Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

@WhistlerInTheDarkAges Won't stop armed bands of Nazis coming to your home. Be ready. Train up.

@HopelessDemigod I try to be reasonable.

@Oldfartrant @QasimRashid Yes, thank goodness.

@Oldfartrant @QasimRashid Yes, thank goodness.

@HopelessDemigod Since 2000 I'd have to say the smartphone.

@HopelessDemigod I see what you did there. This is a "tell me your age without telling me your age" thing.

@QasimRashid As I remember, this has been tried before, more than once. It gets no listeners. Liberals tend to be well informed and educated. They don't get a kick out of being told what they already know.

Right-wingers are a different breed of cat. They subconsciously know they're in the wrong, and out on a limb, and crave "agreement" from people like Limbaugh to repeat to them every day what they hope is true. They need reinforcement for their fantasy, every day. Liberals don't need this, so no audience.

@lauren Exactly. I've been saying for 20 years that Democrats need to remember how to play hardball. We're so nice, and sweet, and play by the rules, and fairness, and justice, and all that. But when dealing with Nazis that doesn't work. All that makes them do is attack harder and laugh.

Just shove the clip in and get busy.

@QasimRashid I'm wishing but not hoping. We'll see. Biden is a lame-duck president. Lame-ducks have a great deal of power that they've occasionally exercised. Knowing Biden, been watching him for 40 years, he just might pull the trigger. But I'm not holding my breath.

@johncarlosbaez @aprilfollies Fascinating.

@cobalt @claralistensprechen3rd Was a huge fan of Traffic. 1971,2,3 Traffic, Moody Blues, The Who, Procol Harum, The Nice, The Doors. Then came Yes, Tull, ELP

Good fortune has always followed me around. I'm reminded of it tonight. I'm working on a design that involves a thermistor. Modern thermistors are marvels of accuracy and repeatability. Wonderful things.

So, in the 1960s I lived in the Hillcrest area of West Los Angeles. We also had a beach house in Venice Beach. Our next door neighbor was the Link family, as in the child actor Michael Link. Michael's father was a chemist and retiring. He gave his entire personal laboratory to me, which we transported to the basement of our house in West LA and I added chemistry to my studies. Tremendous fun, very educational, even though I didn't become a chemist. Fortunately, he chose someone responsible because, while I was a crazy youthful experimentalist, I wasn't crazy enough to kill myself. The lab included lots of supplies and plenty of very dangerous reagents. Like I said, fun. This was not a child's toy or chemistry set and I was determined to learn how to use it properly. I mainly focused on chemical assaying. As in you give me a rock and I'll tell you what it's made of.

At the same time, one of my parent's many friends was Dr. Samuel Ruben. He visited Los Angeles from time to time. He and I would hang out and discuss chemistry. When he wasn't around, he was at his lab in New Rochelle, NY and we corresponded by written letters. He was my chemistry mentor. At that age and education level, I was not yet qualified to understand all that he had done. As time went on, I learned more about who had been teaching me.

Which brings us back to the thermistor. Dr. Ruben was an expert in electrochemistry. He held around 200 patents including the invention of the modern thermistor. He also invented the dry electrolytic capacitor, the modern alkaline battery, the mercury battery, the tantalum capacitor... on and on. Ruben co-founded with Mallory the Duracell company.

So I'm getting a kick out of closing the loop and holding a thermistor in my hand tonight.

#science #technology #chemistry #inventors #electronics #history