Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

^* (We all start doing it one minute after we hit 50, dunno why, but we do. If you're 49¹/₂ enjoy the next 6 months becuase it's the last time you can surreptitiously pick up something you're dropped.)

Worse is the stage of thinking "is there anything else I can do while I'm down there". I'm not there yet, but I have seen it in others.

I'm well into my 7th decade but don't huff like that. Perhaps it is because I'm pleased to say I can still fit into a Tshirt I bought in 1973. I don't, because it is getting fragile and I might want to flog it.

The number of times that you've told us about that T-Shirt; next thing we know, you'll be saying "I'm <whistling sound> ninety you know" in a Lancashire accent every ten minutes. 

Well, I'm in my 6th decade and still wear same T-shirt size as my teen years too. But I don't own any that old nor do I make a big deal of it.

But I do have to agree that I don't huff and puff when I tie my shoes but shit does hurt once in a while. 

I think he keeps it for the sake of a secret dream: to one day get a pic of himself next to Curry wearing the thing. Ideally, Curry himself wearing it... but I'm sure he'd settle for either way. 

mnem
I secretly dream of one day being whisked away by The Doctor to engage in one last adventure; and give my life in a futile attempt at saving the human race from its own stupidity.

[mnementh]

I would agree. Evidence to present:   

   

Mmmhmmm... I always thought The Doctor was the patron saint of Tinkering. S/he does it under fire, with the pressure of saving The Universe before bedtime every Sunday night... 

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

Bah, proper Dr Who ended with Sylvester McCoy, though I'll grant you David Tennant could have made a good Doctor, if the scripts had been worth the paper they were printed on.

Sheep cheese is vile, it smells and tastes of lanolin. Goat cheese on the other hand is very nice indeed.

[mnementh]

You sound like you're channeling your inner med.      Agree with you on the sheep cheese though. Would literally rather eat worms.

mnem
*certified crusty ol' bastard tinkerdwagon*

[AVGresponding]

Is anyone making a shortlist of these nominations, or will I be the first?

So far we have:
Wallace
Professor Branestawm
Heath Robinson
Montgomery Scott
Dr Who
Emmett Brown
Barbibul
Q (MI6, not Q-dimension)
Hedy Lamarr

[Neomys Sapiens]

Remember Lindisfarne.

What the whom now? Was that directed at the cheesemongers?

[mnementh]

I like Swiss. The semi-dry kind with lots of little holes.

mnem
That is all.

[Saskia]

Lindisfarne had a profound effect on the Englishmen living there. Especially on the monks on that fateful day.

[cyclin_al]

Is anyone making a shortlist of these nominations, or will I be the first?

So far we have:
Wallace
Professor Branestawm
Heath Robinson
Montgomery Scott
Dr Who

Here are a couple more candidates:
Dr. Emmett Brown is definitely a tinkerer (the Delorean is in the bottom right corner of the image)


Barbibul is probably a candidate appropriate for the younger crowd; and very likely much more popular with those who speak French


As for my vote, you have once again enlightened me (beside choosing leads with shrouds or not  , acquiring TEA and selecting computer components).
My initial instinct was to vote for Scotty.  However, I took the time to find out who all the candidates are.  Having never heard of Professor Branestawm nor Heath Robinson until today; I am surprised that my vote goes to Heath Robinson.  And now, I have a new supply of entertainment material!

[mnementh]

         


         


         





Basketball Goal: A father-son time uhhh... Timeline.

Started out building a new backboard; painted with 3 coats Behr outdoor acrylic enamel in pure white. Cheap rollers, lots of patience. 2 days later, I masked off the target lines; showed the boi how to spray without making hideous runs. Great results first time. 

No pics of the building of the base, aside from a quick snappy of my project SabreSaw and the corner lap-joints in the 4x4 frame it helped make possible.  We were making good progress and I just didn't think to stop and take any!

Good shots of the base showing how it was ultimately constructed though; add lots of weight in the form of sand-bags and now ready for use!

