Official Bronycon 2017 Announcement Blog, with bonuses at the bottom. · 12:38am Aug 3rd, 2017
Today's the day that everybody is posting these, so I ought to jump on the Bandwagon.
I guess this is the official official blog, 'cause all the ones that have mentioned Bronycon before this it was somewhere else in the blog and you had to read through all the fine print to get all the details.
I'll be getting there sometime on Thursday--when is utterly dependent on when I leave. It'll be in the afternoon or the evening, probably. I might be feeling up to the official (it's not official) bar crawl, or I might not. Can't really say. Last year, I missed it, and I hear it was something wonderful. Thanks to RobCakeran53's tellings of the events, I wrote Soft Shell, Hard Heart as a tribute. Although to comply with site rules, it's totally about an OC of mine, who is not at all related to Majin Syeekoh.
Friday, I'll likely be up and about kind of early, assuming I didn't go to the bar crawl and fall in the Chesapeake Bay. I'll most likely be hitting up the merchant hall at some point, and Friday's a good day for that. It's a chance to get some cool stuff before it gets sold out, and to paw at all the plushies before anyone else does. I'll also be spending a fair amount of time in Quills and Sofas. Really, that's the best place to find all the cool authors, along with the mysterious person who makes hundreds of drawings of Fluttershy puking.
Saturday and Sunday are likely to be repeats of Friday. I'm not terribly creative when it comes to planning what to do at a con.
According to the schedule, which I glanced over when I was at work, there doesn't seem to be an Equestria Daily writing panel this year, which means I have no panel to heckle. Maybe I'll go to the OC panel. I've always wanted to learn how to write a memorable OC. 
Speaking of panels, it was rumored that I might get to be on one this year. However, I haven't heard anything back since then, so either I'm not actually on the panel--maybe when they realized who I was, I got uninvited--or maybe I am and they're planning to tell me about it at the con. If that's the case, I'll let y'all know what and where, and you can witness the Admiral pretending that he knows what he's talking about.
I won't be leaving until Monday morning (again, 'before noon,'), and Super Trampoline and I are thinking of writing another badfic. Depending on his schedule, we might do that Sunday after the con closes . . . and if more people are willing to participate, we could really make a thing of it. Time and date isn't set in stone for that project, either.
[Actually, looking back, I can't remember if we wrote our last collaborative project after EFNW ended, or if it was the night before. Things sometimes get a little blurry at cons.]
Odds are pretty good that I'm gonna make another blog post when I get to Bronycon, and I might have more better plans then. Or not . . . I like just winging it. Anyways, you can always send me a PM at the con, and we can figure out a place to meet up.
Now, onto other news!
Y'all remember a few blog posts back when I was talking about how it's not the PCM except when it is? And I mentioned the Lincoln that had a failed driver for the #5 coil.
Yeah, y'all remember that.
Well, late last week the owner of that fine automobile finally called back and said that he wanted to fix the car, so we commenced to order a new PCM for it. We already had the coil and spark plug (we actually had three coils and six spark plugs, but he decided to just go with one of each and hope that this exact thing doesn't happen again due to worn out coils or spark plugs).
Took a couple of days to get it. The Ford dealer apparently doesn't keep them in stock, and they had to order it. Yesterday, though, I got a box with a PCM in it, slapped it in the car, and then tried to program it.
To make a long story short, I eventually got the scan tool and the PCM to cooperate, and what is supposed to be a half-hour process only wound up taking two hours; the good news is that the end of it, the car started and ran smoothly, and all was right with the world again.
I also said in that blog post that the PCM was childproof, and I couldn't get inside of it to see if I could find the melted component, not without potentially damaging it. Well, now that the car had a new one installed, I could pry away to my heart's content, so I did.
I never got the case all the way off--I couldn't figure out how you were supposed to open it. It's constructed sort of like an interlinked rings puzzle, and since there was a core on it, I had to be able to return it looking mostly undamaged. Otherwise, I'd have just cut the case in half and been done with it.
