Sony CDP101 repair

Well, in my experience on Usenet for more years than I care to admit, Phil is far more often correct than mistaken. I vaguely recall one minor item where I caught a mistake, but most other times, he either had the correct answer, or the correct approach to producing an answer. I could only dream that my batting average is as good as his.

I'm on Usenet to learn. If learning requires tolerating some abuse, I'm fully prepared to accept (and deliver) some. It's much like learning any skill that requires dedication and practice (martial arts, musical instruments, auto repair, etc). The good mentors and instructors are generally quite abusive to the typical student telling them they are worthless fumbling fools, incapable of mastering even the basics, and so on. To many, that's sufficient for them to run screaming in horror, or complaining bitterly to others in hope of gathering support. To the few that actually want to learn, such abuse is an incentive to try harder, learn better, practice more, and demonstrate to the mentor or instructor that they are worthy.

Pick your own path to enlightenment and try not to bite the hand that feeds you knowledge.

Drivel: I once bought a Sony CDP101 at a local thrift shop. It didn't work, so I recycled it, not realizing what it was.

Drivel 2.0: The original CD "Red Book" was probably written nearby while I was designing marine radios at Intech Inc during the late 1970's. The data converter division was hosting a group of rather secretive Sony engineers, who were probably working on the A/D and D/A converters for the original CDROM. The red books were actually custom printed red ring binders that the company used for catalogs. They were everywhere and no doubt were used by the Sony engineers for their documentation.

Yes he gets things right. He also gets them wrong and makes a real spectacle of himself. The madness comes out. Regularly. I try to learn from everyone, but I wouldn't want to work with him.

NT

You probably would not want to work with or for me. I really don't care who's right or wrong. When such discussions would appear, I ask that discussion of the problem at hand be temporarily terminated, and that we only discuss who is at fault. After about 15 minutes of watching everyone involved make complete fools of themselves, they usually get the clue, and the tribunal mode doesn't resurface.

Things become more difficult when dealing with foreign educated engineers, where admitting that they are mistaken is a mortal insult and should be avoided at all cost. Getting them to abandon a lifetime of covering their ass is difficult, but not impossible.

More recently, I've been involved in a few virtual companies, where the participants are scattered all over the planet and in some cases have never met. The distances involved and medium of communications tends to amplify personality conflicts and differences of opinion, which are sometimes considered mistakes. I have directories of saved project emails that make Phil's colorful comments read like praise and compliments. There are ways to prevent such things from getting out of hand. I used one of them on you in my previous message.

As for "the madness comes out", you don't understand the problem until you have worked with the extremes of what you might consider madness. I had to work with a technician who was in some program that distilled to "get a job or go back to jail". I was seriously worried that he would try to kill me if there was a disagreement. In the end, we discovered that he was quite good at programming and I used him to build and program an automated test system for a product that I was helping design.

I have other less extreme example if you need them. In most cases, I was able to successfully work with what would normally be considered very difficult co-workers. The trick was to spend the time trying to understand their motivations, inspirations, and what makes them tick. In the previous example, the tech had failed at literally everything he tried doing, and was in critical need of any success to boost his pride and self-esteem.

I don't know what makes Phil run. I also don't care. If I did know, I wouldn't discuss it in public because they have nothing to do with the repair problems under discussion. All I care is that he continue to produce correct answers and offer useful experiences. Behind the keyboard, he could be the reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler, and I would still say nice things about his troubleshooting and experience.

Driver: Hello Officer, I can see wrong way driver! Officer: What do you mean? Have you seen a ghost rider? Driver: A ghost rider??? I saw hundreds of them!

;-)

From your lips to PHIL'S ears.

From my sight, he is a redneck-yankee rep, who eats squirrels and other small wood-animals and other stuff.... ;-)

They were paralyzed by your social efforts.

How can you take in electronics to infame someone?? You are indeed one of that religious-type electricians.

With your predefinitions.

Are you talking to yourself?

You do not even read what you write.... typical for ill-minded who seem to be exempt from 'memorizing' and 'thinking'.

Paranoia is your source :)

Wrong continent. Phil's in Australia.

The correct way of addressing Australians is "For f*ck's sake, not in the sink." (From the National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor, circa 1975)

any such person has had a sheltered life.

NT

There was a time when I tried to visualize what various internet personalities looked like. Mostly, this was based on the way they wrote, the size of their vocabulary, the number of years of experience, and various things that could be deduced from their writings. Then, I met a few or saw their photographs. I was consistently wrong about age, appearance, demeanor, etc. Worse, the way some people wrote was radically different from the way they spoke. In most cases, my illusions were better than their reality. After far too many disappointments, I gave up trying. Of course, you're welcome to continue guessing from where I gave up.

----------------------------

.... Phil

Cute. I was an avid reader of Mad Magazine. Alfred E. Neuman was my nightmare while in grade skool. I tried very hard NOT to be like him:

Spoiler: Try to visualize my appearance. Then click here: (Give it time to load).

This thread...

You could not be more right Jeff. Same exact experience.

I can go (me thinks) quiet comfort with an american redneck-yankee rep eating squirrels... they are not the same as Phil, but very similar. So, in America or in Australia (an Allison Dotterbush, viking f***ed maybe for example, now living in .au or .us), makes not the big difference...

I have heard in the Radio in the last days, that someone got trapped in his own trap he laid out for trapping/killing birds in australia and died..... My first thoughts were: Phil Allison???

I think you are a hard battling fellow campaigner. Having someone like you on the side is a strong backing.

I like your patience going with Phil. Let's get back to electronics..... (I know, Phil is not so bad in electronics -off course, not! But he has not quiet a chance when taking ppl like Eyeore, Terell and Winfried Hill into account, who live in usenet too ;-)) )

MAD.....!!!???? wow!

Thanks.... what a pleasure for me :)

Greetings Jeff, You are so right when it comes to meeting people and them speaking differently than they write. I know I sound much different in person than what you would probably expect from what I write. For one, I proofread almost everything I post and this gets rid of most errors, not only spelling but also of politeness and etiquette. This error checking may make me seem more erudite. Or maybe I should say almost erudite. Sometimes I'll write something when I'm agitated and then don't post it because the act of writing is enough, I don't need to post. In person I might just shoot my mouth off and then later have to apologize to someone. I find it is much easier to get my foot out of my mouth when writing something than when speaking in person to someone. In fact, almost nobody reading my posts notices that my breath can smell a little like dirty socks now and then. Cheers, Eric

Oh God here we go again - ENOUGH of the therapy session, PLEASE!

Keep it S.E.R!

Thekma, remember, you're not the moderator. This is an unmoderated newsgroup. You're the retarded village idiot. Do try to remember that, li'l buddy.