Al Gritzmacher's Blogosphere

No, no, not those Hams in Space!

I meant Amateur Radio Operators that are Astronauts. Ever since Owen Garriot, W5LFL, flew aboard STS-9 in 1983, there have been a series of Ham Operators aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. There were also Russian Hams aboard the MIR space station and Hams from a number of countries have been up in space on the various flights.

You may have been aware of this fact, or this might be the first time you have heard of it. It was a publicity coup for Ham Radio and NASA was fully in support of it. In fact, it couldn’t have happened without their support.

Having Ham Radio represented and operated from space is a great publicity tool for NASA. It also could be used as a backup communications system in the event of serious malfunction aboard the spacecraft. I’d hate to see things go that wrong – I’m sure they have other backup systems, so it would have to be the third or fourth or fifth resort – but it really could be used in that capacity.

So this is a good thing, right? A win-win for Hams and NASA alike, right? Well, maybe. Continue Reading…

You’ve probably gotten phone calls from one of these scammers. The ones where you get a recording telling you it’s an important message about your credit card and they want to lower your interest rate. Maybe you never listen that long, I know I never did.

When one number called so often and for so long that I started to recognize it on the called ID, I starter to pay attention. I Googled the number and found dozens of web sites about these phone scams and that many people are receiving the same calls. What are they all about?

The consensus is that they are bottom-feeding scammers out to get your personal financial information for illicit purposes. At the very least they provide a worthless service that they charge either your credit card or phone bill for. Not one poster had any information that could be construed as a legitimate purpose for the calls. In fact, it is all but impossible to reach a real representative of any of these companies.

Here’s what I found out through repeated searches on many of these numbers that called me and sorting through the online complaints sites. Continue Reading…

I hate cell phone accessories. Even more than cell phones.

Cell phones have become a fact of life, though. A necessity that we can’t live without. So we pile on features to make us think we like them. My phone is a camera, a web browser, an email client, a personal assistant, a toy and lastly, a phone.

The funny thing is, it’s not very good at any of those things…

I just ordered a bluetooth earpiece. You’ve got to have one or risk a ticket in your car if the phone rings. I don’t talk much while I drive, but it is safer than even the corded earpieces on the rare occasion that I do. Continue Reading…

Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
- Winston Churchill

I’m listening to a favorite local band of mine – Kilbrannan. They disbanded several years ago, going on to form two other bands, but that’s neither here ‘nor there. I know quite a few fans, though, that still miss their shows.

They were one of two local bands (Jackdaw, the other) that fed off my fascination with British Folk/Rock, such as Steeleye Span or Fairport Convention, and made me a fan of live Scottish/Irish music melded with Rock.

The driving force in the band was Kirk McWhorter, whose knowledge of traditional and contemporary Scottish tunes as well as his own songwriting skill, still impresses me.

So what has this got to do with Veterans Day, you might ask. If it isn’t already playing, play the song in the player at the top of this post. It’s a Kilbrannan song called A Simple Man. It’s the story of a young man who goes off to war, following “Bonnie Prince Charlie” in the Jacobite uprising of 1745. It was an unsuccessful attempt to claim the British Throne and, predictably, ended disastrously for those fighting in it, including the farmer’s Son of the song. Yet, it became, as these stories do, the stuff of songs and is remembered that way.

I can’t help but think of our servicemen overseas when I hear it. Continue Reading…