I am claiming dunce of the week

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Newz2000
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Newz2000 »

I might just have the best one yet. The cannon connector reminded me of this.<p>The company I was working for opened up a new office. It was to be a small call center and the communications hub for the whole company. We had at the time a little over 40 phone lines 6 T1s, some ISDN lines and a frame relay link. Lots of wires.<p>We moved into the office which was part of a strip mall, had the construction work done and called Verizon (Actually, GTE at the time) to come out and bring in the wires.<p>The installer came to me and said, well, there's no way you're going to get all this telephone equipment hooked up... there's only 5 pair of wire left coming to this building and only 3 of them work.<p>Of course that's not acceptable, so after lots of *negotiating* a verizon *engineer* was put in charge of having a new 100 pair of wire sent to our building from the manhole two blocks away.<p>They actually made excellent time getting them to our parking lot manhole. From there they said, "OK, call your landlord's maintenance crew to come out and dig up the parking lot (it was the back of the building) and bring this wire to your building. Well, Earl, the maintenance *crew* was about 70 years old. You should have seen him trying to run the saw that cuts through the concrete. The engineer got so upset (because me and my boss were pushing for a fast completion date) that he agreed to have his team do the digging if Earl just poured the concrete after the project was done.<p>Well, again, GTE made excellent time and got our phones working. I saw the guy sitting in the manhole for almost two days connecting the two 100 pair cables together.<p>Two days after everything was working, the GTE engineer came to me red hot spitting mad. He asked me if I knew what Earl had done. Of course I didn't and said so. He took me back to show me that Earl had filled not only his trench, but also the manhole full of concrete.<p>I don't know how they got it fixed, but I didn't have a minute of down time on my T1s during the process. I never did see Earl again after that.
bodgy
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by bodgy »

Now there is a lesson, on "Did what I say, sound like what I mean, and if so, did the other person know what I said or meant?" :D <p>
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Bob Scott
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Bob Scott »

The mind sometimes works in strange ways, at least mine does especially about making technical mistakes due to technical memories altering with age. So I figure it's a good idea to refer to a text or two next time I start typing out technical formulas and explanations about stuff like "Q".<p>For an example of a mental brain fart, this morning I was up at 6, got a coffee and turned on the TV. It said that Stevie Wonder was going to appear somewhere. Just then Michael Jackson's name popped into my mind. I thought this was curious so I pondered why Michael Jackson had any reason to confuse my mind during a thought about Stevie Wonder. Then my thought process created a joke:<p>Q: What does Stevie Wonder have in common with Michael Jackson?<p>A: Both of them are African-American males
Both of them are singers.
Both of them wear dark glasses.
Both of them grope around for stuff in the dark.<p>Bob ;)
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rshayes
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by rshayes »

There are a couple of other classics that I haven't seen mentioned.<p>For example, turning off a power supply without disconnecting the line cord. The next step is to reach inside. Of course, the first thing you touch will be the line side of the on-off switch or possibly the clips on the fuse holder, all of which may still be hot.<p>Another oldie but goodie is to check the continuity of a filter choke with a VOM by holding the probes in contact with the lead wires with your fingers. After all, the VOM only uses a 1.5 volt battery on the X1 ohms range. However, if the one probe slips off the wire while your finger is still in contact, you certainly learn what "inductive kick" means.<p>Some vacuum tube equipment was built with plug-in electrolytic filter capacitors. These were some of the least reliable parts and the plug-in construction made them easy to replace. These had a base just like an octal tube, but usually only had four pins. It was real easy to unplug one and leave it on the bench. The stupid part is picking it up by the base end. If it was still loaded, the result is two to four small blisters, depending on how many pins you contacted.
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jwax
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by jwax »

Still like the one with the confused looking technician attempting to solder a new power plug on the end of.........yes, the soldering iron!
Or, remember the hunters who had a headlight fuse blow out on the truck while out in the woods at night? By flashlight, they discovered a .22 cal long rifle cartridge fit the cartridge fuse holder perfectly! Problem solved, as they drove merrily home.
Then along came "Delta T"- the dreaded slow but sure temperature rise due to local heating. Pop!
The driver had emergency groin surgery.
Stop cringing!
Funny was that the Sheriff said the oddest thing was they admitted what they had done! Double ouch!
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Mike6158
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Mike6158 »

Originally posted by jwax:
I was USAF, repairing shot up planes in Vietnam, when (I hear it happens to everybody-once!) after soldering 128 wires on the back of a big ass Cannon connector, discover I forgot to put the locking ring over the wires before soldering.
De-solder 128 wires, curse, add ring, solder 128 wires. Curse. Damn war.
:o
:D My kid (in Afghanistan at the moment) works on AC130U gunships. He told me about someone doing something similar to that in the "back shop".

BTW- Some of the Vietnam era gunships are still flying. I've been on one called Wicked Wanda. She's a Vietnam era gunship. I think Death Angel was a "newer" U model... maybe not...
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jollyrgr
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by jollyrgr »

I just went through one of these brain farts last Friday. I've had a home theater for some time but no true powered subwoofer. I had "borrowed" the surround sound amp (separate from the main channel amp) for my computer system's main channel. So the sound part of the home theater was somewhat lacking.

