================================================================================ 28 March 2024 Even more moments have passed since the last MOM. I find if you don't use Linux, you loose it. It took me forever to remember where I stored all these Gopher files. As you can imagine I found them. I see the sporadic dates here and I can see that I have lived a life between these posts. I think that's a good thing. You don't want to live behind a computer for your whole life. 6 August 2021 It's been a moment (as the kids say) since I posted a MOM. Not much to report apart from school's back in session. However, we are masked because the Delta Variant is on the loose. Not to be glib, but it's a bit scary. Many of us are vaccinated, but there is a strong political anti-science current in the country that believes that the vaccine is a work of globalists or crazy lizard people. I wish I were kidding. I recently upgraded my amateur radio license to General. I didn't change my call sign (KC7RZR) because I've had it for so long. As I work on my Extra I'll be thinking about a new call. While here are a few in the vanity pool that are nice, I will probably have to make a decision later. I've had KC7RZR for so long that a new call would feel strange. Ham radio has become very interesting with HF privileges. As a Tech you really don't feel like there is much for you to do. I'm not into disaster prep and some of the guys on 2m are really coarse. I got an ICOM 7300 at HRO and have been enjoying making contacts. Most of my time has been spent working on the infrastructure for the stealth antennas I have at my HOA-saddled home. 29 September 2020 If you have made your way here from Floodgap, welcome. I am new to the Gopher game and my hole might be a little sparse. Take a look around and feel free to drop me a line any time. My email address is under the Magic Margin banner. 09 September 2020 What a long time it has been since the last MOM. You make plans to do something on a regular basis and it falls by the wayside. That's the nature of making plans. Not much has been going on. Since the last MOM, the world has basically blown up. I haven't seen a student in person since early March. COVID got worse, better, and worse again. The bullish rouges thought that it would all be over in a matter of months. Here we are, still uncertain about the future; working at home. I have enjoyed this chance to be out of the classroom. I know a lot of others have felt the same way. When you take all the enjoyable parts of teaching and put them online, it makes teaching so much better. 03 April 2020 We are weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and you can sense that Americans are particularly unsuited to these historic times. The lines at the stores are difficult for a people accustomed to unfettered prosperity. There are shortages that show the cracks if our resolve. Baby boomers who never experienced social upheaval from a force beyond their own creation deny [in progress]. I remember my grandmother telling me about her childhood in London during the Blitz. She lived in East Ham with her father (a veteran of the First world war), brother, and sister. She never mentioned her mother. I expect it was too difficult for her to call up the memories. She talked about the nights she spent in the tube stations while bombs went off around the city. She recalled the fires that swept through the bombed buildings. There were lines everywhere and people waited patiently. Experts say that we are practicing "social distancing" and obeying stay-home orders to "flatten the curve." In other words, reduce the number of critically ill people that will seek medical attention. It has shown the cracks in our health system. The early deniers are silent or have had a remarkable change of heart. Toilet paper is still a going concern, but being early to the markets increases your chance of finding it. 23 March 2020 The wind here in Phoenix is nice. There are birds chirping and the baby quail will soon be following their parents around single-file. 12 March 2020 I went to the grocery store to get some toilet paper and there was none to be had. The COVID-19 pandemic panic has spread to toilet paper. Shortages are reported everywhere. Costco, Walmart, Target, the bodega, Staples! They cleared out Staples, for god's sake! Will this madness ever end. When I want to fight viruses, I make sure that I have enough toilet paper to do the job properly. At this point, we have about 12 rolls and given our small (3-person) household, I think that we will weather the storm. On another note, I am sure you have seen the line of equal signs at the top of these text files. That is my crude attempt to make sure that I keep a consistent line length. I find that without it I am prone to making shorter and shorter lines; like poetry. Very bad poetry. Wash your hands. 5 March 2020 This message of the Moment is brought to you by an SSH inside an SSH. It's a crazy situation; an onion of secure shells.