My favorite contest calendar site has been down today, but the ARRL’s calendar reminds us that there’s an EME contest going on right now. We also have the 60th anniversary JOTA coming up on October 21st, and the ARRL North Texas Mentorfest on the same day. Mentorfest volunters will find information at the link given; JOTA volunteers should email N5BB or N5HYP at ARRL.net.

Our last Lecture and Lab for the year, on October 28th, will be a smörgåsbord: bring your Buddipoles to test and adjust them, bring your un-finished kits from previous labs, or buy a left-over kit from the club to work on. If you have short presentation or show-and-tell you’d like to share, this is the day for it. Please contact the club if you’d like to give a presentation.

Amateur radio operators have been helping in Puerto Rico, and the Hurricane Watch Net is on the air because of Hurricane Nate. Be especially careful of 14.325 and 7.268 MHz.

In the world of science and technology:

The famous Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station famous for broadcasting rock music from the highs seas when the BBC wouldn’t, has a license and will soon start broadcasting as an AM radio station in the UK.

Fatalities in car crashes are up, and entertainment systems and navigation devices can be distracting, but studies show that some technology can help rather than hurt driving.

Bring out your dead! [clang] The pneumonic form of the Black Death is spreading in Madagascar.

Lots of people get sick each year from tainted food, but the past few weeks have featured the first illness outbreak I know of that’s been caused by tainted puppies.

UPDATE: Bill, N5BB, mentioned that Hurricane Maria damaged facilities at the Arecibo Radio Telescope. I was able to find a little bit of information about that here. El Radar is one of my favorite scientific instruments, and I hope they can pull through.