[Joerg]

Jim Thompson wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]
Do OTA digital stations have a choice of modulation scheme?

No, but they picked the ATSC standard with IMHO way too little field
testing. The European DTV system is much more robust in that respect.


I've noticed a decided improvement since OTA digital. I used to have
some bleed-thru from OTA into my cable, causing "ghost" images... some
runs exceed 80' from my distribution amplifier. But that's now
completely gone, because they're now UHF.

Going to UHF was IMHO a serious mistake. When channel 13 was on VHF it
came through, usually with little to no ghosting. Now it's unreliable. I
do not understand how one can give up a VHF channel in trade for a
channel the inferior UHF band. At least not without serious monetary
compensation (which I wouldn't know anything about) or without putting
up a fight.
Your government at its finest ;-)

I had a chat with the station's engineer and his opinion was that UHF
travels through buildings and high-rises better. I guess we lost out to
them flatlanders

And besides, I think the vast majority of urban dwellers in high-rises
will have cable TV anyhow. IMHO it's only a matter of time until folks
on the outskirts hang up on such stations and go to non-local channels
on satellite. Or as the next generation already does, fulfill their
media consumption wishes via the web for news and Netflix for movies.
Then, ad revenue drops, station budgets begin to shrivel up, pink slips
are handed out. <brag_mode> I see that coming, just as I saw the
mortgage bubble burst coming </brag_mode>.
You are not the only who foresaw the mortgage / flip bubble bursting.
It was clear from the nature of the advertised mortgages in 2005. Plus
locally I also saw a previous tight housing market invert at the same
time as many new apartments and new houses were hitting the market
from late 2004 through early 2006 here locally.

It blows my mind that the chairman of the reserve either didn't see it
or preferred to do nothing. It doesn't take much to foresee that the
concept of ARMs and, worse, negative amortization loans is wrong and
dangerous for the country. It also doesn't take much to see that the
competence level of banking managers back then had sunk to a level that
was insufficient. I expect more from a chairman, I expect that he does
the same what a police officer would do if he saw someone entering the
freeway the wrong way.

Not sure what the Fed could have done about it. Banks were still
bound by margin rules (8%, IIRC) on loans. The problem was the
repackaging of mortgage securities traded as investments. I don't
believe they fell under the Fed's purview, rather SEC. A *lot* of
people saw the housing bubble as just that, far fewer saw the real
problem, the ridiculous leveraging going on with trash securities.

Well, that's exactly what gets my blood to boil. It does not make a
smidgen of a difference under whose purview this falls. We pay those
guys lots of taxpayer money and we expect service for that money, not
passing the buck. It's like someone on the Titanic seeing the big
iceberg and not telling anyone because it's "not in his job
description". If the Fed see trouble, what is so difficult about picking
up the phone, calling the guys over at the SEC and arranging some crisis
meetings?

Currently I am with one foot in mechanical engineering stuff. My client
(rightfully) expects me to see and flag potential issues I see to their
engineers. I will never say "it ain't my job", because serving my
clients is my job.

 

[Joerg]

[...]

_No_ changes in schematics and/or the way the units are built shall
be allowed unless fully ECO-released.

That's the way it's working. There is also an issue with board
assembly drawings, but the layout guy didn't fight that battle.

And
nobody shall sign the ECO when he or she has the slightest hunch that
not all ducks are in a row.

Ok, but that doesn't change the issue.

Let me try this again. The schematics are used to generate the board
layout and BOMs (one for each SKU). There is one layout made from the
schematic. The schematic has the configuration[*] information coded
in part properties, which is used to generate the BOM for each SKU.
Each SKU P/N then references the (same) raw board, and its BOM
(generated from the schematic, filtered by part properties). These
are under ECO control and that works.

So far that sounds kosher, no complaints from me.

What is wanted is a *NEW* schematic that shows the SKU. Making *that*
is a manual process and would *NOT* be controlled. We already do this
with the (above) assembly drawings (which are not used to assemble
anything) and it causes grief. This *new* schematic is what I'm
fighting.

It needs to also be under ECO control. The first thing you need is a
standard operating procedure (SOP) on how to create a "service level"
new explanatory schematic. This SOP must include instructions to enter
it into the ECO process. Now the schematic for the version without relay
number 17 is created for the units that only get sold in Africa. Another
for the Siberian unit is created where the panel defroster circuitry is
populated. And so on.

