Lacking Basic "Guy" Skills

[jagee]

I skipped all the pages in between. So I am assuming I can fix my dimmer by using jumper cables to the main panel? Can I return them to CVS after I jumpstart the dimmer?

Yes, but make sure you clip the black part of the jumper cable to the ground...

 

[CathyInBlue]

Some years ago I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no one knows who).

You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labeled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words `magic' and `more magic'. The switch was in the `more magic' position.

I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch only had one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side.

It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed.

Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the `more magic' position before reviving the computer.

A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the `more magic' position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch.

The computer promptly crashed.

This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and diked it out. We then revived the computer and it ran fine ever since.

We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was {magic}.

I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on `more magic.'

http://catb.org/jargon/oldversions/jarg262.txt

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I skipped all the pages in between. So I am assuming I can fix my dimmer by using jumper cables to the main panel? Can I return them to CVS after I jumpstart the dimmer?

You'll want to record that....you know...to help future homeowner-DIYers.

 

[hornadylnl]

24vdc shorts are fun. Typically they don't blow fuses and will pull the power supply down to low or 0 volts. Really fun when you have about 20+ wires running to the same jumpered terminal strip. Pull 1 wire at a time until you get your 24vdc back. Then trace that wire back until you find your short.

 

[ModernGunner]

"Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime."

 

[RobbyMaQ]

great... you're going to make me read back to figure out how the fish plays into all of this.

I am truly amazed that the guy wanted to return the cables...

 

[churchmouse]

"Fish"......what

 

[Lectric102002]

I'll just leave this here:

Donnie's Accident

I've met Donnie and talked with him and his wife several times. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy.

 

[JB357Mag]

I've worked retail auto parts for the last 6 years, very little surprises me anymore.

Ive got 15+yrs going, I asked a guy what year & model car he had and he said,

"Man I dont know that ****!"

Jimmy

 

[Rookie]

Ive got 15+yrs going, I asked a guy what year & model car he had and he said,

"Man I dont know that ****!"

Jimmy

On the opposite end...

What vehicle do you own?
99 Jeep wrangler.
What do you need?
I need brakes for a 3/4 ton axle that I'm putting under my jeep.
<searches the computer>
Um, there's nothing on the computer for a 3/4 ton jeep.
I know, it's a Chevy.
Um, you can't put a Chevy axle under a jeep.
Yes, I can. I'm going to fabricate brackets.
Jeep doesn't have a 3/4 ton wrangler.
I know, but Chevy has a 3/4 ton truck. Look that up.
I can't. You need something for a jeep, not a Chevy.
Yeah, never mind...

 

[Tactically Fat]

Y'all continue to make me laugh....

And Strategically Fat. I never thought of that as a nickname. Bummer.

Switch replacement on hold until way later this PM - if today at all.

Will update.

Also, I'm suing all y'all if I die.

 

[churchmouse]

Y'all continue to make me laugh....

And Strategically Fat. I never thought of that as a nickname. Bummer.

Switch replacement on hold until way later this PM - if today at all.

Will update.

Also, I'm suing all y'all if I die.

Well, If you die you will not care. of this I am sure.

 

[churchmouse]

On the opposite end...

What vehicle do you own?
99 Jeep wrangler.
What do you need?
I need brakes for a 3/4 ton axle that I'm putting under my jeep.
<searches the computer>
Um, there's nothing on the computer for a 3/4 ton jeep.
I know, it's a Chevy.
Um, you can't put a Chevy axle under a jeep.
Yes, I can. I'm going to fabricate brackets.
Jeep doesn't have a 3/4 ton wrangler.
I know, but Chevy has a 3/4 ton truck. Look that up.
I can't. You need something for a jeep, not a Chevy.
Yeah, never mind...

I have had this very issue so many times. I took the plugs out of my 65 Biscayne to replace them. It had a 391 stroker in it with all kinds of make you giggle guy goodies in the motor. I set one of the plugs on the counter and the young man looked at it and asked what is was in. I said just match the heat range and thread length please. He said"I have to know what year and model"
I told him it does not mater just get me a set of 8 in that heat range and thread depth. He continued to argue with me. I told him 65 Biscayne. He looked and (as suspected) said that is the wrong plugs for that car. I smiled and left.

 

[Arthur Dent]

I don't know if the school needs to teach it. I think it is something that parents should be doing. Then again, with the amount of clueless people in the world...maybe the schools should teach it.

Most parents, I think, just call the auto club these days. Someone will come out and change the tire, give them a jump, etc.

 

[hopper68]

I have had this very issue so many times. I took the plugs out of my 65 Biscayne to replace them. It had a 391 stroker in it with all kinds of make you giggle guy goodies in the motor. I set one of the plugs on the counter and the young man looked at it and asked what is was in. I said just match the heat range and thread length please. He said"I have to know what year and model"
I told him it does not mater just get me a set of 8 in that heat range and thread depth. He continued to argue with me. I told him 65 Biscayne. He looked and (as suspected) said that is the wrong plugs for that car. I smiled and left.

That guy works in several stores, nearly choked him out myself.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

That guy works in several stores, nearly choked him out myself.

I know that guy...unfortunately I can't beat sense into other employees, HR frowns on that.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Oh hellz, I was trying to replace the brake pads on m'lady's Cadillac, and they have different ones for different models, different engines, different years, probably different paint colors. I finally took a pair in and had them match it so they'd even fit. Seems to me like it would be cheaper to use the same ones on all of them. That's Government Motors for you.

 

[Hoosier8]

The only time I came close to hurting myself was when I was working on a rooftop near the edge roof edge and put the voltmeter lead in the wrong hole and measured 480 using the amp meter instead of the volt meter. The end of the meter lead vaporized, the meter itself smoked, and the shock knocked me on my back. It was when I looked how close I was to the edge that I got spooked.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Heh, I fell off the roof while painting the siding. Hit all the branches on the ugly tree on the way down, then landed halfway on the lawn roller. Much bruising. Crawled out from there and lay on the ground until I could breathe. Took a fistful of ibuprofen and got profoundly drunk. Was much better after a couple of days. Definitely lucky I didn't require medical care; should probably have gotten looked at, but it turned out ok.

 

[churchmouse]

The only time I came close to hurting myself was when I was working on a rooftop near the edge roof edge and put the voltmeter lead in the wrong hole and measured 480 using the amp meter instead of the volt meter. The end of the meter lead vaporized, the meter itself smoked, and the shock knocked me on my back. It was when I looked how close I was to the edge that I got spooked.

Rooftop about 15' from edge of 4 story roof. 480 3 oh. so I dropped the main gear...tested the voltage and good to go on a 2nd stage compressor change out. Went to pull the crankcase heat and got my vision back sitting on the edge of the roof facing the unit. Bleeding and hurting terribly.
Some dim-wit wired the heater on the T side of the main gear so it was hot all the time. 277 hurts.............a lot.