Entropy continued

[spiders]

You know, the ability to fix stuff is a blessing and a curse, at least for me, a musician. If I wasn't adept at repairs I would have worked harder to be a better bassist.

Today I'm replacing rotted out fascia and soffits in a part of the house where nothing is square and the sun don't shine enough. The handyman wanted $100 hour for stuff like that. >>> Entropy. PVC slows down entropy.

It would have been at least $1K. So there's the blessing side. The curse side no music gigs to even say no too and it's getting colder.>>>Entropy

When I was on the road for 5 years It was very hard to shift my focus from performing to fixing or designing. I designed and built my Small Signal Tube Checker while I was getting a bachelors in 95-97. But as I got older and the concerts were more enjoyable the less I wanted to solder. I was more flexible. Now at times I really hate that I do repairs and upgrades even though the money's much more than making music. So my internal >>>entropy<<< right there.

I can really relate to this. My ability to fix stuff kind of gave me an internal pass to not work harder on music. “I can’t practice piano because I have to get this wurlitzer ready for some guy,” As a result, I ended up with less gigs and more electric pianos to repair. I came to really resent repairs, messed my back up leaning over circuit boards and piano actions, started being mean to nice people who only wanted to jam on their stuff. Really messed with my head. The curse I suppose. I wanted to bite the hand the hand that fed me, but it was my own hand
But….. blessing side I do have a ton of great gear that I got for nothing because it was broken, and can help my friends out when they are in a bind. The confidence that if my gear breaks down I can repair it is worth its weight in gold. I’ve met a ton of cool people I otherwise never would have. I finally made a break from repairs a year ago (thankfully I’ve had a resurgence as a sideman over the past couple years that let me get out) and am secretly starting to enjoy working on stuff again. Great cycle I suppose

 

[Disco Volante]

My neuroscientist brother says the brain opens up "bandwith" for the subjects and patterns of thinking that are most used, and conversely shuts down unneeded/unused neuron tracks. Which makes it hard to change how we think. The brain and body is so much more automatic or on autopilot than we tend to think;-)

 

[MicMaven]

I’ve had a resurgence as a sideman over the past couple years that let me get out) and am secretly starting to enjoy working on stuff again. Great cycle I suppose

As the Moody Blues said, it is a "Question of Balance" - whereas the Greeks said "Everything, in moderation." Too much of a good thing (except ***, money and good bourbon) can be a bad thing, overall.

Now, I FEEL for ol' JR having to balance the roles of design engineer and manufacturing project manager!

I have a regular recurring luncheon date with several aerospace and RF (radio) engineers who used to work together at Lear-Siegler (think Lear Jets) making stuff for NASA and the Air Force, and others. One guy was an RF design engineer, another was a sales engineer, another was an project coordination engineer, another was an engineer working in the cost-accounting department, while another was a computer programmer - and they EACH approach technical problems from a very DIFFERENT angle! To complicate matters further, one is a half-empty sort of guy (i.e., your vertical antenna radiates poorly in all directions), while another is a half-full type (i.e., your vertical antenna is equally effective in all directions.) The sales engineer is a hopeless optimist, promising more than the others can deliver, while the cost-accountant just wrings his hands and wonders if we will ever finish the project and reach Miller Time. Man what a crew - and yet they each have a unique perspective and all work very well together. I have them analyze all of my project plans to assure all angles are considered before work begins.

So ... yeah, Mr. JR and Mr. Spider, I GET where you guys are coming from. I solved that in my business by letting all the staff go, and using computers to do the job - scanners optical character recognition, speech recognition software, and lots of other tricks to work entirely alone - where I wore all hats at once, allowing me to make a pile and retire young ! But, as you guys suggest, changing hats can be corn-fusing! JustMY take. James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Now, I FEEL for ol' JR having to balance the roles of design engineer and manufacturing project manager!

I guess I was not clear... My mental shifting gears was required for switching between doing engineering and managing engineers. Not as similar as it sounds.

After I moved on from engineering management I was put over all product management for Peavey, including managing multiple product categories. Those tasks did not require the same mental gear shift as engineering did. Oddly perhaps I did not forget engineering while doing product management. When I was in charge of all power amps I instituted a minor design change in a power amp series to correct an obvious (to me) weak link for a couple dollars in parts. Coincidentally I got my last patent while working for Peavey after I was full time product management. I would still chew the fat with the design engineers in the same building and one day while mulling over a heatsink problem with Jack Sondermeyer and his top mechanical packaging engineer, the three of came up with a novel heatsink alignment that reduced thermal gradients from hot end to cool end (6,515,859 Roberts ,et al. February 4, 2003). The patent actually issued a few years after I left Peavey.

