@cinnamon @whitequark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpzOSqkZBHY

@azonenberg Wow, you had it figured out early. I was lucky, here in Australia we managed to eliminate it (several times, the politicians kept letting it back in) and we were pretty safe until I learned from Twitter that respirators do work, so I was mostly ready when they reopened the borders. Kept kid home until we had found a decent KF94 for them, though that didn't quite pass testing with 3M FT-32 and nebuliser. Trident P2 XS does pass testing, but it is hard being the only kid wearing one

@azonenberg Glad you already know - I wasn't sure as the public health messaging has been very poor. Yes it is extremely hard for kids and their families. I hope you feel well soon and that she manages to avoid the bugs somehow.

@azonenberg I've been really surprised how effective wearing a N95 (that passes a fit test) is - I've only had 2 colds since 2019 and last time I checked, still negative for antibodies to covid nucleocapsid. It is hard to avoid if you have a family though. If you can get the school to improve ventilation that helps a lot. If the kid is up for it, Trident P2 XS respirators fit many young kids. Great info here: https://www.covidsafetyforschools.org/

@schrotthaufen @GossiTheDog Yes, if work would never buy you an extra phone, you don't have to answer email after hours!

@amenonsen @whitequark The fact that I was on the probe station usually meant I had screwed up and would need at least new metal masks, so did not really feel like an apex predator in that moment.

@whitequark @amenonsen Annoyingly, the microscpoe I used to use for probing chips was not stereoscopic, and the probes would be destroyed by lowering them too far by more than a few microns. I used to focus on the probe tip, then repeatedly {move the microscope focus down closer to the chip, move the probe down into focus}, so I could stop when the chip was in focus and would not overshoot with the probe.

@whitequark Once I found out that someone had tried stacking another die on top of a cellphone radio chip I had worked on. They didn't discuss it with us designers beforehand and it didn't work - they had put something conductive over the inductors, which makes a shorted turn and reduces the inductance and Q. I guess a ~200um layer of glass etc. in between would have fixed it.

@foone I'm told I used to hide the burns I got from soldering, as I didn't want anyone to take away my soldering iron.

@gjm @ColinTheMathmo They found that some 4G and 5G phones would work for nornal calls without 3G network, but specifically for emergency calls would not work without 3G, so the government passed a law requiring them to deny all service to phones that might not work for emergency calls on 4G/5G. The operators decided the easiest (most profitable) way to comply was to block all phones not bought from their stores, but they did it incompetently. See: https://www.change.org/p/stop-telco-4g-5g-device-blocking-volte-restrictions-australia-s-3g-shutdown?source_location=my_petitions_list