Design of exploding control panels

[Nemo]

What IEEE standard covers design & manufacture of exploding control panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large
springs to sproing users away?

Is there a course on how to design them properly? Perhaps I slept
through this at University.

 

[[email protected]]

All control panels make giant white sparks, as do all lead bullets and

Ever notice the safest place to be when the shooting starts is running right
out in front of the bad guy? ...particularly if he has a machine gun.

car crashes.

Especially on Dateline NBC.

What amazes me is how soon after making all those sparks the whole
system is back up and running again.

"But she cannot take it, Jim."

Never count on your paycheck if wardrobe hands you a red shirt.

 

[Rich Grise]

What IEEE standard covers design & manufacture of exploding control
panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large
springs to sproing users away?

Is there a course on how to design them properly? Perhaps I slept
through this at University.

Pyrotechnics. There are a lot of different recipes for making huge
volumes of sparks, of virtually any color you want.

Try lurking at rec.pyrotechnics for awhile, somebody might already
have something there; they've got rockets and fountains and something
called "gerbs," which I haven't figured out yet what they are, and
so on and etc. ;-)

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

What IEEE standard covers design & manufacture of exploding control
panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large
springs to sproing users away?

Is there a course on how to design them properly? Perhaps I slept
through this at University.

Once, when walking to the corner store, I happened upon a burning
pickup truck; the fire dept. and police were already there, shooting
water at the oil/grease fire. Suddenly, it flared up in a huge orange
fireball that made a huge cloud of greasy black smoke, just like in
the movies; what surprised me was that it was almost totally silent
(It was as if it whispered, "whuff.")

When it finally burned out, they kept wetting it down; the local tow
truck hauled away the burned-out husk, and the police got brooms and
shovels out of their trucks and proceeded to sweep up the debris. I
think that's the sort of non-glamorous part of the job of cop. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Jamie]

The real question is: In a future with transporter technology that can
instantly beam a person thousands of kilometers, why does everyone still
take the turbolift to engineering?

They don't trust their own work?

Jamie

 

[Rich Webb]

The real question is: In a future with transporter technology that can
instantly beam a person thousands of kilometers, why does everyone still
take the turbolift to engineering?

The Elevator Music lobby?

 

[hamilton]

What IEEE standard covers design& manufacture of exploding control panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large

The people on scifi shows are actors.

As actors they are told to JUMP backwards so the camera will catch the
emotion of the moment.

This is a problem with scifi watchers, not scifi makers.

hamilton

 

[[email protected]]

The real question is: In a future with transporter technology that can
instantly beam a person thousands of kilometers, why does everyone still
take the turbolift to engineering?

Because the transporter is always broken and at the worst possible times.

 

[Blarp]

The real question is: In a future with transporter technology that can
instantly beam a person thousands of kilometers, why does everyone still
take the turbolift to engineering?

If you need to visit engineering, the transporter is by defenition a
shaky option. The need you in engineering for a reason.
...and the transporter is less environmentally friendly, more CO2
emissions and all that.
Aside, the transporter needs a human operator. The lift does not. Cuts
overhead.

 

[Uwe Hercksen]

What IEEE standard covers design & manufacture of exploding control panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large
springs to sproing users away?

Hello,

if a control panel used for a film would behave like your instrument
panels, the director and producer of the film would argue with the
special effects guy.

Bye

 

[Rich Grise]

How come the Starship Enterprise bridge is never shown full of people
with test equipment and spare boards piled up, and manuals open all
over the place, with coffee stains? Even right after a Romulin attack
that practically destroyed everything?

Their test equipment is about the size of a meat thermometer, and
they have magic tuning-fork-shaped thingies to repair the schtuff
in place. It's 23rd century technology, after all. ;-)

And how come they never lose pressurization, ditto?

