The Blare Blog
Center of the Bla Bla Galaxy
Truth
Be Told
January 2021
Sunday January 31, 2021 9:19 AM CDT -- Railroad
On Radio
Saturday January 30, 2021 12:20 NOON CST -- Music from a Quarantine
Saturday January 30, 2021 11:52 AM CST -- Massive Mail Delays
On
the 21st of the month 2 items of mail were picked up by the mail
carrier here at the Internet Building. We routinely track our mail
since having several previous letters disappear never to reach a
destination. Of the recent mailings, one reached its destination on the
25th, a reasonable four days after being sent. But the other letter, a
payment to a creditor, remains undelivered as of today's date, some 9
days. Mail delays are evidently a common occurrence under many
pressures affecting the U.S. Postal Service.
Saturday January 30, 2021 6:36 AM -- Larry King Trubute and Rememberance
Saturday January 30, 2021 5:16 AM CST -- This Should Keep You Busy for
Awhile
Saturday January 30, 2021 4:59 AM CST -- The Difficulty of Facing
Reality
We
face only one direction while reality occurs in all directions.
- A thought of Carl Blare
Friday January 29, 2021 11:08 AM CST -- Radio Art Exhibit
Some
years ago I blurted that radio was an art form. A stickler for literal
accuracy corrected me: "Radio is not an art form." Upon due
consideration I modified my position and held that "Radio is an art
medium!" Actually, that isn't perfectly true either, but it's closer.
All that aside, the folks at Wave Farm Radio have made use of radio as
an artist's tool.
Friday January 29, 2021 9:08 AM CST -- Extremists Blocked from Social
Media Consider Radio
Using HAM communications, Citizens Band or unlicensed walky-talkies to
plot crime is a violation of FCC rules.
Thursday January 28, 2021 4:37 PM CST -- Get In the Radio
With
crayons, draw a radio on all four sides of a paper bag, put the bag
over your head, reach up into the bag with cans of beer and after
drinking a six pack, listen to this radio program from the creative
mind of Frederick Moe.
Thursday January 28, 2021 2:28 PM CST -- Fading Memories of AM Radio
This excellent article brings it back for those of us who were here
during AM radio's glory days.
Thursday January 28, 2021 10:33 AM CST --
The
secret of success is an absolute ungovernable curiosity.
-
Larry King,
TV and radio host
from TV Tech SmartBrief
Wednesday January 27, 2021 11:22 AM CST -- Right Wing Radio On the Way
Out
Tuesday January 26, 2021 6:20 PM CST -- Low Power Radio Blogspot Very
Social Distancing
Tuesday January 26, 2021 4:19 PM CST -- Major Internet Outage Today
Tuesday January 26, 2021 10:04 AM CST -- The Bug
There has
to be a bug, and there is. I set the Zara silence detector for
15-seconds during the airing of this morning's Radio Sputnik morning
show but the program ran to the end with no silent episodes so we still
hadn't seen an example of the silence detector at work. A few programs
later we signed off for administrative reasons and my 6-minutes of
silence track came up next, except that after only 15-seconds the Zara
silence detector jumped ahead until it found a sound file. The problem
now is that I can't intentionally air silence!
Tuesday January 26, 2021 8:11 AM CST -- Inklings
That's
exactly what it was; an inkling of a memory jostled by Boomer's
'silence detector' recommendation. To extract the slight trace of
recollection from the rummage of my memory cells, I stood staring at a
wall for ten minutes, until I knew where to look next... the Zara
Manual. On page 19 there is an option called 'Silence Detector', a
feature I have reliably ignored. The description reads: "Detects
periods of silence while playing tracks. When this happens, ZaraRadio
jumps to the next track. It activates when silence in the playing track
exceeds the time selected". Hope springs a turtle!
Tuesday January 26, 2021 6:46 AM CST -- Svetlana's Dry Stream
Word from Boomer
I hate it when the
stream dries and no more water flows. Here at
Underground Radio we play files locally most of the time, and use
VLC player separately for about 8 hours of live stream
pickup per week. That's 'attended' streaming as I start and stop
the stream manually, then go back to the local playlist.
In 2014 when we started
24 hour operation here at the carrier
current station, I thought it would be nice to help out a fellow
station at Point Park college. Their signal is good around the
building, and reaches a quarter to half mile in the middle of
downtown. Most people go home at night, so the station would have
fewer listeners, and I thought to help them make a second coverage
area with a stream relay.
https://www.pointpark.edu/academics/schools/schoolofcommunication/studentmedia/WPPJ
The problem can be the sound of silence from their stream at times.
You might get 2 hours of silence from DJ no-shows, or they're off
the air at certain times.
I'd heard about a little program called PiraCZ silence detector.
It's like a sentinel that monitors your sound system, and when it
hears silence for a given length of time, it carries out some
action, like an alarm, an alert or to play an audio file. I've only
used it to play an audio file, a jazz 'mix tape', and for that it
does work.
https://pira.cz/show.asp?art=silence
I recommend this program, and it doesn't seem to take any extra
power from the computer, I can't tell from the processor usage.
Broadcaster Ron Crider reviewed the silence detector on this video,
he only shows the function to alert him by e-mail, but it's the
only look inside of the program I could find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VV2gPU6pQA
Something I'd like to find would be a player that can deal with
streams that drop out. VLC tries to hold on when the net feed
blips, but if it gets a signal that the stream has stopped, it will
go to 00:00 and remain. I'd like to see a player that could keep
trying dropped streams, maybe even switching to a secondary stream
when the first is gone. Barix units used for radio station linking
have those functions, why not a player for the desktop?
Tha Dood uses internet radios to pick up streams for his stations,
he's used them for years, Reciva and now Grace digital radios,
maybe he would have some ideas.
I hope this helps, and maybe if you and Artisan don't need
something so thorough, your constituents might like it.
PS: Svetlana is the name of a Russian tube company, they make
replacements for vacuum tubes in your amps.
- Boomer
Thanks
Boomer! KDX will put your suggestion to the test and look forward to
the solution it may provide. Oh and hey, when I design and build a low
power tube transmitter we will use all Svetlana tubes for the ultimate
touch of class!
Monday January 25, 2021 9:59 AM CST -- Larry King Remembered
Excellent half-hour visit with talk show legend Larry King.
