"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:
Brian May,
guitarist for the rock group Queen, just completed a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the Imperial College, London, where he began studies 40 years
ago. His thesis: "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud."
John Cleese,
of the Monty Python show and films, earned a law degree from Cambridge. Bill Cosby earned a Ph.D. in education from UMass Amherst. "The Man from
U.N.C.L.E." star Robert Vaughn holds a Ph.D. in
communications from USC. Actor and former senator Fred Thompson hold a law degree from Vanderbilt. William Sanderson, aka Larry of "Larry,
Darryl and Darryl" fame from the Newhart Show, has a law degree from Memphis State.
1-14-2008
2007 The Year in Numbers source: the Enquirer) (no, not THAT Enquirer
399 Dollars wanted by Amazon.com to buy Kindle e-book reader.
271 The total value of semiconductor revenues in billions of dollars this year, according to iSuppli.
154 Current Intel market capitalization in billions of dollars.
74 Number of days it took Apple to sell one million iPhones.
19.6 Current nVIDIA market capitalization in billions of dollars.
13 Age at which Nick Ciarelli started ThinkSecret site (closed recently following a legal dispute
with Apple).
11 Number of companies acquired by Oracle in 2007.
1 Rating of AMD's Hector Ruiz in ranks of best-paid semiconductor bosses.
1-1-2008
Perks Received in 2007 (source: Electronic Design)
Healthcare
67%
401(k) Match
65%
Time Off
39%
Training
23%
Pension
24%
Stock Options
19%
Stock Purchase
17%
Tuition Reimburse
19%
Prof. Org. Dues
16%
Cellphone
13%
Company Car
6%
Health Club
8%
Sabbatical
3%
Daycare
1%
1-8-2008
Considering Changing Jobs in 2008? (source: Electronic Design)
Top Reasons for Seeking New Opportunities in 2007:
Top States for Federal Procurement Spending (2005, per capita) (source: U.S. Census Bureau)
$22,892
District of Columbia
$5,104
Virginia
$3,908
Maryland
$3,637
Alaska
$3,324
New Mexico
$2,675
Connecticut
$1,881
Alabama
$1,824
Hawaii
$1,807
Arizona
$1,621
Massachusetts
12-11-2007
Top Patent Producing States for 2006 (source: USPTO)
Total Patents Awarded
25,039
California
6,716
Texas
6,406
New York
4,368
Massachusetts
4,178
Michigan
4,053
Illinois
3,627
New Jersey
3,620
Washington
3,291
Ohio
3,268
Minnesota
3,261
Florida
3,186
Pennsylvania
2,536
Oregon
2,349
Colorado
2,232
North Carolina
12-2-2007
GPS-Enabled Cellphones Now Required Equipment
Waaaay back in the mid 1980s, colleges started requiring students to buy a PC - usually a model dictated by the school
(for compatibility - we did not always have Windows). This caused quite a concern for many who did not want to spend $2k or more
for something a $5 slide rule and a $1 pen could do. My alma matter, UVM, mandated an ATT 6300
and an IBM dot matrix printer (cannot recall the model). Total bill - $3,500. Yup, in 1987 dollars. Today, computers are issued at birth and
most kids cannot use a pen, never mind a slide rule. Someday, people will look back and
have the same memories of this announcement in today's news about Montclair State University (NJ) requiring all students to carry GPS-enabled cellphones. The cost: $420 a year for a base
plan, which is bundled into the tuition bill.
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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