Not really woodworking related, but of all my haunts, I could think of no
better place than this to share this object lesson in the value of not
having one's head up one's ass.
Had the hedge trimmer out with my super long, expensive, dedicated outdoor
power tool chord. I was letting my boy have a shot at using the thing, to
get the kid away from that stupid Pokemon game for a few minutes.
He had a bit of trouble, so I took the trimmer back and started showing him
how to use the thing. So zip, zip, zip, crap. I cut the chord. The super
long, expensive, dedicated outdoor power tool chord.
Damn.
Conventional wisdom says never splice an extension chord back together, but
I figured what the hell, it will be OK long enough for me to finish this
job. The chord was plugged into a power strip in my shed, um, my workshop,
so I went in and cut it off. Lights went off. Fan went off. Power was
off.
So I got out in the yard, sat down "Indian style" (*), whipped out my handy
dandy multi-tool doodad, and set about patching the thing back together. I
cut what was left of the wires, then started stripping off the sheathing,
so I could get to the insulation.
I felt a little prickle, but the power strip was off, so I figured I must
have just poked myself on one of the stray bits of wire. I decided to test
this theory by using my uninsulated steel multi-tool gadget to
intentionally ground out the wires, and prove to myself that I hadn't felt
the previous tingle.
To perform this task, I chose the knife blade, since that was what was
sticking out.
ZAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP!!!
THOCK!!!!!
So I shocked the piss out of myself (not quite literally), screamed like
some dizzy blonde in a horror movie (it's really quite embarrassing how
much I sound like a complete pussy when something takes me by surprise and
causes me to vocalize before I've had a chance to summon up my manly voice)
and stabbed myself in the leg with my knife all in the blink of an eye. I
was so, well, shocked that I didn't even notice the stab wound right away.
Should have pulled the plug out of the socket, huh? I guess the power strip
has a bad switch or something. One thing for damn sure is that the power
wasn't completely off!
So to make up for behaving like such a sissy, I walked around on it until I
had lost a good half pint of blood, and had left bloody footprints all over
the place while I finished the job of trimming the stupid hedges.
My next hedge trimmer is going to be gas powered.
(*) I guess we have to say "Native American style" now, huh?
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16340 Approximate word count: 4902000
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Silvan <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Frank Ketchum wrote:
>
> > think cutting the cord with a metal blade would short the power out and
> > the thing should have tripped itself. It may not be working correctly.
>
> Yeah, I never even thought of that... The thing almost certainly has a
> breaker, and it definitely should have tripped.
The breaker is on the what's supposed to be the "hot" wire. If the
neutral and hot have been mixed up on their way to the power strip, then
the breaker will never trip.
Breakers *do not trip instantly*, either... and the many milliseconds it
takes a breaker to trip or a fuse to blow is more than enough to make you
stab yourself!
I think that the power strip was only switching the "neutral" off when you
turned it off... it's consistent with everything you told us. If so, there
is a problem almost certainly is in the wiring before the power strip.
(Does the electrical code require power strips to switch both hot and
neutral? I think it only requires them to switch the hot, or maybe it
doesn't require anything at all...)
Tim.
spearfox wrote:
> My apologies for this, but...LMAO!
No apologies necessary. I'd have been upset if you didn't laugh your ass
off. :)
> Well your boy may have learned a lesson or two.
> Don't do things like dad does.
> And/or Stay away from yard work.
Yeah buddy. Do as I say, not as I do!
At least I was wearing safey glasses at the time. <chuckle>
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16352 Approximate word count: 4905600
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Last year's words. "First Americans" is in vogue now. Never mind claims of
extraterritoriality and status as foreign nations....
"Silvan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> (*) I guess we have to say "Native American style" now, huh?
>
Absolutely. Folks with an axe (tomahawk?) to grind can try to rearrange
reality any way they want, but If they're younger than I, a circumstance
becoming more and more common, strangely, then they were not "here before" I
was.
Not to mention, unless certain folks are 150 years old, they were never
slaves, and as I am not, I have nothing to apologize for, much less
indemnify them for....
"Ernie Jurick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Sorry, but the current population of Ghana is made up of immigrants who
> moved south as the Sahara expanded thousands of years ago.
> http://www.ghana.co.uk/history/history/tribes.htm The only fer-shure
> natives are the ones who lived where Olduvai Gorge is now. Everybody else
is
> an interloper. :-)
> -- Ernie
>
>
"Larry Blanchard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
> >
> > This place wasn't America then, and there is some fairly strong proof
that
> > Indians weren't the first ones here...at least the Indians we know
today.
> >
> Another off-topic response, but I couldn't resist :-).
>
> While doing some contract programming for Kaiser Aluminum, I worked with
> several engineers from Ghana. They got a kick out of being described as
> the only people I knew who could really claim to be "native" to their
> native land :-).
