Government Funds
as Share of Gross
Expenditures for R&D: 1990-2004
(source: NSF) |  This chart from the National Science Foundation profoundly illustrates a couple disturbing facts.
1) Overall trends in government-funded R&D is declining worldwide.
2) Throughout the 1990s, the U.S. dropped off faster than the rest of the 1st world nations. Fortunately, some upward swing is apparent - particularly in the U.S. since 2001. Too bad it took a terrorist attack to shock us back on track. |
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7-24-2008 World's 1st Superconductor Transmission Lines
Put into Service
(source: IEEE Spectrum) |  With the help of American Superconductor and the DOE, Long Island Power Authority commissioned the world's first high-temperature superconductor power transmission cable system to be used in a commercial power grid. The three 138 kV cables can handle 150x the current of similarly sized copper wires. These 1st-generation cables are costly, mainly because the wires are coated with silver. Testing has just begun on a second-generation cable coated with copper, which cost about 1/5 as much. |
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7-17-2008 | EDN 2007 Survey
How Long Have You Been an Engineer?
(source: EDN) | The current RF Cafe Poll asks about the same topic EDN's poll (truly a coincidence). EDN results are based on 1,201 usable replies, at a 95% confidence level, error margin of ±2.8%. EDN's survey was global, as is RF Cafe's. RFC's higher % of new engineers could be due to their accessing the site's vast resources that newbies tend to be looking for - how-to articles, component vendors, tech headlines, forums, nerd entertainment, etc.| Years | EDN% | RFC% | | <2 | 5 | 22 | | 2-5 | 8 | 19 | | 6-10 | 13 | 10 | | 11-15 | 14 | 8 | | 16-20 | 13 | 9 | | >20 | 48 | 33 |
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7-10-2008 California to Ban Metallic Mylar Balloons
(source: LA Times) | | Never mind the dangers of your kid inhaling or swallowing a balloon, the real danger apparently lies in the potential for one of those evil devices to escape from the grip of little Johnny's paw and floating into a power line. About 200 instances of balloon-caused outages occurred in California in 2007. According to a PG&E spokesman, "They are a major public safety concern for us." The bureaucratic answer - Ban Them! Brooklyn, NY is experiencing the same phenomenon; surely other states are affected. Remember the 1984 Olympics? Maybe there should be an emergency meeting of Congress to implement an nationwide ban on Mylar balloons. While they are at it, maybe they should also ban squirrels, black bears, and kites. |
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7-3-2008 | Top 50 Websites
in 2007
(source: Website Magazine) | | 1 | Google.com | | 2 | MSN.com | | 3 | Yahoo.com | | 4 | Live.com | | 5 | YouTube.com | | 6 | Microsoft.com | | 7 | AOL.com | | 8 | eBay.com | | 9 | MySpace.com | | 10 | Google.co.uk | | 11 | Passport.com | | 12 | Wikipedia.org | | 18 | Facebook.com | | 19 | Amazon.com | | 30 | Weather.com | | 33 | Craigslist.org | | 38 | CartoonNetwork.com | | 40 | Walmart.com | | 49 | CareerBuilder.com | | 50 | Apple.com | | ?? | RFCafe.com |
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7-3-2008 EDN 2007 Annual Base
Salary Change Survey
(source: EDN) | Samples represent Canada & the U.S.
19% of respondents were management. The overall average was a 3.5% increase in pay.| Portion | Salary Change | | 2% | >20% | | 5% | 10-20% | | 4% | 8-10% | | 4% | 6-8% | | 15% | 4-6% | | 41% | 2-4% | | 12% | <2% | | 14% | 0% | | 2% | Pay Cut |
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6-19-2008 | Can You Say,
"Friis Equation?" | Most RF engineers are familiar with the Friis equation, which predicts the received power level. Harald T. Friis, born in Naestved, Denmark, is its namesake. Just as with "Fresnel" (Fresnel zone), many people do not know the proper pronunciation of "Friis" - I did not. So, I asked a native Dane, Jørgen Jakob Friis, how he pronounces the name. He responded with actual audio files of him speaking H.T. Friis' name and hometown.  Friis
Harald T. Friis Naestved Many thanks to Jørgen for his assistance! |
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6-12-2008 The Etymology
of "Magnet"
(source: Wikipedia) |  The word "magnet" comes from the Greek "magnítis líthos" (μαγνήτης λίθος), which means "Magnesian stone," since its origin is from the Magnesia region of Greece. Magnetic magnetite is an iron ore native to the area. Also derived from Magnesia are the names of elements magnesium and manganese. Phillips' Milk of Magnesia (magnesium hydroxide) is a name familiar to many (unfortunately) with roots in its namesake.
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6-7-2008 |
Kirt
