Nanotech is on the rise, I wouldn't be surprised to see pills with embedded stuff become common the next five or ten years.
We got a chip put in our cat. Perhaps this could be used for your secure cat door? You could probably use the same thing for humans, though it was stinking big needle they used to implant it.
Don't worry about car systems, ever year there is something new, the stuff that's ten years old becomes completely obsolete.
Current law requires automobile manufacturers to provide repair parts for their cars for ten years. After that you are on your own. I suspect this results in very high scrap rates for cars over ten years old. Computers are the problem. They are unique to make and year, no one but the manufacturer carries them. So here's another million dollar idea:
The universal replacement computer for older cars. It would take a substantial engineering effort, but there is probably lots of expertise available in this area. They've been putting computers in cars for how long now? Ten years? The basics are all the same, naturally there would be variations.
Monday, May 19, 2003
Friday, May 16, 2003
Cheery Stuff
These days I'm thinking there are only two forces at work: instinct, and diversion. Diversion is what you think of to keep you occupied when you aren't listening to your instincts. Sometimes diversions are "good": people build things. Sometimes diversions are "bad": people break things, start wars, torment other beings.
Andy was talking about Margie's deism versus his humanism. Going to church is a social thing. It doesn't make you more religious or a better person. It just makes you more social, whether you want to be or not. I believe in God the same way I believe in Santa Claus. ("Yes, Virgina, there is a Santa Claus"). It's a spiritual thing. I don't believe in an afterlife. Jesus Christ? He was a good example who lived a long time ago.
If there weren't any people, there wouldn't be any God. I look at God as kind of the collective subconscious of all the people in the world. Anything that furthers the human race is good, anything that harms people is bad. Each person contains a vast sea of information, emotions and instinct. Only a small fraction can be directly expressed. Much more is expressed indirectly through movement, expression and lack of expression/action.
People reinforce each other, if they have similar views. This is why we sometimes have these spontaneous uprisings.
Social interaction is a two edged sword. I often hear people extolling the virtues of small town communities, but I also hear about the negative aspects of small town communities: every knows everybody else's business. There are some people who thrive on this kind of social detail. Other people have little or no interest in it.
People can accomplish more if they can work with other people. It's called cooperation. It's a social thing. You can accomplish little or nothing by yourself. When I was a kid in school I remember them talking about the mountain men and explorers and how they were so wonderful and great. I never understood what the big deal was. I think that's the difference between the socialites (those doing the extolling) and the anti-social (who would rather just do it themselves). In any case the mountain men weren't true loners. Their lifestyle was made possible by the gun, a product of a socially cooperative civilization.
Wars get started because a large part of the young male population doesn't have anything else to do. No work, no prospects, no entertainment, just plain miserable dirt boredom. Someone comes along and says it's all the neighbors doing, let's go burn down their house, and lacking any other influences, off they go. One of the TV channels has been advertising a show about Hitler that will air Sunday night. It is probably drivel, but it might be interesting. The angle is how he got started and came to power.
Andy was talking about Margie's deism versus his humanism. Going to church is a social thing. It doesn't make you more religious or a better person. It just makes you more social, whether you want to be or not. I believe in God the same way I believe in Santa Claus. ("Yes, Virgina, there is a Santa Claus"). It's a spiritual thing. I don't believe in an afterlife. Jesus Christ? He was a good example who lived a long time ago.
If there weren't any people, there wouldn't be any God. I look at God as kind of the collective subconscious of all the people in the world. Anything that furthers the human race is good, anything that harms people is bad. Each person contains a vast sea of information, emotions and instinct. Only a small fraction can be directly expressed. Much more is expressed indirectly through movement, expression and lack of expression/action.
People reinforce each other, if they have similar views. This is why we sometimes have these spontaneous uprisings.
Social interaction is a two edged sword. I often hear people extolling the virtues of small town communities, but I also hear about the negative aspects of small town communities: every knows everybody else's business. There are some people who thrive on this kind of social detail. Other people have little or no interest in it.
People can accomplish more if they can work with other people. It's called cooperation. It's a social thing. You can accomplish little or nothing by yourself. When I was a kid in school I remember them talking about the mountain men and explorers and how they were so wonderful and great. I never understood what the big deal was. I think that's the difference between the socialites (those doing the extolling) and the anti-social (who would rather just do it themselves). In any case the mountain men weren't true loners. Their lifestyle was made possible by the gun, a product of a socially cooperative civilization.
