Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Talking of the cat, I'm sure most people have seen that thing cats do when they're not sure that something is safe but they are still curious. They will stretch their nose towards the thing, suddenly flinch back a bit, stretch a bit more, flinch back and so on until they decide whether it's safe to properly sniff or to bugger off. I just almost pissed myself watching the cat do exactly that to one of my socks poking out of a discarded trainer - three flinches and a bugger off. 

He was probably trying to figure out what had died in there. 

mnem
*thuddd-whump*
*SPROING! with tail in the air all exclamation points*
*stalks off, looking over shoulder*
"you did not see that."

[Cubdriver]

Talking of the cat, I'm sure most people have seen that thing cats do when they're not sure that something is safe but they are still curious. They will stretch their nose towards the thing, suddenly flinch back a bit, stretch a bit more, flinch back and so on until they decide whether it's safe to properly sniff or to bugger off. I just almost pissed myself watching the cat do exactly that to one of my socks poking out of a discarded trainer - three flinches and a bugger off. 

So he obviously got enough of a sniff to decide that buggering off was the best option, then.   

How close did he get before coming to this realization?

-Pat

[srb1954]

I can resume sorting the few remaining IC's I had dug out the other day.
DS1489  DIP14
75452 DIP 8 Dual NAND peripheral driver
TS4116-20NL  DIP16.... looks like a memory / PAL / GAL kind of part number...

All from memory...

TS4116 = 16k x 1 bit SRAM DRAM


D765 = not an FDC controller. It's an OTP microcontroller. Think it had something like 1K of OTPROM and a few bytes of RAM. It probably ended up as an FDC.

DS1489 = RX end RS232 receiver driver. Or TX end. Can't remember. Usually paired with 1488 at the other end.   

MMI = probably custom PROMs looking at the manufacturer and package. Same as the bugger that blew up in my 465B.  Based on what looks like an NSN number on them they are probably programmed with some random shit already.

Rest no idea 

FTFY

[mnementh]

   mnem   I like butterflies.

Correction : you only like them as targets to exercise the aiming device of your flame thrower. Poor butterflies 

Nuh-uhhhh! See me here in one of my more contemplative moods...

mnem
also, they taste awful.

[srb1954]

Talking of the cat, I'm sure most people have seen that thing cats do when they're not sure that something is safe but they are still curious. They will stretch their nose towards the thing, suddenly flinch back a bit, stretch a bit more, flinch back and so on until they decide whether it's safe to properly sniff or to bugger off. I just almost pissed myself watching the cat do exactly that to one of my socks poking out of a discarded trainer - three flinches and a bugger off. 

They might have been getting an ESD zap to the nose. They really don't like that but the urge to sniff an object is often stronger than the discouragement from a zap.

[mnementh]

@Cerebus I would go for simpler installations. Charlie has shown us how, so I would try to locate some bamboo sticks, a shovel, some stuff to conceal the sticks with, ...

Doesn't have the visceral satisfaction of hearing the drawbridge clash home. And it pongs more than the moat would.

mnem
Tetris: Adulthood Edition

[vk6zgo]

I need to get it in property again ASAP but can’t until this deal is 100% closed and I’m out.

The problem is that the property prices have been rising (ridiculously) over the past couple of decades due to the low bank loan rates.

The estate agent mantra is "don't worry about the multiple you are borrowing, only the affordability matters". Until, that is, rates rise, people lose jobs, can't afford repayments and negative equity looms. The last time that happened "Bradley Stoke" was renamed "Sadly Broke". I remember the earlier version where interest rates went from 9% to 15%. That hurt, and I avoided the issue in '89.

Now, if "cash is king" isn't true anymore and property isn't liquid (or edible!), where should money be stashed? Answers in a PhD thesis, please.

Security against other peoples stupidity is what your investment should be in. That means:

1. A property that you own outright with no mortgage ties or leases to look after.
2. Enough cash to survive an intermediate crash of society.
3. Energy independence.
4. Transport independence.
5. Not requiring employment.
6. A house full of stuff to piss around with.

