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This is one of those interesting times when multiple topics we regularly cover here at Techdirt converge. Readers here will recall all the posts we did on the rollout and eventual demise of Google’s Stadia product. Stadia was primarily to be a game streaming service for existing games. That being said, the service also signed up some exclusive games for release. With Stadia’s eventual demise, one of the open questions was how that art and culture in the form of the game would be preserved, another regular topic of conversation here.

Well, in the case of one game, the developer came up with an interesting solution: hiding the Stadia exclusive game inside the Steam version of its own sequel!

Back in 2020 Necrosoft (finally) released Gunsport, a sci-fi take on 2D volleyball, as a Stadia exclusive. It was pretty cool! It was also, as a Stadia exclusive, a game that most of us never got to enjoy. In June 2022 it was followed by a sequel, Hyper Gunsport, which was much more widely available, since it came out on PC, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

While two completely separate games, they’ve now been brought a lot closer, with Necrosoft saying in a tweet earlier today “Since we care about game preservation we’ve made an offline version of Gunsport available in the Steam version of Hyper Gunsport, through the beta channel.”

It’s a pretty cool idea! And also notable is that the developer is essentially giving the game away for free as a value add to buyers of the sequel. Add to that the announcement came with a particular nod towards video game preservation as culture preservation.

Why is that important? For far too long, the video game industry has not done a great job advocating for itself in terms of representing its own output as an artform, akin to music, movies, or literature. There is no world in which we would accept that literature be lost simply because the library decided to close its doors. Yet, this happens in many respects in the video game industry all the time. Servers get shut down, the game goes away. DRM servers get shut down, the game is no longer accessible. Nintendo decides to put old games in the vault and go after every ROM site in existence, some games are no longer to be found.

But this move by the developer, and the reasons given for it, should spark hope that the idea of game preservation is finally beginning to enter the popular lexicon of the industry.

This is a very cool move! Not just because people are getting essentially a free video game, but because this is a super interesting way to implement a form of game preservation, one that thinks way outside the box but which, thanks to the way Steam is structured, also seems to work pretty damn well!

Indeed. We need more than this.

Edwin Hubble’s name is everywhere in astronomy. Henrietta Leavitt’s should be too.

In the early 1900s, the universe seemed to be a much, much smaller place. Back then, astronomers believed the Milky Way galaxy was all there was. They didn’t know there were billions of other galaxies; they didn’t know how small we really are.

They didn’t know this because they couldn’t measure distances to far-flung stars. Why? There was a pretty simple problem in astronomy: A bright, faraway star looks almost the same as a dim star that’s close by.

It’s the same here on Earth. Imagine you’re on the beach at night and see two lighthouse lights glowing in the distance, but one seems brighter than the other. If you knew both lighthouses used the same lightbulb, you could conclude that the dimmer light is farther away. But it’s also possible that the dimmer light just comes from a lower-wattage lightbulb, perhaps nearer to you.

Scientists needed a way to find out the intrinsic brightness of stars — to figure out their wattage, so to speak. That’s when Henrietta Leavitt, a Massachusetts-born “computer” who worked at the Harvard College Observatory, came along. In 1908, she published a discovery that may sound small but is one of the most important in the history of astronomy. As we discuss on this week’s Unexplainable podcast (see the embed above), it cracked open the universe.

Amanda Northrop/Vox

Blinking lights provide a yardstick to measure the universe

Before Henrietta Leavitt, many astronomers looked at the stars in what’s today known as the Andromeda galaxy — some 2.5 million light-years away — and mistakenly thought they were part of our own Milky Way galaxy (which is only around 100,000 light-years in diameter).

Those Andromeda stars were orders of magnitude further away. Scientists just didn’t know it.

At the time, astronomers had some methods to figure out distances to stars, but they only worked for stars relatively close to Earth. Leavitt’s discovery — linking the pulse of one type of star to their actual brightness, as described in the graphic above — was the key to measuring objects farther and farther out into space.

If astronomers wanted to measure faraway things, Leavitt’s discovery showed, they just had to look out for cepheids. Her formula led astronomers to chart out relative distances to stars: They could use it to compare two stars and figure out which one was closer.

It took some more work by other scientists to calibrate this yardstick, to put concrete numbers on it. But once they did, and started measuring with it, the cosmos grew and grew.

