Just go to http://soldersmoke.com. On that archive page, just click on the blue hyperlinks and your audio player should play that episode.
http://soldersmoke.com
We needed an illustration today. I was having trouble finding something suitable. Then the Radio Gods (along with Joe Peltola and the artist N0UJR) provided this.Obviously I can relate to thebreadboard operation. I'm sure Pete can too. As for the mountain topping, that made me think of Colin, M1BUU. And of Wes, W7ZOI.
Thanks to Bob Crane, W8SX, for the link to this article. Those of us who are reading "The Martian" will find the mention of RTG power interesting (but hey, let's not try to put any plutonium in our rigs, OK?)
I've been hearing about this book for years, but until I watched this interview, I knew nothing about the author. Thanks Lady Ada. (And thanks to Farhan for the alert.)
As a native New Yorker, I'm pleased to include in the blog yet another reminder that the Big Apple is not all fashion and finance -- a lot of solder has been melted in my home town.
Paul Horowitz has a truly awesome bio. He got his ham license at age eight. QST tells us that lots of little kids do this, but unlike some of the youngsters we see in the magazine I suspect young Paul really mastered the theory. Paul Horowitz has "The Knack." Big time.
PhD from Harvard. Author of "The Art of Electronics." Pioneer in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Carl Sagan is believed to have modeled the main character in "Contact" partly on Paul. Check out the wiki page:
We talk a lot about putting soul in our new machines. The phrase comes from a book by Tracy Kidder. Ira Flatow of NPR's Science Friday recently took a new look at this book. There are TWO recordings in this link. Both are worth listening to. The second is an interview with the author, conducted at Google HQ in New York City. Woz chimes in.
At about 6:43 in the second interview, Ira Flatow and Tracy Kidder get into a little argument about how to pronounce the word "kludge." I'm with Ira -- the fact that he pronounces it this way makes me think that we are using a New York, or at least and East Coast pronunciation.
I am a big fan of Tracy Kidder. His "Mountains Beyond Mountains" is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a heroic physician who has dedicated his life to treating the poor people of Haiti. "My Detachment" is about Kidder's stint as an army officer in Vietnam. Kidder and his editor wrote a nice book about the crafts of writing and editing: "Good Prose." "Strength in What Remains" is about the genocide in Burundi.
I liked this interview a lot, and I am sure SolderSmoke listeners will like it too. Weir admits to NOT having the Knack, but Mark Watney clearly does have it.
I realize I'm very late in reading this book. Billy read it last winter. The movie is already coming out. I guess I didn't see the Knack element in this story until I saw the movie trailer. Wow. This is a book and movie for us. Dude is stranded on Mars and has to fix the radio (with Hendrix playing in the background). I'm reading the book now (appropriately, on my I-phone). I find myself thinking about the Elser-Mathes Cup.
From the Wiki article:
Andy Weir, the son of a particle physicist, has a background in computer science. He began writing the book in 2009, researching related material so that it would be as realistic as possible and based on existing technology.[4] Weir studied orbital mechanics, astronomy, and the history of manned spaceflight.[6] He said he knows the exact date of each day in the book.[7]
Having been rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published, Weir decided to put the book online in serial format one chapter at a time for free at his website.[4] At the request of fans, he made an Amazon Kindle version available at 99 cents (the minimum he could set the price).[4] The Kindle edition rose to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling science-fiction titles, where it sold 35,000 copies in three months, more than had been previously downloaded free.[4][7] This garnered the attention of publishers: Podium Publishing, an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013. Weir sold the print rights to Crown in March 2013 for over a hundred thousand dollars.[4]
The book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list on March 2, 2014 in the hardcover fiction category at twelfth position.[
I had been sworn to secrecy for so long, I thought I was going to burst. I almost hinted at this in the last podcast. But I didn't. I kept the secret. But now Farhan has made public his latest creation:
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the SolderSmoke podcast, I have reduced the price of the book "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics." I've taken the price as low as Amazon and Lulu will allow.
Here are the new prices. (These prices are temporary.)
"SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
Re: 75A4
-
Joe:
I have one of those 1K fiber optic widgets with screen and capture
capability.
I will try to fire it up and get you a close up view. No promises.
ICOM hint at new 60th anniversary X60 product
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