Today I Learned

[fresh_42]

Fascinating. I wonder if the cause of this Fairy Ring fungal characteristic is related to that of ringworm.

I've seen caution alerts for less!

 

[1oldman2]

TIL, That all this time I thought my dog was named after a moon of Uranus (Oberon), today I saw the spelling is Oberyn and the name comes from Game of thrones.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Today I learned

TIL, That all this time I thought my dog was named after a moon of Uranus (Oberon), today I saw the spelling is Oberyn and the name comes from Game of thrones.

He is the king of fairies!

 

[1oldman2]

Today I learned

He is the king of fairies!

Oh no! His other designation is Uranus IV, a china company a brewery etc. etc. according to Wiki, I'm laughing in my mind. Could this be associated with fairy rings?

 

[jim hardy]

I hope this helps somebody

Today i learned why there are so many laptop power receptacles for sale on Ebay.

Mine got to where i had to hold it to make contact. Then it quit altogether .
I might've mentioned that earlier... i promised pictures.
First fix only lasted a couple weeks.

It cracked right behind the connector
here's the connector

here's where it cracked

how the small things of the Earth confound the mighty, eh ?...

Okay, first time i just soldered over the crack.
and
had to reassemble it multiple times because i kept forgetting to hook up cables or leaving out parts
and two of the little black retainer clamps that hold the flat cables into their connectors crumbled away
this one killed my sound and usb ports

other one disabled the power switch but a matchstick held it sort of in place

After a couple weeks the power connector cracked again
so That day I Relearned "You can't use solder to replace mechanical strength"...
So i took it all apart again
pulled that rear piece out , the L shaped one (that cracked ) at rear of power connector going down to the board,
... replaced it with a piece of flexible #24 wire

sorry, i didnt get an "after" picture

I wrapped the teeny wire around that short stub at connector backside, where the crack is, and soldered it in place there and down on the board leaving a stress relief loop in it.. Now if it needs to flex it can do so. It only has to handle 3 amps which #24 can do .
@Planobilly i sure need better soldering equipment for this newfangled stuff. It's Hideously tiny.

Put it back together again - and lost another little black connector. retainer/clamp. Screen wouldn't work.

Rats ! This is getting old !
off to computer shop to see if he has a junkpile with boards to scrounge little black connector retainer thingies, no luck.

Let it sit two days while i resist the urge to "Terminate" ...

Okay one last try
i looked for plastic about the right thickness to jam into those connectors to hold the flat cables down in lieu pf proper retainers .
Aha ! trial and error ... uswag too...
the top from a cottage cheese container is nice polyethylene and proved a snug fit.
With magnifier glasses and scissors i cut pieces to size and was able to work them in under the pins with needle nose pliers.
Flat cables are nice and tight now without matchsticks(which didnt work well anyway) .

.At last, tonight, old laptop is going again . It ran four years prior without hardware trouble, touchpad shows the miles.. It owes me nothing .
...here it is all back together except keyboard .
Tools point to connector in previous picture.
.

Whew !
i made this post with it -Sorry if i bored you. Hope it helps somebody.

old jim

 

[Planobilly]

About Jim's laptop repair...

It is pretty inspiring than anyone would even attempt to repair a laptop in the first place. It is obvious that consumer computer devices are not designed to be long lasting or designed to be repaired. I have a hard time even speaking in a polite manner about such 'Hideously tiny" contraptions..lol

At first glance, one would think, a repair of this nature would fall into the realm of"electronics repair". The truth is that, it is more complex than just re-flowing a solder joint as Jim discovered in finding a solution to the issue. This is a "moving part" and the electrical chord can put all kinds of stresses on the removable connection device and it's connection to the PCB.

I assume there was little attention given to the mechanical characteristics of the connector during the design of the laptop. I have little doubt the the concept of "modulus of elasticity or resilience" ever came up even in passing conversation as it pertains to this component...lol

Repairing anything in today's world is a concept that is rapidly fading into ideas and methods of a distance past. We are increasingly living in a disposable world and "drowning on dry land" in a sea of junk.

Cheers,

Billy

 

[mfb]

That reminds me of this story.

Expected "repair" costs: $4500 to replace the battery pack in a hybrid car.
Actual repair costs at home: $10 for chemicals and a few hours of work

Needs experience with high voltage, however, and certainly kills any warranty for any parts.

 

[dlgoff]

That reminds me of this story.

Expected "repair" costs: $4500 to replace the battery pack in a hybrid car.
Actual repair costs at home: $10 for chemicals and a few hours of work

Needs experience with high voltage, however, and certainly kills any warranty for any parts.

Hopefully this isn't you cleaning the magnets buss bars.

image compliments of http://www.supraconductivite.fr/en/index.php?p=applications-accelerateurs

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Today I learned how to hold a barre chord!

 

[Pepper Mint]

TIL a monthly income for a cleaner in the US is around $1600.

 

[1oldman2]

TIL, That in December of 1944 the US army dispatched OSS agent (and former baseball star) Moe Burg to Switzerland to assassinate W. Heisenberg. After a period of time the hit was called off due to lack of opportunity, W. H. was much more fortunate than many physicists in Stalin's purges, makes me wonder how many in science have died over politics...

 

[zoobyshoe]

TIL, That in December of 1944 the US army dispatched OSS agent (and former baseball star) Moe Burg to Switzerland to assassinate W. Heisenberg. After a period of time the hit was called off due to lack of opportunity, W. H. was much more fortunate than many physicists in Stalin's purges, makes me wonder how many in science have died over politics...

I take it they were afraid Heisenberg was working on a bomb?

 

[1oldman2]

I take it they were afraid Heisenberg was working on a bomb?

Exactly, I came across this while reading "American Prometheus" a great bio of J. R. Oppenheimer. I highly recommend the book.

 

[Stephanus]

TIL, That in December of 1944 the US army dispatched OSS agent (and former baseball star) Moe Burg to Switzerland to assassinate W. Heisenberg. After a period of time the hit was called off due to lack of opportunity, W. H. was much more fortunate than many physicists in Stalin's purges, makes me wonder how many in science have died over politics...

Are you certain?

 

[1oldman2]

Are you certain?

Since this deals with Heisenberg there is an uncertainty principal involved. the info is provided on page 222 in the book I mentioned.

 

[jim hardy]

I take it they were afraid Heisenberg was working on a bomb?

i think there was an episode about that in the series "Heavy Water Wars", which we stumbled across on Netflix.

 

[OCR]

Are you certain?

It certainly looks that way...

From 24 January to 4 February 1944, Heisenberg traveled to occupied Copenhagen, after the German army confiscated Bohr's Institute of Theoretical Physics. He made a short return trip in April. In December, Heisenberg lectured in neutral Switzerland. The United States Office of Strategic Services sent former major league baseball catcher and OSS agent Moe Berg to attend the lecture carrying a pistol, with orders to shoot Heisenberg if his lecture indicated that Germany was close to completing an atomic bomb.

 

[Stephanus]

Today I learned, actually yesterday, that...
for multi cores processor there are as many as register set as the cores.
So for a computer with four cores there are 4 AX, 4 BX, 4 CX set.
And for hyperthreading cores, there are twice number of register set as opposed to non hyperthreading.
Thank you very much PF Forum.

 

[OCR]

Are you certain?

Oh my...[COLOR=#black]..[/COLOR]

That was a joke, wasn't it ? [COLOR=#black]...[/COLOR]

And it certainly was not an observable by me...[COLOR=#black]..[/COLOR] [COLOR=#black]...[/COLOR]

 

[CynicusRex]

Smartphone GPS does not work on the ISS.

"Commercial GPS equipment is hardcoded to not work at great altitude or at great speed to prevent GPS being used to guide weapons." –Robert Frost

 

[Borg]

Smartphone GPS does not work on the ISS.

"Commercial GPS equipment is hardcoded to not work at great altitude or at great speed to prevent GPS being used to guide weapons." –Robert Frost

Seems like overkill unless the U.S. thinks that North Korea is using iPhones to guide their missles.

 

[mfb]

Seems like overkill unless the U.S. thinks that North Korea is using iPhones to guide their missles.

