Today I Learned

[Rive]

whisker fatigue is a real thing.

Well. Should we redefine 'tickling' as 'skin fatigue', then?

 

[anorlunda]

LOL Old school triumphed today.

I've been having trouble with the AC in my RV. I called for a repairman and told him that I thought a relay contact was stuck closed.

The guy came, and started running tests and making measurements. He just graduated from AC technician school this year. He was surprised that the AC is 21 years old. He said new ones only last 5-6 years. When he got into the control board, there sat a big black relay. He was thinking of replacing the relay or finding a replacment board. My wife said, "Hell, just whack it." The repairman looked stunned. But we convinced him. He whacked it with a rubber mallet and now everything works fine again. I spent $50 on his call instead of $1000 for a new AC of inferior quality.

He shook his head and said, "My buddies won't believe me when I tell them I fixed it with a mallet."

You see my wife remembers our first car. It had a sticky relay in the voltage regulator. She knew that when the voltage went high, that she should fetch the tire iron and give the regulator a firm whack. That worked for the lifetime of that car.

Old school. It worked then, and it can still work today in the right circumstances.

 

[Tom.G]

I spent $50 on his call...

...because I didn't ask my wife first!
(been there... )

 

[pinball1970]

LOL Old school triumphed today.

I've been having trouble with the AC in my RV. I called for a repairman and told him that I thought a relay contact was stuck closed.

The guy came, and started running tests and making measurements. He just graduated from AC technician school this year. He was surprised that the AC is 21 years old. He said new ones only last 5-6 years. When he got into the control board, there sat a big black relay. He was thinking of replacing the relay or finding a replacment board. My wife said, "Hell, just whack it." The repairman looked stunned. But we convinced him. He whacked it with a rubber mallet and now everything works fine again. I spent $50 on his call instead of $1000 for a new AC of inferior quality.

He shook his head and said, "My buddies won't believe me when I tell them I fixed it with a mallet."

View attachment 316904

You see my wife remembers our first car. It had a sticky relay in the voltage regulator. She knew that when the voltage went high, that she should fetch the tire iron and give the regulator a firm whack. That worked for the lifetime of that car.

Old school. It worked then, and it can still work today in the right circumstances.

Reminded of….

 

[Rive]

My wife said, "Hell, just whack it."

I guess that may hint some ... 'consultation fee' ... especially in account of that $950 saved

 

[anorlunda]

By the way, I owe my career to a faulty relay .

The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 launched my career as a power engineer. The investigation showed that the triggering event was caused by a moth in a relay at the Sir Adam Beck power plant in Ontario.

 

[jack action]

By the way, I owe my career to a faulty relay .

The Great Northeast Blackout of November 9, 1965 launched my career as a power engineer. The investigation showed that the triggering event was caused by a moth in a relay at the Sir Adam Beck power plant in Ontario.
View attachment 316926

Haaa! the famous "bug":

The term "bug" was used in an account by computer pioneer Grace Hopper, who publicized the cause of a malfunction in an early electromechanical computer. A typical version of the story is:

In 1946, when Hopper was released from active duty, she joined the Harvard Faculty at the Computation Laboratory where she continued her work on the Mark II and Mark III. Operators traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term bug. This bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book. Stemming from the first bug, today we call errors or glitches in a program a bug.

 

[anorlunda]

Haaa! the famous "bug":

Her's was the first of a long line of notable bugs.

 

[BillTre]

 

[anorlunda]

5200 Drone light show, Breaking 4 World Records -- High Great​

What fun it would be to write the software.

 

[kyphysics]

I learned that if one particle of dust is introduced onto a silicon wafer, during production process, the whole batch can be at risk of being ruined. Creating a microchip from silicon is a very, very meticulous process demanding extreme precision and care.

It takes an average of 12 weeks to make one of these chips. Who knew. . .

 

[jack action]

I learned that if one particle of dust is introduced onto a silicon wafer, during production process, the whole batch can be at risk of being ruined. Creating a microchip from silicon is a very, very meticulous process demanding extreme precision and care.

