EEVblog #733 - Mailbag

[miguelvp]

All y'all are funny 

Now, go build something!

[Nerull]

I don't have any experience with that make of AED, but a brand which shall remain nameless contains 2 100uF caps potentially charged to 1.8kV, so watch what you touch. They're capable of delivering about 300J to the pads or the unlucky service tech. If these are built to be serviced they should have discharge points on the PCB for use with a sufficiently beefy resistor.

Your heart generally doesn't just stop like it does in movies, and if it does an AED won't help you. The automatic part of AED means that the AED analyses the heart rhythm of the patient and will only deliver a shock if needed. Many don't even have buttons, all you have to do is apply the pads. In addition to the text instructions, it should have voice prompts to walk you through the steps. There are more advanced models for EMTs and hospitals which allow a shock to be delivered manually but most AEDs don't have that ability, or make it normally inaccessible.

Most also really don't like delivering a shock without a load and if you do manage to get it to shock with nothing connected its likely to blow the ass out of the board.

[Fungus]

There is however a small minority of atheists who make quite significant noise in debates about religion, which probably confuses people to belive that all atheists are militant opposers of all religions.

Some atheists don't think that religion is a harmless hobby. Religion is often a recourse for manipulative people to bully the ignorant (when I hear ignorant people spouting religion I usually wonder who fed them all that stuff and why). Righteous wars cost trillions of our $$$ and hold back civilization.

Imagine if that money had been spent on energy research or whatever - the world might be a better place.

(And there'd be more jobs for electrical engineers to work on exciting new machines! Yay!)

[tszaboo]

So I wonder why does it cost EUR 3750. Calibration might cost EUR 100, if done for different temperatures, a good quality box, shielding, wiring and mounting another EUR 100. Does it have special aging characteristics or some other features that makes it so expensive? Or is it just because of the low production volume and people who needs them don't care about the price?

Didnt Dave say that it is calibrated against the Grerman national standard? IDK, I think calibating this must cost more than 100EUR, I have resistors at work which cost few hundred euros to calibrate.
I guess with this 10K (and a 10V Vref) you can calibrate a 3458A which is also a few hundred euros. If you need to calibrate a 3458A on a daily basis (to get 2ppm on most ranges), it might be worth having one of these.
Dammit I should make a company making cal equipment.

[iva]

But you are right, absolute value doesn't matter, the temperature coefficient is important. You can get 0.2ppm/°C for 10 EUR:

http://www.digikey.de/product-detail/de/Y162910K0000F9R/Y1629-10.0KECT-ND/4333513

And it's 0.05 ppm/°C between 0 and 60 °C!

Thanks for the link to the part, the datasheet is interesting and has a nice figure explaining the trimming, I learned something today

PS Does Digikey sell to private customers in Germany?

[tszaboo]

But you are right, absolute value doesn't matter, the temperature coefficient is important. You can get 0.2ppm/°C for 10 EUR:

http://www.digikey.de/product-detail/de/Y162910K0000F9R/Y1629-10.0KECT-ND/4333513

And it's 0.05 ppm/°C between 0 and 60 °C!

Thanks for the link to the part, the datasheet is interesting and has a nice figure explaining the trimming, I learned something today

PS Does Digikey sell to private customers in Germany?

No. That is Vishay first page marketing BLLSHT. These are 1.8PPM resistors, unless you bin them. Check Table 1 on the second page.

[EEVblog]

Info here...
http://riskology.co/the-day-i-bought-15000/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/13/137795995/how-frequent-fliers-exploit-a-government-program-to-get-free-trips

Wow, I don't think you've ever been able to do that here?

[FrankBuss]

Didnt Dave say that it is calibrated against the Grerman national standard? IDK, I think calibating this must cost more than 100EUR, I have resistors at work which cost few hundred euros to calibrate.

The description in the PDF file linked from the shop says:

Jedes Widerstandsnormal wird mit einem Kalibrierzertifikat eines akkreditierten
Kalibrierlabors ausgeliefert. Der ermittelte Widerstandswert ist auf der Rückseite
angegeben. Sollten Sie eine Kalibrierung durch ein nationales Standard-Institut
wünschen, bitten wir um vorherige Anfrage.

