Craig Sawyers

Hope you had a superb spaced out day!

Joni Michell was awarded a Kennedy Centre Honor yesterday. This is a seriously prestigious award (which bizarrely I had never heard of before) https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kennedy-center-honors-lorne-michaels-joni-mitchell-1.6274668

My hated Garmin was so screwed up that it thought that a new road we were driving was still a field. "Turn around when possible". Then after an update it started announcing E road numbers (At the next junction join the M4, E9). When it finally died I really enjoyed tossing it in the recycling. Now use google maps on the phone.

I used to go to Boston fairly regularly on business, and I well remember trying to navigate the road system. The thing that really screwed me up was coming to an intersection and all it said was a route number and North or South. So give me a hint by at least mentioning a place name. Or in the pitch dark, stair rod rain, zero visibility, unable to see the white lines, on a deserted road. Such fun 😉

14 Peaks on Netflix. About Nimsdai Purja climbing all 14 mountains over 8000 metres. All in the Himalayas of course. In 7 months. Previous record: 7 years. In the process he broke 6 mountaineering world records. Stunning. One of these massive mountains he did with a stinking hangover! https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81464765 By the same production team that did Free Solo https://films.nationalgeographic.com/free-solo about Alex Honnold free climbing El Cap in 3 hours. Full thing on Amazon Prime. I defy you not to grab the arms of the chair and curl your toes for that one.

Frank was life president of our running club - Abingdon AAC - and used to run with us back in the day. He was a real nutcase runner, and used to take his drivers for a run around a F1 circuit so they could "understand" the circuit better. He was fast! Then, aged 44 and on his way to the Airport in the South of France, focusing on a half marathon he was going to run he next day in London, lost control of the car, broke his neck and became tetraplegic, living the last 35 years wheelchair-bound. He was always very accepting of what happened to him, with a ready smile. Born in South Shields, and a Geordie like me. RIP Frank, you were a real character on all sorts of levels.

Yes that is so true. My dad died at the too-young age of 71 in 1994 and my mum at 85 in 2008. I'd give a whole lot to have them back to chat to over a few beers. Still miss them after all this time.

Happy birthday!

I somehow read that post completely differently 😆

RIP the dead when an SUV ripped at speed into a Christmas parade in a small community in Wisconsin. At least five dead and 40-odd injured. He first hit schoolchildren and then a parade of dancing grannies. The police have the bastard in custody,

Another of Cameron's stunning photographs. Charles Darwin in 1868

Actress Ellen Terry, aged 16 - photographed in 1864 by a wizard of early photography, Julia Margaret Cameron in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. I've visited the museum in her house and studio. (Apart from Cameron's astonishing work, there is a bronze statue outside of Jimi Hendrix)

That is why it is half the number of orderings for ones not mounted on a heatsink - 3, as I said above. That assumes you are not twisting the leads out of a straight line.

For a transistor mounted on a heatsink there 6 possible lead orderings, 3!. For a small signal transistor that you can insert either way round, that reduces to 3 effective orderings. 3!/2. I'll get my coat...

Roubo would absolutely have approved of that bench! A thing of beauty.

Or you could tackle one of these https://www.linkwitzlab.com/ . The LX Mini is a monopole and the LX521.4 is a dipole. Craig

I agree with both of those. I *have* had good components from both, but also fakes. The worst was my original T2 build, when I bought 2SC3675's from Nikko (it was called Dalbani back then). They were fake, with low breakdown voltage. There were sparks when I turned the T2 on the first time. Major collateral damage - it killed all the lateral FETs too and a bunch of other stuff. So in particular avoid those suppliers. I bought fake MT200 package power transistors from an eBay seller (neither of the above). I fortunately tested them on a curve tracer before using them. Low breakdown voltage (150V instead of 250V) and heavy beta modulation. Cracked one open and found a tiny piece of silicon in there 10% the area of a genuine part. Reported it to eBay - absolutely no action. As far as I know he is still selling them.

Oh dear - so very sorry Steve. Deep condolences and thoughts to you and your family at this difficult time.

Oh dear- I'm so sorry to hear the latest bad news, Steve

The usual transplant is lungs and heart at the same time. Fingers crossed that a donor is found. A guy that worked for me had had a heart transplant. Perfectly healthy, in his late 20's, got bad 'flu, and it went for his heart muscle. Thing was, he got to meet the donor! The donor had had a heart lung transplant, because his lungs were screwed. But his heart was in good shape, so my guy got his heart. So while in recovery, they met up in hospital and kept in touch. Each decade he had a party of the heart. He made it for over thirty years since his transplant, which is an exceptionally good timescale. As Torpedo says, we're a bit foggy how the system works in the US - but best wishes for a good outcome.

Bloody hell - what a nightmare of a job.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!