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running laptop and a dipole antenna Wednesday, August 7 2002
I was up on the roof again this morning to paint the wires leading into my microwave installation. I did this out of concern about the kind of wire used, which is probably not intended for outdoor use. The insulation on unsuitable wire becomes brittle and develops cracks after a few months of exposure to the sun. Luckily, though, most of the length of the wire run is not in direct sunlight.
I also did further testing of the range of the signal, walking around cradling a running laptop like a total dork. I found I could get weak signals in some places along Union Street and some distance down President Street, though neither of these places have line-of-sight to the rooftop installation. I also tried to find a signal over in Prospect Park in the narrow sector defined by President Street as it slices between the two tall buildings on the north end of Prospect Park West, but I found nothing. This got me thinking about possibly setting up other wireless access points. A really interesting idea (as demonstrated by Nathan back in Charlottesville) would be to have one that acts as an earth-bound "satellite" and simply repeats the signal without having any wires at all. With all due respect for the importance of squandering fossil fuels, it could even be solar powered. I could somehow talk my way to the top of one of the tall buildings around Grand Army Plaza and hide it in an outdoor planter, or else drop it from a kite. The James Bond scenarios are endless.
Speaking of James Bond, I wonder how long it would take for me to end up a "material witness" in an army brig somewhere if my name was Sayed Amir Hashimi and I was wandering around with a running laptop and a dipole antenna like I was doing today. I'm sure Ashcroft and his boys could think up something suitably evil for me to have been doing by the time they held their press conference.
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Two views of my new wireless internet access point.
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The spires of Park Slope, viewed from the deck-free part of our brownstone's roof.
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I hadn't realized I could see the Statue of Liberty from my rooftop.
What this means for my freedom, I can only speculate.
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If she was around, Gretchen would answer this scene with a "You guyzar ca-yute."
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