Nicholas D. Richards said:
> In article <20220413113048.9cd55b04f366c84aea15051a@eircom.net>, Ahem A
> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> on Wed, 13 Apr 2022 at 11:30:48 awoke
> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>
>> Our case was much simpler - the ingenious experimenters involved
>>found the gas pressure was too low for their venturi based flame test
>>apparatus and so decided to augment it with the aid of a vacuum pump. It
>>jbexed fine there was enough pressure to atomise the sample into the gas
>>flow and the eight foot long flame was nice and easy to aim spectroscopes
>>at.
>>
>> With all that going on noticing the bunsen flames shrink and
>>reacting correctly was IMHO pretty good going - no it wasn't me, I was on
>>the other side of the lab concocting my own abuse of the electrickery mains.
>>Did you know that a standard brown 13A fuse will repeatedly take at least a
>>thousand amps for a millisecond but it does terrible things to the mains
>>waveform throughout the building as we found with a flattery silly scope.
>>
>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>
> Question is should teachers do yno work?
>
> We had one teacher cut of a piece of white phosphorous off and leave the
> large remaining piece of white phosphorous out on the demonstration
> bench. He only remember when the inevitable happened. There was a dirt
> big charred depression left on the bench. I am glad to say that I was
> not in his class.
>
> Another teacher told us about the demise of one of his teachers, who put
> a bottle of sodium, stored under oil, under the water tap. He told us
> that while holding such a bottle in his hand, looked up to see no one
> visible above their respective benches. He said "I am glad to see that
> you have all been listening to my lessons".

We had Jimmy Hunt, who showed us how to use a gauze when heating a
beaker of alcohol over a bunsen ...

.... in a "not like that" sort of way, onbviously, or I wouldn't be
mentioning it. He knocked it over.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

Ahem A Rivet's Shot said:
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 09:30:03 -0500
> Richard Robinson <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> OTOH, they never did give us any cyanide to sniff.
>
> It was a chemistry lab, you're supposed to molish it.

We weren't. "QA", I think they called it - "here's some Stuff, tell us
what it is".

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 16:39:56 +0100
Chris Elvidge <chris@mshome.net> wrote:

> When I was at school, one of my classmate niched the school supply of
> potassium, but then didn't know what to do with it.
> He flushed it down the bog.

I do hope he wasn't sitting on the throne at the time.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 13/04/2022 16:39, Chris Elvidge wrote:
> On 13/04/2022 15:25, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>> In article <20220413113048.9cd55b04f366c84aea15051a@eircom.net>, Ahem A
>> Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net>  on Wed, 13 Apr 2022 at 11:30:48 awoke
>> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>>
>>>        Our case was much simpler - the ingenious experimenters involved
>>> found the gas pressure was too low for their venturi based flame test
>>> apparatus and so decided to augment it with the aid of a vacuum pump. It
>>> jbexed fine there was enough pressure to atomise the sample into the gas
>>> flow and the eight foot long flame was nice and easy to aim
>>> spectroscopes
>>> at.
>>>
>>>        With all that going on noticing the bunsen flames shrink and
>>> reacting correctly was IMHO pretty good going - no it wasn't me, I
>>> was on
>>> the other side of the lab concocting my own abuse of the electrickery
>>> mains.
>>> Did you know that a standard brown 13A fuse will repeatedly take at
>>> least a
>>> thousand amps for a millisecond but it does terrible things to the mains
>>> waveform throughout the building as we found with a flattery silly
>>> scope.
>>>
>>>        Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>>
>> Question is should teachers do yno work?
>>
>> We had one teacher cut of a piece of white phosphorous off and leave the
>> large remaining piece of white phosphorous out on the demonstration
>> bench. He only remember when the inevitable happened. There was a dirt
>> big charred depression left on the bench. I am glad to say that I was
>> not in his class.
>>
>> Another teacher told us about the demise of one of his teachers, who put
>> a bottle of sodium, stored under oil, under the water tap. He told us
>> that while holding such a bottle in his hand, looked up to see no one
>> visible above their respective benches. He said "I am glad to see that
>> you have all been listening to my lessons".
>>
>
> When I was at school, one of my classmate niched the school supply of
> potassium, but then didn't know what to do with it.
> He flushed it down the bog.

