The best laid plans of mice and men

February 19, 2011 Russ Bellew Leave a comment

I wondered what happened to these guys!

I noticed that the Springwidgets that I’ve used on my website and others had quit working. (Springwidgets provided a convenient Adobe Flash-based interface for the playing of RSS-fed podcasts.) I guessed that something had broken, but I wasn’t sure what.

I learned that Springwidgets’ owner, Fox Interactive Media, has pulled its plug. Oh well, at least I found a site where plenty of other deceased ideas have been documented: The Deadpool, maintained by TechCrunch.

Lying toward the top of the deadpool is U.S. News and World Report, a once leading mainstream print magazine, and below that I found Cuil, the search engine that was supposedly going to unseat Google. Browsing through the deadpool should answer other WEHT (“Whatever Happened To . . .”) questions.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

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Watch this video now before YouTube pulls it down for copyright reasons.

Update, March 7, 2016: Did you see how knackered Chris Christie looked after traveling on Trump’s 757 to four states on Super Tuesday? Donald seems to derive enormous benefit from this jet.

Note that Boeing discontinued manufacturing 757s in 2004.

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Donald Trump’s Boeing 757
January 31, 2016 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Are you good at decoding messages? Then hie thee to Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library and have a look at the 200 page Voynich Manuscript. Maybe you can make sense of it. No one else can. More: www.voynich.nu

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Voynich manuscript
January 29, 2016 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Well, both snowboarding and skiing. Reminds me of water skiing. The middle east coast states received buckets of snow this weekend and these New Yorkers made the best of it. Yes, that looks like Broadway in Times Square.

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Snowboarding NYC, Jan 2016
January 24, 2016 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Nova: The 2000 Year-Old Computer – Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism (first aired on American PBS television network in 2013)

“It re-writes the history of technology.”

The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project

Jo Marchant explains: In search of lost time

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A 2000 year old computer
January 23, 2016 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I love this parody. It’s a humorous advertisement for your own mail server:

Do you run a government agency but hate complying with the law? Then you need DC Matic, the Hillary Clinton-approved email server!

credit: Written and performed by Remy. Video directed and edited by Meredith Bragg

What’s Hillary hiding? Classified emails? Sure. Evidence of her negligence in Benghazi that led to the murders of US citizens? Of course. Security breaches via assistant Huma Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood connections? Probably. No, the ticking time bomb in this server is bribery. Maybe treason as well. She’s hiding written evidence of her deals that traded State Department help in exchange for large donations to the Clinton Foundation and large fees for speaking engagements by Bill Clinton.

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Hillary Clinton-approved email server
August 18, 2015 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Today’s laughably corrupt Obama regime is life imitating art. Which art? Cinema. Whacked-out cinema. Farce. Namely, 1969’s Putney Swope:

Both Swope and Obama were elected to office by fools who suffer from chronic white guilt.

In 1969, Putney Swope announced:

The changes I’m gonna make will be minimal. I’m not gonna rock the boat. Rockin’ the boat’s a drag. What you do is sink the boat.

In 2008, Barack Obama bragged:

. . . we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.

Mr. Obama is trying to transform America, alright. Transform it from a prosperous capitalist economy governed by a constitutional republic to a bankrupt socialist economy governed by a corrupt tyrannical dictatorship. Barack is following Putney’s credo, “What you do is sink the boat.”

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Putney Swope and Barack Obama
August 14, 2015 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Here’s a funny video that’s supposedly an Iranian negotiator recounting the stupidity of Messrs Obama and Kerry:

The sardonic subtitles were added by Madison McQueen. (She apparently is the granddaughter of actor Steve McQueen.)

The best line:

I’ve had tougher negotiations over a falafel sandwich!

I first saw this sort of humor in a video clip taken from a biography of Hitler: United broke Hitler’s guitar, too!.

I like this sort of humorous subtitling. And I like its message: Obama and Kerry are fools.

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YouTube subtitle humor
August 7, 2015 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Check out this video:

The tune, “Slow Down”, is performed on piano and sung by its composer, Larry Williams. He was from New Orleans (of course). The tune, ringing with ninth chords, was released on disc in 1958. I think that the dancers are from a 1950s Hollywood rock & roll movie. Larry also composed Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Bad Boy, and Bony Moronie — classic rock tunes, all. He was born in 1935 and died on this date, January 7, in 1980.

