73 -- The BEST Number

My kids watch this show.   This appears to be one of the only interesting comments to come from it:

"The best number is 73. Why? 73 is the 21st prime number. Its mirror (37) is the 12th and its mirror (21) is the product of multiplying, 7 and 3. ... In binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001 which backwards is 1001001."

-Dr. Sheldon Cooper, (Jim Parsons), "Big Bang Theory"

"Just to invite your attention to "73" in Morse code--also a palindrome."

-W9JEF

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Kludge Controversy Continues

Forget about the sequester!  The real issue facing our country is the proper pronunciation of the word Kludge.   Several visitors to the SolderSmoke table at last weekend's Winterfest weighed in on this issue.   SolderSmoke Lexicographer Steve Silverman wrote to inform me that I had totally misinterpreted his e-mail -- he is in fact rather firmly in the Klooge as in Stooge camp.  I, however, am sticking to Kludge as in Fudge.  It just feels right.  And I may use the awesome power of the SolderSmoke media empire to actually CHANGE the way people pronounce this word.

Check out the California Kilowatt ad.  In retrospect, probably a poor choice of brand name.


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Podcast #149

Podcast #149 is now available:  http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke149.mp3

17 February 2012

IGY intro
Cappuccio turns off TV on New Year's Eve
Pre-inaugural day on the National Mall
The importance of audio bandwidth in DSB rigs
On 15 meters with the HT-37 and the Drake 2B
Q Killing and Swamping
Adding a Filter the Mighty Midget Receiver
Italian lessons via Echolink
Billy and the Raspberry Pi -- Three Cheers for Ada Fruit
Translate Button on the Blog page (upper right)
C.F Rockey SK
Mailbag: Kludge or Klooge?  

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Carl Sagan, Astronomy, and the Zen Pencil

We presented Carl Sagan's beautiful "Pale Blue Dot" quote back in September 2011, along with a nice video.    This week a friend in Kathmandu sent me a link to a web site called The Zen Pencil.   This fellow takes great quotes and draws cartoons to accompany them.   I liked his cartoon for The Pale Blue Dot:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/100-carl-sagan-pale-blue-dot/ 


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

SolderSmoke Blog in Gujarati, Arabic, Chinese (and many others)!

SolderSmoke الأخبار اليومية

خدمة المجتمع في جميع أنحاء العالم من الراديو الإلكترونية من يقومون بذلك. تقديم الدعم إلى بلوق بودكاست

Pretty cool, don't you think?    This morning I added a little Google Translate button to the SolderSmoke Daily News.  It is in the upper right.  This makes the blog available in many, many languages.  I made a quick check of the translation to Italian and Spanish -- not bad.  Not perfect, but not bad. 

Please spread the word, especially to Knack victims who may have been struggling with English.  (Use the little e-mail button at the bottom of this post.)

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20