107 – Micro Torches, GPS Gen III Info, Radio Telescope Collapse

Episode 107

Mico Torches, GPS Gen3 Info, and Radio Telescope Collapse

Cigar: Cohiba Macassar 6 x 50

Wrapper: US Connecticut

Binder: US Connecticut

Filler: Dominican Republic and Nicaraguan

MSRP: $12

Liquor: Plantation Isle of Fiji Rum

Aromas of molasses and pear, with. notes of apple, bananas, gooseberry, and spicier with nutmeg and vanilla, with a hint of smoke at the end. Rich and round with vanilla fudge, honey, ginger, and fruity notes of coconut.

80 Proof

MSRP: $27

GPS Generation III

Do you GPS in your life? You bet you do and guess what? It is getting a really big upgrade. We will be moving to GPS Generation III. A National Institute of Standards and Technology study has concluded that the GPS system has an impact of about 1$ billion a day on the U.S. economy. That is staggering.

The first of the GPS Generation III are being built by Lockheed Martin and become operational this year. Satellites will be deployed and start taking over from the old system through out the coming decade.

We go into a bit more during the show.

Micro Torches

Darrell and I find that most cigar lighters just don’t last. They are nice to have to put in your pocket to go somewhere, but at your house you should have a micro torch. These things have a large reseviour for the fuel and just won’t quite working. We have had some last for several years. Try getting that out of a “cigar lighter”. The are also cheap. You can find them for around $15. I can’t tell you how many $30 to $80 cigar lighters I have had that just did not last and would stop working anywhere from a month to six months after purchase.

As I said, the nice thing about a cigar lighter is the portability of it. However, if you drop it, forget about it. Most of those will not survive the drop test. These micro torches are a completely different matter. I have not had one stop working just because it hit the floor. I highly recommend them.

You can get the on Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Harbor Freight, or just about anywhere.

Arecibo Radio Telescope Collapse

The Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico has finally collapsed. This 1000 foot diameter telescope has been featured plenty of movies and just about everyone has at least seen this thing on TV or Movies. It suffered a cable failure from one of the cables that held the 900-ton receiver platform. That cable damaged about a 100 foot section of the dish. Then there was a second cable that went. It was not long after that entire platform came crashing down.

The Radio Telescope is owned by the US National Science Foundation. It was built in the 1960’s with money from the US Defense Department as a means of developing an anti-ballistic missile defense program. It has been in operation for 57 years and was used to track asteroids and scan the stars. It was used to conduct research that led to a Nobel Prize. This thing even help to determine if another plant was habitable.