I well unforget when I was in the third year, a sicks-former leaving a
black plastic lump of something pertaining to a nexperiment in a
cupboard in the chemisty lab.

When he asked the stinksmeister wot the yellow furry deposit was wot was
growing on his (big) black lump, he was tole it were picric acid - "Wash
it off in the sink under tapwater, it'll be quite OK." He washed it off
almost as instructed, with the difference that he kept the yellow stuff
in a beaker, under water.

It happened that a sweeping curve of the A12 was on a bank of whatever
local authorities/roadmolishers hfr to molish arj land, and there was a
steep grassed slope up to the road, which was commonly hrq by
fly-tippers to dispose of rubbish, and one day a noffice safe appeared
there, sns keys, but whose door could be closed and secured with a nandle.

One lunchtime when we were setting-off bangers inside said safe, said
sicks-former appeared and said: "Clear off you ticks: there's going to
be a really *BIG* bnag. We all retired to a safe (!) distance and waited.

There were a *nuge* *BNAG!* and the door of the safe rose several of
feet above the level of the embankment, leaving the 'safe' spread-out
like an iron cross at the bottom of the slope.

Talking about slopes, we all sloped-off to watch developments from the
relative safety of "We heard the bnag and came down to see wot
happened." bit of the School field.

We didn't have long to wait: a patrol car pulled-up above the tip,, and
was shortly joined by several of other ecilopmobiles, of various shades
of impotence, and were there for a *very* long time.

<Wanders off whistling contemplatively>

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 13/04/2022 11:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.

I've told this tale before.

MY old man was a radar wizzard. He helped molish it in the Second Great
Unpleasantness.

Cos he woz a cheapskate he gave me some old electrical bits and bobs as
an eight year old birthday present - a sorta electrical meccano kit.
It included one of those power plugs you useta plug into light sockets
and a set of bakalite headphones.

One evening I decided to see what mains lekky sounded like. I connected
the headphones to the plug, removed the light bulb and plugged it into
the bedroom light socket, and pulled the swith on chord.

The house fuse blew. The old man came racing upstairs. I was asleep in
my pit. But the headphones dangling from the light socket rather gave it
all away.

That was the last I saw of my birthday present.

I can tell you what mains lekky sounds like. It is effin LOUD!!!!

Tone

On 13/04/2022 16:55, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 15:25:47 +0100
> "Nicholas D. Richards" <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>
>> Question is should teachers do yno work?
>
> Hmmm, that's a good one.
>
>> We had one teacher cut of a piece of white phosphorous off and leave the
> <snip>
>
> Our fifth form chemistry teacher's talk on lab safety was cut
> short. He walked round in front of his bench and leaned back against it to
> provide that friendly informal touch as he began to talk about the various
> dangers awaiting those careless in the lab. He only got a couple of
> sentences in before he was interrupted by shouts of "Sir, you're on fire!"
> from those of us who were awake.
>
> He had neglected to turn down the bunsen burner in the middle of
> his desk. He did give an excellent demonstration of what to do as he
> removed his jacket and extinguished the flames but he did not see fit to
> continue his talk on lab safety afterwards.

Unforgets me of the time a micksture of zinc filings and sulphur were
put in one of the the fume-cupboards. A bunsen burner was placed under
the flask of it.

We waited for the promised reaction, but it ailed to take place: "Oh
well, we'll jst have to start writing it out and stop to watch when it
starts. Open your exercise boo*BOOM!* "

The big glazed window of the fume cupboard swung out on its
counterbalance cords, and then back again, while the fromts of the
counterbalance enclosures either side gracefully described a narc as
they fell to the floor.

Smerk everywhere.

<general laughter>

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 13/04/2022 17:23, Richard Robinson wrote:
> Ahem A Rivet's Shot said:
>> On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 09:30:03 -0500
>> Richard Robinson <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> OTOH, they never did give us any cyanide to sniff.
>>
>> It was a chemistry lab, you're supposed to molish it.
>
> We weren't. "QA", I think they called it - "here's some Stuff, tell us
> what it is".