This requires that all those different units have different assembly
numbers (I assume they do because otherwise your ECO system ain't
working right). The new explanatory schematics get released into each
respective build, just like the user manuals do where one version might
have a manual in Swahili and the other in Russian.

[*] A SKU is a board made from Chinese menu of configurations all
wired on the board and represented in the schematic. These
"configurations" are things like relays/no-relay, channels 3&4
(deleted for two channel SKU), Channel 2 (deleted for one channel
SKU), Channel 1 (deleted if no wired channels), football,...

Understood, except for the football

 

[Joerg]

What about after the first week?

We'd all be in detox

 

[Eeyore]

Damn right !

I believe you've now blacklisted yourself from being eligible to join any
unions, Joerg.

LOL !

I once worked with a guy who had a story of a field installation where a union
steward came up to him and told him that he couldn't take voltage readings
with his multimeter himself -- a union electrician would have to do it for
him. (He was wiring up various sensors/relay/small motors -- 24V or so, as I
recall -- not any high power/high voltage work.) Since this wasn't really
very practical if he wanted to finish on-time, they eventually agreed that it
would be OK so long as a union electrician just sat around and *watched* him
make the measurements.

And people wonder why all the work has gone to Asia or is rapidly heading there !

Graham

 

[Joerg]

I believe you've now blacklisted yourself from being eligible to join any
unions, Joerg.

I most certainly do not have any intent to join a union

I once worked with a guy who had a story of a field installation where a union
steward came up to him and told him that he couldn't take voltage readings
with his multimeter himself -- a union electrician would have to do it for
him. (He was wiring up various sensors/relay/small motors -- 24V or so, as I
recall -- not any high power/high voltage work.) Since this wasn't really
very practical if he wanted to finish on-time, they eventually agreed that it
would be OK so long as a union electrician just sat around and *watched* him
make the measurements.

An engineer who traveled to Australia for a service case got into
serious trouble. He "dared" to close the rack cabinet out in the field
instead of calling and waiting for a union mechanic to show up. AFAIU it
was several hours of grueling drive across rugged terrain just to get to
that place. This guys said he was pretty much read the riot act.
"WHADDAYA MEAN IT'S WORKING? YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO TOUCH ...". The fact
that he could not have possibly called anyone from out there on account
of zero cell coverage was not accepted as an apology.

Like firemen on Diesel locomotives. This pretty much hinted to me that
Australia may not be my kind of place too live, at least not as an engineer.

 

[Jim Thompson]

I believe you've now blacklisted yourself from being eligible to join any
unions, Joerg.

I once worked with a guy who had a story of a field installation where a union
steward came up to him and told him that he couldn't take voltage readings
with his multimeter himself -- a union electrician would have to do it for
him. (He was wiring up various sensors/relay/small motors -- 24V or so, as I
recall -- not any high power/high voltage work.) Since this wasn't really
very practical if he wanted to finish on-time, they eventually agreed that it
would be OK so long as a union electrician just sat around and *watched* him
make the measurements.

---Joel

Posted previously, in 2006...

Last time I had a confrontation with a shop steward was when I was a
student at MIT (around 45 years ago now)...

Ordered up a 400VDC installation for our lab.

Couple of months go by, still no show of the electricians.

I go down to Building 20 stores and get a bunch of 4/0, and wire it up
myself.

Another few months go by and the electrician shows up. I tell him to
go away.

Next thing you know I'm called into the RLE (Research Lab for
Electronics) main office.

There stands the union steward and the RLE Director.

They try to light into me.

I tell them, "I'm a student, go f... yourself", and walk out.

Never heard another word about it except that Professor Woodson (he
was from Texas) laughed so much I thought he was going to be sick ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

Labor Unions Cause Global Warming

 

[Rich Grise]

Yeah, but you guys are running the A/C

We lately ran it when it climbs above 92F in the living area (by that
time the office is >95F) because the Rottweiler gets old and can't stand
such heat too well anymore. Thermostat to 87F and he's happy again.

Other than that I've got a good old Crown Deluxe fan behind me. The ones
with push buttons, 70's era design, very quiet, super quality.