In the mid-1950s, Williams inherited star billing from Little Richard (who’d forsaken rock and roll for religion) at New Orleans’ record label Specialty Records.

While Williams was alive, the Beatles paid their respects by admirably covering Larry’s Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Slow Down, and Bad Boy. I’m amazed that Larry Williams isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Extra credit assignment: Compare and contrast the Beatles’ cover of Slow Down with Larry Williams’ original. This clip includes the fab four wailing in Liverpool’s Cavern Club: (If YouTube has taken down this video clip, you can hear the same recording with groovy rock and roll clips (sorry — requires Flash) from 1950s America and early Beatles. Sorry for the Flash format.)

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com
© Russ Bellew · Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA · phone 954 873-4695

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Wanna see jitterbug? Wanna hear rock & roll?
January 7, 2015 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I’m delighted to discover that the video of Joni Mitchell’s classic Shadows and Light concert (1980) can be viewed in full (1h 13m) on YouTube. Supporting players are Jaco Pastorius on bass, Pat Metheny on guitar, Michael Brecker on sax, Don Alias on drums, Lyle Mays on keyboards, and The Persuasions. It’s among my favorite videos of a concert performance.

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco was a Fort Lauderdale kid who began playing in rock bands around town in a variety of clubs: She, The 4 O’Clock CLub, The Village Zoo, The Flying Machine, The Button, Bachelors III, Ocean Mist . . . When I first heard Jaco in the early 1970s, he was playing bass for straight-ahead local rock bands. He graduated to more jazz- and fusion- related music and put his unique fretless Fender bass stamp on Weather Report. I’ve heard bass players tell me that they tried to imitate Jaco’s technique, but gave up trying; they claim that Jaco changed what it meant to play electric bass guitar. Jaco’s friend Pat Metheny, who plays a beautiful lead guitar in this concert, is a University of Miami music school graduate.

Jaco seemed to still have his act together when he played this concert. Wikipedia has a good Jaco biography. He had a rapid rise to the top followed by a quick ride back down again. I had musician friends c 1984-87 who were torn up watching their friend Jaco dismantle his life. This Warner Brothers recording artist and Down Beat Hall of Fame member was sleeping on park benches and shooting baskets in a local public park.

Michael Brecker and Don Alias died a few years ago.

This is a classic performance by master musicians who were at the top of their games. Too bad it couldn’t last forever.

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Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, et al on YouTube
September 11, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
According to Rolling Stone magazine, the FCC is considering disciplining NBC for airing an indecent performance on July 6, Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz Tour”. I watched it. It was provocative, but artful. Bertolt Brecht would have loved the production: live dancers against rear-projection oversized animation with creative costumes and lighting. I loved it. Some of the images, such as Miley riding a giant “Mr. Wiener”, were sexually suggestive.

Click to stream or download full 862 Megabyte video performance

The concert (recorded in Barcelona) reminded me of Madonna’s shows twenty-five years ago. Both performers have acceptable contralto voices, energetic dance skills, and assemble exciting Brechtian spectacles. I love the costuming and choreopgraphy. Shocking? “Bangerz” pushed the limits on prime-time American TV, I suppose. But that week on television, the atrocious performance by the Brazilian football team was truly shocking.

I’d prefer that the FCC take no action on this. They have enough serious issues on their plate already. Censoring art is, in my opinion, a slippery slope for any government agency . . . and I think that this production can be labeled “art”. Here’s the full show (862MB H264 1h 25m mp4 video file, 720 x 404 pixel) for download or streaming:

Click to stream or download full 862 Megabyte video performance

You’ll need a fast Internet connection to smoothly stream this. You might be better to download the file and then play it locally with a good video player such as VLC.

Is it Miley’s performance or just modern low distortion recording technique that for the first time makes John Lennon’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” lyrics (at 44m 35s) sound so . . . so . . . clear, logical, and complete?

What do you think?

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FCC may fine NBC for Miley Cyrus “Bangerz” show
August 6, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I’ve worked with integrated circuits (I.C.s) since the 1960s, but haven’t been involved in their manufacture — only their application.

