Nerdy stuff - Triodes

I wandered away from my usual topics recently.  Those topics normally tend to be either home-related, or oddball stuff that I find interesting.  I may bounce back and forth on topics for a while - having recently developed a split personality, between tech and Covid-19.

Today though, I'm going to talk about triodes and amplifiers

Navigating through a dark time

James Stockdale, on his 7 years as a POW of North Vietnam, in the "Hanoi Hilton".

Q: "Who didn't make it out?"

A: "Oh, that's easy.  The optimists"

Q: "The optimists?  I don't understand."

 A: "The optimists.  Oh, they were the ones who said, "We're going to be out by Christmas."  And Christmas would come and Christmas would go.  Then they'd say "We're going to be out by Easter." And Easter would come and Easter would go.  And then Thanksgiving and then it would be Christmas again.  And they died of a broken heart"

Back to normal programming for this post

I have more to say about the pandemic response from both the media and the authorities, the loss of life, and the wobbly economy.  That will be a longer and more thoughtful post, and it will have to wait for a bit.

Long Philosophical Post

This is not my normal type of post.  I try to avoid social or political commentary, but I think unusual times deserve unusual responses.  As I write this post, we are at the beginning of a global pandemic that's keeping most of the world under a no-travel advisory, or "lock-down".

Below:  Playing chess with Death during the Black Plague - a scene from "The Seventh Seal"