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Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

cs.cmu.edu

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Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#481

Post by salawat »

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.

Ugh... Mom and the microwave were a scourge back in the days of yore when I hosted servers for friends in various games. I was hardwired into the router as "the keeper of the hardware", but the wireless would just get schlocked every time she heated up her coffee.

And Mom ran on coffee. Lotsa coffee. Sometimes I think she just did it because she didn't hear enough complaints coming out of the speakers.

I rejoiced the day that thing died. She's now got an even beefier one, but it doesn't interfere on the 5ghz bands at all, and I'm not testing the 2.4 out of respect to the spirit of that ole menace.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#482

Post by kuhaku22 »

NamTaf wrote: post #61

My parents have an early '50s MG, which they rarely drive. For most of my adult life, I've lived about an hour away from them so I'd sometimes take it out if I was there. Needless to say, it had a never-ending list of quirks due to being so old and also rarely being driven, but it's a lovely old car all the same. One day, I dropped by to say hi, but they were both out. I decided instead to take the car for a spin aro…

You're an Aussie, I see :p

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cactus#Adjective

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#483

Post by Animats »

ColinWright wrote: post #421
Animats wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telcos used to monitor their copper outside plant for moisture. This was called Automatic Line Insulation Testing in the Bell System. The ALIT system ran in the hours before dawn. It would connect to each idle line, and apply, for tens of milliseconds, about 400 volts limited to very low current between the two wires, and between each wire and ground, measuring the leakage current. This would detect moisture in the c…

We still have a land line. When a call comes through the phone often gives a gentle "peep", then a pause, then goes full-on ring. I've started to react to the "peep". But every evening, mostly around 21:00 or so, the phone gives a gentle "peep" without then ringing. I wonder if it's a line test?

Crap electronic ringer, probably. If you put a scope on the line, you should be able to see what's happening. Remember to be prepared for higher voltages, up to 400V.

There are various weird, obsolete signals in analog phones. Ring pulse alerting signal. ALIT test. Polarity reversal. Ring to ground. Ground start. Caller ID (1200 baud FSK between the first and second rings) DSL. Basic talk and ring was standardized around 1900, and everything else is backwards compatible. Ringers are supposed to ignore all that stuff. People who implement Asterisk PBXs are into this.

Here are some actual waveforms, if anybody cares.[1]

[1] http://www.adventinstruments.com/Products/AI-5120/Screenshot...

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#484

Post by liotier »

mschuster91 wrote: post #471
orbital-decay wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An ISP my friend worked at was having weird outages in one area, and it turned out that they had an apartment block built right in the way of their free-space optical link. Surprisingly, it was fine at first because the link went straight through it without obstructions, window to window. But when they started to add window panes, finishing the construction, the link became spotty, and adding the doors blocked the si…

How does one even attempt to troubleshoot that, without resorting to a questionably legal drone or chopper flight?!

Line of sight, easy - just aim a sight and find that you are seeing a building rather than the opposite device.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#485

Post by kawhah »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #456
TeMPOraL wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously, they'd put the most popular flavor way at the back of the store, and the least popular flavors at the front. The store is not in the business of maximizing throughput of customers - quite the opposite, they want customers to spend more time walking and getting lost between shelves, as this maximizes the amount of wares moved.

I believe the aisle caps are bid for, and then arranged by, the manufacturers. The store just sells them the space. The manufacturer is unlikely to see a problem with putting a display of very popular products right at the front of the store where people can't help but see it.

So you think Vanilla Inc, the company that only makes vanilla flavor ice cream, is paying for a whole chiller that they fill with vanilla, since all the other flavors are not as popular?

Or perhaps, unbeknownst to everyone in the world who uses the word 'vanilla' to mean 'mundane', vanilla ice cream actually enjoys far higher profit margins than all other ice cream.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#486

Post by bombcar »

I_Am_Nous wrote: post #465
bombcar wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a crank sensor that is going out, and though it still works most of the time if the crankshaft stops in just the right position it becomes an absolute bear to start, and runs in limp mode when it does. Any of the other positions it works just fine.

This reminds me of an old F250 my dad had. He towed it from Colorado to Missouri and about halfway he noticed his gas mileage got worse. But, you know, coasting down mountains until you get to plains would also have a similar outcome, so he didn't think about it. Once he got to Missouri he noticed the transfer case (I think) had somehow bounced out of neutral and was partially engaged, which chewed many teeth off the…

My dad had an old diesel Benz - the generator (that old, didn't have an alternator) went out and for a couple of months we just made sure to park it on a hill and drive during the day. Electricity is overrated!

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#487

Post by bombcar »

donatj wrote: post #417
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

manufacturing.

You don’t happen to be the guy who overnighted a bunch of network cables for $5,000 because the boss had to have them overnighted and the company didn’t care what it cost I read about recently? lol

Oh for these silly escapades to only cost $5k.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#488

Post by staticfish »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #452
_whiteCaps_ wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some clip on ferrites on the inverter cables might help. If you have any amateur radio neighbours they'd probably love to help you with a project like this.

If they had a HAM in direct neighborhood, I imagine said HAM would already pay them a visit - the interference from the inverter is likely not constrained to the ISM band.

Not to be a pedant, but just for your info, Ham is not an acronym :)

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#489

Post by withinboredom »

creeble wrote: post #477
withinboredom wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had the same problem at an old house. There was a cable splitter in the attic that was expanding in the heat and losing connection to the cable. We bought a heftier one and moved it under the insulation in the attic.

Interesting, I removed a splitter from the attic many years ago and replaced it with an F-F coupler. I wonder if the coupler’s center conductor contacts could be expanding just enough to break the connection?

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was happening.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#490

Post by Paul-Craft »

brabarossa wrote: post #472
Paul-Craft wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What even is the theory on how that could possibly work? I believe you, it's just that I don't have any mental model of how baking a circuit board makes it work right for a year, and how it keeps working to fix the issue.

The theory is that 'baking" it could reflow a bad solder joint and fix it. A popular fix of last resort.

I get that that could work and might solve the problem entirely. What I don't get is why you'd ever have to do that every few months.
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