Isolation Ward

From ebony pucks to magic foil, mystical and controversial tweaks.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

RE: The pattern with crackpot inventions

Posted by rick_m on March 21, 2011 at 16:44:42:
"would not require any abuse of instrumentation to demonstrate success"

Ah, but that always seems to happen to wit...

"Apparently he has now pushed it well below the noise floor of his spectrum analyzer. And since he can no longer see it, he proclaims it to be gone. I eagerly await the results of real-world testing of this new breakthrough." That seems to me much the same thing as not understanding (or admitting?) that the reading on a 'standard' AC voltmeter is dependent upon the crest-factor of the signal.

The tricky thing is knowing whether they are evil or just ignorant. It's almost impossible to tell and if they are speaking to someone with no background in the field the presenter's earnestness is a large part of the story. If they really don't know any better, they can be seriously sincere and honest indeed. Perhaps the definitive test is unplug the load and start to plug the input into the output. If, as you approach the socket, the inventor is running away as fast as he can it might be a good idea to stop the test and buy stock!

Thanks for the link Tony, I definitely enjoy it. Talking about modulation can lead to strange conundrums. An oxymoron that I've always been fond of is that Hams call keyed transmissions 'CW' (continuous wave). Naturally it's anything but, however it sort of makes sense if you look at it the right way: when your transmitter is 'on' i.e. you have pressed the key, then the output is continuous until you let go. Now THAT'S narrow band, no information is transmitted during the period that the transmitter is on! Allow me to offer you some friends and family shares at a good price...

Regards, Rick