"Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and
"Tech Topics Smorgasbord"
are all manifestations of my rantings on various subjects relevant (usually) to
the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:
1/2 the World's New Buildings are Built in China (source: Popular Science, 8/07)
China has built the equivalent of the U.S. highway system in a decade, and has surpassed the U.S. to become the world's #1 emitter of green
house gases. By 2025, 400M Chinese will move from the countryside to the cities - the largest migration in world history. China is seeing a
10% increase in GDP each year - 2x that of the U.S. during the DotCom boom. It adds the electricity use of Norway to its grid every year. China
last year produced 2.3B tons of coal, more than the U.S. and Russia combined. China made 8% of world's emissions in 1980, up to 18% by 2004.
It is home to 7 of the world's 10 dirtiest metropolises.
Top Countries for Cybercrime - 2007 (source: Forbes)
1
United States
2
China
3
Brazil
4
Russia
5
Sweden
6
Ukraine
7
U.K.
8
India
9
Germany
Gadgets Taken on Vacation this Summer (source: Electronics Design)
Cellphone
31%
Laptop Computer
17%
iPod/MP3 Player
12%
GPS Device
11%
BlackBerry
2%
Portable DVD Player
1%
Sorry folks, but Labor Day is here and summer is now over.
Science & Engineering Ph.Ds Awarded in 2005
(source: Popular Science)
Officials at Nepal Airlines, Nepal's state-run airline, have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following
technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft.
The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft at Nepal's international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions,
an official said.
Everybody wins here: They avoid costly maintenance procedures and pass the savings on to you.
10-1-2007
Windows Up or Down?
A study published by
Duke Energy purports to put to rest
the debate over whether it is more efficient to drive with your car windows down w/o the AC on, or to roll them up and run the AC.
The verdict:
AC off = better mileage
AC on = worse mileage
As with most rules of thumb, there are exceptions, like for highly streamlined sports cars whose aerodynamic
efficiency depends on the total body configuration.
Top Social Networking Site Growth June 06-07 (source: Nielsen//NetRatings)
YouTube
162%
Facebook
110%
Six Apart TypePad
54%
Myspace
30%
Blogger
30%
Win. Live Spaces
8%
Classmates
-1%
Yahoo! Groups
-8%
MSN Groups
-18%
AOL Hometown
-32%
Think Your Electric Utility Bills Are Shocking? (source:
USA Today)
Following deregulation and lifting of rate freezes, one couple in St. Louis, IL, got
a bill for $1,024.31, up from $172 a few months earlier. This is happening all over the country. Here are some recent rate increases:
State
Change from 2002 to 2006
Texas
57.7%
Mass.
55.6%
Conn.
53.2%
Rhode I.
47.9%
Florida
36.8%
Delaware
33.6%
D.C.
23.8%
U.S. Avg.
23.3%
It is a good thing for the bureaucrats that this is not figured into inflation numbers.
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling
2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed
formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit
design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at
the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps
while typing up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got
Mail" when a new message arrived...
All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images
and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged.
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