Slant Alpha-Echo

Woo Hoo!  I passed the Extra exam!

I upgraded to General back in Oct 2011 and would have started studying immediately but the question pool changed part way through 2012.  So studying was put off until the new books with new questions were out.

Study started back in July.  It was a couple more months before issues with the test software were worked out.  Serious study started in November and I passed yesterday.

Most of what I know about electronics came from a second semester college physics class.  We experimented with capacitors and inductors and worked through the equations.  But that was back in Reagan's first term.  And I don't think we ever got into Smith Charts.

Some questions were easy, particularly the digital logic questions.  I learned a lot of that in HS and college classes and it hasn't changed much.

One question might have been difficult but instead was a "gimme":

E7C10 - Which of the following filters would be the best choice for use in a 2 meter repeater duplexer?
A.  A Crystal Filter
B.  A Cavity Filter
C.  A DSP filter
D.  An L-C filter

The reason this was easy question is because of first hand experience.  I have seen and touched a cavity filter, used for exactly the reasons asked in the question.  The SCSon's electronics group has one.  One meeting we talked about how and why it works.  A member brought in the RightToolForTheJob(tm).  We saw how it is tuned to the new frequencies.  Easy peasy.

I passed the test easily with a 90% score.  74% is passing and yes, that is also a test question [E1E05].  But there is still a lot I don't know.  I understand deciBels are units of power and that it's a logrithmic scale doubling every 3dB.  But I don't understand how they relate to the more usual Watts measurement and why deciBels are more useful in some cases.  Also I got the Smith Chart questions right, but I don't understand exactly how to get my measurements into it.

Some might say that means I'm not qualified to hold the license with such gaping holes.  I would argue I passed the test thus they say I'm good to go.  It's like so many government tests, the license is really a license to learn.  And I know some areas I need to study further.

"If it saves only one child's life....

Shouldn't we do X anyway?"  Whatever X is.  So goes an argument for gun control.

Well that depends, what does X cost?  What if it costs 10 other children their lives?  I say an emphatic no!  Guns are used by good people to stop bad people far more often than guns are used to kill innocents.

Just the other day a woman used a .38 to protect herself and her children from someone that had broken into their home.  They had retreated into a crawlspace, far further than they should ever have to.

But one anecdote does not data make.  However Gary Kleck did actual research and found that guns are used defensively far more several million times a year, mostly without firing a shot.  Criminals know that when guns are legal and plentiful, that ups their risk that any given assault, any given break in, any given robbery, the victim will be armed and present a serious risk to their breathing rights. 

Ban guns and home invasions will increase.  Rapes will increase.  Robberies and car jackings will increase.  Violence will increase.  Mark my words.  The threat of violence from good people presents a risk to bad guys that keeps bad violence at bay.

Guns in the hands of good people make people safer.  If that were not true, would so called VIPs in Government and entertainment worlds be guarded by people with guns?  Why should our children be any less safe?

They should not.  NRA EVP Wayne LaPierre was right in saying the "only thing that stops a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun."  Part of the reason the NewTown shooter (I refuse to post the S#'!heads name anywhere else than on my TP) killed so many was the 20 minute response time.  I want someone there to present an immediate response.

The SCSon's school has an onsite "resource officer".  Though he spends most of this time educating about online risks (careful what you post on line) and drug and physical abuse issues, his physical presence on site means he can probably be on scene in under 2 minutes.  Because he is onsite and armed.  And that is what counts when a bad guy shows up.

I'm all for addressing the problem.  Guns are not the problem.  bad people with guns are the problem!

Darwin Award nominee

Woman shoots her brother while posing for facebook pics with weapons after drinking all night.  Oh and for bonus points, she's underaged.  Link here

It probably doesn't actually qualify for the Darwin Award because the death wasn't actually self inflicted.  Close enough for me.  He's still dead as a result of a stupid act.   Story notes she may face manslaughter charges it turns out she was drunk.

The story doesn't mention many details (as usual).  What kind of gun was involved?  What steps were taken (if any) to ensure the gun was unloaded.  What poses involved pointing a gun at her brother's head and pulling the trigger?

dumbschitz.

