Thur. Feb. 8, 2018 on the road again…

By on February 8th, 2018 in Uncategorized

going places I’ve been….

Not much content from me today, talk amongst yourselves….

n

62 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Feb. 8, 2018 on the road again…"

  1. Ray Thompson says:

    Subbing again today, chemistry and STEAM. Same as STEM but they added Arts to the mix. Generally good kids in the classes. Was in art yesterday. They have taken apart computers to make “robots”, actually little robot statues using parts from the computers. Attempting to solder some metal parts together using 20 watt soldering irons with un-tinned tips. Not going to work, not enough heat content, not sufficient heat transfer without tinning.

    About halfway through the one class that was doing this another teacher came to me with a text from the original class teacher. The students were not to do anything with the soldering irons. Yeh, thanks for letting me know halfway through.

    Apparently there is some lawyer for the school who decided that subs were competent enough to understand hot objects and how to use such hot objects. Even though I knew about soldering than the teacher ever will know, such as the irons do not have enough heat, the proper technique for flowing the solder or how to tin the tips.

    I sometimes wonder why I do this for $60.00 a day. Then I remind myself that it is better than doing nothing and sitting at home on a cold day.

    No news on the other perhaps part time at the old job. It was odd that the guy who replaced me (Bill) had his friend contacted me on FB, asked me to call the office to tell them Bill would not be in because he was unable to communicate. Then asked for prayers. If Bill was unable to communicate how did he contact his friend? What happened that requires prayers as that would indicate something beyond a broken phone?

    Bill’s wife works at the X10 plant, which is Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she is a PhD working on something. According to Bill she makes about $200K a year which begs the question why the heII he is working at a full time job.

    I have called the office a couple of times to find out what the status of Bill is and any other information. No one knows anything or has been told to not inform me of any issues. All that I know is that I was asked if it was possible if I could fill in for Bill. Beyond that nothing. Maybe that was a knee jerk reaction and nothing will come of it. The executive director (the boss) is on a two week trip to The Holy Land, back next week. Most curious indeed.

  2. JimL says:

    16 & cloudy this morning. Snowfall from yesterday was still there, so I knew it was time to clear it out. Wife gave me the stinkeye as I was going out to run the thrower & she was pulling into the driveway. Seems someone on 3rd didn’t show up and she stuck around so the folks still there on 3rd weren’t REALLY short on stuff they needed.

    We set a record yesterday – up to 150″ of snow on the year. Normal is 100″. It’s great for CC Skiing. Not so great for tired Daddy needing to clear the driveway.

  3. CowboySlim says:

    “I sometimes wonder why I do this for $60.00 a day. Then I remind myself that it is better than doing nothing and sitting at home on a cold day.”

    You might consider watching the fights on the Jerry Springer Show.

  4. Dave says:

    I sometimes wonder why I do this for $60.00 a day. Then I remind myself that it is better than doing nothing and sitting at home on a cold day.

    You could get a hobby or volunteer for a local charity.

  5. SteveF says:

    I sometimes wonder why I do this for $60.00 a day. Then I remind myself that it is better than doing nothing and sitting at home on a cold day.

    What about tutoring with a homeschool group or one of the STEM enrichment programs that some places have in the evening? Writing a blog or a book of “Practical stuff I’ve learned”?

    STEAM

    Bah. As long as they’re adding non-STEM into the acronym, why not just lard in social sciences, humanities, and liberal arts? STEAMLASSH covers everything that the well-rounded student should know, and provides a union-approved focus on “everything”.

  6. Ray Thompson says:

    You could get a hobby or volunteer for a local charity.

    That is basically what I am now doing. It’s certainly not for the money.

    I am also helping a local church set up their new media system, an entirely new venture for them, including streaming of their services.

    You might consider watching the fights on the Jerry Springer Show.

    That is as much faked as wrestling in my opinion. Watched once to see what the excitement was about. Fat, ugly, left side bell curve idiots arguing over another fat, ugly, left side bell curve idiots. Combined IQ of the audience barely in the triple digits.

