Edward Snowden @Snowden
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This is a textbook case of Congressional capture. With a single briefing, the intelligence agencies routinely transform their most strident critics into the tamest of cheerleaders. //

Scott Adams:

If I correctly understand our system of government, when a president or leader in the Congress gets into office, someone in the CIA pulls them aside for “the talk” and completely changes their priorities.

The public is then told the leaders now have secret knowledge the public can never know.

But the leader has no way of knowing the “secret” information is true and in context.

That puts the secret-keepers in firm control of the government’s big decisions. If the secret-keepers agree with a government policy, they stay out of it. If they disagree with a policy, they say the UFOs will attack — or some other unverifiable thing — and by the way, we have recordings of every phone call you ever made, and scare the leaders into compliance.

Right in front of us. None of this is secret. //

Justin Truedope
2 days ago edited

I will splinter the CIA into ab thousand pieces and scatter them to the winds. -- JFK

JFK had sworn to get rid of the CIA and the Deep State but unfortunately, they got rid of him first. Remember that Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that President Donald Trump was “being really dumb” by taking on the intelligence community over its fake Russia narrative. He's probably repeated that same sentiment to Mike Johnson, who rightly interpreted it as a credible threat.

“Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” Schumer had told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. What Chucky really meant was that he knows that the Deep State controls everything, including the Fake News narrative, but unlike President Trump, he's far too cowardly to ever try to do anything about it. #Trump2024 #VOTE

Debt is never truly canceled, only transferred. And Biden’s latest election year stunt could transfer nearly $150 billion of student loan debt onto your backs, even though 87% of American adults don’t have student debt. We need your help to fight back.

A scathing report by three federal judges on the “misconduct” of plaintiff lawyers in a challenge to Alabama’s ban on gender-transition medicine for minors illustrates something we learned a long time ago: Many on the far Left, including radical lawyers employed by self-proclaimed civil rights organizations, believe the ends always justify the means and that rules of ethics don’t apply to them. //

After the case was assigned to Judge Burke, the lawyers dismissed the lawsuits, then refiled almost immediately to get a different judge. //

Yes, Charles—a lawyer who now works for the Department of Justice—lied to the panel of judges under oath until he was confronted with hard evidence that exposed the lie.

The immune system can get kicked into overdrive when the fungi run riot. //

Fungi are an indispensable part of your microbiome, keeping the body’s host of microorganisms healthy as part of a system of checks and balances. But when you’re hit by an infection, fungi can be thrown out of equilibrium with other organisms inside you, leading to a more severe infection and other symptoms of illness.

For this reason, the pandemic immediately set off alarms for Iliyan Iliev, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medical School. “We were thinking, the first thing that’s going to happen is people will start getting fungal co-infections,” he says. With the microbiome unbalanced, fungi might start running riot inside Covidpatients, Iliev reasoned. His fears were soon realized. //

This complex crosstalk between the gut microbiome and the immune system is an example of how most things in the body are intertwined... //

Now, Iliev and Kusakabe are interested in exploring how fungal overgrowth may appear in long Covid—and how immunity is affected. “What’s the impact of this reprogramming of the immune system by the fungus and the virus?” Iliev asks. “What happens long-term if you have suffered from that?”

Bypass TPM restrictions and embrace the future.

Ruling: Thumbprint scan is like a "blood draw or fingerprint taken at booking." //

The US Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination does not prohibit police officers from forcing a suspect to unlock a phone with a thumbprint scan, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The ruling does not apply to all cases in which biometrics are used to unlock an electronic device but is a significant decision in an unsettled area of the law.

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had to grapple with the question of "whether the compelled use of Payne's thumb to unlock his phone was testimonial," the ruling in United States v. Jeremy Travis Payne said. "To date, neither the Supreme Court nor any of our sister circuits have addressed whether the compelled use of a biometric to unlock an electronic device is testimonial."

Yonah Jeremy Bob
@jeremybob1
·
Follow
BREAKING: The attack on Iran at Isfahan, attributed to Israel, was carried out NOT by drones or land to air missiles, but by long range missiles launched from AIRCRAFT, the Jerusalem Post has confirmed:
jpost.com
Explosions heard in Iran, Syria, Iraq
2:56 AM · Apr 19, 2024 //

FDD
@FDD
·
Follow
"This may be an early demonstration of some new capabilities that Israel has and that the Iranians were not aware of."

