They say there are two things that are certain: death and taxes. Let’s add one more: The certainty that the government will take those taxes and do something inconceivably stupid with them.
We give you exhibit A.
The federal government is allowing a company called LightSquared to build a ultrafast broadband network.
Well, you say, an ultrafast broadband network sounds pretty cool. And it is. Except for one thing.
The broadcast frequency used by the LightSquared system just happens to be right next to the existing Global Positioning System band. Tests conducted by Garmin, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of consumer GPS products, indicate that the overwhelming power of the broadband network is likely to cause major problems for all existing GPS products.
Perhaps the folks at the FCC aren’t aware of this, but GPS is kind of a big deal. It’s used by millions of American to navigate around the country’s rapidly deteriorating highway system that our tax money should be spent repairing. And let’s not forget military, civilian aircraft and emergency users.
Here’s what’s at risk:
“The potential impact of GPS interference is so vast, it’s hard to get your head around,” said Jim Kirkland, vice president and general counsel of Trimble Navigation Ltd., which makes GPS systems. “Think 40,000 GPS dead spots covering millions of square miles in cities and towns throughout the U.S.”
Don’t worry, though. The federal government always has multi-billion dollar solutions for the problems it causes. In this case, LightSquared suggests that current GPS users retrofit their systems, adding filtering capabilities to counteract the interference they cause.
Unfortunately, no one knows who is going to pay to retrofit more than a billion current GPS systems. Certainly, LightSquared isn’t offering to pony up the money.
We have a sneaking suspicion that the people who end up paying for this – one way or another – will be those poor suckers known as the American taxpayers.
– Written by Sven Waring at DotPenn.com
Source: APF
This post was last modified on October 18, 2023
View Comments (31)
There's a sphere around this man where the law's of anything just don't apply.
The Barry Obama Sphere of Stupidity is EXACTLY what it is.
What is the purpose of this new broadband system that is supposedly going to cause issues with GPS trackers?
The purpose of the new broadband system will obviously be to spread Socialist Propaganda. Otherwise, Obama wouldn't be throwing away the GPS system, replacing it with broadband.
Maybe Obama just wants the rest of us to be as lost as he is.
As long as I have a good UTM 1:50,000 scale map and a decent lensatic compass, I'll never get lost! I learned how to navigate...old school, and 40 years later it's still working!
I can do all that too, Hisham. But if I'm going to a shop in downtown San Diego that I've never been to before, I'm going to dial it into my GPS and drive there. It's a bit quicker and more convenient.
You can do that?!?!?!?!
Aww, c'mon guys. Can't you see it's just another way to "stimulate" the economy? If you have to retrofit the GPS systems, that means more money being spent on either (a) a retrofitted unit, or (b) a shiny new unit that blocks out the interference. Think of all the money we (the tax payers of the world--not GE) will have to fork over. It's all about "investing" so that we can "win the future."
Remember that Obama scrapped the Lowrance System as one of his first acts. With death of GPS it will all be by Chapman's or on the rocks. Of course, how many blacks do you see out boating? Obama HATES middle aged and elderly white people.
"Are they retarded?" Completely rhetorical! :)
"Are they retarded?"
You ask a question like that around here? Of course they're retarded. No disrespect intended to the actually disabled people.
Don't we already have a plethora of broadband commercially available? Don't I see TV ads for 3G and 4G from about fifty different providers? So WHY would the gubmint put another one where it interfers with GPS? Are they retarded?
"Are they retarded?"
Yes... OR they are evil and greedy. Who knows how much money Lightsquared promised to Obama and/or administration and/or federal agencies.
Bingo! There's no telecom usage tax for GPS because there is no service provider. Just grab dem free navigation signal chips.
Don't worry...the military grade stuff will still work so some smart bombs can find their way to tea party demonstrations.
If the entire radio spectrum were devoted to data broadband, those twits and tweets who walk around staring into their iGadgets would find a way to clog it to capacity.
Charlie April 18, 2011 at 7:56 am
If the entire radio spectrum were devoted to data broadband, those twits and tweets who walk around staring into their iGadgets would find a way to clog it to capacity.
Would that necessarily be a bad thing Charlie? I mean, it would be a perfect example of how inefficient and stupid big government is in such a way that even libtards could finally understand. I say, "bring it all down man!" (Some commie idiot said something like that in the 60's and 70's, Bill Ayers maybe) The mass confusion and damage such an event might cause is mind boggling, but we're in such a state right now that we need such an event just so everyone and actually see who the real enemy is.
There is just so MUCH stupidity in the Obama Administration, it is virtually impossible to get your brain to process it. Who voted for these imbeciles and why have they not been tried for crimes against humanity?
And I do not even use GPS!!!
You indirectly use GPS in ways that will surprise you.
And people who manufacture and deliver goods that you use daily use GPS to get the job done efficiently.
Nonsense Rocker, that ain't the way things work at all. The people that deliver goods I sell in my little store use a road map instead of that GPS crap or they would never find our little town.
I sell road maps for $5 bucks a pop, plus tax. New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma are big sellers. I also carry something called a road atlas, not the Ayn Rand kind of atlas, but a big old book that shows all the highways and byways in every state. I sell a lot of them too, for $21.95, and the profit margin is real good on the sale.
You know who I sell many of these maps too? People trying to get from one side of the country to the other using Google, Goggle, Mapquest and Yahoo print-it-yourself, maps. The majority though, I sell to people using some sort of GPS device to get to where they want to go. I love it when someone comes into the store and asks me "What is the quickest way to Amarillo from here? My GPS says.....
