remembering memory

Last week, I wrote here about how I bought a 1-Tbyte external hard drive for backup after I noticed how low the prices had dropped on external drives.

I also noticed that the prices of USB memory sticks had dropped considerably. Since I was in the market to replace my well-worn 1-Gbyte memory stick, I hit the "Add To Shipping Cart" button as soon as I saw an 8-Gbyte stick for $16 on Amazon last week. The stick arrived on Wednesday and I immediately put it to good use.

Back in 1978, I paid $599 for 16-kbyte of RAM for my Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer. Adjusted for inflation, that $599 would buy me 124 Tbytes of memory today! Amazing!

$4.16 per gallon

I paid $4.16 per gallon for gasoline this morning. There was no attendant to pump the gas, clean the windows, check the oil, check the tire air pressure, or take my money to the register.

Isn't it wonderful living in the the 8th Year of the Bush Trickle-Down Prosperity!

mystery aircraft

At night, from my 925-foot perch on the west rim of the Connecticut River Valley, I can see the headlights of planes lined up as they approach BDL from Long Island Sound to the south. Typically, I can simultaneously see the headlights of two planes, sometimes three planes, each separated by the requisite airspace that such maneuvers require.

Some nights they pass to the east of my location on a straight up the river valley approach to BDL. Other nights they veer to the west off that straight up the river valley approach and end up passing directly overhead on a roundabout approach to BDL. (When they fly overhead, they are so low that I can hear them lower their landing gear in preparation for landing.)

Last night, I took the Pies out for last call at 10:05 PM and I saw three planes lined up on their approach to BDL. As I waited for the dogs, the first two passed to my east on the straight up the river valley approach to BDL.

The third plane was different; its headlights were not what I typically see. Usually, I see only one large point of light per plane until the plane passes more closely. The third plane had two large points of light side-by-side connected by a lighted horizontal bar (see my accompanying drawing).

When I originally saw it, I assumed it was traveling toward me, like a pair of connected headlights, but then I realized it was traveling along the horizon and I was viewing it from its side with one globe of light at its front end and the other globe of light at its rear end.

It flew along my horizon starting at approximately my south-southeast, moved west and then north, the whole time remaining about 40 degrees above my horizon. I lost it in the trees to my north-northwest.

The craft was too far away to see anything but its lights. Its speed was typical for the airliners I usually see.

There were one or two other distant planes in the area at the time and they were so distant that I could not tell which direction the faint jet engine sound I heard was coming from, i.e., from the mystery craft or the other distant planes.

Early on, I thought it might be a helicopter because it looked so unusual, but even at a distance, helicopters have an unmistakable sound and I did not hear that when I saw the mystery craft.

I am stumped as to what I saw last night. Any solutions to the mystery would be appreciated.

buying the farm

I almost bought the farm yesterday.

I am driving to work on the interstate in the right hand lane at the posted speed limit (65 MPH), which is how I usually drive during the rush hour when there are a lot of frantic drivers on the road driving like maniacs. Another car in front of me is doing the same, meanwhile most of the other vehicles on the interstate are passing us in the two lanes to our left.

I notice the car in front of me momentarily swerve into the breakdown lane, then it swerved back into the driving lane after encountering the bumper strip. With that I decided to slow down and put more space between us. I am in no hurry, my exit is about a mile away, so I am not going to worry about adding an extra 30 seconds to my commute.

A tractor trailer passes me in the center lane. As it passes the car in front of me, the car begins to swerve into the center lane and the rear wheels on the right side of the tractor trailer catch the left front side of the car in front of me.

I can't believe my eyes, but I know that all hell is about to break loose 500 feet ahead of me and I hit the brakes.

The tractor trailer never stops. When the car hit its rear wheels, it probably felt like a flea bumping into an elephant.

On the other hand, the car careens out of control across the three lanes of the interstate, onto the center median, and comes to a stop on top of the man-made hill in the center of the median facing traffic at a right angle.

I lucked out and the car did not end up in my lap. There were no cars in the other as the car crossed the interstate, so everyone lucked out except the driver of the car that swerved into the tractor trailer's wheels.

