Grounding and lightning.

Skybuck Flying wrote:
Another interesting story, death included :

"
Neither talking on a land line phone nor taking a shower increases the
chances of lightning directly hitting your house BUT, as yuandrew
said, both of these activities do increase your chance of injury or
death should a direct hit happen. In fact, 1 to 2 people a year are
killed by lightning, in the U.S. while talking on a wired phone
inside a building. The number injured is much higher. Wireless phones
and cell phones are safe. "

FWIW, I was talking on the phone once with a neighbor when lightening struck. We
both heard the CLAP, but she received a significant shock. Funny thing, but for
several days, her hearing was ultra sensative - she could hear really well.

I checked the wiring for the phone line coming into their house, and discovered
that when some plumbing work had been previously done, the ground wire for the
phone system had been removed from the water pipe at the hose bibb. That was why
she got shocked.

Bob F wrote:
Skybuck Flying wrote:
Another interesting story, death included :

"
Neither talking on a land line phone nor taking a shower increases the
chances of lightning directly hitting your house BUT, as yuandrew
said, both of these activities do increase your chance of injury or
death should a direct hit happen. In fact, 1 to 2 people a year are
killed by lightning, in the U.S. while talking on a wired phone
inside a building. The number injured is much higher. Wireless phones
and cell phones are safe. "

FWIW, I was talking on the phone once with a neighbor when lightening struck. We
both heard the CLAP, but she received a significant shock. Funny thing, but for
several days, her hearing was ultra sensative - she could hear really well.

I checked the wiring for the phone line coming into their house, and discovered
that when some plumbing work had been previously done, the ground wire for the
phone system had been removed from the water pipe at the hose bibb. That was why
she got shocked.

I'd say, she was pretty lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

Paul

Paul wrote:
Bob F wrote:
Skybuck Flying wrote:
Another interesting story, death included :

"
Neither talking on a land line phone nor taking a shower increases
the chances of lightning directly hitting your house BUT, as
yuandrew said, both of these activities do increase your chance of
injury or death should a direct hit happen. In fact, 1 to 2 people
a year are killed by lightning, in the U.S. while talking on a
wired phone inside a building. The number injured is much higher.
Wireless phones and cell phones are safe. "

FWIW, I was talking on the phone once with a neighbor when
lightening struck. We both heard the CLAP, but she received a
significant shock. Funny thing, but for several days, her hearing
was ultra sensative - she could hear really well. I checked the wiring for
the phone line coming into their house, and
discovered that when some plumbing work had been previously done,
the ground wire for the phone system had been removed from the water
pipe at the hose bibb. That was why she got shocked.

I'd say, she was pretty lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

Paul

She was NOT happy about it.

On 5/27/2011 9:10 PM, Skybuck Flying wrote:
Since I am an electronics engineer

Provide some certs, clown. I'd love to see who gave *you* a diploma.

Kinda sorta explains the whole thing. I did start college as an EE back
in 1968, but didn't finish the 1st quarter. "Uncle Sam" changed my
plans... but I did have about a 3.2 GPA for what time I did have.

"Unca Sam" (USAF) did teach me what I didn't know already, but I'd
already decided that I'd be happier as a tech.

It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or
even product. They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent
thousands of hours playing "voice-controlled scope-probe
operator(VCSPO)" supporting engineers.

One of my favorite memories was doing prototype tech on a severely
complicated power supply for "Secure Voice Comm" for US Navy submarines
back in 1983. Things weren't(as usual in proto) going well, so I'd spent
about 30 hours of VCSPO with one particular engineer.
Said engineer suddenly got this funny "glazed eye" look, stood up, and
screamed

(drumroll)
"I designed THIS? It's a mind ****!!"
(20 seconds of dead silence, then applause (mostly vulgar))

I'm not knocking ALL engineers, but I've seen far too many that think
and act like SkyBuck. When they don't have a practical background to
work from, they drag out all the "oo-wee-oo" crap to explain it away.



--
"**** this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me mother****er?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum

Where did I write that...

