Tech Smorgasbord Archives - 9

RF Cafe University "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:

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An Enigma - or is it a Paradox?

It occurred to me the other day how in mathematics, we define

π radians = 180°

Well, according to Merriam-Webster, the definition of an irrational number (π) is "a number that can be expressed as an infinite decimal with no set of consecutive digits repeating itself indefinitely and that cannot be expressed as the quotient [or fraction] of two integers." A rational number (180) is any number that is not irrational. So have we not declared that an irrational number is equal to a rational number?

Acceptable Gifts for

Foreign Countries

(source: Inc Magazine Aug 2007)

India: Chocolates, dried fruits, sculptures. Present in social setting.

China: Pens, small electronic devices. Nothing white since bad connotations in superstition. Present at social event, offer 3 times.

Brazil: Personal gifts - jewelry, sports mementos. Present in social setting.

Russia: Liquor, what else? (not vodka, though). Gifts not expected in Russia.

Nigeria: Luxury items expected, but who cares? Nigeria is a hub of massive corruption and identity theft. I say give a set of strong handcuffs. Do so in a public setting.

Anyone Know What Kind of Gas Mileage a Prius Gets at 100 MPH?

Mr. Gore's son must not have gotten the memo. Looks like the family will need to purchase a few more carbon offset credits.

Top Mobile Web Domains March 2007 (source: Telephony 5/21/07)
1	US: google.com UK: google.co.uk
2	US: yahoo.com UK: bbc.co.uk
3	US: msn.com UK: orange.co.uk
4	US: microsoft.com UK: three.co.uk
5	US: live.com UK: o2.co.uk
6	US: go.com UK: google.com
7	US: cnn.com UK: mobile-favourites.co.uk
8	US: weather.com UK: ebay.co.uk
9	US: myspace.com UK: msn.com
10	US: passport.net UK: yahoo.com

Top Ranked Engineering Colleges for 2006 (source: graduateshotline.com)
1	Mass. Inst. Tech.
2	Stanford U.
3	U.C. Berkley
4	Cal. Inst. Tech.
5	U. of IL, Urbana
6	Georgia IT
7	U. of Michigan
8	Cornell U.
9	Carnegie Mellon
10	U. of Texas, Austin
15	Princeton U.
19	Harvard U.
24	Johns Hopkins U.
30	Duke U.
31	Rensselaer (RPI)
38	Yale
My alma matter, U. of VT, did not place in the top 50...go figure.

2006 Top Electronics R&D Spenders (source: Electronic Business)
#	Company	%	$M
1	Cadence	31	460
2	Broadcom	31	1117
3	Agere	28	445
4	Maxim	26	481
7	AMD	21	1205
9	AnalogDev	21	537
12	Qualcomm	20	1538
22	STMicro	17	1667
25	Infineon	16	1585
26	Ericsson	16	4080
28	TI	15	2,195
40	Agilent	13	655
57	Motorola	9.6	4106
58	Nokia	9.5	5145
59	Samsung	9.5	6083
87	Murata	7.1	295
93	IBM	6.7	6107
123	EPCOS	5.4	90
214	Tyco	2.2	914
% = % or revenue

2007 Salary Survey (source: Design News)
These results are primarily from mechanical engineers. Overall average is $78k. By comparison, EE Times' 2006 survey showed base of around $76k for EEs.
%	Base Salary Range
2	$150k-250k
3	$130k-$150k
5	$110k-$120k
4	$100k-$100k
9	$90k-$100k
11	$80k-$90k
14	$70k-$80k
18	$60k-$70k
15	$50k-$60k
10	$40k-$50k
2	$30k-$40k

What's Your Internet Speed?
Average download speeds in the U.S., according to the Communications Workers of America:
The Fastest (Mbps)
1	Rhode Island, 5.01
2	Kansas, 4.17
3	New Jersey, 3.68
4	New York, 3.44
5	Massachusetts, 3.00
The Slowest (Mbps)
46	North Dakota, 1.31
47	Iowa, 1.26
48	Wyoming, 1.25
49	West Virginia, 1.12
50	Alaska, 0.55
National Average, 1.97
Other Places (Mbps)
Canada, 7.60 Japan, 61.0
Test Yours Here

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Kirt Blattenberger,

BSEE - KB3UON

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 tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

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