The weather forecasts for this week (Los Angeles area) have been HOT,
HOT, HOT.

It's now 80F in my office. This is quite comfortable for me. Maybe the
weatherdroids put their thermometers in the direct sun or something.

My office door opens onto a factory, with those big rollup doors at
each end open and a little breeze, so it's probably only about 80
outside. It's 10 AM; I should report sometime this afternoon.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

The weather forecasts for this week (Los Angeles area) have been HOT,
HOT, HOT.

It's now 80F in my office. This is quite comfortable for me. Maybe the
weatherdroids put their thermometers in the direct sun or something.

My office door opens onto a factory, with those big rollup doors at
each end open and a little breeze, so it's probably only about 80
outside. It's 10 AM; I should report sometime this afternoon.

In L.A. I have seen company buildings that essentially had one big hole
in the ceiling, with a huge fan and a rain cover. There was nothing that
could be engaged to close it so I guess it must be quite balmy down
there all the time. Places like Santa Monica.

 

[Rich Grise]

The weather forecasts for this week (Los Angeles area) have been HOT,
HOT, HOT.

It's now 80F in my office. This is quite comfortable for me. Maybe the
weatherdroids put their thermometers in the direct sun or something.

My office door opens onto a factory, with those big rollup doors at
each end open and a little breeze, so it's probably only about 80
outside. It's 10 AM; I should report sometime this afternoon.

3:19 PM, it's 84.4F. I turned my fan to point at my legs.

Global warming, anyone? >:->

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

In L.A. I have seen company buildings that essentially had one big hole
in the ceiling, with a huge fan and a rain cover. There was nothing that
could be engaged to close it so I guess it must be quite balmy down
there all the time. Places like Santa Monica.

It's desert here, with intense irrigation. (which is pissing off other
people who get their water from the Colorado River.) So we get essentially
desert weather. I've even quipped once, "What? No seasons in So.Cal? Hell,
we get four seasons in ONE DAY!" It's almost freezing at night - you need
a jacket, at least - then the morning is like spring, midday is like
summer, evening is like autumn, and so on. At sundown, the temp. drops
so fast you can feel the difference almost minute by minuts.

But for the most part, it's not that bad.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

It's desert here, with intense irrigation. (which is pissing off other
people who get their water from the Colorado River.) So we get essentially
desert weather. I've even quipped once, "What? No seasons in So.Cal? Hell,
we get four seasons in ONE DAY!" It's almost freezing at night - you need
a jacket, at least - then the morning is like spring, midday is like
summer, evening is like autumn, and so on. At sundown, the temp. drops
so fast you can feel the difference almost minute by minuts.

But for the most part, it's not that bad.

Now it isn't so bad but I can remember days a long time ago when the
L.A. smog was so bad that I was coughing.

 

[Rich Grise]

Now it isn't so bad but I can remember days a long time ago when the
L.A. smog was so bad that I was coughing.

I've kinda commuted from MN to CA a few times in the last few decades.

I had been in MN for about ten or so years, then got a call from a former
employer in CA. I finished up my business in MN, drove to LA, and the
first thing I noticed, cresting the rise from the high desert, was BLUE
SKY! I hardly recognized the place! This was in February or March, which
might have made a difference, but I had to admit, _somebody_ must have
done _something_ right.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[krw]

JosephKK wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]
Do OTA digital stations have a choice of modulation scheme?

No, but they picked the ATSC standard with IMHO way too little field
testing. The European DTV system is much more robust in that respect.


I've noticed a decided improvement since OTA digital. I used to have
some bleed-thru from OTA into my cable, causing "ghost" images... some
runs exceed 80' from my distribution amplifier. But that's now
completely gone, because they're now UHF.

