I will never make a joke about Juarez again

Here's one I have to link to. Oddee has 15 Creepiest Old Album Covers. Now, the gospel quartet album doesn't look all that creepy to me. I first started learning music from guys who looked pretty much like that, and let's face it, a whole lot of people looked like that in 50s and 60s.

But then there's...

I'll have to give 'em that one. Quite creepy. I found several of the persons/groups shown listed at Wikipedia. Rae Bourbon is not one of them. But if you G00gl3 him...uh, her, or...whatever...you'll find plenty.

I know you must be thinking, ye gads! what did he do, go to Juarez, Mexico for the operation?! Well, yes, actually. He did.

That's a stupid name for a hurricane

Name it after a symbol of peace?

Not to change the subject, but...*

Two questions:

1. Did everyone on Blogger get an email about the Weblog Awards?

2. When did post offices stop having stamp machines?



*my late grandmother's favorite conversational segue

What the moon brings

click to enlarge

From Anarchy in Your Head.

Welcome to Amerika, comrades!

So you elected yourselves an outright socialist for President. A socialist who associates with known terrorists.

I only hope that, in the coming years, you come to regret what you've done. It's going to be very difficult for you to blame everything on the other guy now that you control both the executive and legislative branches--and will no doubt control the judicial branch as well before much longer.

Difficult, but I'm sure you'll try.

I am pessimistic by nature, and I expect to die under a regime that would make Lenin proud.

But I'm hoping for a spectacular backlash.

graphic via The Liberty Sphere

Report from Box 318

Why didn't I take a picture of the outside of this place with my phone? I just didn't think about until I got home.

When I pulled up to the polling place today there were 14 cars outside, including my own and the poll workers'. There were two people ahead of me in line. I was finished and gone in less than 5 minutes.

For the past few years they've had one voting machine there, and you could choose between using that or paper. There was no machine today, it was paper only. I'm guessing the powers-that-be determined that it would be more urgently needed at some other place with a higher population density.

Now, all that said, I have never seen that many cars parked there at once for any election. This was the first time I've ever had to choose an actual parking spot, rather than just pulling up and stopping wherever I happened to be.

Other than that, it was just another quiet election day at Box 318.

In the mail today...

I meant to buy this book a long time ago, and I finally did.

Not bad...

But they didn't have a pipe.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I forgot the link. Made at simpsonizeme.com.

Rigs

I've been digging out all my radio gear this morning and contemplating drilling holes in the floor of my new house to run coax through. Urgh. Anyway, here's a pic of a bunch of stuff. Astron 35-amp power supply, on the top shelf at left. On top of it is an old Radio Shack 10-meter rig that I bought from someone via eBay. This is not one of the late-80s-era rigs. This is one of the original 70s-era rigs that does not do FM but does USB and CW. It still works great. In my opinion, Radio Shack made some really solid, simple rigs in their time. Now they don't even publish license books anymore. I did run this rig mobile, although I had to make my own mounting bracket from a piece of aluminum. I used a CB mag-mount antenna that I carefully snipped a little off the whip at a time until I got it tuned for 28.4 MHz (the center of the old Novice voice sub-band). The last time I used it, I put my bugcatcher on a pipe and rigged up a ground plane for it in my back yard, and left the 10-meter rig monitoring for 10-X activity while I lurked for CQs on the lower bands with the 140. I also have 80-meter and 20-meter Hamsticks and a Carolina bugcatcher (40 through 10 meters--and I installed extra clips myself so it would do 30, 17 and 12) that I bought at a hamfest. I used to use the bugcatcher also as a home antenna for APRS stuff on 30 meters. My truck is wired so that I can put the 140 in it, pop on an antenna, and be HF mobile in a matter of minutes.

Next to the power supply is an MFJ model 948 tuner which I used to use to try and match all my wire antenna experiments. Now I mainly just use it to monitor the SWR on my GAP Titan-DX. Occasionally I might still try some wire antenna experiment. The last one I did was building an NVIS antenna that worked really well, but one of the guy stakes came loose and it collapsed during some bad wind. This loose sand out here isn't very good for staking things down. On top of the tuner is a Radio Shack 2-meter rig that I really like. It's simple and has always worked perfectly. I use it in the house for both 2 meters and monitoring our main county public service frequency. Next to that is the 12-volt refrigerator that I had in my truck when I was truck driving.

