Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[BU508A]

Ach! Zat iss not funny!

(actually it is hilarious)

It is one of my famous favourite sketches from Loriot. I tried it by myself and for me it was a real challenge.   

There is another German in the middle of London, selling German sausages and he is
also playing with this th-weakness of the Germans. Herman ze German.
http://www.hermanzegerman.com/

[tggzzz]

I never understood the issue Germans have with "th". Instead of breaking your tongue trying to emulate an version of English that no real people actually speak, just pronounce all "th"s like a "d" and people will just assume you learnt your English in Dublin

Two relevant characters have been lost: Þ/þ and Ð/ð. See, for example, Icelandic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)

[Cerebus]

I never understood the issue Germans have with "th". Instead of breaking your tongue trying to emulate an version of English that no real people actually speak, just pronounce all "th"s like a "d" and people will just assume you learnt your English in Dublin

Perhaps not, a 'lard and plaster' wall sounds very unappealing. 

Anytime you have to learn a sound in a foreign  language that has no cognate sound in your own language is hard. People who can do imitations have no difficulty and just copy the sound, those who can't just don't seem to be able to do it. I'd say that 90% of native English speakers can't get the ü in Rüdiger or Düsseldorf right (they are subtlety different, but neither sound exists in English), but have no difficulty with Fräulein because the 'äu' is just the English 'Oi', as in "Oi, you!".

[Tepe]

It is one of my famous favourite sketches from Loriot. I tried it by myself and for me it was a real challenge.   

Evelyn Hamann's facial expressions in this sketch are a lot of fun 

[McBryce]

As someone who grew up speaking Gaeilge, then English, then Afrikaans before moving to Germany and marrying a French women. I have definitely had my fair share of battles with languages

However, I seem to have won at least some of those battles: Everybody notices immediately that my wife is French when she speaks German, but many people I've met, thought I was German until I told them otherwise (or I started speaking English with a strong Irish accent, which just confused the hell out of them).

McBryce.

[BU508A]

As someone who grew up speaking Gaeilge, then English, then Afrikaans before moving to Germany and marrying a French women. I have definitely had my fair share of battles with languages

However, I seem to have won at least some of those battles: Everybody notices immediately that my wife is French when she speaks German, but many people I've met, thought I was German until I told them otherwise (or I started speaking English with a strong Irish accent, which just confused the hell out of them).

McBryce.

I grew up in Germany and I'm considering my english language abilities in the best case as "average". But a few years ago, when I was a student and worked for a little computer company I had one day a customer with some questions about his PC. He was a British guy and at one point he was asking me, if I was coming from Ireland. 
Not sure, if this was a compliment. 

[bd139]

So I just spent a few minutes being shown a shiny new Tesla Model 3 by a happy owner. Best feature? Built in fart machine! 

[ArthurDent]

I just got an email announcing this new Wavetek function generator which I had to check out on their official site to see if it was real (it is). I have owned an FY6600 by Feeltech for a few years and participated in the thread on that unit and modifications to that model and KKmoon branded units. I continue to follow the threads on the FY6800 and FY6900 replacement units. One of the complaints of all these models has been that Feeltech had poor customer support. I wonder if this will change that with the Wavetek branded FY6900 units. The price is certainly higher on this one.

https://www.wavetek.com/collections/function-generator/products/wavetek-function-generator-fy-6900

[bd139]

It’s a rebrand so service will be worse than the original vendor from experience.

[mnementh]

You know mnem has gone over the edge when he starts dressing his PSU in fishnet stockings...

 

A dragon has to do, what a dragon must do. Or so.

You found me out! My terrible, terrible secret... I'm a pervy little PSU fancier!

mnem
The pervier the better!

[med6753]

I'm jealous of all you guys who can speak and understand multiple languages. I have enough trouble just speaking my mother tongue. 

My younger sister was the linguist in the family. Fluent in French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Unfortunately we lost her to cancer in 2002.   

[Martin.M]

the language differents from UK to the states are easy to explain.

When a person say "this make me disapointed"  ( its british)
americans will say "this sucks" 
except our BD139 here, the fucking muppets was not british.

my wife is from the Philippines, so more rice, not always potatoes.
A lucky mixed life style here.

