heliosj's news, thoughts, geek stuff, and more...

First, after a quick Google search, I realize I'm the last person in the industry to know this was possible, but I figured I'd share what I discovered a few moments ago nevertheless.

I had my mobile phone voicemail setup so if I called my voicemail from my mobile phone, it would just let me right in without a password. I always assumed that it relied on the unique IMEI code to determine if I was calling from my phone, but it doesn't. On a whim, I called my cell phone from another phone while spoofing the caller ID (to that of my mobile number) and it let me right into the voicemail.

Needless to say, I have the password option enabled now.

I only tested this with AT&T, maybe other carriers are a little more secure.

A friend of mine used to listen to digital modes via my HF radio stream. The way he accomplished this was by simply looping soundcard output back into another soundcard. That process always bugged me because it seemed like a perfectly good waste of a soundcard. :) So I came up with this... These instructions presume you're running Linux, have Fldigi and mpg321/123 installed.

Is this what we want to see in ham radio?

The Cypress Chapter, an official Ten-Ten International chapter, who is also hosting this years annual convention has consistently been promoting a political agenda. Right, left, or otherwise, is this what we want to see in ham radio? If a person considering perusing a ham ticket came across this site, they may be turned off regardless of their political point of view. Some people simply do not like partisanship in any form. And if they happened to have a liberal point of view, they may feel as if they're excluded from TenTen, Cypress Chapter, and the hobby in general.

I had the audacity to express my concerns about this political agenda posted on the chapter's website and my membership from the organization was summarily revoked. There's no information about how many chapter members "voted" on this removal nor are there are any provisions in the bylaws requiring a quorum of any sort. Thus I can only assume my removal was done by executive decree. Do I care that my membership from this chapter was revoked? Not in the least, but the notion that a popular contesting group which accepts paid dues would continue to endorse this chapter is rather troubling.

Click To Expand

[righteous indignation alert]

We've been browsing the Internet this morning reading more about the financial crisis and we're friggin doomed.

The sooner everyone wakes up and realizes that it's not a Democratic or Republican problem, but rather an problem with the political system at large, the better off we'll be. Members of Congress widely get elected on the backs of greedy special interests, take your pick -- banking, health care, energy. They intentionally make legislation so complex and overwhelming that it's near impossible for finer details to be worked out and scrutinized by reasonable people. The likes of the Patriot Act, TARP, 'Stimulus' Bill, federal budget.. all unwieldy nonsensical legislation intentionally rushed through under the guise of national crisis.

And then let's not forget the all the culture warriors who then try to push their social agendas along side issues that have nothing to do with the situation at hand. Pet causes usually driven by an absolute faith in a magical boogie man or just a plain hatred of group(s) of people who have a different cultural perspective -- north vs south, east vs west, etc.

Stop the ride, I want off.

Yes, the idealistic libertarian who rallied so hard for Ron Paul these last 2 years is voting for Barack Obama. I know this is contrary to everything I've preached for years now, but John McCain and Sarah Palin simply lack the integrity, temperament, and dare I say intelligence to lead this country through what we now face. If we elect John McCain and Sarah Palin to the Whitehouse, we might as well all show up at central casting for Idocracy II.

B

I moved my site to a new server, streaming audio and all...

Let me know if you all notice any issues.