Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

On a lighter note, I've just discovered the name of the man with the most hopeless, impossible job in the world  - Guy Rosen, Facebook's "Vice President of Integrity".

Sisyphus would look at that job and say "Poor bastard!". 

[mnementh]

Fun job of the week...
Still, it's good to know that the designer, who gets paid half again as much as we do, is safe, working from home. There's a fair possibility that I'll call him a useless cunt, the next time I see him.

LOL... I'd be surprised if you didn't roshambo the mutherfucker... 

mnem
 

You mean in the style of Ricky Stocks?

Urban Dictionary is your friend. 

BTW, Roshambo is the correct spelling for this version of the "game". 

mnem
Okay, more like your perverted friend who's right more often than you want to admit...

[bd139]

On a lighter note, I've just discovered the name of the man with the most hopeless, impossible job in the world  - Guy Rosen, Facebook's "Vice President of Integrity".

Sisyphus would look at that job and say "Poor bastard!". 

Oh we have a better one. I can’t reveal the title as if you google it the job ad appears instantly unfortunately. It’s that unique a job that everyone laughs and walks away from the position. I hope no one is stupid enough internally to take the position as a promotion.

[Cerebus]

Dirty little tease! I'm going to spend all evening trying to guess what it is.

"His Satanic Majesty's Head of Charity and Social Responsibility"?

[tggzzz]

On a lighter note, I've just discovered the name of the man with the most hopeless, impossible job in the world  - Guy Rosen, Facebook's "Vice President of Integrity".

Sisyphus would look at that job and say "Poor bastard!". 

You forget Humpty Dumpty, viz

“I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all.”

[mnementh]

Dirty little tease! I'm going to spend all evening trying to guess what it is.

"His Satanic Majesty's Head of Charity and Social Responsibility"?

No, that was Kellyann "Alternative Facts" Conway trying to whitewash the diarrhea flowing from the flaming Cheeto's mouth on national TV...

mnem
If you ever needed proof that these bastards are in fact using 1984 as a blueprint... 

[vk6zgo]

There are also regulations here about where you can build your house, for example, which is then called a development plan. But this development plan is also the result of a political decision in the local council and often enough not the result of a rational decision. Such wrong decisions or misjudgements usually do not take revenge immediately, but only after years.

We have exactly the same here.  Over recent years lots of new build development has taken place on the flood planes of rivers. Eventually the inevitable happens. At which point my reaction is usually "Which bit of 'flood plane' did you not understand?". It seems that one of the fours facts to make it through into my head during stultifyingly boring geography lessons at school didn't make it into the heads of professional planners, architects and builders. 


For completeness, the other three facts were "How ox-bow lakes form", "How glaciation leads to glacial lakes up in the mountains (Cwms in welsh wales, where there are a lot of very beautiful ones.)" and "How to pronounce Molybdenum".

In 1952, Lynmouth in Devon was devastated by a massive flood, which swept away houses & other buildings which had been built on reclaimed river bed------------34 people lost their lives in a smallish village!

 In 1971, I visited Lynmouth on a bus tour, & they pointed out where the water level peaked, covering the first two floors of the Pub!

After the flood, the authorities had several inquiries, there were engineering surveys done, & many precautions were put into place to limit the possibility of a repeat of that disaster.
It sounds like such lessons have been forgotten in the UK.


The European floods are obviously of a different order of magnitude, similar to the massive floods we regularly get in parts of Oz, & effect many more people than the Lynmouth disaster, but to that small place, 1952 must have felt like Armageddon.

[vk6zgo]

But wait! --- There's more!

Again, in 1971, my mate & I ran a bit short on money whilst budgeting for our UK trip, so ended up with it being a "working holiday".

One job we had was interesting:

A nice big warehouse was built in Southampton, quite close to the Solent.
As these places do, it had a very large concrete "raft" floor.

Over time, the Solent did what  waterways are wont to do, & liquified the soli under the building.
This resulted in the centre of the floor sagging, but the edges stayed where they were supposed to be.

The result looked like a huge, shallow, "pie dish"!

Our job, along with a bunch of other people, was to move all the heavy stock into the centre of the floor.
Guys with pneumatic drills then cut around the outer edge, so the whole lot could settle back down to the new "ground level"!

It must have worked, as we never heard any more about it.

[beanflying]

There are also regulations here about where you can build your house, for example, which is then called a development plan. But this development plan is also the result of a political decision in the local council and often enough not the result of a rational decision. Such wrong decisions or misjudgements usually do not take revenge immediately, but only after years.

We have exactly the same here.  Over recent years lots of new build development has taken place on the flood planes of rivers. Eventually the inevitable happens. At which point my reaction is usually "Which bit of 'flood plane' did you not understand?". It seems that one of the fours facts to make it through into my head during stultifyingly boring geography lessons at school didn't make it into the heads of professional planners, architects and builders. 

