IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Sometimes You Win One - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

A short while back, I noticed that there was a street sign error on one of the main local roads. Two different streets bore the same name of Beltagh Avenue. I wrote an item about it here and sent a message to the town about it.

Please see:  Two Street Signs  

That was about a month ago at this writing and I guess I was too cynical about whether my note to the town would result in a corrective response. Happily, I was wrong.

Look what happened:  

The street name error has been corrected, not just at this intersection but at another intersection down the block too where the same error had been made.

It's a nice feeling.

The Price of Style - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Post Office mail delivery errors have become so commonplace these days that they don't surprise anyone anymore. Sometimes however, maybe we ourselves contribute to the problem.

This letter got delivered to my son's address the other day. From the envelope, it looked like an invitation, perhaps to a wedding, perhaps to a Bar Mitzvah. The paper was of high decorative merit and the type font looked quite elegant.

However, the zip code in that elegant type font got misread and the letter ended up at the wrong house. 

I don't know if the reading error was made by a machine or a human, but it did happen.

I contacted the sender and made sure they knew what had occurred. It was indeed a wedding invitation and they were very happy that I had made sure that plans did not get derailed.

Anti-Ringing Diode, Continued - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Please first see the following URL.   Anti-Ringing Diode   

The effect of adding the anti-ringing diode can be seen in this pair of scope traces taken from a test coil wound on the buck converter's inductor.   

While I would like to have been able to remove that 10 nF (0.01 µF) capacitor, doing so led to more EMI related mischief than I could deal with in the available time and money situation. My concerns for the power MOSFET remain as I described before, but so far this thing has been working well for quite some time now. 

Adobe Updater - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Every time this PC boots up, the following Adobe Updater window appears. 

The PC is running 32-bit Windows Vista. This started happening one day several yeas ago and it's been going on ever since.

Can anybody offer any info on this? Can anybody tell me how to get rid of it?

Funny Things Yet Again - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I spotted this at a local department store. Is there some reason for the association?  

 

Are these construction barrier stands really just high wattage 39K resistors in disguise?  

 

We bought some interestingly sized silverware the other day. One box was marked as containing "teaspoons", but what we found inside were spoons that were too big to be "teaspoons" and too small to be "tablespoons".

I guess we'll have to call them "teablespoons".  We kept them. 

 

Do you think this car is having fun?   

 

Where the brave dare not go?  

Unknowns - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

There are so very many "unknowns" in this world.

Physicists still don't know the "Theory of Everything", we don't know what if anything lies beyond the edge of the observable universe, we don't even know what it was that we had for dinner back on September 10th of two years ago. Unknowns just abound.

Still, now and then, an unknown comes along that kinda catches the eye like this particular one caught mine:   

This sign is located in the rose arbor at Old Westbury Gardens here in Long Island. It was posted for a rose of an unknown variety which was introduced to the world at an unknown date and which was planted in the rose arbor site at an unknown date, presumably by someone themselves unknown.

Still, when this rose comes into bloom sometime this June, it will undoubtedly provide enjoyment for garden visitors.

I guess that much is known.

I recommend a visit.