So ... yeah, Mr. JR and Mr. Spider, I GET where you guys are coming from. I solved that in my business by letting all the staff go, and using computers to do the job - scanners optical character recognition, speech recognition software, and lots of other tricks to work entirely alone - where I wore all hats at once, allowing me to make a pile and retire young ! But, as you guys suggest, changing hats can be corn-fusing! JustMY take. James

My last real business had exactly one employee (me). I probably limited my potential growth by being a one man band, but it reduced my personal pain. Coincidentally my first kit business, back in the 1970s was also a one man show. Only while working at Peavey did I have to manage multiple employees. For TMI Hartley refused to have any direct reports.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

This is not solidly an entropy failure, but the deterioration was gradual and repair interesting.

My home theater system is a hodge-podge of cheap chinese gadgets. And they often have their own remote controls. One gadget is 5.1 surround decoder, with remote volume control, crude EQ and more. The slow motion failure was the volume control becoming intermittently unresponsive. I determined that the problem was poor contact with the 3V button battery. I got it to mostly work with some cardboard wedged in to increase pressure.

I speculated that the battery holder was the problem but searching for a replacement battery holder it appeared that they worked for multiple different sizes. The stock battery CR 2025 appeared to be loose. A CR 2032 that I had a few of sitting around fits better and works perfectly.

My speculation is that the original manufacturer saved a few cents by shipping with the smaller battery.

Not a typical entropy failure, but repaired nonetheless.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Trust but verify..... I have become suspicious of the accuracy of the fill level indicator in my new improved temperature regulated kettle. It seemed to me like it was taking more than one liter of water to reach the 1.0L fill level mark. To verify, I filled up a calibrated measuring cup with exactly one liter of water and poured that into the kettle. As I suspected it did not reach up to the 1.0L mark.

Of course this raises another question, do I trust the cheap plastic measuring cup? At this point I kind of do, because it confirms my suspicion.

This morning's cup does taste slightly stronger.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

Of course this raises another question, do I trust the cheap plastic measuring cup? At this point I kind of do, because it confirms my suspicion.

Old Chinese Adage - Man with two watches never knows what time it is.

JR's Corollary: Man with two measuring cups never knows how much water he has.

James

 

[JohnRoberts]

I suspect an old style glass (pyrex) measuring cup might be more accurate than my cheap plastic cup. Doing a quick search for "accurate" or "precision" reveals several offerings that are ludicrous from even casual inspection. I saw a couple that showed 500mL as equal to 2 cups..... IT ISN'T.

In this case I will trust my plastic measuring cup as being more accurate than my kettle.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Just completed a semi-successful repair. I am a sucker for peltier technology and purchased a cheap Peltier dehumidifier. It promised to be low noise because of the solid state cooling technology but it still requires a fan to blow air across a heatsink. Pretty simple but within about 6 months the fan started chattering and making noise. Because I could I decided to source a replacement box fan 120x120x25mm a common size. I could only find 12v or 24v fans in 120x120mm format. I see some 18v fans in different packages.

The 24v fan runs at full speed but stalls at low (night) speed. I paid for a premium ball bearing version, but it seems pretty noisy for ball bearings.

JR

 

[cyrano]

I saw a couple that showed 500mL as equal to 2 cups..... IT ISN'T.

Depends on where you are...

There are at least four different sizes for a "cup". And 500 ml is exactly 2 metric cups (UK). Of course, over here, 250 ml is the size of a small pint

All these old measures are ridiculously unprecise if you need to translate recipes. When the French authoritative cook books were getting translated to English, a number of mistakes were introduced that way. Some of these mistakes lived to modern times. Like the fifth mother sauce being different in the French and English edition of Escoffier's bible.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Depends on where you are...

There are at least four different sizes for a "cup". And 500 ml is exactly 2 metric cups (UK). Of course, over here, 250 ml is the size of a small pint

All these old measures are ridiculously unprecise if you need to translate recipes. When the French authoritative cook books were getting translated to English, a number of mistakes were introduced that way. Some of these mistakes lived to modern times. Like the fifth mother sauce being different in the French and English edition of Escoffier's bible.

Doesn't inspire confidence in the measuring cups when they visibly differ that much.
===
Another swing and another miss..... I noticed that my relatively new blender pitcher has a 1L calibration mark, so I filled it up to 1L with water and poured that into my kettle to check the calibration for a third time. Once again the kettle 1L mark was higher than the water. So if anything confirmation that they all disagree, and that the kettle is probably wrong. This is not an actual problem just something to amuse me.

JR

 

[cyrano]

I guess in electric water kettles you need more than a liter to produce a liter hot water. That's because you need to leave a bit of water in the kettle to amass most of the calcium in the water. That bit extra you throw out the next time you heat water.

My 2 liter kettle has room for about 2,3 liter. And the scale marking for 2 liter is 2,3 liter. The only other marking, 1 liter, is also a bit more.

We have tap water with around 30° German hardness. That's a lot of calcium. If you don't use the kettle that way, it'll last less than a year with daily usage.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I guess in electric water kettles you need more than a liter to produce a liter hot water. That's because you need to leave a bit of water in the kettle to amass most of the calcium in the water. That bit extra you throw out the next time you heat water.

