WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to JAMES BRADLEY, "Tap tap tap..."

OK... Time to change the "subj" in the header. How about:
Aviation/Electronics/Automotives/How To Kick Butt Without Blinking?
Ya, it won't fit, but... 

 ->  -> How about Edwards, and Billy Mitchel. Both Canadians if
 ->  -> memory serves me. 

 ->  WC> Not as familiar with them but Billy Mitchel's name rings a
 ->  WC> bell.

 -> As in Edwards Air Force Base... Heard of it now? 

 WC> Yeah, where the Bell X rocket planes were tested under the
 WC> previous name.

Sure, that's near the Salt Flats, isn't it? Forgot about that.
 -> Mitchel [Might have spelt it wrong.] was court-marshaled
 -> for insubordination,
 -> for his views on airborne threats. Post WWI, he
 WC> I'll have to google for it.

Like I say, I might have spelt it wrong, so maybe a "Capt. William
Mi" might
prove more fruitful. The movie name was something like "The Court Marshall
Of..."
 ->  WC> Three commercial fisherman who were non-regulars stopped into

 ->  WC> Guy says "what."
 ->  WC> I YELL at him "HIT ME."
 ->  WC> He backs down and he and the 2 clowns with him left.

 -> Thought so!

 ->  WC> Psychology can work :-)

 WC> I used psycholoy more often than anything else, particularly
 WC> when the level of mayham that would result would rise to the
 WC> level someone would quite likely have been severely injured.

My last two close calls, I had to judge if it was to be bloody, or backing
down. Stupidly, I could have been less machismo for both, but they ended up
with one guy walking back to his car in a huff, and me walking away from a
foursome, not knowing if there was a firearm concealed.

First, I was walking across a crosswalk. Macho-man starts crowding the plate
with the nose of his rust-bucket. I just *had* to give him a NY salute. My
first mistake. He rounded the block looking for me. My second mistake was not
to duck into a store, or mall to watch passively.

After he navigated the plethora of one-ways, and obstructed alleyways, he was
MAD! After he made his first lunge at me, I could tell he was a fighting idiot,
but the dilated pupils, and yellow cloud on the white of his eyes concerned me
that he would feel nothing. After listening to his gibberish for a spell, I was
able to yell at him loud enough, to be a nice boy and go away. That guy would
have been a quick toss, but I'm sure glad he didn't press the issue. Like I
say, any damage would have just made the goof mad, and until you give the fool
a reason to fear for his life...

Second, four kids saunter out of an alleyway at about 1am. Ringleader asks me
for five bucks. I guess I could have given it to him, but after just working a
thirteen hour shift, knowing that I'd likely loose my wallet in the process, I
decided to smart mouth something like, "You can't find a job?" I
said it with
some concern in my voice, and tried to keep the conversation lite, but I was
thinking, "You band of twits!"

Once he stood in my way, I put one hand on his shoulder, and one on his right
ribcage, and informed him, "You don't know who you're [bleep]in'
with." His #2
had a down coat on, so I didn't know if he was concealing anything, but the
other two were just their girlie hang-ons. I knew I could side-kick #2, while
taking care of #1, but like I say, if #2 had something hidden...

 WC> You learn to read people.

Sometimes in a hurry! <-;

I don't know if I've just been lucky, but my pride alone should have had my
butt kicked more than once. A knock-down in elementary school, and a mutual
standoff in Junior-High (I was in grade seven, he was in the nineth.)... One
KO, and a draw! Both were beggin' me for a whippin', and I did the best I knew
how at the time,  to avoid them.

 ->  -> I'm no tea-toddler, but I sure developed
 ->  -> a distaste for drunk belligerents.

 ->  WC> I get introverted and quiet when drunk.

 -> Ditto. The potential in-laws were perplexed by it. One
 -> of the reasons I second
 -> guessed her for a wife... Well, that and her character. 

 WC> I think it's because our true natures are peaceful where the
 WC> drunk troublemakers are suppressing hostilty that explodes when
 WC> alcohol releases inhibitions.

...A great way of thinking of it. Drop the conscious thinking, and the beast -
or lack of - shows up. When first experimenting with alcohol, I remember
wishing I could be more gregarious at gatherings, but it just wasn't my nature
to get in peoples faces. I didn't like it when others did it to me, so I
instead preferred to engage in one-on-ones. Sure seemed to work with the
'chicks' too. 
 ->  WC> Strength avails one not against Akaido 

 -> I smell a tagline comin' on!

