totm nov 2023 Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, kerbiloid said:

When the procedure is complicated, there is probably a little company next to the tax office, filling the docs for you for small price, and the tax office likes when things are done this way.

Of course, they are neighboring just accidentally and the people working there have no relation to each other...

That's exactly how it works. The bureaucracy becomes complicated. An industry is created to help people navigate the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy and the industry become a revolving door, with people moving jobs from one to the other. And whenever a politician decides to try to simplify the bureaucracy, that industry is the first one in line to lobby against the change.

[StrandedonEarth]

33 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

The bureaucracy becomes complicated

“The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the ever-expanding bureaucracy!”

its quoted in Civ4, but I forget whom it is attributed to. 

[Shpaget]

Honestly I don't see a large tax industry here. Like I said, the tax administration does all the work for vast majority of individuals by default. Usually I don't need to do anything about my taxes. They just send me the result (and usually a few small coins) around June and that's it.

[TheSaint]

7 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Honestly I don't see a large tax industry here. Like I said, the tax administration does all the work for vast majority of individuals by default. Usually I don't need to do anything about my taxes. They just send me the result (and usually a few small coins) around June and that's it.

But it's not just taxes, you see it everywhere in government. I have a friend who, through a combination of keen acumen and luck, managed to make himself a valuable middle manager in the reelection campaign of one of our (now former) presidents. He managed to parlay the resulting political capital into an appointment as an assistant to a cabinet member. (Don't get excited. I guarantee you have never heard his name.) When this administration was replaced, he was replaced, as appointed cabinet members are, but once he had left office he spent the next four years or so as a contract consultant. He was paid close to six figures a year, working part time on his iPad, to review and massage contract proposals that were being submitted to this particular office of the Executive Branch. Because everyone knows that if their proposals aren't just right, if they aren't pre-reviewed by someone who knows that particular bureaucracy, they don't stand a chance of winning the contract they're competing for. And it isn't just them, it's that way across the entire government. There are entire industries of consultants and firms who are the gatekeepers without whom you just cannot gain access. It's how the system has evolved. The big guys, Boeing, General Dynamics, IBM, etc, have their own people in-house to do that. That's the revolving door. But if you're a small business trying to navigate the bureaucracy, you'll never manage on your own. By design.

[kerbiloid]

A good bureaucracy without a "consulting company" for any case is a loss of money.

The small business accountants of your city should know at least one very well.

[DDE]

Sputnik-M vaccine trial forced to fudge its rules after failing to find a single Moscow adolescent without COVID antobodies

https://www.lenta.ru/news/2022/02/16/ginzz/

[tater]

My idiot governor, on day 708 of "15 days to slow the spread" ended mask mandates effective immediately. With the second highest increase in age adjusted, all-cause mortality in the country since March 2020, clearly her "measures" could not have done anything but harm (we're 4th in the nation in percentage of the total population who have been infected to date at ~90%, so yeah, spread not slowed). FWIW, 29 states are >80% infected to date, so the difference between NM and other places is not that huge—and everywhere (on Earth) gets to 100%, it's just when.

On 2/9/2022 at 12:48 AM, Shpaget said:

Honestly I don't see a large tax industry here. Like I said, the tax administration does all the work for vast majority of individuals by default. Usually I don't need to do anything about my taxes. They just send me the result (and usually a few small coins) around June and that's it.

We pay a guy >$1500 a year to prepare a document a cm thick so we can find out we overpaid by rather a lot.

[Nuke]

on of my neighbors is having a fight with one of their other neighbors.  unfortunately getting them evicted them will require starting ww3. 

[tater]

1 hour ago, Nuke said:

on of my neighbors is having a fight with one of their other neighbors.  unfortunately getting them evicted them will require starting ww3. 

You might be in luck.

[Fraktal]

I really hope we won't get to that point. I live in the general area too.

[Dman979]

Hey all,

I know there's a lot going on in the world right now, but please keep politics out of this forum. Thanks!

[richfiles]

I dropped my Radar Altimeter Tape Meter assembly, one of the more complex parts for my Kerbal Instrument Panel... Shirt sleeve snagged it and yeeted it towards the floor. 

It's badly warped, all the mechanisms are bound, the motor itself is damaged, and it's going to take complete disassembly, and replacement of probably half the hardware to get it up and operating again. It's BAD... Not unrepairable, but a LOT of work to fix. It took nearly the entire sum whole of 2020 to design, order and receive parts for, and build this assembly... April till October. I'm mad... 

All the work I put into the device below... and it's ded now... 

(Downloadable Imgur link)
https://imgur.com/a/8drH6V6.mp4

***EDIT***

Oh man... It's worse than I thought. Was able to do a quick fix for the motor, but now that the motor spins... I can see that repair was pointless, the shaft is bent,  Even worse though, is the TAPE FEED DRUM has a deformed tooth, and it now snags the tape itself. This is literally worst possible scenario... This is actual damage to the tape feed mechanism itself. I don't even know what to do anymore... 

