On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:37:02 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 2/24/2018 6:12 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 16:22:22 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 14:58:59 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 2/24/2018 2:50 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 2/24/18 2:39 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/24/2018 2:25 PM, justan wrote:
Wrote in message:
On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 09:36:12 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I'll betcha it's not so much a case of being anti-gun as it is legal
beagles recognizing that litigation could extend not only to the
shooter, the store that sold him the firearm (already happens) and to
the financing agency that made the purchase possible.Â* I'll bet more
credit card issuers will start prohibiting the use of their cards for
firearm purchases in the future.

There is legislation in place that shields sellers and manufacturers.
The left really wants to change that but not with much success so far.
This credit card thing is just kubuki theater. Like you say, once the
water calms down I bet it goes away, particularly if a number of big
chains decide to tell them to **** off.
Like someone said before, where does this stop? Are they going to stop
processing charges for dangerous food next? Far more people die from
obesity related disease than from guns, by a couple orders of
magnitude


Why don't we just ban everything the ATF people regulate and be
Â* done with it. Of the three, I don't know which is
Â* deadliest.



Greg seems to think that all of our society problems are mutually
inclusive, meaning you can only fix 'em if you fix *all* of them at
once.Â* It's ok to take one or two at a time.



My take on Greg is that he has no interest in anything other than the
anti-rule, anti-regulation, anti-societal libertarian nonsense. That
means no regulatory efforts to fix anything. Don't like dirty air? Wear
a gas mask. Dirty water? Filter it. Too many high-powered guns in the
wrong hands? Wear body armor.


I like Greg and have respect for his accomplishments, knowledge and
technical expertise. But I don't think I've ever come across anyone
who can come up with as many reasons why you *can't* do something as he
can. It makes me chuckle sometimes.

It's a little surprising because usually those with a technical or
engineering bent are just the opposite. Tell an engineer he can't do
something and he'll spend a lifetime trying to prove you wrong.

I lived my life on the other end of that product cycle and I see what
engineers can't do.
If they weren't wrong so often I would not have had a job.
I didn't lose my job because they got any better. It was just because
we simply throw away their mistakes and buy a new one instead of
trying to fix it.


===

I think you'd have to concede that the electronics of today are orders
of magnitude more reliable than 50 or 60 years ago. Even more
importantly, the complex electromechanical devices that IBM was famous
for, have mostly been phased out.


Very true and one of the reasons in hindsight that I am grateful that I
never tried to pursue a career in engineering using discrete components
and devices. The basic electronic engineering education I received led
to another, more physics related field that I enjoyed very much.

I got lucky that ICs were really coming of age just about the time I
really got serious about building things. I really like CMOS. If it
was not so easy and so reliable, I might have embraced
microprocessors. When you add SSRs to the mix, you can get some stuff
going. My spa controller is all CMOS with SSRs driving the 2.5HP
motor, a 3/4-1/10 2 speed motor and an 11kw heater.
The thermostat is an op amp and a thermistor water sensor (Ford part)
The whole thing is clocked with a 555.
The pool controller is even simpler. An intermatic timer motor with 3
cams on it that operate switches for the time base and the rest is
just a clever way to wire toggle switches. It runs the solar, gas
heater and pump.

I am still thinking about playing with something like a Raspberry PI
(or the other one) but I am not sure what I would do with it.
Maybe some kind of data acquisition thing like a tide stage sond. I
had a plan for one using a PC and a game card, I had the software
written but I did not want another PC running all the time.