I’ve nearly ticked all the boxes now 

You missed out the moat, drawbridge and machine gun emplacements.

Don't forget to fill the moat with Saltwater crocodiles-------err, maybe make that alligators, "Salties" are big enough & smart enough to climb out of the moat & snack on passersby.

[mnementh]

You say that as if it were a bad thing...

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[25 CPS]

They do have EZ pass ..

In the excrement hits the encabulator case you should also have some non standard things to trade for bread, food, water, ...
Like a flock of Kangaroos, or a forest of Maple trees ...
I am sure you get the gist ...

EZpass is for locals, I just have mastercard. Would be so easy just to tap your card to pay for the toll.

You can get EZPass.  I actually have one but it only ever gets used at the bridge crossings coming home and occasionally the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I always keep some cash in my wallet just in case for a couple of different reasons.  Around 20 years ago, I got screwed when TD's bank machines all went down on a weekend and the other banks blocked TD customers from taking out cash from their machines.  I've also run into the odd time where debit/credit terminals have gone down and been able to continue with cash, and of course, most recently, that epic Rogers fail that took out a ton of banking and payment terminals along with everything else that went crashing down a couple of weeks ago. 

Probably the most mundane reason for having some cash on hand is that one of my favourite breakfast spots here is a small cash only restaurant.

Anyhow, some telephone tag got played, but then conversation finally happened and arrangements were made and if everything goes well, I'll have a short after work road trip later this week where cash will be changing hands for test equipment later this week.  That's going to be a bit more than what I have on hand so there'll be a stop at the bank on the way.

[pcprogrammer]

Security against other peoples stupidity is what your investment should be in. That means:

1. A property that you own outright with no mortgage ties or leases to look after.
2. Enough cash to survive an intermediate crash of society.
3. Energy independence.
4. Transport independence.
5. Not requiring employment.
6. A house full of stuff to piss around with.

I’ve nearly ticked all the boxes now 

Depends on what number you put on number 2, but I guess four out of six is ticked here.

You only need 18 months cash in the bank that isn’t shrinking if you are employed. If you’re not you need enough for a zero intercept about ten years after your life expectancy. Anything past that, cash isn’t going to be the constraining factor.

Assuming you would be able to access your money in your bank account. I was actually shopping for a safe recently to keep money (or other valuables) at home. After watching couple of youtube videos you realize that finding a good safe is not easy nor cheap.

Well when that happens on a large scale we are probably so f...ed that even cash won't get you far. Thinking about this kind of stuff can put you in heavy depression, but having number 3, electricity independence won't do much good unless you are also self supporting on food.

In case of a complete fallout of electricity, shops will die also. Not a lot of them will have enough backup to sustain all the cooling equipment to keep foods for a longer period of time. The supply chain will die, internet stops working, phone networks stop working, bank terminals stop working, etc.

So having money in the bank becomes useless in such an event.

I'm a bit less conservative about the amount of money in the bank. Do have enough to last to past my pension check coming in, and that will support me for again long enough even if prices double or triple. Don't see the need for maintaining it at a steady level with (risky) investments, because when I'm dead I can't take it with me.

And in the event of a total world collapse everybody is again f...d and no amount of money in the bank will get you food if there ain't any around.

So rather hope on another 20-30 years of reasonable sanity in the world that things won't go sour, but with nowadays shit going on

Time will tell.

[med6753]

All this doomsday crap. I say "fuck it". Live for today. Enjoy the toys and TE now. None of us can control what happens tomorrow. When the good lord or whatever decides to collect your ticket you can't take it with you anyway.

But if the world shit does get real you just need to maintain the ability to bend over and kiss your arse goodbye.     

[AVGresponding]

you need to either install TomTom maps on your phone and pay the subscription or grab one of their stand alone sat navs with lifetime free updates to maps and camera database, that way you get a gentle reminder if you're speeding on most roads and also get advance warning of any speed cameras and red light cameras as you approach them. I have never received a speeding ticket in 56 years of driving.

Can you please explain to me what legitimate use a red light camera warning system is. The only use case I can see is for scofflaws who want to deliberately run most red lights (endangering everybody in the process) and not get caught by the few traffic lights with enforcement cameras. There is no plausible explanation of how technology designed to subvert red light enforcement is going to contribute to road safety.