Going to UHF was IMHO a serious mistake. When channel 13 was on VHF it
came through, usually with little to no ghosting. Now it's unreliable. I
do not understand how one can give up a VHF channel in trade for a
channel the inferior UHF band. At least not without serious monetary
compensation (which I wouldn't know anything about) or without putting
up a fight.
Your government at its finest ;-)

I had a chat with the station's engineer and his opinion was that UHF
travels through buildings and high-rises better. I guess we lost out to
them flatlanders

And besides, I think the vast majority of urban dwellers in high-rises
will have cable TV anyhow. IMHO it's only a matter of time until folks
on the outskirts hang up on such stations and go to non-local channels
on satellite. Or as the next generation already does, fulfill their
media consumption wishes via the web for news and Netflix for movies.
Then, ad revenue drops, station budgets begin to shrivel up, pink slips
are handed out. <brag_mode> I see that coming, just as I saw the
mortgage bubble burst coming </brag_mode>.
You are not the only who foresaw the mortgage / flip bubble bursting.
It was clear from the nature of the advertised mortgages in 2005. Plus
locally I also saw a previous tight housing market invert at the same
time as many new apartments and new houses were hitting the market
from late 2004 through early 2006 here locally.

It blows my mind that the chairman of the reserve either didn't see it
or preferred to do nothing. It doesn't take much to foresee that the
concept of ARMs and, worse, negative amortization loans is wrong and
dangerous for the country. It also doesn't take much to see that the
competence level of banking managers back then had sunk to a level that
was insufficient. I expect more from a chairman, I expect that he does
the same what a police officer would do if he saw someone entering the
freeway the wrong way.

Not sure what the Fed could have done about it. Banks were still
bound by margin rules (8%, IIRC) on loans. The problem was the
repackaging of mortgage securities traded as investments. I don't
believe they fell under the Fed's purview, rather SEC. A *lot* of
people saw the housing bubble as just that, far fewer saw the real
problem, the ridiculous leveraging going on with trash securities.

Well, that's exactly what gets my blood to boil. It does not make a
smidgen of a difference under whose purview this falls. We pay those
guys lots of taxpayer money and we expect service for that money, not
passing the buck. It's like someone on the Titanic seeing the big
iceberg and not telling anyone because it's "not in his job
description". If the Fed see trouble, what is so difficult about picking
up the phone, calling the guys over at the SEC and arranging some crisis
meetings?

The Fed doesn't have the right knobs to turn. Congress asked for this
mess.

Currently I am with one foot in mechanical engineering stuff. My client
(rightfully) expects me to see and flag potential issues I see to their
engineers. I will never say "it ain't my job", because serving my
clients is my job.

Different issue.

 

[Joerg]

JosephKK wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]
Do OTA digital stations have a choice of modulation scheme?

No, but they picked the ATSC standard with IMHO way too little field
testing. The European DTV system is much more robust in that respect.


I've noticed a decided improvement since OTA digital. I used to have
some bleed-thru from OTA into my cable, causing "ghost" images... some
runs exceed 80' from my distribution amplifier. But that's now
completely gone, because they're now UHF.

Going to UHF was IMHO a serious mistake. When channel 13 was on VHF it
came through, usually with little to no ghosting. Now it's unreliable. I
do not understand how one can give up a VHF channel in trade for a
channel the inferior UHF band. At least not without serious monetary
compensation (which I wouldn't know anything about) or without putting
up a fight.
Your government at its finest ;-)

I had a chat with the station's engineer and his opinion was that UHF
travels through buildings and high-rises better. I guess we lost out to
them flatlanders

And besides, I think the vast majority of urban dwellers in high-rises
will have cable TV anyhow. IMHO it's only a matter of time until folks
on the outskirts hang up on such stations and go to non-local channels
on satellite. Or as the next generation already does, fulfill their
media consumption wishes via the web for news and Netflix for movies.
Then, ad revenue drops, station budgets begin to shrivel up, pink slips
are handed out. <brag_mode> I see that coming, just as I saw the
mortgage bubble burst coming </brag_mode>.
You are not the only who foresaw the mortgage / flip bubble bursting.
It was clear from the nature of the advertised mortgages in 2005. Plus
locally I also saw a previous tight housing market invert at the same
time as many new apartments and new houses were hitting the market
from late 2004 through early 2006 here locally.

It blows my mind that the chairman of the reserve either didn't see it
or preferred to do nothing. It doesn't take much to foresee that the
concept of ARMs and, worse, negative amortization loans is wrong and
dangerous for the country. It also doesn't take much to see that the
competence level of banking managers back then had sunk to a level that
was insufficient. I expect more from a chairman, I expect that he does
the same what a police officer would do if he saw someone entering the
freeway the wrong way.
Not sure what the Fed could have done about it. Banks were still
bound by margin rules (8%, IIRC) on loans. The problem was the
repackaging of mortgage securities traded as investments. I don't
believe they fell under the Fed's purview, rather SEC. A *lot* of
people saw the housing bubble as just that, far fewer saw the real
problem, the ridiculous leveraging going on with trash securities.