@mdubowitz joins @CNN to break down Israel's retaliatory strike near an Iranian nuclear facility.

Watch 👇

12:15 PM · Apr 19, 2024

Twenty years ago, in a world dominated by dial-up connections and a fledgling World Wide Web, a group of New Zealand friends embarked on a journey. Their mission? To bring to life a Matrix fan film shot on a shoestring budget. The result was The Fanimatrix, a 16-minute amateur film just popular enough to have its own Wikipedia page.

As reported by TorrentFreak, the humble film would unknowingly become a crucial part of torrent history. It now stands as the world’s oldest active torrent, with an uptime now spanning a full 20 years.

A missile, two Western officials said, was fired from a warplane far from Israeli or Iranian airspace and included technology that enabled it to evade Iran’s radar defenses. Neither the missile nor the aircraft that fired it entered Jordanian airspace, the Western officials said, a gesture meant to keep the kingdom out of the conflict after it helped shoot down Iranian weapons last week.

The two Iranian officials said that Iran’s military had not detected anything entering Iran’s airspace on Friday, including drones, missiles and aircraft. Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, reported that no missile attacks had occurred and that Iran’s air defense system had not been activated.

How precise was the attack? The NYT got a look at satellite imagery of the Natanz S-300 system, both before and after the attack. The missile strike destroyed the S-300 radar system while leaving other related equipment undamaged: //

Gerald McGlothlin argues at American Thinker that they took a page out of King David's playbook as a warning about what could happen next (via Adam Baldwin):

Targeting Isfahan, Iran's "crown jewel," Israel's action carried a profound warning: a demonstration of military might, and a counterattack that was presumed by many experts not to be made until after Passover.

This maneuver by Israel echoes a biblical story from 1 Samuel 26, where David, pursued by King Saul, infiltrates the king's camp and absconds with his spear and water jug—items placed next to the sleeping king. David's subsequent display of these items from a safe distance served as a powerful testament to his ability to strike at the heart of Saul's defenses without harming him. Similarly, Israel's recent military action against Isfahan sends a clear signal to Iran: "Your military can't protect you from us."

Israel's restraint is both a message and a warning. It signifies that while Israel possesses the capability to unleash devastating strikes that could result in massive casualties and escalate into a larger conflict, it chooses, for now, a path of caution and strategic messaging. This act of restraint should not be mistaken for weakness but rather seen as a calculated effort to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and instability in the region.

Google doesn't want us to report on climate change alarmism, the transgender movement that seeks to nuke biology and erase women, election integrity, the deadly consequences of Biden's border crisis, or the sacred cows of COVID "science." These are all untouchable in Google's view if you engage in "wrongspeak" that contradicts the framing and "facts" conjured up by the left.

Here are just a few examples of the stories Google has deemed too dangerous to publish:

• Lawsuit Targets Mississippi Policy Allowing Mail Votes to Be Counted After Election Day
• Largest-Ever COVID Vaccine Study Finds What Many of Us Already Suspected
• VIDEO: Dem Voter Explains Why She's Switching Sides in 2024
• Will the Democrats Let Donald Trump Be President If He Wins?

Mecheri, Yacine and Nedjar, Mohamed and Lamure, Alain and Aufray, Maëlenn and Drouet, Christophe Influence of Moisture on the Electrical Properties of XLPE Insulation. (2010) 2010 Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP) . pp. 1-4. ISSN 0084-9162 //

. The goal of this paper was to investigate the eventual degradation of XLPE insulation under humidity effect by characterization techniques. For this purpose, measurements of dielectric losses factor, relative permittivity, volume resistivity and dielectric strength were performed.

(ii) Preimmersing XLPE insulation in tap water prior to electrical aging at room temperature results in a reduction of more than 50% in the breakdown voltage. The preimmersion increases the moisture content, particularly liquid water at room temperature, resulting in increased degradation. (iii) Preimmersion does not have any effect on the breakdown voltage of cables electrically aged at 70°C or 90°C. (iv) For some aging conditions, the short term breakdown voltages of aged cables give no indication of the number of and times to breakdown of the cables during the electrical aging. (v) Direct voltage is quite sensitive to degradation of XLPE by the combined action of moisture and electric stress. Care must be exercised when dc testing aged cables in service.

