Friday, November 16, 2007

Work, Work, Work

Good progress at the Skunk Works, for a wonder. We have turned the corner on unmitigated disaster and are into the creative destruction phase, which is always fun.

Best quote of the day was from my peer C. Jay, sitting on the floor, tangled in wires, having just dumped his refreshing beverage: "My pants are soaked with coffee and I'm still optimistic!"

Yes, it was that kind of day.

To give a rough idea of what we're juggling at the Works, imagine we have jury-rigged a small research reactor and are now cleaning out the old one it replaced, preparatory to final installation of the new one; the physical risk is not so high but the financial risk is huge and so's the complexity of the task.

Came home and fell asleep watching a Firefly episode, "Out Of Gas." It's a brilliant example of non-linear storytelling, one of the best episodes of one of the best science-fiction series ever put on the tube. (It was cancelled by a short-sighted philistine, of course). My thanks to Bob G for reminding me that I'm still and always a Browncoat.

2 comments:

  1. At one editing house where I worked, they installed a digital router over top of their existing analog router. The control heads were compatible, so anytime you punched in "DVR17" the digital I/O of VTR-17 would be addressed, but if you entered "VTR17" the analog ports of the same recorder would get the attention. The same router also routed machine control, so no RS-232 patch bay was needed. I thought that was slick. Sounds like you're trying to install an SDI/AES-EBU digital router while simultaneously removing the analog one. Am I close? Even a little?

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  2. Ask me after it's done and/or we're out of the Book, Turk; until then, the story's not mine to tell.

    The task is complex, difficult, awkward and pervasive. Which is not especially atypical for my department!

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