Rites of Spring #11 - eschewing crap made in capitalist China · Saturday May 1, 2010 by colin newell
On a sidewalk bordering Beacon Hill Park in Victoria B.C. Canada, Four men with radios and headphones circle the block in the vicinity of Quadra and Southgate. A gentle rain falls but some blue sky is poking through.
Photo at right – cheap CFL’s made in China can save you coins but cost you your life or your peace of mind. Two of mine melted down recently.
We are all walking in separate directions but occasionally meet up near a utility pole to compare notes and look over each others receiving equipment.
One of my mates is listening to CBC 690khz – one of the most reliable AM signals into the city. There are probably thousands of folks within a kilometer of where we are standing that regularly listen to this station – if they are not tuned in continuously that is.
We listen to the Saturday morning programming but note something somewhat unwelcome on the channel. It is the raw, buzz saw, humming and thrumming of some kind of unidentified digital appliance that is either malfunctioning or poorly designed.
In fact, the digital electronic buzz cuts a swath through the entire radio dial – and beyond. So for those folks, who live in Victoria, who enjoy listening to CKWX or CKNW in Vancouver or KARI in Blaine – if you lived within 100 yards of where we isolated, at least, the building in question – well, then you would be out of luck.
There was a time, in the old days (the 70’s and 80’s) when TV was largely analog that the reception was highly susceptible to interference like this. Now imagine your 72” Plasma TV getting reduced to a wall-hanging by some hard-to-find interference source.
It’s possible, plausible and highly likely I am afraid to say. This is the important part of this blog: The fact that your $3000 home entertainment system might be rendered useless by some mysterious appliance plugged in within 1/2 km of your swanky suburban home.
So. What’s the culprit in this case? Inconclusive at this point. We will probably bring in Industry Canada to sniff around. We tracked the source down to the utility poles serving an apartment building.
Suspects: Could be a broadband internet over powerline adapter (that we have seen being sold at CostCo). Maybe. Doesn’t sound right. Could be an alien craft buried, where it crash landed, under Beacon Hill Park – doubt that. Could also be a exercise treadmill made in mainland China. No, not the country of Taiwan. But Red China. As long as the device is plugged in, the computer processor on the poorly constructed and engineered appliance (made in China) and sold at Sears… as long as it’s on, it is transmitting a broad swatch of loud noise across an entire radio spectrum – rendering that entire neighborhood jammed.
Why is watching for this kind of radio interference important? When that expected Earthquake arrives, you are not going to be listening to emergency instructions on the internet radio. No, you will be on an AM – FM radio, provided that is, that your reception is not being jammed by some junk manufactured in China.
Check out the compact fluorescent lamp above – I used to buy these lamps without checking the country of origin – until 2 of them practically melted down and burst into flames in my bathroom. Nice. And made in China no less.
So. Do your family a favor and avoid manufactured goods from this country.
Because they simply do not care.
Colin Newell lives and writes in Victoria B.C. Canada – is an electronics technician and ham radio operator – if you see him in your neighborhood with a radio and headphones… just ignore him.
June 2011 Update – B.C. Hydro has since become involved in The search for mystery radio signal and has had no success pinning it down. To hear for yourself, drive within 1/2 km of Quadra and Soutgate (near Beacon Hill Park) any day of the week and tune your radio to 690Khz or anywhere on the AM dial for that matter – and listen to what sounds like a combination of alien technology and a Kraftwerk B-side. What do you think it is?
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Rites of Spring #9 - The most remarkably stupid thing I have ever seen · Wednesday April 21, 2010 by colin newell
I got my first bicycle when I was about 8 or 9 years old.
And learning how to ride it for the very first time – that moment where you are one with space and time – with no support from a sibling or parent – you are riding a bike – gliding along with complete freedom.
It is one of those truly innocent aha moments in life.
It is, next to the first few steps as a toddler, one of those steps in the cycle of life where you are slowly but surely moving from the nest…
into the real World.
My first bike was a Raleigh – at the time an English made set of wheels – a coaster bike – a little too large for me and ever so gently second hand. But I loved it.
And in one small stroke, one giant leap of faith, my World went from our immediate surroundings to a limitless vista of potentially kilometers of cycling in every direction.
One of the first accessories on my single speed bike were flappers. Ostensibly pieces of paper held in place by clothes pins that made a rat-a-snap sound as they slapped the spokes on the front and rear tires. Pretty amusing stuff for a 9 year old kid and again it represented, in small part, that inevitable step toward the ultimate freedom of having a set of wheels with an internal combustion engine attached.
By the time I was 10 years old, I had realized that these pieces of hard paper were slowing me down.
Fast forward some 4 decades and I found myself reading the London Drug flyer – a local Target style super-store and came across this in-car gadget… a thing that you plug into your cigarette lighter that sends an FM signal to your car stereo…
Your car stereo that you turn right up and roll down the windows… so you car can sound like a muscle car.
Picture above: The SoundRacer V8 Transmitter – Converts your modern, boring vehicle into a heart pounding 60’s muscle car…
Say it with me folks. F*ck me.
So. In effect… it is a noise pollution device… I am imaging that it was designed precisely for men in their 20’s to 50’s who never grew out of the phase that I did when I was 10.
Men that need to make noise with this stupid device
I have to tell you folks. This is simply the most ridiculous things I have seen in a long, long time – and I have seen a lot. Makes you wonder. What the heck is next?
Anyway. Piece of advice for some of you testosterone challenged dweebs in K-cars that need to draw attention to your pathetic selves… by blasting your stereo in my hood…
Grow up.
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Rites of Spring 2010 - number 2 - punish the environment · Monday March 22, 2010 by colin newell
March 23, 1988 – Walking behind a couple of young people (visiting here from somewhere in the Pacific Rim…) enjoying the brilliant Victoria B.C. early Spring like weather… Not far behind, I have INXS playing on my Sony Walkman – a late 80’s relic that plays cassette tape modules. The couple are chowing down on bananas – an odd choice for a Spring evening. Much to my surprise, they drop the banana peels at their sides onto the sidewalk… without a second glance. In a moment of spontaneous indignation, I pick up the dangerous fallen slippery peels and toss them in their direction, uttering a witty and original… “Dudes…” or something to that effect. Okay, maybe something more offensive. They were speechless… but the sidewalk was now peel-less.
March 23, 2010 – Tim’s Horton’s is now launching another round of Roll up the Rim to Win – an orgy of pollution. 31 million prizes the website claims – I imagine that it works out to about 100 million paper cups – many of those served empty for the sole purpose of letting Canadian red necks and yuppies alike enjoy the brief joy of rolling a piece of wax paper.
Sacred like hockey and maple syrup, few people challenge this ridiculous bit of commerce… but I say to you, risking a storm of e-mail…
What a fucking stupid idea Roll up the Rim to Win is.
Just one of those stupid things that we see from time to time that are just so stupid… and not enough of us wonder why.
Soon sidewalks across Canada will be littered with this pathetically silly waste of paper.
Way to go Tim Horton’s.
Here is a past rant on the subject of Tim Horton’s relentless war on the Canadian environment.
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Rites of Spring 2010 - Some funny moments with Bob Harris · Sunday March 21, 2010 by colin newell
Buddy and creative partner in L.A. – Bob Harris doing his final comedy performance…