Wars get started because a large part of the young male population doesn't have anything else to do. No work, no prospects, no entertainment, just plain miserable dirt boredom. Someone comes along and says it's all the neighbors doing, let's go burn down their house, and lacking any other influences, off they go. One of the TV channels has been advertising a show about Hitler that will air Sunday night. It is probably drivel, but it might be interesting. The angle is how he got started and came to power.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Big Idea: Medical Diary Program for Palm Pilot
Here's a program that could make you a million. Or not.
There are a number of medical conditions where it is advisable to keep a diary of some sort. What you ate, what you drank, what pills you took, how do you feel, how well did you sleep, etc, etc.
Palm Pilots and their ilk are cheap enough to be used for something like that. I don't imagine a program to help you record information would be too difficult to write. There may already be a suitable program out there.
But the really useful part would be a program that could analyze this data and point out any correlations (every time you eat some of Aunt May's pudding) you always wake up three days later with a hangover).
So there's the big idea. Go run with it.
There are a number of medical conditions where it is advisable to keep a diary of some sort. What you ate, what you drank, what pills you took, how do you feel, how well did you sleep, etc, etc.
Palm Pilots and their ilk are cheap enough to be used for something like that. I don't imagine a program to help you record information would be too difficult to write. There may already be a suitable program out there.
But the really useful part would be a program that could analyze this data and point out any correlations (every time you eat some of Aunt May's pudding) you always wake up three days later with a hangover).
So there's the big idea. Go run with it.
Friday, May 9, 2003
Disposable goods
The air compressor at work gave out today. Not a big piece of equipment, just a small one, about three feet long and a couple of feet high. Five horsepower though. It's about the same size the one I have at home, but mine is only like two HP. It hasn't given up completely, it still runs, but it won't develop enough pressure to trip the shut off switch, so it just runs and runs and runs. It's a noisy bugger, too. When we first got it, which was about five years ago, when we first moved in here, the guys in the shop built a big wood box with fiberglass insulation to contain the noise. Box wasn't big enough though, and it cooked itself. So then they built a "doghouse" so it could sit outside in the rain. So every morning when we open up, someone has to wheel the air compressor outside and turn it on, and every evening when we go home, someone has to turn it off and wheel it back inside. No one has stolen the dog house.
But after five years the compressor is worn out. We were thinking about repairing it, but a new one only costs two or three hundred dollars. We could fix it, but you add up the cost of the parts, the time we would spend fixing it, and the delay in obtaining parts and it is probably cheaper to buy a new one.
How much life is left in the old compressor? I suspect motor and/or switch would be next component to fail, and they should last another five or ten years being used as they are. For home use they would probably last forever. So is it worthwhile to fix it? We shall see.
But after five years the compressor is worn out. We were thinking about repairing it, but a new one only costs two or three hundred dollars. We could fix it, but you add up the cost of the parts, the time we would spend fixing it, and the delay in obtaining parts and it is probably cheaper to buy a new one.
How much life is left in the old compressor? I suspect motor and/or switch would be next component to fail, and they should last another five or ten years being used as they are. For home use they would probably last forever. So is it worthwhile to fix it? We shall see.
Monday, April 7, 2003
Good Job
What you want are lots of interviews. Doesn't really matter where or for what position. Point is to get out and talk to people. Always learn something from an interview, even if it's just that you don't want to work there.WHO would you like to work for? Are there any companies that are doing anything interesting? I wouldn't put any stock in a companies reputation as "being a good place to work". The kind of stuff caters to the lowest common denominator, which means stability, order, and good benefits.I find that the manager you work for makes all the difference in the world. Great company, lousy manager, your life will suck. Rotten company, good manager, life couldn't be better.- What kind of work do you enjoy?- What companies in your area need that kind of help?- Which ones seem to be the most dynamic?Call em up and ask for a tour. Tell them you are writing a book. Don't tell them you are looking for a job. If you don't get any leads, you can always write the book.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
I hate Philips
I have a Philips VCR. It can't play half the tapes I bring home from the video store. Take the tapes back and they try them and they work fine.
I have a Philips boom box. There is a hinged lid on top that covers the CD. There is no button to release it. Simply pull up to open and push down to close. But it doesn't snap open or shut. It has one of those drag deals built into it so it opens slowly, and closes slowly. Pain in the neck.
