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distracting entertainment like ping pong
Thursday, April 18 2019
I'm feeling more relaxed at work now that the Electron app I've been building since November is working reliably. Now I can take the time to clean up the code, removing all the console.log commands that produce strings I can see quickly in the Javascript console (things like "*****************^^||||^^^*************"). Now that I have a little Arduino tech at my workplace desk, I'm actually excited to get to work in the morning just to try out some little five-minute experiment that has occurred to me the night before. I'm starting to get why tech companies like to include distracting entertainment like ping pong tables in their workplaces. Sure, they're distracting, but if such a thing makes someone want to come to work, the increase in productivity (just as a side effect) probably justifies both the cost and the distraction. Of course, a ping pong table wouldn't interest me much or make me excited about driving to the workplace. But a set of microcontrollers and related devices to tinker with is an entirely different story.
On the way home, I went out of my way to visit the Tibetan Center thrift store, where I quickly found something I always buy: a Linksys WRT54G router. It was a Model 3, which I knew to be reflashable with the DD-WRT firmware (unlike the dreaded Model 7). I also picked up a 12 volt wall wart. It produced a respectable 1.5 amps but wasn't switching, and I later discovered it produced AC, not DC. Interestingly, the Linksys router was able to rectify this current and did not die in a cloud of acrid smoke. My Ahmed Mohamed clock also survived being connected to it, but it made a scary humming noise before I came to my senses and unplugged it and looked closer at the wall wart's specifications. I've gotten to the point where I write the voltage and AC in large letters on such wall warts so I can see immediately what the danger is. It's hard with my middle-aged eyes to always make out the tiny embossed print on the backs of those things.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?190418 feedback
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