We've had the conversation about speed cameras before and I'll just reiterate my argument that if you're going to exceed the speed limit than you should be exercising enough attention and observation that spotting a speed camera well in advance is child's play by comparison. If you don't have the skill to do that then you shouldn't buy a chunk of electronics to allow you to speed with impunity. Better still, just don't speed.

I'm not going to utterly condemn something that reminds you what the speed limit is the way I do devices designed to subvert speed and red light enforcement cameras, but again, if your observation is so poor that you can't figure out the speed limit of the road you're on, then it's so poor that you'd fail a driving test, and thus really shouldn't be driving unsupervised until you've improved it.

Agreed. Bad driving, of which speeding is one of the most common aspects, is a particular pet hate of mine. It's selfish and inconsiderate in the extreme.

There are far too many idiots in the world - we need to remove most warning labels and let Darwin resume his noble work.

-Pat

The problem with idiots is that they also are allowed to drive cars if they can manage to pass a driving test. Sure, Darwinian law manages to sort them out in the end, but they often take others along with them. My experience driving home to Stockholm this Sunday was a prime example. I was only an hour late home as there was still one exit on the motorway between me and the accident so that I could eventually navigate around the pile up that I could see was probably going to happen and eventually did.

They are more likely to kill others than themselves, unfortunately. Unless they are donorcyclists of course.

you need to either install TomTom maps on your phone and pay the subscription or grab one of their stand alone sat navs with lifetime free updates to maps and camera database, that way you get a gentle reminder if you're speeding on most roads and also get advance warning of any speed cameras and red light cameras as you approach them. I have never received a speeding ticket in 56 years of driving.

Can you please explain to me what legitimate use a red light camera warning system is. The only use case I can see is for scofflaws who want to deliberately run most red lights (endangering everybody in the process) and not get caught by the few traffic lights with enforcement cameras. There is no plausible explanation of how technology designed to subvert red light enforcement is going to contribute to road safety.

That's a solid argument.

We've had the conversation about speed cameras before and I'll just reiterate my argument that if you're going to exceed the speed limit than you should be exercising enough attention and observation that spotting a speed camera well in advance is child's play by comparison. If you don't have the skill to do that then you shouldn't buy a chunk of electronics to allow you to speed with impunity. Better still, just don't speed.

That's a less solid argument.

The most important thing is to be looking out the window at things you might hit, and anything that detracts from that means the argument is less compelling.

It used to be easy to predict the speed limit by looking out the window; nowadays there are so many exceptions that the speed limit isn't always obvious. Many roads have speed limits for political or pollution reasons, not road safety reasons.

It used to be that I could gauge speed by the engine pitch and road noise, but no longer. Engines are quieter, with an automatic transmission there is a little connection between the pitch and speed.

I'm not going to utterly condemn something that reminds you what the speed limit is the way I do devices designed to subvert speed and red light enforcement cameras, but again, if your observation is so poor that you can't figure out the speed limit of the road you're on, then it's so poor that you'd fail a driving test, and thus really shouldn't be driving unsupervised until you've improved it.

The problem where do you direct your very limited central vision?
At the speedometer means you aren't looking out for hazards.
When going around a corner, do you look out for pedestrians/scooters crossing at your level, or upwards towards where a 20mph sign might be?
Around here pedestrians have the habit of walking down roads when they ought to be on the pavement. Now they claim "covid distancing from other peds", but they were increasingly doing that before covid arrived.
Never forget peds ability to cross the road without looking/listening due to replying to that urgent twatter message or whatever's spewing from their earbuds.
And, though I hate to say it, the shared space brigade do have a point: there is so much street furniture and advertising designed to catch your attention, that sometimes it is easy to miss the important sign. (Naturally the shared space advocates ruin their argument by taking it to ridiculous extremes)

So, there is another use case for a warning. Someone that intends to drive safely and within the limit, but has kept their eyes away from the speedo or missed an unexpected (and sometimes inexplicable) sign.