Hope you don't mind me quoting you on it? [See tag]
[...] Brain Drain RE: MPFI
 ->  WC> Yeah, no spark, that's what I meant.

 -> Spark was there for me, but that and opening up the air-
 -> cleaner was the extent
 -> of my troubleshooting at the time. Either the timing was
 -> so brain-dead without
 -> the full logic, or the fuel was flooding the cylinders
 -> without regulation...

 -> Mitsubishi uses a magnet-proximity switch for the
 -> distributer, so maybe firing
 -> the plugs isn't that much a function of the logic. 

 WC> More like;y the logic rather than the Hall effect sensor.
 WC> Played around with them in non-automotive application.

Hall effect... See, I have to call them a spinning magnet that trips reed
sensors. Say what you will about them, they are a sight more reliable than
contacts arcing at umpteen K times/min.

 ->  ->  WC> Rewired the entire bike myself making up my own wiring harness
 ->  ->  WC> too so it'd NEVER fail again.



 ->  -> Probably saved half a lb. of copper along the way.

 ->  WC> More like three times that figure.
 ->  WC> Automotive style bullet connectors and I used some thick wall
 ->  WC> plastic flexible tubing throughout the harness I made.
 ->  WC> Weatherproof to the max and simplified to the point
 ->  WC> no electrical problem would never hassle me again.

 ->  WC> I like talking about the old days, today as most days
 ->  WC> will suck :-(

 -> I can listen all day to your stories about vehicle
 -> repairs, but I can't do much
 -> to stimulate conversations. From what I've seen of you on ELECTRONICS, you
 -> could make my head swim in that area too. Again, I have some simple
 -> troubleshooting skills there, but nothing to write home about.

 WC> You just have to dive in.
 WC> Got interested in electronics early on and was
 WC> building advanced Heathkits at 14.

Dad bought me one of those Electronic Experimenter kits as a kid. It was just
like him to buy the big one. It wasn't long before I was stringing an antenna
out to the Willow tree, (Ya... I had to learn about how grounding affects those
yet. ;-) and setting up the electric fencer to a coat-hanger on the bed. (We
just sold the horses.)

Came time for me to apply my knowledge of n-p-n vs. p-n-p transistors on a
test, and I couldn't recall a lick of it. Since then, I'd been trying to go
further with it, but the occasional shots of pain really messes with my
recollection.

Spurious note taking has become the norm, as the shorthand just doesn't make
sense like it used to, but I do what I can. This Linux is a great learning
experience so far, but a linear study guide *has* been hard to come by.

 WC> Then I started building stuff from published schematics and my
 WC> own designs.

Where's Heath when you need them?  Shoot, even the periodicals seem to be
dumbing down. Not that I can't learn *something* from them, but... Maybe next
trip to the library, I'll try to sous something out.
 -> I have to keep my eyes open for a replacement for my
 -> ageing ride, and much of
 -> what you are saying is a real concern for me. If I find
 -> something without all
 -> the electronics in it,

 WC> This is why I bought most of my motorcycles used, points.
 WC> kickstarter in addition to the electric starter, ect.

Ya, well a day at the scrap-yard for me is just not in my list of favourite
things to do any more. And kick-starting an econo-box, last I checked, wasn't
available. I guess a guy could weld something up. Maybe like a ME 109 with a
sprung starter. <-;

 WC> I can't sit either nor could I drive a bike without
 WC> falling from a muscle spasm likely in a turn.

Even without the nerve throwing me, there's still plenty of ice here to put one
in a nasty case of road-rash.
 -> This disposable society we live in is a
 -> bitch. ...And that's an insult to female dogs!

 WC> I too hate the disposable society.
 WC> I like to fix stuff, even that which is not intended to
 WC> be fixed.
 WC> This computer is a salvage someone else tossed out.
 WC> I fixed it.

Sad part is, that same computer is likely seen as worthless, or next to it. )-:
I too have made a habit of hobbling old parts together, but am constantly
frustrated by parts that were designed to fail. (Sorry for burning your ear.
Guess I'm glad the last few days are over with.)

My #1 machine was from the pawn-shop w/o CPU, mem, or HD. OS -RH.
#2 Auction: Flaky HD, and an ill-flash on the BIOS. OS -W98
#3 Auction: ... You get the idea?

Not a one is better than a Celeron 466. Next, I want to upgrade a box to a GHz
or two. (The case will take an ATX MB.) Just one more financial duck to get in
the row, and I'll have disposable income again. 

... Strength avails one not against Akaido. -W. Chirnside
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