EEVblog #888 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

More Mailbag!

SPOILERS:
Electronics Dummy Load and the problems with paralelling MOSFET's
http://github.com/dangrie158/SmartDummyLoad
http://www.nupo-artworks.de
Atheist Book: Christian Mythology for Kids
http://christianmythologybook.com/
Metal Rectifier, / Selenium Rectifier.
Hornby Triang model train P5A Power Controller.
Gtronics Protoshield Plus for Arduino: http://www.gtronics.net/en/products/arduino-proto-shield-plus
Mitsubishi MT-398FOR6A Analog Mobile Phone
Swiss Tools Screwdrivers

[HighVoltage]

Really  nice to see those PB Swiss Tools in your mailbag.

I have a set of PB-Swiss-Tools ALLEN BALL END Hex tools.
And they are by far the most precision Hex key Wrenches I ever had.

I should check out, what else they have.

[Brumby]

The Triang train controller - I have one too!

Recognised it at this point...


Must see if I can dig mine out...

[Barny]

I have an "Kleinbahn" train controller.
Its an very interesting one.

Its content is a Transformator & a red dipped selen rectefier, a bimetal strip for overload protection and a switch to reverse the polarity.
Nothing else.

The speed was controlled by tapping of the voltage from the exposed top windings of the transformator with an slider.

[imidis]

More mailbags please! My addiction and jealousy can't help but request! 

[samnmax]

I have an "Kleinbahn" train controller.
Its an very interesting one.

Its content is a Transformator & a red dipped selen rectefier, a bimetal strip for overload protection and a switch to reverse the polarity.
Nothing else.

The speed was controlled by tapping of the voltage from the exposed top windings of the transformator with an slider.

Old Spanish "Ibertren" train controllers worked the same way, although i think the rectifier was a normal silicon diode bridge.

[TheAmmoniacal]

You have to do another mailbag on the small ones / letters. I have already assumed that my letter (non-paper stuff in it though!) got lost in the mail or something, but it might show up eventually 

[TheAmmoniacal]

He should try that one day, put them in piles in order of arrival and take the most recent pile for each mailbag.

[jancumps]

...

The speed was controlled by tapping of the voltage from the exposed top windings of the transformator with an slider.

The same principle was used in my Jouef HO controller. Aaaah those were the days

[bryanrj1]

If your mailbag item isn't showing up when you expect it to, then use the following "from" address: Ally Sheedy, Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, and use a Shermer High School T-Shirt as packing material.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[tszaboo]

Two thumbs up!

Yarr!

[Flipflop]

I had a triang Scalextric transformer that was similar to the train transformer but only had an overload breaker on the front sloping panel and a single pair of 12volt terminals on the rear. I can't remember if it had proper rectifier diodes or not though.

[VK3DRB]

The only thing worse than religious nutters is atheist nutters.

[TheAmmoniacal]

The only thing worse than religious nutters is atheist nutters.

Why?

[rt]

FSM: I presume after the Brymen Dave will be bringing out a EEVblog branded colander?

After all tongue-at-correct-angle doesn't cut it without the correct head gear

rt

[Fungus]

The only thing worse than religious nutters is atheist nutters.

I assume that was a troll.

(at least, I hope it was a troll...)

[Fungus]

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs

Hitler was entitled to his beliefs?

How about slave owners, were they 'entitled' to theirs...?

Modern day suicide bombers?

People who refuse to take their sick baby to prayer session instead of a hospital?

These two are just opposite ends of the same spectrum.

I can go on all day long listing people who are not entitled to their beliefs, but I can't think of a single atheist belief that somebody shouldn't be entitled to. Can you think of one?

[TheAmmoniacal]

The only thing worse than religious nutters is atheist nutters.

I assume that was a troll.

(at least, I hope it was a troll...)

Everyone is entitled to their beliefs. But nutters is nutters. These two are just opposite ends of the same spectrum.
Not that I want to start a religion tangent. Nutters exist in many fields. Unity gain for example. Lotto numbers syndicates is another.

One is right and one isn't, I think that makes a difference.

[VK3DRB]

I can go on all day long listing people who are not entitled to their beliefs, but I can't think of a single atheist belief that somebody shouldn't be entitled to. Can you think of one?

You sound like you are a member of the Stasi. Devout atheists can believe what they want to, as can devout followers of Jesus Christ. Everyone is entitled to believe that they want. You cannot control what people think. And you cannot control what anyone believes. You don't own them. Even Illuminati believers are entitled to believe their conspiracy theories. Its a basic human right.

However it is not a human right to harm or kill innocent people based on misguided beliefs or downright lies. The Islamic State Mujahideen execute those who do not believe their exact beliefs. As the Roman Catholic Church did to the Cathars. In some ways Mao's Cultural Revolution was the atheist version. The result was the same, by psychopaths with the same mindset: Either believe as I tell you to believe or be humiliated, tortured or executed.