Monday January 25, 2021 7:24 AM CST -- Dry Streaming
At
unpredictable times KDX has a Zara problem we don't know how to fix. It
is the kind of problem that's somewhat difficult to describe using
plain vocabulary words, but we'll wade into it and invite comments from
our technically experienced followers.
It happened again this
morning. Our Zara Automation Program was running through its playlist
and streaming scheduled audio programs over KDX-OGG. At 5:30 AM CST
Zara switched from TUC Radio's most recent show, stored in our
hard-drive, to the URL address for Radio Sputnik, which captures a live
incoming stream for re-streaming over KDX as
I comfortably
listened from deep bed and could hear Svetlana introduce her morning
'Special', a conversation about alternative medicine. I noticed that
she pronounces it 'medcine'. I went back to sleep.
Sometime
later I rewoke and heard nothing. Perhaps the bedside TECSUN radio had
gone out, which would happen if batteries were low, but the radio was
good and I confirmed a dead carrier from KDX AM 1680. Judging from the
nightlamp the AC power was on, but of course may have dropped briefly
while I was sleeping, which would have shut down the computer-server.
But upon checking we saw that Zara was, to appearances, streaming the
feed from Radio Sputnik except there was no sound. Had the
stream been completely lost Zara would have automatically
switched
to the next program on the playlist, something contained in a local
drive, but a silent stream was ticking off second by second in a normal
way but without audio. I have named this phenomenon "dry streaming".
Dry
streams do not correct themselves, but do recover with manual
intervention. Simply selecting the Sputnik URL in the playlist and
tapping 'play' re-engages the full stream, sound comes back,
and
life returns to normal.
Sunday January 24, 2021 9:58 AM CST -- No Education Necessary
Sunday January 24, 2021 8:09 AM CST -- Iconic New York Radio Station
Has Become a Right Wing Junk Bucket
Sunday January 24, 2021 6:54 AM CST --
NBC
News
Ultimate
Climax to Reality TV Show
Saturday January 23, 2021 3:13 PM CST -- Stereo Encoder Hardware Circuit
Not
so many days ago Boomer supplied a link to freeware titled 'Stereo
Coder' and we've run across a hardware circuit for building a D.I.Y
stereo encoder.
Saturday January 23, 2021 2:05 PM CDT -- Voice of America has Throat
Cleared
Saturday January 23, 2021 12:03 NOON -- The Growing Audience
Saturday January 23, 2021 7:48 AM CST -- The Inauguration Poem
Not
exceptional, contains grammatical and logical errors, speaks for a
limited minority, circles into recurrent redundancy which lasts too
long, fails to expand into the universal, basically a complaint litany,
but does have some noteworthy word play and clever imagery. The overall
message: "grievances
may be redressed but I'm still complaining".
Saturday January 23, 2021 7:19 AM CST -- Last Days of the Trump
Presidency
Friday January 22, 2021 4:49 PM CST -- Time and Time Again
Time
is the most unknown of all unknown things.
- Aristotle
Friday January 22, 2021 3:22 PM CST -- Platformed or De-Platformed
Like
the ex-president, I also have been de-platformed by being driven off of
a social media platform. Lucky for me I happened to own my own website
so was able to spring back by establishing The Blare Blog. Trump has
been shut down by the biggest social media sites including Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube and doesn't have his own site to fall back on, so
he's unable to use the internet at least for now to voice his vitriol.
We wonder whether he's searching for a new platform but are not
considering extending an invitation for him to post here as one of our
correspondents, nor has he made inquiries about hooking up with us.
Friday January 22, 2021 11:00 AM CST -- Jessica Rosenworcel Named
Acting FCC Chairman
Friday January 22, 2021 8:21 AM CST -- Circuits of All Kinds
Given no interest in sports or movie stars I spend spare time
admiring electronic circuit designs.
Friday January 22, 2021 4:54 AM CST -- How to Build An Audience
The
biggest mistake made by almost every broadcaster in the world is to
give up too soon in the quest to attract an audience. A station will
sign on the air, place a lot of muscle into putting out a new format,
and after two or three days give up because no one's listening. It is
important to realize that radio listeners exist, but they are tuned in
somewhere else listening to stations that have been on the air for a
long time. Very few listeners go looking for new stations because there
are rarely new stations to be found. What you've got to do is be
present, on the air, putting forward your most amazing program at every
moment of the day and night around the clock for ten years or more, and
there's s 2.6% chance some listeners will chance upon your station,
find it very interesting, and make a mental note to check it out again
during the next holiday weekend or perhaps on a sick day when they are
bedridden with a tableside radio. It is essential when that second
attempt to find your station takes place your signal must be on the air
and the program in progress really outstanding; better than anything on
any other station. Always remember that no one can find a station that
isn't on the air so you must always be on the air. On one hand
being on the air won't matter to those who fail to seek your station,
but by the same token no one can find a station that's not there. Give
it twenty years.
Thursday January 21, 2021 5:58 PM CST --
The
future --- live it or live with it.
- The Firesign Theatre
Thursday January 21, 2021 4:55 PM CST -- Churches to Endorse
Somewhere
in all the words we may have said critical things about religion, a
thing more dangerous than climate change, yet there are religious
efforts
afoot that we highly praise.
Thursday January 21, 2021 2:56 PM CST -- Rolling Your Own
Microphone,
that is. At KDX we've been designing our own microphones since the
early 90s, while always being curious about all microphones made by
everybody. We saw a microphone the other day built to resemble
a
periscope. We once built a microphone into a desk lamp so it would be
unseen on a video set. Actually, being clear about it, we have never
built the 'head' of a microphone; that is, the working element,
although kits and instructions are available to do just that. No, what
we have done is employ off-the shelf electret capsules
and managed
to stir recipes that have pleasing accuracy. All this by way of
introduction to the general subject of mic building. Today's link is
something just found.
Thursday January 21, 2021 1:06 PM CST -- Inside the Public Domain
Low
power radio broadcasters incline toward watching the public domain (PD)
hoping always to find program material free for use without cumbersome
performance fees. Our Canadian correspondent Artisan Radio has talked
about his own deep depth mining for operatic and classical work for the
fine-arts radio service he's building, but PD doesn't usually lend
itself to easy discovery because copyright rules vary from country to
country and suffer from other complexities. Therefore websites that
give insight into PD issues can be useful resources as is
Look under 'Collections' for audio resources.
