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.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Camp Power
Once upon a time I read about a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generating plant that was built in the Soviet Union.
A MHD generator generates electricity directly from a flame. No engine, no boiler, no intermediate steps at all. Basically you have a couple of wire mesh grids in the path of a flame and you connect wires to these grids and you get electricity. Of course the grids are probably made of platinum or some other exotic substance, and the efficiency is not all that great, but you can't make a simpler machine.
I think a small generator like this would be a great power source for all sorts of remote locations, like our monitoring sites. It would also be great for campers and explorers, anyone who wants electricity where there isn't any other supply. Batteries, as demonstrated by our rooftop station this weekend, go bad.
I was thinking that one should be able to build a miniature MHD generator that would run on propane. Use it to generate electricity in remote locations to run radios. No batteries needed. As long as you have fuel, you have juice. Sell it to backpackers. Use it anyplace where you need a small amount of power, and you don't have, or don't want wires, and you don't want a big noisy generator set. I'm sure there would be a market for it if it could be built.
A MHD generator generates electricity directly from a flame. No engine, no boiler, no intermediate steps at all. Basically you have a couple of wire mesh grids in the path of a flame and you connect wires to these grids and you get electricity. Of course the grids are probably made of platinum or some other exotic substance, and the efficiency is not all that great, but you can't make a simpler machine.
I think a small generator like this would be a great power source for all sorts of remote locations, like our monitoring sites. It would also be great for campers and explorers, anyone who wants electricity where there isn't any other supply. Batteries, as demonstrated by our rooftop station this weekend, go bad.
I was thinking that one should be able to build a miniature MHD generator that would run on propane. Use it to generate electricity in remote locations to run radios. No batteries needed. As long as you have fuel, you have juice. Sell it to backpackers. Use it anyplace where you need a small amount of power, and you don't have, or don't want wires, and you don't want a big noisy generator set. I'm sure there would be a market for it if it could be built.
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Neutron Propulsion
My big idea this morning is to use radioactive materials for propulsion for interstellar probes. (some?) Radioactive materials produce high velocity neutrons. Put your radioactive material in a heavy pot. Point the opening in the pot opposite the way you want to go. Thrust would be very low, but very long lasting. Don't need to worry about radiation, space is full of it. Just need heavy shielding in the pot to protect the rest of the spacecraft.
Friday, November 15, 2002
Details
Smoke Detectors
I have three smoke detectors in my house, all wired together, and all supplied with house current. The battery in the unit in the upstairs hall just failed for the second time. Neither of the other two units have ever complained. Why is that?
Optical Mouse
I got a Microsoft optical mouse a while back and took an immediate dislike to it. Everyone else in the family thinks it's just fine. But I use it play minesweeper and it was much more difficult to control than my conventional mouse. But then I sat down to play the other day and the mouse was working fine. It seemed to glide much easier. I think someone must have applied some furniture polish or something to the desk, because the mouse slide very smoothly. The problem was that the mouse was sticking to the desk just a little bit, so little that I didn't even notice it, but it resulted in jerky motion, which made it hard to control. For big motions it was never a problem, but for small motions, it was impossible.
Hard Boiled Eggs
I was peeling a hard boiled egg last night and it was being a real pain. You know how sometimes when you peel an egg the shell slides right off, but other times it sticks to the egg, and you have to pick each bit of shell off, and often it takes a bit of egg with it so you end up with an egg that looks like it's been through the war? What causes this? Why is it some eggs stick to the shell, and some don't?
Egg Replies:
I can share some egg knowledge. I heard that older, less fresh eggs peel easier than fresh eggs. Don't know if that's true or why it would be.
To hard-boil eggs, put them in a pan of cold water, heat to just boiling, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes, then plunge the eggs in cold water. I have pretty good luck with this method producing easy-to-peel eggs.
Some people like to pierce a hole in the fat end of the shell (just the shell) to allow the cooking egg to expand and shove the air out of the little pocket in the fat end of the egg. I don't know if this is worthwhile or not.
Now you have something to do this weekend. Good luck on your egg adventures.
-Dan
Note on egg piercing: Not worthwhile if you're hungry and have shaky hands.
Trust me.
Thank you.
Malia
Okay.....I have absolutely no knowledge of any scientific evidence that this is actually true...but I have found that if the hard-boiled egg is still hot/warm when you peel it, it tends to peel off easier. Could totally be a misconception on my part...or a just plain crazy notion...but it's the "rule of thumb" for this housewife!
Di
I have three smoke detectors in my house, all wired together, and all supplied with house current. The battery in the unit in the upstairs hall just failed for the second time. Neither of the other two units have ever complained. Why is that?
Optical Mouse
I got a Microsoft optical mouse a while back and took an immediate dislike to it. Everyone else in the family thinks it's just fine. But I use it play minesweeper and it was much more difficult to control than my conventional mouse. But then I sat down to play the other day and the mouse was working fine. It seemed to glide much easier. I think someone must have applied some furniture polish or something to the desk, because the mouse slide very smoothly. The problem was that the mouse was sticking to the desk just a little bit, so little that I didn't even notice it, but it resulted in jerky motion, which made it hard to control. For big motions it was never a problem, but for small motions, it was impossible.
Hard Boiled Eggs
I was peeling a hard boiled egg last night and it was being a real pain. You know how sometimes when you peel an egg the shell slides right off, but other times it sticks to the egg, and you have to pick each bit of shell off, and often it takes a bit of egg with it so you end up with an egg that looks like it's been through the war? What causes this? Why is it some eggs stick to the shell, and some don't?
Egg Replies:
I can share some egg knowledge. I heard that older, less fresh eggs peel easier than fresh eggs. Don't know if that's true or why it would be.
To hard-boil eggs, put them in a pan of cold water, heat to just boiling, turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes, then plunge the eggs in cold water. I have pretty good luck with this method producing easy-to-peel eggs.
Some people like to pierce a hole in the fat end of the shell (just the shell) to allow the cooking egg to expand and shove the air out of the little pocket in the fat end of the egg. I don't know if this is worthwhile or not.
Now you have something to do this weekend. Good luck on your egg adventures.
-Dan
Note on egg piercing: Not worthwhile if you're hungry and have shaky hands.
Trust me.
Thank you.
Malia
Okay.....I have absolutely no knowledge of any scientific evidence that this is actually true...but I have found that if the hard-boiled egg is still hot/warm when you peel it, it tends to peel off easier. Could totally be a misconception on my part...or a just plain crazy notion...but it's the "rule of thumb" for this housewife!
Di
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Lawsuits
Problem with this kind of stuff is that it makes great newspaper headlines, but how much of it really comes to pass? You hear all kinds of stories about lawsuits being filed, but you seldom, if ever, hear about anyone actually getting paid.
Just for grins, here is one anecdote that puts a slightly different spin on the situation.
Lawyer I know takes a minor automobile accident case to court. The case is fairly straight forward, the only question is how big the award for damages should be. He figures the case is worth maybe five grand. The JURY returns an award of $26,000.
There are unscrupulous people in all professions. Lawyers get picked on, I think, because their actions in court are a matter of public record.
Stop reading the newspaper, you'll feel better.
Just for grins, here is one anecdote that puts a slightly different spin on the situation.
Lawyer I know takes a minor automobile accident case to court. The case is fairly straight forward, the only question is how big the award for damages should be. He figures the case is worth maybe five grand. The JURY returns an award of $26,000.
There are unscrupulous people in all professions. Lawyers get picked on, I think, because their actions in court are a matter of public record.
Stop reading the newspaper, you'll feel better.
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