Øyvind Teig

Myself

Øyvind Teig (5.2022). Photo: Mari

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Standard disclaimer, valid for all notes – and other disclaimers.

My name is Øyvind Teig, but my “user name” is always “aclassifier” (or “Aclassifier“). It is a pun that originates from my experience with collecting and describing (“classifying”) my first-generation short-and-tall Mercedes-Benz A-Class scale models. The result of this attempt is still to be seen here. Then, A-Class’ifiers became aclassifier. I have used that name whenever there was a need for one. Nowhere has this information been classified!

I found the below quote jotted down on a piece of paper during one of my several attempts to tidy up my cupboards. It is by Silje (my nurse anaesthetist oldest daughter) – she had come to work with me to do some printing of something, I believe. I have a book with quotes by all my three children from when they grew up. But this is an adult comment, at 32, after when Silje had herself been in work for years (the second line is the original in Norwegian):

We had finished a lot earlier if we had known how long time it would take
Vi hadde blitt ferdig lenge før hvis vi visste hvor lang tid det tok

My “classic” home page (since 2000) is at www.teigfam.net/oyvind/. I certainly update it. But it’s here the action is, with home/ appended.

I spend hours after hours, days after days on each note. I try to keep them updated, years on.

And some years after its publication I discovered another writer’s article that made such impression that I mention it here, for you ([1] if you want to look at it later on, or [1] if you want to be distracted immediately).

I think that what I am describing in my blog notes might be rated by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development goals scheme. It would have been fun to individually mark each blog note with this, even if matching none here might absolutely be ok. The goals are (nothing about developing more precise weapon(s) there):

No poverty (SDG 1), Zero hunger (SDG 2), Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4), Gender equality (SDG 5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), Climate action (SDG 13), Life below water (SDG 14), Life on land (SDG 15), Peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16), and Partnerships for the goals (SDG 17). From Wikipedia

My Privacy Policy is here. My NTNU affilation is here. ORCID iD iconORCID iD. Pronunciation or how to pronounce “Øyvind” here. My used-to-work page is here (Norwegian). More about me is here only (like that I will become an IEEE Life Member from 2024). Mail me here.

From "Thomas builds" by Gunilla WoldeSee Thomas sawing (picture). This blog is all about all my attempts with that broken saw. It’s always starting out as difficult, the saw is not cooperating. Then, after having tried long enough, I try to write about what I’ve come up with. I don’t feel like an expert on anything. I learn as I write. I hope that even my failures may be of interest.

«At first Thomas saws the boards. It is difficult to saw. But it works out in the end when one saws long enough» by Gunilla Wolde.

From “Thomas builds” @ Aschehoug, 1974, translated from Swedish original “Totte bygger” @ Saga, 1970. (Press picture for higher resolution)

Headers etc.

This is the pantograph or current collector of an electrical locomotive from 1914. It takes power from the overhead wire, but the wheels and track form the return circuit, making a closed circuit with the power source. Inside that closed circuit were the loco’s engines, pulling goods and people to their destination. This was designed at the time when my father was born, by engineers at my grandfather’s age. I grew up with electrical stuff around and have now for years been a father and even grandfather, myself – hoping to have carried some of my enthusiasm across to the younger. Also knowing that there is more between rail and wire than this.

I have snatched from this photo, also seen here – where there also is some further reading. It shows the Preußische EG 511 locomotive, later called E 71.1. It is now my first WordPress pages’ icon or favicon (From 08May2023).

 

I have some header images that are chosen randomly by WordPress. The oldest first:

 This header image is from the inside of Torre del’Orologio (Torre del Candeliere or Torre dell Orologio) in Massa Marittima in Italy. The picture is not edited in any way, but the clockwork is indeed inside a glass box. It is the basis for one of the stories in my short story book Og der sto, du (in Norwegian).

 This header is a close-up of a bouquet of flowers. Believe me, the gerbera flowers are orange, and the flower vase has the form of a cone all the way down. (The vase is by ceramist Asbjørn Pettersen. I bought it in Mandal, Norway).