You don't fix your vision anywhere, you scan, just like you would when piloting an aircraft. You don't need a TomTom or other similar device to be a safe driver; you just need to be focused on your task and be paying attention. If you aren't prepared to do that, you shouldn't be driving.

The only problem I have with speed cameras et al is that TPTB tend to see them as a means of reducing the budget for police patrols, and it's far more likely for people to get away with all kinds of horrifically bad driving nowadays. A perfect example happened on my way home yesterday; a couple of complete cunts racing each other, in busy traffic I might add. One veered across the road and nearly took me out, in order to go the wrong side of a traffic island.
Whenever something like this happens, I mourn for the days of police being allowed to beat people to a pulp in the cells, though not for long when I remember the innocents that have suffered so.

[duckduck]

That quality of print would be perfect for printing very genuine broken HP feet 

In defense of broken HP feet, in my experience their demise is typically the result of the wonderful 'packing' job that many sellers do.  Truth be told, I'm surprised that more of them don't break!


I'll never understand the thinking process behind "Oh, a layer or two of corrugated cardboard and no other cushioning is adequate to ship a heavy instrument!"   

There are far too many idiots in the world - we need to remove most warning labels and let Darwin resume his noble work.

-Pat

I know someone who makes a large part of his income selling antiques, and particularly model trains, on ebay. He said that when he first started, he didn't realise how well packed things had to be. He soon found out.

Someone comes by a piece of test equipment like that. They picked it up at an auction or it came from a deceased family member. They sell it on ebay. They are struggling to find a box to put it in. They have to go out and buy plastic chips and bubble pack, so they are tempted not to.

I've heard stories of bakelite radios turning up in pieces, packed in a couple of plastic carrier bags. That is plain stupid.

Then there's the treatment these things receive at the hands of the courier. That can be anything from normal rough treatment, chucked in the back of vans, to thrown 5 ft onto concrete.

Everyone posting in this board will be interested to hear that I am in the process of creating a site to compete with ebay. My site will specialize in large, heavy, old TE. I will streamline the entire process thusly: you click on an item and I will smash it to bits.

[bd139]

All this doomsday crap. I say "fuck it". Live for today. Enjoy the toys and TE now. None of us can control what happens tomorrow. When the good lord or whatever decides to collect your ticket you can't take it with you anyway.

But if the world shit does get real you just need to maintain the ability to bend over and kiss your arse goodbye. 

I’ll have you know it’s Lord Cthulhu who’s going to smite me.

And yes. My sentiment too. With the footnote that security is important if you want spare time to get yourself in trouble when you feel like it 

[tautech]

History stumbled upon:

[tautech]

Might as well post the links for the other Mullard vids that popped up too:

[tggzzz]

you need to either install TomTom maps on your phone and pay the subscription or grab one of their stand alone sat navs with lifetime free updates to maps and camera database, that way you get a gentle reminder if you're speeding on most roads and also get advance warning of any speed cameras and red light cameras as you approach them. I have never received a speeding ticket in 56 years of driving.

Can you please explain to me what legitimate use a red light camera warning system is. The only use case I can see is for scofflaws who want to deliberately run most red lights (endangering everybody in the process) and not get caught by the few traffic lights with enforcement cameras. There is no plausible explanation of how technology designed to subvert red light enforcement is going to contribute to road safety.

That's a solid argument.

We've had the conversation about speed cameras before and I'll just reiterate my argument that if you're going to exceed the speed limit than you should be exercising enough attention and observation that spotting a speed camera well in advance is child's play by comparison. If you don't have the skill to do that then you shouldn't buy a chunk of electronics to allow you to speed with impunity. Better still, just don't speed.

That's a less solid argument.

The most important thing is to be looking out the window at things you might hit, and anything that detracts from that means the argument is less compelling.

It used to be easy to predict the speed limit by looking out the window; nowadays there are so many exceptions that the speed limit isn't always obvious. Many roads have speed limits for political or pollution reasons, not road safety reasons.

It used to be that I could gauge speed by the engine pitch and road noise, but no longer. Engines are quieter, with an automatic transmission there is a little connection between the pitch and speed.