Leavitt paved the way for Edwin Hubble to discover galaxies beyond our own

Fifteen years after Henrietta Leavitt’s discovery, the preeminent astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis were locked in a heated debate.

Curtis believed that Andromeda was a separate galaxy far, far away from the Milky Way. At the time, this was an outlandish idea. Shapley represented the more mainstream view — that Andromeda was just a hazy, cloudy region within our galaxy, which he had recently estimated to be around 300,000 light-years across. That was also the assumed size of the entire universe.

If Curtis was right, it would mean the universe was double or triple the size that Shapley estimated — at least.

To settle the debate, Edwin Hubble — the namesake of the famous space telescope — looked for Cepheid stars in Andromeda. Night after night, he took photographs of Andromeda, searching for cepheids. In October 1923, he found one, blinking in one of Andromeda’s spiral arms. Another week of observations allowed him to follow Leavitt’s formula and determine its distance.

Hubble estimated it to be around a million light-years from Earth — well outside the boundaries of Shapley’s universe. (Hubble was a little off: Andromeda is closer to 2.5 million light-years away.) After reading about Hubble’s finding, Shapley reportedly said: “Here is the letter that destroyed my universe.”

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team

Scientists kept building on Leavitt’s ruler to measure the universe. And as they used these measuring tools, their understanding of the universe evolved. They realized it was far bigger than previously thought, there are billions of galaxies, and it’s expanding: Those galaxies are moving further and further away from one another.

Astronomers also realized that the universe had a beginning. If galaxies are moving away from one another now, it means they were closer together in the past — which led scientists to the idea of the Big Bang.

It also led them to realize that the universe may, eventually, end.

This week’s episode of Unexplainable, Vox’s podcast about unanswered questions in science, tells that story and more.

Dry January is a monthlong challenge during which participants are encouraged to remain sober to improve their “health” and promote “responsible drinking habits.” Should you know someone insane enough to try it, never say these things.

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The substantial change in the way the state’s market works will first be reviewed by the Legislature.

The company says the AmazonSmile program didn't have enough financial impact. But some charities say the support "made a huge difference," and shoppers have expressed disapproval on social media.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon for AFP via Getty Images)

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With refugee resettlement organizations stretched thin, the U.S. is trying a different approach. The new private sponsorship program will allow groups of regular people to sponsor refugees.

(Image credit: Julie Johnson)

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy (HFTC), the City of Houston, and renowned Chicago-based social practice artist Theaster Gates have announced a multi-year partnership that they say will engage the Freedmen’s Town community, honor the history of the neighborhood, and educate outsiders about this untold chapter of Houston’s past. The initiative, titled Rebirth in Action: Telling the Story of Freedom, has received $1.25 million in funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town granting program. 

Established in 1866 by over 1,000 formerly enslaved people, Freedmen’s Town is a nationally recognized historical site located in Houston’s Fourth Ward. HTFC’s mission is to preserve the legacy of the neighborhood, while inspiring the public through education and awareness. A significant project of the conservancy has been to preserve the brick streets that were originally funded and installed by formerly enslaved residents. Rebirth in Action will help guide the planning for infrastructure improvements while preserving the unique history of the space.

In a press release announcing the partnership, HFTC Executive Director Zion Escobar remarked, “What we are doing with the Rebirth In Action project is reactivating the creative consciousness through the language of art and the liberation of trapped desires through the act of designing your destiny. The energy of this project and its activations serve to strengthen the present voices and descendants of Freedmen’s Town with the necessary fuel for the Rebirth. The community is invited to tap in and communicate their vision in a unified effort…”

Rebirth in Action is structured to be a community-driven project guided by a team of experts, including engineers and preservationists working with artist Theaster Gates. Charonda Johnson, Vice President of the Freedmen’s Town Association and a fifth-generation Freedmen’s Town resident, will lead the community engagement portion of the initiative in the role of Partnership Engagement Manager. Community input gathered by Ms. Johnson will inform efforts led by Mich Stevenson, a local artist and community organizer, who will serve in the role of Partnership Project Manager. 

Along with community engagement, Rebirth in Action: Telling the Story of Freedom will include artist-led activations by local and national artists through CAMH’s artist residency program, CAMHLAB, which will be hosted on-site in Houston’s Fourth Ward. Applications for the residency opportunity will open on Wednesday, January 25, 2023. As additional programs of this initiative, CAMH will host an exhibition by Theaster Gates and an exhibition showcasing Black artists of Houston.

