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From: john larkin <jl@650pot.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Visualizing
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2024 11:59:44 -0700
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On Mon, 09 Sep 2024 06:25:15 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:

>On a sunny day (Sun, 08 Sep 2024 09:27:13 -0700) it happened john larkin
><jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in <sajrdj1b7v5cedkmgfu8ssbnb576f8smde@4ax.com>:
>
>>On Sun, 08 Sep 2024 07:02:40 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>On a sunny day (Sat, 07 Sep 2024 07:56:15 -0700) it happened john larkin
>>><jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in <o2qodjp2ddlah6ikfob6icjqa4as2ulib1@4ax.com>:
>>>
>>>>On Sat, 07 Sep 2024 07:29:56 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On a sunny day (Fri, 06 Sep 2024 08:59:06 -0700) it happened john larkin
>>>>><jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote in <eq8mdjd7lohm9rglsdc7rgi5i7nbde1co1@4ax.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:27:38 -0400, Joe Gwinn <joegwinn@comcast.net>
>>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:53:46 -0700, john larkin
>>>>>>><jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I was driving and listening to the local mostly-annoying NPR radio
>>>>>>>>station, but they had an interesting interview with a book author. It
>>>>>>>>was about his novel or some poetry or something.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>What was interesting was his recalling a conversation that he'd had
>>>>>>>>with his wife. She was takling about a plant or something and asked
>>>>>>>>him to visualize it. He was astounded that she, or anyone, could close
>>>>>>>>their eyes and *see* something they were thinking about. 
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I was shocked to learn that there are people who can't form a mental
>>>>>>>>visual image.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Close your eyes and consider a nice white ceramic dinner plate with a
>>>>>>>>beautiful deep red apple sitting in the center. Can you see it? From
>>>>>>>>the side and from the top? Do you see the stem? The colors? Imagine it
>>>>>>>>slowly rotating? See the fruit fly?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>If the world is divided between people who can visualise and people
>>>>>>>>who can't, that could explain a great deal.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>There are definitely such people, and I've met them.  The example that
>>>>>>>springs to mind was a History Teaching Assistant I met in college in
>>>>>>>the 1960s.  It turned out that he had been an EE Undergrad, and
>>>>>>>discovered that he could not visualize the electrons in motion, unlike
>>>>>>>his colleagues.  This TA was wise enough to know that this was
>>>>>>>crippling - he would never be able to compete with those who could
>>>>>>>visualize electrons.  So he switched to History.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Joe Gwinn
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The statistics would be interesting, whether the non-visualization
>>>>>>thing is common or maybe very rare. I'll have to google that some
>>>>>>time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>There is a small fraction of the population that don't like music, for
>>>>>>example. That includes me. Some people absolutely can't remember
>>>>>>faces. I know a guy who can only recognize people by their hair.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I'd expect that among CE/EE graduates, good visualizers would tend to
>>>>>>be more EE and less visualizers more CE. Things vs words.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>That would suggest a good interview question.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I was drafted once (never served) and took a test to join the Marine
>>>>>>Corps. One part involved looking at a flat thing with various squares
>>>>>>painted with patterns, and then imagining a box that was folded up
>>>>>>from the flat thing. I guess that visualizing things would be useful
>>>>>>to a Marine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I think the original IQ test was for the military.
>>>>>
>>>>>I was tested for the draft here and immediately assigned to the air force.
>>>>>But did not have to serve as there was a law here 'eldest son breadwinner'.
>>>>>But sure enough my first job was designing stuff for the telcos, army and navy,
>>>>>so wound up there anyways and worked on those navy ships, dangerous...
>>>>
>>>>I used to work on ships, designing control systems and for a while
>>>>going out and maintaining them.
>>>>
>>>>The steam plants were especially dangerous. A welded pipe joint might
>>>>leak an invisible jet that would cut you in half. The crew would test
>>>>a  joint  by waving a broomstick around it, and see if the end would
>>>>be sliced off and fall to the deck.
>>>
>>>Sounds bad..
>>>I did not like the intense noise in the machine rooms from the diesel engines,
>>>and the small doors and gangways you had to 'creep' through.
>>
>>The steam plants were deafening too, and we had a giant aux diesel
>>too. You had to scream directly into someone's ear. People wore
>>construction-type helmets with ear pads, but I wore my motorcycle
>>helmet.
>>
>>
>>
>>>Almost got electrocuted working on a power supply on a heli deck..
>>>We had asked for the power to be turned off so we could change some stuff.
>>>I opened the (big) box and felt that funny tingling on my nose...
>>>to my boss "feels like there still is power"
>>> measured it, sure
>>>he almost fainted...
>>>Guy had turned off the wrong switch..
>>>In the next summer vacation I applied for a job in broadcasting and got it.
>>>Had designed and build my own portable video camera so knew enough :-)
>>>There were 6 of us hired, We then got 6 month training in all things broadcast related... payed for.
>>>followed by an exam, 2 dropped out (you have to have a feel for that stuff).
>>>2 more dropped out later...
>>
>>I was tweaking a trimpot to tune a nonlinear function generator and
>>got the prop up to 50 RPM, and almost tore the LASH ship off the dock
>>into the Mississippi river, and probably would have killed someone.
>>The Chief ran over and shut things down.
>>
>>I once rode a ship from San Francisco to San Pedro, at maybe $100 per
>>hour, to diagnose an erratic steam plant. The fix was a quarter turn
>>on a screw on a terminal strip. That was from the RPM feedback tach.
>>The constant vibration had loosened a lot of screws.
>>
>>Doing physical stuff is fun. Typing all day, not so much.
>
>There was a nice program about 'Old man river' on TV few days ago, showing how it was discovered 
>people looking for the source, the natives and the fights and what it looks like now.
>Yesterday I was looking for a nice catamaran for a world tour :-)
>For a couple of thousand you have something for the adventurer.
>My idea is to put some things like these on top:
> https://tesup.com/nl/tesup-verticale-windturbines-voor-woningen 
>then use electric motors, big battery packs.
>Then no matter what direction the wind comes from you always have power and can steer in any direction...
>Somebody already did that it seems
>And solar panels I already have..
>Anyways before the nuking here starts, better sail away...
>Bit more south maybe a safer place...
>Not the first time I had that sail-away plan, but world tensions increase by thr day now.

One could put a wind turbine on a boat and drive a prop in the water.
It's just an impedance matching problem.