Posts by Chairman of the Bored 957 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Apr 2017
Quite. But remember that 30 odd years ago, men were men; women were women; printers only tried to print.
Today I've got something on my desk that tries to do a bit much. Its only really solid attribute is getting me to waste $ on ink cartridges
In my other life I do some education work. I like Chromebooks in the school environment because management is an absolute cinch. All the high maintenance and drama stuff happens on the random kit and OS jungle of the day job. At school I just use stuff and only occasionally have to wave a neuron in the general direction of an admin tool.
What fresh hell will having a bastardized Chrome/Win experience and associated dependency + patch management introduce?
...in the list of compulsory collaborators? What's a component? Obvious switch 'n' router vendors will become part of the state. But are we also talking semiconductor components (clipper chip redux, anyone)?
What about software components... lets say I write kernel drivers for a video card. Large, complex, hard to audit, can have interesting privileges... whats to say under this legislation a software developer doing something like Linux kernel driver or xorg development wouldn't get a tap on the shoulder...?
@Martin an gof - nice! I did't know that rPi anecdote but it seems true to form for contract manufacture,
Have an engineer similar to the who left you. Brilliant man but cheap (financially efficient). Never can bring himself to throw out any kit, no matter how broken, and of course none of the bustication gets documented or labelled. Cannot be bothered to fix anything because to his mind nothing is ever broken. "This amp oscillates badly, but Ive got this crushed and corroded bit of coax. If I C-clamp it here to move its suck out ... ok! amp plus cable stable. Hey! Gain is now really low, so I sill just delete this attenuator and save a few bucks... Ship it." Im expending large amounts of technician and field support labor dealing with his cheap crap.
Revenge of the techs? Recently a whole skid of his favorite amps, cables, and broken cal standards 'accidentally ended up on a research vessel... and broke free (in sea state 0)... and fell overboard in really deep water'. I must confess I have a total lack of curiosity about how THAT happened.
All same resistor values... sometimes the manufacturing specialists have a point and we designers can do a better job drawing up something economical.
Where my PHB have caused me fits though is when a design is right at the hairy edge of possible: high freq, high precision, extended temp range, works to full spec in an EMI hurricane, smaller than any other solution on the market... simultaneously. Loading up the reqs will always drive a designer to use fairly unique parts with aggressive tolerances and perhaps expensive production screening.
And then when your design is deployed... the PHB will hire a bunch of Bangalore Banditos to "improve the value stream" by simplifying the design and cut production costs.., while still charging clients for full premium spec. This is usually done without informing the design team or customers. Customers become unhappy and quite rightfully demand their due per contract.
PHB pulls an innocent, "who, me?" "These designers must really suck..." as he sips his boat drink and thinks of all the ho's and blow his bonus will cover.
Worked on some transmitter equipment made by a left coast firm that likes the color blue (*). REALLY likes the color blue. Every fscking wire and optical fiber in their control racks, hardware, etc is ... blue. Fun to troubleshoot? Not particularly. But another day, another hundreds of dollars.
(*) Name rhymes with 'ETM Electromatic, Incorporated'
Outstanding proposed hack; I think I would opt for "Bad traffic. Dumbass with mobile got creamed"
Part of my commute went through a small town known for its aggressive traffic law enforcement. Some guy would put up large hand-painted warning signs such as "COP WITH RADAR 1/2 MILE". And he left a tip jar. A good man.
Shipboard systems are fun... You've got high power systems, lots of bang lying around in various launchers, atrocious environmental conditions, and some very young people running it all. Training is key.
I've only ever seen two significant RF injuries due to near field illumination - one I alluded to in my post was a sailor with a large piercing down under who elected to stand directly in front of a large UHF air search radar. Bad plan, poorly executed. "Jack's nut roasting over an open fire..."
