Originally Posted by HGerchikov

Use your smartphone

Originally Posted by dbd33

Yes, and it has people who fix this sort of stuff. I actually took it to a client's department of people who fix this sort of stuff as that was convenient.

My point though is that I'm just a user of notebook computers, I've no interest in knowing anything about Windoze, so I'd rather pay than deal with problems of this nature. Similarly, I expect I could program the phone (if it hadn't lost so many keys) as I'm an assembler programmer by trade but I'm not interested to do so.

Between people who can't fix computer problems and those who won't try there's lots of market for a keen kid.

Originally Posted by dbd33

I didn't have my magnifying glass to hand.

Originally Posted by Greenhill

Out of the box (this is a wild assertion, I know) they all, along with most other household wireless devices (mice, keyboards, game controllers etc), operate in the unlicensed 2.4-2.5Ghz ISM band. Our beloved microwave oven broadcasts at the centre frequency in this band range.

So, while some argue that this is a safe range of frequencies, as "it doesn't alter DNA", cell phones etc are all technically miniature microwave ovens that are capable of making your molecules dance a slow late-night dance together while trying to rub each other.

As far as I understand, the safety thresholds relate to wattage power output per kilogram of flesh. So the concern there is a cell phone running wireless and cell communications at full power, while it's next to a child. Why a child? Because you need far more power and time to cook an adult.

Originally Posted by HGerchikov

I absolutely agree that there is a market for this, the debate though has been more about the superior attitude that has come across with the assumption that some of us, based on the fact that we don't agree with 10 year olds having smartphones, would be incapable of operating them ourselves. It then progressed onto fixing computers.

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

But to get back to some semblance of relevance, all this talk of knowing how to operate $100,000 pieces of equipment, reminds me that today alone, I gave away pieces of equipment worth twice that.

I may have mentioned that I retire next July and I'm in the process of decommissioning my laboratories. I suspect that I have about $2 million worth of stuff still to get rid of.

Do you think I should try kijiji?

Also, with respect to the adolescent's insistence that he's a tech wizard, I wonder if he's ever built a mass spectrometer or an airborne laser spectrometer, or a cavity ring down spectrometer, a matrix isolation FTIR system etc., etc., etc., from scratch (and of course all the software to control the instruments' operation and data acquisition)?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

But to get back to some semblance of relevance, all this talk of knowing how to operate $100,000 pieces of equipment, reminds me that today alone, I gave away pieces of equipment worth twice that.

I may have mentioned that I retire next July and I'm in the process of decommissioning my laboratories. I suspect that I have about $2 million worth of stuff still to get rid of.

Do you think I should try kijiji?

Also, with respect to the adolescent's insistence that he's a tech wizard, I wonder if he's ever built a mass spectrometer or an airborne laser spectrometer, or a cavity ring down spectrometer, a matrix isolation FTIR system etc., etc., etc., from scratch (and of course all the software to control the instruments' operation and data acquisition)?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

With respect, because I do respect your opinions and sense of humour, that's bullshit.

<thread drift alert>

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

But to get back to some semblance of relevance, all this talk of knowing how to operate $100,000 pieces of equipment, reminds me that today alone, I gave away pieces of equipment worth twice that.

I may have mentioned that I retire next July and I'm in the process of decommissioning my laboratories. I suspect that I have about $2 million worth of stuff still to get rid of.

Do you think I should try kijiji?

Also, with respect to the adolescent's insistence that he's a tech wizard, I wonder if he's ever built a mass spectrometer or an airborne laser spectrometer, or a cavity ring down spectrometer, a matrix isolation FTIR system etc., etc., etc., from scratch (and of course all the software to control the instruments' operation and data acquisition)?

Originally Posted by Tirytory

Spect so....or really google and wiki should give you what you need huh?

Do other labs buy the stuff then? Or does it get recycled?

Note the word stuff there like?

Originally Posted by JamesM

I don't suppose there is a beer fridge as well?

Originally Posted by Tirytory

Yes which once again he missed or made it about computers which his original dig was NOT about!

JamesM... Is there a knight in shining armour icon?

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

I'm working on that. If you know anyone who might want the "stuff"give me a shout. The problem is that most of what I have/ have built is immensely specialized.

I'll likely have to split most of it into basic components.

Which pains me more than a bit.

Originally Posted by Novocastrian

Amazingly. there is.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

Upcycling at it's finest.

Hmmm I guess James has first dibs on the beer fridge...amazingly for a great big canadian house we have a fricken teeny tiny fridge which has that coating which also means it repels magnets! Useless! So I do need a fridge for the beer/wine that I can't currently consume!