Author: Paul

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Getting Serious about HD TV Reception

HD TV was still in the future for us when we moved here in 2003.  I bought a 1st generation Sony rear-projection LCD set capable of receiving HD digital signals and a WIneguard flat-wave model antenna to install in the attic after the first HD broadcasts started around the Denver area in the 2006 time-frame.  

That worked well for a couple years until the trees in front of the house started blocking it.  Then I went for a small RCA omni-directional mounted outside the front of the house and a little higher.  It did OK for awhile, being able to see SW somewhat better and also get signals from the northwest out of Ft. Collins and Cheyenne.  Eventually that also became problematic as the trees in front soon blocked reception from every direction.  The only solution was to go bigger and higher.

Third time’s a charm as they say – Wineguard HD8200U Long Range HDTV Antenna:

HD8200U-1   HD8200U-2  HD8200U-3
HD8200U-4  HD8200U-5  HD8200U-6
HD8200U-7  HD8200U-8  HD8200U-9

It’s able to peek around the corner of the neighbor’s house from that position and the reception is relatively amazing.  It’s obviously directional, so Denver only, but we never watched the stations from up north anyway.  Fox and CBS have the only decent HD content att.

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The "D" is Finished (not!)

At the end of the 2nd row starts the pics from the D’s water meth install:

335D Pics

I think it worked out really well.  Total parts bill came to around $200.  The hardest part of the whole project was finding the right tank that would hold at least a couple of gallons and tuck into the rear quarter trunk area without taking up too much space.  eBay came through again with that as well as a very nice stainless medical-grade gear pump that seems to match up with the chosen nozzle quite well.  The pump was only $50 so I got two to have a spare, but doubt I’ll ever need it.  I suspect they probably cost hospitals using them in dialysis machines a few more bucks than that. The most time-consuming portion of the work was fashioning the pump mount bracket.  It had to be hand-crafted from scratch, pseudo-forged with oxy-acetylene from a muffler clamp and steel strap rounded to match the inner fender curve it’s bolted to.  Activation is achieved with a simple boost switch grounding the pump at around 20psi.  There’s a power cutoff switch in the cabin by the trunk release in case it ever runs low away from a water source.

Initial road testing was done with the feed line running into a gallon jug in the cabin.  This way I was able to easily determine boost switching behavior.  I guessed setting it at 20psi might be close to what it needed and that was a good guess.  it comes on at anything more than modest acceleration but does not engage at cruise on the highway until about 85mph on level terrain.  That probably equates to something like a 10-20% duty cycle for typical driving, running enough to hopefully keep the intake clean and providing a little kick and cooling when needed.  Consumption is coming in right where I wanted it on the Aurora commute at about a 2-1 fuel/water fill-up ratio, or consuming a gallon of water-meth per tank of fuel in typical driving.

With the JBD fueling chip now also re-installed and adding another 90hp, the car should be running over 350hp and well over 500ft/lbs torque.  My butt dyno confirms these figures, and the “D” is now a real sleeper corvette-killer.  Roll-on thrust at highway speeds above 70mph is just phenomenal.  The best part is the CCV and water/meth injection mods should keep carbon buildup at bay in the future.  The W/M adds maybe another 20hp over the “on paper” 350hp guess derived from the factory rating + 90hp in additional JBD fuel.  It’s only one small nozzle, but seems well-matched to the 3.0L powerplant.
Only a Motorguard bypass oil filter remains to complete the D’s planned mods. I have a Cat fuel-water separator I’d like to put upstream of the factory unit, but cannot yet see a way to do that.

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The Metro Travel Era Begins

I can’t remember how many times cruising through Buckley AFB on our way to the Commissary I pointed to the radomes and mentioned to Michelle and the girls how I started my career there back in 1983 and would probably end up working there again some day.  That prophesy comes true next Tuesday.  Despite being based in Boulder from the Lockheed perspective, the customer (USAF) is at Buckley, and that’s where much of the work gets done.

Today I’ll wind my way clear across the entire Denver metro expanse west-to-east as I drive from Boulder to the downtown Denver VA hospital for a coronary CT scan.  Then I’ll swing by Buckley out on the east side to pick up prescriptions, do a little shopping then head home.  Should end up being a very long day, clocking around 120 miles on the “D.”  Starting Tuesday the daily work commute will be to Buckley and back, about an hour / 40 miles each way, as we integrate the latest and greatest software for the Air Force.  I only hope this phase of the operation doesn’t last too long.

