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From: dagmargoodboat on 17 Oct 2009 19:57 On Oct 17, 12:18 pm, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSensel...(a)electrooptical.net> wrote: > 4. "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg. By a > tree-hugging Greenpeacey Scandinavian professor (but I repeat myself). > He teaches statistics, and thought it would be a great project for his > students to look at how the environmental movement uses stats to back up > their claims. Results: *almost none of them stand up*. He > found that claims that the environment was getting steadily worse were > all smoke and mirrors--on every single metric he could find, things had > improved a great deal in the last 20 years. It's really a devastating > critique of the lies and malfeasance of NGOs from somebody who used to > be a True Believer. (The howls of anger from the Left were even louder > than you might expect--this threatens to derail their gravy train.) He gave a decent TED talk on his premise. The compassionate left unleashed a vicious witchhunt against him over that book and their emotional (vs. intellectual) disagreement over how to do the most good in the world. It was pretty much a lynching. "Inclusiveness" and "embracing a diversity of opinions," I think they call that. I'm not sure if he survived it. Facts vs. emotion. Disagree, and they'll ruin you. Too bad. I was disappointed that, rather than just explain how Price- Waterhouse-Cooper's estimate of her bill was wrong, Nancy Pelosi just called 'em demons and threatened to slaughter 'em. e.g., http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul "Anyone who had any doubts about the need for [a government-run] option need only look at the behavior of the health insurance industry this week," Pelosi said. The speaker has been on the attack against health insurers for months, but the latest developments clearly strengthened her resolve to make them pay. She also said the House was now considering adding to its health care bill a $6.7 billion-a-year fee on insurance companies that is part of the Senate Finance package. "There are some things we'd like to see happen to the insurance companies that they might not like," Pelosi said. Light on the facts, heavy on the bluster. -- Cheers, James Arthur
From: JosephKK on 18 Oct 2009 00:03 On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:25:35 -0700, John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:53:38 -0700, >"JosephKK"<quiettechblue(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >>On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:29:42 -0700, John Larkin >><jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >> >>>On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:19:08 -0700, >>>"JosephKK"<quiettechblue(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >>> >>>>On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:09:40 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>wrote: >>>> >>>>>John Larkin wrote: >>>>>> On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:40:18 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>>> On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:58:01 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>>> <pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>> [...] >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Longterm, gigabit (and whatever comes next) Ethernet is the only >>>>>>>>>> reasonable instrument bus. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> John >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Sure, unless you need timing coherence between instruments. >>>>>>>> The IEEE-1588 protocol can sync boxes to within nanoseconds over >>>>>>>> ethernet >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_Time_Protocol >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Also there's all this nice stuff around that's GPIB & RS232. >>>>>>>> It's also nice when an instrument has a web-page interface, and can be >>>>>>>> telnet-ed to, without any PC plugin boards or drivers. Or distance >>>>>>>> limits. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> Hey, then you could sit there at Zeitgeist all day long and run it all >>>>>>> via a 3G phone :-) >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> I guess future instruments will be Twitter compatible. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>>Yeah, even IEEE fell for that. An engineer's organization, of all >>>>>places. Pathetic. >>>> >>>>And since when are engineers not people with all their follies? >>> >>>Good engineers discipline their follies with reason, so that the >>>things they design work. >>> >>>John >> >>Like MS Vista works? Like many MS compatible products? Like the >>Tacoma narrows bridge? Please study up on engineering failures, it >>might help you gain humility. > >Vista isn't engineering. There's no math, no theory, no science in >writing C++ GUIs. Read "Showstopper!" and then read some Windows >source code. > >I have a pretty good collection of books about engineering failures >(mostly civil and software stuff), company failures, scientific fraud, >and engineering philosophy. > >Just a few in reach on the shelf... > >The Hubbel Wars > >Plastic Fantastic > >Engineering in History > >Why Things Fall Down > >Why Things Don't Fall Down > >The Undergrowth of Science > >Why Things Bite Back > >Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs > >Showstopper! > >The World's Worst Aircraft > >The Truth About Chernobyl > >F'd Companies > >The Moth in the Machine > >and a bunch more, probably upstairs. > > >Read any of these? Any suggestions for others? > >But humility? Our stuff usually works first time, without prototypes, >because we doubt everything and triple-check everything. > >John > Parts of a few, thanks for the list, it goes into my shopping list.
