Trump to ask Congress to make 15% ethanol-gas blend permanent

[Cyber Liberty]

Samsung a bit more expensive.  All are powerful enough to replace this laptop.  All the ones on Amazon are >4 star reviews, makes me suspicious....

[roamer_1]

I've had really good luck with Motorola phones. Been using them for years with no complaints.

The one I had was pretty cheesy... But then it would be pretty cheesy - I bought the cheapest POS I could to get me up and running while I waited for the Samsung to come in... At the time, there was a back order, and they had to bring it from China on a rowboat... It cost me around 80 bucks for that Motorola and I was running the next day. 2 weeks later the Samsung got there, and Man was I happy when it showed up!

So I don't claim apples for apples with it. The Motorola I had was a cheap POS by design.

[roamer_1]

The Fire I've been using the past 10 years is an 8", so all the new ones are bigger, 10.5'" and thinner.  Much more powerful than the Fire that had very poor app support.  Will narrow my search to Samsung, I've been happy with my cell phone....

For interoperability, go Samsung then. And don't be afraid of refurb/renew so long as it is A rated - Usually those are just returned products that can no longer be sold as new-in-box.

That Lenovo of mine, a Lenovo M9 is on there for 100 bucks or so. If you wanna just kick the tires with Droid/Kindle on a tablet, I can still recommend it.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

The one I had was pretty cheesy... But then it would be pretty cheesy - I bought the cheapest POS I could to get me up and running while I waited for the Samsung to come in... At the time, there was a back order, and they had to bring it from China on a rowboat... It cost me around 80 bucks for that Motorola and I was running the next day. 2 weeks later the Samsung got there, and Man was I happy when it showed up!

So I don't claim apples for apples with it. The Motorola I had was a cheap POS by design.

The motorola company flip phone i had in 2008 was pretty bad... but Motorola radios are damn good.

[Cyber Liberty]

The motorola company flip phone i had in 2008 was pretty bad... but Motorola radios are damn good.

Motorola began its march into mediocrity in the late 90's when Cris Galvin became the hereditary CEO, and he ran it into the ground before he took his Golden Parachute and fled.  Now it's just a nameplate for phones made in China.

[Hoodat]

What year did Apple switch from Motorola to Intel?

[Cyber Liberty]

What year did Apple switch from Motorola to Intel?

Dunno.  I do know Motorola spun off all of its chip fabs, the last of them in 2004 with the creation of Freescale, which was subsequently sold off to NXP, a Dutch company in 2016.  I worked there until I retired in 2018.  I hated NXP.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Dunno.  I do know Motorola spun off all of its chip fabs, the last of them in 2004 with the creation of Freescale, which was subsequently sold off to NXP, a Dutch company in 2016.  I worked there until I retired in 2018.  I hated NXP.

Cell phones are disposable items. So are televisions and cars.

I get a new iPhone Pro with maxed out memory every two years.

The 85” 4K TV I paid thousands for 6 years ago is on sale at Sam’s today for $697.

Why own the financial losses on a car? It depreciates in value just because you bought it, and before you drive it. I don’t buy new cars for the same reason that I didn’t buy the SpaceX IPO. 

[roamer_1]

The motorola company flip phone i had in 2008 was pretty bad... but Motorola radios are damn good.

True story. Their FM radios were the only thing around here for years that could access the local repeater network... It was the only communication that worked in the back country for years and years.

But yeah - Them Motorolas were embedded in about any government or corporate pickup that ventured into the back country.  I am more than a little familiar. 

😁👍

[Cyber Liberty]

True story. Their FM radios were the only thing around here for years that could access the local repeater network... It was the only communication that worked in the back country for years and years.

But yeah - Them Motorolas were embedded in about any government or corporate pickup that ventured into the back country.  I am more than a little familiar. 

😁👍

It's a crying shame what happened to the company after Chris Galvin inherited it.  Spinning off the chip fabs was the stupidest thing I ever saw.  Doomed the Motorola brand.

[roamer_1]

It's a crying shame what happened to the company after Chris Galvin inherited it.  Spinning off the chip fabs was the stupidest thing I ever saw.  Doomed the Motorola brand.

True. But now those back country repeaters aren't so clique-ish... Before I got wrecked, I was almost there -They have a free network that uses the same towers as corporate and government, but operates basically on donations.  A cheap Beofeng handheld and 100 bucks a year and you can get at em.

