The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and Boy Scouts of America (BSA) published a memorandum of understanding where the ARRL will help with some merit badge requirements and get access to more young people for a dangerously-aging amateur radio population.
Let’s hope this project is more forward-looking than the new ARRL electronic kits which debuted with Morse Code practice oscillator.
Our troop is considering a new source and maybe a new design for neckerchiefs, so I checked out the price for official BSA neckerchiefs and got a big surprise. The BSA has made them a lot bigger. They say:
Design reverts back to the standard larger size offering a variety of uses, as a sling, signal, bandage, belt, patrol ID, and more. Standard size is now 49.5 inch X 35 inch X 35 inch.
The previous size wasn’t documented anywhere I could find, but I measured mine as 41 X 29 X 29 for my post with a table of sizes for different Scout neckerchiefs. I’ve updated that table with the 2011 BSA neckerchief.
This is my letter about the pending sale of KTRU to the University of Houston. Friends of KTRU will forward it to the FCC as an out-of-area comment.
Note: Updated Jan 2011 with the new larger BSA neckerchief size. Updated again Sep 2018 with new URLs and the 2015 edition of the ANSI standard.
The BSA’s Insignia Guide says this about the size and shape of the neckerchief, “Official neckerchiefs are triangular in shape.” There is a more info about how to wear it, who chooses the neckerchief (the troop), who approves special neckerchiefs (the council), and so on. It does say that special neckerchiefs are “the same size as official ones”. Oddly, they don’t say what size that is.
So I researched it. One reason to have a bigger neckerchief is so it can be used as a triangular bandage, so I also checked the common sizes for those, including the ANSI-standard size.
I’ve been studying for the Amateur Extra license exam, the highest level of FCC license for amateur radio. Right now, I’m reading about Hilbert transforms because they are mentioned in a question (E7C09 from the Extra question pool, if you care). I’m pretty sure that I learned Hilbert transforms thirty years ago in my Signal Theory class.
I just received an e-mail from Rice President David Leebron explaining the sale of KTRU’s spectrum, transmitter, and antenna to the University of Houston. This will give KUHF two powerful transmitters for their NPR and classical music snoozefest, replacing the eclectic voice of Rice. Leebron pointed out that KTRU’s Arbitron numbers were invisible, that the $9.5 million from the sale would help fund the new East Servery (kitchen), and that the station would continue on the Internet at ktru.org.
I was a KTRU DJ from 1979 to 1981 and I helped install the new antenna on top of Sid Rich that finally got the signal beyond the hedges.
I sent him this reply.
I brought my Mountain Laurel Designs Speedmid to Philmont and my son brought his brand-new Black Diamond Betamid. The Betamid is interesting because it is decently light and probably the least expensive high-quality shelter you can find. A Scout is Thrifty.
We didn’t get a lot of rain, but we did get one good nighttime thunderstorm. Everybody stayed nice and dry.
Here is Mike (on the right) and his Betamid at Apache Springs:
I wanted to like What I Saw And How I Lied, not because of the National Book Award, but because of reviews from people I respect, and also the really fine 40’s, George Hurrell-style cover photo. How could a cover that good be bad?
At Cypher’s Mine camp at Philmont Scout Ranch, they sang a lot of mining songs, including 16 Tons, but the one that came to my mind was Ballad of Springhill about the Springhill mining disaster in 1958. It was written by Peggy Seeger, with some help from Ewan McColl.
Inspired by a fancy peg trowel created by Colin Ibbotson (PDF file from the Wayback Machine archive), I decided to do a somewhat simpler version. Using an SMC snow stake (or “Sno-Stake”), I glued a wine cork in as a handle using silicone seal.
The Commander’s Kitchen cookbook has a section on “krewe meals”, the food they cook for the staff twice a day. I may never make Quail with Crawfish Stuffing, but the krewe meals are home cooking.
I made their Chicken Étouffée this week. Straightforward, though browning the roux after you make the cajun mirepoix required some bold high heat cooking. Instead of “hot sauce to taste” (love that), I used a cayenne pepper that I’d frozen from last year’s organic veggie box. I might back off on the sage next time — two teaspoons dried sage is a lot for one chicken. Still, pretty danged good and the family was happy with it.
They do a clever thing with rice. In addition to some salt and butter (one tablespoon for one cup of rice!), they add two bay leaves. It adds a really nice aroma, more delicate than I expected.
Leo Holub died April 27th, age 93. I didn’t know Leo well, but his student was my teacher, and it is clear that he taught well.
I studied photography for a year with Peter Brown at Rice University. Peter had studied with Leo Holub at Stanford.
One of the fundamental techniques in Cajun food is the “roux.” It isn’t that hard.
This is my own method for a fast roux.
First, realize what you are doing. You are toasting flour in oil. You could probably scrape toast into oil and get mostly the same flavor.
Several years ago, Den 1 of Cub Scout Pack 14 visited the Palo Alto Police Station. I saw this taped to the door of a holding cell in the basement.
Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement.
My big Christmas present was a lightly-used Speedmid tent from Mountain Laurel Designs. It sleeps two people in comfort and weighs under a pound and a half with tent stakes and stuff sack. It uses a single trekking pole as a center pole. There is no floor, so I bring a big sheet of Tyvek (12 oz.) or a single person polycryo groundsheet from Gossamer Gear (2 oz.).
I use a breathable bivy (Ptarmigan from Titanium Goat) in case of condensation or blown rain. I also like to tuck my head inside the bivy when the breeze picks up. The bivy is essential for tarp camping, but I’m not sure it is worth carrying for use inside the Speedmid, even though it is only 7.5 oz.
Here is the tent set up at Eagle’s Aerie campsite in the Sunol Wilderness. It is set up very low to the ground, because we expected wind and rain. In less threatening weather, the tent can be pitched with the edges higher for more ventilation and more room inside.
Most Casual Observer 