From: JosephKK on 18 Oct 2009 00:08 On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:18:17 -0400, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless(a)electrooptical.net> wrote: >John Larkin wrote: > > JosephKK wrote: > >> Like MS Vista works? Like many MS compatible products? Like the > >> Tacoma narrows bridge? Please study up on engineering failures, it > >> might help you gain humility. > > > > Vista isn't engineering. There's no math, no theory, no science in > > writing C++ GUIs. Read "Showstopper!" and then read some Windows > > source code. > > > > I have a pretty good collection of books about engineering failures > > (mostly civil and software stuff), company failures, scientific fraud, > > and engineering philosophy. > > > > Just a few in reach on the shelf... > > > > The Hubbel Wars > > > > Plastic Fantastic > > > > Engineering in History > > > > Why Things Fall Down > > > > Why Things Don't Fall Down > > > > The Undergrowth of Science > > > > Why Things Bite Back > > > > Fatal Defect: Chasing Killer Computer Bugs > > > > Showstopper! > > > > The World's Worst Aircraft > > > > The Truth About Chernobyl > > > > F'd Companies > > > > The Moth in the Machine > > > > and a bunch more, probably upstairs. > > > > > > Read any of these? Any suggestions for others? > > > > But humility? Our stuff usually works first time, without prototypes, > > because we doubt everything and triple-check everything. > > > > John > > > > > >1. Normal Accidents, by Charles Perrow. Really good book on the way >that tight coupling, nonlinearity, and transformation processes interact >to produce system failures. > >His more recent one, "The Next Catastrophe" is way too shrill--he's been >drinking the anthropogenic Kool-Ade. (Not that there isn't a lot of >genuinely stupid stuff for him to complain about--it's just his tone, >and his relentless call for boatloads of new regulation. Superfund, >anyone?) > >2. The Inmates Are Running The Asylum. "What do you get when you cross >a toaster with a computer? A computer." All about the stupid >arbitrariness of software-driven things. > >3. "To Engineer Is Human" by Henry Petroski. About how engineering >failures drive engineering progress. Talks about the Hyatt Regency >walkways, the Tacoma Narrows, etc. > >4. "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg. By a >tree-hugging Greenpeacey Scandinavian professor (but I repeat myself). >He teaches statistics, and thought it would be a great project for his >students to look at how the environmental movement uses stats to back up >their claims. Results: *almost none of them stand up*. He >found that claims that the environment was getting steadily worse were >all smoke and mirrors--on every single metric he could find, things had >improved a great deal in the last 20 years. It's really a devastating >critique of the lies and malfeasance of NGOs from somebody who used to >be a True Believer. (The howls of anger from the Left were even louder >than you might expect--this threatens to derail their gravy train.) > >5. "Who Really Cares?" by Arthur Brooks. Another former true believer >who decided to document how much more generous liberals were with their >own money, and got mugged by reality. It turns out that as a proportion >of income, the working poor are far more generous than people on public >assistance at the same income level, and religious conservatives give >*three times* more of their income to charity than liberals. > >It's a real tribute to his honesty, because he's still a liberal >politically, but he now believes in 'compassionate conservatives', and >is trying to get liberals to be more generous with their own money for a >change. > >6. The reports of the Presidential Commissions on the Challenger and >Columbia disasters. Really good on how production pressure, >organizational cowardice, and (if you read between the lines) executive >failures cause disasters. > >Cheers > >Phil Hobbs Also added my must read list.
