One of my babies...

I guess the APA knows the forum users well enough to send out Jack becaues otherwise:

Do you really want to know? If you ask nicely I'll tell you.

Would result in *something* (of which I'm sure is APA approved).

Serously, I would like to see what others have done: now especially the Cordial Jack Sprat (even nice enough to remember that I moved).

SO, if ANYBODY has some cool stuff like Andy does (ref: http://www.antronics.co.uk), I --for one-- would like to see it.

--Cpt. Vince Foster
2nd Cannon Place
Fort Marcy Park, VA

I guess the APA knows the forum users well enough to send out Jack becaues otherwise:

Do you really want to know? If you ask nicely I'll tell you.

Would result in *something* (of which I'm sure is APA approved).

Serously, I would like to see what others have done: now especially the Cordial Jack Sprat (even nice enough to remember that I moved).

SO, if ANYBODY has some cool stuff like Andy does (ref: http://www.antronics.co.uk), I --for one-- would like to see it.

--Cpt. Vince Foster
2nd Cannon Place
Fort Marcy Park, VA

Well, I for one am a little reluctant to get into a game like this.

My wife frequently used to ask me what I did. I'd try to explain, but she could never see what it was about.

Then one day, while we happened to be walking through the corridors of a UK hospital, I happened to see something that I had spent 18 months of my life creating, perfecting and making as bullet proof as I could. I called over to my wife and showed her what my career was all about. She took one look, went "oh, that's nice" and walked off.

The thing is, what can be interesting and cool to the one spending a huge amount of effort on can be dreary dull to someone else.

That is about half my point. People on this forum have a clue what it takes (with the exception of the students, et al).

My wife did the same thing. "Oh, thats all it does?" I'll even point to the fact it is on Futureweapons TV show, and it is met with "thats nice."

I guess to the non-engineer, "magic" must be explained as true "magic" rather than technology.

How can somebody just sit there and think, well it flies and hits something, or it monitors the blood glucose levels in real-time, etc without thinking it is "magic" or a huge effort by a person or team?

Those 18 months created that magic that not that many decades ago would easily be recognized as truely phenominal magic.

"Is that all it does?" Well WE know how the guts of these widgets can be like, so this is a good place to show some of that work without getting the "Gee, that is kind of lame" response (sans Jack Black).

Even a computer controlled Benchtop Power Supply we (uhm, the competent 'we' people) know that it isn't dreary nor dull.

I doubt if your wife (e.g. the non-embedded people & critters not sent by the APA) read this forum.

--Cpt. Vince Foster
2nd Cannon Place
Fort Marcy Park, VA

Here is something that I have worked on. I worked on the copier control portion of this project. Vince I know that you have seen this before :)

www.jamexvending.com/.../netpad.html

My favorite "that's nice" story came from a show and tell with my sister and brother-in-law. As we walked through the lab with me explaining how we had multiple computers built right into the assembly machine, programmed with the Franklin (Keil) assembler, my brother-in-law looked around and ask " Do you people employ union painters?"
Of course he was a painter.
Bradford

Cyril... I can't believe you guys got that thing going. Good Job! (especially in the harsh working conditions, I mean 'criteria'... very severe 'criteria' on that puppy).

Bradford... I was part of a group hosting an IEEE meeting and we were showing these IEEE members the R&D equipment we designed. It was HIGHLY stressed not to touch ANYTHING due to the ESD and mil-spec requirements.

Yep, all Electrical Engineers in this group of IEEE meeting. Immediately after the stern lecture on NOT TOUCHING ANYTHING, some dufus from Hewlett Packard touches a board, and asks "What does this do?"

I smacked his hand away just because he deserved it. (He touched a dead board anyway, but OMG what an idiot). All eyes were on him, not me.

I'm sure he was a union painter too.

--Cpt. Vince Foster
2nd Cannon Place
Fort Marcy Park, VA

I smacked his hand away just because he deserved it.

Why does that just not surprise me?

The thing is, what can be interesting and cool to the one spending a huge amount of effort on can be dreary dull to someone else.

The realisation that not one single member of the human race is even slightly interested in any of the things that engineers do for a living is pretty much a prerequisite for the job. A complete lack of ego (and ideally a good sense of self-ridicule) is very useful in reconciling this fact.