Norbert's blog

UCS Climate 2030 Blueprint

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:25:17 -0400

Union of Concerned Scientists members have the opportunity to participate in conference calls and webinars on topical issues. A webinar on July 22nd presented Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy which "shows how the U.S....

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Union of Concerned Scientists: Science Idol

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:07:35 -0400

UCS is running the 2009 Science Idol: The Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest, a humorous look at the serious issue of political interference in science. You can vote for your favorite cartoon, enter to win a free calendar, sign-up for...

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Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - SheevaPlug

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:35:36 -0400

The two SheevaPlug 'plug computers' I described in Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - Automation arrived last week. The good news is that both are working fine and detected the 3G modem. The bad news is that the pre-installed Ubuntu 9.04 sy...

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Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - Voice over IP

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:29:38 -0400

I had signed up for a Voice over IP (VoIP) service from IGONET while still on the satellite Internet service. Although I was able to dial out and receive inbound calls, the high latency impacted voice quality. An attempt to set up a three-way ca...

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Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - A Lesson in Assumptions

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:54:51 -0400

USB extension cables are limited to 15', due to the nature of the USB protocol. The Cables Unlimited USB to CAT5 extension cable theoretically allows me to locate the 3G modem 150' away. However, Linux was periodically reporting the error: hub...

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Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - Automation

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:54:45 -0400

Both the Novatel and ZTE modems suffer from periodic connection loss, either because the modem disconnects or Internet servers do not respond. In most cases, the Linux wvdial command automatically detects this condition and re-establishes the con...

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Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service - Multi-PC Setup

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:21:05 -0400

The RocketStick is a USB 3G wireless modem intended to connect a single PC to the Rogers Mobile Internet Service. I could have set up a Windows PC as an Internet gateway, but the software provided with the modem would have made it difficult to de...

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Rural Internet - Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Service

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:25:03 -0400

One of the joys of living in a rural area are the limited options for high speed Internet. I have no access to cable or DSL. Bell and Rogers provide Internet over microwave (WiMax) from towers in the Newmarket area, but the signal peters about t...

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Simply Good Service

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:44:50 -0400

I have recently had some less than positive experiences with 'customer service', recently another way of 'adding insult to injury'. Letters go unanswered and staff are often poorly trained, unaware of their company's products or services and unab...

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South America Cruise: Day 15 (Valparaiso)

nobody@vox.com(Norbert) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:19:42 -0500

We landed in Santiago around 2:30am. If we were going to wait in an airport, we thought we might as well do it at our destination than in Lima. In hindsight, the Lima airport had a lot more facilities. We picked up some Chilean pesos at the l...

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