Well, that's exactly what gets my blood to boil. It does not make a
smidgen of a difference under whose purview this falls. We pay those
guys lots of taxpayer money and we expect service for that money, not
passing the buck. It's like someone on the Titanic seeing the big
iceberg and not telling anyone because it's "not in his job
description". If the Fed see trouble, what is so difficult about picking
up the phone, calling the guys over at the SEC and arranging some crisis
meetings?

The Fed doesn't have the right knobs to turn. Congress asked for this
mess.

But don't they have telephones? If I don't have the right knobs to turn
I call someone who does. Like this morning when a client asked for
something I usually don't do and don't have the time to do right now.
One phone call later the matter was solved, now they have an engineer
who can do it for them.

What prevents the higher-ups at the Fed to pick up the phone, call the
higher-ups at the SEC and say "Hey, something fishy is going on and it
will hurt our country, big time. Can we meet?"

I know Glass-Steagall was repealed and that was a stupid thing to do.
But that shouldn't keep higher-ups from raising one heck of a stink.

Different issue.

Sorry, but here I disagree.

 

[krw]

krw wrote:
JosephKK wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]
Do OTA digital stations have a choice of modulation scheme?

No, but they picked the ATSC standard with IMHO way too little field
testing. The European DTV system is much more robust in that respect.


I've noticed a decided improvement since OTA digital. I used to have
some bleed-thru from OTA into my cable, causing "ghost" images... some
runs exceed 80' from my distribution amplifier. But that's now
completely gone, because they're now UHF.

Going to UHF was IMHO a serious mistake. When channel 13 was on VHF it
came through, usually with little to no ghosting. Now it's unreliable. I
do not understand how one can give up a VHF channel in trade for a
channel the inferior UHF band. At least not without serious monetary
compensation (which I wouldn't know anything about) or without putting
up a fight.
Your government at its finest ;-)

I had a chat with the station's engineer and his opinion was that UHF
travels through buildings and high-rises better. I guess we lost out to
them flatlanders

And besides, I think the vast majority of urban dwellers in high-rises
will have cable TV anyhow. IMHO it's only a matter of time until folks
on the outskirts hang up on such stations and go to non-local channels
on satellite. Or as the next generation already does, fulfill their
media consumption wishes via the web for news and Netflix for movies.
Then, ad revenue drops, station budgets begin to shrivel up, pink slips
are handed out. <brag_mode> I see that coming, just as I saw the
mortgage bubble burst coming </brag_mode>.
You are not the only who foresaw the mortgage / flip bubble bursting.
It was clear from the nature of the advertised mortgages in 2005. Plus
locally I also saw a previous tight housing market invert at the same
time as many new apartments and new houses were hitting the market
from late 2004 through early 2006 here locally.

It blows my mind that the chairman of the reserve either didn't see it
or preferred to do nothing. It doesn't take much to foresee that the
concept of ARMs and, worse, negative amortization loans is wrong and
dangerous for the country. It also doesn't take much to see that the
competence level of banking managers back then had sunk to a level that
was insufficient. I expect more from a chairman, I expect that he does
the same what a police officer would do if he saw someone entering the
freeway the wrong way.
Not sure what the Fed could have done about it. Banks were still
bound by margin rules (8%, IIRC) on loans. The problem was the
repackaging of mortgage securities traded as investments. I don't
believe they fell under the Fed's purview, rather SEC. A *lot* of
people saw the housing bubble as just that, far fewer saw the real
problem, the ridiculous leveraging going on with trash securities.

Well, that's exactly what gets my blood to boil. It does not make a
smidgen of a difference under whose purview this falls. We pay those
guys lots of taxpayer money and we expect service for that money, not
passing the buck. It's like someone on the Titanic seeing the big
iceberg and not telling anyone because it's "not in his job
description". If the Fed see trouble, what is so difficult about picking
up the phone, calling the guys over at the SEC and arranging some crisis
meetings?

The Fed doesn't have the right knobs to turn. Congress asked for this
mess.

