Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

I PM Tony, long time not seen performing at the TEA Stage, I hope he is all right.

Maybe SWMBO went all Chicago on 'is arse... 

mnem
*gulp*

[tggzzz]

Now when I was a teenager this was legal because I used to get pulled over all the time for stupid shit.  But in the years that past since then there have been court cases where the decision is that the cops must have "reasonable case" to pull you over. Traffic violation, flagged as stolen, etc. Simply being a long haired hippie doesn't qualify. 

So.....that random pulling over going on over there is highly illegal over here.

Yeah, unless they pull you over for driving/walking/standing/shopping while black/brown. Then it can be a capital offense. 

And while not as prevalent as the in the South, it does still happen in your neck of the woods, I'm afraid.

mnem
"Accountability" is a 4-letter word.

Over here it is "being in possession of curly hair and thick lips"

https://youtu.be/chOtJdiBZR4?t=120

[Ero-Shan]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

You're talking about me, don't you? It's as simple as that: I dismissed my credit card. That's why I can't order at quite a few sellers ... I refuse to buy a cell phone as long as I can.

[Specmaster]

Now when I was a teenager this was legal because I used to get pulled over all the time for stupid shit.  But in the years that past since then there have been court cases where the decision is that the cops must have "reasonable case" to pull you over. Traffic violation, flagged as stolen, etc. Simply being a long haired hippie doesn't qualify. 

So.....that random pulling over going on over there is highly illegal over here.

Yeah, unless they pull you over for driving/walking/standing/shopping while black/brown. Then it can be a capital offense. 

And while not as prevalent as the in the South, it does still happen in your neck of the woods, I'm afraid.

mnem
"Accountability" is a 4-letter word.

Over here it is "being in possession of curly hair and thick lips"

https://youtu.be/chOtJdiBZR4?t=120

Or of course the less offensive ones of "wearing a loud shirt in a quite area after 7PM" or "Walking on the cracks in the pavement" 

[Ero-Shan]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

Easy - You step into your time machine and travel back to 2021 where the rest of us are and get over it.

Denmark is way ahead of Germany, so many bars and restaurants only take card or NFC payments. Strange at first but very easy once you'd
got used to it.

McBryce.

All true. And once there's no more cash, all transactions are tracked and put in a large database. Of course, only to prevent serious crime (they say). After a while, they learn that the real bad guys have ways to avert it. In order to show the public that it works as advertised, minor crimes and misdemeanors are targeted.
Next your health insurance company gets access. Oh, you're buying booze regularly? Up goes the rate. Once all this data is stored, it will be used against you. Everyone who thinks otherwise is just naïve.

But the real reason for abolishing cash is that then they can easily give you negative interest on all your money.

[bd139]

Not quite. Cash is expensive to move around and handle. That’s why it needs to go.

I’ve been heavily involved in data sharing for the last few years between those types of financial organisations and there is no path or intent in Europe where that will happen. You want to see what a complete nightmare it is even getting mandated access to someone’s account info via OpenBanking is for example. And when you do get it, it’s entirely useless for that class of data processing and you won’t get access to it if the intent isn’t specified and agreed to.

[mnementh]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

You're talking about me, don't you? It's as simple as that: I dismissed my credit card. That's why I can't order at quite a few sellers ... I refuse to buy a cell phone as long as I can.

Yeah... the guys who run the world (banksters and big energy; it's all the same bastards at this point) have a special name for people who pay cash and those who keep their cards paid off: they call them vagrants and dead-beats.

No, seriously. Because they aren't serving their only purpose in modern society; which is to feed the fucking money vampires.

mnem
"moooo...? " said the cash cow.

[Kosmic]

I PM Tony, long time not seen performing at the TEA Stage, I hope he is all right.

He is active on Youtube.

[Ero-Shan]

Want to try that. Packlink are based in Spain. Everyone points to everyone. Best to shit in a box and hope that gets delivered to their HQ 

But it was still the courier who fucked up, what ever you cut it up, it still comes back to them at the end.

Anyway, just because you sell on eBay, it does not mean that you have to use their shipping method, you can still use whatever method you wish.

