The tube will die, just don't know when. (probably at the > most inconvenient time!), and lets not ask what a replacement tube costs!

A die that’s 1 mm on a side is about the smallest economical part. Go smaller and you “saw cut” simply is throwing away more silicon …. Bob > Suppose your design takes N pads > for bond wires to the outside world. Start with the logic for your design. > Squish it down to a sensible shape. Now put the pads around it.

Just to make sure I understand, since they are all DALLAS chips (two DS1230Y-150 for 'program memory', and a DS1220Y-150 for 'cal memory'), with their internal batteries, they all will die in the future and that 'memory of programs' function will be lost.

I'd try swapping in a new set just to be sure one didn't die. Otherwise, you've probably got some difficult diagnosing to do. Can you get anything over the RS-232 link?

I have seen SLA's (in >UPS's) 'shrivel' and get very hot as they die. The charging protocols are very different, so you are committed to what was there before unless you re-engineer the charging system.

Bird Declines Linked to Popular Pesticides A popular class of insecticides has been linked to bird die-offs-a finding that parallels Rachel Carson's concerns back in 1962. Read more... ? Patrick Patrick M.

In either case, it's a terrible way to die.  You probably wouldn't be able to get the product off the house easily either. I have Downies and Hairies here yearround and occasionally have a problem with their pecking clapboard. 

They can get ill and even die if they eat moldy food. Their tongues can swell up from the fungus infection and they starve to death. Maybe this doesn't happen often but often enough that it's worth the extra work. I only fill my feeders 1/2 way during hot spells as it get cloudy so quickly.

A USA Today article (May 29, 2014) reports a study that 89-340 million birds per year die from vehicle strikes in the USA.

Plankton feeders that should be on their way south long before this but for some reason this year - maybe warm water in the Sound - they are still here but the plankton grows scarce in cold water and the bunker die off. They have also died from lack of oxygen in the water.