The Voyagers’ Galactic Trek [NASA.gov]
Thank you NASA for specifically letting me know that this ~40 year old probe will not be functioning in tens of thousands of years.
That said, here’s to hoping that one day we offer cruises along the historic paths these probes took and they become moving historical artifacts that we can visit.
Install RTL-SDR
apt-get install rtl-sdrInstall gpsd and clients
apt-get install gpsd gpsd-clients python-gpsInstall the parts needed for rtl_433
apt-get install libtool libusb-1.0.0-dev librtlsdr-devInstall cmake
apt-get install cmakeClone the rtl_433 git repository and install
git clone https://github.com/merbanan/rtl_433.git
cd rtl_433/
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
make
sudo make installInstall the parts needed to write your own gpsd programs
apt-get libgps-devGo off and do stuff that needs doing…
I felt like I had to write something about this… I know this won’t be read by ANYONE outside myself but that’s OK.
Fair warning–Here there be spoilers.
This book is some of the worst sci-fi trash I’ve ever read.
Ostensibly penned by Shatner himself, most of the people I’ve mentioned it to start with the same line: “Well, he didn’t really write it did he?”, implying ghostwriting or collaboration… you know, I thought that myself before I started reading, but afterwards I have no doubt it was him. No one else could write Kirk quite like this while also turning the rest of the cast into bumbling idiots.
The basic premise is that we’re a few months out from the point where the movie Star Trek: Generations has ended. Enterprise-D is being cut up for scrap and Kirk’s body is still buried on the planet, but soon to be moved to a more permanent resting place.
A mutinous group of Romulan’s have secretly allied with the Borg and using a mysterious device they’ve managed to not only re-animate Kirk’s months old corpse using Borg nanites, but perform a temporal-Katra transfer to restore Kirk’s mind from the moment before his death.
The Romulan is hell bent on Kirk’s destruction because Kirk is responsible for her grandfather’s death (see some TOS episode where they fight Romulan’s). The Borg are hell bent on Picard’s destruction (or at least return to the collective) because he apparently unknowingly retains some linchpin bit of information from his time as Locutus that could take them all down. They decide to get together by reanimating Kirk and programming him to assassinate Picard. The book even questions the sanity of this plan a few times, but it’s brushed aside by showing us that this Romulan is performing her best Ahab impersonation (and the Borg basically don’t give a damn and are apparently largely inept and manipulatable despite their massive successes in conquering species after species across the galaxy).
The entire book writes about Kirk as though he’s a mythic god, complete with describing his “iron muscled forearms” and having him outwit pretty much everyone he deals with. Just to express how far into the absurd this writing goes, Kirk defeats Worf in a bat’leth competition… WORF. Also, to be clear, at no point do they ever insinuate that Kirk’s physical or mental abilities are being enhanced, actually quite the opposite they imply he’s fighting through constant pain caused by the nanites.
Every character used–and they pretty much just reuse our old favorites, as though there is no one else in Starfleet–is either written out of character, or as a worst cliche of their character.
Picard is written as an aging, and somewhat dopy, semi-coward. Riker is written as a series of assertive, though not always well thought out, actions and one-liners. 140 year old McCoy might as well have “Dammit Jim” written in every 6-7 words. The Borg are written as comically inept at times, as well being able to be manipulated easily with a few obvious logical arguments, or just plain old acting emotional. Data is written as child-turned-adult comic relief. Even Spock, who I think is arguably the most well written, is frequently forced into out of character dialog and actions.
The worst part is that the hook that originally brought me here–That the Borg’s origin is actually V’ger following its melding with Commander Decker at the end of Star Trek: The Motion Picture–turns out to be a “Oh by the way” sort of mention within the last 20-30 pages with no real depth.
The further I got into this book the more I realized that it’s written in the style of TOS episodes and movies–full of deus ex machina and contrived situations for the sole purpose of supporting one-liners or some cliched set of actions by a character. It’s rife with “wait, why did this happen?” or “how could they have done that?” moments. Your only choices are to stop reading, or suspend the analytical part of your brain that highlights the plot holes and enjoy the predictable, often groan-worthy, lines and scenarios.
In some ways that actually makes this book more endearing, but it also makes it frustrating because you don’t receive the depth you might have hoped for in most of the story points and you find yourself agonizing over dialog or actions that simply don’t fit the character.
As best I can determine, the reason this book exists is that Shatner was pissed by his limited role in Star Trek: Generations and luke warm, not quite-a-real-hero, death; so he decided to re-write that death by coming back to life as a combination action hero, master tactician, technology guru, and victim of circumstance. He can best Worf in Klingon combat, he can beat up Picard, outwit Romulan’s and Borg, intuitively use 24th century technology against its own occupants despite his being a century out of date, and all this while saving the galaxy.
In conclusion, this is absolutely Star Trek schlock, but hell who am I to judge? I’m sitting here bitching about a 20 year old Star Trek novel. Go take it out of your local library and spend a few days reading it, it’s not like you have better things to do.
I’ll just leave you with a picture of the backcover of this book… no accolades or glowing reviews, just a huge ass picture of Shatner.
He also couldn’t resist filling the backcover with his gorgeous mug.
So I figured I would compare these two since I own them both, and this will remind me what I like and dislike about each–
First off, to anyone outside reading this I realize the Kenwood has a lot more features and really is a class higher (and double the price), but anyway…
The good things about Yaesu
Stuff I like about the Kenwood…
So I’m still getting to know both of them, but at this point I think I have the Yaesu feature set and operation down. The Kenwood I’m still working the kinks out. Over all if I had $300 to spend on just one of them I’d go for the Kenwood because dual receivers, lithium ion, and 220 TX are great features for not that much more money. I’m still glad I have the Yaesu though and if you’re looking for a radio under $150 it seems like a pretty good one.
So, after someone on air mentioned liking Kenwood’s, I decided to go for it and buy one… it ended up being about $80 with shipping and a microphone… I knew it would be a pain, but I figured why not…
The thing arrived and it’s kinda neat looking, I guess it’s basically what you’d find in a cab or police car…
The first thing needed is a programming cable because the thing has no buttons for programming… it’s designed to be programmed at a PC and then put in service in a vehicle where the user just selects channels… The cables are about $15 on ebay…
Rather than spend another $15 I decided to build my own… it turned OK, but ended up costing more than $15 between the bits/pieces and certainly the time…
Given the comparisons in size, I felt like this:
At this point I decided to watch Back to Future III and write this stupid post. By next year I should have some progress…
I know this is an easy search, and a no-brainer to those who are experienced… but apparently copper and galvanized pipe are incompatible (which is why I have a union on my water heater).
If I’m using ENT or chain link top rail as an antenna mast I need to ground it. To ground it I should use brass pipe clamps. Brass contains zinc and is compatible with galvanized pipe (copper is not compatible and will chemically etch the zinc from the pipe and it will rust at that spot).
I should keep watch if I’m using a bare ground conductor that it doesn’t touch the mast either, and also verify the type of metal the mast supports are.
(www.repeater-builder.com/antenna/site-stuff/radiositerules.html)
(http://www.askcodeman.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=316)