Yeah I'm using Hermes direct now. I know Hermes actually have a half decent claims process if you go direct to them. I've used it before and got refund for £300 item next day!

But really I think I'm done with the whole selling side of things. I've just gone through the sales spreadsheet and removed what I can't be arsed with and what isn't worth sending and I'm left with £88 of stuff. I don't need the extra income and moving has gone to shit so I might as well go into full "pile my house up to the ceiling with shit" mode 

Hold my beer. eBay time 

See? I'm in that mode from the very beginning. Still haven't sold a single thing on ebay. Don't need the extra income, don't want to spend time on preparing the offer, packaging, dragging it to the post office, dealing with fucktards.

Exception: Swapping equipment with other TEA members every now and then.

[bd139]

you are right in principle, but easier said than done. They now force you to do credit card verification through your phone ...

at least over here.

Easy, turn your phone off and don't buy anything that requires a credit card   

Yep. But what if you DON'T have a cell. Believe it or not some people refuse to get one. How do you buy with a credit card in that situation?

You're talking about me, don't you? It's as simple as that: I dismissed my credit card. That's why I can't order at quite a few sellers ... I refuse to buy a cell phone as long as I can.

Yeah... the guys who run the world (banksters and big energy; it's all the same bastards at this point) have a special name for people who pay cash and those who keep their cards paid off: they call them vagrants and dead-beats.

No, seriously. Because they aren't serving their only purpose in modern society; which is to feed the fucking money vampires.

mnem
"moooo...? " said the cash cow.

Paying cash is not a concern for the money vampires. They want a regular monthly feeding. So when you borrow heavily on interest products then you’re getting sucked dry. When you invest in something where they get a return as well as you, you’re getting sucked dry.

The best things you can do are:

1. Borrow heavily on zero interest cards then pay the fuckers off at the last minute. They only make money because most people don’t do that.
2. Pay off all debts and liabilities (including mortgages) as soon as possible. Borrow from (1) to do this if you want to smirk a bit.
3. Invest in tangible assets which grow in value and can be liquidated quietly rather than fictional financial products.
4. Avoid front loaded lending like the fucking plague.

[Cerebus]

Automatic transmissions should be banned as dangerous. A little old lady just mistook the gas for the brake and drove into the side of a building. Happens more often than you realize. 

Well, the result would be the same in a manual transmission if you hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. That said, I've hit the gas pedal instead of the brake in an automatic, with no consequences, but never in a manual. That suggests there's something about an auto that makes it more likely. Often they have wider pedal spacing than a manual so you tend to actually move your foot side to side rather than rolling on your heel the way you do with narrower pedals. Perhaps moving your foot encourages your brain to lose its sense of absolute position of where your foot currently is (proprioception)?

[Ero-Shan]

I had a Rohde & Schwarz power supply unit on my watchlist, a NGT 20 which is a three-channel PSU.
Channel 1 and 2 can do 0 - 20 V / 1 A and channel three can do 0 - 6V / 5A.
It had 5 hours left and no one was bidding on it. So I thought, there may be some
snipers in the background. I thought, this is a nice one so I'd give it a try.
Starting bid was 220 EUR (set my bid to 230 EUR).
Now I've checked and found that I've won the auction! 
No snipers! Where are they, when you need them? 

That's the thing:



That was the best picture, the other pictures are really crappy.

This was the auction:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254862074944
It is a nice fanless PSU with linear regulation. Look at the huge heat sink on his back!

Rohde & Schwarz hade a huge portfolio of PSUs in that case: single, double and triple. The total output power is always in the range 60 to 70 watts.
Just last weekend I repaired my NGL 35 and made it one of my standard PSUs. They are real nice. All of them.

But 220 € does seem a bit expensive to me.

[Ero-Shan]

If I would be a mean person, I'd probably replace the analog displays with some of these jobbies:



They are availabe in red, yellow, green, blue and white.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272845592433

That is insane. How can these be sold for 1 € apiece?

Of course you're not mean.

[AVGresponding]

Two bench power supplies and the LEGO controllers arrived today.

