SETI - low hanging fruit next-step idea - active broadcast

I would like to see SETI receive funding and infrastructure to begin actively sending radio transmission broadcasts to candidate star systems, in the hopes of receiving a response.

It seems a low-hanging fruit next step. To try to determine if there are other civilizations out there, that are at or above our level of technological advancement.

It seems it would not be very expensive. I few tens of millions of dollars per year, globally, to "rent" time of radio telescopes that can support being used for broadcasting.

Perhaps, like in the book "Contact" by Segan, the message would simply be continuous wave pulses of counts. Perhaps prime numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, ..., 11. Each pulse one second long, two-seconds between counts. Then recycled.

Ideally science would have a best-guess on radio frequency to use. And have enough participation so that the broadcast power of the signal had a chance to be strong enough to be detected in the target system. And have as many participating transmitters beam to a candidate system for perhaps a week, then move to the next candidate, etc.

Of course, once there had been enough elapsed time for the system to receive the signal and perhaps transmit something back, the 2nd Phase would be to begin surveillance of the systems transmitted to, for a response, after enough years had passed.

It's still a desire, that in my lifetime, that we would discover proof we are not alone in the cosmos.

Tags: 2019, contact, seti

Debian 8 stable == > Debian 9 stable installation

Went to the Debian website. Downloaded the Debian 9 netinst ISO file

Installed the ISO file to a recordable CDROM using brasero

Moved my PC closer to my internet connection. Connected it to the internet using an ethernet cable.

This PC, a Gateway laptop, doesn't have a wifi driver that will allow wifi installation. So it is a two-step process: 1. install via ethernet cable. 2. Install wifi (b43) driver.

Put the netinst CDROM in the CD drive of the PC. Rebooted.

Followed the prompts. Did a default Debian install, kept it simple. A single partition for all the folders (it's a laptop).

...after about two hours...

Success!

Post-installation

Installed aptitude.

Installed sudo.

• as root ran addgroup myUserName sudo
• *** you have to reboot before myUserName can run sudo commands ***

Installed the b43 wifi driver

• as root, updated the /etc/apt/sources.list file to include contrib
• as root, ran aptitude update
• as root, ran aptitude install firmware-b43-installer

Tags: 2019, aptitude, debian, linux, netinst, stable, sudo

Legal recreational cannabis - dispensary resupply run

Goal: cost savings.

Looked at the weedmaps online menu for my favorite trusted dispensary: Cornerstone Collective.

Realized that tincture edibles provided more mg of THC and CBD per dollar.

Wrote down some products and prices, to do my THC:CBD 2:1 ratio regimen.

Went near opening time, just after 10am, which was an excellent choice: they are not too busy in the early morning, so was able to in-and-out quickly.

Showed the salesperson what I had written down, and what I was trying to do (cost savings but still wholesome products with a good reputation).

They brought me two tinctures.

One tincture was Mary's Medicinals THC tincture. Provides 1000mg THC per bottle. Cost was fifty dollars.

The second tincture was Mary's Medicinals CBD tincture. Provides 500mg CBD per bottle. Cost was fifty dollars. The packaging also mentions that one drop provides approximately 2mg of CBD.

With all the taxes, the total purchase price was one hundred and thirty-seven dollars.

Both tincture bottles contain a net of 12.5grams of tincture. So it looks like each Session will be a single drop of liquid from each container.

If I did my math correctly, I will get about two-hundred servings of CBD per bottle, as 2mg is what I usually consume per Session. It seems the THC will be about 4mg per drop, as the concentration of THC is double in its bottle.

So approx two hundred Sessions of 2:1 THC:CBD for one hundred and thirty-seven dollars. Works out to about sixty-nine cents per Session.

Since I currently still only do one Session per night, I should be able to enjoy a great night's sleep for a little over six months, before the need to do another dispensary resupply run

EDIT 2019-04-06

Changed the amount of THC tincture I consume. Now am having two drops of the THC tincture with one drop of the CBD tincture. Seems one drop of the THC tincture was not enough to prevent waking up pre-dawn too many days this last week.

With two drops of THC tincture combined with one drop of CBD tincture consumed around 8pm, sleep onset is around 10p to 11p, usually waking up around 6am or so.