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Decisions, Decisions

I was almost hoping Lockheed would make the decision to retire for me, but that didn’t happen.  It’s just as well I suppose, because I have about run out of near-term doable projects that interest me.  A water/meth system has been in development for the 335D for several months now.  I have all the parts, did custom pump mods and even mocked up the tank install, but it’s like I’m just getting lazy about the vehicles these days or something.

The New Yorker is a fine driver as is.  Complete restoration along with building the spare 440/727 must wait for retirement, because I believe that is just too much to properly tackle while working full time.  There’s no place to plant anything else around the house, I’m not finishing the basement and the pond was the final landscaping piece:

Fred0204.jpg  Fred0205.jpg  Fred0206.jpg  Fred0207.jpg  Fred0208.jpg  Fred0209.jpg

Guess I’ll just keep working a couple more years and see what happens…

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My VA Saga Continues

What would you think if you called your doctor’s office a week after getting a CT scan to diagnose a coronary artery disease condition and the nurse who answered the phone could not give any update or status on the topic whatsoever – even after placing you on hold while she attempted to contact the radiology and cardiology departments trying to track down the matter?  That’s exactly what happened to me yesterday when I called VA Easter Colorado Healthcare.  OBTW, I was on hold for ALMOST AND HOUR to begin with.  Sheeeesh.

Had a scary episode and evening in the Lafayette Good Samaritan ER 2 April after experiencing significant chest pains.  Then I went back and forth with the Denver VA nursing corps attempting to determine if I actually required any medical care at all.  Saw my VA doc in Denver back on the 5th of May for what amounted to the initial consultation on what appears to be some sort of cardiovascular condition.  Now coming up on four months later, I’ve so far had two of what will probably end up being three or four total diagnostic tests before they determine if anything needs done.

At this point we don’t even have a preliminary diagnosis.

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CT Scan Results

…or not, as t’were.  Saw one of the big round X-Ray machines at the Denver VA hospital again for a coronary CT scan last Tuesday.  It’s unbelievable how many X-rays I’ve had for joint and heart problems in the past three years.  If the Coronary condition doesn’t kill me, radiation-induced cancer probably will.  So a week later and no word about the scan from the VA.  Wonder if they are reeling from recent fiascos.  Hopefully no news is good news…

I started taking Lodine again, with nitro at the ready.  After 10 days on it I do feel better joint-wise, but can also feel an increase in circulatory congestion in terms of upper chest discomfort, compared to the OTC Naproxin anti-inflammatory.  No acute episodes yet.  I suppose I will call them tomorrow and see if anyone has any update information.  Maybe I’m just a normal 55 year-old hypochondriac.

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Fun Time at Coors Field

Took Phoebe to a Rockies game yesterday.  Thought it might get rained out, but fortunately just another typical fast-moving thunderstorm we see here regularly all summer long.  Also met up with most of the Lockheed gang I work with for a little offsite unwind.  Of course the Rocks lost, but it was fun playing the RBI game and Phoebe got to meet some of my new work friends.  All in all a great time with daughter #1, becoming fewer and farther apart all the time.

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Mom's in a New Bimmer

After the 335D fiasco described earlier, it became apparent we had become a 3-car family.  The trucks and the ’71 New Yorker don’t really count in the transportation equation, since the women either cannot or will not drive them for one reason or another.  Things get a little dicey with one car in the shop and two teenage girls driving and needing to go wherever it is they go to do whatever it is they do.  Francie’s volleyball schedule is starting to heat up again and Phoebe is away more than home these days.  I’ve lost track of those going’s-on for the most part lately.  Ignorance can be as they say, bliss.

So we took advantage of Gebhardt’s end-of-model-year lease campaign and Michelle is now driving a 328 X-Drive Sportline.  It’s a pretty sweet car she can safely drive in the snow, unlike the 335D.  It also should be the first vehicle we’ve ever had around here I do not have to deal with at all, from a maintenance perspective.  I’m going to enjoy the hell out of that, even if I never again set foot in the new Bimmer for the next three years!

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Night and Day

Submitting to the onerous drudgery of IKONOS satellite operations for almost nine years was both a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, it was easy.  OTOH, it was boring.  Sure, learning the new system and meeting new people was fun for the first couple of years.  But after that it settled into a never-changing routine of mind-numbing repetition.  Integration engineering on the SBIRS program is a night and day difference – interesting, fast-paced and actually fun for someone with the inclination to do it.

SBIRS is an incredibly complex system of systems.  So much so, it almost defies comprehension, to me at least.  As such, helping to integrate the bits and pieces to form a seamless product we can use to effectively exploit this amazing ISR asset for our national command authorities and warfighters can obviously be a challenging endeavor.  It’s important work and still early in the new environment for me, but I’m already certain I’m going to like it much better.