Qualitative anaysis.

HTH

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 13-Apr-22 15:17, Peter wrote:
> Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote in
> news:20220413113048.9cd55b04f366c84aea15051a@eircom.net:
>
>>
>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>
>
> Same with chemistry. I was allowed access to all sorts of stuff that
> nowadays are banned for adults, let alone kids. Shame really. Knowing that
> the chemicals you're playing with could put you in horse spittal does help
> concentrate the mind.
>
Ah well.
It is important to teach the kiddies that the world is intrinsically
safe, and that they need take no precautions on their own behalf,
because there is nothing that can harm them.

--
Sam Plusnet

In article <t3703m$l0i$1@dont-email.me>, Tone <tone@email.com> on Wed,
13 Apr 2022 at 18:09:10 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>On 13/04/2022 11:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>
>I've told this tale before.
>
>MY old man was a radar wizzard. He helped molish it in the Second Great
>Unpleasantness.
>
>Cos he woz a cheapskate he gave me some old electrical bits and bobs as
>an eight year old birthday present - a sorta electrical meccano kit.
>It included one of those power plugs you useta plug into light sockets
>and a set of bakalite headphones.
>
>One evening I decided to see what mains lekky sounded like. I connected
>the headphones to the plug, removed the light bulb and plugged it into
>the bedroom light socket, and pulled the swith on chord.
>
>The house fuse blew. The old man came racing upstairs. I was asleep in
>my pit. But the headphones dangling from the light socket rather gave it
>all away.
>
>That was the last I saw of my birthday present.
>
>I can tell you what mains lekky sounds like. It is effin LOUD!!!!
>
>Tone

I am surprised that you had any hearing before you started maintaining
RN Jet Engines.

Some time in the fifties I bent down to unplug a Wylex type plug,
meanwhile behind me one of siblings had a tantrum and three a brass
chain at my mother. It missed my mother, arched through the air, hit the
wall above my head and landed across the now exposed pins of the
partially extracted plug.

It was the first time that I have seen arc welding, it is very very
bright and the bang very LOUD.

It was a long time before I could see clearly and hear my mother's
voice. My new NHS specs had some marks on them, but not my eyes. It
could have been worse if the chain had landed on my hand before it found
the live pin. That was one of my nine lives.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 13/04/2022 22:17, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
> In article <t3703m$l0i$1@dont-email.me>, Tone <tone@email.com> on Wed,
> 13 Apr 2022 at 18:09:10 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>> On 13/04/2022 11:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>
>> I've told this tale before.
>>
>> MY old man was a radar wizzard. He helped molish it in the Second Great
>> Unpleasantness.
>>
>> Cos he woz a cheapskate he gave me some old electrical bits and bobs as
>> an eight year old birthday present - a sorta electrical meccano kit.
>> It included one of those power plugs you useta plug into light sockets
>> and a set of bakalite headphones.
>>
>> One evening I decided to see what mains lekky sounded like. I connected
>> the headphones to the plug, removed the light bulb and plugged it into
>> the bedroom light socket, and pulled the swith on chord.
>>
>> The house fuse blew. The old man came racing upstairs. I was asleep in
>> my pit. But the headphones dangling from the light socket rather gave it
>> all away.
>>
>> That was the last I saw of my birthday present.
>>
>> I can tell you what mains lekky sounds like. It is effin LOUD!!!!
>>
>> Tone
>
> I am surprised that you had any hearing before you started maintaining
> RN Jet Engines.
>
> Some time in the fifties I bent down to unplug a Wylex type plug,
> meanwhile behind me one of siblings had a tantrum and three a brass
> chain at my mother. It missed my mother, arched through the air, hit the
> wall above my head and landed across the now exposed pins of the
> partially extracted plug.
>
> It was the first time that I have seen arc welding, it is very very
> bright and the bang very LOUD.
>
> It was a long time before I could see clearly and hear my mother's
> voice. My new NHS specs had some marks on them, but not my eyes. It
> could have been worse if the chain had landed on my hand before it found
> the live pin. That was one of my nine lives.

A shocking chain reaction then?

Yes my hearing is remarkably good, considering.

