Science that makes you cringe

[mrcharly-YHT]

Seen on Facebook for GrownupsLinkedIn

powered by digital electricity

<boggle>

I wonder if they mean Power over Ethernet?

[Kim]

Seen on Facebook for GrownupsLinkedIn

powered by digital electricity

<boggle>

I wonder if they mean Power over Ethernet?

That would be "electric WiFi"

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Two states: on (voles) and off (no voles).  Binary = digital as any fule kno.

True, but according to my Computer Science teacher it is never quite as tidy as that.  There's a problem with the instantaneosity factor. 

[Tim Hall]

Blimey. Two points to Mr Charley. Digital Electricity does indeed appear to be A Thing and related to Power Over Ethernet.  Whether this is the stuff referenced in the LinkedIn article I don't know, as it's vanished from my feed.

Tortuous article here:

https://voltserver.com/digital-electricity/what-is-it/#:~:text=Digital%20Electricity%E2%84%A2%20qualifies%20to,deliver%20power%20to%20remote%20devices.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't really deserve credit, as I was assuming it was a stupid marketing wonk name, technically wrong.

However

The technology leverages our patented packet energy transfer to deliver significant power over significant distances.  The technology splits energy into packets and transfers hundreds of packets each second from a Transmitter unit to a Receiver unit.

It is indeed digital power. Learn something new every day.

[T42]

I don't really deserve credit, as I was assuming it was a stupid marketing wonk name, technically wrong.

However

The technology leverages our patented packet energy transfer to deliver significant power over significant distances.  The technology splits energy into packets and transfers hundreds of packets each second from a Transmitter unit to a Receiver unit.

It is indeed digital power. Learn something new every day.

Using leverage as a verb does indeed suggest marketing twats.

[Tim Hall]

Cudzo linked to an article on the best powerbank thread about a very light one. It contains this gem:

20k mAh

Can someone make it stop? Please?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Cudzo linked to an article on the best powerbank thread about a very light one. It contains this gem:

20k mAh

Can someone make it stop? Please?

Yeah, I remember cringing a bit at that when I read it. I'm not sure I'd call it quite science, more the meeting point of arithmetic and grammar. Is it okay to say "20,000 mAh"? It kind of shouldn't be, but it is the norm and it's more easily understood than 20 Ah, simply through familiarity (in this context). But certainly the juxtaposition of kilo with milli does emphasize the incongruity.

[tonyh]

Anyway, not keen on "k" masquerading as a unit, eg 200k (k£ or km).
Just an abbreviation for "thousand" though, so can't really complain.

[PhilO]

On a related theme, is anybody else as irritated as I am by the common use of 'kW' for battery capacity and 'kWh' for charge rate (or even worse 'kW per hour'!  ) whenever EVs get discussed?  It really makes my knuckles itch!   

[mrcharly-YHT]

On a related theme, is anybody else as irritated as I am by the common use of 'kW' for battery capacity and 'kWh' for charge rate (or even worse 'kW per hour'!  ) whenever EVs get discussed?  It really makes my knuckles itch!   

I haven't seen that. WTF is kWh charge rate?  Do they actually mean kWh per h (which would be, um, kW)?

[Lightning Phil]

Anyway, not keen on "k" masquerading as a unit, eg 200k (k£ or km).
Just an abbreviation for "thousand" though, so can't really complain.

Even worse is people using m as unit of miles.  You then get guff such as “Did a really long ride of 150m”…

[Diver300]

On a related theme, is anybody else as irritated as I am by the common use of 'kW' for battery capacity and 'kWh' for charge rate (or even worse 'kW per hour'!  ) whenever EVs get discussed?  It really makes my knuckles itch!   

I haven't seen that. WTF is kWh charge rate?  Do they actually mean kWh per h (which would be, um, kW)?

Yes, they mean kW. I can sort of see the reason for kWh / h, because electricity meters read in kWh (or units of electricity), and EV batteries are rated in kWh. Adding 50 kWh to a car battery will increase the reading on the meter by (about) 50 kWh, however fast it is done.

There is a lot incorrect use of units when it comes to EVs and power generation.