Mr. Gates began his artistic career working in ceramics prior to focusing mostly on installation work. He is perhaps best known for his work revitalizing the Dorchester Projects in Chicago’s South Side. The Dorchester Art and Housing Collaborative — which is a partnership between the artist, Brinshore Developers, architects Landon, Bone, Baker, the Rebuild Foundation, and the Chicago housing Authority — transformed a vacant housing authority project into an affordable, dynamic arts and culture space. 

According to CAMH’s website, CAMH and HFTC began a value-based discussion in fall 2020, which led to a formal programming partnership. The organizations are working together “based on the shared belief that arts and culture is an essential catalyst for change.”

CAMH Executive Director Hesse McGraw stated, “The Rebirth in Action project presents a long-needed opportunity for our city to honor its history, for artists to envision the future, and most importantly for the community to lead change.”

CAMH Deputy Director Seba R. Suber added that the project, “is an example of how social innovation in Black communities develops out of precarity and how a museum can work hand-in-hand with community partners to engage in restorative justice and develop deeper community engagement through the lens of art, healing, and community investment. The historical and spiritual legacy of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town recontextualizes and amplifies the resiliency of Black communities and its descendants.”

A kickoff celebration will be held on Tuesday, February 14 at 10 am for Freedmen’s Town community leaders and advocates, as well as local and national press to learn more about the partnership and meet the project team.

The post Contemporary Arts Museum Houston & Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy Receive $1.25 Million Grant; Form Multi-Year Partnership appeared first on Glasstire.

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Yuni Lee: Mindscapes
Ro2 (Tin District, Dallas)
January 21 – March 11, 2023

From Ro2 Art:

“Ro2 Art is proud to present Mindscapes, an exhibition of new work by Yuni Lee. The exhibition will open January 21 and remain on view through March 11, 2023, with an opening reception to be held at Ro2 Art’s expansive new gallery in Dallas’ Tin District, located at 2606 Bataan St., Dallas, TX, from 7-10 pm. In her newest solo exhibition Mindscapes, Yuni Lee presents a series of large-scale paintings that explore the dynamic relationship between nature and technology. Her work takes inspiration from organic objects, including leaves, flowers, and branches; and technology, such as circuit boards, microchips, and electronic devices, transforming them through varied stylistic devices into intricate, rhythmic networks. Lee’s multimodal approach to painting, ranging from energetic, gestural brush marks to tightly composed details, captures the complex realities of humanity’s interactions with the environment. Mindscapes creates a space for contemplating these interconnections and envisioning the interdependence we have between the natural and constructed worlds. ”

2. Laura Turón: Immersive Abstractions
University of Texas at El Paso Rubin Center for the Visual Arts
January 19 – March 10, 2023

From the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts:

“Immersive Abstractions surveys almost ten years of work by El Paso-based artist Laura Turón, whose organic and geometric abstractions have included immersive installations, community-based collaborations, the deconstruction of drawings, and experiments in mark-making. Abstraction, Turón observes, can be a way of welcoming viewers into a sense of belonging, rather than an exclusive visual vocabulary. The first in the Genius Loci exhibition series supported by a generous Mellon Foundation grant, Immersive Abstractions looks at the ways in which our local context informs artists’ practices.”

3. Eileen Maxson: The Word Is Not Lucky
Galveston Arts Center
November 19, 2022 – February 5, 2023

“Galveston Arts Center (GAC) presents the exhibition The Word Is Not Lucky by Eileen Maxson. Maxson’s exhibition processes the flooding of her parent’s home and the passing of her grandfather through video and photo-based works that sift through the physical ‘stuff’ of memories, remaking them as probing and sometimes humorous portraits of herself and her family. With levity throughout, Maxson confronts herself and her family with the material excess of American life while working to connect the dots between what they had and the forces of nature that took it away.”

4. Hedwige Jacobs: The Inside of Envelopes
Art League Houston
December 16, 2022 – February 11, 2023

From Art League Houston:

“The Inside of Envelopes is a site-specific installation featuring drawing and animation. Hedwige Jacobs’ work explores how we live and interact as a society, capturing the collective experiences of isolation, inertia, and desperation that are especially prevalent in this contemporary moment marked by the Covid pandemic and struggles for social change occurring globally. So-called security envelopes are printed on their interiors with patterns that make it difficult to discern their contents when sealed, helping to keep items like checks or contracts more secure during their transit in the postal system. For this exhibition, the artist has created an installation of collected envelopes which densely cover the walls of the gallery. Jacobs uses these envelopes as her primary material, modifying each envelope with drawn figures, patterns, and abstract forms. She then brings them together in organic groupings on the gallery walls.

