Morse Code practice

At a garage sale across the street today, I picked up a Midland model 25-109 Morse Code practice oscillator (not the one in the photo). It wasn't the pristine device I first imagined from its exterior. The wife RATTLED it loudly and asked if it were supposed to sound like that. I told her it wasn't and hurried off to run some errands. While we were at the grocery, I took the opportunity to whip out my Swiss Army knife and see what made it rattle.

Ouch! As I supposed it was, the previous owner had left the two C cells in their holder to rattle around inside the case. It was the most crud and corruption I'd ever seen come out of two cells, equaling about three tablespoons of corroded mess to be dumped. Most of the aluminum holder had dissolved away at one end, leaving the solder lug to dangle loosely. The cells had holes in them and had gotten rid of any gel or liquid they could during their long years of being abandoned.

But, the single transistor, two potentiometers, audio transformer, speaker, slide switch, pilot lamp, terminal strips, and 3.5 mm earphone jack are all in pretty good shape for having been exposed to such corrosive mess for many years. I may have to replace the two-screw-terminal key connection, if the screws are in too bad a shape to allow future connections. Otherwise, I think liberal application of water and 91% alcohol with Q-Tips will fix it right up. And I will need some new battery holder or other to replace the old one.

Morse Code is well worth your while to learn. You never know when a post-apocalyptic world will require you to communicate in that fashion!

Comments always welcome.

Crabs don't throw stones

The really fine dance of art and science with the natural world has just made another leap. I saw this wonderful image shown above and an accompanying article & video which show how it was done and for what reason. It is worth a visit, I think.

A Pail of Air

I got into a discussion recently with a friend, who asked what I thought would happen if the Earth were snagged by a rogue wanderer, captured from our calm orbit and pulled out into the cosmos of dark and death. Immediately, my thoughts ran directly to the story "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber, which was indelibly etched on my brain from when I read it during my grade school years. You can see the book cover above, from the paperback collection of his stories that contained the piece.

In this link from Wikipedia, you can find links to the text of the story and to the radio dramatization audio file from the old "X Minus One" series from NBC Radio.

Central & South Texas Suffering Alone

A friend just sent this link, which tells of our woes in the no rain department. All you have to do these days is go outside the air conditioned house to slowly begin sinking into the pavement around you.

I walked a very long block in Corpus Christi about lunch today and wasn't sure I was going to make it to the other end. The air is suffocating, the heat beating down on your head is like someone pounding a 10-pound hammer right on top of your head. Your feet begin dragging very soon, like you're crossing the Saharan wilderness. The city around you seems to spin and spin, scenes from normal, workaday world views passing in front of you like a kaleidoscope. The end of the block starts receding before you, faster than you can walk, even though you pick up your pace, it is moving away, away, away.

When I got to the next mall, I headed straight for the first door in sight at the J.C. Penney storefront. As I got there, I was intercepted by three young women, all of them fluttering anxiously about. They blocked my entry and I was asked if I wanted to pay a bill or something they could do for me while one of them spurted out that the store had a possible liability that some customer might slip and fall, so they'd closed the entire store. Closed the entire store! I didn't think I could stand another moment, but I turned, muttering not-very-nice things under my breath, staggering back into the blistering parking lot, weaving toward the sidewalk, making my best shot at shaving any step I could from the remainder of the trip I'd started rapidly and blithely.

Sweat was pouring from me as I rounded the corner by the STOP sign. I was greeted by front-end loaders and hydraulic-assist digging machines, lines of yellow tape and (at last) a small sign that was propped up against a wall not 200 feet in front of me that said in small letters: Mall Entrance. I kept my feet moving, trying not to shuffle, knowing that would sap even more strength from the reserve whose gauge was on EMPTY!!

I entered the mall side entrance, gasping for the cool air that now surrounded me, looking for someone who might know where I was supposed to find the business I sought. I'll spare you the walk down the WHOLE LENGTH OF THE MALL and the quick ascent of the escalator. I found the business and used up three whole paper towels to mop up the sweat before I could begin to enjoy the cool air there.

It is hot in south Texas. 101F here at 5 p.m.!

Comments welcomed.

Electronics parts yield articulated animal robots

I ran across this post today on the MAKE: blog that discusses robot art pieces that are fashioned from large numbers of electronics and mechanical parts into the most interesting animals you can imagine. Very imaginative and inventive, to say the least!

I was following some of the links about this and I found this post of the artist's own making, that takes a few of the robot pieces even further to make extremely short videos of them going through their articulated paces! They amazed me no end!

Comments welcome.

The Case of the Missing Sunspots

Ham radio operators and shortwave listeners have been pretty discouraged at the lack of our sun to build an appropriate number of sunspots. To the average person, this seems like either a tempest in a teapot or angels dancing on the head of a pin. But to folk who depend on the ionosphere of our planet to reflect radio waves, it is important. The number and size of sunspots on the part of the sun facing the Earth is closely tied to energy coming from the sun to energize the ionosphere's reflection regions. Here is a good discussion from NASA of why those sunspots have not been created and a good story why the folks waiting for them should not lose hope.

Comments welcome.

Bach to the computer

This is the best computer visualization aid I've ever seen for music. As soon as you click to play it, immediately click on the HQ "button" and the "full screen" "button". It is quite a display. The particular piece involved in this demonstration is Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" for organ.

Comments welcome.