Schematic and PCB design relating to Lighting and Control Systems for my main job. Schematics and PCB Design after hours as a contractor too, because I have a daughter now, my wife can't work, and life has become /very/ expensive in Sydney.
What I'd love to be working on: Try to initiate a high voltage arc through the air to a target device, and modulate it to send "Data over Lightning", like Alyx does in Half-Life 2. It won't work the way it does in the game, but I'd it's an idea I've had for a long time and I'd love to prototype it some day.
Critical information for those that aren't aware: MLCC capacitance decreases with applied DC voltage, like, a whole fucking lot. [1]
Those 10uF/100V/X7R/1210 capacitors you love for your space constrained designs might only be 1uF at 48V. And it gets worse when choosing smaller package sizes.
This caught me completely off-guard. I've always thought an MLCC with a reasonable Dielectric at a given Capacitance would perform at least as well as an Electrolytic or Tantalum (minus fire hazards).
Notably as the capacitance goes up in a given package size this effect increases dramatically. Every good manufacturer provides a plot of this for each product.
If you really need to be on the lowest column (highest capacitance) for a given voltage rating, you'll either pay for it in voltage derating, temperature performance, tolerance accuracy, package height, or just pay for it in literal cash.
You cannot go below the lowest column, they have not figured out how to build a 10uF/25V/X7R/0603 MLCC, that is just not a thing you can buy.
With a given dielectric, material properties science only go so far. You're leaving performance on the table if you select a given package size with less capacitance and a lower voltage rating than what's available. (Assuming decoupling, not analog stuff where you need exactly 438.6 pF for a particular resonant frequency or something). Each package size has basically a constant inductance, and usually, capacitor height isn't that critical - you don't want to be oversquare, but they don't sell many of those. Each manufacturer publishes a waterfall diagram, but all manufacturers are working with the same physics.
Conversely, if you've selected an X7R dielectric and an 0603 package for a decoupling capacitor, there's not a great reason to go with a 0.1uF value, or to restrict yourself to 6.3V rating - eg [2]. They make a 0.47 uF 25V capacitor that's otherwise identical! [3] And because designers are lazy and default to 100nF, the part with 1/5th the performance is literally 6% more expensive!
Note that for 0402 packages, the 100nF capacitor is typically the right part to select! You can't get a 120nF/X7R/0402 at any voltage rating above 6.3V, the 220nF and 470nF are exotic parts that sacrifice stability and accuracy for maximum capacitance in a volume, but a 100nF/16V/X7R/0402 is a pretty good default.
Thats because of the MLCCs you are considering, you can get ones with different voltage coefficents if you want. Like ones that keep 95% at 100v or even better. They cost more and have different materials.
I was once caught by this issue too. The problem was that I didn’t know about the basic phenomenon (MLCC losing capacitance with voltage) so I didn’t know that I was expecting extreme parts.
Honestly, my Sunni relatives from Tartus, Homs and Dimashq are elated. My alawite and druz relatives from Tartus and Latakia are almost distraught.
There is a massive disparity between the treatment of Alawites/Shiites/Druz and Sunnis in Syria (Re: employment opportunities, etc)
I've always heard horror stories about starvation and torture from my father (Sunni) who served over a decade in Hafiz Assads military, as well as constant fear of the "Mukhabaraat" (government informants), leading to huge amounts of self-censorship when speaking on the phone or in public.
My alawite/druz relatives are generally well off and would tell me "eh, it wasn't so bad", despite having the same informant fears and self-censoring
It's not uncommon in Tartus, but far less common in Homs and Dimashq. Oddly enough it's usually Sunni husband and 'x' wife.
For example we have Sunni/Shia, Sunni/Druz, Sunni/Christian and most recently Sunni/Alawite in our extended family, all from Tartus.
Our relatives from Homs/Dimashq are almost exclusively Sunni, religious, and tend to marry from their own sect and even city.
There are irreconcilable differences between (for example) Sunnis and Shiites that would usually prevent marriage if the husband is 'stricter' in faith, not to mention the rift caused during family gatherings by the politics behind each sect (ie: Alawites are generally pro-Assad, Shiites are usually pro Hezbollah, Sunnis are usually against both)
Edit: This is obviously a gross oversimplification, basically less religeous more intermixing.
Having a similar experience with our first child this week. Almost a full day of labour only to have a c-section at the very end due to complications.
Even the c-section seemed absolutly brutal, at one point I was convinced one of the surgeons placed his foot on the table for leverage, given how much movement there was to her body.
As if the physical trauma wasn't enough, being in a room with multiple first-time parents struggling to breastfeed as both they and their children cried, then being visited and probed every hour by medical staff with ineffective pain relief, /and/ having work out how to care for your child when the only communication path is basically through
an amplitude modulated scream -
Honestly, I've had some low points in my life, I thought I had a high tolerance for physical and emotional pain, but I can only describe what my wife experienced this week as total, crushing anguish.
Doesn't seem limited to GE Microwaves! My wife uses a cheap Kmart house-brand microwave for waxwork that does the exact same thing.
I have another in the kitchen (Panasonic NNCD997) that has an interlock system which blows the primary fuse if a) The door is open and b) The magnetron is currently active.
Unfortunately, with this model, the incandescent bulb dying kills the inverter PCB.
Edit: The service/repair manual[1] for the Panasonic is an interesting read, if anyone is interested
>"Engaging in the illicit tobacco trade is a serious offence. It significantly deprives the Australian community of vital funding which could have otherwise been used to fund health, education and other essential community services."