Cooper's four rules of gun handling:
1.  All guns are always loaded
2.  Never point a gun at anything you do not want to destroy.
3.  Keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target.
4.  Be sure of your target and what is beyond.

All four rules have to be broken before someone may be hurt by an accidental discharge.  Any one rule will break the chain.

Slapped in the face

The Weekly Standard has the story where BO has given payraises to the WH, members of congress and federal workers.  (Via Drudge)

These days wages are down in the private sector and public sector employees are over compensated compared to the private sector, and he gives them a raise.

This is a slap in the face to every private sector worker where raises are non-existent, and some are taking pay cuts because it's better than a lay off.  Just ask Hostess employees where a small group took the entire company down over 8%.  And layoffs are something government employees will never likely face.   BTW, your humble host is included in the "pay cut" portion of the diagram.  I took a voluntary pay cut because company revenues are down and it's better than the Hostess situation.

The normal private sector executive reaction to reduced revenue is to lay people off.  But our CEO prefers to keep people working to get our new products done so we are ahead of the game when the economy turns around.

This pay cut represents the merit increases earned in the last two cycles.  On the other hand, since it effectively comes off  "last dollar" earned in the year, a sizable portion of that would have gone to the .IRS anyway.  That makes it hurt a bit less.

I've been through this with the DayJob a couple times before.  We've covered the revenue shortfall in the past by plant shutdowns which I actually prefer because while the $$$ goes away, I get something back in return - time.  And the pay automatically returns when the revenue returns.  But the downside to my customers is that I'm less available to respond to their issues.  In reality I'm pretty much on call that week anyway.  Fortunately I don't have to be in the office.

Last couple downturns he's done an across the board pay cut.  While it hurts in the short run, it's always been restored, plus a financial thank you on the back end.  This time he made it voluntary.  I volunteered because I have confidence  he'll make it right and then some in the future.

Priceless....

Santa delivered a particular LED* (Lead Emitting Device) to the SandCastle safe for the benefit of the SandCastle Son.

He joined the youth shotgun program at our local range back in the Fall.  It's a heck of a deal, they provide the coaches, shotguns (youth sized Rem 1100's) and he gets up to 100 clays and shells a month.  All for $60 for the year!  Yes it's heavily subsidized.  If you ever wondered where the funds raised at your local Friends of NRA dinners go to, here is one program that it funds. 

He's picked up my mossy 12 gauge a couple times, but though he's big for his age, it's still to big for him.   The LED Santa delivered is bantam sized that fits him well, possibly on the verge of too small.

The club used to have clay pigeon throwers on the line at the main range.  If you look up our picture on POTG (6th row down, all the way on the right), that was then.  They have since removed the throwers from the main range and built a token operated shotgun only range.  It was probably the right decision for the club as they need extra bench space at the main range and the throwers were under utilized.  OTOH as a user, I liked throwing my own $4 for 90 pigeons on the main range and now it's twenty cents a bird for me.  But hey, it's a nice set up and the convenience is worth the price.

We headed out to the club to check out the new arrival.  I haven't shot a clay in several years so I looked forward to the opportunity.  We stopped in at the admin office and bought a couple tokens with the promise that we (as in the SCSon) would be back to buy more if it wasn't too busy and we were having fun.

Down on the range the RO complimented the SCSon on his stance and asked if I'd coached him.  I 'fessed up and credited the Jr. Program.  We each blasted through each of our 25 birds in short order.  The SCSon offered to go get more tokens.  I agreed on the basic "I buy, you fly" basis.  "flying" in this case means running a couple hundred yards up the hill from the shotgun fields to the admin building.  And back.  So we did a 2nd round. 

Back when the POTG picture was taken, I could reliably hit both doubles, plus the largest piece still flying afterwards.  That was a while ago and I am clearly out of practice.  It will take a while to get the sight picture back.  Today's 50 birds didn't do it.

My shoulder had had enough but the SCSon wasn't done.  So back up the hill for a couple more tokens and another 50 birds!

