Odd Lots
- I wouldn’t have predicted this one: Scammers are using AI to create fake obituaries of the (very) recently deceased. The fake obits are on fake sites seeking to attract ad revenue.
- When you’ve got an hour (or a day) to kill, check out World Radio History. Navigating isn’t easy sometimes, but they have Popular Electronics, Electronics Illustrated, Radio Electronics, manufacturer catalogs, old publications, music magazines, and who knows what else. (I didn’t have a day to kill but will eventually.)
- While researching the health issues surrounding nitric oxide, I ran across a peculiar claim: That humming at 120-130 Hz while exhaling increases nitric oxide in the body. Supposedly, the vibration within this frequency band helps tissues in the sinuses synthesize nitric oxide. Hum along with your digital audio generator, I guess. It’s worth a look, even if I’m skeptical—but that doesn’t mean I won’t try it.
- This is kinda cool: A summary of the US Space Force rank insignia. Commissioned officer insignia resembles those of the other services, but the enlisted insignia are way cooler, especially the four ranks of specialists.
- I’m seeing a lot of articles about directed microwave energy weapons that can disable flying drones by scrambling their electronics, literally dropping whole swarms out of the sky. Here’s the most recent I’ve seen, about Epirus’s contract with the US Army. (There are others.) Now, drone manufacturers will try to microwave-harden their drones, but that will make them more expensive, heavier, and less likely to be deployed in huge swarms.
- Smithsonian Magazine published a history of Morse Code back in 2022, and (now that it’s been re-posted by Pocket) I recommend it. Morse hasn’t been required for radio amateurs since 2007, but back in 1973, as a Novice licensee, Morse was all there was. And I did ok, ok enough to get 13 wpm for a General, and later the Advanced, for which 13 wpm was enough. Although I studied for Extra, I never managed 20 WPM, and now that there’s no code test at all, I’m thinking I should try again.
- Here’s a…walking table. I might call it “creepy” if I didn’t respect the cleverness of the mechanism.
Posted in: None Of The Above.
Tagged: ai · electronics · gadgets · military
That table is clearly the predecessor of T
Rincewind’s Luggage.
I’ve enjoyed the World Radio History website for many years. I like viewing old copies of Popular Electronics, Allied Electronics, & Lafayette catalogs. Before I become a Ham, I was a devoted shortwave and AM/DX listening enthusiast, and the WRH site has a lot to offer to folks who enjoy those hobbies.
Thanks for the link to World Radio History site. I feel like Indiana Jones scrolling around in there.
I was watching a youtube Video about Carpathia and it’s role in the Titanic sinking, and it mentioned that radio operators on ships back then were employees of Marconi and that Titanic’s radio operators had spent 24 hours fixing their radio just before the iceberg was hit. Could have been very different outcome for the survivors if they had not been able to broadcast to Carpathia. Spencer
Fake obituary web sites go back to the mid-‘oughts at the very least. Maybe earlier.
They’ve made it through several news cycles, to the great puzzlement of the people who discovered them.
“AI” just makes it simpler/cheaper to generate that type of ‘content’.
Jeff, go for the Extra Class! I was first licensed as a NOVICE when I was 14 and really tried to get my CW up to 13 for the General, but to keep my call for past the one year limit I did take and pass the Technician. I other than keeping an after noon sched. on 6 meter AM with a ham in “The Valley of the Sun” I worked all summer when I was 15 to get my speed up to the 13 wpm for General Class. Since I only had my learner’s drivers permit my mom drove me down town in Atlanta to take the General at the FCC office. I was sweating bullets during the receive part of the code test, but I made it — just barely. The written was not too hard for me although it was NOT multiple choice. i.e Draw common circuit schematics from memory! And I passed it and got my General at age 15.
It was only after some minor surgery in early 2015 that I decided I wanted to try for Extra (the Advanced having been discontinued). I used my six weeks of recovery and then some to study for the Extra and finally took it at a hamfest near Atlanta in June of 2015. I am now 78 and still active in the hobby.
They are also using AI to make fake websites for fictional colleges.
WRT Morse code – what is involved in transcribing Morse? I have been reading about a WW II SIGINT operation, and realized I don’t know what radio monitors actually did.