Just the same, with the help of a trusty pocket screwdriver, I was able to pry the cover open enough to shine a flashlight inside and take a look, and it didn't take me very look to find a discolored, cracked, partially melted electrical component (I assume that's the #5 driver). As an added bonus, right behind it is an IC that looks like it's got a stalagmite growing out of the center of it, and while I'm not a genius when it comes to electronics, I don't think that's normal.
This isn't the best picture--there's a limit to what you can do when you have to simultaneously hold a flashlight, pocket screwdriver, PCM, and cell phone--but you can see the carnage:
Finally, I'm happy to report that I did get the next chapter of OPP to my pre-readers, and they're currently poking it with sticks.
Source is a dead link
Thus far, it's going pretty smoothly. And if things continue according to plan, I ought to have the new chapter out next week.
See you there, Admiral! Would like to get in on the fix with you and Super Trampoline, if possible and you'll have me.
Ahh, the old lets fail short circuit and connect the power rail directly to a low volt IO pin with electrostatic protection diodes. Oops, that voltage is higher than the diodes rating and they fail short circuit, connecting vehicle mains direct to grounded substrate? What happens when you try and push several hundred amps through a plastic packaged chip? Clarke Cannon.
*Obligatory brony solidarity post*
Noice!
*sigh*
I need to find some way of getting back out there and hanging with you one of these years. Maybe 2018 . . .
"Stalagmite" sounds like lead-free solder failure, what's it called... tin whiskers
Edit: That's probably not it, would be less dramatic I think
4622169
Ahem...
Well...
I certainly wouldn't mind the opportunity.
You should totally drag Luna-tic Scientist with you if you do.
4622233
This is a positive development in your book?!
The feeling's mutual!!
(Also, I can't remember if I ever offered, but if you need pre-readers at any point, after seeing what you did with Insecurities, I still totally want to.)
(Also also, I don't know who that is.
FiM-cred revoked.)
Wish I had days available to take off.
Drive safe and have a grand time!
lucky bastard.
I will see you there!
4622004
Yay!
As long as you're willing to write something terrible, we'd love to have you.
I'll figure out a timeline when we get closer to the event.
4622005
Given what kind of conditions they have to live in, it's actually amazing that computer failures on cars aren't all that common. Take the driver for an injector on a GDI car--at 3,000 RPM, that little guy could be triggering 75 times per second or more, and as I recall, you've got to push around 50 volts through GDI injectors to get the pintle to lift. (They do that by using the inductive spike from the last injector to help boost the voltage, which is really clever. It also means that sometimes the injector driver that's really bad is the one before the one you think is bad.)
4622032
Although to be honest, my ancestors were probably singing the opposite version of the song, as they were busy fighting the British first during the Revolution, and then in 1812, my Baltimore ancestors got to do it again.
4622153
You're coming, right?
4622169
Yes, do 2018. Start planning now!
4622174
Yeah, I think that tin whiskers usually are really tiny and hard to see without magnification.
I'm also not sure if it's as big a problem in the auto industry as it was. A lot of boards have a thin layer of some kind of goop on them, which I assume is to protect them from dust and whatnot; it might also work to keep tin whiskers at bay.
I wasn't able to get the case far enough open to get a good look at the stalagmite, but I think it's most likely melted plastic. My guess would be that that chip is responsible for running the drivers, and when the coil melted, it not only took out the driver but also overheated the IC. That's only a guess, though.
4622242
Plan for next year
Trotcon for sure, 'cause that's close and an easy weekend gig, plus it's really informal and lots of fun. Bronycon's more expensive, and further away . . . although of course, it's also super-awesome.
I shall! Well, I can't promise driving safe, but I can promise I'll have a good time.
4622456
I am, it's true.
4622983
Huzzah!
4623107
31.media.tumblr.com/20f5bf9c69bc5231b92322b9dfd08afa/tumblr_nakqdlEULt1thupwvo1_500.gif
You got it, boss.
4623098
Dude I'm totally there.
4622456 Ack! Why you steal my name?! Er... my other name? Dammit.
4623451
4623466
Huzzah!
Also, the first time MadMan commented on something of mine, I thought you'd changed your username to your other username. Confused the heck out of me.
4624029 I'm surprised you even know my other username!
4624073
It's your name on Skype or something.
4623466
Hey, I was here first!