This header’s idea is to show the graduated scale of the world’s first “voltmeter”, as seen at the The Volta Temple in Como in Italy. It is a “straw condenser electrometer in square bottle” or electroscope (as earlier built by Cavallo and Bennet) – but this time with a graduated scale, so it’s the first electrometer (displayed as item “305” at the museum; it’s an original from Volta’s hands). The pendula (arrow) are two straws, as the title suggests.

 I found this mechanical counter at a second-hand shop here in Trondheim, shown here without its hood. On this odd architecture (for my purpose) of five non-connected three digit counters I had to press 1025 times to display those 8 digits. With a specialised arrangement with three counters and 2+2+4 digits I would have needed only 26 presses. But this arrangement of iron plus added colour would never feel days go by. No matter how much fancy iron we added.

My wife Mari and I went, as we often do, for a walk along the river running through Trondheim. This anchor ball got my attention, as river Nidelva tried at its best to carry it downstream.

I visited Verkehrsmuseum Dresden (Dresden Transport Museum) in August 2018 and discovered this electric motor of 2400 kW. The E50 42 loco from 1927 is no more, but this is claimed to be the world’s most powerful electric motor for locomotives. I used a long time to feel it, enjoy it, be overwhelmed by it. In some way it reminds me of what my father Hans-Jacob Teig did as his first job in 1935-1945: winding the stiff copper cables of hydro electric generators. He was proud of this work and had some tiny 6×6 cm pictures of it. I have it in my blood. This stuff moves me. See the full motor (without the frame and the wheels) – plus more here.

I discovered this double sided anchored chain, visible through the ice the day before, and the following day brought my camera. I probably would thought about using my mobile if I knew the motive would have been gone by the next day. But I reckoned even the transparent ice would survive. I couldn’t forget it since it was hard avoid thinking about the strong symbolic power of this motive. Press picture for the high resolution version (or should I say “normal resolution”. 960×250 for the headers is not very much..). It’s shot by Dokkhuset at Solsiden here in Trondheim on 16Dec2018. Aside: I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 picture presented here. So I brought a newer DMC-LX100 the day after, and even shot in raw format. The picture was technically better, but something had happened with the ice and light. The ice was perhaps more melted and rounded on the edges of the broken-off pieces. And one could barely see the chain below the ice. So I really could not replace the technically best with the dramatically best.

These “decoder wires” (as intended to be used inside model trains) each consists of 26 copper strands of diameter ⌀ 0.05 mm. That yields π * (0,05 mm / 2)2 * 26 ≈ 0.05 mm2 area of copper to carry lots of electrons around. Each cable can then deliver about 0.5 Ampere without getting hot. The isolation is PVC, needed just like the myelin sheath covering our nerves. Fully assembled each cable has ⌀ 0.6 mm. The picture is taken in 2019, when I discovered these wires. However, the rather complex technology behind a cable like this is quite old – even if my father and colleagues used cotton and oil around the much thicker wires when they made power generators at NEBB in Oslo in the late 1930’ies. Lately I have had to dissect multi-wired cables to find wires half as nice as those pictured. I bought some cardboard (more or less suited), and made the pictured future proofed multi-reel unit.

These quays were said by the locals to sit on the top of the crane for an hour or two in the evening. Then they took to the wings and disappeared. I put my camera on a tripod and shot some pictures. My Lumix DMC-TZ100 did f 5.9, t 1/320 s and 500 mm focal length 35 mm format, digital zoom not used. When I looked at the result I discovered the bird sitting on the lantern. Not on the top of the top, but almost. But from the ground, literally and on the other side, it’s here.

:: I added this picture as an afterthought to my note 211 when I discovered that one of the houses had an open door, leading to a staircase inside, up to a first floor. We literally were there. I just love these miniatures by Amsterdam Streets. There are doors on the corners, and in the fronts, with and without stairs, or even staircases. I don’t know what goes on inside these houses, but I can’t avoid looking at them as a set of something to explore. I hope that some of that exploration is reflected in these blog notes.