But don't they have telephones? If I don't have the right knobs to turn
I call someone who does. Like this morning when a client asked for
something I usually don't do and don't have the time to do right now.
One phone call later the matter was solved, now they have an engineer
who can do it for them.

How do you know the Fed didn't use the telephone?

What prevents the higher-ups at the Fed to pick up the phone, call the
higher-ups at the SEC and say "Hey, something fishy is going on and it
will hurt our country, big time. Can we meet?"

"No, Barney has it covered." Don't you remember Bush warning of the
danger? He did it at least twice in SotU addresses. Congress wasn't
having any part of it.

I know Glass-Steagall was repealed and that was a stupid thing to do.
But that shouldn't keep higher-ups from raising one heck of a stink.

Agreed, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Sorry, but here I disagree.

Do you tell the boss that his car needs an oil change?

 

[krw]

[...]

_No_ changes in schematics and/or the way the units are built shall
be allowed unless fully ECO-released.

That's the way it's working. There is also an issue with board
assembly drawings, but the layout guy didn't fight that battle.

And
nobody shall sign the ECO when he or she has the slightest hunch that
not all ducks are in a row.

Ok, but that doesn't change the issue.

Let me try this again. The schematics are used to generate the board
layout and BOMs (one for each SKU). There is one layout made from the
schematic. The schematic has the configuration[*] information coded
in part properties, which is used to generate the BOM for each SKU.
Each SKU P/N then references the (same) raw board, and its BOM
(generated from the schematic, filtered by part properties). These
are under ECO control and that works.

So far that sounds kosher, no complaints from me.

What is wanted is a *NEW* schematic that shows the SKU. Making *that*
is a manual process and would *NOT* be controlled. We already do this
with the (above) assembly drawings (which are not used to assemble
anything) and it causes grief. This *new* schematic is what I'm
fighting.

It needs to also be under ECO control. The first thing you need is a
standard operating procedure (SOP) on how to create a "service level"
new explanatory schematic. This SOP must include instructions to enter
it into the ECO process. Now the schematic for the version without relay
number 17 is created for the units that only get sold in Africa. Another
for the Siberian unit is created where the panel defroster circuitry is
populated. And so on.

I see no way of making sure this new schematic is accurate. If it's
not accurate (and reflects current reality) I propose that its worth
is less than zero. Someone might actually use it! ;-) ...as has
been done with our "assembly drawing" (same issues, really).

This requires that all those different units have different assembly
numbers (I assume they do because otherwise your ECO system ain't
working right). The new explanatory schematics get released into each
respective build, just like the user manuals do where one version might
have a manual in Swahili and the other in Russian.

Where to put it isn't the problem. How to assure that it reflects
reality is the issue.

[*] A SKU is a board made from Chinese menu of configurations all
wired on the board and represented in the schematic. These
"configurations" are things like relays/no-relay, channels 3&4
(deleted for two channel SKU), Channel 2 (deleted for one channel
SKU), Channel 1 (deleted if no wired channels), football,...

Understood, except for the football

What's wrong with football? ;-)

 

[Mycelium]

3:19 PM, it's 84.4F. I turned my fan to point at my legs.

Global warming, anyone? >:->

Cheers!
Rich

Seems to describe global cooling... dual mode. Wind chimes...

 

[Joerg]

[...]

But don't they have telephones? If I don't have the right knobs to turn
I call someone who does. Like this morning when a client asked for
something I usually don't do and don't have the time to do right now.
One phone call later the matter was solved, now they have an engineer
who can do it for them.

How do you know the Fed didn't use the telephone?

If they did, then they didn't do it enough. There was an eerie silence
about this stuff on the part of the chairman. I had a lot of respect for
Greenspan, until a few years ago when I saw the first massive push for
scam mortages and nothing was done about it.

"No, Barney has it covered." Don't you remember Bush warning of the
danger? He did it at least twice in SotU addresses. Congress wasn't
having any part of it.

There are times when he and others should have slammed the table harder.
A lot harder. Plus press exposure which is a wonderful tool we have in
the US.

Agreed, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Do you tell the boss that his car needs an oil change?

If it needs it and he forgot, yes, of course. But this topic is very
different. You would certainly tell the boss if smoke was billowing out
from under the hood of his car, wouldn't you?