Edited March 15, 2022 by richfiles

[StrandedonEarth]

@richfilesOuch!

[Nuke]

this touches on my post in the other thread about the linearization of my hall sensors. while ive had really good results, ive had to tweak my sensors half a dozen times to solve an issue where the shaft was binding up. its coupled to the stepper motor with a length of rubber tubing, which slips if it encounters friction. so getting all the hang ups out of the system is critical to it being in good calibration. i also had to tighten things up, which meant putting some flats on the shaft to better accept a set screw and generally keep the play out of the system. keeping it tight to avoid axial motion is also critical as that changes the position of the magnets. 

there is a 3d printed housing which accepts a pair of small ball bearings, through which a shaft goes, on one end of that shaft goes an armature with my magnets in it, the other end accepts a spacer and an aluminum gear (this engages a larger gear on a military surplus cast aluminum joystick module that you can use as a flail if the situation presented itself). at the magnet side a small pcb with the hall sensor on it fits into a small recess and is held in place with a couple screws. in the process of getting the friction out of the system, ive had to take the things apart half a million times. anyway there are a couple tiny washers that keep the bearings from binding up. and i keep losing the damn things. i had like a dozen when i started and somehow im down to 3 as i cant take it apart without flinging at least one across the room. somehow i managed to get two sensors working without any friction. i had to make some substitutions of course. what are needed are thin low friction washers. i ended up putting some lock washers in a vice to flatten them out and then file them down to make them thinner, and soaked em in machine oil. it works but its far from perfect. for one i designed the whole thing with a thin washer in mind, so its pushing the hub of the armature into the hall sensor chip, and its grinding. i came up with the bright idea of filing down the chip package all the way down to the edge of the die.

lets hope they still work, id hate to make more sensor boards. its rather involved. these ones were made with files and pcb blanks, i could also do a home etch, but my process is not as precise as id like. the file method i just score a line, drill 3 holes, and then use where those holes end up as a guide to where to put the edges and then file in the gaps between the traces (its just a 3-pin sensor a header and a decoupling cap). i thought about having a whole panel made at a chinese pcb mill not near you. if i was going to do that i think id include a footprint for a high res adc and a small microcontroller to store/apply calibration data and to provide interfaces. of course you can get a hall sensor with a built in dsp and eeprom so you can apply calibration data on the fly, and then output pwm which you can read digitally or use with a low pass filter to go back to analog.  i kind of want a drop in replacement for standard resistive pots so, or a purely digital interface.  so these chips are a good 'do all the things' solution, but it turns out programming them is a little involved. an smd tiny85 would do the job, and i already know how to work with those. if i could find a microcontroller with a higher res adc, that would be awesome too.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Nuke

[Pthigrivi]

To the extent that this topic is allowed my heart goes out to everyone in the Ukraine. Their bravery and resilience under unimaginable strain is incredible. I fear there are even darker days ahead. 
 

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[richfiles]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:19 AM, Nuke said:

I kind of want a drop in replacement for standard resistive pots so, or a purely digital interface.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000143910873.html

While not a perfect drop in, they do offer both analog and digital versions. This is what I'm using on my currently very damaged Radar Altimeter Tape Meter, as well as what I plan to use for my Delta V Carriage Meter. My only complaint about them, is the cost per unit. they feel kinda spendy, but when you realize they incorporate hall sensor, interface, shaft, bearing, and housing into one standard unit... It's kinda worth it. No idea if this is suited to your application or not, but it's ideal for my application. Good luck with your project, whatever it is you're working on.

[Nuke]

2 hours ago, richfiles said:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000143910873.html

While not a perfect drop in, they do offer both analog and digital versions. This is what I'm using on my currently very damaged Radar Altimeter Tape Meter, as well as what I plan to use for my Delta V Carriage Meter. My only complaint about them, is the cost per unit. they feel kinda spendy, but when you realize they incorporate hall sensor, interface, shaft, bearing, and housing into one standard unit... It's kinda worth it. No idea if this is suited to your application or not, but it's ideal for my application. Good luck with your project, whatever it is you're working on.

thats the lazy way out, lol.

actually part of the reason im doing a diy approximation, short of the fact that ive been sitting on a working design for years, was that these kind of things were, at the time incredibly expensive. i just never got around to testing their linearity until a week or two ago. actually my design is pretty nifty and dirt cheap too, i just need to miniaturize them a bit. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Nuke

[Shpaget]

On 3/16/2022 at 5:19 PM, Nuke said:

if i could find a microcontroller with a higher res adc, that would be awesome too.