The installation will also feature Jacobs’ animation where she brings individual envelopes to life, each of them hand drawn in multiple frames. The frequency of receiving envelopes by mail is declining, and personal mail is even more rare in this digital era. Jacobs invites viewers to consider the ways in which we communicate, how that has changed over recent years, and how we would like to shape that communication in the future. Since 2020, with the combined effects of the pandemic and movements for social change globally, points of connection between individuals feel increasingly precious and simultaneously harder to maintain. The artist reflects on these ties and ponders how long physical mail will continue to be a part of these exchanges.”

5. Caroline Walker: Dreamscapes
Dougherty Art Center (Austin)
January 14 – March 11, 2023

From Dougherty Art Center:

“Caroline Walker captures brief scenes from the subconscious and interprets them into sculpture and photo composite pieces, inviting viewers to briefly escape their real-world issues. If only for a few moments, Walker’s work allows the audience to lose themselves in these surreal, peaceful, and whimsical otherworldly scenes.”

The post Top Five: January 19, 2023 appeared first on Glasstire.

Readers sometimes ask us if the outcomes in governing are predetermined and whether civic engagement makes a difference. There are plenty of examples of Texans influencing lawmakers’ decisions.

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Today we’ll talk about climate engineering, quantum computers, how to tell a nuclear bomb from TNT, what an atom really looks like, random keys from cosmic rays, who is filing the most patents and on what, climate labels for food, a tractor beam that didn’t quite live up to my expectations. And of course, the telephone will ring.

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00:00 Intro
00:34 Climate Engineering
03:17 Better Spin Control for Quantum Computers
05:45 Was that a Nuclear Bomb?
07:49 Attosecond Imaging of Neon Atoms
09:56 Secure Random Keys from Cosmic Rays
12:17 Patent Report 2022 Holds Some Surprises
15:34 Climate Labels for Food
17:20 Tractor Beam (kind of)
19:12 Into The Impossible With Brian Keating

#science #sciencenews

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This post, my ex-boss threatened to contact my husband, his coworkers, and my father-in-law if I don’t return $48 of office supplies , was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I received an email today from my prior boss (I left in November) requiring that I return equipment. However, there was no loaned equipment or return equipment clause that even existed for me to sign. They never provided me with anything outside of a $48 office supplies order from Amazon that included a pack of pens, a four-pack of binders, a box of sheet protectors, and a file/binder holder. I used my personal computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse – everything.

Here is an excerpt:

“I will have no other option than to reach out to your husband Bob directly as I can only assume that the lack of communication on this matter is you have become too busy with your new position, making this intervention necessary. I am happy to connect with him. I have his direct phone and email address through his work. I’d like to get this resolved and not have to start legal proceedings. Of course I will share my sympathies to him and apologize to him for needing to concern him at this stage but have no other alternative. I will attach email threads so he knows I’m not a random individual reaching out. I want him to feel comfortable in communicating with me should he have any questions of course. It is truly a small world out there and I have come to find that I actually know several folks that work in (county) and work in the (husband’s job) department. And even two others that know your father-in-law as patients.”

Is this crazy, or is this crazy?

She also said if it’s not received by Tuesday next week, she expects payment for the items. This is not even stuff I purchased or used a company card for. The purchase was arranged and made for me by the HR person she CC’d on the email.

HR is a single individual who was made aware of all issues, including me asking about being asked to work on my boss’s personal business while on company time. This HR person was also actively participating in keeping my boss’s private business a secret from the owner/president of the company.

I would love to know if there are any laws that my boss would be in violation of by acting on behalf of the company and (a) contacting my husband at his place of work (a completely separate company with no connection to this one) and (b) utilizing patients that “she knows” to get in contact with my father-in-law at his private medical practice.

Your ex-boss appears to be batshit insane.

And if she actually attempted to complain about this to your husband, his coworkers, or your father-in-law’s patients, she’s going to look batshit insane to them too. I mean, your father-in-law’s patients?! Can you imagine being contacted out of the blue by someone who wanted to complain that your doctor’s daughter-in-law hadn’t returned a box of pens? (Hell, even if she claimed you owe more than that, it’s still going to make her look like a loon. People are not receptive to being contacted about their doctors’ in-laws’ work drama, or their colleagues’ spouses work drama.) No one is going to respond sympathetically or think less of you for it; if anything, they’ll feel sympathy toward you.

