Links o' the day, 22 Dec 2007

Spent the morning trying to catch up on my email. I have a lot of stuff hanging in the breeze. Gotta finish reading EMRFD and start building! :-) Whilst searching for the link to the book, I found a Yahoo! group which I promptly joined. A discussion on eHam, and of course, W7ZOI's web page. Distractions, distractions.

Interesting problem on a mailing ist I frequent. The list is crawled by Google, so emails sent there are available by searching. There was a humourous thread about strange and unusual user IDs -- the sort of thing that comes up from time to time. One poster shared a user ID composed of an initial and last name; the combination making a rude word, We all laughed and thought that was the end of it.

Not so. Apparently, said user learnt about Googling own name, and Googled for said rude word and was extremely upset to find self mentioned in a casual thread in a mailing list on the Internet. Apparently so upset that self is reporting poster to HR for disciplinary action. Now, one hopes that HR will tell self to stop searching for rude words on the Internet, but the poster is highly concerned about it.

There's a possibility that the list archive software will honour x-noarchive: yes; I'll have to check that out.

Some people are doing last minute Christmas shopping. Me too. Need vinegar powder for the sushi rice to go with Vietnamese pho :-) Better get some Thai basil, too. Xie xie, Rong for telling me about Lee's Market.

Links o' the day

Daily links

There are some links I try to read every day:

• US Navy photographs


• The Sub Report


• Navy Times


• COMSUBLANT


• COMSUBPAC


• The Tocqueville Connexion

What happened at today's sites:

Navy photos Has the story of a girl rescued from a cruise ship with a burst appendix. Operated on USS Reagan. Bravo Zulu!

Sub Report I didn't win the contest but I came in 2nd! The winner deserved it :-) The welding scandal seems to be calming down.

Navy Times Fmr Marine wants his marijuana plants back. He's an injured Iraq '91 vet, licensed to grow.

COMSUBLANT is still under construction.

COMSUBPAC has nothing new.

Tocqueville reports a TGV derailment!

---

Some links I hit today:
Loaded CoolIris Previews at work on Firefox. I like it.

Also loaded GBookmarks. I had it before but don't know what I did.

I didn't load SaveURI. I was looking for a way to simply and easily track all the places I visit in a day. This doesn;t look like it.

Foxmarks not working? Servers super slow.

---

How to bury a mainframe, from an email sent by Todd.

---

Searched for a 360 blog add-on but couldn't find one. I want to post to 360 like I can Blogger.

---

From my RSS blog ticker:
Beautiful canoe, political message about Polynesian life disappearing.

From StumbleUpon:
Clever adverts

A test of what gender your brain is. I'm female, but the tests are mainly visual, and I am not.

Some cool early music (ancient) from Jon Sayles and John Willbye. Downloadable MP3s. Very nice stuff.

Open Flash Chart looks great. I haven't downloaded it, but I think I will.

---

From researching problems:
System i WDSC custom compile command

---

Went prowling for noise figure info because of the ongoing discussion of receiving Selene (the lunar orbiter) with amateur equipment on the Microwave mailing list

Kerry QualComm noise source

Didier Home brew noise source

Maxim Tutorial on how to calculate noise figure.

Linux on old laptops

So they tossed out an IBM ThinkPad 600E at work and I scarfed it on the way to the dumpster. It was stripped: no floppy, no hard drive, the CMOS battery was dead and the main battery was missing. This model doesn't have any USB ports, but it does have a pair of PCMCIA slots. It did have a CD-ROM drive...

I wonder if this thing will run Linux? So I hie me over to the Puppy Linux web page and start downloading Live-CD images. Using Nero on my Windows XP Pro machine, I burn several CD-ROMs to try them out. In particular, I look at 2.14 and 2.15CE.

I boot the thing up using a power supply I use with my ThinkPad 380ED and it boots but man is it ugly. The resolution that Puppy chose is clearly wrong. It also takes forever and I soon see why: the thing has been stripped of it's RAM, leaving only 32MB installed! I do a quick re-think and decide to try Puppy on the 380ED first - it has 80+MB of RAM!

