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

[Shpaget]

6 hours ago, YNM said:

... right.

Well, maybe put a slip out to the police in the local area. Wouldn't probably change much, but just to let them know.

Is the first one a railway or a road or something ? You could represent it in a few segments.

Also I guess the 2nd one they're just trying to see the river line.

Though honestly I don't get why you wouldn't use a CAD 3D model these days. (I definitely need to learn about them).

Yes, the first one was a railway. I offered that as a solution, but the point of the model was to represent the steepness of the section. Unfortunately, "steep" in railway terms looks pretty flat to casual observes. In this case it's about 1,5%.

For, the second project I'm still not sure what is the goal, but they plan on projecting stuff on the model, make it interactive or something. The levee is 6 m tall, so in 1:3000 it's just 2 mm. Not only is that so small that you can barely see it at a distance of 1,5 m, but they want everything to be painted white. Everything.

I'm debating with myself whether to make an official offer and commit myself to making something that I know will not look good when done, if done accurately. The "meh" factor will be huge.

[steve_v]

27 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Especially without knee pads. Occupational safety is sacral.

Occupational safety is getting ridiculous. By all means wear knee-pads if you expect to kneel regularly for extended periods, or if or have existing musculoskeletal problems. Providing comforts for a short-duration punishment activity defeats the purpose.
If a student can't kneel or go without food for an hour without lasting damage they need to see a medical specialist, not a policeman. Yes, it's unpleasant. It's supposed to be unpleasant.

To back up a bit:

On 7/30/2019 at 7:59 AM, Geonovast said:

is way, way too easy to get (and keep) a driver's license in this country (USA).

Apparently it's the same over here. The guy I was behind almost the entire way home today spent at least 20 seconds stopped at each and every intersection after it was clear, randomly and constantly fluctuated in speed between 30 & 50km/h in a 50 zone, didn't indicate once the entire trip, and spent at least 70% of said trip straddling the centre line... Except when faced with oncoming traffic, at which he pulled hard left (which we drive on) almost into the gutter and dropped to 15km/h. . Where are these people learning to drive?

Edited July 31, 2019 by steve_v

[kerbiloid]

On 7/29/2019 at 10:50 PM, Shpaget said:

a part of the country about 8 x 8 km and somebody thought that it should be made in 1:3000

27 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

The levee is 6 m tall, so in 1:3000 it's just 2 mm. Not only is that so small that you can barely see it at a distance of 1,5 m, but they want everything to be painted white.

Make it this way.

Spoiler

 

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=979&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=HUdBXZ25JIPsrgTcv6yIDA&q=pop-up+book&oq=pop-up+book&gs_l=img.3...0.0..75845...0.0..0.0.0.......0......gws-wiz-img.eSCIEP6es9k&ved=0ahUKEwjdu4371N7jAhUDtosKHdwfC8EQ4dUDCAY&uact=5

 

21 minutes ago, steve_v said:

By all means wear knee-pads if you expect to kneel regularly for extended periods

In such school? I guess, they should.

21 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Providing comforts for a short-duration punishment activity defeats the purpose.

21 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Yes, it's unpleasant. It's supposed to be unpleasant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by kerbiloid

[steve_v]

21 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment

Unusual perhaps, but Cruel?

To reference that wiki page:
I can't comment on whether the punishment was unnecessary or excessively severe without considerably more context.
It doesn't sound at all like it was "obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion".
The simple fact that we are here arguing about it discounts it being totally rejected throughout society.
And as for it being so severe as to be degrading to human dignity, we're not exactly talking about waterboarding someone here, are we?

Aside from the unusual requirement of kneeling, this is just a variation on the old "sit/stand in the corner and shut up."

Should I have gone to police because my hand cramped while writing lines? Because I was deprived of vitamin D from sun exposure while in detention, since I spent so much time there? How far do we want to take this?

If anything, the teacher conducting that detention might benefit from some advice on how not to paint a lawsuit target on their back, given the ridiculous cotton-wool and bubblewrap society we appear to be developing.
Cruelty though? Kids do far worse to each other all the time.

Edited July 31, 2019 by steve_v

[kerbiloid]

23 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Unusual perhaps, but Cruel?

Humiliating and causing a physical pain. Also the lunch detention and touching the stairways is dangerous for the health.

In my school days if a teacher would get so much insane to require a kneeling and other personal sado-maso, he would be verbally sent by the pupil to ... (far away) and later quickly fly out from the school after/before a scandal with a city educational department. The lunch detention and the stairs cleaning with trousers would accelerate this process by the speed of light due to health care violation.

23 minutes ago, steve_v said:

Aside from the unusual requirement of kneeling, this is just a variation on the old "sit/stand in the corner and shut up."

Stand in the corner/shut up/get out of the class are not interpersonal, just discipline keeping.

The kneeling is a criminal interpersonal insult and should cost the teacher his diploma and reputation. Let him broom the streets, society needs his talents.
The cleaning the floor with clothes (kneeling on the floor or sitting on the stairs as a punishment) as well.

Edited July 31, 2019 by kerbiloid

[steve_v]

2 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

In my school days if a teacher would get so much insane to require a kneeling and other personal sado-maso, he would be verbally sent by the pupil...

Either I am considerably older than you, or we grew up on different planets.
I lost you at "verbally sent by the pupil", neither myself or any of my peers ever told a teacher what to do as far as I recall. We sure did give them hell, but there were no illusions as to who was in charge.
Perhaps you meant "make an appointment to see the principal and file a complaint."?
 

7 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Stand in the corner/shut up/get out of the class are not interpersonal, just discipline keeping.

As is "Stay here and do exactly as you are told until I release you." so long as what you are told to do isn't dangerous, injurious or illegal. Last I checked kneeling isn't illegal, and I hear god-botherers do quite a lot of it voluntarily.

"Kneel in the corner until I say otherwise", "Stand on your desk for the rest of the period" , "Scrub that sink with this toothbrush"*, or "Wait in the cold outside my office until I am ready" are all examples of enforcing discipline and respect through mild discomfort or embarrassment. Keyword: Mild.
I did many of the above and more at some point, but when they were finished I was free to leave. Lesson (sometimes) learned, no harm done.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*I may perhaps have set it on fire, and it may have involved some fascinating chemicals pilfered from the science store while made to sit in there for not handing in homework on time. Science is fun.

 

26 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

The kneeling is a criminal interpersonal insult and should cost the teacher his diploma and reputation.

Had the gentleman who lobbed clay at me lost his career and reputation over it, I would have been deprived of the best teacher I ever had and be considerably worse-off for it now.
Life is not easy, kind, fair, or safe. Teaching people that anything or anyone which offends or discomforts them should be grounds for an appeal to authority is doing them a grave disservice IMO.

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

Either I am considerably older than you, or we grew up on different planets.

Unless you are from the USSR of 1970s, probably so...

Though, a kneeling would cost a teacher his job in any year.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

neither myself or any of my peers ever told a teacher what to do as far as I recall. We sure did give them hell, but there were no illusions as to who was in charge.

"To make the rules" works both ways.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

Perhaps you meant "make an appointment to see the principal and file a complaint."?

In case of such unusual ideas in the teacher's head, this would be a headache for the principal how to blur the situation without a scandal with parents and city dept.
In my days 4-5 teachers had to resign for lesser reasons (From memory, two teachers of arts, one of physical culture (i.e sports), one... let it be senior scouts' leader).
Pupils' complaints → parents' scandal → principal's headache → "teacher"'s resign.
So, though I was not in best relations with several teachers, this didn't get beyond daily verbal confrontation and once a bad mark in arts (which I never cared of).

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

As is "Stay here and do exactly as you are told until I release you."

Corner, shut-up, get-out are even not real punishments, they are countermeasures.
Also the corner is just a way for the teacher to exchange one headache (pupils are talking loudly) to another one (pupils are talking with gestures).