An issue here is when people have to put up with unsolicited ear-bashings from Illuminati believers, Jehovah's Witnesses, devout atheists, politicians or high pressure salesmen. It is bloody annoying.

[Fungus]

In some ways Mao's Cultural Revolution was the atheist version. The result was the same, by psychopaths with the same mindset: Either believe as I tell you to believe or be humiliated, tortured or executed.

Yes, many dictators have applied the label "Atheist" to what they do. Mao's Cultural Revolution, Lenin's misuse of Marx's remark that 'religion is the opiate of the people', etc.

Look a teeny bit deeper though and you'll find that their 'atheism' was just a label, nothing more. What they really wanted was a way to destroy the church because the church has power, and, well... they were dictators. State-enforced atheism was a means to that end. Hardly any of their actions demonstrated actual Atheism though.

An issue here is when people have to put up with unsolicited ear-bashings from Illuminati believers, Jehovah's Witnesses, devout atheists, politicians or high pressure salesmen. It is bloody annoying.

There's your problem, right there. You think Atheists are selling something.

They literally can't be doing that though because they don't have any beliefs to sell you. Atheists don't have beliefs, they accept evidence. It's not the same thing at all.

eg. I don't believe in evolution, I accept evolution (until a better theory comes along).

If you're hearing atheists tell you what to 'believe' it means:
(a) You're not actually listening to them, and
(b) You think all opinions are equally valid.

[rrinker]

 But who are you to decide which opinions are valid and which are not?

 The idea of enslaving a people is totally unacceptable by TODAY'S societal norms. But in past human history, it was standard practice for a conqueror to enslave the conquered. By today's standards - that is evil. By the standards of the day, it was an absolutely normal concept.

 That's part of the problem with looking back and 'interpreting' history. LOTS of things done in the past are reprehensible to modern society, but to really understand what was going on you need to apply the morals of the day, NOT modern morals. There are things we do that we consider proper civilized behavior that past cultures would consider absolutely reprehensible. Problem is, until someone invents a fully functional flux capacitor, we can only look back at recorded history, they can't see forward, nor can we, so see what 'normal' will be 1000 years from now.

 No, everyone is entitled to whatever opinion they want, no matter how reprehensible it may seem to others. ACTING on such opinions is a different story. There is not nor do I hope there EVER is a "thought police". There is no crime in thinking about offing your nutcase neighbor who wakes you up every weekend by mowing his lawn at the crack of dawn, but if you actually go and attempt it - THAT is a criminal act.

[Fungus]

The idea of enslaving a people is totally unacceptable by TODAY'S societal norms. But in past human history, it was standard practice for a conqueror to enslave the conquered. By today's standards - that is evil. By the standards of the day, it was an absolutely normal concept.

Nope:
a) There have always been people speaking out against slavery. At the end of the day people knew it was wrong.

b) If you were a slave would you sit around thinking, "Well, I guess master's entitled to his opinions..."?

No, everyone is entitled to whatever opinion they want, no matter how reprehensible it may seem to others.

Nope. Sick babies should be taken to hospital to see a doctor, not prayed over.

your nutcase neighbor who wakes you up every weekend by mowing his lawn at the crack of dawn

You wouldn't go downstairs and try to change his personal belief system?

[rrinker]

 You are making exactly the mistake I mentioned, you are applying modern day moral standards to history. Who was speaking out against slavery in ancient Egypt?

There's nothing wrong with someone having the belief that should their child get sick, some fantasy creature will heal them. Again, should that come to be, and they then ACT on that belief, then they are committing a crime based on the laws put in place by contemporary moral standards. How do you prevent this, other than better education? It is equally reprehensible to go around and ask everyone what they believe and if they say they believe god will heal their sick child, arrest them or take the children away even if they aren't sick and haven't been harmed.

Free thought and free speech means you need to accept that some people will say or think things you personally can't stand. We can't go down that rabbit hole of policing thoughts. Actions - that's a different story.

[TheAmmoniacal]

Moral and cultural relativists are the worst.

[Fungus]

It is equally reprehensible to go around and ask everyone what they believe and if they say they believe god will heal their sick child, arrest them or take the children away even if they aren't sick and haven't been harmed.

Nobody's proposing anything remotely like that. What's needed is a society where it would never happen in the first place, a society where praying to heal a sick baby is viewed on about the same level as going to Africa to catch slaves or state-sponsored courts trying young girls for witchcraft.

What shouldn't be happening is the government adding "In God We Trust" to the banknotes or putting the Ten Commandments in courtrooms.

This new society can only come through education and atheists not being afraid to speak out publicly.

....and that is why Dave should be putting a bit of atheism in his videos. A bit here, a bit there, it all helps. If somebody watches the James Randi video after watching a Dave video then it's a bit more light shone on a few more cockroaches.

PS: It's also Dave's channel and he can say what he likes.

Free thought and free speech means you need to accept that some people will say or think things you personally can't stand.

That's all fine and dandy... until they organize themselves into gangs.

Me? When I see stuff like that happening then I speak up (and I don't understand why you just shrug).