EEVblog #856 - Mailbag

[SeanB]

That crappy multimeter had other issues Dave didn't mention. Most of the pins for the transistor tester socket weren't soldered, also a blob of solder on the plastic case under one end of the PCB.
I have a rather sturdy hammer to use on such products, so they don't fall into the wrong hands.

Just busy putting a new handle on the one I have, the old one broke........... Good thing is the hardware shop 50m away has a few spare ones in stock, for the price of $2. Now just have to do a little work on the fit and put a coat of paint on the handle and some furniture oil on the new Meranti handle.

[Cerebus]

In China it is normal to put the family name first, so Jianwei and Haibin are their given "first" names, and Song is their shared family/surname.

The way I have heard Jianwei pronounced is with the 'Jian' as in "Jean-Luc Picard".  Not sure how close that is to the way a native would pronounce it.

The J at the beginning is a mix between an English 'ch' sound and 'j' sound. That's a bit of guess though because there have been about 10 formal systems of romanization of Chinese and dozens of informal ones. Without knowing which is being used it's a bit of a crap shoot; but the suggested pronunciation fits a very common name and I happen to know someone with the same name.

[NiHaoMike]

Directional cables actually do exist. The truly directional ones have multiple layers of shielding and the outer layer only connects at one end. The idea being that end should connect to the part with a more direct ground connection.

[Dawanpi]

In China it is normal to put the family name first, so Jianwei and Haibin are their given "first" names, and Song is their shared family/surname.

The way I have heard Jianwei pronounced is with the 'Jian' as in "Jean-Luc Picard".  Not sure how close that is to the way a native would pronounce it.

The J at the beginning is a mix between an English 'ch' sound and 'j' sound. That's a bit of guess though because there have been about 10 formal systems of romanization of Chinese and dozens of informal ones. Without knowing which is being used it's a bit of a crap shoot; but the suggested pronunciation fits a very common name and I happen to know someone with the same name.

The family name is Song https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_(Chinese_surname)
"Jianwei" and "Haibin" are given names. Both are very common in China.

[Neilm]

Dave should have kept that meter. It was marked 600V CATII which I think is a 4kV transient superimposed on the 600V. Could have used the high speed camera to film the explosion.

[apis]

In China it is normal to put the family name first, so Jianwei and Haibin are their given "first" names, and Song is their shared family/surname.

The way I have heard Jianwei pronounced is with the 'Jian' as in "Jean-Luc Picard".  Not sure how close that is to the way a native would pronounce it.

The J at the beginning is a mix between an English 'ch' sound and 'j' sound. That's a bit of guess though because there have been about 10 formal systems of romanization of Chinese and dozens of informal ones. Without knowing which is being used it's a bit of a crap shoot; but the suggested pronunciation fits a very common name and I happen to know someone with the same name.

The family name is Song https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_(Chinese_surname)
"Jianwei" and "Haibin" are given names. Both are very common in China.

I've heard it's common to have the same family name in China but the surnames given name is often more unique?

[apis]

I recently got several new Victorinox knifes, they really are great quality. When I was very young and very stupid we tried to deliberately break the blade on one but failed, it probably can be done but it survived a lot of abuse. I conjecture the most common failure mode is having it stolen or forgetting it somewhere (or confiscated by airport security).

[Macbeth]

I recently got several new Victorinox knifes, they really are great quality. When I was very young and very stupid we tried to deliberately break the blade on one but failed, it probably can be done but it survived a lot of abuse. I conjecture the most common failure mode is having it stolen or forgetting it somewhere (or confiscated by airport security).

I agree with this. My most prized possession at one point as a child was a Victorinox pen-knife that had EVERYTHING, eyeglass, rule, drivers, scissors, can opener, the lot. The electrician had left it behind and I figured "Finders Keepers" as he left it so long... and nobody noticed...

