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This is a catchall page of information that interests me and, perhaps, will interest you. New information will be added from time to time, so check back once in a while and see what's new! |
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Father in World War II
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| Experience the sights and sounds of a vintage B-17. Feel the rush as you begin the take-off roll and four 1200-horsepower engines go to full throttle. Try to imagine how it must have felt flying into combat over occupied Europe for the first time. This is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that you'll never forget. Here are three organizations that have refurbished B-17s that you can fly aboard: |
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Nine O Nine of the Collings Foundation: http://www.collingsfoundation.org/ Aluminum
Overcast of the EAA Aviation Foundation: http://www.b17.org/ Yankee Lady of the Yankee Air Museum: http://yankeeairmuseum.org/aircraft/flights.shtml For some general B-17 information click here. |
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Sudoku
The game of Sudoku has become very popular. If you enjoy playing the game, or if you've seen others playing it and want to learn about playing, then you'll want to download Sudoku Playing Palette. Sudoku Playing Palette is a Windows® program designed to take the unnecessary work out of playing Sudoku. It doesn't play the game for you but it reduces the need to figure out what numbers may be played at each location. It eliminates the scribbling of notes inside the game. By relieving this tedious aspect of Sudoku, it allows you to concentrate on the correct logical choices. In short, it lets you simply play! The starting point of a typical game is shown here. The large numbers are the numbers that you play. Simply use your mouse or the tab or arrow keys to go to a particular cell and enter or change the number as you like. The small numbers at the top of each cell are computed by Sudoku Playing Palette. They tell you the numbers--the "possibles"--that can be played at each location based on the rules of Sudoku. So you don't have to figure out what's possible! But it's up to you to decide what number should finally be played at each position. The Help menu explains how to play Sudoku and how to use Sudoku Playing Palette. If you get stuck, you can choose from 3 levels of hints: Gentle Hints, Strong Hints, and finally, the Answer! You can save a game and recover it to finish playing later. If you don't like the default colors, an option is available to change the colors. If you change your mind after entering a number or series of numbers, you can Undo. If you change your mind again, you can Redo. If you like solving Sudoku on paper, simply enter the starting numbers into Sudoku Playing Palette, let it compute the "possibles," and print the puzzle. Other options are also available to make the game enjoyable for the individual player. To download Sudoku Playing Palette, click on the example game below, or go to the downloads page where you can find additional programs available for downloading. The file is in ZIP format. You can unzip it using WinZip® or another utility designed for extracting Winzip files. Sudoku Playing Palette is a free-standing program so no other installation is necessary. PLEASE NOTE: Sudoku Playing Palette is available "as is" with no guarantee that it will suit your needs, no guarantee that it will not cause problems on any system on which it is used, and no guarantee against consequential damages. This game is not supported and might change from time to time without notice. Translation: You're on your own.
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My Background and Some of My Specific Interests TODAY: I am an Electrical Engineer with more than 30 years of experience covering a broad range of areas, including analog circuit design, digital circuit design, hardware systems design, software design, and algorithm design. I hold BSEE and MSEE degrees, a Professional Engineer license in the State of California, a General Radiotelephone Operator license, and a California Community College Instructor Credential (Life) in two subject matter areas. I am also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). I enjoy frequent visits to electronics newsgroups, these being the ones that interest me: You are likely to find posts that I've made to these groups. The dialog can often be fun. Sometimes it can be contentious. Most often it's informative. I try my best to help beginners and hobbyists understand the subject better. And, I often learn new things myself. That's just the nature of these groups. If you have an interest in electronics and you haven't already visited these newsgroups, you should give them a try. To access newsgroups, you can use your browser or an application specifically designed to surf newsgroups. I recommend Agent. Agent is offered by Forté. IN A PREVIOUS LIFE: From March of 1966 until October of 1969, I served in the U.S. Air Force where I was trained as an Airborne Radio Repairman. After Tech School, I worked on F-105 Thunderchiefs and F-4 Phantoms. The F-105 and F-4 were all-weather fighter-bombers and major players in the Vietnam War. From the beginning of the war, through 1969, the F-105 dropped more tons of bombs on North Vietnam than the B-52. From October 1968 to October 1969, I was assigned to the 388th Avionics Maintenance Squadron of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, located near Korat, Thailand. You
can see some of the sights at 388th Avionics, Korat RTAFB, Korat,
Pi Mai, and Bangkok if you click on the pictures below. |
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