Conservative Conversation + Podcasts

WillowSpring

Retired Manager/Engineer/Programmer. I specialized in embedded systems – that is, systems where it isn't obvious there is a computer. Willow Spring is the 1803 log home where we now live (Wife, 1 remaining Deerhound out of our pack of 3) The picture is of Leap (Flying Leap, officially) on the porch looking towards the Apple orchard where the deer sometimes come. Behind here is the corner of the Summer Kitchen, a separate one room building with a VERY large fireplace for cooking.

| May 2, 2019

28 COMMENTS

No, not back to Babbage, but some vignettes from the mid-’60s.

When registering for classes in college, after lining up all your classes, you were sent to the “computer” to have the tuition calculated. The “computer” was an upper-classman with a calculator sitting under a large banner which said “Computer.”

By Stad

Stad is a member of Ricochet.

| January 27, 2019

19 COMMENTS

We’ve all heard the stereotypical “They all look alike” comments from us white folk in regard to recognizing different black faces. Sadly, blacks do tend to look similar (at least to me for blacks I don’t know personally), because I believe our genetics make us more sensitive to recognizing others of our own genetic makeup. […]

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The Hole I’m Writing This On

By ChefSly - Super Kit

ChefSly - Super Kit

I am a Kitchen Supervisor Trainee. avatar by Star Yoshi

| January 6, 2019

82 COMMENTS

Amy and I both play World of Warcraft. As the game progressed, we had to use lower settings and had reduced frame rate as our systems aged. So, on Black Friday, we saw some Graphics cards on sale, so we bought a couple. I swapped Amy’s card out in 10 minutes. Old one out, new one in, no problem. For my computer, I had two problems — perhaps you can see one.

If I removed the hard drive, then I might have gotten it to fit, but the power supply would not have been enough.

By OmegaPaladin

Moderator

OmegaPaladin

| October 11, 2018

7 COMMENTS

“We’ve made it… This far.” -TRON (Bruce Boxleitner) TRON More

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Member Post

By M1919A4

Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

M1919A4

Lawyer, retired. Once a soldier.

| July 18, 2018

76 COMMENTS

I’d be mighty grateful if some of you folks who are expert at computers would tell me whether the use of the “images” of the Democrat computers are, or were, as reliable as examination of the servers themselves for the purposes of discovery of and analysis of “hacking” efforts (as opposed to “leaking”). My understanding […]

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How to Build a Computer 4: Diodes and Transistors

By Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

Contributor

In a world gone mad, only one man had the courage to cover himself in bees. These are his stories.

| June 25, 2018

21 COMMENTS

We all love blasting things with ions, and most of us could spend all day shooting at wafers, but eventually someone is going to ask you to build something useful. What am I doing with all this mess of silicon anyhow? Here’s where we see the use of all that stuff. What do you suppose happens when you put a p-doped chunk of silicon next to an n-doped chunk of silicon?

One last cookie photo, then I’m going on a diet. Swearsies.

Diodes to Kill For

By Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

Contributor

Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

In a world gone mad, only one man had the courage to cover himself in bees. These are his stories.

| June 21, 2018

19 COMMENTS

First you gotta find a dealer. Right, not that kind of doping. Today we’re going to discuss how to how you mix your dopant atoms into your silicon wafer so you can make transistors.

How Do I Dope My Wafer?

By Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

Contributor

Hank Rhody, Badgeless Bandito

In a world gone mad, only one man had the courage to cover himself in bees. These are his stories.

| June 10, 2018

14 COMMENTS

Last week we saw how to turn sand into silicon. This week I was planning on showing you how to turn silicon into a semiconductor. I mean more of one than it already is. Unfortunately my brief notes on crystallography went long. This week we’ll discuss crystals, next week we’ll do doping, and the week after that we’ll finally get to transistors. Unless I wax even more loquacious, which is the way the smart money is betting.

