"Paul Burridge" wrote -
I regularly visit your site and grab what I can!
Anyone with any sense would!
Will that suffice? ;-)

===========================

Well, it will have to do. Thanks Paul!

For the last one or two years of my varied career I was listed in the firm's
phone directory as "Chief Standards Engineer". I had under some sort of
control the Quality Managers of 3 factories and laboratories.

Strictly speaking, "Quality" is defined as the ability to conform to
specified requirements. It can be statistically measured as can anybody's
performance.

But in my case I would prefer the more lax and broader definition of Quality
: The ability to serve the intended purpose.

"Reliability" is defined as Quality versus Time.

My programs, produced in retirement for a variety of reasons and purposes,
have now been available to the 'rabble' for 5 or 6 years. ;o)

Here I go again - pouring out my heart with the aid of a bottle of Valencia
red. It's supposed to be good for the arteries. It didn't do Franco any
harm. But a pity about Guenica as depicted by Pablo Picasso. He should
have done Nagosaki (which I witnessed from the air) and Hiroshima (which I
visited on foot). Unfortunately my camera had a pin-hole in the bellows but
the experience, nevertheless, profoundly influenced, you could say biassed,
my early education.
---
Reg, G4FGQ

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Allodoxaphobia wrote in
:

Ever see a Sears ratchet glowing WHITE HOT?

Ya, but... You can take it back and they'll replace it. HI!HI!

They do insist that all tools be cooled well below the point of
emitting visible light before return, though.


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My story may not be extremely spectacular, but I think it has a rather
amusing moral...

I had for a number of years not bothered screwing down the top cover of my
13.8VDC 10A power supply, for whatever reason. Of course, every so often
the top cover would move and expose the inside working of the supply, but
that wasn't really a problem!(?)

Then one day, while doing my electronics trade course, we moved to the
subject of AC safety and how not to fry yourself! Very interesting lesson
and I scored 100% in the final exam for that subject.

Then I came home, rather pleased, reached down to switch off my power
supply, and promptly shorted the 240V AC main switch with my finger! What
was that about AC electrical safety again????

----

Another event, some years later, I was working on a tape deck on my
workbench. I had to reach over the tape deck to get a screwdriver from the
back of the bench, but of course I forgot it was still pluged in and
promptly shorted the AC transformer inout with my forearm...

Luckily for me we had just installed earth leakage breakers and it didn't
take long for it to trip... After that, whenever someone asked me "how long
do these breakers take to cut out" I would always answer with "oh, about
ARRRGG"

Cheers

Martin, VK2UMJ

My dad tells a story of his days working as a maintenence engineer in
a building where the power was carried along exposed buss bars.
Another worker had a screwdriver in his back pocket and backed into a
buss, blowing himself across the room and leaving a notable set of
scars from the molten screwdriver blade.

High school.
My buddy Pete has one of those continuous AC electrical outlets on the side
of his desk. You know. Two continuous brass strips in a foot long plastic
housing with two slots, into which you shove the (older two bladed) plug.

Well, one day he needed some line cord, which he ALSO had hanging on the
peg-board on the side of his desk
SO... He reaches around the end...grabs some line cord and proceeds to cut
off a piece with scissors...

Blam! ... notched scissors!

Outlet strip had the same kind of brown, two conductor cord.
--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.


"Mike Silva" wrote in message
m...
My dad tells a story of his days working as a maintenence engineer in
a building where the power was carried along exposed buss bars.
Another worker had a screwdriver in his back pocket and backed into a
buss, blowing himself across the room and leaving a notable set of
scars from the molten screwdriver blade.

In message , Steve Nosko
writes

SO... He reaches around the end...grabs some line cord and proceeds to cut
off a piece with scissors...

Blam! ... notched scissors!

On a vaguely similar line my father was rewiring an outside building and
carefully removed all the fuses from the fuse box before cutting out all
the old cabling. He then came across a cable he had forgotten and cut
this too, BANG!! It was the input to the fuse box. One very badly melted
pair of cutters and a rather startled father.
--
Bill

Bill wrote:
In message , Steve Nosko
writes

SO... He reaches around the end...grabs some line cord and proceeds to cut
off a piece with scissors...

Blam! ... notched scissors!

On a vaguely similar line my father was rewiring an outside building and
carefully removed all the fuses from the fuse box before cutting out all
the old cabling. He then came across a cable he had forgotten and cut
this too, BANG!! It was the input to the fuse box. One very badly melted
pair of cutters and a rather startled father.

I gotta. I just gotta.

About 25 years back, I was a new systems programmer for a government
agency which I'll cleverly call WeBuildHighways. Our sister shop, the
Department of inHuman Services, was fairly close, and we spent a fair
amount of time visiting and swapping hints and kinks.

One day I was there while some remodeling was being done: an old door
wsa being blocked and a new one cut. I heard a Skilsaw fire up, saw a
blade movingd ownward, and cringed: there was a quad-box about a foot
below the blade and in its path.

My counterpar was a bit quicker, and shouted "Turn Off All Your
Terminals RIGHT _NOW_!!" -- just before the blue flash and the great
dark silence.

This was before PCs, and so we only lost some 3270 terminal sessions
to the mainframe. It was ... interesting.

Another time I'll tell about The Guy Who Blew Himself Through The Door.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

12 years back there was a CB'er that had a double 3-500 Z amp with 3500
volts on the plate that lived next door to me.

One day he noticed he was running about half power instead of full bore so
he popped the top of the amp and noticed one of the wires on the tube caps
(PLATE) had come unsoldered.....so instead of turning the amp off he melted
the solder a bit with his insulated soldering iron and forced the wire back
into the molten puddle....It worked!.......Then holding a large roll of bare
solder in his hand he added a bit more to the molten solder

It didnt take him long to let go of that roll of solder in his bare hand!!!

His entire hand was burnt white!
"Mike Andrews" wrote in message
...
Bill wrote:
In message , Steve Nosko
writes

SO... He reaches around the end...grabs some line cord and proceeds to
cut
off a piece with scissors...

Blam! ... notched scissors!

On a vaguely similar line my father was rewiring an outside building and
carefully removed all the fuses from the fuse box before cutting out all
the old cabling. He then came across a cable he had forgotten and cut
this too, BANG!! It was the input to the fuse box. One very badly melted
pair of cutters and a rather startled father.

I gotta. I just gotta.

About 25 years back, I was a new systems programmer for a government
agency which I'll cleverly call WeBuildHighways. Our sister shop, the
Department of inHuman Services, was fairly close, and we spent a fair
amount of time visiting and swapping hints and kinks.

One day I was there while some remodeling was being done: an old door
wsa being blocked and a new one cut. I heard a Skilsaw fire up, saw a
blade movingd ownward, and cringed: there was a quad-box about a foot
below the blade and in its path.

My counterpar was a bit quicker, and shouted "Turn Off All Your
Terminals RIGHT _NOW_!!" -- just before the blue flash and the great
dark silence.

This was before PCs, and so we only lost some 3270 terminal sessions
to the mainframe. It was ... interesting.

Another time I'll tell about The Guy Who Blew Himself Through The Door.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

In message , Ernie
writes
......Then holding a large roll of bare
solder in his hand he added a bit more to the molten solder

It didnt take him long to let go of that roll of solder in his bare hand!!!

I trust you entered him for the "Darwin award"?
--
Bill

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:20:01 -0400, "Ernie" wrote:

12 years back there was a CB'er that had a double 3-500 Z amp with 3500
volts on the plate that lived next door to me.

What a delight to live next-door to. :-(
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.