The HP 66312 was shown working in the listing so no concerns there, was extremely well packed. Interestingly the seller mentioned the knob not looking original, and I can confirm, it's a 3DP one...

The TTi TSX3510P was rattling as I unwrapped it, so went straight to cover off. I managed to shake out a couple of small pieces of random non-conductive debris, but also an M3x40mm set screw. Looks to belong to the unit but I can't see any holes.
I can see there is some contamination on the board near the rectifier/caps so when I power it on it'll be for a quick check of general functionality, then off to join the repair queue.
It was listed as powering on, so we will see...

The LEGO  Dacta 9753 has clearly never been used. Everything is perfect including the instructions, and the internal packing materials. No scuffs, scratches, creases or finger marks.
It was a tad heavier than I expected so I went right for the battery cover, and had a moment of panic when I saw it was full of Energiser C-cells with a 1999 use-by date.
Popped them right out of there immediately, fortunately no leakage, though they've been in there I guess since the thing was first opened...

The 4 RCX 1.0 units are a different matter. They all show evidence of battery leakage to some degree, though the only one that doesn't power on is the one with the least damage. Go figure! Can't be bothered to open it up today, they are all dry and the one I did pull apart shows the corrosion doesn't reach the board, due to a decent compartmentalised design.

Now I just need a crap-ton of the power brick connectors.


Oh, and an update on the Gossen, I left the batteries out for a day, and it powers up to the correct function, so maybe there's a supercap on the display board, which you have to disconnect when taking the main board out.   

[mnementh]

Not quite. Cash is expensive to move around and handle. That’s why it needs to go.

I’ve been heavily involved in data sharing for the last few years between those types of financial organisations and there is no path or intent in Europe where that will happen. You want to see what a complete nightmare it is even getting mandated access to someone’s account info via OpenBanking is for example. And when you do get it, it’s entirely useless for that class of data processing and you won’t get access to it if the intent isn’t specified and agreed to.

No, I don't think so. The main reason for trying to abolish cash is to completely remove control of one's money from the masses. We've already gotten to the point where one's credit rating directly affects their quality of life; no matter how much you're willing to pay, and no matter how good your payment history is, you can't rent or buy a decent home if you don't have a long history of constantly using all forms of credit and letting them dip their beaks. Pay cash for everything and you will have either bad credit or worse, unknown/no credit. That also directly affects your ability to buy a car and even buy health insurance. Being a responsible adult and not buying things you can't afford is a liability in this age.

EDIT: And it is even generational now. Your parents' credit rating directly affects which school you can go to; no matter how good your scores or how many scholarships you may earn.

These mutherfuckers are scared to death of the growing "off the grid" movement. Getting rid of cash is a last, desperate ploy to destroy it in the cradle.

Legal tender is not aboot "business". It's aboot people being able to choose and vote the one way they still have open to them: with their dollars. Take legal tender away, and it's not your money; it's just bits on someone else's server. 90% (RWAG) of modern life is this way already; that last 10% (or 20% or 7% WTF-ever the real numbers are) is the citizen's (insert name of your god here)-given right to keep control of their money.

As far as they're concerned, your money is theirs already. I don't give a fuck if it costs them money for me to have legal tender; those bastards take enough of my money without my consent already.

Fuck them all.

mnem
Money is a tool created by greedy, stupid people to drag everybody down to their level so they can set their own price on the skills of much more talented, capable individuals.

[SilverSolder]

If I would be a mean person, I'd probably replace the analog displays with some of these jobbies:



They are availabe in red, yellow, green, blue and white.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272845592433

That is insane. How can these be sold for 1 € apiece?

Of course you're not mean.

Those little digital meters are actually reasonably good -  I use them on power supplies that have no readout at all (like this little 450W linear supply).   I would choose red LEDs next time, as blue can be a bit hard to see...

[med6753]

Automatic transmissions should be banned as dangerous. A little old lady just mistook the gas for the brake and drove into the side of a building. Happens more often than you realize. 

