Apple IIe RIFA Capacitors
There are two RIFA capacitors in the Apple II power supply unit, a.k.a. PSU, that are prone to blowing out and a fuse that may or may not need to be replaced. After watching so many restoration videos, I came to the conclusion that replacing these capacitors should be the first repair done if you intend to embark on a restoration journey. You’ll find below the specifications and a video from lmull3 explaining how to do it.
Specifications
- 0.1uF 100nF 275 Vac CLASS X2 CAPACITOR
- 0.47uF 470nF 275 Vac CLASS X2 CAPACITOR
- GLASS FUSE F2A 250V
Human Driving
I lived in this world where most of the cars were self-driving. So much so that I was one of hardly any people still actually driving. For some reason the awake me can’t understand, I was not happy with all those autonomous vehicles and commissioned a bumper sticker to protest:
HUMAN DRIVING
When I woke-up and was proudly sharing my brilliant sticker idea with my wife, it occurred to me how silly that was. After all, no self-driving car would ever read it.
By the way, I love the idea of a world where no humans drive. Or at least I thought so.
Getting away from the problem for a while often leads to new insights
Taking a break is as important as getting into the flow
It’s my belief most people come here for the free Wi-Fi. Not me. I have an office, that is also my studio, and even a comfortable home office. But I do my best to come to this Starbucks at least once a week to edit a video.
Why?
I call it my Coffee Office Day. And last Friday was a special one. The city streets are not empty anymore. On contrary, everything is getting back to normal. I’m hearing people speaking English, French, Spanish and some other languages I have no idea what they are.
Welcome back, Porto!
Randomness
Have you read The Click Moment, from Frans Johansson? One thing I’m looking for when I come here is getting away from my comfort zone.
You need to take time, even schedule time, to explore things that are not directly related to your immediate goal. You need to take your eyes off the ball in order to see and connect with the possibilities around you. —Frans Johansson
The Flow State
There’s more. When I’m here, I seldom ask for the Wi-Fi password, or connect my phone to the computer. My goal is to avoid online distractions, and, at the same time, enjoy people speaking a multitude of languages. I love to edit here. As soon as I sit down and open my computer, I enter the Flow State. It’s magical.
Flow is great, but one has to escape from it once in a while to avoid exhaustion and to break the blind alleys’ paralysis. At my office I have a different strategy, but here I do it by raising my head and looking around for a while. It never fails. In essence, this is how the Pomodoro Technique works.
During that moment, I try to guess what a person is doing. Is he working? Is she messaging a friend? Where are they from? I’ve seen it all. From job interviews to friends from different countries meeting accidentally.
It takes no more than a couple of minutes. Suddenly everything becomes background noise again, and I’m back to the computer.
Something tells me I developed this ability when I lived in Boston, back in 2015. But this is a story for another day.
Have a nice week!
Spring 2022
As in so many other countries, the first of May is Labor Day in Portugal. However, there’s also an old tradition linked to this date. It’s known as “Dia das Maias” (Maias' Day). In fact, it all starts on the 30th of April, when people put yellow genisteae bushes outside windows and front doors.
There are several theories that explain the origins of this tradition, most of them connected to religion. As an amateur gardener, what resonates with me the most is the symbolism of the end of the winter.
🌱 I love the way plants respond to spring. It feels so magic
Unfortunately, we don’t have giestas amarelas (yellow genisteae) bushes, but my wife picked-up some yellow flowers early today when she was walking our dog.
It feels like driving on a highway not wearing a seat belt.
When I arrived at the checkout counter, all the other cashiers were teasing him. I only understood all that buzz when I looked up. He wasn’t wearing a mask.
I was aware that the government was discussing new measures that day, but my brain took a while to assimilate that a store employee, that person right in front of me, wasn’t wearing a mask. He had this wonderful happiness face, replying to his friends:
—No, I’m not going to wear it anymore
That was a great smile. Made my day.
Starting on the last last 21st, masks in Portugal are only mandatory on public transportation and health related situations, like hospitals, home care, etc.
It’s remarkable how we humans get used to new habits. It’s a week after the new rules, and it still feels like something is not quite right when I enter a store without my mask.
😯 Feels like driving on a highway, not wearing a seat belt.
Will the world ever get back to how it was before?
Last month, after so many months in lockdown, I finally got fully vaccinated against the Corona-19, and now I’m gradually starting to enjoy simple things again. My wife and I went to some of Porto’s popular touristic sites the past weekend, but something was off. No busy people walking around, no crowds on most streets…
Wow, what an amazing view!