My car came to a stop in the breakdown lane exactly across the highway from the car where it landed on top of the hill in the center median.

I had no cell phone to call in the accident. I was not going to try and walk across three lanes of traffic to see if the driver of the car needed help especially since other cars were now stopping along side the center median to offer assistance. So, I eased back into traffic and went to work.

Wow!

I don't know what caused the car to swerve as it did. The car had a red, white, and blue out-of-state license plate that I did not recognize. Had the driver been on the road too long and was falling asleep at the wheel? Or was the driver distracted using a cell phone or an iPod, consulting a map, putting on makeup?

I don't know and probably never will, but that close call provided me with an education and I promised myself that I will never be distracted using a cell phone, iPod, ham radio, etc., while driving in the future, and I will be even more alert of the other drivers around me.

Surfin': Space Cadets on the Radio

This week, Surfin’ discusses the connection between Amateur Radio and radio astronomy. After you read this week’s Surfin’, come back here to leave your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Comet Holmes

Read about the exploding Comet Holmes and last night, the sky was clear, so I took my old refractor outside to have a look.

The comet is visible with the naked eye. At first, you might mistake it for a dim star, but it is actually a fuzzy spot. Put the telescope on it and it is a gray fuzzy ball.

The comet is easy to find. Here is a map from the Sky & Telescope web site that will assist you in finding the comet.

The War

When I was growing up, the adults in my family always referred to World War II as "the war" as if the previous and subsequent wars did not count. In a way, the other wars did not count because World War II was like no other war. It not only profoundly affected the soldiers fighting the war, but it also had a profound affect on everyone, who lived through it.

I majored in history, so I should know my history, but after sitting through each segment of The War series on PBS, I learned a few things.

For instance, I was not aware of all the incompetency of many of our military leaders. I guess I was brainwashed by all those old war movies in which our side always made the right moves against an incompetent enemy. We almost lost the war a couple of times due to the incompetency of our military leaders. If it wasn't for Patton, Bradley, and a few others, I might be typing this in German today.

I never knew about the civilian prisoners of war in Manilla. Those poor people must have a life-long hatred of their captors.

I did not know about the Japanese-Americans that fought on the European front.

My Dad was a Marine, 4th Division, during the war and fought on the islands of Tinian, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. He was wounded twice and awarded two Purple Hearts. He did not talk much about his war experiences, although he often mentioned that he likely would have been involved in the invasion of Japan and he was glad that the invasion was made  necessary by the atomic bomb. After watching The War, I can understand why.

I am glad I watched The War. I think it was a job well done. I found Ray Leopold (a Waterbury native) reflections on the war particularly poignant, although I disagree with his statement that you can jump across the Mad River.

On the other hand, just about anytime that woman from Alabama opened her mouth, I wanted to go up to the television and slap her in the face. I got the feeling that for her, the war was an inconvenience and a source of humorous stories that she can retell over the future tea parties. I think she was included in the series to show both sides of the "greatest generation," too.

I look forward to viewing The War DVDs for additional footage not included in the television broadcast.

Another great job, Mr. Burns!

bionic woman advertisement

My aunt subscribes to Entertainment Weekly. She gave my sister a pile of recent back issues and my sister passed them on to me when she was through with them.

The September 28th issue included an advertisement for the new Bionic Woman television series. The ad was a four-page insert printed on a heavier stock of paper than the magazine's normal page stock.

The first (cover) page is black with "A NEW LIFE BEGINS" printed in white. Turn the page and it is a two-page spread of the bionic woman's eyes. When you open the two-page spread completely, her right eye lights up in an unnatural green color.

I removed the insert from the magazine to check it out more closely. I slit open the bottom of the page on which the magic eye was printed and found two small circuit boards mounted inside connected to each other with two wires.

The larger board had two "watch" batteries mounted on it and an appendage on the side. I assume the appendage is a sensor that detects when the page is opened.

The other board provides the light (I assume with an LED) for the eye.

I was impressed. This is a very expensive ad that most people are just going to throw it away with the magazine.

