Daylight Saving Time

[femurphy77]

Sorry it does not work for you, in Indy the average person starts to work at 7:54 am according to fivethirtyeight.com. Those families like DST in the summer for after work, kids are sleeping at even 6 am. Most communities have ordinances against anything noisy before 8 am.

MM

Oh I know I'm in the minority. And for the record, I don't do anything noisy that early, but pulling weeds, planting stuff, etc. keeps me busy enough until a "civil" hour.

I've always had a personal rule of no noisy activities after dark unless of course the whole neighborhood is invited and to a lesser extent that applies in the morning as well. I say lesser because I understand that people like to sleep in on weekends so will keep the din to a minimum for the first hour or so of daylight but we all have things to get down on those two precious days and because someone choses sleep until 9 or 10 a.m. won't prevent me from the noisier maintenance activities. So 8 a.m. is usually the start of the day on weekends. The one saving grace to that rule is that the yard is still too wet with dew to mow anyway.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I've always had a personal rule of no noisy activities after dark unless of course the whole neighborhood is invited and to a lesser extent that applies in the morning as well. I say lesser because I understand that people like to sleep in on weekends so will keep the din to a minimum for the first hour or so of daylight but we all have things to get down on those two precious days and because someone choses sleep until 9 or 10 a.m. won't prevent me from the noisier maintenance activities. So 8 a.m. is usually the start of the day on weekends. The one saving grace to that rule is that the yard is still too wet with dew to mow anyway.

Yep, same here. By the same token, I don't get annoyed (okay, maybe a little ) when the neighbors decide to start mowing at 7:30 or 8 p.m. during DST when I'm getting ready to go to bed.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Fortunately, the new Amepa isn't like this.
This is the instructions for the previous Amepa.

Set clock via switches on the parameter card in slot 19 of the MCU100.
Switches DS1 through DS8 are numbered from top to bottom.
Reset button is on the card in slot 18.

Set DS3 to "1"
Set DS1 to "2"
Press RESET
Set seconds using sw DS4 & DS5
...DS4 = tens
...DS5 = units (ones)
Set DS3 from "1" to "0" and back to "1" again
Repeat steps 4 & 5 each time for: min/hrs/day/month/year
Reset DS1 and DS3 to "0"
Press RESET

If entry is wrong, or doesn't take, start back to step 1
Transferring data takes time.
Set clock time a bit in advance and wait with RESET until actual time is the same as programmed time.



Note: this NEVER works the first couple times.


This is just ONE example of the fun people have that work in heavy industry with legacy systems.

??????

 

[jamil]

Fortunately, the new Amepa isn't like this.
This is the instructions for the previous Amepa.

Set clock via switches on the parameter card in slot 19 of the MCU100.
Switches DS1 through DS8 are numbered from top to bottom.
Reset button is on the card in slot 18.

Set DS3 to "1"
Set DS1 to "2"
Press RESET
Set seconds using sw DS4 & DS5
...DS4 = tens
...DS5 = units (ones)
Set DS3 from "1" to "0" and back to "1" again
Repeat steps 4 & 5 each time for: min/hrs/day/month/year
Reset DS1 and DS3 to "0"
Press RESET

If entry is wrong, or doesn't take, start back to step 1
Transferring data takes time.
Set clock time a bit in advance and wait with RESET until actual time is the same as programmed time.



Note: this NEVER works the first couple times.


This is just ONE example of the fun people have that work in heavy industry with legacy systems.

This conforms to the universal truth of designing systems: It's generally harder to make it easy, so things are usually harder than they could have been.

 

[actaeon277]

??????

I was just going through my little pocket notebook at work.
We have a "new guy" (62 years old) that I'm training.
I need to update the notebook, then print copies up. So much has changed.
The procedure I showed, was what I had to go through on just ONE piece of equipment.
The Amepa.
Amepa is a slag detection system.
We can pour a ladle either..
"To the number". They have the weight of an empty ladle, and add the weight of the estimated slag level. Stop pouring steel at the estimation. Such as stopping at 184,000 pounds.
The estimate can be wrong though, and allow slag into the Tundish Box. Or it can be wrong the other way, and we end up wasting good steel.
or
"To Amepa". The Amepa detects slag starting to mix in the nozzle, and shuts the ladle gate off.
This allows us to waste less steel. But can allow small amounts of slag into the Tundish Box.
So... higher quality steel we pour to the number, pad the number a bit to make sure there is no slag. Instead of the 184,000 estimate, we might pour to 189,000.
We waste 5,000 pounds more of steel. But we ensure there is no slag to contaminate the cast.

