Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!lll-winken!tekbspa!optilink!elliott
From: elliott@optilink.UUCP (Paul Elliott x225)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Zap, fry, and sizzle
Summary: more juvenile pranks, sorry.
Message-ID: <3176@optilink.UUCP>
Date: 26 Feb 90 17:31:33 GMT
References: <799@gold.GVG.TEK.COM> <1990Feb22.021702.24662@cs.rochester.edu>
Organization: Optilink Corporation, Petaluma, CA
Lines: 35

In article <1990Feb22.021702.24662@cs.rochester.edu>, ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes:
> Just to show I do have a sense of humor, I once destroyed a vacumn
> tube by breaking the seal under water, and then applying filament
> voltage. After a long time, steam starting coming out of the broken
> tip of the valve.

When in elementary school, my best friend (hi, Martin!) and I were beginning 
to turn into electronics hackers (converting war surplus ARC-5 receivers, 
etc.).  One day I cut off the top of a metal-case octal-based vacuum tube, 
ripped out the guts, and inserted a wired smoke bomb (saved from July 4, with 
a thin wire threaded through it), soldering it to the filament pins.  I then 
went over to my friend's house and, while he was out of the room, replaced a 
tube in his TV set (in his room) with the prepared device.  After what seemed
like an eternity, he decided to turn on the set...

IT WAS GREAT!  His room was flooded with orange smoke, we had to open the 
windows, the place stank of sulphur for weeks.  I don't recall if his parents
cought on, or if I suffered any retributions  (my mind is strangely blank on 
this).

This stunt was quite mild compared to our other pyrotechnic exploits.  I find
that my experience is rather typical (although don't tell my kids that I said 
so).  In retrospect, it seems rather amazing that we (I am referring here to
most of the engineering community, perhaps all males in general, or perhaps
all humans) ever survive adolescence.  I wonder what the mortality rate is
for related accidents.  Is this behavior more typical of engineers or other
"technical" types than, say, for lawyers?

Sorry for rambling...


-- 
Paul M. Elliott      Optilink Corporation     (707) 795-9444
           {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!elliott
     "More human than human is our motto." -- Bladerunner