Craig Sawyers

I remember the school physics book that talked about generating static electricity. "Rub an amber rod with cat fur..." I wondered whether this experiment had ever been tested by the writers of such books. Here kitty kitty kitty..

Wooden, Krenov style scraper plane

For some reason they remind me of the chair in The Sleeper

Happy birthday!!

2,000 miles is a hell of a trip to storm the Capitol. And, as Voltron says - why Montana?

Abbey Road studio 1, London in 1971. Tannoy Monitor loudspeakers (just noticed Quad 303 power amp underneath the LH speaker)

Bogart in 1946. Cigarette in hand, the effect of which plus booze saw him off at age 57 And Hepburn in 1941 aged 34. She lived to the ripe old age of 96.

Wonder why the Mitutoyo calipers are on the foot stool?

Diana Rigg and Anthony Hopkins, taken when they were acting in MacBeth at the National Theatre in 1972. I'd walk over hot coals to turn back the clock and see what must have been a superb performance.

A very happy birthday Shelly!

And local to me

The Canadians are at it too https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40124476

It was not one of Quad's finest moments that is for sure. And on one channel only, an electrolytic is right above a power resistor, and cooks. So remedial action is to replace the two 3.3k resistors with something that can actually dissipate 0.35W, and space above the board anyway. And remove the dead electrolytics and mount replacements on the other side of the board away from the heat. Then remove the crowbars and fit a half way decent DC offset disconnect. Like this https://neurochrome.com/products/guardian-86 or this http://www.velleman.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p193_m4701a.html or this http://www.signaltransfer.freeuk.com/protect.htm just for starters.

The rated power for a resistor is in free air. So to push 0.42W into an 0.5W rating, it absolutely needs to be spaced from the board to allow convective air flow. If tight to the board, there is a hot area where it contacts the board and long term will lead to resistor failure. In fairness, even Tektronix have been guilty of that, with the board discolored under some resistors. Quad was less successful in the 405 power amp, where a 3.3k resistor feeding a 15V zener in underrated. In due course it fails open, putting one output to rail. The ridiculous crowbar then fires and short circuits the output. The power transistors and drivers then instantly fry. Then the crowbar itself blows up. Then the fuses blow.

Elizabeth Taylor, 1957, Kodachrome

An electrical horror story, from an Amazon page for a UK mains plug https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08M97WNB5?ref=em_1p_6_ti&ref_=pe_1229541_586024421&th=1 Part way down there is a how to wire it series of pictures. Live and neutral are the wrong way round. There are bare copper strands sticking out of the neutral (the one that incorrectly has the brown wire), and similarly the blue wire. And the cord grip doesn't secure the insulating jacket. In fact it contravenes just about every safety standard.

Over in blighty, there has been a ridiculously successful re-introduction of the red kite. This 6 foot wingspan raptor was pretty much extinct here, but is now a familiar sight in our neck of the woods. There are now apparently nearly 5000 breeding pairs. We see them pretty much every day. They are social birds and will hunt and roost in groups. Because of food pressure (they eat mainly carrion, and odd large insect) they are now almost feral, and will apparently occasionally take a small mammal. Beware cats! I'm sure the red kite has been responsible for some small cat disappearances. They are a real masters of the air

What sort of vehicle has bullet proof glass? And they both seem to be wearing flak jackets.

I somehow thought the punch line was going to be different

RIP Michael Collins. The man who orbited the moon but never walked there. That just leaves Buzz Aldrin from the first landing.

This is only an updated version of the FETRON, introduced in 1972 by Teledyne. A thick film hybrid JFET amp in the header of something that looked like a nuvistor. fetron.pdf

Happy birthday Kevin!

My son-in-law is an aborist in NSW Australia. In fact it is his company, and employs a team of 15. https://www.gibbontrees.com/ I can absolutely guarantee that they would not do what the palm tree clown did. In fact you can see on their website that they specifically offer palm tree maintenance and clearing.