Tech Smorgasbord Archives - 1

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my rantings on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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Cingular Wireless and Virgin Mobile offer a "rescue call" service: Escape-A-Date. It sounds like an old SNL routine, but according to Cingular:

"This new service allows you to schedule a 'rescue' phone call at a pre-set time. That way, you'll be called at the time you specify. The service tells you exactly what to say to set the tone for a speedy escape. There are eight randomly generated humorous scripts.

With 'Escape-A-Date,' you'll never be at a loss if you need a timely rescue."

IC Manufacturer Top Sales Per Employee EE Times Research 2005
TSMC	$411,249
Qualcomm	$403,125
UMC	$371,428
Hynix Semi	$357,538
Renesas Tech	$346,154
Intel	$339,560
Matsushita	$321,111
AMD	$314,647
Texas Instruments	$305,710
NEC	$269,542

Where U.S. Students Who Study Abroad Go (%) W-S Journal Research 2005
	1993-94	2003-04
Africa	1.9	3.0
Asia	6.5	6.9
Europe	67.4	60.9
Latin Amer.	13.4	15.2
Middle East	2.8	6.9
Oceania	3.4	7.4
Other	4.5	6.1

Religion Profile of U.S. EEs EETimes Research 2005
Christian/Protestant	52%
Catholic	26%
Jewish	3%
Buddhism	3%
Orthodox Christian	1%
Muslim	1%
Hinduism	<1%
Interdenominational	<1%
None	14%

Composite Cross-Section

of Average U.S. Engineer

Electronic Design Research

Male

White

46 Years Old

College Graduate

Works 53 Hours Per Week

10 Years with Current Company

21 Years Engineering Experience

Earns $93,055 Total

Compensation

Cost of Increasingly Heavier Americans Flying on Airlines Popular Science Research
Adult male weight increase from 1991-2000	8.5 lb
Weight FAA assumed for average male from 1938-2003	170 lb
Gallons of fuel consumed by domestic air travel in 2000	14.8B gal
Additional fuel need to carry heavier males	350M gal
Additional CO2 generated from additional fuel	3.8M lbs
Cost of additional fuel in 2000	$275M

High-Tech Jobs in the U.S. 3.4% ↑ in Last 18 Months EE Times Research
# of Tech Jobs (x10⁶)
	2001	2004	2005
High-Tech Manufacturing	1.870	1.334	1.356
Communications Services	1.850	1.442	1.432
Software Services	1.630	1.358	1.434
Engineering & Tech Services	1.460	1.398	1.499

Here is Why There is no Urgency to Control the Cost of Oil
10 Wealthiest U.S. Senators ($M)

John Kerry, D-MA	1,000
Sen. Jon Corzine, D-NJ	300
Herb Kohl, D-WI	270
Jay Rockefeller, D-WV	200
Lincoln Chafee, R-RI	51.6
Dianne Feinstein, D-CA	31.9
Bill Frist, R-TN	15.1
Hillary Clinton, D-NY	12.8
John McCain, R-AZ	11.4
Elizabeth Dole, R-NC	10.4

President George Bush	13.5
V.P. Richard Cheney	67.6

Software Piracy Rates 2004 EDN Research
Vietnam	92%
Ukraine	91%
China	90%
Zimbabwe	90%
Indonesia	87%
Russia	87%
:	:
Japan	28%
Denmark	27%
United Kingdom	27%
Sweden	26%
New Zealand	23%
United States	21%

EE Times' 2005 Base Salary Survey Results
$	%	$	%

<35k	1	70k-80k^-	11
35k-40k^-	1	80k-90k^-	12
40k-45k^-	1	90k-100k^-	14
45k-50k^-	1	100k-120k^-	24
50k-55k^-	2	120k-140k^-	13
55k-60k^-	3	140k-160k	5
60k-65k^-	4	>160k	4
65k-70k^-	4	Mean=$99k

Moon.Google.Com

Zoom all the way in for maximum detail!

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, one of 23 separate telescopes sitting 6,875 above sea level feet atop Arizona's Kitt Peak, is lined with 4.7 miles of water-cooling pipes to keep the optics from vaporizing due to the focused light from the sun.

Mystery Connector

If you can identify this connector, please click here to send me an e-mail. Hover your mouse over the image for a description and click on it for a larger view.

It appears that the original vendor was Micro-Mode, who made the connectors as a special order item for a test cable vendor. Thanks for your participation!

Guesses So Far:

Although not intended to be for fun, you folks have sent in humorous suggestions along with the serious. Some are listed below - thank you.

* SMA to 1.85mm push fit adaptor. Not sure I'd

want a push fit connection at 65 GHz - A.I.

* TNC to SMA reverse polarity - Tom C.

* Part of Janet Jackson's wardrobe - Don H.

* Pneumatic to JIC - Eduardo R.

* F-15 high pressure valve for pilot relief

mechanism Sandra W.

* SMP-SMA type- Steve D.

* N type to zero-force SMA - Gergory D.

