Invaluable Phone Rescue Tool

Did you know that you can discharge a smartphone so deeply, that it won't take a charge again, from any charger?

Or actually, almost any lightning or usb-c powered/charged device... Because they don't support completely dumb charging at all. 

In order for a usb-c or lightning port to actually allow power to flow, there has to either be two way communication between the charger and the device, or the port controller has to at least detect that the cable is good, and doesn't have too much or too little resistance or impedance (meaning no dead loads or dead shorts). The port literally won't accept power, and the charger won't send it. 

This is a safety measure, because USB-C and lightning, are both omnidirectional and water resistant ports. So the port and charger both try to make sure they arent going to short out, or cause a fire etc... before they let all but the tiniest test current flow. 

Anyway... its possible to drain a battery enough, that when you plug in the usb-c or lightning cable, either the port controller just won't work period; or the battery or safety circuit can attempt to draw too much power from the port at startup, such that the communication is disrupted, or the port goes into safety shutdown.

Now, it's certainly possible for the designers to design around that... They just don't bother usually. 

This means that if your phone dies completely, to the point where it won't light up at all, or register a button press at all etc... Then you leave it in that state for days or weeks... When you next plug it in, it may not take a charge at all, even on a theoretically completely dumb charger. 

Now... Sometimes you can bring a device back from that state, by just plugging it in to a higher powered dumb charger (or a more intelligent smart charger) that supports your phones supported charging voltages and amperage (some phones can now draw as much as 28w in superlatives charge mode, but most top out at between 7w and 15w) making sure it doesn't get too hot when you do, and then let it sit for a while (as in hours and hours... overnight etc...).... But sometimes, it just won't work, period.

As it happens, my girlfriend, and one of my other housemates, have done this to multiple devices... They tend to run devices down to almost shutting odd before charging, and they also tend to lose devices for days at a time... Which in combination, tends to induce that "won't charge no matter what" state.

There is however, a workaround... 

This little thing, is a USB testing device. It can measure electrical characteristics of a USB port, cable, or charger, in real-time. 

I have several of this type of device, and I usually use them to test USB ports, chargers, cables, and devices, for their charging ability, power delivery ability etc... No new USB device gets plugged into anything I care about, without my checking it out on one of these testers first. Because USB kill devices exist, and because bad USB devices can kill a computer or a charger, right quick. 

This one... an AVHzY CT-3 ($66 plus shipping from the company store, or about $70 prime at amazon) also has some neat additional functions, like 10,000 point data logging, external load testing, output of all measured parameters to your PC, an oscilloscope on the USB power lines; and critically, full protocol control and triggering for every common charging mode from every common vendor. 

Which means you can plug it in to a high powered charger (I've got it plugged into a 100w MacBook charger right now), plug the output into a dead phone, go into triggering mode, and force a charge down the line without doing a safety shutoff or allowing communications to be disrupted and stop the charge etc...

Using this trick I have been able to resurrect two phones that were otherwise dead, in just the last few hours. And now, I can use them as spare phones, or do things like, convert them into media streaming devices, or remote monitored cameras and microphones... or trade them in on a new device and get as much as $200 credit... just off the top of my head.

The most important technological development in... wow

The most significant science and engineering advance in... Certainly my lifetime, and I would say... Probably the last 90ish years, if not the last 250 years... has just been announced. 

Yes, really. 

Here it is...

Stabilized Detonation for Hypersonic Propulsion

In a shockingly understated manner, almost deliberately minimizing the importance of the discovery, presenting it as important but limited to just the aerospace field (which it is absolutely not)... a team at the University of Central Florida, has announced that they have developed a way of shaping a lightweight, passive, reaction chamber, such that they can maintain stable control of hypersonic turbulent detonation of high energy explosive fuels. 

This is potentially as significant a development as ANYTHING humanity has discovered or developed since the steam engine.... and may in fact be comparable to, and as significant as that.

Imagine that instead of powering your 4000 pound car with a 4 liter, 400 pound gasoline engine the size of a dishwasher, making 400 horsepower, with 400 miles of range, out of 14 gallons of petrochemical gasoline; that previously 4000 pound car is now a 3000lb car, with an 60lb engine the size of say... a toaster oven.... delivering that same 400 horsepower and 400 miles of range, out of 200cc displacement, and a single gallon of a self oxidizing synthetic liquid explosive.... Rocket fuel basically. 

Yes, really.

I literally cannot describe to you, how amazing, important, fundamentally altering to human life and civilization, this development could be.

If it works as claimed... Even if the first few implementations don't work... or it takes the first few DECADES of implementations to get it right (as almost every other huge fundamentally transformative technology has) if the PRINCIPLE works... It COMPLETELY revolutionizes hundreds of fields, and categories, of engineering and science; and creates dozens of new offshoots of those fields. 