Lower shelf, at left in back is a Kenwood TS-140S, the only hf multi-band rig I've ever owned. Last time I tried to use it, I was having problems with it, but I don't remember exactly what they were. I think they were digital-mode related. I don't think I'll ever use it for digital modes again because it has no filters. I'll probably get a new rig for that that includes some DSP filters and so forth. In front of that is a Kenwood TM-742A which has only the factory default 2M/440MHz in it. I never got around to buying a third module for it, and I doubt if any are still available anymore. I always wanted to put either 6M or 1296 MHz in it. One of my Elmers (that's ham speak for a "mentor" or "an older ham advisor") had 1296 in his and was always trying to get me to get into it. This is the rig that I'll be attempting to install in my truck.

Not pictured is an Icom dual-band mobile rig that is in my truck right now but not working because the power connection got accidentally severed. I'll be moving it into my wife's car. Also not pictured is my KAM Plus. I still can't find my KaGold installation disk, so I'll be looking for new software and probably buying some kind of USB-to-RS232 converter so I can use it on my laptop. This laptop does have both serial and parallel ports in addition to USB, but I think it will be easier to use a converter than to try and get it to talk to a TNC through its old-fashioned serial port. Another one not pictured is an Alinco DJ-580T handheld that's in my truck. The original power pack for it is worn out and needs the guts replaced, but I also have a battery pack that holds 6 "AA" cells. Right now it's the only radio I can pick up, turn on, and expect to work.

Toward the right of the lower shelf is a vintage Kenwood handheld. Here's a close-up.


I bought this and a box full of accessories for $150 (IIRC) at a hamfest right after I first got my license about 16 years ago. It's a TH-21AT 2-meter rig. It's quite compact, dead simple to operate, and has always been absolutely reliable. It came with two regular power packs, one bigger power pack for even longer operation, a big belt battery pack that held several C-cells for even longer extended operation (but which I've since misplaced--I never used it anyway), and a regular-sized battery pack that holds six "AAA" cells. That big console thing next to it is a combination drop-in battery charger/power supply so you can charge two power packs at once, plus it provides 12 volts DC so you can run the radio directly from it with a power cord that also came with it. There's also a single-power-pack wall charger and an adaptor to connect the rig to a cigarette lighter. Yes, there were a truckload of ways to power this rig. Unfortunately, it's so old that I think all the original power packs are shot and need to have their insides replaced. Here's a shot of it from the top.

This rig doesn't have memory channels that you program with your favorite repeaters. It has a three-step flywheel tuner and can receive and transmit anywhere from 140 MHz to 149.995 MHz. The push-button to the immediate right of the flywheel is a +5 kHz increment to the tuning. The button to the right of that turns on the tone module, which was completely separate from the radio and which I don't have. The way I understand it, from the internet research I did, the tone module was a box that you wore in your belt and connected to the rig via a special combination power-pack/tone interface. It was cumbersome, but then, back when this rig was built, subaudible tones weren't in all that widespread use. In fact, when I bought it, there was only one area repeater that used a tone, and it was too far away to hit with a handheld anyway. This rig also can't be programmed for any kind of non-standard repeater offset; it has a switch on the back that lets you choose between +/- 600 kHz or simplex. It has two power output settings; "high" is one watt and "low" is 300 milliwatts. You can use the stubby duck that is on it right now, but it also has a rubber "whip" that extends the range quite dramatically over the stubby. You can see the bottom of the whip at the bottom left of the picture above. Also it doesn't have a BNC connector. The antenna connector looks sort of like an RCA jack except that it's threaded so the antenna screws on. These days, I can't think of any repeaters around here that don't use tones. So without being able to do subaudible tones, this radio isn't very useful anymore except for simplex. I also used it for packet with a Baycom when I lived in my wife's apartment for several months when we were first married. My antenna for that setup was a twin-lead j-pole hung from the ceiling with a thumbtack and some thread.

It's hard to see, but on the bottom right of the topmost picture is another lower shelf that holds a couple items. There's a Radio Shack 2-meter handheld that I used for my main packet rig for years. Next to it is a 2-meter amp that a ham friend gave me that'll produce 100 watts out for 25 watts in. It also works for lower power. I hooked the handheld to it often and it produced around 20 watts out for 5 watts in. I also have a 2-meter 11-element yagi in the back yard that the same person gave me. Without such an antenna, it would be extremely difficult to hit any repeaters from where I live. We are in a repeater dead zone here.