Well, the result would be the same in a manual transmission if you hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. That said, I've hit the gas pedal instead of the brake in an automatic, with no consequences, but never in a manual. That suggests there's something about an auto that makes it more likely. Often they have wider pedal spacing than a manual so you tend to actually move your foot side to side rather than rolling on your heel the way you do with narrower pedals. Perhaps moving your foot encourages your brain to lose its sense of absolute position of where your foot currently is (proprioception)?

Not necessarily. If you are well versed in driving manuals your left foot comes into play. Chances are if someone mashes the gas instead of the brake their left foot is going go after something....either the brake (by accident) or the clutch. It's just something instinctive that you do when driving a manual gearbox. 

[Saskia]

Re Cash I must say that I agree with mnem.

Also when the bird excrement hits the ventilation device it is always good to have something to trade or barter with. Cash like things help. Multicolored strips of metal help even more.

And why do you think these control Freaks Just limited the amount of gold can buy anonymously to 2k€ ?

[mnementh]

Automatic transmissions should be banned as dangerous. A little old lady just mistook the gas for the brake and drove into the side of a building. Happens more often than you realize. 

Well, the result would be the same in a manual transmission if you hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. That said, I've hit the gas pedal instead of the brake in an automatic, with no consequences, but never in a manual. That suggests there's something about an auto that makes it more likely. Often they have wider pedal spacing than a manual so you tend to actually move your foot side to side rather than rolling on your heel the way you do with narrower pedals. Perhaps moving your foot encourages your brain to lose its sense of absolute position of where your foot currently is (proprioception)?

Not necessarily. If you are well versed in driving manuals your left foot comes into play. Chances are if someone mashes the gas instead of the brake their left foot is going go after something....either the brake (by accident) or the clutch. It's just something instinctive that you do when driving a manual gearbox. 

Or it could be her foot slipped off the brake and hit the gas, and she didn't realize it quickly enough to correct it because she was old & not fully possessed of her faculties, and then the cop(s) on the scene abbreviated the chain of events.

mnem
We all take our turn being "dat assh'o on da highway" sooner or later.

[cyclin_al]

I PM Tony, long time not seen performing at the TEA Stage, I hope he is all right.

He is active on Youtube.

I watch some of his videos now and then; he seems to have a couple of new ones every week.
It looks like he has not posted here ever since the heated discussion of scope bandwidth limitations vs measurement of DUT ...

[Zucca]

I PM Tony, long time not seen performing at the TEA Stage, I hope he is all right.

Got a reply from him, all good.

[BU508A]

Rohde & Schwarz hade a huge portfolio of PSUs in that case: single, double and triple. The total output power is always in the range 60 to 70 watts.
Just last weekend I repaired my NGL 35 and made it one of my standard PSUs. They are real nice. All of them.

But 220 € does seem a bit expensive to me.

So, you are the one who bought it on ebay Kleinanzeigen the other day? 
I had it on my watch list and when I decided to buy it, the seller changed the status to "Reserved". Bad luck (for me), good to see it has found a nice home. 
Now I'm looking for another NGL 35 for myself ...    

Yeah, 220 Euro is a bit on the high side. OTOH I saw barely PSUs from R&S in that good nick for less than 200 Euro.

[Zucca]

FYI, germans:



this guy is a legend IMHO, I am subscribed so I keep up with the Boayrisch language AND because he provides a good overview about real life power mains tricks.

[Brumby]

Automatic transmissions should be banned as dangerous. A little old lady just mistook the gas for the brake and drove into the side of a building. Happens more often than you realize. 

Well, the result would be the same in a manual transmission if you hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. That said, I've hit the gas pedal instead of the brake in an automatic, with no consequences, but never in a manual. That suggests there's something about an auto that makes it more likely.

My thought on that is covered by the word "kickdown".  An automatic transmission will shoot for the best acceleration configuration, depending on vehicle speed and driver inputs.  A manual will just stay in the same gear no matter what - unless the driver explicitly does a gear shift.

[Brumby]

BTW.... I finally opened my package.

While doing all this teasing, you ought to consider how fast a man can move when he's clutching an IV bag and hopping on one leg.

I understand your sentiment - but I am in pain.

.... and I am so f@%$@@&*^^ing over it.