IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

170 Defective Ventilators in California - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I have today sent e-mail messages to Senator Charles Schumer, to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, to Doctor Anthony S. Fauci and to Governor Andrew Cuomo regarding a situation this nation faces with regard to defective ventilators received by California from Federal Government storage and a still larger and alarming implication.

Allowing for grammatical correctness of my four e-mail messages, the gist of my communication was as follows:

I read in today's news that  "California Gov. Gavin Newsom Says Federal Government Sent 170 Broken Ventilators" . I see this problem as only the tip of an iceberg.

Each ventilator contains electronic circuitry which must of necessity include components called "aluminum electrolytic capacitors". There is no alternative to the inclusion of such components.

If the ventilators have been in storage for an extended period of time, their capacitors will very likely have deteriorated. They may very well break down and fail if the ventilators, after extended storage time, are simply placed into service. Such appears to be the case in California's receipt of 170 broken ventilators.

I have published professionally on this issue at the following URL.

Please see:     https://www.edn.com/whats-the-maximum-idle-time-for-capacitors/

Before being brought into service, each ventilator must be examined for its functionality, for its readiness. I cannot estimate the degree of delay that such examinations might bring about, but if thousands of ventilators have been in idle storage for long durations, the effort of putting them into service will be enormous.

By extension, any other electronics based items that have been in long term idled storage are in the same jeopardy of malfunctioning. Even after the Covid-19 issues are resolved, this will remain a national problem in need of remedial attention.

The situation is analogous to the discovery by Senator Barry Goldwater in the early 1960s that most military electronics equipment of that time was highly vulnerable to radiation damage. He took steps which have today led to "rad hard" semiconductors being used in all military and space qualified applications.

History seems to have repeated itself.

Malware Alert, Old Scam, New Activity - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

An old malware issue, an issue about which we should all have long since been made aware, is still afoot and we have recently been a target.

We belong to a local organization whose membership number lies somewhere in the mid-fifties or so and among whom e-mails are regularly distributed with meeting info and the like.

Bad guys have apparently hacked into some member's PC and captured that person's e-mail address list because we have been receiving lots of messages ostensibly from group members, but which are NOT from those members.

The following is just one example:

The same old lesson still applies:

Do not willy-nilly just open a message that seems to have come from a friend or acquaintance and then click on some link. Take a GOOD LOOK at the sender's e-mail address and if it looks bogus like the one above, assume that IT IS bogus and just delete the message.

You can always later contact your buddy and inquire if something really was sent to you.

Covid-19, the Corona Virus by "Will remain Anonymous" - John Dunn

The following essay appeared on a local neighborhood bulletin board:

I'm a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I've been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria...there is little I haven't been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.

I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.

What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they " probably don't have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know..." and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.

I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games...that could be kyboshed too. Can you even imagine?

I'm scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.

But mostly, I'm scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.

Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and "fight for yourself above all else" attitude could prove disastrous.

I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let's meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.

Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts. Our children will thank us for it.

Seventeenth Century - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I just read an article entitled “How to properly use salutations in an email” at the following URL:  Salutations

Among other things, the author cautions against the use of “Hey there!” or “What’s Up!” or “To Whom it May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madame” with a hint that some expressions belong in the 17th century.

I once read about correspondence that was exchanged between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. To be sure, it was full of invective and quite harsh.

However, one letter from Burr to Hamilton was a very lengthy presentation of antagonistic prose which ended with the phrase “I remain your obedient servant.”

Eighteenth century??