She asked me for my name for the cup writing thing and said “Campos”. “That’s my family name,” she replied 🤭. I smiled and said it was in reality my family name too. We both laughed.
That was already a nice story for my journal, but when I sat down and looked out the window, there she was—the Sagrada Famlia church was right there in the corner.
Where is my red carpet?
Back in the 80s when I was about 14 I boarded a Fokker F27 from TAM Airlines for the first time. The company was just another small regional airline in Brazil and to compete with the big ones part of the strategy was to provide a high-quality service. The memory of those early days is preserved by the phrase “The Magic Red Carpet” painted next to the cockpit windows of present-day planes.
Red carpets were actually placed by the stairs of each Fokker during the boarding process, but this was just part of a broader plan. TAM acquired other airlines and also gradually became a CRM master, at a time, no other company in Brazil was technically prepared to explore this kind of personalized interaction with clients. Among other magic moments, TAM call center would answer calls knowing the passenger’s names and agents would wish us a happy birthday at the check-in desk. It was remarkable, and it worked perfectly with other strategic moves. By the time I was finishing university, TAM was about to become the biggest airline in the country.
On the other coast of South America, another airline was also working on what would one day become an aviation giant. I didn’t have the opportunity to experience LAN’s services during their first years of operation, but I do remember flying with them when they were still Lan Chile, a single country company. And thereafter, while they were acquiring airlines all over South America I was visiting Chile, Peru, Equator and several other countries on board of those beautiful blue planes.
The two companies grew to a point where an acquisition or fusion was inevitable. Latam Airlines Group started as an agreement in 2010 and was officially born in 2011 after being approved by Chilean and Brazilian authorities. It was a logical move. They had strong operations in complementary countries, and it would be a combination of two amazing flying experiences. At least that’s what I thought. Unfortunately, after years of combined operation, costumers are still experiencing problems.
Since I was usually flying LAN on South America I ended up choosing Lanpass as my main frequent flyer program that, by the way, always had an agreement with TAM’s program even before Latam existence. But years after the merger and despite LAN’s Brazilian website informing visitors they should contact TAM, one cannot call or go to a TAM office to buy tickets or exchange millage points from LAN. The only option is LAN’s operation in Brazil, with few offices and a call center available only during business hours.
I ended up getting used to this crazy situation because there is no other option. But last Sunday I couldn’t believe on what was happening. I was trying to purchase a ticket from LAN’s website and the transaction wouldn’t go through. I tried it several times and the payment kept being rejected. I thought the problem could be related to some system at Visa working to prevent frauds, and I called the bank. They told me none of my attempts ever reached their system. That was the information I needed. Obviously, LAN’s website was to blame.
In a perfect world, calling LAN should be the easiest way to fix a case like this, but remember, there’s the crazy Latam situation. LAN in Brazil redirects calls to TAM when agents are off-duty, but TAM has no access to LAN’s system and therefore cannot help LAN’s costumers. Isn’t this crazy? Remember, this merger was approved 5 years ago!
After a lot of complaint, the TAM agent finally had an idea. She would create another reservation, and then I would be able to purchase the ticket. TAM’s new itinerary was created using the exact same flights I scheduled at LAN, and it would cost me an extra US$200. How is this even possible?
After four hours, trying to buy a simple ticket, I gave up and complained on Twitter. TAM replied using a pre-formatted answer, and LAN asked for my number and email address. Although I’m living in Brazil, I gave them my US VoIP number because I had already tried the Brazilian call center, and it didn’t work like I mentioned above.
Mr Rodrigo Ramos called me from Chile on behalf of Latam, and he was wonderful. He patiently guided me through alternative paths and one of them finally worked. Overall, it looks like the problem was related to the ticket being purchased from Brazil on LAN’s website instead of TAM’s.
Did I get this right? Are we supposed to pay more to fly the exact same routes on board the same planes of the same company just because we happen to be in the wrong country? And by the way, I was purchasing a ticker to depart from and get back to Chile and not Brazil.
But what really amazes me is the fact that I was treated in an entirely different way just because I was talking to the same company in another country. If the systems are not yet one, TAM should at least have the decency to connect me to a LAN agent in situations like this. Is it asking too much? I can’t stress this enough: 5 years have passed since the merger was approved. And moreover both companies recently promoted Latam using sentences like “Coming together to take care of people”, “Starting today LAN and TAM have the same rhythm” and “We care so that dreams reach their destinations”.
Gosh, how I miss that red carpet!