What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

[fresh_42]

I'm beginning to feel like the Spanish Inquisition here. "Among the languages that use an umlaut are..."

I haven't written that "saublöd" in the mids of an English commentary. If it was actually real English, then English uses umlautse, too.

Use English subtitles. At 2:55 in

https://www.facebook.com/EurosportDE/videos/466394181584727

 

[WWGD]

Good point. I think it just means an exception to the pronunciation rules there: you don't merge the vowel sounds. It has a similar function in Spanish.

So apart from Spanish, French, Russian and heavy metal, only German uses the umlaut. So we call it an umlaut.

If I'm right, then the Danish Smørrebrød is pronounced Smörrebröd, which by the way is the Swedish spelling! Yes, Russian distinguishes between ё and e, and moreover has ю which sounds similar in some words. And what is the ë in French Noël?

I'm beginning to feel like the Spanish Inquisition here. "Among the languages that use an umlaut are..."

Well, Beck has a song "Que onda Güero "

https://genius.com/Beck-que-onda-guero-lyrics

But you're conveniently igoring new Jerseya "Haagën Dasz"

 

[WWGD]

I guess elements of Windows' Character map are a perfect example of a set without a natural order.

 

[fresh_42]

Oh, dear! I'm getting old. I have forgotten Hungary. It has ö and ü plus similar accents like French which count as extra letters: three versions of ö and three versions of ü. And of course, Turkish has lots of ü, and ö, too.

 

[WWGD]

Oh, dear! I'm getting old. I have forgotten Hungary. It has ö and ü plus similar accents like French which count as extra letters: three versions of ö and three versions of ü. And of course, Turkish has lots of ü, and ö, too.

Stretching UTF8 to the limit.

 

[Borg]

Who wants to be a Billionaire (or at least $650 million with the cash option)? Tomorrow's Today's MegaMillions jackpot is over 1.1 Billion! I know the odds are impossible but having one ticket at least puts you in the running.

 

[WWGD]

Who wants to be a Billionaire (or at least $650 million with the cash option)? Tomorrow's MegaMillions jackpot is over 1.1 Billion! I know the odds are impossible but having one ticket at least puts you in the running.

It'd be interesting if no one wins it a few times, to end up with surreal jackpots of some $4-5 billion. But once it reaches those levels, rumor spreads , and everyone buys a ticket, so someone ultimately wins.

 

[Borg]

The last two jackpots were 600+ and 800+ million respectively. Word is already out since the jackpot increase is around half of the ticket sales. Today's drawing will probably be well in excess of the current 1.1 billion estimate. I'll be surprised if it ends up less than 1.3 by drawing time.

EDIT: Already up to 1.28 since this morning's estimate.

 

[Mayhem]

Trying to understand the theory behind RSA encryption makes me understand why programmers hate when their nephews ask if they "can hack facebook". This is not trivial at all.

 

[WWGD]

Summer time. Shorts and dress socks are like tree-rings to tell a person's age. The higher up, the older.

 

[fresh_42]

Summer time. Shorts and dress socks are like tree-rings to tell a person's age. The higher up, the older.

I observed that basically every woman here who turns 40+ colors her hair Mahogany red and darker. You can tell their age by their hair color.

 

[collinsmark]

Gwaah! My telescope has been sporadically thinking that all stars are somewhere down near the center of the Earth!

Its declination motor has gone into runaway mode several times now with increasing frequency. This has the tendency to damage expensive equipment (camera, etc.) -- there might have been damage already; the camera has crashed into the fork-base more than once now.

I think I've narrowed down the problem to the declination motor's relative encoder.

Fig. 1 Declination motor, relative encoder

But the problem could be (hopefully), just a loose connection to the circuit board controller.

Fig. 2 Declination subsystem. The encoder's control wires are connected to the circuit board via the 4-pin blue connector to the right (the blue connector that is partially hidden by wires in the image).

The connector might have inched out a little due to vibration over time. It's not clipped into the circuit, rather it's only held on by friction. I've unplugged and replugged the connectors, and hopefully that fixes the issue.

If not, I've got another encoder coming in the mail from Digi-key just in case.
https://www.usdigital.com/products/encoders/incremental/kit/e4t/

If the re-seating of the connectors doesn't work out, my telescope might need some surgery.

 

[dlgoff]

It's not clipped into the circuit, rather it's only held on by friction.

Maybe you could use a wire tie around the connector and circuit board to hold it in place:

image from this search: https://www.google.com/search?q=wir...6Be0Q_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=1024&bih=448&dpr=1.25

 

[collinsmark]

Gwaah! My telescope has been sporadically thinking that all stars are somewhere down near the center of the Earth!

[...]

If the re-seating of the connectors doesn't work out, my telescope might need some surgery.

Update: Well, it happened again. 'Looks like surgery is in the near future.

Parts (organs) should arrive by early next week, I estimate.

I've had the telescope since 2008 (I think. It might have been 2007). So it's not really new. Things do wear out, and from what I can tell from Internet forums, these relative motor encoders do wear out after awhile. If it's not dirt/dust/scratches on the optical disk, it's just the aging of the LED/photodetector.

