Book Mention: Titanium Noir

It's a hard-boiled detective story set in the near-ish future – at least, maybe a couple hundred years have passed but things aren't all that different – where some of the ultra-rich set have access to a life rejuvenation medical treatment that essentially resets a body's biological clock to the late teenage years and lets the recipient go on to live another life's worth of years.  A side effect is that the recipient grows another 20% or so.  Couple this with the name of the treatment regime being "Titanium 7," and you end up with these ultra-rich being sort of conspicuous and being called Titans.  Hence the name of the book.

Well, all is dandy until a Titan turns up dead.  It superficially looks like a suicide, but things aren't as they seem or else we wouldn't have a novel here.  So normal working joe of a private investigator gets pulled into the case by the police because he's worked with the Titans before and has a track record of playing well with them.  Mysteries are explored, dead ends are probed, interesting situations unfold, pretty much everything you'd want in a noir detective novel.  There are certainly some interesting characters, especially the gangster "Doublewide," so called because his off-brand life extension treatment added to his width and not so much to his height.  Too bad Sidney Greenstreet isn't around to play Doublewide when this gets made into a movie, which I sincerely hope happens and the sooner the better.  Paging Quentin Tarantino, paging Quentin Tarantino... Yeah, he'd do well coming out of retirement to film this one. 

So is Titanium Noir any good?  Yeah, I think so.  Like any decent sci-fi, it holds up a funhouse mirror to today so that we may better reflect upon current matters.  First there's the Titanium 7 rejuvenation treatment that's effectively a form of transhumanism so far unexplored in the genre.  With such extensive resetting/rebuilding of a body, is this even still the original person?  Not always entirely it seems.  Then there's the ultra-rich being set apart from the rest of us.  How does that work out?  There are always edges of the two groups that are going to rub.  What about the Titan wannabes?  That's well explored too.  Finally, is it fun to read?  Not my usual whisky, but yeah, it was fun.

Break out of your summer reading heat dome pattern, give this one a try.

ARRL Field Day 2023 Wrap-Up

Compared to some of the past decade's winter field adventures, both as Winter Field Day and as the MCARA's Ham Camps, this was actually a pretty sedate and put-together event.  We showed up in Battery Park (Apalachicola) with gear and the Franklin County Emergency Management's go-trailer at 10am Saturday, were on the air a couple of hours later, and into full-on contest mode by the 2pm start time.  Two main operators, lots of visitors, and a handful of hands-on participants.  As usual there are lessons to be learned from these events.

Didn't Work Items:

• The go-trailer's battery needs replacing.  It  cratered as soon as the sun went down and the trickle of solar power went away.
• A tent with big screen windows is needed for sleeping.  Even though it's a 24 hour event, face it, nobody's going to make it that long.  Naps are unavoidable, but mosquitoes can be blocked.
• Logging software and router would  be a nice-to-have for  next year.
• Needed trash bags and paper towels.  How did we forget those?
• Better workstation lighting, 12v style.
• Computer monitor mount is needed in the EOC's go-trailer.

Worked Particularly Well Items:

• A pre-charged LiFePO4 backup battery stepped in when the go-trailer's lead-acid batt faded.  BTW two HF stations plus one VHF station only went through 21 A-H  total on it, so we had plenty of reserve.
• The 140 watt solar panel worked, and seems enough to run the three radios plus lights, etc.  A 100 watt might be enough, but it's good to have the spare capacity for lights, cell phone charging, etc.
• The VHF radio, its push-up pole, and antenna worked great.
• Both HF rigs and their wire antennas went up easily and worked like champs.  (side note: got to my other portable HF radio talking with its tuner, dunno what's going on there)
• The 12v lighting worked well enough.  LED rope lights under the canopy would be nice, as seen at the Santos Fat Tire Fest back in March.
• The canopy tent & trailer worked well enough for shelter on that dry night.  Might want some extra tarps etc. if rain is forecast.
• Food & drink were plenty.  Having nearby restaurants made things easy.
• Battery Park worked as a location.  Some of the midnight traffic and the boat being hauled out at 3:30 am were kind of weird though.  The bathroom was great.
• Publicity worked, both through The Times and WOYS.  We can improve on this for next year though.

Pics?  Too busy.  Hopefully some will be in either this week's or next week's Times.  Anyway, a big thanks to all who participated, and especially to Franklin County Emergency Management for their support and participation, and the City of Apalachicola for the use of a small part of Battery Park.

Stay tuned for the upcoming fall and winter camp-outs.  For now though, high summer in North Florida has arrived and the go-gear is cleaned and readied and re-packed in case of hurricanes.

AeroPress? AeroYess.

Following up on a Father's Day gift (thanks!) from The Darling Daughter, today's post focuses on this evening's after-supper coffee.  Bottom Line: AeroPress brews a damn smooth, low-acid cup that packs a punch.  Time check... pushing midnight and I'm smoothly awake with no jitters or stomach burn.  Here, have some pics.

Ready to rock, loaded with a double shot of Cafe' Bustelo.

Want espresso?

Nah, dilute it down to Americano.  This is for after supper, after all.

Finally, on last month's excursion to Seaside, I noticed these on the shelf behind the counter at Cocina Cubana:

Read the upper fine print.

Party Size!?!?  36 oz of Cafe' Bustelo, that... would be one hell of a party.  Can you pass the Caffeine Test?

Solstice? Already?

Looks like, and today at 10:58 EDT.  Sunscreen for sure, unless it's raining.  Here, have a pic from a few years back.

As seen from the 2017 solstice.

New 2m Amateur Radio Repeater in Carrabelle

With the tune-up and testing completed yesterday, it's ready for use.  Here are the particulars:

Frequency: 147.99 MHz  145.23 MHz

Offset: -0.6 MHz (standard, probably the default on your radio)

PL Tone: 94.8 Hz  123 Hz

The coverage of Franklin County is best described as good to adequate, depending of course on how close you are to Carrabelle.  From Apalachicola you'll need 50 watts and a 20'+ antenna mast to get scratchy but useable service, but it does work.  Because the repeater's antenna is on the north side of the Carrabelle water tower, coverage to the islands is non-existent and to Alligator Point is difficult.  OTOH, coverage into Tate's Hell Swamp should be outstanding.

Testing continues so stay tuned.

Sopchoppy: I had no idea.

Video of a May talk about the little town just up the road, courtesy of the Apalachicola Area Historical Society.  Though I've driven through there a zillion times, I had no idea there was so much going on there.  It's a surprisingly cool place.  Huh.

Bonus: what happened to Panacea's Mineral Springs (spoiler: an earthquake) is discussed.

A Mostly Harmless Week

Izzy's Cafe got rolling this week, that was a treat!  The nascent local ham radio group got a 2m repeater going this week (on the Carabelle water tower, 147.990 MHz, negative offset, PL 95.8, if you're into this sort of thing), minor business around town, and the inevitable monthly trip to Panama City for banking and other chores.  Summer is here, though the set-in heat has not arrived as yet.  Not a lot to mention this week, beyond being grateful for the little things.  Specifically:

Might Be Interesting: Yet Another Offbeat Shortwave Music Show

More details available at The SWLing Post.

ps: Crummy ionospheric conditions this evening.  Could hear the broadcast, but not well enough for enjoyable music listening.  "Pack it up, see what tomorrow brings."

Wrap it up, I'll take it.

On the first day of The Season, a little gift:

Not wishing anything ill on our neighbors to the south, but whew.