My 2 liter kettle has room for about 2,3 liter. And the scale marking for 2 liter is 2,3 liter. The only other marking, 1 liter, is also a bit more.

We have tap water with around 30° German hardness. That's a lot of calcium. If you don't use the kettle that way, it'll last less than a year with daily usage.

since I use RO filtering, do I need a different kettle? (Rhetorical no need to answer).

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Old Chinese Adage - Man with two watches never knows what time it is.

JR's Corollary: Man with two measuring cups never knows how much water he has.

James

What does that say about man with two rain gauges... ? I am critical of my fancy freeze-resistant copper rain gauge, because it appears to under report modest rainfall accumulations (which is all we get lately). I decided to add a cheap old school plastic rain gauge to my yard. They will crack if allowed to freeze with water inside but appear to show small rain accumulation reliably.

In that photo the old school gauge is indicating just shy of 1/2" . The fancy freeze resistant is showing nada... The float tends to stick in the fancy gauge but even after freeing it, I don't see the 1/2"

For chuckles how would you calibrate a rain gauge accuracy? While the discrepancy I see between these two, is not just a calibration or scale issue, but more like a "don't bother me unless it rains at least a couple inches". It works then.

JR

 

[Brian Roth]

John.....here is TMI re. rain gauges from "the horse's mouth":

https://www.weather.gov/iwx/coop_8inch
Bri

 

[MicMaven]

John.....here is TMI re. rain gauges from "the horse's mouth":

Well, shoot. I TRY to be practical about these things. Recalling there are no one-handed economists: On the one hand, I use a an empty soup can and guess how deep the water gets. On the other hand, I rarely check the can, because I do not know what to do with the information. Unable to resist even a bad pun; I am sorry to "rain on your parade." James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Well, shoot. I TRY to be practical about these things. Recalling there are no one-handed economists: On the one hand, I use a an empty soup can and guess how deep the water gets. On the other hand, I rarely check the can, because I do not know what to do with the information. Unable to resist even a bad pun; I am sorry to "rain on your parade." James

I pay attention to rainfall more so lately, since the drought conditions have affected several of my plants.

My pecans this year were undersized (stalled growth) because of insufficient water. My fig tree stopped delivering ripe figs until I started watering the tree daily. It would take too much water to water my pecan trees so I didn't bother.

It is frustrating to watch the weather radar as heavy bands of rainfall seem to stream past just to the east/west/or south of me......

My county is still suffering drought conditions, while they relaxed the burn ban recently.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

I had an intermittant issue with the terrestrial TV reception which I decided to tackle ,
one split of the aerial was fine ,never an issue .
The other would loose a few channels every once in a while ,
I sorted out a corroded socket with a poor sheild connection and a wiring bodge up in the attic someone had done along the way .

I picked up 15m of coax , a splitter , an outlet socket and a handfull of TV coax plugs/joiner for the unreal price of 6.99 Euros at the bargain store ,
I replaced the old aluminium plugs with the newer chrome plated ones from the kit ,which had a grub screw arrangement on the center core wire .
plug everything in , switch on , nothing ............
Turned out there was a variation in the size of the centre pin on the new plugs , they mated ok with everything else in the kit , but were a bad fit with the prexsisting fittings , anyway just a word of warning about the type of kit you see below ,


Long story short , I got it all working well in the end , it seems like the poor wiring was causing the TV to tune in some of the channels on an adjacent frequency from the wrong transmitter , in bad weather the signal faded and dropouts occured .

 

[MicMaven]

I picked up 15m of coax , a splitter , an outlet socket and a handful of TV coax plugs/joiner for the unreal price of 6.99 Euros at the bargain store ,

Wow! That is a VERY favorable price for the kit.! Are those PAL connectors?

Speaking of antenna cable ... I recently installed/replaced 100 ft of RG-11 coaxial transmission line leading to an active (amplified) receive-only HF antenna that set me back $100 US. High quality PL-259 connectors cost $8 US each. Ouch! I buried a substantial portion of it, which consumed an entire afternoon and wore me to a frazzle. I selected heavier duty RG-11 over RG-6 cable because the antenna receives signals from all over the planet and has a solid copper center conductor which carries DC via bias tee to power a LNA (low noise amplifier) located at the feed point. My multiple transmit antennas have even larger, heavier duty cable that costs more than $1.50 per foot and I will be replacing several lines in the Spring. Double Ouch! (Just saying, not competing) - James

 

[JohnRoberts]

I finally got a decent rainfall to compare my two rain gauges. Yesterday we got 5" of rain. For a change the heavy bands of rain fall were a direct hit instead of veering east and west. I got 5" while the weather report from the TV station 20 miles away only got 2".

Back to the comparison, my cheap plastic rain gauge logged 5" of rain, the fancy freeze resistant rain gauge only registered 4". The 1" discrepancy is difficult to explain for two gauges located inches apart in my yard.

JR