  7. JimL says:

    Because you know you can make a difference in some way to someone. Somebody who has lost a phone to you now knows that there are rules, and when rules are enforced, there is order. You’ve set a positive example. That’s no small thing.

  8. SteveF says:

    Somebody who has lost a phone to you now knows that there are rules, and when rules are enforced, there is order.

    Bah. All they’ve learned is that old, white men are oppressors and that the system is rigged so that old, white men back each other up.

    (Yah, I’m pissed off and cynical this morning. Even by my standards.)

  9. Ray Thompson says:

    You’ve set a positive example.

    It also lets the little cretins (not all fall in that category) know that I will follow the rules and enforce the rules. I have become known among the students as ruthless when dealing with cell phones, as in zero mercy. I gave them a little leeway in the first semester and would give the phone back at the end of the period if they did not give me flack. Second time it was gone. It is now far enough into the year that the students know the rules and know me. First infraction phone is taken and turned into the office.

    It helps that I get good support from the staff including the vice-principal and principal. Never had an issue and they have stated what I am doing is correct.

    However, some of the classes require the use of a phone for web browsing. Not enough Chromebooks for all the classes. Some text books almost 15 years old. The students need new information. Then it becomes difficult. Some will text when they are supposed to be using their phone for school work. Hard to catch, difficult to enforce. They don’t pay me enough to fight that battle.

    All they’ve learned is that old, white men are oppressors and that the system is rigged so that old, white men back each other up.

    They already knew that about me. And I don’t give a rat’s rear end. One of the few pleasures of getting old.

  10. Dave says:

    That is as much faked as wrestling in my opinion.

    I saw video of a famous pro wrestler saying, “Pro wrestling isn’t fake, it’s predetermined.” Which is kind of obvious if you watch wrestling. The way they are thrown around and get back up, the thing has to be choreographed. If it weren’t choreographed, then at least one participant would be maimed or dead at the end of most performances. It’s low brow theater, not sport.

  11. JimL says:

    I refuse to by cynical about youth. There is always hope.

    Even the ones that “hate” you appreciate the discipline. Anyone that has ever dealt with the wilderness that is high school without rules knows that it’s better to have boundaries that are knowable and known.

    Cynical about Mr. SteveF? Sure. But he has a daughter to raise, so there’s still hope.

  12. CowboySlim says:

    In context to pro wrasslin’, I sure do miss Roller Derby.

  13. CowboySlim says:

    WRT to Chromebooks and cellphones in class, how did Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton do it without such?

  14. jim~ says:

    This ‘forum’ is turning into fun. I really look foward to the snide wit which permeates the atmosphere here. I may need a fume hood at one point.

    JimL said what I would have: just make a difference somewhere, somehow, and get off your duff; or keester, as my grandmother used to call it. She was full of old words like like that — when something is broken I still think of it being “out of kilter”.

    I still can’t solder worth sh1t. Lessons appreciated.

  15. jim~ says:

    Ah yes, Slim. Nothing like Roller Derby and a PBR…

  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    And now I’m finally loaded up and ready to go… big snafu with the trailer, really delaying me this AM.

    Hopefully the rest of the arrangements will be fine.

    n

  17. JimL says:

    jim~ – what do you need to know about soldering? I don’t do circuit boards as my eyes aren’t good enough to do anything useful, but what I have learned has served me well.

    First is get the metal hot. Melting solder on the metal gets a cold solder, which will fail at the absolute worst time. Like when braking in front of an officer of the law. Don’t ask me how I know. [Edit: This paragraph sucks. See Ray’s post below, and my follow-on post.]

    Second is to watch videos. When you see they’re doing a cold solder, move on to the next, as you’ll likely get bad info anyway.

    Third is to get a good soldering iron. The $9 special from Harbor Freight is good for one job only. The $30 one from Napa is a better bargain and will last through many jobs.

    What else is there to know? Oh – yes. Lead vs. Tin. I am told that tin isn’t as good as lead, and you can’t get lead anymore. Okay. For all I do (automotive and household), tin seems to be more than good enough.