I'm not going to utterly condemn something that reminds you what the speed limit is the way I do devices designed to subvert speed and red light enforcement cameras, but again, if your observation is so poor that you can't figure out the speed limit of the road you're on, then it's so poor that you'd fail a driving test, and thus really shouldn't be driving unsupervised until you've improved it.

The problem where do you direct your very limited central vision?
At the speedometer means you aren't looking out for hazards.
When going around a corner, do you look out for pedestrians/scooters crossing at your level, or upwards towards where a 20mph sign might be?
Around here pedestrians have the habit of walking down roads when they ought to be on the pavement. Now they claim "covid distancing from other peds", but they were increasingly doing that before covid arrived.
Never forget peds ability to cross the road without looking/listening due to replying to that urgent twatter message or whatever's spewing from their earbuds.
And, though I hate to say it, the shared space brigade do have a point: there is so much street furniture and advertising designed to catch your attention, that sometimes it is easy to miss the important sign. (Naturally the shared space advocates ruin their argument by taking it to ridiculous extremes)

So, there is another use case for a warning. Someone that intends to drive safely and within the limit, but has kept their eyes away from the speedo or missed an unexpected (and sometimes inexplicable) sign.

You don't fix your vision anywhere, you scan, just like you would when piloting an aircraft. You don't need a TomTom or other similar device to be a safe driver; you just need to be focused on your task and be paying attention. If you aren't prepared to do that, you shouldn't be driving.

When scanning, how frequenty should you take your eyes off the road for a couple of seconds? That's to re-focus on the digital display, read the numbers (ugh, but that's the modern way), re-focus on the road.

A lot can happen in a couple of seconds.

The only problem I have with speed cameras et al is that TPTB tend to see them as a means of reducing the budget for police patrols, and it's far more likely for people to get away with all kinds of horrifically bad driving nowadays. A perfect example happened on my way home yesterday; a couple of complete cunts racing each other, in busy traffic I might add. One veered across the road and nearly took me out, in order to go the wrong side of a traffic island.
Whenever something like this happens, I mourn for the days of police being allowed to beat people to a pulp in the cells, though not for long when I remember the innocents that have suffered so.[/color][/size][/b]

Every solution brings its problems

[tggzzz]

Security against other peoples stupidity is what your investment should be in. That means:

1. A property that you own outright with no mortgage ties or leases to look after.
2. Enough cash to survive an intermediate crash of society.
3. Energy independence.
4. Transport independence.
5. Not requiring employment.
6. A house full of stuff to piss around with.

I’ve nearly ticked all the boxes now 

Depends on what number you put on number 2, but I guess four out of six is ticked here.

You only need 18 months cash in the bank that isn’t shrinking if you are employed. If you’re not you need enough for a zero intercept about ten years after your life expectancy. Anything past that, cash isn’t going to be the constraining factor.

Assuming you would be able to access your money in your bank account. I was actually shopping for a safe recently to keep money (or other valuables) at home. After watching couple of youtube videos you realize that finding a good safe is not easy nor cheap.

Parents' house had a good one resting on the floor in the basement under the stairs: about a 3ft cube with a door 10cm thick amd a key with a hole down its shaft. Didn't even consider not leaving it with the house

[tautech]

Security against other peoples stupidity is what your investment should be in. That means:

1. A property that you own outright with no mortgage ties or leases to look after.
2. Enough cash to survive an intermediate crash of society.
3. Energy independence.
4. Transport independence.
5. Not requiring employment.
6. A house full of stuff to piss around with.

I’ve nearly ticked all the boxes now 

Depends on what number you put on number 2, but I guess four out of six is ticked here.

You only need 18 months cash in the bank that isn’t shrinking if you are employed. If you’re not you need enough for a zero intercept about ten years after your life expectancy. Anything past that, cash isn’t going to be the constraining factor.

Assuming you would be able to access your money in your bank account. I was actually shopping for a safe recently to keep money (or other valuables) at home. After watching couple of youtube videos you realize that finding a good safe is not easy nor cheap.