In a crystal every atom is slotted neatly into an ordered lattice, and every spot in the lattice has an atom in it. With some exceptions. Actually those exceptions are most of what we’re going to talk about today. Let’s assume this is a perfect silicon crystal:

By sawatdeeka

sawatdeeka

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics: -I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters. -I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator). -I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters. … [more]

| April 24, 2017

3 COMMENTS

Since I got Windows 10 over a year ago, my computer won’t tolerate having multiple Chrome tabs open. The frequent low memory messages are not only seemingly random and very annoying, but get in the way of my work. This morning I couldn’t even have my Gmail inbox and Drive open at the same time. That […]

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By Stad

Stad is a member of Ricochet.

| February 16, 2017

59 COMMENTS

The drive (pun intended) to get driverless vehicles on the road is going full speed ahead (I started thinking about them after reading Jim Pethokoukis’ post and comments on the subject). It may or may not be a good thing, but I lean towards “not”. I’m an engineer, and I have a set of engineering […]

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By Aaron Miller

Aaron Miller

| January 6, 2017

3 COMMENTS

News is pouring in from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). What has caught the interest of Ricochet’s tech junkies? All my links below are to YouTube videos. After enjoying many technology conferences over the years, I have developed a rule of thirds to temper my enthusiasm. A third of what is shown might actually […]

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By Front Seat Cat

Front Seat Cat

Cat lover

| May 31, 2016

31 COMMENTS

A recent Daily Shot included a story about the US. Government’s use of outdated computers. This was the first I had heard about it and it’s not exactly a small thing. The Government Accountability Office issued a large, detailed report stating that it has been a “concern” that more than some of our main government […]

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By Tim H.

Tim H.

Mild-mannered college professor by day, astrophysicist by night. Methodist, Southerner, East Tennessee hillbilly. I'm a traditional Southern conservative with a strong libertarian streak. A sunny disposition and a trust that America will survive the problems we face.

| May 3, 2016

11 COMMENTS

If you read today’s Daily Shot, you saw Fred Cole’s recommendation of William Gibson’s 1990 retro-futuristic novel The Difference Engine, an alternative 1885 in which Charles Babbage has actually built his planned Analytical Engine (the title gets the name of the machine wrong; Babbage’s Difference Engine was more of a calculator for printing mathematical tables, while […]

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By EJHill

Podcaster

EJHill

Thirty years in television production. Living in a midwestern city in the productive custody of his wife and four children (Baby Girl, Marine, Future Tony Winner & Xerox). Unrelenting, unrepentant conservative. Needs a better temperament that equals his photoshop skills. Will probably die broke but believes more in freedom than the welfare state.

| March 23, 2016

24 COMMENTS

After almost 4 years and several thousand Photoshops I had to go out and buy a new PC today. (Hold your fire Mac Daddies, TV trucks don’t always play nice with Apple.) Anyway, it’s a new box with a new operating system and all the inherent problems of re-configuring one’s computing life. If you don’t […]

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Post-Holiday Shopping Advice: Coke vs. Pepsi

By Spin

Coolidge

Spin

Spin is a member of Ricochet.

| January 5, 2016

118 COMMENTS

Which do you prefer? Me? I like root beer; any kind will do. I am sure that someone can give you reasons why Coke is objectively better than Pepsi, but they won’t actual be objective. They will be observations the person uses to convince you that their choice is based in objective fact, but will actually be based in their own preferences and biases.

So it is with the Apple vs. Microsoft debate. Now, before I go in to this, let me lay out two groups of facts, and one opinion, so you will know where I’m coming from.

By Aaron Miller

Aaron Miller

| December 6, 2015

11 COMMENTS

I’ve been talking with someone who manages cybersecurity operations. He tells me one of the most effective security measures for consumer and employee PCs is also the simplest. If you’re just browsing the internet or using common programs, log into a user account without Administrator privileges, such as a Guest account. Whatever authorities your active […]

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Member Post

By Stad

Stad is a member of Ricochet.

| November 15, 2015

7 COMMENTS

We have software, we have hardware. We have firmware, and we have underwear (okay, just kidding about that last one). However, there is one “-ware” that ranks down in the sewer with Spam, popup ads, telemarketers, and political robocalls: Nagware. More

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By Stad