The boi's been practicing a lot; he's getting pretty good form and consistency. 10-in-a-row layups all the time, pretty good on the free-throw line too.

*SWISH!!!* was just a lucky click made while taking a shot showing a 3DP part I made in action.

mnem
 

[med6753]

Is anyone making a shortlist of these nominations, or will I be the first?

So far we have:
Wallace
Professor Branestawm
Heath Robinson
Montgomery Scott
Dr Who

In these times we need to be inclusive and in recognition to our lone woman TEA nut (Saskia) I nominate Hedy Lamarr.

And if you don't understand why you need to read up on her. 

[mansaxel]

Aaand, I could not stop myself. It went for the starting bid plus shipping, (amounting to 775SEK, around 73€) which is not super cheap, but still, I fully expected to be sniped by some clock maker who'd run out of Avo8's to molest.



Nixie power!

[0culus]

That's why I ended up with two 3440As. The proprietor of the local store I found them in was going to part them out and sell the nixies separately. I got the first one for $30 because it was marked that and he honored it, but I negotiated paying him what he thought the tubes were worth for the other one (which ended up being $50). Worth it to save them from the scrap heap, plus they are rather useful general purpose voltmeters.

[mansaxel]

I like Swiss. The semi-dry kind with lots of little holes.

mnem
That is all.

"Swiss" as can be found in the US has /nothing/ to do with the real stuff. OTOH, I did find a nice Comté (basically as close to real swiss cheese you can get in France; it comes from the part of France that is very close to Geneva) at Whole Foods in Las Vegas last year.

Then, of course, you have to consider that Switzerland is not one country, but a federation of cheese. Every Kanton (state) has to have its own. My three favourites are Gruyère, Appenzeller and Emmentaler, in that order.

And, to circle back; when I first went to the UK on my own time back in 2012 (all earlier trips were hysterical ones for work or as very young with my parents, certainly pre-dating the W & G moon trip) finding and tasting Wensleydale was a priority.

Still, the swedish Westerbotten cheese is /very/ hard to beat.

/Måns, whose fridge contains Westerbotten, Prästost, Saint-Agur, and a _very_, _very_ aged Dutch Gouda.

[BU508A]

Is anyone making a shortlist of these nominations, or will I be the first?

So far we have:
Wallace
Professor Branestawm
Heath Robinson
Montgomery Scott
Dr Who

Here are a couple more candidates:
Dr. Emmett Brown is definitely a tinkerer (the Delorean is in the bottom right corner of the image)
(Attachment Link)

Barbibul is probably a candidate appropriate for the younger crowd; and very likely much more popular with those who speak French
(Attachment Link)

As for my vote, you have once again enlightened me (beside choosing leads with shrouds or not  , acquiring TEA and selecting computer components).
My initial instinct was to vote for Scotty.  However, I took the time to find out who all the candidates are.  Having never heard of Professor Branestawm nor Heath Robinson until today; I am surprised that my vote goes to Heath Robinson.  And now, I have a new supply of entertainment material!

And what about this guy?  Well known and well respected gentlemen's outfitter from the MI6.   

[BU508A]

I like Swiss. The semi-dry kind with lots of little holes.

mnem
That is all.

"Swiss" as can be found in the US has /nothing/ to do with the real stuff. OTOH, I did find a nice Comté (basically as close to real swiss cheese you can get in France; it comes from the part of France that is very close to Geneva) at Whole Foods in Las Vegas last year.

Then, of course, you have to consider that Switzerland is not one country, but a federation of cheese. Every Kanton (state) has to have its own. My three favourites are Gruyère, Appenzeller and Emmentaler, in that order.

And, to circle back; when I first went to the UK on my own time back in 2012 (all earlier trips were hysterical ones for work or as very young with my parents, certainly pre-dating the W & G moon trip) finding and tasting Wensleydale was a priority.

Still, the swedish Westerbotten cheese is /very/ hard to beat.

/Måns, whose fridge contains Westerbotten, Prästost, Saint-Agur, and a _very_, _very_ aged Dutch Gouda.

