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  • US district court of marshall texas

    US district court of marshall texas

    So, Marshall Texas, famous for patent cases. Here’s a panorama of the US district court building, and the street its on, to help you put it in perspective. Right across the street (see the confederate statue far left above? that is the statue below) is the old Harrison county courthouse, quite pretty. Contrast that to…

  • A gas station as a destination?

    A gas station as a destination?

    So I spent last week in the eastern district of texas. And, on the way back to Dallas, we had to stop in at what is a very odd experience, Buc’ee’s. Their slogan: “Clean Restrooms, We Guaranpee It”. Nice. This place has an astonishing number of gas stalls (see below where I tried to capture),…

  • Today’s adventure: inflating a balloon to increase water pressure

    About 10 years ago I ‘upgraded’ my whole-house reverse-osmosis system. The old one had a big 1/2HP motor, a membrane that was near impossible to change (OMG, it was just impossible, I cannot fathom what they were thinking, needed a vice, a hammer, a chisel, 2 vice-grips, and a lot of patience). It was full…

  • Today’s adventure: lightbulb festoonery!

    Today’s adventure: lightbulb festoonery!

    OK, believe it or not there is a lightbulb type called a ‘festoon bulb‘. You’ve all seen them (they are in your car, e.g. in the dome light), a glass tube with some metal at each end. These are typically 12V. Another common use for them is in household under-cabinet lighting, where they chew up…

  • surfing the crimson tide: cellular data coverage @ high density

    In 2000 I attended a football game @ Penn State. ~100K people attended. And, cellular coverage (it was EDGE) was non-existent. That many people crammed together, and it was nothing but interference, nothing got through (not that it would have mattered on the phone I had at the time). So we all focused on the…