Tags: 2019, california, cannabis, cbd, cornerstone collective, legal, recreational, thc, tincture, weedmaps

2011 Honda Pilot - oil change

New Purolator oil filter and 4.5qts Valvoline 5w20 oil.

Oil change procedure lives at https://mrflash818.livejournal.com/116953.html.

Odometer at 99,886miles

Tags: 2011, 2019, honda, pilot

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Sci-fi

Aliens have visited and left spots on earth. They left Artifacts the people try to study and understand.

Liked it

Reminded me of the vibe from "The Man in the Maze" by Robert Silverburg

Tags: 2019, book, books

Geek-friendly (hopefully) places to apply to, for my Next Job

JPL/Nasa

Movie studios - WB, Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony, etc

Entertainment companies - ABC, NBC, etc

Tags: 2019, jobs, work

timediff - c++ version - using with gnu date

The gnu date command give the current date on the computer system. The --iso-8601 parameter tells date to provide in the YYYY-MM-DD format

robert@pip2:/tmp$ date
Sun Feb 10 07:35:12 PST 2019

robert@pip2:/tmp$ date --iso-8601
2019-02-10

Then you use command substitution to get the output of the gnu date command, in the format timediff needs (ISO 8601), as an input to timediff:

robert@pip2:~/projects/cplusplus/timediff$ ./timediff
timediff date1 date2 

where 

dates are in ISO 8601 format and are after 1800 A.D. 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) 
(basically yyyy-mm-dd) 


robert@pip2:~/projects/cplusplus/timediff$ ./timediff $(date --iso-8601) 2019-12-31
324
robert@pip2:~/projects/cplusplus/timediff$ 

Tags: 2019, date, gnu, linux, open source, timediff

Virtual Light by William Gibson

Sci-fi. Spends a lot of time in a Future San Francisco that I think I would enjoy living in, or nearby enough to interact with.

Liked it.

Tags: 2019, book, books

1998 Jeep Cherokee - "She's dead, Jim" -- Star Trek

December was the month the Jeep's registration was due. For 2018 the registration required a smog check.

Took the Jeep to the local "test only " smog check station, as needed.

They put the Jeep on the dynomometer. Even at twenty years old, the Jeep passed tailpipe emissions quite well.

BUT this year, then the smog technician did the OBD check (I do not remember they _ever_ being required to do an OBD check before this time, if it had passed the dyno), and it gave them two "pre" trouble codes. Mind you, car had just passed the dyno tailpipe emissions test. No "check engine" light ever turned on in the Jeep.

SO, because of the two "pre" trouble-codes, they failed the Jeep for the smog check, and I could not get it registered for 2019.

So, yes: I feel frustrated. The car does not pollute. I feel like it could not get registered due to a technicality. So what if a sensor might be bad on a twenty year old car. If it does not pollute, per emissions tailpipe, it should be allowed to be driven. Period.

But, since it failed, technicality or not, it cannot be driven. I am not going to put half a thousand dollars of repairs into a car that might just die anyway and get replaced. So, for all practicable purposes, my Jeep is dead.

Now will clean it out of tools and personal belongings, then research salvage yards that might give me a few dollars for it, and then have it towed away.

It served myself and my little family well, for twenty years. I am grateful to those that built it. I knew it had a finite lifetime. Cannot begrudge twenty years of service.

Tags: 1998, 2018, cherokee, jeep

1998 Jeep Cherokee - fuel gauge busted

Kinda bummed. The fuel gauge on the 20yr old Jeep Cherokee is busted. Says 1/2 tank. Car wouldn't start. Bought a 2gal gas can and put 2gal of gas in it, and it started right up.

Now I gotta be careful to fill it up more often than I think it needs, so I don't get stranded again. *old car woes*

Will also now keep the 2gal gas can and funnel in the car at all times, just in case.

EDIT 2018-12-08

Will start researching the parts and procedures to replace the in-tank fuel sending module (fuel pump + fuel level sensor). Hoping I can do it myself, as a driveway mechanic, one weekend in the next few months.

Tags: 1998, 2018, cherokee, jeep