Tuesday January 19, 2021 11:52 AM CST -- From the Engineering Room
Every
room at any radio station is an 'engineering room' and for many of us
who operate low power radio stations the whole house is an engineering
room. But because we are usually short staffed there is not always an
engineer available, and in the case of KDX Worldround Radio my duties
are spread out over so many jobs that I only resort to engineering when
an engine breaks down and needs repair. Even then I approach the job
slowly, distracting myself with intellectual play such as contemplating
how the word 'repair' is put together. Well, I would think that
something in need of repair must have come 'unpaired', such as a wire
and its solder-point, which work correctly when paired. And that's
exactly a situation I dealt with this morning, except that it didn't
start out as a technical matter.
Because I never got around to a
'State of the Station' broadcast scheduled for December 21, this
morning seemed like a chance to record belatedly, but not having been
used for over a year our self-built microphone failed and got itself
moved to the test bench where a broken solder was found. The best way
to deal with it was to serve executive breakfast and piddle with
programming details until eventually the wire was re-paired with it's
solder-point. Now again we're set up for a proper 'State of the
Station' session, but other back-logged engineering issues stand in the
way. It seems that we can only listen to our program editing software
if we borrow an audio circuit from the AM-FM transmitter feeds, and we
don't want to close our over-the-air operation because of
the chance that a nearby neighbor might be deeply engaged with
listening, unlikely though that is. Being overly polite gives us
further reason to delay, for in hobby radio there can't be
enough breaks, and I mean snack breaks.
Tuesday January 19, 2021 7:08 AM CST -- Can Time Be Old?
There
is an expression: "As old as time", and to some degree, by the
judgement of our human perception of time, it seems to make sense,
considering, for example, that we can recall the 'old times'. But from
a strictly objective stand point it appears that the only 'time' ever
to exist is the 'now'; that which exists in the present instant and is
entirely ephemeral. When we picture 'now' as having always existed it
can fairly be called 'old' except that as it's forever arriving and
replenishing like a mountain spring it is most recently as 'new' as new
can be. On the day when personal 'now' comes to its end the question
shifts from whether time is old to whether we ever existed, as all
evidence disintegrates and reality has one less observer to
atest
itself.
Tuesday January 19, 2020 6:26 AM CST -- CAUTION: 5G AHEAD
Saturday January 16, 2021 5:56 PM CST -- Minced Oaths
The Blare Blog usually leans toward higher learning but, gee whiz, it's
a holiday weekend, so let's have some lower learning.
Saturday January 16, 2021 2:22 PM CST -- Secret Mysteries of FM
Sub-Carriers
Enthused
by Artisan Radio's deep dish experimentation with FM RDS it seems the
right time to remember that FM broadcasting comprises a complex
innerverse of multiplexed and sub-carried hidden services buried inside
the main carrier's envelope.
Saturday January 16, 2021 8:14 AM CST -- Standing Under and
Understanding
For
a long time I was baffled by the way far-rightwing extremist
conservative Christian Republican supremists are on the one
hand
very aggressive against intellectualism, progressivism, scientific
reality and common sense, but were at the same time very covert, hidden
and secretive. What I didn't realize is that they were planning to
overthrow Constitutional America, something one would naturally be
secretive about in the early planning stages.
Saturday January 16, 2021 5:04 AM CST -- TV Technology Quote of the Day
Do
not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
-
John Wooden, college basketball coach
Friday January 15, 2021 8:58 AM CST -- Wacka Doodle
Drudge
Stable
Genius of the United States of America
Thursday January 14, 2021 1:26 PM CST -- Mystery Smell Solved
Following
trips to the grocer over the past months I've noticed a perfumy smell
wafting from some food packaging. I rushed to judgment and decided that
backroom stock workers were spraying air freshener to cover their
tobacco stench. Then again today I noticed that the mail smelled as if
the mailman wasn't fully male and sought to exude a pleasing trail but
then it dawned on my slow brain: the physical world and its entire
contents is being sprayed and wiped clean with covid suppressant fluids
and in days to come we'll all have cleanser-induced nose cancer. The
next conspiracy theory.
Thursday January 14, 2021 11:48 AM CST -- Many Times, Dogs and Cats are
Fixed
That
was the first time a picture (Jan. 10) of my carrier current station,
as
it stands now, was on an open blog. It might not have the luster of
the station with all pro equipment, but it shows what can be done
on a budget. I'd estimate the setup was done for less than $250,
with mostly used and recycled equipment.
- Boomer
A few radio announcers are also fixed, thank our lucky stars.
Thursday January 14, 2021 8:45 AM CST -- Reality Today
If
you happen to be a human being then you may know that the borderlines
between reality and nonsense aren't well defined. You have only to
notice the staunch adherence to irrational dogma by conservative
Republicans and superstitious religionists, people who cling loyally to
unprovable negatives and provable mistakes. To be magnanimous about it
we could say that their determined allegiance to fuzzy doctrine is
driven by a primitive need to live life on a solid foundation even if
it's only a projection from fear of uncertainty. For the agnostics,
scientists and freethinkers the world is anything but definite, being
at intervals seen as illusionary and dreamlike, nothing but uncertain.
And as if the universe in its lavish extravagance isn't real enough, we
experience actual dreams in the little understood realm of sleep where
recognized and unfamiliar characters perform absurd scenes while we
either passively observe or actively participate in a maelstrom of
emotional tumult sometimes more terrifying, erotic, peculiar or
intellectually stunning than any waking encounters.
In the
middle of night, somewhere atop a pillow, NC and I chanced to cross
paths, she having only spent three brief visits in previous time, and
now she took me with her for a car ride, some determined man at the
wheel at very high speed through night streets and narrow alleys,
braced on my elbows against potential collision, stopping abruptly at
the edge of daylight where kitchenware was strewn in the roadway.
Inside a house electrically lit it was nighttime again and none of NC's
friends were familiar to me, but acknowledged me with polite small
talk. When I realized that NC was gone I wondered how I'd get home, and
while the strangers pursued trivial conversation I wondered how I could
ask a cab driver to find me on a street with no name among houses with
no numbers, not to mention the question of destination, as I couldn't
recall where I'd come from. Still, I broke the spell of nicety that
held me in place and roamed away looking for a phone book and located a
telephone joined before I could make the call by an odd human-like male
who sprawled nearby and said, "You can do what we think you can do."
Awake
in the 4 AM quarantined stillness I decided to avoid sleep for awhile
until that dream was farther in the past and now I'll be sure to carry
the cab company phone number and if people from years ago invite me on
car rides I'll ask for more information about where we're going. Being
in reality goes only so far. There's a point when you've got to plan
for it.
