What's new for February 2010?

As is always the case, we've been busy this month adding plenty of new features to Microwaves101. We ain't been slack, Cap'n Walker!

Here we are in February already. This month marks Valentine's Day, Black History Month, the beginning of the Chinese New Year, and new content from Microwaves101!

• Thanks to some encouragement from Wendy, we now have a microwave oven history page. Here you will learn not only about Percy Spencer, but Marvin Bock as well. Like any major advancement, this invention cannot be attributed to one person, it was a team effort. Accompanying the oven history page is an article from the Santa Barbara News-Press which, along with a US patent and other references provides evidence that Bock was in on the thick of things in the late 1940s when microwave heating became an industry. Wendy is Marvin's daughter in case you were wondering!
• Speaking of daughters, J.B. Gunn's daughter got in touch with us to correct some information on her father's entry in the Microwave Hall of Fame. For one thing, we incorrectly listed J.B. as having a doctorate. We picked up that incorrect info from the IEEE, so shame on them and on us as well. Gunn was also an avid motorcycle racer well into his 60s, a collector of classic bikes and cars, quite an interesting guy!
• We have a new page describing the traveling wave splitter, a form of quadrature combiner which is useful for combining four amplifiers.
• In the microwave mortuary we have some high-resolution scanning electron microscope images from John, of some silicon destruction. From Mario, we have a lesson-learned about lending 110V equipment to friends traveling to Europe...
• Both John and Mario will be receiving microwaves101 pocketknives for thier contributions, thanks guys!
  
• The Unknown Editor has contributed material comparing Michael Jackson to other child entertainers. You'll meet some you know, some you never heard of and some you've forgotton in the youtube videos he's strung together. Maybe he should put down the mouse and get a life!

We've got some new questions--and answers--on our Microwave Message Board. We've have hundreds of topics posted on various microwave engineering subjects, with many more replies; our message board is an industry resource. Post your own questions, or help us answer some of the ones that are already posted. Some of the posted material may eventually get captured in our encyclopedia, so do your part for posterity! We'll remove any postings that we consider inappropriate.

Attention forward thinking microwave marketeers: check out information on advertising with us. Sponsorship information is but a click away... come and share the magic of 10,000 page views per weekday. Hey that rhymes! Join our best friends in the Virtual Lobby!

As always, we want you to sign up for the MW101Stuff newsletter, or submit a photo for our Microwave Mortuary. We'd love to hear from you, whether you have nice things to say about Microwaves101.com or just want to tell us how we've ruined your life!