Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

cs.cmu.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 517 posts

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#291

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

bombcar wrote: post #275
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True story: I had that happen to an airplane. I was a student on a long solo flight and on the last two legs of that flight, the engine wouldn't shut off using the usual method of pulling the throttle back to idle and turning off the magneto. It's been long enough that I don't remember what I did to get it shut off (maybe I toggled a circuit breaker?), but when I got back to base, I made a note in the airplane log ab…

Sounds like it might have been dieseling - enough carbon buildup glowing hot that even with both magnetos off it can still ignite the next rotation. Usually there was a fuel disconnect along with the throttle that would eventually starve the engine.

That's probably what I did. Thinking back, the first time it happened, it just took about 10-15 seconds to shut off. The next time, when I was back at my home airport, it wouldn't stop running at all and I think I turned the fuel cutoff to get it to stop.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#292

Post by lotsofpulp »

kuroguro wrote: post #215
m463 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a garage door that will not close on sunny days. Same sort of problem. The obstruction sensor at the bottom of the door is confused by the strong sunlight and the door stops closing part way and re-opens. I've tried a toilet-paper tube around the sensor but that isn't always successful. I really wish there was a laser sensor to replace it with.

The sad thing is there are certain IR wavelengths that are a lot less affected by the sun and nobody bothered to check for an outdoor product...

The garage door obstruction sensors are located inside the garage, so it technically might be an indoor product.

Although, the possibility of a garage being oriented such that the sunlight would directly hit the sensors while the garage door is open seems like it could be a not infrequent occurrence.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#294

Post by kup0 »

valbaca wrote: post #212
kup0 wrote: post #149

This reminds me of the "my monitor blinks every time I sit down in my office chair" turning out to be EMI spikes from the gas lift affecting the signal traveling on monitor cables. A DisplayLink KB article even mentions it (and the associated white paper about the issue), stating: Surprisingly, we have also seen this issue connected to gas lift office chairs. When people stand or sit on gas lift chairs, they can gene…

got a link to the whitepaper? or name?

woops, yeah I should have linked the DisplayLink article and whitepaper both probably, was just going quickly

DisplayLink Article: https://support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/73861...

Direct whitepaper link (warning: PDF): http://www.emcesd.com/pdf/eos93.pdf - if people prefer to search themselves and not use my direct PDF link - it is entitled "A New Type of Furniture ESD and Its Implications" by Douglas C. Smith, from 1993

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#295

Post by geph2021 »

jjbinx007 wrote: post #49

We had a similar problem at work in the late 90s. A member of staff reported that their mouse would stop working between certain hours of the day. It had apparently been okay in the morning, stopped working over lunchtime then started again later. On some days it would work perfectly all day long, but on others it would stop working between those hours. The biggest clue was it would always work perfectly on overcast…

reminds me of testing out a pinewood derby track in my backyard for our cub scouts pack. It had an IR sensor that would detect the cars at the finish line. When someone was standing next to the finish line, it worked flawlessly. Otherwise, it was very flaky and randomly would trigger without the cars trigger it. I pretty quickly surmised it was interference from the direct sunlight, so we put up a pop-up shade over it and it worked flawlessly (without someone standing nearby, coincidentally casting a shadow). The other dads were amazed that I figured it out, but it's just one of those things you learn from experience (and some background knowledge).

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#296

Post by guidoism »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #264
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Essentially all these stories are apocryphal. Even this vapor lock story. Sorry but even before today, having a automotive engineer sent to a random person's home over what clearly sounds like a quack letter seems implausible to me. The dictates of capitalism, human resources, and the politics of the workplace would make this difficult if not impossible. Even in the past when there was more human capital in support p…

I used to work for General Motors as a field engineer. Basically, I was the "mechanic of last resort" for some issues. The most certain method of getting something fixed was to write a letter to someone at the top, or very close to the top. When the request rolled downhill to "fix this", no one knew if this was a whim or something serious (like it was the CEO's neighbor). So those service requests got absolute priori…

Delco! I now live in one of those small factory towns in Indiana. It’s fascinating to me how so many little towns in the Midwest existed just to make one small part for Detroit.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#297

Post by Raineer »

dotancohen wrote: post #176
karmakaze wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stated another way, distinguish observations (facts) of a story from the inferences--don't dismiss the observation/facts when rejecting inferences. This is analogous to an XY problem.

When the client states that he has a problem, he is always correct. When he tells you what the problem is, he is always wrong.

Sometimes wrong...

I have the role of "chief troubleshooter" in my engineering group. I have a bit of a nervous tic that forms when I hear absolutes like this.

Don't assume the customer is always an idiot. Don't assume ANYONE is always an idiot. It limits you as an engineer.

Listen to everything. You don't have any need to abide any of it, but listen to it all.

I've had some of the least-qualified people throw out something which absolutely ended up being insightful, although sometimes in a way they didn't expect.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#298

Post by oaktowner »

valbaca wrote: post #207
ethbr1 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents have some old Gateway amplified computer speakers. Came with the 386! They still work perfectly... except for a regular pop of noise every few seconds that would intermittently show up, that scaled with the volume setting. It turned out, their portable phone (read: landline with short-distance wireless RF handset) would ping from the base station to the handset, if it were off the cradle, which was being p…

Remember how old speakers would let you know if you were about to get a cellphone call. It was like digital precognition haha

OMG had forgotten all about that.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#299

Post by robocat »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #255
asddubs wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another similar anecdote I heard before was related to a wireless device, and some employees flying a drone during their break, generating interference.

We did a lot of wireless (2.4GHz range) sensor development at my last job. It was a rule of thumb to avoid any testing at lunch time since the microwave generated so much interference, everything would fail when someone wanted to heat up their meal.

“Microwave oven to blame for mystery signal that left astronomers stumped”: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-ov...

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#300

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

bombcar wrote: post #270
gav wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a common story and sometimes those get put in the collective blender and we get apocryphal stories out of it. Here's two stories of my own: Back in the mid 90s, I built out a system that gave every school in a district their own webpage that was carved out of some government funding for providing internet access. There was no budget for hardware though, so it ended up running on a repurposed workstation in some…

Goes again to show the usual thing that gets you caught is repetition. Had he struck once or twice and then left the rest alone nobody may ever have figured it out.

I would expect the repetition generally comes out of necessity. If he's selling the parts to feed himself or his family he's that much less likely to choose to stop if it means giving up some source of income, however ill-gotten.
Post reply on HN