We have pizza on every Thursday. This is my day for making dinner. Since Mari found a certain video about Neapolitan pizza making on YouTube, that’s what I have done. I start with..

..fresh yeast, having added some sugar, in a cup. When I was little, my mother let me do this: stir yeast and sugar with a spoon. She used a national coat of arms decorated soup bowl that my beloved uncle Halfdan had used when he served as the King’s guard, between the wars. I loved the smell. I loved the setting. But recently I discovered that stirring is not necessary, however it makes the process faster. Then I pour that fluid into some room tempered water (originally from the cold tap), and some flour. After some 15 minutes the biology raises to the beauty of this yeast mixture. The smell and the setting.. are still from the fifties.

:: I was getting rid of leaded solder the other day. I unreeled the solder and put it in the red “dangerous waste” box. But the blue reel was so nice. I shot lots of photos for a new header image. It took some time, no new header. Then I discovered an empty reel. It was green and had contained unleaded solder, of course. I decided to shoot some pictures of it as well. That’s when I discovered what the pair of them might be up to.
I think a reel may also be called bobbin or spool (depending on usage?) – and in Norwegian: snelle. The reels’ labels have printed Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials and www.alphametals.com and Made in the EU on them..

This is a “molo” or breakwater of the Trondheim harbour. The photo is taken on a -15° somewhat windy day in February 2021. The famous Munkholmen islet is behind and below the stone wall, some 1300 m further out. The breakwater is for the speedboats to enjoy shallow waters. On the outside the Hurtigruten express route ships will pass, as well as the cruise ships. But the stone wall is here and now. Always.

A walking bridge and the sea. A few km to the right of this point, at Hustadvika, the cruise ship Viking Sky on 23Mar2019 was almost crushed to pieces on the shore. But today it was just blowing out there, in Feb2021. The nice bridge just adds to the beauty here.

Same place, Bud in Hustadvika kommune (municipality). That tree just used to be. But even then it has a beauty that I could not resist,

More trees at Bud. However, these are still living. It’s winter, and they are just now preparing for summer. The Guleberget mountain was partially covered with some grey beard. But soon the green leaves will adorn it even more.

We walked on this forest road at Bud and passed over a small stream, flowing quietly through this drainage pipe. Not easy to hide this plastic tube. But it helps protect the path. However, now the wetland area has to cry all of its rained drops much faster than it did over the previous thousand years.

A small motor boat speeded down the river Nidelva here in Trondheim. Not a ripple on the river, the boat cut through the glass surface, heading out for the Trondheim fjord. However, nobody can do this without leaving any trace. The waves came towards the two of us on the beach, strolling along. My phone started to complain for the code, the face was not enough, so I switched it to black and then it came up – just in time for the camera to catch one of the first waves. 29Mar2021 and we’re waiting for the plants to come up green. Also this spring.

My camera in a tripod, from one bridge across Nidelva (the Nidareid bridge), overlooking the two next bridges down the river. Gangbroa (“Pedestrian bridge”) is the first, then the pillars only of the Elgeseter bridge, which is Trondheim’s main bridge. I just love the water, and when it’s 14th of March then there might be the occasional ice floe in the water, which seems to be enjoyed even by those who don’t know what a camera or a nice view is. They just are it.

 :: Outside the Røros church there was a small street where I found this reflection. Raising my head: there was the window, on the wall of a small house. And behind me, the source of the light. A warm August evening’s sun.

