Leaderboard

When Voyager 1's camera was turned back towards earth, five and a half light hours away in 1990 (it is now 23 light hours distant), Earth was captured in less than a single pixel in the image. Of this pale blue dot, Carl Sagan said "From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. — Carl Sagan"

As a Jew myself, I fully stand by Israel. Mike makes a lot of true and salient points. Even the "illegal" settling of the West Bank was done AFTER several surrounding countries attacked Israel, and they gained the land. The Sinai peninsula is another example of that. But Israel gave that land back to Egypt as a part of a peace settlement. The Palestinians - in Gaza or the West Bank - have never agreed to any peace settlement with Israel. So Israel has not given back the West Bank. They HAVE left Gaza alone, and have been out of there basically since 2005 IIRC. The non-Israeli's in the West bank have continued to send suicide bombers into Israel, so it's always a hotbed of violence. The bombing of Gaza is indeed massive. I have mixed feelings about that because 1) until Hamas is removed there will just be more bombs/missiles/attacks on Israel, and 2) thousands of civilians are dead and tens or hundreds of thousands displaced. I wish it wasn't happening, but I still lean to Israel's side because of #1 above, AND the fact that this wouldn't be happening if October 7th hadn't happened. And any sign of weakness with Israel is a sign for others to do what Hamas has done. I will ALSO recognize that Netanyahu uses this to exercise his power in war. I cannot stand Netanyahu, indeed he is a right-wing power hungry asshat who would marginalize many in Israel, Arab and Jew alike. I also condemn the settlers who force their way into the West Bank. I would like to hope that some day it can be part of the Palestinian/Arab state and self-govern...peacefully. Tens of thousands of Israeli's have protested Netanyahu's attempts at grabbing power and many of his policies. But I will always support Israel, and condemn Hamas and any non-peaceful Palestinian. Mike is right, Palestinians cheered when the dead bodies of some of the Israeli's were paraded around. I also think they've been taught only with propaganda that everything wrong in their lives is because of Jews/Israel. In many ways they don't know better. I was having a passionate but relatively peaceful debate with someone, who was also focusing on the horrible conditions in Gaza. I asked the same question as noted above: would this be happening if October 7th never happened? And when he said that Hamas doesn't represent all Palestinians, I agreed. Then I asked: why don't they protest or revolt? And the answer was that the people in power wouldn't let them or accept it (they have actually killed those who rally against them). So of course, I then asked: who is oppressing the Palestinians more? The answer is clearly Hamas. They place weapons and fighters in or next to civilian locations (schools, hospitals, etc.) and don't let people evacuate (or at least until so many have died and they can use it as propaganda). There are videos from their leaders saying they will have civilian casualties to achieve their goals. I'm rambling....I'm not as firm as Mike to say you MUST support my thoughts or like my posts. But I understand his passion, because as Jews we KNOW what it's like when people do nothing (ref: Hitler and Germany in WW2). What I would ask is to do some research and help form a stronger opinion. Research at how Palestinians have been kicked out of several Arab countries (because of the elements of violence) and are not welcome even as refugees. Read what Hamas stands for (eradicating Jews in Israel, as well as globally). Understand who is the MOST oppressive to the Palestinian people, what "genocide" REALLY means (guess what: Hamas is genocidal in intent, Israel is not), and then recognize that Jews have been marginalized and attacked globally and throughout history perhaps more than any other race/religion. And also do research into how many Arab on Arab conflicts have resulted in dead Palestinians and other Arab populations, and try and understand why there is so little outcry for the Palestinian people in those situations. Because it's not Israel doing it.....that's a sure sign of Antisemitism.... So I get where Mike is coming from, and feel much of the same fear and sometimes anger. I don't expect anyone to like my post, but at least to read it and try to learn more, to help understand.

Ric, thanks for that document. I think it covers a lot of what happened that time fairly accurately from what I've read and heard. I also had known about it not guaranteeing a formal Palestinian state, but had also heard that the intent was to pave the way towards that goal after some time of peace, and the UN would hear the vote on that like it did with Israel originally. But it was indeed both sides - the attacks from the Palestinians that didn't stop, and the settlers in Israel who pushed into West Bank - that didn't allow the process to go further. It was interesting to see the point of view that the settlers were LEGALLY allowed to continue their population of the area. But personally I don't agree with that argument, and see them as morally and ethically wrong. If you want true peace, Israel has shown they'd trade land for it (if peace can be truly kept). And in Gaza, Israel fully backed out years ago. I would hope that someday this will happen again. I worry that the violent elements like Hamas have too strong a hold, and Israel needs to get rid of Netanyahu and his ilk from positions of power as well. Major work for both sides....each is trying to cement their hold on their respective citizens.