Thursday January 14, 2021 6:03 AM CST -- Master of the Mess
Public
News Svc.
Wednesday January 13, 2021 2:41 PM CST -- Stereo Coder for Artisan from
Boomer
Stereo Coder is Freeware
Blocking,
it's the hot new fad.
I see that Artisan Radio
didn't get the Stereo Coder program from
me? My letters might have been blocked by his Googly provider. The
first one had me sending a Zip file with Stereo Coder in it, and it
came back as a failed delivery. Next I put the Zip on my website
and sent the link, which usually works for people, like for bigger
files.
I'll try to send it to
you, something I thought of doing before,
why pass Carl Blare by? Your blog alerted me that Artisan wanted
it. I saved this from the original website long ago, let's see if
you can get it, if you feel like experimenting.
http://boomerthedog.com/Stereo-Coder.zip
It was fairly easy to get it going over here, since my transmitter
has the required wide-band input to do it properly. It just took
turning up the levels until the stereo light came on.
- Boomer
Wednesday January 13, 2021 10:39 AM CST -- Radio Information Stations
At Work
Low power AM information stations serving vehicles at inoculation
points and food distribution locations
Wednesday January 13, 2021 9:12 AM CST -- FM RDS & Free Speech
According to Artisan Radio
January
12th was a productive day for Artisan Radio, as many days of research
and experimentation resulted in success generating an RDS (Radio Data
System) sub-carrier across a Part 15 type low power FM transmitter.
January
11th the Artisan Blog sent a response to 'free speech' arguments being
stirred in the U.S. by actions of social media sites in blocking
inappropriate content. I've had arguments with program producers in the
past thinking that they had free speech liberties on licensed stations
I represented. No they didn't, as the right of free speech is an
individual liberty and does not obligate other entities to offer a
platform, except as explained by Artisan.
Wednesday January 13, 2021 8:19 AM CST -- Capital Punishment for
Capitol Rioters
The
Blare Blog is officially opposed to capital punishment and frowns on
the very concept of 'punishment', however we are saddled with a
generally punitive tradition influenced by the intrusion of religion
into what should be secular governance. Even as states have gradually
been moving away from the death penalty the federal policy is quietly
opening the way for bringing back old ways of execution such as
hanging, firing squad, and gas. Yet the largely Christian fundament in
American politics seems to have overlooked a favorite of their own,
crucifixion. Nails and some wood make crucifixion the most economical
approach and achieves the secondary purpose of putting the condemned on
display as a deterrent against future 'sinful' behavior. So beloved is
this method of death that persons of belief use the crucifix as an
ornament worn as jewelry and displayed as wall art. Perhaps a return to
crucifixion would be well timed if brought back now at a time when
thousands of seditionists and insurrectionists are to be dealt with. I
bring it up to hand the Republican-Christian-conservatives a quandry:
while loving the idea they would certainly not wish to subject
themselves to such an outcome.
Wednesday January 13, 2021 6:53 AM CST -- Get Yours While the Getting
is Good
We
have only one of these to give away, so only the fastest one among you
will benefit from today's generous giveaway. It's a domain name. All
you need to do is be the first to claim it from your domain name
provider. KDX benefits in no way except the warm feeling that we helped
one of our Blog visitors on the path to glorious success. The secret
domain name is officialwebsite.
Claim it and watch your bottom line shine. Good luck.
Monday January 11, 2021 4:32 PM CST -- Major Policy Shift At Talk Radio
Giant
Monday January 11, 2021 10:08 AM CST --
Interpretation
This is what the B.U.T.T. Encoder manual says about enabling multiple
instances of the device:
5.) Configuration
The command line option -c
<path_to_file> allows you to define a new
standard configuration path.
This makes it possible to have multiple instances with different
configurations
running. In case the file does not exists, butt will create a default
file.
[Save]: Saves your current settings to
the standard configuration
file or to the file that was passed to the -c option
[Export]: Saves your current settings to the given file
[Import]: Loads the selected file and applies the settings
|
Caution
|
If you use the -c command line option and import another configuration
file
by using the import function, pressing [Save] will overwrite the file
that was passed to the -c option.
|
Brain overload. I'm stuck trying to interpret
that procedure, and that's where things stand.
Monday January 11, 2021 6:09 AM CST -- A Half-Way Good Idea
The
former ex-chairman of the now defunct ALPB once declared "You must
respect the President" upon which he kicked me off the
ALPB member
site. Now, today, after the poor bathroom habits shown by his very nice
people at the White House, his President has been banned from social
media and has no place to tweet. Ok, listen up; how about this... Why
not offer the disgraced Commander-in-Chief a platform at the Old ALPB
website? It might be a cool way for two bro's to show respect to each
other. There are still a lot of Klanners and Proud Boys that haven't
been rounded up by the FBI. Go for it.
Sunday January 10, 2021 8:45 PM CST -- Randy Rainbow on Trump's Failed
Coup
Sunday January 10, 2021 7:27 PM CST -- Enemies of the People
The
news story linked here is a magnification of the experience
had in
the cloisters of the part 15 low power hobby world during the past
couple years.
The
attack signal voiced by Trump over the last four years has been 'Fake
news - enemy of the people', and the exact same form of
attack was used
to drive me away from two part 15 organizations by extreme right wing
moderators who wanted no mention of progressive journalism which of
course is the brand of my radio station. In the one case I was
summarily forced out of office where I'd been named second to the
chairman and without regard to the claimed 'democratic' rules
established by the charter members, and in the second case my
contributions were almost always deleted without comment. Aside from
that they are 'very nice people'.
Sunday January 10, 2021 7:11 PM CST -- About Ed Zaleski
Ed
Zaleski is the maker of Edcast and the past several days have been
spent testing several versions of his stream encoder here at KDX. Still
digging into traces of Ed's work sprinkled around the internet we came
upon this -
Sunday January 10, 2021 8:43 AM CST -- Many don't
show their humble stations
Boomer Open for Tour
Upper left, to bottom
right:
HP netbook computer,
Windows 7, dual mobile chip -- LPB AM 5 watt
transmitter, leads to coupler on wall, not shown, and toroidal
coupling transformer, no direct connection to AC, a station
innovation.
M-Audio USB musician's
interface, bypasses internal sound card in
computer. Any computer can be substituted without a change in sound
quality or switching an internal card to a new machine.
