On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:24:00 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

I always called them fool killers, especilly the ones that used gator clips
on the end..

Our name for them was a "Kills-me-quick."

One of my buddies aboard ship was holding just such a cord, plugged
in, and while he talked, or was telling a joke, we watched him flick
the cord around. Occassionally he would absent mindedly smack it into
his hand to emphasize a point. Absolutely no one was paying attention
to what he was saying. We all followed the arc of those leads
wondering when the big moment would come.

Of course we all knew CPR....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

"Richard Clark" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:24:00 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

The astonished crew quickly learned the hazards of poorly engineered
grounds in commercial equipment, the hazards of using a service cord
to defeat an interlock, and why we in the trade called it a suicide
adapter.

I always called them fool killers, especilly the ones that used gator
clips
on the end..

Our name for them was a "Kills-me-quick."

One of my buddies aboard ship was holding just such a cord, plugged
in, and while he talked, or was telling a joke, we watched him flick
the cord around. Occassionally he would absent mindedly smack it into
his hand to emphasize a point. Absolutely no one was paying attention
to what he was saying. We all followed the arc of those leads
wondering when the big moment would come.

Of course we all knew CPR....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:39:32 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

As Cartman would say
"SWEET!"

"Jimmie D" wrote in
:


"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...
gwatts wrote:

Don't blame the engineers, unless they went on to get an MBA after
the EE, ME, etc. I got out of private industry ten years ago for
these reasons, I was tired of design reviews where management pushed
the 'you can cut this out, it won't be so bad' line. Designs aren't
for the benefit of the customer, they are for the benefit of the
stockholder and the board of directors. What was 'The quality goes
in before the name goes on,' is now 'the profit is determined before
the unit is produced.' I'm not saying that profit isn't a good
thing, just that it shouldn't be the overwhelming thing.

On the other hand, someone has to take the project from the engineers
because if they don't, the engineers won't stop working on it.


- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Engineers design it and the techs actually make it work.


I suspect that is why the better engineers that I know buy their
Techs pizza every so often! ;^)

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Richard Clark wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:39:32 -0500, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

Ive done this watching a guy play with a charged cap. He had just charged it
up to place on the bench for some unsuspecting sole to grap, started running
his mouth and zapped himself.

As Cartman would say
"SWEET!"


In our High School electronics shop, we had an entire Superhet tube
radio demo unit mounted on the wall, with all components pluggable.
Seniors and juniors were mixed in the class, and one of the favorite
rituals for the older guys was to pull one of the p.s. Electrolytics out
very carefully, and toss it to one of the new guys with a "catch it
quick" command.

Of course, I never partook of such tomfoolery.


- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

On Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:17:27 -0500, Michael Coslo
wrote:

Of course, I never partook of such tomfoolery.

Mike, what a lightweight.

I took a cap out of TV Buck-Boost section of the flyback (couple of
hundred pF rated at 20,000V, what is called a doorknob cap) and
charged it with a van-deGraff generator. Unfortunately it was my
Physics teacher that wondered what strange item I had on my desk....

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC