::G's Link Page

::G

Had occasion to read up on the appropriate way to add decoupling capacitance to printed circuit board assemblies, and found a useful explanation. One conflicting element with what I've heard at work is that the paper mentions that power pins should be connected directly to the power plane via a via (ha!), whereas here we tend to put the cap near the pin connected by a trace which then goes to a via. Plus our component pads aren't shaped optimally according to the paper. Why can't it be simple?

Addendum [2015.03.15]: By the way, "Manhattan routing" is routing horizontal traces on one plane, and vertical traces on another. "Manhattan distance" is the corresponding length of a trace routed this way.

::G

It's time for yet another link dump!!

If Health Insurance Mandates Are Unconstitutional, Why Did the Founding Fathers Back Them? (obviously I disagree with the position, but it's insightful to see the opposition's logic)
The IPO is dying. Marc Andreessen explains why.
Ages of Revolution: How Old Were They on July 4, 1776?
The Elephant was a Trojan Horse: On the Death of Map-Reduce at Google
How To Turn One Garlic Bulb Into Lots Of Garlic Bulbs
Make Ahead Complete Freezer Meals On The Cheap
Buzz Aldrin @ Reddit
American Meteorological Society Member Survey on Global Warming (the climate change bozos really hate this)
Calling All Hackers: Help Us Build an Open Wireless Router
NWSOFA Climate Change Team – Thorium, Molten Salt Reactors, and Green Energy
Rich Kid, Poor Kid: For 30 Years, Baltimore Study Tracked Who Gets Ahead
The executive order that led to mass spying, as told by NSA alumni
Ham Radio: An "Old" Technology is a Lifesaver in the Emergency Field
Root Cellar

::G

::G

Apparently "glync" now exists as some sort of link tracker service. Amusing, but I've been using "glync" since early 2005, whereas their usage was late 2008. So there.

::G

I need to try this when I have time. It looks like a big PITA to me!

::G

Running OwnCloud on a Raspberry Pi (tutorial) seems like a very worthwhile project. This will be a good application of the B+, with all those USB ports.

::G

3D printers that are on my radar:

Cobblebot – multi-material, large format (15” cube); $300 unassembled (additional for heated bed and enclosure), delivery Jan 2015
RoVa3D – multi-material, multi-color (with multiple nozzles); $1500+ (5-nozzle version is $2600), delivery Feb 2015
Micro – multi-material, auto-leveling / auto-calibration; $350, delivery, delivery Feb 2015

There’s also the Mod-T, which has a 3D object store, but it’s PLA-only and the printable volume is only slightly larger than the Micro.

::G

In attempting to build my own equipment, I've found that it's necessary to be more cognizant of bee space, not just the dimensions of the frames and boxes. One Canadian's page on hive components has most of the pertinent dimensions.

::G

I'd posted a link on FB about Obama's recent EO banning importation of AKs. As always, E.W. argued that it doesn't affect the average American, and I made the argument that gun rights are civil rights, and not caring just because it doesn't affect you is like a white person in the '60s saying they don't care about black voting rights, etc.

One of E.W.'s friends posted:

"I was much more afraid in Montgomery when I had a gun in my house. When I decided that I couldn't keep a gun, I came face-to-face with the question of death and I dealt with it. From that point on, I no longer needed a gun nor have I been afraid. Had we become distracted by the question of my safety we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors." --Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (From his writings, compiled by Clayborne Carson) [source]

To which I replied:

T.F.: MLK did undergo something of a transformation in the late '50s to the early '60s, completely adopting the notion of non-violent protest. This was part of the power of his message; if he were all about an eye-for-an-eye, then it'd be too easy for his antagonists to provoke a confrontation to solidify support against him. I think he was trying to avoid the Middle East syndrome, where they've been trading blows for centuries. And indeed, the Black Panthers' blatant display of weapons freaked out the timid whites and arguably precipitated California's draconian gun laws and contributed to the 1968 Gun Control Act.