It takes an average of 12 weeks to make one of these chips. Who knew. . .

And then you learned about the fascinating story of how this guy did one at home, something experts thought was impossible:

​

More info on his website: http://sam.zeloof.xyz/first-ic/

 

[berkeman]

I learned that if one particle of dust is introduced onto a silicon wafer, during production process, the whole batch can be at risk of being ruined.

And then you learned about the fascinating story of how this guy did one at home, something experts thought was impossible:

Yeah, but way different feature sizes.

It's no fun getting into a bunny suit to go into a fab to debug machine problems (especially if you have to bring your instruments with you)...

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[pinball1970]

TIL (the other week but just got round to it) UK flu vaccine is quadrivalent. 2x A and 2x B strains.

 

[kyphysics]

Amazon is gutting its voice-assistant Alexa. Employees describe a division in crisis and huge losses on 'a wasted opportunity.'​

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-alexa-job-layoffs-rise-and-fall-2022-11

So, no futuristic A.I. voice/bot assistant in every U.S. home on the horizon? And I thought we were getting closer and closer to Star Trek living.

I also didn't know Alexa was behind Google Assistant and Apple Siri in use/popularity.

 

[Hornbein]

Amazon is gutting its voice-assistant Alexa. Employees describe a division in crisis and huge losses on 'a wasted opportunity.'​

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-alexa-job-layoffs-rise-and-fall-2022-11

So, no futuristic A.I. voice/bot assistant in every U.S. home on the horizon? And I thought we were getting closer and closer to Star Trek living.

I also didn't know Alexa was behind Google Assistant and Apple Siri in use/popularity.

I tried. I was told the site was unsafe, then the whole thing went into an infinite loop.

 

[Orodruin]

Today I found this out …

 

[fresh_42]

Today I found this out …
View attachment 317508

If we meet, then LIGO can make a measurement.

 

[Orodruin]

View attachment 317532If we meet, then LIGO can make a measurement.

I was not referring to the PF Singularity though, I was referring to the hidden USER menu in the mobile interface. There is no indication it is there until you happen to click it.

Edit: Actually, it is not just the mobile interface. Shrinking your browser width enough leads to the same effect.

 

[fresh_42]

I was not referring to the PF Singularity though, I was referring to the hidden USER menu in the mobile interface. There is no indication it is there until you happen to click it.

Oh! We had this discussion recently and I commented: "I want to speak to the programmer!" so I missed the point.

 

[pbuk]

I was not referring to the PF Singularity though, I was referring to the hidden USER menu in the mobile interface. There is no indication it is there until you happen to click it.

Oh yes, there is an icon missing! @Greg Bernhardt was this not resolved recently?

 

[Orodruin]

Oh yes, there is an icon missing! @Greg Bernhardt was this not resolved recently?

I mean, not only is there a missing icon. It is displaced vertically and smaller than the other menu icons.

 

[DaveC426913]

Yeah, it's missing on my phone. But this is what it looks like on PC:

 

[BillTre]

TIL that there is a computer program that can beat people at the game of Diplomacy.
This is a board game set in pre-WWI Europe. It involves a lot of strategy, negotiating, making alliances (and lying), breaking alliances. No dice and everyone moves at once.

 

[berkeman]

This is a board game set in pre-WWI Europe.

Probably chosen to avoid the extra complications of nuke/chem/bio weapons...

 

[Borg]

I'm not too surprised. I've thought about working on a similar program for a WW II game called Squad Leader starting with just a few types of units and minimal rules. That will have to wait until I retire.

 

[fresh_42]

Probably chosen to avoid the extra complications of nuke/chem/bio weapons...

Sadly, you have to strike out chem in that list.

 

[berkeman]

Sadly, you have to strike out chem in that list.

Yeah, I realized that after I posted...

 

[Bystander]

TIL: stonk, artillery fire? Don't remember learning that at Ft. Sill.