 

[Joerg]

krw wrote:
JosephKK wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
Jim Thompson wrote:
[snip]
Do OTA digital stations have a choice of modulation scheme?

No, but they picked the ATSC standard with IMHO way too little field
testing. The European DTV system is much more robust in that respect.


I've noticed a decided improvement since OTA digital. I used to have
some bleed-thru from OTA into my cable, causing "ghost" images... some
runs exceed 80' from my distribution amplifier. But that's now
completely gone, because they're now UHF.

Going to UHF was IMHO a serious mistake. When channel 13 was on VHF it
came through, usually with little to no ghosting. Now it's unreliable. I
do not understand how one can give up a VHF channel in trade for a
channel the inferior UHF band. At least not without serious monetary
compensation (which I wouldn't know anything about) or without putting
up a fight.
Your government at its finest ;-)

I had a chat with the station's engineer and his opinion was that UHF
travels through buildings and high-rises better. I guess we lost out to
them flatlanders

And besides, I think the vast majority of urban dwellers in high-rises
will have cable TV anyhow. IMHO it's only a matter of time until folks
on the outskirts hang up on such stations and go to non-local channels
on satellite. Or as the next generation already does, fulfill their
media consumption wishes via the web for news and Netflix for movies.
Then, ad revenue drops, station budgets begin to shrivel up, pink slips
are handed out. <brag_mode> I see that coming, just as I saw the
mortgage bubble burst coming </brag_mode>.
You are not the only who foresaw the mortgage / flip bubble bursting.
It was clear from the nature of the advertised mortgages in 2005. Plus
locally I also saw a previous tight housing market invert at the same
time as many new apartments and new houses were hitting the market
from late 2004 through early 2006 here locally.

It blows my mind that the chairman of the reserve either didn't see it
or preferred to do nothing. It doesn't take much to foresee that the
concept of ARMs and, worse, negative amortization loans is wrong and
dangerous for the country. It also doesn't take much to see that the
competence level of banking managers back then had sunk to a level that
was insufficient. I expect more from a chairman, I expect that he does
the same what a police officer would do if he saw someone entering the
freeway the wrong way.
Not sure what the Fed could have done about it. Banks were still
bound by margin rules (8%, IIRC) on loans. The problem was the
repackaging of mortgage securities traded as investments. I don't
believe they fell under the Fed's purview, rather SEC. A *lot* of
people saw the housing bubble as just that, far fewer saw the real
problem, the ridiculous leveraging going on with trash securities.
Well, that's exactly what gets my blood to boil. It does not make a
smidgen of a difference under whose purview this falls. We pay those
guys lots of taxpayer money and we expect service for that money, not
passing the buck. It's like someone on the Titanic seeing the big
iceberg and not telling anyone because it's "not in his job
description". If the Fed see trouble, what is so difficult about picking
up the phone, calling the guys over at the SEC and arranging some crisis
meetings?
The Fed doesn't have the right knobs to turn. Congress asked for this
mess.

But don't they have telephones? If I don't have the right knobs to turn
I call someone who does. Like this morning when a client asked for
something I usually don't do and don't have the time to do right now.
One phone call later the matter was solved, now they have an engineer
who can do it for them.

What prevents the higher-ups at the Fed to pick up the phone, call the
higher-ups at the SEC and say "Hey, something fishy is going on and it
will hurt our country, big time. Can we meet?"

I know Glass-Steagall was repealed and that was a stupid thing to do.
But that shouldn't keep higher-ups from raising one heck of a stink.

If you had actually paid attention, it was discussed in this NG
earlier. The "Alarmists" drew the ire of Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank,
Henry Waxman, Harry Reid and the like. Unpleasant congressional
hearings etc.,

An honest politician should not care one iota about ire, unpleasant
hearings and the like. Not one bit.

[...]

 

[Joerg]

You are asking for good reception from transmitters in three or more
different locations, no? Fortunately most are located on
hilltops/mountaintops, quite clustered. Two you have major reflecting
surfaces that bounce the signal well. JimW this applies to you as
well. Plus, a few small antennas (perhaps lower) can result in much
better reception. Or you could go in for an antenna rotator.

Sure, but the fact of the matter is that analog TV worked just fine
without all this extra effort. Meaning analog TV was better, much
better. At least that's how a whole lot of people out here see it.

[...]