In anticipation of the latest Star Wars DVD I ordered a 100 Watt 15" subwoofer and a pair of BASS KICKERS. I also bought a pair of 6ft stereo RCA to RCA cables to re-bridge the main amp and the surround sound processor; one for the actual job and the other "just in case". I put a different amp on the computer, gathered up the surround sound amp for the home theater again, unpacked the new subwoofer, moved everything around in the theater center and was all set to begin rewiring everything back to normal and install the new wiring for the BASS KICKERS.

Audio out from the TV goes into the surround sound processor input. Output (pass through) of the surround sound processor is then bridged to the main channel amplifier with one of the new patch cables. Single RCA cable to subwoofer from the surround sound amp. "A" speakers off the main amp to the front channel, "B" speakers off the main amp to the BASS KICKERS, surround sound speakers to the surround amp. I finally get everything hooked up and the right channel channel of the main speakers is dead. So I reverse the RCA jacks around at the surround sound processor and the left channel is dead. Okay my brand new patch cable is bad but WOO HOO! I thought ahead and bought a spare just for this possibility! So I hook up the second new patch cable correctly and this time the LEFT channel is dead! Now I begin to think somethings not right here. It can't be a bad patch cable I have something else wrong. Here is where I make my only smart move of the evening. I grab an Ohm meter and I check both cables and sure enough the red cable on one patch cord is bad, the black cable on the other is bad. How nice, I managed to buy not one but TWO bad patch cords.

So I go rummaging through my box of cables in hopes of finding a stereo RCA to RCA patch cable. I find stereo patch cords with 1/8" to RCA, VIDEO/LEFT/RIGHT cables with RCA plugs at both ends, RCA to RCA four cable tape deck cables (red, black, green, yellow) but no stereo only RCA to RCA cables (hence why I bought the two cables in the first place). So now I'm mad. I want to watch Star Wars, I've got the Subwoofer and surround sound hooked up, I've got the BASS KICKERS installed, the wrapper is off the Star Wars DVD and I'm wanting to watch and feel the movie but I can't because the main channel and surround/subwoofer won't work at the same time as I don't have a cable to hook them up.

Now here is where I have a DOUBLE brain fart. I grab the four line tape deck cable and separate it into two stereo cables (after all I only need two channels, not four). This is the first brain fart as I could have left it as is and not connected the two yellow/green cables or simply used one of the many VIDEO/LEFT/RIGHT cables I already had and swapped it out later. (This takes a while to sink in.)

So I am enjoying the movie when I realize brain fart one above. Oh well better luck next time. Then I realize brain fart two. If I had thought I could have simply used the two good RCA lines from the new cables I had bought and made one good cable.

At least I have a spare stereo RCA cable from the tape deck cable I separated.
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Dave Dixon
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Dave Dixon »

I am dunce of this week! About six months ago I reworked the power cords for my telephone answering machine, cordless phone, etc. I discovered that I no longer needed the power strip, so I plugged it into itself - to avoid dangling wires. Then I got side tracked and left it on the floor with the other cords. Last night my neighbor came by to use my landline to connect her Fed-Ex handheld unit to the company site. I connected everything up for her to the phone and - you guessed it - the power strip on the floor.
I am happy to say that it took only a moment, after realizing there was no power to the device, to figure out the problem. I got my neighbor really worried about my abilities though. I picked up the strip, and carried it over to her. I looked very serious at her and said, "I don't understand why this doesn't work. It's plugged in!" For one priceless moment, she thought I was a total idiot. Now she just thinks that I am a partial idiot. I just love sharing these stories. Sometimes we even learn by hearing about other people's mistakes! Merry Christmas, or Happy Whatever else that you are into! Sincerely,
Dave
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jwax
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by jwax »

Dave! Thank God for polarized plugs! You could have shorted out the whole power strip! :)
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jollyrgr
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by jollyrgr »

Anyone ever "torture" a functional UPS by unplugging it from the wall (and having it start up) and then plug it into one of its own protected outlets???
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Mike »

Can't say I have!

What happens!?
Ron H
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Re: I am claiming dunce of the week

Post by Ron H »

Originally posted by jwax:
Dave! Thank God for polarized plugs! You could have shorted out the whole power strip! :)
LOL! :D
JPKNHTP
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Post by JPKNHTP »

-JPKNHTP
-God Bless
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Post by Sambuchi »

JPKNHTP wrote:No one has done anything embarassing in awhile. I miss the stories.
hmmm.. after reading some of these, I feel obligated to tell my most embarassing... and was in a physics class.

I'm sure we all have seen the Van de Graaff experiment.. Just to refresh..

The Van de Graaff electrostatic generator produces a high voltage static charge. The person stands on an insulated box and places one hand on top of the machine. They must stand on the box or the charge will flow from their feet to the ground and nothing will happen. When the machine is turned on, the metal ball and their body take on a strong, negative charge.
As the strands of hair all take on the same charge, they repel and stand up....

so here I am about to see this experiment for the 5th time knowing whats going to happen.. but when the instructor turns it on.. the girls hair does not rise.. I was sitting very close to the girl while she is standing on the insulated box and I noticed that her leg was leaning on a near by table "hence she was grounding the charge to the table"

So............... I told her "at least 3 times " that she needed to move her leg off the table but the machine was too loud for her to hear me..

..........

I then got up from my desk...... in front of a good amount of people... and instintivly tapped her on the shoulder....

ZAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!
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MrAl
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Post by MrAl »

OUCH ?
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