  18. DadCooks says:

    WRT Roller Derby, we’ve got that here in the Tri-Cities WA:
    http://www.atomiccityrollergirls.org/

    A fairly tough looking group of “girls”.

    For those who may not be familiar with Flat Track Roller Derby here is a FAQ for you:
    http://www.atomiccityrollergirls.org/derby-faq

    Winds predicted to be gentle today, only 30 mph.

    Lost/Stray(?) cat at our feeding station this morning. Has a tag that just says “Max”, his collar was way too tight. Off to the Animal Control to check for a chip. Big ginger neutered male, appears in good shape and friendly.

  19. Dave says:

    What else is there to know? Oh – yes. Lead vs. Tin. I am told that tin isn’t as good as lead, and you can’t get lead anymore. Okay. For all I do (automotive and household), tin seems to be more than good enough.

    A few more things to add:

    I haven’t done much soldering lately, but here is my two cents worth. The “lead-free” solder requires more heat. Also, don’t know if acid flux solder is still around, but for electronics, you want to use rosin flux or rosin core solder.

    My soldering experience includes building an H-89 and the Heathkit monitor for the system that replaced the H-89.

  20. Ray Thompson says:

    Melting solder on the metal gets a cold solder

    I am guessing you have never soldered copper pipe joints. For those you heat the metal then place the solder on the metal to melt into the joint. Did the same when soldering wires. You want the joint to melt the solder, not the soldering iron. Proper heat and it all works well.

    My soldering experience includes building an H-89 and the Heathkit monitor for the system that replaced the H-89

    I built the Heathkit TV, oscilloscope, and many other Heathkit projects along with the H-89. Heavily modified the H-89 to include soft sector floppies, boot ROM that would allow remapping the lower addresses so I could run CP/M rather than HDOS. Added additional memory to bring it up to 64K. Had to beef up the power supply to run all the additional stuff by changing out the power regulator which also required a large heatsink and a bigger fan. Changed the interface from H-19 board in the system to the H-89 motherboard to support 19,200 BPS rather than the default 9,600 BPS.

    Did a whole lot of soldering on the multiple Heathkits I built. I also put together several of the Southwest Technical Products stuff. The were located in San Antonio about 15 miles from my house. Too convenient for my own good.

    I had the source code listing to HDOS which allowed me to know a lot about how the H-89 worked and accessed some of the hardware ports and the addresses of those ports.

  21. JimL says:

    I should have proof-read my earlier post.

    Heat the metal and apply the solid solder to the metal such that it melts to join the 2 pieces of metal. Your explanation was much better than my earlier (incorrect) statement.

  22. Dave says:

    Heavily modified the H-89 to include soft sector floppies, boot ROM that would allow remapping the lower addresses so I could run CP/M rather than HDOS. Added additional memory to bring it up to 64K.

    By the time I bought mine, the use all 64K was an easily installed option. Never used H-DOS. Had a lot of fun with that thing. Learned Turbo Pascal and had fun playing Adventure. Only had the one hard sector floppy, but using Turbo Pascal on that involved less disk swapping than IBM Fortran programming on a dual floppy 640K PC.

  23. lynn says:

    From our Fort Bend Herald today.

    “The problem with capitalism is that it does not share prosperity equally. The problem with Socialism is that it shares misery equally.”

    Winston Churchill

  24. Ray Thompson says:

    using Turbo Pascal on that involved less disk swapping

    I thought Turbo Pascal was IBM Dos only. Are you thinking perhaps of JRT Pascal. That ran under CP/M and I used that to learn Pascal. Fairly easy transition as I was already using ALGOL to develop special purpose compilers.

    Never used H-DOS

    It was much easier to install additional drivers for peripheral support in HDOS. You just needed an object code file on the boot floppy. CP/M was more of a problem.

    Developed a program to dial numbers in sequence until the software found a carrier and recorded the number. I would let it run all night looking for numbers. One time I found a connection into an IBM mainframe, have no idea who. It gave me access to the operator console using a common password which was located after a few tries. Poked around for several minutes, terminated some random jobs just for grins, then quickly exited. Never visited again for obvious reasons.

