A Personal Tale of Medical Ethics Etc

Actually, my dad was an amateur conjurer, and got a photo in the local paper by (apparently) lighting up a gas mantle with his breath while my sister and I did our homework.

I still don't know how that trick works!

Current magicians couldn't pull it off – typical modern audience: "what's a gas mantle?", and where could you get one now anyway? I've never experienced gaslight (apart from that once!), but I'm only one generation removed.
 
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Black Hole said:
Remember the power crisis of the 1970s?
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Yes, and the flour shortage, the sugar shortage, the fuel shortage (and rationing coupons issued but not used), the firemen's strikes, the ambulance drivers' strikes, the 3 day week, the grave diggers' strikes, the bin-men's strikes, the winter of discontent.
Black Hole said:
How would we have managed without candles?
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Whatever happened to paraffin?

# I predict a fire, I predict a fire...
what with all these candles and all this petrol being stored in (possibly) inappropriate containers in who knows what conditions. And petrol doesn't store that long anyway without absorbing water.
 
Black Hole said:
Remember the power crisis of the 1970s? How would we have managed without candles?
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We had two old car batteries in series (stood on newspaper) and a 24V 60W bayonet cap bulb in the standard lamp. When the power went off you put the crocodile clips on the batteries. When the power came back you put first one battery and then the other on charge with the car battery charger. I was taught how to do this by my dad at quite a young age for evenings when our parents were out, I was the elder son so was entrusted with this task. We were the only house in the street with decent lighting during the power cuts. We still have the 24V bulb and it still works.
 
Black Hole said:
Current magicians couldn't pull it off – typical modern audience: "what's a gas mantle?", and where could you get one now anyway? I've never experienced gaslight (apart from that once!), but I'm only one generation removed.
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Gas mantles are readily available on Amazon and at the hardware store at the bottom of my parents' road. Many campers still use gas lamps since they run on the same gas bottles as their camping stoves. I have a camping gas lamp as my emergency lighting for during power cuts, but I've only had to use it once for a couple of hours in all my time at this house since 1987. That was a transmission cable fault. I suppose I ought to light it and check it works the way things are going.
 
prpr said:
# I predict a fire, I predict a fire...
what with all these candles and all this petrol being stored in (possibly) inappropriate containers in who knows what conditions. And petrol doesn't store that long anyway without absorbing water.
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It happened last time when petrol refineries were blockaded in the protests at it going over £1 a litre. Some bloke had petrol stored all around the walls of his living room in 8 gallon plastic wine/beer making barrels. He was a smoker, eventually the inevitable happened and the entire house exploded when he lit up.
 
Did anyone else see the story about a string of cars following a tanker in the expectation they'd be able to fill up when he got to where he was going?
It was a cement tanker and eventually stopped at a building site. :rolling:
Apparently some of the car drivers were quite vocal about him 'misleading' them.

I never fail to be unsurprised and amused by the stupidity of a large portion of the human race.
 
MikeSh said:
Did anyone else see the story about a string of cars following a tanker in the expectation they'd be able to fill up when he got to where he was going?
It was a cement tanker and eventually stopped at a building site. :rolling:
Apparently some of the car drivers were quite vocal about him 'misleading' them.
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I've seen pictures, it is entirely obvious that it isn't a fuel tanker. Cement tankers look quite different.
 
All you need is a basic understanding of Hazchem codes. Then even an undercover petrol tanker is obvious. If it hasn’t got the petrol code it’s pointless following it. (It’s pointless anyway but that’s another argument.)
 
The tanker didn’t appear to have a revolving tank. I’m not sure it is entirely obvious that it wasn’t a petrol tanker. The warning signs, or lack of, should have given it away.
 
Black Hole said:
You mean, one of those trucks with a revolving tank to keep the cement from setting? :ROFLMAO:
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No, it was a bulk powder tanker. From behind it might appear like a liquid tanker to people who've driven with their eyes shut all their life.

Which is another stupidity since not all liquid tankers carry fuel anyway. There's food products, liquid sulphur, various gases, sewage, etc. Using your (presumably) precious and limited supply of petrol/diesel following a random tanker is just insane. But also very funny :)
 
EEPhil said:
All you need is a basic understanding of Hazchem codes.
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Most people with a clue know it's 1203/3YE without looking it up - you just need to be observant over time. But obviously most people in the country are imbeciles when it comes to stuff like this, and so many other things. And then they think their ignorance is somebody else's problem, not theirs.
 
prpr said:
Most people with a clue know it's 1203/3YE without looking it up
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I certainly have recognised that code as petrol for ages. I would need to look it up to discover what the component parts mean. (A quick scan suggests the 1203 identifies petrol and the 3YE tells the emergency services how to handle it). I imagine it is useful to pass the Hazchem code to the emergency services when there’s an accident. For that reason I am observant.
 
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