My kid brother, 18 years younger than me, has permanent tinitus. All he
ever did near noise was play bass in a pub band for 20 years.

He blames the drummer.

Tone

On 13/04/2022 19:28, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> On 13-Apr-22 15:17, Peter wrote:
>> Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote in
>> news:20220413113048.9cd55b04f366c84aea15051a@eircom.net:
>>
>>>
>>>       Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>>
>>
>> Same with chemistry. I was allowed access to all sorts of stuff that
>> nowadays are banned for adults, let alone kids. Shame really. Knowing
>> that
>> the chemicals you're playing with could put you in horse spittal does
>> help
>> concentrate the mind.
>>
> Ah well.
> It is important to teach the kiddies that the world is intrinsically
> safe, and that they need take no precautions on their own behalf,
> because there is nothing that can harm them.

Encourage as many as possible to watch the really adventurous ones. The
concept of learning by others' mistakes is a very useful one to learn.

On 13/04/2022 17:21, Richard Robinson wrote:
>
> We had Jimmy Hunt, who showed us how to use a gauze when heating a
> beaker of alcohol over a bunsen ...
>
> ... in a "not like that" sort of way, onbviously, or I wouldn't be
> mentioning it. He knocked it over.

I feel a little sad that none of my science masters managed to
accomplish these levels of incompetence. I still remember our new
chemistry master (also our form master), Doc Kershaw, in our first day
with him, demonstrating the safety glarses he had. These were not
goggles to go over his glarses, but actual prescription-lensed glarses
with shields on the side. He took them off and banged them on the desk
to show how strong they were. Had this been any of you lot telling the
tale, the lenses would have shot out and they'd have disintegrated. Oh
no, they remained perfectly intact.

On 13/04/2022 18:09, Tone wrote:
> On 13/04/2022 11:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>
> I've told this tale before.
>
> MY old man was a radar wizzard. He helped molish it in the Second Great
> Unpleasantness.
>
> Cos he woz a cheapskate he gave me some old electrical bits and bobs as
> an eight year old birthday present - a sorta electrical meccano kit.
> It included one of those power plugs you useta plug into light sockets
> and a set of bakalite headphones.
>
> One evening I decided to see what mains lekky sounded like. I connected
> the headphones to the plug, removed the light bulb and plugged it into
> the bedroom light socket, and pulled the swith on chord.
>
> The house fuse blew. The old man came racing upstairs. I was asleep in
> my pit. But the headphones dangling from the light socket rather gave it
> all away.
>
> That was the last I saw of my birthday present.
>
> I can tell you what mains lekky sounds like. It is effin LOUD!!!!

I remember many moons ago, a Giles cartoon which had the small child
with lots of hair playing the electric guitar, which was plugged into a
light socket. I obviously failed to recognise my true vocation as an
elf'n'safety inspector, as I wrote to the Daily Excess to tell them this
was a Bad Thing.

In article <jbp7c6Fdj4vU1@mid.individual.net>, Mike Fleming
<mike@tauzero.co.uk> on Thu, 14 Apr 2022 at 01:14:55 awoke Nicholas
from his slumbers and wrote
>On 13/04/2022 19:28, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>> On 13-Apr-22 15:17, Peter wrote:
>>> Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> wrote in
>>> news:20220413113048.9cd55b04f366c84aea15051a@eircom.net:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>       Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Same with chemistry. I was allowed access to all sorts of stuff that
>>> nowadays are banned for adults, let alone kids. Shame really. Knowing
>>> that
>>> the chemicals you're playing with could put you in horse spittal does
>>> help
>>> concentrate the mind.
>>>
>> Ah well.
>> It is important to teach the kiddies that the world is intrinsically
>> safe, and that they need take no precautions on their own behalf,
>> because there is nothing that can harm them.
>

> The
>concept of learning by others' mistakes is a very useful one to learn.
>
It takes 20 to 100 years for most of us to learn that lesson.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Yes well, in my view some of the most dangerous people seem to work in
Spanish territories when it comes to electricity wiring. Twisted connections
to table lights wrapped in pvc tape, Two pin plugs with screw in pins where
the frayed ends of the wires protrude when the plug is in its socket, and
numerous other things and as for gas. Mostly its bottled gas and when the
tank is almost done there is no change tank indicator, just a plastic bung
in the Ascott like water heater that when the mixture explodes, the bung
hurtles across the kitchen denting the wall opposite.