 :: (10Aug2021 08.45 I struggle with this text, so I have updated it a lot. Still not finished, I need the precise terms. Please help). I could not believe this design when I first discovered it. What was the function of this matrix of wheels, wires, weights, wood and iron? It is a small section of a ropeway conveyor or material ropeway. I will use both wire and rope terms here, but these cables are indeed made of steel. I guess the term ropeway hints that they were originally built with rope. Studying this structure I knew that containers had to pass through it, but I did not see how. This conveyor, built in 1941 (at a copper works from 1644), has been kept in working order since the copper mine was closed in 1977. The conveyor carried copper ores from the Olavsgruva mine by Røros, for froth flotation at the Nedre Storwartz mine. The area is full of destructive pollution of the nature, but I could not help becoming perplex from what I saw. Here, in this tension tower, four individual top wires are tensioned. Perhaps the structure is called a tension station or tension matrix? It is “strammebukk” in Norwegian, this translates to “tension-ram” – for the male sheep, Each of these track wires passes through 90° of a wheel, pulled down by a huge box, filled with stones. The vertical pull then keeps a permanent tension in the horisontal wire.

Each container is pulled by the low wire or hauling rope, which moves in an endless loop between the end stations. The topmost roller wheel pair on the container runs on the track wire, of course, but also passes obstacles like (1) thick and steady wire joints, (2) the wire holders on the top of masts l LP and (3) the wire-to-“rail track” connection on the tensioning station here, all without “dewiring” or derailing! I was not able to conclude that this was possible at all before I found this video: “Taubanen Olavsgruva – Nedre Storwartz minutt for minutt” (by Rørosmuseet (Røros Museum) MIST) here. I also have added a close-up photo of the station: here. I think this is a “two-wheel bicable” system, since it has two carrying or track ropes, and one endless, continuously running hauling rope. It is probably not a coincidence that this tensioning is done at the highest point. A tensioner at one of the ends of each track wire would have made full length wires possible, whereas now the top track wires are four half lengths. Before this they used to have a much longer, 10 km ropeway connector from the mine to Røros; I wonder how it was designed.

Built in 1941 it’s not hard to imagine that Norway’s invaders of 1940 were short of copper. In the previous war, in 1916, where Norway “fought” as a neutral part, there was indeed a deal between Great Britain and Norway, to stop the export of copper-containing products to Germany (here, translated here). I don’t know if the German nazi invaders, years later, thought such a deal necessary.

Thinking that copper was also used for kettles, coffee pots and peaceful electric wires, enables me to admire the beauty of the above construction with less inner tension.

I have learned a lot from AERIAL ROPEWAYS AND CABLEWAYS by Z. Frenkiel, Consulting Editor: International Ropeway Review. (Undated, but the newest reference there is from 1966), see here. Of course I find this English text, not on an(y) English language web page, but on the Swiss pages Seilbahnen Schweitz.

This Sunday morning, as I was about to slice a hard-boiled egg, I got aware of this view. What defines an entity? The egg is an egg now. I can hold it – and even bounce it on the table. But then: eight slices of an egg and two egg ends. It must have been the egg force, slowly put in there during eleven minutes of boiling. Of course. And the slice and end forces: divided by ten?

This emergent vegetation swamp grass seemed ok alive, even if the 2021 fall in the Rondane National Park (Rondane nasjonalpark) has been dry. To such an extent that the pond had dried out. It is shown as a blue area on the map, at elevation 1063 meters. It’s on a track northeastward from Putten seter, starting on the south side of the Skjerungåe river. By the way, this river has a fantastic and dramatic downfall and gorge from Putten to the Gudbrandsdalen valley, into the large Gudbrandslågen river. Just so there is no doubt.

After years, with drawer after drawer emptied – and filled again – with tealights, from various manufacturers, with various luck, we found ourselves burning them less than we wanted to. And we had let ourselves think, how good were they for the indoor eyes and lungs, filling the rooms with invisible soot? Or were our brains so accustomed to warm – in every sense – burning flames, that they weren’t able to separate from them? Then we visited a home with electric LED tealights only, being used there for the mentioned reasons. We bought one and placed it on top of our very nice ceramic lighthouse, inside the glass and the metallic roof. But how nice was that, actually? Could we psychologically relate to it? Just a flickering LED, faking a flame? The button cell battery was supposed to last for impressing 120 hours, with a possible timer, as set by the remote control, watching over it. With 450 mAh capacity, this goes for 450 / 120 = 3.75 mA, which makes sense to me. 120 hours soon passed, and I replaced the battery with a connector disk, made two connections that went down, through the silicon and into the base where there was space for two standard AAA cells. So now, we may burn either one of the types: flamed or LEDed. However, since the LED didn’t need air I thought it better to house it in a plastic dome from a long gone E27 LED bulb. The dome tells its own story, out of the two merged photos. However, there still are some environmental consequences here. But then, we started this in the caves, didn’t we? Help, doesn’t anything go these days? (1Jan2022).

