“The Manufacturing sector comprises establishments engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products. Establishments in the Manufacturing sector are often described as plants, factories, or mills and characteristically use power-driven machines and materials-handling equipment. However, establishments that transform materials or substances into new products by hand or in the worker’s home and those engaged in selling to the general public products made on the same premises from which they are sold, such as bakeries, candy stores, and custom tailors, may also be included in this sector. Manufacturing establishments may process materials or may contract with other establishments to process their materials for them. Both types of establishments are included in manufacturing.” …

“So, let me get this straight. You’re going to Detroit, which is 6 hours away, by car, with people you’ve never met before?” “Yes, Mother…” “And you’re planning on spending the weekend with them, these people who you’ve never met?” “Yes, Mother…” “And you think this is a good idea?” “Why not?” “I wish you hadn’t told me” Initially, my mother wasn’t pleased that I was going on an excusion with strangers. In fact, I don’t know if she’s pleased now it’s been done. …

I’m not much of a photographer, y’know? I like taking pictures, but I’ve never been consistently good at it. I’m drawn to take pictures of things that I find interesting, amusing and attractive, but they’re rarely techically good photos. I only know the basics, rule of thirds, the basics behind depth of field, the importance of focussing on the subject and whatnot. Regardless, I keep a flickr to put my pictures up for my friends to see them. This will make for a valuable collection to be able to share when I get back home and want to remember or show off what I’ve done. America is a pretty fascinating place, with this in mind. Where I am has umpteen opportunities for me to take pictures, because everything is so very different, interesting and amusing. Sharonville, Ohio, shows all the hallmarks of rapid urban development and town planning done better than it is in the UK. All the infrastructure is overground. I find it vulgar, but interesting to look at. Nearly everything in Scotland is buried, even out in the sticks where I come from. Phone, electricity, traffic lights and signage all hang from pylons here. It must be a nightmare when there’s a serious wind storm. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m fascinated by radios. If you take a look through my photo collection, you’ll see some of these things. Radio Antennas. They’re everywhere. It’s paradise! Here’s a bit of a dirty secret of mine… I spot them, jump on to Wikipedia and read about them. Don’t tell anyone, they might think I’m a nerd or an engineer or something. …

It’s late, invariably I’m awake doing nerd things… Tonight, it’s getting worked up over the fact that I can’t submit to like.fm (my new favourite replacement for last.fm) from Audacious, my media player of choice on this wee machine. First port of call, checkout the code on git… After poking around, it turns out that I can transform the address that the program ‘scrobbles’ to in one line in the code (src/scrobbler/settings.h for those interested). …

Well, it’s time for a little upgrade to STAC, isn’t it? We’ve been here for a year now, and that’s a long time for no changes! There’s been an Icom UX-910 sitting in my drawers for quite some time, now, and it would be a waste of a considerable amount of money if it wasn’t installed. Some spare time and a bored me means it has been now! In short, this box adds 1.24GHz -> 1.3GHz capability to the station, in terms of radio equipment anyway. …