For completeness, the other three facts were "How ox-bow lakes form", "How glaciation leads to glacial lakes up in the mountains (Cwms in welsh wales, where there are a lot of very beautiful ones.)" and "How to pronounce Molybdenum".

Flood Plane - when you leave your woodworking gear outside in a downpour.

Floodplain - when you are a dick and build or put things on one you get exactly what you deserve. Mother Nature for the win 

[Saskia]

Believe it or not, that is indeed a thing we are currently considering regarding the house. We are currently looking at one near Lemwerder and another one in Apen.
The one near Lemwerder has 2 drawbacks: it is in marsh land which may be affected if a storm surge is pushing up the Weser. There is a dyke right behind the house separating  the house from the Weser/ Ochtum floodplains.
Also there is a high voltage line next to the parcel. I do not yet know the distance to the house but will take measurements. also I enquired if it was 110, 220 or 380 kV ...
The other one is not really in danger of flooding.

What do you think ? Especially with regards to the high voltage line ?

[mnementh]

Are you one of those lucky people for whom proximity to those lines resonates in the fillings in your teeth, giving you a headache with prolonged exposure?

mnem
Yes, I'm old enuf to have amalgam fillings. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Oh, why, oh why the flying fuck is the input-ground-output pin sequence on LM7815 and LM7915 not the same?

That catches everybody out, hopefully only once.

Today I've blown my first capacitor across the Styx. Complete brainfart while perfboarding a dual-rail supply. With above stabilisers in. I feel strange. Annoyed at it happening, but happy that it was on the other side of the PCB so the BANG was the only problem.

Whaaat? Your FIRST blown capacitor? Awww... Either you are new to electronics or I decline to believe that!

[Brumby]

daughter has serious health issues, found out yesterday, the issue was misdiagnosed and she may need my help for the next couple of years (or even beyond). No window of opportunity, I am cancelling ALL my plans for moving out and I am looking for a house near to her ...

That's really tough.  I can't imagine what you are going through.... but family is family.

Hoping it all works out as painlessly as possible.

[Neomys Sapiens]

To our German friends. Are any of you affected by that flooding? I saw some of the videos and holy shit what a mess. 

Not so far, fortunately. But I am watching the weather maps closely.

Let me ask you a question, but it is still really related to the topic. Do you have any organization whose job it is to maintain the rivers and streams over there? I ask because years ago we used to have a national network of county river authorities whose sole job was to keep rivers and ditches dredged, free from weed build up, and they used the dredged silt to build up the river banks. This served two purposes ensured the rivers were kept fast flowing, and higher banks meant they also had a greater flood capacity. Sometime around the late 1960's or 1970's these were disbanded and since then we have many bad floods which also means that now many people living in these areas are now, in many cases, trapped as they are both unable to sell their homes and cannot get any insurance cover.

So I was just wondering if that could be a contributory factor in the severity of the floods we have seen on the news?

Here in Germany we call this water protection conversation (Gewässerschutz). This is a task of the municipality, at least here in Baden-Württemberg. The municipality is responsible for keeping brooks and river courses free and not overgrown, for example. It is also responsible for flood protection control (Hochwasserschutz), which is subsidised by state and federal funds. Unfortunately, it is also the case that such issues as flood protection do not usually win any laurels in politics, which is why often enough something is only done when a disaster has occurred. There are also regulations here about where you can build your house, for example, which is then called a development plan. But this development plan is also the result of a political decision in the local council and often enough not the result of a rational decision. Such wrong decisions or misjudgements usually do not take revenge immediately, but only after years.
In my opinion, the floods in the Eifel are also the result of a chain of such decisions. The extreme weather then showed what can happen. And it is not only limited to the Eifel. In the southeast of Bavaria (Berchtesgardener Land) there were also drastic floods with several deaths and injuries.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Whoa, Mounty! Aren't you forgetting something here?
While the chain of responsibility DOES have the Municipality or county as 'untere Wasserbehoerde' and the Regierungspraesidium in oversight of them, there is also the Landesamt fuer Wasserbau, which might work with or against the aforementioned institutions.
And in the case of the navigable inland waterways, they all are out of the picture because this is a federal matter which is handled through the Wasserstrassen- und Schiffahrtsamt (WSA).

[Neomys Sapiens]

To our German friends. Are any of you affected by that flooding? I saw some of the videos and holy shit what a mess. 

What I hate most about it is that it is out of my reception range. Grrr. ONE serious emergency before all the non-police BOS go digital too for earnest and it is too far away.

[tautech]

That's really tough.  I can't imagine what you are going through.... but family is family.

So you might think but every family is different.

A while back and after the fact we were told of a family conference that effected our personal livelihood and future and it was very clear to us we were not close enough family for my mother, brother and sister to consider we were to be part of that family conference so we disowned them all.

Good f***ing riddance and hope to never see them again....except maybe to piss on their graves !
Pop, well he was completely different and a good friend but he was gone a few years earlier. 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Oh, why, oh why the flying fuck is the input-ground-output pin sequence on LM7815 and LM7915 not the same?