We all know that water in an electrical system is bad news. And we do our best to keep it out by specifying waterproof cable and connectors, and following industry best practices for installation and maintenance.

So, what if water does get into a coaxial radio frequency (RF) network? Unfortunately, its presence is not always obvious and its impact can be elusive and difficult to manage. Here are some tips to help you trouble-shoot a persistent moisture problem: //

The presence of direct current (DC) voltage on the line also speeds up the corrosion process if a steady supply of moisture is available. A copper-clad steel center conductor can completely dissolve in less than a day when submerged in water while voltage is applied.

jcdpk
22 posts · Joined 2011

#65 · Sep 10, 2013

Commonly used DC test voltages for AC equipment are:
AC equipment rating DC test voltage
Up to 100 VAC 100 and 250 VDC
440 to 550 VAC 500 and 1000 VDC
2400 VAC 1000 to 2500 VDC
4160 VAC and above 1000 to 5000 VDC (or higher)

So, what is “good” insulation? Since we know that insulation has a high resistance to current flow, “good” insulation must be able to provide a high resistance to current flow and be able to maintain that high resistance over a long period of time. In order to evaluate the quality of the insulation certain standard tests have been developed which provide a reliable indicator to determine what comprises “good” insulation.

There are two tests that the production technician can easily perform using a battery powered megger like the one shown in Figure 29. The first test is the short time or spot reading test and the second test is the one minute test.

The spot reading test
In the spot reading test you simply connect the “earth” lead of the megger to a good ground and the “line” lead to the conductor and operate the megger for a short time, say for 30 seconds or so. If the apparatus you are testing has a very small capacitance, such as a short run of cable, the spot reading is all that is necessary. However most equipment (like electric motors and long runs of electrical cable) is capacitive, so the very first spot reading can be only a rough guide as to how good or how bad the insulation is.
Bear in mind that the temperature and humidity will affect the readings and electrical circuits do not have to read infinity (perfect insulation on the megger scale) for the circuit to be serviceable. The NEMA standard for minimal insulation resistance is: 1 megohm per rated KV plus 1 megohm. What that means is that if you have a 1000 volt circuit, you should have a minimum of 2 megohms to ground for the circuit to be considered safe to energize and operate. If you have a 4000 volt circuit, you need (5 megohms) and if you have a 460 volt circuit, you should have (1-1/2 megohms), and so on. Insulation that is in good condition will normally have 40 - 50 megohms, or more, to ground.

The one minute reading test
The other test is the one minute reading. This method is fairly independent of the influence of temperature. It is based on the current absorption of good insulation compared to the current absorption of moist or contaminated insulation. A characteristic of good insulation is that it will show a continual increase in resistance (which means less leakage current is flowing) over a period of time. The initial test current (called the absorption current) is absorbed by the capacitance of the equipment being tested and then after that, any current flowing is the leakage through the insulation. If the insulation contains much moisture or other contaminants, the absorption current is masked by a high leakage current which stays at a fairly constant value, keeping the resistance low.
The value of the one minute test is that it can give you a better idea as to the condition of the insulation and alert you to a problem even when the spot reading indicates that everything is OK.
For example, let’s say a spot reading on a 460 volt induction motor was 10 megohms, which at first glance is well above the minimum requirement. Now lets assume that the one minute test showed the resistance quickly climbing to 10 megohms and then from there, holding steady for the rest of the 60 seconds. This means that there may be dirt or moisture on the windings. On the other hand, if the reading gradually increases between the 30 and 60 second time interval, then you can be reasonably certain that the windings are in good condition.
The comparison of the 30 second reading to the 60 second reading is called the dielectric absorption ratio (or D.A.R.). The way the ratio is calculated is to divide the 60 second reading by the 30 second reading. Using that method, the chart in Figure 30 will give you an idea of how to determine if the insulation is good.