So it comes with a calibration certificat from an accredited laboratory, but you have to ask (and I'm sure it costs more) for calibration by a national standards institute.

PS Does Digikey sell to private customers in Germany?

Yes.

[iva]

http://www.digikey.de/product-detail/de/Y162910K0000F9R/Y1629-10.0KECT-ND/4333513
No. That is Vishay first page marketing BLLSHT. These are 1.8PPM resistors, unless you bin them. Check Table 1 on the second page.

Ah.. Ok, I learned *two* things today then, thanks for pointing that out!

[iva]

PS Does Digikey sell to private customers in Germany?

Yes.

Time to do that first purchase then, thanks for the quick reply!

[JoeO]

Christianity isn't the only religion.

True, but it's the one that's currently deeply ingrained in the biggest superpower in the world. Making polices. Deciding educational curriculums, removing all signs from the Grand Canyon that say it's "millions of years old", etc.

As Dave noted, you can expect to see a gay president long before an atheist president in the USA.

As far as religions go, it should be top of the hit list.

You really do not understand the US or know much about the US.
Yes, religious people do make policies, like punishing murder.
There are little to no educational curricullums decided by Christians in the US.
I have never heard about the removal of signs in the grand canyon.  Maybe you could supply a link.
Are Christians in the US beheading people?

Since you are an atheist, please go to the US and declare your atheism in public, then go to a Muslem country and do the same.

[Howardlong]

Info here...
http://riskology.co/the-day-i-bought-15000/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/13/137795995/how-frequent-fliers-exploit-a-government-program-to-get-free-trips

Wow, I don't think you've ever been able to do that here?

Rather unbelievable that the Federal Reserve didn't think an offer like that was going to be abused.

There are occasional stories of loyalty card "abuses" too. Over here in Blighty a few years ago Tesco, the biggest supermarket chain, did a couple on talcum powder and shampoo. The number of points you could accumulate on the promoted items meant you could accrue enough frequent flyer miles to fly around the world in First and Business class for less than an Economy seat even if you didn't sell your stash of bathroom consumables. People were also ordering pallet loads of these baby and hair products at a discount as many of them were also subject to further discounts like BOGOFs too, and selling them on eBay and at car boot sales, recouping their "investment" and gaining a free vacation to boot.

In some ways I take advantage of the situation too, almost all of my purchases for work including production parts are done on my personal Amex card which accrues enough points for some pretty nice vacations for me and the wife. I am not sure, but I believe that in some jurisdictions loyalty or frequent flier points are taxable?

[Fungus]

Rather unbelievable that the Federal Reserve didn't think an offer like that was going to be abused.

Why should it bother the Federal Reserve what people do with them?

They got coins into circulation didn't they? That's all they wanted.

[Fungus]

Yes, religious people do make policies, like punishing murder.

And, um, quite a lot of other stuff too....

I have never heard about the removal of signs in the grand canyon.  Maybe you could supply a link.

Hah! You got me there! Thanks for the correction.

Are Christians in the US beheading people?

Nope - despite the Bible ordering them to do so in numerous places, even for very minor offenses. I hope they can explain that away when they die.

Lesson: Basic morality doesn't need a God, it's just common sense.

[nixfu]

Nope - despite the Bible ordering them to do so in numerous places

Not trying to make up excuses for Christians or anything, but even I as a non-christian, DO KNOW that the christian religion could completely eliminate the old testament(Jewish bible), and their actual religious philosophy would change zero. 

Outside of a few kook sects in america, who have nothing to make themselves different from mainstream Christians other than a wacko literal interpretation of the old testament and which represent a very very tiny number of Christians(even though they seem to get a lot of press attention), the actual Christian religious philosophy is soley based on the tenants taught by and, occurred in the recorded life of the Jesus Christ dude.

Anyone who points to the old testament stories and laws of old civilizations recorded in that history as a method to point out flaws in Christianity, just shows their ignorance of said religion, and shows their hand as having an axe to grind and no real substance to their arguments.  In my experience, only militant anti-Christians tend to do that, not anyone who has any real idea what they are talking about philosophically.

