ARRL conducts emergency communications exercises

Before there was Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online...and the internet...there has been amateur radio.

(I ask that you indulge me as I reminisce.) To paraphrase the Henry Hill character from the movie Goodfellas, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a ham..." I never was able to have the money, time, and help. There was a time where I owned and operated at least eight Citizen Band (CB) radios, though. I remember my call sign that was issued by the Federal Communications Commission, and I might still be able to "tweak" a system. I miss my D-104...

This year, the main American Radio Relay League Simulated Emergency Test weekend is October 3-4. It is a nationwide exercise in emergency communications. I encourage all to consider amateur radio as a hobby (if not for yourself, for a younger person): computer equipment reliability, internet service, commercial power service, and telephone service are beyond your control.

bags and wallets/billfolds block radio waves

I was surfing around and stumbled across the Oakley Vertical Computer Bag 3.0:
"...If you have a Bluetooth-enabled PDA or mobile phone, the accessory pocket uses RF shielding to help prevent unwanted access by nosey jerks."

With so many cards (identification/access/etcetera) having RFID in them, also take a look at:
a RFID Blocking Passport Billfold...
a RFID Blocking Wallet...

and Mobile Edge has a couple of wallets.

Earthquakes

I hate to sound like one of those guys that say, 5.4! I've been through worse! Ok, So I do and I have. I was living in Coachella when the 7.4 in Landers struck and was on the air when the second large quake struck. I still have audio somewhere i will have to try an find of a DJ friend named Sammy that tried as hard as he could to calm himself as well as Carol, the DJ from across the hall. We're glad there were no serious injuries from this quake however my friend Rose who is living in LA going after a career in Entertainment posted this Video she found on YouTube that had me chuckling.