Doesn’t everyone love side effects not listed on the package. Aspirin is a blood thinner and take it from me, long term usage plays havoc with one’s appetite. I awoke at 4:00 AM craving that spice they put in kielbasa and I can’t recall the name. Marjoram, that’s it. Did you know the distinctive flavor of that sausage is marjoram? I think they put nutmeg in there, too, but like I said, “Havoc”.Trivia. Did you know that chemotherapy and the tse-tse fly have a connection? A scientist studying sleeping sickness noticed the dye on his laboratory slide was absorbed more by some tissues (I use the term loosely) than others. That got him to thinking if drugs could be targeted, the “magic bullet” concept. I’m weak on chemistry, but I learned another dye was then used to deliver sulfonamide, the famous “sulfa” drug.
An aside to those who write letters to the editor saying they “can’t help wondering” how nice things would be if the money spent on the space program was used for the poor or on education. No organization in history has ever succeeded in spending people out of poverty and ignorance. I gladly pay my share of the rockets because every last rocket eventually accomplishes something. I can’t help wondering how nice things would be if these do-gooder weasels would use their own money instead of coveting the public purse.
Question for Aventura AMC. Could you make your listings any more confusing for people who want to find out what’s on the IMAX? I’m considering seeing “Skyfall”. Hey, if I can get used to Craig playing Bond, you can too. But it really was better back when Bond smoked, drank, and poinked the pretty ones by the boatload. Now there was something all irresponsible men could relate to—irresponsible women.
I mention compressed music in today’s addendum and have been asked to put that in layman’s terms. Compression is when abnormally high, or low, or loud, or soft sounds are electronically reduced or enhanced out of the music. The intention is to have a balanced result and it does work fine enough for individual instruments. The problem looms when a geek applies compression to computer-generated music. The result is muzak.
In live music, those occasional highs and lows are natural. An orchestra of, say, six musicans would be dynamic listening for the presence of those factors. But the geek will lay down 16 or 32 or 64 tracks, all compressed to exactly the same degree. Thus, every snare and sax sound is identical in volume for the duration. All “instruments” are playing in identical proportions and this gets geometrically worse as gittar-boy keeps adding tracks trying to make it sound live. The result is over-compressed indie music to impress the cultures who really love riding elevators a lot.
ADDENDUM
It’s about PCB fabrication today. I’ve already stated the lack of good, consistent etching directions, so since then I’ve looked into the past. Videos made before the turn of the century are better than the garbage today. Look here for an example of good, if boring, video. The trade off is a lot of what you see from 1995 is no longer available. Like Hobbytune magazine. But these videos are more inclusive. They talk about the whole process rather than just the etching stage like the dork-boys of today. And don’t we love those videos with fapper music in the background. No directions, no instructions, just badly compressed indies.
Over the previous week, I’ve been able to sift the work down to using photoresist plates. Only an engineer would call them photoresist. There is nothing involved that most people would recognize as photo and the only thing resisted is clear directions on the package. It is also called photosensitive but that is so brainless I can’t even joke about it. But it should not be long now. I’m certain the lack of good documentation is the result of the poor educational system. I’ll tell you an example.
Consider that I don’t get impressions about complicated operations unless they are practically handed to me. The first (most searchable) accounts of etching left me with the concept that a laser printer was required to print the circuit patterns. They consistently said the ink side had to be pressed against the copper, leading me to conclude something in the toner was necessary for success. It was a year later, when the scooter shop printed my temp license on a plasticized card that I saw the real reason. Bubble jet ink doesn’t dry properly except on paper.
Another confusion was that sometimes the videos said to iron the toner ink onto the plates while other videos said just to tape it on the surface—but without specifying that different copper plates were required. Then I learn there is even a spray coating to make one kind of plate into the other. Sigh. And then, you have to watch for whether you are making a positive or negative. The best thing to do is let me make the mistakes and gripe about them afterward. Keep in touch.
Later. The video link above opens a path to a series of great tutorials by X2YeZCAMCNC. Follow them on your own time so you can quit when you’ve learned enough. But I like them and I’ll look at drawing the circuits by hand with Corel rather than that disappointingly cryptic ExpressPCB. (I’m certain ExpressPCB works well enough for those prepared to waste the time to learn it.)
Even later. I scootered to the Barn to deep-read a book on 3D printing, this time to get familiar with the terminology, parts, tool chain, and to recognize the computer files when I see them. What? Isn’t that exactly what everybody would do? A tool chain? That’s the entire start to finish process and equipment list needed to produce something. I still do not know the score with the 3D printers, but the example of a PCB chain would be (without the flowchart showing the checkpoints, self-tests, and feedback)
1. Design
2. Breadboard
3. Schematic
4. Layout
5. Fabricate
6. Drill
7. Solder
The stickler is the steps 3 thru 7. Bad schematic software, no printer for the layout, wrong chemicals to wash the copper and no drill press. Do you think I should just quit now and go watch soap operas? Naw, I think I’ll remain dumb enough to follow this thing through until I produce at least one working prototype. I honestly don’t mind if not giving up makes me “weird”. Really.