Dr. King also, in response to activists trying to get him to join sit-ins in the early '60s, said, "I think I should choose the time and place of my Golgatha"--with the implication seemingly that he realized that he was at some point going to be killed for his work. That he did it anyway was heroic. (Further, it's not clear that those around Dr. King didn't keep their weapons for his defense--I couldn't find good sources on that after his conversion to non-violence.)

However, this is non-violence to affect political change, and it seems like Dr. King had an idea where it was going to lead. In his 1967 book, he wrote:

"Finally, I contended that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun when his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use a gun while participating in an organized demonstration." (Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?)

The point he was making, as I interpret it, is that he wasn't against self-defense or guns; rather, he advised that when marching for political purposes, the potential for a protest to devolve when arms are present overshadows the potential advantages. Of course, the risk is that one will be defenseless, and the personal choice one must make--which Dr. King made--was whether to put the cause or one's self-preservation first. I believe that the quote that you put forth doesn't contradict that interpretation.

In those same papers, Dr. King said he only owned one gun in '56; however, some of his advisers noted that there were firearms all over the house. This would imply that perhaps Dr. King distanced himself from the image of firearms ownership, but his crew didn't necessarily.

Other related pieces:
When MLK gave up his guns [Salon]
Civil Rights Leader and Gun-Owner MLK [Guns.com]
The Secret History of Guns [The Atlantic]

::G

Apparently both Anzio Ironworks and Serbu Firearms have a semi-auto 20x110mm Hispano rifle in development. Neither company lists it on their website, but there are videos on YouTube. (For a second, a frivolous use of my WDC stock largesse popped into my mind....) Those cartridges have to be like $20 a pop!

Anzio semi-auto 20mm
Serbu's Typhon 20 rifle - the comment says it's the Navy M21A1 round, but in other commentary I read it's 20x110mm

::G

Some random RPi stuff:

::G

I've been thinking about one of these for a while...need to be able to power off devices programmatically. Some of the comments are useful. To wit:

You might consider a "zero-crossing" detector however, as switching AC during the high portion of the sine wave will eventually cause your relays to pit, scar, and fail from the internal arcing. By sampling the AC wave and switching the relay on/off only during the zero crossing of the sine wave period - that will make your relay last for years.
You should add a base-emitter resistor, something like 10K. If you leave the base unconnected noise(50/60Hz) might turn on the transistor - and the relay. It happened to me a while back while switching some lights with a very similar circuit.
Try something like a MOC3043 zero crossing detector optocoupler. If you couple it with a triac you basically get a good switching method, similar to a SSR. Don't forget the snubber for inductive loads.

Need to get my workbench in order....

::G

Wired has a superlative-laden article on Morgan Marquis-Boire, who was formerly a cybersecurity guy at Google.

In other related topics (linked from the article), Google posted info on how much of the email relays from GMail are encrypted. Further, they released the source code to End-to-End; it would be interesting to see how that works.

::G

So I don't forget, my model of MacBook Pro is the mid-2009 version. Sure doesn't seem like I bought it five years ago. The most amusing thing is that 20 years ago, that would've brought a sea change in computing hardware. Now things have slowed down somewhat.

Apple's support site has a page describing how to swap out memory, which appears to cover the HDD as well.

Perhaps it's blasphemy, but I'm finally thinking about replacing the HDD with an SSD. Even worse, I'm thinking of a Samsung, the 840 EVO, because it's got the best-in-class performance. It ought to be a huge step up from the Fujitsu 160GB HDD currently in there.

The other update would be to expand the memory from 2GB to 4GB. The system supports 8GB, but I'm not sure it's worth maxing out the memory in a dual-core 2.26 GHz system with a 13" display....

::G

Somehow I think most married men in this day and age, subject to all the implied lust in advertising and entertainment, have felt this at some point or another. (Unless they've been through a lot of women prior to getting married, that is.) It's like the single vs. married dilemma: when you're single you want a stable relationship like marriage, but then when you get married you find out it's not all about you anymore and long for your single days. Link source: an article on the Casual Sex Project.