I wonder how much this advertisement cost? It was not cheap.
And did anyone consider the environmental issues regarding the proper disposal/recycling of the batteries used in this advertisement?

wizard dead

Don Herbert, television's Mr. Wizard, died yesterday. Like Sandy Becker, Bob Keeshan, and some other television personalities of the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was a virtual friend of mine and I mourn his passing.

no resemblance

My daughter claims that this video is about me!

I'd write more about it, but I have some stuff that I need to get done.

another local fun factory goes bye-bye

I was born and raised in Waterbury, CT, which was a big factory town just like most of the towns up and down the Naugatuck Valley.

Most of the factories were of no interest to a kid including me, but there were two local factories that I always considered "fun factories," not because they were fun to work at, but because of the products they produced.

Eastern Color Printing Company in Waterbury invented the comic book and my father was a pressman there all his working life. Most days, he brought home a handful of comic books and Sunday funny papers that Eastern Color had printed that day. I saved a lot of the comic books. Many would be considered collector items like the first issues of Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Thor, X-Men, Submariner, Captain America, etc., etc., except that the books my Dad brought home were coverless. The covers were printed and stapeled to the guts of the comic book at another plant located in Meriden, CT. Even coverless, some of the first issues I have are worth a few bucks, but not as much as they would have been worth if my father had worked at the Meriden plant!

I worked a few summers at Eastern Color in the late 1960s, which was just about the time they got out of the comic book business and finally moved out of Waterbury. (By the way, it was no fun working in that "fun factory." The pay was very good - union wages - but the working conditions were terrible.)

The other local "fun factory" was Peter Paul in Naugatuck, CT, which produced my favorite candies: Mounds and Almond Joy*. Whenever we drove by the Peter Paul plant on Route 63, I would smile and smack my lips when I saw the big Mounds and Almond Joy logos emblazoned on the side of the building. Evidently, Peter Paul gave factory tours, but I never had the opportunity to take one and in retrospect, I am glad I did not after having seen the inside of the other fun factory.

Well, yesterday, Hershey, the current owner of Peter Paul, announced that they are closing the Naugatuck plant and moving the Mounds and Almond Joy production to Virginia. That news made me sad and I am sure there is no joy in the homes of the 200 workers at Peter Paul who will be out of work.

Hershey has a history of screwing things up in Connecticut. They bought Lake Compounce, the oldest amusement park in the USA, which happens to be located at the bottom of the hill on which I live, and ran it into the ground and now this! Next thing you know, they will replace the almond on Almond Joy with a peanut.

And so it goes.

* Mounds and Almond Joy were always my favorite candies. Mounds is a coconut bar covered with dark chocolate, while Almond Joy is a coconut bar with an almond on top covered in milk chocolate. (Some times I felt like an almond, some times I didn't.)

All my life, I was a proponent of a dark chocolate version of Almond Joy. Well, about five years or so ago, I was in the check-out line of a local K-Mart perusing the candy display and. lo and behold, I noticed a special edition of Almond Joy: a dark chocolate version. I bought a handful and am sorry that I did not buy them all because they were delicious (just as I thought they would be) and I never saw that special edition for sale again.

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

I don't read as much fiction as I should.

I read tons of fiction when I attended college, but after I graduated and got more and more into ham radio and computers, I read less fiction and more non-fiction in order to learn about and keep up with technology. However, I usually dropped whatever I was reading whenever there was a release of a new book by Kurt Vonnegut.

By far, Vonnegut is my favorite author. I've read and enjoyed most of his books and I learned something from each one. But, Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. There will be no new Vonnegut books to read and the world will be worse for it.

groundhog day

Today, during my noon walk, I saw my groundhog friends for the first time this year. They looked thinner than the last time I saw them back in the fall and kind of disheveled (like they just got out of bed).

literally bottles

Yesterday, I mentioned the postcard that depicted the office of the Diamond Bottling Company, which was located down the hill from my old home in the Hopeville section of Waterbury, CT. I wrote that "the postcard says that the building depicted on the postcard was 'built of ginger ale bottles.' I wonder if that statement is literal or figurative?"