Intel Haswell wafer with a pin for scale
photo: Intel Free Press
Today’s integrated circuit manufacture is a high stakes capital intensive business whose players use trade secrets to maintain their market advantage. I’ve never been inside an I.C. “fab” (factory), so it was a treat to find an hour-long presentation by an industry manufacturing engineer on YouTube. The technologies used at nano dimensions are mind-boggling.

Here’s the excellent presentation, in full:

The speaker mentions that lithographic imaging of the mask is now being done at 193 nanometer (nm). As you can see, we’re well above visible light and on our way to x-rays(!). Here’s the electromagnetic spectrum in that region:

Click for full-size
graphic by: Shigeru23

The presentation is aimed at the layperson and is filled with surprises. For instance, one gigabyte of semiconductor memory can be produced on a flat substrate within the diameter of a human hair. I give it two (gloved) thumbs up.

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How are modern integrated circuits manufactured?
July 28, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
On Tuesday night, PBS broadcast a powerful Frontline two hour long piece about the NSA’s snooping into citizens’ electronic communications. They subtitled it “How the government came to spy on millions of Americans”. The second part will air next Tuesday. Watch it.

Click to stream or download 475MB MP4 video (1hr 56m long)

Read PBS’ webpage about this Frontline program and the NSA.

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Frontline’s United States of Secrets
May 15, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
These guys perform tricks that look impossible . . . on a road bike. Fantastic riding from England. The 6-minute video is beautifully photographed and edited.

Youtube videos: Road Bike Party 2. All tricks were performed on one bike: The Making Of Martyn Ashton’s Colnago C59 Disc. Postscript: Martyn broke his back last September when he fell ten feet during a demo. His legs remain paralyzed. His mates helped him finish the video.

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Pushing the limits of road bikes
May 3, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Edward Snowden spoke on Monday at South By Southwest via live Internet video. Presumably he was in Russia. His true location was obscured by a chain of seven proxies, which caused the audio quality to suffer from multiple echos. The best audio/video recording that I’ve found is this YouTube video. Mr. Snowden participated in a panel discussion of Internet privacy, security, and infringement of U.S. Constitutional rights.

The panel pointed out that not only is the NSA trampling on our right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, but so are commercial entities such as Google and Facebook. Seizing everything from everybody is clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The panel agreed that end-to-end encryption is the only way to ensure privacy.

When will intelligence chief James Clapper be indicted for lying under oath while testifying to Congress?

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Ed Snowden speaks at SXSW
March 12, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Last December, mathematician Simon Singh spoke to Google employees about the role of math in The Simpsons.

The math references in The Simpsons episodes are only a few seconds long but contain timeless questions. Mr. Singh tells about them as well as math references in Matt Groening’s Futurama in this entertaining YouTube video, which was recorded at a recent Google gathering.

Mr. Singh discusses Math and Futurama in his office.

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Math and The Simpsons
February 28, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
If necessity is the mother of invention, war is its father. Both automated encryption/decryption and radar technologies blossomed during World War Two. An excellent documentary on YouTube tells the see-saw story of Germany’s WW2 U-boats. The keys to neutralizing them were code breaking and airborne microwave radar.

This 2-hour 34-minute video shows that the German submariners’ fates swung from invincibility to doom, as the Allies deployed various defense technologies.

I was surprised to learn how ineffective the U.S. Navy was, early in the war, at defending our own shores. The U-boats sank 400 merchant ships near our coastline! Apparently we have Admiral King to blame for these staggering losses. He was at the time in charge of defending our eastern shore. Always an Anglophobe, he distrusted the decrypted German Naval messages that were provided to him by the English codebreakers.

If, like me, you’re fascinated by the relationship between war and technology, watch this video.

Detailed report of WW2 use of radar to detect U-boats

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Technology and submarine warfare
February 4, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
My vote for the all-time second-best Super Bowl ad is Audi’s Green Police, which aired in 2010. It’s out of control environmentalism, with the emphasis on mental.

The all-time best, in my opinion, remains Apple’s 1984 Macintosh ad .

What do these two ads have in common? Each ad claims that their gadget allows its owners to break free of a dumb society. Each paints an unflattering picture of the herd. Each appeals to vanity and a desire to break away from that herd.

The Mac ad was directed by Ridley Scott (Bladerunner, Alien). When previewed, Apple’s board of directors hated it and wanted to axe its airing during the Super Bowl. Steves Woz and Jobs loved it and together with John Sculley they managed to get it aired during the Super Bowl.