The 380ED is a Pentium MMX 166. It has an integrated floppy and CD-ROM drive as well as PCMCIA. No USB. I use this particular machine as a logging computer for my amateur radio contesting. It runs a legal version of Windows 98 and I'm quite happy with it for this use. The 9 pin serial port is very valuable for hooking up to a GPS receiver.

So through various trial and errors, I figure out that the resolution is 800 x 600 x 16. 35.1562KHz with a 56.25Hz refresh. It takes quite a few probes to work out the one I can read, but it's not so bad. Once Puppy 2.14 loads, I see that there's 35M of RAM free. That doesn't bode well for a machine that only has 32MB of RAM! The next step was to try to get the PCMCIA Ethernet card working. It turns out that I loaded 2 modules: pcsnet_cs and axnet_cs and that was the combination that finally did the trick. Since that machine has a hard drive, I let Puppy store its configuration file there for future use.

Then, back to the 600E. The 800 x 600 x 16 worked and so did the drivers, but man is it ever slow. The monitor window shows 11.6M free, but the CD drive just keeps trundling and it takes a long, long time to load the browser (Seamonkey.) It's a 2645-4AU, dated 09/1999. Pentium II 366MHz. It's taking so long to load Seamonkey that I'm going to post this and see if it comes up by tomorrow...

There's an excellent ThinkPad specifications web page here. IBM has a PDF describing the details of their discontinued 'numbered' models here.

FireGPG

I use Firefox and I have used PGP in the past. A recent mailing list discussion (no, really!) made me reconsider integrating Gmail and PGP. I started looking around and found FireGPG. It has a few quirks, but it's integrated into Gmail (a bit.)

As a prerequisite, you'll need some form of OpenPGP. At home I use Windows XP Pro, so I chose to try GnuPG. In particular, it loads in the Windows Privacy Tray (WinPT) which is a quick way to generate keys, import them from friends, etc.

Once you have OpenPGP of your choice installed, generate your keys. Be very aware that your private key is critical and you ought not lose it!. Back it up. Publish your public key on a key server if you like. I used Veridis. Uning WinPT, choose Keyserver from the menu. Right click in the window that has the existing keyservers and choose Add. Then in the key manager window, right click your key and choose 'Send to keyserver.'

An alternate mechanism is to post your public key on your web page. Using WinPT, click your key, then click the icon on the top right 'Copy key to keyboard.' Here's mine:

pub 1024D/47BA6B91 10/21/2007 Buck Calabro
Primary key fingerprint: DA31 A4AD 9BCE 420E C400 9C41 DECA 71C9 47BA 6B91

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
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=7hcK
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

All that is well and good, but it doesn't do much as far as actual encryption goes. There are two sorts of things one can do with encryption. Encryption will actually convert your text into something only the recipient can understand, while signing will append a digital signature to your text. That digital signature will prove that the message was sent by you and not tinkered wit, between the sender and recipient. You might be asking what the heck is the purpose of signing text. What if the recipient is a mailing list? You might want to send cleartext, but still prove who you are. Listers can verify who you are by looking you up on a keyserver.

Another consideration is that you might not have the recipient's public key. Again, a mailing list is one of those instances. A public key is mated with a single private key, so unless everyone on a mailing list shares a private key, it would be impossible for all of them to read a message.

OK, so to use FireGPG to sign a message, type your message, edit the spelling :-) and when ready to send it, select all the text in the message and then click the 'Sign & send' button. Encrypting the message works exactly the same way, only after choosing to encrypt, you are asked for the public key of the recipient.

One additional thing that FireGPG gives you is a right click context menu that will let you encrypt/decrypt text on any web page. Highlight/select that right click.

You can do all that work using only WinPT, but you have to bring up the clipboard editor and work with it that way, then you copy/paste to your application - which might be an OS application like vi :-)

Venture blower switch replacement

NAPA part number HC138 AC HEATER SWITCH $22.49

Replaced it in the dark. 2 screws to pull off the console cover (under the ash tray and power socket covers. 2 screws to remove the panel the switch is mounted on and 2 more to remove the switch itself.