  25. jim~ says:

    @JimL
    Could you give me link to The $30 one from Napa ?

    I have a tiny little thing, not variable, and it drives me nuts, most likely because I don’t know WTF I’m doing.

    Appreciate everyone’s tips.

    jim~
    who chewed on lead Christmas tree tinsel as a child

  26. JimL says:

    I’ll have to look it up. I don’t remember what it was, or even the brand. I’ll look at it when I get home & find a decent link to the same.

    JimL –
    who tosses phrases like that for fun, then turns red when someone asks for details because he cannot remember…

  27. Ray Thompson says:

    who chewed on lead Christmas tree tinsel as a child

    Wimp.

    I used to extract mercury from mercury batteries by breaking them open and rubbing the paste on my hands which produced little drops of the stuff. I was about 12 at the time. They were discarded batteries from some chap several houses away that used the batteries in his R/C planes. I don’t know if the batteries were rechargeable and had just passed their useful life.

    Collected a small pill bottle full of the stuff over time. Significant grime on my hands after the process. Just washed it off with soap and water. My back yard at the time would probably qualify as a super fund site from all the discarded battery paste.

  28. Ray Thompson says:

    I stand corrected. I have found that there was a version of Turbo Pascal for CP/M.

  29. lynn says:

    “Did SpaceX put a Tesla in orbit? Florida Flat Earthers say space travel doesn’t exist”
    https://www.chron.com/science/article/Did-SpaceX-put-a-Tesla-in-orbit-Florida-Flat-12561813.php

    Ok, this is just wrong. This person needs to seek counseling.

  30. lynn says:

    WRT to Chromebooks and cellphones in class, how did Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton do it without such?

    Albert Einstein worked in the patent office. I highly suspect that it had its own library.

  31. Ray Thompson says:

    Albert Einstein worked in the patent office

    Just yesterday he posted on FB so I know he knows how to work a computer. Right before the story about dialing 211 and the free RV giveaway.

  32. lynn says:

    who chewed on lead Christmas tree tinsel as a child

    Wimp.

    I used to extract mercury from mercury batteries by breaking them open and rubbing the paste on my hands which produced little drops of the stuff. I was about 12 at the time. They were discarded batteries from some chap several houses away that used the batteries in his R/C planes. I don’t know if the batteries were rechargeable and had just passed their useful life.

    The first power plant that I worked at had several units from the 1950s. Their control systems were never upgraded. So if they got an upset on startup, the mercury based flowmeters would burp a gallon of mercury each in the cabinet. I made the horrible mistake of seeing mercury leaking through the bottom of a cabinet and opened it up. There were a couple of gallons of mercury in the bottom of the cabinet and about a quart or so overflowed to the steel grating which was 40 ft above the concrete decking. I closed the cabinet and called the head instrument tech. He was unhappy, having cleaned this up many times before. I made a friend that day …

  33. JimL says:

    I was cleaning my work area and found my old disk box. Turbo Pascal (6.0) and Turbo C++ (3.0, I think) were in the box. I’m going to find a 3.5″ floppy reader & make copies of them if I can. Wow. Wordperfect 6.0 for DOS as well.

  34. Ray Thompson says:

    There were a couple of gallons of mercury in the bottom of the cabinet

    At the Y-12 Nuclear plant located near me they let 3,000 gallons of mercury escape onto the ground. This many years ago in the plant’s infancy. There is no way to clean up the mercury as it continues to work it’s way down into the ground because of the weight of the mercury. There are some really nasty locations in that plant.

  35. CowboySlim says:

    My first semester in high school, I took Electric Shop class. Our first project was to build our own soldering guns. But they were too big and heavy for electronic Knight Kits several years later. More appropriate for soldering household wiring.

  36. CowboySlim says:

    Furthermore, at that time with no iPad, I had to get by with a slide rule.