Don't get me started on the dangerous lifts in apartment blocks in the
Canary Isles that fail to lock between floors and are manual only.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Mike Fleming" <mike@tauzero.co.uk> wrote in message
news:jbp8b3Fdpi0U1@mid.individual.net...
> On 13/04/2022 18:09, Tone wrote:
>> On 13/04/2022 11:30, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
>>> Kids today don't get to do lab jbex like that, I can't think why.
>>
>> I've told this tale before.
>>
>> MY old man was a radar wizzard. He helped molish it in the Second Great
>> Unpleasantness.
>>
>> Cos he woz a cheapskate he gave me some old electrical bits and bobs as
>> an eight year old birthday present - a sorta electrical meccano kit.
>> It included one of those power plugs you useta plug into light sockets
>> and a set of bakalite headphones.
>>
>> One evening I decided to see what mains lekky sounded like. I connected
>> the headphones to the plug, removed the light bulb and plugged it into
>> the bedroom light socket, and pulled the swith on chord.
>>
>> The house fuse blew. The old man came racing upstairs. I was asleep in my
>> pit. But the headphones dangling from the light socket rather gave it all
>> away.
>>
>> That was the last I saw of my birthday present.
>>
>> I can tell you what mains lekky sounds like. It is effin LOUD!!!!
>
> I remember many moons ago, a Giles cartoon which had the small child with
> lots of hair playing the electric guitar, which was plugged into a light
> socket. I obviously failed to recognise my true vocation as an
> elf'n'safety inspector, as I wrote to the Daily Excess to tell them this
> was a Bad Thing.
>

I had a teacher of science who had a slight arm tremor. Very knowledgeable
person if a bit mad scientist looking.
Trouble is one day behind a glass screen he was showing us the dubious
issues with Sodium. The idea was to take a piece out of the jar of oil it
was in and lay it on a piece of metal, so we could watch it steaming.
Unfortunately he had failed to appreciate two things.
1 he was doing it over a sink and 2, the sink had about an inch of water in
it.
He was wearing goggles of course, but the bang when he dropped it from his
tweezers cracked the glass panel of the protection window and it must have
made him deaf for a while, as he stood there, stunned covered in the water
from the sink, of course no sign of the sodium at all, as it had oxidised.

We all laughed of course. There was an enquiry and some extra safety
regimes were put in place around potentially dangerous demonstrations.
We also had a fridge for Liquid oxygen, but I never heard of anyone having
issues with that.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Mike Fleming" <mike@tauzero.co.uk> wrote in message
news:jbp83cFdoalU1@mid.individual.net...
> On 13/04/2022 17:21, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>
>> We had Jimmy Hunt, who showed us how to use a gauze when heating a
>> beaker of alcohol over a bunsen ...
>>
>> ... in a "not like that" sort of way, onbviously, or I wouldn't be
>> mentioning it. He knocked it over.
>
> I feel a little sad that none of my science masters managed to accomplish
> these levels of incompetence. I still remember our new chemistry master
> (also our form master), Doc Kershaw, in our first day with him,
> demonstrating the safety glarses he had. These were not goggles to go over
> his glarses, but actual prescription-lensed glarses with shields on the
> side. He took them off and banged them on the desk to show how strong they
> were. Had this been any of you lot telling the tale, the lenses would have
> shot out and they'd have disintegrated. Oh no, they remained perfectly
> intact.

On 14/04/2022 09:51, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:

> I had a teacher of science who had a slight arm tremor. Very knowledgeable
> person if a bit mad scientist looking.
> Trouble is one day behind a glass screen he was showing us the dubious
> issues with Sodium. The idea was to take a piece out of the jar of oil it
> was in and lay it on a piece of metal, so we could watch it steaming.
> Unfortunately he had failed to appreciate two things.
> 1 he was doing it over a sink and 2, the sink had about an inch of water in
> it.
> He was wearing goggles of course, but the bang when he dropped it from his
> tweezers cracked the glass panel of the protection window and it must have
> made him deaf for a while, as he stood there, stunned covered in the water
> from the sink, of course no sign of the sodium at all, as it had oxidised.

