Leap day laughs

Leap days come but once in a blue moon (or less), and though it's not an actual holiday (yet), let's celebrate with some electronics-related fun.

How about comics? Everyone here must already know Dilbert, surely the original engineering comic strip. Another favourite of many techies, scientists, and academic types is xkcd. I never miss it. An engineering-related comic I enjoy is Wasted Talent by Angela Melick. And make sure to catch the hilarious The Joy of Tech.

When I was a young hobbyist, I used to read magazines like Popular Electronics and Radio Electronics. This joke appeared in one of them, and I'm paraphrasing: “Q: Why are some scope probes called “10:1”? A: Because when you're not looking, they 10:1 away.”

Not getting it? It helps if you say it out loud. I recall my own confusion on first reading, and I didn't get it until I picked up the magazine again a few years later and reread it! It does help if you've actually worked in a lab with other engineers.

Learn more about the math of leap years from Matt Parker, a stand-up mathematician:

One of my own modest YouTube contributions is a demo of the Scope Artist project I built many moons ago.