This editor sincerely regrets the publication of the single item that appeared in yesterday’s column that was said to have taken place one year ago today. Due to a clerical error in this publication’s records, the event in question took place on the same date one year ago in May rather than in April. Further, it seems we have nothing to suggest that happened one year ago from yesterday.

Surely something did take place one year ago yesterday. People were born, died, married, graduated, incarcerated. However we have no social contact with any of those people and it is no concern of ours. We will be properly reporting the erroneous item from yesterday’s column at the proper day next month. Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience.

What an interesting metaphor for meditation we have in the tripod. Something akin to the statement attributed to Newton, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” The tripod lets us see more clearly by establishing a stillness, reducing the distractions of jitter and shake. It allows a smaller aperture so that objects both near and distance are in focus. The capability of a solid grounding allows for enhanced clarity in viewing all things.

Maybe I can add to the list of parallels if I ponder this a little longer. But why is the monthly Buddhist magazine called Tricycle instead of Tripod?

Tricycle has joined the ranks of The Onion and DuffelBlog with this piece of content from their on-line edition. I read all the way though this, trying to make sense of it in the same way that allows you to imagine Burmese monks with weapons. It was only after clicking “Continue reading,”  that I made note of the fact that this was published early this month;

Blackwater to Integrate Intensive Mindfulness Course into Tactics and Weapons Training

The Tricycle story is something appropriate to its 1 April publication date but comes across as quite believable. Certainly as believable as this story which carriers the imprimatur of the Associated Press;

U.S. Marine Corps members learn mindfulness . . .

Perhaps something good will come of this.

While Germany faces the problem of transition between DVB-T and DVB-T2 for a dwindling number of terrestrial over the air viewers, the US ponders how to get 4K into an over the air system. Mark Aitken is working with an experimental operation using OFDM at the Sinclair Baltimore LMA station WNUV. Aitken’s name is familiar because of his past association with Acrodyne, Comark/Thomson/Thales/Thomcast, and with the ATSC. He was a proponent of US adoption of OFDM transmission while the standard was still being debated. OFDM is a transmission mode that is friendly to mobile reception and this was one of the strong sales points presented before the ATSC made their choice of 8VSB. Interest in over the air 4K provides another argument that makes the pick of 8VSB look like an unfortunate decision.

My favorite industry writer Deborah McAdams files the story for TV Technology;

Sinclair Transmits OFDM in Baltimore

Doug Lung offers some technical details in an earlier article in TV Technology;

Details on WNUV’s Experimental License to Test OFDM

Here is something to consider while at the NAB and thinking of what is always described at that annual event as “convergence.” The step from DVB-T to DVB-T2 requires new receivers. To make the leap from analog to DVB-T2 might be very sensible. A new receiver for a transition from DVB-T to DVB-T2 might not be worth the expense. Germany’s RTL has already announced their plans as reported in Broadcast Engineering magazine.

A decision not to make the transition doesn’t mean that a broadcaster will continue with DVB-T. It means that it will shift from terrestrial over-the-air delivery to the internet. The BE article points to the uncertainty of maintaining present spectrum allocations for terrestrial broadcasting as another consideration for broadcasters in Germany.

The original Broadcast Engineering article 15 March 2013

Brad Dick’s comments on the RTL announcement

Brad Dick’s blog comments assess another factor; the percentage of viewers making use of the OTA signal. It may simply be too expensive for broadcasters to use terrestrial transmissions to reach a diminishing audience.

Perhaps not convergence but divergence.

I am familiar with the term tower when referring to that item that supports a broadcast antenna or, in the case of medium wave stations, serves as the antenna. I was perplexed when I ran across a reference to a 70 meter mast. I began to wonder if this mast was intended to support multiple antennas whether it might employ a yardarm. This was for use in a land-locked country at that. I guess that a candelabra would be just as peculiar a term to use when topping the tower with something to support a number of antennas. If something is melting and dripping from up there it represents a real problem.

The term mast brings to mind a tall cylinder or rod. That is not commonly used for something 70 meters tall. A 70 meter support is likely to be described with a dimension of its face. Here we have another term that seems a bit out of place. There is no personification going on here. I have never heard someone on a tower crew say that a certain tower presents a friendly face. It is all just vertical steel members. Members?

Maybe I just need to be less critical in my response to technical terms that are slightly skewed. Maybe a little more sleep would be appropriate. Sleep without dreams of Two Years Before the Mast.

I first ran across this story in Stars and Stripes, one of the better newspapers I have read in recent years. It comes from the Orlando Sentinel and describes the “Spiritual Triage Trainer.” Perhaps a corollary to battlefield engagement with drones, this trainer allows Army chaplains to hone their skills in ministry to wounded or dying soldiers by working with a training simulator.

This story comes on the heels of another about a new medal to be awarded to those who fight wars as drone pilots, possibly thousands of miles away from the scene of the conflict. The new medal has been termed the “Purple Buttocks” by its detractors.

Here is the link to the US Army chaplain school story, High-tech training for chaplains questioned.