::G

For the apiarist, some MN bee stores:

The Bee Shed (Oronoco, MN)
Bee's Knees Honey Farm (Oronoco, MN)
B and B Honey Farm (Houston, MN) - lots of equipment
Mann Lake (Hackensack, MN, as well as sites on the coasts and in the UK) - the biggest beekeeping shop
CrossRoads Apiaries (Fertile, MN) - no website; Email: crossroads0305@gmail.com, Tel: 218-230-1146

The Southeast Minnesota Beekeepers Association has a website and a forum.

::G

Stefan Molyneux on the Hypocrisy of Gun Control (from 2007):

In general, the argument for gun control comes down to this.

Guns are used to commit crimes.
A crime is defined as the initiation of violence against a peaceful citizen.
Thus guns must be restricted or banned, in order to reduce crime.

It is easy to see the illogic of this argument. How does the government go about banning guns? Why, by initiating violence against those who possess them “illegally.” Thus there is no way to ban guns without initiating the use of force – in other words, a certain crime must be committed for the sake of possibly preventing an unknown crime at some point in the future. We might as well jump off a cliff when we are 20 to prevent the possibility of falling off a cliff when we are 70.

Indeed, anti-rights activists ignore the aspect of who is doing the confiscating. The implicit statement is that the government has the authority to do all of this, "for the greater good".

A blogger with "A Message for My Beloved Children Who Insist Their Lives Are Really Really Hard"—ugh, HuffPo, but it's a funny post.

How Different Cultures Understand Time, by author Richard Lewis.

The guy who created the company that made the Video Toaster, Tim Jenison, did an analysis of how Vermeer may've created his photo-realistic images--which was turned into a movie by Penn & Teller.

::G

The thought occurred to me that perhaps the RTL-SDR dongle could be used to pick up GPS signals. GPS L1 is 1575.42 MHz and L2 is 1227.60 MHz, which are within the range of the R820T tuner's 1700-or-so MHz.

Why, you ask? Because an RTL2832U + R820T dongle is $10, which is a lot cheaper than most of the pluggable GPS modules out there (usually $40+). If the base system is an SBC anyway, then this route is much more economical and flexible. This would also have applications in an SBC-based telemetry system.

Wikipedia has the basic details on GPS and the signals used. The C/A code is 1.023 MHz and the data is 50 bps, so when the SDR is tuned to the carrier this is well within the bandwidth of the RTL2832U. Oddly enough, the R820T spec notes that it only supports up to 1002 MHz.

The University of Colorado has a useful GPS overview that includes more specifics, such as how to calculate the PRNs.

And of course there's already a guy who's been working on GPS over SDR, one Michele Bavaro. Development seems to have stopped, though; and the GPS-SDR site has been converted into a lunch scheduler.

::G

While poking around for Skype on RPi info, I also checked Google Talk. It seems that video encoding is beyond the modest capabilities of the RPi, but there's already a voice application ported to the RPi called Incredible PBX. There are a couple versions of this software for the RPi: Incredible Pi and RasPBX. The original version of Incredible PBX used Google Voice to provide the phone number; I haven't checked into it enough to know if that's still the case.

Incidentally, Google has a page for developers on Talk, which includes information about how it uses XMPP and their extensions for voice.

As an aside, the Google Talk dev page links to the XMPP extensions page, which has proposals for IoT applications including sensors and such.

::G

I was curious if there was a way to get Skype running on the Raspberry Pi--as a way of cobbling together a video call box. Apparently it's possible to make voice calls (with the original forum post) using the binaries in the Skype developer's kit ($5 fee required), but there's no video support. Somewhat of a bummer, but not entirely unexpected. Perhaps Google Chat will come out with video support for the RPi since Microsoft has little incentive to port Skype video.

