I got nothing

Have to write for a living.
Enjoy this blast from my past:

Hunting digital TV signals

This is the output of an excellent tool used to estimate what digital TV stations you may be able to receive over the air. This is from a site called TV Fool, and it is run by a brilliant TV engineer. There are other reception simulation sites out there, but this one is by far the most accurate I've come across.


I'm on the road this week, so expect light posting and even less lurking on my favorite blogs. :)

Steeler Nation mourns Myron

Former Pittsburgh Steeler broadcaster Myron Cope has died. He was as much a legend in Pittsburgh as was his creation, the Terrible Towel. More on Myron Cope's passing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

His voice was charitably described as not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard (for you young-'uns, a chalkboard was like a dry erase white board, except it was black, made of slate, and you wrote on it with sticks of chalk - ask your grandparents.) But it was not the sound of his voice but his keen analysis as part of the Steeler radio radio play by play team. He was distinctive, he was local, and there was no question he was a Steeler fan.

Here's a video clip in which Myron tells the tale of the towel:

I ask, she answers

In yesterday's post regarding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, I asked, "if offered the job, does she want to run on a McCain ticket?"
Based on a video clip posted at the Washington Post's web site, the answer is a qualified "yes."
Check it out:

Looking for the Palin truth

Add Conservative Guy to the increasing number of voices mentioning Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running mate to John McCain.
Thomas Cheplick at American Spectator has a glowing profile of the Alaska governor running as today's lead article on the AS web page.

My question is simple, if offered the job, does she want to run on a McCain ticket?

Bonus Quote of the day

I'm off to learn how to be a good leader.
So, during my enforced absence from Internet access, ponder this:

"There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president."
- Kurt Vonnegut

Have a great day everybody!

This is the newpaper of record?

The New York Times hit piece on Sen. John McCain is drawing fire from all corners. This is my take on it.
Here are some other voices:
Still Stacy gives us "Sexing up John McCain"
Betsy Newmark offers "That New York Times McCain story"
Mary Katherine Ham at Town Hall writes, "Will the NYT speak?"
Allahpundit asks a simple question at Hot Air in "Calling all bloggers: NYT ready to answer reader questions on its super keen McCain scoop" (h/t Atilla Girl)
Lemual Calhoon at Hillbilly White Trash (not exactly a McCain supporter) offers insight into this MSM offensive offensive with "And so it begins"

There's plenty more out there. Even McCain's opponents have expressed disgust at this poor excuse for journalism.

Anybody know how to trim the wick on a whale oil lamp?

Anybody remember how to use a slide rule? Do you even know what a slide rule is? Back in the days of rotary telephones, manual typewriters, and choke controls to help start cars on cold mornings, slide rules were essential tools in the physics classroom.

Today they are obsolete, as are these:
1. Dialing a rotary phone
2. Putting a needle on a vinyl record
3. Changing tracks on an eight-track tape
4. Shorthand
5. Using carbon paper to make copies
6. Basking in the lilting aroma of freshly "run-off" mimeograph paper
7. Changing the ball or ribbon on your Selectric Typewriter
8. Getting off the couch to change channels or adjust the rabbit ears on your TV set
9. Popping popcorn over the stove in a pot with oil
10. Changing the gas mixture on your car's carburetor

I recall them all, and had those mad skills (except for the shorthand, although many people thought my
handwriting looked like shorthand) back in the day. Some other obsolete skills are of more recent vintage.

Do you recall:
11. Editing an autoexec.bat or config.sys file
12. Calling "collect" and/or "person to person" on a payphone
13. Transferring files with Zmodem
14. Parking a hard disk
15. Cleaning the head of a VCR
16. Aiming a C-band satellite dish
17. Degaussing a CRT monitor
18. Lotus 1-2-3
19. WordStar 2000
20. Winding a watch

The point of all this is to illustrate not only how much things have changed over the past couple of decades, but
how much the velocity of change is increasing. I shamelessly "borrowed" these from the obsolete skills wiki and
a posting by Robert Scobel.

Now I feel old. Guess I'll brush up on my DOS command line syntax before saddling up the mule for the ride home.

Transition to digital TV - T-minus one year

Confusion abounds over the biggest change in television broadcasting since color was introduced more than half a century ago. In exactly one year television stations will stop transmitting an analog signal. The replacement digital signals are (with a few exceptions) already on the air and providing viewers with newer televisions a new viewing experience.
This does not really matter to about 80% of U.S. households whose television is delivered by cable or satellite. For those who rely on rabbit ears or rooftop antennas (like the fourteen foot monster perched on the roof of my house) good old Uncle Sam has a coupon program to offset most of the cost of an analog converter box to allow standard analog sets to display the digital signals.
Some critics claim the new TV signals will be more difficult to receive. A TV engineer who operates the website TV Fool conducted his own analysis, The Analog Shutdown, for Better or for Worse. It makes for good reading if both statistics and technology float your boat.
The main point here is that change is coming and people in general don't like change.
My charge to you is to help spread the word, especially to older family members who rely on free over the air television, that change is coming, but that it need not be a cause for panic next February 18.

Hyperbole made simple

Wendy at Girl on the Right has an excellent post comparing today's definition of "crisis", "quagmire", "disaster", etc with the definition of a couple generations ago.

Both 9/11 and Katrina were mere blinks of the eye of time. The terrorist attacks lasted an hour or two (though the fires burned for 90 days). The hurricane and flooding lasted a day or so. Neither of them could be compared to the lasting hardships of the Depression or even the sacrifices of WWII.

Go on over and read the entire post at GOTR.