You can also safely ignore her threats of legal action. She’d need to sue you through the company, not as an individual, and there’s no chance your company is going to sue you for a $48 pack of office supplies.

As for whether she’d be violating any laws by contacting your husband, people who work with him, or your father-in-law’s patients … Assuming you’re in the U.S.: maybe, but probably not, and especially not in any way that would make real sense for you to act on.

If she contacted your new employer about this, it could maybe be tortious interference (a legal cause of action for intentionally damaging someone’s business relationships) but there’s no law preventing her from contacting your husband, weird as that behavior would be. If she contacts people who work with your husband, it could possibly be tortious interference with his job, depending on what she says. If she lies about either of you to anyone, it could be defamation (although you’d have to show one or both of you suffered economic damage as a result). If she works in health care and she were getting the contact info of your father-in-law’s patients through any sort of internal resources, that would be a HIPAA violation — but if she doesn’t work in health care and just knows them socially, it wouldn’t be (HIPAA only covers health care workers and a few other very narrowly defined categories).

I wouldn’t be looking at legal solutions to this, though. Instead, email HR and your ex-boss’s own manager. If it’s a very small company, like 50 employees or less, include the owner too; if it’s larger than that, include someone else high up with authority (your department VP, a COO, or so forth). Say this:

“I am requesting your help in stopping the threats and harassment I’m receiving from Jane Smith. Below you’ll find an email she sent me on (date) in which she threatens to contact my husband, his colleagues, and patients of my father-in-law if I don’t return company equipment. I was never issued any company equipment. The only equipment or supplies I ever received from the company was a $48 office supplies order from Amazon that included a pack of pens, a four-pack of binders, a box of sheet protectors, and a file/binder holder. I used many of those supplies in my work but if you would like me to return what still remains, I’d be happy to do so; please send me a pre-paid shipping label and I’ll of course send that back immediately. However, I am alarmed to be threatened with harassment of my husband, his coworkers, and my father-in-law’s patients, as well as by threats of legal action when no previous request was made for these items. Can you assure me the company will put a stop to this immediately?”

Now, obviously there are problems with the company HR, which is why you have other people included on this email. Even if the HR person is fully in your boss’s pocket, the rest of the person receiving this message are going to be appalled when they see your boss’s message, and they are highly likely to put an instant stop to all of this. No sane company wants a manager sending messages like this, let alone running wild with the sorts of threats she made in her note. They’re going to shut that down. And I doubt very much that it’ll turn out that they want a few pens and some binders back, but if they do, go ahead and send them back.

That should take care of it — and it’s very likely your boss is going to be on the receiving end of a serious conversation about her judgment.

Charl Fourie and Michelle Wong were awarded the 1999 Ig Nobel Peace Prize, for inventing an automobile burglar alarm consisting of a detection circuit and a flamethrower. (Patent WO/1999/032331, “A Security System for a Vehicle“)

Now, in 2023, The South African news organization takes a look back at one of South Africa’s most spectacular but least financially rewarding inventions. The historic video news report you see here was done by the Associated Press:

Also Looking Back: Tamagotchi

And, not directly related to that, the Spanish newspaper El Periodico looks at the fate of a different Ig Nobel Prize winner: “Yet another wave of popularity for [the 1997 Ig Nobel Economics Prize-winning] Tamagotchi. Why?” 

 

1. Snide comment.

2. Snidier comment about other’s political party affiliation.

3. Snidiest comment unwittingly based on an Instagram meme about a certain political party.

4. Retort based unwittingly on another Facebook meme created as a response to the first.

5. Sweeping unassailable generalization.

6. Righteous indignation.

7. Fact.

8. Conspiracy theory.

9. More facts.

10. More conspiracy theories.

11. Conspiracy theory.

12. Counter–conspiracy theory.

13. Fact?

14. Fact?

15. Snide slogan masquerading as fact about issue not directly related but rather inferred from stance of preceding discourse.

16. Snidier slogan masquerading as fact about yet another inferred issue.

17. Didactic speech about the importance of using reason, facts, and research rather than snide slogans and didactic speeches.

18. “Research.”

