In answer to a steadily diminishing number of requests, here are the Muppets with another song of the season. This time it is the 12 Days of Christmas, featuring the late John Denver.
Continue reading about 12 Days of Christmas with the Muppets
This should put you in the holiday spirit, or at least give you a grin. The Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal from the Muppets sing Carol of the Bells.
This reminder is from Skip Voros, the Executive Director of the Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association.
This Sunday, October 18th [2009] at 10 PM ET/PT the Discovery Channel (Cable & Satellite TV) will begin the third season of the Storm Chasers reality show. This weekly series is both educational and entertaining as it documents the efforts of tornado research scientists, professional storm chasers, and a IMAX film crew all seeking new scientific data.
The series has top notch storm imagery, a unique blend of characters, and is laced with the dangers, personal conflicts, and the difficulties in researching tornadic storms for scientific peer review.
If you can’t get your fill from the on the air shows, there is even an iPhone app to give you even more.
SOURCE: Skip Voros, Executive Director, Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association
The FCC has recently issued a citation to a Compton, California resident. Nothing out of the ordinary there you say?
Well, it seems that Irma Frausto received the citation for using a defective Philips MANT300 amplified indoor television antenna in her house. One that she could not possibly have known had malfunctioned and was causing interference to a nearby cellular telephone site.
Compare Irma Frausto’s story to the results from the many unresolved complaints about interference to our licensed Amateur Radio Service that have been filed with the FCC by hams over the last few decades. Complaints have ranged from interference from power companies (BPL for example), to the jamming and illegal broadcasting that has occurred over a twenty-year period on 14.275 MHz. Many of the complaints are still awaiting resolution.
Thanks to the Amateur Radio Newslinetm for publishing the details of this story and for their editorial comments. They filed this under the title, ”WRONG HEADED ENFORCEMENT: FCC CITES CALIFORNIA RESIDENT OVER DEFECTIVE INDOOR TV ANTENNA”. I tend to agree.
Amateur Radio may now be considered to be a valuable, free, emergency communications asset by the government of the United States, but it remains to be seen if it will get the enforcement priority that is deserved by giving it that responsibility.
Continue reading about Resident Cited For Defective TV Antenna
While I ws prowling Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, looking for something else I found a very useful page full of information. It seems that there are more different types of audio and video cable connectors than you can shake a fish at.
You (and I) can’t be blamed for not remembering the pin-outs and color codes for all of them. If you can’t, just look it up on the Audio and video connector page.
The entry even reacquainted me with the obsolete Fahnestock clip, a technology that I had fortunately forgotten about.
According to an article by John Eggerton in the Multichannel News, 35 full-power TV stations will cease operation tomorrow. The list includes WMQF-DT, NTSC Channel 19. It is Equity Media’s Fox affiliate in Marquette, MI.
The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that 35 full-power TV station now broadcasting in analog indicated that they will cease operation entirely on June 12, when all full-power stations must transition to digital.
Of those, 18 are owned by Equity Media, and seven of the 35 stations are affiliates of a major network. A full list of the stations is available here.
The FCC said it would try to reduce the number that would go dark, saying some would be available on the subchannel of another digital station. That news came at the FCC’s public meeting Wednesday on the status of the DTV transition.
I love MAKE magazine, their blog and their videos. Here is a dog-simple electronic construction project from them that has a very practical use.
Ever been in a waiting room where the TV was blaring a soap opera, or something of that ilk, while most of those who were waiting would have preferred silence? Call out the Super TV-B-Gone. It is a kit that, when constructed, will — on demand — shut off any TV set in its path. Have fun building it and perform a public service at the same time. While you are at their site, pick up a Void Your Warranty T-shirt.
File this in the And Then There Was One file. In case you haven’t noticed, it us not in your best interest to have less competition in the information or entertainment industries.
Hmm, now isn’t this interesting? Just months after Liberty Media reached out at the eleventh hour and rescued Sirius XM from imminent bankruptcy, it’s now spinning off its entertainment division (Liberty Entertainment) and combining it with DirecTV (which Liberty already controls). We’re told that the new Liberty Entertainment will hold 54 percent of DirecTV Group shares and 65 percent interest in the Game Show Network, not to mention three regional sports networks and a few other things not worth mentioning. The move is being made as the "John Malone-controlled vehicle looks to simplify its capital structure," and if all goes well, the paperwork should be completed by the end of the year. Oh, and so far as we can tell, DirecTV consumers won’t even notice the shuffling going on behind the scenes.
SOURCE: Engadget
The ARRL has produced a 30 second video promoting the 2009 Amateur Radio Field Day. It is intended for use on websites, e-mails and blogs. It is free for distribution in the promotion of Amateur Radio.
The video can be linked to at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQx2O9VuZts
With the change of administrations in Washington, it will be interesting to see if there will be an increase in the number of laws and lawsuits dedicated to returning us to our previous level of consumer protection. How long has it been since you have even heard that term?
Last Thursday, the U.S. District Court, Southern District approved a motion for a class-action suit filed by plaintiff Thomas Jermyn in New York State against Best Buy. Essentially, this suit will claim that Best Buy is in "extreme" violation of its own Price Match policy, and that it uses the advertised policy as a way to scam consumers into the stores and purchase gear. Best Buy’s Price Match policy is "undisclosed," meaning that we don’t know how it actually operates — and the suit claims that the company routinely denies the Price Match policy — as a matter of a lesser known, less cooler policy. The law offices charged with filing the suit are asking that consumers who have been affected by the policy get on the bandwagon. Next up: we file suit against them for using the name "Best Buy" when they are totally not
SOURCE: Engadget.com
My name is Bob, and I am a ham radio operator, freelance web developer and a retired commercial radio personality. It turns out that I also enjoy blogging...