Insulation

condition

60/30 second

ratio

Poor

Less than 1

Questionable

1.0 - 1.25

Good

1.4 – 1.6

Excellent

Above 1.6*​

*In some cases, with motors, values approximately 20% higher than shown here indicate a dry, brittle winding which will fail under shock conditions or during starts. For preventive maintenance, the motor winding should be cleaned, treated and dried to restore winding flexibility.

Dielectric absorption ratio chart
There is another megger test called the “Ten minute test” which is similar to the one minute test. Because this test requires ten minutes to perform, it is better accomplished by line operated (120 volt) equipment. Essentially the test is performed for ten minutes, the ten minute reading is divided by the one minute reading and the resulting ratio is called the Polarization Index. This test is mostly used on larger equipment that has large capacitance and requires longer time to stabilize the absorption test current. The conclusions drawn from the test are the same as those drawn from the dielectric absorption ratio but the actual ratio values of the polarization index are not the same as for the dielectric absorption chart in Figure 30.
Using the some of the symptoms listed in the “Problem” column of the troubleshooting chart, let’s go through the process that should be followed to perform the tests and develop the solution
Breaker trips free when motor start is attempted.

If the circuit breaker trips free (or trips during normal motor operation) it should not be re-closed and another motor start attempted before testing the motor and the power cables for an insulation failure. If there is a problem, additional starts will just cause further damage.
The symptom of the circuit breaker tripping is always caused by overcurrent; either a phase to phase short circuit or a phase to ground short circuit.

Insulation appears as a bunch of capacitors. Good insulation appears almost constant with voltage. Deteriorated or contaminated insulation megger readings drop as voltage increases. The standard measurement is the dielectric absorption ratio which is the 10 minute divided by the 1 minute reading. Typically a good number is 3-5. Megger tests need a constant (NOT hand cranked) voltage source and take readings after one minute to be valid. And you need to ground (short) for 3 times that time if you've already taken readings once. The DAR test gives hint why. Repeatedly meggering shows an increase no matter what the voltage (even at the same voltage) if the system isn't grounded for 3 times the test interval in between tests.

A lot of guys just stick the megger on there and take less than a 10 second reading. That's not a valid reading but hey all I'm looking for is over 5 megaohms org 100 megaohms as per the current IEEE standard temperature corrected after 1 minute but if in 10 seconds I've already got 20+, I don't need to continue the test. So I do it too but the closer I get to 5 or 100 megaohms the more I start watching the test time to get a by-the-book reading if the test is marginal. So if what I'm doing gets passed on the next guy might think A 10 second reading is valid when it's not...it's just close enough for spot check. As I megger longer the reading will climb, fast at first then slowly eventually. If there is moisture or contamination it will be very erratic. With very accurate readings you can see stair steps as the cracks charge up one at a time. Watching the readings or graphing them can be just as useful as the number.

And you can't "increment" it except for tip up (step bvoltage) tests where DAR is a better test anyways so step voltage tests are unnecessary except by customer request. And ever try measuring each of the three leads on a 6 or 9 lead motor nd wonder why the readings "go up"? I've seen that done too. It also happens when I megger an open frame breaker but again...I'm doing pass fail. Precise readings aren't needed. Hand cranked is OK for that but not for accuracy. Not only that but at one time and cranked megger were $500 and digital battery powered ones were $5000. Now you can get a decent Amprobe (a division of Fluke) or Extech (a division of Flir) for under $200 new and the AEMCs nd Biddle/Megger brands falling in the range of around $300-500 so there is no justification for hand cranked anymore.

As to what is valid, IEEE 43 gives 500 V for everything under 1000 V. Up to 12.5 kV, 1000 V is plenty. So you can just use one of the cheap common meggers to test everything until you get out of motors nd generators and out deep into distribution voltage territory. Up to 600 V, all insulation by ICEA/NEMA/UL is actually tested (megger) to some crazy value like 3 times the rating plus some more so even 150 V insulation (the lowest quality rating that has to be special ordered) is still rated higher than what a megger puts out so there is no reason for true test to use 100 or 250 V, again using a 1 minute reading. Use either a built in timer or your phone to time it.