That 'water' would have been dilute caustic soda
--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
news:t38mrv$h3$1@dont-email.me:

> Yes well, in my view some of the most dangerous people seem to work in
> Spanish territories when it comes to electricity wiring.

When we first moved into our spanish home the electrickery for 3 houses
came through a kettle lead pugged into a socket tied to a pole (not Pole).
It kept failing and we got the builder's lad to try to sort it out. After a
few minutes there was an almighty bnag and I found the lad sprawled on the
ground, his hair all on end (he had quite a lot). Picked him up, gave him a
cuppa and offered to drive him to the Urgencia (A&E) - he wasn't having
that, though and went back to jbex. A few years later we got a proper
supply which stayed on most of the time.

> Don't get me started on the dangerous lifts in apartment blocks in
> the
> Canary Isles that fail to lock between floors and are manual only.

OK

--
Peter
-----

On Thu, 14 Apr 2022 09:35:23 -0000 (UTC), Peter <myshed@prune.org.uk>
wrote:

>"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
>news:t38mrv$h3$1@dont-email.me:
>
>> Yes well, in my view some of the most dangerous people seem to work in
>> Spanish territories when it comes to electricity wiring.
>
>When we first moved into our spanish home the electrickery for 3 houses
>came through a kettle lead pugged into a socket tied to a pole (not Pole).
>It kept failing and we got the builder's lad to try to sort it out. After a
>few minutes there was an almighty bnag and I found the lad sprawled on the
>ground, his hair all on end (he had quite a lot). Picked him up, gave him a
>cuppa and offered to drive him to the Urgencia (A&E) - he wasn't having
>that, though and went back to jbex. A few years later we got a proper
>supply which stayed on most of the time.
>
>> Don't get me started on the dangerous lifts in apartment blocks in
>> the
>> Canary Isles that fail to lock between floors and are manual only.
>
It rather sounds to me as if all the bad Canary Islands electricians
emigrated to Argentina leaving the better ones behind for you to hire.

I'm not there at the moment but EQDSO has been having a Gasman Cometh
fortnight. If I tell you that the real gasman comethed in the middle
of this debacle to put right what the fake gasman had put wrong and
that the phone and the lights are once more working again you will get
the general idea. If I then tell you that the working brief was only
to remove a non-structural internal wall and make two rooms into one
you may be wondering how things ever got into that state. So is she...

Nick

RustyHinge said:
> On 13/04/2022 17:23, Richard Robinson wrote:
>> Ahem A Rivet's Shot said:
>>> On Wed, 13 Apr 2022 09:30:03 -0500
>>> Richard Robinson <richardR@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> OTOH, they never did give us any cyanide to sniff.
>>>
>>> It was a chemistry lab, you're supposed to molish it.
>>
>> We weren't. "QA", I think they called it - "here's some Stuff, tell us
>> what it is".
>
> Qualitative anaysis.

Yes.

I wish I'd kept the spatulette.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

Mike Fleming said:
> On 13/04/2022 17:21, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>
>> We had Jimmy Hunt, who showed us how to use a gauze when heating a
>> beaker of alcohol over a bunsen ...
>>
>> ... in a "not like that" sort of way, onbviously, or I wouldn't be
>> mentioning it. He knocked it over.
>
> I feel a little sad that none of my science masters managed to
> accomplish these levels of incompetence. I still remember our new
> chemistry master (also our form master), Doc Kershaw, in our first day
> with him, demonstrating the safety glarses he had. These were not
> goggles to go over his glarses, but actual prescription-lensed glarses
> with shields on the side. He took them off and banged them on the desk
> to show how strong they were. Had this been any of you lot telling the
> tale, the lenses would have shot out and they'd have disintegrated. Oh
> no, they remained perfectly intact.

TBF, I probably did have lessons where nobody made bromine in a sink
while teechur wasn't looking[1]. It's just, I don't remember them.

