These items are an archive of past Topical Smorgasbord items that have appeared on the RF Cafe homepage. In keeping with the "cafe"
genre, these tidbits of information are truly a smorgasbord of topics. They all pertain to topics that are related to the general engineering
and science theme of RF Cafe. Note: There is also a huge collection of my 'Factoids' (aka 'Kirt's Cogitations') that might interest you as well.
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35 |
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An Enigma - or is it a Paradox?
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It occurred to me the other day how in mathematics, we define
π radians = 180°
Well, according to Merriam-Webster, the definition of an irrational number (π) is "a
number that can be expressed as an infinite decimal with no set of consecutive digits repeating itself indefinitely and that cannot be expressed
as the quotient [or fraction] of two integers." A rational number (180) is any number that is not irrational. So have we not declared that an
irrational number is equal to a rational number?
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Acceptable Gifts for
Foreign Countries
(source: Inc Magazine Aug 2007)
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India: Chocolates, dried fruits, sculptures. Present in social setting.
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China: Pens, small electronic devices. Nothing white since bad connotations in superstition.
Present at social event, offer 3 times.
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Brazil: Personal gifts - jewelry, sports mementos. Present in social setting.
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Russia: Liquor, what else? (not vodka, though). Gifts not expected in Russia.
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Nigeria: Luxury items expected, but who cares? Nigeria is a hub of massive corruption and
identity theft. I say give a set of strong handcuffs. Do so in a public setting.
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Anyone Know What Kind of Gas Mileage a Prius Gets at 100 MPH?
|
 Mr. Gore's son must not have
gotten the memo. Looks like the family will need to purchase a few more carbon offset credits.
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Top Mobile Web Domains March 2007 (source:
Telephony 5/21/07)
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1 |
US: google.com
UK: google.co.uk
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2 |
US: yahoo.com
UK: bbc.co.uk |
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3 |
US: msn.com
UK: orange.co.uk |
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4 |
US: microsoft.com
UK: three.co.uk |
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5 |
US: live.com
UK: o2.co.uk |
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6 |
US: go.com
UK: google.com |
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7 |
US: cnn.com
UK: mobile-favourites.co.uk |
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8 |
US: weather.com
UK: ebay.co.uk |
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9 |
US: myspace.com
UK: msn.com |
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10 |
US: passport.net
UK: yahoo.com |
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Top Ranked Engineering Colleges for
2006
(source:
graduateshotline.com)
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1 |
Mass. Inst. Tech. |
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2 |
Stanford U. |
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3 |
U.C. Berkley |
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4 |
Cal. Inst. Tech. |
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5 |
U. of IL, Urbana |
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6 |
Georgia IT |
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7 |
U. of Michigan |
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8 |
Cornell U. |
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9 |
Carnegie Mellon |
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10 |
U. of Texas, Austin |
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15 |
Princeton U. |
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19 |
Harvard U. |
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24 |
Johns Hopkins U. |
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30 |
Duke U. |
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31 |
Rensselaer (RPI) |
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38 |
Yale |
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My alma matter, U. of VT, did not place in the top 50...go figure. |
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2006 Top Electronics
R&D Spenders
(source:
Electronic Business) |
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# |
Company |
% |
$M |
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1 |
Cadence |
31 |
460 |
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2 |
Broadcom |
31 |
1117 |
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3 |
Agere |
28 |
445 |
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4 |
Maxim |
26 |
481 |
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7 |
AMD |
21 |
1205 |
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9 |
AnalogDev |
21 |
537 |
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12 |
Qualcomm |
20 |
1538 |
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22 |
STMicro |
17 |
1667 |
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25 |
Infineon |
16 |
1585 |
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26 |
Ericsson |
16 |
4080 |
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28 |
TI |
15 |
2,195 |
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40 |
Agilent |
13 |
655 |
|
57 |
Motorola |
9.6 |
4106 |
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58 |
Nokia |
9.5 |
5145 |
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59 |
Samsung |
9.5 |
6083 |
|
87 |
Murata |
7.1 |
295 |
|
93 |
IBM |
6.7 |
6107 |
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123 |
EPCOS |
5.4 |
90 |
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214 |
Tyco |
2.2 |
914 |
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% = % or revenue |
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2007 Salary Survey
(source: Design News)
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These results are primarily from mechanical engineers. Overall average is $78k. By comparison, EE Times' 2006 survey
showed base of around $76k for EEs.
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% |
Base Salary Range |
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2 |
$150k-250k |
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3 |
$130k-$150k |
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5 |
$110k-$120k |
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4 |
$100k-$100k |
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9 |
$90k-$100k |
|
11 |
$80k-$90k |
|
14 |
$70k-$80k |
|
18 |
$60k-$70k |
|
15 |
$50k-$60k |
|
10 |
$40k-$50k |
|
2 |
$30k-$40k |
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What's Your
Internet Speed?
|
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Average download
speeds in the U.S.,
according to the
Communications
Workers of America:
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|
The Fastest (Mbps) |
|
1 |
Rhode Island, 5.01 |
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2 |
Kansas, 4.17 |
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3 |
New Jersey, 3.68 |
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4 |
New York, 3.44 |
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5 |
Massachusetts, 3.00 |
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The Slowest (Mbps) |
|
46 |
North Dakota, 1.31 |
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47 |
Iowa, 1.26 |
|
48 |
Wyoming, 1.25 |
|
49 |
West Virginia, 1.12 |
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50 |
Alaska, 0.55 |
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National Average, 1.97 |
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Other Places (Mbps) |
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Canada, 7.60 Japan, 61.0
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Test Yours Here |
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