Control loops & Flying probers - Quassating Quadcopter Quantophrenia

• Chris has been issued a challenge to get his (ham) technician's license by the new year. Can he do it? Do 10 others want to do it with him? If so, we can get Dave to sing on air! (or can we?)
• Dave has a beef with the Agilent U1272A's data export capabilities. Perhaps Dave should append his own RS232 port like in a recent HackADay post?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSmiDzbVt_U

• The Tyne Metropolitan College in England have apparently ripped off Dave's PCB tutorial document and erased all the copyright info and attribution. Lame!
• Flying probers are crazy to watch! See the video below, starting at 42s in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5q-XIrUK7w&t=42s

• India is predicting electronics imports to top $400B per year in 10 years and want to mandate local production.
• China, on the other hand, wants to move to a knowledge economy (and get rid of manufacturing in the process?). They also want 100 hackerspaces in Shanghai.
• Dave has started his build of an ArduCopter, bought from Hobby King. Their shopping cart plays on human nature and an engineer's need to optimize.
• Chris hates chasing problems around control loops. They're interesting, but frustrating.
• From the EEVblog forums: should electronics be more math-centric? Chris and Dave don't think so.
• This is how Jim Williams taught as well, with less focus on the rote memorization.
• Engineering seems to attract people that are in it just for the money sometimes (they don't last). WSJ has a great breakdown of salaries (in the US).
• According to Wired, the CEO of Ponoko is predicting printable circuit boards in <24 months. Dave doesn't think it's possible based on solder temps.
• There's been lots of focus on 3d Printing lately, especially in the NYT. One article about The Wild West economy that will rise from the printer availability and another about the possibility of high quality 3D printing coming to a big box retailer near you.
• This Day in Nerd History
  • The dry cell battery was patented by Carl Gassner...in 1887! Good gravy, batteries have been around for a long time!