::G

Normally I keep a bunch of tabs open in Firefox. Well, today I have to turn in my laptop for the refresh at work, which prompted this link dump.

Broadband Amateur Radio Mesh Networks (HSMM-MESH)
VentureBeat article on mesh networks
(Well, I ought to write that post for BetterOffBitcoin, which I've been putting off....)
Article on how to use Bitcoin to set up an anonymous, self-sustaining website
Lumo Back, a device to help improve one's posture
Automatic, a vehicle telemetry-type device
Funky house blueprints via Wired (this has been in my browser for almost half a year...)
What to do when the Feds usurp power
Knowledge Weighs Nothing's bug-out bag checklist
The ATF's proposed rule change on NFA entities via the Federal Register
Survival Resources, a funky prepper store

::G

Was looking at the HopeRF mini-transceiver boards, and in the comments of a Sparkfun site, there was a link to a breakout board on OSH Park, which puts in daily orders to a USA-made PCB fab. 2-layer boards are $5/in for 3 copies of the board, with a 12 calendar-day turnaround. Cool!

I'm going to need to learn how to layout boards.... Incidentally, the mini-boards are cheaper on eBay.

::G

I'd posted before about SDR, and have tried PiFM. Why not put them together? Apparently someone has done it, based on an article on Hackaday linking to a post on some guy's blog. He uses it to transmit data at about 9600 baud. I'm more interested in using this to transmit voice: basically getting a huge transmit range relative to normal HTs for a fraction of the cost! The RPi is $35; the SDR dongle, $10; a small LCD display, $20; some filtering hardware and wire for the transmitter, $5; you'd need a USB mic and a LiPo battery to complete the setup. Well, I've read that SDR hogs power, but even so, this could be really cool...!

I almost forgot, there's a TNC kit for the RPi available as well. Although if the receiver's digital, that'd be unnecessary.

::G

This isn't really a link, just an idea so I don't lose it. Thinking about interfacing with an RPi, one of the limitations of having multiple displays is the bandwidth required to drive them all at full-speed. What if you don't need to play video on all of them--maybe just one--and could get by with a couple extra displays for UI that run slower?

I'm thinking windowed interfaces could just transmit bitmap deltas and block transfers to handle UI operations, and either would render a sprite bitmap cursor or respond to touch. In any case, the actual bandwidth required isn't that much most of the time, and could be handled using "low-speed" interfaces. Call it "low-bandwidth graphical interface"?

::G

I was bothered by the DSI port on the RPi that's going unused. So I went looking for DSI displays and found via a forum that the RPi Foundation is working on one. The guy who came up with HDMIPi did a preview.

Supposedly one will be able to use both displays at once. Awesome!!

The "DSIPi" is to be 7" at 800x480, good enough for DVD video. The HDMIPi is 9" at 1200x800; 720p, but not full HD. I think the DSIPi will be good for a car video player project, but the HDMIPi will be good for keeping me from hogging the family TV!

::G

Someday I'd like to get into this.

SDR @ Wikipedia
About SDR dongle hardware
SDR for $20?!
RPi as an SDR server

::G

Forbes ran an article regarding the RNC rule change from 2012.

Rather than only requiring a candidate to have a plurality of the delegates from five states in order to have one’s name placed into nomination, the rule was changed to require a candidate to have a majority of delegate votes in at least eight states as a prerequisite to nomination.

Will anyone be able to meet that criteria? It may be an interesting road to 2016.

::G

Prof. Hal Lewis' resignation letter from the American Physical Society is a scathing indictment if I've heard one:

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist. [emphasis added]

Yeah.

::G

I found this photo to be hilarious. Probably because I've been to the Kanamara Matsuri and have witnessed the weirdness firsthand.

::G

So I've been remiss in posting lately....

Here's one that's been sitting in my browser for a while: MaidSafe, which I found out about through Bitcointalk. Silly name, interesting concept. Sounds more like what the Internet was supposed to be.

