h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

ohhh well I'll just have amuse myself some other way!

Like illegal downloading?

Or chatting on hootoo?

Or painting your toenails silver?

Or is that just me?

Painting eloisa silver? Oh wait. Sorry, that's just my toenails.

watch the adverts, they're better than half the programs

it's sad because it's funny because it's true.

en like a true Thingite

I wonder if our nemesii ever worry about a gap?

no your safe on that, the only worry is the plug gap in carb'

Hate to imagine the EHT need to fire a plug!!!


Unless of course it had finely tuned tines.

had a few jolts of EHT from the inside of valve TV's years back

used to maintain PC monitors (prehistoric) in some of the early ones the EHT leaked and you could create wonderful light shows with a insulated screwdriver near the back of the tube...better than these new fangled plasma tubes...used to dream of having a plasma tube

a nice 16k arc, from main EHT valve realy woke you up on a morning and you daren't shout out co's you were in the customers house********* outside

Many years, nay decades ago, I was fixing an old Thorn 3000 series colour TV in a friend's bedroom. I'd detatched the top panel with the HT capacitors onboard, and it was sitting on top of the set. While looking inside I accidentally brushed against it and gave a yelp as I got an HT kick...

"You're just joking - it's not connected; even I can see that", she said...

I dropped a small screwdriver from my pocket across the capacitors; there was an ear-splitting bang and the screwdriver bounced off the ceiling, sans tip. I looked round and she was nowhere to be seen...

...till I heard a voice from under the bed asking if it was safe to come out yet.

my friend, that was a thing we did at training college, charge one up and shout here catch, if I was at a house with a yappy dog round my ankles, one finger on ht valve and here boy - arc to nose, no more yap

That's incredibly dangerous, especially if the dog is well earthed! The reason engineers are trained to keep their "spare" hand in their pocket is to minimise the chance of an HT arc tracking across their heart.

But surely that would act as a good defribulator?

was always careful

Only if you are currently fibrillating I guess
Otherwise it is a bad thing.