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That's from the John Hancock building, where we have our aux transmitter. It's a cool design. The parking garage is floors 6-12, and then the rest of the building is above it.
The observation deck is serviced by two elevators which run from 1 to 94, with no stops in between. It's a blind shaft, meaning no exits along the way.
A cable broke on that elevator, and the emergency brakes managed to stop it and locked it in place around the 11th floor. The fire department had to demolish that wall to get access to the shaft remove the people from the elevator.
I am a bit puzzled by the whole situation. Hoisting cables are supposed to be redundant, so I'm not sure how the breakage of one caused the elevator to drop in the first place.
The really annoying part is that with cars 2 and 3 out of service, they have commandeered car 4, which is the express freight elevator that I normally use to get to the 93rd floor. Now we have to call building security, and wait for the elevator operator to come and pick us up when they're not busy transporting tourists.
The emergency brakes that Mr. Otis invented are mounted on the car. Think of it as a brake caliper mounted to the car that goes around a rail which runs the length of the shaft. The caliper has a big spring trying to pull it closed, but is attached to the elevator cable in such a way that the weight of the car pulls the caliper open. So as long as the cable has tension on it, the caliper is open and the car can move. If the cable breaks it goes loose and the spring closes the caliper. How long it takes to stop the car presumably depends on how fast the car is going when the cable fails. I think if the car is stopped when the cable is severed then it only falls a few feet.
I was in a... very large building when a freight elevator failed an emergency brake test. The freight elevator is counterweighted so that it will go up if it fails. They basically test the emergency brakes by launching the carriage from the basement and testing whether the brakes kick in and stop it. They didn't kick in, and the carriage jumped so high at the top floor that it took out the plumbing for the sprinkler system. It was quite shocking, because I was on the top floor right next to the elevator when it happened. Much crash. Many waters. So wow.
We are in the midst of getting my wife, Heidi, signed up for Part A Medicare. With all the bureaucracy, errors, confusion; I cannot fathom how people could possibly be serious when they suggest Medicare for all.
I guess they figure, why should the aged suffer alone?
We are in the midst of getting my wife, Heidi, signed up for Part A Medicare. With all the bureaucracy, errors, confusion; I cannot fathom how people could possibly be serious when they suggest Medicare for all.
I guess they figure, why should the aged suffer alone?
My dad’s pension included coverage by his company’s insurance plan for both my parents, but when he died it more-or-less went away, so my mom had to sign up for Medicare for the first time at 87. She was sent an information package that was literally over 6” thick, and not at all user-friendly. Very fortunately, her neighbor across the street is an executive at Blue Cross, and she spent a few hours with us walking through it and narrowing alternatives to a manageable few.
We might’ve been able to get there on our own, but my mom was so intimidated that she didn’t even want to start.
Multiply by a couple hundred million = Your gummint at work.
ST. PETERSBURG — Two teens died when the stolen car they were driving hit a tree and erupted in flames early Monday, police said, marking the tenth and eleventh deaths connected to Pinellas County’s juvenile auto theft epidemic in little more than three years.
Damari Milton, 18, was driving and Dequante Lightsey, 16, was a passenger, police said. The 2016 Mazda Miata swerved at 38th Avenue N and 49th Street about 3:30 a.m., colliding with a tree. Investigators say Milton was speeding. Authorities initially reported that both boys’ bodies were burned beyond recognition.
Both Milton and Lightsey had been accused of grand theft auto before, according to state criminal records. Milton had also faced other charges, dating to 2015 and including weapon possession and burglary. Lightsey, records show, had likewise been accused of burglary and larceny.
Police said the Miata had been stolen just hours before the collision. It was unclear late Monday what caused Milton to lose control.
The vehicle was taken from Annette Kielhurn, 60, who said she saw her empty driveway on 74th Avenue N about midnight while carrying out garbage. She said late Monday she still has her key — the only one she knows of for the Miata — and the vehicle automatically locked when she walked away.
Statistics in St. Petersburg show officers have logged 636 reports of auto thefts to date in 2018, down from 804 this time last year.
Records show both Milton and Lightsey had histories of probation violations.
“We’re addressing the problem, but we’re still not getting across to some of these kids out there that taking these cars is a bad thing,” the police chief said.
Milton, turned 18 on Aug. 30. He was arrested Nov. 12, 2015, accused of stealing a car from his mother. He picked up his girlfriend, 15 at the time just like him, and drove a 2007 Dodge Nitro into a tree. She suffered “significant injuries to her face.” He ran away.
An officer wrote that Milton’s mother was “extremely angry” and told investigators her son took her car keys when she fell asleep after bringing him to a court date that afternoon.
A Facebook page that appears to belong to him on Monday featured a photo of Milton reclined on a bed holding what looked like three guns.
London (CNN)Scientists and policy makers from around 60 nations voted unanimously Friday to redefine the kilogram.