So I bought two new encoders, one for the declination motor, and the other for the right ascension. Fortunately, these encoders are not too terribly expensive (they're "relative" encoders, as opposed to "absolute." Absolute encoders, which are not compatible with my scope, cost a fortune.)

I'm glad that I'm at least a little tech savvy. Packing it up and sending it to Meade for repairs sounds like a nightmare to me. Particularly since I'm in the process of upgrading to a bigger telescope anyway. Until then, I'm hoping to fix it myself.

The fact that I'm making preparations for a different scope is a little ironic. It's like my present telescope is pissed off and rebelling. Maybe jealous?

In the mean time, I still might be able to get some imaging done. The problem is intermittent.

 

[pinball1970]

The fact that I'm making preparations for a different scope is a little ironic. It's like my present telescope is pissed off and rebelling. Maybe jealous?

In the mean time, I still might be able to get some imaging done. The problem is intermittent.

I posted in the James Webb thread and remembered 24th February today.
Besides imagining myself and everything/everyone I know going up in flames I also thought of Webb at the time.

I even imagined the telescope continuing with settings, pre-programmed calibration and testing then sending down images in June/July...
The most amazing ever yet taken...
To an obliterated world, no one on Earth would ever see them.

Not the most rational few weeks of life.

Anyway I also thought of this from your post.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/hubbles-future-in-the-webb-era/

 

[WWGD]

I can never find my Levi's 404 jeans.

 

[WWGD]

Weird , confusing exchange about song "Under Pressure" for like 30 minutes. I was referring to the one by ZZ Top, the other person to the one by Queen.

 

[Ibix]

I can never find my Levi's 404 jeans.

I wore my 406s to a club, but the doorman wouldn't let me in. I think my brother borrowed my 410s. My 413s I can't wear because I bought them when I was younger and fitter. I tore my 502s on a nail going through a gate. The pockets are too small on my 507s. My 510s I turned into cutoffs. And my 418s appear to be a nerdy joke.

 

[Astronuc]

Space debris refers to equipment in space that no longer works. Most space debris burns up while reentering the atmosphere, and much of what’s left over often falls in the ocean. However, with more spaceships entering orbit — such as those from private companies like SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk — impacts on land may happen more frequently. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/large-object-landed-sheep-farm-122342021.html

The trunk segment, which is used to carry cargo and also includes the spacecraft ’s solar arrays and radiators, is jettisoned from the body of the capsule shortly after the burn is completed when it goes out of orbit. “It typically burns up in the atmosphere over the open ocean, posing minimal risk to public safety,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Last week, after debris from a large Chinese rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, the administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, issued a rebuke, saying that China “did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth.”

Last year, a malfunction caused a SpaceX rocket stage to complete an uncontrolled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere near Seattle in what looked like bright objects lighting up the night’s sky. Pieces of the burning rocket debris landed on a farmer’s property in Washington state. The debris had reentered the atmosphere after 22 days in orbit.

The rural area of Australia where Miners discovered the space debris on July 25 lies about 100 miles south of the capital, Canberra.

 

[collinsmark]

Telescope repair update:

Last night it was clear for a couple a few hours, but my telescope was not cooperating. The declination runaway problem went from being intermittent to happening constantly. I had to give up after gathering only 20 minutes of data.

I haven't received the optical encoders yet. As a matter of fact, according to Digi-Key's website, they haven't even shipped yet.

This afternoon I saw that the forecast was clear skies all night. Gaah! it's the first fully clear night in weeks! I couldn't just twiddle my thumbs all night, waiting. I had to do something. Anything that might help. I didn't really have anything to lose. For all I knew, a termite might have laid her eggs in the optical encoder, and all I needed to do was clean it out. I had to at least try.

So I decided to try to clean or fix the existing encoder, as long as I'm waiting for the new ones to arrive. So I carefully ripped out the declination motor assembly, and took it up to my private laboratory (pronounced lab-OR-a-TOR-ee).

Fig 4. Declination motor assembly in laboratory. Much of the hot glue that Meade put on it has been carefully stripped away with an X-ACTO knife by this point.

I had to take an X-ACTO knife and remove as much hot glue as I could. I'm not sure why Meade used the hot glue, but it was concentrated around the motor's electrical connections and the encoder's electrical connector (the one on the encoder itself). Maybe it's to prevent corrosion? I don't know, I'm guessing Meade had their reasons.

By the way, that thing to the left in Figure 4 that looks like a back-to-the-future flux capacitor is a choke coil, I assume. Presumably it's to prevent the motor's back-emf from damaging the controller board. Or maybe it's for electrostatic discharge reasons, but I'm still guessing back-emf. (Do you think it could be there to reduce RF interference caused by the motor? This scope does support GPS, so maybe it's to reduce the interference caused by the motor, with the GPS receiver in mind, maybe.)

The optical encoder is that thing on the end of the motor that has the label on it.

Btw, for those who don't know, an optical encoder is able to provide feedback letting the motor controller know how far the motor has advanced and in which direction.

Fig. 5 Theory of operation.

