From: jl@glen--canyon.com   
      
   On Wed, 3 Dec 2025 20:24:17 -0800, Joerg    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 12/3/25 6:52 AM, Bill Sloman wrote:   
   >> On 2/12/2025 6:25 am, Joerg wrote:   
   >>> On 12/1/25 10:56 AM, john larkin wrote:   
   >>>> On Tue, 2 Dec 2025 05:07:57 +1100, Bill Sloman    
   >>>> wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> [...]   
   >>>   
   >>>>> Brainstorming is much less ambitious - it's just a mechanism for   
   >>>>> getting   
   >>>>> people to think of less obvious potential solutions to the problem that   
   >>>>> needs to be solved. There's a well known problem in multi-parameter   
   >>>>> curve fitting where the search algorithm latches onto a local   
   >>>>> minimum in   
   >>>>> the search space, and you can need to get the search process to check   
   >>>>> out a bunch of more or less arbitrary points to get a feel for how deep   
   >>>>> the minima may get.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Even one brain has a lot parallel processing capability. The advantage   
   >>>> of brainstorming is that it randomizes searches to break out of   
   >>>> conventional wisdom, namely local minima. That's why an intern can   
   >>>> inspire a genius.   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Or an external consultant. EMC issue, lots of head scratching. Only   
   >>> happened every few seconds for whatever reason. Thinking, gazing out   
   >>> the window. "What's that thing up there on top of the hill that   
   >>> glistens in the suns every few seconds?" ... "That? Nothing, it's just   
   >>> a military radar. Oh, OH DANG!" ... closed the metal blinds, no more   
   >>> EMI, opened the blinds, EMI was back.   
   >>   
   >> The Cambridge Instruments story was about an electro-beam   
   >> microfabricator where the patterns written would shift at random by   
   >> about half a micron for a minute or two, then go back to the right place.   
   >>   
   >> The chief engineer (who was an old technology buff) got shipped over to   
   >> America to solve the problem.   
   >>   
   >> He had to ride a lift to get up machine, and noticed that it was a very   
   >> ancient hydraulic lift, which he knew meant that it had a big lump of   
   >> (magnetic) wrought iron as the floor of the bit that moved.   
   >>   
   >   
   >In John Larkin's previous company building there was a water-driven   
   >elevator. That was cool.   
      
   FLIR came by one day and made a movie that included the elevator. I'll   
   see if I can find it.   
      
   They gave us a small thermal imager that wasn't very good.   
      
      
   John Larkin   
   Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)