Using commercial devices would certainly be more convenient than writing the software on your own. But yeah, if you can make a nuclear weapon and an intercontinental missile you can probably write code to determine your location and speed based on GPS signals.

 

[Ibix]

Seems like overkill unless the U.S. thinks that North Korea is using iPhones to guide their missles.

But at least they won't have sleek, stylish nukes...

 

[1oldman2]

But at least they won't have sleek, stylish nukes...

Their "PR" department is hard at work on that problem.

 

[1oldman2]

TIL, while browsing http://isslive.com/operations.html I learned that I have the training to perform at least one aspect of "contingency maintenance" aboard the ISS (This is a useful site for space geeks)

 

[mfb]

But can you bang with a hammer transferring an impulse of 0.6 kg m/s within 10% tolerance?

 

[OmCheeto]

TIL, while browsing http://isslive.com/operations.html I learned that I have the training to perform at least one aspect of "contingency maintenance" aboard the ISS (This is a useful site for space geeks)
...

First, we have to define; "hammer".

...
I told him to stop, turn off his lights, and give me his lug wrench.
He was somewhat perplexed, as changing his tire didn't seem to be the right option for fixing a "starter" problem.
Anyways, I rapped the top of both of his battery connectors, and said "try now".
The car started.

Just got back from a minor vacation, where my friends and I stayed in an AirBnB.
At one point, I broke the closet door in the hallway. "It won't close!"
One of my friends said; "Just kick it!"
So I did, and it fixed the problem.

TIL, that, IMHO, hammers, in all their incarnations, are most awesome tools.

 

[Pepper Mint]

Greg, TIL a Mexican of C++ gave your PF mobile product only 3 stars

 

[Stephanus]

Seems like overkill unless the U.S. thinks that North Korea is using iPhones to guide their missles.

Using commercial devices would certainly be more convenient than writing the software on your own. But yeah, if you can make a nuclear weapon and an intercontinental missile you can probably write code to determine your location and speed based on GPS signals.

@mfb beats me. That's what I'm going to say. I concur.

 

[Stephanus]

TIL, while browsing http://isslive.com/operations.html I learned that I have the training to perform at least one aspect of "contingency maintenance" aboard the ISS (This is a useful site for space geeks)
View attachment 103162

Hammers? But I think ISS is mostly United States', (although the "I" stands for International) not Russian's.
I can't help but remember a scene in Armageddon Movie.
There's a malfunction in "Freedom" shuttle ship. And here's the dialog between two astronouts.
American: Don't touch that you don't know American components.
Russian: American components, Russian components all made in Taiwan!
And the Russian produces a hammer, bangs it twice and voila! It starts.

 

[1oldman2]

But can you bang with a hammer transferring an impulse of 0.6 kg m/s within 10% tolerance?

Interesting, I've never thought of it that way.

 

[1oldman2]

First, we have to define; "hammer".

That would be a good start.

TIL, that, IMHO, hammers, in all their incarnations, are most awesome tools.

And then one day I got one of these...

 

[jim hardy]

TIL a violin string is thirteen inches long.
Well, some folks say 12$\frac{7}{8}$ inches .

 

[1oldman2]

TIL a violin string is thirteen inches long.
Well, some folks say 12$\frac{7}{8}$ inches .

Is that for the 4/4 model ? I think the length might easily vary by 1/8 of an inch depending on the ambient temperature, Its possible both lengths may be correct. How come no one has done a study on this yet? (as an unrelated comment, one of my favorite electric fiddle artists was Papa John Creech)

 

[jim hardy]

a very good PF friend gave me an old violin
my friend Harry and i started taking it apart today.
Harry used to be a luthier (another word i learned today)
it's very interesting
@1oldman2
it is a 4/4 size
but the neck appears to be shorter than standard ,
will get better measurement Friday.

http://www.alangoldblatt.com/specs/BaroqueInstruments.pdf

http://www.fretlessfingerguides.com/measure_violin_scale_string_length.html

http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?id=9922

marked inside "rebuilt 1928 " and a name, written in pencil, so it wasn't new then. Will get a couple of pictures up in some apropos thread