Random Thought Thread

Years ago at work, concerned about my coworkers wellbeing, I posted a hydration chart above the toilet. All the employees used it as a target....It was 4 feet off the ground!!!! 🤔
Screenshot_20240809_082122_Samsung Internet.jpg

The rest of the story: "work" was an oil rig, and the "employees" were roughnecks!! 😄
 
clinton1 said:
The rest of the story: "work" was an oil rig, and the "employees" were roughnecks!! 😄
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That tracks. Oil field workers are a different breed and not for the faint of heart.

I was in North Dakota working the oilfield during the boom. That was not good for my temper. However, working in finance for a very large, woke brokerage firm is basically the other extreme end of the spectrum. Also, not good for my temper 😆
 
But they didn't used to put a variable frequency drive into anything and everything. It adds an element of complexity that is unnecessary and an additional breaking point.

I have a spindle chiller unit with a variable frequency drive that failed because of that drive which brought a machining center down. It was completely unnecessary.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
But they didn't used to put a variable frequency drive into anything and everything. It adds an element of complexity that is unnecessary and an additional breaking point.

I have a spindle chiller unit with a variable frequency drive that failed because of that drive which brought a machining center down. It was completely unnecessary.
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True, but in certain applications they also increase efficiency, lowering power consumption. In other applications I guess they simplify the mechanical design by reducing moving parts?
 
jlauffer said:
True, but in certain applications they also increase efficiency, lowering power consumption. In other applications I guess they simplify the mechanical design by reducing moving parts?
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It does reduce power consumption

And this makes it more ecologically green

But I seriously doubt the power savings offsets the cost of a variable frequency drive

And the additional complexity on an industrial component that is more likely to fail and more complicated to repair is definitely not worth the electrical cost savings
 
As they get physically smaller and cheaper, kinda makes sense they would find their way into more and more applications, but I agree that, as usual, it ends up going too far. One of those "just because you can doesn't mean you should" things. Like why do appliances need wifi?
 
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jlauffer said:
As they get physically smaller and cheaper, kinda makes sense they would find their way into more and more applications, but I agree that, as usual, it ends up going too far. One of those "just because you can doesn't mean you should" things. Like why do appliances need wifi?
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We had a through the wall slip fit AC unit in Jo's assembly shop.

There was nothing actually physically wrong with it.

There was an internal USB port used to attach an unused Wi-Fi card

I don't remember how we ended up "fixing" this but I did figure out a way to get this unit going again.

It was expensive and it had a lot of life left in it and it died because of an unused and completely unnecessary piece of tech inside of it.
 
ferider said:
The 25 "healthiest" counties in the US:

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/safest-counties-in-america?slide=16

Nr 11 is San Mateo county. Performs best in "Per capita spending on health and emergency services".

WTF does that even mean ? I have to admit, we have good fire fighters. And the most expensive hospitals in the country .... For example, > 20k for a one hour emergency visit when I had a kidney stone. :(
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Wow that really has me dreading the bill from my recent kidney stone trip to the ER.
 
jlauffer said:
As they get physically smaller and cheaper, kinda makes sense they would find their way into more and more applications, but I agree that, as usual, it ends up going too far. One of those "just because you can doesn't mean you should" things. Like why do appliances need wifi?
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We just bought a new stove and dishwasher. The absurdity of wifi for these kinds of things blows me away. I will say that the new dishwasher is almost too quiet! 🤣
 
On a positive note though we also have awesome fire fighters. I had an exciting night a couple of nights ago. The wife called me to the window to see this IMG_8010.jpegThat was from my front porch. The next property over had 5 acres burn. I called it in and then called the neighbor to ask if he had seen it. He said it was at his place and he was fighting it off his house with a garden hose. I packed a few important items and threw them in the truck and left my wife to pack up the rest and prepare to evacuate. I grabbed all of my fire tools and headed out. There is no direct way to his place from mine. I hit the mountain road and ended up at a dead end. I called another neighbor for better directions and he came to join me. By the time I got there from 1/2 mile away, several fire trucks were already there. This is 3 miles out a crazy dirt mountain road that isn’t close to anything. A local guy that knew my neighbor and where he live lead the fire fighters there. They saved his house and everyone else’s for that matter. It was extremely impressive to see the quick and massive response. There was nothing but steep, inaccessible terrain and combustibles between here and there. So RESPECT to those people that stay ready so they don’t have to get ready to head out on these calls.
 
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