//just saying

[Fungus]

Not trying to make up excuses for Christians or anything, but even I as a non-christian, DO KNOW that the christian religion could completely eliminate the old testament(Jewish bible), and their actual religious philosophy would change zero. 

Sure ... apart from the times when it's convenient for them to use the Old Testament to justify their homophobia (or for Invading Iraq, or whatever...)

Jesus clearly said the old rules still stand: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5:17-18

If the basic Cristian tenet is to get into heaven then not many of them are going...

(and if being nice to other is the only requisite then many Atheists will be taking their places)

Anyone who points to the old testament stories and laws of old civilizations recorded in that history as a method to point out flaws in Christianity, just shows their ignorance of said religion, and shows their hand as having an axe to grind and no real substance to their arguments.

Either that or pointing out the ignorance of Christians regarding their own religion.

Try the Universal Declaration of Human Rights if you want a moral code to live by (and to teach in schools). It beats the Ten Commandments by a long way.

[SeanB]

So it comes with a calibration certificat from an accredited laboratory, but you have to ask (and I'm sure it costs more) for calibration by a national standards institute.

I used to get a calibration done by the local offices of SANAS, but that division got spun off into Trade Metrology, so now I use them to do the 2 yearly certification. I did get to go into the safe where they keep their local reference kilogram, which is the local reference, and which is traceable directly to the standard kilogram held by SANAS in Johannesburg. That in turn travels every few years to Paris first class to get verified against the SI standard unit. You can look, but cannot touch, even with gloves on. Don't breath on it either, the massmeters they use can detect you moving near just by the IR radiation you give off from your face.

[firewalker]

the massmeters they use can detect you moving near just by the IR radiation you give off from your face.

Bolometer!

Alexander.

[SeanB]

Annoying though if you are trying to measure to the milligram level, and the last few digits are moving around with your hand coming near the closed door of the stage though.

[Fungus]

Annoying though if you are trying to measure to the milligram level, and the last few digits are moving around with your hand coming near the closed door of the stage though.

Aren't they lined with tinfoil? I'd put tinfoil on the door if I had one of those.

[Fungus]

the massmeters they use can detect you moving near just by the IR radiation you give off from your face.

Could they measure the mass of the photons in a camera flash?

[SeanB]

Probably, but they are a little leery of cameras in there. Seeing as the door is a 30cm thick slab of steel on a set of safe hinges, and the walls, floor and roof are nearly a half meter thick at a minimum, plus they have their own dedicated air handling and fire suppression systems inside along with a metal lined wall I doubt the tinfoil will help in any case. the massmeters sit each on their own solid rock pedestals, set into the floor. Place UUT on them, close door and go to the computer outside and spend an hour waiting for it to settle.

[Nerull]

Nope - despite the Bible ordering them to do so in numerous places

Not trying to make up excuses for Christians or anything, but even I as a non-christian, DO KNOW that the christian religion could completely eliminate the old testament(Jewish bible), and their actual religious philosophy would change zero. 

Outside of a few kook sects in america, who have nothing to make themselves different from mainstream Christians other than a wacko literal interpretation of the old testament and which represent a very very tiny number of Christians(even though they seem to get a lot of press attention), the actual Christian religious philosophy is soley based on the tenants taught by and, occurred in the recorded life of the Jesus Christ dude.

Anyone who points to the old testament stories and laws of old civilizations recorded in that history as a method to point out flaws in Christianity, just shows their ignorance of said religion, and shows their hand as having an axe to grind and no real substance to their arguments.  In my experience, only militant anti-Christians tend to do that, not anyone who has any real idea what they are talking about philosophically.

//just saying

It would be a little more reassuring if all of the "tiny minority" who flog the OT were not apparently all elected to congress. Almost no christians follow the OT laws, you're right on that. Many of them have no problem using them to beat others over the head, though. The entire crusade against gays is largely based on Leviticus, a book of laws Christians don't observe.