What their GPS did was take them about 100 miles out of their way. I sell them a map for $5 bucks, use a yellow hi-liter to mark the way back to I-40, then explain to them that no, Amarillo is not 40 miles from here, you have to drive another 3 hours to get there. I love the look on their faces, I love the profit it puts into the cash drawer.
My advice to anyone who wants to travel into unknown territory? Don't waste your money on a GPS device, buy a Rand-McNally road atlas instead. A good one costs about $30 bucks, you can find them at any truckstop, and you never have to "calibrate" or "reprogram" the map every time you cross a state line like you do with a GPS system.
If you can read and pay attention to the signs on the highways, like Downtown Hodunk 2 miles, you will never end up 100 miles out of your way wondering how you got there. If not? I'll be glad to sell you a map for $5 bucks, hi-lite in yellow the route you need to take to get where you want to go, and laugh all the way to the bank.
Oh my, I got off subject here. My point is, who cares if this Lightsquared things disrupts the GPS system for the motoring public? None of the people I give advice to, and sell maps to, they could care less.
Whiskey, as a heavy equipment operator, (lots of traveling for work), and a truck driver for about 32 years now, I certainly do understand the value of maps and road atlases. I have a U.S. atlas in my pickup, right next to the GPS receiver. I learned about the online mapping services and their long-way-around routes the first time I tried to use one. No, when you're going from Palm Springs to Boise, (almost due north), you don't go to Salt Lake City and turn left. You do have to be a little smarter than the GPS receiver, or the computer program. But as a truck driver, I can tell you that MOST professional drivers are now using GPS, combined with a little knowledge, to get places. The majority of deliveries aren't made in tiny little towns where the roads aren't even on the map. Also, rail, air, and sea shipping are all done with GPS systems.
Trust me, if you have a nationally branded item in your hand, GPS had a hand in getting it there. Even if the truck that delivered it to the general store in your small town used a map.
You and me are going to have to get together on a lake, with a big box of beer, do a little fishing, cussing and discussing. If you have been a hand that long then you know what a powdermonkey is and that is what I were until I retired.
Like any hand though, I took what jobs came my way. If it was loading base material into trucks all day or laying hotmix, it paid the same so that is what we do. Driving a truck is all part of the equation when you want to earn your living.
Palm Springs to Boise? It would depend on how much checking I could stand at Banning! West to I-5 then north from there is the easy way but you have to put up with too many chicken coops.
Sorry, I hit the wrong button! I always prefered 95 north through Arizona and up through Nevada to get to Idaho. Once you get to I-80 you can dodge a little east and get into the state without having to put up with the Oregon nonsense.
Just be careful about that left turn at Albuquerque -- I hear it's a doozie, and your burrow could lead you to nearly anyplace!
I prefer a map to the GPS, too. But, the UPS and FedEx guys use them for the packages, so we know where they are. Their tracking has come in handy more than a time or two for me.
And Whiskeyriver, let us know where the map store is, we'll be stopping by pretty danged soon.
You are talking about two different systems. Qual-Com, which is used by most trucking companies, is a satellite system that knows where the truck is but does not know if your package is on any particular truck. If you call with a tracking number all the person can tell you is where your stuff is supposed to be, not where it really is, based on which truck it was supposed to be loaded on.
GPS is a different ball of string. Since it is not a "fixed" system, different companies use different frequencies but they all talk to each other, you have to stop every few hours and re-calibrate whatever reciever you have to get a true reading. It's a lot like updating your cellphone roaming capabilities as you travel across the country. You don't do it right, you get a false signal or in this case, wrong directions.
I don't want to get too techie today, it's my day off. I have just finished a big bowl of chile and pintos with homemade tarpolians, my old aunties name for tortillias, and starting on the second half of a 12pak of cold beer. Cheers everyone and I'll try not to wax poetically, or is it drunkenly, tonight. I turned the spell checker off so I am not sure which one I am not supposed to do.
Oh, you wanted to know where I work! Fire up the old GPS machine and go to 34-26'24'' N, 104-00'33'' W. That will get you pretty close. And, we do not just sell maps! We also have the finest selection of sugar and salt products known to man. Chips, dips, sodas, candy bars and real brewed ice tea. No machine made fake tea around here!
We also have one restaurant and two diners, which are open most of the time unless there is a high school football game being played that day. Or a volleyball game, basketball game or track meet going on. Events like this mean you may have to fend for yourself and we also offer the best hotdogs west of....hell, I don't know, whatever town is east of here.
Did I mention the only beer joint/package store in the county? They have the coldest beer in town! In fact, they have the only beer in town so take it as it is. Mellencamp says it true, they will bury me in a small town.
All that talk about road maps and highlighters and then you post a lat/long when asked where your store is. I find that ironic.
You are the one with the GPS thingy, you figure it out. That was the point I was trying to make. If you are smart enough to program the coorodinates into a GPS device then you are smart enough to read a road map so why waste your money?
The package computer that FedEx and UPS use can tell them exactly where the truck is. For some reason, my delivery drivers never get to my business at the same time daily. I can call FedEx or UPS and they can tell me exactly where the driver is. I just assumed that was the same thing.
Like I said, no GPS for me, so I'll just have to find it with a map. I am small town myself.
Yeah, I did not wrap my head around my statement too well because it is just stunning to me that Obama could possibly be wrong on everything. But, so far, he is.