Final Highs? It’s AWG Friday

Welcome to the speed-reading edition of The Daily War-Monger.

In the opening article, we wonder whether “Pistol Pete” – is ready to turn his HR weapons on Spain as Pentagon email weighs measures against NATO allies over Iran war, including suspending Spain.  Why, I can hear it now, “Spain! You’re FIRED!”  Bet me?

Always ready to take credit plays again as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire extended by three weeks, Trump says.

And if you’re a long-range sniper looking for a little quick cash? Iraq: US escalates its campaign against Iranian-backed militias.

A bit more measured concern comes from the writers down at the Miami Herald who penned Nuclear Dust-What Is It and Can Trump Actually Get It Out Of Iran?

But hey! Let’s not spoil the show.  Markets haven’t collapsed yet…

Sketchy Markets

In the Peoplenomics ChartPack series a rollover (with a double-top) looks like a reasonable call. And our friend, The Economic Fractalist is pointing at today as a possible top. His short course on elegant, interpolated fractal self-assembly math (here) is just the thing to wash down the cornflakes. Coffee helps with big math.

If you don’t have time for the coffee OR math?

Futures are up and America – like yesterday – and the one before that? Still has more money than brains.

On paper, anyway…

If you like hype and the roar of the crowded markets, reading Prediction: The Nasdaq Could Soar to 30,000 by 2027. These Are the Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Growth Stocks to Own Until Then. | The Motley Fool/

Citizenship Lessons

While President Poster mulls denaturalizing certain new citizens, here are more lessons to take to heart.

1. Your government doesn’t trust you: After 2 failed votes, Mike Johnson unveils new plan to extend key U.S. spy powers.
2. And did you see where US soldier charged after winning $400,000 betting on removal of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
3. And at the state level of things, the left has its panties in a knot over DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats.

Fortunately (or otherwise) law-faring is mostly an American-Made product. We may not be able to make most consumer appliances, but by-God we can sue over it – you betcha!

SNF Reality Checks

Yepo: 
Slow News Fridays are when intrepid reporters find a good site (like Study Finds) and go on thinking rampages.  Here, listen in.

“Remember having crabs?”  Why Crabs Walk Sideways: Scientists Say It Happened Just Once, And Changed Everything.

“Hmm… is this because of where we have our heads?” Rectal Cancer Is Striking Earlier And Killing Faster.

“Still, being “in the dark” may be good, maybe?” Your Brain Might Build Mental Images By Turning Neurons Off, Not On.

Always eager to learn from science, I have turned off everything above the neck today.

Around the Ranch: AWG Friday

Honestly, I’m beat-tired. Could sleep again – there’s simply too much going on in the lab here.

So I got up, a little after 2 AM, and started the dishwasher (my chore from last night that I forgot). Then I was back to bed.

A few minutes later, everything went dark. I mean – miles from city lights, can’t even see the outline of your hand in front of your face dark. We had the power go off at about 2:30 this morning.

Universe was saying “Get your butt out of bed and back to work.”

Where the AWG Fits In

Let’s go out to the garden room, shall we?

The garden room at 5:15 AM.

The AWG? See the little white box with the screen on it sitting on the edge of the beds? That’s one of our (several) Arbitrary Waveform Generators. You can’t mess with time machine theories without one.

Like an OWON Waveform Generator, 60MHz Bandwidth,300MSa/s Sampling Rate, 14 bits Vertical Resolution, 8K Waveform Length, 5 Basic Waveforms, 160 built-in Arbitrary Waveforms, with 3.6IN LCD Display DGE1060. Which is only $118 on Amazon.

You know, the “price of doing real science” has come down a lot. Not if you’re cloning CERN, but for basic science? The kind that lives everywhere when people take the time to really ask and wait for answers.

You may not know this: Early arbitrary waveform generators trace back to the late 1960s–early 1970s, when labs began using computer-controlled DAC systems to synthesize non-sine waveforms; Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix had primitive programmable sources by the mid-’70s.

These weren’t the nifty benchtop gadgets—they were rack-mount, often minicomputer-driven instruments that could run tens of thousands of dollars at the time (think $20,000–$50,000+, which is well over $100K–$300K in today’s money).

When Dave Baldock and I were messing around with low-powered ruby CW lasers in the basement of the Univ. Washington EE building in 1966? They didn’t have one. (OK, you can do holograms without one…)

Modern AWGs, like the little bench unit in the photo, deliver vastly more capability—MHz bandwidth, arbitrary memory, digital control—for around a hundred bucks, which is a pretty damn good reminder of how radically instrumentation has collapsed in price while exploding in functional power.

About here, you may be wondering what’s going on here.

The answer will be on the Peoplenomics side tomorrow.

I’m going back to bed. Remind me to kill the AC power failure alarms on the backup power supplies. Damn things will make me crazy – but that’s not far.

Fed meeting next week — but with no rate cut and tough talk? Markets will have some reality to chew on. Pepto news all.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net