19. Question veracity of sources.

20. Question the word “veracity.”

21. Question mental fortitude.

22. Righteous indignation.

23. Massive unfalsifiable statement.

24. Equally massive, equally unfalsifiable statement.

25. Point out the equally massive, equally unfalsifiable statement.

26. Conspiracy theory.

27. Counter-conspiracy theory.

28. Counter-counter-conspiracy theory leading to titanic unfalsifiable statement with possibly racist undertones.

29. Outraged vitriolic statement about other’s general appearance and genetic constitution.

30. Righteous indignation fueled by growing feeling of triumph.

31. Insult thinly veiled as apology.

32. Glowing feeling of superiority.

33. Genuine apology fueling a sense of moral rectitude that leads to a glowing feeling of superiority.

34. …

35. Snide comment.

Houston’s Hobby Airport set a record high temperature, with a mark of 81 degrees, and many other locations across the region hit 80 or higher on Tuesday. We’ll be warm again today ahead of a front that should push into the metro Houston area shortly after noon. This will be the first of a series of fronts that keeps us on the cooler side of things for at least the next week, and probably longer.

Wednesday

Highs today will likely reach the mid- to upper-70s ahead of the front, with partly sunny skies. A broken line of showers and thunderstorms will form late this morning to the northwest of Houston, and then move through the region toward the coast during the middle of the day. While I can’t rule out some severe weather, it does not appear as though the ingredients for stronger storms will line up over Houston. These remain more likely for areas such as Cleveland, Texas, and areas to the northeast. Drier and cooler air moves in behind the front, ending rain chances this afternoon. Lows on Wednesday night will drop to around 50 in Houston, with colder conditions inland.

Thursday

This will be a partly to mostly sunny day with highs in the upper 60s to 70 degrees and much drier air. Winds will be out of the north at about 10 mph. Lows Thursday night should drop into the upper 40s in Houston.

Friday

Skies will be mostly cloudy on Friday, with highs of around 60 degrees. As the flow turns more southerly, we’ll see atmospheric moisture levels start to ramp up. As a low pressure system starts to work its way northward along the Texas coast, this will start to introduce a chance of showers on Friday evening or Friday night. These should be mostly light, however. Lows will fall into the low 50s.

Saturday

This will be a cloudy day with intermittent rain showers. Highs, again, will be in the low 60s. We’re not looking at anything too extreme in terms of rainfall, but pretty much every part of the metro area should see on-again and off-again showers, with accumulations of 0.25 to 1 inch of rain for the most part. I cannot rule out a few scattered thunderstorms, but I think these will stay offshore for the most part. Rain chances start to back off on Saturday evening as the low pressure system moves away and we see a drier northerly flow. Lows drop into the upper 40s on Saturday night.

Sunday

We can be reasonably confident in nice weather on Sunday, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 60s. Lows on Sunday night will be cooler, dropping into the low 40s in Houston, and colder still further inland.

Monday

This probably will be another partly to mostly sunny day with highs in the low 60s.

The rest of next week

We start to warm up a bit on Tuesday, with a more southerly flow. However, another front is on track to arrive Tuesday, bringing with it a decent chance of rain and keeping conditions on the cooler side for the remainder of next week. Most likely we’re looking at highs in the low 60s, and lows in the low 40s, or thereabouts for awhile.

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Catching signals from others is how we have started communicating as human beings. It all started, of course, with our vocal cords. Then we moved to smoke signals for long-distance communication. At some point, we discovered radio waves and are still using them for contact. This article will describe how you can tune in using Fedora Linux and an SDR dongle.

My journey

I got interested in radio communication as a hobby when I was a kid, while my local club, LZ2KRS, was still a thing. I was so excited to be able to listen and communicate with people worldwide. It opened a whole new world for me. I was living in a communist country back then and this was a way to escape just for a bit. It also taught me about ethics and technology.  

Year after year my hobby grew and now, in the Internet era with all the cool devices you can use, it’s getting even more exciting. So I want to show you how to do it with Fedora Linux and a hardware dongle.

What is Ham Radio

Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics, and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, worldwide, or even into space, without the Internet or cell phones. 

What’s SWLing?

To broadcast with your ham radio or SDR system, you need to obtain a license from a governmental body. But to intercept signals and listen to the open communication between two amateur radio stations, you don’t need one.