15 minutes, tops. All 5 positions work again, Yeah!

98 Chevy Venture HVAC blower adventure

My wife's car. The blower stopped blowing on setting 5 last year. Then it lost 3 a few months ago. Then 1. Then 2. Then 4 finally died. No blower. No front defrost. This is the Northeast. Autumn in the Northeast. Not recommended.

So I dove into it today. Without a manual... As Chris would say, I nuked it out. The blower is located at the front passenger's feet. It's easy to get to; there's a carpeted cardboard cover with several of those plastic 'pop' fasteners. A quick tug at the front ad it comes off. The courtesy light comes out after a quarter turn.

The normal cause of failure for these things is the resistor block. So I started looking for the resistor block. Of course, it's behind the motor, next to the firewall. Lovely. It turns out to be pretty easy to remove the blower. There's a two-wire connector. Push the top (it's one of thos prong types) and pull it out. Remove the 2 screws and the blower motor and squirrel cage comes out. It took a bit of twisting.

Now I can clearly see the resistor block. It has 3 screws, one of which is almost impossible to get out. Loosen the two nearest the firewall about 1-2 turns, then remove the one closest to the passenger's feet. Pull it down, toward the floor and then it should tip enough to pull it off the two screws toward you. Pull the black connector off and you're good to go.

So now I have in my hand one 12v squirrel cage and one resistor block. It occurs to me that I have a cellar full of 12v power supplies, so I go down to the lab to check it out. I hook up a 12v current limited supply and turn it on. It works! Very nice... the fan turn and churns. Well at least that's one thing that I don't have to buy.

I spent about a half hour trying to figure the pinout for the resistor block, but it remains a mystery. I couldn't tell if it was bad or good. So I turned my attention to the connector in the car. I tested every combination of voltage and continuity vs switch position and got nothing.

Nothing?

Is the switch bad? Feh. Time to burrow into the dash.

This turned out to be simple! Pull the ash tray out and you'll see a screw on the right side. There's a mate on the left under the power socket cover. Remove them and the console frame pulls out from the bottom. It becomes obvious what to remove next. All the switches are mounted to a single carrier. Two more screws and it comes out, revealing the blower switch.

Pulled the connector off of that and I see a burnt socket, with a burnt pin matching it in the switch. Hm. Turn on the key so the system is energised. I test the socket and find 12v in the middle of the 3 side. Short that to the socket opposite it on the 4 side and probe the other end - voltage! Crap, the switch is looking bad.

Lay the blower on the floor, hook up the resistor block (on the floor) and connect it. Short out the two sockets and the fan spins. Yep. Bad switch. So I put the resistor block back, put the blower back, put the courtesy light back, put the cardboard back. Short together the 12v side of the connector with the pin for speed 3, turn on the key and voila! Always on, but it won't leave the wife stranded without a blower. Electrical tape for safety and put the console back together sans switch.

Tomorrow I'll get a new switch. It should take less than 15 minutes to install.

Sterling and Francine Clark Institute

We went yesterday. They have an exhibit called the Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings. It's an interesting exhibit of his sketchbooks and pastels from early in his career. Although an Impressionist, it seems Monet used drafting techniques extensively in developing his paintings. Very evident in his series of paintings of London bridges (Charing Cross and Waterloo). An astonishing portrait of the Rouen Cathedral caught my eye.

The museum is located in the beautiful Berkshires of western Massachusetts, in Williamstown. Aside from the Monet exhibit (which closes Sept 16th) is a wonderful exhibit of Gainsborough, Constable and Turner as well as a permanent collection of a variety of art that caught the eye of Francine or Sterling Clark.

Having brought the 5 year old along, I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked. I'll probably be back soon to remedy that!

IBM Codestation Sentinel box 2

Take box 2, open it and get the LM. Go off to Straylight. Follow the signs to the garden. There are 4 flowers flashing in the order of Red, Blue, Green, Blue, Yellow, Green, Yellow. Put on the HUD and press the buttons in that order. Get the body and arms!