This is not hyperbole... this discovery hhas the potential to radically transform almost every aspect of human life; as the steam engine, the electrical generator and motor, the internal combustion engine, the rocket motor,, and the steam and gas turbines have (including jet engines)... and in fact even more, because it can also be used for manufacturing and creation of new products and materials not previously practical or even possible to manufacture.

...The chemical processes alone... The mind boggles.

But the most important possibility?

This opens the way to controlling, and much more efficiently capturing, the energies released by fusion reactions.... More directly converting the heat energies of fusion plasmas (and other high energy heat fluids) into kinetic energy, recovering much more of that energy, than using it as waste heat to boil water for steam turbines... Because the heat bearing plasma.is the working fluid itself, without intermediate working fluids. 

That is... So incredibly fundamentally transformative of our ability to create and exploit energy.... When I said it was the most important technological development since the steam engine, I may have been understanding it.

Yes... Really.

Potentially better news

I had my first meeting and first sample collection for the first series of genetic testing, with my new oncologist. 

She's one of the leading oncologists in biologic and genetic immunotherapies. The good news is she thinks that yeah, the large defined mass circled in green is almost certainly cancer, but there's a good chance the orange stuff is either not cancer, or is not sufficiently advanced that it I wouldn't be a good candidate for immunotherapy, and that I have a good chance of responding well to it. Maybe double or triple the chance of surviving a year or more than my surgeon was thinking... 

...If... and it's a BIG IF... 

...the genetic testing comes back showing that I am a good candidate and the cancer is the right kind of cancer with the right genetic and molecular makeup.

Oh and yeah, there's apparently new kinds of pathology and new kinds of molecular testing of the cancer tissues that helps them tailor the treatment exactly to your cancer, with biologic or genetic immunotherapy. 

I'm having a biopsy in the next few days or week and they'll send that tissue out for both genetic and molecular analysis, as well as conventional pathology. Those various series of tests are going to take 3 to 6 week.

So... yeah... I'll know more in 3-6 weeks

Time to go BACK to War

 I had a consult with my oncological surgeon... and it was pretty bad news. 

What it comes down to, is about an 85% chance that I'll be gone within a year, and about a 15% chance of survival. 

I'm attaching two pictures here. These are frames from my PET scan with contrast. The hotspots circled in red are definitely cancer, that we already knew about. 

Those are in my neck. The rest, are in my lungs, and that's the problem.

The hotspots in green, are almost certainly cancer... That we didn't know about until the PET scan. It's not confirmed, but it isn't just a hot spot on the contrast, there's also some visible structure in the CT... it's about 85% certain that its cancer. 

... And this cancer would be inoperable. 

The orange hot spots are potentially cancer, because of the hot spotting, but they don't have much or any structure visible in the CT without contrast. They're only about 15% likely to be cancer. However, if they are... then they're likely not treatable, and I likely only have a few fairly unpleasant and painful months left to live. Less than a year certainly. 

If the only new cancer is the green, then theres a good chance that I am a good candidate for immunotherapy. My care team is consulting with several different oncology specialists now, and will get back to me soon with potential treatment options. 

My next year is... likely going to be very difficult, and very painful. If the treatment works, great... but it's gonna REALLY hurt the entire damn time.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to work... My plan is to work as long as I can, and then try to use my short and long term disability insurance... See how that goes.

But what it comes down to... is that I'm probably dying. 

If that happens... I'm OK with it. I came to terms with that back in 2012 when I had just a 4% chance of surviving. 

But my plan, is to survive, at least long enough to see my son graduate college... and he's got another at least 14 years to go... so... time to go back to war. 

UPDATE:

I had my first meeting and first sample collection for the first series of genetic testing, with my new oncologist. 

She's one of the leading oncologists in biologic and genetic immunotherapies. The good news is she thinks that yeah, the large defined mass circled in green is almost certainly cancer, but there's a good chance the orange stuff is either not cancer, or is not sufficiently advanced that it I wouldn't be a good candidate for immunotherapy, and that I have a good chance of responding well to it. Maybe double or triple the chance of surviving a year or more than my surgeon was thinking... 

...If... and it's a BIG IF... 

...the genetic testing comes back showing that I am a good candidate and the cancer is the right kind of cancer with the right genetic and molecular makeup.

Oh and yeah, there's apparently new kinds of pathology and new kinds of molecular testing of the cancer tissues that helps them tailor the treatment exactly to your cancer, with biologic or genetic immunotherapy. 

I'm having a biopsy in the next few days or week and they'll send that tissue out for both genetic and molecular analysis, as well as conventional pathology. Those various series of tests are going to take 3 to 6 week.

So... yeah... I'll know more in 3-6 weeks.