Half of my mistakes I’ve made stone cold sober.  Half of my mistakes I’ve made at closing time.  You can lean too hard on a prayer, but I don’t recommend it; ’cause half the good things in my life came from half of my mistakes. - Gary Allan

I’ve had, arguably, the last few weeks from ‘hell’; as a result, I’ve reflected a bit upon what I’ve done with my life, how I’ve affected others, the good - the bad - and the ugly.  Not that I suggest anyone make a habit of it; it’s not pretty, but a ‘personal inventory’ isn’t a bad idea now and then.

The conclusion I came to, as arrogant as it may seem, is plainly this… I’d like to spend some more time with the people I care for, I need to let go of angst / ill-will more easily, and I should probably quit smoking.

So, when you do you own personal inventory, if that’s all that’s bothering you, then I’d say you’re doing allright.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got my sins - against man, against God, against myself; but I’m at peace with them.

Ironic as it may be, half if not more of the best things in my life are a result of the fallout of mistakes I’ve made… and I’m O.K. with that.

The question of “To ground - or not to ground” (with regard to Low Voltage Transformers) has been one that’s plagued me for a bit now.  Apparently, I’m not the only one with this on his mind. I’ve not been lost in the dark (at least not completely), as it’s been more a matter of isolation that’s my concern.  That said, some people are completely “out to lunch” on this one…

I found this interesting little tidbit of back-and-forth on the ‘net…

http://www.flukecommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2475&page=3&pp=10

As it seems, yet again, MikeHolt.com appears to be one of the few world-wide-webbers with any sense about him…

http://www.mikeholt.com/technical.php?id=grounding/unformatted/9-15-99&type=u&title=Grounding%20-%20Machine%20Tool%20Transformers%20(9-15-99)

Mike’s absolutely correct.

Bonding the transformer’s secondary side “Neutral” (whichever pin you declare as neutral, since nothing has been referenced to ground yet) to Earth Ground (via any good solid connection to either machine chassis [assuming machine chassis is bonded to Ground] or by simply piggy backing onto your supply voltage Ground) is the only way to go.

It’s not a Code violation - believe me, it’s not.  The whole idea behind not bonding Neutral to Ground at subpanels (or in any panel besides the main service panel entrance / feed panel / whatever it is, depending on whether we’re talking 240 Residential Split Phase / 480 Vac3 Commercial / on up through Industrial power) is that you don’t want to create a ‘loop’ in the system.  There’s 2 reasons for that.  First, a ground loop can actually build its own voltage potential.  That’s hell on earth waiting to happen.  Second, your grounding conductor is no longer isolated from your neutral conductor, which means that in an emergency it will not have the capacity to carry the system’s full brunt to ground.

However, with a transformer, the secondary side is ‘virgin territory’; remember, the primary is fully isolated from the secondary, and voltage is only induced upon it.  No current physically travels from the primary to the secondary.  That said, there exists no path to ground for the secondary side… you have to create it by bonding one leg of it to ground.

Mike cites Article 250, Section 20, and I’ll add to it with this… unless you are dealing with a 1-to-1 isolation transformer, whose sole purpose is to completely isolate the system from the supply, then ground whichever leg you declare to be neutral to supply side ground.  Watch our for current carrying capacity though… a 14 awg line feeding a 480 panel that’s only eating up 10 amps, with a 20 amp 120 Vac (secondary) transformer will require you to increase the size of the feed line’s grounding wire in order to comply with the restrictions of Article 350 regarding maximum current flow through a conductor.

In the event you do not fuse a transformer (or power conditioner), then yes you should fuse all legs.  This should go without saying.

While I realize there may actually be far worse things out there to be guilty of, this is pretty bad, and it makes me both angry, ill, and generally disheartened with the state of what we call a ‘civilized world’.   I was meandering through what is commonly referred to as ‘Buffalo Chat’… being as that I’m on vacation this week, and haven’t got anything better to do; I thought it would be a good way to kill some time and run into some other online-addicts from yester-year.  Well, let me tell  you… it’s become very clear that any paint-sniffer with a cable-connection can hop online these days.  Furthermore, they’re trying to multiply.

Conversation from 2009-12-09, ‘PoweredByDodgeV8‘ is your’s truly, and (of course) you already know we’re in sunny Buffalo, New York.

(07:04:22 PM) Thalia431: I LIVE WITH MY MOTHER BECAUSE I CAN OFFORD TO PAY RENT I GET MONEY FROM THE GOVERMENT EVER MONTH 500 DOLLAR IF I GET PRENENT AND HAVE A BABY I GET A INCREASE 2000 DOLLAR SO ILOOKING FOR A MALE TO GET ME PRENENT IF U DONT WANT THE BABY I TAKEE HIM FOR ADONTION U THINK U BE INTERESTING

(07:07:09 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: you want to have a baby just for the sake of making money? that’s terrible.
(07:07:18 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: why are you on government assistance anyway?