At a shore installation we had another guy stand in front of the same type of radar while operational. Picture a very large building with an oversize cruiser mast stuck through the roof. Sailor was on the same level as the radar and decided to take a leak onto the roof below. Bad plan, poorly executed. We called him "hot rod" after that.
Sea story - don't know if its true or not. Radioman smoking on bridge wing of a destroyer loses his ball cap; it blows off and lands on a small deck just behind an aft AN/SPY-1 array. Does the gymnastics to get it. Doesn't think there is a radhaz because 'radars spin' and all the 'spinning antennas are on the mast'. Ends up losing a some of his vision as the proteins in the vitreous humor of his eyes partially cooked. Behavior consistent with the guys I know, but had that happened in RL I think we would have had an hour or two of mandatory "ball cap retrieval training" every year
Hansen ... one of the senior scientists I worked with in the past insists that most of the "really good, scientifically sound engineering work was done from 1940 ... 1980. Everything since has been M&S induced psychosis" I always thought that was a way of telling me "get off my lawn", but Hansen's work is probably a good piece of evidence for his view. Elegant and effective, what more does a guy need?
Check out pages 26 and 27 of the following paper:
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a190569.pdf
A little cut-n-paste and gimp action and you've got your scanned Hansen curves back!
-CB
Gotta throw the BS flag on this one.
Let's do some simple analysis. Per international safety guidance (*) the controlled area (**) maximum permissible exposure level (PEL) for RF from 3GHz on up is 10mW/cm^2, averaged over six minutes. Note there is a factor of ten safety margin between the controlled area PEL and .any. observable effect. In this frequency range you're talking heating inside the eyeballs, and "effect" means a measurement signal just about noise in a dielectric simulation of a human. Your dangly bits will not tingle (***).
Typical SATCOM uplink frequency ranges are: 5.925 - 6.425GHz; 7.900 - 8.395GHz; 14.000 - 14.800GHz; 17.300 - 17.800GHz; 27.5-31GHz.
Typical SATCOM transmit powers? Hundreds of Watts. Extreme levels? 3.6kW at C band, 2.5kW at Ku band, hundreds of Watts in the mmW bands. See (****)
Antenna size? It matters. Commercial kit can go anywhere from man portable to a 9m monster. Let's assume a 4.8m compact cassegrain - typical of "large" SATCOM installations. This is not kit that you will just have lying around. Typical gain at Ku band is +54.6dBi. Note beamwidth at this gain is about 0.4deg (-3dB), so your attacker needs amazing aim.
What's the effective radiated power? 2.5kW * +54.6dBi = 721MW. Sounds scary. But let's see... power density at range in the main beam is Pt/(4*pi*r^2). At one meter(*****) the density is about 5,740,000 mW/cm^2. At 240m I'm down to 100mW/cm^2 and definitely safe. At 740m I'm down to the controlled area PEL, and legal as well as very safe.
What's the spot size at 240m? Length of arc S = r*theta; For 0.4deg the spot is ~5m across at 740m; at 240m downrange its 1.7m across. Enemy needs damn good aim.
Reality is no member of the general public will be within a inside 200m from the most powerful uplink sites - its called a 'controlled area' PEL for a reason. Most of the giant antennas are moved into position and then mechanically locked down; at these spot sizes you need rigidity. Smaller stuff that's actively pointed whilst going after orbiting vehicles moving around is ... smaller; ERP is lower and I care even less. For most large antennas I've seen I'm not even sure I can physically point them within 10deg or so of the ground; there's no point having the mount articulate that much.
Reality is the only real threat at these sites is to maintenance personnel exposed to open waveguides, feedhorns, leaking waveguide flanges. Slightly burned the meat INSIDE my hand one time on a leaking UHF waveguide flange ... Probably kW/cm^2 ... THAT hit about ten on my 'life sucks' meter. Eleven when the itching set in. But that's not an IT problem.
Life's hard enough without inventing problems.
(*) IEEE standard C95.11.
(**) Uncontrolled area PEL (general public) is a lot lower but I cannot be arsed to look it up at the moment. Gave you the reference. I've memorized only controlled area PEL and the real hazard levels. I don't have general public at my sites because ... its a controlled area.
(***) Except one dumbass sailor I had on a mast directly in front of a very large UHF air search radar - having failed to lockout/tagout same. Turns out he had piercing that had "boldly gone where no man had gone before". Holiday song time! "Jack's nuts roasting over an open fire...."
(****) https://www.cpii.com/product.cfm/4/13.
(*****) Yeah, I know this analysis is sketchy in the near field. Fraunhofer distance for 4.8m reflector at 15GHz is something like 2.3km. But this is a blog post, k?
And I wish Gemini success. I do like using a real keyboard... banging away on glass just doesn't give the same effortless satisfaction of a real interface. Palm was OK for what it was, but for real work you need real tools.
One thing Id like to explore is spinning a PDA from a Raspberry Pi, small touch panel display, and a decent Bluetooth keyboard. Attach Pi to the rear of the monitor, filling all remaining surface area with LiPol batteries.
You would get near desktop power that would fit in your pocket...
Also, check this out: gutting and modernising a Psion:
https://hackaday.com/2016/05/01/upgrading-a-20-year-old-pda/
Recently had one go intermittent and then completely fail. But we noticed a pattern... it would only fail when we were wet and cold. So we grabbed a blowtorch, a hammer, threw on some overalls and went to work "gently" heating the lock and providing percussive encouragement. Security patrol walked right by us, totally ignoring two men in somewhat battered clothing working on a lock with blowtorch and dead blow hammer. 2 min and we were in.
Buying a pick set just to learn a new, maybe useful skill? $50 and much fun
Teaching your secretary how to pick locks on filing cabinets and so forth so she can do parts of her job more effectively? Now they are worth their weight in gold.
And as soon as I get my new drill mill... bump keys!
Regarding the ability of an older employee to differentiate between 15yr old bad ideas on a second bounce vs the real deal...
Very early in my career I was taken under wing by a rather senior gentleman. 40 yrs of industrial experience after his already successful academic life, and I got the deal of a lifetime:
I went to see him to ask for advice on what I thought was a great idea and he barks 'Bad idea! already been tried. 1970s. Failed because of... here is the file...' He had dozens of cabinets and safes. He says, 'Hey! Not all the crap we tried and failed at over the decades was necessarily doomed. Im going to give you a stack of decent ideas to try. If they work, they're yours. If they don't work - blame me and run like hell; they think I'm senile anyways.'
And so my career was launched with a series of solid hits, mainly recycled good ideas that lacked proper execution or were beyond the contemporary technology. Tried to give Doc the credit, include Docs name on the papers and awards, etc, but he would always vehemently refuse saying "remember, keep the good ones for yourselves and blame me for the crap that fails. I'm too old to care and I'm out of here soon anyways..." Never did leave though, passed away quietly but not before being a work and life mentor to dozens of people.
If I could just be a quarter of the man and mentor to the next generation of hires... my karma balance would be a lot healthier.
When we discard our elders for some elusive "efficiency" what are we really doing?
Saw KOME sticker on a large ETM Electromatic transmitter power supply in Indiana, circa 2001.
Speaking of which, I lived in Indiana in the early 90s and the police give out these public service announcement bumper stickers showing a seat belted stick man and the words "Indiana - buckled up for life" we would mod with razors so they would read "Indiana - f...cked up for life" Bonus points if the stick man was manipulated into an appropriate posture to receive...
Your $30 label maker is your friend, but ensure that you Trust But Verify.
War story- worked in lab with very good electrical lock out/tag out discipline. All of the 480VAC boxes that had more than one source of input power were clearly labeled. Except of course for the one I reached my hand into. In the aftermath I had a shattered forearm, a heart beating faster than a hummingbird on meth, and a lot of DNA evidence spattered everywhere.