[bsudbrink]

I think that the weirdest little US/UK language difference is the phrase "I'll catch you up".

In the US, that would mean "I will fill you in on what happened while you were gone".

In the UK, it means "I will rejoin with you (either in a physical place, or electronic communication) at some later time".  To say the same thing in the US, you would say "I'll catch up with you later".

[Cerebus]

Two relevant characters have been lost: Þ/þ and Ð/ð. See, for example, Icelandic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)

Thorn survived in English quite late. When printing was introduced  Þ often was substituted with a y or printed with a glyph that was difficult to distinguish from a y, which is how "the olde inn" became "ye olde inn". The confusion is particularly bad in early 'black letter' fonts.

[med6753]

I think that the weirdest little US/UK language difference is the phrase "I'll catch you up".

In the US, that would mean "I will fill you in on what happened while you were gone".

In the UK, it means "I will rejoin with you (either in a physical place, or electronic communication) at some later time".  To say the same thing in the US, you would say "I'll catch up with you later".

That's similar to British "I'll ring you up" vs American "I'll call you"

But the strangest is the word "Fag".    A whole different meaning British vs American. 

[med6753]

The re-cap of the RCA 54-45 Scope is complete. Decent 5Khz square wave with minimal peaking.



Ran into an issue last night after the scope had been on for several hours. The trace suddenly went off screen and couldn't bring it back with the Vertical position control. See schematic. When the trace is centered on the CRT the both plates of the 12AU7 are at 320V as shown which is applied to the vertical deflection plates of the CRT. For some reason one plate jumped up to 420V and the other plate went down to about 175V. That put the trace way off screen. Replaced the 12AU7 with no change. Did a quick check of the resistors and found nothing out of line. But it is possible that one or more is drifting when heating up. I don't have a replacement 6BL8/ECF80 but I do suspect it's going “soft”. While not a common tube it is readily available on Ebay.

I discovered if I increased R9 from 47K to about 70K ohms I could get the Vertical amp somewhat back in balance and center the trace. But that's a temporary fix. After the holiday next week (U.S. Thanksgiving) I'm going to replace all the resistors in the Vertical amp and order a replacement 6BL8/ECF80. But in the meantime the scope will get more burn-in to see if any other issues come up. 

[mnementh]

Honestly I expect 3 years out of all white goods. Anything else is a bonus.

I never buy high end devices. My neighbour filled his kitchen up with top end Miele stuff, just so he could show everyone. Seen it being carted off a couple of times already which is funny as all he does is microwave stuff.

Agree wholeheartedly about the high end stuff. Having said that, maybe your neighbour wasn't disposing the Miele stuff because of unreliability.

Apart from that, the only kitchen item I buy expecting to have a limited lifespan is non-stick frying pans. I buy several of Asda's cheapest at the same time, and accept that the PTFE will inevitably wear, and that I might ruin it in short order by overheating it once.

The house we moved to has all stainless kitchen... but a hodge-podge of quality and brands; aside from wanting a range with convection oven, this is probably exactly what I'd shop myself. The range is pretty much the cheapest Frigidaire smooth-top you can get and the matching hood. But the fridge is a smart LG side-by-side with bottom freezer, just high enough on the food chain to have multiple drawers, in-door ice and a door ajar alert. The dishwasher tho... it is apex predator level Bosch... with hidden controls, latchless door, fully adjustable racks, and a third top rack with its own sprayer arm made JUST FOR SILVERWARE. AND IT WORKS. The silverware comes out clean EVERY TIME. Functionally, as a dishwasher, this is the first machine I've seen that actually cleans as well or better than the 25-year-old all-stainless KitchenAid I've kept alive for over a decade by scavenging parts.

Ever since Whirlpool/FSP abandoned the "PowerClean Module", their machines have been designed to be quiet and turn over quickly, NOT to get your dishes clean. Besides... I got used to the sound and found it comforting... on heading off to bed if I heard the familiar "PowerClean growl", I knew all was right with the world and I'd wake up to a clean coffee mug and skillet to make my breakfast in.