After everything said here recently, it's probably worth reading today's look back at the last serious attempt at peace, including the rise of Hamas and Netanyahu. Plenty of complications and blame to spread around. For those without NYT subscriptions PDF attached. Thirty years ago, a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seemed achievable. The story of how it fell apart reveals why the fight remains so intractable today. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/20/magazine/israel-gaza-oslo-accords.html Why the Oslo Accord Between Israelis and Palestinians Failed.pdf

Thanks folks, what a weekend. Started in Brussels for the Govt Mule - Warren Haynes show then proceeded to Amsterdam for Saturday through today. At the airport waiting to board my plane for Alicante Airport and home.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix) Did you like the original Scott Pilgrim movie or the comic? Then you will almost certainly enjoy this! Pretty much every member of the cast is back to voice act their roles. I'm about 4 episodes in and finding it quite enjoyable.

No can do, Mike. As in, I don’t really think it’s possible and I also don’t want to. If you want to take a break, short, long, or otherwise from this place you are free to do so as an exercise of your free will. But I won’t be the thing that prevents you from coming back. That seems like the exact opposite of how I feel about this. It also feels very much like revisionist history and would likely break/ruin quite a few good threads around here. Jacob did it once and it was awful. I know this has affected you deeply, Mike. And just so we’re clear, I liked your earlier post because I agree, you’ve always been a great part of this community and incredibly generous with your support. @skullguise - thanks for taking the time to write your response.

spaghetti al’assassina with little caesar’s bread sticks we had left over

I think the desire not to ruffle feathers when other people have strong opinions on both sides, is the reason for many not wanting to post. I also believe that history has shown that to be a very dangerous action. I hate war, but war is going to continue until humans are gone as a species. It's sad, but it's true. Sometimes you have to take a stand. I am appalled at Hamas' terrorist methods. I believe that they will continue to indiscriminately kill jews at any chance given. So the obvious solution is to not give any more chances. I don't apologize for my stance. Expecting a heavily discriminated group of people to accept being slaughtered is as insane as wanting to slaughter them.

The duet is firewire, so you'd just nee the the thunderbolt to firewire adapter, and the thunderbolt to thunderbolt 3/4 adapter. I have all the parts, I should validate that it works with current revisions of macOS

To get the balance servo out of the way I would disconnect R84 and R85 from the opamps and then tie their loose ends to ground. This mimics both opamps' outputs at the center level. Disconnecting R88 and R90 alone may not be ideal because the opamps have input offset voltage and can still integrate against it over time. However, if you measure near zero at the opamp outputs you can leave it as is and not worry about R84 and R85. Check to see if the J79 is shot or fake. That enhancement mode PMOS FET takes about -0.45V Vgs to conduct 10mA. Note that the mu of EL34 in triode connection is about 10. So under the same plate current, 5-6V of Vg difference would cause 50-60V difference on the plate. Do you measure and match the parts before putting them in the amp? The voltage drop on the LED depends on the current and part-to-part variations. I see some people like to push them all the way down on the PCB. Not only you can't measure the voltage drop easily on the component side, but it's also bad due to thermal stress. I remember when I first used LEDs they were pretty fragile, soldering needs to happen at least 5mm from the body with tweezers to help dissipate the heat. D7 and D8 are in very different locations. You probably mistake one for another. True. The balance between O+/O- can affect the CCS a little bit but not enough to throw the LED off that much. Your starting point is that V(R17)=V(R27). Going down the chain, the cause for D10/D11 (I assume you meant those) to drop less than their counter parts are: 0) poor LEDs, 1) Q11 or Q12 stole too much current (easy to verify by measuring across R21 thru R26) , or 2) Q13 thru Q15 have low Hfe (harder to verify but unlikely). There are two feedback paths that maintain the battery negative voltage, the front-end servo and the global NFB. For the front-end servo, Q26 & Q27 Vg↑ → Q34 Vb↑ → I(R9 & R10)↑ → U1 Vk↓ → U1 Va↓ → U2 Va↓ → Q4 & Q5 Vs↓ → Q26 & Q27 Vg↓ For the global NFB, Q26 & Q27 Vg↑ → Q26 & Q27 Vd↓ → U3 & U4 Vk ↓ → U3 & U4 Va ↓ → U1 Vk↓ (see above for the rest of the loop) It looks like there are multiple problems. So bad parts or questionable PCB connectivity?