I was kinda crappin out by then, and seriously looking at HAM for the first time in years. I know the guy that's running that free repeater network (free as in liberty, not free as in beer), and was getting set up to contribute to that network - Seems if he had somebody to be a hall monitor it would shake him loose to do needful repairs out on the towers...

I oughta pick up that whole idea again. I am sitting here doing nothing these days... I could sure contribute a little bit if I got a HAM rig going. 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I oughta pick up that whole idea again. I am sitting here doing nothing these days... I could sure contribute a little bit if I got a HAM rig going. 

I'd be doing nothing but playing Factorio.

[roamer_1]

I'd be doing nothing but playing Factorio.

Nah. I ain't a gamer... Not enough oomph. I need obsession, and it takes quite a bit to get me obsessed. Businesses obsessed me. I became obsessed with computers for a long while... With how solar works, and building my own gear for that... Mechanic, machinist... Any of the trades in construction (except concrete and roofing - NOPE)... Ancient history... Language roots, cultural roots...

Unfortunately, since my legs don't work so good now, and my meds put a palsy in my hands to where I can't run a screwdriver very well, neuropathic pain has my circadian rhythm doing back-flips, and I am all the way the hell outta fun tickets... Well... Opportunity ain't knockin very hard anymore. 


It ain't all that. I'm just bored to tears.
The HAM might be a thing...Even if I just drop er down into the CB channels and bullshalate with truckers and such...

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Nah. I ain't a gamer... Not enough oomph. I need obsession, and it takes quite a bit to get me obsessed. Businesses obsessed me. I became obsessed with computers for a long while... With how solar works, and building my own gear for that... Mechanic, machinist... Any of the trades in construction (except concrete and roofing - NOPE)... Ancient history... Language roots, cultural roots...

Unfortunately, since my legs don't work so good now, and my meds put a palsy in my hands to where I can't run a screwdriver very well, neuropathic pain has my circadian rhythm doing back-flips, and I am all the way the hell outta fun tickets... Well... Opportunity ain't knockin very hard anymore. 


It ain't all that. I'm just bored to tears.
The HAM might be a thing...Even if I just drop er down into the CB channels and bullshalate with truckers and such...

CB Radio you don't need a ham license, you should be able to communicate with SSB CBers in your area, with just a radio and a wilson antenna. (which I used to do and kinda miss).

But HAM is good for other things.

[Smokin Joe]

Cell phones are disposable items. So are televisions and cars.

I get a new iPhone Pro with maxed out memory every two years.

The 85” 4K TV I paid thousands for 6 years ago is on sale at Sam’s today for $697.

Why own the financial losses on a car? It depreciates in value just because you bought it, and before you drive it. I don’t buy new cars for the same reason that I didn’t buy the SpaceX IPO.

Never have bought a new car. All my vehicles are worth more than I paid for them.

[roamer_1]

CB Radio you don't need a ham license, you should be able to communicate with SSB CBers in your area, with just a radio and a wilson antenna. (which I used to do and kinda miss).

But HAM is good for other things.

It might be fun. I played with CBs a long, long time ago.. Got pretty infamous with it.. I loved shooting skip... Had a pretty wicked outfit - A Midland SSB hooked to a Siltronix VFO (which means I could get into HAM freqs) and 100 and 500 cophased  bilinear amps... pushed it all through a Moonraker 6 beam... I could get around alright...

I still have a cb in the pickup, but I really haven't messed with any of that in decades.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

It might be fun. I played with CBs a long, long time ago.. Got pretty infamous with it.. I loved shooting skip... Had a pretty wicked outfit - A Midland SSB hooked to a Siltronix VFO (which means I could get into HAM freqs) and 100 and 500 cophased  bilinear amps... pushed it all through a Moonraker 6 beam... I could get around alright...

I still have a cb in the pickup, but I really haven't messed with any of that in decades.

A GOP BR discord might be fun...

[roamer_1]

A GOP BR discord might be fun...

If I were to do anything with BR it would be to host a backup forum for when this is down... That'd give me a reason to get into Simple Machines forum software and hack the crap out of it.. Then I could join the coder team here.

The politics and the admin don't interest me enough... But the coding might be fun.

[Bigun]

It might be fun. I played with CBs a long, long time ago.. Got pretty infamous with it.. I loved shooting skip... Had a pretty wicked outfit - A Midland SSB hooked to a Siltronix VFO (which means I could get into HAM freqs) and 100 and 500 cophased  bilinear amps... pushed it all through a Moonraker 6 beam... I could get around alright...

