I’ve got to show you the Jet-Man, a guy who flew a jet-powered wing for four minutes and topping 180 knots at points. Its an incredible ride!
Yves Rossy is a brave man. Yessir.
(Thanks, Mike!)
November 15, 2007
Plasma Antennas
Someone sent me this interesting news snippet:
A new antenna made of plasma (a gas heated to the point that the electrons are ripped free of atoms and molecules) works just like conventional metal antennas, except that it vanishes when you turn it off. The antenna design being presented at next week’s APS Division of Plasma Physics meeting in Orlando consists of gas-filled tubes reminiscent of neon bulbs. The physicists presenting the design propose that an array of many small plasma elements could lead to a highly versatile antenna that could be reconfigured simply by turning on or off various elements.
(EurekAlert! 12NOV07)
The announcement also made Slashdot.
A dozen years ago I was daydreaming of a “virtual” antenna, where some sort of field could be projected that would capture radio waves. I was thinking more of the magnetic variety, but plasma certainly fits the bill.
Interesting how the announcement touts its use in stealth transmissions. That’s not really an issue now with the ease of hiding transmissions made to satellites.
Bellsouth $10 DSL up and running
I got my Bellsouth $10 DSL up and running today with relatively little hassle. The “Sprint 660” DSL modem I purchased from Craigslist works just fine, too, in spite of not appearing on Bellsouth’s supported list of equipment.
I spent a little time at first just sorting out where my wiring goes in my house. I’ve got VoIP phones everywhere and so these “virtual” phone lines can be hard to tell apart from the real one. Once I found a good jack to use, I plugged in my DSL filters on my real phone line and cranked up my DSL modem.
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Back from Annapolis
Day two of training yesterday didn’t go as smoothly as the first day, and part of it is my fault. We were trying a new method of training (aside from the new trainer: me), and I didn’t test every aspect of the new environment. If I had, I would’ve discovered some tools were missing that we needed to use. I didn’t build the environment, but I am responsible for making sure it works and I didn’t do that. Fortunately we worked around it and everyone seemed to appreciate the new approach, warts and all.
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