Beneath it, Homebre AM
stereo C-QUAM encoder, baseband audio to low
level RF out.
Bottom shelf, computer
power supply it's a Dell, but same connector
and 19 volts, several amps more than the HP's supply was. Last not
least, UPS with external 3x (9 AH) higher capacity battery. The
whole system continues to run during a power failure, no idea how
long, but it doesn't skip a beat in the few shorter power drops
I've had, up to 7 minutes.
Picture is guaranteed to
be correct-side-up.
- Boomer
Sunday January 10, 2021 8:36 AM CST -- Seeking StereoCoder
Message from the Artisan Radio Blog:
Boomer, a regular contributor to the
Blare Blog, pointed me to another possible Stereo/RDS generator tool -
StereoCoder. This is a freeware program, but unfortunately
the company that developed it doesn't appear to offer it as a download
any more. A quick perusal of the Internet for it yielded no
results. Perhaps Boomer could send me a copy, via the contact
information on the Artisan
Radio main page. I'll also make that appeal through
Carl's blog.
StereoCoder appears to have been
replaced by a payware product (with a short, free trial) called
Airomate. It does appear to work well, and offers everything
that is required to get RDS up and running from the Zara Radio/VST
automation tools.
Saturday January 9, 2021 10:51 AM CST -- Radio Dog Food
Boomer No. 2 of the day -
Glad to see that you're
getting some reading out of the Panaxis EBN
newsletters. It seems some have used the hobby as a stepping stone
to careers in the media. Tha Dood might want to ring in on his
EBN-friend who made it nationally in reporting.
It does appear that
Part-15 site postings have stalled at this
moment, I've never seen such low numbers. I want to blame
someone.
I wonder if those sites,
and all the things said on them over the
years, will be saved in some form? It's much more text than all of
he EBN newsletters put together.
I also added a translate
of Radio Morningstar's AM transmitter page
to Radio Dog Food, way at the bottom under Misc. I'd seen his page
for a long time, but thought English readers might get more out of
it with translation help. The page had been up forever, but what's
odd is just as I was working on the translation, Morningstar's site
went off line, and it's been off for days.
boomerthedog.net/radio
- Boomer
Saturday January 9, 2021 10:42 AM CST -- Accessing Processing
From Boomer -
I wanted to let
correspondent Artisan Blog know about an alternate
processor for broadcast, Hellfire. Currently it's under development
and you can get the latest versions here:
http://burnill.co.uk/
It's a newer
processor, but it comes from a long lineage of
processors by the author, going back a couple of decades that I
know of, from using Sonos Limit in the early 2000s. Even Limit is
still good for a casual-listening station and a low power computer,
it just won't compete with the loudness of processors today.
I've used an earlier version of Hellfire on a Core 2 Duo chip with
4 gigs or memory, but the only way to know if it will work for you
is to try it, and it's free, as in beer.
The higher CPU used by processor programs is going toward DSPs that
are used to meet broadcast standards, especially when it comes to
overshoot on the output, something I learned on the forums for
Breakaway's processor. If you really want to be at broadcast
standards, then you probably want to control those overshoots,
though for the hobbyist, the small overshoots wouldn't really
matter. Overshoots even are allowed in licensed radio.
Hellfire's 5 band limit mode should also help to use less power.
Hellfire also is supposed to have MPX and RDS features, though I
haven't tried them, since I haven't been doing much FM
experimentation lately, since I've been on AM.
JMPX should be fine, I had it running on Linux a good while back,
and the QT runtimes, I think, it's been a while. The first software
MPX I tried was StereoCoder, which was a lot like JMPX, that was in
the mid-2000s. I think the version I had was 1.30, closed source,
but freely available, you might be able to find it in old version
archives if you want to try it. I have it if needed.
As for having a 192 khz sound card, you don't necessarily need to
buy anything special, many computers can do 192 already with
on-board audio. What you want to look for is a home multimedia PC,
the kind with 6 audio input and output jacks for multi-channel
sound. I've found many name brands will do the job, though
sometimes you have to go into settings to get it to work with 192
audio.
My first try was with a machine like that, a $25 thrift store buy
and Stereo Coder, and I fed a Panaxis transmitter, and got stereo
that was very pleasing, no sibilance or stereo light flashing, and
clean highs like I hadn't heard with hardware.
What you want on an FM transmitter when using an external stereo
generator and RDS is a wideband input, and to do a clean job, the
input should be high spec, but it's not that hard to do. You don't
want any pre-emphasis or large capacitors rolling off the highs,
just enough for an RF filter that starts working somewhere above
200 khz. On the low end, for today's broadcast processing, you want
frequency response to below half a hertz, and flat frequency and
phase response in the whole audio and MPX+RDS frequencies. If the
transmitter has an input that's almost directly to the modulation
varactor, then you should be good.
You might be able to get in and modify the Decade and bypass the
audio processing, and add a wideband inpu. It might have a little
trouble on bass though, if based on CZH, those seem to have fast
PLL lock times.
The cool thing is, I was able to put on a good sounding station
without buying anything extra, totally shoestring, my rationale is
that the station should be cheap, low power and low cost. I'm a fan
of software now, it can do that well. My AM stereo setup is spartan
and ragtag, but it works on and on, and no one out there knows what
the studio looks like.
- Boomer
Saturday January 9, 2021 10:32 AM CST -- theRADIOsource update
Correspondent
Richard Powers made contact with Bill Baker, the main man at
Information Station Specialists, provider of equipment and services for
information radio stations, and shares this reply:
Hi
Rich:
We
have an issue (of The Source Newletter) coming out soon. We
appreciate your interest and gentle nudge!
We
have been so busy with production that marketing
has fallen behind a bit….
************************************
Bill
Baker
Information
Station Speciali...
Saturday January 9, 2021 5:35 AM CST --
If
you have the humble feeling that you are a nobody,
Then you are closer to the truth than someone we
thinks he's a big shot.
-- Manfred Tweed, Home School College
Friday January 8, 2021 7:32 PM CST -- Obstinacy
I
couldn't get the AltaCast Metadata updater to work. Then it started
working. Now I can't figure out why it previously didn't work.
We
also learned more about the logging department. There are 4 log levels
based on entering a number and the AltaCast logging exists for
debugging and not for listing audiofiles. The author of the manual was
a person of few words whereas I have plenty of words but can't use them
until
I know something to say.
