Spring Fever

As I sit here, debating on whether to stir up something again, watching the rain, I keep wondering, is it almost spring yet?  Well, it certainly feels like it might be trying.  The buttercups are blooming, but I have seen them covered in snow, so that's no indication.  I am so ready for tee shirts, and grass cutting.  OK, my mind suddenly went blank, and all I can think about is fishing.  As much as I would love to stir up some controversy, I'm afraid that I can't think of anything important right now.  Sorry I bothered you.  Go back to what you were doing on Facebook.

To Err is Human?

To err, is human, what does that mean?  It means we all make mistakes, because we are human.  Ok, some of us are human, and some of us have Chimpanzee's in our family tree.  That is literal by the way.  Look it up.  This is about making mistakes and learning from them.  It is said that we learn more from our mistakes, than from our successes.  In fact it has been said so often, and by so many people, that it must be correct.  I must admit, that I myself have failed quite a few times.  I did learn from experience, that somethings are better replaced, than repaired; while other things can be repaired numerous times without loosing their integrity.  Classic cars, model trains, watches, even people.  It is amazing the number of vital organs a human can live without, or with only a partial organ.  Artificial limbs, joints, bones, brains...oh, wait...We haven't gotten quite that far yet.  Proper Medical Care should be available to all who need it, no matter what.  I said MEDICAL CARE, not INSURANCE!  We should do everything in our power to insure that every human being on this planet, is provided the absolute top of the line health care.  Again, not insurance, but care!  We have the technology to make people healthy, but we choose to allow only the privileged to actually be healthy.  Our Government allows poisonous chemicals to be sold in every store on ever corner, but we don't dare give people on Medicare dental care.  We allow them to buy insurance.  Insurance is for things that are unexpected. It is not for things which we know will happen!  You can't buy insurance for a lot of things.  (Thus the pre-existing condition clause)  If you live in a sub-standard dwelling, you can not buy insurance for it because it it high risk.  Well you could but if you had that kind of money you wouldn't be living in a sub-standard dwelling would you?  [ramble] Ok, back to my point.  Some things should be replaced instead of trying to fix them.  Medical, Dental, and Eye Care INSURANCE, should be replaced!  It should be replaced by HUMAN STANDARD CARE!  That's right, we are not pieces of human beings, we are whole human beings, the sum of all our parts.  If parts are missing they should be replaced by the best medical technology that we have to offer, at NO CHARGE!  Who pay's for this, you ask?  We all do.  Every single working person in the world.  I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about GLOBAL Health Care.  Why do some suffer and die, with no food, or clean water, no shelter.  Not because they are lazy, or sick, or injured.  No, because they are poor!  They don't live in a place where you can make money sitting on your butt, writing computer games.  They live in a place where disease, and malnutrition are a daily way of life.  Some of these people live right here in the U.S. It's high time we stop trying to fix our mistakes, and try something new.  Health Care Reform is a joke.  Throw the whole system out and start over.  Better to try and fail several times, than to continue to patch up something that is falling down around our heads.  If we can grow a human ear on a rats back, we can grow new teeth in a toothless man.  If we can sent men to space to fix television satellites, then we can send a sick man to a doctor, who wants to help him, because it's the right thing to do.  Is entertainment more important, than the life of any man, woman or child.  If so we should euthanize the sick and injured like we do with stray dogs. Is your country poor from over population, then spay and neuter the population so they don't reproduce.    Drastic you say?  Yes, it is!  We are a race of beings created in the Image of God!  Let's start being a little more like God, and answer the prayers of the sick and infirmed.  Yes, we can.  We DO have the technology, we can rebuild the world.  We have to start somewhere.  For those of you who volunteer to help others, at the cost of your own safety, and lives, I salute you!  If we all felt that way, there would be no hunger, no sickness, no homeless, and no war.  The gift of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, should be the goal of all men.  And by men, I mean the human race!  This does not apply to those of you, who are still living in the stone age, but we will try to help you.  (When you grow a brain, or we figure out how to fix the one you have now)

You might be a Ham if...

You Might Be (and Probably Are)

an Amateur Radio Operator, If:

1. You have bought black electrical tape in ten packs.

2. You have stripped wire with your teeth.

3. You have told your child, "One day, all this will be yours," and he or she did not respond at all.

4. You would rather help another Ham friend to hook up new equipment, or to put up a new tower, than to mow your own lawn.

5. You have grabbed the wrong end of a hot soldering iron.

6. You have gotten an RF burn from your own antenna.

7. You have given out RST reports while you were on the telephone.

8. When the microphones or visual aids at a meeting did not work, you rushed up to the front to fix them.

9. You have told the XYL, when she noticed a new rig in the shack, "Why, that has been there for years."

10. You have set your watch to UTC only.

11. You have had to patch your roof after an antenna project fell onto it.

12. You have put a GPS tracker in the XYL's car or on the riding mower, just so you could watch it on APRS.

13. You have tapped out "CQ" or "HI" on the car horn in Morse Code to another Ham.

14. Your teenager has refused to ride in your car because it looks like a porcupine.

15. You know the Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation of your home QTH.

16. You have gone into the local Radio Shack store, and the store clerk has asked you where something is and how it works.

17. You have answered the telephone with your call sign, and then finished the conversation with "73" and your call sign.

18. You have looked for antennas, radios, and Morse Code in movies and television shows.

19. When you look at anything made of wire or metal tubing, you wonder if it could be used as an antenna.

20. Your call sign is listed on one or more of your hats, T-shirts, or other garments.

21. You regularly carry one or more tools in your pockets at any given time.

22. When any kinds of batteries go on sale, you get really excited.

23. When you look at a barbecue grill, it creates ideas about ground plane antennas.

24. You have designated all your friends as Hams or Non-Hams.

25. You have referred to your Ham friends by their call sign suffixes instead of their real names.

26. You have intentionally confused Non-Hams by telling them that the only things you talk about on the air are pork products.

27. You have intentionally scared Non-Hams with the word "RADIATION"!

28. You have looked at telephone poles and power line towers as potential antenna supports.

29. You have thought you were still hearing CW, SSB, or SSTV tones, even when your Ham radio was off.

30. Your Go-Bag has more clothes in it than your dresser does.

31. You have a SKYWARN sticker on your back window.

32. Your significant other sits in the back seat, and your radios ride in the front.

33. Your neighbors wonder if you are a "Narc" (narcotics officer), a Spy, or a Federal Agent.

34. The cops pull you over because they want to see the inside of your car.

This one is actually being done by Tim Clark, KB4RPV:

35. Your cell-phone's ring tone is your Ham radio call sign, sent in Morse Code (seehttp://www.planetofnoise.com/midi/morse2mid.php).