I can top that, in the smoke department.
The recommended ratio wasnt 40:1 as I recall. After a few weeks of driving on ordinary roads, the two pipes on this single would load up real good. Then a jaunt on the highway, when the exhaust heat started it cookin', I could cover all three lanes in blue easily. I had to get off at the next ramp, as everyone behind me wanted to kill me. Yes - actually owned, licensed and driven.
Also had one of these, around that time. The cop that pulled me over was so mad he neglected to ask me to remove my full face helmet - good thing he didnt see my eyes... They had some nice sweeping turns up into the town of Harvard MA; 90 in a 25 I think its was. Had to go to the drivers school again for that one.
The recommended ratio wasnt 40:1 as I recall. After a few weeks of driving on ordinary roads, the two pipes on this single would load up real good. Then a jaunt on the highway, when the exhaust heat started it cookin', I could cover all three lanes in blue easily. I had to get off at the next ramp, as everyone behind me wanted to kill me. Yes - actually owned, licensed and driven.
Also had one of these, around that time. The cop that pulled me over was so mad he neglected to ask me to remove my full face helmet - good thing he didnt see my eyes... They had some nice sweeping turns up into the town of Harvard MA; 90 in a 25 I think its was. Had to go to the drivers school again for that one.
Some of my vintage electronics smell like the interior of a thrift store.
B25T BSA. Voltage regulation was one 50W Zener, with a bad connection, so the battery and all the bulbs burned-up quick.
I threw my back out and didn't ride for a while. Meanwhile the title and registration got lost. This was the year the state computerized the DMV (I met the guy who did it) and all records not renewed in 2 years were gone forever. My cousin wanted it as-was (he had a hundred acres to ride in), took it away, his Norton Commando near tore his ankle off, the next year his car/bike barn burned down. Good times!
I threw my back out and didn't ride for a while. Meanwhile the title and registration got lost. This was the year the state computerized the DMV (I met the guy who did it) and all records not renewed in 2 years were gone forever. My cousin wanted it as-was (he had a hundred acres to ride in), took it away, his Norton Commando near tore his ankle off, the next year his car/bike barn burned down. Good times!
I also shoot black and white film and I really like the smell of black and white chemistry. Almost all developers contain significant amount of sodium sulfite or other source of SO3(2-) ion. It always leaves a very natural, earthy, mineral smell of suflur dioxide on your hands
In my Yamaha 400, a previous owner installed some aftermarket CD ignition. It had the occasional habit of being hard to start, plus could start the engine running backwards. You can imagine the annoyance...
Then the day came when an accidental engagement of the kick lever, with engine unbeknownst running backwards, just tore everything up inside. Took new engine cases to fix; after that I'd wished I never bought the thing and my two-stroke fancy ended.
Cloth speaker grill and my own hair have been victims of a soldering iron in one hand and reaching for something else. Apparently lack coordination in certain orientations.
I have many rolls of photographic film exposed after expiration date awaiting development...I am not paying someone for low-yield results. Some day...
The film smells. The chemistry will smell. The old cameras smell too: old leather, previous smoker owners, outgassing lubricants within, & mildew from whatever part of the world they came from.
I bartered a transformer for a print copy of RDH4 from Australia. I have smelled plenty of musty books, but none like that book.
Yes, that was something else. Tho I am sure Peter knew the association. THE Norton was an old-school British twin but able to compete with the best of the new Japanese bikes, even Honda CB750. It didn't shake all THAT much, it was faster, might leak less than a Triumph, and had these cheezy ads:
Funnily enough I never read more than a page of Marcel Proust...just the the mandatory text in school with some cakes that makes a lady remember all sorts of things.
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There was a period in the UK where you had to be over 18 to buy some glues. Its maybe still law here.
Kids were sniffing the glue an making themselves high but ill.
I use a fan blowing away from me to suck away solder fumes now. Makes the job more pleasant.
Around 2000 I was in a job where we were expected to put up with solder fumes.
The boss brought his daughter into work one to learn to solder and he had bought specially for her a fume extractor !!!
She was good enough to be protected but we werent !
Kids were sniffing the glue an making themselves high but ill.
I use a fan blowing away from me to suck away solder fumes now. Makes the job more pleasant.
Around 2000 I was in a job where we were expected to put up with solder fumes.