How about a dedicated ADC? Would this one be good?

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ads1114.pdf?ts=1647697764588&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

16 bit resolution, although with a 0,5 mm pin pitch, it may be too small for the file-your-pcb-at-home fab. It would be possible with toner transfer or UV mask methods.

[Nuke]

2 hours ago, Shpaget said:

How about a dedicated ADC? Would this one be good?

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ads1114.pdf?ts=1647697764588&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

16 bit resolution, although with a 0,5 mm pin pitch, it may be too small for the file-your-pcb-at-home fab. It would be possible with toner transfer or UV mask methods.

i think i got one of those. problem is you only get 16-bit if you use double ended mode, which means you need to cut your channels in half for lack of i/o pins. otherwise you only get 15-bit single ended. and you usually loose a bit or two to noise. double ended is not terrible and it allows me to calibrate out some of the dead bands at the extremes. i got some double ended 12 bit adcs (i just went nuts and bought 2 of everything), i think they are 1112s, but idk. i also got a 14 -bit joystick board with a usb interface. its kind of a drop in solution if you dont want to build it yourself or write any code. but i find that reduces possibilities. it was also a bit pricy. i already have a 16-bit capable joystick arduino library on github somewhere. it works with any atmega32u4 based arduino, and inexplicably also works on my due and an stm32 board, even though i never actually wrote it for those. 

i think the smallest thing ive soldered successfully is a tqfp with a 0.8mm pitch. i tacked down two corners on opposite sides for alignment and did drag soldering using solder wick. worked out pretty well, it was a microcontroller and it ran after the operation. i can do home etch but my process is not as precise as id like. it was good enough for 0.8, and 0.5 isnt that much of a stretch. i think the boards are less than a square inch, so maybe make a panel and pick the best ones. 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Nuke

[Shpaget]

Soldering this would be significantly easier if the board had soldermask, but making it in home shop is less than trivial.

For home etching I had decent results with both toner transfer (printing on vinyl stickers, then transferring) and positive UV dry film (printed on transparency). The datasheet for the above recommends 0,3mm wide pads, but I'd go with 0,2 pads and 0,3 gaps, then fan out the traces and thicken them as soon as possible. It would help with ensuring no shorts in copper and easier soldering.

If you don't want to have them made professionally, perhaps something in a bigger package would be better option simply for the ease of soldering and making the board.

[DDE]

Tens of thousands of entirely novel chemical weapon formulations in 6 hours.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-022-00465-9?fbclid=IwAR11_V1cd9SUxEvUfwrWMA7TUcroyYIY1nBDUL3KaS-8B4rG5MIqZCmjm0M

Sleep tight.

[richfiles]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:46 AM, DDE said:

Sleep tight.

No... I think I shall not... 

Edited March 27, 2022 by richfiles

[Zozaf Kerman]

Someone at school broke my chromebook and now I have to pay 62$, in which I was saving that money to buy KSP2. 

[tater]

My new computer was supposed to arrive yesterday. When ordered, latest was Wednesday, the 30th. No big deal, who cares what day it arrives.

So I get an email Sunday saying it is scheduled for delivery Monday.

Monday UPS sends an email saying it was out on a truck for delivery and will be delivered between 12:45 and 4:45. Wow, they are getting precise, all that cool data, amiright? Doesn't matter to me, but this implies at least what, 15 minute time periods are predictable to them? When did said package arrive? It didn't.

Later last night I get a new email saying they will get back to me when they know when it will be delivered.

This morning I get one saying between 1 and 3—underlining that they apparently think they can predict delivery times to at least 15 minute intervals.

Like I said, who cares? Not me—until they give me a specific day and time. As soon as they do that, they better get it there when they say they will. In this case there's nothing I can do, but when this happens with Amazon, I complain—and often get refunded.

3 came and went, but at 12:30 I got an email saying it would be delivered "Soon."

If a buddy says he's coming over "soon," I expect him inside the hour, sooner for most friends (I have a couple who are notoriously late... none as late as UPS, though!).

They included a link to track the truck! It was within a few miles, but when they have done that before, it was in a similar place at 8am, and delivered at the end of the day. Anyway, I am home now, and the truck was up close to my house at the tram delivering stuff. Cool, that's 600m from my house—and there is ONE road to get here/there. Refresh map... truck is a mile away now. WT literal F.

Edited March 29, 2022 by tater

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, tater said:

Refresh map... truck is a mile away now. WT literal F.

Human error for the win! loss!

”The truck is currently 0.5 miles from your house, 20’ below the road level, upside-down”

Which begs the question: how is the road up to your mountainside dwelling?

As for myself, our cat seems to like to meow seemingly constantly, especially when we’re sleeping.  Tried other food, new toys for entertainment, etc. I think she needs to either get spayed, or something that rhymes with spayed.