[mrcharly-YHT]

On a related theme, is anybody else as irritated as I am by the common use of 'kW' for battery capacity and 'kWh' for charge rate (or even worse 'kW per hour'!  ) whenever EVs get discussed?  It really makes my knuckles itch!   

I haven't seen that. WTF is kWh charge rate?  Do they actually mean kWh per h (which would be, um, kW)?

Yes, they mean kW. I can sort of see the reason for kWh / h, because electricity meters read in kWh (or units of electricity), and EV batteries are rated in kWh. Adding 50 kWh to a car battery will increase the reading on the meter by (about) 50 kWh, however fast it is done.

There is a lot incorrect use of units when it comes to EVs and power generation.

So what they want to say is:

This is a 50 kW charger, so in one hour it can add 50kWh to your battery.

Which is probably guff, as batteries don't charge in a linear fashion, but good enough for rough estimates "my 70kWh battery has about a third left, so that will take about 1hr at the charger"

[Kim]

My pet hate is appliance manufacturers quoting kWh/year.  I can see how you might find yourself working in them for running cost calculations (though it seems rather assumptive to use years as the basis rather than days^[1] or months).  But for comparing efficiency we already have a standard unit: Watts.

It feels like, in an effort to avoid confusing people with the difference between rated power and average power, they've taught everyone to muddle energy and power.


_{[1] Pirate-ninjas are equally useful on Earth.}

[citoyen]

Two states: on (voles) and off (no voles).  Binary = digital as any fule kno.

One of the solutions in Saturday's crossword was ELECTRONIC PIANO. But surely, I said to myself, it's an ELECTRIC PIANO?

A quick search of that internet they have these days revealed that an electronic piano and an electric piano are different things but both exist.

However, it seems the majority of people who sell/manufacture electronic pianos prefer to call them DIGITAL PIANOS.

Eh? Surely *all* pianos are digital?

[Mr Larrington]

[…]
However, it seems the majority of people who sell/manufacture electronic pianos prefer to call them DIGITAL PIANOS.

Eh? Surely *all* pianos are digital?

I'm sure Jerry Lee Lewis had piano-playing techniques that didn’t involve fingers.

[Kim]

'Digital' hasn't meant digital electronics for a good 20 years now.  It stopped meaning fingers well before that.

Hm, given that the modern meaning approximates to "the internet"^[1], does that mean a DIGITAL PIANO is internet-of-shit compliant?


_{[1] As in "Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport", which is a fine example of  a) silly names  and  b) the importance of punctuation}

[Mr Larrington]

They may be internet-of-shit compliant now but they weren’t in 2008: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Keyboard_Breaks:_Live_in_Chicago

[citoyen]

It stopped meaning fingers well before that.

Clearly "the internet" has become the default meaning for most people but it hasn't ever stopped meaning fingers - doctors still use "digital rectal examination", for example, to mean sticking a finger up your bum.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm sure there's some clever and determined limbless person who has taught themselves to play the piano by means of a stick attached to their chin, or similar.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It feels like, in an effort to avoid confusing people with the difference between rated power and average power, they've taught everyone to muddle energy and power.


_{[1] Pirate-ninjas are equally useful on Earth.}

I think I've only not been muddled on these during school physics lessons. Every mention of them now just adds a new dimension of confusion.

[Kim]

It stopped meaning fingers well before that.

Clearly "the internet" has become the default meaning for most people but it hasn't ever stopped meaning fingers - doctors still use "digital rectal examination", for example, to mean sticking a finger up your bum.

And engineers still use "digital signal" to mean one with discrete values.

But if you ask J Random Person what digital means, they'll probably say "I dunno, apps and stuff"

[Kim]

I'm sure there's some clever and determined limbless person who has taught themselves to play the piano by means of a stick attached to their chin, or similar.

Or some sort of eye-gaze MIDI controller...   

[Wowbagger]

I'm sure there's some clever and determined limbless person who has taught themselves to play the piano by means of a stick attached to their chin, or similar.

I'm not sure it this is mere coincidence, but last night on the BBC they broadcast a recording of a prom from last week in which Felix Klieser, and armless German, played Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto using the toes of his left foot to operate the valves.