    

Sorry for laughing, but I've experienced exactly the same when I've designed a new PCB for my elrad PSU.

Please note those cables on the left, dangling in the breeze. 

Which simian worked on your kit while you were out of the house?

[Saskia]

daughter and hubby are the only family I have. I would not consider the other so called relatives "family"

[Neomys Sapiens]

daughter and hubby are the only family I have. I would not consider the other so called relatives "family"

Saskia, when did you piss off ol' fate that much? But seriously, are you yet sure that the newer diagnosis is right?

[beanflying]

Local Knob seller of the last week.

Didn't like the non reserved AUCTION price achieved on time #1 so cancel and relist for three days with no reserve again (I was second highest bidder on time #1)

Complete DOUCHE move didn't like the price achieved on attempt #2 so cancel and repeat for a third go (didn't waste my time)

#3 three day auction with no reserve ..... eBay auction: #265235199211

[mansaxel]

Oh, why, oh why the flying fuck is the input-ground-output pin sequence on LM7815 and LM7915 not the same?

That catches everybody out, hopefully only once.

Today I've blown my first capacitor across the Styx. Complete brainfart while perfboarding a dual-rail supply. With above stabilisers in. I feel strange. Annoyed at it happening, but happy that it was on the other side of the PCB so the BANG was the only problem.

Whaaat? Your FIRST blown capacitor? Awww... Either you are new to electronics or I decline to believe that!

I've been careful. But last week was close -- A 1000µF filtering cap soldered in with swapped polarity. The component placement drawing was wrong, the reality was right -- before the recap.  I got lucky and caught the problem before it became a messy problem.

[mansaxel]

Edit: This is a reply to Neomys Sapiens which failed to be quoted properly..

This is an excellent opportunity to work on antenna design.

Also, tropo records for IARU region 1 are around 4500 km for both VHF and UHF bands. Get at it!

[Andrew_Debbie]

Oh we have a better one. I can’t reveal the title as if you google it the job ad appears instantly unfortunately. It’s that unique a job that everyone laughs and walks away from the position. I hope no one is stupid enough internally to take the position as a promotion.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care?

[bd139]

That’s pretty funny 

Roughly the title is “client apologist” wrapped in some HR speak. Ultimately this new profession will lead to an “association of apologists” and eventually government department called “ministry of strategic apologetics” and degree courses being spun up suddenly with various skol swilling bearded tramps on Brighton seafront shouting out “I’ve got a BA in apologetics don’t ya know”

[BU508A]

To our German friends. Are any of you affected by that flooding? I saw some of the videos and holy shit what a mess. 

Not so far, fortunately. But I am watching the weather maps closely.

Let me ask you a question, but it is still really related to the topic. Do you have any organization whose job it is to maintain the rivers and streams over there? I ask because years ago we used to have a national network of county river authorities whose sole job was to keep rivers and ditches dredged, free from weed build up, and they used the dredged silt to build up the river banks. This served two purposes ensured the rivers were kept fast flowing, and higher banks meant they also had a greater flood capacity. Sometime around the late 1960's or 1970's these were disbanded and since then we have many bad floods which also means that now many people living in these areas are now, in many cases, trapped as they are both unable to sell their homes and cannot get any insurance cover.

So I was just wondering if that could be a contributory factor in the severity of the floods we have seen on the news?

Here in Germany we call this water protection conversation (Gewässerschutz). This is a task of the municipality, at least here in Baden-Württemberg. The municipality is responsible for keeping brooks and river courses free and not overgrown, for example. It is also responsible for flood protection control (Hochwasserschutz), which is subsidised by state and federal funds. Unfortunately, it is also the case that such issues as flood protection do not usually win any laurels in politics, which is why often enough something is only done when a disaster has occurred. There are also regulations here about where you can build your house, for example, which is then called a development plan. But this development plan is also the result of a political decision in the local council and often enough not the result of a rational decision. Such wrong decisions or misjudgements usually do not take revenge immediately, but only after years.
In my opinion, the floods in the Eifel are also the result of a chain of such decisions. The extreme weather then showed what can happen. And it is not only limited to the Eifel. In the southeast of Bavaria (Berchtesgardener Land) there were also drastic floods with several deaths and injuries.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Whoa, Mounty! Aren't you forgetting something here?
While the chain of responsibility DOES have the Municipality or county as 'untere Wasserbehoerde' and the Regierungspraesidium in oversight of them, there is also the Landesamt fuer Wasserbau, which might work with or against the aforementioned institutions.
And in the case of the navigable inland waterways, they all are out of the picture because this is a federal matter which is handled through the Wasserstrassen- und Schiffahrtsamt (WSA).

I likely do, because I'm no expert. My sister could explain this much better, but she wasn't around, so I couldn't ask her.
Sorry for being not precisely enough.