* A fluid adapter - Ivo V.

* SMP - Per A.

* OSP/BMA - Nick P.

* Pneumatic to TNC pressure xducer - John S.

* Automobile PCV valve - Tom M.

* SMA -to- RF connector - Justin R.

Printed RFID Antenna Units EE Times Research 2005
Year	x10⁶
2006	62
2007	295
2008	1,119
2009	1,914
2010	3,232
2011	4,121
2012	4,670

The earth's magnetic field slightly alters the trajectory of the electron beam in a CRT. The field is strongest at the poles, weakest at the equator, and varies in the direction of polarity everywhere. A CRT adjusted to display properly in Oregon will not look the same in Peru or Italy.

% of U.S. EE Degrees Awarded to Foreign Students 2003 Electronic Design Research
Bachelor's Degree
90%	U.S. Citizens
10%	Foreign Citizens
Master's Degree
46%	U.S. Citizens
54%	Foreign Citizens
PhD Degree
35%	U.S. Citizens
65%	Foreign Citizens

Top 10 Issues that Keep Engineers up at Night 2005 Electronic Design Research
10	Component availability
9	Staffing reductions
8	Financial health of company
7	Price/performance
6	Outsourcing
5	Health of economy
4	Job security
3	Product reliability
2	Keeping current with new technologies
1	Looming project deadlines

Job Hunting Stats - Mid 2005 Electronic Design Research
Actively seeking new position	11%
Not actively seeking, but would follow up if opportunity arose	32%
Not actively seeking, but would follow up only if personally approached	31%
No plans to change jobs for any reason	26%

2004 Patent Applications Electronic Business Research
United States	35%
All Others	21%
Japan	17%
Germany	12%
France	4%
U.K	4%
Netherlands	4%
Republic of Korea	4%

2005 Electrical Engineer's Salary Electronic Design Research
Base Salary	$85,014
Bonuses	$3,320
Stock / Stock Options	$2,236
Other Resources	$2,485

Predicted Household Broadband Penetration by End of 2005 M&RF Research - Europe
Netherlands	56%
Switzerland	51%
Denmark	49%
Norway	48%
Sweden	44%
Belgium	43%
Finland	40%
France	39%
United Kingdom	36%
Spain	35%
Austria	33%
Portugal	30%
Italy	29%
Germany	24%

Engineers' Vacation Time in 2004 EETimes Research
United States	Earned	Taken
4 weeks or more	39%	20%
3 weeks	40%	33%
2 weeks	18%	28%
1 week	1%	14%
0 weeks	2%	5%
Europe	Earned	Taken
4 weeks or more	94%	79%
3 weeks	3%	16%
2 weeks	2%	2%
1 week	1%	1%
0 weeks	2%	1%

Gas Prices US$/US Gal as of March 2005
Top 5
Netherlands	$6.48
Norway	$6.27
Italy	$5.96
Denmark	$5.93
Belgium	$5.91
Bottom 5
Saudi Arabia	$0.91
Kuwait	$0.78
Egypt	$0.65
Nigeria	$0.38
Venezuela	$0.12
Entire List

Digging a hole to China is evidently an American kids' thing. From most of the U.S., a hole through the center of the earth leads to the Indian Ocean. An unscientific study by Scientific American magazine shows kids from most other countries never think about what's directly below then. British adults definitely were thinking about it, though, when they named the Antipodes Islands, near New Zealand, because that point is directly across from Greenwich, England. (antipode = a direct or diametrical opposite). What did middle school boys say they would see if they looked straight down through the earth? "Up girls' skirts."

The curvature employed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel of the 986-foot high Eiffel Tower has long intrigued engineers. On a mission to derive an equation for the profile, Patrick Weidman of the University of Colorado discovered an equation in one of Eiffel's notebooks that is an exponential of the natural logarithm - one found frequently in nature. Eiffel figured out that the shape would experience zero wind load on the diagonal elements. Doing so permitted the "lightweight" iron structure to be built with relatively little metal. Its longevity is testimony to its superior design.

Say you are being held captive in a room that is secured by a cipher lock that requires the successful calculation the Xth root of some number Y (X is not an integer). A timer limits your opportunity. A wrong answer gets you a torture session where you are forced to listen to loud Christina Aguilera music. Fortunately, you are an engineer and as such always carry a table of logarithms in your pocket. Your captors, being political science majors, must carry calculators, and think your log table is a track betting sheet, so you can keep it. Could you escape? Click here to find out how.

A young woman, living alone in New York City, was continually having her apartment broken into. Each time there was a break-in she would add one more door lock, but to no avail. At seven locks, she got the bright idea of only locking some of the locks and leaving the others unlocked. It worked! No more break-ins: The burglar would unlock the locked locks, but would lock the unlocked locks.


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About RF Cafe Copyright: 1996 - 2024 Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger, BSEE - KB3UON RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived... All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the RF Cafe website are hereby acknowledged. My Hobby Website: AirplanesAndRockets.com