Containment fields. ;-)

What I wonder is howcome in their space battles all the other ships
are in the same plane as the Enterprise, with the same Z axis, and
nobody deviates more than a few meters from Z=0. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[[email protected]]

Their test equipment is about the size of a meat thermometer, and
they have magic tuning-fork-shaped thingies to repair the schtuff
in place. It's 23rd century technology, after all. ;-)

Containment fields. ;-)

What I wonder is howcome in their space battles all the other ships
are in the same plane as the Enterprise, with the same Z axis, and
nobody deviates more than a few meters from Z=0. ;-)

Not true. Don't you remember them battling in a nebula (don't remember the
episode name), where they came up from below to blow away the badnick?
Besides, in some of them they even maneuvered in the -T direction. ;-)

 

[[email protected]]

They had several episodes where Kirk went around in a ripped
shirt because they didn't have the budget for a backup. I expect
zero-G sim was a little off the budget.

Never mind that SPACE SHIPS DON'T MAKE NOISE IN A VACUUM!

But what fun is pyrotechnics without a sound track? Just ask Joerg.

 

[Les Cargill]

You would think, after el Enterprise is nearly blown to bits a zillion
times, white sparks flying everywhere, that once in a while they'd
lose their gravity generators and everybody would float around. Never
happens.

John

They had several episodes where Kirk went around in a ripped
shirt because they didn't have the budget for a backup. I expect
zero-G sim was a little off the budget.

Never mind that SPACE SHIPS DON'T MAKE NOISE IN A VACUUM!

 

[legg]

gerbs are a CAM file that contains the board layout data. Typically sent to
PCB (or instrument panel) manufacturer who magically sends you back a pile
of PCBs a week or so later.

Nah.

They're furry squirrel-like creatures that don't drink much (water).

RL

 

[Sylvia Else]

What IEEE standard covers design& manufacture of exploding control panels?

Watching Yet Another Trashy SF Program I realised that all instrument
panels I've designed have suffered a design flaw, viz. they do not blow
up in flames when something goes wrong. Also I am puzzled as to why
people jump backwards when this happens, are they meant to contain large
springs to sproing users away?

Well, in fairness, the flashes consists of sprays of white-hot molten
metal, so getting out of the way is a natural instinct.

Is there a course on how to design them properly? Perhaps I slept
through this at University.

You probably didn't implement the interface that causes control panels
to self-destruct in a chain reaction either. Shame on you.

Sylvia.

 

[Sylvia Else]

Never mind that SPACE SHIPS DON'T MAKE NOISE IN A VACUUM!

Or bank into turns.

Sylvia.

 

[Rich Grise]

You would think, after el Enterprise is nearly blown to bits a zillion
times, white sparks flying everywhere, that once in a while they'd
lose their gravity generators and everybody would float around. Never
happens.

In one of those ST movies (I forget which one), somebody beamed onto
a Klingon ship and turned off the gravity generator, and suddenly
these spacefaring warriors of an interstellar empire were rendered
as helpless as babies. They didn't even try to "swim" or kick the
walls or push off each other or anything. I was terribly disappointed,
which is probably why I immediately forgot the movie.

And the Klingons bled green. ?:-/

Thanks!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

They had several episodes where Kirk went around in a ripped
shirt because they didn't have the budget for a backup. I expect
zero-G sim was a little off the budget.

Never mind that SPACE SHIPS DON'T MAKE NOISE IN A VACUUM!

This just reminded me - in some class in High School (1966-67),
I think it was English class, in the "speech" segment, some guy
did a report on Trek, and he mentioned exactly this.

Remember that one on Next Generation, where Geordi and Ro Laren
get cloaked and phased, where they can walk through walls and
people and whatever, but they can touch each other? I wonder
what they were breathing, or for that matter, what they were
walking ON?

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

Not true. Don't you remember them battling in a nebula (don't remember
the episode name), where they came up from below to blow away the badnick?

I remember hearing a command, "Z minus 1000 meters," but I thought I
remembered it from one of the movies.

Besides, in some of them they even maneuvered in the -T direction. ;-)

Like on DS-9, where Quark, Rom, and Nog go to Earth, hit a temporal glitch
(I think caused by some N-test), and crash-land at Roswell? ;-)

"Call the general. The Martians are awake."

I just LOVE time travel stories, if they're "plausible" in the SF world.

Must be my "If I knew then what I know now!" gene. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich