A Special Day

Today is a Special Day for many reasons, but three reasons are special to me.

• At one moment in time, today's time can be written as: 2010-10-10 10:10:10.1010, for a Geek this has to be a special point in time.

• This would have been my Father's Birthday (89) and in his honor each year I declare this day as Hero Day. My Father is my favorite Hero (see previous posts). I celebrated his Birthday today at 10:10:10.1010am local, he would have liked that, even without computers, he was very much a Geek of his time.

• Because I use Ubuntu for most of my computing needs, today is also special, because of the new revision of Ubuntu was released. Note: this new release was specially timed to coincide with this day of Oct 10th. Normally, release numbers reflect the year and the month, coincidently this year it ALSO reflect the month and the day! More than likely, this contrived coincidence will not happen again. Normally, releases come out about once each six months. The last release was Ubuntu 10.04, representing Apr 2010. But, maybe they will slip the scheduled release of 11.10 to November?  . . .  Nah.

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What Is In A Date

This year, Oct 10, 2010 is a special date, because one particular time on that date can be precisely (well, almost?) written as:

20101010 - 10:10:10.101010

This happens to be the date-and-time that the next release of Ubuntu 10.10 is planed. Normally, the releases follows a six month schedule, with the release sometime in the last half of the month. For this release, the schedule has been moved up to allow for this very special exact date-and-time for the release. The previous release 10.04, was in April 2010 - the tenth year and the forth month. 

For me, this date is also special, it would have been my Father's 89th Birthday (see previous post) - I will celibate it at 10:10 AM on Oct 10, 2010 - My dad would have like it that way. I am sure if he had been born 70 years later, he would have be a real First-class Ham Radio and Computer Geek.

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My Heroes Day - Oct 10, 2009

Today would have been my Dad's 88th Birthday - Oct 10, 2009.

In honour of my Dad, I declare  -  Oct 10, 2009 as My Heroes Day.

I have heard that you can help keep someone's memories alive by occasionally saying their name, this is my place to say My Heroes Names.

These are My Heroes

 By: Eldon R. Brown SR

First and Foremost, My Dad:  Leonard J. Brown 1921 - 1998

• My Dad was not an educated man, he only went to the third grade, but he was the; smartest, wisest man I have ever known. He could fix or build anything, as shown in the photo below.  While clearing a home site (1949), when I was three years old, he was inventing an easy way to move and lift logs, with the aid of the back wheel of an old car that he converted into a tractor.
  

• My Dad was the Original MacGyver.

• My Dad encouraged me to get a good education and provided many opportunities to explore my interests.

• My Dad would never say "no" to any of my requests, but would encourage me to follow my ideas.
  

A Friend of the Family: Glenn Ronfeldt - a Second Father Figure

• Glenn introduced me to electronics at about the age of 7, by giving me a "Radio Kit" - which was a medium size box filled with parts; coils, resistors, capacitors, tubes and connectors. I worked with those parts for years, building many things, most of which did not work, but I used a lot of solder and spent a lot of time doing it. The kit started me off and it kept me off-of-the-streets and working on electronic projects.

• When Glenn passed away, I collected parts and returned to him the equivalent "Radio Kit", made up of modern micro electronic parts. The replacement kit was contained in a small glass vial, which I tucked into his shirt pocket, just before they closed his casket. But that, by far, will NOT repay my debt.

Antioch, CA - Antioch High School
My Electronic Teacher (1962-1963): Mr. Larry Heath

• Mr. Heath, provided the information and encouragement to learn the theory and details of electronics - Ohms Law, RC Time Constants, Inductance, Capacitance, and Tubes. In the class we built many kits and projects. 
  

• Mr. Heath and I both took the Amateur Radio Novice test about the same time, he became WN6CMD (I think) and I became WN6CMS. 

• Several years ago we exchanged email.

• The last information I have on Mr Heath is here.

• Note: I do not know Mr. Heath's status or location.
  

Antioch, CA - Antioch High School
My Drafting Teacher  (1961-1964): Mr. Bruno Favro

• Mr. Favro taught me how to think as a self critical engineer, looking at all aspects of 3D design, and how to document my ideas. He was very tough and critical, but very fair.

• Note: I do not know Mr. Favro's status or location. 
  

My Childhood Fictional Heroes:

• The Lone Ranger - Clayton Moore
• Ben Cartwright - Lorne Greene
  
• The Duke - John Wayne

For better or worse, these Heroes helped make me what I have become.

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