7hertz

lithium battery discharge

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not sure, i might have had that trouble charging the HBH-35 due to rather depleted charge on the battery, and internal protection circuits. i found this tidbit on lithium ion cells...

(i thought the battery was in the main casing, not the ear hook. they didn't come out, i didn't pry too hard, but not easy to replace -- here's some photos!)

Commercial lithium ion packs contain a protection circuits that limit the charge voltage to 4.30V/cell, 0.10 volts higher than the voltage threshold of the charger. Temperature sensing disconnects the charge if the cell temperature approaches 90°C (194°F), and a mechanical pressure switch on many cells permanently interrupt the current path if a safe pressure threshold is exceeded. Exceptions are made on some spinel (manganese) packs containing one or two small cells.

biannual & biennial mean the same thing dammit!

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some dictionaries assert proper use of language, others just report it. which is why after years of misuse, the word biannual has come to mean *both* twice a year and every other year. the proper definition, the original, is every other year. semiannual means twice a year (literally half year).

all comes straight from the latin. bi meaning two, annus -or- annial meaning year. both annus (annual) and annial (-ennial) mean a year. they mean the same thing.

the term "bi" does it doesn't divide *into* two --it is two. think bicycle (two cycles, or "wheels"), binary (two digits), bilingual, biped, biathlon, bi-provincial, binoculars, bisexual, bifocals (having *two* focal points!), bigamist, bifurcate (literally two fork, to fork or branch into two e.g. becomes two, not divide in half)...

so the bi- prefix on biannual "divides into two"? find me anywhere, where bi means "divide in two". i'll take any example, and not the mere assertion by The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. they punted and got this one wrong.

also, if bi means 'twice', then biannual is "twice year". almost sounds like twice *a* year, but it's not... it's "a twice year". odd way of saying it, but doesn't make the other correct. it's not twice year-ly either. there's no "per" in biannual. it's not "bi-per-annual".

the problem is people have bandied about the terms like biannual incorrectly so much it's losing it's original meaning now. some of the literati acknowledge this and recommend avoiding those terms all together now..

i think some of the confusion stems from the fact it seems natural to rearranged the terms in your head -- take "biweekly meeting" for example, maybe folks are inadvertently associating the "bi" with meeting. it's not bi-meeting-per-week (substituting "per" for "ly") --it's bi-week-per-meeting.

probably even *more* confusing, when you use "meetings" in the plural form (e.g. "biweekly meetings"). it's not because there's more than one meeting in that period, but since all the meetings form a collection, a series. really, i'm only projecting here, when i was confused that's how i started to think about the terms until i thought about it and worked it out.

it *really* gets my goad when people point to biennial saying, "well since biennial means every-two-years, let's have our cake and eat it too and just make biannual mean twice a year, kinda like let's have one term for this, and one for that". grr... truth is, we just don't study latin anymore.

these are the same folks, if you point out the term semiannual already serves the purpose they propose that one evenly divides the year (semi) while the other doesn't. now we're just making up excuses to prop up the wrong definition.