  37. Chad says:

    It’s funny how allowable cell phone usage in schools has evolved…

    First it was, no cell phones at school or they will be confiscated and you can get it back at the end of the week. Then, they were okay to have, but they had better stay in your locker. Next, you could carry it around with you but it could only be visible/used between classes or at lunch. And so on and so forth until today where, as long as it’s quiet and you’re not distracting other students with it, nobody cares. If you want to spend your class time staring at your phone and fail then that’s on you (they’ll happily give you enough rope to hang yourself with). If you can stare at your phone during classes and still get good grades then good for you. Like I said, as long as it’s muted and you’re not tapping your buddy on his shoulder to show him something on your phone nobody seems to care anymore. They’re a part of life now like a wristwatch or calculator were in years past.

    It’s similar in the office world. It used to be if your phone made a sound at work you were mortified. If you were fiddling with it during meetings you’d get the stinkeye or be reprimanded. Now, people only use their smartphones during meetings and nobody bothers putting them on silent. It’s the people who complain about it that are the pariahs at the office now and not the people glued to their smartphone.

  38. medium wave says:

    I built the Heathkit TV, oscilloscope, and many other Heathkit projects along with the H-89. Heavily modified the H-89 to include soft sector floppies, boot ROM that would allow remapping the lower addresses so I could run CP/M rather than HDOS. Added additional memory to bring it up to 64K. Had to beef up the power supply to run all the additional stuff by changing out the power regulator which also required a large heatsink and a bigger fan. Changed the interface from H-19 board in the system to the H-89 motherboard to support 19,200 BPS rather than the default 9,600 BPS.

    Did a whole lot of soldering on the multiple Heathkits I built. I also put together several of the Southwest Technical Products stuff. The were located in San Antonio about 15 miles from my house. Too convenient for my own good.

    I had the source code listing to HDOS which allowed me to know a lot about how the H-89 worked and accessed some of the hardware ports and the addresses of those ports.

    Ray, since you’re a hardware AND a software guy, this project has your name all over it:

    “The lossage is extra annoying because designing a UPS that doesn’t suck would be neither difficult nor expensive. These are not complicated devices – they’re way simpler than, say, printers or scanners. This whole category begs to be disrupted by an open-hardware design that could be assembled cheaply in a makerspace from off-the-shelf components, an Arduino-class microcontroller, and a PROM.”
    .

  39. Ray Thompson says:

    Nope, nope, nope. Well beyond my skill set. Built the Heath stuff following directions, paint by the numbers so to speak. I can solder, put in IC chips, run wire from one pin to another, test diodes and resistors, shock the crap out of myself with capacitors, but designing hardware, nope, nope, nope.

    The closest I came was when I was at EDS. We got a demonstration printer to install in a client location. Printing was via a serial line. Printer would not print. Found out the busy signal was the opposite of what the computer system expected. I examined the circuit board in the printer and found an unused NOR gate on a chip. Cut the busy trace on the circuit board, wired in the NOR gate into the busy line and everything worked. Sent the printer back to the vendor with the modification still in place.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    I was cleaning my work area and found my old disk box. Turbo Pascal (6.0) and Turbo C++ (3.0, I think) were in the box. I’m going to find a 3.5″ floppy reader & make copies of them if I can. Wow. Wordperfect 6.0 for DOS as well.

    I’d be surprised if the binder chemicals held up on the floppies, but keep us posted.

    As I wrote yesterday, Gates stealing the entire Turbo Pascal team right out of the Borland parking lot (if you believe the legend) happened 20 years ago.

  41. pcb_duffer says:

    re: cell phones In the large building where I trade my hours for a handful of dimes (nod to the Lizard King), possession of a cell phone within the secure area is an offense worthy of a written warning, this being the only shred of mercy that the system has. Actual use of a cell phone is a firing offense. No ifs, no ands, no buts, you’re out the door and not eligible for being re-hired. Mine is left in the car every day; most people are slaved to them in the break rooms.

  42. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’ve worked in SCIFs where you couldn’t even wear a watch with memories…

    n

    added- lots of phones ringing in lockers and cubbys outside the door though.