Figure 5 shows the basic theory of operation. The encoder that I'm working with is like that, except the encoder disk has one side completely reflective, thus allowing the LED source and the two photodetectors to all be mounted on the same side of the disk. (To be clear, one side of the glass disk has the stripes on it, and the other side of the glass is mirrored.)

Anyway, after getting rid of most of that hot-glue, I was was able to take off the encoder's cap. Everything appeared to be in working order (visually). There didn't appear to be anything I could do besides dust it off. So that's what I did with a handheld air blower. I put the cap back on. I also removed and re-seated the encoder's electrical connector that was previously covered in hot-glue.

I reattached everything back out on the telescope. Good news: it seems to work now! I don't know what I did. But maybe one of the photodetectors or the LED had big piece of dust on it or something. I'm not sure.

Before it got dark I slewed it back and forth for several minutes without problems. So far tonight I've been able to image nearly 4 hours so far, and everything is still working.

Of course, the problem might rear its vomitus, disgusting head again. The problem was intermittent before. I just hope it lasts until the new encoder arrives. So far so good.

Edit: Oh, and @dlgoff, I have a package of hundreds of these cable ties. I need to remove the flux-capacitor-looking choke coil everytime I remove the motor assembly, since its covering a screw I need to get to. Then I put a new one on when I reassemble. But I have plenty. I should have enough to work on the thing hundreds of times. Thanks!

Fig. 6 cable ties by the hundreds.

 

[WWGD]

Met this guy in his 70s. He's healthy mentally and physically. He inherited some money and now he's considering doing a PhD in either Physics or Greek Studies. He ask my advice after finding out I had a degree. No clue what to tell him.

 

[Borg]

Tell him to go for it.

 

[WWGD]

Tell him to go for it.

I did. Interestingly, he appreciated me listening to him and gave me...a bottle of Mayo, one of Mustard and an A.1 Steak Sauce. I told him " Ah, I guess you just came from shopping?". He replied: " No, why?" ?

 

[WWGD]

I did. Interestingly, he appreciated me listening to him and gave me...a bottle of Mayo, one of Mustard and an A.1 Steak Sauce. I told him " Ah, I guess you just came from shopping?". He replied: " No, why?" ?

I don't mean to imply he's insane or something, I just found it a bit unusual.

 

[Borg]

I don't mean to imply he's insane or something, I just found it a bit unusual.

I would lead with that next time.

 

[fresh_42]

I would lead with that next time.

Next time? He should bring steak and salad. In case you didn't get the hint, @WWGD .

 

[WWGD]

Next time? He should bring steak and salad.

So many times someone brings a t-shirt that reads something like " I love Chocolate"
and I fail to bring mine that reads
" So do I".

 

[malawi_glenn]

Oh, dear! I'm getting old. I have forgotten Hungary. It has ö and ü plus similar accents like French which count as extra letters: three versions of ö and three versions of ü. And of course, Turkish has lots of ü, and ö, too.

Ö is used a lot in swedish. Same with Å and Ä.
∅ empyt set, is norwegian Ö.
Swedish set theory be like Ö$\cup$Ö $=$ Ö

 

[fresh_42]

Ö is used a lot in swedish. Same with Å and Ä.
∅ empyt set, is norwegian Ö.
Swedish set theory be like Ö$\cup$Ö $=$ Ö

Geschmortes Brot says it all.

 

[Ibix]

∅ empyt set, is norwegian Ö.

A Møøse once bit my sister...

 

[malawi_glenn]

A Møøse once bit my sister...

Älg

Pretty scary creatures, "king of the forest" we call them here

 

[fresh_42]

A Møøse once bit my sister...

This isn't funny. We just learned that it is pronounced with an ö, and this is a word that would require a serious warning for profanity.

 

[Ibix]

This isn't funny. We just learned that it is pronounced with an ö, and this is a word that would require a serious warning for profanity.

It's a reference to the closing credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which go off on an absurdist tangent about moose. My knowledge of German profanity is quite limited - if I've hit on something rude by accident feel free to delete.

 

[fresh_42]

It's a reference to the closing credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which go off on an absurdist tangent about moose. My German profanity is quite limited - if I've hit on something rude by accident feel free to delete.

Nonsense. I was joking. But it is a very nasty word for a female body part.

I once was handed a shot by Hungarian-speaking relatives of my then-girlfriend in Romania. I speak neither language. So I didn't understand the "cheers" and thought I was asked to say the German word for it. I did. It turned out that it meant "idiot" in Romanian. So instead of lifting my glass with a loud "cheers" I accidentally lifted it with a loud "idiot".

 

[malawi_glenn]

Nonsense. I was joking. But it is a very nasty word for a female body part.

I once was handed a shot by Hungarian-speaking relatives of my then-girlfriend in Romania. I speak neither language. So I didn't understand the "cheers" and thought I was asked to say the German word for it. I did. It turned out that it meant "idiot" in Romanian. So instead of lifting my glass with a loud "cheers" I accidentally lifted it with a loud "idiot".

First time I was in poland, I thought everybody was so nice they kept saying "tack" all the time, which means "thanks" in swedish. But it actually meant "yes" in polish...