Friday January 8, 2021 5:45 PM CST -- Kinks
We've been
watching the AltaCast Encoder spin out an MP3 stream for 24-hours and
found some uncertainties we'll continue to explore. More about those
after describing what works as expected which includes the robust sound
quality of the stream itself which is very satisfactory. And the
AltaCast communicates through the Icecast Server and becomes listed
along with the OGG stream at both the Icecast and Steamcast
Directories. That makes two features that function well, now we'll talk
about two other factors which so far seem buggy. First, there's the
matter of sending the 'Currently Playing' information,
which only
half-works in our experience so far. We're able to manually type in a
description such as "This is a Test" and it gets sent through the
Icecast Server and shows up as 'Currently Playing' info on the
listener's audio player. But, although there's a provision for grabbing
the data from a text file which in turn updates every time the playlist
advances, it has so far not managed to happen. The manually entered
text line does not get replaced by the line from the text file. The
second irregularity to mention concerns the log keeping which works at
times and at other times seems to stop working. And the logged data
seems to be very scant compared the the B.U.T.T. Encoder.
This is a sample from the AltaCast Log:
01/08/21 17:43:25 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 24 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:30 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 23 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:35 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 24 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:40 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 24 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:45 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 23 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:50 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 24 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
01/08/21 17:43:55 Info(MainWindow.cpp:761): 24 Kbps (/kdx.mp3)
Very little else gets listed, and we're not sure what this tells us.
Now we see a sample logged by B.U.T.T.:
2021-01-08 13:57:52 Updated songname to:
KDX_ID_FEMA-2020-6-19_13 13 50
2021-01-08 13:58:01 Updated songname to:
PhiloTalk_ComfortingConvos1_1
2021-01-08 13:59:01 Updated songname to:
PhiloTalk_ComfortingConvos1_2
2021-01-08 14:52:01 Updated songname to: PSA_Pro Choice
(Abortion) Public Service Announcement
2021-01-08 14:52:56 Updated songname to: 7 hours of
rain-soaked ambient cyberpunk music _ Boing Boing
2021-01-08 14:59:39 Updated songname to:
KDX_ID_SuperStream-2020-9-29_13 33 19
2021-01-08 14:59:50 Updated songname to: rian
2021-01-08 15:18:28 Updated songname to: RT America
2021-01-08 17:00:06 Updated songname to:
KDX_ID_FEMA-2020-6-19_13 13 50
2021-01-08 17:00:16 Updated songname to: KDX_Interval_Signal
2021-01-08 17:00:24 Updated songname to:
RT_NEWS_Rick_Sanchez_Fri
2021-01-08 17:26:21 Updated songname to:
KDX_ID_SuperStream-2020-9-29_13 33 19
2021-01-08 17:26:29 Updated songname to:
KDX_Server_Location-2020-12-11_13 21 8
2021-01-08 17:26:34 Updated songname to:
No_Agenda-1310-2021-01-07
This shows each audio file passing through the stream and the time at
which it plays. Far more useful information.
On we go.
Thursday January 7, 2021 5:32 PM CST -- KDX Streamed in Two
Flavors
Modified 21/01/11 ... Experiment Completed
Out of Service
KDX-OGG Stereo
Tech Specs -
The MP3 Stream was encoded experimentally by Edcast Standalone
v3.37.2011.2014 and Altcast v 1.1
The OGG Stream is encoded by B.U.T.T. v 0.1.27
The 2 encoders were driving a single Icecast Server v2.4.4
Icecast delivered both streams over a single port.
Icecast
Server Dashboard
Thursday January 7, 2020 12:47 NOON CST -- On Politics at the Artisan
Radio Blog
Thursday January 7, 2021 11:34 AM CST -- For No Reason
Returning
now to lab analysis of the Edcast and AltaCast StandAlone Encoders for
radio streaming despite not needing them inasmuch as the
newer
B.U.T.T. Encoder is serving our needs. And we recall saying that
AltaCast failed to run with Windows 7 but that is changed now that C++
runtime libraries have been installed per the fine-print
instructions at
Further, the AltaCast About
page discloses that AltaCast 1.1 is based on Edcast V3 by Ed Zaleski
Built on Feb. 8, 2016. Compare that to the most recent version of
Edcast we've been tinkering with Built on Dec. 14, 2011.
Thursday January 7, 2021 7:30 AM CST -- Too Soon for Return to Normal
According
to the New York Times, yesterday was the deadliest day of the
Coronavirus Pandemic so far, with more than 3,900 deaths and 255,000
new cases reported. Therefore now is not the time to come flooding out
of quarantine and returning to life as before simply because vaccines
are being slowly administered.
Thursday January 7, 2021 12:41 AM MIDNIGHT -- Donald Trump Brings It On
Picture from drudgereport.com
To a one the 'Proud Boy' types are
scruffy, ungroomed, bedraggled, unkempt, slovenly, grubby and raggy,
unlike their fuehrer who leans around in neat business suits, high-end
winter coat and shiny shoes. The thing is, the hoards respond to Trump
dog-whistles by attacking federal buildings but do not give a thought
to physical mimicry by outfitting themselves with handsome presidential
wardrobes. I would think that a person would want to emulate the
father-figure-demeaner in the manner of the children including Don Jr.,
Eric and Ivanka, where neatness of appearance stands-in for
intellectual lack. And me: when I took an interest in the movie figure
'Zorro' I insisted on wearing black and continue the practice to this
day, although I lost my sword years ago.
Tuesday January 5, 2021 10:38 AN CST -- Amen and Awomen?
No. The Latin expression 'Amen'
as said to end Christian prayer translates as 'So be it", and is
gender neutral.
Tuesday January 5, 2021 10:34 AM CST -- Feeling Dizzy
Monday January 4, 2021 5:57 PM CST -- Edcast Able to Log Afterall
Taking
a last look we discovered that Edcast DOES have the ability to save a
log of its activities! We may yet find a cure for the virus if we keep
looking.
Monday January 4, 2021 5:13 PM CST -- Back In the Lab
A
question popped into my mind... does Edcast keep a log? B.U.T.T., Zara,
and Icecast each save logs of everything that takes place while they
are running, but within the past few minutes, having started Edcast
serving KDX-MP3 I find no trace of log keeping facility. But
there's more.
