20th
April
2020
Some years ago, when I decided to be more serious about my “learn another language” efforts, I discovered the musical output from a small summer school in the Gaeltacht (Coláiste Lurgan, specifically). Now, this won’t mean much to the rest of the world, but the summer schools in Ireland have all been cancelled. Pandemic rules. I salute the wisdom of the Irish government, as I wonder about the fate of a particular summer school that served as my summer life for many, many years.
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posted in education |
19th
April
2020
“There’s news this morning. Unfolding, now. A man with a gun.”
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posted in media |
18th
April
2020
In my “toybox”, I have some SDR. Assume the lack of an “s” is because, like the SDR, much of what you is virtual. Anyhow, the newest is the RSP1A, which I believe to be the best I can afford to own. Hardware wise, this is a black box. Literally. Forget the dials and such; you get an antenna connector, a USB port and that’s it.
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posted in ham radio |
17th
April
2020
And with the receipt of one short message, this whole pandemic just became real. An elderly relative, living in a long-term care facility in Toronto, has tested positive for COVID-19 with symptoms. I don’t know how this will play out, given age and general health.
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posted in environment |
16th
April
2020
This afternoon, via the web, I learned that this province has declared a state of emergency. Not noticing anything untoward, I said (sub voce), “Finally! Something interesting!”
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posted in health |
15th
April
2020
Although I hadn’t realized it, the idea of educational TV goes back almost to the roots of broadcasting. And since we tend to compartmentalize such things, the best programming for the young and impressionable was offered on Saturday mornings. I’d like to give special attention to one series which taught me the fundamentals of physics.
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posted in humour |
14th
April
2020
There is no video footage (more the pity), but the BBQ is out. I’m very systematic about the job, as a solo artist.
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posted in humour |
13th
April
2020
I had started to take my access to foreign markets as a given. Until today. I had emailed a small (very small) company in California, to check on the shipping costs for a small antenna. The owner responded within minutes that he couldn’t sell to me, without procuring an export permit. I was tempted to see if he would try the subterfuge of simply sending me what I wanted, as a gift; in return, I would send him a specific amount of money, as a gift. Somehow, I sensed that he took government regulations seriously.
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posted in economy, environment |
12th
April
2020
This afternoon, I loaded a copy of CHiRP. In the world of amateur radio, this is one of those software packages that makes configuration of a digital radio into a simple task. After a half hour of entering frequencies, callsigns and the related tones for each repeater, my little handi-talkie was ready for life, here in the Maritimes. Or it will be, as soon as I move beyond the rubber ducky antenna.
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posted in ham radio |
11th
April
2020
Call it a compromise. This afternoon, what with the unavailability of both time travel and teleportation, I watched the final concert by Runrig, on YouTube. It was great. According to the stats, I joined almost 22,000 others and spent the best part of three hours watching the end of someone’s life story.
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posted in music |