I have a Philips DVD player. The remote control has 47 buttons on it. There are like three that I use, and they are small, hard to find and are awkward to reach. Turn it on and it takes five seconds to figure out that there is no disk in the drive, and it won't let you open it until it has figured this out. Stupid design.
Now I'm trying to look up some information on a Philips electronic component on the Internet, and I've got this fancy schmancy web site that tells me everything I never wanted to know, but nothing that I do need.
What is it with these guys? The bigger the corporation, the stupider the people that work there? I'm never buying any more Philips anything.
I have a Philips boom box. There is a hinged lid on top that covers the CD. There is no button to release it. Simply pull up to open and push down to close. But it doesn't snap open or shut. It has one of those drag deals built into it so it opens slowly, and closes slowly. Pain in the neck.
I have a Philips DVD player. The remote control has 47 buttons on it. There are like three that I use, and they are small, hard to find and are awkward to reach. Turn it on and it takes five seconds to figure out that there is no disk in the drive, and it won't let you open it until it has figured this out. Stupid design.
Now I'm trying to look up some information on a Philips electronic component on the Internet, and I've got this fancy schmancy web site that tells me everything I never wanted to know, but nothing that I do need.
What is it with these guys? The bigger the corporation, the stupider the people that work there? I'm never buying any more Philips anything.
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Mechanical Failures
Sump Pumps
We have two sump pumps in the crawl space under our basement floor. One was put in shortly after we built the house. The other was put in when we finished the basement. They both sit in perforated five gallon buckets that have been sunk into gravel lined holes about two feet deep and two feet in diameter. When we finished the basement, a perforated drain pipe was installed across the uphill side of the basement. It drains into the newer sump. Both pumps are controlled by float activated switches. When the water reaches a certain depth, the pump turns on and runs until the sump is empty, or nearly so. The switch on the first pump is inside a float that is attached to the pump by a power cord. It is free to flop around. The newer pump has a float that runs up and down a guide attached to the side of the pump. The five gallon bucket it sits in is just barely big enough to contain it, and sometimes the float would become stuck. When this happens the pump runs continuously, it never shuts off. I would periodically go down and check it, but it wasn't enough. After a couple of years of this abuse, it finally failed. I think it cooked itself. I pulled it out thinking I might be able to fix it. However when I took the top off the motor, I discovered that the motor housing was full of oil. Even if I could have fixed it, I wasn't prepared to deal with oil. So I put the lid back, set it in the garage, and went to home depot and bought a smaller pump with a floppy type of float switch. So far it seems to be working okay. And what I am going to do with old pump? It will probably sit in the garage till I retire, and then I'll throw it out. I called a couple of dealers about getting it fixed, but no one was interested. All they wanted to do was sell me a new one.
Radio Buttons
Saturday Ross and I fixed the radio in Mom's (Anne's) van. The volume on this radio is controlled by push buttons. One button increases the volume, another button turns it down. Every so often the down button gets stuck, and you can't turn down the volume anymore. You can still turn it up, but you can't turn it down. As this is the third or forth time this has happened, I have the repair procedure down to a science. Basically it involves removing the radio from the dash, taking the faceplate off and take it apart. The push button action is implemented with a flexible rubber sheet with bumps in it for each button. The problem is the bump for the down volume control gets stuck. Taking the faceplate apart allows it to pop back up. So now it's fixed, and it's just a matter of reassembling the faceplate and reinstalling the radio.
Taking the radio out is normally a onerous chore. On the Ford it is relatively easy, however, you do need a special tool. The special tool is a couple of pieces of wire, about the thickness of old wire coat hangers, bent in the shape of a "U", about three inches tall and an inch or two across. The ends of the "U" are something in the shape of crochet hooks. The ends of the U's go through holes in the front of the radio and disengage latches that hold it place. Theoretically speaking, you simple slide the special tools into the holes until the latches disengage and then pull to remove the radio. In practice, there is a good deal of pushing, pulling, yanking and muttering, but it eventually works, and it is much easier than having to take it out from underneath and behind, which used to be standard practice.