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Best Super Bowl ad
February 4, 2014 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
As entertainment delivery progresses from the broadcast model that was pioneered by David Sarnoff toward a content on demand model, it’s fun to stop and examine the roadside litter.

An impressive relic of the old broadcast days is the WLW 500,000 Watt transmitter located outside the city of Cincinnati. From 1934 until 1939, WLW broadcast a whopping 500,000 Watt AM signal on 700 kHz that covered North America from coast to coast.

Front panels of 500,000 Watt transmitter
Photography by Frederick Vobbe, Lima OH

For most of its life, WLW transmitted 50,000 Watts, but in the 1930s it pumped out 500,000 Watts under a special authorization that needed to be renewed every six months. In 1939 Congress and the FCC reconsidered the wisdom of allowing a single station to control one frequency nationwide and withdrew the 500 kilowatt authorization. No other US AM station has ever been authorized to transmit more than 50 kW.

The 500 kW hardware was massive. Its final amplifier consisted of twelve water-cooled vacuum tubes with a plate dissipation rating that totalled 1.2 Megawatts. It was plate modulated by eight more 100 kW plate dissipation water-cooled tubes. This video walkthrough shows the oversized components that are still in place.

This excellent article on WLW in the 1930s claimed,

WLW was the 1930s version of NASA, continually testing the limits of just what AM broadcasting could do under U.S. regulation.

Powel Crosley, Jr. owned WLW. His factories produced radios, appliances, eventually TVs, and even cars. WLW provided the perfect advertising platform for Crosley products.

Today the tiny microprocessor, hair-thin fiberoptic strands, packet switching, media streaming, and especially content on demand technologies threaten the future of the once mighty radio broadcasting giants. Their giant carcasses remain as monuments, like the shattered visage of Ozymandias.

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WLW: 1930s AM broadcast superstation
October 29, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I’m a long-time Simpsons fan, for many reasons. Today I learned a new reason: there are heavy duty mathematicians on the Simpsons writing crew.

The episodes often include obscure math references that appear for only moments. Simon Singh, in a Numberphile clip, points out two episodes in which apparent disproofs of Fermat’s last theorem appear.

In a Simpsons episode titled The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace, Homer writes an apparent disproof of Fermat’s last theorem on a chalkboard. I love how within a few frames Homer can transform from a dope to a genius.

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“Homer Simpson vs Pierre de Fermat – Numberphile” on YouTube
October 1, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I watched a 1969 film on YouTube about the inner workings of the Apollo Guidance Computer that helped put a man on the moon. The navigation details are fascinating. I had no idea that the astronauts used a sextant to shoot bearings to stars!

Integrated circuits vintage

The film shows logic gates that are packaged in TO cases. (TO cases are small diameter metal cans used to house transistors.) By 1967 these would have been obsolete. In 1967 we were already developing products with readily-available quad NAND gates (using TTL — transistor-transistor logic). These 7400-series parts were packaged in 14-pin plastic DIPs (Dual In-line Packages). The higher spec’d 5400 series were packaged in ceramic DIPs. I’d guess that the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) in the film was designed well before that — maybe 1964 or even earlier.

I’m a little confused. The Wikipedia description of the AGC states that it exclusively used Fairchild resistor-transistor logic (RTL) dual NOR gates in a flat-pack. Hmmmm. That’s not what the film shows.

In any case, both the single logic gate in a can and the dual RTL NOR gates in a flat pack would have been obsolete by 1969. I would have thought that NASA projects would have used the latest technologies, not 5 year old technologies. I guess that subsystems within large projects such as Apollo acquire momentum, and once they’ve been proven, the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” motto applies.

It’s an interesting film, regardless.

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Apollo guidance computer, 1969
October 1, 2013 Russ Bellew 2 Comments
This is an amazing video.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been working on a system that will return the launch missile intact to its launch pad, ready for the next launch. This video clip was taken two days ago at their Texas launch facility. They moved the rocket horizontally 100 meters, hovered, and tilted it 30 degrees from vertical.

This is a step toward the goal of using Grasshopper to boost succeeding stages to a high altitude before it returns to its launch pad.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s reasoning: This booster, while “cheap”, costs 50 to 60 million dollars. The fuel costs about two hundred thousand dollars. If we can re-use the booster a thousand times and amortize its capital cost over a thousand launches, the cost per launch will be low.

