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March 18, 2004
Bob,
Guilty as charged. On my BE, all of the slots on the screws that
hold the aluminum tub trim have to be dead on horizontal. In places
where nobody can ever see, I might use an odd fastener that doesn't
match the others... but it will bother me when I do. Places that can
be seen - I've written down on my shopping list to get one more
stainless 1/4-28 bolt so that they all will match. Cable tie tails
on wire bundles have to point in the same direction - even though
they're cut off anyways. Hose clamps - same deal, screws aligned.
If I were to move south of the equator, I think would first consider
whether I should replace all of the fasteners on the BE with left
hand threaded ones.
The minute hand on my watch has to align exactly with the mark
when the second hand passes 12. If I go to a vending machine, and I
have a dollar and a dime in my pocket, and the food is 85 cents, I'll
put the dime in first, then the dollar, so I get back a quarter. The
excess entropy of having three coins in my pocket instead of one
bothers me.
But being an engineer is really useful. Here's a tip you can
use. Once when I was working late and really hungry, I went to the
vending machines. All I had on me was one really beat up faded
dollar bill. I feed it into the machine four or five X, rejected
each time. Man I was starvin. I thought, I have to do something to
increase the contrast of the image on this bill so that the laser or
LED scanner can read it. So after some careful thought, I mashed it
up against my forehead and scooched it around for a few seconds, then
stuck it into the machine. Ka-ching. I got my food. Without
wishing to be bound to any particular theory, I believe that the skin
oil was adsorbed on the paper fibers, and having a different
refractive index than that of air, resulted in the desired increased
contrast when illuminated by the laser. I have since used this trick
about a dozen times, and as long as the bill is all there, it has
NEVER failed to work. I do check first to see if anybody's watching
though. Not that I'm enbarrassed - I just don't give away my secrets
for nothing. And when I do it for someone else, I simply say, "what,
machine won't take your dollar? Here, let me channel some psychic
energy into it.... ohmmmmmm...." (mash mash) Ka-ching. They look
at me wierd. Go figure.
That reminds me... I have to renew my PE license pretty soon...
Chow
Hamondale
PS And if Alex ever mentioned that he got this unusual Christmas
card with a photo of a one hundred foot plus set of burnout marks on
a deserted country road... yeah, that was from me (and my BE)... and
God bless him, I hope he's doing well.
"hamondale" < hamondale@... > 30850
Posted on March 18, 2004 01:58 AM
Posted to category(s) Body | Braking System | Cooling System | Electrical System | Engine (external) | Exterior | Gauges | Intake System | Lubrication System | Miscellaneous