Autumn and withering fern. That’s all. It matches the mood that comes with the news these days. What a spring might give, we can only hope for (Oct2022).

I found this rusty chain at Askevågen in Hustadvika kommune (municipality) in Norway. It was in some lengths, cut or rusted apiece, and tied together with a rope. I thought, I’ll cut the rope with a sharp stone and photograph the chains. So done. But the sun gave too clear shadows. So I moved the photo session into the shadow, on top of the concrete pier surface. This is a very old stud link chain, having “a bar or stud inside its inside width. The stud is there “to keep the sides of the common links apart during pulling, to avoid that the chain “kinks”, and they also add weight to the chain.” (Quotes from the net.) But even chains rust. This one is returning to iron oxide, and then I guess, some day to dust iron. But this might take too long for some. The chain has instead to be broken, hoping for enough mental strength and help from friends. But for now, the sea and salt will do it for these. I left them where I found them. (Jul2023).

:: You can make an electric coil or inductance by winding a wire around a roll. The roll may be very long, like kilometres. You can make an electric capacitor by just keeping wires beside each other – the longer, the better. But if you are the owner of power lines, coils and capacitors are not what you want. They cause losses that nobody pays for. Therefore the lines are revolved, permuted or transposed at intervals. An initial cost only, when building the lines. Since there are three wires for a three-phase line with no extra ground, to minize inductance and capacitance between them, making them on the average having equal positions would then be 1/3 on the right side, 1/3 in the center and 1/3 on the left side (puh!) – is the way forward. To facilitate this, one would need two types of crossover points. This photo, with my circuit diagram, shows one of these. (I don’t know the distance to the next transposing point.) The other type you can read about on Quora here. (I have known about this for years, but I can’t remember having observed one before. But I have seen this when I was a child, on telephone lines. Plus, I grew up by the Børstad transformer station at Hamar, where a chunky capacitor bank matrix (xyz dimensions in metres) was installed on the ground, to compensate for the increasing number of coils in fluorescent lamp fixtures in the sixties. Every now and then one of the capacitors would blow. After some years the bank was dismantled. Finally, when I need to send high frequency signals from a processor to an i/o chip, I twist the signal and ground wires.) This photo is at Putten seter in Norway. (17Sep2023).

This tulip needed a crutch, splint or brace, or at least some support. A wooden strip and clip fixed the problem. It is still beautiful. I wonder if it will bloom as long as it could had, without that weak stem? But then, almost touching the table would certainly not bless it with any long future. But then, would it care? (14Feb2024)

Other

You are at my home page and blog now. New blog notes are here.

About commenting: If comments are not enabled, please mail me here instead. and I’ll include your comment in the blog.

1983 1988 Trademark occam and occam 2 INMOS LimitedI am also Aclassifier on Wikipedia, where I was much eager to see on how this picture went (left), since I made it from two scannings from the covers of two books on occam. Whether this first “logo”-like for occam actually stayed on the Occam (programming language) page. (Update 11Feb2021: it was kept!)

Update 25Sep2023: I now have made a separate blog note, with the “green 1983” manual scanned in, see 0x07 occam programming language

28Mar2021: update there is this: Missing article on the xC programming language.

I am also Aclassifier/aclassifier (and real name) on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr and Instagram, but that activity is zero to low. I am here. There also is a aclassifier.wordpress.com page, but it only points to here. I have Vipps and PayPal.me.

The Internet Archive / Wayback Machine copy of www.teigfam.net is here – and the older home.no.net is here (from about Feb. 2002). Nice visualisation tools of the site map structure are also present there.

