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Yeah, "Reverse the polarity of electron flow!" sounds fancy, but tend to end with a sudden loud BANG.

Had an episode like that last year, with a little cap soldered in backwards -

The thing hit me straight in the palm of my hand, so co wide-reaching confetti.


In my lab we have a number of older DC power supplies with paper capacitors that are now randomly failing. We use these power supplies for a couple of labs during the semester, and the students wonder why I step away from their bench when they turn the power on. :leaving:



We have replacement DC power supplies, but I consider this a character-building experience for the students. :lol:
 
Character-building? Yes, that would work.

Standing behind the equipment rack while somebody is plugging in a very new and expensive board. Setting off a party-popper and blowing the smoke through to the front.

Luckily I could run faster than my rugby playing colleague...

Would be a strange way to hand in your notice these days.
 
Re above, I can't believe how "stupid"? we were in those days. Half the tricks would have got instant dismissal or a chat with Human Resources in a modern environment.

I'm having an upper-and-downer(argument!) with a chap on another forum about a company I used to work for that had a complete change in its work practices just to stay in business.

Lots of redundancies and a different business plan. He worked for the same company after that change and seems to think it was the same company.

Given up trying to explain how unlike they were despite the name not changing.

I guess I'm turning into what a good friend said after I left, and he stayed.
A "miserable old g*t"! who can't forget how things were....
 
Not stupid, just a different attitude to risk. Most work places are now much more risk adverse than they used to be. Even if in some roles have not fundamentally changed in hundreds of years, the modern mind set is to reduce risk from them if at all possible. Which in the industry I trained in, actually increased the danger level for the workers as the "Management" that wanted to reduce risk had no idea of the consequences of there actions.

:Edit:

Just to point out what I mean. Their actions lowed the frequency of accidents but increased the seriousness of injuries sustained when they happened.
 
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It was some thirty years ago, and a much different culture.
Watched the Chernobyl Netflix? production and have to say it was marvellous.
Haven't seen anything like it for years on UK TV.

Did identify with the miners...

If that made no sense, company I worked for made tv productions. I still think the stuff before was better..
 
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:Edit:

Just to point out what I mean. Their actions lowed the frequency of accidents but increased the seriousness of injuries sustained when they happened.

Just to clarify, do you mean that they introduced new accident types involving serious injuries / increased the frequency of existing severe accident types? 'Cause your description could also apply to cases where they chopped off the high-frequency/low severity end of the spectrum without introducing new accidents at the high-severity end, which, while not as desirable as chopping off the high-severity end, is plainly desirable.
 
Less trips, bumps, scrapes and broken bones. More burns, digit amputations and fatal falls. It is quite a manual labor intensive industry. It is true the number of accidents are down but I put that down to the accessibility of more personal radios(or other comms equipment) than any other factor.
 
My knowledge of woodworking is...functional, let's say:

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:)
 
Fun fact: Assuming the horsepower to in fact be the bolometric luminosity of a horse at work, a horse is a 64th magnitude object (absolute). At a distance of 10 feet, this corresponds to an apparent magnitude of about -21. At a distance of 8.6 inches, this corresponds to an apparent magnitude of about -26.75.

So a horse at 8.6 inches is about as bright (bolometrically) as the sun at 1 AU.
 
That's only for a spherical horse in a vacuum, however.
 
That's only for a spherical horse in a vacuum, however.


And I am sure, it must be a perfectly black horse as well for that. So likely a Frisian. What quantum states are possible for spherical Frisians in vacuum on excitation? Can two Frisians even occupy the same quantum state?
 
That's only for a spherical horse in a vacuum, however.

And I am sure, it must be a perfectly black horse as well for that. So likely a Frisian. What quantum states are possible for spherical Frisians in vacuum on excitation? Can two Frisians even occupy the same quantum state?

I'm amused those are your first objections, rather than, for instance, my characterization of the horsepower (based on the mechanical output of a horse) as a good approximation for the bolometric luminosity of a horse, which would tend to have more to do with thermal output.

If you're willing to swallow that assumption, then sphericity and albedo are irrelevant, but vacuum or not does matter (radiated power must increase until it matches generated thermal power unless contact with the surroundings carries heat off non-convectively).
 
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