Next to that stuff is another MFJ gadget, an interface to hook the TS-140S up to the KAM Plus, but I don't suppose I'll ever use it again.

So there you have a bunch of ham stuff that isn't actually hooked up and working right now, but which I hope to have on the air in the coming weeks. I'm still looking to buy a new handheld also that's weather-proof so I can carry it while working. I was planning on getting a Yaesu, but today I was reading up on them again and noticed that Icom has one that, while not rated for submersibility, is rated as being rain-proof (actually splash-proof, which is one step better than rain-proof). Also the Icom has 6 meters as it's third band instead of 220 MHz like the Yaesu. I'd much rather have 6 than 220. I know Yaesu also made one that did 6, but no one seems to have it anymore, and it was significantly more expensive anyway.

Oh, one more thing. Here's what's in the picture frame above the bench.

Halloween

As I mentioned earlier this week, I had a personal holiday to use up, so I took it today. My wife happened to be off today as well, so we just hung around the house while the kids went to school. It was nice watching a couple of movies without having the kids around. Also I made a pot of chili. It isn't really chili weather, but I had a hankering for it anyway. I'll probably make another pot when (if!) we get our first real cold snap.

Then we went to a Halloween festival at the local Baptist church and the kids went trick-or-treating in the surrounding neighborhood. Three church groups in our small town have Halloween (or Fall) festivals (Baptist, Church of Christ, and Methodist). The Methodists always win as far as sheer elaborateness goes. But they had theirs last night so we didn't go because it was a school night. They moved it to Thursday this year because they knew tonight's football game would wreak havoc on their parking. We at the C of C had ours last Friday, to avoid conflicting with the other two. So far, we are the only ones who run a haunted house, or a spook house, as we always called it when I was a kid. And it's not one of those disgusting "hell houses" that are put on by some (cough) "fundamentalists." It was a real spook house, with scary witches, skeletons, a werewolf, and a friendly angel that got attacked by someone dressed up like Jason (of Friday the 13th). I always enjoy it immensely, because the people who set it up put some real creativity and a lot of work into it. I always find something quite striking and beautiful in it, which sounds strange but I often find beauty in macabre imagery.

Anyway, the photos above and below were captured by cell phone at one of the houses that our kids trick-or-treated.

Creepy, but not in a good way

Cracked has posted their annual list of totally bizarre Halloween costumes from around the world.

Pumpkin mayhem

More unusual pumpkin carvings at Oddee.

I will not take these things for granted

When I think of all the mediocre (and sometimes downright lousy) groups that have achieved enormous popularity, I always wonder why Toad the Wet Sprocket didn't become more famous. I can only conclude that their lyrics aren't stupid enough.

I would put Toad right up at the top of my own personal list of The Greatest Bands of All Time without hesitation. Their lyrics tend toward the sad and sometimes cynical, which is probably why they appeal to me so much. Here is one of my favorites.

One part of me just wants to tell you everything
One part just needs the quiet
And if I'm lonely here, I'm lonely here
And on the telephone
You offer reassurance

I will not take these things for granted

How can I hold the part of me that only you can carry
It needs a strength I haven't found
But if it's frightening, I'll bear the cold
And on the telephone
You offer warm asylum

I'm listening
Flowers in the garden
Laughter in the hall
Children in the park
I will not take these things for granted
Anymore

To crawl inside the wire and feel something near me
To feel this accepting
That it is lonely here, but not alone
And on the telephone
You offer visions dancing

I'm listening
Music in the bedroom
Laughter in the hall
Dive into the ocean
Singing by the fire
Running through the forest
And standing in the wind
In rolling canyons

I will not take these things for granted

--I Will Not Take These Things for Granted
Toad the Wet Sprocket

Something for Halloween

The Croglin Vampire by Les Edwards

When I was around 10 years old I got a book from the Scholastic Book Club that was a collection of spooky stories that I thought was really good. I don't remember the title, and unfortunately I loaned it to someone in years past and never saw it again. I remember specifically only two stories from it. One was a story about a woman who raised her son from the dead so he could continue working to support her. Unfortunately, the lady he was working for fed him some food with salt in it, and it made him return to his grave. I don't even remember the title to that story. But the other story I remember well, and it was titled "The Ghost of Croglin Grange."