Sorry, but the current population of Ghana is made up of immigrants who
moved south as the Sahara expanded thousands of years ago.
http://www.ghana.co.uk/history/history/tribes.htm The only fer-shure
natives are the ones who lived where Olduvai Gorge is now. Everybody else is
an interloper. :-)
-- Ernie
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> This place wasn't America then, and there is some fairly strong proof that
> Indians weren't the first ones here...at least the Indians we know today.
>
Another off-topic response, but I couldn't resist :-).
While doing some contract programming for Kaiser Aluminum, I worked with
several engineers from Ghana. They got a kick out of being described as
the only people I knew who could really claim to be "native" to their
native land :-).
--
Where ARE those Iraqi WMDs?
Rob Stokes wrote:
> ROTFLMAO!!
>
> Too funny...but I'm laughing WITH you...honest!!
Yeah, the whole stabbing myself in the leg thing just made it too priceless,
didn't it? :)
The amazing thing is that I must have hit a patch with sparse nerve endings.
I still haven't really felt that.
Probably just as well, because it looks painful. :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16362 Approximate word count: 4908600
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Check your power strip again. Some have one or a couple of "unswitched"
outlets along with the switched outlets.
It'd be a good thing to know.
-JBB
"Silvan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Not really woodworking related, but of all my haunts, I could think of no
> better place than this to share this object lesson in the value of not
> having one's head up one's ass.
>
> Had the hedge trimmer out with my super long, expensive, dedicated outdoor
> power tool chord. I was letting my boy have a shot at using the thing, to
> get the kid away from that stupid Pokemon game for a few minutes.
>
> He had a bit of trouble, so I took the trimmer back and started showing
him
> how to use the thing. So zip, zip, zip, crap. I cut the chord. The
super
> long, expensive, dedicated outdoor power tool chord.
>
> Damn.
>
> Conventional wisdom says never splice an extension chord back together,
but
> I figured what the hell, it will be OK long enough for me to finish this
> job. The chord was plugged into a power strip in my shed, um, my
workshop,
> so I went in and cut it off. Lights went off. Fan went off. Power was
> off.
>
> So I got out in the yard, sat down "Indian style" (*), whipped out my
handy
> dandy multi-tool doodad, and set about patching the thing back together.
I
> cut what was left of the wires, then started stripping off the sheathing,
> so I could get to the insulation.
>
> I felt a little prickle, but the power strip was off, so I figured I must
> have just poked myself on one of the stray bits of wire. I decided to
test
> this theory by using my uninsulated steel multi-tool gadget to
> intentionally ground out the wires, and prove to myself that I hadn't felt
> the previous tingle.
>
> To perform this task, I chose the knife blade, since that was what was
> sticking out.
>
> ZAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPP!!!
>
> THOCK!!!!!
>
> So I shocked the piss out of myself (not quite literally), screamed like
> some dizzy blonde in a horror movie (it's really quite embarrassing how
> much I sound like a complete pussy when something takes me by surprise and
> causes me to vocalize before I've had a chance to summon up my manly
voice)
> and stabbed myself in the leg with my knife all in the blink of an eye. I
> was so, well, shocked that I didn't even notice the stab wound right away.
>
> Should have pulled the plug out of the socket, huh? I guess the power
strip
> has a bad switch or something. One thing for damn sure is that the power
> wasn't completely off!
>
> So to make up for behaving like such a sissy, I walked around on it until
I
> had lost a good half pint of blood, and had left bloody footprints all
over
> the place while I finished the job of trimming the stupid hedges.
>
> My next hedge trimmer is going to be gas powered.
>
> (*) I guess we have to say "Native American style" now, huh?
>
> --
> Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
> Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
> Confirmed post number: 16340 Approximate word count: 4902000
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
>
Frank Ketchum wrote:
> think cutting the cord with a metal blade would short the power out and
> the thing should have tripped itself. It may not be working correctly.
Yeah, I never even thought of that... The thing almost certainly has a
breaker, and it definitely should have tripped.
> PS- always unplug first! Trust not the switch my friend
Pure brain damage, what can I say? I know better.
I guess now my son knows better too. :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
Confirmed post number: 16361 Approximate word count: 4908300
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
In article <[email protected]>,
Silvan <[email protected]> wrote:
>Frank Ketchum wrote:
>
>> think cutting the cord with a metal blade would short the power out and
>> the thing should have tripped itself. It may not be working correctly.
>
>Yeah, I never even thought of that... The thing almost certainly has a
>breaker, and it definitely should have tripped.
Generally, a power-driven 'cut' _breaks_ the 'short' *before* the latency
built into a breaker allows it to trip. It is a _very_ momentary overload.