This is a triumph of servo system design and high-pressure high-flow rate fluid control. The trick is to make the rocket’s engine respond quickly while keeping the servo loop stable. I imagine that the signals from many sensors of all types are monitored by the guidance computer. The resultant control of thrust is impressive.

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SpaceX rocket takes off and returns to launch pad
August 16, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Last week I watched Flash Gordon on Youtube. It’s a gorgeous black and white print of all 13 episodes of the 1936 space opera set in the twenty-second century starring Buster Crabbe. The sets and costumes are ridiculous, and so is the plot, but it was great fun. I liked the snapping, crackling electrical gadgets in the laboratory of Ming (The Merciless), emperor of the planet Mongo.

Ming and the boys watch his wide-screen Spaceograph

This movie is part of a tradition harking back to Wagner’s Siegfried, Sir Gawain, and Beowulf. Scenes from the radium furnace room are low-rent versions of Fritz Lang’s 1926 Metropolis, and the adventures of a hero and a princess from another planet were told again in 1977’s Star Wars. George Lucas borrowed the same imaginative wipes between scenes.

Even the comments are entertaining:
- Funny how Ming dresses all his men in hotpants and tights!
- Considering Mongo is such a technically advanced planet it’s surprising nobody thought to invent trousers.
- Dale Arden must have some heavy pheromones . . . first Ming wants her as his bride, and now King Vulcan . . . it must be the blonde hair.
- The controls on my car’s a/c are more complicated than those on Dr. Z’s lab equipment
As I said, it’s great fun. I give it two thumbs up.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com
© Russ Bellew · Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA · phone 954 873-4695

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Flash Gordon
July 25, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Are you lusting for a brand-new Chevy Volt? Come on down to crazybarrys.com‘s car lot! You’ll find a late-night TV car salesman whose pitch is that it made sense to bail out General Motors, “saving countless union jobs”. “Crazy Barry is America’s bailout specialist! And once he’s done dealing cars, he’s ready to bring you other great bailout offers!”

Crazy Barry proclaims,

And now I want to do the same thing not just in the auto industry but in every industry!

This is first-class political satire on YouTube by a group or individual called PolitiZoid. I don’t know who they are or how these videos are produced. Do you?

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Come on down to Crazy Barry’s car lot!
May 27, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Wow! What a video! Kudos to everyone who helped create this fantastic music video that was just uploaded to YouTube. (And kudos to David Bowie, for allowing this majestic performance of his classic song from, um, 1969.) Until now, David’s performance was definitive. I think that this performance trumps David’s. What do you think?

from YouTube:

Published on May 12, 2013

A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.

With thanks to Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran, Andrew Tidby and Evan Hadfield for all their hard work.

Find out more:

Twitter: twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield
Facebook: facebook.com/AstronautChrisHadfield?fref=ts
Google+: plus.google.com/+ChrisHadfield/about

Emm Gryner tells the story behind this performance.

This is Canadian Commander Hadfield’s last day aboard ISS after nearly five months in space. He arrived December 21 and took command of the space station on March 13. He’s been an active contributor to social networks while aboard ISS. Tomorrow, he will return to Earth aboard a Russian Soyez TMA-07M. God speed, Chris Hadfield!

His photo of Florida:

Let’s boldly go. How will we move data across vast distances as we explore space? I briefly essayed this in Extending the Internet off-Earth. I’ve since learned that Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, ever the adventurer, has been collaborating with others on the Interplanetary Internet, which will probably replace IP (Internet Protocol) with Bundle Protocol (BP). It’s a tall order: in space, propagation delay, multipath, and dropout problems will dwarf those found on Earth or near Earth orbit.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com
© Russ Bellew · Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA · phone 954 873-4695

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Space Oddity 2.0
May 12, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
I found this useful tip on http://droidtricks.blogspot.com recently: How to Take Screenshot on Samsung Exhibit II 4G T679. It works on my SGH-T679 phone.
- Update, December 2015: Here’s a clear video explanation: How to Screenshot on Samsung Galaxy Light. This method seems to work on many Samsung phones.
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Capture Screenshots on Samsung Exhibit II 4G T679 Android phone
May 11, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Last weekend, Fort Lauderdale hosted its annual air show. I found this well-produced brief video clip which includes a surprise ending.