If I did write that somewhere then it:

1. Either wasn't me.

or

2. I ment software engineer ! =D

or

3. I was just having fun with my hardware ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck =D

"Nobody (Revisited)" wrote in message
...

On 5/27/2011 9:10 PM, Skybuck Flying wrote:
Since I am an electronics engineer



Provide some certs, clown. I'd love to see who gave *you* a diploma.

Kinda sorta explains the whole thing. I did start college as an EE back
in 1968, but didn't finish the 1st quarter. "Uncle Sam" changed my
plans... but I did have about a 3.2 GPA for what time I did have.

"Unca Sam" (USAF) did teach me what I didn't know already, but I'd
already decided that I'd be happier as a tech.

It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or
even product. They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent
thousands of hours playing "voice-controlled scope-probe
operator(VCSPO)" supporting engineers.

One of my favorite memories was doing prototype tech on a severely
complicated power supply for "Secure Voice Comm" for US Navy submarines
back in 1983. Things weren't(as usual in proto) going well, so I'd spent
about 30 hours of VCSPO with one particular engineer.
Said engineer suddenly got this funny "glazed eye" look, stood up, and
screamed

(drumroll)
"I designed THIS? It's a mind ****!!"
(20 seconds of dead silence, then applause (mostly vulgar))

I'm not knocking ALL engineers, but I've seen far too many that think
and act like SkyBuck. When they don't have a practical background to
work from, they drag out all the "oo-wee-oo" crap to explain it away.



--
"**** this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me mother****er?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum

On Tue, 31 May 2011 12:39:58 +0200, "Skybuck Flying"
wrote:

Where did I write that...

If I did write that somewhere then it:

1. Either wasn't me.

or

2. I ment software engineer ! =D

or

3. I was just having fun with my hardware ! =D

Bye,
Skybuck =D


Hmmm "software engineer". I've been out of school for a long time,
but I don't remember any such curriculum in my time. Help me to
understand this.... is it one step above or one step below a "Sanitary
engineer"?

On 05/31/2011 01:53 AM, Nobody (Revisited) wrote:
On 5/27/2011 9:10 PM, Skybuck Flying wrote:
Since I am an electronics engineer

Provide some certs, clown. I'd love to see who gave *you* a diploma.

Kinda sorta explains the whole thing. I did start college as an EE back
in 1968, but didn't finish the 1st quarter. "Uncle Sam" changed my
plans... but I did have about a 3.2 GPA for what time I did have.

"Unca Sam" (USAF) did teach me what I didn't know already, but I'd
already decided that I'd be happier as a tech.

It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or
even product. They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent
thousands of hours playing "voice-controlled scope-probe
operator(VCSPO)" supporting engineers.

That varies from company to company, industry to industry, and place to
place. I was impressed when I interviewed at Magnavox Nav Systems (I
think that was the name...) that every engineer had his own personal
technician.

But that was in LA. The companies that I've worked at (a couple of
teeny ones, FLIR Systems, and Intel) certainly expected you to hold your
own scope probe, if not your own soldering iron. This is not unique
where I live and work (the Portland, Oregon area) -- it exactly matches
the impression I get from my engineering friends. Having sufficient
test equipment that you don't have to steal from your buddies is
considered a nice luxury, having enough technicians running around that
the engineers never got to touch product would be just plain weird.

Perhaps you were working for a union shop?

One of my favorite memories was doing prototype tech on a severely
complicated power supply for "Secure Voice Comm" for US Navy submarines
back in 1983. Things weren't(as usual in proto) going well, so I'd spent
about 30 hours of VCSPO with one particular engineer.
Said engineer suddenly got this funny "glazed eye" look, stood up, and
screamed

(drumroll)
"I designed THIS? It's a mind ****!!"
(20 seconds of dead silence, then applause (mostly vulgar))

Until you've been given a set of requirements that basically boil down
to "put ten pounds of s**t in a five pound bag, and get it done in less
time than an average board turn", you're in no position to criticize a
design engineer for doing something that's outwardly screwy.

