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	<title>Ben's Blog</title>
	<link>http://www.movl.net/blog</link>
	<description>Family, news, politics, economics, ham radio, and other random thoughts</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:35:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Starting a new job</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past six years I&#8217;ve been working for a small defense contractor here in Oxford, writing software for airborne radar. I enjoyed it, and I learned a lot along the way. Unfortunately, we were primarily funded by Congressional earmarks, which have fallen out of favor as of late. To make a long story short, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2011/10/starting-a-new-job/</link>
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		<title>Microcontroller course</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As I mentioned in my last post, nearly six months ago, I taught an &#8220;Embedded Development&#8221; course in the Computer Science department at the University of Mississippi. It was a highly practical course, and the Arduino was our hardware platform of choice. The &#8220;brain&#8221; of the Arduino is an Atmel AVR ATmega328P microcontroller with 2kB [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2011/06/microcontroller-course/</link>
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		<title>Embedded Development Course</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Below is the description of a course I&#8217;ll be teaching in the spring. It&#8217;s the first time I&#8217;ve been able to teach a special topics course (i.e., have complete control of the content of the course), and I&#8217;m really looking forward to it. CSci490: Embedded Development Instructor: Ben Pharr M W 5:30 PM &#8211; 6:45pm [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/12/embedded-development-course/</link>
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		<title>Understanding Basic Electronics</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Several months ago I started reading Understanding Basic Electronics, 2nd Edition, released this year by the ARRL. I was just nearly finished with it when I decided I should get serious about studying for comps. Last week I picked it back up and finished it. During my Computer Science education I&#8217;ve only had one Electrical [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/10/understanding-basic-electronics/</link>
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		<title>PhD Comps</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week I took the comprehensive exams (&#8220;comps&#8221;) for my PhD in Computer Science. There were four of them: Theory, Programming Languages, Software Engineering, and Systems. I won&#8217;t know for certain how I did for a few weeks or so, but I feel good about all of them. I&#8217;d be shocked if I failed any [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/10/phd-comps/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts on Alaska plane crash</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s interesting to me how slowly details about the plane crash in Alaska are trickling out. The crash happened yesterday (Monday) around 7pm local time. A rescue team, including a doctor with a satellite phone, arrived sometime last night and stabilized the survivors. About 10am CDT this morning CNN started reporting that former NASA Administrator [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/08/thoughts-on-alaska-plane-crash/</link>
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		<title>Free Socket 939 MB, Processor, and Memory</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I have an ASUS Socket 939 motherboard, AMD Athlon64 X2 dual-core processor, and two DIMMs of 1GB PC3200 RAM free for the taking. The catch is that one of them is bad. Based on past experience, I&#8217;d say the motherboard is toast and the processor and memory are just fine. That&#8217;s just a guess though. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/08/free-socket-939-mb-processor-and-memory/</link>
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		<title>The development and use of the first nuclear weapons</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A few weeks ago, I read virtually everything Wikipedia has on the development of the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hadn&#8217;t planned on writing a blog post on this topic, but something interesting came up yesterday that I did want to post about and this seemed like a good introduction. It wasn&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/08/nuclear-history/</link>
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		<title>Update</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I haven&#8217;t posted anything in a while, so I thought it was time to post a quick update. I&#8217;ll be taking two classes again this fall in the continuing pursuit of my PhD in Computer Science at Ole Miss. I&#8217;ll also be teaching CSci259/390 (C++) on Monday and Wednesday nights. Sometime in late September or [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/08/update/</link>
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		<title>Make: Electronics</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For about two months now, I&#8217;ve been spending most of my spare time reading and doing experiments out of Make: Electronics. My spare time has dwindled now that I&#8217;m back to teaching and taking classes. It&#8217;ll dwindle even more as I get into semester projects. I&#8217;m now up to Experiment #16 in Make: Electronics; about [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/02/make-electronics/</link>
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		<title>Backpacking at Big Hill Pond State Park</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Back in late October, I went backpacking at Big Hill Pond State Park near Pocahontas, Tennessee, about two hours or so from Oxford. Yes, I&#8217;m a little late getting around to posting this. James Church, a fellow Computer Science geek and Eagle scout went with me. Here&#8217;s a map of the park (large PDF). You [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/02/backpacking-at-big-hill-pond-state-park/</link>
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		<title>PanaVise Junior</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The other day I forgot to mention a very important part of my soldering gear: the PanaVise Junior. It&#8217;s a miniature vise. Its jaws have grooves that make it perfect for holding small circuit boards. The best part is that it&#8217;s only $16, with free shipping from Amazon. I wouldn&#8217;t solder without it. PanaVise makes [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/02/panavise-junior/</link>
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		<title>Soldering gear</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I started playing around with electronics about a year ago. You can make do with a breadboard for a while, but if you stick with electronics long enough you&#8217;ll eventually get around to soldering. I actually started soldering kits right off the bat, but I agonized over what gear to buy. I agonize over any [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/01/soldering-gear/</link>
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		<title>NorCal Dummy Load</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I started building electronic kits about this time last year. (My grandmother got me a soldering iron for Christmas.) At this point I&#8217;ve built several kits, but I&#8217;ve only gotten around to posting about a couple of them. This kit, the NorCal Dummy Load was my third project, the first being the MintyBoost, and the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2010/01/norcal-dummy-load/</link>
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		<title>Short review of Getting Started in Electronics</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As most of you know, I&#8217;ve been tinkering with electronics as of late. My interest was piqued due to my exposure to them in Ham radio. There is also a computer science angle with microcontrollers. I&#8217;ve built several kits, and have a few in the queue to build, but I also want to work my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/12/short-review-of-getting-started-in-electronics/</link>
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		<title>ATS-3B and project update</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of weeks ago the ATS-3B I posted about a while back became available again, and for the last time. Mine arrived in the mail today. I&#8217;m very excited about it. It really is the coolest little kit going right now. I count 19 toroids to wind. Yikes. One on the main board and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/11/ats-3b-and-project-update/</link>
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		<title>Backpacking preparations</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of my free time this week has been spent getting ready for our backpacking trip this weekend. It can be quite involved if you haven&#8217;t done it in awhile and you&#8217;re anal-retentive like me. I have a large order of goodies coming from REI tomorrow. Luke and I went for a hike in the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/10/backpacking-preparations/</link>
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		<title>St. Peter&#8217;s Pumpkin Patch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the Oxford traditions we enjoy is going to St. Peter&#8217;s Episcopal Church to pick out some pumpkins for Halloween. Click on the link or the picture for more pictures. We had tried to go last Wednesday, but Luke fell asleep on the way. On Thursday we tried again, even though Liam was sick [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/10/st-peters-pumpkin-patch/</link>
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		<title>Backpacking trip is on</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The backpacking trip to Big Hill Pond State Park is on. James has agreed to go with me. We&#8217;ve decided to go October 23rd, 24th, and 25th. If you&#8217;re interested in going with us, let me know.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/10/backpacking-trip-is-on/</link>
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		<title>Planning a backpacking trip</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I love backpacking, but somehow, between school, family, and work, I&#8217;ve managed to go nine years or so since my last trip. Back in high school I went on a few multi-day trips on the Appalachian Trail and a couple of two week trips to Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.movl.net/blog/2009/10/planning-a-backpacking-trip/</link>
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