I guess that two videos were merged using a video editor such as Adobe Premier. I’ve never attempted this sort of editing. Have you? Any idea how this video clip was created?

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Fort Lauderdale Air Show 2013 Surprise
April 25, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
You’re probably aware that Google is building fiber to the home in Kansas City. Wired broadband access is preferable to wireless, and in response to this need, even when subscribers are away from home and office, Google now offers an answer. Google, on April 1, is touting its new gigabit Fiber to the Pole service.

Everything’s up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an’ built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin’ orta grow.

– Everything’s up to date in Kansas City song from stage show “Oklahoma” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. This delightful production number was performed by Gene Nelson in the 1955 movie “Oklahoma!”. It’s a magical performance. If performed today, I’m sure that the lyrics would include,

Everything’s up to date in Kansas City
They’ve even rolled out fiber to the pole

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Everything’s up to date in Kansas City.
April 1, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
This is a long way from simple parachute jumping. Just the scramble up the mountain would be a challenge.

Click to stream or download video

But is climbing enough entertainment for these adrenalin junkies? Noooo. Sky diving doesn’t interest me, but this video clip adds another dimension and looks like great fun, with no margin for error. Otherwise, these Peter Pans will sing, I can fly. I can fly. I can . . . Splat!

Mandatory computer content: the wingsuit manufacturer employs a CAD/CAM system.

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Fly like a high-speed Peter Pan
March 27, 2013 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
About two weeks ago, my Samsung Exhibit II SGH-T679 Android phone refused to charge its battery. I tried a variety of chargers and eventually it reluctantly slowly recharged its battery. The local T-Mobile store clerk concluded that the phone had died and ordered a warranty replacement phone. In the meantime, my phone has resumed recharging normally.

Yesterday I mentioned this to Jason Athanas at Autobahn Performance, who told me that the micro-USB connector fills up with lint that prevents contact with the charger’s connector. He carefully inspected and cleaned my connector under a very bright light. Only then did I recall that my phone has a tiny sliding door that can seal its micro-USB connector when empty. Ah-ha! So THAT’s why that door is there! From now on, I’ll remember to close that door after I’m done charging the phone.

All GSM phone manufacturers (except Apple) agreed to use the micro-USB connector for battery charging in 2009 (GSM phones will have a standard battery charger), and I’ll bet that most of them include a similar sliding door. I’ve learned that it’s there for a reason.
- Update, December 2015: YouTuber Mysimplefix has posted a simple way to clean your phone’s micro-USB battery charging port. It works. I used a thin piece of disposable plastic water Evian water bottle and cut it to a shape and size that resembles a man’s color stay:
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Repair and prevent battery charging problems on GSM phones.
January 4, 2013 Russ Bellew 2 Comments
Rachel’s gift
Ethiopian kid drinks clean well water

Rachel Beckwith

Rachel, with the help of the worldwide web, enabled tens of thousands to have clean safe water.

The Internet is many things. Like money, it’s an amplifier. It amplifies goodness, and it amplifies evil. It has amplified Rachel Beckwith’s goodness. On her webpage she described her wish,

On June 12th 2011, I’m turning 9. I found out that millions of people don’t live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn’t have access to clean, safe water so I’m celebrating my birthday like never before. I’m asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday. Every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater projects in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is “proved” when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth. My goal is to raise $300 by my birthday, June 12, 2011. Please consider helping me.

Thank you so much!!!

Rachel raised $220. One month after her birthday, she was killed in a traffic accident, but her story spread across the web and donations piled up to well over a million dollars. One year later, her fund has brought clean safe water to about 60,000 Ethiopians. The Internet amplified Rachel’s wish.

Most Americans take resources such as safe drinking water for granted. We forget that many people don’t have safe water to drink.

Here’s Rachel’s story. Read more about Rachel.

I am humbled.

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Rachel Beckwith is a hero to many thousands.
August 15, 2012 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
Here’s what a fast motorbike, GoPro camera, editing, and a good tune can do.

