Getting a handle on LTspice

 

One of my skills as an engineer is having a modicum of knowledge about circuitry although I do not have an electrical engineering degree. A number of my personal projects have involved electronic systems and I have relied heavily on my study of examples on the internet to complete these electronic projects. One tool I have learned how to use is KiCAD to develop circuit boards and have them manufactured by 'board houses' in and out of the US. As I develop more interesting circuitry both in my employed life and my personal projects, I have realized that a greater knowledge of electronics simulation software would be handy. Therefore, I have dived into LTspice. "spice" is a widely used, free software package that simulates electronic relationships and can evaluate the governing equations of various circuitry components connected together. LTspice is a free software using spice created by the engineers at Linear Technologies (ergo the LT in LTspice).

I have been playing around a bit on a transformer circuit and trying to wrap my head around the various commands and control shortcuts of this software. I wonder what I will use this on next?

Microwaving People is Verboten

It's probably a war crime, I would think so. There are reports from different places in the world that 'directed energy' attacks have been made on border guards and spy agents. Directed energy refers to a collimated beam of electromagnetic energy tuned to frequencies which hurt, incapacitate, or potentially even kill the targets. A number of frequencies which land in the wavelength range of microwaves are good for heating up water and thus organic matter. While microwave transmitters have been around for a long time, new advances in electronics and battery energy storage have made such devices strong enough to be used outside of the steel box in one's kitchen and instead on the battlefield. The effects of exposure to microwave directed energy is not well researched and particularly hard to study given that intentional attacks are not something any ethics committee would allow; let alone find volunteers for.

My New Used Car

 

The largest purchase I have ever made BY FAR. Today I went ahead with buying a Toyota Rav4. I have been looking at cars since last June when I took a job with Physical Sciences, Inc. When I took that job I realized that I needed to have a car to commute, so I called up my mom who was willing to let me borrow her Jeep for the last five months. Thanks mom. I did a test drive last Tuesday and I was pleasantly surprised with how nice I found the vehicle. I compared to the CR-V and the Forester and liked the Rav4 more. It is one of the most popular SUV models for the class.

I dropped $21k. The money I used to pay for this car was built up over the last four years of my on-campus jobs, internships, and other jobs. I went with GEICO for the insurance. I did not know it stood for something. It stands for Government Employee Insurance COmpany. Who knew? Probably GEICO employees I hope.

The only thing connecting me to my parents now is my phone plan, which is sort of intimidating. I am nearly a fully blown adult on my own. There is no reason to go onto separate phone plans though. Since it's a deal.