Test Equipment Anonymous

AVGresponding wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 1:13 am

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Jan 02, 2026 11:48 am

AVGresponding wrote: ↑Fri Jan 02, 2026 9:50 am You'd expect the angle on the bus to be larger in any case, due to compression of the suspension on the loaded side

Then maybe the slope was tilted at 28 degrees necessary for the test, but the bus was just on the verge of toppling and was at 35 degrees because the suspension was compressed as you suggested. Very impressive anyway.

Yeah it's quite visually disturbing to see, and somewhat counter-intuitive. It would be instructive to see where the actual centre of mass is.

At the point of toppling the CoM is vertically above the downside wheel. If you estimate the relative mass of the engine and superstructure you can make a guess at how far above.

The bus will be roughly symmetrical viewed end on. If you imagine the bus tilted in the other direction the CoM will be directly above the driver side wheel at the point of toppling. The point where the perpendiculars from the two wheels cross, I estimate to be slightly above the radiator cap. The CoM of the bus would be on that axis. That seems reasonable as a lot of the mass of the bus would be engine, chassis, transmission, wheels and seats below that point.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sat Jan 03, 2026 10:03 am The bus will be roughly symmetrical viewed end on. If you imagine the bus tilted in the other direction the CoM will be directly above the driver side wheel at the point of toppling. The point where the perpendiculars from the two wheels cross, I estimate to be slightly above the radiator cap. The CoM of the bus would be on that axis. That seems reasonable as a lot of the mass of the bus would be engine, chassis, transmission, wheels and seats below that point.

Irritating: I should have thought of that!

I had to share the hotel lift with the little guy on the left when in Shenzhen in August '24.
He/she/it could open the lift doors, select the floor to travel to and progress to the room # to deliver the online dinner order and signal the occupants their tucker was outside.
Darn smart are the Chinese.

But they appear to be tethered to the lift by their power leads? Or did they unplug themselves before delivery?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5zMEN0E_48

The plug powers a docking station which the robot returns to.

I'm surprised it doesn't have a "tip" jar. Seems everyone today feels they are entitled to a tip for just doing their basic job.

Zenith wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 1:46 pm The plug powers a docking station which the robot returns to.

Gotcha. So not all of what we see in the still is mobile.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 2:50 pm I'm surprised it doesn't have a "tip" jar. Seems everyone today feels they are entitled to a tip for just doing their basic job.

That would be asking for trouble. All sorts of unpleasant things could be put in it.

The thing strikes me as a gee whizz attraction. I doubt it adds significantly to the efficiency of the hotel.

Zenith wrote: ↑Fri Jan 02, 2026 11:58 am

tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 02, 2026 10:44 am While walking the dog I came across a semi-autonomous paint pot trundling along a lane towards some playing fields. Somewhat like this one in Milton Keynes

The first time I saw one of those, the thing which occurred was the scope for mischief such contraptions offered.

This is an early model. The next generation which will replace Hermes/Evri drivers, will have advanced features such as throwing the parcel over a wall and having a camera appearing on a stalk to take a snap, or for no apparent reason, delivering it to an address three doors down, and hiding it round the back where it will be discovered a week later soaked through.

They'll need to teach it to drink beer and vomit/urinate on your delivery for the full effect. Of course, then it will have hands so it can also nick every n(rnd) packages.

mnem
Remember when all we really had to worry aboot was "Better living through Chemistry"...?

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:22 am
They'll need to teach it to drink beer and vomit/urinate on your delivery for the full effect. Of course, then it will have hands so it can also nick every n(rnd) packages.

Next, android Porch Pirates to steal the delivered treasures and make off with them. "Your parcels, give them to me now. Also your cloths and the keys to your motorcycle".

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:22 am Remember when all we really had to worry aboot was "Better living through Chemistry"...?