I got lazy and didn't bother to use meter or chicken stick to check the box. Just because a label {is | is not} present...
...yeah, Pai's a prick. But does that justify threats against his family? Does it take away from his right to seek legal remedies - bearing in mind that its the legal system that will provide the adult supervision needed to ensure a just sanction? The tone of the article suggests that because he's a prick he needs to just suck it up.
I've definitely been insulted in my time and an apology... or better yet a pint... and we are good to go. But threatening assault? We have moved beyond a pint and a handshake, my friend.
Threaten my kids? Be happy and feel genuinely fortunate if you're arrested. I respect human life but I grade on a curve, and there are a lot of abandoned mine shafts nearby... None of my mates will see a thing.
My dad worked for Westinghouse at the time it was purchased by Northrop Grumman. His team flew to the west coast to meet with new collaborators, all of his team wearing normal east coast business attire: suits. Uncomfortable meeting when half the group was suited and the rest pretty much ready to surf.
Next meeting was is DC and the left coasties all looked uncomfortable in their new, never used, off-the-rack suits and the easterners kept looking down at their new polos because it felt weird to wear ID badges with no tie.
Finally someone said "Ok, lets meet in the middle... khakis and polos or button down, no tie unless meeting with a customer..."
...would show up in business casual, have his uniformed staff pin down the O5's, O6's, public affairs droids, strap hangers, sycophants, sociopaths, etc in 'urgent' sidebar meetings and somehow escape from the handlers. He would then walk the halls, buy lunches, help with labor... whatever people seemed to need he would just fall into doing. He would treat everyone he met with respect, and just listen. People would talk to him, and he would act on a somewhat clearer picture than possible from the wheelbarrow loads of crap that had been prepared
Sadly leaders like that are an endangered species.
Does that mean BOFH is specifically prohibited from pitching people down elevator shafts, or am I reading too much into this?
Regarding head restrictions, we had a manager send such a request via email only to get a Reply All from a guy saying "I will take care of my needs at a time of my choosing, only now every time I take a dump I will think of you."
...Not too long ago I had some cut-n-paste work done on myself at a fine medical institution. Anesthetics and chemicals used in recovery involved copious amounts of opiates.
As with many in this community I'm subject to random drug tests. As luck would have it I got called for a whizz quiz two days in.
I handed my prescription paperwork to the pecker checker and he shouted at me 'just stuff it, save your excuses for the appeal! ...BUT I came up clean.
Three possibilities:
(1) Nothing is actually tested and testing contractor is a fraud
(2) They are not looking for opiates,,, I've got a hard time seeing that
(3) Some poor bastard got my sample and will now get the third degree...
Oi! Must have been rough in school for W. Kerr. Or American race car driver Richard Trickle.
Worst one I've seen from an IT end is a Korean gentleman I worked with who transliterated his surname simply as a capital O. Broke an awful lot of software and wetware "Mister you need to fill out your full name. If you just put in an initial..." Ended up changing to Oh
In my other life I work with kids. Recently had one upset I struggled with her first name. Spelled: L-u. Confused? Its pronounced "Lee Dash Uh". How the hell what I supposed to figure that out?
@Claverhouse,
Now .that. is an interesting turn of phrase. If I understand correctly it means one who is very odd indeed, or someone who is exceptionally tight with their money. If you go in their shops it appears Dick's is very proud of their name. If we change it to "Cheap, Very Strange Sporting Goods" I think that would work. Drink up! We're going in.
I wonder how on earth the word went from a diminutive form of Richard (Rick) to a reproductive organ, then to an epithet...
As an aside I served with a man named Richard Holden. NCOs loved shouting at every opportunity, "Holden, Dick! Stand at attention!" Etc. Poor guy.
Surprise, surprise.
For various OT reasons I had to visit their web services portal at least weekly. I went in using a fully armored Linux box and a standalone instance of Firefox plus NoScript that got blown away after every session when dealing with those dicks. NoScript would be absolutely slammed; never seen a site light it up like Dick's.
