"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:
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
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.
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 typing 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.
"