I'm not knocking ALL engineers, but I've seen far too many that think
and act like SkyBuck. When they don't have a practical background to
work from, they drag out all the "oo-wee-oo" crap to explain it away.

Which may be why engineers are expected to hold their own damn scope
probes in Portland, Oregon.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

"Nobody (Revisited)" wrote in message
...
It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or even
product.

I'm know this happens at some places, but not anywhere I'd want to work.
Indeed, I've been specifically asked/told at interviews, "You can solder,
right? -- All of our engineers are required to have workable (if not
beautiful) soldering skills..."

They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent thousands of hours
playing "voice-controlled scope-probe operator(VCSPO)" supporting engineers.

I can't help but think that any company like that is quite inefficient...
which usually means that (1) they're a government contractor or (2) they're in
a very "exposed" position, likely to be killed by their competition. Both are
not exactly the kind of places most really good engineers wants to spent their
careers...

Check out the pictures on the cover of Jim Williams' book, "Analog Circuit
Design." Anywhere the engineers *don't* have benches that look a bit like
that, I'd be worried!

---Joel

On 05/31/2011 09:29 AM, Joel Koltner wrote:
"Nobody (Revisited)" wrote in message
...
It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or
even product.

I'm know this happens at some places, but not anywhere I'd want to work.
Indeed, I've been specifically asked/told at interviews, "You can
solder, right? -- All of our engineers are required to have workable (if
not beautiful) soldering skills..."

I had an uncle who did EE at Boeing. During the interview process, he'd
reach into a drawer and hand his victim a soldering iron, business end
first, and say "here". Grabbing the 'ouch' end without hesitation meant
that the candidate would soon be politely ushered out the door, never to
work for him.

They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent thousands of
hours playing "voice-controlled scope-probe operator(VCSPO)"
supporting engineers.

I can't help but think that any company like that is quite
inefficient... which usually means that (1) they're a government
contractor or (2) they're in a very "exposed" position, likely to be
killed by their competition. Both are not exactly the kind of places
most really good engineers wants to spent their careers...

Check out the pictures on the cover of Jim Williams' book, "Analog
Circuit Design." Anywhere the engineers *don't* have benches that look a
bit like that, I'd be worried!

---Joel



--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

On Tue, 31 May 2011 09:29:45 -0700, "Joel Koltner"
wrote:

"Nobody (Revisited)" wrote in message
...
It's quite funny how "engineers" get treated in hi-tech. Unless proven
otherwise, management won't let them touch tools, test equipment, or even
product.

I'm know this happens at some places, but not anywhere I'd want to work.

The last 10 years I was in IBM, technicians were more rare than hen's teeth.
There had been a steady downward path in that direction for the last 25 or so
years. It started with, "any engineer worth his pay can do technician work",
through "if I can hire one person, do I want an engineer or a technician" (see
above), to "there isn't any more work for technicians - you're all laid off".

Indeed, I've been specifically asked/told at interviews, "You can solder,
right? -- All of our engineers are required to have workable (if not
beautiful) soldering skills..."

As long as they don't make me use that commie solder! I refuse, which gets me
out of working on manufacturing problems and customer equipment. ;-)

They have a qualified tech do that for them. I spent thousands of hours
playing "voice-controlled scope-probe operator(VCSPO)" supporting engineers.

I can't help but think that any company like that is quite inefficient...
which usually means that (1) they're a government contractor or (2) they're in
a very "exposed" position, likely to be killed by their competition. Both are
not exactly the kind of places most really good engineers wants to spent their
careers...

Nope. I wouldn't work there.

Check out the pictures on the cover of Jim Williams' book, "Analog Circuit
Design." Anywhere the engineers *don't* have benches that look a bit like
that, I'd be worried!

I don't have a "bench". There are benches where I camp out, but it isn't in
any way assigned to me and I'm usually working between someone else's junk.
I'm really the only one who does any design anymore, too. The firmware types
work in their cubes/office.