From: JW on 19 Oct 2009 05:54 On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:44:46 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in Message id: <7jm9viF3575hlU1(a)mid.individual.net>: >JW wrote: >> On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:10:57 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote >> in Message id: <7jhnrlF351k31U1(a)mid.individual.net>: >> >>> JW wrote: >>>> On Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:09:54 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote >>>> in Message id: <7ja1mpF2pe4k2U1(a)mid.individual.net>: >>>> >>>>> If you have to use equipment at clients a lot and its legacy HP stuff >>>>> the USB version is very practical. Plug it in, hit print on the >>>>> analyzer, done. But Abdul (the Prologix designer) and I had to iron out >>>>> a bias problem before it liked HP legacy gear. >>>> I've been having problems communicating with HP 60XX power supplies >>>> (6034 and 6038 come to mind) Do you have any details on the fix you might >>>> share? >>> >>> What kind of problem? If you have an older Prologix do a firmware >>> upgrade. The designer (Abdul) and I have found out that the logic >>> threshold on the Prologix is way too high. After some discussion it >>> turned out that pull-up resistors could be engaged inside the uC in the >>> Prologix. Not a perfect solution but that made it work with the HP3577. >>> So Abdul changed the firmware and made that available. >> >> I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, but any queries to the power >> supply will return garbage. Using John Miles' Prologix.exe GPIB >> configuration utility >> http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm#prologix >> When I do a simple ID?, the 6034A supply floods the program with what >> appears to be the <CR> character. The program will not accept any more >> commands and the windows hourglass is seen when the mouse is hovered over >> the Proligix.exe program. I have to shut off the power supply to get the >> program back under control. I did do a firmware update about 6 months ago, >> but I see there's been at least one update since then. I'll update the >> firmware again and see what happens. > > >I think it's about that long ago that he fixed the firmware, but check. > >That doesn't sound like a Prologix problem at all. Try to talk to the >power supply using Hyperterminal. A GPIB-equipped box should not respond >with a barrage of nonsensical data. What happened with mine was that the >responses were ok but one bit was stuck. So I always got a time-limited >set of data but when deciphering it the information in the data sounded >like Swahili. > >Sending was never a problem, receiving was because the Prologix >threshold sits around 3V and that's way too high for old bipolar TTL. >And that's what most vintage gear will have inside. I updated the firmware this weekend and tried using Tera Term Pro to communicate with the HP 6034A. Got the same result - floods the terminal emulator with what appears to be <CR> or linefeeds. Weird.
From: Joerg on 19 Oct 2009 13:59
JW wrote: > On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:44:46 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote > in Message id: <7jm9viF3575hlU1(a)mid.individual.net>: > >> JW wrote: >>> On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:10:57 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote >>> in Message id: <7jhnrlF351k31U1(a)mid.individual.net>: >>> >>>> JW wrote: >>>>> On Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:09:54 -0700 Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote >>>>> in Message id: <7ja1mpF2pe4k2U1(a)mid.individual.net>: >>>>> >>>>>> If you have to use equipment at clients a lot and its legacy HP stuff >>>>>> the USB version is very practical. Plug it in, hit print on the >>>>>> analyzer, done. But Abdul (the Prologix designer) and I had to iron out >>>>>> a bias problem before it liked HP legacy gear. >>>>> I've been having problems communicating with HP 60XX power supplies >>>>> (6034 and 6038 come to mind) Do you have any details on the fix you might >>>>> share? >>>> What kind of problem? If you have an older Prologix do a firmware >>>> upgrade. The designer (Abdul) and I have found out that the logic >>>> threshold on the Prologix is way too high. After some discussion it >>>> turned out that pull-up resistors could be engaged inside the uC in the >>>> Prologix. Not a perfect solution but that made it work with the HP3577. >>>> So Abdul changed the firmware and made that available. >>> I'm not exactly sure what the problem is, but any queries to the power >>> supply will return garbage. Using John Miles' Prologix.exe GPIB >>> configuration utility >>> http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm#prologix >>> When I do a simple ID?, the 6034A supply floods the program with what >>> appears to be the <CR> character. The program will not accept any more >>> commands and the windows hourglass is seen when the mouse is hovered over >>> the Proligix.exe program. I have to shut off the power supply to get the >>> program back under control. I did do a firmware update about 6 months ago, >>> but I see there's been at least one update since then. I'll update the >>> firmware again and see what happens. >> >> I think it's about that long ago that he fixed the firmware, but check. >> >> That doesn't sound like a Prologix problem at all. Try to talk to the >> power supply using Hyperterminal. A GPIB-equipped box should not respond >> with a barrage of nonsensical data. What happened with mine was that the >> responses were ok but one bit was stuck. So I always got a time-limited >> set of data but when deciphering it the information in the data sounded >> like Swahili. >> >> Sending was never a problem, receiving was because the Prologix >> threshold sits around 3V and that's way too high for old bipolar TTL. >> And that's what most vintage gear will have inside. > > I updated the firmware this weekend and tried using Tera Term Pro to > communicate with the HP 6034A. Got the same result - floods the terminal > emulator with what appears to be <CR> or linefeeds. Weird. Hang a scope onto a few data lines and take a look. This is not normal, unless the HP6034 is defective. Is there some mode where the HP6034 functions "talk-only"? I don't know for power supplies but for analyzers that would be the print function. This must result in a data packet of constant and well defined volume. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM. |