Bits and Pieces
Aug. 14th, 2023 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperOzempic is back in stock at our pharmacy, so I went out and picked up the prescriptions for me and Gretchen. This is a good thing.
While driving there, I switched to the Cardinals game on the radio. KMOX has been coming in nicely this summer (other than the usual urban interference), which isn't abnormal for a clear channel 50,000 watt broadcaster, although getting a good signal early in the evening in the summer is not always something you can count on. And then I thought about it for a moment and realized that we are somewhere around the solar maximum, so the ionosphere is nicely recharged and prepared to bounce AM radio signals with high efficiency. If I were more motivated, I'd hook the old shortwave radio up to an antenna and see which of the international broadcasters are still there to pick up.
I am not sufficiently motivated.
The Cardinals are probably motivated, but this didn't stop them from coughing up the lead before I got home.
School resumes tomorrow, so both kids will be out of the house again. This has not been a common phenomenon this summer. K is still planning to go see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, but it looks like that's going to be on a weekend.
The new monitors in the office are working ok, but are not a cure for the eyestrain problem. Maybe an improvement, though. We'll see.
A shipment arrived from the mint carrying proof specimens of the 2023 Morgan and Peace silver dollars. In case you missed the news, the mint started minting these again for the 2021 anniversary and the issue turned out to be way more popular than they had anticipated, so they are doing this as an ongoing thing. Looking at the proof of the Peace dollar I am struck by just how pretty a coin this is. Maybe not as nice as the way-more-money-than-I-want-to-pay-for-one St. Gaudens 20 dollar gold piece, but a darn sight more affordable.
K has become hooked on White Collar after reading a Batman / White Collar crossover fanfic. She binges faster than we do, but it will take her a while to catch up to us. Maybe not that long, but the start of school will slow her down.
That's probably enough for now.
While driving there, I switched to the Cardinals game on the radio. KMOX has been coming in nicely this summer (other than the usual urban interference), which isn't abnormal for a clear channel 50,000 watt broadcaster, although getting a good signal early in the evening in the summer is not always something you can count on. And then I thought about it for a moment and realized that we are somewhere around the solar maximum, so the ionosphere is nicely recharged and prepared to bounce AM radio signals with high efficiency. If I were more motivated, I'd hook the old shortwave radio up to an antenna and see which of the international broadcasters are still there to pick up.
I am not sufficiently motivated.
The Cardinals are probably motivated, but this didn't stop them from coughing up the lead before I got home.
School resumes tomorrow, so both kids will be out of the house again. This has not been a common phenomenon this summer. K is still planning to go see the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, but it looks like that's going to be on a weekend.
The new monitors in the office are working ok, but are not a cure for the eyestrain problem. Maybe an improvement, though. We'll see.
A shipment arrived from the mint carrying proof specimens of the 2023 Morgan and Peace silver dollars. In case you missed the news, the mint started minting these again for the 2021 anniversary and the issue turned out to be way more popular than they had anticipated, so they are doing this as an ongoing thing. Looking at the proof of the Peace dollar I am struck by just how pretty a coin this is. Maybe not as nice as the way-more-money-than-I-want-to-pay-for-one St. Gaudens 20 dollar gold piece, but a darn sight more affordable.
K has become hooked on White Collar after reading a Batman / White Collar crossover fanfic. She binges faster than we do, but it will take her a while to catch up to us. Maybe not that long, but the start of school will slow her down.
That's probably enough for now.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-15 08:17 am (UTC)Not many unfortunately. However if your receiver can decode SSB transmissions there are lots of Ham stations taking advantage of the happy ionosphere. (Normally Upper sideband above 10MHz and lower below that)