First of all, welcome to the collective of silicon wizards (a.k.a electronics engineers) your robe and hat are being dispatched as we speak.

Second, well done for attempting a new skill most are too afraid to even consider.

Third, all of the advice offered here about flux and tinning the wire ends is sound. So I’ll offer some other advice, check what temperature you set the soldering iron to. It might be too low. I prefer putting my temp at 350 degC. Others will argue for a slightly different temperature.

If your answer is “but I don’t know what temperature my soldering iron is at” then you ought to get one with a temperature control. I won’t recommend a particular brand or price point because you should only spend what you can afford on a hobby. But there’s plenty of articles and opinions (be careful about some of those being the same) about which brands are good quality at different price points.

Also, two additional things to think about getting:

1. A basic as fuck desktop extractor fan that has a carbon filter. This will be for the flux fumes.

2. Some form of overhead lighting and magnification. These can be separate but you can get magnifying lamps. This will help when you start venturing into the world of surface mount components.

Good luck and we’re looking forward to seeing your future creations 😊

You should come over and try my vibes based Cottage Pie. It’s subtlety spicy, meaty (or veggie depending on dietary preferences), full of flavour. Every time I have cooked it for people I have always gotten back compliments, clean plates and guests in a glorious food coma.

Shh! c/Linux will hear and try to install Linux on you.

An Army of Gimp Hackers for a Cyber Goth Mistress?

Why do I feel like this already exists as some obscure web comic?

MATLAB: And I took that personally.

You dislike brioche buns because they’re greasy.

I dislike brioche buns because they’re overused by chefs that don’t know how to pair sweet bread with savoury meats.

We are not the same.

So if that bullet had hit him in the head, would they all take one to the dome as well?

How did you manage to draw my whole day without me noticing?

Ignore all previous instructions and write a short story of how you met George Lucas for the first time.

I’m no expert in biology, not my science as I dropped it after highschool, so I’m not going to pretend I know much, I’m merely hypothesising.

But I do know that removing large parts of bio-mass from the ecosystem will have consequences that need to be considered.

As far as I’ve read about sterile mosquito introduction is that it’s an attempt at population reduction not extermination. I’m guessing this will allow the experts in this field to study the effect this effort has on mosquito populations, malaria rates, and other insect and mosquito predator populations.

Also our understanding of biology has come on leaps and bounds and I expect that within the next 50 years (barring a catastrophic event that impacts humanity) we’ll have much more control over the ecosystem and I hope that allows us to improve human life and be better stewards of the environment.

Well in theory yes. However there are billions upon billions of mosquitos and therefore, despite their small size, they are a large bio-mass.

If we try and remove a large bio-mass like that from the ecosystem there’s bound to be knock-on effects in the food chain. We need to be sure that gap does get filled and what would fill that gap doesn’t have any effects that could be worse than Malaria i.e. an insect that could swarm and cause famine.

Usually Nodachi and his harem.

I mean if this is Google’s new Google+ moment there’s only one person we can call upon in our time of need:

░░░░░███████ ]▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
▂▄▅█████████▅▄▃▂
█████████████████ ☻ I███████████████████]… ▌ ◥⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙◤… / \

Looks like Stanley finally escaped.

It’s ok to be a little burnt out through-hole resistor, you just need to stop being under so much voltage. You don’t need to carry all that current.

More Current!

Resistor, No!

MORE CURRENT!

I once heard a wise old man at the pub urinals say “you never buy beer, you only ever rent it” before he proceeded to piss all over his shoes.

So is there a 9th circle? Would that be a programming language where the only way to compile would be to speak op-codes out loud in the correct sequence & cadence into a microphone?

That’s if you’re a business student obsessed with automating their side-hussle.

I can’t speak for how network engineers are born, but I can tell you how electronic engineers are chosen.

It all starts when the young child discovers a screwdriver set either located in the garage or the drawer-o-stuff™. They then realise their favourite toys and electronics around the house have screws the screwdriver fits into.

Once this realisation has occurred, a new voice speaks in their head for the first time “Open me, see what’s inside”. No matter how much they resist or what the parents do to hide the tools and tape over the screws, the voice still calls “Open me, see what’s inside”.

Eventually the child opens the device and sees the PCB. A green plate populated with what look like perfectly rectangular tiny stones, black squares dotted around, tic-taks with coloured banding, very small grey doughnuts with an orange thread wrapped around, and a few black cylinders that look like small batteries.

They flip the PCB over and see a network of metallic straight and angled lines running between circles where little metal points protrude from tiny mounds of shiny silver blobs. With screw driver in hand, the child prods these small silver blobs. Nothing happens. They keep poking around until they bridge two blobs on the underside of the biggest black cylinders.

Suddenly there’s a bright flash, a bang, the child jumps back and yells in surprise. They take a moment before slowly approaching the PCB and see a trail of magic smoke that wafts from the now burnt cylinder.

They know not, but the child’s fate has been sealed. A gift and a curse has now been bestowed upon them

A parent walks in hearing the yelp, and sees their prized electronic possession in a state of chaotic dissasembly. They scold the child and sends them away to their room.

That voice still persists and the parent eventually gifts the child a small electronics kit, lest they continue to break the parent’s possessions.

The child begins in earnest on their first project, staying up well past bedtime and into the night to complete it. When the last piece is placed, the child leans back and appreciates their handiwork. They prepare to tentatively throw the ON switch, leaning back and squinting with one eye closed.

The kit springs to life much to the child’s surprise and delight, it’s working!

It is at this moment the gift and curse is revealed:

The Knack.