Random Learnings #71
While flipping through the Britannica Book of the Year 1948 at breakfast, I read Denmark's entry: The question of U.S. privileges in Greenland, Denmark's great island, was raised vociferously by…
Computers IRL #14
Apparently Chipotle is not alone with AI embedded into their solutions which willingly answers questions far outside its expected remit. Though amusing, this provides a potential attack vector into Lucid…
Unexpected ADSB Range
For almost a year I've been feeding ADS-B traffic to FlightRadar24, installing a tuned antenna on the roof and productionizing my Raspberry PI setup. In addition to FlightRadar24, I also…
Book Review: The Phoenix Land
From the Amazon listing: This fascinating memoir, written on the heals of Banffy's famous Transylvanian Trilogy, describes life in the post-World War I kingdom of Hungary. Banffy brilliantly describes both…
New-Age Stats?!?
The first half statistics for Friday's Storm/Fever game had me puzzled: how does one evaluate 56% vs. 49&? Everyone should know that 56% is a user-friendly presentation of the decimal…
KF0ZEI
Saturday I passed my ham radio technicians exam, paid my FCC license fee Tuesday, and today received my call sign. I may now legally communicate with other amateur radio operators,…
Book Review: Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic
From the early 1900s when baseball was truly America's Game, Major League Baseball, as had all major professional sports in the United States, has had its share of truly bad…
Campanile di San Marco
Campanile di San Marco, or St. Mark's Campanile, is the 16th century bell tower opposite the Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark's Basilica) and Doge's Palace in Piazzetta San Marco…
Payphone or Scamware?
As seen in the wild in Venice, Italy: an actual, functioning payphone, apparently with SMS texting capabilities. The screen says Temporaneamente accetta solo carte di credito which translates into English…
Meandering Thoughts #68
A car parked on a steep incline in Trieste, Italy. I was taught to turn your front tires when parking on a hill: downhill towards the curb, uphill away from…