Flipping through engineering notes we have in hand
detailed observations made in 2018 looking specifically at the Metadata
generation feature not only in Edcast, but across several softwares
including Winamp, Altacast, B.U.T.T. and Audacity. Some people refer to
metadata as a Winamp capability, but more correctly it's part of the
MP3 format and can be manipulated from software designed to handle MP3
audio files. The Zara V 1.6.2 method of showing CurrentSong.txt does
not display actual metadata but shows the title of the currently
playing audiofile which is more comprehensive because it is not limited
to MP3. And one more thing.
Looking on our XP harddrive we find
a more recent issue of Edcast than the one tried earlier today...This
is V 3.37.2011.1214 Built on Dec. 14, 2011 and has a few additional
doodads, but still no logging.
Monday January 4, 2021 11:52 AM CST -- Experiments Concluded for Now
Edcast
is turned off, KDX is back on the B.U.T.T. Encoder in OGG format. We
happened to peek under the hood and noticed that the Edcast About
information reports itself as Oddsock.org V3 Built on Nov. 3, 2008,
over ten years ago. Yet it seems to function properly under Windows 7.
By comparison B.U.T.T. is currently supported and just upscaled to V
0.1.27, so we'll stick with the most recent encoder for today. There
was a time while we were still on the XP operating system that we
employed an encoder named Altacast with success, but it fails to run on
Windows 7 and also seems no longer to be under development. The next
thing we'll do, later in the week, is explore B.U.T.T.'s instruction
for installing a second instance of itself, which will open a more
modern way of generating two server formats. Thank you everyone for
coming and your parking stubs will be validated on the way out.
Monday January 4, 2021 10:47 AM CST -- Two Streams One Encoder
Upon
further examination of Edcast we re-discovered a flexibility of this
encoder which is not shared by the BUTT Encoder... Edcast can
simultaniously drive multiple streams, each set for different formats.
Therefore we have two streams (MP3 & OGG) from a single
instance of
Edcast and both over port 8000 from a single Icecast Server.
Monday January 4, 2021 10:00 AM CST -- One Station Two Streams
Internet
radio streaming from KDX Worldround Radio is an experimental affair as
we set out to perfect ways of doing it utilizing mostly open-source
freeware. As of this morning KDX has branched from one single stream
(KDX-OGG) to a second simulcast stream (KDX-MP3). The OGG VORBIS stream
is encoded by B.U.T.T. (Broadcast Using This Tool) and the second
stream is encoding with Edcast, following the influence of work being
done by Artisan Radio as his experimental streaming is connected with
proving a method for adding RDS (Radio Data System) to low power FM
transmission. Upon noticing that Artisan is using the Edcast Encoder we
looked into it and discovered that Edcast is presently available as
freeware, whereas we'd been under the impression that it was
discontinued awhile ago. Quick installation and configuration has us
putting out both streams at the same time from two different encoders.
The OGG stream is somewhat high quality stereo, and the MP3 stream is
low-bitrate monaural for the benefit of multiple thousands of potential
listeners with narrow bandwidth internet connections. Most of what we
do is speech and now listening to the MP3 stream it seems more than
adequate and equivalent to the best AM and slightly sub-par FM, at
24kb/s. Take your pick.
Monday January 4, 2021 6:33 AM CST -- Trash from the Depths of Space
Sunday January 3, 2021 7:04 PM CST -- Nose Picking Friend to Friend
Nose
picking may be one of few gross things not found as a fetish on
pornhub. Because your close family and friends are unlikely to
talk to you about it, The Blare Blog will, starting with this linked
nose picker news:
The
Blog doesn't agree with the Catholic-like rule that one's hands just
shouldn't go there... we believe that nose picking is a natural
self-cleaning instinct but, like sex-ed, needs to be taught in schools
to properly prepare men and women on the skill of nose management. If
no one else takes this on The Blare Blog will compile and publish the
first Picker's Guide and promote the specialty of nasal curriculum for
early school with advanced snoot specialty for medical school.
It's no accident that fingers and hands exactly fit nostrils like keys
in a lock, similar to other parts of the body that fit together, but in
each case requiring mastery of technique.
Sunday January 3, 2021 6:16 PM CST -- The Decomposition of
Post-Trumpian America
The
freaky covidian silence enveloping the cities is busy with death
counted by essential workers in hospital back offices while streets
refuse to offer escape routes for frantic drivers who find themselves
returning home one day closer to eviction. Some blogger sits
stringing words together on a keyboard under the compulsion that what
everyone is experiencing needs to be described as if the experience by
itself were not already descriptive. As a species we want to plan
something, make repairs, pay somebody; to get back on schedule, but the
unraveling is beyond reach and everything on a slippery slope. Today
there may be food and electricity, but each day for fewer as budgets
reach zero and key personnel become scarce. When screens go dark
keyboards will cease to describe what happens after that.
Sunday January 3, 2021 11:34 AM CDT -- Just Links
Submitted by Rich Powers
No,
this time we really mean it
Okay,
so when you stop laughing, here is what will
really happen: They will go out, bust a few pirates, issue larger
than normal Notices of Apparent Liability, collect none of the
money from them and call it a huge success...
A TRACKER FOR
RADIO SONDES
Radiosondes
– the telemetry packages carried aloft
by sounding balloons for atmospheric weather data measurements..
The balloons burst when they reach a high enough altitude, the
radiosonde falls back, and most often there is no effort made to
recover them since they are deemed “expendable”...
So,
what do you do with the recovered radiosondes ?
Here’s a tip on a “Fallen Radiosonde reborn as active L-band
antenna“....
Experimental
Broadcaster’s Newsletter - October
1988 Vol. 5, No. 10 Page 6
...
Halloween pranks are somewhat of a tradition
here on campus. Our discussion began with setting-up a low-power
"voice from space" broadcast... We finally found a 15 foot diameter
weather balloon at a "Army/Navy! The transmitter is a simple
4-transistor circuit which outputs about 2 and a half watts...
should last 4 to 5 days. With any luck our balloon can reach the
east coast and still be transmitting!.....
Experimental
Broadcaster’s Newsletter - November
1988 Vol. 5, No. 11 Page 6
....Several
Southern California EBN readers
phoned-in early Monday morning to tell us they heard the
broadcasts. Others wrote in.... We heard "the voice of Neewolah" in
San Jose... Picked up something Monday morning October 31 that
might have been your NEEWOLAH... We heard itl That radio balloon
transmitter!.... We were watching channel 6-TV when a
funny
sounding
voice was heard in the background.....
KDPT-FM in California reporting hearing balloon
broadcast
about 8:00 am October 31,1988....