(07:07:47 PM) Thalia431: I DONT WORK

(07:08:18 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: so why dont you just get a job

(07:08:40 PM) Thalia431: HARD TO FIND

(07:08:53 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: tim hortons is hiring / tops and wegmans are hiring / lots of places are
(07:09:37 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: i mean, hell, you’ve got money to get on the internet… to get a computer… but you want to have a baby and then just dump it because it’ll get you a few more government dollars?

(07:10:24 PM) Thalia431: YES BUT IF U WANT HIM I GIVE IT TO U I U DONT WANT HIM I TAKE HIM FOR ADOMTION

(07:11:34 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: that’s sad… you should examine your life, and what is really important to you.  we all have some core values, some sense of morality, you need to look at that before you do something so horrible.

(07:12:55 PM) Thalia431: I CAN OFFORD HIM THAT WHY I DONT WANT TO KEEP IT

(07:15:12 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: so don’t get pregnant in the first place - you’re not pregnant now, and you’re only motivation for becoming pregnant is government money - you have no desire for a child, or at least you’ve shown no desire thus far - so just plain do not have one!

(07:15:51 PM) Thalia431: I WANT TO GET A INCREASE IN MY CHECK
(07:16:29 PM) Thalia431: IF U WANT THE BABY I GIVE IT TO U

(07:16:30 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: that is not a valid reason for having a child
(07:16:46 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: you should get a job - become a contributing member of society
(07:17:47 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: having a baby for the sole purpose of getting an ‘increase in your check’ is tantamount to fraud, and i imagine may even be criminal.  you should NOT do this.

(07:18:18 PM) Thalia431: I NO T GOING SALE BABY
(07:18:30 PM) Thalia431: I GOING GIVE IT FOR ADAMTION

(07:18:56 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: you don’t understand the ramifications of your actions do you?

(07:19:59 PM) Thalia431: U THINK U COULD DO IT GET ME PRENEAT

(07:21:16 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: i have the proper plumbing, but that is not the point, nor would i ever participate in such an action as revolting, horrifying, or utterly reprehensible as impregnating a woman for the sole purpose of using the child as a meal ticket.
(07:21:20 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: you should get a job
(07:21:28 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: i have a job, millions of people have jobs.

(07:23:20 PM) Thalia431: SO U WANT TO TRY TO GET ME PRENENT

(07:23:28 PM) PoweredByDodgeV8: no.  goodbye.

And then… THEN… people wonder why I’m ‘anti-social’ ?  I don’t even know what to say.  Further research shows us that ‘Thalia‘ has been an America Online member since 2005 (courtesy of Bebo.com, accessed 2009-12-09).  While I realize that AOL is free now-a-days, someone’s paying for her internet access, whether it be highspeed or dial up.  With the irony of this world, I’m sure she’s got oceanic cable running right into her living room.

Reference:

Federal law allows recording of phone calls and other electronic communications with the consent of at least one party to the call. A majority of the states in this country have adopted wiretapping statutes based on the federal law, although most also have extended the law to cover in-person conversations as well as phone conversations. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia allow the recording of conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These are known as “single-party consent” statutes, and as long as you are a party to the conversation, it is legal for you to record it.

Despite Federal law and the “single-party consent” statutes of the majority of states, twelve states require the consent of all parties to a conversation. This is known as “dual-party consent.” Obviously, under these same laws, if there are more than two people involved in the conversation, all must consent to the taping.

The twelve “dual-party consent” states are: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

“Maybe it’s a lil too early to know if this is gonna work, all I know is you’re sure lookin good in my shirt.” - Keith Urban

So I’m starting to wonder if I’m antisocial… and in so, I wind up posting here.  What’s sad about the whole thing is that I had initially intended for this blog to be semi-technical in nature, or at least for posts to be ‘widespread’ / appealing to many.  I’m spiraling downward towards a ‘bitching-post’ blog instead, which isn’t good.  But… that’s for another day.

At the moment, I’m coming to the conclusion that my antisocial tendencies are becoming an issue.  Let me be clear, antisocial is not anti-society (I’m not walking into the post office with a sawed-off).  Rather, I’m just one of those people who tends to keep to himself on his days off, doesn’t go out a whole lot, and finds his happiness in puttering around the house and working on his little projects.  That’s me.  What do you want me to do, change?  I think not.  People don’t really change anyway.  They can “lean” one way or another, but they don’t really “change” change.