In the end, here's the break down:
Clay Pigeons:                           $20
Shot shells:                              $39
Quality time with the SCSon:    $priceless! Truly I wouldn't have missed today for the world.  I also wish I'd brought a camera.  Next time!

Priceless!  I hope your post-Christmas went as well!

*  The LED joke makes more sense if your a EE.  (or maybe a CE)

Merry Christmas

From the SandCastle Crew!

Christmas Traditions

Every family has their own Christmas traditions.  One of our traditions is that the SandCastle doesn't do Christmas cookies!  We fry up wontons, "Because nothing says Christmas like fried wontons!  It helps if you understand our sideways sense of humor*.

This tradition started several years ago following a disappointing experience at a local Chinese restaurant.  We ordered fried wontons and were served wonton skins with tofu filling.  I explained my disappointment to the SCQueen "I can do better fried wontons that this!" and she decided we should do just that.


An internet search turned up a recipe.  Sorry, I don't recall where it was found or who to credit.  But the nice thing about wontons, is that it's hard to go wrong.  Feel free to adjust to your taste.  The items in bold are the the ones we added and the strikethrough are the ones we deleted.  I learned to fold wontons growing up when mom took some Chinese cooking classes.  Christmas season is a rare break where we can put in the time to do a proper job.

 Ingredients

2 pounds ground pork

1 lb ground pork

1 lb finely chopped shrimp

1 lb finely chopped chicken

1 cup sliced water chestnuts, finely chopped

1 cup finely chopped bamboo chutes

3 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated

2 Tbsp. minced scallions

I hate onions

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. rice wine, sake or rice wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. sesame seed oil

Suggest olive oil in place of sesame seed oil

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

70 wanton skins

Cooking oil for deep fat frying

Recipe

Put pork in bowl and chop with a knife to allow for even mixture with other ingredients. Squeeze chopped water chestnuts in a paper towel to remove moisture and then add to pork. Add remaining ingredients except for wanton skins and cooking oil and stir well until completely mixed.

Place about 1 tsp. of the mix in the center of a wanton skin and fold the skin over to make a triangle. Pinch edges of wanton skin together while moistening with just a little water on your fingers. The water helps hold the wanton skin together.

Heat oil to 350 degrees in a wok or a deep fat fryer. Cook wantons only about 3 or 4 at a time to make sure you do not lower the cooking temperature of the oil too much. Maintaining the heat of the cooking oil will keep the wantons from absorbing too much oil. Remove wantons with a slotted spoon or frying strainer when they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. You can keep the cooked wantons warm in the oven while you cook the remaining wantons.

Serve with sweet and sour sauce, duck sauce, plum sauce and/or hot Chinese mustard. You can substitute ground shrimp or turkey for the pork or even use a combination of all three.

The basics of folding wontons is simple:  Place a dab in the center of a wonton skin.  Fold an opposite corners together creating a triangle with the filling in the center.  Fold the 90deg corner forward and draw the two 45 deg corners back to each other.  Apparently this last step has a lot of nuance that I cannot describe and even demonstrating, the SCQueen has trouble duplicating.  Heh... checking out YouTube, I see several ways to fold them, none of which is what I was taught 40 years ago.  Still check out the videos and find something that works for you.  Once you're eating them, the original shape doesn't matter!

Putting the "fried" into "fried wontons"!

The recipe above made something between 250-300 individual wontons.  Between the SCCrew & the SCSIL, we folded and fried these all in a couple hours after Saturday night dinner.  The actual folding took about 90 minutes.

Theses are great snacks.  They freeze well and a nicely warm up in the microwave.  It only takes a couple minutes to warm up 4-6 plus mix up some Chinese hot mustard.

* I think Robb is on our frequency:

I thought “Dammit. I should have bought some 20,000 lumens tactical light and let her use that.  I gave myself the giggles thinking about someone having a flashlight that lit up the entire cafeteria and gave the kids in the front row 3rd degree burns.”

Um Yea... I LOL'd that "mee too" LOL!
 
Update:  It's true!  Bacon makes everything better!  partway through the run I had the brainstorm to mix in some crumbled bacon bits.   nom nom!