 

[actaeon277]

This conforms to the universal truth of designing systems: It's generally harder to make it easy, so things are usually harder than they could have been.

Well, now everyone is used to computer based systems.
But with old legacy systems, it was a nightmare of drawers of circuit boards, with switches

It wasn't "intentionally hard".
It was just the limitations of the electronics of the day.


Some of those electronics are still in use.
I work on expensive systems. They don't get replaced very often.
We just upgraded the EMLI system a couple years ago. $400,000 for the unit. Then $10,000 for each sensing coil. We needed about 10 coils.
So half a million. Initially.
So if you have a hundred systems like this, you just don't go around replacing them to make it easy for Actaeon to change the time.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I've changed all our clocks except for two (not counting the computer and cell phones which are automatic). So I've been in and out of the future this evening. Or the past. I don't remember. Oh yeah, and I'll have to change the clock in my car.

 

[jamil]

Well, now everyone is used to computer based systems.
But with old legacy systems, it was a nightmare of drawers of circuit boards, with switches

It wasn't "intentionally hard".
It was just the limitations of the electronics of the day.


Some of those electronics are still in use.
I work on expensive systems. They don't get replaced very often.
We just upgraded the EMLI system a couple years ago. $400,000 for the unit. Then $10,000 for each sensing coil. We needed about 10 coils.
So half a million. Initially.
So if you have a hundred systems like this, you just don't go around replacing them to make it easy for Actaeon to change the time.

I wasn't saying they set out to make it hard. I'm saying "easy" wasn't a priority or it would have been worth it to them to make it easy. Easy is usually a little harder than making it hard.

But. Some things aren't all that hard. I had to make a digital clock for one of my electronics lab classes back in the day. It was pretty easy to set. You used two buttons to increment time, one for hours, one for minutes. The clock didn't need to keep seconds. Then there was another push button to "set" the time. It was a simple design that only took me a few hours to design and build, and it used mostly surplus parts. In terms of time and money resources, partying with friends and spending my money on beer was more important than spending it on a clock for a grade. As I recall someone used a DTMF keypad to set the time. That was pretty cool. Made it easy to set, but I thought it was a lot of work to go through just to make a clock for a grade.

And that's just for a stupid clock for a grade, which was dismantled as soon as I got it back with a grade. I don't think I remember anyone using dip-switches to set the time. I mean, OMG. There are some easier options they could have built in if "easier" was a priority. I understand that environmental/operational considerations limit some options, but dude, they made that one hard because harder was easier.

 

[actaeon277]

I wasn't saying they set out to make it hard. I'm saying "easy" wasn't a priority or it would have been worth it to them to make it easy. Easy is usually a little harder than making it hard.

But. Some things aren't all that hard. I had to make a digital clock for one of my electronics lab classes back in the day. It was pretty easy to set. You used two buttons to increment time, one for hours, one for minutes. The clock didn't need to keep seconds. Then there was another push button to "set" the time. It was a simple design that only took me a few hours to design and build, and it used mostly surplus parts. In terms of time and money resources, partying with friends and spending my money on beer was more important than spending it on a clock for a grade. As I recall someone used a DTMF keypad to set the time. That was pretty cool. Made it easy to set, but I thought it was a lot of work to go through just to make a clock for a grade.

And that's just for a stupid clock for a grade, which was dismantled as soon as I got it back with a grade. I don't think I remember anyone using dip-switches to set the time. I mean, OMG. There are some easier options they could have built in if "easier" was a priority. I understand that environmental/operational considerations limit some options, but dude, they made that one hard because harder was easier.

Well, they were more worried about the "slag detection" aspect.
And it outputted to a printer, to report faults/errors.
So, the time wasn't important.
Till you had a major fault and tried to go through pages of fault reports, with the wrong time stamp.