The term SWLing comes from the abbreviation of Short Wave Listener, where you listen to stations communicating in the shortwave bands between 3 and 30 MHz. This can be used for long-distance communication using the ionosphere, a layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. 

To get started, you don’t need a license. Still, I recommend getting yourself an SWL sign to identify yourself in a listening contest. These are competitions for categories like who will discover the most connections in a month or who can listen to contacts from each country in the world. 

How to get an SWL Sign?

There are two options:

• Contact your national radio club and ask them to issue one for you. I got my Czech one, OK1-36568, after a few weeks.
• Join the Short Wave Amateur Radio Listening community and request a sign there.

You will get more information and help from either of these locations if you get stuck in some fashion! 

QSL Cards

You can also use your sign to send QSL cards via post or electronically. This is a great way to communicate with people worldwide and make friends.

Per Wikipedia, A QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radio communication between two amateur radio or citizens band stations; a one-way reception of a signal from an AM radio, FM radio, television, or shortwave broadcasting station; or the reception of a two-way radio communication by a third party listener (in our case). 

A typical QSL card is the same size and made from the same material as a regular postcard; most are sent through snail mail. 

Replace the radio receiver with your Fedora Linux.

The focal point of the ham radio hobby is the radio transmitter/receiver. Most of the time, enthusiasts build their radio from scratch, but this differs from what I will write about here. 

SDR

A software-defined radio (SDR) system is a radio communication system that uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals. In other words, a piece of hardware and software takes the place of a radio transmitter/receiver. This helps you discover more in a way that you are familiar with – a User Interface with built-in functions instead of the limited interface of a radio receiver. 

My explanation oversimplifies things, so if you want to go deep and read more about SDR, here is an excellent start.

SDR Set Up under Fedora Linux

Choosing the proper hardware

If you search the Internet for an SDR dongle, you’ll find tons of ideas depending on your budget. In this tutorial, I’ll work with the one I have, which works well under Fedora 37 – it is available from Nooelec.

A note: The dongle covers frequencies from 25MHz to 1750MHz, which doesn’t cover the Short Wave bands. You would need an additional device to listen to them. This is included in the package I linked above. Some other hardware providers offer all-in-one products.

Check if the dongle is visible

Before installing anything, detect whether Fedora Linux recognizes your USB dongle. I hope you didn’t buy a fake one :-). Use the following command to list the USB devices on your system.

lsusb

One of the output lines (in the case of Nooelec) should be

Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL2838 DVB-T

Now proceed by installing the software you need

Fedora offers a set of tools and drivers packaged as a group. Even though you would not use all the components in this package from the beginning, I recommend installing it. You’ll have more software to play with.

sudo dnf group install 'Electronic Lab'

I advise you to explore what’s in the group by running this command:

sudo dnf group info 'Electronic Lab'

Now check if you have everything set up correctly by running:

rtl_test

You should see something like this:

Do not forget to kill this process because the device will be busy and cannot be used in the next step. A simple Ctrl + c works.

Gqrx

You have the dongle already in your device’s USB port and all the software you need to get started. 

 Now it’s time to intercept your first signal. Start the program called Gqrx. Don’t be alarmed by the strange interface. You’ll get used to it. 

Configure the I/O Device Screen

From the “Device” Dropdown, select the ‘RealtekRTL2838...’

Leave the rest untouched for the moment.

If you don’t see your device there, click the “Device Scan” button at the bottom of the screen.

When your device is selected, click “OK” and the dialogue will close.

Configure the frequency screen

Before you start intercepting signals, ensure there is something out there that proves that everything works correctly. Since the dongle covers the FM radio band as well, do this:

• Locate your favorite radio station’s frequency. Mine is 105MHZ

• Set it in the Frequency field

• Select WFM (stereo) in the “Mode” dropdown. If you don’t do this, you will not hear a sound.

Play

And now, you need to start the reception by clicking the “play button” in your main menu. You will see the frequency visualized like this:

If you hear a sound, everything is ready to move to the next step.

If you don’t hear anything, check if everything is set up correctly. You may ask a questions in the comments for this article; I can direct you to the proper forum to solve this.

Feel free to play with some more FM broadcasts. You have the antenna for it in your pack.

Let’s go Short Wave

In the case of the Nooelec, you need to add one more device to the USB dongle and turn it on. Instructions on how to do that are included in the package you receive.  

In short, you plug the “Up Converter” into your USB dongle and make sure the switch is in the “convert” position. Some videos are available on how to do it if you get stuck.