The decision at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, France was greeted with great excitement as officials approved the new definition, which is based on the Planck constant -- a physical constant observed in the natural world -- rather than the precise weight of a piece of metal kept under lock and key.
"The vote is a unanimous one, yes. I hope that such votes will be possible for many other issues in the world," said Sebastien Candel, president of the French Academy of Sciences.
For more than 100 years Paris has been home to Le Grand K -- or the International Prototype Kilogram as it is officially known -- a block of metal that previously defined the weight of a kilogram.
So I'm looking for something that will output a voltage to click a relay for maybe a second every 3-4 minutes or so. The input voltage for power is about 4 volts.
The device has to be fairly small.
So I'm looking for something that will output a voltage to click a relay for maybe a second every 3-4 minutes or so. The input voltage for power is about 4 volts.
The device has to be fairly small.
Any ideas?.
either a 555 (but it really wants 5v+ to be reliable edit: looks there are some low voltage variants that can handle 1.5v) or arduino micro 3.3v with a fet is my 30 second eval.
So, after looking at the soldering iron thread for the 20th time, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. Not the WES51, but the WLC100, because I solder once in a blue moon, and it's half the price.
Note that the latest project (and typical of expected use) is one of those silly LED Christmas tree kits. Solder used is some rosin core electronics stuff I bought from Radio Shack decades ago.
I expect this unit to last my lifetime, and do all I ask of it. The problem is, I don't know how to use it. It has this **** on the front with 5 settings. Which one do I use, and how do I tell?
Crank it to max to heat it up, and then turn it down? By how much? Just leave it maxed out all the time? How can I tell what is the correct setting?
Currently, I am using a crappy radio shack one. Once that burns out I'll get one of these. I used one of these at my old job which had light soldering once a week. It worked good enough. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rework-Sold...69ce:rk:1:pf:0
Not the WES51, but the WLC100, because I solder once in a blue moon, and it's half the price.
Note that the latest project (and typical of expected use) is one of those silly LED Christmas tree kits. Solder used is some rosin core electronics stuff I bought from Radio Shack decades ago.
I expect this unit to last my lifetime, and do all I ask of it. The problem is, I don't know how to use it. It has this **** on the front with 5 settings. Which one do I use, and how do I tell?
Crank it to max to heat it up, and then turn it down? By how much? Just leave it maxed out all the time? How can I tell what is the correct setting?
Despite the fact that I continuously sing the praises of the WES51 (and it really is a very good iron, it's the standard one I buy for all of my engineers), I still have my 25 year old WCC100 as the primary home iron. It just keeps on working, and I can't bring myself to replace it.
Like its big brother, the WCC is a feedback-controlled iron. So there's no need to go through the ritual of cranking it to high and then stepping it down. Set the dial to whatever position you want, pour yourself a beer, and by the time you get back it will have stabilized at the correct temperature.
Weller makes good irons, even on the cheap side of the product line.
Also, I am apparently the belly-rub champion of Florida. We're 30 minutes into this session, and she shows no signs of tiring of it.
So, after looking at the soldering iron thread for the 20th time, I decided to bite the bullet and get one. Not the WES51, but the WLC100, because I solder once in a blue moon, and it's half the price.
Note that the latest project (and typical of expected use) is one of those silly LED Christmas tree kits. Solder used is some rosin core electronics stuff I bought from Radio Shack decades ago.
I expect this unit to last my lifetime, and do all I ask of it. The problem is, I don't know how to use it. It has this **** on the front with 5 settings. Which one do I use, and how do I tell?
Crank it to max to heat it up, and then turn it down? By how much? Just leave it maxed out all the time? How can I tell what is the correct setting?
3/5 on heat. It's like welding - it's a mix of travel speed, material thickness, and technique. If I'm soldering 14ga wire I usually bump it up to 4/5 or 5/5 - but anything else is pretty much 3/5. If your solder is 20 years old - throw it out. Newbs have a tendency of jamming as much solder as possible into a joint when they're really using the rosin flux to get the joint to wet out. And rosin does go bad. I have a torch with a soldering tip - and it's like using soldering iron turned up 6/5 - you need to get in, get it melted, and get out quick. Tin the tip to aid in heat transfer, but otherwise you never directly apply solder to the iron - heat up the joint, flow the solder into the joint. When you turn the iron off, jam as much solder on it as you can - it'll help keep it from oxidizing. And a brass sponge will make your tips last a lot longer than the wet sponge.
One more question. If I throw out the old solder, what do I get? Used to be, I'd mosey on down to Radio Shack for anything electronic. Now, I gotta mail order and wait.
Ebay and the rest of the web is full of choices. Mostly Chinese. 63/37 tin/lead rosin core from china, or Bernzomatic electrical no lead, silver bearing rosin core, or Forney electrical repair rosin core? I would like something general purpose, for tinning wires and fixing/making various electronics around the house and shop. Suggestions are appreciated.
11-19-2018, 07:59 PM
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