The card arrived in the mail today and the answer is literal. On close examination, it is clear that the office was actually built using ginger ale bottles, as can be seen in the accompanying picture zoomed in on a corner of the office building.

Althea Spring

Born in Waterbury, CT, in 1951, I lived with my parents on Stiles Street in the Hopeville section of Waterbury.

As a kid, I explored my neighborhood on bicycle and on foot. I thought I had a pretty good handle on Hopeville, at least the part that was in the immediate vicinity of my home. So, I was very surprised to discover this postcard on eBay.

Diamond Bottling was located at the botton of the hill on which I lived. My first memory of Diamond Bottling was standing next to their plant with my Dad on the afternoon of August 19, 1955 as the waters of the Naugatuck River, which was across the street from the Diamond Bottling plant, receded after flooding and devastating the valley that day.

In later years, while I was exploring the neighborhood, I occasionally revisited the Diamond plant and on some of my visits, a kindly Diamond worker offerred me a bottle of my favorite beverage, Pal soda, which was an non-carbonated orange drink.

In all my explorations, I never encountered the spring or building depicted in the postcard. After doing some research, I was reminded that the block-long Althea Street was located right behind the bottling plant and that circa 1900, Althea Park occupied about a quarter-mile square section of Hopeville that has long been occupied by homes. That is all I know Althea-wise.

My sister lives near our old neighborhood and I got her on the case. She drove around the area one day last week and thinks she saw a building that might be the building on the postcard. This weekend, I am going to check it out.

One more thing: the postcard says that the building depicted on the postcard was "built of ginger ale bottles." I wonder if that statement is literal or figurative?

caveat emptor on eBay

I am often amazed at the mistakes I find on eBay. Today, I found this postcard up for bid on eBay. The seller claims that the postcard depicts "Red Sox Icon Ted Williams."

For starters, the guy is wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers cap not a Boston Red Sox cap. And although the guy has a slight resemblance to Ted Williams, anyone familiar with Ted's image knows that this guy is not Ted. And anyone familiar with 20th Century baseball stars would recognize the guy as the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger's pitching sensation Sandy Koufax.

So, if you use eBay, don't count on the seller to know what he or she is selling. Do your homework before you bid on an item.

some things I know are wrong

I learned something new today: the pronunciation of the word "zine."

I dunno about you, but I learn how to pronounce new words by osmosis. I never look up a new word in a dictionary to learn how to pronounce it, instead I hang around and wait for someone else to use the word, then I file their pronunciation in that great filing system just north of my mouth.

I probably learned the word "zine" 40 to 45 years ago. Back then, I assumed it was pronounced with a long I and rhymed with "sign." I just learned today that the I in "zine" is pronounced as a long E, like the word "magazine" without the "maga." Which makes sense since a zine is basically a type of magazine.

Evidently, I have been hanging around with the wrong crowd for 45 years because I have never heard "zine" pronounced correctly. Or maybe I did, but didn't recognize it because the correct pronunciation was so foreign from my incorrect pronunciation of the word.

the rumors of his death are greatly exagerated

Back when I was kid jogging comic books as they came off the printing presses at Eastern Color Printing Company, my favorite read was Captain America.

According to the news this week, the Captain's demise is imminent. But not to worry: Marvel resurrected him back in the mid-1960s and I am sure they will bring him back to life again.

STANLO (not LOU) toys

I always liked Stanley tools because they were personally engraved with my name! Now, I find out that Stanley also made toys.

The toys were before my time. They remind me of A. C. Gilbert's Erector Sets. Too bad they weren't named "STANLOU" instead of just "STANLO."

Here is the link to learn more: STANLO

coyote sighting

I saw a coyote this morning while walking the dogs.

As we reached the end of Beecher Road and the beginning of the New Britain Reservoir access road, I noticed an animal heading our way. When it saw us, it stopped dead in its tracks about 100 yards ahead of us. The dogs did not see it and did not react, so I just stood in place to see what it would do.

After about 30 seconds, it decided to detour into the woods and at that point, I could see that it was a coyote.

I wish I had my camera. I had planned to take it this morning, but forgot it in my rush to get the dogs ready for the walk.