Be careful with cheese from Norway, it can easily catching fire.   

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/europe/norway-cheese-fire-shuts-tunnel.html

[mansaxel]

Be careful with cheese from Norway, it can easily catching fire.   

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/europe/norway-cheese-fire-shuts-tunnel.html

"Brunost" is roughly equivalent to "Mesost" in Sweden, and no, I can't understand why one wants it. Tried the less refined "messmör" (soft variant, ie. whey boiled less than a week) again this weekend, and it's as sweet-clingy-gooey as it always was. Can't stand it.

Måns, currently researching field kitchens, Gulaschkanone, Kärcher Type 250's and Kokkärra 112.  Nixies!

[AVGresponding]

In these times we need to be inclusive and in recognition to our lone woman TEA nut (Saskia) I nominate Hedy Lamarr.

And if you don't understand why you need to read up on her. 

Oh, damn fine call sir!

They broadcast a program on her a couple of years back on BBC Radio 4, she was amazing!

She's also the first REAL person submitted for consideration...   


EDIT: You could legitimately include Ada Lovelace. Inventing an OS for a computer that was only ever a theory is pretty impressive. If Babbage hadn't been such a perfectionist, he might have finished the difference engine and built the analytical engine.
William Gibson imagineered a rather fascinating Victorian Cyberpunk novel, arguably giving birth to Steampunk.

EDIT: Some might class Jules Verne as Steampunk; they are wrong. Captain Nemo could be included on the list though...

[tggzzz]

I like Swiss. The semi-dry kind with lots of little holes.

(I presume you mean Emmental)

The holes are the best part. They are on a par with Gouda and Edam.

The rest is rubbery, and on a par with other cheeses such as mousetrap cheddar. Best melted, as in fondue or welsh rarebit respectively.

[Cubdriver]

Is anyone making a shortlist of these nominations, or will I be the first?

So far we have:
Wallace
Professor Branestawm
Heath Robinson
Montgomery Scott
Dr Who

In these times we need to be inclusive and in recognition to our lone woman TEA nut (Saskia) I nominate Hedy Lamarr.

And if you don't understand why you need to read up on her. 

-Pat

[AVGresponding]

[tggzzz]

Be careful with cheese from Norway, it can easily catching fire.   

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/europe/norway-cheese-fire-shuts-tunnel.html

"Brunost" is roughly equivalent to "Mesost" in Sweden, and no, I can't understand why one wants it. Tried the less refined "messmör" (soft variant, ie. whey boiled less than a week) again this weekend, and it's as sweet-clingy-gooey as it always was. Can't stand it.

So that's why it is brown. I always called it geitost.

It tastes nice in Norway, just as retsina tastes nice in Greece.

[tggzzz]

In these times we need to be inclusive and in recognition to our lone woman TEA nut (Saskia) I nominate Hedy Lamarr.

And if you don't understand why you need to read up on her. 

Just so. A remarkable person. Luckily she lived to see that engineers really appreciated her contributions, via the 1982 IEEE article.

Please don't post (the infamous) pictures of her first movie.

[mnementh]

I like Swiss. The semi-dry kind with lots of little holes.

(I presume you mean Emmental)

The holes are the best part. They are on a par with Gouda and Edam.

The rest is rubbery, and on a par with other cheeses such as mousetrap cheddar. Best melted, as in fondue or welsh rarebit respectively.

The kind I like is just called "Baby Swiss" in the US; but it doesn't usually have the nutty flavor of what they call "Aged Swiss". Up here in Toronto the stores all carry many brands of Havarti, which I like the flavor of, but it's a bit gooier than I like.

I like any of them or a good sharp cheddar on my burgers and with butter & pickles on a crusty baguette. Also like a sharp cheddar melted on top of apple pie.

mnem
Ooooh! Chinese food is here!!!

[nixiefreqq]

wow.  you sure do have to tread carefully in this thread.  it is a damn minefield.

glad i did not ask about non pasteurized stilton.