I still have a cb in the pickup, but I really haven't messed with any of that in decades.

I still have an Extra class Ham ticket but it's not worth much now that I can't hear a damned thing.

[roamer_1]

I still have an Extra class Ham ticket but it's not worth much now that I can't hear a damned thing.

I'd love to get me an old Yaesu 101E or EE ... That was always my unicorn... With a Cobra Cam SSB or a Pearce-Simpson Simba alongside it... Still have my Turner Supersidekick power mike around here someplace.

But the 101 is still a thing with Yaesu - It's the 101D now...I wonder if it is carrying on the tradition. 

[Bigun]

I'd love to get me an old Yaesu 101E or EE ... That was always my unicorn... With a Cobra Cam SSB or a Pearce-Simpson Simba alongside it... Still have my Turner Supersidekick power mike around here someplace.

But the 101 is still a thing with Yaesu - It's the 101D now...I wonder if it is carrying on the tradition. 

  I sold my Yaesu FT-1000MP and Alpha amp a couple of years ago. Still have a couple of VHF/UHF rigs but I rarely turn them on now.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Never have bought a new car. All my vehicles are worth more than I paid for them.

I’ve never paid a dollar in maintenance or repairs. All covered by lease. In fact, I don’t even have to replace the tires. The benefit is not that I expect a car to appreciate in value… I won’t hold on to one that long… but I always have my family in a new, fully warranted vehicle. Endless car payments?🤷🏻‍♂️ the house is paid off at least.

[roamer_1]

I sold my Yaesu FT-1000MP and Alpha amp a couple of years ago. Still have a couple of VHF/UHF rigs but I rarely turn them on now.

I know there are computer interfaces for HAM... I wonder if any of that can overcome your hearing conflict? Although reading what folks are saying to you is bound to lose some flavor...

Talking skip has lost its luster because of computers... My best reach was to a sailboat off of Venezuela - MAN! Was it cool to hear that dude's voice coming out of the ether! I still have his QSL card around here somewhere...

But now I can get on WhatsApp and talk clean around the world - Had the occasion to talk to my bro his whole dang trip to Africa...

So the ether has lost a bit of sparkle... 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I know there are computer interfaces for HAM... I wonder if any of that can overcome your hearing conflict? Although reading what folks are saying to you is bound to lose some flavor...

Talking skip has lost its luster because of computers... My best reach was to a sailboat off of Venezuela - MAN! Was it cool to hear that dude's voice coming out of the ether! I still have his QSL card around here somewhere...

But now I can get on WhatsApp and talk clean around the world - Had the occasion to talk to my bro his whole dang trip to Africa...

So the ether has lost a bit of sparkle... 

My hearing is probably as bad or worse than Bigun's and i use RTLSDR:

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/

About $40 on Amazon (might be higher now)... all you need is an antenna and headphones.

[roamer_1]

I sold my Yaesu FT-1000MP and Alpha amp a couple of years ago. Still have a couple of VHF/UHF rigs but I rarely turn them on now.

All of it is way outta my price range now.
But if I find that ol 101E, I have the electronic ability to restore it.
It'd be hanging the tower and antenna that would be in the way these days.

It sure is funny how things turn around as you go along in life. Seems like only yesterday that the innards of that ol box would have been a mystery to me... But I could have shoved up that tower and antenna, in concrete mind you, and then break for lunch. 

[Bigun]

I know there are computer interfaces for HAM... I wonder if any of that can overcome your hearing conflict? Although reading what folks are saying to you is bound to lose some flavor...

Talking skip has lost its luster because of computers... My best reach was to a sailboat off of Venezuela - MAN! Was it cool to hear that dude's voice coming out of the ether! I still have his QSL card around here somewhere...

But now I can get on WhatsApp and talk clean around the world - Had the occasion to talk to my bro his whole dang trip to Africa...

So the ether has lost a bit of sparkle... 

I have a QSL card here from a guy on the island of Tasmania. Made that contact barefoot (no amp 100 watts). I don't think you can get much further from me than that on this globe.

There are a multitude of ways to communicate via ham radio without being able to hear anything but none of them appeal to me because they all require your radio to be hooked up to a damned computer! No thanks! You don't even have to have a radio to be a Ham these days.