Keeping that in mind, I’ve found that those of the fairer gender are ‘bothered’ by my antisocial-ness (if that’s even a word, which I’m sure it is not).  “Me”-time is not allowed!  I’d like to think this is an isolated incident or that it is somehow not true, but it’s been pointed out to me by every single person that I’ve ever had a relationship with.  I’d dare to say its a scientific fact at this point.

Guess I’m just an ass…

* Image from http://www.laughters.org and retains their copyright / ownership.

So I’ve met a wide range of people in my travels.  Some of them are great, absolutely great.  Some are less than desireable.

I’ve blathered on, previously, about my general dissatisfaction with what society has come to accept as “standard practice / standard quality of performance”, mostly in length that belies a greater dissatisfaction than even stated.

One of the finest guys I’ve had the fortune of working alongside has an almost frightening fascination with America’s well known big-green-tractors… lawnmowers… beer-coolers… So for the sake of this article, we’ll just call him ‘John Deere’.

John and I would often postulate on the human condition, as it applied to getting ahead in the world, and inevitibly we’d come to the same sad conclusion each time.  That being, we’re stuck where we’re respectively at.  We deduced… well, he deduced, I provided color-commentary, that there are watershed events necessary to escalate one up the corporate chain of command / chain of importance.  For reference, he’s a modified and enhanced list:

1- thou shalt lose all sense of self-respect.  How are you supposed to take your daily beating if your self worth is anything greater than that of a peanut?

2- thou shalt learn to lie with skill and be fluent in the language of bullshit.  You can’t stumble or forget your place when you’re trying to make up a story about how “it” wasn’t your fault at all, and that the “other guy” told you that he was taking care of everything, and that it is in fact all his fault, and that you recommend that he be lynched and burned at the stake.

3- thou shalt forget everything you ever learned about grade-school math.  Calculus - schmalculus!  Trig - schmig!  Multiplication - schmaltiplication!  Hell, there’s a whole new math out there… I think it’s base 18.  If you know that your production line can and will regularly run 20 boxes per minute, with a maximum ability to peak out at 22 boxes per minute, and someone asks you how fast you can run… then you better tell them “12″.  Using the base 18 philisophy, this isn’t technically a lie (which, if it was, that would be fine… see #2, above), but it’ll certainly makes everyone else look really stupid when you start beating the living shit out of equipment because you’re running 22 (base 10) items per minute across machinery designed and built around a target of 12 (base 10) items.  Just remember, when the smarter people who actually have some remote clue of what they’re doing start pointing fingers at you like weary cavemen trying to build a fire — thats when you just say “well I told you 20!”… even if you didn’t (see #2, above).  This same logic can be used to play a fun and enjoyable game known as “find the savings”.  This game involves a bumbling idiot randomly picking out equipment to modify and perform a project on.  Said bumbling idiot then has a vendor come in who knows less about the equipment and proposed changes than even the original bumbling idiot does; the vendor then lines up some expensive items that he has an overstock of and needs to get rid of, and arranges for the bumbling idiot to purchase them.  The bumbling idiot then puts together a project, and asks for X amount of dollars, where X = the cost of the overpriced snake-oil products.  This does not include the cost of labor, regulatory or code compliance measures, additional installation parts such as bringing utilities (gas / water / steam / etc.) to the area, or anything else (which often ends up costing a lot more than the actual ‘thing’ you’re trying to install).  Lastly, bumbling idiot goes ahead and fudges some numbers so that it looks like the company would save three times the cost of the project over the course of a year.  Outstanding!  Brilliant!  Certifiably Insane!

4- thou shalt not have any integrity.  Make promises that you can’t keep.  Push your people harder and harder, and then act like they’re dead to you.  Find any and all ways to do the exact opposite of what would be considered common decency.

5- thou shalt contract Alzheimer’s and Dimentia at an early age.  When someone asks you why something didn’t get done / didn’t happen / etc… then you must respond with, “I have no idea.  I was not aware of the situation until just now.  Let me get with my team, and we’ll come up with an organized plan in response.  Remember, I’m here to support you.  We’ll do whatever is necessary to make it right.”  Even if they put 10 emails in front of you from as long as 6 months ago, show you letters signed in the blood of Mother Teresa where they’ve notified you of the issue, and have no less than President Franklin Roosevelt, back from the dead, give a sworn affidavit that you were aware of the situation — even if that — you still give them the canned response, “As, I said, we were unaware of the situation until just now, let me get with my team, and we’ll get back to you.”  — and then be sure not to get back to them.  It takes skill, practice it.

So I think I’ve hit my glass ceiling — that is, I’m at the bottom of the proverbial totem-pole and will likely stay there; and I’m fine with that.  Maybe if I start drinking the Kool-Aid my opinion will change, but I doubt it.