8 Nov
2007
8 Nov
'07
11 a.m.
On Thursday 08 November 2007 02:34, Chuck Guzis wrote:
Sign. Terminology changes over time, particularly in
technology.
When I was young, I learned about "condensers" and "aerials" from my
father. "Breadboarding" a circuit meant pretty much that--
constructing it on a plank of wood, preferably using #14 bare copper
wire laid out in neat right angles.
By the time I was a teenager, my speech habits had been corrected to
say "capacitor" and "antenna".
I like the distinction between "filament" and "heater". The latter
implies that something is being heated. The former implies a
standalone glowing wire. "Indirectly heated" and "directly heated"
may be a bit more accurate, but the terms are also cumbrous.
And whoever heard of "nanofarads" or "picofarads" anyway? ;)
"MMFD"! Usually wax-coated cardboard. :-)
Reminds me of a question that got thrown at me during a recent job interview.
The guy threw three colors at me and asked me what value resistor that
represented, which was fairly trivial to answer. Then he asked me what
tolerance it was. I responded that he didn't mention a tolerance band, at
which point he told me that there wasn't one.
"20%, though I haven't run into one of those in quite a while..."
:-)
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin