XPost: alt.slack, alt.slack.goathead   
   From: j63840576@gmail.com   
      
   Doc Hammerslack wrote:   
   > At Sat, 10 Jan 2026 20:42:15 -0600, phoenix  wrote:   
   >   
   >> Doc Hammerslack wrote:   
   >>> At Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:55:04 -0600, phoenix    
   >>> wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Sn!pe wrote:   
   >>>>> mixed nuts  wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> On 1/7/2026 13:01, Sn!pe wrote:   
   >>>>>>> phoenix  wrote:   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>>>> Phototransistors are not really transistors in function IMO, I   
   >>>>>>>> prefer to think of them as light-sensitive diodes. However,   
   >>>>>>>> considering them transistors can help explain what a transistor   
   >>>>>>>> does to the unfamiliar. When light hits the phototransistor, it   
   >>>>>>>> allows current to pass.   
   >>>>>>> [...]   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Back in the day, I scraped the paint off of a 0C71; it made a   
   >>>>>>> pretty good phototransistor, so I'd take issue with that.   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> I grew up with discrete components so none of what you write   
   >>>>>>> is news to me   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> I bought a sack of 2N229 geraniums back in 1956 from a lot radio   
   >>>>>> parts store and made some amplifiers with 'em. They worked good   
   >>>>>> but ft was about 300 kHz which ain't that great. Then I got an   
   >>>>>> account with Evans Radio where I could get all kinds of stuff   
   >>>>>> and switched to RCA and Fairchild Si planar parts like 2N2102   
   >>>>>> and life got magic   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Back in ~'62 when I joined the local radio club, they had a stash   
   >>>>> of NPN 2N706a rejects.  Only ~25% were completely dud, another 25%   
   >>>>> sub-par and the remaining half were just slightly below spec.  I   
   >>>>> was given a fistful of them to play with.  Among other things, I   
   >>>>> built a two metre converter in a two-ounce tobacco tin using them.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>> Liar!   
   >>>   
   >>> "The courteous way, the MANNERLY way to say that," he intoned   
   >>> quietly, "is to say 'that turns out not to be the case'".   
   >>>   
   >>>    == ==   
   >>> Okay, that's another reference that % probably knows:   
   >>>   
   >>> 	"Wrong," said Renner.   
   >>>   
   >>> 	"The tactful way," Rod said quietly, "the polite way to   
   >>> disagree with the Senator would be to say, `That turns out not to be   
   >>> the case.'"   
   >>>   
   >>> That's from a Niven/Pournelle book, I believe _Hammerfall_.   
   >>>   
   >> Huh?   
   >>   
   >> The term "Hammerfall" relates to two distinct concepts associated   
   >> with "Niven": the catastrophic impact event in the novel Lucifer's   
   >> Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and an unrelated novel by   
   >> C. J. Cherryh in her Gene Wars universe.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer   
   >>   
   >> In the 1977 apocalyptic science-fiction novel Lucifer's Hammer by   
   >> Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the day a massive comet strikes   
   >> Earth is referred to as "Hammerfall". The novel explores the   
   >> catastrophic events following the impact...   
   >   
   > Exactly!   
   >   
   > You've passed the test!  (Randolf, give him a qupie doll.)   
   >   
   This thing doesn't have any weird insects inside it does it?   
      
   --   
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