The exception is VFDs. Following the manufacturer instructions you inside before meggering. But knowing it has blocking in the forward nd reverse voltage directions I sometimes drop to 250 V on a 460 V motor or 100 V on a 230 V motor just so that I can save time on a spot check and megger without unwiring. If the drive/motor fails (shorted) I know I have a bad motor/cable/drive anyway and step two is unwiring it all and running diode tests on the DC and AC busses to test the antiparallel diodes for shorts. So I am not only cheating but directly ignoring manufacturers instructions that tell you that you will destroy a drive by meggering it. There is a voltage that is really close to the AC peak voltage where particularly with SCRs self commutation occurs. Even without voltage on the gates, a high enough voltage on a power semiconductor will cause it to start conducting nd once it starts with some of them, they won't stop until they re damaged or power is removed. Damage with a battery powered megger is probably impossible but it leaves the possibility open and shows a smart customer you don't know what you are doing.

So yeah I'm not surprised at all. First unless you have a special case there is no reason for a 100 or 250 V test. Second if you didn't discharge fully...and I mean shorting it with a ground clamp for 5 minutes or more between tests, you're just seeing residual charges building up as your test gradually looks more like the 10 minute result. I'll bet if you went down in voltage or started over you would continue to see increases. The way a high end meter tests for this is that it measures residual voltage and grounds the leads until it goes away. And you get just ground a little...it takes much longer to drain a capacitor at a very low voltage compared to charging it at a very high voltage where the voltage difference helps speed the process up. //

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A “diverse” air traffic controller could kill you. //

You see, if there aren’t enough blacks or women it is always because of malicious barriers. The very first sentence of the report says that the secretary “made an historic commitment to transform the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers we serve.” //

So, in 2014, the FAA ditched the AT-SAT – which it had used for decades – and told all the people who had scored 85 or better and were waiting for a job offer that they had to take a brand-new test, called the Biographical Assessment.

This was an online personality test of 114 questions. It asked such things as: The number of different high school sports you played. The number of college credit hours you had in art, music, dance, or drama. Whether you had a job in any of the last three years. It was graded pass/fail, according to mysterious, never-acknowledged criteria.

My guess is that if you played a lot of sports and took no art classes, you were more likely to be black, so you passed. //

The Inspector General of the Department of Transportation found that the FAA fed the right answers to the black coalition, which fed them to black test-takers so they could cheat (and, of course, lie, if they had taken art and played no sports). It’s a crime to cheat on a federal exam or help someone cheat, but there was no punishment. This guy, Joseph Teixeira, resigned from the FAA, and the cheating scandal disappeared like the morning mist. //

The big New York Times investigation I mentioned earlier found that of the 313 air traffic facilities in the country, only three were fully staffed. The New York regional facility, for example, is short hundreds of controllers and is operating at just over 50 percent recommended staffing.

The Times quotes anonymous burnt-out controllers: “The staffing shortage is beyond unsustainable. It has now moved into a phase of JUST PLAIN DANGEROUS.” Also, “Controllers are making mistakes left and right. Fatigue is extreme.”

Guess how many words were about the thousands of top-qualified candidates who were frozen out because they were white? Zero. And about the black cheaters? Can’t mention that. This is the newspaper of record, after all. //

In 2021, we got “United Airlines vows 50% of new pilots hired will be women or minorities to reflect passenger diversity.” //

Who’s going to reflect the passengers who are children? Or blind? Or who don’t know left from right?

And, in case you were wondering, there are already 52 medical schools that no longer require applicants to take the Medical College Aptitude Test or MCAT because, well, you know why.

Chris A
an hour ago
Stop feeding your leftover curry to the camels.

mopani Chris A
a minute ago
That wouldn't be a problem if the camel drivers didn't smoke

Min Headroom llme
an hour ago
Achmeed the bomb maker: “so when you are close to the infidels push the button on your paradise vest…”

Kaleed the martyr: “you mean like this?…..”

American Deplorable ™ Min Headroom llme
8 hours ago
These kids, they blow up so fast.

PTP daemon (PTPd) is an implementation the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) version 2 as defined by 'IEEE Std 1588-2008'. PTP provides precise time coordination of Ethernet LAN connected computers. It was designed primarily for instrumentation and control systems.

No, you do not need to set all Livewire devices to be a PTP clock slave. Some devices that aren't fully AES67 compliant can only accept Livewire clock.

What's important is any clocks are all synced together, somehow, so they both have the same reference.