting a 29’ Travel Trailer into a 21’ 7000 GVWR Car Carrier
Ham radio operator Bernd DF2ZC, reported on the Moon-Net reflector that on December 8, 2007 he successfully communicated, using morse code, by bouncing radio signals off the surface of the International Space Station (ISS) as it flew overhead.
Continuing on the theme of on-line privacy, here is a way to prevent anyone from tracking what you search for on Google. What, you didn’t know that your IP address and the search subject is stored, along with the time, whenever you use Google and the other search engines? Well, it is and Google isn’t hesitant about sharing that information. Not that anything like a warrant would actually enter the picture during these Orwellian times.
There is an alternative. Googlonymous goes on Google and does the search for you. Therefore, the only IP address that Google will see belongs to Googlonymous, and Googlonymous says they do not record anything in its database. As a matter of fact, they say that they are not connected to any database.
At least watch the video about personal data privacy from CNBC linked to from their site. It will definitely get your attention.
| UPDATE: On December 12, 2007 the New York Times in the article What Google (and Others) Know About You added more fuel to the fire. |
Looking to give gifts this year that are open source? There is an “Open Source Hardware” gift guide at makezine.com. Open source 3D printers, TV-turn-off devices, iPod chargers, music players, Wi-Fi companions, educational electronic kits and more. Each of the kits, projects and open source hardware gifts in this guide represents more than just a holiday gift, it’s a chance to support this nascent open hardware movement.
I love the Make Blog. Their mantra is: “Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out… Welcome to the Make Blog.”
www.flickr.com
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Copyright © 2006-2008 by Robert D. Olsen. All Rights Reserved.
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