 

[Mondayman]

TIL: stonk, artillery fire? Don't remember learning that at Ft. Sill.

I believe this was slang mostly used by Canadians during WW2. I recall it from some of my books.

 

[Ibix]

TIL: stonk, artillery fire? Don't remember learning that at Ft. Sill.

It was WWII era British army slang, I gather, although I don't know how widespread or long lasting.

 

[pinball1970]

It was WWII era British army slang, I gather, although I don't know how widespread or long lasting.

Stonking means good in English slang, a stonking good time!

 

[Ibix]

Stonking means good in English slang, a stonking good time!

Yeah. My dad didn't like the phrase because he associated it with someone making fairly serious efforts to kill him. Like I say, I don't know how widespread the usage was.

 

[pinball1970]

Yeah. My dad didn't like the phrase because he associated it with someone making fairly serious efforts to kill him. Like I say, I don't know how widespread the usage was.

WW2?

Yes after a search there are a lot of applications. Marbles (origin claimed there on one site) being drunk (Oz) stock market, Artillery fire and
Not a word you hear often in the UK, not North West anyway.

 

[Drakkith]

Stonking means good in English slang, a stonking good time!

I thought it meant stonks!

 

[pinball1970]

I thought it meant stonks!

View attachment 317672

I had no idea of any of those other connections.
Including the stock market or darker military ones.

I put stonking with 'spiffing.' An Etonian, Wodehouse type of phrase.
"Everyone had an absolutely spiffing time."

 

[Ibix]

WW2?

Yes - he'd've been 100 next year.

I agree it's not a common phrase these days in any context. I only learned of the artillery fire connotations because Comic Relief did a novelty single called "The Stonk" one year and my dad grumbled about it not sounding comical to him.

 

[fresh_42]

I told you not to mention the war. See where we got! It doesn't go away anymore.

 

[Ibix]

I told you not to mention the war. See where we got! It doesn't go away anymore.

I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it...

 

[fresh_42]

I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it...

I have such a feeling that it somehow should have changed, if outspoken, and did already, in reality, change to: Don't mention the Brexit!

 

[pinball1970]

I have such a feeling that it somehow should have changed, if outspoken, and did already, in reality, change to: Don't mention the Brexit!

Brexit is like the interpretations of Quantum Mechanics discussions. I read the threads that seem to follow the same lines but I come away from them with little recall or understanding of them.

 

[BillTre]

Cool looking water effects:

 

[kyphysics]

Musk’s Neuralink Hopes to Implant Computer in Human Brain in Six Months

The startup awaits implant approval while already working on curing paralysis

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. aims to start putting its coin-sized computing brain implant into human patients within six months, the company announced at an event at its Fremont, Calif. headquarters on Wednesday evening.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-for-human-trials-approval-within-six-months

Who would be willing to undergo such an operation? . . .

 

[pinball1970]

Germany and Costa Rica. New thread for the world cup?

 

[mfb]

Who would be willing to undergo such an operation? . . .

People who greatly benefit from this technology.

6 months is far too optimistic, of course.

 

[kyphysics]

People who greatly benefit from this technology.

6 months is far too optimistic, of course.

Yeah, I was merely thinking about risk factors. . .if I were paralyzed and could be "cured," I'd probably consider it. . .But, I wouldn't consider it if the surgery were meant to "enhance" my mental capabilities or something like that. . .at least, not without watching lots of other people do it first and observing the safety/side-effects/etc.

 

[hutchphd]

Bull

 

[mfb]

Yeah, I was merely thinking about risk factors. . .if I were paralyzed and could be "cured," I'd probably consider it. . .But, I wouldn't consider it if the surgery were meant to "enhance" my mental capabilities or something like that. . .at least, not without watching lots of other people do it first and observing the safety/side-effects/etc.

Sure, that's why the first patients will be paralyzed or have other very severe health conditions. As the technology improves we should see it being used for less serious conditions, until implants in healthy people might become an option.