Parents' house had a good one resting on the floor in the basement under the stairs: about a 3ft cube with a door 10cm thick amd a key with a hole down its shaft. Didn't even consider not leaving it with the house

Scored one from a departed buddy that was a hole on the wall safe. Apparently when he got it the racking and counting machinery had all been removed leaving just a slotted hole in one side that he had welded up.
It's a heavy SOB too and well remember almost blowing the fufu valve getting it onto a trailer and back home into the garage. 
While it's a nice thing to have, one really needs have something of value to lock away in it ! 

Far more fun sitting on the deck in the rocking chair with the shotgun protecting ones wares ! 

[pcprogrammer]

Far more fun sitting on the deck in the rocking chair with the shotgun protecting ones wares ! 

That may be possible in your neck of the woods, but in France, or the Netherlands for that matter, guns are not easily obtainable. Sure you can join a hunting club, but then you need to follow courses and get a license and go hunting. Not my sport. Upside not a lot of guns around to do harm And yet every year a couple of people get killed during the hunting season

[tggzzz]

All this doomsday crap. I say "fuck it". Live for today. Enjoy the toys and TE now. None of us can control what happens tomorrow. When the good lord or whatever decides to collect your ticket you can't take it with you anyway.

But if the world shit does get real you just need to maintain the ability to bend over and kiss your arse goodbye. 

and

And in the event of a total world collapse everybody is again f...d and no amount of money in the bank will get you food if there ain't any around.
...
So rather hope on another 20-30 years of reasonable sanity in the world that things won't go sour, but with nowadays shit going on

Time will tell.

The "real doomsday" scenario is not particularly interesting; you realise that after having lived with the though of what would happen if there was a nuclear war (e.g. "Threads", definitely not "The Day After"). Nobody can know how they would deal with such scenarios, nor even whether they would want to.

The more interesting cases to consider are the "plausible extremes" that have been seen recently.

I remember 15% inflation; we are currently at >10% and possibly still increasing. The UK feels generally febrile, and can't be sure it won't (politicallly) emulate the Weimar Republic. That inflation is already eating away at pensions and savings; 10%=>halving in ~7 years, and that's too short a time to thought of as "the I'll-be-dead-by-then future".

I remember eating and revising for exams by candlelight, due to regular 4 hour powercuts. Current news is 'The Electricity System Operator [part of the national Grid] has admitted that the UK’s electricity grid faces some “tight” periods this winter amid the ongoing pressures on energy prices. ... But it added: “Our operational modelling indicates that there could be some tight periods this winter, which are most likely to occur in the first half of December.” ... As part of these efforts, [ESO] called for delays in the closure of five coal units which would deliver around 2 GW de-rated capacity.' WTF?! Why is it "...calling for..."?!

[tautech]

Far more fun sitting on the deck in the rocking chair with the shotgun protecting ones wares ! 

That may be possible in your neck of the woods, but in France, or the Netherlands for that matter, guns are not easily obtainable. Sure you can join a hunting club, but then you need to follow courses and get a license and go hunting. Not my sport. Upside not a lot of guns around to do harm

Now I'm gunna get political....what you experience in your part of the world is only associated with one thing....the UN disarmament policy !  Go Google it and see. 

And yet every year a couple of people get killed during the hunting season

Don't ever let that be used an an excuse for curtailing the wonderful sport and opportunity to provide from the outdoors for your family when instead it falls directly at the feet of your gubbermints failings in education of safe use of firearms. 

Says a very strong and outspoken defender of the right of firearm ownership for hunting, pest control and sporting competition shooting for all ages and all levels of skill. I better stop there .............. 

[Specmaster]

On the Bench Tonight: Thrift Score IR Thermometer



So... on my way home from the Dr.'s Office (followup on my blown-out knee and acute tendonitis), I stopped in at a thrift store for some retail therapy to ease the misery of "you're tore up from the floor up... you need lots of drugs that are gonna tear your stomach up... oh, and a new knee". 