The vampire of Croglin Grange is a real tale, that is, it is part of English folklore and not just a story that a writer made up. However, the version I read used the original folktale as its starting point and the writer created a story that was much more fleshed-out, more dramatized, and of course, more like a short story than a simple recounting of a folktale. At the time that I read it, I didn't know it was supposed to be based on a real folktale. I just thought it was another creepy tale. In the version that I read, the young lady who was victimized by the vampire was awakened from her sleep by the sound of something scratching on her window. It was the vampire, scratching with his long, claw-like fingernails.

One night, not long after reading this tale, a norther blew in. It was the first norther of the season, and late that night, a howling black wind came shrieking through the sandhills. The temperature plummeted. I was awakened by the sound of something scratching at my window.

We lived in the country, far away from anyone else, and we didn't have any lights on at night. It was so dark I couldn't see a thing. But still, something scratched at the window. I was almost paralyzed with fear.

Vampires don't exist, I told myself. But something is scratching at the window, I answered myself back. I have to turn on the light.

But I was too scared to move.

Vampires don't exist.

But there's something scratching at the window.

Skreek. Skreek, skreek.

I finally reached up and pulled the chain on a small reading lamp that hung on the wall over my bed. But the glow cast by the single bulb only created a glare on the double-paned window, and I couldn't see anything outside. I may as well have been staring at a solid wall.

Skreech...skrit skrikch.

Vampires don't exist.

But there's something scratching at the window.

So with those two sentences chasing themselves around in my head, I worked up the nerve to get out of bed and turn on the big light. I still couldn't see anything. If anything, the glare was even worse and I could see nothing outside the window.

Skritch...skeek skreek.

Vampires don't exist.

But there's something scratching at the window.

There was no way I was going back to sleep. My heart was still pounding and adrenaline poured through me. I had to know what it was. I'm being stupid, my ten-year-old mind tried to reason, vampires don't exist.

But there's something scratching at the window.

So I walked through the house to the front door and flipped on the porch light. The noise continued. With my heart about to pound itself out through my ears, I opened the door.

There was no vampire.

But there was something scratching at the window.

A large, old oak tree that had extended a limb through the spring and summer had a single twig on the end of one long branch that, in the heavy gusting northern wind, was bouncing back and forth and scratching against my window.

Whew!

But it was still making too much noise for me to sleep. While I was trying to figure out what to do with it before I starting freezing, my dad finally awakened and came to see what was going on. He found me there, trying to tie a knot in a small tree limb.

"What are you doing?"

"This limb keeps hitting my window and it's keeping me awake."

He shrugged. "Well, don't stay out here too long without a coat."

And that was that. The next morning I got the saw and snipped off the end of the limb so I wouldn't have to hear it scratching at my window again. I never told anyone about my "vampire" scare, but because of this, the tale of the Croglin vampire has always had a special place in my heart.

Hello, Kalispell!

I got a visit today from Kalispell, Montana. I've actually been there. We had some friends who lived there many years ago, and we spent a couple weeks with them for vacation one summer. Beautiful country. I think if I ever left Texas, Montana is where I'd go. Except I don't know if I could learn to tolerate the winters.

I also made the longest Frisbee throw of my life there. We climbed up on top of a hill behind their house, and with a very strong wind hitting me in the back, I hurled that sucker down the hill. Between the wind and the downgrade, it traveled about 200 yards and whacked into the back of their house. Sweet memories.

ON SECOND THOUGHT: Kalispell was a town we visited for one day while we were there. I think it must have been church-related. Our friends lived in Lewiston. Still, fond memories.

Shrouded in the mists

I tried a couple of shots yesterday but the lighting was bad (that is, I used the lighting improperly) and nothing turned out very good. But I thought this one from today was passable. This is from the top end of Galleria Drive at 8:26 this morning, looking NNE into Camp Bullis. There was a mist lying in the hollows and low places this morning that made it quite scenic. There is some great scenery in this area, but it hurts my soul to see what they're doing to the hill country.