The best part for me so far is just having the opportunity to work with a larger, more diverse group.  Sitting in a room full of computers with one or two other guys for hours on end babysitting a little space-faring camera robot gets old real quick.  This program should not have that drawback.

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Pleasant Summer (so far…)

Temperatures will be in the high 90’s today with little chance of rain and alot of sun.  I’m cool with that, as t’were – no pun intended!  We had a mild wet, spring and early summer.  There was a good, soaking rain here in Frederick just a few days ago and things are really green’d up well this year for a change.  I still wonder if climate change isn’t going to turn this place into a rain forest in another hundred years.

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Back to the Mother Ship

Lockheed has a ton of business going on in the greater Denver Metro area: United Launch Alliance, Coherent Technologies, Space Systems, SBIRS, DISA and numerous other commercial and government contracting activities – not to mention the one I just left -a tiny drop in the Lockheed bucket, as t’were. SBIRS is one of the larger DoD programs, exceeded only by GPS in terms of government dollars budgeted to the space world.

After a week on the new SBIRS job in Boulder, all I can say is I am sooooo glad to be back!

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Final Thought on Ikonos

The Ikonos program proved to be a very successful, pioneering advance for the country’s space imaging business, not surprisingly originally named “Space Imaging,” as it was spun off from Lockheed.  Despite the 1st vehicle’s launch failure, Ikonos2 went on to produce imaging products for hundreds of customers around the world and provide an invaluable source of ISR material for our nation’s warfighters.  It was a key enabler for recovery efforts in countless man-made and natural disasters among many, many other successful endeavors utilizing it’s products.  Ikonos continues in that role now approaching 15 years on orbit and for that, everyone ever involved with the program can be proud.  My only reservation is leaving a very viable asset going to waste as DigitalGlobe shuffles it into the background of low priority and neglect.

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Adversarial Security Attitudes

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That old saying rings true for me today during one of my last few day in the customer facility on the Ikonos program. Back in the day, systems security and the people running those programs were generally seen as impediments to be tolerated, humored and avoided at best, productivity killers and adversaries to be vanquished at worst. These days, with all the advanced security technology available – encryption, monitoring, vast databases of security-relevant information on all nature of things – we still have not attained the ability to effectively manage security. Case in point…

The 3-letter business customers (NGA & DSS) have recently become alarmed at an increasing frequency of violations reported to them for carrying personally owned electronic devices into the closed areas. Additional training was ordered, cheesy audible warnings appear at the doors including clumsy keypad covers and of course, the threat of harsher consequences including device confiscation, ostensibly for the purpose of examination to clear the electronic violator of any wrongdoing. Swing-and-a-miss, strike one.

A portion of the training contains a missive from the local DSS rep about how staffing and budget issues prevent addressing the problem from a technical standpoint. There are too many different dangerous devices out there and they just don’t have the time, people or money to come up with a real technical solution to this problem. So the only way to deal with it is just say no. Put the onus on the users once again, and make it hurt. Strike 2!

In all the hubbub surrounding this fiasco, I wonder who considered the simple fact that for every violation reported to them, probably 10 or more go unreported? How often do you think Joe Blow or Suzy Schmoe is tapping away at their workstation in there when they realize their cellphone is still in their pocket and they suddenly feel the urge to go to the bathroom? Strike 3 – you’re out!

The more things change the more they stay the same. That’s one reason why I’m getting out of the security business, professionally at least.  I have the background to be the safest, most secure user any white-hat could ever wish for.  But I’m taking the hat off now.  Won’t be needing it in my new job and it will very likely be my last.  Interestingly enough, today the Supreme Court ruled on some cellphone cases that now make the Government’s cellphone security quandary even more controversial:

(Justice) Roberts noted in his opinion that cellphones “are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.”

One thing that will never change in the security business is the simple fact that the most dangerous security vulnerability is the one that goes undetected.  Think about that next time you consider punishing users for your inability to get the job done.

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Off to the Mountains

This morning I’m on my way up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the annual camping trip.  It’ll be just me after the first day since the women have finally all three elected to get out of the camping business.  They will come up for the afternoon and a BBQ dinner, then back to the flatland this evening.

Michelle stopped doing any more than one-nighters or day trips about five years ago, and the girls have taken turns skipping a year on-and-off since around that time as well.  What a bunch of spoiled tenderfoot pikers they are!

I’m hoping I’ll be late enough in the season at mid-June to get across the snow field on the upper Fern Lake trail this year.  Water will be very high everywhere due to higher than average snowfall last winter.  Also this year I will be trying out a new site in the Moraine Park campground:  B166.  Should be a good trip.  Looking forward to coming back Friday and steeling myself for my last six Mission Planner shifts to wrap up my portion of the Ikonos ops gig after that.