Click image to download movie clip

Those of a certain age will recall the 1968 Easy Rider scene of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper astride their Harley choppers. When Steppenwolf sang “Get your motor running. Head out on the highway”, it turned a cinematic page. It was a break with not just old Hollywood, but with old everything. They used small hand-held cameras to supplement the big old dolly-mounted Mitchell cameras.

For some, Steppenwolf‘s command was an imperative, and we did get our motors running. These days, a Harley panhead motor is pretty sedate, and a giant Mitchell film camera is out of the question. Fast-forward to this century and tiny GoPro cams. When you click on the graphic, you’ll download a brief (1:32) update on the fast bike with accompaniment theme. This time it’s a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa on Florida’s US Highway 27, accompanied by Stabbing Westward‘s “Save Yourself”. Its opening lyrics:

I know your life is empty
And you hate to face this world alone.
So you’re searching for an angel —
Someone who can make you whole.
I can not save you.
I can’t even save myself.
So just save yourself.

Yes, the bike hits an indicated speed that seriously exceeds 220 MPH. Here is the raw footage, sans edits and music.

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Bikes on film (or thumb drive)
August 9, 2012 Russ Bellew Leave a comment
What’s Opera, Doc?

Click image to stream or download video

Here’s a summary of what you’re missing at this summer’s Bayreuth Festival.

Once again, I won’t be able to attend the annual festival of Richard Wagner’s Sturm und Drang at Bayreuth. Luckily, I was able to find the highlights in an excellent seven-minute long animated video clip. Gotta love the Interweb. Any composer whose music is admired by both Adolph Hitler and Phil Spector must have something to say, even if it’s a bit nutty.

Just click on the screenshot to view or download the clip of this operatic video summary, directed by Herr Meister C. Jones. E. Fudd and B. Hase sing the lead roles. It was produced in 1957 and released by Warner Brothers. Otherwise, buy your Bayreuth tickets now and in five or ten years you might be allowed to attend the famous Bayreuther Festspiele.

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Be vewy quiet.
August 6, 2012 Russ Bellew 1 Comment
We’re used to Facebook’s violations of users’ privacy. LinkedIn has joined the fun.

Yesterday, I became aware of two LinkedIn privacy concerns:
- Users of LinkedIn’s 6-month old LinkedIn app for iPhone and iPad have been, without their knowledge, uploading their entire calendars to LinkedIn’s servers.
- A Russian hacker announced that he had downloaded usernames and passwords for 6.5 million LinkedIn accounts. To prove it, he published the passwords on the web.
LinkedIn presents itself as a site where professionals meet, unlike the unwashed slobs on Facebook. Its business model is similar to Facebook’s: collect every byte of information about its users and sell that data to advertisers. I wonder if LinkedIn’s professional users will be as unconcerned by LinkedIn’s lack of diligence as Facebook’s naïve users seem to be?

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LinkedIn users’ data LeakedOut.
June 7, 2012 Russ Bellew 5 Comments
Discover the man behind the legend: Einstein Revealed

Click to download or stream video
Nova: Einstein Revealed

This is a video biography (produced by PBS’ NOVA in 1997) of the man who changed our understanding of time and space. This 1 hr 46 minute dramatization introduces a very human Albert Einstein. Andrew Sachs (who in the brilliant British sitcom Fawlty Towers played Manuel, the hapless waiter!) seems to have the look and mannerisms of Einstein. The portrayal of Einstein as a dashing young man, and his spotty schooling paint a very human picture.

What did Einstein think of Isaac Newton? Read Einstein on Newton, By Albert Einstein.

I loved this production: it both explored the human side of Dr. Einstein and explained in easy-to-follow steps, the meaning of his special theory of relativity, his general theory of relativity, and his unfinished unified field theory. His initial thought method was simple: he imagined situations that led to a paradox, and then tried to solve the paradox. He seemed to want a simple married life, yet two marriages fell apart, presumably at least in part because of his obsession with learning the universe’s secrets. The qualities that helped him solve puzzles may have been the undoing of his personal life: he described himself “as stubborn as a mule”.

How stubborn? Lying on his deathbed, within hours of his passing, he asked for his reading glasses, a fountain pen, and his notes, so that he could continue working on his unified field theory.

December, 2015: I’m no longer able to view this terrific biography on pbs.org, so I’ve stored it on a server from which you may download or stream it.

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Albert Einstein’s video biography
July 5, 2011 Russ Bellew 2 Comments