Moral of the story? Don't be a ...
I'm not favorably impressed with the environmental side effects associated with our fracking binge. My folks' towns in PA used to breathe the poisoned air from mining operations and comparatively filthy mine power plants. Now they drink poisoned water from the fracking operations. Short lives ending badly.
Same story around the country but what do we care? Just dump the pollution problems on those ignorant, drug addicted hicks... At least that's the attitude I'm seeing in our cities
Having an actual system is a great step. What comes afterwards is the tough work of consistent, transparent enforcement. My org has a decent system and policies but my team is in morale hell right now due to a problem of different spanks for different ranks.
We lost a good team member due to fraternization, while two members of our senior leadership are routinely and publicly involved in offshore drilling and navel exploration activities. I'm unimpressed.
Sexual harassment and even victimization are real problems in many organizations. Sometimes strong remedies are needed. But if the real problem with the CEO is performance and the board uses his sexual indiscretions as an excuse to force him out, we've got a problem - their actions greatly undermine legitimate use of the anti-harassment tools.
If you want to sack a guy because of nonperformance, have the guts to say so and act.
Don't have the guts? Take up gardening and grow a pear.
... into every workstation that reaches up and slaps offenders in the face with a rotten fish, when the offense is one of the following:
(1) idiots that 'reply all' telling idiots doing a 'reply all' to a group email that they shouldn't 'reply all'
(2) guys who 'reply all' to emails I BCC'ed on and out the fact I BCC'ed
I take some responsibility for (2); I no longer simultaneously use Bcc and Cc list, too risky
The few law enforcement information systems I've been around use formal configuration and content management subsystems to segregate "Law Enforcement Sensitive" information from Official Use Only and releasable... And I would fervently hope that identities of assault victims would be accorded such protection.
It takes a deliberate act to transmit LES information over email, and LES identities are in separate contact lists to avoid precisely the fsckup this law man committed.
Not foolproof, but at least its a speed bump.
Then again, for every procedure I can find you an idiot that will overmatch it...
Not been my experience with cancer treatment in US - done the "ride alongs" with the radiologists using the software and machine vision tools for inspection along with his Mk 1s. Quite happy, especially seeing as how I'm still above ground.
Where the 30 yr old Zeiss comes in to play is during your surgery. As tissue is removed its flash frozen, sectioned, stained, and quickly inspected under optical to make sure the margins are clean ... no time to screw around because the patient is lying open to ambient air at that point and the whole team is waiting.
Lately the trend seems to be outsourcing radiology reads to India. Your MRI, CT, whatever produces digital output so the medical firms gladly charge you going US rates while some doc in Bangalore does the read at pennies on the dollaar. Mixed feelings about this, beyond getting screwed financially. I'm sure the Indian docs are properly trained and certified but as PHB insist on ever more efficiency how long before we get some random punters doing the reads?
How did our software outsourcing work out?
As an aside: cost of spine MRI w/ contrast in a 3T Siemens machine in US for me last year? ~$1600. Exact same protocol and machine in Bangalore? ~$150.
The line between 'machine vision' and 'AI' is blurry. But machine vision systems have been assisting radiologists for some time, though of course the human has the final word and responsibility. For me and my lesions though Im profoundly grateful to have both!
The US FDA has approved an AI from Arterys earlier this year to make clinical decisions concerning hard tumor diagnoses. Apparently its more sensitive and specific than your human radiologist now. Good on them. I'm a yuuuuge fan of early detection.
@Allen George Dyer,
Good points, the tactics suck. I think what you have going on is a male group bonding experience brought on by the combined influences of testosterone, adrenaline, and endless weeks of boredom and crap duty punctuated by paperwork.
When something interesting presents itself I think the primal urge to get a piece of the action is far stronger than vague notions of tactics or common sense.
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