My real first name is of course Øyvind. Read about it here (Norwegian).

Standard disclaimer

There are subtle exceptions to some of these points (below).

Valid for all blog notes. I have no affiliation with any of the companies or persons I mention in my notes. I have no ads, there’s no money involved, no gifts are accepted. No donations, no affiliate advertisements, no rewards and no supporter support! I write what I think is right, and I strive to do it carefully. It’s entirely a hobby with no income of any sort, except for income with negative sign. But it has given me lots of fun, and I learn by the day. I have not sold anything of what I have designed. A site a year doesn’t cost much, and I get my pension independent of what I present on my web pages. I always ask for permission to publish material that is not my own, and always refer to the source. Some time I have also paid (like here), if I think it necessary to keep my writing going. Repeating, I don’t have ads on my site. I don’t sell products/services on my site. I don’t promote a business on my site. If there are more don’ts, just add them!

Exceptions

As I see it, these exceptions only represent the grey-zones that have seemed unavoidable during so many years of blogging.

2022.09 Two Lisbon trams from Amarélis, see here

2021.11: Years on, at a second attempt from an XMOS person (both times from rather technical specialists) – I decided to yield. Having spent quite some time enthusiastically writing about XMOS products (and more or less quietly been swearing), I so much wanted a cup. (“It’s rather heavy, there must be a cup in here”, I said to Mari when the box had arrived at the door). Time was overdue. However, the box also contained a much lighter “sample only” voice board and an XTAG4. Plus two pens, a metallic ‘XMOS’ straw with a thin cleaning broom and a red t-shirt (‘L’, but ok!) Thanks! I promise not to stop having my say about your stuff, XMOS!
Update: It took me days before I added these links, reflecting how independent I am: The board is the “Voice reference design evaluation kit” XK-VOICE-L71 (containing an xcore.ai of type XU316-1024-QF60A-C24). (But then, I have never said I wasn’t fascinated by the XMOS stuff. Such as: I will be able to code this chip myself with (like) the XTC Tools and lib_xcore.)

2020.12: A Märklin driver (here).

2020.09: I sold some about 20 years old transputer TRAM boards, saved from becoming e-waste, which could be used by someone else: Transputer TRAM (was: boards for sale).

2020.08: “Kode24s KODEKOPP Modell #3″ (“code cup”) from Kode24 for the work with the article about xC (here). It’s an enamelled steel cup.

2019.09: I sold two scopes (on finn.no) which I had earlier bought: Used for sale: USB scopes.

Style disclaimer

Narrative style: These notes are mostly of log-type, since I write as my investigations proceed, more like stream of consciousness texts. They are (I assume, rather confusingly) readable during that process. If that is “structure” then that’s what it is for me us. Exceptions would be if I have had to relate to some magazine editor with an article (newest 2020) or when a paper has had to go through peer reviewing (newest 2013). One more thing. In some notes I actually develop things (like here). You may suspect that I don’t follow the Waterfall Model, V-Model or use Agile (software) development, and that I use a kind of stream of ideas and write as I go. I couldn’t have expressed it better myself. Being mostly alone on these project with less feedback that I would wish for, I still hope that the results turn out to be rather homogeneous, readable and understandable. And possibly possible to repeat or become inspired by?

Work disclaimer

Those blog notes and home pages discussing (mostly computer) science- and technology related matter (at http://www.teigfam.net/oyvind and below) do not reveal any product sensitive technical data or technology of my previous employer Autronica Fire and Security (AFS) (I retired in June 2017). In addition, none of what I write about has independent economic value (actual or potential) to AFS. Also, I was not writing on behalf of or at the request of AFS.

References

  1. While Everyone Is Distracted By Social Media, Successful People Double Down On An Underrated Skill, by Michael Simmons (2018), read on Medium.com here

Øyvind Teig, Trondheim, Norway. Content updated 14Feb2024. The teigfam.net domain name was new 03Mar2009. (Again, watch it here.)

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