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Let's Talk Gun Control

Courtesy DNEWTON from BITOG:
Let’s start here:

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats/

It’s also important to understand how the FBI defines “violent crime” for what it is, and isn’t … In the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes are defined in the UCR Program as those offenses which involve force or threat of force, taken from here:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cri…e/violent-crime

Please note that not all violent crime uses firearms, and in fact, the definition is not predicated on the use of any weapon. While predominant, weapons of any sort are not a requirement for quantification of the event in the “violent crime” definition. For example, forcible rape may not have any weapon present at all; it may be achieved by physical brute force. Same goes for “aggravated assault”; physical beatings do not necessitate a weapon, or could be a non-firearm weapon such as a baseball bat. Roberies can also be committed with a knife as well as a gun. Etc, etc. … The thing to understand here is that not all violent crimes encompass a firearm. Firearms are inclusive in the group, but they are not exclusive to other methods of inflicting “violent crime”.

In addition, few folks know about the BJS, which actually has even “better” data:

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=31

There is GREAT data here:

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4616

Did you know that slightly less than 60% (it varies a bit year to year) of ALL gun-related deaths are suicides? Yes – well more than half of ALL deaths caused by firearms are self-inflicted. And of those, the majority are Caucasian elderly men. Suicide is sad to be sure; any loss of life is undesirable. But it kind of puts things in perspective, does it not? If the firearm were not available to the person, they likely would have found another cause to inflict fatal harm.

There are always some notable gun-related crimes that make newsworthy events; typically the school shootings, etc. Often those are committed with guns that were procured legally at least in the first-person cycle. You’d never know it by news promotional standards, but violent crime committed with “assault weapons” is a VERY SMALL fraction of “violent crime”. Super-duper small, in fact.

And what of accidental gun-related deaths? This is one of my favorite topics because it is simply S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G when folks see the math for the reality of what it is. Hold on to your seats, because I’m going to take you on a wild ride here … You are way more likely to die from interaction with the medical profession than you are to be shot to death from an accidental discharge of a weapon. Think I’m wrong? Then you don’t know me well, because data rules in my world; facts are what I live my reality by. Consider these facts:

Doctors:(A) Number of physicians in the US are around 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are 120,000. (This number could be larger according to the AMA article, but I used the conservative number.)
(C) Accidental deaths per physician rate is about 0.171
Statistics courtesy of several sources:

https://www.bls.gov/bls/overview.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

JAMA vol 284, #4; B. Starfield – MD/MPH
Gun Owners:
(A) Number of gun owners are around 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, for all age groups, is 1,500 events. The number of homicides via firearms per year is about 12,000. Suicides account for nearly 57% of all gun deaths, per the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
(C) Accidental deaths per gun owner are .0000187
(D) Intentional deaths per gun handler are .00015
Statistics courtesy of multiple sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046149.htm
http://www.tincher.to/deaths.htm
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/
https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr

Now let’s do the math:

Iatrogenic death divided by accidental gun death = exposure risk factor

.171 / .0000178 = 9144

And so, statistically, the medical profession is approximately 9,000+ times more dangerous than gun owners when you look at accidental deaths. Even if you consider homicide by guns, you are MUCH, MUCH more likely to be killed by a health-care provider than a gun. Homicide (as well as violent crime) has been going down for 20+ years, and does not even make the top 15 causes of death annually in the US! Yet, the third leading cause of death in the U.S. is iatrogenesis! (Iatrogenic causation is that which is induced in a patient by a physician’s action, treatment or therapy.)

– If you fear the thought of going into a theater or restaurant where someone may be carrying a handgun, then you need a serious reality check, because you’re so very much more likely to be killed accidentally by the guys and gals with the stethoscope hanging around their neck than the person with the Colt on their hip or Glock in their purse.

– If you fear that more guns and gun permits means more crime will occur, then you need a serious reality check, because violent crime has been on a downward trend for decades while personal protective rights being exercised have been on the continual rise.

– If you fear that access to guns means more kids will die, then you should really concern yourself with the white, older, man who seeks to end his own life.

– If you fear being a victim of a gun crime and live in an area with very strict gun laws, you should move because you are also statistically in an area with higher crime rates. The states/cities with the tightest gun laws also tend to have higher incidents of gun-related crimes (CA, IL, NY, NJ, MD …).

Use these links to find TRUTH about the topics, and leave the lies and distortion to the media, folks. The best weapon may well be an informed mind!

Thus endeth the lesson in reality.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled rhetoric.