analog31

9 ms·

271.
by analog31 5mo ago
I'm a fairly experienced machinist, though it's not my occupation. At the present time, machinists have the least problem with metric. The unit conversions are built into all of the machines and measuring tools. You press the inch
272.
by analog31 5mo ago
In industry, we have. At home, most households have little or no use for US dimension tools such as wrenches. You can service a bike with all metric tools. "Going metric" raises the question of whether we adopt metric measures for
273.
by analog31 5mo ago
Doesn't agentic AI do this? I've got AI running in VS Code. If I ask it for something, it can fill a code cell with a little bit of Python, and then run it with my approval. It's using the Python interpreter on my computer as
274.
by analog31 5mo ago
My dad was on his city's environmental control board. He learned that noise is actually quite hard to regulate. And every locality has to figure out their own unique noise ordinance. It should be solveable, but it might be realistica
275.
by analog31 5mo ago
My dad got his PhD in the 1950s,and went straight to industry. He said it was always this way. However there have been a couple of long term trends: Switch to gig economy for college teaching, and loss of manufacturing industry. My first jo
276.
by analog31 5mo ago
An interesting aside is that early feedback control theory was developed in the 19th century by James Clerk Maxwell et. al., for the purpose of governing steam engines. I wonder if the interest in steam power also pushed the study of thermo
277.
by analog31 5mo ago
Only most of the tricks. ;-) But every few years I learn a new technique, and I'm sure we're not done coming up with more.
278.
by analog31 5mo ago
Sure, isolated anecdotes. Shelby was a lawyer. Orbital fuel depot sounds like an engineering problem.
279.
by analog31 5mo ago
Wait times in my region are 12-24 months. My "annual" appointments with generalists occur roughly 18 months apart, and usually involve being seen by a PA or NP.
280.
by analog31 5mo ago
>>> It was the Nobel laureate and quantum physicist Max Planck who wrote that “science advances one funeral at a time” (which is actually a somewhat artful translation of his original statement, in German) about revered gatekeepers
281.
by analog31 5mo ago
I've used pretty good soldering stations at work and at home. But I needed to set up a new station at my workplace, and asked our best technician to recommend a new unit. He recommended Hakko FX-971, and I got one despite the price (to
282.
by analog31 5mo ago
I wouldn't say it's a fascination, but a pocket calculator next to my computer is still quicker and easier for me than pulling up a calculator app. Also, it's preferable in the lab, machine shop, or my basement workshop. I co
283.
by analog31 5mo ago
In an ideal workplace, one could sit down with the colleague and have her experience untangling the slop, perhaps by a process akin to pair programming. Sometimes I wonder if we're letting people graduate from school with no real grasp
284.
by analog31 5mo ago
I want to live like Costco people too, but my house isn't big enough. Fortunately, one family member shops there, and splits the stuff between two households.
285.
by analog31 6mo ago
This reminds me of a workplace where I spent many years. I asked several people what it meant for something to be "released" and nobody could tell me. I never even knew after I became a project manager. This was at a company that
286.
by analog31 6mo ago
This reminds me of a workplace where I spent many years. I asked several people what it meant for something to be "released" and nobody could tell me. I never even knew after I became a project manager.
287.
by analog31 6mo ago
That's quite a ways.
288.
by analog31 6mo ago
Oddly enough "sorry" is also quite common in the upper Midwest US. If I bump into someone else by accident, and it's my fault, they will reflexively say "sorry."
289.
by analog31 6mo ago
I'm a working jazz bassist. Plucking a string is an art unto itself. What struck me about the clip was it sounded like the strings were plucked by something other than a finger.
290.
by analog31 6mo ago
I admit that I did everything with a Z80, except for using one. Because the TRS-80 used a Z80, Radio Shack carried a book on it, published by Howard Sams. It was next on the shelf after the TTL book, so of course I bought it and devoured it
291.
by analog31 6mo ago
I believe that linking became important when programs got too big to compile within the memory limits of the computer. Then you had to compile portions of the code into separate object files, and then "link" those object files by
292.
by analog31 6mo ago
I think possession of the data should be illegal. And it should be subject to statutory damages, like music piracy.
293.
by analog31 6mo ago
The CNC doesn't know either. What usually happens is that an engineer at the CNC shop figures it out for you. Knowing some machining still lets you design parts and assemblies that are some combination of cheaper, better, etc. This is
294.
by analog31 6mo ago
I used to think this too. But the past couple of years have soured my taste for "dismantle and replace" of vital institutions. I still think healthcare needs to be reformed, and I hope that insurance will someday be a thing of a p
295.
by analog31 6mo ago
What I've read is that the Micro-USB plug is intentionally designed to fail before the connector inside the device is damaged. I have a compulsion for fixing things, so I've seen a lot of gadgets where a connector has been broken
296.
by analog31 6mo ago
I'd consider hands to be more important than bipedal mobility. I work in R&D, supporting a high-tech factory. The factory has already been laid out so that the entire place is accessible for materials being moved around on carts. T
297.
by analog31 6mo ago
"All models are wrong but some are useful." -- George Box
298.
by analog31 6mo ago
I suppose this is an area where amateurs can help out. I live near the Great Lakes. Once in the while, amateur divers will discover a new shipwreck. It's like the way that amateur astronomers used to look for comets with the hope of be
299.
by analog31 6mo ago
Some small switching regulators go into a low power mode when the output current goes below a threshold. The frequency drops to some "hovering just above zero" level. I've had to artificially load a power supply, to get it to
300.
by analog31 6mo ago
I had lunch with a project manager a couple weeks ago, and we chatted about meetings. She was pretty adamant: Without meetings, nothing gets done. I'm willing to cut her some slack, since I tried her job for a while and hated it.

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