Re: LEDs, drama

On 5/5/25 14:02, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-05-05 12:54, Bill Sloman wrote:

On 5/05/2025 3:28 am, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sun, 04 May 2025 06:56:23 -0700, john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>
wrote:
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On Sun, 04 May 2025 12:18:12 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
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On Fri, 02 May 2025 08:10:44 -0700, john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>
wrote:
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One of my young engineers just got the first unit of a thing he
designed. He was all cautious about bringing it up a step at a time,
so I just pulled rank and switched it on in self-trigger mode. It
works.
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https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wl51ennrq60edw9ina3za/P800-1Hz- Selft-Trigger.mp4?rlkey=ravaj03c330jjfmplylxr2k7j&dl=0
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It's an 8-channel high voltage pulse generator. We're not sure what
it's used for and the customer won't tell.

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Could be for the timing capacitors in a fusion bomb. I really wouldn't
worry about it.

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I've done timing to fire implosion fission bombs, and this doesn't
look to be one of those.

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Yes, I said *fusion* bomb which is somewhat different. Timing is
critical for those. It's rather like grasping a wet bar of soap.
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Some of the things that could be really fun aren't, because the good
bits are secret.

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Yes, I can see how that would spoil things a bit from your POV.
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One of my son-in-laws has a PhD in engineering mechanics and works for
a big lab that blows things up. He says it's not much fun because the
booms happen miles away and all he gets is data.

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Er, yes. I think on balance I'd sooner be miles away in his position.
Jeff loves blowing stuff up. Haven't heard from him in a while; hope
he's okay and not been 'hoist by his own petard' if I might throw in a
bit of Hamlet here.

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A petard was a very small canon or mortar used for blowing down doors and walls, and notoriously dangerous to the person employing it.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petard
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It may be one of the many idioms that Shakespeare invented (and he invented a lot), but the weapon was invented in 1579 when Shakespeare was 15, so he could well have picked up the phrase from some of his contemporaries.

 Wow, thanks, I always wondered where the expression came from.
 You see, for me the word "petard" is very similar to the Spanish "petardo", a firecracker.
  The wikipedia doesn't explain why it was that dangerous. The Spanish article on it is much shorter, but the explanation on how it was prepared is more detailed.
 

It comes from French. It literally means "farter".
Jeroen Belleman