Unfortunately my mum found me showing it off to all the kids and strangely enough the electrician turned up soon after claiming he left a tool behind, and I had to sheepishly give it up 

Oh actually I remember another one around the same time - A continental lorry driver overturned his truck and all the police were out in force at the accident scene. I spotted amongst the truckers debris a very nice locking switchblade, which happens to carry an absurd mandatory sentence for carrying in the UK (I didn't know that when I was 10). I purloined it and sadly a copper spotted me and got it back. While the trucker probably got prosecuted for falling asleep at the wheel, he probably ended up in prison for 5 years for having the perfectly reasonable safety locking blade in his kit of tools at the time and it having no bearing on the accident whatsoever.

Sadly all the really good multi-tools will have locking blades, but a perverse lacuna in the UK knife law is that makes them illegal.

[apis]

Sadly all the really good multi-tools will have locking blades, but a perverse lacuna in the UK knife law is that makes them illegal.

Yeah, some knife laws are dumb. They had some trouble in Denmark recently, politicians had made further restrictions to their knife laws and suddenly people were sentenced to jail for having multi-tools in their car... And recently in Sweden prosecutors took a knife case all the way to the supreme court (woman had a folding kitchen knife in her bag when walking home from a friend, she had helped with preparing food for a party). Luckily they responded with a very reasonable list of when it is legal to carry knifes. Knives are tools, well pocket knifes anyway, and should be legal. A crochet needle is probably just as dangerous if someone is intent on causing harm, not to mention fists and legs, and people in general.

[Macbeth]

I have an inkling that those knife laws don't apply to "our new friends" - Saudi curved blade head-lopping scimitars and janburi daggers for example will be dealt with "diversity" and "cultural needs" taken in to account.

[Fungus]

It's probably for the best the watch didn't turn on: A cheap smart watch often peddled on eBay uses a pairing app for Android or iOS that contains a backdoor that quietly connects to an unknown Chinese IP address

Lucky for us the $1000 USA built ones don't connect to random USA IP addresses, eh?

[Fungus]

I conjecture the most common failure mode is having it stolen or forgetting it somewhere (or confiscated by airport security).

I was in the UK last week and I had my minichamp with me. I stupidly forgot to put it in my checked bag on the way back so I was worried they would confiscate it. I had it in my pocket and I put it in the tray with my keys and loose change. It got through two security checks just fine (technically it's not illegal to carry it, but...)

On the other hand: Both metal detectors I went through made a beep but on the other side they didn't check me for metal or make me go back through the arch. Both times they just swabbed the palms of my hands for chemicals. What's that all about? Do I look like a bomb-maker or drug smuggler?  The beep at the arch was obviously somebody pressing a button, not metal detection.

[apis]

I've heard it's common to have the same family name in China but the surnames are often more unique?

Define surname and family name.

Ah, I meant given name . Here it's common to have the same given name but not so common to have the same surname/last name. Someone told me it's the other way around in China, not sure if it's true?

[apis]

On the other hand: Both metal detectors I went through made a beep but on the other side they didn't check me for metal or make me go back through the arch. Both times they just swabbed the palms of my hands for chemicals. What's that all about? Do I look like a bomb-maker or drug smuggler?  The beep at the arch was obviously somebody pressing a button, not metal detection.

I've heard they can be set to beep at random when people pass through. It might have been to get a truly random sample of people to swab?

[Fungus]

On the other hand: Both metal detectors I went through made a beep but on the other side they didn't check me for metal or make me go back through the arch. Both times they just swabbed the palms of my hands for chemicals. What's that all about? Do I look like a bomb-maker or drug smuggler?  The beep at the arch was obviously somebody pressing a button, not metal detection.

I've heard they can be set to beep at random when people pass through.

It certainly wasn't because I had any metal on me.

It might have been to get a truly random sample of people to swab?

Twice in one day? Could be random.... but I'm wondering if it was because I was wearing baggy army trousers with lots of pockets. 

OTOH they're not supposed to profile based on appearance, right? That would be security failure 101.