Kinda of like the Electro-Nite Data Caster (datacrasher nickname, cause it kept crashing)
Kept a electronic log on a touch screen.
The time wasn't important, till you had to go through pages of errors, and the time stamps are wrong.

 

[actaeon277]

And, "user friendly" has varying level of importance, depending on the company.
After all, this is being done on the clock, by a "trained craftsman".

When we were ding the most recent major upgrade to #1 Caster, there was an argument about pressure and flow transmitters.
The building was built using Rosemount transmitters. There are hundreds of them.
They are bullet proof, and user friendly.
They are also expensive.

So, the engineers wanted to buy Yokogawa transmitters.
They are actually pretty good, almost as bullet proof as the Rosemount. Maybe just as good.
But as for "user friendly", they SUCK SUCK SUCK.
Really SUCK.

So I was told, who cares how long it takes to set one up.
You're being paid to do the job.
We don't care how EASY it is for you.

Well Mr. Fancy Pants Engineer.
When cast terminations mean we can lose between $200,000 and $2,000,000 depending on the grade of steel, and this is for a "quick turnaround"...
You might want me to be able to set one up fast, to get it back online.
It's not a matter of being "easy" for me. Though I'm not against that.
It's a matter of ONE termination because of the longer set up time will eradicate the ENTIRE savings.
And, if we use the Yoko, we'll need several of their communicators, and training and experience, since we have been using the Rosemounts since they came out.

 

[KellyinAvon]

I was just going through my little pocket notebook at work.
We have a "new guy" (62 years old) that I'm training.
I need to update the notebook, then print copies up. So much has changed.
The procedure I showed, was what I had to go through on just ONE piece of equipment.
The Amepa.
Amepa is a slag detection system.
We can pour a ladle either..
"To the number". They have the weight of an empty ladle, and add the weight of the estimated slag level. Stop pouring steel at the estimation. Such as stopping at 184,000 pounds.
The estimate can be wrong though, and allow slag into the Tundish Box. Or it can be wrong the other way, and we end up wasting good steel.
or
"To Amepa". The Amepa detects slag starting to mix in the nozzle, and shuts the ladle gate off.
This allows us to waste less steel. But can allow small amounts of slag into the Tundish Box.
So... higher quality steel we pour to the number, pad the number a bit to make sure there is no slag. Instead of the 184,000 estimate, we might pour to 189,000.
We waste 5,000 pounds more of steel. But we ensure there is no slag to contaminate the cast.

Amepa does not equal ameoba

I hear what you're saying on keeping the pocket notebook updated. Aircraft maintenance folks always had one in their pocket with tech order references. They rarely updated them when chapter and verse changed.

 

[actaeon277]

Amepa does not equal ameoba

I hear what you're saying on keeping the pocket notebook updated. Aircraft maintenance folks always had one in their pocket with tech order references. They rarely updated them when chapter and verse changed.

We have a lot of weirdly named equipment and/or companies out here.

 

[wingrider1800]

Now I know where to begin if I ever decide to reinvent the clock or come up with a better way to save daylight. I would really prefer DST year around. I like to be on the lake by daylight and without DST I would have to be up by 2-2:30 to be and out the door by 3. That would really be hard on my beauty sleep and I need all I can get.

 

[actaeon277]

Amepa does not equal ameoba

I hear what you're saying on keeping the pocket notebook updated. Aircraft maintenance folks always had one in their pocket with tech order references. They rarely updated them when chapter and verse changed.

And Amepa and amoeba are pronounced very similar.

 

[jamil]

We have a lot of weirdly named equipment and/or companies out here.

So it's not a Fluke?

 

[actaeon277]

So it's not a Fluke?

 

[actaeon277]

And so it begins.
2:15.

Otherwise known as 3:15

 

[Ballstater98]

Scanning the new house for what clocks automatically did their job...the only one I'm disappointed in is the programmable thermostat. I changed it. Perhaps I'll need to consult the manual. Surely is has a DST option. It has the date programmed in it.

 

[DCR]

OMG, I got up and one clock said one thing and another said something else, I'm hungry and I don't know whether to eat breakfast or lunch. And tomorrow Jeopardy will come on and it will be LIGHT out! The horror, the horror.

 

[femurphy77]

The world did end! I got up at 7 am yesterday and it was light, I got up at 7 am today and it.was dark.