Tiny Screws
Sunday Ross and went shooting with a friend of mine in the Coast Range, about thirty miles west of our house. We found a gravel pit to shoot in, actually a hillside. A few years ago I bought a high-powered rifle with a scope in the expectation of going deer hunting. This is first year I have even shot it. It is very loud. It is at least twice as powerful as any of my other weapons. When I shoot it, I can fell the shock wave it produces in my entire body. Anyway, before you attempt to use a weapon like this, it is a good idea to "sight it in", i.e. to verify that the sights correspond with the trajectory of the bullet. So my friend and I tried a couple of shots each (Ross didn't want to have anything to do with it. The 22 caliber rifle is more to his liking) at some targets set up about 75 yards away, with inconclusive results. So we set up a larger, closer target, a sheet of particle board about four feet square about 25 yards away. We marked a spot
on the board and I fired about four shots at it. When we went to look at the board, it was apparently unmarked! But then we looked at the back side of board, and it was obvious that the board had been hit. There were large, ragged bunches of splinters sticking out. But even when we knew where the bullets hit, it was difficult to see where they had struck on the front side. And these were relatively large bullets, 30 caliber, almost 5/16" in diameter.
Anyway the four hits on the board were in a nearly vertical line, but they were spread out vertically over nearly two feet! What could cause this horrible inaccuracy? And then we look at the gun and notice that one of the scope mounts had come detached. The scope mount had been secured to the barrel of the gun with tiny flat head, Allen screws. Allen screws have a hex shaped recess to accommodate the driver. The cone shape of the screw head combined with the hex shaped recess combined to reduce the attachment point of the head to screw body to almost nothing, which made the screw very weak, and given the smallest task, it failed.
Ovenized Oscillators
At work I am working on a new radio transmitter. This radio uses a 10 MHz (ten megahertz, or ten million cycles per second) crystal controlled oscillator. Crystals are used in oscillators because they are very stable. If a crystal is generating a 10 MHz signal today, then it will be generating a 10 MHz signal ten years from now. However, the frequency generated is temperature dependent. If the temperature goes up, the frequency goes up. Not much, but for our purposes even the smallest deviation is unacceptable. So we use ovenized crystals. This means these oscillators contain a heating element that raises the temperature to the highest temperature that the crystal is expected to operate at, in this case about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (most Microsoft fonts don't have a degree symbol). I am working with on old prototype board and the crystal was attached to the board with double sided mounting tape (the kind used for hanging pictures on walls). This tape is made of foam to accommodate surface imperfections. This board had been used so much that the heated crystal had cooked the tape, which caused it to fail, which left the crystal dangling by its' wires, one of which broke. No big deal, we glued it back down using super glue and soldered new wires on.
Super Glue
A few weeks ago I tried to repair a die cast model tractor using super glue. It didn't stick the first time, so I filed the mating surfaces flat and tried again. Still no luck. Ended up using epoxy. Now the part I glued on has itself come apart, so I need more epoxy. Super glue is funny stuff. It will definitely stick to skin and to most other surfaces, but occasionally I will come across something that it won't stick to. Die cast metal for instance. A friend of mine speculated that it was because the metal is porous.
We have two sump pumps in the crawl space under our basement floor. One was put in shortly after we built the house. The other was put in when we finished the basement. They both sit in perforated five gallon buckets that have been sunk into gravel lined holes about two feet deep and two feet in diameter. When we finished the basement, a perforated drain pipe was installed across the uphill side of the basement. It drains into the newer sump. Both pumps are controlled by float activated switches. When the water reaches a certain depth, the pump turns on and runs until the sump is empty, or nearly so. The switch on the first pump is inside a float that is attached to the pump by a power cord. It is free to flop around. The newer pump has a float that runs up and down a guide attached to the side of the pump. The five gallon bucket it sits in is just barely big enough to contain it, and sometimes the float would become stuck. When this happens the pump runs continuously, it never shuts off. I would periodically go down and check it, but it wasn't enough. After a couple of years of this abuse, it finally failed. I think it cooked itself. I pulled it out thinking I might be able to fix it. However when I took the top off the motor, I discovered that the motor housing was full of oil. Even if I could have fixed it, I wasn't prepared to deal with oil. So I put the lid back, set it in the garage, and went to home depot and bought a smaller pump with a floppy type of float switch. So far it seems to be working okay. And what I am going to do with old pump? It will probably sit in the garage till I retire, and then I'll throw it out. I called a couple of dealers about getting it fixed, but no one was interested. All they wanted to do was sell me a new one.
Radio Buttons
Saturday Ross and I fixed the radio in Mom's (Anne's) van. The volume on this radio is controlled by push buttons. One button increases the volume, another button turns it down. Every so often the down button gets stuck, and you can't turn down the volume anymore. You can still turn it up, but you can't turn it down. As this is the third or forth time this has happened, I have the repair procedure down to a science. Basically it involves removing the radio from the dash, taking the faceplate off and take it apart. The push button action is implemented with a flexible rubber sheet with bumps in it for each button. The problem is the bump for the down volume control gets stuck. Taking the faceplate apart allows it to pop back up. So now it's fixed, and it's just a matter of reassembling the faceplate and reinstalling the radio.
Taking the radio out is normally a onerous chore. On the Ford it is relatively easy, however, you do need a special tool. The special tool is a couple of pieces of wire, about the thickness of old wire coat hangers, bent in the shape of a "U", about three inches tall and an inch or two across. The ends of the "U" are something in the shape of crochet hooks. The ends of the U's go through holes in the front of the radio and disengage latches that hold it place. Theoretically speaking, you simple slide the special tools into the holes until the latches disengage and then pull to remove the radio. In practice, there is a good deal of pushing, pulling, yanking and muttering, but it eventually works, and it is much easier than having to take it out from underneath and behind, which used to be standard practice.
Tiny Screws
Sunday Ross and went shooting with a friend of mine in the Coast Range, about thirty miles west of our house. We found a gravel pit to shoot in, actually a hillside. A few years ago I bought a high-powered rifle with a scope in the expectation of going deer hunting. This is first year I have even shot it. It is very loud. It is at least twice as powerful as any of my other weapons. When I shoot it, I can fell the shock wave it produces in my entire body. Anyway, before you attempt to use a weapon like this, it is a good idea to "sight it in", i.e. to verify that the sights correspond with the trajectory of the bullet. So my friend and I tried a couple of shots each (Ross didn't want to have anything to do with it. The 22 caliber rifle is more to his liking) at some targets set up about 75 yards away, with inconclusive results. So we set up a larger, closer target, a sheet of particle board about four feet square about 25 yards away. We marked a spot
on the board and I fired about four shots at it. When we went to look at the board, it was apparently unmarked! But then we looked at the back side of board, and it was obvious that the board had been hit. There were large, ragged bunches of splinters sticking out. But even when we knew where the bullets hit, it was difficult to see where they had struck on the front side. And these were relatively large bullets, 30 caliber, almost 5/16" in diameter.
Anyway the four hits on the board were in a nearly vertical line, but they were spread out vertically over nearly two feet! What could cause this horrible inaccuracy? And then we look at the gun and notice that one of the scope mounts had come detached. The scope mount had been secured to the barrel of the gun with tiny flat head, Allen screws. Allen screws have a hex shaped recess to accommodate the driver. The cone shape of the screw head combined with the hex shaped recess combined to reduce the attachment point of the head to screw body to almost nothing, which made the screw very weak, and given the smallest task, it failed.
Ovenized Oscillators
At work I am working on a new radio transmitter. This radio uses a 10 MHz (ten megahertz, or ten million cycles per second) crystal controlled oscillator. Crystals are used in oscillators because they are very stable. If a crystal is generating a 10 MHz signal today, then it will be generating a 10 MHz signal ten years from now. However, the frequency generated is temperature dependent. If the temperature goes up, the frequency goes up. Not much, but for our purposes even the smallest deviation is unacceptable. So we use ovenized crystals. This means these oscillators contain a heating element that raises the temperature to the highest temperature that the crystal is expected to operate at, in this case about 140 degrees Fahrenheit (most Microsoft fonts don't have a degree symbol). I am working with on old prototype board and the crystal was attached to the board with double sided mounting tape (the kind used for hanging pictures on walls). This tape is made of foam to accommodate surface imperfections. This board had been used so much that the heated crystal had cooked the tape, which caused it to fail, which left the crystal dangling by its' wires, one of which broke. No big deal, we glued it back down using super glue and soldered new wires on.
Super Glue
A few weeks ago I tried to repair a die cast model tractor using super glue. It didn't stick the first time, so I filed the mating surfaces flat and tried again. Still no luck. Ended up using epoxy. Now the part I glued on has itself come apart, so I need more epoxy. Super glue is funny stuff. It will definitely stick to skin and to most other surfaces, but occasionally I will come across something that it won't stick to. Die cast metal for instance. A friend of mine speculated that it was because the metal is porous.
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