It was only recently that I realized they don't let you go in there unless you have a good reason. You can't just go in and drive around to look at all the huge houses. A few famous people live in there, but the really rich ones have their own gated streets inside this huge gated subdivision. Oh yeah, I read George Strait's water meters again today. You can't see his house from the street, though.

Raping, pillaging, and bathing every Saturday

They say that the Norse explorers, far from being obsessed with fighting and drinking, were a largely-peaceful race who were even criticised for being too hygienic.

The university's department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic has published a guide revealing how much of the Vikings' history has been misrepresented.

They did not, in fact, wear horned or winged helmets. And they appear to have been a vain race who were concerned about their appearance.

"It seems that the Vikings may not have been as hairy and dirty as is commonly imagined," the guide says.

"A medieval chronicler, John of Wallingford, talking about the eleventh century, complained that the Danes were too clean - they combed their hair every day, washed every Saturday, and changed their clothes regularly."

Interesting article regarding the allegedly misportrayed Vikings. I had to include the photo at the top because it just cracks me up. I think that one guy (seventh from the left, back row) must be saying, "Dude, I forgot my beard brush!"

Lines, signs, and skies

Nothing really interesting to see today, but I thought this picture had some nice contrasting shapes and colors. Did an easy route (651 meters in less than 4 hours) that I had only done parts of before, and in fact I personally resequenced the last subdivision on it a few months ago. Easy week this week. Tomorrow is Crownridge (easy), but Thursday is the Dominion (a major pain). Fortunately, I'm off on Friday because I had a day of "personal holiday" that I have to use or lose. So working the Dominion won't be so bad since I have a three-day weekend to look forward to. This is a view of an empty field with some apartments in the distance from the parking lot of a school not far from the star on the map.

I know it looks like an empty spot where the star is. Apparently mapquest knows the street is there even though it isn't illustrated on the map yet. It's a new subdivision, which is why it needed resequencing. Other people were going in there and reading the meters without bothering to put them in order on the computer. So of course I ended up cleaning up the mess (which is basically the story of my life).

Another good thing about work this week is that I got out of doing Alamo Heights (a colossal pain), because their scheduling conflicted with our dreaded Cycle 5. Since our old lead meter reader retired, I'm the only guy who knows the Crownridge route. Also, there are only three of us who know the Dominion, and one of the other guys is out hurt (hairline fracture in his foot--happened during work). By the way, I do have a minor injury that I've been working with. A compression injury to my left Achilles tendon (the tendon got squished too hard, too far). It doesn't bother me too much, though. Just every now and then when I take a wrong step or I step in a hole and my foot bends too far forward--which is how I hurt it in the first place.

A quiet, shady street

Nothing interesting to see today. I did see some pretty cool Halloween decorations on one house, but I don't like to take direct photos of houses. This is just a quiet neighborhood from the back end Sage Run.

The wind made it a little cold this morning. I had to wear my coat.

Clinging

Since early voting started, there have been cars parked all around the local city hall from people voting early. Today I was told by someone that he had to stand in line for 2 hours to vote early. I have never heard of such a thing happening around here.

I always wait until Election Day, but where I vote, I have never had to stand in line or wait for anything. A 2-hour wait for early voting here is totally unheard of.

This election is going to make 2000 look like a cakewalk. Here are some of my impressions, for whatever it's worth.

If Obama wins, it will be because of fraud. As far as I'm concerned, his failure to produce a birth certificate that wasn't an obvious forgery means he is not even eligible to be president. I don't think his win will mean immediate violence in reaction (although there may be "celebratory violence"). But there will be violence. Here and there, a slowly-building pressure cooker until something finally pops and a chain reaction starts. The "official" media will remain on his side except for a stalwart few, and everyone who opposes him because of his socialism will be painted as a racist by the media. Have no doubt about it. Eventually anyone who does not overtly show support for him will be considered a racist by association. I don't know if it will be by lapel pins, t-shirts, or something like gang colors or signs, but that is how it will go.

If McCain wins, and I still think he might because I'm sure the MSM is reporting only Obama-favorable news, there will be immediate and widespread violence in many major cities. There will be a lot of places where it simply will not be safe for a white person to go for a period of time. Bet on it.

And God help America.

NOTE: These are only my opinions. Feel free to tell me I'm full of it, because I hope I'm wrong.