Save your current skin, etc and try everything on. Customise them and save them as a Sentinel outfit so you can go back and add on later.

Codestation Sentinel box 1

Start at the IBM Codestation. Collect the instructions at the clock. Take box 01. Open it and you get a message to look to the sea and a landmark for Laguna Beach. Go to the beach. Meet a gorgeous Argentinian woman :-) Touch the goodies on the table and wear them. If you don't the shark will chase you away! Wade into the water at the buoy and touch the arms. Yay!

Crazy week

It's been a crazy week or so. Trying to get ready to play radio with MGEF. Too much to do and not nearly enough time. I leave tomorrow and won't be back until Monday night. The weather is calling for rain Sunday and Monday. Figures. See ya when I get back!

USS Hawaii commissioning

I debated whether I ought to make this entry or not. As you can see, the debate took a while to resolve itself. I attended the christening and had mixed emotion. On the one hand, the Navy did an excellent job with crowd control, but there wasn't much advertising about the potential to buy goodies at the pier. Bring cash :-)

The boat was commissioned at Groton, at the Submarine Base. The ceremony itself was pretty quick. Hawaii Gov Lingle said a little bit, Hawaii Senator Inouye said a little, the EB guys said a lot more... Master Sergeant Ganotise (ret) gave a blessing in Hawaiian. The highlight of the ceremony was when Gov Lingle told the crew (who were assembled on the pier) to 'man our ship and bring her to life!' The men marched over the brow and 'lined the rails.' At the same time, the optics masts lifted out of the sail, the horn blew and the crowd clapped wildly.

OK, so maybe that tied with the moment the commissioning pennant broke out on the aft of the sail. Both brought genuine tears to my eyes. I waved my flag wildly enough that I pulled some staples out. I was the only one with an American flag. At the commissioning of a US Navy Submarine. Buy flags and hand them out to those around you.

There were hula dancers; young ladies who were so graceful they looked as though they were fluid, not solid at all. Very lovely to watch. Afterwards, a reception at Morton Hall. We had salad, watched more native dancers and took in the scenery. I was privileged to take a photo of Chris and Capt Solms, as well as one with COB Bentley.

After that, we got permission to tour the boat. I went below and was able to see all three decks forward! I'm not going to talk much about what I saw, but the torpedo room was extremely interesting both because of its size and configuration.

I got to see Chris' rack, which isn't very big, but it was an honour to see where he works and lives. I only hope I'll be able to take a tiger cruise before she goes to Pearl Harbor!

New York City

Erika and I went to NYC to see Monty Python's Spamalot at the Sam Shubert Theatre (44th St and 8th Ave). My first Broadway play. My first impression of the Sam Shubert theatre is that it's pretty small. We were up in the highest seats on the balcony, and it was a tight fit to get in there. I can't imagine how a large person would fare...

When the play began, the 'small' nature gave way to 'intimate.' That's a word that's a bit overused, but it suits this situation. In general, the seats were good, although not the best, but visibility was very nice except for the aerials (clouds, sing-along words.) I liked it.

The performers were wonderful. It was clear they were having a good time. I was most impressed with 'The Lady of the Lake', Marin Mazzie. She did a spectacular job, to the point that I really wish the Spamalot CD had her on it! Jonathan Hadary did an exquisite job as King Arthur. Between an impressive singing voice and perfect comic timing, he just nails the part.

For some photos, see Marin's web site, deep linked here.

Highly recommended!

We almost went to the Observatory at the Empire State Building, (34th St and 5th Ave) but time was a constraint. It took about 20 minutes to wend through the line on a Saturday afternoon (5.00pm) just to reach the ticket counter. After that, it was a 45-90 minute wait to go up. Don't do it on a whim, buy your tickets online. Be advised that you'll be going through airport-like screening, but they took my pocket knife, gave me a claim ticket and returned it to me afterward with no trouble at all.