  43. Nick Flandrey says:

    ‘course, people are wearing the damnable things on PURPOSE.

    http://www.wired.co.uk/article/strava-military-bases-area-51-map-afghanistan-gchq-military

    n

  44. Nick Flandrey says:

    hmm, market officially in “correction.” Interesting terminology. Implies rather strongly that the rise was wrong and needs to be fixed.

    https://www.ft.com/content/61d44522-0cbc-11e8-839d-41ca06376bf2

    n

  45. jim~ says:

    @Ray

    Wasn’t EDS owned by that guy who mysteriously went cuckoo when he ran for president? And so many political folk have had sudden and early deaths by brain tumor, JEP included.

    I’m not connnecting any dots, but it does makes me wonder.

    I love the mercury stories! Seems 2/3rds of us should be dead by now, from either lead or mercury…

  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’ve got a Tabasco bottle of mercury in my garage right now. I picked up a beer bottle full at an estate sale once, but ended up leaving without buying anything, even though I really wanted that bottle……

    n

  47. medium wave says:

    Two of my HS classmates did a science project involving mercury. One of them DID die–at age 45, after being a three-pack-a-day smoker for ~30 years. The other one is still on the right side of the dirt at age 70.

  48. Nick Flandrey says:

    Iffin’ y’all wanna see some soldering, this vid has lots–

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UKywVwN1is

    Louis does component level repair on apple mobos. This particular [attempted] repair is on an already mangled board that came in as a ‘last chance’ to his shop. He’s also a conservative in NYC and a really interesting guy.

    Real life soldering—-

    n

  49. ech says:

    Wasn’t EDS owned by that guy who mysteriously went cuckoo when he ran for president?

    No, he was cuckoo before he ran. I worked for a startup that was founded by ex-EDS guys. Heard a lot of stories.

  50. Nick Flandrey says:

    doin’ the child porn americans won’t do…

    “Man, 28, secretly filmed an 11-year-old girl in the shower then blackmailed her by threatening to post it on the internet unless she kissed him on the lips

    Gerardo Giron pleaded guilty to blackmailing an 11-year-old girl for a kiss
    He took a secret video of her showering and threatened to post it online
    The mother contacted police in August after discovering the video on his laptop
    Giron pleaded guilty to the charges, which included unlawful filming of a minor”

    “Giron pleaded guilty to the charges, which also included unlawful filming of a minor, domestic assault and battery, producing child pornography and violating a protective order.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5366593/Man-pleads-guilty-blackmailing-girl-porn-kiss.html

    Naturally I’m making assumptions. Since he’s a “Virginia man” he must be a descendant of the pilgrims and not what his name and appearance suggest.

    Had access to the home and later to the girl in the park. Mom’s boyfriend?

    n

  51. H. Combs says:

    The mention of JRT Pascal sure brought back memories. I learned Pascal from that. Then went on to Turbo Pascal and PL1 on DR DOS. We used the multi tasking version to create a multiple line data and voice response data collection system for inventory control. We had intelegnt cards built for the IBM PC AT that used a dedicated 6802 to manage each data line and a TI voice synthesizer to generate data dump response. Each card used shared memory space with the PC to pass the data to the central database on the AT. It worked well enough we sold several million dollars of them before the company declared my stock worthless and left the two investors without any development or support. I had fun developing that but learned a hard lesson in business.

  52. Paul H says:

    Not wanting to just save my work but not have any down time while working I picked up a Tripp-Lite SmartPro NET UPS many years ago (about 10?), it puts out 1250 volt amp, 900 watts, I got an extra battery pack with it to prolong run time – it comfortably kept a dual zeon workstation and 21″ graphic tube running AutoCAD and more for more than two hours while the electric co. changed out a transformer down the street, more than two years into its life. I did change out the batteries, at no small cost, a couple of years ago. This is my second similar unit, operator error killed the first one about 10 years in. Tripp-Lite has been very good about replacements, at least they still were 10 years ago. Sent in the name and model plates and got the replacement directly for half price, even when I did an upgrade from the previous unit. This has much of the features that were wanted above, not sure about all as I’ve never bothered to connect it to the computer. I think it has been well worth the price, but then I’ve only payed half price since I bought a little inverter for my trailer to run a TRS-80.