You will need an antenna and a good location

Now things get trickier. If you live in an area where you don’t see an open space out your window or other buildings surround your building, you might have trouble catching a Short Wave radio amateur signal. 

Let’s try this to see if it works

Try to be in the open. I usually listen from my terrace, which could be better but works under particular conditions.

Apart from the hardware, you would need a long wire to act as your antenna. Try the antenna that comes with the hardware initially – the telescoping one from Nooelec, but it will catch only powerful signals.

Let’s go back to Gqrx

Now with the converter, you need to make some changes to your device screen:

Please note the –125Mhz for the LNB LO field. This is required for the Up Converter to work.

Tune your frequency to 14.100 Mhz and make sure your Mode is USB (standing for Upper sideband) because this is this band’s main demodulation option.

Then go to your FFT Settings screen, use the zoom slider, and set it to see about 100 kHz. In our case, you should have between 14.05 to 14.15 Mhz on your screen.

Also, click the “Enable Band Plan” to see the information about the SW bands you are exploring.

Then hit the play button and start exploring the space between 14.0 and 14.3 Mhz to get any amateur radio transmission.

When intercepting a transmission, adjust your settings to improve your listening experience. It’s a journey that you have already started.

Most probably, you will hear something like this:

“CQ CQ CQ this is ..(followed by the radio license number spelled with the ham radio phonetic alphabet). 

Listen very carefully, and by the call sign, you will be able to determine the location of the radio amateurs’ country.

You can visit the QRZCQ website to learn more about them and even send them a QSL card confirming their connection.

Keep the momentum going.

Now you have some tools and ideas for starting Short Wave Listening. 

This is the first step of an incredible and exciting journey you can have together with your Fedora Linux OS. 

You will discover the pleasure of building your antenna for the specific band, reading more about how the ionosphere helps, how to be a part of a listening competition, and what those Q-codes mean.

73

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

The CEO of Southern Star Brewery said the cancellation was prompted primarily by concerns from local patrons rather than pressure from a “woke mob” or distributors such as H-E-B.

Police said Gerald Williams, 35, followed the Castro family for several miles on Interstate 10 before shooting at their truck shortly after both vehicles exited the freeway.

This post, advice for new managers , was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

I’ve had a bunch of questions recently from new managers looking for advice. Here’s a round-up of past columns with advice for new managers.

This is by no means comprehensive; there’s lots more advice if you look through the “being the boss” section of the archives.

general advice for managers

advice for first-time managers

how can I tell if I’m a good manager?

first-time manager? here’s what you need to know

reality-based management

your general vibe

how I can be more authoritative now that I’m a manager?

my staff tells me what they’re doing rather than asking permission

is it bad for managers to sound frustrated or impatient?

as a manager, do I need to hide my stress from my employees?

what should your tone sound like when you’re the boss?

how much should I change my style to meet my employee’s emotional needs?

delegating

how to delegate when you desperately don’t want to let go

don’t expect your staff to read your mind

should managers ask or tell when assigning work?

giving feedback

how can I stop softening the message in tough conversations with my staff?

new manager wonders about the best way to give feedback

I need to give my employee more positive feedback

how to criticize someone’s work without making it awkward

what do I say when an employee assumes they can do something that they shouldn’t?

is it true that nothing in a performance review can ever be a surprise?

dealing with performance problems

how to deal with employee performance problems

what to do if an employee keeps missing deadlines

how much should I hand-hold a disorganized employee?

my employees are making mistakes, but I don’t want to micromanage

my employee has a bad attitude

I feel awful about giving a bad performance review

holding people accountable isn’t always about formal action; sometimes it’s just a direct conversation.

what consequences can managers enforce, other than firing someone?

how can remote managers address problems they hear about secondhand?

is your problem employee coachable?

miscellaneous

how to make 1-on-1 check-in meetings more useful

how to solve a conflict on your team

what should a new manager ask to get to know employees better?

are new managers supposed to be this stressed out?

I’m becoming my friend’s boss — do things have to change?

books

Managing to Change the World

There’s also my book, Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results. While it’s targeted toward nonprofit managers, about 98% of it applies across sectors.

Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work

There’s also Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work , where I take on more than 200 of the tough conversations you might need to have during your career and give you the exact wording to do it — including 50 conversations for managers.

 

* I make a commission if you use those Amazon links.

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