Rainy Night in Georgia

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Circa 1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Modem

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So I was going through some old stuff in my garage and I found this antique modem that I've had since I was a teenager.  Turns out it's a Livermore Data Systems "Model A".   I decided to hook it up and see if it works, and I made a YouTube video in the process: I'll get around to posting some better photos of it this weekend, I promise!
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Caveat Emptor: Sedona Car Rentals

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There's only one rental car company at Sedona Airport:  Sedona Car Rentals Their website only listed two classes of available cars:  "Economy" and "SUV".  I didn't need an SUV to shuttle the three of us to / from the AirBNB and hiking trails, so I opted for the economy car.   Here's the reservation confirmation I received: Thursday, upon arriving at KSEZ, the FBO ramp worker retrieved the car and brought it plane-side for us (awesome!).  FIRST CAR: The car was a 2011 Ford Focus with 152200 miles on it (and a TPMS warning light.)  I noticed immediately upon leaving in it that it drove like a broken shopping cart:  Vibrated, and pulled left.  The transaxle made a loud whining noise that varied with the automobile's speed (not the engine RPM.) On our way to the AirBNB we attempted to take this vehicle on the highway and it immediately revealed that it wasn't suitable for highway use.  At 55 MPH it began to shake violently.  It wouldn't...
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TOWL - Telemetry over Opportunistic WiFi Links

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Premise & Background: Can you build a "LoJack" style asset tracking capability using open WiFi hotspots? The proliferation of cheap, lightweight WiFi embedded ("IoT") devices made me wonder.  The WiFi association stack, DHCP client stack, et al. has to be incredibly lightweight and simple to fit in the firmware on, say, an ESP8266.  If you programmed one to scan, find an AP, associate, get an address, and send a single packet - would it be able to do it fast enough to report its location from a moving vehicle? [Aside: This is actually something I've wondered about for years, but the IoT chips offered a unique and low-cost way to try it.] "But wait," you say, "there really aren't that many open APs these days.  Most of them are captive or paywall portals, or at least make you agree to some goofy ToS." Right, but as has been pointed out multiple times by multiple people all the way back to Dan Kaminsky's DNS tunneling ta...
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