  53. JimL says:

    jim~ Apologies – I can’t find the brand. It’s a made-in-China model that manages to get hot and stay hot. The $9 unit it replaced was a small unit right next to a large unit on the shelf at the auto-parts store. When I took the unit back it had failed after one soldering job they offered to replace it for free. Something told me I wasn’t the first. I said no, let’s just go for the larger unit. The choice was “cheap” and “not so cheap”.

  54. JimL says:

    Iffin’ y’all wanna see some soldering, this vid has lots–

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UKywVwN1is
    @Nick – fascinating. He says something at the beginning that perfectly explains why I won’t fix laptops for anyone else, and I usually won’t work on my own. If you don’t _know_ what you’re doing, you should not be charging people money to do it.

    A man (or a woman) can be an expert at a few things and adequate (good enough) at many things. Nobody can be good enough at everything. That’s why we have a society, with many different experts in many fields.

  55. Miles_Teg says:

    Ray wrote:

    “That is as much faked as wrestling in my opinion.”

    Wrestling rules! Bring back Mario Milano, Killer Karl Kox and the others. I wasted many hours in the late Sixties watching this stuff.

    The referee was usually Wallaby Bob McMaster:

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

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling_(Australia)

  56. Miles_Teg says:

    Cowboy Slim wrote:

    “Furthermore, at that time with no iPad, I had to get by with a slide rule.”

    Still got mine from 1972, along with the instruction manual. Really must re-learn how to use it. I mostly used log books before I got my first calculator in 1975.

  57. Dave says:

    Our discussion of soldering has gotten me thinking about all the electronic kits that used to be available. I think it would be fun to build a kit, but I’m not wanting to try soldering surface mount components.

  58. Miles_Teg says:

    In the late Sixties my parents got me a kit by Philips that used springs mounted on a particle board (not solder). Wish I still had it.

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    @dave, lots of kits available, some with the SMCs already installed. Some with daughterboards for SMCs.

    Lots of other kits with no SM soldering.

    Canakits, any back issue of QST magazine (ham radio), Make:Magazine, etc.

    The maker community has led to a resurgence of kits.

    nick

  60. Nick Flandrey says:

    @jimL,

    Louis (the soldering link) is a really interesting guy. Grew up in a housing project in NYC, figured out that college meant he was paying to be abused and indoctrinated, started and ran several small businesses (gotta fail before you can succeed.)

    His current business is an independent storefront apple lappy repair shop in NYC. He is successful enough to pay his rent, all the other NYC overhead (which he occasionally has a good rant about), buy new equipment, and have several employees. He’s also politically conservative, and as you can guess pretty smart. His stated goal is retire early to San Diego, and expects that to happen when his lease runs out, or when apple products are no longer fixable.

    He has done all kinds of videos from specific board repairs to lifestyle advice.

    I usually have him running in a background window while doing other work, and when something he is talking about catches my ear, I’ll switch to him.

    I’ve picked up great tips for gear, and technique from watching his vids.

    n

  61. pcb_duffer says:

    Nick: Yeah, you’ll hear lots of bells & whistles in our locker rooms, too. Ditto the prohibition on ‘smart’ watches, Walkmen, thumb drives, etc. One woman of my acquaintance has to have special permission for her insulin pump, because it records data every so often.

  62. ech says:

    I think it would be fun to build a kit, but I’m not wanting to try soldering surface mount components.

    Look for Arduino kits. Most use protyping boards and plug in modules so little to no soldering needed. I have my eye on this one:
    https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-EL-KIT-001-Project-Complete-Tutorial/dp/B01CZTLHGE/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518239373&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=arduino+starter+kit&psc=1

    or a cheaper one:
    https://www.amazon.com/Elegoo-EL-KIT-003-Project-Starter-Tutorial/dp/B01D8KOZF4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1518239428&sr=8-4&keywords=arduino+starter+kit

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