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

Last I checked kneeling isn't illegal

Maybe in a private christian high school that's so, but in this country:
1) it's exactly between strong verbal humiliation and physical sexual abuse;
2) it's a personal, unauthorized legally, discreditation of declared human equality;
So, if such situation would get known, it would make much more problems for the teacher and the principal.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

"Kneel in the corner until I say otherwise"

Of course, nobody would do that. If the teacher insists, the pupil gets out and tells the first teacher he/she meets, the shocked teacher calls principal.
Then all class tells about this to the teachers, the principal calls the mad teacher and asks to resign.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

"Stand on your desk for the rest of the period"

?
The desk will get dirty. Who could command this? If a teacher, the principal would be the first who looks at him like at an idiot.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

"Scrub that sink with this toothbrush"

"Provide me with a cloth or with a new toothbrush instead of the wasted one".
(Of course, only kitchen/handwashing sink. A toilet one is no go.)

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

"Wait in the cold outside my office until I am ready"

"Wait ouside the room" - will wait outside the room. If parents don't call police to find the pupil after 2-3 hours of absence.

"In cold"- no such place. Either in the same warm building, or good bye, I go home.

1 hour ago, steve_v said:

Had the gentleman who lobbed clay at me lost his career and reputation over it, I would have been deprived of the best teacher I ever had and be considerably worse-off for it now.

Sometimes it's better to lose a best teacher. I would prefer this way.

Of course, various societies, sections, -hoods. have their own rules, including usually inappropriate ones, but definitely not in a regular school.

Edited July 31, 2019 by kerbiloid

[steve_v]

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Of course, nobody would do that. If the teacher insists, the pupils gets out at tells the first teacher he/she meet, the shocked teacher calls director.

If I felt I deserved it, I would simply suck it up and carry on. But maybe that's just me.
If I didn't deserve it, I'd probably find a much more interesting revenge than grassing on the teacher. An episode involving Ammonium Nitrogen triiodide ( I always screw that up) crystals and the toilet seats in the staff facilities springs to memory... And I'm fairly sure nobody figured out who did it either.
The rage sure was fun to watch, some people go properly beetroot coloured when angry.

 

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Corner, shut-up, get-out are even not real punishments, they are countermeasures.

Get out is, but stand over there / in the corner can also be psychological punishment if you are in view of the class, much like the dunce hat of old.
 

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

In my days 4-5 teachers had to resign for lesser reasons

I only recall one forced (or "encouraged") resignation, and that was for an "inappropriate relationship" with a student. The guy also happened to be a complete retard who had no business teaching to begin with. PE teacher, surprise surprise.
 

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

The desk will get dirty. Who could command this?

The teacher who comes to school wearing a purple top-hat and tails. Slightly mad perhaps, but he was damn good at inspiring his students.
 

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

"Provide me with a cloth or with a new toothbrush instead of the wasted one".

Also a true story, and while strange, a punishment I considered at the time to be on the lighter end of the scale for starting a poorly-contained and mostly-intentional fire in a science lab.

 

40 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

"In cold"- no such place. Either in the same warm building, or good bye, I go home.

Exhibit A: Waited outside physics teachers office in driving rain and limited shelter, for "meeting to discuss following instructions". Gave it 20 minutes, then went for smoke & Irish coffee in bike-shed. Lurked until next period, which was actually detention IIRC. At least that was warm, home being ~30km away and all.

Way I see it, it's all fun and games and lessons learned so long as nobody gets hurt. But we'll probably just have to agree to disagree on crime and punishment and all that whatnot.

Edited July 31, 2019 by steve_v

[YNM]

6 hours ago, Shpaget said:

... "steep" in railway terms looks pretty flat to casual observes. In this case it's about 1,5%. ...

Yeah... Alternatively you can try to differ vertical and horizontal scale - most civil engineers would've known about the disparity when you're talking vertical alignment.

6 hours ago, Shpaget said:

... they plan on projecting stuff on the model, make it interactive or something. The levee is 6 m tall, so in 1:3000 it's just 2 mm. ...

... I think someone is overexpecting things.

Edited July 31, 2019 by YNM

[richfiles]

In the span of a week, not one, but TWO of the "Holy Grail" vintage calculators that I want in my vintage tech collection have gone up on ebay. One is the first I've seen for sale since maybe between 2010 and 2012. The other tends to pop up 1-3 times a year, but both go for exorbitant prices.

The Hewlett Packard HP 9100B went for $777 last week... Broken... With one repair attempt already failed...
In pristine shape, with accessories and peripherals, I've seen those go for over 5 grand! 
I want one, because they are engineering marvels. The A model was released in 1968. The B model doubled the memory and added an additional subroutine function the following year. These calculators have NO DIGITAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS! They don't even use transistors as their primary logic element. The most common logic used is resistor diode logic. All the various common logic gates are created with simple resistors and diodes. Transistors are only used for flip flops and for signal amplification or inversion. It has a 32Kbit capacity 64-bit wide ROM made with... NO components. Back then, ROMs were typically made of individual diodes. a diode for a 1, and no diode for a 0. Assuming half the bits were 1s, that would have taken possibly 16000 diodes, at a time when a diode cost 25 cents. That'd be $4000 in 1968 money! They solved the problem by creating a 16 layer teflon insulated circuit board. pairs of copper traces would cross each other. in one direction, the traces zigged back and forth, crossing parallel with the straight wires of the adjacent layer. Depending on if the one wire zigged left, or zagged right, when a pulse was sent through it, one polarity or the other would be electromagnetically inducted into the adjacent parallel wire. They were able to code the 32Kbits of ROM data using nothing more than the patterns in the PC board! They eliminated even more decoder circuitry by weaving wires either inside or outside 29 ferrite rings, creating what's called a Rope ROM. That was used as an instruction decoder. The display is a CRT, similar to an oscilloscope CRT, and the machine's RAM is 4416 bits, or just over 4K (The A model had 2208 bits, a bit over 2K) worth of magnetic core memory (RAM that uses wires woven into tiny ferrite beads to create non-volatile memory). 

This machine with measly PC board and Rope ROMs, Magnetic core memory, and absolutely no digital chips of any kind, that skimps on transistors, preferring to rely on diodes and resistors, is a fully programmable scientific calculator. It can be programed to self modify it's own programs, has an I/O port that allows it to control accessories like a point digitizer and an X/Y pen plotter (which with the right program, makes it into a graphing calculator... again, with no chips, 1968 style). ALL that functionality, with such limited resources, fits in a 16 inch (40cm) wide, 19 inch (48cm) deep, 8.5 inch (22cm) tall shell. As a person that loves retro tech, digital electronics, and marvels of engineering, this machine is the absolute embodiment of everything I've ever sought to collect...

And I can't even afford a broken one that eluded repair once already... 

Now, less than a week later, there is a Sumlock Comptometer ANITA MK8 from the UK up for sale. The MK8 is the immediate successor to the ANITA MK7. The only difference is that the MK8 fixes a design fault that could affect the longevity of one of the calculator's dekatrons by replacing one of the two dekatrons with a string of 10 thyratrons. You might be wondering, what the heck is a thyratron, or a dekatron, and those are both excellent questions. Those are what are known as cold cathode tubes. In 1961, Bell Punch released the ANITA calculator, a tube based electronic calculator.

The ANITA uses Nixie tube displays to show it's results, and contains decade counters made with rings of 10 thyratrons per display. Each thyratron is a tiny neon filled glass tube with a trigger electrode. When pulsed, the neon tube is triggered, and illuminates. the circuitry allows these decade counters to count from 0-9, then back to 0. Each ring sends a carry pulse to the next ring every time it counts back to 0. Other circuitry made it possible to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, using these ring counters to count up, or count up 9 steps (to count back one), in the case of subtraction and division. The MK7 and MK8 both use dekatrons. Dekatrons are much more complex tubes that have 10 primary electrodes, and a series of "steering" electrodes. You can pulse a dekatron to shift it's active electrode clockwise (and/or counter clockwise), making it possible to use a dekatron for counting functions. Both models use one to scan the keyboard. Since the dekatron is constantly shifting state, it'll wear at a normal rate. The MK7 used a dekatron in the multiplication and division circuit, and that was a problem. When the machine was idle, the active electrode wouldn't change, this would cause the dekatron to burn out prematurely. The MK8 solved the issue by replacing that one dekatron with an extra thyratron counter ring, which is less susceptible to idle state wear, known as "sputtering" or cathode poisoning. Sputtering is the pitting of a cathode as ions flowing from it erode the metal, and deposit it onto the glass or adjacent electrodes. Since neon, hydrogen, or argon filled gas tubes don't require filaments to function, they don't burn out in the same way as traditional tubes. They can suffer sputtering or outgassing, but other than that, can last for decades, which was why cold cathode tubes were used in the design, as opposed to vacuum tubes. Surprisingly, even though it uses tubes, it's actually slightly smaller than the HP 9100 (by weight, width, and depth. It is a little taller). These machines are fascinating, and thanks to the tubes being neon filled, you can actually see the machine processing if you were to open it up!

 

And once again, I have no expectation of being able to afford this beauty... Unless I won the lottery or some such stupid pipe dream that'll never happen.

While I do complain at not being able to afford these machines, I am, at least, fortunate enough to own six MK-7 decade counter/nixie display boards. The MK8 boards are identical. I hope to someday use them for a custom built "mini" ANITA style calculator. I'll be using rotary telephone dials for my number entry though. I mean, yes... At least I have that, but I have no doubt this machine will sell for an equally obscene cost. I'm also burdened with the sad reality that an already rare machine got taken apart for parts, and that's how those parts ended up in my hands.

I keep the other four boards safely out of sight. The rotary phone dials are from "Princess" model phones, which place the dial in the handset, not the base, and thus are much smaller in diameter. Most of these types of neon calculator projects use one large phone dial, and either a rotary switch to select what digit you are entering, or have some manner of entry select that auto switches after each number is entered. I intend to just have 6 smaller dials. The additional dials are stored with the boards. This is a project that I totally expect to get to before I croak... At least it gives me something to think about doing while I don't win ebay auctions I could never win. 

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by richfiles

[steve_v]

18 minutes ago, richfiles said:

a person that loves retro tech

Ahh, a kindred spirit. Yours is definitely bigger than mine, but I do have a small collection of vintage test equipment and audio gear. Not too serious and mostly just rescuing the things I find along the way TBH, but it's somewhat satisfying (and funny-look gathering) to fire up my '60s valve oscilloscope on a real job now and then.
The boss man suggests I "get rid of that old junk" fairly regularly, but what I fix in my lunch break is my business, right? That box of new-old-stock tubes covered in dust in the back of the workshop? Never going to miss them, I'm the only one who knows they're there.

Oh how I wish I had the time, money and space to start a proper collection. That and not living in the hind-end of nowhere would be nice, ebay shipping is pretty crippling.

Edited July 31, 2019 by steve_v

[richfiles]

4 minutes ago, steve_v said:

That and not living in the hind-end of nowhere would be nice, ebay shipping is pretty crippling.

I know the feeling. I've bought MULTIPLE things from the same few cities. Living around the Washington DC area, New Mexico, or California, this stuff pops up everywhere. It's all cause of government, military, or big tech. Some office clears out a store room, and piles of this stuff go to the recycler. Some have learned they can flip this stuff on ebay. It's painful! My Smith Corona-Marchant Cogito 240 SR (1965 era) cost me over $400, once shipping was added into the price. The fact that these old machines can be quite large and heavy doesn't help with shipping costs either. I don't mind where I live, but it does suck that I can't find local businesses and government offices just throwing this stuff out either.

I have several medium to large vintage calculators, and many more smaller models. I've got a few old computers too, Commodore VIC-20, C64, and C128, Apple IIe and IIgs, and some vintage Macs, including a Plus, an SE, and a Twentieth Anniversary Mac. I also collect vintage test equipment too. I also have an old tube oscilloscope, and a few sweep generators, tube testers, etc.

Sadly, much of my primary equipment is starting to feel vintage! my regular oscilloscope is actually older than I am!

[steve_v]

41 minutes ago, richfiles said:

I don't mind where I live, but it does suck that I can't find local businesses and government offices just throwing this stuff out either.

I have a genetic predisposition to dumpster-diving and collecting interesting things, there just aren't enough interesting things in dumpsters around here.
Most of what I have is from "investigating" disused storerooms in local factories and the like, and looking out for mis-categorised listings in the local buy-sell. Fortunately in the former case it seems most "normal" people don't mind giving away things that look too old to be useful.
 

41 minutes ago, richfiles said:

I have several medium to large vintage calculators

I don't have any calculators, but I do have a C128, an Apple IIe, various 286, 386 & 486 desktops and laptops, a few 'scopes and odd bits of radio gear, a sizeable pile of early '70s HiFi (the best era for integrated stuff IMO, before black-plastic everything), as well as far too many test meters (the oldest of which is a 1934 (AFAICT) Gossen pocket voltmeter) and random electrical and automation oddities, from times when safety wasn't a consideration and things lasted for centuries.
I recently acquired a complete Allen-Bradley PLC2 rack from 1983 that I'm not entirely sure what to do with... Works perfectly, heavier than I am, not really usable at home, too well-designed to scrap... I need a bigger shed.

Everything not in bits works perfectly.

 

41 minutes ago, richfiles said:

my regular oscilloscope is actually older than I am!

Uhh, mine too.

Edited July 31, 2019 by steve_v

[Lisias]

6 hours ago, richfiles said:

Sadly, much of my primary equipment is starting to feel vintage! my regular oscilloscope is actually older than I am!

5 hours ago, steve_v said:

Uhh, mine too.

Kids…  

[richfiles]

My newest complaint... Is my oldest complaint...
My Oscilloscope is from the 1970s... That doesn't speak well of my aches and pains, or the hair I find in my comb everyday... 

If only fixing those issues were as simple as simply ordering a new budget, made in China, Rigol scope.
I'd take any make or model to roll back a couple decades of wear and tear on this old ugly bag of mostly water. Science, please get on this harder! 

On an entirely unrelated note, my forehead is peeling and painful because I got a sunburn watching my brother enter his recently rebuilt tractor in a tractor pull last Saturday.

[qzgy]

So our boy scout troop has this annual planning meeting thing, usually at the scoutmaster's backyard where we attempt to try to work out what we'll do in the following year (camping trips, meeting, etc). Usually its pretty ok. This one was not.

Start the meeting with a long discussion about the term length of patrol leaders, and that eventually morphed into some vague circular stuff trying to figure out what we actually want to do and which trips and how to organize it. It was pretty messy, and quite unhelpful, while not (in my view) really quite addressing some of the underlying problems in the troop that would make things run smoother. Plus, the amount of stuff we actually planned was significantly less than the last one I remember.

Food served was really good though so I guess it could have been worse.

Meetings though. Not great.

[Shpaget]

I had trouble falling asleep last night. When I finally did, apparently I had my arm in an awkward position, since some time later I woke up with sharp, but otherwise nondescript pain in the general direction of "left arm".

I had lost all motor function and sensation from it. I tried moving it to a more natural position, but it refused to obey, so sit up and I used my right hand to grab it and move it. Unfortunately, my arm wasn't where I was expecting it. Apparently I lost proprioception (the sense of body part position) in it as well, since I was convinced my left arm was by my side. It's dark in my bedroom during night, I couldn't see, so I had to feel where my arm was, starting from the shoulder. It ended up being somewhere behind my back.

It didn't take long to get it to function again, but the sensation was most disturbing.

0,5/10 would not recommend.

[richfiles]

23 hours ago, Shpaget said:

the sensation was most disturbing.

This is a sensation (or lack thereof) that I have had the displeasure of knowing.
The return of sensation is a pain that I have had the discomfort of knowing. 

[Chel]

Social isolation is great..

You know you're not like anyone else, you can't have normal conversations, you just awkwardly stand there. It feels so degrading. Like you're less than everybody else. You know you can't magically change it, you just feel so hopeless, sad and alone. They're all talking and fooling around while you just stand there staring at the ground.. 

It's horrible

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

You know you're not like anyone else, you can't have normal conversations,

In two words: "The Chosen".

[RealKerbal3x]

6 hours ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Social isolation is great..

You know you're not like anyone else, you can't have normal conversations, you just awkwardly stand there. It feels so degrading. Like you're less than everybody else. You know you can't magically change it, you just feel so hopeless, sad and alone. They're all talking and fooling around while you just stand there staring at the ground.. 

It's horrible

Don’t worry...you’ve still got all of us

[Lisias]

13 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Don’t worry...you’ve still got all of us

Excuse sir, but he must be worried. A lot. We are not normal people. Wee see poofed Kerbals…

"And Now for Something Completely Different" — Monty Python style….