::G

Meg Turney's frustrated sing-songy outburst:

"Why did you shut off, you fuckin' piece of shit / Gonna replace you with a fuckin' PC!"

Been there before. Redheads are trouble, though. Been there before, too.

::G

A couple months ago I heard this debate on NPR regarding whether to eat meat or not. Joel Salatin's arguments blew away the opposing arguments, but the idiots in the audience weren't swayed.

::G

A few weeks ago I saw an article claiming "Bitcoin is Broken"--must've shown up on Reddit. There's also a related thread on bitcointalk regarding "Sybil attacks".

::G

For some reason, I have 40+ tabs open in Chrome on my phone. Perhaps I ought to sync it with my non-mobile session, but I'm wary of Google's wiles.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcorp

Awesome quotes from Mr. Benjamin Franklin
Fed Reg Vol 77, No 120: 15 CFR Parts 734, 736, 740, 742, 743, 744, 750, 758, 762, 764, 774

https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3ADSU
https://www.google.com/search?q=coal+house+aurora+illinois
https://www.google.com/m/finance#search/Eog
https://www.google.com/search?q=brandt+1958+single+post+half+crescent

DoJ white paper: Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen Who Is a Senior Operational Leader of Al-Qa'ida or an Associated Force

And when I thought I was done, Blogger lost more than half of what I posted. In truth, I only use Blogger because it's readily available. I've had a ton of problems with it. So here's the rest of the links from Chrome's history--but I know I'm missing a few.

Gliph opsec
Dietz #2000 Millenium Cooker Lantern
Aquaponics [Wikipedia]
Minnesota plating requirements for trailers
Picture of IFAK

http://www.macworld.com/article/2027920/mac-troubleshooting-how-to-handle-freezes-and-crashes.html
http://jplabs.com/

xkcd radiation dose chart

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/05/13/the-4-step-plan-to-not-suck-at-talking-to-people/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/192251-nioxin-side-effects/#page=3
http://druss.pp.ua/2012/09/check_ultra_vnc_connected/
http://rmn.craigslist.org/rea/
http://majesticarms.com/id10.html
http://www.atf.gov/files/regulations-rulings/rulings/atf-rulings/atf-ruling-2011-4.pdf
vz-26
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E4KLY34/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?keywords=baofeng
http://grantcountyshooters.org/
http://insciedout.org/
http://m.slashdot.org/story/196527
http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2013/12/how-does-nsa-break-ssl.html?m=1
http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Other-Non-Profits/Traditional-and-Nontraditional-Business-Activities-of-Tax-Exempt-Social-Clubs
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Assisi Heights bee
http://thechive.com/2013/08/19/once-youve-got-yourself-situated-there-find-her-36-photos/#jp-carousel-602227
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plectranthus_caninus

http://codeandlife.com/2012/07/03/benchmarking-raspberry-pi-gpio-speed/
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=27678
http://www.raspbmc.com/about/

::G

In the June 2008 copy of Nutrition Action, a feature article by a kidney expert debunks some of the myths regarding water needs. Oft-repeated is that water needs are need 1 gallon per person, per day, which is a lot of H2O. The article references a study from 1945 that claims water needs are about 1 mL per calorie--but much of that is in the food itself. Now, if people are eating freeze-dried foods, then more water would be required, not to mention for hygiene, stress situations, etc. Even so, knowing how much is really needed helps plan. Furthermore, if one's urine isn't clear, that doesn't mean they're dehydrated to where they need to do anything. In other words, those urine color indicators are bullshit.

I couldn't find the article online, but a Scientific American article mentions the doc's study and references a publication from Dartmouth College.

::G

This article has been lingering in my browser because it's a heavy read. The subject matter is important, but the impetus for the article--that the "legitimate rape" meme of 2012 had its basis in a Nazi study--figures in a minor fashion.

What really interested me is how much Nazi experiments have influenced modern medicine. The answer is: more than scientists would care to admit.

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