Found myself a nice comfy pair of fat-ass cargo shorts, and this was on the shelf behind the register marked $5.99when I went to check out. Obviously it followed me home. Not exactly sure where the association with FLIR came from though...    *does a little Guugle-Fu* Well, hell. Looks like FLIR bought out EXTECH in 2007, and they're both cousins under the same TELEDYNE umbrella as my new LeSiglent scope.

Well, fuck-a-doodle-doo! 




Case is in nice condition... foam is even still firm and dry; not at all flaky.  Decent operating range; up to 1000°C. Good for checking to see if your catalytic converter is coming up to temp like it should.




Oooh... shiny. Well, rubbery.




Ahhh... squaddie-resistant design. The important settings are actual switches right under the flip-door so even auto mechanics should be able to figure out what they care aboot. 




Passes the reality check... it thinks my marble slab workbench is ~21°C. Everything I tried it on, it agrees within a degree against my decades-old RayTek. Unlike that, the LASER pip still work on this one. 




This thing has some smarts; MIN/MAX/AVG/DIFF Modes, plus it blinks SCANNING while you're holding the trigger so you know the sample period.  The red button toggles between various combinations of BL or LASER ON/OFF/TRIGGER-ON. Noodling around the EXTECH website, it appears from the manuals I could find that it is circa 2014-2016.

Current model, which is identical specs except 50:1 FOV rather than 30:1, is $314 MSRP. KA-CHINNG!

Looking further, it appears it has temp compensation for emissivity as well. Good thing I have a manual...


mnem
great. now I have another tool that knows more about what it's doing than I do...

Great find, I have a cheap arse one that does me, it spends most of its time sitting its box, but boy, when it comes out it to play it make swift work of finding which part on the PCB is shorting. Rather have a thermal camera, but can't afford one, but these IR sensors are pretty good. I can set a reference temp on mine and then when scanning a board, the screen will change colour from its normal green to either red or blue if the object of focus is above or below the set temp, very useful tool.   

[Zenith]

The "real doomsday" scenario is not particularly interesting; you realise that after having lived with the though of what would happen if there was a nuclear war (e.g. "Threads", definitely not "The Day After"). Nobody can know how they would deal with such scenarios, nor even whether they would want to.

The more interesting cases to consider are the "plausible extremes" that have been seen recently.

I remember 15% inflation; we are currently at >10% and possibly still increasing. The UK feels generally febrile, and can't be sure it won't (politicallly) emulate the Weimar Republic. That inflation is already eating away at pensions and savings; 10%=>halving in ~7 years, and that's too short a time to thought of as "the I'll-be-dead-by-then future".

I remember eating and revising for exams by candlelight, due to regular 4 hour powercuts. Current news is 'The Electricity System Operator [part of the national Grid] has admitted that the UK’s electricity grid faces some “tight” periods this winter amid the ongoing pressures on energy prices. ... But it added: “Our operational modelling indicates that there could be some tight periods this winter, which are most likely to occur in the first half of December.” ... As part of these efforts, [ESO] called for delays in the closure of five coal units which would deliver around 2 GW de-rated capacity.' WTF?! Why is it "...calling for..."?!

Agreed, you have to identify the risk you are protecting against and work out what sensible measures you can take to avoid them or limit them.

Inflation is definitely one. You can invest in property, or tangible, fairly liquid things such as gold, but all these have problems.

Energy supply disruption is another. Particularly electricity supply with the modern world being so dependent on it. Almost all shops, even small shops, couldn't open without electricity. You can buy a generator, but that's far from a perfect solution.

As for some more widespread collapse, I'm investing in tins of baked beans, tins of sardines, bars of soap, bogrolls and shotgun cartridges. 

[tautech]

As for some more widespread collapse, I'm investing in tins of baked beans, tins of sardines, bars of soap, bogrolls and shotgun cartridges. 

This is far more widespread than you could imagine.
A reloading forum I frequent has had constant bitching about reloading component shortages and price increases for the last couple years that probably aligns very well with the eviction of that Chump fella in the US.
Now with what poor Ukraine is undergoing everyone has doubled down with ammo and HV particle accelerators that despite the UN's underhanded disarmament polices their efforts are falling on deaf ears and about furking time !