[1] "Geography", for example.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:49:09 +0100, "Nicholas D. Richards"
<nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:

> In article <XnsAE796BB9E38EFFactura3476@144.76.35.252>, Peter
> <myshed@prune.org.uk> on Thu, 14 Apr 2022 at 09:35:23 awoke Nicholas
> from his slumbers and wrote
>>"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
>>news:t38mrv$h3$1@dont-email.me:
>>
>>> Yes well, in my view some of the most dangerous people seem to work in
>>> Spanish territories when it comes to electricity wiring.
>>
>>When we first moved into our spanish home the electrickery for 3 houses
>>came through a kettle lead pugged into a socket tied to a pole (not
>>Pole). It kept failing and we got the builder's lad to try to sort it
>>out. After a few minutes there was an almighty bnag and I found the lad
>>sprawled on the ground, his hair all on end (he had quite a lot). Picked
>>him up, gave him a cuppa and offered to drive him to the Urgencia (A&E)
>>- he wasn't having that, though and went back to jbex. A few years later
>>we got a proper supply which stayed on most of the time.
>>
>>> Don't get me started on the dangerous lifts in apartment blocks in
>>> the
>>> Canary Isles that fail to lock between floors and are manual only.
>>
>>OK
>>
> I will leave te Canary Islands Lifts out of it.
>
> Sheffield University Arts Tower (I think) had lifts with no doors that
> moved up, over the top and down again.

Paternoster

As did bits of Leeds Uni (science I think)

Avpx

--
'The only reason we're still alive now is that we're more fun alive than
dead,' said Granny's voice behind her.
(Lords and Ladies) Thu 10453 Sep 18:20:01 BST 1993
18:20:01 up 5 days, 9:49, 10 users, load average: 0.28, 0.50, 0.52

On 14/04/2022 17:32, Richard Robinson wrote:
> Mike Fleming said:
>> On 13/04/2022 17:21, Richard Robinson wrote:
>>>
>>> We had Jimmy Hunt, who showed us how to use a gauze when heating a
>>> beaker of alcohol over a bunsen ...
>>>
>>> ... in a "not like that" sort of way, onbviously, or I wouldn't be
>>> mentioning it. He knocked it over.
>>
>> I feel a little sad that none of my science masters managed to
>> accomplish these levels of incompetence. I still remember our new
>> chemistry master (also our form master), Doc Kershaw, in our first day
>> with him, demonstrating the safety glarses he had. These were not
>> goggles to go over his glarses, but actual prescription-lensed glarses
>> with shields on the side. He took them off and banged them on the desk
>> to show how strong they were. Had this been any of you lot telling the
>> tale, the lenses would have shot out and they'd have disintegrated. Oh
>> no, they remained perfectly intact.
>
> TBF, I probably did have lessons where nobody made bromine in a sink
> while teechur wasn't looking[1]. It's just, I don't remember them.
>
> [1] "Geography", for example.

I got caned for 'calcium carbide down sink drains' once, and four more
the following day for audibly following Teecher's "A tissue, um, a
tissue..." with "Bless you."

The only times I ever got caned at that fpubby, and it had to be on
consecutive days...

--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.

On 14-Apr-22 9:51, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:

> We also had a fridge for Liquid oxygen, but I never heard of anyone having
> issues with that.

When I, and a few fellow reprobates, were hanging around a place of
education in Liverpool, we found a large slab of dry ice had been
delivered to the college & somehow left on a footpath near a goods
entrance.
It was late in the day and everyone seemed to have locked up and gone home.
We noticed it, & hated the idea of it all just vanishing into nothing to
no good porpoise. We waited for a while...
And then we re-homed it and tried out all the things you would like to
do, if you ever managed to lay hands on a couple of kg of the stuff.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 14-Apr-22 18:25, The Nomad wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:49:09 +0100, "Nicholas D. Richards"

>> Sheffield University Arts Tower (I think) had lifts with no doors that
>> moved up, over the top and down again.

I believe it's still operating.
I only rode on it once, in 1969 or 70.

P.S. I tried to "Followup" Mr Richard's post, but Thunderbird refused to
allow me to do that by 'greying out' the "Send" button. I have no clue
why this should be.

--
Sam Plusnet