The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast

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#255 – Inspirations and Aspirations – Recanting Rocket Rationale

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JWST

  • Chris is back in California, after getting a tour of SpaceX and Northrup Grumman two weeks ago.
  • Way late to the party, but Chris is currently reading The Martian. It’s awesome.  A movie is coming out soon:
    [tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4PCI0NamI[/tube]
  • The New Horizons probe is about to reach Pluto.
  • Most space photos are not in the visible spectrum. An example is the picture of the Pillars of Creation.
  • The James Webb telescope will be launching in a few years. The Hubble is now 20+ years old.
  • Dave has a work experience student shadowing him…for video production!
  • It’s interesting what kids are looking at for careers today. There is more exposure to engineering than there used to be (in popular media). In the past, it was Bill Nye and maybe a few others.
  • In the age of cable, there are more programs that touch on science and engineering.
  • YouTube enables this effect times 1000. Ben Krasnow’s Applied Science channel is an example that could draw people into engineering and expose them to new things. His recent video about showing a record needle surely caught the eye of new people.
    [tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuCdsyCWmt8[/tube]
  • Dave is still working with his manufacturer and has taken more of the reins. 
  • Caleb Chung talks about Pleo the Dinosaur. He also worked on the Furby.
  • Seeed recently announced a 3 day PCBA turn (which Chris mistakenly thought you needed to use the open parts library). 

Comments

  1. I noticed the youtube Videos are still embedded with the old flash code. If you use the recent code, to embed Videos, the Browser is able to play them with html5.

  2. Thanks for the quick mention of my “bucking bronco” tunnel diode video…

    FYI – I’d take a long road trip over a commercial flight anyday, as long as I had the time to spare (and if you’ve got a fun car to drive).

  4. Regarding reality/science/engineering shows;
    Right off the bat, Mythbusters is no reality show. Unless Adam starts crying while the others scream at him, calling him names and other such odd sadistic crap people like to watch. It’s one of a handful of reasons I still own a TV and a cable subscription. They have recently created another cool show now What Could Possibly Go Wrong. Hope it doesn’t go to shit.
    When it comes to science, there is almost 0 science on TV. Try learning something, I dare you. I’m not saying to turn it into courses but at least they should give you something. Like explain how we detect particles in LHC or something, how a “camera” works. How science works in general and how we know what we know.
    About engineering, it’s kinda the same. Say for instance they want to explain how to save the planet. They would outline the following detailed procedude. 1 Have a plan. 2 Implement the plan. 3 Don’t fail. If that’s not meticulous explaining, I don’t know what is.
    About NG, Discovery and all that crap, I remember when I was little, they used to show you tons and tons of landscapes, closeups etc with a voice in the background. Then an Aussie bloke’s back showed up on the screen. The narrator was present. After a few years, he turned around and started making faces. Now it’s all about him and how he does sexual stuff to wild fauna. Nature has become a pretext for what I can only call obscene exhibitionism. Next they’ll be showing full frontal nudity. I for one was not surprised or shocked at all when Steve Irwin died. He was nothing but an attention grabbing narcissist. Anal probing wild fauna may be a hazard to your health. Leave the animals be.
    You see this in science / engineering too. Discovery went from Mythbusters to Shitfuckers. They mostly blow shit up.

  5. The old days of Beyond 2000. Who didnt watch that old show. It was very entertaining and informative. Miss those old days.