FAA
Adopts Final Rules for Drones
...
Specifically, the rules will (i) require drones
to broadcast information... the FAA opted for a “simplified
approach” of using broadcast remote ID... Broadcast-Only; No
Internet/USS Transmission... Broadcast remote ID systems will
transmit information about the flight and aircraft using unlicensed
spectrum in accordance with Part 15 of the FCC’s rules..., they are
required to transmit their take-off location, which is intended to
serve as a proxy for the location of the operator...
Earthlings
and astronauts chat away, via ham
radio
"Any
station, any station, this is the
International Space Station," Wheelock said... "It allowed me to
... just reach out to humanity down there," said Wheelock, who
interacted with many operators, known as "hams," during that stay
at the space station in 2010. "It became my emotional, and a really
visceral, connection to the planet."...
Vintage
Tube Amplification During a Lockdown
....Aside from
the seriousness of the pandemic, was
I to just endure life without recorded music for a while? Or would
I attempt to outrun the highway patrol, hoping to be able to go to
the studio and bring back an amp and phono stage, without ending up
playing “Jailhouse Rock” to the entertainment of my fellow inmates,
guards and warden?... Upon briefly contemplating the sheer futility
of negotiating with a highway patrolman on whether high-fidelity
audio was a basic necessity for survival..– I quickly concluded
that it would be more prudent to stay put and have a look at my
stack of parts at home...
Gingerbread
monolith appears in San Francisco's
Corona Heights
Its
arrival delighted many in Corona Heights - and
yes, the neighbourhood's name predates the pandemic..
Like
its Utah predecessor, the gingerbread monolith
is three-sided, with rectangles of gingerbread apparently held
together by icing. Its internal structure is unclear... the general
manager of the city's Recreation and Parks Department, Phil
Ginsburg, telling Californian news company KQED: "We will leave it
up until the cookie crumbles."
Are
we doomed? An investigation
....,
we look to historians, preppers, and even the
heavens in search of answers: What exactly was 2020, and what
happens now?... Politically, they try to stay neutral. Preppers
“tend to lean to the right of the aisle,” but over the course of
the Trump years, that’s started to change. “We have seen a lot of
people from the left coming into prepping,” he says brightly. It is
nice to see that people agree on something, I suppose, even if the
thing that they agree on is the possibility of societal
collapse...
Sunday January 3, 2021 11:26 AM CST -- Make-Up Table
I
mean I mean I mean ham radio HF set-up,
listening
post, work/test bench, uh
and...
TABLE
TESTING area, although
admittedly-
testing this one specific table
has taken a very long time.
Very
Best Wishes,
Brooooce
The Blog recommends contacting the International Table Standards Chair.
There are 2 interesting
radios on the
table.
There is a black Sony pocket radio,
model ICR-3. It is AM only and probably was made not too long
before the forces that be came up with the rule that all radios had
to have both AM and FM. I'm figuring 1985 or so, but I'm not
sure about that date. It's a cool radio and works
well.
If you magnify your image, you can see how neat it is. It
came from the Orleans, Cape Cod dump. And I'm glad it
did!
The
orange radio is a Radioshack Flavoradio
-
"flavor" orange- color orange from the 1970s. I
also have the "flavor" lemon - color yellow. Anyway this
orange flavor radio was dead. Now it works - and it turns out
the speaker was dead. I never would have expected
that.
It's very very loud now but the audio is somewhat distorted.
I have some ideas on what to do about that.
I
like these old AM only Flavoradios. There
are newer versions but I'm only interested in this "oldest"
version. Why? Uh uh er um, oh yeah - So we had a few of these
around the house when I was a kid. Two of them, I
think.
They
were both "flavor" strawberry - color
red. They are long gone. Anyway the orange and
yellow
Flavoradios I have here pick up my 1580 KHz Part 15 AM transmitter
NO PROBLEM. So I can send ANYTHING through them. I
want
to collect a few more- some other flavors. Right now there
are a bunch of Blueberry ones on E-Bay - but they are a newer
version and that's not what I'm looking for right now. Maybe
later - they are tempting though.
Very
Best Wishes,
Brooooce
Sunday January 3, 2021 11:04 AM CST -- Kitchen AM
BCB DX Set-Up
Hi
Uncle Carl!
This
set-up (photo attached) works pretty well
when I'm cleaning the kitchen
and
loading the dishwasher.
The
GE Superadio 3 is the primary
receiver
here. There is nothing that beats
the feeling of tuning an analog radio, but you know that. The
WMEX callsign on the front of the radio is a tribute to a station I
listened to in my youth, which was very important as I was then in
the hospital in Boston, MA - about 100 miles from home. Also
- the lettering covers up scratches on the radio's speaker grill,
which I have been unable to repair.
The
little radio with the orange triangle graphics
is a Kaito KA-1103. The orange triangles cover up scratches
and dents on that radio as well. The KA-1103 is used for
frequency calibration. It is a real workhorse!
To
the left of the KA-1103 is a C.Crane FM
transmitter, which sends the audio to my headphones which are
driven by a teeny FM radio in my pocket. I also use a
Bluetooth set-up that functions in the same way.
More
pictures to come.
Very
Best Wishes
Brooooce
Technical Note from the Editor: On some
computer screens Brooce's pictures are right-side-up, but on others
they are side-ways. We do not know what to do.
Saturday January 2, 2021 11:21 AM CST -- You Can't Fire Me and I Won't
Quit
Friday January 1, 2021 6:22 AM CST -- Necessary
Technology
For many it has become difficult to imagine living without the internet
although we occasionally hear of determined loners who keep the Web out
of their domiciles by confining their access to public library work
stations. The same ubiquity is more and more true for cell phones which
are becoming pass keys to societal integration. We could probably say
that cars have been necessary for a long time to connect with vital
city services and at the fringes have become mobile homes for some
homeless. We hear of long lines of cars at food banks
and wonder how the carless pedestrian obtains charity food and
have
difficulty imagining how more than a small amount of supplies could be
carried by public transportation. When it comes to living in a tent one
needs a computer to find out where tents come from, but word is that no
place is hospitable to tent dwelling. The Blare Blog is on the inside
looking in, our only outlook based on what we've heard and other
estimates. There are two human realities separated by a threshold; we
are either in the system or out; the price of admission embedded in
digital
plastic; awake to a maze of abstractions asleep to other dreams; the
insane and the outsane.