The boss brought his daughter into work one to learn to solder and he had bought specially for her a fume extractor !!!
She was good enough to be protected but we werent !
I have this questionable habit of desoldering components that look like they're worth saving. That comes from my early teen years finding interesting things at the curb awaiting trash pickup. (Large things like console TV's or stereos/monos - only things I could see riding by on my bike...I never stopped to looking thru trash cans or bags).
I try not to save electrolytics anymore and have refined my tastes to MKP box caps. But I read they don't like thermal abuse when soldering/resoldering.
After accumulating about 6 large plastic wide-mouth jars (Aldi cashews for reference) of short-lead film caps, I realized I could probably purchase what I wanted, if and when I knew what I really needed. I also found keeping the lid on the jars prevents that old solder flux smell from balancing with the environment. Maybe it needs to breathe like a bottle of wine (red, right? White wine don't need no stinking breathing?)
There was a period I heard about when teens would buy white sneakers and customize them with lighter fluid and a match. Heard about one kid who didn't think to take them off while performing this artistic process. He survived, with some unwanted celebrity & embarrassment to himself and family. Maybe some vagrant fragrance too.
I try not to save electrolytics anymore and have refined my tastes to MKP box caps. But I read they don't like thermal abuse when soldering/resoldering.
After accumulating about 6 large plastic wide-mouth jars (Aldi cashews for reference) of short-lead film caps, I realized I could probably purchase what I wanted, if and when I knew what I really needed. I also found keeping the lid on the jars prevents that old solder flux smell from balancing with the environment. Maybe it needs to breathe like a bottle of wine (red, right? White wine don't need no stinking breathing?)
There was a period I heard about when teens would buy white sneakers and customize them with lighter fluid and a match. Heard about one kid who didn't think to take them off while performing this artistic process. He survived, with some unwanted celebrity & embarrassment to himself and family. Maybe some vagrant fragrance too.
When I was a kid we could buy glue, solder, and dangerous tools. I walked right into RS and bought PC board etching solution when I was about 12 or maybe younger.
You know what they'd call that now? Child abuse. Some years back I bought a gallon of muriatic acid (I was well over the age of 21) and I had to fill out paperwork in order to do so. They probably put me on a terrorist watchlist too.
I made plastic models too when I was a kid. I guess that's not kosher any more? Only for adults?
I remember a kid in college in the early 80's from Japan who would go to different universities in the US for summer ESL programs (English as a Second Language). He stayed in a student house I lived in one summer.
I had a student job in a food co-op weighing, packaging & pricing spices & cheese. I found some mislabeled (I was absolutely certain) Cream Havarti that smelled awful. I bought a small wedge to take home for the novelty of letting other house residents share their impressions. Didn't even need to open the plastic wrap. I AM staying on topic, folks. Let's call this a hobby, ok?
Most people agreed it was bad, several saying 'dirty gym socks'.
That poor Japanese guy was not only traumatized by the cheese, back to some experience from his earlier youth, but also by my uncontrolled laughter. I am still laughing as I type this. He said with a look of horror, as he ran to the kitchen sink: "OHHH! Smell like old hooker woman! You wash your hands!"
I had a student job in a food co-op weighing, packaging & pricing spices & cheese. I found some mislabeled (I was absolutely certain) Cream Havarti that smelled awful. I bought a small wedge to take home for the novelty of letting other house residents share their impressions. Didn't even need to open the plastic wrap. I AM staying on topic, folks. Let's call this a hobby, ok?
Most people agreed it was bad, several saying 'dirty gym socks'.
That poor Japanese guy was not only traumatized by the cheese, back to some experience from his earlier youth, but also by my uncontrolled laughter. I am still laughing as I type this. He said with a look of horror, as he ran to the kitchen sink: "OHHH! Smell like old hooker woman! You wash your hands!"
Yes. I broke my wrist when i was probably six. One stop and it was "fixed." The doc x-rayed it, set it, and put a cast on it and sent us home. It was considered a "normal" injury for a six year old boy, no big deal.
Nowadays I would have been referred to six specialists and a social worker would visit the house and take me away from my parents until I was 18. The wrist healed fine.
Nowadays I would have been referred to six specialists and a social worker would visit the house and take me away from my parents until I was 18. The wrist healed fine.