Who is that old guy standing next to Chubby Checker?
Hey, that’s me!
And never will you meet a nicer gentleman than Chubby Checker.
Common’ Baby
Category: General
Microsoft: I am so done with you…
Except for the two applications that only run in Windows…
I lost the use of my Windows 7 partition on my laptop last week after a Windows update. They have been pushing Windows 10 for a while now, but I have ignored it because Windows 7 is just fine for me. I tried to ignore the latest nagging update and: Oh, joy! The computer is stuck in an endless reboot loop. Fortunately, I had a dual boot system and the Linux OS booted right up. Go figure! I was able to mount the Windows partition from Linux and recover all of my files. This is a good reason to have a dual boot system or keep a bootable thumb drive handy. At first, I thought I might be losing sectors on my hard drive, but no. It turns out, one of the files that changed during the update was corrupted. No big deal, I can reload windows and be back in business.
It will only take an hour or so. An hour that could be better used for something else, something akin to billable hours, which is how the mortgage gets paid. My computer is not a hobby, it is a tool. I don’t have time to play around with things for fun.
Then I thought, why bother? I am using Linux with no serious disruptions. In fact, it boots faster, runs faster, is more secure, and generally has fewer hangups. LibreOffice has all of the applications I need for general correspondence and business administration. I can run Win 7 as a virtual machine in VirtualBox as long as I can get the USB device I need to be recognized by Linux and then passed through to the virtual Win 7 OS.
So, to hell with Windows and all its nonsense. Goodbye, you inferior, expensive, and buggy piece of garbage. I will not miss you.
Radio is dead? Don’t tell these guys then…
WXHC in Homer, New York will never be listed on the NY Stock Exchange. Is that bad?
They don’t think so. A small class A FM station, one of many that signed on in the early 1990s as part of the 80-90 drop-ins (FCC docket 80-90, for those unfamiliar). Many of these stations did not fair too well and ended up being absorbed by larger stations and groups starting with the first wave of ownership deregulation in 1993.
WHXC has remained under the same ownership since it signed on in 1991. Eves Broadcasting is a family operation, employing maybe half a dozen people. Their studios and offices are on the third floor of the Bank of Niagara right in the center of town. The facility is very nice. Like any successful radio station, its focus is the community they serve. The format is “Oldies” but they also broadcast high school football, Syracuse sports and so on. They host a yearly Blue Grass festival on the village green.
The air studio has an Arrakis console and uses BSI Simian automation software. They have live DJs from 6 am to 6 pm, local news, weather, sports, etc.
The production room has a BE Spotmaster 8S200A console from 1978. Aside from needing some power supply capacitors, it still works relatively well. However, as the owner’s son said; that thing belongs in a museum.
BE Spotmaster line input card. Probably can still get all these parts if we wanted to.
I forgot to take pictures of the transmitter site when I was there. Next time.
We will be working on several projects for these folks, so I will keep you posted on the progress.
A case for security cameras
I little bit of local awesomeness from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department:
A Patterson (NY) man was committed to the Putnam County Jail in lieu of bail in connection with three separate thefts of copper fixtures from cell communications towers in Patterson and Kent.
The rest can be read here: Man charged with stealing copper from cellphone tower sites
I once got into an argument with my boss about transmitter site security cameras. His attitude was “what difference does it make, nobody will do anything about it anyway.” Clearly, if the police have something to go on, they will take action. I know that several E911 sites in Dutchess and Ulster counties have been victims of copper theft as well.
IP security cameras are inexpensive and fairly reliable, provided you keep them out of the direct elements. We have dozens of old Windows XP computers floating around which, with the addition of a software package like Blue Iris, can be repurposed as a record and save system. The advantage of Blue Iris is the record on motion. The cameras do not need to be monitored continuously; if something happens, go back and look at the stored video.
The old Windows XP boxes do not need to be connected to the outside world unless one wants to look at the security system from the studio or home. Alternatively, if one is Linux savvy, something like Zoneminder or Xeoma look like full featured video surveillance software packages. I have not fooled around with these yet, but perhaps when I have some spare time…
The point is, for not too much money, a full-featured video surveillance system can be installed at remote transmitter sites to keep track of comings and goings. If enough idiots get busted for stealing copper, perhaps it will stop (or at least slow down).