It's interesting how our brain shuts down gradually as we get tired. I was working nearly non-stop for 12 hours on a very intricate middleware (yeah, I had to wrote my own service-bus to get that extra bit of performance.  ), thought it would be a good idea to cool down around here, got into a discussion and ended up mixing the mean density of the whole damned rocky planet with its atmospheric density. Made a whole argument on it without realizing the complete absurdity of the numbers.  

Well… Enough internet for today. Time to get some sleep, as it appears. 

[Nuke]

i finally finished one of the side controllers for my raspberry pi tablet. i did a proof of concept controller (2 axis 1 button on an attiny85) before to sort out how to write the linix drivers and firmware. whole thing uses i2c as the communications bus (like the nunchuck for the wii). after designing the case (arguably the most difficult part, even with all the coding and circuit board design/etch/and assembly). after the controller checked out on an arduino i began the final integration with the pi tablet. and it doesnt work. i tried getting into the device from the linix terminal with intermittent results. i think ive ran into the limits of the raspberry pi's anemic 3.3v smps. the atmega328 uses  more power than the tiny85 (also there is one of those in my battery management board). which means i need to throw on yet another power supply. 

im starting to think my design approach is highly questionable. id love to see an all in one battery management solution for portable pi applications so i dont have to have 2 or 3 different modules all sucking power. it would need to have online charging (without shutting down), and a good smps that can handle 3 or 4 amps (especially with the pi-4 being a monster). i think i might switch over to modular i2s speakers if they exist because the analog solution and custom enclosures just sound terrible (very kvlt). 

also its my birthday. the horror! the horror! well past the age where birthdays are fun. i received 60 bucks which im going to spend on something i cant talk about here. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Nuke

[StrandedonEarth]

*grumblegrumble* Smartphone makers and their wireless provider brethren.....

So i wanna/gotta replace my iPhone. Yeah, sorry, for better or worse, I'm an iFool, and I'd rather keep it that way cuz reasons, k? As it nears the end of its 24mo payoff cycle, nevermind the predictably declining battery, the screen has decided to become glitchy, randonly gaining a mind of it's own until I cycle the power button. Something about broken/shorting conductors in the screen. Along with the battery, not really worth fixing this SE. So yeah, how to replace it...

Well, I could buy a used iPhone 7 for around $360 (+tax) from a local phone-repair shop, which comes with a new battery. Or....

Well, time to just upgrade my phone through my Rogers plan, since I'll end up still paying the tab after the last $40 is paid off. Easy-peasey, no extra outlay, aside from some expected fees, right? I mean, my wife just upgraded her phone and sold the old one to our oldest son, no problem, right?

WRONG! While we could upgrade the (paid off, but still being charged the tab) phone attached to the primary line on our share-everything plan without having to change our obsolete, no-longer-offered plan, trying to upgrade a secondary line triggers "you must update your plan." and every wireless provider in the region has shifted to the same offering: "Infinite" (throttled after the 10GB limit, the smallest plan offered) data starting at $70-75 per month, per line(!)! Sure, small discounts (~$10/line) for additional lines in the "shared" plan, gee thanks...

So by the time I change all the plans around to the website's satisfaction, I'd be paying an extra $70/mo, for 30GB/mo before the throttle kicks in. Like I need that much? What happened to sharing the primary data, for $35/mo for extra lines? We'd never use that much data, even if we cooked the batteries trying! I will not pay that, having 3.5GB/month is usually enough. And yeah, I like having my data, thanks, even though I've only had it for about 6 years now...

And all the competition in the region is offering pretty much the same thing...

So, I can bull my way up the Rogers customer service phone tree until I reach someone who can override some stuff so I can upgrade my phone without changing the plan. We've been with them for a decade, after all. It might be more fun to write a scathing email to the "Consumer Matters" department at Global News, to try and put the industry's feet to the fire (again). Or, that used 7 is starting to look pretty good...

[cubinator]

I am stressed out because I have so many things to take care of and I'm not used to failing at important things but I persevere anyway and I know I can make it and it will be ok

But also there might be a mass extinction within my lifetime

Edited August 7, 2019 by cubinator