I probably watched more television than I should have as a teenager. Studying for better
grades would have been a much better use of my time. However, having had a bent toward things scientific
from my early days, even now there are certain episodes of the TV shows that stick out in my mind. A
while back I wrote about an episode of the 1970s television sitcom "Barney Miller," where Detective
Sargent Arthur Dietrich, the show's subtle and wryly humorous braniac, encounters a college student's
working model of an atomic bomb.
While working at RF Micro
Devices (now known as Qorvo)
on a project to improve the ESD ruggedness of our RFICs, I had to do a number of presentations on progress
over a span of about two years. I desperately searched online for this episode of Welcome Back Kotter
titled "Sweathog Clinic for the Cure of Smoking." It was not available at the time, but did show up
for a short time sometime around 2008. Then, it disappeared and was not available again anywhere until
a few months ago when a DVD set for the Welcome Back, Kotter television series went on sale at Amazon.com. I quickly
snatched a copy (~$85) and produced this clip. It's hilarious!