"Through science to plenty". Each new technology has advantages and disadvantages we have to learn to live with. For instance there was that lovely green wallpaper, which gave off a deadly gas containing arsenic, which probably polished off Napoleon.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 12:13 pm For instance there was that lovely green wallpaper, which gave off a deadly gas containing arsenic, which probably polished off Napoleon.

Not just wallpaper, which was rare and has disappeared.

Consider books with covers containing Pairs/Schloss/emerald green, which is still a hazard for librarians and antiquarians.

The surviving copies (of "Shadows from the Walls of Death: Facts and Inferences Prefacing a Book of Specimens of Arsenical Wall Papers", 1874) may only be handled with special precautions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_f ... s_of_Death

More widely: https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookprojec ... -database/
I have one of these https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookprojec ... -bookmark/

That's interesting. I don't believe any of my ancient tomes qualify.

Arsenic was used in fly papers and I heard that was the source of the arsenic used in some murders. Until fairly recently sodium arsenite was used as a pesticide in orchards.

Then of course there was lead paint. At one time it was used on pencils.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sun Jan 18, 2026 2:36 pm Then of course there was lead paint. At one time it was used on pencils.

I've always wondered about that one. Why did policemen always lick their pencils before writing in their notebooks? That was reported in PG Wodehouse and Agatha Christie. Were pencils really different then? And why would licking one make it more effective? Or was it just an effective gesture for a writer to use? (Translation: You're in trouble now, sonny.)

I noticed that and tried it with an HB pencil. I didn't notice any difference.

To go all Freudian, perhaps it was repressed desires bubbling through?

WW2 EMF triggering of landmines:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdYFNY3hAOg

I watched a bit of that and gave up. First off, it's extremely irritating to have artificial dirt and weave added to make a sequence of stills look like 16mm cine film of the 1940s/50s. Second, spelling mistakes "diffuse" instead of "defuse" were certainly not tolerated at that time. Third, the bit where RV Jones is introduced in front of a lab bench is clearly faked, with a modern oscilloscope on the bench. Taken together, it has no credibility.

Welcome to the death of history and the rise of alt-history

When I was a kid, I wondered why old people were so grumpy; now I know.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 11:37 am When I was a kid, I wondered why old people were so grumpy; now I know.

If you don't become grumpy as you get older, you haven't been paying attention.

The video conforms to a type which has come about recently, probably with a lot of AI involved, with misspelled subtitles and the scratchy, dusty effect you mentioned. The photos are often from the same period but totally irrelevant. They also tend to be sensational.

I'd never heard of this device and I've taken an interest in the war in North Africa. I'd guess it existed and was occasionally useful, but wasn't the game changer the video would have us believe.

I got about a third of the way through "Most Secret War" by R.V. Jones. I got fed up with it because there was far too much about the interplay of personalities and politics, and personal reminiscences. What I read was mainly about navigation beams and radar. Maybe the book mentions this device further on. I can't lay hands on it right now, so I can't check.

Zenith wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 12:18 pm If you don't become grumpy as you get older, you haven't been paying attention.

Nicely put.

I got about a third of the way through "Most Secret War" by R.V. Jones. I got fed up with it because there was far too much about the interplay of personalities and politics, and personal reminiscences. What I read was mainly about navigation beams and radar. Maybe the book mentions this device further on.

From memory, no. And I'm pretty sure I would have remembered it.

I have "Most Secret War" as well and don't recall him mentioning the device the video was about. What I do remember was RV Jones telling the reader just how clever he was. It must have been true, otherwise he wouldn't have kept saying so. Oh, and his personal animus against a government high-up with a German name that I have forgotten. On the subject of autobiographies, "What Little I Remember" by Otto Frisch is well worth a read.

I will keep your "Haven't been paying attention" as an excuse for the next time I'm accused of being grumpy.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 03, 2026 3:23 pm What I do remember was RV Jones telling the reader just how clever he was. It must have been true, otherwise he wouldn't have kept saying so.

Others have made a similar point

Nonetheless, he did get some things right where others got them wrong.