I, uh, bought a new camera. ...and by "new" I mean "a Kodak Duaflex III, made between 1954 and 1957. It's a TLR and and by "TLR" I mean "not at all, actually." Real TLRs have a pair of identical lenses that can be focused. They also usually have a proper adjustable aperture. The Duaflex here has none of that. It has a fixed focus 72mm Kodet lens with a 3 position Waterhouse (think 19th century) aperture. The viewing lens is not the same as film lens and is, to use the technical term, a pile of crap. With all of that said, the camera was $10, and I will never put a roll of film through it. I'm going to use it for through the viewfinder shots using digital camera (5D and iPhone probably, but don't put it past me to try out infrared TTV). I'd prefer a proper TLR for TTV photos and over a long enough period of time I'll get one. For a ten spot I'll futz around with damn near any piece of camera gear. The store where I bought it had the original flash that came with the camera when it was new. (Pictured here in far better shape than what they had.) Vintage flashes are of exactly zero interest to me. Also, they're enormous. I can't imagine trying to wrestle one. I also bought another 135mm manual focus prime. No cap as the kids say. More on that later. Also also I've been learning about the 600mm and 800m primes Canon makes for their R series mirrorless bodies. More on those (much) later.

I'm driving to my Brother's house for Thanksgiving. My ailing Mother recently moved there to live with him and his wonderful wife. I'm worried this may be her last Thanksgiving and absolutely have to be there. My Mother is very excited about my visit and has volunteered me to cook Thanksgiving dinner. There is historic reason for her to do so. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner in Texas for almost 20 years. Most years for around 20 people. My Mother tells everyone that I make a better Thanksgiving dinner than she ever did. That's not really true, but I thoroughly enjoy doing it and do a pretty good job of it. I cook my turkey upside down. You don't get the Norman Rockwell photo opportunity, but it is so much juicier and tastier. And I always make my homemade macaroni. I consider it my best dish of all time, and somehow my Brother has never had it. So that'll be fun. So I actually do make quite a few good dishes. But I fully admit that I can't make a better pumpkin pie than Costco, so I know where to put my efforts and where to offer Costco $7.99 for money well spent.

You use the verb "making" the same way my sister-in-law uses it for holiday dinners. For me, unwraping the plastic and warming in the oven is not the same as "making". But then I am no Jose Andreas.

I too am making a pie for Thanksgiving. And by making I mean I bought it at Costco and will drive it to Arizona.

I'm not sure why you are or are not surprised Mike. I don't know enough to comment significantly, so I don't. I can't like something as horrible and tragic as all of what is going on in Israel these days. My sister in law is Jewish. Our kids' best friends are Jewish. Does that matter? Not to me. They are great people, regardless of religion, that's what I know. As for what you expected from HC I don't know what to think about that comment either. I think you know that ultimately this is one of the most compassionate and caring corners of the internet. Did it spring into action to support your post? I guess not. But I'm not sure how it could have either. What I do know is that this place has rallied unlike any other to support its friends, time and time again. I think this is a good place, one largely free of hate. But it remains imperfect, like everything else in life.

Jimmy has been in hospice for nine months and Rosalynn for only two days. They both took a lot of shit while in office and then continued to serve others for over forty more years. RIP Rosalynn.

I’m too busy filling my armory to comment. P

I'm sorry, but I am not sure what you are trying to imply. Just because no one comments does not mean that no one has an opinion (informed or otherwise) or that silence means that you are right or that everyone agrees with you or that there are not counter arguments to what you have written. The lack of comments could simply be that no one wants an argument with you (especially with your privileged role as a moderator), or start a flame war. If the protagonists on both sides in Palestine where equally reserved perhaps there would be fragile peace or even better a pathway to some solutions to the problems. Each side can point to the past, to past atrocities from the other side, atrocities that fuel more retribution and atrocities and naturally lead to attack is the best form of defense arguments. Until there is forgiveness and a willingness to not look at the past the deaths on both sides will probably continue at infinitum. International law says Israel illegally occupied the west bank (United Nations resolutions, including 446, 452, 465, 471 and 476 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016 reaffirmed this yet again) and then illegally (advisory opinion by the primary judicial organ of the UN in 2004) built settlers homes on what amounted to the front line. If this had occurred elsewhere in a different context the international community would be sending an army to throw the occupiers out... Given this it is hardly surprising Hamas and the Palestinians also use the argument that the Israel is responsible for the deaths and that attack is the best form of defense. And so the atrocities and deaths continue on both sides, each blaming the other and each attacking the other and calling it defense and the human suffering continues.

Stroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere):

RIP former first lady Rosalynn Carter. She was married to Jimmy since 1946(!)