As for non-stick... I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you on that. The evidence is quite incontrovertible now; even the "safe" PTFE isn't, and it's still too porous to be safe when applied to aluminum which really does greatly accelerate/increase the likelihood of Alzheimer's. I tried my first "GreenPan" ceramic pan after I got rid of all my premium teflon-coated KitchenAid and Calphalon when my oldest was born; it really is worth every penny. Now the only cookware I have is either GreenPan or the All-Clad manufactured EmirilWare we got as a wedding gift.

My favorite... my go-to pan... is the Chatham 11" griddle. I cook everything on it except eggs & spaghetti sauce. My OTHER favorite is the 8" frypan... this is literally the PERFECT 3-egg pan. A little butter, cover & cook on low-med head until the edges get lacy, then uncover, wait 30-ish seconds for the steam to evaporate, and wiggle the pan a little to break it loose. Either serve as is for over-medium or a quick swish-&-flip to make manhole covers the way my wife likes.  Literally NO UTENSILS REQUIRED...

The Lima series is cheaper, but it doesn't have the forged base which makes a huge difference in how the pan cooks; about twice the metal mass on the bottom means it doesn't do hot-spots. PERIOD. The Lima can often be found on sale for around $20; it is what I bought first and I still have that pan 10 years later. It has the same features other than the forged construction, so is a good choice as entry-level to see just how good the GreenPan is. They have more expensive lines than the Chatham, but those are more "upscale boutique" with frilly designs, etc. The Chatham is the least expensive that has the thickest ceramic coating, forged construction & hard anodized outer surface so is dishwasher-safe (until the anodizing is damaged; but that REALLY takes some work to make happen); it is what you'll see professional cooks use if they use non-stick.

mnem

[Martin.M]

(Attachment Link)

Wow, are they Philips handheld DMMs in the background?

a pair of PM2517E  ( LED, not Lcd)

[bsudbrink]

I think that the weirdest little US/UK language difference is the phrase "I'll catch you up".

In the US, that would mean "I will fill you in on what happened while you were gone".

In the UK, it means "I will rejoin with you (either in a physical place, or electronic communication) at some later time".  To say the same thing in the US, you would say "I'll catch up with you later".

That's similar to British "I'll ring you up" vs American "I'll call you"

But the strangest is the word "Fag".    A whole different meaning British vs American. 

My wife and I honeymooned in England and Wales in the early 1980s.  We drove ourselves around... actually I did most of the driving, my wife couldn't handle it.  One night, we ended up at a little tavern called "The Gay Dog".  My wife couldn't help herself, she ordered faggots and gravy.  We have a beautifully hand written bill for that meal in our scrap book.

[Specmaster]

So I just spent a few minutes being shown a shiny new Tesla Model 3 by a happy owner. Best feature? Built in fart machine! 

My Alexa smart speaker has one of those as well 

[Cerebus]

There was a very famous Hungarian restaurant in Soho called "The Gay Hussar" that sadly closed in 2018. Relatively cheap for London, with great food and a cellar full of the kind of Hungarian wines you probably can't get any more. It was very popular with the movers and shakers of the Labour Party back in the days when 'socialism' wasn't a dirty word in the Labour Party. The few times I went there, there was almost always somebody publicly recognisable from Labour in there, usually with people from the trade union movement who weren't so recognisable.

[BU508A]

So I just spent a few minutes being shown a shiny new Tesla Model 3 by a happy owner. Best feature? Built in fart machine! 

My Alexa smart speaker has one of those as well 

My eleven-year-old nephew loves it, too. 

[bsudbrink]

I understand, from a friend of mine that worked in the UK a few years ago, that the restaurant is still there (near Chester) but that they dropped "Gay".  Now it's just "The Dog".

[BU508A]

Hmmm

"A poet could not but be gay,"     

Source:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud

Seems, meanings change over time, I assume?

Edit:

William Wordsworth - I wandered lonely as a cloud

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wandered_Lonely_as_a_Cloud

[AVGresponding]

Ehh... I don't think Philip Larkin was very gay, miserable as a month of wet Sundays that one.